Making The Rounds

Between multiple farewell dinners out and then two consecutive in-class pizza-and-chicken parties with adult students, it's safe to say I've been in a more sentimental mood than usual.

That said, saying goodbye to my two local convenience store owners (one 7-11, one E-mart) -- my morning coffee and my evening water-and-beer guys -- honesty got me a little choked up.

To balance things out, my office building cleaning lady couldn't have given less of a fuck.

So Long For Now

Dynamic Duo, "Chul-Chek"

I never did take to K-pop.  Korean hip-hop, however, is the balls.  The good stuff, at least.

I'm in my office at lovely Daegu Health College for the last time today, taking care of some stuff.  It's actually freezing outside, but it's supposed to warm up a bit this weekend.  I'm going home to do some more cleaning and packing (haven't started the latter, to be honest), and tomorrow morning I'll get a COVID test (i.e., the "brain Q-tip").  I'll head up to Incheon Airport on Monday.

This is easily the best job I've ever had, and I realize I was very lucky in finding a boss in Korea who was for the most part both supportive and flexible, and willing to let me do my thing as long as the students (both college and adult) were happy.  For the most part, they were.

I'll get to Bellingham Monday and enter a new world of caring full-time for my dad.  I wouldn't say I'm either optimistic or pessimistic about it -- just ready to make sure his needs (at almost 92) are being met.  He's stubborn and fiercely independent though, so what will be tough is walking the line between taking care of him as needed, but not babying him or taking away his sense of power or volition.  His house, his rules, as they say.

I'm looking forward to the mild weather, the beautiful mountain and forest views, and air that is as fresh as fresh gets.  As I close out my to-do list here, I've got a new one for Bellingham as well, but it's not nearly as extensive.  The goal is to adjust and continue from there.  I'll be taking a long walk every morning after coffee with my dad, and probably one in the afternoon as well when he takes a nap.

My dad is scheduled for a vaccine, but not until late March (this is where I mention he's a die-hard Trump supporter).  I'm guessing at best I'll get mine in summer at earliest.  Hell, that could be optimistic.

And from there?  Nobody knows what happens next, other than I'll be living in a nice house in the quietest of neighborhoods five minutes from the border of Canada.

I'm pretty sure I'll read a lot of books.

As for Daegu, I hope this wretched virus gets handled as soon as it's possible.  I want people wandering around eating and drinking and laughing downtown again.  I want the undergraduates back, in person of course, studying hard and goofing off all at the same time.  I want my local movie theater to stay in business if it can.  I want the local restaurants and coffee shops of Chilgok / Northern Daegu to make as much money as possible.  I want to see Samsung Lions Park filled with people cheering and drinking beer and eating fried chicken at yet another spring or summer ballgame.

Samsung usually loses.  I don't care.  True fans know winning is only ever a part of it all.

Project Herzog Update: Family Romance, LLC

You might remember that last spring, in the beginning grips of COVID, I watched and reviewed almost every film by Werner Herzog -- Project Herzog!

I recently saw his 2019 feature Family Romance, LLC.  Unlike his recent output in the feature film category, I really liked this one.  It's a return to form, echoing his early career attempts at parable and questioning reality in Signs of Life and The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz.  Even better, Herzog shot the film guerrilla-style, with no permits or permission, in Tokyo.  If I'm not mistaken, I also think it's also the first time he's used drone cameras.

It's not perfect, but it's beautiful and affecting in its own way.  And as always, Herzog is the master of endings.

Family Romance, LLC is definitely worth your time.  Not his best (those are here) but pretty good and always taking risks (those are here!).

Last Meals Part II

Another last meal with friends, last Saturday for lunch I finally had "Gae-jang," or Soy-Marinated Crab.

Now, I grew up in Maryland.  I worked two summers in a crab house in Annapolis, Maryland (fuck you, Mike).  I know Maryland style crabs pretty well -- a simple boil with Old Bay (season salt).  That's it.  Serve with a knife, a wood mallet, and either melted butter or vinegar.  And beer, preferably by the can.

I hope my crab bona fides have been established.

That said, this blew my mind, because it's conceptually from another planet.

Gae-jang isn't cooked at all.  It's marinated for hours on end in a boiled soy sauce and chili pepper mixture.  What you end up with are quartered crabs, and you kind of suck the white meat from the body.  I tried to get the meat in the legs and claws and well, but the only utensils you get are plastic gloves (you're only supposed to wear one on your left hand).

