Twit . . .er

Hollywood celebrities get in trouble for some of the things they tweet.
Politicians get in trouble for some of the things they tweet.
Everyday people get in trouble for some of the things they tweet.
Recently a Korean songwriter got herself into some . . . trouble for the things she tweeted.
Twitter is not as big here in Korea as it is in other countries, but more and more people are using it.
A songwriter for Korean pop groups took umbrage with something that another person who shoots his mouth off-Floyd Mayweather-said about Jeremy Lin.
Mayweather basically tweeted that Lin was OK, but nothing really special. He went on to say that blacks in the NBA have been doing the same thing for years.
Since every Asian country has adopted Lin as one of their own, the songwriter was less than pleased.
She started off with some racially charged comments about Mayweather, and then she went . . . too far.
So far that even traveling to Jupiter a couple of times wouldn't be far enough.
She called for the extinction of the black race.
Yeah. I told you it was too far.
This of course caused a bit of a problem for the singer.
The next day her management said that she was being treated as a paranoid schizophrenic, and that she didn't really know what she was doing.
While certainly not an excuse, it must be one of the more creative ones.
What can we learn from this?
Calling for the extinction of any race is wrong and stupid.
Also, celebrities, or for that matter anyone, should just stick to telling people the cute things their cat did on Twitter.
It'll save them a lot of problems.

Empty threats

With all the times our neighbors to the north have threatened us with war, we should have been wiped off the map about ten years ago.
It happened again today and . . . yawn.
South Korea was holding a firing drill not far from the border of North Korea.
Every time this happens they swear that they will "bathe us in fire" and . . . yawn.
Nobody in Korea takes this seriously.
It would be more likely for potatoes to take over kimchi as the country's national dish than NK lobbing missiles at us.
Why is this?
As I have pointed out before the north wants attention, and there only arsenal seems to be a temper tantrum.
Mind you that SK is not being complacent, but were not preparing for war either.

The Graduate

The Mrs. and one of her biggest fans.

Soon after we came back to Korea, the Mrs. told me that she wanted to go back to school.
She believed that with a degree in English Education, it would help her get better jobs.
Her first degree was in social welfare, but here in Korea schools want their teachers to have degrees that say "English".
I supported her, but I also told it that it wasn't going to be easy.
I knew that if the Mrs. said she was going to do it, she was going to do it.
Today, after two years, and some hard times, she got her degree in Childhood English Education.
Even though I've worked mostly at universities I 've only been to one Korean graduation ceremony before today.
There were too many people at the main ceremony, but the Mrs. department had their own ceremony.
After that we went out to lunch with the family.
Right now she's out celebrating with her fellow graduates, and she deserves it.
Unfortunately she won't have my help tomorrow to deal with the after effects because I'm off to a teacher's meeting.

Congratulations to her, she's earned it!

You either have grace, or you don't

The only photographic evidence of today's skating adventure.

Our family is not exactly known for gracefulness.
We're pretty much two left feet, and all thumbs.
I have an aunt that was a ballerina, but she married into the family.
As I predicted last night my son did not take well to ice skating.
He almost made it around the track.
The only reason he didn't fall was because he had two people holding him up.
I asked him if he liked skating, and I got a definite "no" back from him.
Looks like that hockey career might be on hold-for awhile.

Later today we went to go visit friends who just had their first child.
Their baby is only six weeks old, but of course he's king of the castle.
As new parents they had some questions for us, and we were only too happy to pass on advice.
It feels weird when people ask us parenting questions, but the Mrs. and I are always happy to help.

Tomorrow is the Mrs. graduation. We're all very happy for her, and she's very happy to finish school.

Put on your skates

Tomorrow we are taking our son ice skating.
If he's anything like his parents he'll spend more time sitting on the ice than actually skating on it.
Neither myself nor the Mrs. are exactly graceful.
Still, he could surprise us by being very good.
I hope so for his sake.
If he isn't, his butt is gonna be really sore!
Korea is known for skating, but not necessarily ice skating (even though we do have Kim, Yu-na).
Korea's real power on the ice comes from speed skating.
If you're up against a Korean speed skater in competition, you better be happy taking second.
I've seen Korean skaters come from behind the pack numerous times to win races.
The jury is out on my son's speed skating career, but perhaps I'll have some photos to show tomorrow.
It'll be my job to document the action because the only ice I like is in a drink.

Cupid, arrows, and stuff

Nothing says romance like a spy drama.

In Korea Valentine's Day is for the men.
That's right!
So today the Mrs. and I went to the movies.
Our choices were War Horse, or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
I wasn't too keen on War Horse, but I knew she would probably enjoy it more than TTSS.
But since it was my day she said that TTSS would be fine.
In case you're not aware, TTSS is based on the John LeCarre novel about cold war spies in England.
Yeah, like that is going to go over well here in Korea.
I can honestly say I've never seen so many people leave a theater here in Korea . . . including the Mrs!
I actually enjoyed the movie and that's what's important.
After the movie we had dinner with my sister-in-law (who the Mrs. met at a coffee shop after she high tailed it out of the movie).
We then spent the rest of the night just chilling out at home.
Whether you go out to dinner, watch a movie (that you both may or may not like), or do something else romantic, have a happy Valentine's Day!

It may help to see a movie that you both like.

Feeling my age

A friend of mine told me last night that the kids who are eligible to drink this year were born in 1991.This was after I told him that I felt old last night among a much younger crowd at my local.
Nirvana had just released their first major album, and these kids were just coming out of the womb!
Last night was my local's birthday.
They have been open for six years.
That may not seem like such a big deal, but here in Korea where bars change every couple of months, it is a big deal.
I don't usually go on Saturdays because it is a younger crowd to be with, and frankly I don't have much in common with the class of 11.
It's not that I didn't have fun, it's just that I felt my age last night.
There is an older crowd here in Gwangju, and that's the one I tend to hang out with.
We like to have a good time, it's just that we don't want to have to shout over everybody and have to deal with kids who were just beginning to put away their sippy cups when we started drinking.
Like I said, I had a good time, but Saturday night at the local just isn't my thing.

Tonight we had the Mrs. cousin and family over for dinner. They have a son who is a couple years younger than Sean, but he still had fun playing with him.
Ah, youth.