Strange things seem to catch my attention and today, while surfing Gmarket for some scooter winter wear, I couldn't help but stop and check out this ad. Note that the product they're selling is to both protect you from the harmful fumes of other drivers and to keep you warm during winter scooter driving. It's nice to know that their faces won't freeze off when they're doing 100 clicks on their scooters but what about that guy's nipples?! Yikes. I specifically like how they've thrown a winter hat on the one chic, as if to make her driving attire all that more winter-friendly!

Candy For My Brain... Sunday, October 31

I seem to notice the odd things of life, like random facts and strange details. I’m the kind of girl that will watch a movie like “Jerry McQuire”, totally forget the plot line and character names but come out only remembering the quote “the human head weighs 5lbs”.

The odd interests me and I love random unusual facts. My brain is a sponge for the strange and deranged. It just fascinates me, maybe more than it should too… hahaha.

They say that every day is a learning experience, so it got me thinking, what did I learn today?!

Things I learned today while watching The Speed of Life on the Discovery Channel.

1. If a cricket stays too long in the rain, it can literally explode because it’s body will absorb too much water.
2. A rattle snake’s rattle rattles 20 times a second.
3. A gecko can smell it’s prey up to 100 meters away.
4. A centipede has 20 sets of claws.
5. A centipede first paralyses it’s prey, eats the brain, and then continues to eat the rest of it.
6. A Colorado toad is the size of a dinner plate – 9 inches long—and it has a poison so strong that can kill a prey the size of a coyote.

Other random things I picked up today…

1. If a shark bites you, punch it in the snout. That's the most vulnerable part of it's body.
2. A building with a 500 person occupancy is required to have 2 fire exits.
3. A butterfly only lives for 2 weeks but a dragonfly only lives for 24 hours.
4. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
5. Peanuts are used in the production of dynamite.
6. Our eye size stays the same from birth but our nose and ears never stop growing.

More practical things I learned today…

1. One of my former coworkers has relatives in the Philippines who own a hotel and a resort there… offering me some certainly sweet hook ups for my anticipated trip back this new year!!!
2. It takes me exactly 2 hours and 3 minutes to run 21kms. I learned this at 1:43 this morning when I couldn’t fall asleep and had suddenly convinced myself to go out and time myself.
3. The more hyper Mi Nam gets, the more “gas activity” he gets… nasty.
4. My father can’t smell skunks and I’m beginning to lose the ability to smell Mi Nam’s toots.
5. If you smile big, no will notice you’ve spilt coffee down the front of your shirt.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What did you learn today?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.
-- W. Edwards Deming

With Snickers MIA, I've been depending on Mi Nam to keep me company.

Cuddles for Mi Nam...

kisses for Mi Nam...

and in return, I get a lot of love, a four-legged companion, and a pretty sweet pillow.

Visited one of my sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law tonight which was nice but it always makes me miss Snickers all that much more. I didn’t think it possible to miss him more but tonight when I went to their house I ran into my other sister-in-law and her twins who I haven’t seen since Snickers left, so I was bombarded with questions about how I am doing without him. I am doing okay, most days, but the way people ask and talk to me about him is almost as if he has died, and that’s where I am not okay. They look at me with pity and so I almost feel guilty admitting that I have been enjoying my days. I enjoy being the sole person responsible for running all my errands, managing the house, and getting myself to and from work. I enjoy being able to up the focus on my training, both running and boxing, and I enjoy having nothing more on my plate beyond tutoring and training.

Of course, life with Snickers here is so much better, that’s beyond obvious, but my point is that I am okay. I can’t change the fact that he’s not here and dwelling on it will only drive me mental. Instead of people throwing me their oh-so-not-needed pity parties, it’d be nice if they just continued on with me as if Snickers were here. After all, as cliché as this sounds, he is here. He is in everything around me and he is in all I do. He’s that little voice in my head that tells me to slow down when driving. He’s in the love post-it notes splattered on my wall. He’s there telling me to get up and go run when I rather not, and he’s there reminding me to do my stretching. He’s in the most simple acts, in all that constructs my day, and he’s in my prayers when I lay down to sleep.

Visiting my in-laws reminds me how much he is loved by his family and so it makes me feel proud but it is followed by immediate heartbreak on my way home, knowing that I still have a long time to wait for him to return.

Today it was the twins who got me all choked up. I decided to jump in the bathroom while they were splashing around in the tub. Hyun Jun looked up at me with a face full of soap suds and asked me if I was sad Snickers wasn’t here. I didn’t know what to say. My sister-in-law told me that he’s cried a couple of times because he misses his Uncle Snickers. I didn’t want him to feel bad so I told him that I was okay because Snickers had promised to catch me a big fish in Japan --- like come on, what was I really going to tell the little mini Korean?!

I tried to snap a shot of the twins before they proudly pranced around naked and splashed in the bathtub but getting them to stay still for a photo is like asking the impossible.

Not too sure what this is all about but since Snickers has left, every time I visit my in-laws they always send me home with an envelope full of money. My sister-in-law brought one to the hospital too. They told me it was a kind of “allowance” and I tried to insist they don’t give it to me. I felt rather uncomfortable taking their money.

The highlight of my visit tonight was getting to meet my sister-in-law’s boyfriend. Today had been a really important day for him because he met my father-in-law for the first time. He looks nothing like I had anticipated him to look like and, strangely enough, he looks just like my other sister-in-law’s husband – tall, dark and cute. I wouldn’t call him handsome. He’s surely good-looking but he’s got this kind of boyish look to him and boyish manner. Anyways, I was relieved to see that my sister-in-law wasn’t dating some skinny Korean guy who wears skinny jeans (which I should note here that skinny jeans should never be made in men’s sizes… leave them for the ladies, thanks) to which I once told her that if she was I’d have to slap her… hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How many unnecessary worries do you worry about?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
-- Benjamin Franklin

Today two blasts from my past walked back into my life and how ironic but both of them are single parents.

It's a shame that we've let so much time pass but it sure does feel nice to reunite and catch up.

The Strange of Today... Friday, October 29

Today was loaded to the brim with strangeness and randomly odd situations.

