Lately I’ve been struggling with motivation on personal projects of all kinds.
So this blog is boringer than usual, I’m sure. I’ll share this thing I ran across the other day. This Russian guy plays the Star Wars Imperial March using only a plastic coffee stirring stick.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Category: Banalities & Journaling
Caveat: The Typical December 설명회
The rhythms of hagwon life are pretty well understood by me, now. December is a tough month – it’s the de facto end of the hagwon school year (the Korean school year officially ends at the end of February, but the hagwon business, getting a jump on things, seems to be driven to move the kids up a grade a few months in advance).
So we have a kind of “open house,” called 설명회, every year around this time. That means coming to work early, and for a foreigner peon such as myself (and don’t get me wrong, I am a peon entirely by choice, at this point), it mostly means standing around trying to look competent while others make their presentations.
So that’s what happened, this morning.
There’s a lot of unsurprising end-of-year work to get done: new curricula being laid out (such as they are); level testing for the kids (such as it goes). Nevertheless, in the Korean way, which I find so amenable to my personal inclinations, I shall procrastinate.
Therefore, just now I have some time to kill at work. Not enough time to go home and come back later for class, so just sitting here. I wish my mind was feeling more dynamic, these days, but it’s not. Still coming off the nasty flu thing I had.
It’s a frigid day outside. I guess it’s about -5° C – but bright and sunny.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: They’ll be out for us
I slept in quite a bit this morning – I'm still sleeping more than usual. Although yesterday, Monday, I officially resumed my "normal" teaching schedule, for the first time since before my trip, it was still hard – because on my "normal" teaching schedule, Monday is my hardest day. So there's that.
What I'm listening to right now.
Friendly Fires, "Paris (Aeroplane Remix)."
Lyrics (kinda boring).
One day we're gonna live in Paris
I promise
I'm on it
When I'm bringing in the money
I promise
I'm on it
I'm gonna take you out to club showcase
We're gonna live it up
I promise
Just hold on a little more
And every night we'll watch the stars
They'll be out for us
They'll be out for us
And every night, the city lights
They'll be out for us
They'll be out for us
One day we're gonna live in Paris
I promise
I'm on it
I'll find you that French boy
You'll find me that French girl
I promise
I'm on it
So go and pack your bags
For the long haul
We're gonna lose ourselves
I promise
This time it's you and me for evermore
And every night we'll watch the stars
They'll be out for us
They'll be out for us
And every night, the city lights
They'll be out for us
They'll be out for us
And every night we'll watch the stars
They'll be out for us
They'll be out for us
And every night, the city lights
They'll be out for us
They'll be out for us
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Alligator Legacy
Two weeks ago, a former student of mine who is now finishing the 9th grade departed Karma. I knew she was leaving, but since I don't regularly see the 9th graders, I didn't get to say goodbye. She'd been my student for 4 years.
She left me a note on my desk, which included a touching message and an alligator sketch. I was very pleased.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Park Geun-hye, Hiya!
Yesterday, an impeachment process was started against the president of Korea, Park Geun-hye (박근혜).
Perhaps not coincidentally, during my Newton1-M cohort class (4th and 4th graders), after allowing several students to use the Korean-English dictionary on my phone, I found the following message written on the dictionary's search window:
박근혜하야하라 [pak.geun.hye ha.ya.ha.ra]
This means "Park Geun-hye, resign!" (in a very informal register, as used in the recent public demonstrations against the president).
Note that we were not, in any way, discussing the political events – I tend to confine my political class discussions to my middle schoolers. This was essentially a kind of surreptitious message entered for no particular reason.
I asked the kids, "who wrote this on my phone?"
Eric raised his hand, sheepishly. "Park Geun-hye, hiya," he said, waving a hand and exaggerating an "English" pronunciation of the name, making it sound like he was "just saying hi."
