Comments Posted By Kevin Kim
Displaying 421 To 450 Of 4,392 Comments
Martin,
You are so right. Thank you.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 24/June/2025 @ 11:16 am
Those power outages would drive me crazy. Still no generator at home? How about an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 23/June/2025 @ 6:11 pm
The Ruck March sounds like a worthy cause. What other vet-related activities are there throughout the year?
Good luck with the new venues you found. I’ve read enough of your blog to know they can often be hit or miss.
Once again, though, the gravy in those dinner pictures makes everything look like generic Salisbury steak. As long as it all tastes good, though, I guess the looks don’t matter. I’ve cooked plenty of great-tasting, ugly food in my lifetime.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 22/June/2025 @ 11:51 pm
The doc says the lenses in my eyes are for mid to long-range vision
Both eyes got operated on?
I used to be into Scrabble big time back in the day. Best of all, it didn’t require punctuation.
Some anagrams for you courtesy of an online anagram generator:
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
• millionth narco HR lady
• Admiral Horny Ill Notch (that’s “ill” as in “sick,” but capital “i”)BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
• Abraham Boink SauceDONALD JOHN TRUMP
• DJ not hump Arnold» Posted By Kevin Kim On 21/June/2025 @ 2:41 pm
I’ve done the finger-in-the-pic thing myself, many times, so I can relate.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 21/June/2025 @ 1:13 pm
Nice walk, nice day, nice beach pollution. You’re never tempted to go fishing yourself? I like the town named “Asinan” on that map. So close in spelling to “Asinine.”
Next, we went to Kokomo’s, which was closed as well. This was especially surprising because just a few days ago, I saw a post from Kokomo’s on Facebook saying that although the floating bar was gone now, the Tiki bar on the beach was open to serve you. Except it wasn’t. We checked with the receptionist at the front desk, and she said it closed because there were no customers. And now, when customers come, they aren’t open. That’s a self-defeating circle.
You see a lot of that in Korea. Never take anything literally. Not store hours, and not open/closed signs.
I guess it is not just Baloy; there are not many tourists around this time of year, and for whatever reason, the expats haven’t been out in force either.
Summer’s starting up. Shouldn’t tourist season coincide with that? I don’t get it.
The purpose of my trip was to visit MJ, a gal I had met online.
Yet I find myself drawn to your finger in the upper-left corner.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 21/June/2025 @ 1:31 am
Congrats on the group’s getting back together. Man, if I ever went to the Philippines, I’d buy a large, long-handle fishing net and a bunch of large garbage bags to start cleaning some of those places up. Hell, I keep thinking about doing that right here in Seoul.
Thirty-three is way too soon to go.
Like Jesus, according to tradition.
Seeing the old Itaewon crew again in the photos made me once more realize how fleeting friendships truly are…
Life itself is fleeting. Just one of those existential truths.
I try to stay away from drama, but there is a fair amount of it currently taking place amongst the Hash womenfolk.
Do tell. (Or might you get in trouble?)
As for whether men aren’t the problem… I think most major problems come from a combination of maleness and authority, at least historically speaking. These days, with so many women in authority everywhere, we’re beginning to see similar abuses perpetrated by women. So maybe it’s not “maleness and authority” so much as it’s just the old wisdom that “power corrupts.”
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 19/June/2025 @ 6:30 pm
Anyway, Swan got a good laugh when she overheard the bakla say to one of his/her coworkers that “My balls keep falling out of my underwear.” (S)he was wearing a miniskirt, and I didn’t look to see for myself.
Do they eat a lot of baklava in the PI?
My son can’t be bothered to send a Father’s Day greeting these days.
How many years has that been going on? Your comments about your son’s uncommunicativeness strike me as fairly recent.
I hope you left her a pearl necklace!
Both of those speech balloons are pointing at the woman! Is she talking to herself?
One of my major complaints about memes that use speech balloons is that people seem to have no idea how to draw or use them correctly.
