20220820 |
As an anti-Facebook crusader, this blog is my alternative for keeping in touch with family and friends. Note: You have to press Play twice to play a video: Once to load the video and then again to actually play it. Use the Older Post(s) link to view posts in reverse chronological order.
20220820
Mr. Fumble and Bumble
I shall call myself Mr. Fumble and Bumble because that is who I am and that is what I do. This behavior of mine can be observed in any country, but is most frequently observed in Thailand, Korea, and California. It goes way deeper than language capability and cultural/systems differences between countries. Maybe there have been too many language experiments, too much field study, too many immersions.
Feel sympathy for Mr. Fumble and Bumble if you must. He would not have it any other way. Fumbling, bumbling, and stumbling his way around, all kinds of people help him out. For this, he is very, very grateful.
My first real food
- The Potato Soup could have been one of those dishes for two or more people. There are many such dishes.
- They ID'd me as a low-budget traveller.
- They are reading my posts in English. (Not likely given that Gangeung posts began only today.)
20220820 - Excellent Ox Bone Haejangguk |
The charge: Being a "blogger" / The plea: Technically, yes, but...
I have been charged with being a "blogger." I recognize that any jury of reasonable people would convict me of this charge. However, I plead: "Yes, but..." I mean, yes, I am posting posts on this blog site that Google so generously provides for me. But I'm not a blogger. I'm just on a crusade against Facebook, and I have to share my stuff with family and friends somewhere, and this is the place for now.
I admit that things sometimes get out of hand, with me addressing the hundreds of thousands of Microsoft and Google employees at locations around the world. Not to worry. They know not of my existence, and it wouldn't matter if they did anyway. To them, I am but a source of feedback--sometimes accurate and sometimes not--and trouble tickets. That is as it should be.
Nevertheless, if there are any young Googlers or Microsofties who dare to be my low-budget travel companions, please step right up. There would be justice in this world if you were to feel the pain of your own products. Torture apps indeed!!!
A good knock on the back of the head
I took a good shot to the back of my head exiting the motel bathroom today. If you look at the photo below, I believe you'll understand why and how. That's me standing on the bottom of the door frame, with the top of my head extending a good 8 to 10 centimeters above the top of the door frame. Ouch!!!
Note: Regarding the various body parts on display, I have nothing to say. That is an accurate photographic representation of my current physical state. Able to stand up and walk, I am grateful for it.
For all the Googlers and Microsofties in my little audience, this is your future, and there is nothing you can do about it. Indeed, you shouldn't want to do anything about it, despite the fact that some of you are arrogant enough to think that you can "hack" life itself.
20220820 |
20220819
Pathetic, but it worked.
I have a hearing problem that results in my being unable to understand anything said in a noisy environment. It happens in all languages. Knowing this, I prepped for my train ticket purchase by writing down the particulars. The ticket agent was kind. Without too much difficulty, the ticket was purchased. He gave me 45 minutes to change trains at Seoul Station. That's what I wanted/needed. I definitely did not want the itinerary where you only have five minutes to change trains.
I know myself too well. And I know how many times in this life I've ended up in exactly the wrong place at exactly the right time. It's a speciality of mine. I think it's something about my brain, much like my prosopagnosia (face blindness), which frustrates you your entire life, only easing up when you finally realize what is actually going on. Thank you Oliver Sacks and recently Brad Pitt for going public.
Here's my note for the ticket agent below. I hope my original Korean language teacher, Ms. Kim, is proud of me. I only looked up one word, 혼란스러운 / confused, used in the phrase "confused old foreign guy." It could be the right word, or it could be a word that no Korean person would ever use like this. I have some memory of the word from before, but not for this kind of usage. The note is chock-full of grammar and spelling errors. I salute myself for not going OCD on it. What's written is exactly what I still retain after these many years.
20220818 |
Somebody took my idea about "basic"
I have always had this idea about "basic." You could sell products to people like me who don't want the best and don't want the worst, just something good at a decent price. First, Amazon stole the idea with their Amazon Basics. Now I see that my idea has been stolen in Korea as well. If you're not from here, let me introduce you to the No Brand Burger. I've been there twice (on this so-called Get Healthy Trip).
If you have a business idea, but it exists only inside your own head, is it really your idea? I think I know how the courts would rule on this one. Oh, well. The marketing of "basic" products may or may not be my idea, but the concept certainly works on me.
20220818 |
August 18th supply run
The best score was the fruit knife. Made in Japan, it works great. I'm thinking of taking it back to Thailand, which will mean checking my backpack at the airport, which will mean having to wrap the backpack in plastic. Maybe I'll give it away. Who knows, and it doesn't matter today anyway. There's plenty of fruit yet to be cut in the next few weeks.
I should also mention the homemade apple pie at the right front. It was excellent. I bought it from a nice lady at the old school Tongbok Market a couple of kilometers from here. Not only was the pie excellent, with plenty of apples and just the right spices, but I have a MIF (mental image flash) of my interaction with the Pie Lady.
Me: Hands the pie lady some old bills from way before they changed their currency.
Pie Lady: "옛날 돈. / Old money."
Me: "옛날 돈. 옛날 사람. / Old money. Old guy."
20220818 |
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