CAVEAT DVMPTRVCK

Yesterday I was announcing the end of monsoon, but today by 4 pm it was rainy and so overcast that it was prematurely twilight (see rainbow, previous post, from phone).

I have been obsessively writing the history and politics of one of my imaginary countries. I do not really talk about this much, because, as a hobby, my imaginary world-building is difficult to explain or justify to others – everyone wants to ask, “what is the point?”
Guess what? There is no point. . . That is why it is a hobby and not a job. It is merely a kind of creative self-entertainment. So normally I tell people, more generically, that I am “writing,” and if asked to elaborate, I will say something vague about “novels-in-progress,” but lately, I am feeling impelled to be more “out-of-the-closet” about it.

My recent burst of creativity in this realm has been brought about, in part, by the discovery of several websites that host collaborative “fictional” encyclopedias – imagine a cross between Tolkien’s or Frank Herbert’s voluminous appendices and. . . wikipedia.

[daily log: walking, 2.5 km]

This little holiday has been an experiment of sorts – what would my life be like if I quit my job (because of the stress), and did not replace it with another job (because any other job would be stressful too)?

The answer is that I would neverthless find many things to stress about: my health (or lack thereof), my progress (or lack thereof) on artistic pursuits, my financial situation. Et cetera.
My job is not so bad.

I was careful to avoid certain bad habits – in particular, I kept my “minimum internet” rule, because it is so easy to waste an entire day absorbed in the various blogs and art and culture sites I habituate. I keep the rule for Sundays, normally, because it is too frequent that I wonder where my day went, afterward. Keeping the rule for 5 days was difficult. It was like a chain of five Sundays, and by today I was vaguely restless and missing work.

I took a long walk in the drizzle down past Madu to Baekseok, this afternoon, and did something unexpected. I ate at a McDonalds. This might seem to be a bad move, but I had been struck by a compelling thought: I used to frequent that type of American fast food restaurant – it is partly how I managed to reach 125 kg in 2005 – but now that I am struggling not to lose weight, there is no longer any reason to avoid it. Unfortunately, my transformed taste buds and swallowing problems meant it was not the nostalgia trip I had been hoping for. It was my first American fast food experience since before my cancer – the last time I was inside a McDs was during my US trip 2 years ago. This visit went poorly. I guess mostly I do not miss it. . . this was out of curiosity.

[daily log: walking, 4 km]

I took a picture of a rainbow from my apartment window. I have been having some weird technical issues with posting pictures to my blog. So. . . maybe later.

I am not really enjoying my vacation. Trying to relax in my apartment, my post-cancer hypochondria kicks in. Grr.

[daily log: walking, 1 km]

I am better at acquiring books than reading them.

That is not to say that I do not read. . . I have been reading a lot, lately. I am finishing Charles Mann’s book, 1491 (review: not bad, but mostly stuff I have read or learned elsewhere), and I keep craving more history books. I have several novels in progress as well as my standard half-dozen philosophy texts, but those all seem to move very slowly (I spent 2 hours on several pages of Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy, this morning), whereas I seem to zoom through history.

I took the subway the full hour and a quarter into Gangnam (infamous Gangnam, Seoul’s Hollywood and Times Square and Beverly Hills and Park Avenue, mashed up together), not because I particularly like it there, though it is interesting, but because I remain convinced that the Gangnam branch of Kyobo Mungo (a sort of Korean book superstore, run by a life insurance company) has the best-organized, most diverse selection of foreign books in Korea.

I was partly inspired to do this because I rearranged my shelves in my apartment yesterday, and ended up with – lo! – free shelf space: . . . must. buy. books.

As usual, I bought books that I might not actually read. But some things I probably will read were included, too.

Walking up to Sinsa station for the subway home (just to walk it – it is maybe 2 km from the Kyobo tower to Sinsa), the air was remarkably clear, despite the hot, muggy conditions, and the mountains at Bukhansan were jagged and starkly beautiful as I was looking north up Gangnamdaero – normally one hardly notices the peaks lurking across the river in the haze.

I am writing this as I ride the subway home – sharpening my phonetyping skills, clearly indispensible for life in the 21st century. The man across from me has a shirt that says, in gold cursive letters on black cotton-polyester: “Liberate Wide Normal.” What did someone believe this might mean, such that it merited citation on a shirt?

[daily log: walking, 4 km]

I had a kind of bad weekend. Mostly due to food, which I try so hard not to complain continuously about on this blog. It is always some ill-calculated food texture that brings on the worst of the coughing and gagging. I made some rice to go with my soup I had made before. Something did not work. Bleagh.

[daily log: walking 2 km]