It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about darts.  We won last night’s match against Dillinger’s 16-11, and so we remain undefeated going into the final match of the regular season next week.  We’ll be playing Sin Bin, the second place team, so we are going to have to work hard and earn it to win out.

I had an interesting match in singles.  I was down quite a bit in 501, then my opponent struggled with hitting his out and I managed to come back and win the leg.  Then in cricket I was WAY down until I did this:

Yes, for the first time in my darting career I managed to pound 3 double bulls in competition. That got me back in the game, but I was still down. On my next throw I hit 3 single bulls, which put me up on points. Then I hit a 6 mark to close out two of my open numbers, setting me up for an unexpected comeback win. (the photo is from Google Images, I’m not gauche enough to stop in the middle of a match to take a photo of my amazingly fantastic dart throw…)

So, it may come as a surprise to long-time readers but I’ve made the decision to take a break from darts at the end of this season.  The truth of the matter is I’ve lost my passion for the game.  I rarely practice, and notwithstanding my improbably good performance last night, my game has really deteriorated.  2017 is right around the corner and I’ve got lots to get done in preparation for my new life, whatever that may be.  At the least, I’ll need to travel somewhat more frequently as I scout out possible venues for life of re-retirement.

In other news, the weather has turned colder but that hasn’t chilled my enthusiasm for getting my steps in.

Had to break out the old wool cap for the first time this season…

Walking to work this morning I slipped a pic of my fall trip.

It was also a beautiful day for my lunchtime walk.

And so I took the long route home from work along the Han riverside.

I’ll say this for cold weather, it saps the piss right out of me.  Literally.  I always use the toilet just prior to leaving the office.  I had to pee again 30 minutes into my walk.  And then I had to pee again 30 minutes after that.  I then detoured to Naksapyeong station to use their toilet before I could make it home.  Now mind you, I was not drinking anything along the way, so where in the hell is all that liquid waste coming from?

I’ll leave you to ponder that mystery.  24,000+ steps have left me tired tonight.

So, apparently my phone did not survive yesterday’s walk in the rain.  I’m told that W170,000 will fix the problem.  Meanwhile I’ll use my not as nice but sufficient back up phone.

Took a 12-4 beating tonight in darts.  I was playing one of the top players and actually threw decent darts.  Decent doesn’t beat quality though.  Oh well.

Otherwise, everything is just peachy with me.

Back from my quick overnight getaway to lovely Songtan.  Played the Saturday darts tournament at Xenis Bar.  Came away with a second place finish, good for W40,000.  And my bar tab was only W46,000.

I ran into an old friend from Seoul at the tourney. Used to play darts with him back in the day but hadn’t seen him in years. Nice to see you again CH!

It was a long night though.  Because of my position in the bracket I didn’t throw my first dart until 9:30.  And I threw my last dart 3 hours later.  After the tourney I went and visited my new old friends at Friends Bar (I’d met them on my last trip).  It’s a friendly place and it made me feel good to be welcomed by name.

And now I have a confession to make.  I cheated last night.  I was unfaithful.  In my defense I was pretty drunk and my judgement was impaired.  Now, I knew what I was doing was wrong but when I saw her I couldn’t resist.  I walked on by the first time confining myself to a lustful glance.  But then I circled back and said “fuck it, I’m going for it!”.

Yes, it’s true.  I indulged myself in some McDonald’s french fries.  Truthfully, they were not as good as I remembered.  And now I must deal with the guilt (and the carbs I consumed).  Oh well, lesson learned.

I stopped drinking San Miguel Lights just before 2:00 a.m. I was feeling a little stiff so I popped into the Bali Massage joint to get the kinks worked out.  My shoulder was still feeling sore from Friday’s tumble.  The massage was excellent (and completely legit) and I left there feeling both inebriated and very relaxed.

Despite going to bed at 3, I was up at 8 and made my way to the Osan Air Base bus station.  I had the good fortune to arrive just in time to catch the bus departing for Yongsan Garrison.  Back in the villa at 10, started the laundry and pork roast.  I’m so damn domesticated!

