18.4.06

Favorite things

Moon-Catchin' Net

I've made me a moon-catchin' net,
And I'm goin' huntin' tonight,
I'll run along swingin' it over my head,
And grab for that big ball of light.

So tomorrow just look at the sky,
And if there's no moon you can bet
I've found what I sought and I finally caught
The moon in my moon-catchin' net.

But if the moon's still shinin' there,
Look close underneath and you'll get
A clear look at me in the sky swingin' free
With a star in my moon-catchin' net.


by Shel Silverstein

But a blur

Several people, Koreans and Americans alike, have asked me the one question that every foreigner has had the opportunity to answer.

Almost a quarter of the year has gone by.


The past two months played a horrible disappearing act on me. Back in the US, Monday seemed to linger around a little longer every week.

There are plenty of distractions- the bottomless bucket-o-work to empty, the abundance of food establishments with the option of delivery at anytime within the 24-hour period we call a day, gambling rooms that never rest, various vegetation and botanical venders displaying their goods on the sidewalk, shoes, makeup, steel, socks, and pet stores still open around midnight -but we musn't forget the hordes of bodies that make their way through these streets. The human traffic in New York can't compare to the constant streams that pass through these rivers of concrete.

The I have always considered myself an avid people watcher, but there's something different about them...

I miss the slow, humdrum beat that I paced myself to 13 hours ago.

The population here is so dense. No surprise, but I didn't realize how precious breathing space would become.