Happy New Year!!!!!!

Benediction

Topgal Park, Dec. 17, 2005

All is quiet on New Year's Day

A world in white is on the way

Though I want to be with you

be with you night and day

Nothing changes on New Year's Day



"New Year's Day"

U2

There was fury in the early days of 2005. Tsuanimi and earthquake made
the headlines, but there was also personal turmoil that had many ready
to bail on the new year, ready to welcome in the new days of 2006. We
were not ready for the directions life took us. Some of us laughed
during these early days, while others cried. Some were lost, looking
for new directions and new horizons. In the new year, we wanted two
things, but I don't think we ever found peace or hope. But we
persevered in the face of fury.

Belief goes on and on

In this heartland



"Heartland"

U2

We found the colors of life in the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. We
found our own reasons to dance with the real world, in spite of all the
unreal things that happened to us. Though the world turned, we found
new ways to turn with it, and discovered things about ourselves that
gave us new shades to work with. Sometimes the textures were rough.
Occasionally the textures were soft enough to sleep on. Though we
didn't have peace, we did find rest, and in the rest we found strength
to dance again.

Moving at the speed of life, the year became a blur. Lives changed for
better and for worse. We said hello. We said goodbye. Did we see
anything of the blur of life beyond the blur of our tears?

In the turmoil of 2005 we prayed for something better in 2006. Are we
prepared for our prayers to be answered? Or will we long for an easier
time found in 2005? Will we participate in the dances of 2006, or will
we sit back and observe the beauty found in the lives of people we
don't even know? Anyway it goes...

our circles are complete, and the dance goes on.

Happy New Year! Find peace, hope and rest in the coming year. God bless us, every one.

Amen.

EDIT:

I missed something important.

I've been on xanga for over two years. Here's my first post.

Thousands of words, dozens of poems, dozens of pix... unknown the
number of pages that have been turned  here. How many colors? How
many shades of grey? How many gallons of water under the bridges we
thought we burned, only to find we needed them for the  return
trip? We have taken the best punches 2005 could give us, and we have
survived one more day. The moment goes on...

So does belief. So does love. So goes faith.

The moment will never end, long after life has faded to black.

"Here, Sam. The last few pages are for you." Frodo Baggins - LOTR: The Return of the King

c u next year

Merry Christmas, everyone. Have a safe weekend and a good visit with family and friends.

7:00 a.m class

7:00 pm. class

8:00 p.m. class

These are my students who were in attendance on Party Day, Day 36, the very last day of classes at SDA Language Institute - Daebang, in Seoul. Good looking bunch of students. I wish more students would have been patient and completed the class. They were doing better than they thought they were...

The next term I will be teaching level one and level three conversational English, one religion class and two junior classes.

Let's get it on...!

As If Nothing Has Changed

Cut the candle
halve it with your words
like they do in the movies

Rapier smooth
the blade cuts through wax
but the candle is unmoved

touched
but not flinching

cut
but not bleeding

the flame burns
as if nothing has changed

Something has changed
but not the love
that cuts me tonight

touch me
I will not flinch

cut me
I will not bleed

let me burn
as if nothing has changed

Marc Gunn music. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=3041148&q=hi&ref=2

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=2282325&ref=7&q=Hi

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=741507&q=hi&ref=2

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=1246930&q=hi&ref=2

Over the last several weeks I haven't been sleeping well. It was like this before the soar throat and cold from two weeks ago. Just rough getting to sleep, and then waking up before my alarm clock goes off. It's set for a few minutes before 5:00 so I have time to get a shower and get ready for class. I think I've been going on about four to five hours of sleep a day during the week. Then no matter what time I go to bed on the weekend, I'm always up after five or six hours of sleep. Some days I get a nap, but that isn't enough. My eyes don't always burn, but I do feel tired when I'm not in class.

Winter is here, and with it all the cold weather you can imagine. There are water lines under the floors to circulate hot water, which is good for the feet. However, the air in the apartment is cold. There is no central heating. I sleep with three blankets, but I keep my head away from the window side of the room, so there's a chance one of my pillows will end up on the floor before the night is over.

