Saturday, May 24, 2003.
Feeling:
Sick, runny
nose, cough, etc.
Karma is a bish.
Loved: The Matrix
Reloaded.
Annoyed: At how every other person thinks they
could have made a better movie. Please.
Save it for 2 Fast 2 Furious.
DOL
A Corean baby's most important day is its first year birthday, or DOL. Sun Su celebrated his 1st year of life last Sunday (May 17).
Little babies get dressed up in little baby hanboks with the rainbow tops (mujigae juhgori) and they are placed in front of a table of choices.
Whichever item on the table the baby chooses first is supposed to show his path in life.
Sun Su grabbed the book first, which symbolizes learning. Nevermind that it is one of his favorite books and it is about cows and sheep.
Other items included: paintbrush (artist), pencil/pad (writer), money (wealth), tied threads (long life), and a rice bowl (healthy, strong).
At least this is what my mom said they were for. According to other sources, the brush could mean scholarship (since scholars knew brush calligraphy).
According to my mom, I chose the book first too. It's probably a good thing we didn't put an X-box controller on the table.
Immediately after choosing the book, Sun Su started chewing on it and then grabbed everything else. So much for ancient traditional prophecy.
This is Sun Su's answer to The Matrix :
There is no book. Why? Because Sun Su ate it!
This is Sun Su's very own hanbok, by the way. It's new and not quite as tattered as the one I surreptitiously dressed him up in a little while ago.
My brother Mark has come up for the week all the way from North Carolina. As you can see, we are quite different from each other in many ways.
Later that afternoon we met up with a few dozen of Amy's relatives and two of mine (my mom and my brother) at a Corean restaurant. I scared my brother for a second in the following conversation.
MARK: "So how long does this last?"
ME: "Probably a couple hours. I mean we still have to do group prayer, and sing, and then everyone dances around the table."
MARK: " ..."
ME: "Just kidding. HAHAHA!"
MARK: "Bastard."
Sun Su and his poor little peasant cousin on the right. He had his first birthday almost a year ago. Who's wearing the hanbok now, huh?
Hanboks are not very comfortable for the little babies. Plus we don't want to get them dirty, since we have to save them for the next baby or even our grandbabies. So we tried the emperor's pajamas up there for a while.
After the pajamas, Amy dressed Sun Su up in a suit to show his worldly sophistication. Here we see Sun Su trying to devise a plan on how to escape the clutches of Amy's brother. Where's umma?
If you look carefully on Sun Su's jacket, you will see a little white "horse" pin. That's my pin. I wore it when I was Sun Su's age.
These are two of my favorite people - the twins. They always say the nicest things to say about my dashingly average-looking self, as well as my adoreable Sun Su. The one in the red actually showed us around Corea in 1999 (I am still amazed my geocities journal hasn't been taken down yet).
I like the above pic because it shows Sun Su's dapper bowtie and suspenders. I don't like this pic because I look like I am smoking illegal substances at my son's first birthday.
My brother-in-law hit it off quite well with my brother Mark. Halfway through the birthday party, I found them both at the bar laughing and comparing stories.
The Corean femme bartender invited them to another nearby restaurant/bar (Mon Jin Lau) afterwards saying she could hook them up with her waittress girl friend.
My brother Mark, who's a bartender himself, saw through her little ploy and told us,
"I hate it when bartenders pull that shit. They try to string you along just to get more money."
Besides, my brother is immune to Asian girls. They remind him of our mom. And not in a good way.
The next three nights were spent with a few of us guys going out to places that have no business being mentioned in an entry about my son's first birthday party. (Evidently, my brother is not immune to petite gymnastay blondes.) Maybe next time. I am still recuperating.
"Four Franklins on the Reds. Baby needs a new pair of shoes."
No children or babies in the next entry. Believe you me.
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EYE SEE A BAD MOON RISING
Amy is on the verge of getting this LASIK surgery for her eyes. I am the opposite of enthusiastic about this. I have done my research which will not dissuade her, but I also would like to hear from anyone out there who has had this done or knows someone who has had it done, and what kind of side effects you have experienced. The pamphlet and the ophthalmologist are about as helpful as can be expected (considering this is an unnecessary procedure and a great source of income for them).
Our typical conversation about this surgery goes like this:
AMY: "They're my eyes. I can do what I want."
ME: "Yeah, but I'm the one who's going to have to drag your blind ass around when you are sixty."
You get the idea. Thanks in advance.
