simulflow's blog

Random Conversations

I had a random convo with a nice (and quite stylish) older lady on the bus today. We started talking about sitting on the shady side of the bus. I in fact had just scooted over to the shady side moments before she got on.

She told me she was going to meet her daughter, so she was wearing a much more "unsexy" outfit than usual so as not to annoy her daughter! Also, she said that the other reason was she wasn't wearing a cute bra. I admitted that I would never say anything about my mother's outfits, since I'm sure I embarrassed Mom often when I was younger.

We then began talking about parasols. She owns a nice frilly one. But she said she didn't like to take it around, because then she has to carry it and doesn't have two hands free. I suggested that she get one of those little umbrella hats that people seem to wear at sports events. She was tickled by the suggestion, and completed the outfit idea with rolled-up socks with sandals. "That will really annoy my daughter!"

I enjoy these random conversations sometimes. The other night when I was out with a friend, we met two young men in a Skytrain elevator. I had just said something like "That's now how we do it in Korea!" to my friend, and one of the guys said "감사합니다!"* to my utter amazement. Because he was East Indian (I think). He tad taken Sun Hang Do, so he happened to know a little Korean.

Cheap entertainment! ;)

*kamsahamnida

Moving again already *sigh* ...

... well, at least once THIS move is over with I don't have to do it again for a while and it's going to be a great house. I look forward to learning how to garden. I have no idea if I'm any good at it. My mom's flower boxes are always gorgeous, so hopefully I inherited some skill?

I thought I had pared my life down before I left for Korea, but found so many things that I really didn't need to keep in storage ... this is what comes of being a pack-ratting procrastinator. It's good for me to live with other people, they help me have good habits.

I've begun to develop an interesting circle of new friends (through some old friends), for which I am very grateful, because I have been so missing everyone in Korea!!

Another thing I am grateful for is having my own bed back. It's only a mattress and box set, but it's my bed! And my planet-and-star-strewn duvet! Soon I will con J into taking me to Ikea so I can peruse bedframes.

What else? Bowen Island Irish Cream Ale is the bomb. :)

Moving Thoughts

Returning to Vancouver from four years of life in Korea got me thinking about how many times I've moved in my lifetime. In this story, all names are omitted. :)

Move #1 - 1972. I was three years old. We moved house in fall, I have been informed. I do have very vague memories of our old house with no furniture in it, I guess from the actual day we moved. I spent 17 years of my life at 3870 West 37th Ave. It encompassed all the firsts - first loves, first deaths, first joys, first year of 14 going to Thetis Island in the summers ... first pets, first dead pets (We all had them! Admit it!) ... first crush. I remember lots of snow in the winters, in the early days there. The bamboo that couldn't be uprooted. The awesome huge red apple tree that we climbed right up til the months before I moved out. The side yard, which was the dogs' bathroom, which I cleaned once a month as part of the round of chores. Fortunately they were small dogs.

Move #2 - 1989. I was 20 years old. I moved in with N. and D. and S. in the West End. L. and L. lived upstairs. I played guitar on the rooftop to calm my nerves or just for fun. Once I had sex on the rooftop. That did not calm my nerves, but it was fun.

Move #3 - 1991. First I lived with my boyfriend and his roommate. Then, when the boyfriend cheated in a hugely obnoxious fashion, I threw him and the roommate out. My best friend at the time moved in. It was a basement suite, and when it poured rain the water would come into the living room, which was on a marked slope. This situation led quickly to

Move #4 - 1992. My friend and I moved to another apartment, this one near Commercial and 1st. HUGE ceilings, we could have played volleyball in there. I bought a plant and named it Robert. My friend found true love. I moved again ...

Move #5 - 1993. I moved in with O. to a decent little place at Thurlow & Haro. Right next to the Canuck Riot in '94, remember that? *rolls eyes* Otherwise, we had a great time living there. It had a walk-through kitchen arrangement, and O. would chase one of my cats though there. We were on the second floor, at the back. Once, a drunk man wearing only boxers and socks climbed onto our balcony and calmly chatted with O. as I called 911. He fell getting back off the balcony and over the fence and still managed to elude the cops. Well done.

Move #6 - 1995. Another basement suite, and then later I took over the main floor of a house, back near Commercial Drive. The back yard was supposed to be taken care of by the landlord, but he never did, and so it was a huge jungle of grass and morning glory. It was an ok place, I guess. Kinda falling down around me, but then they decided to demolish it anyways, and I had to move again.

