The Seoul Train
...me bravoing my life...
白羊座二--魔羯水瓶座
4/3-10 1/17-22
白羊座二 魔羯水瓶座
星星的一周 神秘幻想的交界
通论：这是个情绪高昂又活泼的组合，尤其是婚姻关系，绝对能共享趣味且成功的生活，这种美满的气氛是其它区间组合所无法匹敌的。
爱情：两人的婚姻关系将持久且充满安全感。在白羊二与魔羯水瓶的家庭辞典里，根本就没有“无趣”这个字眼。对爱开玩笑的魔羯水瓶来说，白羊二是很好的听众，就算是自己被调侃也无谓。他们都很喜爱家庭聚会、派对、庆祝会的场合；当他们有爱的结晶后，更会为孩子营造一个充满温暖与爱的环境。
工作：然而，白羊二与魔羯水瓶却可以成为良好的工作伙伴，他们会相互尊重、负责任、辛勤工作。无论是夫妻或事业伙伴，对他们来说，胼手胝足、携手奋斗是了解彼此的快捷方式；同时，也是彼此建立真诚信赖、维系双方关系的最佳方式。
最佳组合：夫妻、工作伙伴
最糟组合：家人
建议：控制情绪的起伏。建立彼此诚实与互信的基础。掌握计画的预算。少动怒
I remember well the line by line translation and the meaning it left me stuck with. I don't usually roll over for Horoscopes but, this time, well. Why not.
4/3-10 1/17-22
白羊座二 魔羯水瓶座
星星的一周 神秘幻想的交界
通论：这是个情绪高昂又活泼的组合，尤其是婚姻关系，绝对能共享趣味且成功的生活，这种美满的气氛是其它区间组合所无法匹敌的。
爱情：两人的婚姻关系将持久且充满安全感。在白羊二与魔羯水瓶的家庭辞典里，根本就没有“无趣”这个字眼。对爱开玩笑的魔羯水瓶来说，白羊二是很好的听众，就算是自己被调侃也无谓。他们都很喜爱家庭聚会、派对、庆祝会的场合；当他们有爱的结晶后，更会为孩子营造一个充满温暖与爱的环境。
工作：然而，白羊二与魔羯水瓶却可以成为良好的工作伙伴，他们会相互尊重、负责任、辛勤工作。无论是夫妻或事业伙伴，对他们来说，胼手胝足、携手奋斗是了解彼此的快捷方式；同时，也是彼此建立真诚信赖、维系双方关系的最佳方式。
最佳组合：夫妻、工作伙伴
最糟组合：家人
建议：控制情绪的起伏。建立彼此诚实与互信的基础。掌握计画的预算。少动怒
I remember well the line by line translation and the meaning it left me stuck with. I don't usually roll over for Horoscopes but, this time, well. Why not.
A long time friend---currently bound for the exotics of Costa Rica---recently dropped this in my email box;
“hey I replied to your post about lebanon, but it didn't show up. WTF! no wonder no one leaves comments.”
In a futile attempt to address the problem I also tried to post on my own blog and, well- needless to say…
Anyway, I will let that issue slip down the priority list. I have more important things to do, such as respond to the post that never made it onto my blog.
.....
Where are we at now? Nearly three weeks into the Israeli army's offensive against the Hezbollah (Arabic for, The Party of God) militia in southern Lebanon that was started by the latter's July 12th cross-border attack into Israel that left 8 soldiers dead and two kidnapped. At least 423 people in Lebanon have been killed, 376 of those being civilians. 51 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Foreign nationals residing in Beirut and elsewhere have been or are still being evacuated by marines and over 120,000 Lebanese refuges have flooded into Syria which already houses some 420,000 Palestinian refuges.
The international community has repeatedly called for a cease fire. Yesterday a high-level conference held in Rome ended in disagreement. Most European leaders calling for an immediate cease fire while the U.S. continued to defend its position to give Israel more time. The US also previously blocked a UN resolution mandating a cease fire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who only made a trip to the area earlier this week, is reluctant to advocate a cease fire that fails to address the deeper issues of the on-going confrontation. Two weeks into the current conflict Israel stated that it would welcome an international force into southern Lebanon, with the caveat that the force would need to capable of carrying out military operations. Since that offer, both NATO and the UN no country- the exception possibly being France- has pledged a significant number of troops.
