this thing on?

I'm now ensconced in my new studio, which is inside a building called, rather cornily, Healing Town. This isn't the boonies by any means; Hayang-eup—eup means "town"— is more city than town, from my humble Virginian standpoint. The CUD campus map lies: it shows the campus surrounded by pristine greenery. Instead, we've got streets and shops and apartments, then more streets, more shops, and more apartments. Oh, and restaurants and gas stations and all the rest.

Tomorrow, August 15, is Independence Day in Korea, so I'll have time to do a bit of setting up. Right now, I'm too tired to say or think much. My first priorities upon entering my studio were (1) get the goddamn air conditioning going; (2) dust off all the relevant horizontal surfaces, because the place, despite being spanking new, is covered in dust; (3) set up the laptop; and (4) shop for essentials, like

•bottled water
•soap and shampoo
•cleaning materials
•toilet paper and tissues
•garbage bags and cans

Very soon, I'll need to get a "down" transformer, i.e., a transformer that converts electricity from 220 volts to the US standard of 110. This transformer also comes with US-friendly sockets for US-style plugs. Once I get a power strip or two attached to that, I'll be in business.

I'm also going to have to buy tennis balls to adorn the feet of the metal-frame chair on which I'm sitting; because I live on the third floor (302, instead of 301 in Front Royal), I worry about disturbing the downstairs neighbor with my chair's horrible death-rattle every time I scoot it backward.

So I'm back to living a stripped-down, simple existence. Just give me a desk to write on, a computer to write with, a toilet to shit in, some paper to wipe up, and some icy water to drink, and I'm a happy camper. Those are my monkish needs at present. Needs and ambitions to increase au fur et à mesure du temps.

Free internet is cool, but I'm still trying to decide how much I like my new digs. They're way too small for entertaining guests in any respectable way; the front entrance of the building has a keypad entry; my own apartment also requires key-in. That's a pain in the ass. On the plus side, the kitchenette has a decent gas range and modest cabinet space; there's also a washing machine (in the kitchen, of course, per Korean style) and a microwave. Slowly but surely, over the coming months, I'll fill in all the domestic blanks as I buy kitchen equipment, flesh out my roster of cleaning materials, increase and customize my storage space, acquire a printer (or have mine sent to me from the States), and do whatever else is necessary to make life here more comfortable. Larger ambitions, like buying a giant-screen TV and hooking up the latest Xbox—with the latest version of Halo—will have to wait at least a year. We'll see how strong my finances are by then.

In fact, let's talk money. Right now, one concern I have is not having enough cash to last me two weeks. In two weeks, two things ought to happen: (1) my final paycheck from YB will arrive in my US account, and (2) my damage deposit refund will arrive, in check form, at David's place. In total, that ought to be about $600, with $140 of that already spoken for (car insurance). My first-half-of-the-month payments normally include car insurance and the Comcast ISP, but since I'm no longer with Comcast (in fact, Comcast told me that they owe me money!), my only worry is Progressive. A third check from the Shenandoah Commons rental office, a refund of my unused rent for August, will take up to 45 days to arrive. When it does, I'm sure it'll be a welcome surprise.

In the meantime, however, I've got a $255 auto-pay about to come out of my account, and not enough money to cover it. If someone could PayPal me $100 in the next 48 hours, that would be most appreciated. I can use what cash remains in my wallet to figure out how I'm going to feed my big self until those checks come in. If worse comes to worst, I've got water and vitamin pills for two weeks.


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