What else?  Well, there’s this:

Where does the time go?

And finally, today is Mother’s Day and of course I am thinking about mine.  Gone over five years now, but I carry her with me in my heart each day.  Wish I’d been a better son when I had the chance.  If your mom is still with you, go give her a hug.  Right now.

Today we had an organization day at work.  Which is perhaps best defined in this instance as having a cookout in the little park-like area in front of our office building.

Menu featured steak, brats, burgers, various side dishes, and pie (pecan and pumpkin).  It turned out pretty damn fine all and all.  And I’ve got the photos to prove it.

Mr. Kang kept a close watch on the steaks until they were grilled to perfection. All we had was plastic cutlery, be we managed to cut the meat into tasty morsels anyway…

Leb was our other chef, he’s pictured here enjoying the fruits of his labor…

Some of our merry troupe…

And some more of them…

The boss capturing his own memories. That’s our building in the background…

After our longish luncheon, it was back to work.  Upon which I discovered that my computer was malfunctioning.  The mouse was non-functional for one thing which prevented me from going through the log-in procedures required to access the network.  I unplugged and re-plugged the mouse.  No dice.  I rebooted to no effect, so I rebooted again.  Still stuck on the log-in screen I called over our IT guy, Mr. Kang.  In short order he discovered the problem:

Someone had taped this over the light on the bottom of my mouse. Yep, I’d been pranked big time. It didn’t take much sleuthing to identify the culprit. I’ve been considering the best avenues for revenge and I do believe I have a plan. It involves spiders…

In other news, on Sunday I traveled down Osan way for one of our periodic grudge matches against the Songtan Darts Association.  Sadly, I forget to pack my game and turned in a pretty embarrassing performance.

We traveled down in style on this rented bus. The ride back was much more drunken…

We broke into four teams and played head-to-head. In the end, we kissed our sister. Two of our teams won their matches, as did two of theirs. We will reconvene next month in Itaewon and try and break the tie.

Songtan and Itaewon players in attendance. The Songtan bunch were great hosts and kept it fun and easy.  I’m the old fucker way in the back.

One final anecdote.  Today I sent an email to a co-worker that went something like this:

Ms. Yi:  Here’s is an example of a hearing summary I drafted.  I used Mr. Yi’s minutes from a previous hearing.  If you want to compare, perhaps Ms. Yi can supply you a copy of Mr. Yi’s work.

Hell, the damn thing confused me and I wrote it.  I read it out loud to my cubicle mate (a Korean who is one of the few on our staff not named Yi) and she laughed her ass off.  I went back and added first names to make my meaning clearer.

Ah well, all in a days work.

…which technically began Monday night.

As regular readers know I spend my Monday nights engaged in throwing pointed projectiles in the Seoul International Dart League.  Last night was no exception as we ventured out to play the Tailors at a new bar in Itaewon called Fabrik.

It’s a smallish place, although I guess it has more than one floor. I confined myself to the area where the dart boards were located however. It’s not the type of place I would go to if I weren’t playing darts though. No real bar to belly up to and frankly, the service was somewhere between slow and non-existent.

Anyway, I’m ranked #15 in the “A” division and I faced off with the #2 player in the first round of Cricket singles. I was accordingly quite pleased to walk away with 2-1 victory in that match.  I swept the next round of singles, and then went 3-3 in doubles.  Going into the last leg of doubles our team had managed to win 19 legs (20 wins the match) and I scored a bullseye with my last dart to secure the victory for the Dillinger’s team.  I admit to telling myself as I stood at the oche (throw line) “hit this fuckin’ bull so you can go home.”  I did and then I did.  Even after the match point has been decided, there are still 3 team legs to play, regardless of their meaninglessness.  I know the guys get irked when I bail early and leave them shorthanded in the team match, but damn, I’m 60 years old and need my sleep!