Israel stepped up their offensive today, directly sighting the lack of agreement on a cease fire by the international community. Their stated intention is to establish a security zone free of militants that would extend more than mile into Lebanon from the Israel border. As long as there is no force available to step in as a buffer in Southern Lebanon the conflict will continue. Israel doesn't want anything less than the total elimination of the Hezbollah threat and they cannot afford anything less as it would be interpreted as a victory for radical Islamists the world over. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and his Hezbollah militants have already achieved a victory by holding out for 18 days against the Israeli army. This is the longest any force, let alone a terrorist group, has sustained a conflict with Israel. But, then again, this isn't just any terrorist militia. Hezbollah is widely believed to be supported, funded and armed by Iran through Syria. Early in this conflict both Israel and the US were surprised at the power and sophistication of the Hezbollahan rocket arsenal. Neither country realized the extent to which the instigating terrorists were able to secure supplies from Iran. Also, Hezbollah has turned out to be a unique type of threat, as it has features of a stateless terrorist organization, but it also holds territory—and is quite dug in there--- and is able to hold at risk the population of the regional superpower in the way that only national militaries once could.
What I have outlined above is the current situation as of yesterday the 28th. Today there were some more interesting developments. Bush and Blair made a joint statement threatening Syria with regards to their role in the conflict. Sec. of State Rice went back to Israel to try and cut a peace deal. And, the majorities of the Arab states have now switched positions and are in support of Hezbollah. It is believed that the three weeks of Israeli bombardment and Satellite footage from Al Arabiya of dead and wounded Lebanese have outweighed Arab nation's initial disgust with the Shiite terrorist provocations.
Now, for the opinions.
And eventually the normative.
I support Israel's attack on Hezbollah. (It is another issue as to whether this was a politically smart move by the Israelis, but more on that later.) Hezbollah provoked the current conflict. They are responsible for dragging Lebanon into this unnecessary conflagration. Hezbollah has always run the lower third of Lebanon; the government in Beirut does not exert influence over them or that region. There seems to have been little desire from most Lebanese to do anything about the militia, then again, part of the reason might be that Hezbollah's militants easily outgunned the country's weak and divided army in previous confrontations.. Additionally many representatives sitting in the Beirut parliament and cabinet of this year-old, fragile democracy are in no way opposed to an armed struggle against Israel. (Hezbollah will never be ousted from Lebanon unless Syria, per Thomas Friedman's recommendation, is brought on board. Threatening Syria is not a step in the right direction.)
But, has Israel retaliated in an inappropriate way? No, it hasn't.
Others have put forth the argument that Israel, following in the footsteps of previous American responses to terrorism, has fallen hard from the top of the moral pedestal in dealing with terrorists. In stooping to their level the west is pursuing a war based increasingly on tribal solidarity instead of with the restraint and composure of a leading nation-state. I don’t buy it in the least.
Consider how Hezbollah is acting. They have dispersed themselves among a civilian population. The majority of their rockets are not in secured bunkers but instead hidden in civilian homes. They fire their rockets from densely packed neighborhoods, in civilian garb and then return to their pedestrian lives. Also, consider who they are firing upon. They fire indiscriminately into any Israeli city within their range. Their random attacks have killed not only Israeli's but also some Arabs as well. One pundit quipped, To Hezbollah, there is no such thing as“collateral damage” from its missiles. Israel keeps telling the world its army aims only at military targets, but Hezbollah doesn't even pretend to. Its soldiers proudly fire away at civilians. Hezbollah acts with no restraint. They do not adhere to international law. They will stop at nothing to destroy Israel and every Jew in its boarders.
And their mentality rules out pacification through diplomacy, consider the following, there are two rules to keep in mind. One is that you are not going to placate the enemy with the kind of concessions that appeal to Western diplomats. Hezbollah is fighting for honor, to humiliate the enemy, not for any particular objective. The author, John Tierney, was insisting that there is a distinct difference between Western culture and the prevailing culture in the Middle East, that “Honor” means two entirely different things in these respective cultures. He concludes that, Israel has no choice in what it's doing. Nothing short of victory by either side will change anything.
Additionally, consider the abnormally high level of anti-Semitism emanating from Middle Eastern states. Normally Israel is only forced to contend with calls for their annihilation from terrorist groups but now---point the finger at Iran---these threats are state sanctioned policy. Mahmoud Ahmadinejod, the new Iranian president, has ranged from highly provocative denials of the Holocaust to repeated calls for Israel's destruction, and his high-profile quest for nuclear weapons, not to mention the Iranian supplied rockets currently being fired into Nahariya by Hezbollah--- adding it all up leaves me thinking Israeli paranoia seems anything but.
This leaves Israel with no option. In order to eliminate the terrorist threat there will be unavoidable civilian casualties. Until the members of the international community all hop in the same life raft, Israel should do the job that a more prompt peace-keeping, buffer force would have done. Israel does not want to occupy Lebanon—seeing as the 18 year, hard learned lesson still fresh in everyone's minds--- they plan only to rout out Hezbollah and push them beyond the range of their rockets.