I had to laugh.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: conversation – or not
"Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness." – Margaret Millar
Definitely sick. More later.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: What a sleep schedule shows
I have been definitely sick, this past week. The main indicator is the amount that I sleep. Normally I'm lucky to stay asleep for 7 hours in a night, most nights (or less, if I have my early morning insomnia). I generally sleep as much as I need, because I don't have any alarm or obligations first thing in the morning, given my afternoon/evening teaching schedule. So I wake up when I want to wake up.
All this week, except yesterday, I have woken up after 9-10 hours of sleep. Yesterday, I had some insomnia, but still managed to nap several hours in the late morning before work.
All that said, the sleep schedule which my body "takes" for itself is a clear indicator something is wrong. I assume it's some kind of low-grade flu.
It's hard for me to focus, but work is pushing really hard and demanding a lot too.
Which is to say, I've got nothing interesting to post here, just now.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
I had a really hard day yesterday. Work has been hard lately. I’ll get over it. I woke up too early, but now it’s dawn and it’s trying to snow outside.
Meanwhile, I think that in 1986, Elvis Costello had a Bobdylanesque dream.
What I’m listening to right now.
Elvis Costello, “Tokyo Storm Warning.”
Lyrics.
Oh, the sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery
And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed capsule hotel
Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery
I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in hell
So you look around the tiny room and you wonder where the hell you are
While the K.K.K. convention are all stranded in the bar
They wear hoods and carry shotguns in the main streets of Montgomery
But they’re helpless here as babies ’cause they’re only here on holiday
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’ll give it a big kiss, we’ll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat ’cause he’s a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’re only living this instant
Well, the black sand stuck beneath her feet in a warm Sorrento sunrise
A barefoot girl from Naples or was it a Barcelona hi-rise?
Whistles out the tuneless theme song of a hundred cheap suggestions
And a million false seductions and all those eternal questions
Well, what do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Oh, we’ll give it a big kiss, we’ll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat ’cause he’s a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’re only living this instant
So they flew the Super-Constellation all the way from Rimini
And feasted them on fish and chips from a newspaper facsimile
Now dead Italian tourist bodies litter up the Broadway
Some people can’t be told, you know they have to learn the hard way
Holidays are dirt-cheap in the Costa del Malvinas
In the Hotel Argentina they can hardly tell between us
For Teresa is a waitress, though she’s now known as Juanita
In a tango bar in Stanley or in Puerto Margarita
She’s the sweetest and the sauciest
The loveliest and naughtiest
She’s Miss Buenos Aires in a world of lacy lingerie
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’ll give it a big kiss, we’ll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat ’cause he’s a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’re only living this instant
Japanese God, Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes
For all we know and all we care they might as well be Martians
They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
They’re so tired of shooting protest singers
That they hardly mention us
While fountains fill with second-hand perfume and sodden trading stamps
They’ll hang the bullies and the louts that dampen down the day
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’ll give it a big kiss, we’ll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat ’cause he’s a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’re only living this instant, hey
We braved the cold November air and the undertaker’s curses, saying
“Take me to the Folies Bergères, and please don’t spare the hearses”
For he always had a dream of that revolver in your purse
How you loved him ’till you hated him and made him cry for mercy
He said “don’t ever mention my name there or talk of all the nights you cried
We’ve always been like worlds apart, now you’re seeing two nightmares collide”
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’ll give it a big kiss, we’ll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat ’cause he’s a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We’re only living this instant, hey, ow!
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: Neoknownothingist Tokenism
One area where I had been willing to give some benefit of the doubt to the new Space Emperor-elect was in whether or not he was actually a racist. I had preferred to imagine that he was cynically manipulating racists by rhetorical means, without himself having strong opinions on the matter. However, blogger Paul Campos makes a point at the Lawyers, Guns & Money blog about the Ben Carson appointment to HUD:
Appointing someone who admits to being completely unqualified for a job, and who also happens to be black, to that very job is exactly what one would expect a racist to do, since that’s a racist’s definition of “affirmative action” in action.
I am no longer able to give benefit of the doubt. This is pure reaction: post Obama, everything swings outrageously the other way. Sad!
