Pack Out

I know I'm WAY behind on posting, but I've been so busy!

Yesterday and today are my pack-out, if you are unfamiliar with this term its when a military member/family move, and a group of people come to your house and pack all your stuff up for you and move it. I'm so thankful for people doing it for me but packing, organizing and watching people man-handle my stuff always makes me nervous. Then comes the cleaning afterwards, all the rest of the trash or whatever else is left...

AAAAAHHHHH!

And whats worse is that I'm splitting my pack-out between 2 states on opposite ends of the U.S. but I'm excited to be back in the states, first time (except a few visits) in 7 years!

Wish me luck today!

-Sam-

Countdown!

15 Days and a Wake-Up!

I am so excited to move on and start a new chapter of my life!

-Sam-

Countdown!

18 DAYS LEFT IN KOREA!

http://http://www.moviefone.com/movie/tangled/33552/video/tangled-trailer-no-1/96910943001

New movie I'm excited to see! Those who know me know how much I love Fairy Tales and Fantasy stories, whether they are funny, cute or dark (much like the original Grimm Fairy Tales)

-Sam-

BABY!

My new nephew was born Friday Nov 5! Healthy bouncing baby boy! His name? Anthony Raymond Stark... Anthony Stark....

What's short for Anthony?

... Do you see where this is going yet?





TONY! Tony is short for Anthony, my new nephew is named Tony Stark!

Who is Tony Stark?

IRON MAN!

My nephew is Iron Man! Funny yes, he's going to get Iron Man everything for ALL of his life!

I can't decide if thats cool or cruel... ??

-Sam-

Random Thought...

I've noticed that more often than not when a man impersonates a woman's voice he will add a lisp...

-Sam-

What I'm Watching...

I love the Amazing Race! To me this show never gets old! And every new season always sparks the question, who would I want to compete with?

Mom: I would totally do this race with my mom, the downside is we are so much alike we get snippy at one another. She is also afraid of heights, so hey Mom, if I get all the physical challenges you got all the food ones ok?! Deal!

Brother: No, he's dumb and I would kill him on national television and get arrested...

Significant Other: Ummm.... I think we could do it but he would drive me CRAZY in the process, he thinks I'm cute when I'm mad.

Best Friend: Love her, would kill her! But she's not dumb like my brother so that's a plus!

Radio Partner: I think we would have way too much fun and seemingly get nowhere with the challenges but would totally end up winning!

Who would you do the Amazing Race with?

-Sam-

American Bandit

I found this entertaining, while my mom was here visiting me... we went to Seoul Zoo and it was really fun had several great exhibits and active animals. One of which is something you don't really see in American zoos!

The North American Raccoon!

He was so cute! Came up to the bars as if to say "You speak English! Take me home with you!"

Tons of other animal photos on www.samanthastark.com

-Sam-

Paintball

Action and sports photography is a lot of fun and challenging. Having a quick "trigger finger" is always a good thing.

Just like being on the paintball field, quick to draw quick to shoot.

This was during practice for a team in South Korea.

Tulips

I LOVE taking photos of flowers... These tulips were taken in South Korea at an amusement park called Everland.

Everland has these huge beautiful botanical gardens! Undortunatley not much was in bloom when we went... just an abundance of tulips. Which was fine with me :)

Its fun doing what I have to to get the shot I want but if you are really into what you are shooting and stop and look around you you'll notice people looking at you very stragnely as you contort your body around this little flower trying to capture different angles.

In order to get the one colored tulip I copied the image, turned it black and white and layed the gray image over the colored one. Then took the eraser tool and erased the section I wanted letting the color come through and feature one special flower!

This is one of my favorite kind of photos, I enjoy a playful splash of color.

What I'm Reading...

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

By Max Brooks

I know, this photo is not one I've taken, this is the movie poster, coming out in 2012! This book is so awesome! Although its taking me a while to get through it because zombies are the only monsters that scare the crap out of me!

Any other creature, Dracula, The Mummy, Wolfman, I imagine my self saying "WOW, Awesome!" But zombies? Fuck zombies...

Every so often I have to put the book down and not read it for a couple of days cause its creepy! But again, amazingly written! Great read if you wanna be scared!

-Sam-

Bull Fight

This photo was taken in Spain, this guy is actually an apprentice fighter, so I can imagine its hard to keep your pants dry when you are distracting a pissed off bull with sharp daggers coming out of his back...

