Went out for a 140-minute walk earlier this evening (Dec 31, I mean). It was pretty cold. The Lotte World Tower loomed in the distance, and I saw the lights on its side were doing something funky. Took two videos... neither of which I'm able to upload directly to the blog for some reason. Took a third video at midnight from inside my building, having decided not to go out again tonight. As I feared, the midnight video of the Lotte World Tower showed, well, not much of anything. I started recording the third video about 30 seconds before midnight, and when 12 o'clock struck, a message appeared on the side of the tower: "New Year 2022... Dream... Love... Hero." It was an embarrassing Konglish mess, but amusing in its own weird way. No fireworks, nothing to cheer the huddled masses yearning to be mandate-free. I see this as a missed opportunity; some Korean tycoon could have taken the reins and given us an awesome light show even with people not being allowed to gather in crowds. Instead, we got this silent, solemn, Konglishy mess. Not the most auspicious start to the new year.
Ah, well. I'll still go out in the morning and do my January 1 walk to Bundang with JW, then spend the rest of my weekend chowing down freely (last hurrah) and making some plans for the year, about which I'll talk in later blog posts.
Keep watching this post for uploaded videos. I don't know why the upload is taking so long; it's not as though the video files are all that huge. Here, at least, is a photo saluting you:
A random light show:
The message "Adieu 2021, Happy 2022" appears:
Happy Konglishy New Year! "Dream... love... hero":
Best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year, Kevin. I look forward to vicariously participating in more of your adventures in 2022!
ReplyDeleteThanks, John.
ReplyDelete