I just wanted to report that at 0730 it is 21 degrees F in Seoul. I’ve not been outside yet, but yesterday evening it was 39 and breezy, so it felt colder. I’ve heard rumors of snow, but the sky looks clear as of now. December, January, February. March will have some good days. April will be glorious. So there are things to look forward to. Actually, I don’t mind winter. It can be a pain in the ass, but it has its moments. I like winter best in front of the fireplace snuggled up with a kindred spirit. Alas, I have neither in Korea.

I didn’t go out and play last night, so nothing to report in that regard. Today is shopping day. I think I will go with a layered look.

I’m just plodding through a routine workweek here. Nothing happening with me worthy of note. I did learn some sad news. The mother of the Tak sisters (who run Sweet Caroline’s) died Tuesday morning. I called to express my condolences and Mi Soon told me she had visited her mom on Monday and as she was leaving her mother held her hand and asked her to stay awhile longer. Mi Soon told her she had to go home and clean house and do laundry. The next morning her sister called and said mom’s had a heart attack. She was dead when Mi Soon got to the hospital.

Well, life is full of sorrow and there are plenty of sad stories among the “night people” I tend to meet in my limited social life. But the Tak sisters have been very kind to me, and I feel more like their friend than a customer. I know this is going to be a difficult time and my heart goes out to them.

Started out at Dolce Vita in Itaewon where I engaged in some pool playing and darts. I played my typical inept pool, and I wasn’t throwing darts up to my capabilities either. But, I ran into some friends, Jeff, Roger, Thomas and Mike. Beer flowed freely. We went to Sweet Carolines for a change of scenery, where we played more darts and I met another guy named Michael. He teaches English and is fluent in Korean. Pretty amazing to see him talk. He’s a big guy and it is just strange to hear him talk just like a Korean. Damn, I wish I could do that. His company just put out a new card game and we played it once then he gave me the set of cards. I’ll have to see if I can remember how to play.

After drinking more beer, we headed up hooker hill to Grand Ole Opry. Mike was pretty lit by then and he flirted with the prostitutes along the way. We had to get a good hold on him and drag him into the relative safety of Grand Ole Opry. The place was packed. Mike fancies himself a country dancer and he found many willing dance partners. Someone bought a round of Jagermeister shots, and that just about finished me off.

A tradition at the Opry is at midnight they play “God bless the USA”, “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Sweet Home Alabama” in succession. Everyone stands and sings along and I think it makes us all feel not so far from home. We left just before 1:00 (soldier curfew). On my way to the house I saw one of the bar girls who I used to play pool with at the Metro Bar. She was working in one of the off limits places, so I assume she must be hooking these days. Made me very sad, because I always thought she was kinda sweet and innocent (well, maybe not innocent, but not your typical juicy girl either). I wished there was something I could do to keep her from the road to ruin she has apparently decided to walk. But there was nothing I could really say and so I just shook my head and kept going.

I woke up on the couch at 6:00 fully dressed with the TV blaring, went to bed and woke up after nine. I actually feel fine though. I didn’t think I was that drunk, but who knows? I had a good time hanging with the guys, and I think I needed that.

Anyway, not much else going on. Going to take it easy today. Tomorrow I am briefing the Chief of Staff on the new DoD National Security Personnel System labor relations provisions. I finalized my slides on Friday and I think I’m ready.

So I’m posting everyday again. I just wish I had something interesting to talk about. Thanks for coming by anyway. And keep checking. You never know, someday I might surprise you with something worth reading.

It’s Christmas time in the city. Or at least on Yongsan. Christmas trees, candy canes, Joseph and Mary. The base is all decked out. Yes, the Salvation Army bell ringers were out too, ringing those silver bells. Even the weather looks wintry. Low, overcast skies almost like it wants to snow. Except it is quite warm today. My weather genie says its 55F, so if we do get precip today its going to be water. And that other holiday tradition–shopping–was also on full display. I went by the PX today to pick up some laundry detergent and the place was as packed as any mall in the States for the after Thanksgiving sale. Well, I wasn’t going to stand in line for soap, so I had some Popeye’s chicken then went to the commissary to do my weekly shopping.

