From The Hive
~
2004.09.24 12:32 KST (EST + 13 hrs): Seoul, Republic of Korea
It's been a while since I've posted from a public place and since I wandered into this coffee shop between my morning and afternoon gigs, I figured I use the opportunity to etch a few more words into the ether. For a period, blogging to the world, whispering my story to the universe had become a near-fully private event. And a lackluster one at that.
E-mail correspondence has fallen to an all-time low -- my inbox, once a flurry of activity, is now limited to pre-programmed newsreels, tallying the dead and disturbed from Iraqi gunfire, Darfurian ethnic cleansing, Haitian floods, and the rise of the East-German far-right. Personal phonecalls are few and far between, given the overarching sentiment that there's really not much to say to my friends and family back home; in truth, I guess my everyday schtick is just like everyone else's: running around, finding food for the queen.
In reality, my routine has seen some considerable bumps in the last while. I've uprooted my life in Suwon, reinstalled my living arrangements to my girlfriend's small apartment in northern Seoul and have been freelance teaching for nearly three weeks now. Beneficially, this period of disruption caused me to realize and learn a good bit about this system, slinging me through it while other times letting me ride it's profitable crest.
Living in a colony of relatively similar, cramped-space workers is -- for lack of a more astute word -- interesting at all times. Never a day goes by that I don't see something that piques my curiosity or pushes my buttons. And, having immersed myself in a few global scenes, it's a weighty confession, a heavy admission, that I have not grown entirely bored with my locale.
Yes, and I attribute it to a million independent factors: from the sheer size of the metropolitan area to the puzzling nature of it's homogenic androgeny and cultural-archaicness-cum-financial-super-capitalism, to finding out, time after time, that most people eat rice, three times a day. It's the simple things, to the mundane irks, to the large underlying pros and cons that make this place, like any global place: unique.
But this early afternoon's time is pressing on and I have to jet to gig number two, and hopefully end this week with a smile and few more cheon in my pocket. So to all who haven't heard from me in a while, take heart, I'm doing fine. Things are up and down, but hey...where in the world aren't they?
From here to there, saying hey and signing off from a little café called the "Delta" outside of Sinsa Station, on the south side of the Han river. To quote a better musician than I: "The sun is shining and the weather is sweet."
Ride on and turn the people on, my friends, and remember to take it easy, but take it.
S*
P.S. I was one second away from hitting "save" when a 1:00 p.m. fist-fight just broke out in my upscale coffee shop. Ahhh, Korea: never a dull moment.
Fave current track(s): "The Midnight Rider" - The Allman Brothers
Current read(s) in progress: "The Tao of Elvis" - David Rosen
2004.09.24 12:32 KST (EST + 13 hrs): Seoul, Republic of Korea
It's been a while since I've posted from a public place and since I wandered into this coffee shop between my morning and afternoon gigs, I figured I use the opportunity to etch a few more words into the ether. For a period, blogging to the world, whispering my story to the universe had become a near-fully private event. And a lackluster one at that.
E-mail correspondence has fallen to an all-time low -- my inbox, once a flurry of activity, is now limited to pre-programmed newsreels, tallying the dead and disturbed from Iraqi gunfire, Darfurian ethnic cleansing, Haitian floods, and the rise of the East-German far-right. Personal phonecalls are few and far between, given the overarching sentiment that there's really not much to say to my friends and family back home; in truth, I guess my everyday schtick is just like everyone else's: running around, finding food for the queen.
In reality, my routine has seen some considerable bumps in the last while. I've uprooted my life in Suwon, reinstalled my living arrangements to my girlfriend's small apartment in northern Seoul and have been freelance teaching for nearly three weeks now. Beneficially, this period of disruption caused me to realize and learn a good bit about this system, slinging me through it while other times letting me ride it's profitable crest.
Living in a colony of relatively similar, cramped-space workers is -- for lack of a more astute word -- interesting at all times. Never a day goes by that I don't see something that piques my curiosity or pushes my buttons. And, having immersed myself in a few global scenes, it's a weighty confession, a heavy admission, that I have not grown entirely bored with my locale.
Yes, and I attribute it to a million independent factors: from the sheer size of the metropolitan area to the puzzling nature of it's homogenic androgeny and cultural-archaicness-cum-financial-super-capitalism, to finding out, time after time, that most people eat rice, three times a day. It's the simple things, to the mundane irks, to the large underlying pros and cons that make this place, like any global place: unique.
But this early afternoon's time is pressing on and I have to jet to gig number two, and hopefully end this week with a smile and few more cheon in my pocket. So to all who haven't heard from me in a while, take heart, I'm doing fine. Things are up and down, but hey...where in the world aren't they?