1. The bubble part: Don’t make the text touch the edge of the bubble. Align the text so that it floats in the center of the bubble (shrink the text if you have to). No text should ever stray outside of the bubble. Don’t let the bubble dominate the image.
2. The tail part: (a) Don’t draw the tail so that the end of it sits right on the speaker’s mouth. In fact, keep the tail off the speaker’s face. (b) Point the tail at the speaker’s head. Don’t make the tail too narrow or too fat.
3. Remember that, in English, text is read naturally from left to right, and from top to bottom. Order & arrange your speech balloons that way, not backwards.
4. Proofread the English inside your speech balloons.May the rest of your week, and your weekend, be diarrhea-free. And may Swan enjoy whatever lovely, perceptive gift(s) you gave her for her birthday.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 18/June/2025 @ 7:26 pm
About that Reekay video:
1. I was surprised to hear that all of his reasons for relationship collapse had to do with the woman, and nothing to do with the expat guy. Normally, Reekay seems a lot more fair-minded in his videos.
2. Around 3:48: “Other ones will hide the fact that they’re married.” Boy, that sounds familiar. Of course, you were good enough to lay it all out for Swan (or so you say!) as to what your current marital situation is; apparently, there are Filipinas out there who aren’t quite so forthcoming as they lay their honey-pot traps. In a heavily Catholic country, you can see how being married might be a sensitive topic. Then again, because the Church is so big on guilt, Catholics everywhere often feel the need to be sneaky and scurrilous, hiding their naughty behavior from judging eyes. That’s how you end up with so many out-of-wedlock pregnancies in Catholic-heavy environments.Glad to know your squishy-squirt situation is improving. Maybe one day, you’ll be well enough to do a full-length Hash on the official trail. Tally-ho!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 17/June/2025 @ 8:35 pm
Incontinence! And you’re turning 70 soon! Right on time! You’ll have to start praying to St. Enos of the Gluteal Cleft. Bring out those diapers! I had to wear adult nappies during my first few days in the hospital after my heart attack. Fun times, pooping in bed. Turns out the nursing staff didn’t clean me thoroughly—something I found out when I was able to walk around and wash my butt using the hospital room’s smart toilet (bidet function). You can bet I spent a lot of time cleaning my gutter.
Chow down!
Is that just how she eats, or do you specifically ask Joy to flash her teeth?
Still, I am better than I was and not as good as I’m going to be.
Fingers and tentacles crossed.
re: happiness at the bottom of a bottle of beer
Have you read my friend’s novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer?
Two years ago, I was enjoying some Thai culture on the infamous Soi 6 in Pattaya
Was that already two years ago? Le temps fuit.
…and get a close-up view of the beauty of Thailand.
And they’ve all got the butt cracks that go up only halfway.
I live here and don’t get out much, but are any of you seeing this phenomenon in your country?
Not much impact in Korea, but in the States, based on the YouTube cooks I watch, Jollibee is gaining massive respect for its fried chicken.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 17/June/2025 @ 4:37 am
Yup—ça m’a passé sous le nez, as the French say: it passed right under my nose.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 16/June/2025 @ 2:49 pm
John,
At my age, I’m just as liable as any other old guy to appreciate the luscious beauty of a young, firm 20-year-old, but you’ll never catch me fucking or dating her. Not least because, mentally and emotionally, she’s still a child.
50/20 is quite the age gap. If she’s over 18, though, she’s legally making her own choices, so the label of “pedophile” is unjustified. I still think it’s creepy, though.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 16/June/2025 @ 12:55 pm
Sorry to read that you’re still sick. This, too, shall pass.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the Creepiness Formula for dating people. Divide your age by 2 and add 7. Every age under that result is creepy to date. So: 70/2 = 35, and 35 + 7 = 42, so that’s the minimum age you can date without being creepy. I think you’re safe with Swan.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 15/June/2025 @ 4:20 pm
Get well soon!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 15/June/2025 @ 7:06 am
I Filipino-ized the recipe by adding the national fruit. Hey, Filipinos like pineapple on their pizza, so why not in chili?
And did it work? What did the guests think?
