Alone again (naturally)

I’ve been around some places in this life.  I moved out of the house I shared with my parents on Milton Avenue in Westminster CA in July, 1973 at the tender age of 17.  Moved into an apartment on Magnolia Avenue in Garden Grove with a neighborhood pal.  I had two girlfriends at the time, Gail and Karen.  Karen lived down San Diego way so it wasn’t too difficult to make sure they were never in the same place at the same time.

A few months later I moved further down (up?) Magnolia to Huntington Beach and shared an apartment with my brother Keith.  I was living there when I had the misfortune of bringing Karen home with me from San Diego while Gail was amongst the friends having an impromptu party at my place.  So shortly thereafter I found myself with zero girlfriends.

About a year later I was dating Bridget and knocked her up.  So we took an apartment in Midway City during her pregnancy with the intention of giving the baby up for adoption. Turns out once I saw my baby girl I wanted to keep her, so I married Bridget.

We rented a nice little house on 22nd Street in Westminster from my parents and engaged in the family life.  Before long my son Kevin came along and we started dreaming of raising our kids somewhere other than Southern California. I managed to secure a transfer of my letter carrier job to the mile high city of Prescott, AZ.

Rented a nice little house on Western Avenue sight unseen, this was before the internet, I found it advertised in the Prescott Courier.  I don’t recall where I managed to get my hands on a copy though.

Anyway, Prescott might just be the best place I ever did live.  Back then it was a bustling little metropolis of 25,000 souls nestled in the Bradshaw Mountains.  It seemed like a place I could spend a lifetime in, so I became a first time homeowner in a sweet little house on San Carlos Road.

We were living there when the marriage fell apart, so I rented a place on the other side of town on Shadow Valley Road.  It was one of those modified A-frame cabin-like things, and I shared it with two random roommates.  I fell in love with a Phoenix gal whom I met in Flagstaff and was attending graduate school in Pocatello, Idaho.  I only got to see her on the occasional weekend when I’d make the drive up north and during school breaks when she’d come home.  Thought she was going to marry me but then she wound up pregnant. With another man’s baby.

That was a pretty devastating blow and I felt the need to change my life.  So I took a job in Fort Smith, AR and rented me an apartment in the illogically named El Conquistador complex.  At least I was close to my kids again who had been staying with my mom and dad on their little 80 acre ranch across the border in Monroe, OK.

I experienced a rather lonely year before the locals determined I was “all right” despite my odd accent.  I had some success with the ladies and eventually started staying with Pamela in her apartment in Poteau, OK.  Got bored after awhile so I moved back into Fort Smith and commenced to dating Iris and Darla.  Iris was seven years older than me and Darla was 7 years younger.  I fantasized about putting Iris’ brain in Darla’s body.  Failing that, i settled for Beckie and moved into her fine house back in Poteau.  We got married and I got promoted and we moved to ourselves and the kids off to Columbia, SC where we rented a house on Greengate street.

Of course, the kids had grown accustomed to having horses, so we bought a house in Lexington on 2/12 acres that was zoned for horses.  In fact, all the streets were named after horses.  We lived on Shetland Lane.

As testament to my selfishness and degenerate character I fell in love with another woman.  Beckie moved out and Carol moved in.  Not long afterwards I got promoted to a job in Arlington, VA.  I lived a few months in an apartment in Crystal City before purchasing a house in Stafford where Carol joined me.

A few years later my misbehavior led me to rent an apartment in Arlington, but eventually I returned home to my house and wife.

In January 2005 I took a job in Seoul and had a government paid for villa in Hannam-dong. Carol was supposed to join me there but got cold feet and backed out.  I chose to stay in Korea rather than return to my American life.

I made several trips to the Philippines where the young women were more than willing to assuage my loneliness.  Then I met Se Hwa through a Korean dating site and she moved in with me for a year and a half.  She left me to move to the USA for a Masters Degree.  And there she remains as far as I know.

Not long after Se Hwa left I met Jee Yeun and we’ve been together ever since.  When I retired I bought us a house on Lockleven Drive in Columbia.  When we stayed in Seoul we lived in an apartment in Gireum-dong.