We saw a different type of bull fighting, the matador was on a horse, so he had to ride his horse, lean over and make the dagger stick, the sharp objects got shorter and shorter, making the matador get closer and closer... then out came the sword and the kill shot.

Now, I understand Bull Fighting is very cultural, if you ever have a chance to see a fight I fully support that you go! I do not regret experiancing this, even though it was not my favorite thing to see.

Bulls bleeding, snorting blood out their noses, getting tired yet not willing to give up...

Also, it is rude to root for the bull... so when one bull got a shot in the side of the horse rocketing the matador off I couldn't help but let out a WHOOP!

This and other photos can be found at www.samanthastark.com

Photo of Teddy

This is my old dog Teddy. He was awesome! This is while I was living in Italy with my boyfriend Bobby. We raised little Teddy since he was a tiny little fluff-ball of a puppy. He grew to be 70 pounds and eye to eye with me on his hind-legs! (I'm 5'7)

This photo was taken in our living room fireplace, as you can see it was regularly used and a very open and large space.

Teddy loved being at the beach but HATED being bathed! Poor Bobby, during the cold months had to wash him in a TINY Italian shower while I give Teddy treats to keep him calm. Well one fateful evening Teddy decided to be defiant... after a bath we did our best to dry him off, he did that whole dog body wiggle and ran into the living room and layed in the fire place.

I would have been mad except he was so cute, just look at his face! As if to say "Sorry mommy, but I really hate baths!"

I grabbed my camera and captured this sweet expression...

Love you Teddy!

This and other photos are on Samanthastark.com

MOMMY!

So turns out my illnes was NOT strep! Thank Goodness! Just a head cold.

Last night I went to the Incheon Airport, which is about an hour away to pick up my mom!
I was waiting outside her gate exit waiting...

and waiting...

and waiting...

Thank goodness for my Ipod Touch, games and music...

more waiting...

Until the giant board said her plane landed, then I continued to wait until she made it through customes and to ME!!!!!!!

Yay! My mommy is here! And brought all sorts of bad weather with her!

Thats ok, still happy she is here!

-Sam-

Eh...

Feeling sick again, sore throat... Please Lord don't let it be Strep again!!!!

Wendy's Adventure Continues...

So shortly after Samantha's veneer was in place Wendy the Wondering tooth got wrestless... and created a magnetic field to attract objects to knock her free!

This object came in the form of a hockey stick.

While playing street hockey with friends from the neighborhood Samantha caught a backswing to the mouth!

Back to the dentist, father's exact words...
"You break it again it stays broken!"

Wendy did not wonder again until several years later...

-Sam-

Wendy the Wondering Tooth

This is the first installment of the Adventures of Wendy the Wondering Tooth... When Samantha was a little girl, about 10 years old she had such a cute smile.

When one day she slipped on a slide and hit her mouth. A large amount of pain surged through her as she ran home to show her parents. To her mother's surprise her daughter's tooth was broken in half!

Samantha's mom took her to the dentist for an emergency root canal and got a porcelain veneer in place of the broken half.

This is Lloyd Christmas from the movie Dumb and Dumber and that goofy broken tooth? That is much like what Wendy the Wondering Tooth looked like.

After the fix Wendy was found under the playground slide and taken home.

Stick around for the next stage in the adventure of Wendy the Wondering Tooth.

-Sam-

Random Thought...

I'm watching Discovery Channel's special "Life" and baby Mud Skippers...

Surprisingly Adorable!

-Sam-

Aftermath

So like I said, I was at work all last night and today while the storm hit. I watched trees bend, break and fall and get swept across our parking lot. Here is some of the aftermath of Typhoon Kompasu outside our building...

This is the road leading up to AFN


Lookind uphill to our parking area

The opposite side of the lot...

And last but not least, looking straight out from our front door!

I've never seen weather like this (that I can remember)

Its passed though and we are all safe :)

-Sam-

Typhoon Kompasu

Its about 530 in the morning and I am at work just in case there are any important weather updates.
This is the path of Typhoon Kompasu... right now as you can see its going right over Korea.
Within the last couple minutes I've seen the wind pick up significantly and the rain blow sideways.


Hurray for being mission essential!

-Sam-

Social Media

Social media is crazy these days! Everything connects to everything and don't get me wrong, its an awesome way to keep up with people, or reconnect but dang! I have so many pages and channels and sites its hard to keep up with!