It all started in the morning when some young guy misjudged his space while backing up and scratched one of Gotti's front blinkers. He totally blew the situation out of proportion when he insisted I let him replace it – replace both front blinkers actually. I tell ya, it was totally unnecessary but he insisted. I knew something was up though when he followed behind me and sat around the scooter shop with me. I guess he thought shilling out $30 for new blinkers would either score him an hour of English practice or my number. No such luck. He didn’t get either. I don’t speak English for free. I charge $50-$60 an hour, so using the odd English word here and there was all his $30 scored him.

Got a visit from my landlord today. He lives on the floor below me. Originally he had come over to see if my boiler was working properly but one simple chat ended up turning into a full-fledge one hour talk. “Your husband is right” he told me. “You are very stubborn!” He made that comment after asking me why I hadn’t told him about the troubled boiler and other things around the house I had taken the liberty upon myself to try to fix. Prior to Snickers leaving for Japan, Snickers had approached our landlord and asked him to randomly check-up on me but had forewarned him that my stubbornness may stop me from telling him if I have any problem.

Am getting paid to host a pizza party next Friday for my Church Kiddies… sweeeeeeet!!!

Received a random text message from one of my tutoring students, telling me that I am the highlight of his Mondays and Wednesdays. I texted him back, “But today is Friday”, to which he responded with, “Yes. I need to change today”. I wasn’t too sure on how to take it but was flattered.

Got a personal invite to a sleepover party – a private party for two from someone who knows full well not to be sending me such invites. Apparently being married means nothing to many people. It means everything to me though. I would seriously drop-kick Snickers in the head if he ever slept over at some chic’s house and I seriously want to drop-kick this so-called friend for even considering sending me such a totally inappropriate invite.

Met up with Vitamin C, a blast from the past I once went on one fun date with to an aquarium many moons ago. I once accused him of being too American and not Korean enough. Despite our sour parting from before, we had a great time. We chatted the hours away over a couple of plates of delish food and coffee.

No sooner did I arrive back at Ggum Guum, thinking the strangeness of the day had past, I got a text message. It was from none other than a former really close friend, The Black Widow. We had a bit of a falling out a while back when she started to rebel against her role as a young single mother and I felt forced into more of a stressed-out older sister role than that of a friend. Text messages from her, reading “I miss you… I want to see you”, lasted till about 2am.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why thank God it's Friday?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Life is a zoo in a jungle.
-- Peter De Vries

The former, but still stunningly beautiful, Lois Lane from the TV show Superman has ditched the man in tights and moved to Wisteria Lane

where she's joined with a crew of other good-looking gals and a whole lotta trouble.

Who You Calling Desperate?!... Thursday, October 28

With Snickers not around and me taking the week off boxing, I’ve only been running and working this week… and indulging in a little something-something, too I should add. I almost feel ashamed (sarcastically speaking that is) to admit this but I’ve been quite the couch potato lately. I totally blame it on the fact that a heated floor is like a much needed hug after freezing my tush off driving to and from work. Of course, I could blame it on the fact that I have way too much time on my hands and that I’ve become this big home-body, but heaven help me take the blame, of course… hahaha.

So this little something-something that I’ve been indulging in lately came about as a suggestion from the lady at the DVD rental shop. I went in one night for a movie and walked out with her suggested rental, episodes 1-4 of the TV show “Desperate Housewives”. Beyond boxing and K1 fights blaring on my TV, I don’t really tune into the tele beyond the random show on the Discovery Channel or the Fashion Channel, and even then I don’t really follow one show in particular.

My mom always told me that TV rots your brain and well, if this is true, than my brain is fried – completely fried.

I popped in the Desperate Housewives DVD and instantly I was hooked – totally blaming it on the fact that the actress Terri Thatcher, who I use to love from back in the day when she was on the show Superman, is on the show. If you don’t know the show than I recommend you not to watch it, you too my fine feathered friend may become highly addicted.

Basically, it’s a show about a street full of housewives who are, well as the title tells you, desperate – desperate for love and everything and anything you could remotely connect to it. Honestly, the show kind of makes me feel uncomfortable watching it because it’s loaded with infidelity, lies, abuse, and you name it in relationships. It’s got the good, the bad, and the ugly relationships but there’s definitely more bad and ugly than good. The only character I can really relate to is that of Terri’s character – Susan, a hopeless romantic single mom who falls in love with the bad boy. I guess Mi Nam would have to count as my child in this connection.

Every single relationship on this show however has many negative points, so it got me thinking about my own relationship with Snickers. What are our bad points, our issues?

Well, the expected language barrier has never really been a barrier in our relationship despite the fact that when we met I didn’t have a good handle on Korean and Snickers’ English level was in the minus numbers. I think, if anything, the numerous differences in our cultures have been the underlying weak point but not in the way you’d expect it to be. Sure, there are sometimes when Snickers is so unbelievably Korean and, of course, there are sometimes when I’m such a pain-staking foreigner, leaving us clashing heads. Having said this though, ironically these clashes in our culture have also been what has kept our relationship interesting and certainly not boring. Moreover, I think because we both come from two far corners of the world that we have developed a higher tolerance and acceptance for each other’s differences. There will always been things I regard as strange in his culture, as I am sure he thinks there’s many strange things connected to my culture, but we’ve been pretty successful at making a kind of fusion culture between the two of us… which leads me to what exactly it is about our cultural differences that has formed a weak point.

Our weakness lies in outside forces -- the relationships we have with others. It is in those outside of our relationship, those who try to dissect our relationship, those who try to force their cultural ideals and throw cultural curve balls our way. Both our cultures have many expectations on the numerous titles we both wear. Many times these expectations clash and many times there’s people outside looking in that are quick to point out such clashes.

I think the fact that we got married with no one else but two witnesses says a lot about our relationship, our desire to keep it between the two of us and not allow others to influence it. Our relationship it is to be enjoyed, cherished, nourished, and respected but it is to be so on our own terms, not on someone else’s terms or according to someone else's ideals.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Are you someone else's weakness walking around on two legs?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
If you're not a part of the solution than you're a part of the problem.
-- Author Unknown

Note really relevant to today's posting except for the fact that my Church Kiddies think Gotti is pretty cool and every time they hear a scooter go racing by our window they smile and look at me.

