I Less Than Three Life

Life has been good lately. I'm enjoying it. Even my worst class isn't so bad when I consider that I've got 10 working days left.

In honor of the great present, I bought some expensive cheese. Which is misleadingly said, considering all cheese is expensive in Korea, and I just got a normal kind.

Watch this video, if you need further explanation.

dragon


Much love!

Is this even Gender bias?

Who's down with androgyny? Yeah, you know me

OK, so I'm not that into OPP. But androgyny is fun, breaks the status quo, and upsets idiots everywhere. And how can it get better than that?

I'd get more worked up about the idiotic comments from my coworker ("That's sad," referencing a picture of a popular guy in Japan, who we both agreed it was hard to tell his sex) but I can't care that much about someone I've already decided isn't worth it.

I have this trend of writing people off pretty quickly. Sweet! --Might make it hard in the low-number-of-friends period that's about to kick off when I move to the US..

Confirmed Renegade

How do you take back a vow?

I know you're not supposed to. Vows are those things you don't renege on. They're when you give your word. And we're talking about a vow that I made when I was completely aware that I wouldn't back it up.

Let's start with the fact that I don't believe God had a human son. How am I supposed to be an active member of a Catholic church? Add to my disbelief the fact that I won't consider reneging on my homosexuality.

I just feel bad. Should I go and apologize to my priest? Or is it one of those things that teaches you how not to do it next time around?

Listlessly, SoKo

I've only got 6 weeks left in Korea.

To Do in Korea:
-Insadong market
-Namdemun to find chopsticks
-Yaeju to buy more ceramics
-Mudfest on the west coast
-Suwon soccer
-Suwon nightly street carnival

Then I'll be heading to NYC, Japan en route?

To Do in NYC:
-Statue of Liberty
-Guggenheim museum
-Ellis Island
-Central Park

And finally, home to Hanford Bay.

To Do in HB:
-eat at the deli
-walk on the breakwall
-play Risk
-camp on the cliff
-go bridge jumping
-have a lot of bonfires

This is how I'm spending my time. Making lists of what I'll do soon. Feels a little wasteful, to be honest. Still can't stop. Last night I used my dictionary to look up listless, despondent, and dejected. Only listless applies to the feeling I have when I'm lying in bed reading at 1:20am and I'm not tired enough to sleep and yet I can't continue reading.

So I'm listless and making lists like it's nobody's business.

Tripping in Asia

Tomorrow I'm going to China!

I got my passport with visa back today. I also bought a Lonely Planet: Beijing guidebook.

Huzzah for 9 days in a communist country about which I know next to nothing.

Lost: ipod, sunglasses, self esteem, etc.

So I'm in a foreign country, right? And guess what I did on Friday. Drunkenly left my passport in a taxi (I think). Brilliant move, right? I know what you're thinking. "What a dumbass," you're thinking. Maybe, if you're a better friend, you follow that up with, "Is he going to get kicked out of Korea? Oh, no!"

Well, put your fears to rest. I'll have a new passport on Monday, thanks to the speedy US embassy (and $100). Faster service abroad than in the states, strangely.

"But what about your upcoming trip to China?" you say. "Don't you need to get another visa? Getting your passport on Monday and flying out on Friday doesn't leave much time in between for that.."

You're right. Nevertheless, the travel agent (and $150) is getting me a sweet deal on an express replacement visa, and I'll have it by Wednesday or Thursday. Plenty o' time!

Hallelujah. Which is a particularly appropriate sentiment, since I was feeling so wretched Sunday night that I actually prayed to a God in whom I'm not sure I believe. The prayer ended up being "Help me not to drink," which was a surprise to both of us, I think. We'll see how that goes.

T Minus 14 Days

I really want to go to the Netherlands. It's got so much going for it--renewable energy, legal gay marriage, legal whatnot (Amsterdam, need I say more?), being part of Europe...

Instead, I'm going to Beijing, China in 2 weeks! Just got the visa earlier this week. 9 days of checking out the Great Wall and China itself. I've already learned my first Chinese character--you put the character for Boy right next to the character for Girl and it's the character for Happiness. (I wanted to ask what putting two men together would be, but I didn't have the nerve, since I was talking to my boss.) And when I say I learned it, I mean I have it written down somewhere.

In other news, I'm going to be in Beijing for 9 days starting 14 days from now!

i WILL remain senile

.
....Reasons I Don't Want Diabetes:
Hana. It causes Alzheimer's.
Dul. It causes ED.
Set. To be continued.
....Steps I Will Take To Avoid Diabetes:
Hana. Go back to drinking my coffee black.
Dul. Reduce my carb intake?
Set. Research what actually causes diabetes. Maybe change my ancestry, to boot.

Happy Teacher's Day!

Yesterday was Teacher's Day. Presents, sweet! Chocolate, flowers, mouth freshening spray.. Hey, it's a foreign land. (And I drink coffee right before class. Don't worry, I'll take the hint.)

Today I got an additional present in my google news aggregator. California legalized gay marriage. I probably don't know enough about the legality issues to know what that really means, but I still like it.

So..have a good day. Happy weekend! Have a beer on me.

Bright Days, Stupid Nights

It's a good life. (Reference Bixby's awesome short story by the same name, though actually I'm being truthful.)

Two three-day weekends in a row. Saturday, spent the night out on the town in Seoul, chatting up a gay newlywed couple from Amsterdam until 3:30 in the morning, then hitting a few more spots (including a front stoop for a Heineken) and finally crashing at a friend's apartment at around 7am. Got up like 3 hours later to head out to a Buddhist street festival, learned how to make origami(?) lotus flowers. Very fun.

This weekend, heading to the beautiful old capital of Korea, Gyeongju. Renting bicycles and tooling around, looking at all the traditional buildings while keeping our eyes peeled (gross) for monks celebrating Buddha's birthday. Anyone know how old he is these days?


What're you doing with spring?

[P.S. I have no right to use those images. I'll replace them with my own photos asap.]

One Scary Cyclone

I was feeling pretty shaken by the 10,000 dead in Myanmar from one storm.

Then the total went up to 15,000. 15 thousand people dead at once.

When I went to look for an article to link, in case you know nothing about this country's problems--the country formerly known as Burma, located between India and Thailand--I find that the total's been upped to 22,000.

That's horrifying.

100 Days

I'm going to Cambodia in August.

Let National Geographic show you Cambodia for 2 minutes.

And even if you're too lame to click on the link--here's a picture of where I'm hoping to go.


That's the Bayon Temple in Angkor. Please note the faces carved into the walls and the monks in red.

Less than 100 days.

Digest This.

Today, for the first time in history, I changed my Facebook status. Now it says, "Michael Morrisey is digesting the dog he ate for dinner."

