Comments Posted By Kevin Kim
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But between there and here, Jenny had to stop and rest at least a half dozen times. I was shaking my head in disbelief that anyone could be that out of shape. In fact, I asked her if she was a smoker or had lung issues. Nope, just not used to walking, she said.
That’s pretty sad. Walking is one of the most basic of human activities. What does it say about you if you’re a failure at walking?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 09/May/2022 @ 3:36 pm
The old post begins with your feeling disconnected, but it ends with your saying that you can’t help caring. Color me confused. I get the sense that you were mentally meandering when you wrote that, and you hadn’t settled on a clear thesis. Not that you should have: blog posts are core samples of your mental state at a given moment. In this case, the MRI came out looking like a jumble.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 07/May/2022 @ 3:52 pm
The purpose of the meet-up was so I could get a feel for whether she was legit and worthy of my support. Assuming she would prove to be, I also wanted to get some clarity on how much her education was costing and what kind of assistance she required. I guess[,] in a backhanded way[,] I got my answer. Maybe she just forgot our [“date,”] but damn, she didn’t even offer any apology. And to say you are just going to blow off work because you are tired does not sound like someone who has much future as a [human-resources] professional. Pretty disappointing[,] really. She sent me a message this morning[,] asking if I would see her at work today[,] and I told her I have darts tonight. I’ve kind of lost interest in this project now.
Can’t say I blame you. Samantha’s old enough to have a basic notion of responsibility. If she’s still acting like a child, then I expect her to make a series of bad life-choices that will see her pregnant with her third child by age 25 and plaintively begging some Western sugar daddy for $$$ while feeding him some BS sob story about her oh-so-hard life. That seems to be the template for so many women in the PI, judging from all you’ve written. If some Western guy were to grab such a girl and give her a genuine, stable life in the States, I suspect she’d do something to fuck it up. Because in life, we establish a mean, and we—most of us, anyway—always return to it.
Samantha can find a second chance with someone else.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 06/May/2022 @ 6:48 pm
Congrats on the 9-4 darts victory.
That hike looked less hilly than previous ones. I might be persuaded to hike a route like that.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 05/May/2022 @ 5:08 pm
I appreciate the shout-out.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 04/May/2022 @ 6:41 pm
re: your other post about Canadians
I had an email exchange with Jenn some years back, but she seemed mentally frazzled and not all together in the head, as if she were working some life-problems out. Since then, I’ve heard nothing from her despite her promise to write again. I hope she’s okay, but whatever she’s up to, these days, seems to have no connection with her previous existence. Strange and a little sad. You heard from her?
A walk among the dead is a good memento mori. We are dust particles that gain temporary coherence and dance a while before sloughing back shapelessly into the greater Whirl. Whatever meaning is to be found in all that activity is the meaning we create, I think.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 03/May/2022 @ 8:08 pm
Looks as though you can shift into teacher/mentor mode with young Samantha. Help her out by giving her some real-world HR hypotheticals—how would you solve this or that personnel problem, and why? She can learn the principles of good HR management that way. Good luck as you put on your sensei hat.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 02/May/2022 @ 4:31 pm
Your Boomer reign is secure. I got 10 wrong, for a score of 20/30. I’ve got a lot to learn about old car models, 60s tech, and gas prices from decades ago.
Condolences re: Jason. Death comes for us all, eventually.
Pie and ice cream look good.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 01/May/2022 @ 7:11 pm
Looks to have been a tough trail, and I learned something new: the term “bushwhacking” can simply mean “moving through the woods.” I had always thought that bushwhacking involved actual whacking, e.g., with a machete. The term has other meanings as well (e.g., ambushing, killing/assassinating), but I knew those already.
Ice cream on the trail is always good.
Learn to play pool! Then give us a progress report on your eight-ball prowess in six months.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 30/April/2022 @ 6:39 pm
So there’s a project: get good at eight-ball!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 29/April/2022 @ 3:56 pm
Yeah, Aine strikes me as too demure to be flashing her real titties around. That said, that faux top sure “faux”led me.
Looks to have been a good walk. And congrats on darts!
With your mini Grand Canyon pic, you missed a perfectly good opportunity to make a “so depressing” pun. That’s depressing!
I still have that black shirt. It’s got a few more holes in it, now, but it’s still wearable. And I’m sure you’d still kick my ass on hills. Hill and staircase training are not to be underestimated. Very good for cardio.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 28/April/2022 @ 3:11 pm
Sorry to hear about the money troubles. Surely, there’s got to be an easier way to access your own $$$, no?
