Sunday, December 25, 2005

Omnes lagani pistrinae gelate male sapient…

All frozen pizzas taste lousy…

So we had tacos fool!...and they were stupendous…Merry Christmas to all and to all…

A Taco…and so it was written…

Slept in ‘til around 11 and pulled myself from the bed in search of sustenance and solace…I found the former quickly in the form of a healthy bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch followed up by a monster of a ham, turkey and cheese sandwich – with ALL the fixin’s this year…yummie…

I then found the latter around three in the afternoon when I called my buddy/NCO to find out what the deal was with the Christmas Tacos he had spoken so highly of a few days prior…and after a stop at the store for a bottle of “BeefEater Gin” (he asked for Gin so I got him Gin…and who could resist something so brazenly named BeefEater – it’s from London – which makes sense I guess) and a six-pack for me…and me and my cab were on our way in to Iteawon...

He told me to meet him at the McDonalds…easy enough…until I got out of the cab…“wanna by some of this”…“you need suit”…“blah blah buy this blah blah”…apparently EVERYTHING is still open on Christmas Day here in Korea…it’s all good though…I’m cheery and out and about and what not…“what’s up suit-guy” I inquired…and just as he started in on his spiel I realized that I was right in front of a rather large shoe store…I saw various Nike swooshes in all sorts of colors and immediately forgot that suit-guy even existed…

Briefly in awe – moments later I was removed from the paradise by my buddy – and then confronted by the suit-guy I had so rudely blown off minutes earlier…I took his card…I’m supposed to call him James next time I’m around there…neat…

So we’re not at homeboy’s crib for 10 minutes when the power goes out…“fuck” I say – it’s my Christmas touch of Death again…sorry dude…I should go…BUT…

Hong Kong Phooey was on the job and within twenty minutes or so everything was back on - beef cookin’, lights on music rockin’ – yeah…

Now I guess this is where I would be talking about all the other folks there and how it was a raging party and all that – naw…the other people that were supposed to show pulled a Finch and just stayed in…oh well…me and homey ate up a bunch of tacos, drank some beer and just shot the shit (talked about life and nonsense) while some Marvin Gaye played and Smokey Robinson was busy seconding that emotion…very chill…

and then we decided to head over to another guy’s apartment on the other side of Seoul…

Venturing outside for the first time in a couple hours, it was noticeably colder since I had arrived…ignoring that, we walked in search of the elusive trustworthy-cab…and we were on our way…

This guy is apparently a pimp in disguise – to EVERYONE – but himself…which is fun (for everyone else) to say the least…He always wants to wear suits and when we showed up he was actually attempting to pull off the Hugh Heffner look - sans the Bunnies of course…which, ya know, I’ll give him an E for effort…lots of cool stuff in the crib though, and a very chill place on the 12th floor of this building overlooking the river – VERY CHILL...

Not having had a beer in nearly 45 minutes he quickly poured me a glass of “Cass” (laugh it up Ian, Tim, Tom – haha - bitches) which I would shortly learn was the first, last and ONLY beer on the premises…

We laughed it up and even popped in an old Jerry Lewis movie (The Nutty Professor) …this is when dude started fast forwarding and explaining how much of a Pimp he thought ‘ol Jerry was as the suave professor…lines like when she tells him “you’re impossible” and he quickly replies with “ well hurry up and grab you some impossible baby – you’ll love it” – awesome…and suddenly his whole existence was becoming clear…stupendous…so fun! – you can’t buy this kind of entertainment!...

Anyway…after discussing what I recall as plans B through G for New Year’s Eve we again were off…

A quick stop by the U.N. Club – which is nothing like what the name might suggest…then a snagging of some “chicken on a stick” – which may or may not have been actual chicken…but was scrumptious nonetheless…and then a stop by somewhere that turned out to be somewhere else…and then I proclaimed that my night was through and once again we set out to find a reliable cab…done and done…

A fairly nice evening all around I must say…not nearly as much drunkin’ debauchery as I had expected – which was nice – and a lot of good conversations and some surprisingly good music…so I say to everyone!…Tacos for ALLLLL!

Honestly though, a nice quote that I stumbled across this evening pretty evenly sums up everything right now…

Omnia mutantur nos et mutamur in illis – All things change, and we change with them…

Merry Christmas everybody – hope all is well with You and Yours…muuahh!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Better - much better. Glad it turned out okay old chap.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Babe - glad Christmas Present went well! I find (in my old age) that it is usually better to not compare the Present (no pun intended) to the Past. Guess the best thing to do w/the past is to learn from it. As difficult as your (and Ian's and Josh's) time "away from home" may be, I hope you all will have memories that will be with you always. (and, hope that the good ones outweigh the bad)
I've noticed that each of you are talking about getting OUT and moving on. Take whatever you can - whatever "They" have to offer and do what you feel you need to do. You have served US well - more than many - and I wish you all God's Speed with your future.
I'd like to remind you that it's crazy "out here", but I think that you feel the same from your advantage point! Think about how surreal it feels when you read some of the news stories "from the states" - is this MY America I believe I've heard from you. But, please don't give up hope on us ... YOU guys are the future journalists that will be getting the stories out there! Is there a Woodward/Bernstein/THOMPSON amoung you? I sure hope so!
Finally, I believe that each of you did the right thing in enlisting. (crazy as that sounds!) It has taught you many life lessons that you would not have found had you "stayed the course" with your "homies" from High School. Where have you been? What have you seen? ... What have you learned? ... Who have you met - that you would have missed had you just "stayed the course"?
Whoa! Sorry about that!! Certainly didn't intend to go on and on ... guess we know where Finch gets it! (Kidding, really)
Keep your Blogs going. I love to read them, and promise not to "Comment" too often.
Chris - once all of you are on the outside we have to throw a party! Guess it will have to be in Texas - you need to show these guys what a serious throw down is all about! Gene/Forrest, I'm sure you are up for it - hell, I'll be there by then! (promise)
Love you - Momma Finch!