This isn't my Gotti, gosh no, but this is a pretty pimped out Honda scooter. I don't care for the colour but check out it's style and that back wheel... that's awesome!!!

Kids Aren't Just Kids... Wednesday, October 27

It warms my hard Polish heart to be tutoring a small group of kids out in Asan at a church. The church is relatively small, averaging just under a hundred in attendance at a Sunday service, but it’s a close knit group of people. Students in one class are the siblings to other students in my other class, so it’s amusing to have them randomly question me about their older or younger sibling. I only have one boy in each of my two classes. They’re brothers, sons of the man who organized the English classes. Both are at the top of their class, both sit in the first seat on my left and both insist on always being my partner for class partner work.

Today the younger brother came to my class sick and unexpectedly I switched into older sister mode. That’s the thing with these kids that I find strange about myself. I am always trying to give them random advice and I always find odd ways to work advice-giving into our free talk time.

The other day I started a game using “Have you ever” as the bases as asking each other questions. Students had to fill up a board game full of empty spaces, using “Have you ever” as the start of each question. One of my middle schools students wrote down “Have you ever been drunk?” and with that I seriously could have slapped her on the back of the head. “Please don’t answer that” I blurted out.

In my elementary class I joked with my adorable little Katie about her arriving to class empty handed. She’s notoriously known for popping sweets during class but today she had no candy. “Where’s all your candy sweetie?” I asked her. “I’m on a diet” was what she responded with. I was shocked and she knew it. My jaw dropped to the floor and I sat there shaking my head in disbelief that a little 11 year old had just told me she’s on a diet. Turns out she was joking but for that brief minute or so when she let me hang there in pure shock, I didn’t feel good.

My Church Kiddies are a cute group of kids and though I jokingly threaten them by telling them I’ll kick them in the head if they don’t do their homework or that I’ll upper cut them if they come to class late again, I do care for them and would never hurt them. I was really flattered when I returned this past Monday from being away (cause of my accident) and was greeted by all their smiling faces. They always make it a habit to stand curb side and see me off after class. They love my little Gotti and I love the fact that even when I’m some distance away, I often hear one or two random students yell out goodbye to me in the distance.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Is there any way to skip the baby stage and jump right to just having a kid?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

WARNING: Not pretty, scooter-crushed Polack legs.

The scraps and scratches aren't half as bad as the swollen ankle or the black and blue legs I'm walking around with.

Damn... that's just flat out ugly. Even I don't want to look at these pictures.

Crunch Time and For the Love of Crunches... Tuesday, October 26

With the crunch date of my half marathon quickly catching up to me, the pressure to get out and put some mileage on my Adidas runners is getting up there. The doctor advised me to take it easy with boxing for a week but he didn’t say running was totally out of the question. So I’ve decided to take this week off of boxing and rack up my running time.

Today I ran 17km. It took me one hour and thirty-five minutes.

At an estimated 6 minutes per kilometer, today’s run left me nothing short of frustrated and annoyed. I can do 7kms in 35 minutes, meaning I can shave off a whole minute with a shorter run. Of course, shorter runs are easier but my frustration lies in the fact that my goal is to finish 21kms under the two hour mark and at 6 minutes per kilometer, my estimated finish time is two hours and ten minutes. Ten minutes means the difference between scoring a sweet cash bonus from one of my sponsors or not scoring anything beyond sore legs and a long trip home from Seoul.

Ending up meeting up with Cheeto Girl and Mouse Doctor tonight for coffee and some much-needed, or so she claims is much-needed, diet advice Cheeto Girl’s been bugging me to give her for quite some time now. I think she’s adorable and shouldn’t be so worried about her body and I told her this too but then she hit me with a totally unexpected question.

“Would you want my body?” she asked.

“I’m into men, thanks” was my best attempt at avoiding that awkward conversation.

As for whether or not I’d want her body, as in switch bodies with her, no, I wouldn’t want to. I say no not because I’m this heartless beast of a woman but because what in my mind is the so-called perfect body (if I even dare to say there’s such a thing) is so far different than what others envision as being. Among my wide range of female friends, I’ve yet to only meet one person with the body I think is worth envy-- Anna. My friend Anna is a personal trainer/ female bodybuilder back in Toronto and she use to be one of my workout buddies at my gym. She stands in at only about 5ft2” but rocks some killer shoulders, sports some mad buns of steel, and has abs that aren’t too overpowering for a woman but that clearly reap the signs of pure dedication, hard training, and crazy-clean eating.

What is beautiful -- physical beauty that is -- is a good question but I’ve learned that beauty isn’t universal like I had always assumed it would be. While very few Korean men find my toned arms beautiful, it’s easy for me to attract the attention of Western men with these very same eye-brow-frowning arms. I’ve always regarded the natural Korean women to have a certain exotic beauty to them. They host a beauty I can admire but not a beauty I’d ever want for myself.

Wow… look at how far I rambled on and away from the initial subject… hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What beauty does your eye behold.

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
-- Author Unknown

Even with his new blue feet pegs (which are not as cool as the hot pink ones), the other this-and-that they changed,

and the over sized mirrors,

Gotti's still got it. He's still one cool dude.

Gotti's Got It... Monday, October 25

After one too many rounds of tag-you’re-it text messaging between the Scooter Shop One-Celled Amoeba, Old Rock and the Mouse Doctor, Gotti was returned to Ggum Guum safe and sound. I arrived back home after he did and was a bit thrown off guard when I first saw him.

Besides the obvious things,other random things that had nothing to do with the accident also got worked on, replaced, and tuned up. Gotti scored new feet pegs, new front blinkers, new handle grips, and new break handles. He got new mirrors too but I think they look rather ridiculous cause of their size. You know how they say “objects in mirror may appear closer than they are”, well in these new in-your-face mirrors if things appeared any closer they’d be in my front pocket. Will definitely call up Motor Cross and get the mirrors changed. Motor Cross being a professional motorcycle racer means he’s got plenty of gadgets and whatnot to pimp up my ride. Am looking to ditch the new mirrors for smaller ones and ditch the new blue feet pegs that replaced my former hot pink pegs. Motor Cross is trying to convince me to let him add a security lock feature that locks the wheels when there’s no key in the ignition.