Weird to see a back-scratcher without the usual “효자손” (hyoja-son, the good son’s hand) written on it. Pretty much all the bamboo back-scratchers that you can buy in Korea are labeled this way; ironically, almost all of these scratchers are made in China.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 27/April/2022 @ 5:09 pm
Can’t say I envy you the heat. Pray for rain!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 26/April/2022 @ 5:54 pm
Club sandwich looks appetizing. Can’t imagine not being able to finish it, but I guess that’s why you weigh less than I do!
Short-but-nice walk, finishing early, I imagine. Nice to have the rest of the day to do whatever you please.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 25/April/2022 @ 5:34 pm
Pork chops look good!
Congrats, I guess, on winning third place in darts. Nice of you to fork over your winnings.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 24/April/2022 @ 3:11 am
cheesesteak + bulgogi = interesting combination
Did Joy’s tacos explode on her, or did she figure out a dainty way to eat them without mishap?
Ah, Springsteen. Another wokie. But if you stop listening to wokies, who’s left to listen to aside from twangy, nasal country-music singers (shudder)?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 22/April/2022 @ 9:53 pm
Aine looks good in that photo (I assume that’s her on the right), but Anna, with her face all scrunched up, looks like an old man.
The taco looks intriguing, but with that sauce covering everything, I couldn’t see what the contents were, alas. Shall I assume seasoned ground beef or chicken? Sorry to hear the thing exploded, but that’s what you get with the crunchy shell. Those things are an engineering nightmare, unable to withstand shear force as your teeth crunch down. Might as well order a taco salad. My favorite is probably soft shells that have been deep-fried or pan-fried, as with a chimichanga or a pan-fried burrito.
Almoranus (spelling?) is looking less man-booby these days; he’s getting back into form.
Snakes! I was on the lookout for snakes during my recent Saturday hike, but none appeared, unfortunately. If your house isn’t being invaded by mice, it could be that you should thank a snake for that fact. Every snake is a tiny representative of Jormundgandr.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 21/April/2022 @ 6:34 pm
Congrats re: darts. You win some, and you win some.
Fish & chips look pretty good, although the fish pieces look a bit stubby and truncated. Compare.
Nice to have all that money rolling in, eh? What level were you when you retired, like GS-14 or 15? I’ve always found it ironic that you’re a conservative, but you worked for the government, and you continue to receive government benefits. Uncle Sam thanks you, I’m sure! What turned you against him? And how many other conservatives, do you think, are quietly working in government positions? Is there a right-leaning Deeper State hiding under the Deep State?
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 20/April/2022 @ 4:54 pm
Depending on where you start the Camino francés (usually in France, then you cross through the Pyrenees and Basque country, then finish in Spain), it could be around 900 km, so it sounds as if that’s the trail she took. I don’t think any of the other routes are nearly as long. If 630 km in Korea takes me a month to do, at my slow pace, then 900 km in France and Spain could be at least 1.5 times that… but if Liv is super-athletic, and if she exceeds 30 km a day for every day of that trip, she might get the whole 900K done in a month.
A movie called “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen, offers some beautiful cinematography of the Camino, including the eateries that serve as a temptation when you find yourself in this or that town. I really need to rewatch and review that movie.
You should ask Liv to show you her compostela. People usually consider that a pretty meaningful souvenir.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 19/April/2022 @ 6:27 pm
Which Camino did Liv do? I think the longest and most popular of the nine is the so-called French Way (el Camino francés), which is about 800 kilometers. My buddy Mike is thinking he and I should do the final 100K of the French Way, which is enough to earn our compostela (official stamped certification) for the trip. I think Mike needs to think bigger, but he’s never done any real distance walking, so 100K sounds enormous to him.
This compunction to litter
Pretty sure you mean “compulsion,” as a compunction is a hesitation.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 19/April/2022 @ 3:55 pm
Good luck with the hike. I’m typing this in the very late morning, so your hike might be over already. If so, I hope it was a good one. Happy post-Easter!
Speaking of which, that Easter spread looked good.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 18/April/2022 @ 12:17 pm
Okay, so that’s definitely not the meat’s fault, and putting that huge hunk in while it’s frozen is just insane. Meat needs time to thaw. If you buy the meat frozen, plan ahead by letting it thaw in your regular fridge for a day, preferably two. It might still be a little frozen after a single day of thawing in the fridge, but it’ll be in a better state than it had been. Or, if you’re lazy, just put the frozen meat in a pan (keep it in its plastic) and let it sit on your counter at room temperature for at least three hours. It won’t spoil on you in that amount of time, especially if it’s still wrapped up. When it’s much softer, unwrap it, split it up, and dunk it in your crock for its eight-hour bath.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 18/April/2022 @ 12:10 pm
Meat that cooks for 8 hours in the crock pot really ought to be falling-apart tender, no matter the cut. What do you think might be going wrong? Are you putting the roast in whole or something? To distribute the heat through the meat better, cut the meat into three or four large chunks.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 18/April/2022 @ 7:41 am
The food might not have tasted good, but it photographed well.
