So, yeah, for those of you not bilingual, I went out with Mabel last night and had a really great time. Unfortunately, she is engaged to be married. That whole moral debate I was having with myself was pointless. I amuse myself sometimes. I actually spent all day wondering if I should buy condoms or not. Decided against it. Thank god. That would have been idiotic. Anyway, check out the poetry blog, lots of new poems on it. (Not new, new, just new to you.)

Fue al cenar con Mabel. Tenia tantas cosas para decir ella, pero no podia. No se si era falta del lengua (estabamos hablando espanol) o de mi. Creo de mi. Ella es chiebre, como ella dice. Pero tiene un novia y va a casarle. "Life is full of heartache and disappointment." Quiero escapar mi carcel, ser como una mariposa volando por el aire, pero mi carcel no es de un sitio, es de mi mente. Donde estoy, alli estoy. Una pregunta- porque dios no quiere que tengo las relaciones que quiero tener, i.e. Jen, Mabel. Dios es el gran bromeador. "Mira, Adan, una mujer perfecta para ti." Pero solo puedo tocar la con mis palabras vacias. Voy a dormir a suenyar con ella y su sonrisa chulo.

So them sturgeon keep falling from the sky. I called Mabel today and invited her out for dinner and she said yes! Usually, these things work out badly for your hero, but she said yes. I suppose it does present me with some complications. I have to leave in a week, I have a girlfriend. But still, when she said yes, I was very excited like a little boy. Was it just because somebody finally said yes when I asked them out, or do I really like her? I think it's more that I like her. Should I break up with Sumin just because I am going on a date with another woman? I never promised her that I would be faithful. I know that seems silly, but I have promised that to people before. I'm generally a traditionist in relationships, but what am I to do? I like Sumin, but I don't think it has much future. I think that it will peter out when I am in Canada. Am I supposed to wait and be faithful to her, until I leave. And I feel like we are from completely different worlds. It's like she's a dog, and I'm a cat. I know our relationship has problems, the point is, do I end it just because I might want to see this woman a couple of times? I like Sumin to have around as someone to hang out with. I don't think she's expecting anything else. I am trying to explain my situation to Rachel. The most relevant details left out, of course. J.P. told me today jokingly that I was too busy because I was jugling around two one. Well, that's partly true.

Ah, life. It is about as clear sometimes as a giant sturgeon that falls from the sky. No meaning or importance, but still you gotta wonder what the deal is with the giant sturgeon. So Jen is busily working trying to get me Mabel's phone number, and for some crazy reason I've asked Sumin to marry me. She's thinking about it, which hopefully means she'll say no. I don't know what I was thinking. Well, sex was what I was thinking. I guess I subconciously said, yo', I ain't gonna bang her, lest she get the ring. Yes, I am that crass and simultaneously pretensious. So, anyway, Jen seems to think that Mabel kind of liked me. There was a moment where she went to give me a latin American kiss. (like a handshake, but a kiss), but she hestitated. I think there was something there. Speaking of strange and random things, my boss wanted to know if I wanted to extend my contract for seven months. Which was pretty strange, considering I'm leaving next Friday for Canada and that this has been the plan for the past month. She couldn't have thought of this sooner? I've got plans. Well, a plan. I'm going to spend some time with my family, and with my friends, and then, probably come back to Korea to save up even more money. Sometimes, I feel like a boy of thirteen, not yet acquainted with the world. And yet, at least I am aware of my sillyness.

