Lament of a Progressive Hippie

Alright, this is about U.S. politics so mosey along if this might offend...(see, I DO have Republican friends, thank you.)

I've come to the realization that the Edwards campaign is dead. The nail in the coffin was when he lost the primary in South Carolina, his home state. I'm incredibly sad about this and feel like the country lost a huge opportunity. Edwards is a politician I was so excited about and excited by. I thought his ideas about poverty, social justice, and the environment were great and I would have loved to cast a vote for him in November.

Alas, alack! This is not to be and personally, I blame big media. Edwards isn't a "romantic" candidate in the sense that Senators Clinton and Obama are. His story never hit the big papers, he was continually left out of things. He was the John Paul Jones to their Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

Speaking of Senator Clinton (NOT HILLARY! I am not on a first name basis with her, damn it, I am not her friend!)...I just read the lamest thing in the world at NOW-N.Y. This is something I've been fighting ever since Clinton made her interest known...yes, I am a dedicated feminist and yes, I would love to have a female president but damn it, not this one. I think the ultimate goal of feminism is to accept or reject a candidate based purely on their policies and ideas and that is what I've done. If I supported Clinton just because she's a woman, how is that any better than being against her for the same reason? Bill Richardson is Hispanic but he's also very pro-death penalty so I did not support him. Am I a bad Mexican now?

Sorry, I've been writing several emails about this to people but its something that I had to get off my chest since I don't have a lot of Americans (or any, really) to talk to about this and Canadians just don't get it...sigh. Any thoughts?

This past Saturday was the Wiz Island Kindergarten Winter Concert. Dudes, it was so cute! My kids did song and dance routines to "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" and "I Scream for Ice Cream!" They also did a play called "The Lion's Bad Breath" and they were awesome. Both my Korean co-teacher and I were so proud of them we were crying. They worked so hard to learn the dances and their lines in the play, it was so sweet. It made up for the fact that I had to work on a Saturday. Sadly, my camera has been acting up so I only got this one picture of them backstage.




I've been celebrating my return to this fine city with some nights of being sloppy drunk. Last weekend, I went to the infamous Carne Station (see entry from Jan. 2007) and drank way, way, way too much soju and suffered the consequences. Paula had to put me in a cab and I barely remember getting home. I do know that I passed out fully clothed on my couch when my bed is maybe 10 steps away. Ha ha. Winter is the time for drinking, as Craig says.


Here's another Claude movie I found while cleaning my hard drive. Justin would occasionally get it into his head that Claude shouldn't be able to have dinner until he exercised a bit. I really like how Claude is unwilling to play with the string but ultimately succumbs since he's, you know, a cat. Enjoy!

a-dor-able!

Korean Kindergarten Kute Moment #2,503

Dante: Teacher, haircut?
Me: No
Dante: Perm?
Me: Nope.

Dante thinks for a moment.

Dante: Shower?

Hahahaha! Little asshole. Koreans are obsessed with my hair. It is wild and will not be tamed by any Magic Straight perm and this intrigues them. In the summer, when its ridiculously humid, I get asked if I got a perm on a daily basis.

Incidentally, I am dying to know how Dante got that English nickname.

Oh, and I found this video on my computer...one of Claude's first feature films...I love this one because of the way he chucked the toy and just went after Justin's hand.

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

Life is good right now. My living situation is the best its been in nearly 6 months, people! Stef is a freakin' awesome roommate. We spent last Saturday morning making breakfast and drinking coffee. Our weekday schedules are totally opposite so we don't really see each other during the week, which I think makes us like each other more since we're not all up in each other's grill. She's just a really cool person in general, into music and dancing and having a good time. Yay! The apartment itself looks happier to no longer have a rapist in it.

It has been so nice go get back to kindergarten! I love those little hooligans and I missed them while I was gone. The other teachers looked genuinely happy to see me back, which was nice. I've started a new business class in the morning thats a lot of fun and I think I'm going to have a good time with them. My afternoon/evenings have been pretty free, though I think I'm going to have to pick up some more classes. Right now, with being so free, I've descended into a life of afternoon debauchery with Craig, my next door neighbor, who also has too much time on his hands.

Being back in Seoul is fantastic. I don't feel like a douche bag any more when I push little old ladies out of my way on the bus, because now they've pushed me first. I had my first night out back here this weekend and my god. I am going to punch the next person who offers me soju. Drinking that is like suckling from the devil's teet. No joke, yo.

I'm baaaaack!

I'm back in the Land of Morning Calm again!

My trip home was awesome and amazing and re-charged my internal battery for another year in Asia. I got to eat some awesome food...I made sloppy love to enchiladas de pollo con salsa verde a couple times. Seattle in particular was great. I got to go skiing and enjoy EVERY-thing the Northwest has to offer. Sigh...miss it already!

Seoul right now is covered in snow and very very cold. My new roommate is in already since The Rapist moved out early. Stefanie is awesome and I feel like we're going to get along really well.


Me enjoying some snow and quiet in Washington