Goin’ walkabout

July 21, 2003 / / 21 Comments

Well, it’s that time again, friends and neighbours, for the wonderchicken to take a wee break, I think. Adventure awaits, or if not adventure, then at least a new home and some new faces.
I’ll see you around the usual watering holes, virtually, but I won’t be writing here, at least for a while. Hell, I haven’t written anything worth reading in weeks, I know. I need to have some more stories to tell (though I’m far from exhausting the old ones) and I need more stories to hear too, but I won’t be ready to tell all of you those stories in turn until I’ve felt the sun on my face a bit, and blown the proverbial carbon out of the valves with some Mekong whiskey, or some compressed air down on a reef somewhere, or some dangerous and ill-advised antics in the Bad Side of Town, or maybe just a simple change of scenery.
Then again, I might change my mind and post a semi-inebriate screed or a philosophical ramble or two in the intervening weeks before we land – somewhere – again, so check back once in a while, if you’re so inclined.
But life calls, and I’ve always been one to shake off the dust, pull up my drawers and leap – all floating hair and flashing eyes – into the fray when I hear the call. I’m afraid, a little, but excited too, and feeling the pull of the open road. Wish me, wish us, luck.
See you soon. Ish.

Home on Deranged

July 14, 2003 / / 6 Comments

Item the First : Anne Craig is going through some surgery for cancer. I join Rageboy in encouraging you to send her a note of support. He says : ‘I have personally seen pure concentrated freak power save a life,’ and I say if you’re reading this weblog, you are a freak of some kind, clearly, and you’ve got to come to terms with that, damn it! Now let your freak flag fly and go do something constructive with the unholy power with which you’ve been blessed†.
Item the Second : In lieu of reading any new rantings and ravings (rockings or rollings, babblings or banterings (somewhere between Bantu warrior and post-Bruce Banner hulk-smashology)) from yours truly, I offer you this tale of bitterness and disappointment and the inexorable deterioration of mental health from a new arrival to the ESL Mines Of Korea. It’s long, but well worth the read.
Sad and a little horrible to watch it unfold – an old battle-scarred vet like me can predict most of the hammerfalls this poor guy endures – but hilarious nonetheless.
Reminds me in many ways of my first six months here. It is in no way an exaggeration, I should note – if you’re thinking of coming to Korea to teach, and this gives you pause, well, good.
Enjoy.
†Well, OK, you don’t have to, but it would be a nice thing to do.
Edit : Something’s gone goofy with comments on this post. I’m trying to track it down. Please do not adjust your set.
Update : Fixed. Comment away!

Divine Intervention

July 12, 2003 / / 1 Comment

Sorry, I haven’t done this in a while.
A song for you (.mp3, 3Mb) [link removed after 2 days], my friends :

Matthew Sweet – Divine Intervention (live, acoustic)
I don’t know where I’m gonna live
Don’t know if I’ll find a place
I’ll have to think about it some
And that I do not wish to face
I guess I’m counting on his
Divine Intervention
I cannot understand my god
I don’t know why it gets to me
One day my life is filled with joy
And then we find we disagree
All depending on his
Divine Intervention
We’re all counting on his
Divine Intervention
Does he love us does he love us?
Does he love us does he love us?
I look around and all I see is destruction
We’re all counting on his
Divine Intervention
Here come the sun shine
Here come the sun shine
Sunshine, sunshine
The sunshine.

Decisions

July 7, 2003 / / 8 Comments

Not much interested in weblogging per se at the moment – busy firing off resumes and such, and trying to work out the logistics of the next few months.
Australia is still the primary plan, and everything looks good for a triumphant return, but given that my last visa application with immigration there took 11 months to process, alternatives need to be considered in the interim.
Happily, I’ve already been offered a job at a government school here :

samui1.jpg

Well not that exact spot on Koh Samui precisely, but Surat Thani, which is the nearest city on the mainland to Koh Samui. About one hour and two dollars, and you’re there. Paradise.
And apparently the beer’s cheap too.

samui2.jpg

I’ve wanted to visit that part of the world since I knew it existed, and to be able to live and work there for a while would be, well, sweet.
The wife is firmly against it. The standard Korean mythology (not entirely inaccurate, given what I’ve heard about Korean husbands’ predilection for patronizing the sex trade) is that the primary reason one goes to Thailand is to indulge one’s need for commercial f–king. She’s also not big on sun and surf, and the pay would admittedly be minimal. I am lobbying fiercely.
We shall see how this one plays out. In my mind, I must admit, my bags are already packed. Unless something much much better presents itself, this seems like too good an opportunity to pass up.
Remember what I was saying last month? Life has a funny way of opening doors as other ones are closed, doesn’t it? I love my life, as hard as it may be sometimes.