Congrats re: darts!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 17/April/2022 @ 3:48 pm
The guy carrying the cross could be in the role of Jesus, or possibly that of Simon of Cyrene, who was forced to carry Jesus’ cross partway to Jesus’ eventual crucifixion.
The Philippines is one of the few places where you’ll see non-monastic self-flagellation (one type of mortification of the flesh, along with fasting, etc.) in a Christian context.
Sorry to hear about beef-related price hikes. Things are getting expensive here in Korea, too. Good motivation to eat less! Yay, Joe Biden!
Meanwhile, enjoy your Sacrament of Urine.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 15/April/2022 @ 8:05 pm
I’m appreciating the Chinese numbers on the calendar shown in the first picture: 十三, 十四, 十五, i.e., 13, 14, 15 (literally 10-3, 10-4, 10-5).
There are Protestants who say “Maundy Thursday,” but that may be more of a “high church” thing (i.e., Protestant churches, especially Anglican/Episcopalian, that have an almost Catholic sense of ritual, robes, and Latin-style terminology, such as with us Presbyterians or with certain types of Methodists and Lutherans—in contrast with the “low church” sensibilities of more congregationalist or evangelical denominations like, say, Southern Baptists or charismatic Christians in the Deep South), or it could simply be that you never went to a Holy Thursday service, where such a term would be used. A lot of Christians are what are called “Christmas-Easter Christians,” visiting the church only twice a year, thus swelling the normally empty pews. Such Christians are generally not in touch with the overall rhythms of the church community, so they don’t know the terms. I myself have been out of touch for a long, long time.
Hey, Mr. I’m Paying More Attention to Commas:
Shared those with the gals at Hideaway bar and they were pleased.
And of course, the next day was Good Friday so almost everything remained closed.
What’s the problem with the above? (This problem occurs several more times in this post, just as it does in all your others.)
Use a comma-conjunction to separate independent clauses (or use a semicolon). If you still can’t recognize an independent clause after all the damn work I’ve done on my blog trying to explain what one is, then I’ve taught you nothing, and I’m a shit teacher. I keep saying that, if you master only Parts 1 & 2 of my series on commas, you’ll correct 95% of your errors, but mastery seems to be long in coming. Reread, reread, reread. Get to the point where you can teach me what an independent clause is. Then, I’ll know you’ve mastered the thing. I’ll be waiting.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 14/April/2022 @ 7:11 pm
That’s some pretty heavy-duty conspiracy-theorizing. Even my lizard-people friends think the idea is crazy.
re: darts
Better luck next time.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 13/April/2022 @ 4:24 pm
Helluva walk. Even at under 3K, that would’ve felt ten times longer had I been hiking that.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 12/April/2022 @ 4:42 pm
Irene looks good and has a nice smile. My favorite, though, was the one in the photo simply captioned “Sweet,” despite her being in mid-blink.
Happy Hashing!
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 11/April/2022 @ 4:21 pm
«« Back To Stats PageWithout a “k” in there, “fralicing” would be pronounced “FRAY-liss-ing.” (Cf. panic, panicking; traffic, trafficking; mimic, mimicking; frolic, frolicking.) Even with the “k,” there’s the problem of pronouncing that first “a.” Generally, if the “a” is followed by a single consonant and then a vowel, it’s a long vowel (“ey”). Tracing, gracing, making, taking, hating, shaping, etc. There are exceptions, of course, like balancing, which we don’t pronounce “BAY-lan-sing.” (Same for laminate.) But in general, you need to follow the “a” up with two consonants to make the “a” into a short-vowel “ah” or “aw” sound (as in spamming, jamming, father, calling, manners, fallow, etc.).
Switching gears: original chili has no beans or tomatoes in it if we go back to chili’s Mexican roots. Old-school chili doesn’t use ground beef, either: it uses slow-cooked, shredded beef, and the deep-red color comes entirely from the peppers. But like pizza, chili has been appropriated by many different cultures, and while only one type of chili is the original chili, who’s to say that chili with beans and tomatoes isn’t legitimately good? You do you. From the pics of your chili that I’ve seen, your chili looks pretty damn good. I was surprised you hadn’t entered the contest yourself, what with your reputation as a local chili guy.
» Posted By Kevin Kim On 10/April/2022 @ 2:35 pm