Thursday, February 5, 2004 at 9:48PM ...i'm alive! i'm alive! yay! it's good to be alive!
...seriously, folks, it was a nervewracking experience driving home in that snow out there...not exactly a blizzard or even a snowstorm, but i don't think i got above 45mph even on the edens w/ very little traffic...ever since i totalled my honda civic last year, i've been rather nervous driving in inclement weather, even though i now own an all-wheel drive subaru...i'm not so much worried about MY car losing control, as i am of OTHER PEOPLE'S cars, like my former honda civic did...i guess it's a sign i'm getting old...i would actually forgo driving impatiently in exchange for a higher chance of still being alive by the time i arrive at my destination...i mean, think about it...a) drive twice as fast as everyone else on the roads and potentially die and kill or seriously injure other innocent folk, or b) drive patiently at leat 8 M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I's behind the car in front of me and stay alive and actually get to wherever it is that i'm going...it's not so difficult a choice for me...
...i hung out at my mom's after work...she made me my favorite ahl-chi-gae (fish egg stew YUM) and ttukbokki (spicy stir-fried rice cakes)...she & my brother jim & i watched a korean movie i'd found at blockbuster's called THE WAY HOME about a little spoiled brat of a boy who goes to live with his mute hunchbacked grandma in a tiny rural village where they don't even have a store that sells batteries for his gameboy...it was really touching how the grandma, without any words, but with lots of love and seemingly endless patience and abounding grace and forgiveness teaches the little boy how to love someone other than himself
...seeing this movie made me long for the countryside of korea...the last time i was there, almost 13 years ago, i went on a trip w/ a bunch of church folks to the most remote part of korea that i'd ever been to...it was hours away from seoul, which is far considering the whole peninsula can't be more than the size of the state of illinois...i remember seeing villagers in traditional korean costumes called hanbok, which most koreans only wear on new years or for special occasions, but which these rural folks wore everyday, just like they did a hundred years ago...they had such a weathered look...skin darkened and toughened from hours spent working the fields in the sun...deeply engraved lines that mapped out the stories of their hard lives...and yet the gentleness and kindness that quietly and peacefully exuded from them were comforting to a modern fast-paced urbanite like myself...
...as much as i love the city and the urban life, there's a part of me that longs for the serenity of the country...and by COUNTRY, i mean the countryside of my motherland...the cities in korea are notorious for their overpopulation and polution and traffic jams, but you'd be amazed at how much slower time seems to move when you get into the remote areas that haven't yet been ensnared by the tentacles of technology and development...someday, i will go back for the photos and stories i left behind...
...my mom's doing a lot better...she's still getting radiation 5 days a week in the city, but she's gotten used to it and can even drive herself for treatment now...she was really happy to see me though, and i feel sad that i don't get to see her as often...maybe i can ask ted to have lunch w/ her sometime after her treatments on his day off...it was nice though to spend time w/ her and my bro...jim just started working at starbucks so he gave me his weekly pound of coffee! yay!
...before i forget, i know i didn't say much about cameron mcgill's set at the life at sea metro show last tuesday...that's cuz i wanted to go through my photos and get them up first...i have to say though that teddy & i were both really impressed with his songs...he's got a great voice, and his songs are really beautiful in that sad, country bluesy sort of way...and you know how i love the cello and fiddle and lap steel! he's definitely worth checking out, and i hope to see a show where he's headlining someday soon...i was totally on ebay looking for a cheap cello the day after that show...you can see my photos of the cameron mcgill set right over here...
...speaking of making music, teddy, dave & i were jamming at their apartment a couple days ago...i was getting a drum lesson, and dave was playing along on his bass while i practiced my beats...then teddy took over the drumkit and i took over the bass and dave played percussions...i hadn't played in a while, but it felt really good to just play melodies...teddy likes it when i play melodic bass, more so than when i play bass lines...and i really can't play bass lines...i play the bass like it's a solo instrument, ya know? i can't read music for it either and can only play by ear...i ended up playing the little drummer boy, which got me thinking that it would be fun to do a christmas album next year...yeah, i know, that would be totally stealing sufjan's thing, but everyone's doing christmas albums these days, so why the hell not? we'll see...if not, i'll put out a solo album of melodic bass songs using only the two top strings...
don't forget...the long awaited KIM show is tomorrow night at schubas!
been listening to--
end seranading--mineral
highway 61 revisited--bob dylan
summer sun--yo la tengo
our constant concern--mates of state
disintegration--the cure
a.m.--wilco
peng!--stereolab!
