Shikow: Gratitude and Celebrations

This is what happens when other people try to take a picture of me with my camera.

I think my camera doesn't like them and sabotages the photos.

Notice that I said "I think" and that all my thoughts could begin with the phrase "I think", but that inherent within each thought is the contradiction of whether I know the statement is true.

What is he talking about?

No worries. Let's move along, shall we?

So Gee and I got to witness an egagement in the making as Jen and Andy tied the knot. Here we are in Tiffany's. They gave us orange juice in paper cups to taost the event. I am not sure why.

Here was my advice to the lovebirds:

"Isn't life easy? You just do it," I say.

"We need a house and wedding and so many other things though," Jen says.

"That's easy. You're in Korea. They have wedding banquet halls working like a McDonald's Drive-thru. Just have a big wedding, invite lots of friends to get lots of money, get money from your parents, put key money down on a house, make babies, and die."

"Sounds easy."

"I told you."

So Gee helped them pick their rings. I also hear that Andy got down on one knee for the occasion. This is a big thing to Korean women. If a man does this, he's a keeper.

I also think Andy is pretty cool because he was emcee for a popular hip-hop group in Korea, but he doesn't tell anybody, but rips it up when it is time at a Karaoke bar.

I went to a couple Thanksgiving parties this week. One was located near Itaehwon and these rows upon rows of kim chi pots. I had to get a picture of their immensity. I like taking pictures of things when there is a lot of them.

Then I took a picture of So Gee. She paused for a moment to admire the kim chi pots, then hopped into a cab before I could even put my camera away.

That's okay. I looked at pics from earlier in the night as I walked down the street to Samgakji.

Here is Sharif. He challenged me to games on the Nintendo Wii. I was up for the challenge.

"I am in control," Sharif said, as he selected the VS. mode on Mario Kart. "I am the control."

"That's good," I said.

"You are about to lose badly," he said.

"Okay," I said.

"I am in control and you will lose. I am just telling you. This is the way it is. I am in control. You will lose. I am just letting you know."

"I just won the last race."

"I am telling you now."

The race ends. I come in second. Steve comes in first place. Sharif places ninth.

"You lost," I said.

"Something is wrong," Sharif shouts and points at Steve. "He is doing TV interference. He is doing something. I have not figured it out, but there is something happening. He has some trick."

Steve and I are laughing. We cheers to ourselves from the paper cups of Bombay Sapphire and tonic.

"First," I say to Steve.

"Second," he says to me.

We both look at Sharif. Then we raise our glasses in unison. "Ninth!" we laugh.

"No!" Sharif shouts. "He is doing some kind of trick. This can't be happening. I am in control. I am the first. I should have won. This can't be happening."

"Okay," I say. "Let's play again."

We play for about an hour more. Sharif never gets above fourth. It is a pleasant time to be one with a video game.

Here are David and Steve. They are about to play Family Feud and get rowdy. I did not participate. I just kept playing the Nintendo Wii. I liked it too much. In fact, I would even buy it if I had time to play it, and it wasn't so outrageously expensive.

Earlier in the week, my students and I worked on their final projects for the semester. Lydia, Jin San, and Jyu Ree (above) are in Team Kripsy Kremes. They have already filmed their documentary of two different food locations and conducted a survey with their talent and the patrons. Who knows? It might be a fun thing to watch. We'll see.