It looks like my yahoo account isn't working yet again. Argh! So, I spent the day in Pusan with Sumin. I stayed last night in a motel near her house. Now in Korea they have this phenomenon known as Love Motels. I was under the impression that I stayed in one last week. I did not. I stayed in a normal motel. This motel that I stayed in last night was a love motel. How do I know? My first clue was when the lady asked Sumin if we wanted the hourly rate or the nightly rate. My next clue was going into the room and seeing that the establishment had kindly provided coffee and tea, and a complimentary condom. I showed it to Sumin, but naive as she is, she didn't know what it was. She thought it was a candy and advised me not to eat it. I didn't. Many further clues were provided throughout the evening. Such as the flyers for call girls stuck in conspicious places. And the loud moaning sounds coming from the next room. Sumin was a bit flustered with that. And the couple making the noises had some kind of disagreement and we heard screaming. I wanted to go outside and investigate, but Sumin said that I shouldn't. Don't know what I would have done anyway, except shock them with my foreigness. It's raining heavily so I couldn't go gift shopping as I planned. Instead Sumin and I went to see a movie in a theatre, Hell Boy, and one in a DVD bang. Hell Boy was quite fun, although I had no idea what to expect, it not having any advertising here whatsoever. I like comic book movies, and this one was fun. The DVD bang movie was a disappointment. It was Miracle, about the 1980 American Hockey team. I read a review where it said that they hockey scenes where the most realistic ever done in a movie. Maybe, but the characters were easily forgettable, and there never seemed any doubt that they would win, even when in real life they lost the first time to the Russians 10-3. A good weekend. Ready to start my last full week of work.

So, now I'm mentally o.k. with Sumin. I have waves of doubt and self confidence. Jen e-mailed me back already and said it was kind of cruel to pretend to say that she was the love of my life, which begs the question, why? Did she ever have a crush on me? Does she feel that way about me? Would she freak out if I felt that way about her. Anyway, I don't think it was a big deal, it was just a joke. Anyhoo, Sumin and I went to a DVD bang this afternoon and saw Shallow Hal. I have always avoided seeing it because I thought that it was in bad taste, but I think it is actually in quite good taste. It's about a man who is hyponotised into only seeing the inner beauty of somebody, and ends up falling in love with this very obese woman, whom he thinks is very thin. It's really well done, I think, because typical hollywood would have him dump her and go after the hot girl who rejected him. But he goes after the person he loves, and truly loves her without hypnosis. Big plans, big ideas. I have, I mean.

I'm very tired because last night, I went to watch the Ulsan Drama group's rehearsals. Now I know why I quit. Other than lack of time to be involved I mean. It was just so disorganized. It really needed a director. I was really restraining myself from making comments. I mean, I've actually directed and produced a play before, so I know what it takes to produce quality. I don't see quality coming from that morass. It was fun to see though, and meet the new people, although I'm probably not going to see them again. It was good to hang out with Jen. Afterwards we went to Mackenzies', a foreigner's bar to a fund raising event for the local soccer team. It was pretty fun, I have a knack for trivia. Our team tied for first, and the contest was settled by a drinking contest, (one on one competition) which our team lost. It was fun though. And I met this really interesting Columbian, called Mabel. I'm tempted to ask Jen for her number. I know that's crazy seeing as I'm currently in Pusan, waiting for Sumin, my girlfriend. And I'm going to leave in a few weeks. But Mabel was just so interesting in such a short time. Maybe it's just because she speaks Spanish. But she's got this entirely different energy from Koreans. More alive, if that makes any sense. And I finally found a Yoga place near my house. Two weeks left here and these things happen. Crazy. Anyway, I'm going to go now to ask Jen for Mabel's phone number.

I'm going to Pusan tomorrow to meet with Sumin. Currently, I'm waiting to meet Jen and Rachelle. I'm going to watch one of their rehearsals. It should be fun, as it was my idea to have the drama group. Work is slipping by. It's crazy, soon I'll be back in Canada. I don't think it's hit me yet. It'll hit me when I actually here people speaking English. Yeah, so I had many great things to talk about before I started writing, but I've forgotten most of them now. I wonder if the children will miss me when I go. Probably not. That's the crappy thing about this job. I like a lot of my students, and yet, I'm probably not very much to them. They could just as easily have another teacher. And they will. Anyway, I go to kill more time before I met Jen and Rachelle.

check out the new poem on the poetry blog-Dark Skin.

