Chris and I left Korea for the holidays. We decided to go to Thailand, but then the whole country shut down the airports. A quick decision left us on a plane to Manila. From there, we got a small plane to Boracay. I'm glad I went as I got to see some great people and beautiful beaches. Sadly, most of the pictures of Chris and I got accidently deleted. Here are the ones that survived..

Every photo should be titled "Wish you were here..."

( Every photo should be titled 'Wish you were here...' )

Next time I go to an island, you should come too. I'll introduce you to some islanders.

I had a dream where my coworkers and I were on some yacht on a sunny day. My boss had turned very old and we were writing on a whiteboard why teachers are various schools were doing well or terrible.

After the waves started getting rough, we were reminded work starts in an hour so we docked on this old castle/tourist information center where Alex, Rose, Grace, and I laughed about having to buy tickets to fly back. While waiting, Alex had some SPF10 lotion on a keychain that he let me use. Good times were had by all. END.


I don't know what it means, but I enjoyed being on the boat and watching a wave splash over us.

So I never heard of Twilight until a few months ago.

Now my mother is on book 3, my coworkers are all abuzz with how it's coming out in the theatre (in a couple days in Korea), and a lot more people actually bring it up in conversation when I meet them randomly.

All without me having the foggiest idea that it existed. I'm starting to believe that someone cast a spell and magicked this thing into existence, but for some reason Chris and I were unaffected.

All five of you who read this:

Leave me a comment and I will reply with why I like you. If I don't know you, I'll either make something up or tell you why I like your LiveJournal. You must pay for the privilege by posting a message like this one on your LiveJournal.

Finished the old testiment. The end was a lot of Doom and gloom with a few spouts of "oh hey I remember that from Sunday School." I wish my current pastor delved into the O.T. more often. He majored in N.T. though and sticks to what he knows!

I don't really know why I'm doing these semi-reviews. They're not even reviews, just comments. I guess I could just stand around in Kyobo Bookstore and look like I want to talk about something. Until then, ...

Tonight my random search lead me to "Gift of the Magi". Immediatly I thought of Diablo2 because that is where I spent most of my teens. Once I actually got into the story, it hit me that I knew this story but hadn't read it in a long time. It also struck me as strange because the title was completely confusing.

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/magi.html


For those of you who haven't read it, you already know it. Girl sells her hair for a gift to her husband, guy buys her combs for her now very short hair. It's still a sweet story and an early jump on the christmas spirit. How do the magi play in? The story gives this account of how they gave gifts to Jesus and how they were the best... but.. I just don't see the tie in. I'll read it again when I'm not staying up really late.

Man... am I ready for christmas. If anything, this short story has got me all sleigh-bell jingling in my head. I wish I could be home for xmas, but since that option is taken off the table I'll just find somewhere tropical. That's what I like about the idea of a short story. Just some quick mental jaunt through some place and time to make your memories bubble up.

Thanks for reading and sorry for wasting your time!

All right, here's another short story down the hatch. Last time I felt the author did a disservice to women/minorities, so this time I took up an author that happened to be a woman. Since Washington Irving wrote about women, I was happy to see how this author would pen a man's life.


"Mary Shelley's "The Mortal Immortal"

http://members.lycos.co.uk/shortstories/shelleyimmortal.html

So this guy does something dumb and it turns him into the forever living. He prances about for a time before the ol' ball and chain gets locked into a rotting chest and he goes on and on. It's pretty melancholy, really. I couldn't help but feel that the entire story was missing something...

from the story:

"But for this anomaly of feeling surely I might die: the medicine of the alchymist would not be proof against fire -- sword -- and the strangling waters. I have gazed upon the blue depths of many a placid lake, and the tumultuous rushing of many a mighty river, and have said, peace inhabits those waters; yet I have turned my steps away, to live yet another day."

Yes, he's all worried about rivers and lakes but too afraid to actually try it. Suddenly it hit me.





The story was missing swords, lightning, and a certain Gaelic charm that permeates the characters. It could also do with a Spaniard. Percy Shelley probably told her it was really good, then blowing her away with something like 'Ozymandias' and then after she felt sad, helped her out with her story a bit. For those of you who aren't English Majors (or didn't just take a brief refresher read through WIKI like myself) this is a subject that has been up to some debate in literary circles.


Actually, I guess this was a bad author to choose. Some people say she was a one-shot or supported by her husband in her writing. I'll try to find an author tomorrow who isn't mired by her super-genius-husband's shadow and has a few best-sellers under her belt.

Any suggestions? Don't say Harry Potter! (It's not a short story and I just plain refuse to read the books).

Current Mood: t

I should have went to bed an hour ago, but I had to stay up and read a short story :/

"The Devil and Tom Walker" makes me wonder how many older American stories could be offensive to women/non-WASP citizens of America.


Tomorrow night I will read another old short story and see if I can't laugh at it as well.


For those of you with some time.

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wirving/bl-wirving-devil.htm


I'm 20 pages shy of finishing the old testiment. It's been a heck of a ride with all sorts of doom, gloom, and whosawhatsits.

I got a new email from my friend Hadleigh. It lead to me organizing my Gmail contact list. Little did I know that I never set my list up. It was merely saved emails from people. After doing that, I went through the hundreds of conversations I never new I had. Looking at things from my mother to past conversations with Cindy. Trippy stuff. Part of me wanted to read through a bunch of it, but I stopped after one. In the past and now in the trash. I then had to delete it a second time >:/ Gmail is just awesome like that.


I'm pretty happy I got a hold of Hadleigh to wish him a happy birthday. I haven't spoken to the guy since last Christmas.. or was it two Christmases ago? In any case, much too long. Glad to see we're both doing all right.

My apartment is cold. Winter is upon us here in Seoul. My windows open though for some reason. My coworkers got fish, but I'm not sure if they've picked up a water heater like I had stored away. My fish is actually living better than I am the moment. I should really give him a name >.>

As is the nature of my life, those are the most pressing issues other than where to plan my winter vacation. Everything I do is charmed and yet I can't shake the feeling of time wasted. One day this dream will end and I'll wake my soul up.

If you've never listened to Edith Piaf, do it. Also, you should play Fallout 3.


Chris coming back from Japan November 14

Left 4 Dead comes out November 18.

Kanye West "808s & Heartbreak" November 24

Lippls going to Thailand Dec24-Jan1

John going back to America March 1

Gobama!

Auughghggg

Exchange rate

2008-11-03 Monday, November 3 1262 KRW



I'm 262 sad.