A day in the life

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…

Well, actually I didn’t comb my hair.  It was Saturday and that’s what ball caps are made for.

Did my weekly grocery shopping at the commissary, got home and put the stuff away, then settled in for a relaxing play of CIV IV.

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Loaded the game to my new Sony Notebook.  Pretty cool, eh?

After suffering a frustrating defeat, I showered up and headed out to Manila Bar, the venue for my friend Becky’s birthday celebration.

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The birthday girl, a nice gal from Canada.

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Natalie gave the darts a throw…

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While Margaret, another Canuck, stylishly smoked a cigarette.

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Becky and her main squeeze Mike, a nice guy from the Philippines.

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That’s Teddy, owner of Manila Bar in the middle.  I don’t know the name of the cute Korean gal (I should).

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A couple of sweet Filipinas, Jovie on the right is Teddy’s wife.  The other is Jovie’s sister.  But I don’t recall her name either (I should).

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Happy partiers!

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The Korean on the left used to tend bar at Bless U, but I hadn’t seen her around for the last year or so.  Guess what?  I don’t remember either of their names.

Anyway, it was a nice time.  I always give Becky a half dozen bottles of Blue Cheese dressing as a birthday gift.  Apparently she eats it with just about everything.  And she is always pleased with her present, which makes it easy for me.

So, it was time to head over to Dolce Vita for the International Dart Tournament.  We had a rather disappointing turnout with only six teams participating.  I was really sorry that none of the outstanding Filipino players turned out to play for national pride.  I think most of them were hanging out in Manila Bar for Becky’s party.

So, with only six teams we played a round robin format with the total number of legs won determining the champion.

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Dave and Alisteir represented Great Britain.

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Dustin and Jay proudly represented Canada sporting Maple Leaf flights.

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Seung Youb and YS played for the Republic of Korea.

We also had three American teams turn out:

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Me and Colonel Dan waved Old Glory…

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Lonnie and Jim, a couple of fine Americans.

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Dave and Rod were the other Team America entrant.

So, there was a lot of darts to be played and we commenced to play them.  As it turned out, it took ten legs won to play for the championship.  Dan and I struggled all night for consistency, but we had our moments of greatness and won some tough legs.  We also let a couple slip away, and that made the difference as our 9 wins was one short of what we needed.

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This was perhaps our high water moment, taking a clutch leg from the Canadians.  As you can perhaps tell, it was a point war.  For some reason, I lost my ability to hit a bullseye and Dustin and Jay took full advantage.  We matched their bulls with points on the open 20 in a seesaw battle until we finally got up and closed the bulls for a win.  Unfortunately, the Koreans took us down 2-1 ruining our hopes for a money finish.

Turns out the Brits and Yanks (Dave and Rod) both had ten legs won, so it was a playoff for the championship.  Kind of a replay of 1776 (without the bloodshed) and the outcome was the same, with the Americans victorious!  We couldn’t resist a raucous chant of USA! USA! at the conclusion of the match. 

Dolce Vita closed after the match for renovations.  So I will have to find a new home for the next few days.  I live for Bali in a week though and when I return it should be back to business as usual in the new and improved Dolce Vita.

Finished the night with a dinner of samgyapsal and bulgogi at Don Valley with Dan and his wife.

And yes, by the end of the day I was feeling no pain.

Hope and Change

I hope you like the change here at LTG.

Yes, I’m talking about the new masthead design.  And yes, that was the change I mentioned was coming a couple of weeks ago.  Not anything major like some of you speculated perhaps, but after nearly 5 years I thought it was time for a new look.  I always envied the K-blogs with a cool Korea photograph as their masthead.  It just seems appropriate somehow.  So, when I saw this photograph:

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I thought “hey, that would make a great masthead for my blog!”  If I am not mistaken, this bridge is called Hangang Taegyo (The Great Han River Bridge).  Originally built in 1917 and destroyed in the early days of the Korean War.  Rebuilt in 1958.  It is certainly not the most impressive bridge crossing the river, but there is an understated class and elegance about it, don’t you think?  Like an aging movie queen who maintains her dignity and grace.  Eh, I think that might be a tad over the top.  I just like the photo ok?

The photographer, Dave New, is a guy I’ve played darts with for years and in fact we will be teammates this season on the Rubbies.  He is *almost* as good at darts as he is with the camera.  Check out his impressive work here.  Thanks again Dave for allowing me to use your photograph!

