It looks like I will be spending Thanksgiving in what’s left of Columbia, SC.  I booked my flight with American Airlines this morning.  Getting there is going to be pretty sweet (well, defining sweet as the least amount of time as possible crammed into a couch seat) as we have a direct ICN-DFW flight.  Just over 17 hours with the connection to CAE.  The return is via Narita and will take 24 hours.  I’ll worry about that discomfort later.

I tried to book on United from work yesterday where I found an incredible fare of $980. For whatever reason the internet connection kept timing out when I tried to pay.  From home this morning the same flight was over $1100 and I couldn’t bring my self to pull the trigger. Instead I cashed in the miles I’ve accumulated on my credit card which paid for one $1300 American ticket and part of the other one.  So I’m one thousand bucks out of pocket for both tickets and not complaining (much).

In other news I beat my arch rival Vidal in darts last night 9-7 and I’m real happy about that.

ROKdrop shared this link to some photos of North Korean women.  I was struck by their natural beauty.  Just last night I was having a conversation with one of the bartenders at Shenanigans about how too many women in southern Korea engage in needless plastic surgery.  Her day job is writing for the fashion industry and she too was distressed about the trend of many Korean females to try and “westernize” their appearance.

There is just something about a traditional Korean look that trips my triggers. Or maybe I’m just old fashioned. Or old.

Speaking of old, as part of the above referenced conversation with the bartender we talked about getting older.  She’s all of 28 and already feeling like life is passing her by. Being 60 myself I found it difficult to muster much empathy.  I told her the worst part about being old for me was becoming invisible.  She didn’t get it of course, but what I meant was I’m surrounded by a sea of Korean beauty but to the young and attractive I may as well not exist.

In some countries I’m still a “hansome man”. Not so much in Korea.

In unrelated news, I awoke to the sound of thunder this morning.

Into each life some rain must fall.

And finally, there’s this:

I’ll put this in the category of things can always be worse…