out and about today

...but first, some notes.

My centipede has company again: I found another centipede, one almost as big as my battle-scarred veteran. They haven't killed each other yet, but they obviously fought at least once while I was away: I saw a couple of legs scattered across the bottom of the plastic container. I did a leg count, and those legs all come from the newcomer. I repeat: my centipede kicks ass.

Today is the Buddha's birthday, seok-ga t'anshin-il (Sakyamuni's Birthday), or bu-ch'eo-nim oshin-nal (The Day the Buddha Came), and it's a national holiday-- even a Christian school like Seoul Women's University has the day off.

[Note to Joel: The "Big B" is probably around 2550 years old by Korean reckoning, plus or minus a couple years.]

Contrary to expectations, I'm not spending today going around observing Buddhist events. Instead, I have to hop all over town to view some possible properties. Timing on all this sucks major donkey balls, but there's little I can do about it-- I got the orders to move last Thursday; I can't afford to cancel any of my day or night classes, and I sure as hell can't wait until Saturday to check properties because I have to be outta here by Sunday. Today is my only free day to find a place to move. If I don't find a place, I'll have to leave my possessions with a relative and go live somewhere cheap, like a goshi-tel, until I find an actual place.

I'll be spending my evening finishing up some packing.

A quick parcours...

Dr. Hodges, who introduced me to Dr. Vallicella's main website, writes in to Dr. Vallicella's blog re: the flap over delicate sensibilities, scatology's compatibility with intellectualism, etc.

Folks (i.e., all y'all mothafuckas) just need to calm down. If people are offended by my blog's content, that's not enough to make me change how I blog. If they feel they're having to "pick through" the chaff to get at what interests them, then my response is that we do this all the time with most of our daily reads; there's nothing unique in this, so yes, in a sense one does have to "get used" to this situation. I don't read an entire newspaper; I avoid the shit that doesn't interest me. I don't always appreciate everything I see on other folks' blogs (I get impatient when Steven Den Beste devotes his energies to long-ass posts about animé, for instance), but if it's a blog I like and read often, I'm willing to put up with quirkiness.

So let's adopt a "warts and all" policy about the blogs we frequent: no blog will ever conform perfectly to my expectations, but if I generally like it (which of course isn't the same as agreeing with its content), then I'll like it warts and all. This is an overall liking, not an attempt to ignore bothersome details. I'm still entitled to despise a blog's warts, but if it's a blog I frequent, there's little use airing complaints about the warts. I can't change them; I can't get other folks to agree on how to define "warts"; and if they're part of the daily scenery, I might never come to love them, but I can at least learn not to bellyache about them. (It's a bit like forgiving your spouse's stinky morning breath, annoying habits, and that goddamn mole on her otherwise-sexy neck.)

[Dr. Hodges notes that he reads my blog daily. Thank you for your faithful readership.]

In other news...

Andi's adopted a cat, an act roughly coinciding with an increase in the number of pics to appear on her blog. Is she morphing into Korea Life Blog? Only time will tell! Have fun out at Musang-sa, Andi! And post pics of the kitty.

Andi also gives some major props to my buddy Mike and his blog, Naked Villainy:

Naked Villainy is a round-the-clock roundtable on politics. To quote the villainous mission statement itself: "A blog dedicated to the dissemination of the Maximum Leader's (and his Ministers') thoughts and comments. And the medium by which your Maximum Leader will begin the Mike World Order (or MWO)." Great stuff, a variety of political opinions from across the spectrum, and best of all: a villainous sense of humor. Yes! Bring on the Mike World Order! (BTW, Dad, I recommend you read this blog.)

I tend to think Naked Villainy is a more relaxed, friendlier version of Tacitus. Thanks to the Air Marshal's recent posts, it's also become quite the forum about alcohol.

Annika awards me my second Huge Comment of the Week Award (an oak leaf cluster next to my name, which I've promised to pin proudly to my scrotum). The award-winning comment is appended to this post.

Annika also links to someone claiming that the Chernobyl biker chick is a hoaxer.

A guest poster on Carpemundi's blog Cerebral Bypass, Brian, tells an excellent tale of adventure on the high seas: a child in danger, a lurking monster, and the classic threat, "I'm gonna break my foot in your ass."

Ryan warns us not to fuck with bodhisattvas, and has scriptural evidence for his warning.

OK, folks... gotta run. Probably won't be blogging any more today, except perhaps to give you a centipede update if something awful happens.


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