Against Nothingness

An Earthquake and Another Awesome Movie I felt my first earthquake this last sunday, or so I am told. You may have heard about the 7.0 quake that hit southern Japan this weekend, injuring some (I don't think anyone died) and doing some property damage. Apparently, in a very minor way, it's effects extended to Daejeon and beyond. Sunday morning I was sitting on this very computer, checking my email I think, when I felt the apartment swaying slightly. I recognized the feeling immediately, having worked on a tenting crew, in positions with much more sway than this apartment could ever give without falling down. At the same time, someone was moving in (or out) a floor or two above us. Out here, since everything is apartments, they have designed these machines that raise a platform up to your door, or balcony, to ease the moving process. You can load your furniture and appliances on this platform, and it takes them down for you. I mentioned that the earthquake was slight didn...

One of the Funniest Movies Ever Today Kristina and I watched one of the funniest movies we have ever seen. It was our first Korean movie, "Saving my Hubby". I couldn't believe how hard we laughed. It's about a husband and wife who have a young baby and are very tired and stressed out, as new parents often are. The husband goes to his first day at a new job, and reluctantly ends up going out drinking with the guys from work. He ends up drugged and in a scam to take his money, but he has no credit cards, so the scammers take his cellphone and call his wife so she can come pay. Now its up to her to save her husband. Naturally, things don't go very well. Her mother and father and law are visiting the next morning at 5 a.m, and she has to make a good impression; meanwhile in trying to find her husband, let alone save him, she nearly starts a gang war. Most people, if they watch asian movies, watch martial arts or anime. I like both of those a lot, and I have w...

Disappointed by Crichton I have long been a fan of Michael Crichton. His books number among my favorite fiction novel's. I have a cynical streak, and so I quite enjoy reading about futuristic technologies going terribly wrong due to lack of wisdom on the part of humans. I had been under the impression that, while still fictional, they were generally well researched. Well, they are better researched than most fictions, or I think so, but his newest book "State of Fear" was disappointing. It's a decent fiction, I read it fast and it held my attention, but the characters were far from beleivable. The plot was interesting, took quite a twist on the usual: a supersmart intellectual turned government agent travels the world thwarting environmental terrorists (who plot strikes which would, or it seems to me, have a negative effect on the environment... but then these environmentalists only care about money, not trees) while debunking the idea of global warming to anyone...

Sickness and Following Jesus Since coming to Korea both Kristina and I have been sick quite frequently. Much more than at home. I think I have mentioned this before. It's fairly common for foreigners to repeatedly get cold's, flu's, and various kinds of sinus infections. So this is not surprising. I have to say though, it sucks. Nevertheless, I can't say nothing good has come of it. Kristina has been sick more than I, and more often. One of the side effects of this is that I have to take care of her a lot. I love doing this, no hardship there. One of the other side effects is that I have to do basically all the household chores. You would think that if taking care of her is no problem, this would the same, but its not. I have discovered I very easily get frustrated and selfish; I strongly desire a certain amount of 'me' time, relaxing time, stuff like that. I don't like doing housework. I recently read an article, an interview with Eugene Peters...

A Picture Held Us... "A picture held us captive. And we could not get outside it, for it lay in our language and language seemed to repeat it to us inexorably." ---- Ludwig Wittgenstein 'Philosophical Investigations' This quote, given in a very different context from the one in which I am going to use it, definitely applies to me. I get pictures in my head. I imagine certain things happening, ideal images, snapshots of a life, and once they come into my mind I am very often driven to carry them out. The picture is repeated again and again everytime I revisit the context in which it was created. Let me explain by example. A few weeks ago Kristina's brother visited. Among other things, he brough us English tea. Something Kristina and I both enjoy, but have discovered it is impossible to buy in Korea. Very shortly after we had this tea, I got a picture in my mind: There I was, relaxing in the lounge chair in our living room, wrapped in silence and a warm bla...