It's no joke. And it was pretty tasty.

My brother said, "So have you resolved the rumor that the dogs are beaten before they're killed in order to tenderize them?" I said, No but I eat chicken and eggs, and I've pretty much resolved the rumor that they're tortured. AKA they live in horrendously crowded cages, stacked one on top of another, with the lowest levels drowning in filth.. Here's a link to the longer video showing such horrible living conditions.

And here's the PETA video I found to convince you to become a vegetarian. (I'll work on it when I'm done being in a foreign country.)

Coworking

Today in class we were reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8, by Beverly Cleary. Remember Beverly Cleary? No, not Superfudge--that was Judy Bloom. Well, today Ramona got sick all over the classroom floor and her mother had to leave work to pick her up and I'm standing there at the head of the class holding my bright yellow paperback and wondering how I'd feel if I worked with Mrs. Quimby.

People who have children hope for help from all the people around them--coworkers, bosses, etc. They need a little slack, an unscheduled day off now and then, even sometimes the legitimate chance to go pick up their sick daughter from third grade. In today's overpopulated world, with big city social isolationism contributing a little something as well, people feel less and less inclined to pick up that slack.

Also, you know that mean waitress who's ditching out of work early (again) to pick up her kids from high school (while her out-of-work husband sits at home), leaving you to refill the salt shakers at server's minimum wage ($3.15?), could have had an abortion if she wasn't in a position to juggle all the aspects of being a parent, even though you don't really think you can decide whether other people should have abortions and so you end up just grumbling to yourself while you fill your salt shakers and hers, too.

In general, I wish we were all a little more willing to let out that slack. Bring back the tight-knit community, which understands that parenting is more responsibility than anyone ever expects and that it is the most important reason that the community exists to begin with.

We'd have to scale down our population a bit before we could retain that perspective, though. Just my opinion.

Miss Muffet A Feminist?

Embracing feminism doesn't mean that we must expect the same things from women and men.

It means that gender differences must not make us assume gender inferiorities.

I realized that last night. This morning, I remembered the following nursery rhyme:

Little Miss Muffet crouched on a tuffett,
Collecting her shell-shocked wits.
There dropped (from a glider) an H-bomb beside her--
Which frightened Miss Muffet to bits.

Turns out, that was written by Paul Dehn to protest nuclear war (duh). The fact that it came to mind while I was reading Freakonomics seemed appropriate, since the chapter titled "Where Have All The Criminals Gone?" makes the convincing case that they have, in fact, been aborted. I suggest you read the book for yourself. The book also added a capping quote to an issue I was thinking heavily about a bit ago: "What the link between abortion and crime does say is this: when the government gives a woman the opportunity to make her own decision about abortion, she generally does a good job of figuring out if she is in a position to raise the baby well."

But, in the words of Mark Twain, I'm getting off track. Of course we can't expect the same things from women and men. Women don't have as much testosterone. Men don't have as much bleeding from the uterus. And you know what? It's really not as simple as that.

And in the end, I think Miss Muffet would have accepted her fate calmly. She eats curds. You can't tell me that doesn't build character.

What's an Antonym for Rhetorical?

I just spent too long reading and following up links on Pandagon. I specifically got sucked in to the post on being a feminist boyfriend. I didn't even manage to get through half of the 100 or so comments.

It did start me thinking about my own feminism. Inadvertantly, I swear--I wasn't specifically seeking out feminist topics, I was just bored at work and browsing through Hops' blog roll.

I don't worry about being a feminist boyfriend, because I don't have girlfriends. I do, however, worry about being a feminist person (aka a feminist) and I don't think it's a bad idea to set out what, exactly, that means.

Sexual equality is such an easy assumption for me. The fact that we should expect the same quality of work from men and women. The fact that both sexes should expect the same treatment. In my modern dance class at university (yes, I'm one of those kind of guys--actually, I thought 'modern dance' meant something that would be useful on Friday nights, which gets me laughing at my naivety now) I was in a group with two girls to choreograph a dance. Wiry, tall, weak-as-hell Mike. Short, heavy, religious Zany. Pierced, tattooed, biceped Amber. And Zany thought I would be willing to lift her, despite our class having at no time gone over lifts. Despite Amber being obviously stronger than me. I kind of laughed in her face. I consider it a branch of feminism not to have to participate in such a male gender role. (Not to mention such false heterosexual choreography.)

It's so easy for me to expect the same things from men and women, because most women are both stronger and smarter than I am, that I wonder whether I'm not actually unconsciously perpetuating certain problems...though I don't know what.

Ha--two sexes. Nice binary there. Like I said, I'm not entrenched in the heterosexual world view, and I have trouble thinking of things from a feminist perspective because I have troubles of my own. I'm not overly preoccupied with the general idea of feminism because it sounds like a foregone conclusion in todays' world.

The problem with that belief is when I go back home and hang out with the kids I grew up with, and they make some basic attempts at obvious censorship concerning racist comments, sexist comments, homophobic comments (am I missing out on a better adjective for that last one?), etc.

I support women's suffrage. (No shit.) I do not support the glass ceiling. (I don't think we need to race right out and elect a female president solely based on her sex, just as I don't think we should elect a black president solely based solely on his skin.)

I support capable women and men in the workplace. I support capable men and women in sports. Who am I kidding, I support no one in sports besides Lyndsay Wall, but you get the point.

What else is there?

I don't think people should stop talking about feminism, particularly because I know those kids from home need someone to get through to them.


As I said, I spent a long time tracking down the links on Pandagon, one of which led me to Pam's House Blend on the topic of sexual abuse in public places. The surprising thing, when I was reading the comments, was that they twisted into an argument about transvestites being allowed in women's changing rooms.

That sexual binary, coming back to bite us in the ass. Persephone, the woman arguing to keep "all non-women" out of female locker rooms, etc, really leaves me confused. Is it that she is afraid of being looked at with desire (aka she's never heard of lesbians), or that she's afraid of seeing physical differences (aka she's never seen anyone else's body)?

I'm not really sure I'm equipped to take up this topic. But it does bring to mind a Southpark episode that my brother references often, in which a character had a "species-change operation" and was offended when the football stadium didn't have seating for dolphins. What does Persephone want, a third room in all public areas for Other?

Frankly, I haven't been to a gym or any public changing room in forever, because it makes me feel horribly anxious. It's not that I'm worried that other people will check me out. It's not that I'm worried about being roughed up after checking someone else out. It's that I'm worried about making someone else feel uncomfortable, just knowing I'm there, possibly checking them out.

And that's pretty awful. I like swimming, and I haven't gone to the public pool at the Y across the street because I know there are people out there like Persephone.