I took Gotti out for a spin around town tonight and though I wasn’t nervous to “jump back on the horse” I was however nervous to go down that street again – the scene-of the-crime street. I did it. I drove down that street. Driving down the street though didn’t go without me growling at the taxis though.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How do you like him now?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Say hello to my little friend.
-- from the movie "Scarface"

With no Snickers around, Mi Nam has been the focus of my camera.

Here's Mi Nam keeping me company while I make some homemade peanut butter.

And here's him eyeing my cooking... see, my cooking isn't so bad if Mi Nam is licking his chops over it! I'm still going strong with my curry kick, so here's meal 5 of 6. It's curry beef mixed with tuna, cucumbers and mushrooms -- strange combo I know, but it's delish -- and a bit of brown rice on the side.

Lots of Flipping -- the Bill, the Bird, and maybe the People... Sunday, October 24

I know my Korean isn't as high as I'd like it to be but I can confidently say that I do have a great handle on the language after all, with the exception of my tutoring, all my day-to-day interactions are done in Korean and all but a mere handful of my friends here only speak Korean. Having said this, it drives me bonkers when Koreans try to play the I-don't-understand-your-Korean card when I know they're lying through their teeth. Fair enough I suppose, I've used a similar card but that's only when people randomly approach me in the street for the sake of looking cool cause they're talking to a foreigner or when others try to talk to me when I'm driving Gotti. You'd be surprised how many people do this to me but anyways. Tonight it was the scooter shop guy who drove me bonkers by abusing his use of this card. Unless he had but half a brain cell left there was no way he could have not understood what I was saying, instead however, he kept on blurting out "what... what?" He totally milked his use of the card and I was going to have none of that.

It's Sunday, which means it's a red day in Korea but today the taxi driver's insurance broker and the scooter shop man haunted me via my phone. The insurance broker speaks Korean, the scooter repair man speaks Korean too, and yet between the two of them they totally misunderstood who was picking up the tab for Gotti. Next thing I know it I'm getting a text message telling me to swing by the shop at 4pm tomorrow with $300. So much for Gotti being ready for today, as promised, and so much for the insurance broker flipping the bill, as also promised.

"If I have to flip the bill then they can keep my scooter cause that's not what
we agreed to!" I told Mouse Doctor.
"They are so damn lucky Snickers is here!!!" he responded with. This apparently has been the phrase of the week actually. Everyone from Snickers' friends to my teammates and my in-laws have all quoted this very same idea.

Mouse Doctor will be going tomorrow to take care of the situation because them insisting I flip the bill is just flat out ridiculous. It is not what we agreed to -- I know that, they know that, and I know they know I know that, too. (Holy tongue twister there... hahaha) I really shouldn't let Mouse Doctor go alone, not because it's my scooter and my responsibility but because he's a bit of a trouble maker. Old Rock will probably go with him -- double trouble. Both those guys did hard time in the "big house" for the same situation that got Snickers booked and, just like Snickers, doing hard time didn't shake the bad boy out of them, instead it just forced them to disguise it better.

As much as I certainly appreciate all that Snickers' boys have done for me, especially with this accident, it is very frustrating to not be able to take care of all my business on my own. I know full well that my Korean telephone conversation was understandable because I recorded it and then played it back for one of my Korean friends. Prior to the phone conversation with the repair man I even went so far as to write down looked-up words and write a rough draft of the anticipated conversation. I'm not paranoid, that's not why I recorded the conversation, but this is my first time being in this kind of legal situation here in Korea and I picked up enough of a bad vibe at Friday's insurance broker meeting to know not to trust anyone not on my side.

This is all about sides and protecting what side you're on, I learned that. I learned that when the insurance broker was all in my face arguing with me. Moreover, he went from insisting I stay in the hospital one to two weeks to letting me sign out that day. I knew full well that they wouldn't be able to cover my salary for that period of time cause he even noted that taxi settlements are around the $800-$1000 mark and I make more than that in a week so two weeks would kill them. Throw in my hefty hospital bill, physio twice a day, the cost of repairing my scooter, and ya, the insurance broker wanted nothing more than to get rid of me as fast and as quietly as possible.

I may live in Korea and yes, I have lived here for over five and a half years, but I've never run into a situation like this were I would have had the chance to learn legal lingo. I now know more legal terms in Korean than I do in English but this is brutal. I trust Snickers' boys because they're his boys but boy is it ever frustrating to have to sign legal documents when I don't fully know what I am signing my name to.

So frustrating... so damn frustrating.

It's a good thing that I did all those chores and whatnot yesterday because today I wanted nothing to do with the outside world. I scored a free ticket and a free ride to the F1 that went down today in Mokpo, Korea but opted out on account that it was just one of those days. You know "those days" -- those days when you want to hear nothing more than the sound of your own thoughts and breathing.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Is ignorance really bliss?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.
-- Don Wood

I didn't get to enjoy much relaxing time with Mi Nam today as I rushed around downtown checking off my list of things to today.

The Headless Chicken... Saturday, October 23

My list of things to do today ranged from the time-consuming to the no brainer things to do.

Things to do today...
Upload photos
Update my homepage
Contact my work contacts
Fill out and send tutoring attendance sheets
Complete student assessment sheets
Print off tutoring handouts
Catch up on emailing
Go to Kyobo Bookstore to get random supplies
Drop off my jeans to get hemmed
Drop by Paris Baquette Bakery
Laundry
Wash all the bedding
Check-up appointment at the hospital
Stop by the pharmacist for bandages
Buy small treat for hospital grandmother and then visit her
Buy new flat shoes
Motor Cross to come pick up the car
Wash the floors and vaccuum
Type up information sheets for personal training clients
Make more homemade peanut butter
Do some light grocery shopping
Go running

Yes, despite just getting out of the hospital yesterday evening tonight I went out for a run. I was itching to get in some exercise. I held off of doing my weekly long run and settled for a 7km run. My legs felt pretty good. My legs are only sensitive to the touch and that's partly because of the major scratches and the fact that one massive bruise on my right leg stretches from the front knee cap, then wraps around to the back of the leg and circles around the ankle.