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: Problems got me pessimistic
I'm using my day off to try to get healthy again. Lots of rest and mindlessly drawing and listening to various things.
What I'm listening to right now.
Arrested Development, "Tennessee."
Lyrics.
[Verse 1: Speech]
Lord I've really been real stressed
Down and out, losing ground
Although I am Black and proud
Problems got me pessimistic
Brothers and sisters keep messin up
Why does it have to be so damn tough
I don't know where I can go
To let these ghosts out of my skull
My grandma's passed, my brother's gone
I never at once felt so alone
I know you're supposed to be my steering wheel
Not just my spare tire (home)
But Lord I ask you (home)
To be my guiding force and truth (home)
For some strange reason it had to be (home)
He guided me to Tennessee (home)
[Hook]
Take me to another place
Take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me
Let me understand your plan
[Verse Two]
Lord it's obvious we got a relationship
Talking to each other every night and day
Although you're superior over me
We talk to each other in a friendship way
Then outta nowhere you tell me to break
Outta the country and into more country
Past Dyersburg into Ripley
Where the ghost of childhood haunts me
Walk the roads my forefathers walked
Climbed the trees my forefathers hung from
Ask those trees for all their wisdom
They tell me my ears are so young (home)
Go back to from whence you came (home)
My family tree my family name (home)
For some strange reason it had to be (home)
He guided me to Tennessee (home)
[Hook]
[Interlude: Aerle Taree]
Eshe, she went down to Holly Springs
Rasadon and Baba, they went down to Peachtree
Headliner, I challenge you to a game of horseshoes, a game of horseshoes
[Verse 3: Speech]
Now I see the importance of history
Why my people be in the mess that they be
Many journeys to freedom made in vain
By brothers on the corner playing ghetto games
I ask you Lord why you enlightened me
Without the enlightment of all my folks
He said cause I set myself on a quest for truth
And he was there to quench my thirst
But I am still thirsty
The Lord allowed me to drink some more
He said what I am searching for are
The answers to all which are in front of me
The ultimate truth started to get blurry
For some strange reason it had to be
It was all a dream about Tennessee
[Hook]
[daily log: walking, 1km]
Caveat: where the numb meets the lonely
As anticipated, this week is quite hard. I'm teaching extra classes – covering for a coworker whose turn it is now to take a trip (as I took a trip a few weeks back). I am not really feeling very healthy – I felt surprisingly healthy during my trip, experiencing none of the complications or issues I had worried might arise during travel, but since getting back it has been as if my body is undergoing a kind of "rebound" or compensation for the all-out effort during the trip.
I'm tired, my neck hurts, my tongue "stings" more than usual (the phantom pain I've described before), and I constantly feel vaguely nauseated – this could be exhaustion, I suppose. Then again, there's some kind of stomach flu going around Karma, lately. OK, enough complaining.
What I'm listening to right now.
Miranda Lambert, "Vice."
Lyrics.
Stay as a needle dropping on a vinyl
Neon singer with a jukebox title full of heartbreak
Thirty-three, fourty-five, seventy-eight
When it hurts this good you gotta play it twice
Another vice
All dressed up in a pretty black label
Sweet salvation on a dining room table
Waiting on me
Where the numb meets the lonely
It's gone before it ever melts the ice
Another vice, another call
Another bed I shouldn't crawl out of
At 7am with shoes in my hand
Said I wouldn't do it, but I did it again
And I know I'll be back tomorrow night oh
I'll wear a tail like a leather jacket
When the new wears off, I don't even pack it
If you need me
I'll be where my reputation don't proceed me
Maybe I'm addicted to goodbyes
Another vice, another town
Where my past can't run me down
Another life, another call
Another bed I shouldn't crawl out of
At 7AM with shoes in my hand
Said I wouldn't do it, but I did it again
And I know I'll be gone tomorrow night
Mmm, another vice
Standing at the sink now, looking at the mirror
Don't know where I am or how I got here
Well the only thing that I know how to find
Is another vice
Mmm, another vice
Yes, another vice
Ooh, another vice
Another vice
Another vice
Another vice
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: S7
On Saturday, I bought a new phone. It is a Samsung Galaxy S7. This is my first new phone in 5 years, and since that phone was a hand-me-down (gifted to me by my former coworker, Ken), it is the first phone I have bought since first arriving in Korea in 2007. Although in some ways, over the years, I have been an early adopter, with respect to phones I can definitely assert that I have always been quite behind the curve of modernity.
