Saturday, April 30, 2011

Lost In Translation

I just finished 60 hours of Korean Language classes.

I think the next time I set foot on Seoul (or any other Korean city, for that matter), I won't be the bumbling English-speaking idiot who knows only how to say "Hello", "Thank you" and "How much is this?"

In the meantime, I will pester all my Korean team members to speak in their native tongue when conversing with me... at half-speed. Their normal speech just leaves me befuddled and I catch only 20% of what they say.

So for now, 안녕히 계세요!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

What Remains In The Past

Like 99.9% of the population on Earth, I have a past. Of course that past is filled with people who, at one point or another, shared my mundane existence with me.

Lately, I noticed that more than a few of them have reappeared. Most of them, I am more than glad to reconnect with.

They're from all corners of the globe (does a sphere have corners?) but at some point in time, our lives intersected. Now, further down the time-space continuum (in a galaxy far, far away), we've done it again.

By not keeping in touch for the past decade or so, we've missed out on that time's worth of friendship - so many potential memories. So there's nothing better to do than catch up with each other's lives, yes?

Life's too short.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

In Defense of J

In September, it will be five years old. "It" being my relationship with J.

In the beginning, nobody was happy for us. Especially my family, first and foremost my mother. At that time, I couldn't understand why they were so opposed to it. Aren't they happy their eldest daughter got out of an unhealthy relationship and moved on to something that just might be for life?

J takes care of me, puts my own happiness first, makes sure I am healthy. J indulges my idiosyncrasies, puts up with my temper, lets me go at it with my bad habits. J is my greatest strength. J is my greatest weakness.

When J and I met, I was an empty shell - alive on the outside, dead on the inside - having just emerged from a nowhere-bound relationship. J had just gotten out of a shitty romance. J and I found each other; we fought for what we had.

I has been five years (almost)... and in defense of J, whom most still think is unfit for me, this I will say: J has given me my reason to live again. So anyone who wishes me dead can just wish J and I never met.

But we did, and I am here to stay. Deal with it.