Comments Posted By Kevin Kim
Displaying 3,481 To 3,510 Of 4,403 Comments
Tipping is not a city in China
In many parts of the world, no good deed goes unpunished. Of course, I realize I’m preaching to the choir in sharing that pearl of wisdom: your time in Korea taught you the same thing, I’m sure.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 24/November/2018 @ 1:41 pm
Great vistas and great-looking food. Looks to have been a fun time.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 23/November/2018 @ 4:04 pm
OK, that sounds saner. Whew. Enjoy your Turkey Day meal!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 22/November/2018 @ 3:45 pm
Happy Thanksgiving to you.
32,000 steps in 3 hours is almost 11,000 steps an hour! I’m plodding along at 6,000 steps an hour. You on speed or something?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 22/November/2018 @ 1:47 pm
I was going to ask whether you’d seen that article. This isn’t the first time such an article has appeared. People all over the world squawk and gobble whenever they see random deposits of white powder.
Great photos, as always. And congrats on Number 25!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 20/November/2018 @ 4:55 pm
Congrats on the darts and on a good walk. Germans are a Volksmarch kind of people; walking up and down mountains is what they do (if they live near mountains, anyway).
I had been wondering who the burly, shirtless guy was in several of your previous pictures. I think I know who he is now. Do these gents have names? And what do they do for a living? I can’t imagine that they’re retired.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 17/November/2018 @ 8:37 pm
Sausage and Hash are a good breakfast combination. Will you be doing both, now, or are you planning to transition from one to the other?
And how on earth did Buddy’s leash get so twisted up? I guess you can lift Buddy up and let the leash un-twist while Buddy whirls around like helicopter blades…
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 14/November/2018 @ 6:50 pm
From the previous comment:
“Unfortunately, for those of us who like to drink, governing the emotions is made more difficult when we imbibe because, as we all know, alcohol lowers the inhibitions, thus regressing us into emotional infancy (or as Paul Joseph Watson calls it: emotional incontinence) and opening the door to our saying and doing stupid things that we regret later.“ [italics added]
God, it’s as if I’m a prophet!
Confucius say: “If drama always following you around, maybe because you source of drama.”
“I’d been drinking all night in celebration of my return home so was feeling no pain.”
I suspect you wouldn’t have been so “jokey” had you been less pickled. It’s amazing, though, how well you can remember the previous night despite having drunk so much. That’s like some kind of superpower.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/November/2018 @ 9:15 pm
Whoops. I wrote:
“That said, traditions like Buddhism (and, probably, Stoicism) view the passions as something that either enslave you or are enslaved (i.e., managed or governed) by you.”
That should read:
“That said, traditions like Buddhism (and, probably, Stoicism) view the passions as things that either enslave you or are enslaved (i.e., managed or governed) by you.”
Bad monkey! BAD!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/November/2018 @ 12:58 am
I’m reading a book called The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, which is a psychological exploration of why people so passionately demonize each other when it comes to politics and religion. Haidt repeatedly states one of the major findings of neuroscience and neuropsychology, which is that we are feeling beings who happen to think, i.e., feelings come first, and thoughts follow. We commit ourselves to our worldviews on an emotional level, and only then do we formulate rational, intellectual justifications for why we believe what we believe. For Haidt, then, human emotions don’t “result from thinking”: it’s more the other way around, which actually makes sense to me.
That said, traditions like Buddhism (and, probably, Stoicism) view the passions as something that either enslave you or are enslaved (i.e., managed or governed) by you. The person who is unable to control his passions ends up ruled by them, so even if the intellect isn’t the source of our emotions, it’s nevertheless the intellect’s duty to make sure the emotions don’t run rampant.
Unfortunately, for those of us who like to drink, governing the emotions is made more difficult when we imbibe because, as we all know, alcohol lowers the inhibitions, thus regressing us into emotional infancy (or as Paul Joseph Watson calls it: emotional incontinence) and opening the door to our saying and doing stupid things that we regret later.
But, yeah: it’s that battle between the rational superego and the emotional id. The dick and the brain, constantly at war. If we believe in the power of choice, though, then we affirm that we have the ability to lead dick-shaped lives or brain-shaped lives. We always have a choice in the matter.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 10/November/2018 @ 11:21 pm
Gee it’s good to be back home again
Good to see you quoting prominent Stoics. They have a lot in common—temperamentally, at least—with the Buddhists. Both schools of thought advocate a low-drama life because too much drama is a waste of time.
Welcome back! I guess Gina has already taken care of the “welcome wagon” issue. Heh.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 09/November/2018 @ 7:33 pm
Have yourself a nice, long nap after you get back to your place. You’ll have earned it. Safe travels!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 07/November/2018 @ 8:53 pm
“Apparently there’s some fucked up shit happening at her work and she wants to quit. Of course, she has a daughter to support so needs to find a new job first. She teasingly (I think) said I should fire my helper and hire her. She also told me she needs a vacation and asked (teasingly?) when I was going to take her to Palawan. I responded we could have dinner when I returned and talk about that and she said ‘okay.’ I hope she was serious.”
There’re your two red flags, right there: (1) as Not Mr. Nice Guy says, you don’t build relationships on feelings of pity or sympathy or a desire to help, and (2) she’s got a kid. Run the other way, man.