Sorry Jenn, they had some big thick pork chops on sale and I couldn’t help but think of you. Don’t take that the wrong way….

Well, back to CIVIII for me. I’m trying to take out the Aztecs (I’m the Dutch this time) before they win the space race….

(yeah, I know my life is a thrill a minute. Don’t envy me, I was just born lucky)

UPDATE: Those bastards. The Aztecs hit me with ICBMs. Wiped out 5 cities. I surrendered.

And my fruit salad and pumpkin pie were a hit. Ok, the pumpkin pie was frozen and if you ever had the pleasure of Carol’s homemade pie, well you would know what a joke complimenting mine is.

There were 25 guests at Corine’s TG party, ten of whom were Korean college students from Corine’s language exchange program. They were all very nice. The girls were very impressed that I actually could prepare food. They called me “pumpkin pie man”. One of the young Korean men insisted on my fruit salad recipe so he could make it for his mother. Ain’t that sweet? So, from now on I’m changing the name of my recipe from “Aunt Pat’s Fruit Salad” to “Aunt Pat’s WORLD FAMOUS Fruit Salad”.

Anyway, a good time was had and it did feel like a real Thanksgiving gathering. I enjoyed meeting the other guests and several of the students insisted that I join their program, which I gather involves getting together on Saturday’s and partaking in some Korean cultural activity. I said I would and I might, but my Korean is embarassingly minimal and this group is somewhat advanced. They certainly speak good English. Hell, I have been here for 10 months now, I should be much further along in acquiring the native tongue. One guy asked me if I spoke Korean (in Korean). Well, I recognized what he was asking but I could not respond in Korean. Duh. I guess my absorbtion method of watching Korean dramas on TV until I fall asleep is not working. So, on to plan B.

Corine sent me home with some leftovers so I will get my turkey fix on tomorrow. Too bad I have to work. Oh well, I’m sure it will be a very quiet day.

That’s my report. Goodnight all.

Well its Thanksgiving Day here in the ROK (or as my Korean friends call it “American Chusok”), so let me be the first to wish everyone a happy holiday.

This is the first Thanksgiving ever spent away from my family. And although I would rather be participating in those family traditions I treasure, I’m not going to sit here and lament all that I will be missing this year (I can almost smell that turkey in the oven). Instead, I will make a fruit salad, bake a pumpkin pie, and do my best to enjoy the festivities at Corine’s house this afternoon. She has family visiting, plus she has invited about 20 people to partake in the feast. So I will meet new people today, eat lots of good food, and focus on all the blessings in my life that I am often too quick to overlook.

Here are the things I am most thankful for this year:

My children, all of whom are adults now, each special and unique and well on their way to leading successful and happy lives. I don’t tell them often enough just how much I love them and how proud I am to be their father.

My beautiful granddaughter Gracyn. Someday I will make up for the lost time at the beginning of her life and will spoil her rotten. Sorry about that Mark and Renee, it’s what granddad’s do.

My parents, who are settled into a new home in South Carolina where I hope they are finding life easier. I know they are enjoying spending time with the grandchildren and their new great granddaughter.

I’m thankful that I am loved despite my many flaws and transgressions. I know I don’t make it easy to love me, and that makes me truly appreciate the perserverance required to overlook the bad qualities to see the good person I aspire to be.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to live in this fascinating country and to experience the joy of discovering the wonders of an ancient culture and its beautiful people.

I’m thankful for the new friends I have made and the old friendships I have managed to maintain. I include amongst them some people I have never met but through the power of the Internet reminded me that I am never alone. Thanks for being there with words of encouragement in my darkest days. The kindness of strangers is sweet indeed.

I’m thankful for all the brave soldiers who sacrafice so much to defend the nation that I love and to help bring the freedom we too often take for granted to the oppressed and forgotten people in this world.

I am thankful for my job which is challenging and satisfying and pays the bills. As corny as it may sound, I am truly honored to serve those who serve and I am glad to have this opporutnity to play a very small part in defending the freedom of the Korean people.

Yes, there is much to be thankful for on this day of thanks giving. I wish you all a blessed and happy day.