And currently adding more! Keeping up with the fan site for work, a NEW fan site for "The Rob and Sam Show" and along with that a youtube channel.

This is Rob's magic trick...

Enjoy!

-Sam-

Random Thought...

I'm finishing up my last hour of my radio show, I played a song Miley Cyrus - Can't Be Tamed

(I can't stand her, but I like the song) and I had a memory pop into my head. This guy I dated in High School, Eric once told me "I'm gunna tame you" yeah... I said BYE!

And this last idiot I was dating most recently... has had complete control over every woman in his life, NOT I!

"I can't be tamed, I can't be saved

I can't be blamed, I can't, can't

I can't be tamed, I can't be changed

I can't be saved, I can't be (can't be)

I can't be tamed"

Thanks Miley, you are in NO way a role model but I can't help it... I like this song.

-Sam-

Appointments

Ok so, every month I have new x-rays taken of my leg, a surgical check up to make sure I'm still healthy and ready to be scheduled, physical therapy and psychologist... On top of that I have some minor dental surgery coming up. Needless to say I spend a LOT of time at the hospital.
Well here is what happens when you have TOO many appointments!

-You start mixing them up on the calender
-Show up late because you mixed them up
-Or miss the appointment all together!

Never have I been this broken and busted before. Usually I just shrug it off and keep going but I have to actually LISTEN to the docs this time cause I have never had a broken bone before and my patience is wearing thin!

-Sam-

BIGBANG 2NE1 - Lollipop MV [HQ]

So Korean Pop Culter or, K-Pop can be totally awesome! And, well... a little not so awesome.
Here is an example...



Hope you enjoyed it :)

-Sam-

Suit Yourself

In this situation I'm the cat, and I keep asking myself the same question. If I ignore it will it go away?

Apparentley not! Some idiots just don't know when to quit and need to be taught a lesson.

Suit yourself!

-Sam-

Interesting Fact

I love my job, being a DJ has been so awesome! Well sometimes we get to interview celebrities that roll though here. And if we are lucky enough we will get to take them out! We chilled with former WWF wrestlers, members of rock bands, stand up comics and reggae stars!

While interviewing Sean Paul, we did it earlier in the day, so by the time my show came around I cut the clips I needed and played it like he was live in the studio. Which isn't a lie because he was live in the studio, just no the time we needed. So you do what you have to do.

Him and his crew were SO nice! He was a pleasure to interview!

Anyway, during and right after my interview we had a small crowd of people outside with cameras waiting for Sean Paul to come out of the building! Ha!

I'm so good at my job!

-Sam-

Shark Week Ooh Ha Ha!

My favorite week of the year is here! SHARK WEEK! Unfortunately I cancelled my cable cause I wasn't using it. So I don't have Discovery Channel. But thats ok, I have internet and I plan on buying the Shark Week 2010 DVD's anyway.

If you look back at my posts I went to Busan Aquarium to swim with sharks... I was the underwater videographer for a story. Even though it was in a tank it was still amazing!

Swam with Sand Tiger Sharks and they are pretty gruesome looking!

I did get a tooth all to myslef...

And I did NOT get bit! Thank goodness.

I can't wait to get in the open water with sharks one day. I'm trying to move to Washington State and there are some awesome dive opportunities there.

And yes, I want to dive with Great Whites too :-D

SHARK WEEK!!!!!

-Sam-

Drifting...

No, I'm not talking about car drifting, or Tokyo drift, or whatever...
I mean when you are talking to someone, or someone is talking to you rather and you're not really interested in what they are saying?
Your mind starts to drift, your eyes may even drift to the side, or in my case totally glaze over.
Then you snap back to reality and realize this person is STILL talking to you and you are suprised they are still in front of you!
Thats been happening a LOT lately... I can probably count on one hand the people I actually pay attention to.

-Sam-

Cheerleaders

Yes boys, get your eyes ready for the Cheerleaders of the Korean Soccer team that played in the FIFA World Cup!

Me, Rob and the Entourage were at Lotte World, Korea's most famous amusement park. We had no clue they were going to be there performing! And were lucky enough to meet them and get some awesome shots!

I was a cheerleader for a long time, I even coached and always wondered what cheerleaders were like in other countries. Well as far as Korea goes it is a little differant than the States.

