Proving with each entry that if you’re hot, you don’t need to write entries.

Ooseung blinks a lot around Sun Su. It's a self-preservation instinct.

ABSINTHE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER

Going home for the weekend was good.

Amy gave me a big smile and kiss as she was carrying the baby.

Sun Su seemed mildly surprised to see me, but then he went back to stacking his plastic cups. He’s got things to do, you know.

Baby Ooseung gave me a cheeky baby smile when I approached her. Then again, she smiles at almost anyone who doesn’t look like an old Asian woman wearing a lot of makeup (she cries when Amy’s mom looks at her).

My brother had just come back from a two week trip through Europe. He was pretty amazed by Holland (the girls). He always likes Amsterdam (the lack of certain laws, and the girls). London was beautiful (the girls). He made lots of friends (mostly girls).

In the United States, girls will often ask him, “Are you Native American?”

Over there the girls asked him, “Are you Canadian?”

During those particular two weeks, I met a lot of girls too (in the hospital). The experienced kind. Like seventy years of experience.

Aww... look at the scared baby.

“The one thing that surprised me in Amsterdam was that they serve everything but absinthe,” he said to me.

“Absinthe?” I looked at him funny through suspicious spectacles.

“Yeah, every time I asked a bartender for it, they’d give me this weird look (like the one I gave him) like I was some kind of freak. And this was in Amsterdam for Christ’s sakes.”

“Uh, you know that absinthe is like a neurotoxin right?” I asked.

“What? Really?”

“Yeah, it’s that shit Van Gogh and all those artist folk drank. Gave them hallucinations and shakes, and screwed with their color vision, and made them all crazy. Some people think that’s why his paintings looked they way they do (which I disagree with but whatevs). I think it was banned.”

“Wow,” my brother sighed, “Damn. Well, no wonder. I finally got some in London. It was pretty cool how they prepare it with a heated spoon. It wasn’t bad.”

You know you’re asking for some bad shit when a city famous for legal prostitution, marijuana cafes, mushroom vendors, and general public debauchery treats you like you’re the freak.

Anyways, that’s me and my brother in a nutshell. He’s like absinthe, fun but maybe not so safe sometimes. I’m more like ginger ale, tepid but with purported medicinal uses.

[Apparently it is controversial whether absinthe was really a mild neurotoxin or just another ethanol based beverage. Although it’s major components (thujone and anise) are classified as ‘convulsant poisons.’ Drink up and shake it off, scallywags.]

Not in my best shape but I'm still working on it. Some of us have jobs you know.

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WITH CHINGU LIKE THESE

["Chingu" means "friend."]

While I’m away from home, Amy has been spending more time going out with her friend from church. She is a young mother and very Corean (three years in the U.S.). In some ways, very very Corean.

AMY’S FRIEND: “Why are your husband’s shoes so scuffed up?”

AMY: “He only wears those shoes because he got them in Corea.”

AMY’S FRIEND: “Can’t you buy him new shoes?”

AMY: “I tried. He doesn’t want new shoes!”

AMY’S FRIEND: “Well, it looks like you aren’t taking care of your husband if you can’t buy him new shoes.”

Amy hates my black zipper shoes from Corea now.

AMY’S FRIEND: “Why do you always dress Sun Su and Ooseung up in the same clothes when we go out together? Didn’t you get lots of new clothes for them to wear?”

AMY: “I don’t pay any attention. Those are their favorite clothes. I guess I wear the same clothes a lot too, haha!”

AMY’S FRIEND: “Yes, I noticed.”

The audacity just cracks me up.

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POSTERITY IS A LUXURY

ME: “Did you hear about [insert latest horrible news event]?”

AMY: “I heard a little but I try not to watch the news. Too busy anyways.”

ME: “Yeah, it’ll just upset you.”

AMY: “My whole world is just the kids. It’s like I live in a fantasy world.”

It’s the only world that makes any sense.

Too many bereft parents and brethren out there lately. Only the worst possible thing can make an old Corean father cry in public. It did and he cried. And his people did too. Even across the globe.

But when it comes to overcoming heartbreak, Corea is one of the world's champions. They just never forget it.