I was puzzled, momentarily, with how to post a picture of my new phone (since I don't own a separate camera, and since one of the main features I was interested in for my new phone was the camera). Then I realized I could use my old phone to take a picture of it. This is, therefore, officially the very last picture taken with my old phone. It's going on mothballs – although I have a vague idea I might mess with it as a low-performance linux box, if I want to mess with something like that.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: one light-year per year
"One light-year per year" is the speed of light. This is not an entirely reductive definition, because of how the units are officially defined by the physicists. This was the insight I drew from physicist and blogger Sean Carroll's blog entry today, which gives thanks, for Thanksgiving, for the speed of light.
I'm all for giving thanks for unusual things. Giving thanks for the speed of light seems like an awesome idea.
c – ya.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: What Must Be Done
I had a bittersweet moment with a student the other day. I'm helping a 7th grader prepare for the "practice TOEFL" which she will take in a few weeks. This is a kind of "unofficial official" version of the test – it gives people a chance to guess how the experience of taking the real test will be, and get a plausible, realistic score while answering real questions (taken from old tests). This student is one of the top students at Karma, regularly getting the highest scores on our level tests and in a cohort with older students, too. However, she experiences a lot of performance anxiety around the speaking component of TOEFL, so I'm trying to help her feel better about that.
She surprised me, saying she had decided she wanted to study linguistics. She said she'd been influenced by things I'd said, and had been pursuing the interest on her own, too. I felt very flattered and pleased.
But then she said, "I told my mom my plan to study linguistics. My mom said no. She said I must become a doctor."
This is typical "Korean mom" behavior, of course – not that I mean to reinforce stereotypes, but they're grounded in reality. So I guess my student will have to pursue her interest in Linguistics avocationally – either that, or rebel against her mother's wishes.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: solving that question
Days
What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:
Where can we live but days?
Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.
– Philip Larkin (British poet, 1922-1985)
I feel a sense of normalcy returning, after the complexities and irregularities and "always on" effort of the trip. I definitely have needed to find some down time. One notable aspect of my sense of self, in the wake of the trip, is a feeling of having finally crossed some milestone with respect to my recovery from my illness. Until this trip, there was some feeling that I was still in a sort of extended convalescence. By traveling back to the US, I have in a way declared my full recovery. There is actually a kind of ambivalence about this. The long, complicated, traumatic battle with cancer has evolved into a typical dysfunctional relationship – both resented and clung to. It's hard to let go, even though it's necessary.
The days pass. It's good to see my students, some of whom even seem to have missed me.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: The Semiotics of a Particularly Funny Joke about Dreams, Chickens, Roads, and Motives
"I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned."
In a candy shop in Oldtown Pasadena about 9 days ago, where we had stepped in because my nephew Dylan had a sweet-tooth, I ran across the above joke, inscribed on a fridge magnet, for sale for the ghastlily exorbitant price of $6.50.
I laughed very hard. So did my dad. My sister just made a face – the kind that says, "I can see why you would find that funny but I don't plan to laugh."
I bought two of them, but the phrase was already inscribed on my brain. Curt, who'd witnessed all this, was unable to understand the humor. Of course, there are lot of cultural touchstones that make it inaccessible to those not grounded in US culture.
I have been trying to think about how best to explain to Curt why this joke made me laugh so hard. I think the first step is to begin to fill in some missing cultural components, with a disquisition on the ancient "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke genre.
So, let's begin. There is a question-and-answer joke, that asks, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
The oldest, most time-tested answer is, "To get to the other side."
There exists an infinite number of alternate versions, with questions and answers. Many of the versions rely on the "build up" of previous versions (e.g. #10, below). I researched a few that I found most humorous.