Nice pics of the rooftop party. I’m glad the weather cooperated.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 13/June/2025 @ 6:10 pm
Happy Independence Day! Enjoy your gathering—the folks and the food.
The rain has once again put a damper on things around here, including the Wednesday Walkers group hike.
So does “put a damper on” mean the hike was less enjoyable, or that it was canceled?
I imagine the flat top of the “expeditionary sea base” is for helicopters.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 12/June/2025 @ 11:18 pm
Looks good! You even caught the period at the end.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 12/June/2025 @ 10:55 am
re: renewing your stay in the PI
So by asking for only 30 days this time, your plan is to go to Vietnam, then come back and immediately renew again, this time for two months? Why not renew for two months now, go to Vietnam, come back, then have plenty of time before you have to renew for the PI again? I guess you’re OK with cutting things this close.
re: cooking stuffed whole chicken
In fifteen years, she’s gonna be hanging down to her ankles unless she gets reduction surgery. She’s already hanging pretty low.
In that meme, I also see three types of errors in the text with the black background.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/June/2025 @ 4:56 pm
From your 2009 review:
Only problem was since the girl was an illegal[,] she had no due process rights[,] and Judd was told she would be deported.
Not according to today’s liberals! Due process for everyone, legal and illegal! And as some folks have pointed out: the illegals sent to Martha’s Vineyard were given no due process before being shipped away from the oh-so-compassionate rich people. Would have been nice had they been able to stay among the luxury class, but they all pled “no room, no room.” Despite those huge properties.
Looks to have been a drier-than-usual walk. I hope you enjoyed your ride with Johnny Law. Or, since it’s the PI, with Datu Law.
It was also my 350th Hash Run with the Subic Bay Hash House Harriers. My goal is to make it to 500. Wish me luck!
Good luck. 52 weeks a year… about one Hash per week… maybe three more years? Hang in there. You’ll be about 72 or 73, with 12-13 years to go to reach your sell-by date. Try for 700 Hashes.
Unless God grants the do-over life I’ve been praying for.
Looking forward to a “do-over life” is an excuse to keep fucking up this one. It’s like messing up your diet and saying, “Bah… I’ll get back on it tomorrow.” Do that enough times, and you’re basically off your diet. I’d recommend making the best of what you’ve got at this moment. And as I’ve said before, there’s no guarantee, in your do-over, that you’ll retain any wisdom from your previous life, so what’s to stop you from repeating the same, wasteful cycle? Do you feel as if you’ve got that previous-life wisdom right now? Are you currently remembering your past lives and learning from them? No? Then this is probably the best you can expect. Don’t worry, though—it’s not all gloom and doom: we all regret something. Even a lot of somethings. So we’re all in the same boat. Take some comfort in that.
The guy in the video sounds Canadian. I like his pleonastic phrase “mentally thinking.” I’d love to see an example of non-mental thinking. He’s right, though: appreciate what you’ve got in the present moment.
Do you ever show these videos to Swan? If yes, what’s her opinion? What does she think of the Filipina Pea, for example? Does she have any favorites, like maybe Reekay?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/June/2025 @ 1:28 am
Officially, it’s Seoraksan, but it’s often romanized as “Soraksan”—very archaically as “Seolag-san.” In Korean, it’s 설악산 (lit. “big, snowy mountain”). As syllables, this looks like “Seol-ak-san,” but the final “ㄹ” in the first syllable jumps over and is pronounced as the first “r” consonant sound of the second syllable in a phenomenon called “liaison”: “Seo-rak-san.” You can hear liaison in English, as with the question, “Did you forget about it?” We don’t pronounce the words in that question as “did + you + forget + about + it,” but rather as “dih + joo + forgeh + dabou + dit.” Lots of liaison going on.
I’ve never written about Dawn of the Dead, which is why I find my purported homophobia hilarious. If only the AI knew about my family.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 10/June/2025 @ 4:50 pm
You’re either AI or a hilarious human impersonator.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 10/June/2025 @ 7:20 am
I hope you enjoyed that walk. I doubt I would have: wet, humid, hot—all the factors I hate. It’s barely summer in Korea, and I’m already pining for fall.