I don't consider myself a champion of gay rights. Or a champion of feminism. I consider myself a regular person who tries to slap down prejudice whenever it pops up. Sometimes it's like a Whack-A-Mole, but most of the time it seems like a non-issue.

What else is there?

I Love Craig's List

I'm no longer worried about where to find an apartment. I have confidence that CraigsList is going to come through for me, as long as I wait til I'm back in Buffalo. Now I just need to get to work motivating the people I want to live with me. (Hear that, Jenna, Brandon, and Tami?)

I still need to figure out the job situation. I really can't afford to go jobless for any stretch of time once I'm back in the states, and since that's coming up in less than four months, I feel that I really need to narrow it down. I'll keep you posted on how that goes--keep me posted on any further ideas.

I'm almost finished with For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. I'm thrilled with it, it was way better than A Farewell To Arms, and I suggest you run right out and get it from your local dosagwan because it's fantastic.

And that's all there is for today.

119 Days To Go

My desire to live in Buffalo (because of many reasons including family ties) brings certain issues to the forefront.

1. I must have a place to live.
2. I must have a place to work.

How will I find an apartment when I'm 12,000 miles away?

Ditto for a job?

Hit the comments section with any tips. Vague is OK; specific is spectacular.

[Update: I've checked out BuffaloJobFinder.com and Monster.com. Looks promising, if I keep checking as August approaches. As for apartments, just found BuffaloApartments.com. I've looked for both on www.craigslist.org. Any other resources, offline as well as on?]

The Ever-Evolving Diet

My aunt asked me what has been my biggest growth experience while being in Korea.

I read the news every weekday. That's pretty huge. I suggest you do the same. The google news aggregator is my new favorite software.

Now, I read that diabetes will lead to Alzheimer's. That's a big deal, because I eat bread and sugar all the time and have assumed for a few years now that I'd be ending up with diabetes. (I mean, I'm genetically predisposed, and excessive sugar intake leads to diabetes, right?) I was unhappy with that prospect but unwilling to change my diet.

I'm completely unwilling to commit myself to dementia.

The article depressed me so much that I had to run to the vending machine for a grape soda.

Help!

Cherry Bombs

"In a Station of the Metro"

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

--Ezra Pound

The cherry blossoms are amazing. All the streets on the way to work are lined with them. My favorites are the white ones--it's a little like snow bursting out of the wood.

Then I hear from a friend that Koreans are starting to question their cherry blossom festivals, because the cherry tree was introduced during the Japanese occupation.

Interesting how something so beautiful can have such a history.

Hypocrite with a Cushy Job

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress was hilarious. I seriously recommend picking it up at your local library. (Here I'm being hypocritical--I haven't even set foot in the Suji dosagwan, and it's right across the street from my apartment building.)

I've been putting some thought into the kind of work I might hope to start when I'm through with my contract in August. So far, I see three clear options:

1. Food service. I loved catering, so that might be a good option. Though I doubt any job will ever be as cake as that one was. I've also been thinking about how important it is to me to learn how to cook more varied dishes... I might look for a job in the kitchen of some vegetarian restaurant.

2. Customer service. I'm incredibly patient, I have a wide vocabulary of subservience, and I love being behind-the-scenes.

3. Tutoring. Frankly, I'm kind of hoping to pick up some tutoring work no matter what other work I do.

The big issue is balancing my wish to live in Buffalo with my wish to support myself. Are there jobs in Buffalo? For what am I qualified? What can I get that I won't just quit after a few days?

The second biggest issue is my desire not to own a car. It would be a serious conflict of my general life philosophy if I started guzzling gas. Particularly since I think the best way to cut a lot of the impetus for war in the Middle East would be to severely reduce our dependency on gasoline.

Abalone Alimone

If you're against alimony entirely, that's one thing. (And keep in mind, alimony is completely different from child support.) But if you're not against it for the woman...can you be against it for the man?

Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal.

She gets a little snide there at the end, with her suggestion that men only use alimony to support a lavish lifestyle, aka owning lots of muscle cars. Nonetheless, it does make you think.

Is this an issue I care a lot about? No. It does, however, seem to tie into the previous conversation about abortion in some way.

I love the quote from the one woman-- "I don't understand why someone becomes your financial responsibility just because you married them..."

Grand Central Station Fun

If anything like that ever happened to me, I'd think I had finally stepped into the pages of some super-sweet novel.

Originally found at http://www.kiwipulse.com/ after hanging around at Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird.

Hilarity

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress is hilarious so far. Susan Gilman reminds me of David Sedaris, in that when I finish rolling around laughing, look back at the page, and reread the section, it sets me off laughing again. (And yes, both Gilman and Sedaris literally have made me roll around laughing.)

Muffin Surprise

Today I went to Madelein's Bakery to get something for lunch. I couldn't find the rumored turkey sandwiches, they didn't have their famous pizza squares, so I settled for a muffin with choco chips on top and went to get some chicken on a stick from the vendor.

The muffin top was delicious. The bottom had something that looked suspiciously like chitlins. Yes, stewed entrails. In a muffin.

There are some things you just can't prepare for.

Even the Subtitles have Subtitles: A list of my to-be-read pile

I've been out of the USA for 7 months now. If the situation were a lot different and instead of a plane, I had taken a pregnancy test all those days ago, right now I would be a lot heavier, a lot scareder, and probably a lot more excited for the 9-month mark.

As it is, the only one that counts is the 12 month mark, when I'll be returning to the US. But in what state will the States be?

In related news, still trying to figure out who I'll vote for come November. Damn, now it looks like I'm going to have to focus on more than one issue. I haven't finished Fiasco: The American military adventure in Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks (reference the fact that the book's dimensions are something like 1ft X 6in X 450pg), but that's not the problem. It's this economy issue. I mean, I don't really believe in the economy, but if I did, I hear I'd have to be worried. So I guess I'll go along with it, same as I went along with kneeling and eating the wafer back when my family was "Catholic."

Fiasco has intrigued me enough that I recently bought another nonfiction about war, America's Splendid Little Wars: A short histoy of U.S. engagements from the fall of Saigon to Baghdad, by Peter Huchthausen. Looks interesting--and more importantly, short.

I also bought Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of growing up groovy and clueless, by Susan Jane Gilman. This one came highly recommended by Laurie Notaro, author of The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club (which I've never read). Obviously, a few interim reading projects are going to be put on hold while I digest these.

Above all, I finally got my shipment of used, cheap books from www.powells.com. I suggest you check them out--free shipping! (Not to Asia, but oh well.) Among the riches: You Are The Message by Roger Ailes, Relativity: The Special and General Theory, by Albert Einstein, and The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time, by Douglas Adams. Sadly, no explanation book for the Einstein, so I'm going to have to try to struggle through it alone first.