From here to there, saying hey and signing off from a little café called the "Delta" outside of Sinsa Station, on the south side of the Han river. To quote a better musician than I: "The sun is shining and the weather is sweet."
Ride on and turn the people on, my friends, and remember to take it easy, but take it.
S*
P.S. I was one second away from hitting "save" when a 1:00 p.m. fist-fight just broke out in my upscale coffee shop. Ahhh, Korea: never a dull moment.
Fave current track(s): "The Midnight Rider" - The Allman Brothers
Current read(s) in progress: "The Tao of Elvis" - David Rosen
Another Starboard Metamorphosis: Waxing On Waning
~
2004.09.16 22:00 KST (EST + 13 hrs): Seoul, Republic of Korea
Do you know any musicians? Writers? A true painter of faces? Who among you knows the Artist, per se? What is it about this elusive creative process that burns and fades at the will and whim of the wind? I have no answers these days: streets look dirty, the air smells foul, books are lines of black words on dog-eared yellowing pages. And, as you might imagine, this is proving to be a royal pain in the ass.
As someone who enjoys the tumble of syllables and riverine fluidity of slick linguistic gabbing, finding my senses unattuned to my surroundings is one of the more stifling feelings I can imagine. Probably the second worst. The first being suffocation from laughing too much. (See? I have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm writing inanities).
But seriously folks, here's the kicker: it's that not anyone -- especially me -- can muster enough mastery to create, create, create like a Kerouacian Roman candle. But so many try: articles and songs, books and tracks fill the nooks and racks, the glossies and the airwaves for the world's hungry eyes, minds, ears and hands. Fair enough. But what happens when those artist's shine shines too dim? Or not at all?
Hell, even waxing on waning is hard to do. What more can I say than I've hit a low point? I don't see rasberries or butterflies in my dreams anymore; maybe it's the country, maybe it's the instability, maybe it's me. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
But yes, friends, the upside is that there is always a next step in the impromptu evolution of all things. I -- for one -- am most assuredly staying tuned to what's in store for the next chapter, phase, stage or sequel to my not-so-obvious transformation.
Until then, I'll be here, cross-legged, inhaling slow and patient heaves, gathing strength for the next round ... I've got a feeling this is only a segue. Because when the tall blonde finishes her tour around the ring with that placard, on my toes I'll again be.
From here to there, friends.
S*
Fave current track(s): "Hey Jude" - The Beatles, "Upgrade (A Brymar College Course)" - Deltron 3030, "Pale Blue Eyes" - The Velvet Underground
Current read(s) in progress: "The Tao of Elvis" - David Rosen
2004.09.16 22:00 KST (EST + 13 hrs): Seoul, Republic of Korea
Do you know any musicians? Writers? A true painter of faces? Who among you knows the Artist, per se? What is it about this elusive creative process that burns and fades at the will and whim of the wind? I have no answers these days: streets look dirty, the air smells foul, books are lines of black words on dog-eared yellowing pages. And, as you might imagine, this is proving to be a royal pain in the ass.
As someone who enjoys the tumble of syllables and riverine fluidity of slick linguistic gabbing, finding my senses unattuned to my surroundings is one of the more stifling feelings I can imagine. Probably the second worst. The first being suffocation from laughing too much. (See? I have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm writing inanities).
But seriously folks, here's the kicker: it's that not anyone -- especially me -- can muster enough mastery to create, create, create like a Kerouacian Roman candle. But so many try: articles and songs, books and tracks fill the nooks and racks, the glossies and the airwaves for the world's hungry eyes, minds, ears and hands. Fair enough. But what happens when those artist's shine shines too dim? Or not at all?
Hell, even waxing on waning is hard to do. What more can I say than I've hit a low point? I don't see rasberries or butterflies in my dreams anymore; maybe it's the country, maybe it's the instability, maybe it's me. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
But yes, friends, the upside is that there is always a next step in the impromptu evolution of all things. I -- for one -- am most assuredly staying tuned to what's in store for the next chapter, phase, stage or sequel to my not-so-obvious transformation.
Until then, I'll be here, cross-legged, inhaling slow and patient heaves, gathing strength for the next round ... I've got a feeling this is only a segue. Because when the tall blonde finishes her tour around the ring with that placard, on my toes I'll again be.
From here to there, friends.
S*
Fave current track(s): "Hey Jude" - The Beatles, "Upgrade (A Brymar College Course)" - Deltron 3030, "Pale Blue Eyes" - The Velvet Underground
Current read(s) in progress: "The Tao of Elvis" - David Rosen
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