Feb. 25th

Another week, another week, another week. They go by like minutes here. So, I fear that my little tales may fall into the category of repetitive drivel if my life stays so comfortably stable and full of pleasure. Sorry in advance. SO....

Last weekend...
Friday night I played music with Jon at his place in Suji until his neighbor deemed it too late and expressed his sentiments with several wall pounding gestures. So, we could only play until midnight (we weren't really loud) his friend Caylor came over and he plays bass, but we couldn't play because of the previous noise violation. What to do? We chatted for an hour or so and went to a bar. The best one in Suji, which is to say it plays 3 year old shitty hip-pop songs in unrelenting succession at quite a blasphemous volume, and is full or foreigners. We chilled at the bar all night and talked about music. Caylor got pretty excited about playing with us, and committed to 2 practices a week. It took no arm twisting on our part, and we ended the night at 5a.m. all psyched to start playing. We're meeting a drummer or two this weekend, which will complete our little project member list, if we all click.

Saturday I woke up at Jon's and we headed to Seoul. I got off our bus in Itaewon with the plan set to meet up with him around 9p.m. in Jongno or Hongdae. I got my suit from the tailor, ran back to Bundang, triple s'd, and ran back to Hongdae to meet Yumi for a movie. We had dinner at an Italian place, and an entertaining little event unfolded.
Perhaps because of the food's cheese levels, or the hangover clinging to my belly from the aforementioned 5a.m. beer marathon, or a combination of both, I became eager to hit the bathroom immediately after I finished my meal. I get to the bathroom and there is only one for both sexes. Fuck, this could get embarrassing I thought. I hoped for a quick and quiet release, but the gods fickle whims denied me such ease. Yumi is rushing to finish her food so we don't miss the film, as this is happening. I enter the bathroom and lock the door, and begin the process. The toilet is one of those super hight-tech toilets that does everything but give you sexual gratification. I am nervous as hell that it's not going fast enough, and there is only one thing I could be doing in there for that long, and Yumi knows what it is, cause everyone poops, and I'm getting really fucking embarrassed, and I can't turn off the heated seat, and beads of sweat are starting to form on my forehead and,... Someone knocks at the door. Shit, shit, shit, shit, (no pun intended) I can't stop in the middle of this movement it's one of those painful semi-explosive events that need to run their course. "One second" I call out timidly in English, as if they fucking understand English just cause I'm in distress. 5 minutes later, I've finished seeing the man about a horse, I try to flush the toilet, but it' s all in Korean and I didn't exactly throw the word for "flush" in my weekly flashcards, (fatal oversight) so I just push all the button after the first two attempts do nothing, well the second one turned off the heated seat. SO, SHIT is the only world in my head. After pushing all the buttons, the toilet still didn't flush, but the bidet starts coming out of the back like some robotic sanitary shit is about to start going down, and I just close the lid before it begins shooting me in the face. There is another knock at the door. Fuck. I say sorry in Korean, and go to the sink to wash my hands and wipe the sweat from my forehead. I know it's gonna be a woman, (Murphy's law) and she's gonna see this big nasty toilet debauchery, and I'm gonna shit myself with embarrassment right in the restaurant. Sure enough, it's a woman, mid to late 20's, and really attractive. I smile a guilty-oh-shit-I-gotta-get-the-fuck-out-of-here sorta smile, and rush to the table. Yumi just finished. I think maybe I have a chance to get out of there before the woman emerges from her traumatic toilet experience to look at me like a leper.
"Taheseo?"(done?),
"Ne"
I start to walk to counter as quickly as I can, since A) I don't want to seem strange, and B) I feel like I could need another trip to the bathroom at any minute. I pay the bill, and we are out of there as quickly as I can say goodbye in Korean and bow, which is pretty fast since it's one word and a simultaneous bow, and ppfhhewwww, relief.
I was still feeling really sick and worried I might have to just head home at any moment, but being the slave to a good time that I am, I decided to try to make it through the movie. Good call Dom, good Call. I prepped Yumi for my seemingly imminent bail maneuver with an "I feel really sick Yumi". Luckily after sitting through the discomfort for an hour, it just went away. Atonement was a great film, and I enjoyed how comfortable Korean movie theatres are. In Korean movie theatres, you have assigned seating. Annoying? Maybe if you're into that perfect seat kind of shit, but I'm into showing up during the first preview and still having a non-neck breaker seat.
The rest of Saturday night I went to a few bars with Yumi, Jon flaked out and didn't call me till 10:30 or so, Yumi and I had to get up early so she could meet her mom by noon, and we wanted to catch the last train at 11:30 to save some cash. I told him I'd see him SUnday around noo in Seoul. It was great chilling with her at her place, I drank more beer, she acted too cute, we sang to Smith's, and New Order songs together quietly the way people do when they want to sing like they're alone but are too embarrassed, but still comfortable enough around the person to sing at all. We still didn't get to sleep till 3, and got sleep in until 11:30 cause her mom was late I guess or whatever, and it was....well....pretty great. I'd like to repeat that about two hundred thousand times, but I realized on the train, I could probably only do it about 60 more times before I finish my contract, and I wasn't too bummed.
I met Jon at 4p.m. In Jongno on Sunday. We were supposed to meet around noon in Hongdae, but he never answered his phone or called back until 2p.m. and I was about to head home when I finally talked to him. We met at 4p.m. in Jongno. I read for two hours at a cool cafe nursing a $4 cafe mocha, and finished 100 pages of a book I bought a block away. Jon and I went back to Hongdae to find out about prices for practice spaces there, and we were pleasantly surprised. $250 for 20 hours, drum kit, two half stack amps, and a PA system in the room. Sooooo, basically it's a walk up with a gig bag and pedal bag, plug in and jam for $6.25 an hour each. Rad. If the drummer works out, we'll be practicing for two hours a day, twice a week. We headed back to our respective suburbs, and I read the rest of the 260 page book I started at the cafe, and passed out. Good weekend, wanting anything more would just be plain greedy.
Today I went to my kindergarten kids graduation. Pretty much 50% modeling, 20% babysitting, and 30% boring, but it beat teaching classes. Kids are cute to me pretty much always, so I don't think it bothered me as much as the other guys. Plus my boss told me I looked great in a sincere sort of "very professional young man" sort of way. Wearing a suit felt totally comfortable after wearing a shirt and tie every day, and it's pretty tight so it felt kinda like my regular clothes. Now, I have classes from 3:40-5:10p.m. tomorrow, 3-6p.m. Wed, and 3:40-4:30 Thurs. Great week if you ask me. It'll be the next weekend before I know it, and I can play music with Jon tomorrow, and go to Seoul to kick it with Yumi Wed. and perhaps even Thur. night. Rad. and I'm getting paid all the same. Salary, sometimes you work a shit ton, and have to drink a hundred cups of coffee, but weeks like this even it all out. So I'm off to get some beer and study the Korean, perhaps read another 60 or so pages of "One Hundred Years of Solitude", and finish my report cards tomorrow morning. Sorry my life is getting boringly routine for this blog perhaps. Just comment that it blowz hard if you think so, and I'll write less.

Until next time friends.

보교싶어 (I miss you)