I have two roommates. We were on the sixth floor of an apartment building with plenty of room to spread out. Yesterday we moved into a smaller apartment. My room is so much smaller than what I had. I used to have room to spead laundry on the floor so it would dry overnight. Now I have perhaps two to three feet between my desk and my bed. It's enough to walk around, but I don't have room for the dresser that I used for socks and as a TV stand. Also, when the movers left, they didn't hook up the stove or the clothes washer. But we save nearly 15 minutes walking, since we are right across the street from the institute.

No, the move was not worth it. I'd take the apartment back in a heartbeat. There I had room to move around. This new apartment bedroom is less than the size of a jail cell. I'm guessing the dimensions are 8x10 feet. Maybe.

I'm tired. I need more than a nap.

Thanks Bryan.

You scored as Serenity (from Firefly). You like to live your own way and do not enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you that you should do different.  Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Coming on December 1, 2005: Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? The Sequel Serenity (from Firefly) 81% Galactica (from Battlestar: Galactica) 75% Enterprise D (from Star Trek) 75% Moya (from Farscape) 63% Bebop (from Cowboy Bebop) 50% Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars) 50% Nebuchadnezzar (from The Matrix) 50% SG-1 (from Stargate) 44% Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? v1.0 created with QuizFarm.com

The First Snow of the Season (Not Quite Alone)

Christmas Shoppers - Jonggak Shopping District, Dec. 3, 2005

Tonight I traveled to Jonggak alone. I thought Kimi, a
Japanese teacher, and his wife would join me to see the Christmas lights set up
outside the Bank of China. I wasn't able to get in contact with them, so I went
alone.

I've gotten too used to doing things alone. Sometimes I like it
that way. Tonight was one of those nights where someone's company is mandatory.

 
Cheonggyecheon: 6:45p.m.

The first snow of the season is falling. It started while I was at
Jonggak, near Cheonggyecheon. A brassy jazz band was playing a live concert in
the open air. I pulled my camera out for some pix. In the strong backlighting of
the concert I saw the first snow falling from heaven.

Brass Jazz Band at Cheonggyecheon - sponsored by HSBC

The band covered
"When the Saints Go Marching In" in a true Mardi Gras fashion. It was this music
I heard in the background as I approached the middle of the block. It was during
the cover of "Rock around the Clock" that I noticed the falling snow.

Jazz in the Snowfall

I
walked the heart of Seoul with camera in hand, capturing some of the sights of
the season. Two girls decked out in Christmas colors allowed me to photograph
them.

"Kam sah ham ni da... Merry Christmas."

There is no
political correctness here. Jesus and Santa coexist, and there is no such thing
as a "happy holiday." An interesting side note is that a number of vegetarian
Adventists eat more or less regularly at a Buddhist restaurant, for it is
totally vegetarian, and the food is excellent. Christians and Buddhists can get
along. Why can't Christians and Christians??? Score one for the good guys.

I keep thinking about Andrea. I wish she was here to experience this.
Yet, I wish I was going through her town on a night like this, arm in arm. The
chill of the snow and breeze is lessened by degree in the light of my thoughts
of her. I would see her in white. I should have been the only one to wait for
her at the end of the aisle when she wore white the first time. I digress...

Christmas Lights at Cheonggyecheon

At the bookstores I find English translations of Korean poets. Tonight I
purchase Eternity Today, selected poems
by Ku Sang. I walk through the underground shopping center at Jonggak, heading
for the No. 1 line that leads to Daebang Station and home. I photograph the
rails leading into the station, and hear a man relieving himself in the falling
snow. A drunk approaches me and shakes my hand. He's wearing business clothes, a
sign of a busy day and an early night tilting bottles at windmills. I tell him I
just got back from Jonggak.

Jonggak Shopping District 8:55p.m.

"I love Jonggak," he says and grabs my hand
to shake it again.

He asks my nationality, and we speak a few more lines
before parting ways. He goes to ride subways and I go to walk in the falling
snow again.

Inbound / Outbound Trains - Daebang Station, 9:30p.m.

It is a beautiful night for snowing. It is the right night
for snow. Not last night, or tomorrow night, but tonight is... perfect.

Daebang Station 9:35 p.m.

Perhaps it was better I experienced this night alone. No, I wasn't
alone. Andrea was with me, and that is the way it should be.