The Middle East is a mess. Forget democracy; think, 20 year devolution. Neo-cons should finally admit their ideology has flat-lined. I am afraid their damage is irreparable.
W. continues to present simplicity as clarity. When will he ever learn that clarity is the last thing you're going to find in the Middle East, and that trying to superimpose it with force usually makes things worse? That's what both the Israelis and Ronald Reagan learned in the early 1980s when they tried disastrously to remake Lebanon.
*Italics indicate quotes. All quotes are from various issues of the International Herald Tribune.
“hey I replied to your post about lebanon, but it didn't show up. WTF! no wonder no one leaves comments.”
In a futile attempt to address the problem I also tried to post on my own blog and, well- needless to say…
Anyway, I will let that issue slip down the priority list. I have more important things to do, such as respond to the post that never made it onto my blog.
.....
Where are we at now? Nearly three weeks into the Israeli army's offensive against the Hezbollah (Arabic for, The Party of God) militia in southern Lebanon that was started by the latter's July 12th cross-border attack into Israel that left 8 soldiers dead and two kidnapped. At least 423 people in Lebanon have been killed, 376 of those being civilians. 51 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Foreign nationals residing in Beirut and elsewhere have been or are still being evacuated by marines and over 120,000 Lebanese refuges have flooded into Syria which already houses some 420,000 Palestinian refuges.
The international community has repeatedly called for a cease fire. Yesterday a high-level conference held in Rome ended in disagreement. Most European leaders calling for an immediate cease fire while the U.S. continued to defend its position to give Israel more time. The US also previously blocked a UN resolution mandating a cease fire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who only made a trip to the area earlier this week, is reluctant to advocate a cease fire that fails to address the deeper issues of the on-going confrontation. Two weeks into the current conflict Israel stated that it would welcome an international force into southern Lebanon, with the caveat that the force would need to capable of carrying out military operations. Since that offer, both NATO and the UN no country- the exception possibly being France- has pledged a significant number of troops.
Israel stepped up their offensive today, directly sighting the lack of agreement on a cease fire by the international community. Their stated intention is to establish a security zone free of militants that would extend more than mile into Lebanon from the Israel border. As long as there is no force available to step in as a buffer in Southern Lebanon the conflict will continue. Israel doesn't want anything less than the total elimination of the Hezbollah threat and they cannot afford anything less as it would be interpreted as a victory for radical Islamists the world over. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and his Hezbollah militants have already achieved a victory by holding out for 18 days against the Israeli army. This is the longest any force, let alone a terrorist group, has sustained a conflict with Israel. But, then again, this isn't just any terrorist militia. Hezbollah is widely believed to be supported, funded and armed by Iran through Syria. Early in this conflict both Israel and the US were surprised at the power and sophistication of the Hezbollahan rocket arsenal. Neither country realized the extent to which the instigating terrorists were able to secure supplies from Iran. Also, Hezbollah has turned out to be a unique type of threat, as it has features of a stateless terrorist organization, but it also holds territory—and is quite dug in there--- and is able to hold at risk the population of the regional superpower in the way that only national militaries once could.
What I have outlined above is the current situation as of yesterday the 28th. Today there were some more interesting developments. Bush and Blair made a joint statement threatening Syria with regards to their role in the conflict. Sec. of State Rice went back to Israel to try and cut a peace deal. And, the majorities of the Arab states have now switched positions and are in support of Hezbollah. It is believed that the three weeks of Israeli bombardment and Satellite footage from Al Arabiya of dead and wounded Lebanese have outweighed Arab nation's initial disgust with the Shiite terrorist provocations.
Now, for the opinions.
And eventually the normative.
I support Israel's attack on Hezbollah. (It is another issue as to whether this was a politically smart move by the Israelis, but more on that later.) Hezbollah provoked the current conflict. They are responsible for dragging Lebanon into this unnecessary conflagration. Hezbollah has always run the lower third of Lebanon; the government in Beirut does not exert influence over them or that region. There seems to have been little desire from most Lebanese to do anything about the militia, then again, part of the reason might be that Hezbollah's militants easily outgunned the country's weak and divided army in previous confrontations.. Additionally many representatives sitting in the Beirut parliament and cabinet of this year-old, fragile democracy are in no way opposed to an armed struggle against Israel. (Hezbollah will never be ousted from Lebanon unless Syria, per Thomas Friedman's recommendation, is brought on board. Threatening Syria is not a step in the right direction.)