Well, I promised a post this weekend so here it is. Wish I had something new and exciting to report but I have really been leading a boring life lately. Anyway, here’s the scoop such as it is.

Today my pool team played in the first round of the end of season tourney. As usual, I sucked and lost three games. Since we only lost by one, I was the weak link. It really bums me out that I let the team down, but without me they forfeit, so I submit to the humiliation week in and week out.

I did run into my buddy Jeff at the bar and we came back to my place, made nachos and watched Team America. I’ve seen it several times now, but it was Jeff’s first. Still cracks me up.

Jeff will be leaving for good come February, and another good friend (Robert) left last week. I know it is part of the life here, but I am really going to miss them. Guess I need to start making some new buds, but that is not something I’m particularly good at. We’ll see.

I am mostly avoiding the bar scene these days. Which leaves me lots of time to myself. I’m not sure either lifestyle is particularly healthy. I’ve been feeling a little blue with the approaching holidays. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite, and it just won’t be much fun without family around. I will be spending the day at a gathering a coworker is having. Her daughter and son-in-law and a couple of grandkids, plus about 10 other lonely expats. I’ll be making my fruit salad and bringing a couple of pies.

No Christmas plans as yet. I would love to take a trip but I’m not sure that will work out. I’m eligible to catch a military flight on a space available basis, Maybe Guam would be nice. Actually, truth is I’m really tired of making plans that only include me. As good as my company is, I’m pretty bored with myself. And now I have shared that joy of boredom with this pathetic post. Alas.

So, I called this one transitions. I guess I’m feeling like I’m on the cusp of one. Seeing my friends heading back to the states, and realizing that I need to get my act together and make more of my life here will hopefully spur me to make some positive changes. Cause I’ve been a real loser lately.

What I tend to do when I get this way is shut the world out. Obviously, I have not been true to my blog, but far worse, I have not been writing home, not even acknowledging repeated emails. It has oft been said that we treat the ones we love worse than strangers. Hmm, maybe I should say that has oft been said to me. It is too true. I have a selfish side anyway, but when I get into this state of mind I feel like I am walking through a make believe world and I’m the only real person in it. It is really unfair and for those of you who have wondered what’s up with that, just let me say I’m sorry and it is nothing personal. I miss so many things and I have found a real f’d up way of dealing with it. So let’s hope for a smooth transition and a new and improved outlook on life.

And hopefully no more posts like this one, eh?

Ok, let me leave you with something I found strange here in Korea. A couple of weeks ago I was making a rare appearance at Sweet Caroline’s (yes, that’s right. Even when I do go out, I don’t hang there much. Too quiet, and when I’m out I want to be around people, even if I treat them like props). But I digress. So, I’m sitting at the bar minding my own business. There are a few people there. Some of the folks from GM Daewoo I had metbefore, and they seemed genuinely glad to see me, which was nice. And a table of Korean men, doing the Korean style thing where you buy the bottle and sit and get plastered. And from all appearances they had pretty much achieved that objective by the time I arrived.

So this Korean gentlemen comes up and starts trying to talk to me, but I’m not getting a lot of what he is saying. He gives me his business card (which I can’t read) but I smile and thank him. He leaves and comes back in a few minutes and tries to chat me up again. I am grinning stupidly, nodding and saying things like “yeah, good time” and “having fun”. He leaves and starts dancing with one of the GM execs, well, not with, more like “at”, if you know what I mean. She wasn’t exactly particpating, more like politely swaying from foot to foot. Then he comes over to me, and I swear I thought he was asking me to dance . Hey politeness only goes so far, right? I’m saying “no, I’m fine, just enjoying the music”. He persists, so I kinda just swivel my bar stool like I’m really into dancing while seated. He gives up and walks off.

Then the waitress comes over and says “Mr. (whatever the hell his name was) thinks you are a very intelligent American [hey, that’s what she said] and he and his friends want you to join them at their table”. She indicated it would be bad form to not have a drink with them. Damn, I do try hard to be respectful and lord knows us Yanks get blamed for everything wrong in the world already, last thing I wanted was to be tagged as a rude American. So, I sauntered on over.

