on the housekeeping front

My blood sugar was at 171 this morning, which is bad, but better than I'd hoped. That's not only because of Saturday's party but also because of my behavior yesterday (Sunday). Today, I'd normally be fasting, but I instead got two salads and a light sandwich at Paris Baguette, so my blood sugar will be high tomorrow, too. But from Tuesday, through Friday, I'll be back to behaving myself, eating OMAD keto on Saturday and Sunday. So Saturday morning's blood sugar will be an interesting read because it will have had four days to settle back down. The walking will continue, and I'll finally start up with my staircase work again this week. The exercise plan I had made for myself last year—a smorgasbord of kettlebell, heavy club, animal flow, elastic band, bodyweight calisthenics, etc.—will start up again, too.

The Ilyang Logis people contacted me today and told me, lazy shits that they are, to leave my passport package at the lobby's front desk (instead of their coming up to my door) along with W9,000 for the courier fee. If I didn't have the exact cash for W9,000, they said they would text me to see how to send me my change. I left a W10,000 bill at the lobby with my package and a murmured "Godspeed," then I texted the courier about what I'd done. He called back and said I should give him my bank-account number so he could wire me the W1000 in change. I told him I was fine with his just keeping the change; it's only a thousand won (70 cents). He said okay, and that was it. I assume my package is being courier'ed to the US Embassy across town. Sometime within two-and-a-half months, I ought to be mailed a spanking-new passport with a new number, which means I have to go through all of my electronic subscriptions and update my passport information (Amazon, iHerb, Coupang, etc.).

I also visited the bank early this morning to get a new debit card. I'd gotten an electronic notification about the card's expiration, and I wasn't sure whether I'd need to have my passport with me when renewing the bank card. As it turned out, my alien-registration card was enough. I had to print and sign my name a million times with a stylus on an electronic form that appeared on a touch screen at the teller window. The teller used scissors to cut my old card in half (bye, old buddy), and I got my fresh, new card, which looks sleek and unbattered. They generate new cards right there at the bank, so I asked whether the previous card's number would follow me to the new card. The teller said no: every card's number must be unique. Not that I ever needed to know my old check card's number for anything. I used the new card in several different machines to check whether it worked, and it's fine.

The third bit of news today is job-related. The 16th came and went, and I didn't get paid. I asked my boss over the phone whether I should write HR, and he said yes. HR called me in the afternoon while I was napping like the old man I am, and we had a discussion in Korean even though the staffer knows English. As I told my boss later, I think the HR guy said that he had checked my records, and that given the date range for which I'm paid, and the nature of my freelancer contract, I'd already been paid in full, so zero money for January was appropriate. I shrugged; there was little point on insisting. I'm at a stage in my financial life where missing a month's pay, justly or unjustly, isn't going to bother me. I can, if anything, go a year or two like this before things start to look a little dicey. The HR staffer asked me whether I had moved out of the office, and I said no: the boss had said things weren't clear re: move-out date (none given so far) and the arrival date of the new team that'll be taking over our office. The boss still thinks—but doesn't know for sure—that there's a chance we might get a six-month extension, so he continues to advise not moving out yet. I think it's a vain hope. My Korean colleague, meanwhile, got shipped out of the Mido building and into the Classia building down the street, where he is presumably part of a new team. His contract goes until June.

If we're told, in the end, to leave the old Mido building, I will clear my stuff out and talk with my building's real-estate office about drawing up a standard rental contract effective immediately: W10 million down as a deposit (you get it back when you move out), and anywhere from W650,000 to W750,000 a month for rent. Not horrible for a studio in Gangnam, even if it's Old, Beaten-up Gangnam and not Ritzy, New Gangnam. In the meantime, I'll continue to self-educate (the boss mentioned he's also interested in what Skillshare has to offer), exercise, medicate, and all the rest. And that will be my life (maybe spiced up with private work) until we're ready to leap into our new startup, which is all on the boss since he hasn't asked for anyone else's help... he says he knows people who can help him with taxes and business-starting paperwork. I'll probably also move down to Suwon, but that's only after I've updated all of my important documents. Once the passport is back, I have to wait a few months before I can re-renew(!) my F4 visa, which can't have a validity period beyond the passport's. Get a new passport first, then renew the F4 in early fall. Then, after that's done, I can move down to Suwon to a much bigger and much cheaper apartment. (And if I make that move, I'll go back to the States, box up as much as I can from my public storage in Virginia, sell or give away the rest, and ship my boxed-up stuff to the bigger apartment in Korea. With no more monthly public-storage payments, that'll be one less tie to the States.) But moving will also mean updating my residential/mailing address on the F4 visa and on my various electronic services (Amazon, iHerb, Coupang, etc.). What a pain.

So for tonight, I'm not going to stress: I will instead go for a stroll out to the river and ponder how to turn these nighttime walks into early-morning walks, as if I were on the trail. Once I get my new US passport, I might skip over to the US to get my driver's license done (although that depends on what I find out about Charles's suggestion to get a Korean driver's license and an international permit when I need it).

There. All caught up for the moment.

Oh, yes: there is a review of "Squid Game 2" coming, but I've been collating notes, watching commentary videos, and doing a bit of thinking, so it's taking some time. Veuillez patienter, s'il vous plaît.