there's something about stephen

a deep dark secret: mosquitoes hate me.

and for twenty-five years of my life i have wondered what it was like to be bit, what all the complaining was about.

until now. it is not my first time in korea so what about me has changed? two weeks ago was the first attack, when i could barely catch a wink of sleep because of the buzzing in my ears and itching of my skin. when i turned the lights on and discovered what had happened, i was absolutely speechless. FIVE bites; that's more than i can remember in my entire life!

i was very angry with the world the next day but the next two weeks passed pretty peacefully without even a sight of those pesky insects. until tuesday night, a.k.a. the night i needed to get a lot of sleep. i don't know how i forced myself into the covers at 11PM but i would be making many an exit that night.

again, I WAS ATTACKED.

THREE hours of sleep
FIVE mosquito bites
LIMITLESS questions as to Why???

why me? why now? why on the night i needed sleep the most?

so frustrating. i literally cannot even fall asleep because i'm so sensitive/fearful of the buzzing and so angry about it all. if it wasn't for this amazing ointment i picked up from the pharmacy, i'd be unbearable living with the scars to prove it. no, really. the first night i arrived back in korea i also got bit and being as immune to mosquitoes as i (had) been, i couldn't even fathom that it was because of the blood-suckers. so for two days i scratched and suffered until i went to the pharmacy where the pharmacist unleashed the brutal truth on me. and because i didn't put the ointment on immediately, i literally have two scars that are never going to go away.

so what gives? one thing at least: my promise to kill every last one of those -- those -- those that ever cross my path. i'm sorry, karma. really, really sorry.

rants

is it just me or does it seem like every person in the city of seoul goes out of their way to obstruct my walking path? traveling on foot here is just as annoying as traveling by car, where pedestrians forgo any and all traffic laws and where you can reach a brisk pace one minute and then the next stopped in a stand-still. i really need to move out of sinchon, a.k.a. the gateway to me losing my sanity-land.

also, while it relatively pain-free to open a bank account here, restrictions still apply. restrictions that prevent me from ever using my card as debit or taking out money from the same banking institution after working hours without paying a fee! that is absolutely ludicrous.

many problems for foreigners in korea after they arrive arise from trying to procure a mobile telephone or anything of semblance to it. if you don't have an immigration, which often takes weeks to get, you can just as well forget about telecommunication. that is, unless you go to the back alley in itaewon where pakistani vendors will sell you a cellular phone you swore you saw on full house. well, they're not that bad but they are incredibly user-unfriendly. simple tasks like writing and sending a text message can take up to !five minutes and there are no "page twos" force you to convey what you want in 80 characters or less or else send it mid sentence and then start an entirely new message. on top of this, switching between letters, numbers, and languages can be up to five keystrokes and simply turning the phone on silent requires searching and paging through a series of menus. is the inconvenience of using a cell phone worth the convenience of having one?