So, what do you think about my new look?

For Tolkien fans

I came across this defense of JRR Tolkien and his work and found it quite fascinating.

I’m a big fan myself, having first read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy as a teenager.  And many times since.  Including out loud to someone, which is a whole ‘nother to get into the story BTW.

After reading the books the first time me and my buddy Rod Headlee got it into our minds that we should have a Bilbo-like adventure as well.  So we hitchhiked across the Pacific Northwest.  Visited the 1974 Spokane World’s Fair and had an amazing time in Big Sky Montana.  That was also the trip where I was not allowed to enter Canada.  And I’ve never been back.

Ah, memories.

A pun time was had by all

Assuming you like this sort of thing.  I do.  Sue me.

1.    The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

  2.    I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

  3.    She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

  4.    A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

  5.    The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

  6.    No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

  7.    A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

  8.    A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

  9.    Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

 10.    Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

 11.    A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

 12.    Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

 13.    Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’

 14.    I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

 15.    A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’

 16.    A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’

 17.    A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

 18.    The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

 19.    The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

 20.    A backward poet writes inverse.

 21.    In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.

 22.    When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

 23.    Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

 

There is more to life than darts

But I surely do miss the competition from our Monday league matches.  Looking forward to the new season which kicks off July 13.  Which is good timing because I will be spending 10 days in Bali June 29-July 9.

Until I start my new career as a Rubbie, I will whet my darts appetite with tourneys here and there.  We did a little “between the seasons” tournament last night at Bless U Pub.  I partnered up with a Filipino guy named Norman.  Hadn’t seen him throw before but he is quite a good darter.  We managed a second place finish, behind Chris B. and Dave New.  Some nice matches to get us there and it was a good time.

Saturday we are having an “international tourney” at Dolce.  The concept is you partner up with someone from your home country and play for national pride.  I’m throwing with COL Dan and although we likely won’t be the top ranked players, if we throw like we are capable of I like our chances.  I expect strong competition from the Korean, Canadian, Filipino, and British entrants.  Bottom line, it’s something a little different and it’s darts.

As you might have surmised from this post, it seems there is not much more to life for me than darts these days.  Hell, it could be worse.  And has been.

Had a Ball!

Friday night I attended the U.S. Army Birthday Ball in celebration of the Army’s founding 234 years ago today.  You can read all about that glorious history here.

This was my first time attending an event of this nature, and it was pretty cool.  All the military folks dressed out in their formal uniforms and the civilian contingent in our tuxedos.  I had my tux tailor made three years ago for my last formal event, the Commader’s Mess.  I didn’t need a scale to tell me I’ve gained a few pounds since then.  So, it will be back to the tailor for some alterations before my next ball!

Anyway, the event was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul.  A great venue and convienent as well.  We started with a cocktail hour where I mingled with the brass, which was my real motivation for attending.  You know, showing “the flag” and demonstrating that our civilian workforce is part of the formation and supportive of our brothers and sisters in arms and all that. 

Then the signal was given to enter the dining hall and we all took our assigned seats.  Now, if I had known better I would have arranged to get assigned to sit with some folks I actually know.  Instead I was seated with some Korean civilians there to show support.  Which is all good, but we didn’t have much dinner conversation if you know what I mean.

I never had the privalage to serve in the military, but I never fail to be impressed with the traditions and pomp and circumstance.  We began with the presentation of colors, singing of the ROK and USA national anthems, and assorted toasts.  Then something I had never seen but found fascinating to witness was the placement of campaign streamers on the Army flag.  Army streamers ave been awarded for participation in the various wars and military engagements throughout the Army’s history.  The had soldiers dressed in period uniforms solemnly presenting each streamer from that era to be attached to the Army flag.  Good stuff, and a reminder of the debt we owe those who have served honorably in defense of our nation.  Here’s what the flag looks like with streamers:

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We then sang the Army song, which I always enjoy:

First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.
Then it’s Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong
For where e’er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Then we had a speech by the 8th Army commanding general, Joseph F. Fil.  Dinner was served and I departed shortly afterwards, avoiding the dancing but having fulfilled my mission for the evening.

Oh, I met a traditional Korean woman at the event and she even consented to have her photo taken with me.  She didn’t have much to say however.
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I guess you could call that a good night.  Happy Birthday to the U.S. Army!