So I'm pretty much drowning in unread books, and I therefore can't be spending any more time listing them.

Gym Class Heroes Really Are My Heroes

Taking the cue from my friend Hops over at Be A Good Human, I present my number one favorite song of 2006.

"There's a lot of you don't realize, there's a whole subculture of boys driving around in vans looking for your daughters and your lottery tickets."

I lost my Gym Class Heroes CD this past summer when I secretly sublet an apartment with some shady peeps. I wouldn't give back the summer in exchange for the CD, but I'd trade July's trip to Disney World for it.

Dear Bias

Right now I'm reading a biography of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il. It's horribly biased, but interesting nonetheless. For instance, did you know that North Korea ("the People's Democratic Republic of Korea," despite being communist) once kidnapped a South Korean actress and her director husband in the hopes of improving the NoKo film industry? And that Kim Jong Il is a nice, smart guy, according to Vladimir Putin?

I'm also back to doing some calculus work. Pretty pumped about that.

In related news, I've decided to attend UB when (/if) I go back to school, for mathematics. I'm currently researching the idea of going for a master's, rather than a second bachelor's.

In unrelated news, I customized my Google News Aggregator, and I'm in love with it. Do it yourself!

Wishing to be the Friction in your Jeans

It's a new semester. All week it's been, "No running in the halls!"

New books to figure out. New names to learn. One of my classes, there's a girl named Cherry and a girl named Strawberry. Blueberry dropped out. (I'm not even lying.)

That's not to say there haven't been a few good things to read this week as well. The article telling us about how one out of every 100 Americans is behind bars, found through Objectify This. The presidential hopefuls on msnbc.com, of course.

And the Best Buddhist Writing 2007. Two excerpts from the essay entitled There's No "I" in Happy by Matthieu Ricard:

"...A person whom we consider today to be an enemy is most certainly somebody else's object of affection, and we may one day forge bonds of friendship with that selfsame enemy. We react as if characteristics were inseparable from the object we assign them to. Thus we distance ourselves from reality and are dragged into the machinery of attraction and repulsion that is kept relentlessly in motion by our mental projections. Our concepts freeze things into artificial entities and we lose our inner freedom, just as water loses its fluidity when it turns to ice."

...

"You are napping peacefully in a boat in the middle of a lake. Another craft bumps into yours and wakes you with a start. Thinking that a clumsy or prankish boater has crashed into you, you leap up furious, ready to curse him out, only to find that the boad in question is empty. You laugh at your own mistake and return peacefully to your nap. The only difference between the two reactions is that in the first case, you'd thought yourself the target of someone's malice, while in the second you realized that your 'I' was not a target."


Take that, negativity! You're only a mirage created by my mind's egotistical habits.

On Tuesday as I walked to work, I found myself trying to convince myself of the following:

I am everything. I am the world. I am the rocks beneath my feet. I am the sidewalk. I am the snowflake as it tries to follow the car. I am the wind current. I am the air passing through that woman's lungs. I am that woman. I am the force of gravity, I am the electromagnetic force combating gravity. I am not the center of the world...these things are me. I am a small part. I am insignificant--I am everything. I create the world around me. The man walking in front of me creates the world around him. He is me. I am him.


...Actually, at that point it got kind of personal, but it was interesting while it lasted.

Reducing My Footprint

Because I hate plastic, I bought a Dunkin Donuts travel mug. (I include a link because I love their Korean advertisement, which you can watch on their site.)

I also took tupperware to the kimbop lunch place for the first time.

I have yet to figure out how to tell Paris Baguette not to wrap my pre-made, pre-wrapped sandwich. I can't really imagine cutting them out of my life. Paris Baguette is the best thing about South Korea.

Finally, I've been considering unplugging my fridge, because that's the number one electricity consumer in the average household. The only thing that wouldn't like it is the eggs. Besides which my fridge is built in and possibly impossible to unplug.

Hmm. If you have any ideas, they're welcome.

No Doz (ing Through College)

I want to go back to school. I'm torn between two different colleges. I've tried listing the pros and cons of each, and there's a clear "obvious" choice, but there are a lot of emotions tied up that don't translate well to a pros/cons list...

[This entire post is basically a response to Liz's College...again post, and her question about what makes college great. One of the things that makes it great is the opportunity to meet people other than those who simply happened to be born in your county. People like Liz. Check out her blog.]

College is pretty great. Not only do you restart your friend base, you restart yourself. Not that it's easy to change from who you were into who you want to be, but here's your first real chance to try (that is, if you never transferred grade schools, which I didn't.)

And it's remarkably social. I'm grateful for the education I received in the classroom, which is one of the main reasons I'm drawn back to Oswego--but I valued even more the education I received at parties, social outings, shared apartments... Growing up never really ends, as far as I can tell (though I'm only 22, so I'm not sure I'm qualified yet to make that decision, but I do know that when I was 12, 22 was adult) but a lot of growing up happened in college. Realizing what matters in your life, sorting out what was important to you in the past only because it was important to your parents, teachers, peer group... A lot of the stupid stuff falls away.

That's not to say that college is a fantasy world. I gritted my teeth and got through high school--which is strange, because for the most part I actively enjoyed high school--with the thought that when I got to college, I would basically be walking on to the set of Friends. I assumed my friends would all read the same books as me and we'd sit around talking about philosophy over steaming cups of organic tea.

Reality was pretty far from my dreams. Oh, don't worry--I found a group of friends who I related to on a very deep level. I just wasn't the person I had always believed. My friends and I took part in such educational activities as hitting the bars every weekend, playing darts and sharing pitcher after pitcher of the cheapest beer in town. We took turns crushing No Doz pills for bumping off of each others' rippling abs, a body image achieved through ritualistic group purging. Kidding! But we did have the occassional crazy party, with the too-occassional alcohol poisoning. I can't say that we really passed around any books. Wait, yes, we passed around the textbook for Kestas' chem class...we shared the textbook for Intro to Astronomy...

And when I eventually realized that we weren't conforming to the image of "literary university students" to which I had jacked off long ago (not literally!), I heaved a sigh of relief. Because we meshed well together the way we were. Because we helped each other get through the issues associated with living on our own for the first time. Because, as crazy as it seems, we didn't need help from a TV show to figure out who we really were.

A lot of my favorite times were at the end of the day when Jenna and I would talk about what all the crazy people said when they spoke up during class. Or at the catering job I had with Jessica and Dana. A few more were when we went to watch Rachel, Catherine, and Mackenzie play hockey. Or our coed hockey team with Kevin. Or getting 3 hour rides home with Ben and making him teach me about chemistry.

Part of what makes me want to go back to Oswego is the thought that if that awesome group came together once, something like it could happen again... Another part tells me not to force the issue, and to look for new friends in a new place. Then again, Jenna's headed to that part of the state. WHAT WILL I DO?

