8.26.99

This journal is 2 years old. Like last year, the anniversary almost expired without notice, and again, I don’t really feel like I have anything deep to say in reflection of it. Except, two years feels like a long time and I wonder how long I can continue doing this. It has almost become a test to see if I can keep it going. Others have gone on longer, continuing still….I’m waiting for the interest to crest on the popularity curve of this hobby. Journals come and go, a few will plod forward indefinitely, no? This week has been busy for me. A particularly social string of days, dropping from one personality to the next and enjoying every minute away from solitude. I have been meeting with people who have supplied helpful advice toward my job hunt. The best thing was a most incredible chance encounter. I was standing on the sidewalk in Fremont when a man on a bus that was stopped at a stoplight began pounding on and shouting through the window to get my attention. I didn’t recognize him and wondered what he was yelling about. He was clearly looking at me, but I was sure it was a case of mistaken identity because he didn’t look at all familiar. I stepped closer to see if I might know him, starting to feel foolish at all the attention drawn by the one-man frenzy. Muffled through the glass I thought I heard a rhythm that sounded like “Wolfgang.” When I repeated it out loud to myself, I knew immediately it was my friend I haven’t seen in nine years and who, last I heard, was living in Germany. I haven’t even received a letter from him in 2 years. Just then the light turned green and the bus rolled away. I waved and yelled after it. I watched the bus go and go, hoping he would get off, but the bus disappeared from sight without stopping. After a few minutes I stopped looking for him and it wasn’t until I was actually sitting down in a nearby restaurant several minutes later that he chased in, breathing hard and sweaty from running. He’d been looking for me for almost three weeks. Didn’t know if I was still in Korea, couldn’t find me on the internet (which seems strange given the enormity of this site and the length of my stay at this URL). Then here we were. Amazing and delightful to discover a friend among all the unknown faces. We had lunch together for catching up. Later I ate dinner with him and some of his friends who are also acquaintences of mine just by our mutual connection to Wolfgang. It was great to see him. He is older, of course, but unmistakably the same. He leaves tomorrow but will likely return within in few months.

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