Yeah, so I'm here at the pc bang again. One of the few times I'll get to be here before I go back to Canada. Yeah, so I'm going to be in Canada in 16 days. It's crazy. I wonder how I'll adapt. I think it will be more of shock coming back to Canada then it was coming here. I mean, there are no brothels in Canada, or at least not ones so readily accessible. Not that I have ever gone to a brothel, dear reader, but it is nice to have the option if I wanted it. Work is winding down. I still have things to do, but I care very little about them. This is the longest job I've ever held. That's crazy. It's only been a year, but it feels like a century. I've started to get closer to Jen again. Man, if a woman like that could love me. She's just got this thing to her that I click with. I don't know what it is. I have started to get addicted to Reality t.v. programs here. There's two, one is Meet My Folks, where a guy or girls family pick their dates, and the other is Mr. Personality. She is surrounded by men wearing masks. It's so funny, because the people in them don't realize how completely mundane they are. For instance, this multimillionare who built his own mansion and does nothing in it except watch t.v. Not that I'm much better, but I at least have ambitions. Those ambitions may be scattered and occasional, but I still have them. Josh, I'm a-comin' soon. And I hope agraphobia isn't contagious.

Stupid fucking blogger! I just wrote this great rant comparing casualties caused by Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan vs those caused by Al Qaida in their nefarious activities. Suffice it to say that the Americans are much more violet, killing double the people Al Qaida has, and wounding tripple the amount of people. Here's Al-Qaida's Tally: In 2003, carried out the assault and bombing on 12 May of three expatriate housing complexes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 20 and injured 139. Assisted in carrying out the bombings on 16 May in Casablanca, Morocco, of a Jewish center, restaurant, nightclub, and hotel that killed 41 and injured 101. Probably supported the bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 5 August that killed 17 and injured 137. Responsible for the assault and bombing on 9 November of a housing complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 17 and injured 100. Conducted the bombings of two synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey, on 15 November that killed 23 and injured 200 and the bombings in Istanbul of the British Consulate and HSBC Bank on 20 November that resulted in 27 dead and 455 injured. Has been involved in some attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2002, carried out bombing on 28 November of hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killing 15 and injuring 40. Probably supported a nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia, on 12 October that killed about 180. Responsible for an attack on US military personnel in Kuwait, on 8 October, that killed one US soldier and injured another. Directed a suicide attack on the MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen, on 6 October that killed one and injured four. Carried out a firebombing of a synagogue in Tunisia on 11 April that killed 19 and injured 22. On 11 September 2001, 19 al-Qaida suicide attackers hijacked and crashed four US commercial jets—two into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon near Washington, DC, and a fourth into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, leaving about 3,000 individuals dead or missing. Directed the attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, on 12 October 2000 killing 17 US Navy members and injuring another 39. Conducted the bombings in August 1998 of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed at least 301 individuals and injured more than 5,000 others. Claims to have shot down US helicopters and killed US servicemen in Somalia in 1993 and to have conducted three bombings that targeted US troops in Aden, Yemen, in December 1992. Total deaths caused by Al Qaida are around 3,500. Here's the total for the Americans in Iraq (which really had nothing to do with Al Qaida anyway, so these deaths are doubly attrocious) Around 15, 000. Source: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/bodycount.htm So who should we really be scare of? The rant was inspired by a fear mongering article I read in time magazine today.

I spent the day with Sumin, and it went pretty good, although she was kind of pissed that I didn't call her last night, although it was a failure of communication, so in the end she was alright. I'm very pissed off right now. I bought in Pusan, a copy of Time Asia, mostly it was about the Olympics, but there was an article about 'the chilling threat of Al-Qaida'. Because aparently they have found evidence Al-Qaida is planning an attack on financial institutions in the U.S. It's fear mongering at it's worst, and does not inform it's readers of realities in the world. Just for a lark, I have decided to do some quick research on the internet, to see whether Al-Qaida or the good ole US of A is more of a threat to world security. I'm going to use a measure that isn't taken too seriously too often, but should be, human lives.

Casulties in the War on Terror.

Deaths both to military personal and civilians from all countries, from all causes (meaning war-related causes, it doesn't really matter if you're shot by the Americans or the Shi'ite Militia. I don't know if this is legally true, but I would think that you are responsible for all deaths in a war you start) in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

A very conservative estimate of this figure is: 15,000. That's one fourth of the total of American military deaths in Vietnam.
If we also very conservatively estimate the wounded figures by doubling them (sometimes wounded figures can be higher than four times the death count). We have 30, 000 wounded.
So that's 45, 000 people affected in a really adverse way by the Americans.