Premonition

No, this is not another post about possible future events here on the Korean peninsula.  It’s about the movie I watched last night starring Sandra Bullock.

The film is called Premonition and Bullock plays a housewife and mother going about the humdrum routine of her day.  And then there’s a knock on the door and it’s the Sheriff bringing news that her husband has died in a car accident.  She is of course devastated and gets through the rest of the day in zombie-like fashion with the help of her mother.  And when she wakes up the next day her husband is there in the kitchen having his morning coffee.  Except it wasn’t the next day.

I won’t go any further, as I don’t want to spoil it for those who have not viewed this 2007 film.  I’ve always been a fan of Bullock and her acting does not disappoint in this challenging role.  Although come to think of it, it was never Bullock’s acting that I liked, I also enjoyed looking at her.  I guess we are all getting older, but her caboose has certainly spread since last time I saw her in a movie.  Or maybe it’s just that I’ve been around skinny-ass Korean women too long.  Now, I know that criticism of Bullock is shallow and unfair, not to mention irrelevant to the part she played.  But by the accounts I’ve read she’s a quite the bitch in real life, so I don’t mind casting a few stones her way.  Ok?

Anyway, I had a feeling the movie would be good when I ordered it from Netflix.  Call it a premonition.  And the movie was nicely done.  You know, these “vision from the future” things can be hard to pull off, but the quirky use time juxtaposition was quite creative and unique.  You have to pay attention as it all gets a little confusing, but then again, that’s the intent I suppose.  I thought the scene with the Catholic priest was pretty contrived, but other than that I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out what was going on.

I give this one a 4 out of 5.  I suspect some want like the ending, but I thought it worked.

What, me worry?

So everyone seems to be speculating these days on what’s next from crazy ol’ Kim Jong Il.  Well, your guess is as good as mine.  The commonly held view seems to be that we can expect some type of provacative act, likely in or near the Northern Limit Line (the extension of the DMZ into the Yellow Sea).  Could be a naval engagement or perhaps even an invasion of one of the coastal islands.  Unlike his predecessor, President Lee will probably be disinclined to let such an act go answered.  Whether it stops at a tit for tat remains to be seen.

I’m thinking Kim will wait and see if the UN Security Council does anything more than issue “a strongly worded letter”.  If so, that may trigger him to lash out in some form or fashion.  At least, that has been his modus operandi in the past.  Rumor has it that sanctions, if they are coming, would be announced this week.  So I suppose it’s wait and see time around here.

You know, people from home seem a lot more concerned about the current state of affairs here on the peninsula than those of us living here.  Again, this is pretty much old hat and it is only the uninformed who believe that the Norks ever respected any international agreements to which they are a party.  Make no mistake, military planning and preparations are ongoing, but that is as it should be regardless.  Just some new possible contingencies to take into account is my observation.  Certainly, it is business a usual for the Korean people who have been living under north Korean threats for generations. 

I’m not worried or overly concerned.  I guess the fact that I’m even thinking and writing about this issue now is about the only thing different from my perspective.  While the Norks could rain some fire and destruction down on our heads, it would be suicide to do so.  And my take on it is that everything the DPRK does is calculated to ensure perpetuation of the regime.  There is always the chance that they will miscalculate and overplay thier hand I suppose, but I also expect China will not sit back indefinitely and let things get too far out of hand.

Of course, not everyone has such a sanguine view of things.  Commenter Dennis from Florida left the following comment on an earlier post:

As heard on Coast to Coast AM. (www.coasttocoastam.com), probably a month or so ago, an interview of the somewhat famed ‘remote viewer’ Major Ed Dames, USA, (Ret). Ed predicts, via multiple remote viewing the future ‘hits’ from amongst his Matrix Intelligence Agency staff and many students of his program, too many to count, that a major event is going to occur on the Korean Peninsula within six months of the programs airing, which would make it more like within maybe four months or maybe even less from this point in time. Specifics of the situation are not revealed other than to say that many, many lives will be lost among South Koreans to include many 8th Army assigned personnel/forces. Speculation seems to center on the probability of a ‘fairly small yield’ nuke, maybe, from NK into probably the Seoul area. This strike, it was predicted, will result in prompt and complete retaliation against the North (probably by combined US/ROK forces) resulting in pretty much cessation of NK as it is formally constituted currently.

