| Newsflash: Read in the newspaper today that Korea’s "gold drive" has caused the international gold value to drop. Hahahaha! It figures. The Korean gov’t is asking citizens to turn over their gold jewelry in order to help the ailing economy. Once again, the gov’t is making its people suffer for the mistakes of the powerful. It is ironic that their "harvesting" effort to aid the economy has hurt a global market. |
It’s just a question of ti-ime. What the heck’s been going on in my life the last few days?! Well, I’ve been a model of productivity. Keeping with my resolution to "get my butt in gear," I have been making lists and dutifully, if not meticulously (heehee), checking off every item as I complete it. Go ME. I’m not hopeful yet, and I make no promises for the future; ‘cause kid, you and I both know I can suffer anything for a week! When a month passes and I’m still scrawling puny To-Do lists and actually doing the items listed, we’ll entertain the thought of true reformation.
So Monday and yesterday I was totally involved in this paper I had over a week to edit. I didn’t think it would take too long so I put it off, but I was so, so wrong and ended up working on the damn thing for something like 8 hours total. Now I know oh-so-well how ten rich Thai women feel about the "glass ceiling" concept in their neighborhood. Today I went to Ewha, dumped off the paper littered with my scribbles, and picked up a new one. I stayed there about an hour or so re-checking the content of that paper (it’s weak), and sipping on my hot chocolate. Not to mention I had to catch my breath from walking up that monster hill. So I’m sitting there at the Women’s Center and there’s all this construction happening on the floor below ours. I asked Myoungsun what the problem was and she said they were repairing the ceiling because "it was dangerous." And I’m like (to myself), "Isn’t their ceiling our floor?" After I talked to her, I moved into Mala and Hyongjung’s office. There, I could see through the floor boards to the office below where construction guys were moving around. Just 1/2 inch of floor board between them and me - and really heavy desks, computers, file cabinets, heaters, etc. The construction guys were using noisy tools; every once in awhile they’d drill into the ceiling (my floor) and the whole desk would vibrant, things would shake around. Nice.
On the way home I stopped off at Lotte Department Store, and I just gotta say that Lotte is where it’s at. It’s huge! I visited once when we first arrived, but I was too freaked to be here that I really wasn’t paying attention. And then I went again with a couple of friends, but I was too busy chatting to really appreciate it then either. But this time, it was just me. I was looking for a CD rack. I hate the ones we have and want a newer, cooler, smaller one. I had to go up to, like, the 7th floor of this huge store to find the electronics. And you know, I discovered that they have everything. I mean, forget going to Yongsan Electronics Market or any of the other lesser department stores for household appliances; from now on I’m going to Lotte. Tons of TV’s, dishes, computers, musical instruments, and floors and floors of clothes: Really, they had everything! Expensive? Sure, this is Seoul. I don’t know when the building was constructed. Maybe in the 70’s or 80’s? It definitely has this kind of "old Las Vegas" feeling to it, especially on the lower floors. I dug that. Big flowery metal structures with lights all over them - kind of like the Flamingo’s light set up they got on the outside of their hotel. Man, I only wish they had been lit. And the whole thing is like white, red, and pink - Flamingo again.
Later I got on the bus and just felt good listening to New Order. (The other day at Tower we bought Daft Punk, which is pretty good. It reminds me a lot of the early-80’s stuff, even of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. (Whoa, that's a bold statement.) I mean, the beat is the same, not the music. Make sense? Anyway, I turned on New Order for my traveling today and I just realized how absolutely great this group is. They mix in enough variety and the lyrics are just entertaining enough that it never gets boring. Other kinds of contemporary techno stuff wear on me after awhile: Usually the group doesn’t vary their rhythm enough to make me wanna stick around for a whole album.) Ok, so I’m on the bus, in the back seat - my favorite. I’m just lovin’ it because the driver was an aspiring Andretti and the passengers were lurching in all directions like joysticks possessed. He was taking corners SO fast, I actually entertained the thought that he might tip over the bus. Taking Metro in Seattle was never this fun. In fact, I never rode in the back seat of the bus then; there were always scary or rowdy looking punks camped out there. No such punks here, for some odd reason. And then I had to ponder that question, again, for awhile. Why would this culture be so much less violent, bullying, whatever? I read in some article somewhere about how societies with the most individual/intellectual freedom have the most crime. People can decide to be independent of their obligation and responsibility to others. Korean culture has little room for creativity and lots of pressure to conform with added pressure to abstain from shaming the family at all costs. Hmm... So I’m riding the ride, contemplating this, and the guy sitting next to me says, "Excuse me." I fumble for the controls to my music and then say, "Huh?" I’m such an intelligent foreigner. Turns out the guy has been to Vancouver, wants to immigrate there. He invited me to volunteer with a YMCA group that meets to chat in English weekly. I evaded skillfully, and we talked until his stop. Really nice guy.
Speaking of 80’s music: A week or two ago Duran Duran’s New Moon On Monday was on MTV Asia. Memories came flooding back: All those nights at Renee’s (pictured here) house watching those DD videos. It was such a good feeling that I recently bought the DD album with that song. I was listening to it on my way to Ewha today and I was struck by the lack of talent those guys had. Hahaha! Sex sells - especially to teenage girls. I still liked the music though. I mean, all those memories…. I guess now is the time to reap all I can from the retro 80’s popularity. Soon it will pass and I’ll be old. I understand why other, older people really got into the 70’s retro stuff that happened a few years back. It was all memories for them and they dug it. I was young during the 70’s and endured bell bottoms and such because they were inflicted upon me. Memories from that time are not connected to music and so the revival of that era was a little revolting. But now I can see, through the 80’s revival, how people totally got into the retro 70’s stuff. I can REE-late. (Said in the best Steve Buscemi I can muster).
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