First there was the leader of the pack... he got the crowd pumped and kept the performers going, and on track...

In addition to cheering the girls also played the drums, pretty cool! In the States we have signs and the big ol' horn to make ourselves louder.

And finally, a ballet section of the performance! We never had a ballerina cheer section. It was pretty cool! (She played the drums too)

More photos can be found at http://www.samanthastark.com/

-Sam-

Meet Laura

As most of you know I LOVE photography! One of my favorite subjects to shoot is people, but models are kind of hard to come by out here.

So meet Laura, an aspiring model and myself and 2 other potential photographers went out to the wilds of Korea and shot her!

With a camera that is...

While it was a beautiful day to shoot, and I got some good images it is a models job to inspire the photographer.

Just being pretty isn't enough, and sadly by the middle of the day I was bored with our subject.

Just like photographers, models need to study and practice.

-Sam-

Take me or leave me from RENT

Although I am not a lesbian (sorry ladies) I still love this song and its message. One of the greatest lessons I was raised with is to always be yourself. If someone doesn't like you for who you are then who needs 'em!

-Sam-

Moving On

I have been battling with the decision to stay in or get out of the military. I think the best answer is a happy medium, so I've decided to switch to the Navy Reserves!

I wasn't quite ready to leave the security of the military but want to move on profesionally and wasn't quite sure how to do that... and the reserves is the perfect balance! I still get a paycheck (although significantly less!) But that's ok.

I get to keep my active duty benefits, hey I deserve it, by the time I make the switch I will have been active duty for 7 years! And the benefits that come with the reserves.

This way I can pursue the things that are really important to me and like finishing school! I am sometimes so burnt out at the end of the day I'm glad I'm not taking any classes! I can pursue a happy and healthy relationship which I can't do while I'm active duty. It so hard to know who to trust and I want to be around people, family and friends I know.

-Sam-

Feeling Better

WooHoo!

Finally starting to feel better, still stressed at work but at least I'm not faking all my smiles and good moods any more.

Thanks to good friends and people who ACTUALLY love me :D

My anxiety still spikes from time to time but getting better. I'll be happy when I can open my email without holding my breath.



Sounds about right ;)

Been watching Smallville, just about to wrap up Season 8. Superman is my favorite superhero... Ah Clark Kent... the man of my dreams!

Love a man in uniform... Especially one who stands for truth and justice!

-Sam-

Where Did That Come From?

Its Friday night and Monsoon season is in full swing so I'm in for the night.

And for SOME reason, I have NO idea How or Why this popped into my head!

My brother and I used to watch Ren and Stimpy ALL THE TIME! And one song they sang is called I'm Gonna Be A Monkey...

Unfortunately I couldn't find the actual video from the show.

Enjoy! ;)

I needed something happy to think about today, so I decided to think about my puppy-dog. It might have been a sad subject but he's so fun to remember!

He is an Akbash Dog, and this breed is SO CLOSE to being AKC (American Kennel Club) registered! He was pretty easy to train too! Smart, lovable and very expressive. His face can tell you everything he is thinking. And wow did he love to play!

Even though my cat Nala wasn't his biggest fan he still liked to play with the cats! In Italy (well Europe in general) they don't declaw cats.

And after playing with them no-holds barred he did have some scratches and scars on his snout.

I miss and love my puppy... Thanks for the happy thoughts Teddy!

-Sam-

No Contact...

MEANS NO CONTACT!!!!!

NONE

NADA

I'm not as weak as you think!

-Sam-

All Dogs Go To Heavan

I ran across this little debate a long time go. Then it fell off the grid and a LONG time later it ended up in my email again! So I wanted to share it all with you.

This is the fight between 2 churches right across the street from each other.

I like to think All Dogs Go To Heaven... great movie too!

"All dogs go to heaven"

"Only humans go to heaven read the bible"

"God loves all his creatures. Dogs included"

"Dogs don't have souls this is not open for debate"

"Catholic dogs go to heaven. Presbyterian dogs can talk to their Pastor"

"Converting to Catholicism does not magically grant your dog a soul"

"Free dog souls, with conversion"

"Dogs are animals. There aren't any rocks in Heaven either."

"All rocks go to Heaven"

So Catholics FOR THE WIN! FTW

Thats where my Cat Taunting, Hyper Active, Water Loving, Babyfaced boy Teddy is! Just waiting to Play!

-Sam-