But, has Israel retaliated in an inappropriate way? No, it hasn't.
Others have put forth the argument that Israel, following in the footsteps of previous American responses to terrorism, has fallen hard from the top of the moral pedestal in dealing with terrorists. In stooping to their level the west is pursuing a war based increasingly on tribal solidarity instead of with the restraint and composure of a leading nation-state. I don’t buy it in the least.
Consider how Hezbollah is acting. They have dispersed themselves among a civilian population. The majority of their rockets are not in secured bunkers but instead hidden in civilian homes. They fire their rockets from densely packed neighborhoods, in civilian garb and then return to their pedestrian lives. Also, consider who they are firing upon. They fire indiscriminately into any Israeli city within their range. Their random attacks have killed not only Israeli's but also some Arabs as well. One pundit quipped, To Hezbollah, there is no such thing as“collateral damage” from its missiles. Israel keeps telling the world its army aims only at military targets, but Hezbollah doesn't even pretend to. Its soldiers proudly fire away at civilians. Hezbollah acts with no restraint. They do not adhere to international law. They will stop at nothing to destroy Israel and every Jew in its boarders.
And their mentality rules out pacification through diplomacy, consider the following, there are two rules to keep in mind. One is that you are not going to placate the enemy with the kind of concessions that appeal to Western diplomats. Hezbollah is fighting for honor, to humiliate the enemy, not for any particular objective. The author, John Tierney, was insisting that there is a distinct difference between Western culture and the prevailing culture in the Middle East, that “Honor” means two entirely different things in these respective cultures. He concludes that, Israel has no choice in what it's doing. Nothing short of victory by either side will change anything.
Additionally, consider the abnormally high level of anti-Semitism emanating from Middle Eastern states. Normally Israel is only forced to contend with calls for their annihilation from terrorist groups but now---point the finger at Iran---these threats are state sanctioned policy. Mahmoud Ahmadinejod, the new Iranian president, has ranged from highly provocative denials of the Holocaust to repeated calls for Israel's destruction, and his high-profile quest for nuclear weapons, not to mention the Iranian supplied rockets currently being fired into Nahariya by Hezbollah--- adding it all up leaves me thinking Israeli paranoia seems anything but.
This leaves Israel with no option. In order to eliminate the terrorist threat there will be unavoidable civilian casualties. Until the members of the international community all hop in the same life raft, Israel should do the job that a more prompt peace-keeping, buffer force would have done. Israel does not want to occupy Lebanon—seeing as the 18 year, hard learned lesson still fresh in everyone's minds--- they plan only to rout out Hezbollah and push them beyond the range of their rockets.
The Middle East is a mess. Forget democracy; think, 20 year devolution. Neo-cons should finally admit their ideology has flat-lined. I am afraid their damage is irreparable.
W. continues to present simplicity as clarity. When will he ever learn that clarity is the last thing you're going to find in the Middle East, and that trying to superimpose it with force usually makes things worse? That's what both the Israelis and Ronald Reagan learned in the early 1980s when they tried disastrously to remake Lebanon.
*Italics indicate quotes. All quotes are from various issues of the International Herald Tribune.
From the headlines:
"At least 31 people were dead or missing as a result of heavy rains in the eastern Gangwon Province of South Korea, the National Emergency Management Agency said..."
"South Korea issued a national crisis warning on Sunday as torrential rain caused flooding in parts of the country, killing 10 people and leaving 17 missing and presumed dead."
"Heavy rains cause death, destruction in N. Korea"
Excerpts give you more detail:
"The orange alert issued for the capital, Seoul, and its surrounding regions and for the eastern province of Kangwon was prompted by a "high likelihood of large-scale disasters" from heavy rain, the National Emergency Management Agency said."
"Nearly 3,000 North Koreans were believed dead or missing in floods and landslides after torrential rains hit the impoverished country, a respected South Korean human rights group said yesterday. Monsoon downpours caused much more damage than the secretive North’s state media have claimed"
Safely sitting inside my fourth floor apartment. The downpour hasn't stopped for days...
"At least 31 people were dead or missing as a result of heavy rains in the eastern Gangwon Province of South Korea, the National Emergency Management Agency said..."
"South Korea issued a national crisis warning on Sunday as torrential rain caused flooding in parts of the country, killing 10 people and leaving 17 missing and presumed dead."
"Heavy rains cause death, destruction in N. Korea"
Excerpts give you more detail:
"The orange alert issued for the capital, Seoul, and its surrounding regions and for the eastern province of Kangwon was prompted by a "high likelihood of large-scale disasters" from heavy rain, the National Emergency Management Agency said."
