Comments Posted By Kevin Kim
Displaying 3,121 To 3,150 Of 4,403 Comments
Well, I guess you wouldn’t want the new big dog to eat the two little ones….
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 14/November/2019 @ 3:33 pm
Good luck adjusting to the new normal!
(Don’t forget to get one of these.)
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 13/November/2019 @ 9:27 pm
If you haven’t watched “John Wick, Chapter 3” yet, I highly recommend it for the attack-dog scenes. Those dogs do some amazing stunt work, and it’s hilarious, too. According to the behind-the-scenes footage, Halle Berry trained extensively with the dogs from the get-go, so the rapport you see on screen, between her and her character’s dogs, is very real.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 12/November/2019 @ 8:24 pm
So you DO have a machete! Goddammit, why were you so coy before? I kept asking and asking, and you kept saying, “Foreigners can’t have weapons.” And yet, here you are with a fookin’ MACHETE! Now the question is: do you have the gear to keep that fucker sharp? I think that’d be an excellent investment, and it’d get you working with your hands. John Mac: expert bladesmith!
Nah, I’m not actually pissed off about your coyness. Just surprised. Congratulations on arming yourself! Get a few other bladed weapons while you’re at it, and scatter them throughout your home for easy access. I’d recommend a battle axe and a leaf-bladed spear that has a point plus two cutting edges so you can either swing it or jab it. A man’s home is his castle, and you must be ready to defend your castle. Oh, and get a much bigger dog for your canine crew. One that’s psychologically unstable and will scare your housekeepers. Belgian Malinois is good; it’s basically a blackface German shepherd, so it can defend your house while doing an impression of Justin Trudeau or Virginia’s current governor, Ralph Northam.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 12/November/2019 @ 7:04 pm
Start watching Joerg Sprave’s “The Slingshot Channel” on YouTube to learn how to make your own deadly slingshots. Once you make a slingshot, buying the ball bearings is a cinch. Then, it’s just a matter of practicing. A lot like darts, but with more at stake!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 13/November/2019 @ 3:39 am
Oh, yeah: you gonna buy one of those nifty CCTV systems they sell at places like Costco? And how about motion-sensor lights? How useful are the Filipino police in situations like this? Do they help the foreigners out, or do they shrug and claim there’s nothing to be done?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/November/2019 @ 6:54 pm
Wow. Can’t say I envy you that experience. Damn. And yes: it could’ve been much worse. As for blaming yourself: ultimately, the thieves are to blame for their own actions. I see what you’re saying re: taking precautions, but a clever and determined thief will find a way around whatever obstacles you throw in his way (I realize that’s not reassuring).
Sorry to read that so many precious items got taken. That definitely sucks. I hope the computer didn’t have any irreplaceable photos or videos on it (I’m not referring to porn!). I’ve got pics and vids of my mom on my laptop. I don’t know what I’d do if that ever got stolen. And that reminds me: I ought to be backing up my files pretty regularly. So should we all, really.
Still can’t buy a gun, eh? Might be time to have a fucking crossbow 3D-printed. Or make one out of PVC pipe; there are instructional videos on YouTube.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/November/2019 @ 6:44 pm
Regarding my first comment: I’m not sure why I assumed a speed of 5K steps per hour for myself. My natural speed, unencumbered, is 6K steps/hr. So let me try the math again: I’d do 31K steps in about 5.2 hours, compared to your speed, which puts you at around 4.6 hours given your step rate of almost 7K steps/hr.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/November/2019 @ 9:05 am
Really wanna piss off the liberal ex-wife? Give her a dose of Dr. Vallicella. She seems kind of dim, though, so I suspect she’ll just label him a blowhard, too, instead of actually trying to internalize his arguments and to refute him on his own terms (which is the only way to convince anyone of anything). What on earth did you see in her? Me, I like a woman with brains. Smart is sexy.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 10/November/2019 @ 10:55 pm
31K steps is an impressive amount of walking! For me, that would represent about 6.2 hours, assuming I’m unencumbered and pain-free. For you, I’m guessing it’d be closer to 4.5 to 5 hours, given how much faster you walk—am guessing 6 kph. Your Fitbit is saying 5.2 kph, when I do the math based on the numbers shown above, but I don’t believe it. I think it’s short-changing you on speed.