Healthy relationships are built on a feeling of equal partnership and equal empowerment. Neither partner is damaged or needy; neither has to help or heal the other; both people are, instead, all about growing together.
Switching gears: I guess you’re heading back to Asia now. Safe travels! Buddy’ll be overjoyed to see you.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 07/November/2018 @ 4:26 pm
I’m guessing you won’t know how much he misses you until you see his reaction once you’re back. Even Buddy may not realize how much he misses you!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 07/November/2018 @ 6:07 pm
By the way, I hope your dog is okay.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 07/November/2018 @ 3:14 am
Time flies! Back to the PI already! I’m glad you’ve had a good time during your stay, despite the lack of sleep.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 06/November/2018 @ 12:42 pm
Everything looks delicious. Much envy here. The brief walk also looks quite pretty.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 04/November/2018 @ 3:47 pm
Beautiful scenery! But how anyone can call that gigantic house “a cabin” is beyond me. Enjoy your time in the Blue Ridge, with all the creature comforts. The place looks amazing, as does the countryside. Quite a contrast with the Philippines, eh?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 04/November/2018 @ 12:31 am
The old saw that you should never end a sentence with a preposition is one of those long-standing grammar myths (like “Never begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction”) that refuses to die. But it’s a good indicator of whether someone is a true grammar Nazi or not: if someone over-corrects you by quoting the sentence/preposition rule, you know right away he’s a big fake.
In a linguistics class back in the late 80s, we learned about something called “petrified expressions,” i.e., groups of words whose word order can never be changed. The classic example is “put up with,” which is why no one can or will ever say, “That is not something up with which I will put”—unless he or she is joking. In the case of a petrified expression, if the expression contains a preposition, you’ve got no choice but to keep the preposition in final position.
All that being said, the above joke doesn’t work unless we go along with the spirit of the punchline (“What was 1-2-3 for?” is actually perfectly grammatical), so I’ll say no more about that.
I remember an old joke about magic. You’ve probably heard this one before.
A sex-starved woman goes to an adult-products shop and approaches the dildo counter. She asks the guy behind the counter, “Whatchoo you got that’ll satisfy my desires?” The guy considers, then reaches under the counter and pulls out a shiny golden dildo.
“Okay,” says the guy. “This is a magic dildo. You address it by saying ‘Golden Dildo!’, then you name the body part you want stimulated.” The woman eagerly grabs the golden dildo, pays the guy, and rushes to her apartment.
Once in the apartment, she places the dildo reverently on her dresser, preps herself for pleasure, sits on her bed, and commands, “Golden Dildo! My pussy!”
The dildo begins to hum… and a moment later, it obediently rises into the air, points itself at the woman’s pussy, and begins to float slowly toward her. The humming increases.
The woman’s excitement drains away as she watchs the thing approach in a slow, menacing manner, humming ever louder as it floats, and she suddenly realizes she never asked the counter guy how to deactivate the item. After trying to shout several commands at the golden dildo, the woman throws on a robe and runs out of her apartment. The dildo eagerly follows her down the hall, intent on its mission. The woman screams, tears down the stairwell, and runs out onto the sidewalk. The dildo follows.
Seeing a patrolman on foot, the woman runs up to him, grabbing at his arm and pleading, “Officer! Officer! You’ve got to help me! I’m being chased my a magic golden dildo!”
The officer stares at her a moment, then barks, “Golden dildo, my ass!”
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 02/November/2018 @ 2:07 pm
Happy Halloween!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 30/October/2018 @ 6:28 pm
A great snapshot of family life. Sydney is hilarious, and good luck to Gracyn if she has any upcoming competitions.
As for you, sir, being already drunk by 7:30 p.m., hmmm…
Good luck with the fruit salad. Will there be pictures?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 29/October/2018 @ 4:12 pm
George Lucas may have been quoting someone when he contended that history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 27/October/2018 @ 2:44 pm
Well, I guess you can also thank Jimmy. Welcome back to the States!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 26/October/2018 @ 6:42 am
Noticing the same phenomenon in France: daybreak comes a lot later. By 5:30 a.m. in Korea, it’s plenty bright outside. Here in France, the sky is barely starting to lighten at 8 a.m. Latitude?
And I too had to hit Terminal 2 in Incheon to reach my Air France flight. I took a shuttle bus from one terminal to the other; that proved to be a fairly long ride of almost 15 minutes. Maybe the train is quicker.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 26/October/2018 @ 4:28 am
Safe travels. Eat a lot of good Carolina barbecue!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 24/October/2018 @ 6:40 am
A most excellent walk. You go as fast as you do, and you’re one of the SLOW ones? Yikes.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 21/October/2018 @ 11:43 pm
I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Chewie.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 18/October/2018 @ 7:28 pm
Since the English word “boondocks” comes from some Filipino language or other, it could be that a “Boonduckit” will involve a slog through the sticks. Enjoy!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 17/October/2018 @ 7:08 pm
The date that will live in infamy…
And just like that– poof. Gone.
Women are fucked in the head.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 15/October/2018 @ 5:01 pm
«« Back To Stats PageViel Glück, mein Freund!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 12/October/2018 @ 8:54 pm