"Nearly 3,000 North Koreans were believed dead or missing in floods and landslides after torrential rains hit the impoverished country, a respected South Korean human rights group said yesterday. Monsoon downpours caused much more damage than the secretive North’s state media have claimed"
Safely sitting inside my fourth floor apartment. The downpour hasn't stopped for days...
One week ago today* (*that is, when I first started typing this blog post) I met a friend for a drink and lost my phone. The timing could not have been worse.
The next morning at 9.30 I was planning on meeting a group of friends at the KTX train station in Yongsan. From there we were to catch a train for a three hour southwesternly ride out to Daechon and, upon arrival, a bus onto the festival at Boreong. But, all of this had become much more complicated. Without my phone I had no way of finding out exactly where in the train station we were meeting and, immediately more troubling, I had no alarm clock to wake me up.
One rash act of misplacement banished me to an isolated island of sleeplessness.
I stayed up the remainder of the morning trying not to think about how much my cell phone had cost or how much I would have to spend to get it replaced.
I lucked out, found my friends at the station, boarded the train and retold my story so many times that by the end of the recounting I was too wide awake to steal back any of the hours of sleep from the night before.
The weekend was relaxing but exhausting. Here are a series of pictures with choice commentary.
So, lets cut right to the point of the Boreong Festival. The mud.
Tad, Peter and the three Koreans quickly turned into a party. Above is a picture of one of the 50 group toasts we had. I served as the translator. The cross lingual communication was kept to the bare necessities.
And on a side note, Sarah (the girl sitting on my right, one of my co-workers at the Mokdong Jong-ro Institute) sent this picture out to her friends back home with a story about the exhilaration of chancing on an authentic Korean barbecue and this is what one of her friends responded with:
Well, my name certainly isn't Dale, but it is funny that "Cydney" seriously thought I was somebody else entirely.
Unfortunately the festival is during the middle of the rainy season and we spent the entire three days almost entirely without sunshine.
And that is 2006 mudfest in its entirety. It was the second time I have been and probably my last.
The next morning at 9.30 I was planning on meeting a group of friends at the KTX train station in Yongsan. From there we were to catch a train for a three hour southwesternly ride out to Daechon and, upon arrival, a bus onto the festival at Boreong. But, all of this had become much more complicated. Without my phone I had no way of finding out exactly where in the train station we were meeting and, immediately more troubling, I had no alarm clock to wake me up.
One rash act of misplacement banished me to an isolated island of sleeplessness.
I stayed up the remainder of the morning trying not to think about how much my cell phone had cost or how much I would have to spend to get it replaced.
I lucked out, found my friends at the station, boarded the train and retold my story so many times that by the end of the recounting I was too wide awake to steal back any of the hours of sleep from the night before.
The weekend was relaxing but exhausting. Here are a series of pictures with choice commentary.
So, lets cut right to the point of the Boreong Festival. The mud.
Boreong is famous for its special kind of mud. The Koreans praise the local mud as having certain cleansing, exfoliating, youth-elixir qualities. Boreong has turned the fortune of their geographic location into a massive industry that packages and delivers the mud all across the peninsula and beyond. They have a number of products to offer including but not limited to: facial pack, soap, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste. There are several ways to "get muddy." The first being to stand next to one of the giant mud buckets and paint the mud on one's desired body parts. But there are also other, more entertaining, methods of application. For instance, there is the traditional Korean wrestling mud pit. This pit once again humbled me and my limited knowledge of wrestling gleamed a short freshman season on my high school wrestling team. There is also a giant slide down into a bucket of mud. There is a mud hut/cage, into which mud is intermittently sprayed. There was a burger king like blowup jumpathon covered in mud. Also, a miniature soccer pitch of mud. And finally, there was a Sauna offering a mud bath treatment.
My choice of application: All.
The Boreong festival was also a time to meet new friends. Tad and Peter, Sarah's roommates/good friends from college, fueled this particular chance encounter by benignly smoking a cigarette on the roof of our beach side hotel. Little did they know that they would soon be invited to a 4 hour long dinner party with endless amounts of meat, kimchee and booze.
Tad, Peter and the three Koreans quickly turned into a party. Above is a picture of one of the 50 group toasts we had. I served as the translator. The cross lingual communication was kept to the bare necessities.
And on a side note, Sarah (the girl sitting on my right, one of my co-workers at the Mokdong Jong-ro Institute) sent this picture out to her friends back home with a story about the exhilaration of chancing on an authentic Korean barbecue and this is what one of her friends responded with:
From: Cydney To: Sarah: RE: WhiteyDate: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:34:26 -0700
>Hey Baba! WOWOWOWOWOWOW you will not belive this...I'm freaking out
>right now, seriously freaking out this is the biggest its a small
>world moment I could ever possibly have....so the guy sitting with
>you in the group shot at the BBQ, Dale right??? Dale or Donno???
