That's Why I Tell You...
~
2004.03.22 23:24 KST (EST + 14 hrs): Suwon, Republic of Korea
Spring has sprung in a stuttered style, here in the peninsular heartland. Sun shines in the afternoon and layers come off. Skirts -- which, I'm told, have only recently come into style -- are seen here and there, hesitatingly peeking above kneecaps, accentuated with jean jackets, clever T-shirts and even the occasionally smart blazer. Nonetheless, nights remain brisk, even cool; wool blankets serving a stolid reminder to residents and visitors alike that playtime is not yet fully upon us. Notwithstanding, and in time, weekend sand will squeeze up between these toes like long, plump blades of green lawn in late July. In time.
By this time next week, I will have chalked 182 lines below my apartment wall's (postered mug of) Thom Yorke, marking a total of six months spent in this foreign land. Time has flown, as some might say; and like most days, it continues to do so.
And despite a weekend run over with excess and laughs spent in Pusan, on the country's southern tip, I hit a lull in positivity in late February, riding a low tide until this past weekend, which I've ascribed to a combination of bad professional energy and a temporarily stagnant personal drive. Breaking the camel's back was a birthday spent without the usual spate of mid-March far-and-wide friends, neighbours, well-wishers and coat-pilers bouncing off red and beige apartment walls until the Ottawan wee hours. (And although these are times flowed under and passed, recalling them cracks a knowing grin and increases my collection of crow's feet).
After tax, I feel that things have improved and I am now well-oiled to roar another two short months before a well-earned break in late-May, early-June. Oddly, it's hard to stave off excitedness and eagerness for this upcoming Canadian jaunt while keeping your wits about you, maintaining focus on what needs to be accomplished in such a short break, home.
Home. I like the monosyllabic metonymy of it's ring. Mantra-esque, even. Home: I will be there soon.
S*
Fave current track(s): "Jah Jah Dub" - King Tubby
Current read(s) in progress: "Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow" - Aldous Huxley, "The Economist" magazine
2004.03.22 23:24 KST (EST + 14 hrs): Suwon, Republic of Korea
Spring has sprung in a stuttered style, here in the peninsular heartland. Sun shines in the afternoon and layers come off. Skirts -- which, I'm told, have only recently come into style -- are seen here and there, hesitatingly peeking above kneecaps, accentuated with jean jackets, clever T-shirts and even the occasionally smart blazer. Nonetheless, nights remain brisk, even cool; wool blankets serving a stolid reminder to residents and visitors alike that playtime is not yet fully upon us. Notwithstanding, and in time, weekend sand will squeeze up between these toes like long, plump blades of green lawn in late July. In time.
By this time next week, I will have chalked 182 lines below my apartment wall's (postered mug of) Thom Yorke, marking a total of six months spent in this foreign land. Time has flown, as some might say; and like most days, it continues to do so.
And despite a weekend run over with excess and laughs spent in Pusan, on the country's southern tip, I hit a lull in positivity in late February, riding a low tide until this past weekend, which I've ascribed to a combination of bad professional energy and a temporarily stagnant personal drive. Breaking the camel's back was a birthday spent without the usual spate of mid-March far-and-wide friends, neighbours, well-wishers and coat-pilers bouncing off red and beige apartment walls until the Ottawan wee hours. (And although these are times flowed under and passed, recalling them cracks a knowing grin and increases my collection of crow's feet).
After tax, I feel that things have improved and I am now well-oiled to roar another two short months before a well-earned break in late-May, early-June. Oddly, it's hard to stave off excitedness and eagerness for this upcoming Canadian jaunt while keeping your wits about you, maintaining focus on what needs to be accomplished in such a short break, home.
Home. I like the monosyllabic metonymy of it's ring. Mantra-esque, even. Home: I will be there soon.
S*
Fave current track(s): "Jah Jah Dub" - King Tubby
Current read(s) in progress: "Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow" - Aldous Huxley, "The Economist" magazine
Just Go With It
~
2004.03.21 03:17 KST (EST + 14 hrs): Seoul (Club Palm), Republic of Korea
There's times when I wonder what's gone wrong with it all. Or maybe it's the preconceived notion of what it is that contorts and distorts the whole thing like Chinese acrobatics gone awry. There's a time in your life when most things make sense: you've got the job down pat; you know what you need and who can provide it; you know the numbers for all of the above. Life's funny that way. Then it turns upside-down. But not in any convential, revolutionary sense ... it just happens that way. Russians still line up for club nights and Angolans still preach religion in the street while Australians jabber on about times gone by and people passed away. I guess it's a combination of quasi-perpetual good times and the mid-twenties sentiment of invisibility. An odd pair, that. Combined with countless matches of music or taste or mutual good intention, we meet the people who may or might not shake or shape the people we'll become (and even re-confirm the people we already are). Either way, the human species is a weak one, distracted by so much other than the realities that should preoccupy an active human mind. Walking, straddling the edges of a semi-universe, a parallel universe to the right one that we never really embrace. Disappointing, really. But it's what we've got, so why not go with it...?
S*
Fave current track(s): "Our Way to Fall" - Yo La Tengo
Current read(s) in progress: "Fury" - Salman Rushdie, "Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow" - Aldous Huxley, "The Economist" magazine
2004.03.21 03:17 KST (EST + 14 hrs): Seoul (Club Palm), Republic of Korea
There's times when I wonder what's gone wrong with it all. Or maybe it's the preconceived notion of what it is that contorts and distorts the whole thing like Chinese acrobatics gone awry. There's a time in your life when most things make sense: you've got the job down pat; you know what you need and who can provide it; you know the numbers for all of the above. Life's funny that way. Then it turns upside-down. But not in any convential, revolutionary sense ... it just happens that way. Russians still line up for club nights and Angolans still preach religion in the street while Australians jabber on about times gone by and people passed away. I guess it's a combination of quasi-perpetual good times and the mid-twenties sentiment of invisibility. An odd pair, that. Combined with countless matches of music or taste or mutual good intention, we meet the people who may or might not shake or shape the people we'll become (and even re-confirm the people we already are). Either way, the human species is a weak one, distracted by so much other than the realities that should preoccupy an active human mind. Walking, straddling the edges of a semi-universe, a parallel universe to the right one that we never really embrace. Disappointing, really. But it's what we've got, so why not go with it...?
S*
Fave current track(s): "Our Way to Fall" - Yo La Tengo
Current read(s) in progress: "Fury" - Salman Rushdie, "Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow" - Aldous Huxley, "The Economist" magazine
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