Good thing there're still a few more months to ruminate on this choice. The one thing I do know--this time, I'm looking forward to a bit more scholarly learning, having gotten enough (maybe) out of my first social education. Though, come to think of it, every day is a new lesson in social education. This year, I'm stuck in a class that's bound to help me in my future interaction with kids (hopefully my own, someday) but that isn't really advancing my other goals.

However: here's to being debt-free by the time I start picking up college classes again!

Tetris is REAL!

I'm currently in recovery, but there was a time when I could honestly say that I was addicted to TETRIS.



Now I just make my students play Human Tetris. I think it's pretty great but I get mad when they don't blink and disappear when I make lines.

In the midst of all the hours we spent playing the Super Nintendo version in college, I remember convincing Jenna to cut class so we could keep playing Tetris and Dr. Mario. Good times.

If you want to see a youtube video that represents the most common game show on South Korean television, check out this next video.



...Actually, that's a little less silly than most of the ones we see. Also, is that a pool of honey they're falling into?

This marks weekend #2 sans alcohol. Have a great one!

The earth not the Earth. To be not to Be.

I'll find a new topic soon, but just a couple more things about our one and only home, the earth:

1. You don't have to capitalize "earth" if you use "the" before it. Also, you don't generally have to capitalize it unless you also mention another, capitalized, celestial body in the same sentence, such as "Earth and Jupiter." Don't worry about it too much, though--most of us are clueless.

2. Plastic does suck. Recycle. An albatross' stomach was cut open to reveal about a pound of plastic, including a cigarette lighter. Buy refillable ones!

3. You can always find something new to implement in your life, even when you feel like you're just hearing the same thing again and again. I mean, how many times have we all heard that batteries simply aren't landfillable, and how many of us take the trouble to find out how to recycle them? (I've heard Staples will recycle them.)

4. How do you pass the time here on earth? Any ideas that don't include drugs will be welcome--I believe compiling a list of such activities is going to be one of the new big crusades in my life. (I'm not knocking drugs, I just don't require any suggestions in that arena.)

Calvin and Hobbes are Jenious.

I love Calvin and Hobbes an extremely huge amount. If you're not capable of stumbleupon'ing it for yourself, here's a link to some great snow art from the strip.

It's more than a comic. Consider the names of the main characters--two great philosophers.

At least, I think that's who they are. I've never really bothered to read anything by either one.

By the way-that's how I saw one of my students spell 'genius.' What she actually wrote was "I am jenious."

I love this job.
You should see some of the doodles I've collected.

Red, Reading, Will Reed

I was recently disturbed by Zeitgeist, the movie about the three interrelated topics of religion, 9/11, and the US Federal Reserve Bank. I'd like to be blase on this one and act like I knew everything that movie had to tell me, but I really didn't. Straight through, I was pretty wide-eyed.

I recommend watching it. (Just don't take it as gospel. Obviously.)

This is totally different from how I also recommend She's The Man.

I just finished reading Rubbish by Richard Girling. I don't recommend it. I'll let you know where it takes me, though. It was about on the same level as The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen. The Green Book at least had the benefits of being very short and packed full of easily applicable tips.

Now I'm back to the hilariously titled Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks. I've got to struggle through this mammoth tome in time for the election. At some point, I'll have a few pages of quotes, a distillate of the book so you don't have to read it--let me know if you're interested in receiving them.

And now I'm reading my students' essays. They continue to be the bane of my existence.

Peace.

Rubbish is Rubbish

Now two-thirds of the way through Richard Girling's book Rubbish: Dirt on our hands and crisis ahead. I'm thinking there's a lot in this book I could have gone without--the entire 20-page section on how great apples and cheese used to be, for example. Then again, it begs the question of how often we need to hear something repeated before we actually do something about it.

I've gotten three implementable ideas out of this book so far.

1. Go to farmer's markets. Buy local. Avoid supermarkets. Not only does this support local economy and (probably) better humanitarian/environmental business practices, it also reduces the transport of the goods you're buying, which helps the environment out a lot.

2. Reduce your personal waste stream. Everything you use goes somewhere. Be more conscious of what you use in a day. For example: how was your lunch packaged? I should be bringing a tupperware container to the restaurant I get kimbop at, but I haven't yet, which means every time I get lunch there, I throw out a plastic bag, a square of tinfoil, and two wooden chopsticks.

3. Do more research about energy production. I don't actually know how feasible wind power is--but I do know that Denmark gets about 20% of its electricity from wind turbines. This book's reminding me of what a false savior nuclear energy is, considering we don't know what to do with it besides bury it (the book is about the UK), and it's going to be around for way longer than we can reasonably guarantee safe storage.

So...my goal of learning about waste disposal and energy production has not been met by reading this book, but it did help me to refine what it is that I want to learn more about. Sweet!

Trash Vortex Update

Not really that surprising that Greenpeace has something to say about this.

Not really surprising that I don't know what more to say.

Recycle!

On to a new topic. I've finished The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, both in book form and in the Nova made-for-TV movie form that's available on the internet.

My conclusion: while it did serve to get me interested in physics (reference my anticipated shipment of Einstein's paper on his theory of relativity--and another book to explain the Einstein) it's kinda lame and really cursory. Though maybe that's as it must be. The book was about 400 pages and the movie, three hours. Who could even start if either were longer?

Reminding me of resolution #7. Be less verbose.

Guess I recently notched it up to 8--no alcohol this year.

Reminds me of a great friend from college who'd always give up Bud Light for Lent.

we're all Deer in the Headlights of this one

When I stumbleupon'd the plastic soup twice the size of the continental united states that is afloat in the pacific seas, I was reminded of why we need to chuck our disposable culture.

I've always had the hope that our huge ocean rafts would be more intentionally created. (Reference one of my favorite sci-fi novels, Snow Crash.)

What do we do about this? It's one of those "Oh, man.." kind of problems.

Drowning In Waste

I'm about a third of the way through Rubbish by Richard Girling, and my favorite parts so far have been the tours he's taken me on in management facilities for our three primary wastes: bathroom waste, recycled waste, and unrecycled waste. I was actually most surprised by the recycling section, because I had slightly higher hopes for what's being done in that sector.

Worry number one: Why aren't more things recyclable? This doesn't even come from the book, it just comes from looking around. Can we recycle CD jewel cases? Can we recycle plastic bread bags? Can we recycle the screw-on tops of our water bottles? In most cases, the answers I've found have been NO. WHY?? And why don't we listen to people who tell us not to buy things that aren't recyclable?