I really wanted a knife-and-mallet to compete the job, but I take it the body meat is really the centerpiece.

Also, the mustard and roe -- the eggs are great, but the mustard (Tomalley") is considered a delicacy here.

Well, this Maryland dude gave it a shot but man, I've always found the mustard far too bitter for consumption.

However, would I try it again?  Absolutely -- the huge amount of side dishes didn't hurt.

Would I recommend it to a foreigner?  That's tougher -- a set meal for three folks will run you 50 bucks in Daegu (certainly more in Seoul) and if raw crab isn't your jam, this might not be for you.  The texture is unique -- cold, slippery and not at all flakey like a properly cooked Maryland crab.

Still, when I consider what dishes I probably won't have access to in the U.S. outside of L.A.'s Koreatown or Flushing, Queens, this will be up there.  Weird, but tremendous flavor.  As a friend pointed out, you'll really appreciate having a nice bowl of rice here to balance out the saltiness.

Last Meals

 
Ginormous seafood platter, Daegu, South Korea.

Right now Korea is on partial lock-down, so restaurants can serve no more than four guests at a time.  Last Saturday night I met three former adult students for this avalanche of mostly raw seafood -- oysters, octopus, conch, abalone, sea snail, etc.

A lot of college gigs here don't require the teaching of adult night classes, but I wouldn't have traded this job for the world.  My best friends here usually came from attending my conversation classes.

Anyhow, I'm also feeling sufficiently fattened for slaughter since instead of one big farewell dinner, we're doing roughly three or four.

"and fuck Tom Brady"

I hope Patrick Mahomes does the decent Christian thing and beats the ever-loving shit out of Tom Brady.

— James (@wetcasements) January 25, 2021

Korea On Top

Daegu, South Korea.

"Games don't mean anything."

"It was cold, they argued over the temperature, John was from Minnesota and had slept as a boy with his window open.  So Frank shivered, a down coverlet draped over his shoulders, his feet blocks of ice.  They played chess and Frank won.  John laughed.  How stupid, he said.

What do you mean?

Games don't mean anything.

Are you sure?  Sometimes life seems like a kind of game to me.

John shook his head.  In games there are rules, but in life the rules keep changing.  You could put your bishop out there to mate the other guy's king, and he could leap down and whisper in your bishop's ear, and suddenly it's playing for him, and moving like a rook.  And you're fucked.

Frank nodded.  He had taught these things to John."

-- Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars

"All we need are the necessities and more"

 

X, "The New World" live 1985

Some thoughts:

1)  This was Trump's election to win.  All he had to do was half a have-decent response to COVID and start giving out 1,000 dollar checks last summer.  Couldn't be arsed, as Brits would say.

2)  Even the most extreme progressive deserves to give Biden a chance.  You can tell he wants to be there, and my hope is that Harris will also pull him to the left simply by her presence.  After four years of Cheeto Hitler, we deserve a little optimism at least.  A mostly-female cabinet alone makes for a good start.

3)  So much of the next four years will come down to the Senate.  Again, let's give ourselves at least a week of optimism before we see Joe Manchin cutting deals with Mitch McConnell.

4)  The inauguration was pretty good.  Biden's speech started kind of weak in my opinion, but finished strong.  To paraphrase Mitch Hedberg, that's a good place to end.

5)  I'm in a much better head-space, as you can imagine, moving back to a country with Joe Biden in charge rather than Trump.

It's Over. It Begins.

It feels good to breathe again.

Lots to do though. Let's make people hurt less.

— James (@wetcasements) January 21, 2021

Hey, I Saw A Good Movie

I can't recommend Sound of Metal enough.

It's uplifting, but still incredibly dark and never sentimental.

It's about music, love, losing love, addiction, and, surprisingly enough, language.

The performances are great, and the sound editing is other-wordly.

I also appreciate any movie that "gets" being in a band and the group dynamic of non-solo music creation.  I couldn't stand Whiplash for presenting jazz music as a struggle between isolated genius-egos only interested in besting one another.  It's a different context here (noise rock, equally improvisational as jazz), but making music with other people is a collaboration above all else, not a race or competition.

This comes shining through, for better or worse, here.