from the flat earth's edge

~
2004.08.23 23:53 KST (EST + 13 hrs): Suwon, Republic of Korea

"Yes, I know it's been a while. Of course I miss you too. O.k., fine, you miss me more. Rock-paper-scissors ... damn, you win. "

Yes, cats and kids I'm still in Korea, pining away, working. Nothing exciting or new to report save the following:

First, in a fit of frustrated style-related boredom, I shaved my lid -- nothing severe, only a brush-cut which is nothing new but which -- upon further consideration -- may be hard to handle for the uninitiated or for any of my post-1998 acquaintances (for the truly curious, investigate album 11).

Next, one week ago, in a fit of liquid chilvarly I leaped to the defence of a friend on the verge of being mauled by two lecherous and overweight Aussie goons and earned my very first broken body part -- the right hand to be specific -- acquired somewhere between the twelfth and fifteenth intersection of my fist and the heavier goon's melon. Why yes, thank you for asking, I do look stupid in a forearm splint.

Third and lastly, my current English teaching contract is being pre-maturely amicably terminated (if such an adverb-verb marriage can label the situation) one month shy of it's original date. It would seem that my two-week Canadian stint in May left a murky conversational residue of misunderstanding, whereby my employer mistook as concrete my hypothetical offer to "stay an extra two to four weeks in October." Unbeknowst to him, this was purely one of many suggestions I offered him in exchange for the two weeks home. The others being: to find either a part-time or full-time replacement, or to simply not receive pay for the duration of the time spent off the job -- at the time, the latter being the only accepted solution. And so, as a lovely July surprise, when I asked him to discuss and confirm my contract's finish date and what monies he would then owe me, saying that I was happily scoping Thailand for October, you can imagine my shock when he answered my question with the following one: "And why didn't you consult me before making October plans?!"

Riiiiiight.

Now, being the astute businessman he has most assuredly proven himself to be, realizing that -- as contractually stated -- I would not be in his employ later than the end of September, he swftly moved to hire my replacement. But, as we've barely spoke since that late-summer conversation, my recruiter had to serve as the intermediary kind enough to tell me that my replacement will be arriving at the start of September, not October.

As such, as of August twenty-eighth, I will be unemployed, semi-casted, and wearing a tuque if the mercury decides to glisten southward. A sad and sorry sight, I suppose, but things are looking up as I've been aiming to get out of Suwon for some time now. And hey, life always happens for a reason and this time is no exception.

As it is always surprising and enlightening to find out what that reason is, stay tuned to your friendly neighbourhood blogger and drunk poet, the star with a capital "S", e s s t a r.

Czech it,

S*

Fave current track(s): "Hip Hop" and "Umi Says" - Mos Def, "Grind's Tone" - Andrew Dalrymple
Current read(s) in progress: "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" - Ken Kesey