>Anyways I've been to 5 different countries with Dale, Candice and I
>were hitchhiking in Oz and him and his friends took us to a party at
>a rented house in Oz, so fun, anyways then we ran into him and his
>friend in the most random part of Indo and then in the middle of
>nowhere in Thailand and then we went to Laos and Vietnamnt together,
>haha crazy heh hopefully you guys are hanging out and he wasn't just
>a random in the pic cuz it wouldn't be near as cool of that';s the
>case, if you do hang out tell him I say hi and "oh ma god" he'll get
>it, anyways so great to talk to you online yesterday and let me know
>what's up with the whole Dale thing, freaking me out...love, later, >CydG>
Well, my name certainly isn't Dale, but it is funny that "Cydney" seriously thought I was somebody else entirely.
Unfortunately the festival is during the middle of the rainy season and we spent the entire three days almost entirely without sunshine.
We refused to let the weather ruin our weekend. Here we are chilling on the the beach...in the rain. No matter how firmly we set our collective consciousness against it, we were still just sitting on the beach in the rain. Oh well. I guess I just have to wait to go to Thailand where everything is just so damn beautiful and sunny.
The beach by day:
And, the beach by night:
And that is 2006 mudfest in its entirety. It was the second time I have been and probably my last.
I just spent a long time thumping out a post about the mud festival from this past weekend but then it disappeared and I flipped out and threw a bag of climbing rope into my kitchen cabinets.
So, I don't really feel much like retyping all of that again. Not right now at least.
Here is an article about Israel bombing the shit out of Lebanon. I sympathize with his plight.
The way we war
By Etgar Keret
This article was translated by Sondra silverstone from the Hebrew
Yesterday I called the cable people to yell at them. The day before, my friend told me he'd called and yelled at them a little, threatened to switch to satellite. And they immediately lowered their price by 50 shekels a month (about $11).
"Can you believe it?" my friend said excitedly. "One angry five-minute call and you save 600 shekels a year."
The customer service representative was named Tali. She listened silently to all my complaints and threats and when I finished she said in a low, deep voice: "Tell me, sir, aren't you ashamed of yourself? We're at war. People are getting killed. Missiles are falling on Haifa and Tiberias and all you can think about is your 50 shekels?"
There was something to that, something that made me slightly uncomfortable. I apologized immediately and the noble Tali quickly forgave me. After all, war is not exactly the right time to bear a grudge against one of you own.
That afternoon I decided to test the effectiveness of the Tali argument on a stubborn taxi driver who refused to take me and my baby son in his cab because I didn't have a car seat with me.
"Tell me, aren't you ashamed of yourself?" I said, trying to quote Tali as precisely as I could. "We're at war. People are getting killed. Missiles are falling on Tiberias and all you can think about is your car seat?"
The argument worked here too, and the embarrassed driver quickly apologized and told me to hop in. When we got on the highway, he said partly to me, partly to himself, "It's a real war, eh?" And after taking a long breath, he added nostalgically, "Just like in the old days."
Now that "just like in the old days" keeps echoing in my mind, and I suddenly see this whole conflict with Lebanon in a completely different lift.
Thinking back, trying to recreate my conversation with worried friends about this war with Lebanon, about the Iranian missiles, the Syrian machinations and the assumption that Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has the ability to strike any place in the country, even Tel Aviv, I realize that there was a small gleam in almost everyone's eyes, a kind of unconscious breath of relief.
And no, it's not that we Israelis long for war or death or grief, but we do long for those "old days" the taxi driver talked about.
We long for a real war to take the place of all those exhausting years of intifada when there was no black or while, only gray, when we were confronted not by armed forces, but only by resolute young people wearing explosive belts, years when the aura of bravery ceased to exist, replaced by long lines of people waiting at our checkpoints, women about to give birth and elderly people struggling to endure the stifling heat.
Suddenly, the first salvo of missiles returned us to that familiar feeling of a war fought against a ruthless enemy who attacks our borders, a truly vicious enemy, not one fighting for its freedom and self-determination, not the kind that makes us stammer and throws us into confusion.
Once again we're confident about the rightness of our cause and we return with lightning speed to the boson of the patriotism we had almost abandoned. Once again, we're a small country surrounded by enemies, fighting for our lives, not a strong, occupying country forced to fight daily against a civilian population.
