Amanda Takes Off...

We Need to Practice If We're Going to Get an Engagement Session Done...

One of the Men

Another Man

Michael was in town! Of course...I didn't get a photo of him. Oh well. It's been about 18 months since we've seen each other, so it was a nice treat. (Scott was also there. A lot of people were there. I didn't get pictures of most of them.)

"OK, I found my $10 pencil, but where is my eraaaaaaser?" I whined.

"If I buy you a new eraser, will you be happy?"

"No! I've had that eraser and this pencil since I started studying Korean! I can't study without that eraser!" I pouted.

"OK, then we will find the eraser," Good Man said, standing up.

"Now you're making fun of me! But I want it!"

"No, I understand. I did not get into SKY because I did not have my Bugs Bunny pencil when I was seventeen."

We're still looking for my eraser.

YouTube seems to be running really slowly right now, so I hope these will eventually embed!

Thank you, Eric Herman. Eric Herman also did "The Elephant Song," which was popular with all of my students, 3-6 in Korea.

Did you know that 42 oz of mushrooms turned into a mushroom cream sauce makes a lot of sauce? I could serve a small army. (I found three packs of mushrooms today on the store's "please buy these before they go bad" rack and I couldn't pass up 36 oz of mushrooms for $3.13. We had another three packs of mushrooms in the fridge, so I added another 8 oz.)

Mushrooming aside, food in America annoys me. I've been reading a lot of articles about food, so I've been thinking about food in America lately. (See "Unhappy Meals" and "The Fast Supper" for especially interesting reads.)

1) When I left for Korea, there were eight servings of pasta in a box. I came back from Korea and found that boxes did not change dimensional size (nor price, of course), yet there are now "about 7" servings in a box. "About 7" meaning 6.625, which would be better described as "about 6 1/2."

2) The back of said pasta box says that "4 portions" uses a "full box." So is this some way to get around labeling regulations? A serving is not a portion?

3) A box serving and/or portion does not match a Food Pyramid serving.

4) What in the heck does it mean when chicken breasts have a "15% solution?" 15% solution to what? Fascism? Oil? The socks lost in the dryer problem? And what is the other 85%? A placebo?

5) Why are American chicken breasts as big as mine? Have chickens turned into walking boobs? How come the chicken breasts at the Korean market are smaller? (I promise, this is not a joke. Korean market chicken breasts are smaller.)

6) A serving of fruit is a "medium" piece of fruit (generally speaking). Have you seen the variation in, say, apples? First, American apples are going the way of American chicken. Second a medium Gala apple is a lot smaller than a medium Granny Smith. Third, a "medium" apple in a five pound bag is often smaller than the "medium" apples that are loose in the bin, right next to the bagged apples.

7) There is now some "Raspberry Almond M&M premium" product on the market. I love chocolate. Oh, do I. But couldn't they have put any actual raspberry in it? Lindt actually uses raspberry concentrate and orange pieces in their flavored chocolate. OK, M&Ms vs Lindt, not a fair comparison. OK, this also isn't really "food," but hey...

I have had an orange stain on my left thumbnail for over a week now. I went to the doctor today, because while it didn't hurt, I wanted to make sure it wasn't some fungus. She pressed on my thumbnail to see if she could do something to the color (blanch it?). She examined my other fingers.

"Well. It's not a fungus. It's not a bruise. And it's not something indicative of your health because all of your other nails are fine. So it must be a stain. Curry? Iodine? Spaghetti sauce?"

"Nope, haven't had contact with any of those things lately, and when I cook, I cook with both hands. We've been eating lots of tangerines, which I peel with my hands, but mostly my right thumb, and it's perfectly normal."

The doctor shook her head, "It's some sort of stain, but I don't know what it is. It'll take three months to grow completely out, probably. If it bothers you, you can wear nail polish."

I laughed, "OK, well now I feel stupid, but I really didn't know what it was..."

"Well, I'm not really sure what it is either..."

I had a bout of not knowing what it was tonight in taekwondo.

We were doing one of those strange special forces forms, and I could not figure out this one move. Something about fist in an arc and punching with the other arm. It was really frustrating.

At one point Special Forces said, "You have two arms! Can you control your body? 바보예요?" Are you an idiot?

I knew he didn't mean it to be cruel. "네! 바보예요! 맞아요! 괜찮아요!" Yes, I'm an idiot! That's right! It's OK!

He couldn't stop laughing. Good Man couldn't stop laughing when I told him the story later. Even in America, I am sometimes a foreigner, and thus I can get away with such language.

After class I wished him a happy new year, did a deep bow, and asked for money. He in turn did the same to me. We were speaking Korean the whole time, so my classmates—a white teenager and a Latina teenager and her father—were utterly confused.

Neither of us had any money.