Update

Happy Mother's Day! Hope you got another kick out of that, Mom.

Meg just purchased our Thailand airplane tickets. It's official. I'm heading to exotic Southeast Asia. I don't even think I can explain how excited I am. The amount of fun you can have for mere dollars is limitless. With only 60(!!!) days left on our contract, I'm ready to travel! It feels like such an accomplishment to be wrapping up my contract. I'm still hearing the internal debate rage in my head over the merits of my accomplishment, but I'm excited and pleased. I have scratched 10 months off the wall and have two to go. You might be wondering if I want to partake on another Korean odyssey, and to that I reply, "Absolutely."

The stock market has had a nice bull run that might lead some to suspect the worst is over, but being the realist/pessimist I am, I highly doubt it. The thought of being jobless despite my laziness doesn't sound appealing. I might as well come back and live on the white sandy beaches of Busan aka The San Fransisco of Korea.*

* The San Fransisco of Korea surely means a left leaning city, right?. I don't think I've ever seen Zach commit to anything as fast as he committed to living in Busan, which brings up an interesting question, do the hippies and all their drugs interest Zach or is it the thriving gay community? I'm leaning towards the latter.**

**I doubt Zach reads this blog, but if he does I'll sure find out after that one.
Zach- What the hell was that all about?
me- What?
Zach- Nanny and Papa are going to think I'm a gay, drug addicted hippie.
me- You read my blog? I'm so happy...
Zach- Did you hear me? I've been called a lot of things in my life but never
me- a reader? Anyway, I was just joking. Wow, you really read my blog. I'm touched big guy, you do care.

I will miss Seoul though without a doubt. The public transportation system is ridiculously hassle free. There are national parks littered right on top of this city. The Adventure Korea tour group is headquartered here, and they have casinos.

I went to a casino once.... and it wasn't pretty. I lost it. I lost more than just money. I lost it. I got sucked into a vortex of fun and excitement that can only happen when dancing with fire. AND I was dancing... I love cliches about, well everything. Where is the cliche saying about not mixing free alcohol with gambling. One vice is dangerous enough, when you add a second one in there all hell breaks loose. At first, wow, it was sooo much fun, and as it turns out there is such a thing as too much fun. They actually have 1 dollar roulette. Do you know how fun it is to drink an 8 dollar drink for free* while just playing 1 dollar roulette? I mean, I was just betting black for hours and I was up a couple bucks. I had a 50 percent chance of wining each spin. Basically a coin flip. Unless red came up 30 more times than black, my losses were going to be minimal. Then, after about the _______ free White Russian, I lost it.

*I mean free too. There is no tipping in Korea and the service is breathtakingly fast. As a 6 year grizzled veteran of the service industry of America, I saw the benefits of tipping, yet I oppose tipping. America should adopt the no tipping policies found in other places of the world. Companies shouldn't subsidize wages on to the customers. Tipping is so awful. Did I give enough? Did I give too much? Do I tip here? Do I tip there? A great meal can be ruined by the decion making process of tipping once the check comes. Alright, back to our previous topic...

With no clocks, no worries, and an unshakable confidence, my buzz took me over to the 5 dollar blackjack table. I know that right now everybody thinks they know what is going to happen. And if you predicted me losing a lot of money swearing off gambling and alcohol for the rest of my life, then you would be correct. The only good thing to come from this disaster was this, a basic Chris authored cliche that I will now follow from here to eternity: Don't mix vices!! One is enough, and once you start juggling more you're screwed.

Oh Seoul, home of casinos and valuable life lessons, I will miss you.