Worry number two: Why aren't things recycled more efficiently? If I have a first-edition PET bottle, never before recycled, why does it have to become a gutter in its next life? Why can't it be washed out and reused the way it is? Or at least cleaned, melted, and reused as another PET water bottle? What is the deal with making our recyclables into disposables after only a few cycles?

Worry number three: Why aren't more people worried about this? I mean...how much more room do we really have for landfills? And isn't anyone worried about this modern-day version of 'sweep it under the rug'? I've heard the argument that we can just store our garbage on the moon, or shoot it into the sun, so why get up in arms...but I've also heard the argument that it costs between $5,000-$10,000 per pound just to get something into orbit, so that doesn't really seem all that feasible of a solution. Besides which, siphoning off resources out of our closed planetary system just because we don't want to go without our chuckable water bottles seems like an awfully shortsighted idea.

There's a Limit to my Universe

Being on vacation for six days sounded like just what we all needed. And it didn't seem too ludicrous to whip up a fresh to-do list out of all those things I've been putting off. Some things ended up getting accomplished, and some didn't.

Still To Do:
-Planning of a trip to Thailand (I did buy Fodor's Guide, though).
-Planning of another two years at SUNY Oswego.

DONE:
-Planning of a trip to the Adirondacks (Top 4 High Peaks, here I(we?) come).
-Major weeding of my "Currently Reading" list. Now I'm actually reading one.
-Quitting drinking alcohol.

It's not that I feel the need to purge myself of all my vices this year (reference resolutions), it's just that some things are important and some people matter enough to forget about your own Charlie-Browning.

The book I'm currently reading: The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Pretty wild.

pro-choice, pro-life, ...pro-abortion?

I've come to the conclusion that, in fact, I am not pro-choice.

I am pro-abortion.

I just don't seem to care as much about the guilt over aborting a fetus one parent would've liked to raise, as I do about neither parent being hampered in what they want to do with their life--and their money.
Finding out which is more harmful to the individual is probably the part of this issue I need to focus any future research on.
I also want to know about the most oft-used justifications for the legality of abortion, because maybe I've got those wrong in my head.
Yesterday I was scaring myself with thoughts of child-bearing licenses.

principle

an evolving list of principles that matter:

1. honesty
. to oneself
. to others
. while under duress as well as in peace

2. benevolence
. and foresight
. and sincerity
. with hopes for the social contract

3. fairness
. to each other
. to the environment
. aimed at conservation and sustainability

the king of oration

did you know i love short videos?

i particularly love short videos of martin luther king jr quotes.

(note: i first viewed this video on feministe. i first viewed feministe because of hops.)

in university, i had to write a paper outlining my principles of nonviolence. expect an updated version to be available on here shortly.

Outside Looking In

.

Your shoes are in my spot when I walk in. There's nothing bubbling on the stove, but that's not really your style, sober.

You're stretched out in bed, asleep already, though you can't have been home an hour yet. You only sprawl in the beginning or the end of sleep, never for the main haul. No, for that you withdraw into yourself in the same way as when someone introduces a topic for conversation about which you know nothing.

The kitchen could use a scrub-down. The bathroom too. But I don't know the first thing about frosted glass, so I brush the crumbs into the sink.

Hard to resist getting in bed, even as awake as I am, when I know if I wait too much longer I'll have to actually wake you up to get your arms around me.

.

Half The Battle

Today, I celebrate a unique milestone: I officially have less than 200 days remaining in South Korea.

It's sad that I'm celebrating the passing of time like this, considering I'm enjoying my time here. I'm getting reaquainted with my brothers, which was one of my major goals in making this trip, and I'm steadily paying off my college debt, which was my other major goal. I sincerely enjoy my job, which is an unexpected bonus, and I'm doing a ton of reading, which is my number one favorite activity.

So why do I have this countdown going in my head?

Because my life is on pause.

While google imaging for a sweet picture of an old-school VHS tape on pause, with those fuzzy lines across a portion of the TV screen, you know what I mean, I came across this comic justifying the consumption of coffee at any time of day. It has nothing to do with life being on pause, but I decided that it was time to move on from that idea anyway.

As I said, I've been reading some really great books. (Some future post will specify which.) There's a pretty good bookstore, Bandi and Luni's, at the Coex Mall. It has a huge English section to browse through, but I'm getting kinda itchy to put in some specific requests, for which Powell's Used Books is going to be seriously helpful. As a sweet enticement, any order of $50 or more has free shipping in the USA. Nice, huh?

Aside: I did, in fact, seek permission to quote my friend, quoted in my previous blog entry concerning men's abortion rights. He gave permission. He didn't even check what quote I used first. I neglected to ask him whether I should quote him by name. I think I'll just leave it anonymous unless our conversation digs up another interesting quotable, in which case perhaps I'll give him a little more space on here.

And, to wrap it up, I'll let you in on a little secret. I started writing this post without really believing there was a milestone to celebrate. I got halfway through my first sentence, which seemed like a good one, so I decided to at least look at my calendar before deleting the sentence and starting over. That's when I saw '199' handwritten in the upper corner of today's square.

Now you know--and knowing is...

Misandristing

Today I came across the word misandrist for the first time. I dictionary.com'd it, of course, as is my wont.

(Actually, I http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/misandrist 'd it, because that's my real wont...I type in the whole web address. I don't know, I think it makes me feel like a hacker or something to go directly to the page I'm looking for.)

I came across the word for a person who hates men in the comments for Glenn Sack's "The Sexist Pencil Sharpener vs. The Sexist Knife Block." I agree with Mr. Sack on this one--both the pencil sharpener and the knife block are in pretty poor taste.

Not so sure I agree that the pencil sharpener is a representation of a consensual sexual act that women enjoy. I mean...splinters, to begin with, right?

I disagree completely with the idea of the female pen holder. Cara is right--it promotes rape, especially with what it's programmed to say when you use it as you're supposed to, by inserting your pen into the vagina.

Disgusting.

It's issues like this that reassure me that I'm a feminist, and apparently I need reassurance because I'm still struggling with the abortion issue. It's not that I want to ban abortion--far from it. From where I am in my life at this moment, I believe that if I were ever faced with having impregnated a woman, I would be strongly against getting an abortion, but that would be my choice. I believe there are many situations (probably a majority of situations, these days) in which abortion is the best option.

One of my friends recently put it to me in a new way, which helped to undermine the beliefs I've been espousing so far on the subject on men's rights in the abortion arena.

I partially quote him here, permission to be sought later:

"[...] Once your child is born, no amount of prenatal posturing absolves a mother or father of their responsibility to the child. [...]"

I guess I agree. (When I say I guess, I don't just mean I'm agreeing reluctantly--I mean I'm agreeing tentatively, because I'm not sure that I do agree.)

