does age really matter?

ah, the age-old question (pun intended).

after over a year of proclaiming my disdain for members of the younger set, i recently entered into a relationship with a boy five years my junior. he still lives at home. he just started university last semester. he's innocent as hell. and i don't hate it.

although he still has to bow down to his father for everything, he's surprisingly mature for his age and incredibly proactive at making up excuses to explain to his father about why he can't come home at night (which i love).

but all-in-all, maybe he's opening up a new worldview to me that was impossible for me to recognize before: young'ns may not be that bad after all. his innocence is endearing as hell and it reminds me of myself at that age: brave and free of worries before i became jaded and cynical. also, because he's a student and it's summer vacation, he has all the time in the world to be my companion.

so this begs the question: just what is it that i desired in an older man to begin with? though usually financially independent, so far, even the older men i've met in korea are still living at home, still studying in university, still lying to their parents about their life, and still only getting by with having only one date a week on saturday night. and if they aren't living at home and are working, they're always working. what type of relationship can i have with that person?

this only introduces my point but i have to wonder: is age really just a number?

time winding down

tonight i had what will probably be (what i deem as) my last sexy night in korea. sexy nights in korea absolutely involve cooking something delicious by candlelight while drinking white wine and listening to mood music. sometimes they also involve sex and the city. and sometimes they involve binging on tortilla chips or the like. they usually end in me taking the last train down to the club where i do my best to pretend like i'm having fun or actually have it.

tomorrow is my going-away party. wowowowow. i'm really excited to see everyone last time and say goodbye. and the weather forecast is perfect. some guests will get an extra-special treat too: stephen stew (which i have already prepared in advance). the snacks and disposable shot glasses have been bought; the beer is being refrigerated as we speak. so here's to a year full of memories with good friends!

pheromone-infused soap?

thanks Dial, for this invention. but while you're at it, why don't you also concoct a formula for men to attract men. i could totally see some cheek gays buying that. of course, it'd be shelved next to axe body spray. in fact, why not do us all a favor and package the two together? because i know that when i go out on the town, no one will be able to resist the pheromone-infused soap/axe combination. that's a double blow.

the battle of the B blood types

actually, i'm not a B blood type but i often joke that i am due to my often slew of requests when making plans with friends. for example, it's not unusual for me to request rice or noodles, depending on the meal, at a restaurant that's not expensive, has natural light, is on my subway/bus line, and isn't a chain. then at the restaurant i usually have to eat something hot and i like to sit for a while and relax afterwards while my food digests. as you can see, the must-haves easily add up even though i'm actually blood type O.

what does this all mean? well, in my experience i've found it to be true that B blood types are difficult to get along with while O blood types are their perfect easy-going companion. a B blood type is the kind of person that will make you switch a restaurant because of cigarette smoke after you've already sat down at the table. and an O blood type is the kind of person who would be understanding of that.

but not me. ask me to switch a restaurant because of cigarette smoke and i'll totally be annoyed.

so, for this reason, it's no surprise that i'm having a great deal of trouble maintaining a friendship with a BB blood type person. as if one B wasn't enough. then if you factor in that i also act like a B, this situation spells BBB trouble.

the battle of the 태현s

tonight was date night with the previously introduced 태현 #2. how on earth i met another is beyond me and the parallels between them are not limited to their names only.

the first 태현 came into my life after the new year and we spent a wonderfully peaceful five weeks together. we had also surprisingly met at a club, an experience and expectation neither of us had had before.

the second 태현 came into my life just three weeks ago and we are also cherishing our time together. oddly enough, we also met at a club where he had the cojones to dance right up to me.

both are also taller than me.

there are some differences too though.

the first 태현 was an older jaded type while the second 태현 is a cute minor (19!) with innocence bubbling over. (in this case, i've found that i prefer the latter more.) also, the first went back to toronto after five weeks but this time around, i'm the one leaving while the second stays behind. finally, the first was a quiet, brooding type while the second is much more talkative and forthright with his feelings.

whatever this all means probably isn't important but if the third time's the charm can be used for people too, here's to meeting 태현 the third.

the curse of 태

hmm, i've joked about it before but there must be something about boys with 태 in their name that makes me gravitate towards them. it's no secret that i drool over 박태환 (park tae hwan), swimmer and model extradionaire. but besides marine boy himself (who is way out of my league), all the태's in my life here have been rather significant: woo tae, tae hyun, and coinidentally, tae hyun #2 (in that order). without going into details on how each was significant in my life, i find it extremely strange that in my limited, almost non-existent affairs with boys here, the three relationships i've managed to have have all had their names in common. either the name pool for koreans really is remarkably small or i'm destined to mister stephen tae something or another. my guess is on the former.

fan death isn't the only thing on koreans' minds

this week i learned that if i dream of pigs i will be a rich man but if i dream that my tooth/teeth has fallen out, i should probably call home and check to make sure everyone's still alive. similarly, if i shake my leg or write their name in red ink they will hate it because their good fortune from will escape them. also, korean's choose F over 4 in elevators because 4 sounds like the chinese word for death. and when you move into a new place, you get tons of toilet paper; the longer the paper the more to wipe your ass with longer your life. and the same goes for rice cake on new years day. finally, if for some godforsaken reason i hear a magpie singing in the magnificent city of seoul in the morning, i should be prepared to open my door to a best friend that evening.

so in conclusion, i have a lot of things to worry about in korea. fortunately for me, i'm new york bound in three weeks so i'll stick to not walking under letters, on cracks, or breaking mirrors.

23:54 Sunday, July 19, 2009

the only thing that's been abused is this blog.

and perhaps my liver. but that's old news anyway.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Forget the fact that I'm listening to the Vince Guaraldi Trio composed soundtrack in January because I believe it transcends the holiday season to just about any day it snows. This soundtrack is so soothing. Somehow how the melancholy of it manages to mix in some warmness and uptempo beats so I don't run off and kill myself.

I recently rediscovered the holiday special as well. After growing through that phase in my life, the one I think we all go through, where we abandon our childhood nostalgia for a momentary time in our lives, I have returned to my roots and have found nothing short of comfort. I have to ask myself, "How could this be a children's program?" because the themes packed into thirty minutes are only those I believe an adult can grasp. I find that for myself, the Christmas special is extremely quotable as well, proving how my thoughts run pretty parallel to the program if I'm wanting to lift quotes from nearly every line.

If you step back and think about it, A Charlie Brown Christmas is a dark piece of work. How it remains so popular and geered for children is lost on me. I, however, now understand why I love it so much.

studying in asia

after living in asia for two years, it should come to no suprise to me that korea university has asked me to take part in a four hour midterm tomorrow. this comes not even a month after beginning the four-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week course. what does aggravate me, however, is that so far, our preperation for this midterm- longer than any test i've taken in my life save for university admissions tests- has been TWO TEN-MINUTE, TEN-QUESTION QUIZZES. these have hardly been preparation for a grueling four hour midterm which involves, reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

although i find this humorous, i'm hardly worried about this exam. tonight i should be cramming along with everyone else, but i won't. i find korean to be easy (compared to its chinese counterpart!) but i believe my teachers to think otherwise. so what if i need a full three minutes more than everyone else to digest the material? the point is, i understand and tomorrow i will do well answering questions at my own pace instead of that of those students who failed first semester.