Easter Sunday we went to the movies with Lonnie and Jaime to see The Hunger Games.  Everyone else thought it was great, I found it entertaining but not spectacular.  I hadn’t read the books but had heard some of the criticism that it was derivative of other works.  I’m not sure why that matters or how it differs from most movies which draw inspiration from numerous sources.  I won’t engage in spoilers, but from my perspective this future world is what we can expect when we become pawns of the government, an Obamatopia if you will.  I also noted that “the 1%” living in Capital City were clearly liberals because they dress just like many of the folks I’ve seen in San Francisco. Anyway, the future portrayed was like North Korea on steroids.  Enough said.

This is the first time I’d been to a Korean movie theater in several years.  The best thing about it compared to the USA is that it is relatively cheap.  I scored a large popcorn and large Coke Zero for W7,000, less than half what I would have paid back home.  I also like that you get assigned seating when you purchase your ticket.  I really should go more often.

We saw the movie in Myeong-dong and the theater was up on the eighth floor.  As we were coming down the kaleidoscope of escalators a voice called out “Jee Yeunah”!  It was our old friends Bill and June Rago from Nowon out for an afternoon of shopping.  Apparently, I stand out in a crowd of Koreans for some reason.  We had a brief visit and made plans for lunch on Wednesday.  In a city of 13 million it was quite a coincidence to encounter some folks I actually know that way.

Later on we walked around the shopping district looking for a place to eat.  As much as I enjoy Korean food, we all agreed something different was in order.  We settled on a place called “Pane Pasta” which none of us had previously tried.  And it was good.  The weird thing was after we got home we saw on Facebook that Jee Yeun’s daughter and friends were in Myeong-dong and they were trying a new restaurant–Pane Pasta.  What are the odds of that?

Last night was darts night and we took on the boys from Dillinger’s Bar.  I contributed an 8-1 showing in a 20-5 victory.  Our team is in first place and this win will go a long way to keeping us there.

We took the bus home and on the 40 minute ride I counted 7 Paris Banquettes and 1 McDonalds.

It’s raining today and that’s perfect nap weather.  I just woke up from mine.  And that brings you up to the minute on my fascinating life in Korea.