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side
Why did the chicken cross the basketball court? He heard the referee calling fowls
Why did the turkey cross the road? To prove he wasn't chicken
Why did the chicken cross the road, roll in the mud and cross the road again? Because he was a dirty double-crosser
Why didn't the chicken skeleton cross the road? Because he didn't have enough guts
Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide
Why did the dinosaur cross the road? Because chickens hadn't evolved yet
Why did the turtle cross the road? To get to the shell station
Why did the horse cross the road? Because the chicken needed a day off
The next step is to recognize the new joke's nod to another genre altogether: the "I dream of a world where. . . "
Somehow, my feeling is that this is rooted in the Langston Hughes poem. Or, if not rooted there, then nevertheless Hughes' poem is an early peak of a meme.
I Dream a World
I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom's way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-
Of such I dream, my world!
So another aspect of the joke's appeal, at least to me, is that it takes the silly chicken joke meme and combines it with the high-register "I dream" meme.
Finally, the last part of the joke, which renders it especially appropriate for me, is the bit of psychobable at the end: ". . . without having their motives questioned."
This is a type of language popularized during my parents' generation, and echoes the whole "I'm OK, You're OK" meme of that era.
There's a lot going on in that joke. I have placed it on the sidebar of my blog.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: 왜사서 고생이야?
Last Thursday, watching my uncle chipping wood before distributing the wood chips on his surrounding forest floor, Curt seemed puzzled by the purpose of it all. He said there was an expression in Korean that seemed relevant: “왜사서 고생이야?”
Loosely, this translates as, “why do [you] make work for [yourself]?’
More literally, it is something like, “Why buy and then suffer?” One should not suffer as a consequence of one’s purchases, right?
It applies to everyone, at one time or another, though. Nevertheless, it’s a type of activity that may be more relevant to some more than others. I, like my uncle, sometimes seem to make work for myself, unnecessarily.
[daily log: walking, 9km]
Caveat: A Mysterious Gadget
What follows is essentially a "guest post" – although the guest writer doesn't exactly know he's a guest on this blog. When visiting my uncle in Alaska, he asked me if I could help identify the "mystery gadget" described by a "friend of a friend" of his, Doug Clyde. So I offered to post Doug's original email on my blog, which might give some additional web-visibility to the object and help identify it – I have a fairly eclectic collection of blogreaders, so I thought it might be useful. Below is Doug's original email. My uncle also forwarded the same email to some other acquaintances.
I try to send my brother a unique Christmas gift each year – something useless but too nice to throw away. This year I think I have outdone myself. It’s so unique I can’t figure out what it is. An internet search was no help. I’m hopeful that one of you can enlighten me.
It is very well made – the base is cast brass with a black wrinkle finish that is common on old lab instruments like microscopes.
The brass balls are fixed to their rods, but the rods are free to go up and down. The height of the lower bar can be adjusted by loosening the brass knob in the center of the bar.
The knurled fitting on the top of the balls can be unscrewed. Under this fitting (inside the ball) are small lead beads which I assume are used to trim the weight of the brass ball.
Lead beads w/ball point pen shown for comparison. Those beads would not weigh much.
Note the bottom of each rod is machined to different diameters.
The pin on the bottom of the big ball measures 0.0500 of an inch, The pin on the small ball measures 0.1000 of an inch.
The diameter of the big ball is 1.8250, the small ball 1.1250
I’m thinking it might be one part of a display or lab instrument. I don’t have a clue. Thanks for looking and let me know if you figure it out.
Happy Holidays - Doug
If you have an idea what this gadget is, you can send me an email (gadget 🐌 jaredway ⬤ com), and I'll forward it back to my uncle.
Perhaps you noticed, I'm posting this at 4 am, Korea time. Jetlag, anyone? Well, it's not too bad – I wake up this early sometimes even when not jetlagged. Let's just called it "jaredlag."
Caveat: Alien At Home
I am at home being an alien. That has become my normal. I look out at the permanently alien environment I have made my home.
