a week to go

Time for final prep before my trip, so barring a major cardiac scare this week, we're a go for the walk. One last meal today, fasting with minimal eating (2 cans of tuna) during the week, and a good measure of practice walking. I leave for Busan in seven days. Seoul skies still look clear through the 29th, so no problems in that area. Busan is also looking clear for the first phase of the walk and the next few days after. At the very least, the walk ought to begin well. Whether November gives us rain, I don't know. Weather.com gives you a long-term monthly projection of temperatures, but not of weather conditions. I see that the first few days of November in the Busan area are going to be great, but you never know if this might turn into a rainy disaster. I sincerely hope not. I'm also beginning to realize that calling October "my favorite month" has been a mistake: my favorite month is probably November, with the rains mostly over and the peninsula transitioning from fall coolness to winter coldness. By November 15, the final day of the walk, low temps will be around 37ºF (2.8ºC), and high temps will be 55ºF (12.8ºC)—cool but easily tolerable in short sleeves.

If I can get in three more practice walks this coming week, that'll be great. First: a 14K out to the Jamshil Bridge and back, with backpack, tomorrow (the 20th). Then on Wednesday (the 22nd), an 18K down to Bundang. Then on Friday (the 24th), a full-sized walk—either the 26K to Hanam from my place or the 33K from Yangpyeong to Yeoju. The route to Hanam gives me a small hill; the route to Yeoju gives me a much larger hill, and despite my heart condition, I do need to reexperience what it's like to face a hill. The walk's going to have a few.

I go into these practice walks, and into the big walk, fatalistically: if I die, I die. I still haven't gotten all of my affairs in order, so if I do die, it's going to leave a mess. There are mortal possessions to distribute, subscriptions from which I need to be unsubscribed, small and various debts to be paid (credit card, mainly). I need to draw up a last will and testament, but in researching law-office fees for such a thing, I see that getting an official will done is an exorbitant process. Still, it's something I have to think about because, well, the free option of drawing up my own will probably won't cut it in any Korean court, especially with my being a foreigner. I'd like to say that, if I died and inconvenienced everyone around me by not having my affairs in order, but the truth is that, once I'm gone, I'm probably not going to care about anything. Right now, the best plan I can think of is to start drafting a will, then hope I survive all of these walks so I can finish the process upon my return to Seoul.

As always: we'll see. Isn't that life, really? We'll see.