It was 11:00 p.m. when I left the bar which got me home at 11:45 and into bed at midnight. Five and half-hours later I was up and preparing for my day at the office.  And that just ain’t enough for me anymore.  I was dragging ass all day.

I did have an interesting experience on the subway ride home.  I caught line number 4 at Samgakji and was happy to have found a seat.  In fact, the car was surprisingly empty.  I noticed the girls across from me covering their faces with scarves before I noticed the smell.  And then I saw that someone had taken a dump on the floor in front of the old folk’s seats.  Damn, that was a first for me.  I was far enough away that I could tolerate the odor, but it was pretty gross to see.  Finally around Myeong-dong someone got the courage to enter the shit-zone and report the problem on the emergency phone.  When the train paused at Dongdaemun a cleaning woman boarded and scooped the shit into a dustpan, and then hopped off again leaving a big brown smear across the floor.  And you thought there was no excitement in my life?

This morning after making the reverse journey to Samgakji I exited the station and observed a pigeon happily pecking away at a big ole pile of vomit someone had left on the sidewalk (a street pizza if you will).  I thought to myself now there’s a perfect bookend. And then proceeded on with my day in the land of the morning regurgitation calm.

I won my singles league match on Sunday 12-4.  That was pretty hot, but not as hot as I got under the collar.

As the score indicates I pretty much dominated my opponent.  He was so demoralized that he wanted to quit half way through the match.  I prevailed upon him to continue playing.  I took the first leg of the final set, and he won the next two.  Then the fireworks started.  He said we had only played two legs (the ones he won).  I told him no, we had played three and I reminded him I had won the first and had marked it on the scoresheet accordingly.  He disagreed and then asked me what my out was in the first leg.  I told him “hell, I don’t remember what the out was, I just know we played it and I won or I wouldn’t have marked it on the scoresheet.  He repeated, what was your out.  And then I got pissed.  I slammed my darts down and aggressively told him that I don’t cheat at darts and moreover I had no reason to cheat because I had already won the match.  He backed down in the face of my anger and we finished out the match.  I won the remaining two legs handily.  We made up when it was all over, but obviously I was and am offended.  I take pride in my integrity in darts and to have that impugned with no basis was a bit much to take.  Oh well.

I was also on fire Monday night, but in a good way.  I went 6-0 in singles including this game:

The best ever cricket game I’ve ever played. I threw four straight 7 marks and finished with three in the bullseye. Damn, I wish I could replicate that on a semi-consistent basis. Instead, I’ll just have to chalk it up to being a miracle.

Monday afternoon at work the Director called me into his office.  The Deputy Director is leaving next month and he asked if I was interested in being his replacement.  I declined the promotion.  Here’s the thing.  I haven’t looked it up, but I suppose I might have gotten a $15,000 boost to my salary.  And while I like money just as much as the next guy I just don’t need the aggravation.  As Deputy I would have to deal with whatever internal staff issues that arise and even worse, I’d have to deal with the politics of keeping the big brass appeased.  I’ve been there and done that and at this stage of my life I value minimal stress more than money.  I actually enjoy being a simple Action Officer who does his work competently and goes home with no worries at the end of the day.  Plus, I felt like I owed my supervisor some loyalty given that she had waited so long for me to clear the hurdles getting hired.  She’s a good boss and we’ve bonded nicely and I feel like I can add every bit as much value to the organization in my current job.  And finally I explained to the Director that I was not comfortable blocking some other worthy candidate from a promotion opportunity.  Can you imagine working hard to get yourself ready to advance in your career and patiently waiting for some old fucker to retire so you could finally move up only to have some retiree take the job?  No, I don’t want to be that guy.