Move #7 - 1996. I lived with THE ROOMIE FROM HELL. Basement near Commercial and 6th.

Move #8 - 1996. I moved in with my friend Q to get away from the ROOMIE FROM HELL. We had a nice ground-floor suite in a house near Kingsway and Broadway. There were hops growing wild along the fence to the east. I tried to make tea out of them. Don't do that. We had a nice barbeque and DJ party in the back yard one time.

Move #9 - 1998. I moved to my own place, another basement suite, near Cambie and 17th. It was incredibly dark and depressing, although it did have a very groovy stove. I got fed up with it fairly quickly.

Move #10 - 2001. I moved to 14th and Main. It was lovely. My apartment had red hardwood floors (not in good condition but oh well) and a cool aqua-painted wall where the sliding doors led out onto the balcony. I got a good tropical look going on in there, which was helpful during the rainy depths of winter! And by the way - if you recall I bought a plant named Robert back at move #4 - he was still with me.

Move #11 - 2005. I moved TO KOREA. That was something more complicated than I had imagined. And I had absolutely no say over where I would end up living (well, I could have complained after the fact). I was very lucky to score a HUGE studio apartment. Compared to the places some of my friends there were living in (and still are living in!), I had a palace. I even managed to host a 9-person dinner party in it. It had a view of Korean writing and a lobster on a sign, and some sky.

Which brings us up to Move #12 - BACK TO VANCOUVER. And I'm sure I haven't finished moving yet. *groan*

 

Karen likes to ...

Rules: Google Game: Go to Google and type in quotation marks your first name and then "likes to" (ex. "Lisa likes to"). Then put the results here:

Karen likes to color. (I do!)

Karen likes to eat and drink. (ditto!)

Karen likes to pretend to be the target's aggressor. (not sure what that means.)

Karen likes to rub her belly. (it's comforting!)

Karen likes to play strange jokes on people using a Whoopee cushion and inherit the wind. (BWAHAHAHA!!!!)

Karen likes to take trips to see her daughter. (I have a daughter!?)

Karen likes to sew. (sometimes ... when I need to shorten pants)

Karen likes to treat each client as an individual. (true!)

Karen likes to say she is your worst nightmare. (hehehehehehe!!)

Karen likes to go on walks and find interesting details to photograph that others walk by everyday without noticing. (also true!)

Karen likes to play in Amy's exer-saucer. (er ... is it XXXXXX-large?)

Karen likes to tell students that she camps just outside of “the box” and only visits the box when necessary. (eh!?)

Karen likes to run half marathons, fall as often as possible on slippery Star City walkways and electrocute herself on open camera. (It's amazing, the things you learn about yourself every day.)

What is it with Korea and poop??

Honestly. In Korea, you can buy all sorts of poop things. Change banks in the shape of a pile of poop. Cell phone charms shaped like poop. Giant poop-shaped plastic hammers that squeak when you hit someone with them. There's even a popular children's play called (loosely translated) "Who Pooped On My Head?" about a mole who runs around trying to figure out why he's wearing a big hat made of poop.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

"Let's go score some blow!" I said ...

... as we finished our lattes at Holly's Coffee in Jinju. Ken and Jon were agreeable. We hopped a bus downtown and after walking around for a while ...

WE FOUND THE BLOWFISH RESTAURANT!

Yes, we have finally eaten the famed blowfish. Sadly this was not a hoe restaurant (pronounced "whey") so we did not eat it raw, which was really what I wanted. But still, it was an interesting experience.

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We had bogeosuyuk, which is boiled blowfish on a big pile of lightly cooked veggies, and bomaeuntang, "pepper pot soup" with chunks of blowfish. The fish was basically cleaned and then served in huge chunks on the bone. We even had two of the little guys' faces staring sadly (but eyelessly) at us from the pile of fish. With some trepidation we took our first bites ...

... and it was pretty good! The flavour is very light. The flesh, when cooked, is quite firm, something like halibut. The skin was still on it, and underneath was some sort of membrane that was really slippery and made using chopsticks to deal with it a bit of a challenge. We had a fantastic wasabi-vinegar-soy sauce to dip the boiled fish in. The pepper pot soup broth was INSANELY hot, although once you fished out the chunks (heh! nice pun) they were not bad. Another nice thing about blowfish is that once you DO get a piece in your chopsticks, there are no little bones scattered throughout the flesh, so you get nice big firm chunks without having to fiddle about with bones.