Got to see my favorite late-night nurse today when I went in for my check-up at the hospital. The hospital was relatively empty so we sat around chatting for a bit. I stopped by the room to see the hospital grandmother but they had changed her room. She's now in another room with yet another young girl, whom she apparently doesn't like. Before I left the hospital, I said goodbye to all the nurses and my favorite late-night nurse loaded up my purse with oranges and told me to come back to visit again. I will.

By the time I got done all my anticipated chores for today I was beat. I know I could have spread my chores over the course of today and tomorrow but why put off for tomorrow what you can do today?!

Woke up today at 1pm, ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off and then crashed at midnight.

Side note here... because of me being MIA from Ggum Guum and Gotti being off at the shop, I take it my late night Show Boy thinks I've packed up and left, or whatever. Regardless, one more good thing that came of my scooter accident would be that I no longer have some strange Show Boy sitting outside my window, nor will I have to spend one more morning cleaning up his "boy magic" from my scooter seat.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What did you do today?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
-- Carl Sandburg

What you're looking at in this shot is Old Rock arriving at the scene of the crime, Mouse Doctor looking at me sitting in his car while we both try to calm down, S-Maniac standing behind Mouse Doctor as a kind of back-up, and the drama queen taxi driver wasting all of our time.

And here is one banged-up Gotti. My right leg basically broke his fall but he did come out of the accident with a broken front blinker, one scratched up mirror and handle grip, and both leg pegs snapped off. He ended up being rushed off to the machanics faster than I was taken to the hospital. Word has it the damages his engine suffered almost total half the price I initially bought him for... yikes!

And then there are my injuries. My expensive twice-worn CK pants are now sitting at the bottom of some garbag bin and I had to kiss goodbye my hot pink shoes I absolutely loved.


Underneath my pants my right knee was pretty ripped up as are both my feet too, and my right leg is definitely multi-coloured.

Back to Normal?!... Friday, October 22

So, I am finally able to post some pictures on my homepage which could only mean one thing -- I am back home. Yesterday's wake-up call via a nurse slapping her hand on my tush for the needle was nothing compared to today's brutal morning that was filled with lots of needles and lots of pain.

The hospital puts me on an IV bag twice a day but today the nurses -- yes, nurses as in plurial -- had trouble finding a vein that'd take the IV needle. The first nurse got frustrated so she asked another nurse to try... and then another. Four tries later and my veins finally took to the IV. I've only been in the hospital a couple of days but you could play connect-the-dots on my arms from all the failed needle attempts. The nurses tried to blame it on the fact that my arm muscles were so tensed-up, very flattering but I'm not too sure on how believeable that is.

Did my twice-a-day psyhio and am convinced someone must have accidently knocked the frequency knob because the voltage going through the machine to my right leg was a bit too intense. Every time it sent an electric current my toes literally curled and my ankle twitched.

Mouse Doctor and Cheeto Girl dropped by to kidnap me for lunch. I know Koreans are all about freely roaming around town in the hospital gear but I couldn't help but feel super shy. I mean, the hospital pants I've been sporting for the past couple of days couldn't quite get uglier.

Had the big anticipated meeting with the taxi driver's insurance man and had to leave to the room cause I seriously was going to punch him after he tried to throw me a very insulting payout. He had totally jumped to conclusions with guessing my salary and thought his measly quote would cover one week of missed work for me -- wrong, SOOOO wrong. In addition to getting payouts from one of my boxing sponsors, I also do personal training, manage a website for someone, and tutor at various companies -- seven different people pay me. And on that note, discussion of me staying a full week, possibly two, and the insurance company flipping the bill was totally thrown out the window. "You're too expensive for them" Mouse Doctor told me, so on that note the insurance man punched in a larger number on his calculator and I agreed to accept it. The terms of agreeance involved me going home tonight, a continuation of the medication for three more days, and the insurance company flipping the bill for all my hospital expenses and scooter repair, and them dropping a sweet lump sum of cash in my account on Wednesday.

The nurses all congradulated me on my insurance settlement and joked about that taxi driver probably never wanting to deal with another foreigner. That's okay. He definitely picked the wrong foreigner to hit cause I definitely don't come with a cheap pricetag, nor do I go down easy either, so the feeling is mutual.

Am happy to be out of the hospital but I should note that I did enjoy my stay as much as it did frustrate me not to be able to train. The nurses were all around my age so it felt really comfortable, and I quite enjoyed their company.

As for my two roommates in my actual hospital room, I also enjoyed their company. The younger woman had gone home for the weekend, leaving me to spend my last day at the hospital with the grandmother. He husband came as usual to visit her but she broke down in tears today when she told him I was leaving. "I don't want to be here alone!" she told him. And with that I decided to stay another hour. Another hour stay turned into another two hours when she asked me if I drink coffee. Next thing I knew it she was calling up her grand daughter and asking her to bring us coffee.
My stay at the hospital wasn't quite as boring as I thought it'd be. Actually, it wasn't boring at all. I had busied myself with typing up handouts and activities for my tutoring and I had a lot of visitors -- both friends, in-laws and nurses. My favorite visitor, which was totally unexpected, was the Sangyung Hulk. He had dropped by the other night -- late, late night -- with tons of milk and bread for me and one much needed leg massage. We chatted for a bit and it was interesting to see a much more humbler side of him that I've never seen before. Turns out he's married (has been for 3 years) and has a two year old son. Sounds brutal of me to say and I hate the fact that I honestly believe this but I think he's married because of his son -- shotgun wedding. He asked a million and one questions about Snickers but ignored or wiggled around questions I asked about his wife. I feel sorry for him; he's clearly not happy and it made me feel terrible to see him like this. Okay, so he and I were never close friends but lately we've been talking a lot. Regardless, I know how so different and how so happy my life is now that I've found true love, so I'd like my friends to experience it too.

But enough about that... I could go on and on, and you know I could too.

Tonight I signed out of the hospital, packed up my computer and overnight bag, and after a cup of coffee with the hospital grandmother I left. Some of the nurses took the elevator down with me to the first floor and stood waving as I walked down the street. Ggum Guum is oh but only a stone-throw away from the hospital so when I reached Ggum Guum I turned and waved goodbye to the nurses.