Today I had my semi-annual appointment with the hilarious Dr. Yoo.  He was happy that my blood work looked good and my cholesterol levels were holding steady in the acceptable range.  He asked how I was doing with the smoking and I honestly told him I hadn’t had a cigarette in months.  Then I confessed that I was enjoying ingesting vapor to get my nicotine fix.  He responded that vaping was just as bad as smoking.  Well, I’m no doctor but I know that is not the case.  In addition to my internet research on the topic I can attest to how much better I feel since I gave up tobacco.  No heavy chest in the morning, no coughing and wheezing, no hocking up gunk from the depths of my lungs. We argued for a bit and then he said “well, regardless I’m more worried about that belly of yours.  He explained that carrying the weight around the middle was a recipe for diabetes and heart disease (both of which have occurred in my family history).  Couldn’t argue with him there and I told him I’d work at losing some weight before my next appointment in February.  I know I can do it, because I’ve done it before.  It’s a lot harder to do (for me anyway) in Korea.  My big handicap here is my fondness for beer.  In the states at least I could drink the low carb shit (and shit it is indeed–low carb beer is like making love in a canoe.  Fucking close to water).  Here, it is just not available.  Oh, Shenanigans has bottles of Miller Light, but that’s not really all that low in carbs.  Plus, it’s like W6000 for 12 ounces versus W3000 for a frosty 16 ounce mug of OB.  Nope, gonna have to work on walking more and laying off the ice cream some.  At least that’s the plan.

It’s all good.  I’m 60 and loving it.  Although I still wish I could be this guy again.

Didn’t have to worry about carbs back in those days. Maybe I should have.

Sunday morning I drove my new/old car to Yongsan Garrison with Jee Yeun as my navigator.  The purpose was to make sure I was prepared for my Monday morning commute.  The GPS that came with the car has proven to be essentially worthless, which may be due to the fact that we have no instructions and we haven’t manged to fully grasp the intricacies of its operation.  Plus, the previous owner did not give me the equipment to mount the sucker on the dashboard.

Anyway, the way I get to work is to turn right on the main drag outside my apartment building, turn right again at the first main intersection, turn right at Korea University, turn right onto highway 6, drive a fair piece until I can make a left turn on the road that goes past Seoul station, then turn left towards Yongsan High School, another right, and then enter the base through the Camp Coiner gate.  Easy as pie.

We did a little shopping at the PX, had lunch at the food court, and then headed home.

I brought home this fine crock pot from the PX. So sometime in the coming days I’ll be doing up some pulled pork barbecue. I also dropped twenty bucks on a “universal” mount for the GPS. I guess my GPS is from another universe because there was no way to make it fit. I played with it some more today using velcro strips, but those have proven not strong enough to hold it in place. Maybe I’ll go with superglue…

Took a different route going home.  Out the MP gate, past City Hall and the American Embassy, turn right at the Blue House, drive until I see the sign for the Hyehwa rotary, first right in the rotary, then a straight shot on home.  Who needs GPS?

I made it in Monday morning on my own with no getting lost, no accidents, and only blowing through one red light (that I know of).  And that was at a crosswalk, so no big deal, right?  35 minutes door to door.

My chariot. Ain’t she a beaut?

With a fine ass to boot. Ahem.

I’ll be driving in every Monday and driving home on Wednesdays with a boot full of groceries.  And hopefully we will do some weekend road trips now and again.

I took the subway back into Itaewon Sunday afternoon for my Singles League match.

The 15-1 victory took some of the sting out of last week’s 14-2 shellacking. My opponent wasn’t pleased, but hey, I was on my game and he wasn’t. It happens.

Monday night we faced off with our sister team from Dillinger’s (the Dill’s Pickles), the strongest team in the league and one we’ve never managed to beat.  I was full of confidence but drew their top Korean player in every fucking match.  He whipped 6-0 in singles, but with a partner we went 3-3 in doubles.  Despite my lackluster performance, we somehow found ourselves tied at 19 going into the final leg.  I came to the board facing a 60 out, and threw a double 20, double 10 for the victory.  It was an exciting finish and I felt at least partially redeemed.  And then the bar picked up my tab as a birthday gift.  I’d call that a good night!  Even made it to bed by 11:30 which gave me 5 hours sleep, my bare minimum it seems as I made it through today without my usual Tuesday blahs.