So is it any wonder that we're all secretly just a tiny bit relieved? Give us Iran, give us a pinch of Syria, give us a handful of Nasrallah and we'll devour them whole. After all, we're no better than anyone else at resolving moral ambiguities. But we always did know how to win a war.
You have got to be f**king kidding me.
That is my initial reaction every third or so time I flip on my water in my apartment.
No bloody water comes out. At first, many moons back, I was more than eager to believe that this was a temporary problem, a slight trouble that didn't seem to have the potential to persist.
But, it is obvious that this was not the god d**n case.
There is nothing more frustrating than going to the bathroom to wash one's hands, turning on the water and then left with no recourse but to stand, arms extended, frowning at the non-dispensing faucet.
I mean come the f**k on. Its 2006 isn't it!?! All I ask for is to have reliable running water in all apartments in first world countries. Especially if the tenant has paid an absurd amount of money as a deposit- and I mean a breath stiflingly absurd fee- and then another 400,000 won on top of that 12 times a year plus an additional 60,000 won on the same increment for various phantom fees. On top of all of this my landlord claims that, the water, “It's free.”
Well, it certainly isn't reliable that's for sure.
This makes me angry angry.
This rapidly finger-slammed out post may be the first time you have heard about this issue but believe you me, it has been boiling under the surface for a good d**n time.
It has only recently geysered well beyond the detectable surface because of the recent rainy season.
I have nothing against days, weeks of incessant rain. Whatever- bring it on. What does start to annoy me is the humidity that clamps down in its wake. This is especially bothersome to me because I have no air-conditioning in my apartment.
I righteously pound my fist down on my fake wood desk thinking about the times when I had just walked up the four flights of my treacherous apartment stairs to my apartment after a long day's work in barely breathable humidity and sideways rain, wanting nothing more than a shower. I strip down to the buck-naked and step into the water closet, pick up my shower head and flip on the faucet and then promptly flip the f**k out when, again, water fails to make its assumed appearance.
I have brought this to the attention of those who are ultimately to blame for my apartment's glaring deficiency. An excuse or two were made. The issue was re-broached. The complaint politely resubmitted. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing has changed. I see the olderish married couple that owns my building and a lot of other property in several different choice locations and they are nothing but smiles and nods.
The other day it happened to be the 29th of the month and Mrs. Water Hoarder herself had the gall to ask me where the rent money was.
BWHAHAHAH!?!?!?!?! Excuse me, come again?
I have been paying my monthly rent around the first of the month for almost half a year. I went back up stairs to double check my contract- sure enough it says the 28th of each month, but give me a break. For 5 months I have paid on the first or second with no complaint whatsoever and now! you want to give me a hard time, now! after the cat is out of the bag as to my lack of water in my apartment!!
I went ahead and intentionally delayed my payment to remain consistent with my first of the month payments.
D**n it. There is nothing I can do.
That is my initial reaction every third or so time I flip on my water in my apartment.
No bloody water comes out. At first, many moons back, I was more than eager to believe that this was a temporary problem, a slight trouble that didn't seem to have the potential to persist.
But, it is obvious that this was not the god d**n case.
There is nothing more frustrating than going to the bathroom to wash one's hands, turning on the water and then left with no recourse but to stand, arms extended, frowning at the non-dispensing faucet.
I mean come the f**k on. Its 2006 isn't it!?! All I ask for is to have reliable running water in all apartments in first world countries. Especially if the tenant has paid an absurd amount of money as a deposit- and I mean a breath stiflingly absurd fee- and then another 400,000 won on top of that 12 times a year plus an additional 60,000 won on the same increment for various phantom fees. On top of all of this my landlord claims that, the water, “It's free.”
Well, it certainly isn't reliable that's for sure.
This makes me angry angry.
This rapidly finger-slammed out post may be the first time you have heard about this issue but believe you me, it has been boiling under the surface for a good d**n time.
It has only recently geysered well beyond the detectable surface because of the recent rainy season.
I have nothing against days, weeks of incessant rain. Whatever- bring it on. What does start to annoy me is the humidity that clamps down in its wake. This is especially bothersome to me because I have no air-conditioning in my apartment.
I righteously pound my fist down on my fake wood desk thinking about the times when I had just walked up the four flights of my treacherous apartment stairs to my apartment after a long day's work in barely breathable humidity and sideways rain, wanting nothing more than a shower. I strip down to the buck-naked and step into the water closet, pick up my shower head and flip on the faucet and then promptly flip the f**k out when, again, water fails to make its assumed appearance.