It felt good to be back at Ggum Guum but it felt kind of sad to have left the hospital. I've never been a fan of hospitals. I've even be noted to say I hate them but the hospital I stayed at this week was awesome and I will miss it. I will miss my midnight shift nurse coming to say goodbye to me in the morning when her shift finishes, joking with the psychio male nurses, helping the hospital grandmother with random things like taking her meal dishes into the hall and teaching her how to use the TV remote, and I'll miss random visitors showing up out of the blue to see me.

I've always believed that there's a little good in bad and a little bad in good but this accident showed me more good than bad.

The Good
1. I've adopted Snickers' close friends as my own close friends too and, because of all they've done for me just even this past week, I will forever be so grateful for them.
2. The amount of Korean -- ranging from vocab like "needle" and "victim's complaint" to medical questions and silly sentences like "If they're too noisey, beat them" -- I've picked up this past week has been incredible.
3. Learned that I in fact don't need a license afterall. Gotti is only 50CC, meaning driving him license-free is perfectly allowed.
4. Have finally begain to view Snickers' family as my family -- something that, up until the accident, I really had an issue with.
5. Am proud to note the awesomeness that is right down the street from me -- the hospital and staff -- and am sure I'll drop by ever so often to say hi.
6. Won over the arguement with the insurance man, proving to be one expensive chick.. and most stubborn ones too I'm sure.

The Bad
1. I am now sporting some multicolored legs, particularly my right leg, and I'm missing way too much skin from my right knee cap.
2. Taxi drivers are my new pet peeve in Korean. I swear, they're like a gang... a gang of seagulls that is. You should have seen how many taxi drivers either stopped at the accident to watch and how many actually got out of their cars to poke their nose in my business.
3. Going from being super active to being a sit-around-and-veg girl meant I put on some wieght. Not a big deal really. I give it one day of training and it'll be off.
4. I now have to figure out how to break the news to Snickers. "Hey Amy, what did you do this month?" he'll ask me. "Hmm... I went to work, worked out, got hit by a taxi, read a book... things like that." He's going to feel terrible, I just know it. He's very protective of me, so it's going to crush him to know that he couldn't be here to help me. Mouse Doctor made note of this to the insurance man today, telling him that he's lucky my husband isn't here to overhear the nonscense of the accident and initial payout.

Cuddling up on the floor tonight with Mi Nam was a great way to cap off the night. I'd like to think that he was just as happy as I was so it made for a very relaxing evening.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Did they honestly think I'd settle for that or give up that easily?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.
-- Benjamin Disraeli

Officially Day One... Thursday, October 21

First full day in the hospital and thank God its about to end.

It started with me waking up and almost kicking some random person as they tugged on my pants. Turns out it was just the nurse trying to give me an injection of medicine in my tush. My day started at 7am and was followed by a disappointing breakfast, consisting of rice, soup and kimchi. Actually, it was like that for all my meals and anyone who knows me knows I don't do white rice, or only three meals for that matter. Thankfully these nurses here are treating me like I am some kind of rock star and, after teching a couple of them how to properly give a good jab and hook, they let me "escape" for a good hour. Ran home -- well limped like a war amp is more like it -- and cooked up a storm. Calli Lilly took Mi Nam out for a walk so that I could shower and prepare my food. Returned to the hospital with a whack of food.

Hardboiled eggs, nonfat yogurt, homemade almond butter, frozen bananas and a frozen persimmon, tuna curry, cooked broccoli, cut-up cucumbers, cooked brown rice, and one protein shake.
This should do me for one day... maybe.

Today I had many visitors. One of my sister-in-laws surprised me with a much-needed coffee, tooth paste, slippers and other goodies. I was happy to see the coffee but it was the toothpaste I liked most. This morning I had sadly resorted to brushing my teeth with a bar of soap scrapped onto my toothbrush... and yes, it tasted as nasty as it sounds. Nasty pine-scent soap tasted more like rubbing alchol and javex.

Anyways... Calli Lilly dropped by, as did Mouse Doctor and his girlfriend Cheeto Girl. They worked their magic on the nurses and so I scored dinner out at one of my favorite restaurants.... sweeeeet!!! Panty Boy dropped by, bearing gifts of various panties. I guess Korean moms are like my mom in that she's always telling me to wear clean undies just in case I ever got in an accident...hahaha. Panty Boy is a big mama's boy... hahaha.

The evening nurse for tonight is super cool. We sat together on my bed gabbing away about the doctors here. I told her I could put in a good word for her with the one shorter doctor... he's a keeper and at this moment anyone who tells me I should have just punched that taxi driver is sure to jump in my good books. Anyways, later in the evening my favorite nurse was MIA and I was desparately needing her help. I couldn't get mad at her though, she was just too sweet to me. What had happened was my IV had gone dry and by the time I noticed it the IV tube and part of the bag had started to fill up with my blood. The two other women in my room (one around my age and the other 68) had a bit of a freak-out at the sight. We rang for the nurse and ran out into the halls but couldn't find her, so I suggested I rip out the IV needle myself. I would have too had she not suddenly shown up.

Today I started treatment for my leg. Not too sure on what to call it but it feels kind of like shock treatment. They hook me up to a machine that send electric currents to my leg muscles... rather uncomfortable. The doctor on duty today says I have to stay a full week but I am hoping he says different on Saturday when he makes an offical decision. Now I have the fun task tomorrow of calling up all my tutoring gigs, explaining my situation and then getting them to fax the details and salary of my job, and calling up my sponsors who give me weekly payouts.... dang, not fun.

Still have no Internet beyond my Optimus cellphone but I managed to get some emailing done today... I've got way too much time on my hands. Got a lot of Korean studying done as well today and typed up worksheets and enough handouts for one of tutoring gigs to last me for the next two months.

Tomorrow will be day two and I am hoping it will be greeted with a good night's sleep and not a sudden and unexpected needle-in-the-bum wake up call like today.

Gotti is getting a Face Lift... Wednesday, October 20

If you are reading this than you are probably in better shape than me on account that I am typing this to you via my cell phone at a hospital in Korea.

Today, while on route to my tutoring, a taxi decided he was going to disregard using his blinkers , side mirror and rear mirrir, and take a sudden right hand turn. I was on his right side... which apparently was his wrong side.