Now let's look at death's directly caused by Al Qaida.

This is from an admittedly biased source, the U.S Navy.

Al Qaida Attacks

"In 2003, carried out the assault and bombing on 12 May of three expatriate housing complexes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 20 and injured 139. Assisted in carrying out the bombings on 16 May in Casablanca, Morocco, of a Jewish center, restaurant, nightclub, and hotel that killed 41 and injured 101. Probably supported the bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 5 August that killed 17 and injured 137. Responsible for the assault and bombing on 9 November of a housing complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 17 and injured 100. Conducted the bombings of two synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey, on 15 November that killed 23 and injured 200 and the bombings in Istanbul of the British Consulate and HSBC Bank on 20 November that resulted in 27 dead and 455 injured. Has been involved in some attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2002, carried out bombing on 28 November of hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killing 15 and injuring 40. Probably supported a nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia, on 12 October that killed about 180. Responsible for an attack on US military personnel in Kuwait, on 8 October, that killed one US soldier and injured another. Directed a suicide attack on the MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen, on 6 October that killed one and injured four. Carried out a firebombing of a synagogue in Tunisia on 11 April that killed 19 and injured 22. On 11 September 2001, 19 al-Qaida suicide attackers hijacked and crashed four US commercial jets—two into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon near Washington, DC, and a fourth into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, leaving about 3,000 individuals dead or missing. Directed the attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, on 12 October 2000 killing 17 US Navy members and injuring another 39.
Conducted the bombings in August 1998 of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed at least 301 individuals and injured more than 5,000 others. Claims to have shot down US helicopters and killed US servicemen in Somalia in 1993 and to have conducted three bombings that targeted US troops in Aden, Yemen, in December 1992." Plus another 109 from the Madrid bombings, and another 1000 wounded. Only one of these attacks where on America soil, and none of these attacks wrought the same damage to society that the American attacks have in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So the official death toll from an official American source for the 'evil menace' of Al Qaida is 3, 661 killed, 7,000 wounded. Suspose we were playing some kind of evil game. The winner's final score will be the difference between the two tallies. Americans win 12, 329 killed, 23, 000 wounded. So who should we really be cowering in fear of?

So, I'm in Pusan. I spent the afternoon with Sumin and then I met up with Luke and Morlin. It was rather enjoyable, because well, Morlin is a funny Irish woman with a great sense of humour and a great smile. So I was going a mile a minute, trying to get her to smile. I had fun, but I still need alot of external positive reinforcement. I want to get to the point where I don't have to rely on anybody else for that. Sumin was very sweet today, though. She was trying to be funny in English, and sometimes is. And held hands with me. I think she wants to be like that for an indefinite period of time. hand holding, hugging. Nothing more risque. Pusan is exactly like Ulsan except bigger and with the people are much friendlier. I'm going to check into a motel if it's not too expensive. I don't think it will be and even if it is, I can afford to splurge. At least for the next couple of weekends. Meeting Sumin and such. And if it is way more expensive than I thought, I'll go to a dvd bang and get some sleep.

Nothing much doing. The universe is tilting as it should. I'm here when I really shouldn't be. I should be at home, making myself dinner, but anyway. I destroyed the civilization game I have after I spent a total of ten hours playing it on the weekend. Not very productive. I could use that time to write. I had a good, but long day. Moments of mirth. One of my students is pretty hyperactive. I told him to draw Jupiter, as we were learning planets. He drew a zookeeper. Funny mind that.