So where does that leave the guy, then? Nobody I know is arguing that abstinence is a reasonable demand, and yet when a guy and a gal shack up for the night, use a condom, and it results in a pregnancy anyway, the woman can either say it's too much pressure and go for an abortion, or she can decide to keep and raise the child. In the end, the woman makes the choice, forcing the man to play along.

Makes having sex seem like an extremely weighty decision, doesn't it? I wish I could support the idea that you shouldn't be having sex until you're in a committed relationship and wouldn't be too put out by a pregnancy. I don't support that idea because I try not to forestall the inevitable.

Youtube is so fetch

Considering I haven't been following the presidential election campaigns, and am not currently planning to vote (despite thinking everyone else should do both), I have heard that Hillary Clinton started crying.

So I youtubed it.

And you know what? I love her. Even though I don't know any of her policies. And I hate all the people who say she's a crybaby.

That doesn't mean I'd vote for her, though. Get the facts. (Because obviously MSNBC is the source of all wisdom.)

Also--you can't just ask somebody why they're white.

Down The Drain

When I think hard about money (which happens about twice a month, first when I wire money home and then again when I'm dolling that money out to pay my debts), I sometimes wonder how all this work I'm doing is going to look, down the line. Will I be able to buy a house with greater ease, all because I paid off my college debt quickly? Or am I going to be SOL because of that one time I made a late payment on my credit card?

It's times like those that I really appreciate Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN's money blogger.

Actually, I'll be honest--I never think about her at those times. I never think about the future either, unless it's to bask in the idea of being debt-free in a few months. (Only with hopes to go back to school and get that debt right back... I mean, it's been my constant companion for almost five years now, who wouldn't miss it?) When I do think about Liz Pulliam Weston is when I'm considering my credit score, which is usually just after I've logged out of hotmail and one of her articles catches my eye. I keep meaning to check my own credit score for free, because I really would like to know how much that late payment set me back. I've had credit cards for five years, so have I been developing good credit? One of my friends told me that you have to mess up your credit before they start keeping score--sounds stupid, but who am I to say?

The point is, if you've somehow missed out on Liz Pulliam Weston before this, I think she's pretty helpful. Not that I know whether she's full of it or not--she's just a handy resource to do that first bit of learning you need to get you moving.

See...oh, two?

For some reason or another, the planet has always seemed kinda important to me. Maybe it's just the way I was raised, though I like to believe that even if I hadn't had a new-age mother, I would still have arrived at the conclusion that we need to take care of our only home.

Maybe it's the science fiction I read constantly growing up, a consistent reminder that there is a future to look to. Kids who will need a place to grow up. Of course, in those stories, the kids were often growing up on new worlds, but it's become clear to me (and hopefully everyone) that we're not starting off-planet manifest destiny any time soon.

That's why I like people like Leah Ingram and her new Green Boot Camp, giving a new idea every week of ways to improve our treatment of our planet.

I made a New Year's resolution to buy things for friends. Would carbon offset credits be a lame gift? I can't decide. It might be what my brother calls a Homer Simpson Bowling Ball--a gift I buy for someone else so that I can get the benefit.

Then again, we're all on this planet, right? So preserving it ought to benefit all of us.

Hmm..

Boil blog for 20 days in skull of witch (Roald Dahl, anyone?)

Resolution #7: Be less verbose. (Aka post shorter blogs.)

Sorry about this recent trend of mine not to do so..

My last blog entry boils down to thinking men should be able to bow out of a fetus's life, and then not have to pay child support, as long as they make it clear that they would prefer an abortion while there's still time.

The entry before that boils down to Resolution #6: No sex this year.

It turns out, the past few "relationships" (and there I'm being kind to myself) I've been in weren't all that useful. I'm hereby renewing my effort to become friends with a potential sig-o before hooking up with said potential sig-o, because all too often I gradually realize they're actually sickoes. Not all that bad--just not all that good.

Also--here's to making positive decisions while drunk. For example, one such positive decision would be to NOT have another beer.

argument or axe fight

Reproductive rights: I've talked about them before and I'm about to get going again. Should men have some kind of abortion rights?

I think so. I think it's an important part of a couple's life together, and since they both had input on forming that embryo, they should both have input on ending that embryo.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a feminist. I think women are equal to men, and any laws or customs that create inequality are completely wrongheaded and need to be changed.

I'm also pro-choice. Very much so. I think abortion is an excellent idea for tons of people. I don't think having the baby and putting it up for adoption is a good idea. I think abortion is better. I don't think having the baby and raising it even when you don't want to is a good idea. I think abortion is better.

But I do think that men and women both have something to do with forming that fetus, and they should both have something to say about ending it. Before I go too far down this road, I think there are about four situations that are pretty likely to occur.

1. The man and the woman both want the baby. (Why would abortion even be brought up?)
2. The man wants the baby and the woman doesn't.
3. The man doesn't want the baby and the woman does.
4. Neither the man nor the woman want the baby. (Abort! Abort!)

So let's focus on situations two and three. Obviously there is some kind of scale here, not just a black-and-white, but right now I'm concerned about these drastic extremes.

Situation 2. The man wants the baby and the woman doesn't. [Please, don't get offended by my use of 'baby'--I mean, the woman eventually wants the baby that may develop out of the cells they're considering cancelling. The man wants nothing to do with that possible baby.]

I believe that the woman has the final choice in whether or not to develop and birth that baby. Should there be an option for the man to say, "Give me that, I'm keeping it, I'm raising it, get out of here"? Maybe...is that even possible, though? Forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term is a huge violation of her rights, as far as I'm concerned. Evolution hasn't given us much choice on this issue, either. Has science provided a test-tube (or petri dish) to transfer that collection of cells into, so the woman can wash her hands and the man can feed it or whatever needs to be done, and then later raise the resulting child? I have no idea, but I doubt it. So all I'm asking in this situation is that the woman seriously consider the man's wishes. And the man seriously consider whether he's ready to raise that child alone.

Situation 3. The man doesn't want the baby, but the woman does. We're talking, before the sonogram shows something that a layperson would recognize. Or at least before whatever sign there is for us nowadays that says, "Sorry, abortion isn't an option any more." Does the man get to decide whether or not to have the baby? The woman wants it, and the man doesn't. So she keeps it, since she's in control of that decision. And then she says, this is your baby, so you better cough up the dough. Obviously, having a child is such a huge pain in the ass (and I don't mean just the birthing process, I mean everything after that for years and years) that women are pretty unlikely to give birth just to get some money. Sure, it may happen, but I'm not going to get into that because as I say, it's gotta be pretty uncommon.

The man doesn't want the baby. He said so, right from the beginning. She said, too bad buster, you're along for this ride. He said, but shouldn't I get a choice? She said, you bought the ticket when you got in my bed. He said, but then doesn't that mean women shouldn't be allowed to choose to have abortions either? She said, no, you misogynist asshole, just cough up the dough.