Anyway, if we were to do the 30K-step Tan Creek walk, we could certainly break the walk up with extended rest periods so it doesn’t feel like one long, unbroken trudge. That would lengthen our timetable, but it might be worth it. Last thing either of us will want is to walk while in discomfort!
As you say, though, we’ll be in touch via email and can play this by ear. Rock on!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 10/November/2019 @ 7:44 pm
I don’t know whether I’ll have any leftovers from my T-day get-together (which will actually be the weekend before Thanksgiving), but if I do, and if you want to swing by my place in Gangnam, you can come on by for a decent, rib-sticking meal. Arrive early enough before the meal, and we can walk one of several possible bike routes either out toward the Han River or along the Tan Creek. We could even do a 30,000-stepper along the Tan Creek, all the way to Bundang, one way, then take a subway back and do lunch, dinner, dunch/linner, or whatever. The route’s not mountainous, so it might be boring for you, but it’s a good walk.* Bring a coat: the cold has finally arrived here, at least in Seoul.
Lemme know what’s possible. I live right next to Daecheong Station, Line 3 (orange), so establishing a meeting-point is easy enough. If we can only meet on a weekday evening, then I guess we can just do a dinner in Itaewon. My treat!
__________
*If you want hilliness, we can do my staircase-lined route, and we can hit 14 staircases ranging in size from 72 steps to about 55 steps (they get shorter as you walk west and slightly uphill along the Yangjae Creek). That’ll get your leg muscles a-workin’. Or we could meet away from my apartment and walk back to it. I did that with a Korean friend before my big walk: we met in Yeouido and walked back to my place, which was almost exactly 20 km. I had to go a bit slowly, and my friend had to sit down at one point to rest his feet, so it took us about 4.5 hours. Will you be bringing your trekking pole along?» Posted By Kevin Kim On 08/November/2019 @ 7:59 pm
What condition my condition is in
My mother spoke English fluently, but she would make certain mistakes. One of her more frequent errors was, “I pacifically said…”, and whenever I’d correct her by saying, “Specifically, Mom,” she would snap, “That’s what I said!”
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 07/November/2019 @ 5:09 pm
Man does not live by beer alone
Here’s hoping the “formal complaint” is just a bunch of fluff.
Beautiful pics of the bay. Sorry to read that the rain still bedevils your area, despite the rainy season’s being over (or is it?).
You’re a cornbread veteran, so I might be hitting you up soon for some advice on how to make a decent batch of the stuff for my upcoming cornbread stuffing. I mean, I’ve made cornbread before, but it was never to my satisfaction. The best batch I’ve ever made was from a Costco pre-mixed kit. Sweet and delicious, that was, and the perfect texture to boot. Haven’t been able to match that since.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 06/November/2019 @ 7:34 pm
“Soon, we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.”
—Albus Dumbledore, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” film versionSometimes, you just gotta do what’s right.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 05/November/2019 @ 6:10 pm
Nuestra Señora de la Soledad = Our Lady of Solitude
Nice rainbow! The PI is quite the land of contrasts, where you can start your day with a glorious rainbow and end it with a pile of garbage. Korea is loaded with similar contrasts. The States, too, come to think of it.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 04/November/2019 @ 6:57 pm
Just learned that the PI experienced a series of earthquakes. 28 dead, over 600 injured. Everything okay where you are?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 03/November/2019 @ 10:43 pm
Is this where I trot out the old “Hey—I resemble that remark!” line?
When it comes to the pronunciation of foreign words, I confess I’m not that consistent. Take “Paris,” for example. Unless I’m actually speaking French at the time, I pronounce “Paris” the American way. To pronounce it the French way sounds obnoxiously pretentious when you’re speaking English. But take the word “Angst,” which comes from German and means something along the lines of “dread, anxiety, or anguish.” I naturally pronounce that the German way, with the initial “A” sounding like “ah,” not like the “a” in “cat.” So for me, I guess the pronunciation of a foreign word is something I handle on a case-by-case basis.