I spent the evening watching fifty first dates, the Adam Sandler movie and Scary Movie. I hadn't seen alot of these big budget comedies when I was living in Peterborough. Movies being damn expensive to go to, but I digress. I thought 50 dates was excellent comedy and Scary Movie was just stupid. Adam Sandler, I think is maturing as a comic actor, sort of becoming like Jim Carey. I think they are both my favorite actors, because they can pull off zany physical comedy, but they also have a sort of gravitas. So why was fifty dates so great, and why did Scary Movie blow? Fifty Dates had an interesting premise, and great writing and subtle comic acting. Scary Movie, is supposed to be a satire on the nineties horror flick, but it's just a bunch of sex jokes. It's exactly like watching Korean porn. (After 12 o'clock they show on Korean television really bad Korean, and western soft core porn. ) It's funny that I don't consider myself a prude, but I think sex jokes are really crass. And when I say crass, I mean crass in the true sense of the word, unrefined. Anybody can make a sex joke. It takes more intelligence to make a joke about something else. For example, I will give you two examples. What a bad sentence, forgive o ye gods of good English prosody, i.e. Orwell. What a pretensious excuse. Anyway, Dan Ackroyd's character says, "I heard that Walruses have the second biggest penises of any mammals. I have the largest". And in scary movie, the virgins are having sex, and the repressed male shoots sperm like a fire hose, covering everything. O.k., so I laughed. But which joke am I more likely to steal and use in my daily life?
I had this deep intellectual thought today. That we humans are almost on the verge of evolving into a super-organism. The thing that prevents us, is that we are much more likely to do the things that satisfy our own individual needs and that of our family and our social group. Nothing wrong with that when you are a nomad and you share the planet with other nomads, but now it's completely different. Humans are the most successful large mammals. There are billions of humans. I think our only mammal competitor in terms of numbers are rodents. So if we are so successful, we are in danger. Why? Because if we keep doing things just for us, and our families, and our social groups, we are going to destroy our civilization. I don't say planet, because even if we fuck it up so badly that we cause ourselves to be extinct, the planet will still go on. Everybody wants a car for their family, right? If there are 6 billion people on the planet, my conservative estimate is that there are 1 billion cars, and trucks on the planet. That's an awful lot of polution. I think the only way forward is some sort of Green Fascism. If we are to survive, not everyone can have a car. The problem is that, if people are going to be given free choice, they won't choose the best thing for humanity, the will choose the best thing for themselves, and their family. I think that if humanity wants to involve, there has to be some sort of new spiritual movement, dedicated to several goals. The first is to make sure that all of the basic needs of humanity are met, i.e., the food resources of the planet are shared equally, and that all war ends, etc. The next is to make sure that the enviromental damage that we have done to the planet is reversed, and simultaneously learn how to live as a super species in harmony with it's evironment. And then, and this may sound crazy, but I think the next stage for humanity is interplanetary colonization. We are intelligent enough to do it, and wise enough to want to. Why does this need to be a spiritual movement? Because socialism, the only philosophy to come close to espousing these goals is intellectual. It has no loyalty from the heart, of many of the people who hold its ideals. I think I need to think more about this.

Sumin stayed over at my place last night. No, nothing happened. Nothing could possibly happy between us in a million years. It's like we skipped the whole passionate first stages of our romance and firmly fixed ourselves in the unpassionate doldrums. I really like her as a friend, but I can't see myself with her. She does things which I don't quite understand, like checking how she looks about three times an hour. Last night, before going to sleep she combed her hair. I could see maybe coming your hair, but she used a mirror to make sure everything was strait. Maybe uneven hair keeps her awake. She slept on the couch, and I in one of my two beds. Because, she is ever the Victorian. Freud would have a field day. I was kind of irritated because she didn't tell me when she was coming and I waited until 3:00 a.m and then she showed up at 3:30 when I was sleeping. We had a good day today. We went out for lunch, and then to the pc bang, and then we had a walk in the "Grand" Park. She got stung by a wasp and freaked out, thinking the stinger was still inside of the wound. I did a quick lesson in the differences between bee and wasp stingers and she seemed reassured. I won't see her for about a week, as she's moving to Pusan. I think I like blogging...it's much more communicative that traditional journals, or books. I mean, my mom can tell me what she thinks of my poems, my ex can tell me what she thinks, random strangers can tell me what they think. I like that.

