Totally Random

I was walking back from a meeting with my boss today when the strangest urge struck me. (Pun intended)

I met Chairman Kim to discuss a kinematic study he was finalizing. It felt good to be the helpful as the resident physicist and resident native english speaker in the department. I pointed out a couple errors in the English version of his Abstract, and helped consolidate his statements. Then I pointed out a possible implication of the results of the kinematic analysis, which got him excited and wanting to review his data again. ^_^ Happy face.

But then as I was walking to my office, I saw a couple students carrying what looked like styro-board models of office complexes they designed. (architecture presentation or something?) And this one student was very short. Maybe as tall as my shoulder, he looked about my age, and he was carrying his board in his arms in front of him like a giant plate of food. And I got this sudden urge to walk a little closer to his route across the street, and when I was close, just judo-chop the whole board in half. Like high-school bully meets Austin Powers.

So of course I didnt.

As hilarious as it looked in my mind, I then wondered, "What the hell's wrong with me?" I get random impulses like this all the time. Not always violent ones, but geez. And I know I'm not the only one, but should I be asking myself some deeper questions about why an impulse like that would surface in the first place, and where it might have come from? Is it time to do some psychology homework?

Let's see, what else.....

Well, I've been gone for a year and a half now, and I have to say it's remarkable that I can stay in contact at all with any of my old friends. I mean, this seems obivous, but the physical distance and the distance in time that separates our lives and our worlds is tremendous now. I don't expect that upon my return in January that people will have the same space in their lives for me as they once did. That's preposterous, and pretentious. There will be some level of reminiscence and inclusion left, but what more could there be? I know that my feeling of friendship and my memories don't change much, but that does not make for a friendship, exactly. It's a realization I've been stewing over for a while, and here's the point:

As globalized and inter-connected as societies are nowadays, as small as the world seems in light of the global economy, global climate, and global attitude.... The one thing that will always remain incredibly local is the scope of human life and existence.

Most people live within about a 50-mile radius. Most people who've found their "soulmate" report finding them within a 50-mile radius of their hometown. We consider it extraordinary to make more than a 30-40 mile commute to work or school, or extracurriculars. In fact, many people consider destinations more than 50 miles away from home to be a vacation, even if it is a "day-trip," or we can go by high-speed transportation. And people that move far away from their hometowns, even after long and happy lives there, even feeling split between the world they enter and the world they left behind, don't seem to merge the two well. Our lives, our friends, our jobs, fit into a very local scale.

Lastly, I'm getting tense. I should do all my final exams a week early, so I can grade them and handle all objections before going to the US for a month. But I want to give the students more time to study, so no. I also am still waiting on the necessary documents to re-acquire my visa. (It was confiscated when I returned from The Philippines. Big mess. Not my fault.) I also want to buy a new phone before I return to the US. It's been a priority for a while to get a new smartphone. (Like, since my Palm Pilot broke 3 years ago.) And I'ma either get the brand new Samsung Omnia II or if I can find it, an Android-based korean smartphone.

Phone of Dreams?

So, who has an advanced scuba license?

Yeah, add another point to my resume.

Luc does.

Alright, scuba was not bad. In fact, I was worried I'd forgotten everything, but I hadn't. Just a few small things. Like which direction my BC connects to my air tank. And that if you stop-breathe (hold your breath momentarily at the end of exhalation or inhalation) for a long time, you come out of the water with a headache. I'd also forgotten the strange sensation of my sinuses being basically inflated. It feels like the passage between your nose and mouth is somehow closing, and you want to blow your nose or something, but that's impossible. So, after the first 1 or 2 nervous dives on the first day, I was fine. We did 3 dives, rested, ate, and played for about 6 hours, then went for 1 night dive. (Only a small group. I was leader of the Advanced-Course group of students) The night diving was incredible, but a bit scary. I know I used considerably more air than normal. (Rapid breathing)

Sleep, wake up at 5:30, repeat. The advanced group went out on boats the second day. We did 3 more dives, this time reaching depths of 45 meters, and saw stingrays. (That's 148 feet, or roughly 15 stories underwater. Sweet, right?) We ate and played in the waterpark at a brand new resort where our scuba center was located. The buffet was so awesome it had made-to-order pasta, pizza, and udon, as well as salmon and (holy shit) tuna sashimi. O.O But the best part, (chocoholic warning) was the chocolate fondue fountain.

Sleep, wake up at 5:30, repeat. My advanced course group was broken up to join the 3 normal groups and everyone did boat diving together. The regular course students were so cute because they were like, "Wow! It's a boat! I never thought I'd be on a boat!" As a side note, riding on the front of a boat is still awesome. That evening, we went back to our resort, had a buffet including one of those whole roasted pigs.... apple and everything. (Just like last year, but still, weird) and we all received our licenses. Then we went out to a club. (Yes, me and 30-several of my college age students and the scuba instructor went to a club together.)

I'm not going to let myself

be one of those people who starts a blog to keep in touch or chronicle their life and adventures and then drops it after a few months because they get tired of writing, or worse, runs out of things to write. I've got plenty of stuff to write about, it's just not all been worth putting on this blog lately. Plus I've been busy.

Somebody like Luc should make it at least a year before he drops the blogging habit.

First of all, I def have a technology obsession. And my internet connectivity does not help that. I've set up quite a digital "eye" that allows me to easily follow consumer electronics and software development in some areas. But it's time consuming and almost pointless, because A, I'm not buying a bunch of electronics or anything, and B, it's not like anyone needs that information from me. Like, if I worked at Geek Squad or something, this addiction would make sense. But I'm a Physics teacher who teaches English..... and Martial Arts. So it's kindof a waste of time and a killer of productivity.

I'm going to explain now what's been up this month..... sortof.

When I went to The Philippines (which was beautiful and stuff)

there were a few problems. First of all, we flew Cebu airlines (not splendid, but anyways,) and I had to spend about the first 30-45 minutes of our time at cruising altitude explaining the entry/customs forms to my students. (Even if you've studied a foreign language, do you know how to say "Nationality" or "Place of Issue"?) I was in the flight attendants' way, apparently, but they seemed charmed by the young English teacher helping all his students. Then I finished all that, finally fell asleep (dead tired.)

Suddenly, I woke up to the flight attendants shaking me and the students around me asking me to wake up. "Sir, one of your students was _________ .......... we had to confiscate______ ............ lands a police officer will escort him......." in a hurried Filippino accent (or any accent, I suppose) is not a pleasant way to wake up. After waking up, I learned that one of my students (who'd never flown outside of Korea before and didn't understand the flight announcements which were only in English) smoked in the airplane lavatory about 3 hours into our flight. I was pissed. But then I remembered that I'm not actually in charge of these students. This is not my class trip. And the scuba professor speaks decent English. So I sent the flight attendants away.

Anyways, we landed, this kid got scolded and arrangements were made for him paying his penalty fees after he returned to Korea, and then we went to the resort. The Philippines makes me sweat.