So, there you have it. When these predictions were made it is worth noting, K J IL was still recovering from a probable stroke and none of his spin-up in missile firings, nuke testing’s, suspension of the ‘Armistice’, etc, had yet occurred, nor had,obviously, the more recent capture (kid-napping) of the two Asian journalists, their trials and subsequent sentencing’s or other incidents of intrigue. So, these things noted, events would seem to be moving in the direction of, certainly, some form of confrontation, surely evidenced, as well, by the recently announced leadership changes and the greatly ramped-up saber-rattling that is going on currently. You can check it further by going to www.learnrv.com, which is Ed Dames’ web-site or can do a general search on it and will surely find more details than I have cited here.

As a final note, Ed Dames is indeed a former USArmy, now retired, Intelligence Officer and now CEO of the somewhat successful organization named the Matrix Intelligence Agency – the MIA employs these remote viewing techniques and skills under contract, to learn and predict all sorts of things for it’s clients – apparently has a great track record and has made a ton of money too. Back in the 80’s Ed was an original member of a cadre of Army personnel who took part in a highly classified USA pilot program which was then called ‘Stargate’ – true story. The program was held at DIA and was very successful but was subsequently disbanded apparently due to political pressures, which would not surprise me in the least – it was subsequently declassified, as well, obviously. At the time I was a USAF Intelligence officer and visited the DIA regularly for many, many conferences and meetings, but I never heard of this program till about three years ago and after the emergence of ‘remote viewing’ as a ‘taught discipline’. Remote viewing is a technique whereby the future is discerned through a strictly controlled protocol of psychic-type concentration – it apparently taps into the universal consciousness we are all a part of, yeah, really, and by every measure I’ve been able to discern, it indeed truly seems to work.

Yeah, even vocalizing, these things seems probably a bit over the top and probably hard to believe. And of course, I’m not trying to convince anyone, simply reporting what I have listened to and looked in to, and the potential linkage to the ‘time for change’ blog entry of John’s.

So, as we used to say back in the day, I guess we can all ‘hide and watch’. Since I listened to the original program back a couple months ago, I’ve had one eye sort of trained on the subject, waiting and watching the drift…….. given the unfolding events, nearly daily almost now, seems to be something there, something to it, I would have to observe. There were numerous other quite interesting and some would say even profound ‘predictions’ made during the program, as well……..which I won’t go in to here, but the mention of the Korea thing seemed worth a comment. Hey, stranger things have happened.

Time will tell I suppose.  But I’m sleeping just fine.

UPDATE:  Upon re-reading, my poor sentence construction may have left the impression that I thought anyone taking the situation here more serious than me was “uninformed”. My intent was people who only read the MSM and see “Kim renounces Armistice” might think things are worse than they are. Kim has never kept true to the terms of the Armistice, so that statement is not particular cause for alarm.

Nada y nada

Things are kinda quiet around here.  Which is all well and good, drama is way overrated.  The lack of said drama just doesn’t make much room for blog worthy material.  Regular readers will no doubt note that fact has not proven much of a hinderance previously.  Therefore, in the fine tradition of LTG I give you this post about nothing.

We are between seasons in dart league, but a few of the boys were out throwing last night at Bless U Pub.  We played for beers.  Too many beers as it turns out.  Dropped by Dolce Vita on the way home to drop off my darts, and encountered my old pal (and recently married) MK hangin’ out with Jim and YJ.  I rang the bell for a round of shots.  She reciprocated.  And that was about as crazy as I get these days.

Oh, and for the commenters speculating on “the change” I promised:  I fear I inadvertantly over hyped this issue.  Yes, change is coming (very soon I expect).  I never said it was going to be a BIG change.  You will see what I’m talking about any day now.  Literally.

Not to worry

My previous post “Time for a change” was in retrospect a bit more cryptic than I intended.  And then I inadvertantly exacerbated the situation by not posting any updates.  Which generated a couple of comments:

What?
Got married?
Got fired?
Got impailed by a Korean dart?
Got invited to defect to NK?

Com’on, John. . . .

Or heaven forbid, gave up your blog?????

Comment by dentoku — 05/June/2009 @ 9:37 pm |Edit This

It’s a surprise

Been there, done that

Not yet, but I’m going to fire myself in 18 months

I’ve managed to avoid being stuck, struck, poked or punctured thus far.