I was re-reading the blog when I realized I should check whether or not the money has gone into my bank account in Canada. I have had a great idea, and it's not even new. It's the reawakening of an old idea. It's to start a traveling theatre company. My idea is that it would travel to rural areas, areas where the theatre is the sport of shrivelled up old ladies, and make it exciting, fun again. It could do my plays, and the plays of the other members of the group. But it wouldn't be theatre just in the traditional sense. It could be juggling, and busking, an event. People could talk about it like, 'do you remember that time that troupe came to town?' It would be very proletarian. Theatre for the masses and not just for the rich of Toronto or Vancouver, or the idle and pretensious, like in Peterborough. I had this idea before, after my stint with the Young Players ended, but now I am actually in a place where I could make it happen. Both in my personal life and in economic terms. I think I would come back to Korea, to pay off the student loan and to save money, and write. The problem is that Sumin is still around, and she wants to live with me. I don't think I could be very creative with her around, and as she's a prude to the extreme, I wouldn't even get the fringe benefits of living with someone. A bonus is that I think Jen would be interested in the theatre idea. I think I'll talk to her about it.

Yeah, so I went to the bank today. It was an excercise in frustration. I think I sent money back to Canada, but I won't know until I call my bank back home. Yeah, so Josh stuck up for in me in an e-mail saying that Pili is well, Pili and that I've never been a mooch. Thanks bro' you rock. Not much more to say, last day of vacation and then I have to go back to work. I'm planning what I'm going to do when I go back to Canada. I'm thinking of taking the CELTA in Hungary, but I just got an offer to work in Daegu in Korea in November for 2.1 million won, that's about 3000 CDN a month. I could do alot of things like take Gumdo, do alot of writing and thinking. So I'm going to look into doing the CELTA in Canada. Hopefully in Halifax. Gotta go look into that.

So I sent a few people the address of the poetry blog, and Pili got all irate and made a bunch of comments on it. I have no further interest in talking to her. She seems more interested in self-glorification than in the truth. But that's not what annoys me. She could have emailed me and said that she had some kind of problem with my poems, instead of turning my poetry blog into a venue for the continuing story of how Adam and Pili hate each other. There's only a few poems directly related to her, and I put them up not as therapy but as art. Ge seki.

So the poetry blog is up and running....and I got a comment on it already from a man who somewhat scares me. He's some sort of musician living in California and he said that he could really relate to my work. Naturally flattered, I checked out his blog, and he has some major issues. Not that I don't have major issues myself, but it's just scarey to see someone dealing with the same things. I don't want my art to sound like me though. It has to come from me, but it doesn't have to be me, if you understand. I'm at the point where I'm not exactly sure what I want right now. Whether to come back to Korea for another year, or go somewhere else. I'm not sure the person I am currently with romantically is the right person for me. She's pretty sweet, but communication is hard, and I don't think we share the same interests. I don't think she has many interests. Yeah. Maybe it's best to go for adventure, but I am scared of the unknown. And of being a prick. But why can't I be a prick? No one is going to hold the door open for me. I have to do it myself. I was reading my journal from seven years ago. Funny how nothing changes. I'm still scared of the same things, I'm just far less purposeful. Which is liberating in a way. I do what I do. I write, I create, and if anybody gets anything out of it, so be it. I'm glad the guy in California liked my poetry. I communicated, and that's why I wrote the damn stuff in the first place.

