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| Find meIf you want to know where I am, ask, and ye shall find. Maybe. The blogging has been less frequent, but I still unload a few things here and there. Facebook me. Yelp me. And you can try to find me on Blogger but you'll have some trouble. It'll be easier just to ask.
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| Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymoreThe Wizard of Oz, with all its questions of direction and purpose, is a
very fitting theme for this point in my life. Thus begins my second
attempt at themed e-mailing. It's long, but if you are wondering where
I am/ will be, skip to the bottom. If all you want are pictures, try http://www.dropshots.com/mmmelody
and get your browse on.
Wicked Witch of the West: I'm melting! I'm melting!
It is flippin' hot outside. Thanks to its peninsula status,
Korea enjoys hot and humid summers that force me to take multiple
showers a day. I am increasingly confined to my cool, air-conditioned
quarters, and let me tell ya... sitting in a 12x12 room for x number of
hours per day gets old reeeally fast. What I wouldn't give to be in
sunny, breezy Los Angeles where the dry heat is offset by Pacific winds
and the palm trees sway in rhythm with the rolling tides... you get
the picture. Seoul is a jungle of concrete and sweat. My trip to Japan
to see JYeh and Schwartzy was a welcome break from the routine, and
Tokyo's post-typhoon weather was gray, but mercifully cool.
Wizard of Oz:
Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every
pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy
seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats
of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they
come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you
have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma.
I graduate from my MBA program on August 25th. I will
then have yet another diploma that suggests I learned something of
value at a seat of great learning. It's almost been an entire year in
Seoul for me, but the deepest thoughts I've had have usually involved
where I would travel next.
Dorothy:
Now which way do we go?
Scarecrow:
Pardon me, this way is a very nice way.
Dorothy:
Who said that?
[Toto barks at scarecrow]
Dorothy:
Don't be silly, Toto. Scarecrows don't talk.
Scarecrow:
[points other way] It's pleasant down that way, too.
Dorothy:
That's funny. Wasn't he pointing the other way?
Scarecrow:
[points both ways] Of course, some people do go both ways.
No, no. I am not using this to nonchalantly segue into a
story about how I've decided I'm bisexual or anything. Sorry to
disappoint if you have, like me, your mind in the gutter 79% of the
time. This snippet falls in my 21%.
I'm pretty confused about which of the many paths to take at
this fork in the yellow brick road. The world may be my oyster but does
this oyster really have to be so damn big? How will I ever find my
pearl? I'm considering the following options at the moment:
- Work
Cowardly Lion
:
All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked
Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out
alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you
fellows to do.
Tin Woodsman,
Scarecrow:
What's that?
Cowardly Lion:
Talk me out of it.
I
do want a job; kind of. The idea of working isn't all that appealing,
but the thought of making money again has me longing for the good ol'
commodity brokerage days, except I don't want to be a commodity broker
anymore. I searched far and wide for jobs abroad, but with my current
level of work experience, I can't get a job in Europe because no one
thinks I'm worth the hassle of finding an EU work permit. Woe is (part
of) me. The other part is doing the cabbage patch.
- Travel in SE Asia
Dorothy
:
Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!
I
don't know when I'll be in Asia again, or when I'll have this much free
time thanks to my aforementioned unemployed status. I dream of
terracotta soldiers and the Plain of Jars, of Ankur Wat and longboats
on the lush green banks of the Mekong Delta... And then the thought of
traveling alone scares me. I met some awesome people who were traveling
through SE Asia alone when I was in Vietnam, and they inspired me. But
now that it's time to take the plunge, I'm hesitating, much like I did
at the edge of the 53 meter (174 foot) bungee jump off Hantan bridge
last weekend. If you want to see a video of my body flailing helplessly
at the mercy of gravity, let me know. I'll hook you up with some video
footage.
- Volunteer in SE Asia
Cowardly Lion:
I- I- I hope my strength holds out.
Tin Woodsman:
[hanging by Lion's tail] I hope your tail holds out!