And now it has come to pass that I’m living in cozy villa in Itaewon.

By my reckoning, during the 43 years of my adult life I’ve spent roughly three years on my own.  It takes some getting used to.

 

 

7 thoughts on “Alone again (naturally)

  1. I must be at the other end of the preferential spectrum: I’ve been living alone and independently for so long that I’m in no hurry to plunge into a committed relationship. I’ve made myself self-sufficient in so many ways, and I enjoy solitude so much, that shoving my habits and routines aside to accommodate someone else seems quite a burden. My current thing with Ligament has a definite “friend zone” feel to it, but we both seem comfortable with that and are waiting to see what happens next. It’s all happening gradually, which makes it pleasant instead of jarring.

    Meanwhile, you have my sympathies: if you’re that gregarious a person, or at least in need of a life-companion (if not a whole group of friends) to see you through your days, then your current isolation probably isn’t all that pleasant. May you find your way to a better shore… but do note that, in this admirably frank and autobiographical post, there are detectable patterns that hint at a road map for avoiding such pitfalls.

    Merry Christmas, my friend. Feel me to contact me if’n you wanna hit another resto. I wouldn’t mind taking a tour of Itaewon’s best eateries. Along with Linus’s, I’m also very interested in Braai Republic, although I’ve heard that you need reservations.

  2. Kevin, thanks for your support. I actually envy people like you and my friend Dennis who have the confidence and sense of self worth to be content with living a somewhat solitary life. I am determined to find a way to be satisfied with who am alone. And yes, I’ve noted the errors of my ways that has brought me to this point in life. I’m determined to not seek solace through someone else’s love this time around. I’m channeling Whitney Houston right now… 🙂

    I’ve got nothing but time, so whenever you feel like sharing a meal give me a holler.

  3. John, you dont know me. I have been a long term voyeur of LTG (albeit now from Sydney) finding great interest in your life and times, (yep, thats a fact) and now find myself a first time contributor. Principally and eerily due to the fact our lives have had many parallels, similar age, arrived in Seoul similar time and I suspect the same challenges in life generally and partiularly during 2006 until now.
    I just wanted to say i wish you all the very best. Keep perspective and stay strong. Have a feeling you will come out the other side.
    BTW, what the hell is happening in my Itaewon!? I eventually handled the demise of Bonji some years back, Scrooge was a major shock, 3Alley ……I date back to the Gunter days and thought it would always be there. ….but Goldfish…that’s the line in the sand!
    Take care

  4. Greg, thanks for being a reader and thanks for your support. It means a lot to me.

    Itaewon has been trending to the upscale for quite some time now. Lots of the bars are having their rents raised to the point that they can’t afford to stay in business.

    I do have some good news for you though. Goldfish has been remodeled and reopened. I haven’t been back in yet, but it looks nice enough from the outside. Although truthfully I liked it just fine before. These days I spend most of my time at Shenanigans (the former Bless U).

    Cheers!

  5. Ahh, the mention of BlessU gave me a flashback to the now long disappeared dark and narrow (sometimes a bit foreboding?) pathway between Dolce Vita region to 3Alley region. Trod (stumbled) that path a few times!

    I guessed what was happening in Itaewon and sadly (at least from where i sit) the progress probably wont stop. Ironically it would seem to be driving out a lot of what Koreans came to Itaewon to experience in the first place.

    Glad to hear Goldfish survives in some form although like you i was quite at home in the old version.

    Best wishes for 2016 John.

  6. Not sure when you left Greg, but they opened up that little pathway (which I wandered many a time as well) and now the Hamilton Hotel alley runs straight through. It’s definitely increased the foot traffic.

    Itaewon is now mostly trendy restaurants and upscale bars. But the Koreans are coming in droves to eat that shit up. I see a lot more of them than I ever did before, even in the old school Western bars. Hey, the lady folk are easy on the eyes so I don’t mind…

  7. Late 2012 John.

    The Hamilton alley was well and truly opened up when i left. I was just reminiscing on the pathway when it was a metre+ wide and dark as hell.

    No argument from me on the Korean ladies ….not a one!!

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