I will preface what happened next by stating up front that I recognize there are some very real cultural differences in the way males interact here. It is very common for Korean men to walk down the street arm and arm and all that. Nothing wrong with it of course, but where I’m from men really don’t touch each other. I’m just sayin’.

So, I sit down with these four obviously drunk Koreans. I am able to discern that they are stock brokers from some city down south that I also don’t recall (I had quaffed a few brews, but I was not drunk by any means). So, they want me to put some of their Korean whiskey in a shot glass and do it in my beer, boilermaker style. I decline. I don’t like whiskey all that much, and I definitely don’t like it in my beer. Did that once and almost puked on some MPs as I raced to the bathroom (I think I blogged that, but I’m not going to look it up now). So, I finally agree to just down the shot, and they seem pleased with that effort.

So, we are sitting there “talking” (if talking includes none of us understanding much of what the other was saying, well, I guess the Koreans understood each other but they weren’t getting me anymore than I was getting them). And then the guy next to me starts touching my moustache. Ok, not many Korean men can or do grow them. And mine is rather bushy. So he is touching it and saying what I suppose was “nice moustache” in Korean. I push his hand away while thanking him “kamsamnida”. I take a pull off my beer, and damn if he didn’t start stroking the ‘stache again. Alright, I wasn’t too comfortable to begin with, but this was just a bit too bizarre. I thanked him again for the compliment, and moved over as far as I could without falling out of the booth. I guess he got the hint, because he didn’t try that again.

Since they had shared their whiskey and my beer glass was empty I bought a round of beers. It would have been rude not to, Koreans don’t do “Dutch treat”. Anyway, we do some toasts and the next thing I know the guy who was so intrigued by my moustache is stroking the top of my hand. Alright, that really freaked me out. I got up and asked the waitress “what’s up with this guy touching my hand, is that some gay thing?” She laughed and said “no, it just means he likes you”. I said, “yeah, that’s what has me worried”. I told her about the moustache incident and she said “don’t worry, they are just drunk and being friendly”. Well, I don’t really want to cause an international incident, but this is just taking the US-ROK alliance a little to far for me.

About this time, the GM folks were heading out and the drunk Korean with the business card had the female exec cornered. She is from Great Britain and is really funny and very kind. She was being very polite, but clearly wanted to get the hell outta there. So, I interrupted and said how nice it was to have seen her again and she gave me a hug, thanked me for rescuing her and made a beeline for the door. I also said my goodbyes, but it took me another ten minutes before I could escape my hosts. I had to promise to come to their hometown for a guided tour about ten times before I was able to flee the scene.

So, that was the only unusual thing I have encountered of late. And no, in case you are wondering, I don’t anticipate a transition to gayness or Korean style touching or whatever they hell that was, anytime soon. Not that there is anything wrong with it….

It was great to get a comment from an old blog buddy, Susanna Cornett of Cut on the bias fame. She’s actually my “blogmother” (the person most responsible for my foray into the blogging world). I sent her a long email giving my perspective on the the state of the Korean-American relationship these days. As usual, someone else said it better. Head over to GI Korea and see his post on a recent pro-U.S. rally. It was a much larger turnout than the highly publicized anti-MacArthur statute travesty in Incheon, but of course you wouldn’t really know that from most media accounts.

Things are not always as they appear, and while I have met some Koreans who are not fond of the antics of some of our soldiers (I’m talking about the 1% who misbehave and tarnish the image of everyone), they do seem to have a genuine fondness for the miguks among them, and they certainly love most things American. I still can’t stop laughing when I see Korean rappers on TV. It’s like a Saturday Night Live skit. Hey, imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right?

Oh yeah, while you are over at GI Korea’s place, be sure to read about Hillary Clinton’s views on this subject.

Well, the title to this post will surely bring some disappointed visitors doing a Google search. Trust me, the title is not a desparate attempt to generate hits on my near-dead blog. I have a funny story to tell about that word.