I
want to travel, but it seems a little bit selfish. To make myself feel
better, I looked into some opportunities to volunteer in SE Asia. There
are orphanages and children who can't afford English tutors located
conveniently on the tropical shores of Indonesia and the magical
mountains of Northern Thailand. Now if only I can get the volunteer org
to help me find a way to finance inter-volunteering vacations...
- More school
Wizard of Oz
:
Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the
Universitartus Committiartum E Pluribus Unum, I hereby confer upon you
the honorary degree of ThD.
Scarecrow:
ThD?
Wizard of Oz:
That's... Doctor of Thinkology.
I
reeeeeally want to move to Europe, but since no one will hire me for
the kind of job I want in Europe without fluency in a European language
other than English, I will need to become fluent. My best shot at
fluency is French, but no one will hire me to work in France if I am
not already fluent, so school is my only other option. Since I'll have
a masters degree , the next logical step is a PhD, so I'll be applying
to some PhD programs at French business schools in fall 2008.
After 4 years in France, there's got to be someone willing to hire me
there... *fingers crossed*
- Go back to the US
Dorothy
: There's no place like home!
I've
been fighting the homesickness with fantasies of flight, but it's
coming over me like a wave of nausea on a Saturday morning following a
big Friday night: there's just no stopping it. I miss LA, I miss my
friends in the US, and I miss my mom and brother. My lil bro Dan just
got out of the Marines, so he's home now. I haven't seen him since
January 2006! One thing I do not miss is northern Virginia, but I feel
like a stint back in NoVa might do me some good. Get me grounded again.
Not to mention allow me to hang out with all the NoVans, drive my car,
and abuse BBQ and basement karaoke privileges Chez Han. I haven't been
in the US or any Western country for a full year now. I wonder if I'll
suffer from reverse culture shock... and if so, who will cure me?
Since I'm feeling nostalgic, homesick, and corny, I'll close with this:
Wizard of Oz:
A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.
Ultimately,
I want to be at the place where I can be with the ones I love, and the
ones who love me back. Ideally, it'll involve tequila, but that's
negotiable.
Word of the Day for Sunday, August 12, 2007
nebbish \NEB-ish\, noun:
A weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.
You used to be a nebbish, a noodle, a fool
And now you're Mr. Big Time with your own private pool.
-- Maira Kalman, Max in Hollywood, Baby
Poor Humphrey is a nebbish, a fellow whose private passivity is intended to contrast with the dramatic historic events that sweep around him.
-- Mason Buck, review of The Red Cabbage Café, by Jonathan Treitel, New York Times, February 3, 1997
He is a nebbish who might be played
effectively by Woody Allen. He attracts the sympathy of lower-echelon
mammals but finds it difficult to relate to dogs and human beings.
-- Evan Hunter, "American Mayhem, Soviet Intrigue", New York Times, October 9, 1983
Nebbish is from Yiddish nebekh, "poor, unfortunate," of Slavic origin.
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| Do a good deedMy friend Alfred is always always always going out of his way to help others. As in, he does the stuff we all say we'd love to do but we're actually too lazy to do. He's running the Marine Corps marathon this fall, and proceeds from donations will go towards battling leukemia. If you want to support a good cause or your philanthropy is the National Bone Marrow Donor program, *cough* LAMBDA PHI EPSILON *cough* and you could use a tax write-off, please donate whatever you can!
Racing to Save Lives...in Memory of Andrew Yuen
I am training to participate in the Marine Corps Marathon this coming
October as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In
Training. I'm completing this event in memory of my cousin's courageous
battle with leukemia who passed at the young age of 19.
Also, I would like to stress the importance of registering with the National Marrow Donor Program who helps possible matching donors connect with patients who need a life-saving marrow or blood cell transplant.
Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help give life to others like you and I.
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Alfred Wang
Click here to donate. Do your good deed for the day.
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| Cop
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net | | |
| Aries.
The rough energy smoothes out a bit, but you could be feeling
nostalgic. Keep in mind that you are probably painting a rosy picture
of the past while harshly judging the present. It's time to let go of
the emotional attachments that keep you from living your life to the
fullest potential. The action of today's energetic Leo Moon harmonizes
well for you. Stop chomping at the bit; open the starting gate and
follow your destiny.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 | | |
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