That chicken pie looks tiny but delicious! Appears to have a good, delicately flaky crust. Did it have a pot-pie filling, i.e., cream, peas, carrots, onions, herbs, etc., along with the chicken? I’m now doing research into the famous “Scotch pie,” beloved of Scotsmen everywhere. It’s a simple pie with a ground-mutton filling that is minimally seasoned with salt, pepper, and apparently nutmeg. I think I’d either make mine spicier by adding cayenne, or I’d go full-on Middle Eastern and use my Middle Eastern spice-and-herb blend to amp that up into something glorious.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 03/November/2019 @ 5:32 pm
I feel your pain. The one time I recall Korea poking fun at itself was when that hilarious Mr. Pizza commercial came out years ago, satirizing the Korean cultural tendency to claim that “X was originally invented in Korea.”
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 03/November/2019 @ 12:10 pm
Hilarious video—and educational, too! Hard to find that kind of self-deprecating humor in South Korea. People here have a stick up their collective ass about the culture: you can criticize it in private, but you can never insult it in public, especially if you’re a furriner.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 02/November/2019 @ 4:44 pm
Ha! Great costumes by everyone! And who knew that you could accent any costume just by adding a bullet hole to your forehead? “The only good bureaucrat is a dead bureaucrat.” Or something. What was it Reagan said? “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”?
The photo that heads up your post is hilarious, too. Never a good idea to “dine at the Y” when Aunt Flo is in town.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 01/November/2019 @ 6:36 pm
That drying rice looks mighty familiar from my own walk. Yeah, I’d be paranoid on swaying bridges that offer no railing or rail-like lines. Discretion is often more prudent than recklessness.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 31/October/2019 @ 5:41 pm
Ah. So it’s a lot like the porn biz, then…
(A lot of Korean women have no idea how to swim, either, which has always confounded me, given that this is a peninsula.)
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 30/October/2019 @ 8:21 pm
How often do those bars have to close down when the seas are too rough? Are the bars pretty dependent on the weather, or do they stay open even when things are getting ugly? I wonder what sort of safety regulations apply to such bars. (You can tell I’m turning into an old man by the types of questions I’m asking.)
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 30/October/2019 @ 5:50 pm
I’m guessing that was a pretty hard-earned 5.5K. Am glad no one got injured. Burrito looks fookin’ good!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 29/October/2019 @ 7:04 pm
Ah—Maundy Thursday? Yeah, it’s part of the Triduum (3-day sequence) of Holy Week. According to folklore, the word is a corruption of the French word maudit (pronounce it “moh-DEE”), which means “cursed,” but Dictionary.com supplies the technical etymology:
1250–1300; Middle English maunde < Old French mande < Latin mandātum command, mandate (from the opening phrase novum mandātum (Vulgate) of Jesus’ words to the disciples after He had washed their feet). See mandate.
More on what is now more commonly called Holy Thursday here. The relationship with Maundy/commandment is that Jesus, at the Last Supper, commanded his disciples to love each other and remember his teachings.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 28/October/2019 @ 5:29 pm
I’ve been trying to figure out what that procession was all about, but I’ll have to keep on searching. October is a month for Catholics to celebrate the rosary, apparently. October 28 is the feast day of St. Jude Thaddeus. If your pic was taken the previous day, then October 27 was the feast day for St. Frumentius (who?), among others (many saints appear to share feast days). The PI has some gigantic, country-wide processions that occur at special times of the year, but I still couldn’t tell you what this specific procession was about. If it features the Blessed Virgin up at the front, it’s probably something Marian (duh), but that’s all I can tell you.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 28/October/2019 @ 2:04 pm
Thanks for the shout-out, John! You’ve been a supportive presence throughout this walk. Much appreciated.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 27/October/2019 @ 3:58 pm
Well, I’ve never been to Spain…
“We’ve all got it comin’.”
– Clint Eastwood, UnforgivenGreat-looking chili and cornbread!
And here’s hoping the new venue is successful. And that it improves the dart situation.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 26/October/2019 @ 8:01 pm
Your neck of the woods really is gorgeous when the weather is nice. And when the weather isn’t nice, at least you’ve got dawgz. Are they fetching frisbees yet?
As for commas… I can tell you’re not even trying. You reverted back to your old ways a while ago. Heh. I’ll continue my comma series once I’m back in Seoul, but to what end?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 25/October/2019 @ 5:53 pm
«« Back To Stats Page10K done in mountainous terrain is no mean feat. I couldn’t do that. The hills I’ve had to climb during this trip all featured smooth, paved roads, not rough trail. Hats off to you.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 24/October/2019 @ 6:13 pm