But first, about last night. It was pool league again. Three more losses. I really suck. That has nothing to do with sodomy BTW. I just can’t put a decent pool game together. The team captain gave me a pep talk, encouraged me not to give up, to relax and have a good time and all that. Well, I do enjoy playing pool. I just don’t like it in a competitive kind of way. If I didn’t suck, I would. But feeling like I am letting the team down while embarassing myself gets old real quick. I would have resigned but most weeks we have the minimum number of players and that makes quitting not really an option. So my self imposed nickname is “better than a forfeit”. Well, the team won the match despite my failings last night, so I guess that’s the important thing.

Part of the problem is that I don’t even practice any more. That’s because I have basically quit the bar scene. In my former life I rarely went out drinking, and I just don’t need to acquire any more bad habits at this late stage of my life. So these days I mostly stay at the house and play CIV III, watch TV, and fall asleep on the couch. Now you know why I haven’t been posting, when you ain’t doing anything of interest, there isn’t much of interest to write about. I’ve been trying to reacquire some passion for politics, but so far its just not happening.

I do have this story to tell from last night. We have a Korean woman on our team. She teaches English to middle school age kids. And she is working hard at improving her own English language skills. She actaully does quite well, but like most of the Koreans I’ve met, they disparage their own English speaking abilities. If I could only speak Korean half as well as the Koreans with “poor English” I would have a much easier life here. “June” (I don’t know her Korean name, if I asked I’ve forgotten it) is always working on her vocabulary and brings a notebook with words she is learning to the pool league every week. Between games she will ask us the pronunciation and meaning of the words on her list, which she then dutifully writes down in Hangul. Last nights words included “guise”, “excavation”, “fraternity”, “carte blanche” and several others I can’t recall at the moment. Me and a couple of the guys sitting at the table would use the word in a sentence, try and provide alterantive definitions, and explain when and how the word might be used. After awhile I got up to throw some darts, and June came up and said I have another word on my list and the guys at the table “couldn’t help her with it”. I said, ok, what’s the word? “Sodomy” (imagine it being said with a Korean accent). I just looked at her. The guy I was playing darts with cracked up and said “go ahead, John. Tell her”.

Her innocence was charming as she waited expectantly for my answer. And my reaction was funny. I am by no means a prude and I don’t think I have any sexual hang-ups, but geez, telling this sweet young woman about sodomy was not as easy as you might imagine. So I fumbled and stumbled, and she wasn’t quite getting it. So, I just described the act. She laughed and said, “oh, something homosexuals do”. I smiled and said yes, but not just homosexuals. And no, I did not give her the slang term for the act. She can find a boyfriend to do that. Anyway, when I mentioned the Biblical origins of the word, she was familiar with the story and we thankfully moved on to other words.

That was the highlight of my evening. Which says a lot more about my life than I might otherwise admit.

So the long holiday weekend is behind me. As one might expect, Chris Columbus is no hero here in Asia, but I was glad for the day off. Here’s the recap on how I spent my time:

I achieved my second highest score ever playing as the Spanish in CIV III. Purely coincidence that I played as Isabella (I do each civilization in rotation) on Columbus Day, but it worked out well.

I took a two hour walk along the Han riverside Sunday afternoon. I needed the exercise and it was a beautiful day. Took a different route and saw a new part of town which was nice too.

I was driving through Itaewon Saturday and some cab driver went nuts on me. Driving behind me honking his horn like a madman and then pulling along side and flipping me off. I just laughed. I have no idea what I did to piss him off, but whatever it was I’m sure it does not compare to the crap I have endured from cabbies on a routine basis. Guess he didn’t like a taste of his own medicine. Anyway, it was pretty funny to watch this guy and I took a measure of perverse pleasure in his reaction to my unknown offense.

I went to Dolce Vita last night. First time I’ve been in a bar since I got back from the States. I had only intended to have one or two beers and maybe get a little pool practice in. My friend Scott was there and he’s the kind of guy who never lets your glass get empty before he buys another round. So I wound up drinking four or five and caught a pretty good buzz. I played two games of pool with Tim, a guy on my pool league team who actually has a lower rating than me. He wanted to play for shots. I guess he shoots better with some motivation because he beat me both times rather convincingly. Of course, I hadn’t touched my cue for three weeks, but then again, when you shoot pool like I do a layoff doesn’t hurt much. It’s like golf, the more I practice the worse I get.

