| Found out that today is the big college entrance exam day for high schoolers all over the country. To help the students concentrate, the government even shuts down the airport for a few hours so that the jet noise won't disturb the test-takers. |
What the hell is going on in Seattle? First I get this email from one of my newsgroups, which is totally un-related to Seattle in any way, relaying something from Reuters about how in Kent a teacher who gave birth to her 14 year-old-student’s kid was sentenced to prison. Nice one. Then in Andrew’s journal I learned about streaking UFO’s in the sky that were attributed to some Russian rocket debris entering the atmosphere. Then he writes today about being on a bus that was pulled over by a cop in the express lanes because there was a sniper in the area. Geez Loowweeez!
And what about that rocket crap re-entering the atmosphere anyway? I mean, it doesn’t all burn up right? Some of it survives and eventually crashes to the earth, hopefully in the sticks, but sometimes not. My US propaganda station over here has educated me about a meteor that survived atmospheric entry and struck a woman while she was sleeping. So did anyone get hurt?
What about the sniper thingee? Who went postal? And did anyone get hurt? Did they catch the person?
Dave’s reading about Communism these days. I think as part of a backdrop to understanding the global transformation that culminated in the two world wars this century. Anyway, he comes trotting in here (the office) last night talking about Marx. His theory is interesting, not only for how "revolutionary" - literally and figuratively speaking - but for how it was warped into Communism. So of course, the discussion led to Marx’ idea of utopia, which led Dave to say, "It makes me wonder about the root of human nature, if we are capable of such a thing." BINGO! That’s why I love this guy. There are few things more satisfying and comforting to me than knowing that the person I’ve chosen as a partner not only asks questions like I do, but often asks the same ones. God that’s so cool. I told him how great I felt about that connection with him.
Most of the time I struggle in my relationships with people who seem not to think. I wonder, "What the hell do you do with all that space in your mind every minute of the day?" I asked someone (can’t remember who/protecting the ignorant) what they thought about during the day: "I don’t know." Exactly. I guess that sounds all holier-than-thou. It is. Sorry. It is a fault of mine that I have trouble respecting people who don’t think. That I tend not to particularly dislike that fault, except on occasion when it creates real conflict with others, I don’t think it will ever change.
I had Korean brand Oreos and a flat Coke for breakfast. Ooo, and it’s Way Back Wednesday on the radio today. Remember that song Promises, Promises by some group whose name I can’t remember. *giggle* It totally reminds me of Clay McBride, whom I have known since I was 5, and how he used to play it on his clarinet all the time in Junior High. Hahahaha!
Ohhhh, I have too much time on my hands!
Later
Made a black market run today, which was pretty successful. While I was in the little store, a Korean guy was there buying Spam. I came in and the lady who runs the place greeted me (she knows me by now). The guy turns to her and says something about Americans. Hmm. I imagine he says something like, "You get a lot of American customers?" I’m looking for rootbeer while the man pays. The lady and I both think he’s gonna leave, but he hesitates looking at the change the lady gave back to him. Then he launches into this whole thing about the Spam being too expensive. He’s gripin’ and the lady is just giggling; she gets this all the time. I always see non-Koreans in there bitching about the price of mac&cheese or something and I just think, "Get a grip. This ain’t Safeway and this sure as hell ain’t America, so just shut the hell up and pay the lady what she wants." The lady keeps ignoring him so he eventually leaves in a huff. Then he comes back later, opens the door yelling, "YA!" which is an exremely rude way to get someone’s attention. It would be like yelling, "Hey dickhead!" Anyway he yells, tosses a bag with something inside it onto her stack of hard to find carbonated beverages, and leaves again. The lady just laughs, takes a large sum of money from me, and sends me on my way. Weird.
On the bus it was serious Way Back Wednesday time only it wasn’t "Way Back," it was more like "Let’s revisit Helen’s Junior High and High School Years" Wednesday. Wow. What memories came flooding back with all that music. And, you know, it’s really a shame that the mid to late 80’s are now considered oldies or way back. When I think of oldies I always think of the fifties stuff. Anyway, I remembered a lot of events and it was cool to reflect. The time here in Korea is ripe for remembering past times. Because I’m generally unhappy here, and because I have a lot of extra time with which to dwell on that fact, I find myself looking backward toward times of perceived tranquillity. My teenage years certainly weren’t happy, but there was an element to that time in my life that is absent now; that being a sort of path I had to follow, which provided stability and comfort even if I spent all of that time wanting desperately to veer from it. The path was, of course, school and living at home. At least with all the crap going on in my life then I could count on the fact that the very next year I’d be in school again, living in the same town with the same people smothering me both in and out of school. It was a given. At that point I could just live in the moment knowing that eventually I was going off to college, that there was always a pre-determined thing ahead. I guess I felt pretty secure in this way until right after acceptance to Oberlin, when I really began changing in some unhealthy ways - like not caring about myself. I’ve never really recovered from that initial realization and then had a second epiphany just before I graduated from college, when all of sudden I realized that there were no more guaranteed moves forward. I mean, anything I accomplished after that point had to come from my own motivation. Heh. That’s definitely not my strong point. Of course, my graduation also coincided with my turning 23 and then recognizing that my mother was 23 when I was born and that ten years later she was dead. Let’s just say I’ve had some interesting experiences with anxiety in the last few years. For me, death is always potentially around the corner and the fear of failing in my life even more poignant when I think I might be looking back on my accomplishments, or lack thereof, from the perspective of the deathbed sooner than I would like.
Man, this got dismal. Who says writing isn’t cathartic?
Here’s something to be thankful for: On Kexpat there are several individuals asking questions about how they should go about getting their hard earned savings and retirement out of Korean banks before they all go belly up. One guy I know told me earlier, that with the dramatic de-valuation of the won, he could lose thousands. Dang. *righteous smirk* Thank Tao - none of our money is in Korea!
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