Speaking of my birthday, here’s some of the guys responsible for my sorry state of inebriation on Friday night.

At the two extremes are co-workers. The guy next to me is my old friend Howard who was my sponsor when I first came to Korea in 2005. He’s been in Japan all these years since so it was great to see him again.

Damn, I’m fat.

…except when it’s not.

Sunday started out with an ass reaming in Singles League play.

And he didn’t even bring lube…

Well, Daw Jon “Storm” is one of the top Korean dart players, we even saw him on the video screen of Phoenix soft tip darts machine (he’s sponsored by Phoenix, which I suppose makes him a pro).  I didn’t have any serious expectation that I’d beat him, but there were three additional legs in play (I had first shot at the out) but I couldn’t execute.  Truth is, I’ve lost a lot of my passion for darts lately.  This manifests itself in a lack of motivation to practice.  And my game show it.  Ah well.

After darts I met up with nephews Justin and Joshua at Shenanigans.  Jee Yeun even came out and joined us which was a special treat.  She hasn’t come out for a night on the town in Itaewon in well over a year.  It seemed like old times.  After some cigars and beverages we moseyed down the street for a fine meal at one of my favorite Korean restaurants, Don Valley.  Hell, I’ve been dining there for 10 years now, even the waitresses all know us.  We ordered up a smorgasbord of Korean delicacies, including galbi (pork and beef), bulgogi, and samgaetang.  And more adult beverages of course.

Then it was off to the norebang where we all sang our hearts out until it was time for me to head back to Gireum-dong.  That 0530 alarm is a real bitch.

Monday night was dart league and my game didn’t show much improvement from Sunday’s effort.  My poor play in fact cost us a close match against Bull and Barrel.  Adding to my unpleasant experience was running out at 11:15 to catch the subway home, which put me in bed at midnight.  Too late for this old body to recover sufficiently for my early rising and work day.  Tuesdays really suck for me.  By the afternoon I’m so damn tired I can’t focus on being productive.  Early to be bed tonight so I can work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for it.  Next season I’m either quitting Monday darts are finding a team that will let me leave after the singles matches.

Jee Yeun took our visiting family out shopping in Myeong-dong Monday afternoon.

After lunch coffee at Cafe Coin. Everyone was impressed with Jee Yeun’s ability to negotiate discounts from the vendors. Me? I was working.

Josh and Bree are now en route back to the states.  It was nice spending some time with them.

During my non-productive time today I came across this graphic that I found hilarious:

Suck it fat man!

What else?  Well, barring some misfortune I’ll be turning 60 on Thursday.  This has been a tough one for me, I admit.  I’m equally torn between regretting the past and dreading the future. A future that I reckon *might* provide me ten “good” years.  If I’m lucky.  Well, being 60 beats the alternative, that’s for sure.  And I have way to many friends and acquaintances that weren’t fortunate enough to celebrate 60 years here on Earth.  I came across this article on Instapundit this morning (told you I was not productive) which provided a modicum of perspective on being 60.  I’ll just have to suck it up and embrace old age I suppose.

And now it’s about time for me to drag this tired old body off to bed.  Sweet dreams.

“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.”
— actor John Barrymore

“I dream of having no regrets.”
–faker John McCrarey

Last night’s dart action saw us eke (ha!, I can spell it now) out a victory over Friend Bar.  I contributed a 5-1 showing in singles, and a much less impressive 2-4 in doubles.  Made it home by 11:30 and asleep by midnight.  Still, Tuesday’s kick my ass.  I’m thinking next season I’ll look for a team that let’s me play singles and leave or maybe I just won’t play.  I don’t act my age, but damn when 0530 rolls around I feel it.

Looks like I may close the deal on the car tomorrow.  I’m a bit concerned because I can’t register it with USFK until I get the paperwork showing the embassy has de-registered it. The seller has been a little fuzzy on just when those documents may arrive.  I’m loathe to hand over the cash until I get what I need, but we’ll see what we can work out.

And that’s all he wrote.  Today anyway.