I know it’s on the horizon now. It was brought up in the context of a goodbye party for my co-worker and friend Gwen, who will be leaving for the States soon. If it’s not at her party, it’s still bound to happen eventually — me and the profs I work with will eventually...
Read more →If you’d told me in 1999 that a decade hence someone would be hugging me in an Indian restaurant in a suburb of Seoul, and then saying that sentence to me, “Please try… I want to see you in Jakarta…” I’d have laughed in your face and said, “What?!?” Well, ona good day I...
Read more →I’ve been saddened by what happened recently in regard to ex-President Roh’s suicide. Not the suicide itself, or all of the political wrangling related to it.I’m saddened because I fear suicides will worsen here, for the next while. Korea has a serious suicide problem. It’s the number one killer of people in their twenties,...
Read more →That’s a touristy island in South Korea. So I’m not responding to comments much for a reasons. Having fun, even if it is raining like nobody’s business. Should clear up tomorrow, and in the meantime, I got some necessary work done. Two stories down, a few more to go. If I’m slow replying to...
Read more →Okay, universe. I got the message, loud and clear. I believe in magic again. Also, in Jpop. I was telling someone how my experience of Japanese pop culture media is something like what I’d expect a group of alien children might make if they were trying to fake their way through American pop culture...
Read more →So my friend Mike was in town this weekend, and after he arrived (and I arrived at CoEx Mall pathetically late), our first stop (after food) was the Seoul International Book Fair. From the website, I thought it might be a little more trade/professional than it was, but we had a good time wandering,...
Read more →Friday last week was Teacher’s Day, but the day always takes me by surprise. Actually, it would have taken me by surprise anyway — my students sprung the biggest ambush on Thursday. We were in my office, setting up for a video shoot for that class of mine that’s making a mockumentary about an...
Read more →Seriously: New Zealander singing Korean Karaoke, out of nowhere, on this TV show I’ve just torn through. Strangely brilliant in the episode, since it is, as I said, out of nowhere: (For comparison, most of the videos are like this:) ...
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