So my bosom buddy, Josh has a blog now, and it's pretty fucking hilarious, check it out, http://skippingmywaytothefunnyfarm.blogspot.com/.   The humour on my blog is purely unintentional, but I don't care as long as you peons are entertained.  So I'm busy typing up my poems, and as soon as I burn them onto a c.d. I'll up load them onto the poetry blog.  Then I'll work on a play blog, a song blog, a picking my nose with hoes blog, etc.  The Korean government has stopped censoring blogs, which is good.  Saves me from the mild irritation of finding websites that exist to get around the censorship. 
   Korea, Korea.  Major things are going on in Korea nowadays, but the Korean media seems to want to keep it's people in the dark.  A couple of days ago about 200 people defected from North Korea.  This is the largest defections since the end of the Korean war, but no one's mentioning it in the south.  I think because the worst kept secret here is that the South korean establishment doesn't want reunification.  It would be too costly for them, think of East Germany on an infinitely grander scale.  So they try to hush up the fact that North Korean remains one of the world's most repressive and cruel regimes.  A person who defected before the mass defection was a scientist in the North.  What was his job?  His job was to perform human experiments.  Political prisoners would be gased to test the effects of chemical weapons.  Too bad the North wasn't sitting on a huge oil reserve like Iraq.  Saddam's regime dated from only the eighties.  These people have been suffering since the end of the Korean war.  There is also a chain of concentration camps throughout the countries where dissidents, (or people who break abritary rules, people who are completely apolitical) are held, and where their families are held.  That's right.  If your daddy insults the dear Leader, you, your mommy and your baby sister can all be put in a concentration camp.  And the U.S. is more concerned with those pesky nuclear fictions the north has invented.  No wonder their reputation here is abysmal.  They couldn't give a fuck about people.
     Well, enough of that rant.  I'm officially on vacation now, and I went on a date with Sumin to a park.  It was o.k., but she really liked it.  She hadn't been there.   It has a like, and there was a band practicing.    I'm waiting in the pc bang until 9:00 to watch King Arthur.  All of the summer blockbusters are starting now, because the little kiddies vacation started this week.  I saw fierenheight (fucking kraut speiling!  Zieg Heil!)  911 last week.  I, suprisingly didn't like it.  It seemed to be like one long conspiracy theory.  I mean, it's probably true, but it wasn't entertaining.  Bowling for Columbine, I think is a much better film.  It's serious, but also funny, it's perfect satire.  911 lacked the humour.  Yes, it is a serious subject, but Moore style has always been bittingly funny satire.  I'm thinking of two scenes in particular from his movies.  The first is from Roger and Me, where he is interviewing the rabbit skinner.  He has sympathy for her, but can't help at the same time making fun of her.  The second is where he goes in to a bank to claim his free gun because he opened an account.  That entire situation is funny, and his quiet questioning of the logic behind the offer is devastingly funny.  Where is that in 911?  C'mon, it was obvious to me that Bush was gunning for Iraq for a long time, and the case for war was pretty flimsy.  That's funny, but he never capitalizes on it.  Hope the mindless summer flick is as mindless is as mindless does.

This is the address of the poetry blog...it looks pretty good, I think:  http://adamtodlevertonpoetry.blogspot.com/

So things are going well, my last month in Korea, will be a relatively easy one, at least at work.  I don't have to work on Saturdays.  I have many things to do, find a job before I leave, etc.  I'm uncertain what the future holds for me, at least the two months I'm going to be in Canada.  I think that Chris and Chantal got married (they were going to sometime in July, I don't remember when), and I hope that the wedding was good.  They are probably pissed off that I didn't call them to congratulate them.  Oh well, I'm pissed off that in one year, they didn't make any effort whatsoever to communicate with me.  I wrote not many, but a few letters, and they didn't respond.  I know that you are busy, but it doesn't take that long to write one sentence and stick the letter in the mail.  Just another sign how incredibly disfunctional my family is.  I knew that intellectually, but never figured it out in my heart until recently.  On a different note, I've been having these ideas for comic books lately.  My latest is an adult comic (not a porn, but with occasional sex, and adult themes), called Rainbow Boy.  It's a comedy, Rainbow Boy's super power is that he shoots colours at people, and they are blinded.  His mortal enemy is Dr. Drab.  Dr. Drab's powers are that he sucks colours out of people and things.  Rainbow Boy leads a very hedonistic life, and devoted to pleasing himself, he's also very rich and never had to work a day in his life.  Dr. Drab works very hard, and has hard a very hard life and the world has made him cynical and despondant.  Very witty, sarcastic type of humour.  They are also best friends in real life, and have no idea of the other's secret identies.  Rainbow Boy became a super hero by falling into a vat of crayon goo at the Crayola factory.  Dr. Drab became an archvillian by teaching indifferent students for years.  The first issue would be the story of their lives and genesis.  It could have a ridiculous title like, Rainbow Boy and the...and well, I can't think of something right now, but something pretensious.  I have ideas for episodes.  Dr. Drab gets revenge on his ex but draining the colour out of her while she's doing the nasty, thus freaking out her unsuspecting lover.