No, but I did have a dream once that I participated in a commando raid to assaianate kill Kim Jong Il.

I expect this blog will be around as long as I am, for better or worse.

Korea is my home now.

The change is coming, or so I’m told.  Look for it!

Up North

Well, trouble may be brewing with the folks north of the border.  Although I don’t think anything approaching a resumption of hostilities is imminent, I believe everyone expects some type of provocation by Mr. Kim, Jong Il.  Question is what type and where?

A situation like this calls for a repeat viewing of Team America: World Police.  Which I did just the other night. 

There is no disputing that Mr. Kim is an asshole.  I guess we will find out soon if the USA is gonna be a dick or a pussy.

Pussies don’t like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn’t appropriate – and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves… because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don’t know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don’t let us fuck this asshole, we’re going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!

(My favorite quote from Team America.)

Catch and Release

No, I’m not talking about Obama’s plan for what to do with captured enemy combatants.  Catch and Release is the title of a movie I watched this week.  Or more correctly, tried to watch.  Only made it halfway through before turning it off in disgust.  Rather than being entertained, I was irratated.  It started out slow, then got worse.  Insipid, shallow, and dull.  Which is too bad, because there were some good actors associated with this wreck of a movie.  Jennifer Garner, Juliette Lewis and Kevin Smith (aka silent Bob) were wasted talent on this shell of a story.  Hey, my first zero rating!  I’ll give it that.

Also watched a film called The Secret.  This was was just plain ass weird in a disturbing kind of way.  First time I had seen the whole ‘mom/wife possesses daughter’s body’ thing done as something other than comedy.  I guess it had its moments and it was mildly entertaining, but when the “wife” tries to seduce the husband while in her daughter’s body, it was just a bit over the top for me.  Stars David Duchovny as the would be incesterous father/husband.  I’ll give it a 2 out of 5.

And that’s about it from here folks.

Sticks and Stones

Well, President Obama really gave it to the the North Koreans:

One day after North Korea launched a successful test of a nuclear weapon, President Obama said that the United States was prepared to respond to the threat with “the strongest possible adjectives.”In remarks to reporters at the White House, Mr. Obama said that North Korea should fear the “full force and might of the United States’ arsenal of adjectives” and called the missile test “reckless, reprehensible, objectionable, senseless, egregious and condemnable.”Standing at the President’s side, Vice President Joseph Biden weighed in with some tough adjectives of his own, branding North Korean President Kim Jong-Il “totally wack and illin’.”Later in the day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the North Korean nuclear test “supercilious and jejune,” leading some in diplomatic circles to worry that the U.S. might be running out of appropriate adjectives with which to craft its response.But President Obama attempted to calm those fears, saying that the United States was prepared to “scour the thesaurus” to come up with additional adjectives and was “prepared to use adverbs” if necessary.“Let’s be clear: we are not taking adverbs off the table,” Mr. Obama said.  “If the need arises, we will use them forcefully, aggressively, swiftly, overwhelmingly and commandingly.”

I say go for it!  Tell Mr. Kim one more false step and we will throw the book at him. 

As for me, I’m taking action as well:  Ashes and scorn and vomit on you, Mr. Kim, Jong Il!

You don’t want to mess with masters of the carefully crafted invective!

Thanks to Andy Borowitz for giving me a good hearty laugh.

 

 

 

 

Organization Day

No, I didn’t get organized.  We had a little staff outing today.  Although there was not much “out” involved, we utilized the little picnic area directly across the street from the office.  Still, it was a nice afternoon.  Everybody participated in the pot luck thing.  My contribution was a banana pudding.

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Before the festivities I had some work related business to attend to.  Namely, putting signatures on the recently completed labor-management agreement with the Korean Employees Union.  That’s Mr. Chi, KEU President.

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Then we got down to the real business of the day, chowing down!

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Burgers, flank stank, and hot dogs plus on the usual sides and the Korean contributions, including the ubiquitous kimchee.

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Corine had her grandson Wyatt stop by for a visit as well.

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Had a little badmitton and horeshoes too.  That’s In Suk demonstrating her rather unique style pitching the shoe.

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The folks most responsible for my success, the staff of the USFK/8th Army Directorate of Human Resources.

So there you have a slice of a day in the life.