That's where this conversation seems to head. A willful ignoring of the man's position in the argument. I don't know where to go from here. I'm just glad I'm not pregnant, because I'd probably think like a woman. And I'm glad I don't have a pregnant girlfriend, because I'd probably think like me, and she'd probably attack me with an axe. And I'd probably forgive her without feeling like she even listened to me.

Consider checking out the LATimes article that got the ball rolling here. It seems to suggest that because I'm pro-men's-voice, I'm anti-abortion. I'm not. I just think men have a legal out from supporting a child they don't want. I'd add "and they shouldn't be denied a child they do want," but as I've mentioned, I don't think it's anything along the lines of right to force a woman to give birth, so until I learn more about test tube births, I'll have to scrap that.

The article also gives me this creeping feeling that I've got to hate on "men's rights" even if I'm pro-choice because anti-abortionists will twist my support to mean that I am against abortion.

I have a problem with the slippery slope. Reference the war on drugs. (That doesn't entirely support my point but it's my favorite thing I found while searching.)

Anyway...I'm not asking anyone not to get an abortion. I'm just trying to figure out some reason why men shouldn't have more of a say in laws that can bind them to children they asked not to have.

No sleep 'til Brooklyn; no sex 'til New Year's.

An I'm Feeling Lucky of "New Year's Resolution: Abstinence" didn't bring me to anything unsavory, which is pretty lucky indeed considering I'm at work. It did, however, bring me to a mildly encouraging site, full of you-already-know-this's and you-could've-figured-that-out's. Nearly as good as a blog--I mean, someone must have written it, right?

So guess what. I'm adding a new resolution to my list. Up to six, and going strong--because when I turn over a new leaf, I like to rearrange the furniture, as my goofriend Tami once put it. (That was going to be good friend, and then I typoed, and then I decided a goofriend is pretty much what she is. I like serendipitous typos, don't you?)

I'm just about as callous as ever, so that's not been a good resolution. It's hard to change something about myself when I actually don't think I'm callous--I only think I'm SEEN as callous. And then only to people who are too stupid to see the difference between calm/reserved/ponderous/logical and callous. I don't want to be seen as callous, so I guess I should edit the resolution to "Don't be seen as callous." Not sure how to effect that change, though. (Did I use the right word there? ...Yes!)

Checked out one more site--yet again, not a blog. "Dear Dr. Love, is it childish or unreasonable to wait to have sex until I'm in a committed relationship and we've both been tested for STIs? Sincerely, Hesitant in Heat." Such a stupid site I refuse to even provide the link, despite my love affair with write-in personal questions, because it's too vague and obvious. The answer was an unequivocal yes, of course. Yes, in Heat, you are being unreasonable. As a college-aged youngster, you are expected to be loose and endlessly available, and not meeting those expectations is just like failing a class. When are you going to learn the proper sexual techniques, if not now?

My second resolution is slumbering right now, with a desire to push on after January. I'm reading a couple good books right now, two of them non-fiction(!!!1) and I'm teaching about 10 hours a day. Once I get through this overtime stretch, I'll begin my self-education about power plants, waste disposal, and calculus. At least, that's a good thing to tell myself, when I see that I'm doing nothing to further that resolution. Maybe this week I'll order some books on the topics online. That way I can say I'll get started as soon as they arrive, and I would have started already if they'd have arrived already.

My third resolution...what was it? Ahh. Become more outgoing. Well, in fact, I ate lunch alone today, as I do most days, but I don't think that's a sign that I'm failing. Despite the jazz outing fizzling and dying last weekend, I persevered and made it happen this time around! On Saturday we headed out to Jungja and heard some jazz. The bar was ridiculously expensive ($8 for the average beer, $300 for the average bottle of liquor) so we headed out after only two beers to play some pool. A fine outing, all in all, despite the fact that I had to strip and shower immediately upon returning home. NY, cherish your smokefreeism.

Fourth. Out of debt. I haven't even sent any money home this month(/year) yet, which means I haven't paid any bills yet, which means I'm not getting out of debt very fast. Also, I did just buy some sweet raised wooden (plastic) flooring for my bathroom, which was relatively necessary because it was ridiculously cheap and now I can walk in there with socks after taking a shower. In case you didn't realize, showers in Korea drain into the center of the bathroom. This is because we just have one open shoot running down the center of our apartment building, and all of our used water goes down this shoot. You can look down the shoot and see the pool where it gathers beneath the building, though we've found that's not a great idea because the people above you may be about to flush. It's highly beneficial to be on the top floor, like me, but even then we have flat roofs and if it has rained recently it might still be draining down the shoot. (Cough cough BS cough)

Fifth...Buy friends things. Well, I did just buy my brother a few things (hangers, a notebook with a Little Prince quote on the cover) but I meant more non-family than family when I said friends. It's hard when I don't have many friends here I think are worth a present, and I'm so far away from my friends from home. Then again, that's probably what makes it an even better idea.

Sixth. No sex this year.

On the plus side, there are many fine used book stores around online. You can pay 50 cent for a book and he'll ship it to you for only around 5 dolla, bringing your total to about $6.47. Don't ask me where those extra fees come in.

Peace, love, and chicken grease.

Poet Busted with a Giant Coffee

Feeling down? Need a quick pick me up? Try the fabulous, world-famous taste sensation, COFFEE. Wonderful feelings will course through your veins soon after imbibing of this sweet energy nectar. Just one sip will have you licking your lips. Just one cup will have you...heading for the bathroom?

Sorry, I was searching for a rhyme there and I failed miserably.

I'm back on the coffee, though. That's right, "on" "the" coffee. It's a drug, and I'm making no bones about it.

I didn't drink it for a while, but then I decided that I love it and there's no good reason to stop drinking it. I'm great at rationalizing things like that. It's how I always finish abstaining.

Feeling down emotionally? Need a quick eye-opener? Maybe a better perspective? Check out Brian Andreas' website, or better yet, one of his books. He reminds me of Damian Webber, that famous Buffalo poet who wrote such classics as:

The Microwave

How does that thing not give you cancer?

and:

Look Down

You're not going
to talk to
any of them,
anyway.

I do like short poems like that. Easier than a long poem to understand, easier than a long poem to subject your friends to.

One more thing I wanted to mention in this random collection of thoughs for the day: I'm a huge fan of facebook's new bookshelf application. Normally I think facebook is mostly stupid, but I love books and I love knowing what my friends are reading.

I also love the sticker application, which I suppose ties in with loving short, easy-to-understand poems. Check out bustedtees.com to a bunch of funny t-shirts, akin to the funny stickers.