Came home and put Crash in the DVD player. I actually bought the DVD several weeks ago but hadn’t gotten around to watching it. After reading Nomad’s review I was anxious to see it. The part I saw was excellent. I passed out about halfway through. Woke up on the couch fully dressed at 3 a.m. I’m such a lightweight these days.

Oh yeah, my blog apparently got hacked sometime over the weekend. I tried to log on yesterday and got a black screen that said “trustix has you”. Did anyone notice? Anyway, I contacted my web host (blogsabout.com) and they fixed me up right away (thanks Lisa). Seems I made a mistake when I ignored their advice to upgrade to the newer version of WordPress. Admittedly I am a techno-peasant so this stuff about security holes being exploited doesn’t mean much. Suffice to say I bought the upgrade. I don’t understand the hacker mentality. Why would anyone want to waste time crashing my worthless blog?

So there you have it. If my life sounds rather pathetic these days it is only because it is. Not to worry though, I have a positive attitude and I fully anticipate getting my s*it together one day soon.

Really.

Geez, time flies. I have been so into my personal dramas that I have just not been posting like I know I should. I’m still reading my favorite blogs and leaving a pithy comment or two on occasion, but I just haven’t had the inclination to keep my loyal readers (both of you) up to date.

What’s been happening. Hmm, not a lot. Just into my routine. Actually, I have been working on changing my routine. I’m pretty sick and tired of hanging out in bars. So, I have been watching bootleg DVDs (40 year old virgin turned out to be pretty disappointing) and escaping into the fantasy world of CIV III.

I went ahead and had my old car repaired. Also filled up the gas tank and doubled its value. I really don’t drive all that much, but on grocery day I need it. Also, I like to haul my trash to a dumpster at work. Yeah, I’m ashamed of myself for not doing this whole separation of food, bottles and cans, etc. etc. thing. But not so ashamed to change my evil ways. Anyway, hopefully the new tranny will keep me on the road for the remainder of my tour in Korea.

My real news is my visit to the DMZ today. Wow. If you are in Korea and have not gone, you need to see it. I got a kick out of being watched by the NORKs while we visited the Joint Security Area. The Korean soldiers guarding us were also quite impressive. And one who gave a presentation in perfect British English was worth the trip. We also walked through the number 3 infiltration tunnel which was quite a work out. And yeah, I was awed by the history that the DMZ represents. A good day.

Work is going well. Busy enough to ward off boredom, but not busy enough to be overly stressed. I going to be TDY all next week. More on that later.

My pool game still sucks. Although I did pull off another improbale victory last week. My reduced bar time means less practice, but like golf, it seems the more I play the worse I get anyway.

There you have it, my so called life. Nothing real exciting but I am on balance finding this whole Korean expericence interesting.

Yesterday I put my car in the shop. Its get up and go got up and went. It would barely climb the hill leaving my house, and I figured crawling along a major street at 5 mph was not going to endear me to the Korean people. I know next to nothing about auto mechanics, but since the engine seemed strong I suspected a transmission problem, although it was not “slipping” when it shifted gears. Unfortunately my assumption was correct to the tune of 700,000 Won. I was also advised I had a broken motor mount which requires 100,000 Won.

So I paid $1000. for the car in January. It has 155,000 miles on the odometer. Do I invest another 800 bucks to put it back on the road? I could buy another hoopdee for less, but of course when you are dealing with vehicles in this price range it is always a gamble. I could just be buying another problem of similar magnitude. Since buying a new car is not an option right now (but I am lusting after that new Mustang), I have to decide what junk heap is the best bet.

I bought my car from a co-worker who moved to Japan. He had bought it new in the US back in 1993. It has a good body and interior. Tires are fine. So, if I look at this as buying a used car with a new tranny for $800, I would probably say ok. Decisions, decisions.

On the plus side, I will be walking to work for the next couple of days at least. Lord knows the exercise will do me good.

And finally, last night I actually won a league pool game. Broke a 3 week losing streak. Since my gracious teammates have come to expect so little from me, the rare victory is always sweeter. High fives all around.

So there you have a slice of my life in Korea. It’s a thrill a minute.

If you miss the train I’m on, you will know that I’m in Busan…..