I personally did feel a trifle strange while eating this stuff. My vision seemed a bit sharpened, and my ankles felt funny. Jon also claimed he felt a little odd, but Ken said he felt nothing untoward, so we don't know if it was just a psychological thing or if we really got something from it. Blowfish poison does NOT break down when cooked, so it's possible, I guess.

Anyways, I do highly recommend having some blowfish in your life at least once. It was fun to try, and probably less dangerous than driving a car. :)

Babies!!

... guppies, that is! :D

My girl guppy just had 4 baby guppies! They're pretty tiny, of course, but a lot bigger than I thought they would be - especially considering the size of the fish they came out of! Anyways, they're wisely hanging around in the plant in the corner. I hope the catfish doesn't nibble on them. He usually stays on the bottom though, so they should be OK.

Yeah, all you professional fish-keepers out there are going *yawwwn*, I can hear you. :)

Revealing?

My friend Laura F. did this, and I thought it was hilarious. Take your mp3 player and set it on shuffle, then answer these trivia questions with the song titles that come up. Here is my list ...

My family is described by the song: Im Nin'Alu
Highschool was like: forever
If I got lost on a desert island, I would yell: Uncle John's Band!
The best thing about me is: flowers become screens
Somewhere in my wedding vows, I will include: wonderwall
How will you die? going under
My theme song: Tom's Diner
The story of my life is: instructions
My parents are like the song: The Boys of Summer
If I reached the top of Mount Everest, what I would scream: Happy!
My favorite thing to do is: flesh for fantasy
My ultimate song for dancing is: Another Nail for my Heart
My make-out song is: Making Plans for Nigel
Happiness is: under the milky way tonight
At my funeral they'll play: Fish
My birth was like: living on the ceiling
My last words will be: leave it
My day will be like: dear god
This song will be playing when I meet the love of my life: Let My Love Open The Door
When I'm drunk I say: night and day
What makes me happy is: Colombia
To cheer myself up I: radio gaga
My deepest secret is: you should be dancing
This song describes my grandparents: Desire
My alter-ego is: 6 months in a leaky boat
My message to the world has always been: like to get to know you well
Next time I'm in front of a crowd, I'll say: relax
When I'm in the shower, I sing: The Killing Moon
My best friend is like: lust for love

I'm back in Korea ...

... I can tell, because there's a guy with a loudspeaker outside in a truck advertising something as he drives around. This morning it was a guy with "STRAWBERRIES! FRESH STRAWBERRIES! CHEAP! DELICIOUS! STRAWBERRIES! 5000 WON!" over and over.

So, new school year (they start school in March here), new school ... I am still at Jongro M School on Mon, Wed and Fri, but on Tues and Thurs I am now at a school called E+I. It's in Yangdeokdong, actually harder to get to than the last one in Guamdong because I have to either transfer twice on the bus or walk 20 minutes from the Masan train station. Fortunately, the manager at this school says she's happy to drive me there and back, so I made a token protest but I think I'll let her do that. :)

A little piece of Korean weirdness for you - when they advertise a sale, they don't advertise it as "20 - 60% off" - they do it in reverse. I saw one today that said "90 - 40% off!!"

I received a great drawing from my nephew Graham today. He mailed me a picture of a pair of velociraptors gorily eating some poor dinosaur victim, with a pair of pterosaurs in the sky and a big erupting volcano. Love it!

I hate Korean meds.

I'm sick again, another cold, but this one is CLINGING. Usually the itchy-stuffy-nose/painful sinus phase is over with in a day or two. I'm now heading into day 3 with no let-up in sight.

I'm especially irritated because my Korean friends have all been telling me that just going to the pharmacy for over-the-counter meds is no good (I know that, in Korea they're pretty useless) and that I should get a prescription (for a cold!?) from the hospital. So last night I thought I would try doing that. Fortunately I live right beside a hospital.

They sent me off to a doctor in the emergency room (for a cold!?). He poked and prodded me and I managed to convey, with charades and my limited Korean, what my symptoms were. He sent me off with a prescription. Got it filled. It was only $3.30, and the hospital's fee was $7.80. So I go home and down the first lot of 3 pills, expecting wonders.

NOTHING HAPPENED except the pain around my sinuses let up a little. I could have achieved that with aspirin. I still spent the whole night wheezing and sneezing as if I hadn't taken any medication at all!!!

I'm so glad that I'm going to be in Canada next month and I can stock up on cold remedies to bring with me back to Korea. Gimme my Otrivin and DXM and pseudoephedrine!!!!