That was a long trip, I just completed.
I think I am going to be tired for a few weeks. But there's work, to keep me busy while being tired.
This blog post is a bit minimal, since I'm going to crash, and let the jetlag catch up with me. Or let myself catch up with the jetlag – however that works. Anyway it's never quite so bad, westbound.
More later.
Caveat: Departure for Return
Here is a last picture of Ketchikan, from yesterday, mid-day.
We stayed at a motel near the airport. Last night, my dad drove out and met us for a late dinner, one last time. Now we return to Korea.
I'll post something again once there.
Caveat: Ferry at Dawn
We got on the ferry at dawn, to travel back to Ketchikan, thence to LA and on to Seoul. The dawn twilight was misty and cold, and the trees were bejewelled with heavy frost.
Postscript: I had a frustrating time trying to post this from my phone. My allegedly smart phone is upsetting me. This is from my computer – we have arrived in LA.
Caveat: Boat Outta Water
We helped (watched?) my uncle Arthur remove the boat from the water and put it in the barn, today, at midday, while the tide was high.
Curt pretended to be pulling the boat up the ramp (in fact, there is a motor and pulley system).
[daily log: walking, 6km]
Caveat: Hydaburg
We took a short road trip down the island to the village of Hydaburg. Mostly, I was interested to see it because it was the one part of Prince of Wales Island that I hadn't visited before. Also, I have long had a peripheral interest in the Native American languages, and the Haida language is still (just barely) alive and spoken in Hydaburg, which is interesting. Thus, bilingual street signs can be found in the town.
We saw totem poles in Hydaburg. They are interesting, too. They remind me of Korean 장승 [jangseung].
The day was sunny but cold – Prince of Wales gets cold when the sky clears, in the winter. Frost lingered on the grass throughout the day. There was striking snow on mountaintops at the center of the island.
We drove back to Craig and ate at a dockside cafe, and then came home and had a latish dinner of part of the salmon we'd caught yesterday.
Caveat: Curt Catches a Salmon
We went out in my uncle's boat.
My uncle got something to bite on his hook, which he handed off to Curt. The fish turned out to be a good-sized salmon.
Pure luck – I think my uncle was surprised to have caught a fish. The fish:
Caveat: Dawn Over Port Saint Nicholas
My uncle's home is on a little bay (really, a fjord) called Port Saint Nicholas, which might make you think of Santa Claus, but the latter is not involved.
Here is a picture of dawn this morning over Port Saint Nicholas, looking east from the back deck.
We went out in the boat today, fishing. We caught a fish. More on that later.
Caveat: Craig, Alaska
Yesterday we rode four different airplanes. One of them (the Portland-Seattle leg, only 30 minutes) was a bit extraneous, but was due to getting the best schedule for LA to Ketchikan. The last plane, from Ketchikan to Klawock, on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, was what is sometimes called a "puddlejumper" – a small plane, with 8 passengers.
My uncle met us at the Klawock airport (which is not very big – about the same level of infrastructure as a rural Korean bus-station) and we drove to his house, which was about 40 minutes.
I ended up going to sleep very early. I think Curt and Jin did too. Now it's morning, quite early – about 5:30 am. Our plans for this leg of the trip are bit unstructured. Perhaps a bit of driving around, perhaps some just lounging around.
More later.
Caveat: interaction and walking around
It was a day of interaction and walking around. We spent the morning with my sister and her family in old Pasadena. Then for mid afternoon and early evening we went to west L.A., where we met my good friend Jay (he of some hiking trips to Zion and Bryce National Parks, e.g. in 2009). Finally, last we stopped at my father’s friend’s house, Fidel, who spoke to us entertainingly for a few hours and played some Latin Folk songs. I’m not sure on how appreciated this was by Curt and Jin, but as usual they were very polite and seemed in good spirits.
Tomorrow, very very early, we fly out to Alaska. I’ll update when we get there, hopefully – perhaps with only a short note if there are connectivity issues.