He crashed into me, causing me to go flying and then my scooter to come crashing on me. Then, if that wasn't bad enough, upon seeing I was a foreigner he just stood there in shock. Anger swelled up in me quickly, which is the only how I can begin to explain how I could pick up a 85kg scooter pinning me down. I wasn't about to let that taxi driver drive away so I called up Old Rock. He came with a flash, as did an unexpected Mouse Doctor and S-Maniac.

After dealing with the taxi driver, who acted like a pure drama queen, I was taken to the hospital. Gotti got taken away to the scooter shop. He's got a broken blinker, smashed light, and the pegs I put my feet on when driving got knocked off. As for the drama queeb taxi driver's car, besides a minor dent near the tire, it will need a wash down cause it's spoting my blood. And as for me, I am okay, just ticked. Both my feet are pretty scratched up and because my right leg took most of the weight of Gotti, its feeling rather strange... like a constant flex.

The taxi's insurance company wants me to stay at the hospital for a week but I am itching to get out. Beyond not being fond of making a meal out of rice, I have Mi Nam to worry about, boxing to continue, my half marathon to train for, and life to live. If I was bored home alone than I am definitely on the verge of dying from boredom in this hospital.

I'll keep you posted but it won't be pretty... my postings that is. Like I mentioned, am posting via my cell phone (which only goes to prove how bored I am).

The Cheonan Bulldog in action.

Keeping Cheonan's name strong in the boxing community.

A Knock-Out Knock Down... Saturday, October 16

Headed out to Suwon with UP Boxing, including Junior Mint and the Cheonan Bulldog. It was fight day for the Cheonan Bulldog and I sat along side his nervous girlfriend as she held a cute cheering banner she had made for him. The two of them have been dating for 4 years and plan on getting married in the next 2 years, after she graduates university. I've known the Cheonan Bulldog for about 2 years now, maybe longer, so I'm quite familiar with both him and his girlfriend.
The Cheonan Bulldog wasn't the only fighting today, there were many others of which included two young guys fighting to get their professional license. In the home corner there stood a muscular young boxer and in the away corner stood an over-emphasized taller-than-tall boxer. Seriously, the dude was just taller than life itself!!! But anyways...

As you can see from the picture directly above, something went down, or I guess I should say someone went down. The taller-than-life itself boxer went down after one too many upper cuts. He kind of staggered for a bit, then wobbled, and then went crashing down, pulling on the ring ropes as he descended. I felt bad for him, we all did, but getting hurt in boxing comes with the territory. His coach, a familiar face to me here in the Korean boxing community, immediately jumped in the ring, as did the on-the-scene paramedics and many others. Off went his shoes and hand wraps, out when his mouthpiece, and then finally back he came to consciousness. Ever since that Korean boxer died this summer no sooner after he left the ring (at a tournament I was supposed to fight at too I should add), the Korean Boxing Commission takes no ring injury lightly and it was evident with today's flood of people that jumped in to help him. He was alright though, just a couple of bruises, bumps and one sore ego.

I tried to dodge people's questions about why I hadn't arrived with Snickers by keeping myself focused and preoccupied with the Cheonan Trump. I stood by his girlfriend during the fight, during the whole day actually, and I couldn't help but think she was the cutiest most adorable girl I've seen in a long time. Her voice was all shaky when she cheered him on and she held on to that homemade name banner as if her life depended on it. I did my best to cheer on the Cheonan Bulldog, calling out shots for him to make and telling him to shake it off whenever he took a clean hit from his opponent.

In the first round the Cheonan Bulldog was momentarily knocked down -- not out, just down -- and with that I was instantly reminded of one of Snickers' fights when the very same thing happened to him. His opponent was playing around with him in the ring but when Snickers let his guard down his opponent threw him a surprise punch. Me, standing high up in the crowd, yelled "$#it!!!" at the top of my lungs. I was shocked that I had said that let alone had yelled it for all to hear, including the TV cameras. Snickers always jokes about that situation too, telling me that it was me yelling that made him snap out of it and get back in the game.

In the second round the Cheonan Bulldog made a big comeback and ended up knocking his opponent out. His girlfriend and I jumped up and down like two school girls and the look in her eyes was of pure relief and pure pride.

The day ended with us all going our separate ways and I ended up hitching a ride with another boxer from UP Boxing Club. He and his wife offered to drive me back to Cheonan, that is if I didn't mind sitting in a van with nine little Taekwondo boys who probably were no older than ten. Strangely enough -- and I say that cause I'm not really into kids let alone a van jam packed with them -- it was hilariously fun. They didn't speak more than a handful of English words but we ended up having a kind of cell phone game tournament and my 30 year old Polish butt got brutaly kicked by a bunch of ten year olds, nice... hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Is it ever just a game?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.
-- Wendell Phillips

More moments I would love to step back into.

Wearing this shirt without Snicker sneaking up to jump inside to join me just isn't the same. I miss him so much.

Simple Week Recap... Friday, October 15

Tuesday

Started an English class at the Cheonan Samsung plant and despite Korean students being usually shy and uncomfortable with being put on the spot with English, tonight’s eight students totally killed that misconception.

With a handful of typed-up questions all on individually cut pieces of paper, I went around the table, asked them to each pick a question, and then we discussed our answers.

“If you could have 50kgs of anything but money, what would you pick?” My answer was diamonds, another student answered gold, but the answer that stood out by far came from the smallest and only female student in the class. No sooner was the question read aloud but she then slapped her hands on her chest. She didn’t say anything but we all looked at her, then at each other, and we totally knew what she meant.

“If you could change the world, what would you change?” was another question they were asked. The particular student who had picked this question answered by saying that he’d make himself handsome, claiming that if he was better looking he’d be happy, and if he was happy than those in his life would be happy and the people in those people’s life would also be happier. He claimed it’d have a domino effect. We all had a good laugh about it but I did like his answer. Not too sure if being better looking would really make him happier but I like his underlying idea that changing the world started with changing himself.

Wednesday

Got a good dose of social time this past week with Calla Lilly dropping by Ggum Guum yesterday for girl talk and then today Lady Lollipop came out to Cheonan to visit me. We jumped on Gotti and headed out to boxing together. She was rather shocked to hear she was my first backseat passage on Gotti but was even more shocked to hear that I don’t even have a driver’s license. I guess admitting to this while flying down a downtown street wasn’t exactly the best place to tell her… hahaha. Anyways, she watched as I trained and watched as Junior Mint totally pushed me around the ring and gave me an extra hard time. Boxing was followed by a late night dinner and then a sleepover. Mind ya, in between dinner and crashing for the night, Mi Nam tried to sabotage our sleepover by peeing all over my thick winter blanket. I wasn’t impressed but was happy to find the extra blanket Snickers had stashed in the other room.