I have brought this to the attention of those who are ultimately to blame for my apartment's glaring deficiency. An excuse or two were made. The issue was re-broached. The complaint politely resubmitted. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing has changed. I see the olderish married couple that owns my building and a lot of other property in several different choice locations and they are nothing but smiles and nods.
The other day it happened to be the 29th of the month and Mrs. Water Hoarder herself had the gall to ask me where the rent money was.
BWHAHAHAH!?!?!?!?! Excuse me, come again?
I have been paying my monthly rent around the first of the month for almost half a year. I went back up stairs to double check my contract- sure enough it says the 28th of each month, but give me a break. For 5 months I have paid on the first or second with no complaint whatsoever and now! you want to give me a hard time, now! after the cat is out of the bag as to my lack of water in my apartment!!
I went ahead and intentionally delayed my payment to remain consistent with my first of the month payments.
D**n it. There is nothing I can do.
Nothing but stand naked in my bathroom, ringing my hands and using the mirror to perfect Calvin-like malicious faces (that would be Calvin and Hobbes) while my stress level escalates to match the humidity level.
A buddy of mine passed on this story to me.
“Don’t get tattooed in Hongdae,” warns Drew, an American who’s lived in Korea for most of his life. He confides in me his most embarrassing tattoo, which resembles a man yanking on a bull’s privates. The circle around the tattoo is uneven. He got it in the back of a piercing shop. “I told the artist I had to catch a train in two hours, which may have been my mistake.”
Read: "So, I got fuckin' housed one Friday night before my weekly booty call to Busan. I had i ship man won burning a hole in my pocket so I thought I'd get a little body augmentation before I downed a bottle of Beam on my way to DongSeoul Station. At the time, an image of some guy whacking off a bull didn't seem so gay. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. After informing the artist that I had a train to catch ("So make it snappy, Asshole.") I passed out on the table almost immediately and woke up one hour later with a huge headache and a fucked up tattoo (Did I mention I'm a twitcher?). Moral of the story: don't go to Hongdae for that shit. The language barrier prevents Korean tattoo artists from talking foreigners out of making really stupid life choices."
“Don’t get tattooed in Hongdae,” warns Drew, an American who’s lived in Korea for most of his life. He confides in me his most embarrassing tattoo, which resembles a man yanking on a bull’s privates. The circle around the tattoo is uneven. He got it in the back of a piercing shop. “I told the artist I had to catch a train in two hours, which may have been my mistake.”
Read: "So, I got fuckin' housed one Friday night before my weekly booty call to Busan. I had i ship man won burning a hole in my pocket so I thought I'd get a little body augmentation before I downed a bottle of Beam on my way to DongSeoul Station. At the time, an image of some guy whacking off a bull didn't seem so gay. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. After informing the artist that I had a train to catch ("So make it snappy, Asshole.") I passed out on the table almost immediately and woke up one hour later with a huge headache and a fucked up tattoo (Did I mention I'm a twitcher?). Moral of the story: don't go to Hongdae for that shit. The language barrier prevents Korean tattoo artists from talking foreigners out of making really stupid life choices."
These 7 seconds
Poor Zizou. I can understand why he did it- we don't know exactly what Materazzi said but it must have been serious enough to warrant the 34 year old veteran to lose his cool. It is sad though because France was out playing Italy, there was only 10 minutes left in the game and up until the conclusion of that world cup final, Italy had had a horrible shoot out record. Zidane would have made his shot for sure.
I imagine he will regret what he did.
Then again, maybe not. He had a long and glorious football career- easily the best player of his generation and probably one of the best ever.
Long live Zinedine Zidane.
_________________________________
And check this out: http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~bedding/zidane.html
Different takes on the incident.
_________________________________
Great game celebrating the incident:
http://addictingclips.com/Content.aspx?key=6EC2A897F32458F4
Poor Zizou. I can understand why he did it- we don't know exactly what Materazzi said but it must have been serious enough to warrant the 34 year old veteran to lose his cool. It is sad though because France was out playing Italy, there was only 10 minutes left in the game and up until the conclusion of that world cup final, Italy had had a horrible shoot out record. Zidane would have made his shot for sure.
I imagine he will regret what he did.
Then again, maybe not. He had a long and glorious football career- easily the best player of his generation and probably one of the best ever.
Long live Zinedine Zidane.
_________________________________
And check this out: http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~bedding/zidane.html
Different takes on the incident.
_________________________________
Great game celebrating the incident:
http://addictingclips.com/Content.aspx?key=6EC2A897F32458F4
This past weekend I made an appearance at my old college roommate's wedding in Glen Ellen, Illinois.Damn was it good to see all my old friends. It had been over two years since I had seen them.
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