Taking the KTX this morning. Kinda excited about my first bullet train experience. Two people yesterday suggested that upgrading to first class is only another 20,000 or so and that it is worth it. I will check that out when I get to the station.

I’m going in with no agenda (iteniary is no hard to spell), but that’s how I like to travel sometimes. Just get there and do a walkabout and see what there is to see. I know I’m going to hit the beach, weather permitting.

Anyway, I have my camera so I’ll capture images of anything I think looks interesting.

I need to get out of Itaewon. I’m starting to get into some bad habits. And I hate feeling like crap every morning. Last night was the first night the soldiers were back in town after a two week exercise. I sorta got caught up in the moment. Finished the night at Grand Ol’ Opry listening to country music and watching some damn good dancers.

So take the paragraph above a muliply by 5 and you have my typical week. But I’m gonna change that, and Busan is part of that strategy.

See you when I get back….

Kevin over at Big Hominid says this video changed his life.

I watched it and my life is still the same. But I was impressed. Is this a great country or what?

Picked up my new DVD player today so I am back to normal. I play my CD’s on it too, so right now I am playing some Korean music CDs that I got for my birthday. They are actually quite good. Mostly easy listening stuff, and I don’t understand the words, but soothing nonetheless.

Also watched Hitch tonight. Not bad, but kinda predictable. A review in 9 words. Hey, pixels ain’t cheap!

In other news, I went to a meeting of Koreans who want to learn English last night. I have been helping a woman named Ji Yong with her writing through emails and she invited me to come as her chingu (friend). It was different kind of thing for me to do, but it was in Itaewon and it was at a bar, so I felt right at home. Actually, it was interesting. And I have to give credit to the effort these folks are making. The concept is for people to just sit around and have conversations in English. I had a few questions about life in the States thrown my way, and I tried to be helpful. Some of the people spoke very good English, and everyone seemed to be trying hard to improve. The other native English speakers were a couple of Canadians who teach in local schools. I’ve considered getting an English teaching gig part time, just to fill the hours in a healthy way. We’ll see. I’m not looking, but I’m receptive to the idea.

I am immersed in a pretty good game of CIV these past couple of days. It was a good way to recover from my hangover yesterday. Nice safe outlet to vent a little agression too I suppose. I had it out with the Aztecs. We fought to a standoff, then I regrouped (and acquired the calvary advance, and all I can say about the Aztecs now is rest in peace you S.O.Bs.

Work is work. I’ve been that bad combination of busy and unmotivated. This too shall pass. Good night.

Crap. Today I plugged in some lamps that my co-worker Corine gave me. In doing so, I had to re-arrange some of the plugs. Somehow I managed to take the adapter off one plug and stuck it in the 220 outlet.

And when I turned on my DVD player to watch one of my new movies…..snap, crackle, pop along with smoke and that special smell associated with fried circuits.

I replaced the adapter and plugged into the 110 outlet, turned it on again and got a picture. No sound though. And the Hangul subtitles help me not one bit.

Geez, I feel stupid. Could this be the first indication of that old timers disease I heard about?

Ah well.

I came across this post over at Idiot’s Collective and found myself nodding in agreement. One of the big differences I’ve noticed in my Korea life is that almost everyone here strives to look and act the same. This is compounded by the fact that when I leave the relatively safe environs of Itaewon, I am very self-conscious about how different I am from the teeming masses that surround me. Not to mention that people literally stare and gawk.

Ah well. Go read the link. Aaron nails it. The quote from P.J. O’Rourke is hilarious.

Just dropped in to comment on the weather. It has been miserable…hot and beyond sticky. Last night it rained and today is near perfect. Mid-70s and clear. On those rare days when the air is clean and/or not filled with moisture, Seoul is a beautiful city. The skyscrapers framed by mountains in the background is a quite pleasing view.

No other news to speak of. Well, I am making plans to go to Busan for Labor Day weekend. Its past time that I see the “second city” and enjoy the ocean. Hopefully, the crowds will be gone by then.

I know, another worthless post. I am having some political thoughts, but better writers than me are covering those topics. I may chime in if I have an original thought, but what are the chances of that?