[daily log: walking, 8km]
Caveat: Wisconsonian Arirang
A few days ago we had stopped in Whitewater, Wisconsin, to see my friend Bob who is a Professor of Music there. He has a colleague named Chris Ellenwood. When Bob was giving us an impromptu tour of the Music department, we met Professor Ellenwood and he, upon learning that there were two visitors from Korea, gave a spontaneous rendition of the Korean folktune "Arirang" using a whistling technique, which Curt captured on video. I said I'd post it when I got a chance, so here it is.
Caveat: Chinese food in America is not the same as Chinese food in Korea
We went out to dinner, in Pasadena near my dad's house: my sister and her family, along with Andrew, Phil, Curt, Jin and me. There was too much food – more than we expected.
I feel extremely tired – more than it seems like I should, given what we did today. But I suppose it's more of a cumulative result of pushing so hard so far on this trip.
Caveat: East of Eagan
My close friends Mark and Amy live in the St Paul suburb called Eagan. This is a view from their front yard, looking east, at 6:20 am.
Yesterday we drove up from Chicago, stopping to see Bob one last time at Whitewater, Wisconsin, because I forgot my phone charging cable at his house. Curt insisted, plausibly, that my subconscious forced me to leave the cord in order to compel me to see him again.
We got a tour of his work area at the Music Department at UW Whitewater. One of his fellow professors performed a spontaneous rendition of Arirang (a Korean folktune) upon meeting my two Korean traveling companions. Perhaps a video clip of this is forthcoming – if so, I'll post a new blog entry for it.
We drove the rest of the way back up to St Paul (Eagan) and spent the night at Mark and Amy's. Today, we fly back to Los Angeles.
More later.
Caveat: Chicago
We stayed in Chicago overnight – we got a last-minute super discount deal on some kind of decrepit luxury suite downtown, using the internet. Considering how spontaneous this part of the trip has been, so far it's gone well. We saw anti-the-new-guy protests in Chicago, marching through the streets.
We'll be driving back up to Minneapolis today, then flying to L.A. tomorrow.
More later.
Caveat: just google something
We were standing on a street corner. We wanted to eat Korean Samgyeopsal, so we had found a restaurant on California Avenue on the North side, but the place only opened at 4:30 and it was only 3:30, so we had to wait a while. We walked around, and Curt struck up a conversation with a Korean dry cleaner. Maybe it's true that all dry cleaners in the US are Korean – certainly I have almost never met a non-Korean dry cleaner.
Curt had fixated on finding a place to get a haircut. He is pretty brave, socially, so on his own initiative, he stopped two middle school girls coming out of the nearby school. Entirely typical middle-school girls from the big American city – which is to say, the girls wore hijabs. I guess, besides the Korean businesses here and there, the neighborhood definitely had a lot of muslims – I'm not sure what ethnicity.
The two girls seemed disconcerted by a random Korean coming up to talk to them, but after Curt explained what he was looking for, the girl thought for a moment and suggested, tentatively but with a very natural voice full of typical American teenage intonations, that there were some stores along Devon Avenue, which was nearby. Then the one, bolder girl shrugged and smiled. "Or you could just google something," she offered, dismissively brandishing her smartphone, and they walked away. It was such an obvious answer, and I think Curt felt a bit sheepish by the response. He was just trying to be socially and linguistically brave and she stated the obvious.
Caveat: America, You’re Fired
Worth noting: apparently the Canadian government's "immigrate to Canada" website has been crashed by excess web traffic. I am definitely going to be working on my Korean language skills – I see a TOPIK (Korean language skills test) test in my future.
What more should I say? This is an awkward morning for the USA.
I have this germ of an idea that I'm going to try to avoid mentioning the victor's name on this here blog.
In personal news, I stayed at my friend Bob's house last night. Curt and Mr Jin stayed at a B&B a block or so away (since Bob's house is a bit small to accommodate so many guests). I'm not clear what exactly our plans are for today, but they might involve Chicago.
I'll post more later, I guess.
[daily log: walking, but how far?]