I’m getting bored with the corny Zen lines. Anyone out there want them to continue?
“Moment of Zen” has been a Daily Show thing for years. It rides on a misunderstanding of Zen as “a puzzling mystery that must be calmly accepted.” With one “moment of Zen” already out there, I don’t need another.
Stay dry!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 09/June/2025 @ 6:41 pm
I’d make it two sentences: Listen, girl, I can’t read this. Try again.
Some might argue that your correction is okay. I wouldn’t. In my opinion, a better correction, since “Listen, girl” and “I can’t read this” are basically two independent clauses (which shouldn’t be separated by a mere comma), might be, “Listen, girl—I can’t read this. Try again.” Using a semicolon in place of the em dash would be awkward, though, given the context of a hasty command (“Listen”). You could try this: “Listen, girl. I can’t read this. Try again.” But someone might accuse you of using too many periods. A dignified solution that avoids the em dash and period might be: “Listen, girl: I can’t read this. Try again.” The colon in this context means, “Listen up for what’s to come.” But if you want naturalism more than dignity, stick with the em dash.
• Listen, girl, I can’t read this. Try again. (no—comma splice)
• Listen, girl—I can’t read this. Try again. (yes—most natural)
• Listen, girl. I can’t read this. Try again. (maybe too abrupt)
• Listen, girl; I can’t read this. Try again. (no—awkward)
• Listen, girl: I can’t read this. Try again. (dignified, but possibly stilted)In sum, I’d go with an em dash or a period. The second comma in your correction—the one after “girl”—feels like a comma splice. See this non-AI resource.
As for this:
Kev, I did remember your guidance about Yanks using “er.” But I went with it anyway because “roost er” was my play on words.
Ugh. Anything to promote the bad joke, eh? In that same situation, I would have tried to find a workaround solution, i.e., a different, cleverer play on words in this case. But that would mean making an effort.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 09/June/2025 @ 10:21 am
This chicken has come home to roost. Er…
See here.
Even my tablemates commented on how small the portion was.
Sometimes, size does matter.
Life is good, even when the food isn’t.
This seems to be the opposite of last time: a good bar for drinking, but not for anything else.
I do remember Kevin attempted to overcome the liberal dogma my nephew has been indoctrinated with, but alas, he was unsuccessful.
About as successful as getting you to write mistake-free English. When people don’t care, they don’t care. I should learn that lesson.
re: “Listen, girl, I can’t read this, try again.”
Spot the errors. (Hint: the vocative comma before “girl” is fine.) Different corrections are possible.
Enjoy the rainy season.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 08/June/2025 @ 8:40 pm
I like how the AI begins with the incorrect “Hey John” every time (no vocative comma—”Hey, John”) and ends with a bulleted list of things to explore. I’d ban (or just not publish) such comments from now on.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 08/June/2025 @ 4:25 pm
Congrats on a good followup. Enjoy the new, artificial lens in your eye. Like me with my stent, you are now a cyborg! Okay, I exaggerate.
…we both ordered the filet mignon.
Looks like a Salisbury steak!
Otherwise, life seems to have returned to normal. Rock on.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 07/June/2025 @ 8:43 pm
re: your eye
Better is better than not better.
re: French resto
“Le Soleil et la Lune” = the sun and the moon
When it came time to pay the bill, I was in for a shock. The food was reasonably priced (380 for my sandwich, 600 for the kare-kare), but I was charged 180 pesos per bottle for my San Mig Zero beer.
So it’s a good place to go for us non-drinkers. Awesome.
The Right Spot On The Roof
So we’ve changed the spelling from “The Rite Spot” to “The Right Spot,” eh? I hope your new signage reflects that change!
Dennis abhorred social media, so our contact was exclusively through email.
Can’t say that I blame him. Sorry to hear he might be gone.
Then again, if I died tomorrow, how would any of my old friends and acquaintances find out?