Thursday

Last night I had totally forgotten all about checking out my window to see if my late night Show Boy was sitting outside my window, thanks to Lady Lollipop. We were having too much fun chatting the hours away to give any random minute to him. Tonight, however, after Lady Lollipop left and after I had settled in for the evening, my late night Show Boy returned and I took notice. Tonight marked the second time he’s “relieved himself” on my scooter. It had happened on Sunday too but it wasn’t until Monday morning that I discovered his “stuff”. I had raced down the stairwell and out the door because I had early morning tutoring but upon looking up at my scooter I noticed a kind of glaze on the seat. This so-called glaze was none other than his “stuff” splattered on Gotti’s seat. I was ticked; I was disgusted. I was too disgusted and ticked to go tutor.

Friday

Besides Gotti already saving me both a huge whack of time and money on transportation, it’s been getting me a lot of unwanted and unexpected attention and a lot of free service. Today I headed over to the bike shop near my boxing club after one of Gotti’s headlights started acting up. It was a quick fix-up but when I asked the man how much it was, he said that if I promised to come back that it’d be “service” (free)… sweet. Second service this week.

Later in the evening, after boxing, Snickers surprised me with a phone call. He’ll be on land for the next three days while they reload the boat and pick up stuff in town. He’s read all the letters I sent with him in that book I made. We talked a lot about this, that… everything. Telling him about my late night Show Boy was rather uncomfortable and I felt bad for it frustrating him. He told me his job is going good but that he spent the first three days on the sea basically puking his brains out. We talked a lot about this and that… everything… and he must have told me a million times that he misses me like crazy. “I crazy love you squared” was how he ended our conversation.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How would you change the world?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
-- Norman Vincent Peale

Two questionable pictures that most people would view as provocative at first glance, but if you look beyond the first glance you may be able to see a glimpse of the real picture. Both were two perfectly sacred moments -- a much needed hug after a disappointing day of training and a mid-day promise-making moment (when Snickers promised me he'd never let me celebrate another birthday alone) with a clinging of coffee cups and a couple of tears to seal the deal.

No one but us in these moments will ever understand what each moment meant and that's all that matters.

Unhappy People at a Happy Person's Parade... Tuesday, October 12

Yet again I’ve been delinquent with updating my homepage, sorry. I just haven't really been up to it and it's been a busy week here at Ggum Guum.

"We’re all waiting for you to jump to the next guy” was a comment someone left on my to which I’d first like to ask, when have I ever jumped from guy to guy and you do know I am married, right? I’m not too sure about you but to me marriage is a sacred thing. Snickers is not my boyfriend, he is my husband, a label I take very seriously.

I learned a hard lesson once, when someone very close to me got married to someone whom many of us frowned at. It basically came down to the fact that if he is happy and in love than who are we to judge and who are we to tell him he doesn’t feel what he feels. If I really care for this person the way I think I do, then why would I want him to be anything but happy and in love?!

I know you don’t know me and I know you don’t honestly care whether or not I am happy, as proven by your personal attack on me, but you really have to stop and think why you'd even consider writing such a comment. I mean, the what of your comment isn't what got to me, it's the why. Why would someone totally disregard the fact that I am married. You really had some nerve to type it but you really should mind your manners and watch what you say. Your nonsense comment didn’t hit me the way I assume you had hoped it to. I feel sorry for you and I am sorry you are so unhappy that you have to crap on my homepage to make yourself feel better. It's like the whole school yard bully idea. Please tell me you're a middle school kid so that I can begin to understand why you'd ever want to push another person down. You are 13, right?

The silly bully at my high school proved to be nothing less than the most insecure and most unhappy of us all. Unhappy people don’t want other people to be happy, and that's what it basically comes down to it. Think what you'd like to think but please stop to think why you'd ever want to purposely knock someone down because in trying to pull another person down you've only discredited and lowered yourself.

I try to write honestly on my homepage, a relatively easy idea that at times isn't so easy and something that so many people don't do or don't respect. I know we all are entitled to our own personal opinions and ideas but please understand that behind these words on this homepage is a real person -- another idea that's easy to understand but so often disregarded. So when you write nasty comments please ask yourself first, if you were on the receiving end of such a comment how would you feel?

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What ever happened to "Make love not war", did that fad out with the hippies or are we just a generation of angry therapy-needing people?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
-- Abraham Lincoln

Dang... what I would give to be back in this moment, waking up to him

... and taking a bite out of him... hahaha. Delish. Ahhhh... the good old days.

Miss You like Crazy, Crazy Miss You... Monday, October 11

With Snickers out of country things around Ggum Guum have been anything but normal. Mi Nam has officially claimed Snickers’ side of the bed, the house is extra clean and stays clean longer, the TV rarely goes on, and it’s just too quiet for my liking. I no longer have to pick up random banana peels on counter tops or underwear off the floor, and empty coffee cups no longer sit tucked beside the couch and computers. Morning naps no longer include cuddling and spooning and afternoon coffee time is done alone. Daily drives to tutoring were once filled with singing and chatting but have been replaced with random people trying to talk me as I scoot around on Gotti. Dinner dates and spontaneous movie dates have been totally canceled out and if I was considered anti-social and quiet before then now I am a homebody mute.

I’m out on the river path every day either walking Mi Nam or running, I go to the boxing club for training, the church and Samsung to tutor, Lotte Mart to grocery shop, and if I’m not at one of those five places than there’s a 99.99% chance I am home alone.

It’s only been about a week since Snickers left and I miss him like crazy. It’s been a struggle to not have him with me.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Has it only been a week?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
-- Carl Jung

Me watching TV with my at-home personal bodyguard, Mi Nam.

There's absolutely no place in the house or anything I can do here without Mi Nam insisting on shadowing me. When I move, he moves. I can't even go to the bathroom without him pushing on the door and trying to shove his head in.