To a Friend
I ask but one thing of you, only one,
That always you will be my dream of you;
That never shall I wake to find untrue
All this I have believed and rested on,
Forever vanished, like a vision gone
Out into the night. Alas, how few
There are who strike in us a chord we knew
Existed, but so seldom heard its tone
We tremble at the half-forgotten sound.
The world is full of rude awakenings
And heaven-born castles shattered to the ground,
Yet still our human longing vainly clings
To a belief in beauty through all wrongs.
O stay your hand, and leave my heart its songs!
–Amy Lowell
Why not start off with a little poetry to cleanse the palate?
But seriously, Anjeong-ri is proving to be unhealthy for me both emotionally and physically. I continue to self-medicate with copious amounts of alcohol and I’m starting to feel the effects. Need to slow down and pace myself so I can make it until May. By god, I’ll do it or die trying! Heh.
Anyway, I’m staying relatively busy and grounded at work. Speaking of which, when I got my pay stub (well, leave and earnings statement which is posted on line) today I brought home a whopping $31 dollars and change. My first thought was oh shit, they are paying me what I’m worth! Then I remembered I work for the government and there is no such metric. It seems that through some incompetence my original appointment expired on 3 September and somehow my re-appointment was never processed. I’m told it is being “worked on” and I’ll get the money I’m owed sometime in the undefined future.
I keep extra in the checking account for contingencies such as this, so no doubt I will survive.
Hang in there.
Long time reader, but first time poster. John – we met a couple of times at Dolce Vida back in the day, though I am not a dart player, so usually was just keeping a seat warm at the bar.
Anyway, there is a saying that you cannot add time to the end of your retirement, only to the beginning.
It seems as though staying on the job is doing more harm than good. Realize that there may be financial, professional, etc. considerations at play here, but I think you have to ask yourself what you are gaining by staying in Korea for another seven months? Is what you will gain worth the trade off in a loss of seven months retirement?
Moving to the Phillipines may be just “what the doctor ordered”. 🙂
Yeah, it’s all good. Life is for learning.
Brian, thanks for commenting. Yes, it’s actually more out of loyalty to my “work family” than anything else. But if I find myself in a continued downward spiral and will pull the chord and bail.
Heading to Boracay next week which should be a good dose of medicine!
31 dollars? back in 86 that was two nights full of fun in anjenog-ri! i’m talking a short -time each night, ($10), and plenty left over for OB beer. i suspect that now you’re looking at buying a juicy a drink and sitting there watching her suck it down instead of sucking something else. gawd how i miss the olden days. Peace out!
Soju, times have definitely changed. The lady drinks are ten and that’s all they sell. Oh, and my Miller Lite’s are 6 or 7 depending on the bar…