You write a letter to Swan, for her to find soon after you die: “Open when I’m dead.” In it, you leave step-by-step instructions for Swan to follow re: how to log on to your blog to make a death-announcement post. Be sure, in your instructions, to tell her to list whatever information you deem important re: the circumstances of your death (what day, what time, how it happened, etc.). Give her instructions as to what should be done with the blog after you’re gone: leave it up for a year? Leave it up as long as it’ll stay up? Also: have her contact people in the PI (friends), Korea (like your wife), and people in the States (like your estranged family) to let them know of your passing. Swan doesn’t have to do more than send a terse email, then the living, those close to you, can fight over how to take care of your remains: will you be buried/cremated in the PI? Buried/cremated in the States? You said you have a will, right? Maybe those specifics are already laid out in that. Or does the will need updating?
Good luck with eyeball follow-up.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 06/June/2025 @ 8:12 pm
I’m glad the surgery went well. I hope this clears up your vision, at least until the next cataract (info on cataract recurrence: they don’t recur, but cloudiness can return for other reasons).
Ready to learn some more Tagalog? “It is forbidden to throw garbage here!” Now you know.
Ah, the sign rebels (the plural noun, not the third-person-singular verb). Like seeing piles of cigarettes under “no smoking” signs. Are they really rebels, those people, or are they just cowards who wouldn’t dare litter in front of authorities?
It’s a good thing that sign was there. Imagine how it would look without it.
An interesting psych experiment would be to have two equivalent plots of empty land with equivalent foot traffic passing by them, one plot with a “no trash” sign, the other without. Which would have more trash by weight after two weeks?
A nice, albeit rainy, hike yesterday. Better wine service, though, which must have been a comfort. So: having wine or being out of stock—which represents the “Filipino way” that must be calmly accepted?
Happy healing from your surgery. I trust you’ll be all clear well before your birthday.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 05/June/2025 @ 9:21 pm
Good luck with surgery!
That’s Buddhist imagery.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 05/June/2025 @ 5:43 am
«« Back To Stats PageThe extent of the turnout for yesterday’s Hash. Most of them didn’t even attempt to do the trail.
What does that mean? They just went straight to the On-Home? But later on, you say your group got to the On-Home first. So what did these other people do?
My group was the first to arrive at the On-Home. BF’s Wet Spot and Cums Alone went out and bought some coffee. One of the beer drinkers (not me!) called them to sit on the ice for that insult.
Scott seems to be staring at someone’s crack.
Four years ago, I broke the twenty-kilometer barrier. I’m still hoping to break twenty-nine one day soon.
Since you have to build up to 29K, we ought to be seeing posts about longer and longer walks that average 10K, then 15K, then 20K, then 25K, etc. You’re a brave man to contemplate attempting 29K in that heat and humidity. I wouldn’t do it.
Eight years ago, I was out exploring my new environs around Pyeongtaek, got lost, and wound up here with no clue which way to go.
It’s okay to rely on your phone for navigation.
Reekay, in that video, says:
Now, I understand meeting up with a buddy and having a couple of beers—nothing wrong with that. But when a person needs to be around other guys that drink on a regular basis—they simply cannot get through life without having a buzz more days out of the week than not—that’s an alcoholic.
So, a little questionnaire based on Reekay’s criteria for alcoholism:
1. Would you be willing to cut off drinking at bars if you could simply drink at home?
2. Can you get through life without experiencing a buzz, or do you prefer to remain constantly medicated (i.e., life can only be enjoyed through the filter of alcohol)?What he then says about how being sober at a table full of drunks is like “listening to a bunch of babbling idiots” sounds about right to me. And it’s why I never hang around drunk people. They’re useless and boring. He’s also right about the need to have clear standards, which is a another way of saying having a moral backbone. The stuff he then says about how you have to choose high-quality people to hang around sounds a lot like crap I’ve said in the past.
In a book called Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams, Hyams writes about the idea of not hanging around people who only waste your time. To be a better-quality person yourself, you need to have better-quality people around you.
Enjoy the rain.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 03/June/2025 @ 8:27 pm