* Not to be confused with choking the chicken or spanking the monkey.

After yesterday’s birthday ruminations, I decided to get off my ass and assert some control over my life.  Ah, but where to start?  Changing who I am at this late stage of my life is likely a bridge too far, but I’ll be damned if I can’t change the way I look!

Shaved off the Walrus-stache and got me a Korean haircut. So here you have the “new” old me. Hey, baby steps, right?

And what can make you feel younger than celebrating your birthday with old friends.  And by old I mean older than me.

Corine and Dennis joined us for a night on the town. We go all the way back to the Postal Service days together. I hired them both in Korea. Corine retired last year and Dennis is hanging it up in January. I was quick to let them know that I was the only one present still in his 50s. Excluding that young whippersnapper Jee Yeun who has not left the glorious 40s yet. She will next year though…

After some warmup drinks at Shenanigans (where the bartender kindly gave us a free shot in honor of my birthday) we headed out to one of my old favorite restaurants, Don Valley.

I had a steaming hot bowl of bulgogi. It’s the best bulgogi I’ve found anywhere. I’m not much of a rice eater, but dumping my bowl of rice into that sweet juice is heavenly. We also partook in some samgyapsal and dwaegi galbi. Yum! And oh yeah, the waitress gave me a free beer for my birthday!

After dinner we retired to my longstanding bar home, Dolce Vita.  It was pool league night so the place was hopping.  And all the young women were saying how handsome and young I looked with my dashing haircut and clean-shaven face.  Well, they didn’t actually say that, but I’m pretty sure they were thinking it.

And for the record, when I say “all the young women” I mean this one in particular…

Anyway, it was a nice night out on the town.