The final cut

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.


A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Charles Dickens


It was one of those weeks where it was the best of times, it was the worse of times.

First the good times.

Thursday was a fun day. I had to go to Osaka Japan to get my Visa so i can work here in Korea for another year. I left very early from Daejeon, 0420 hrs, and it was a nice bus ride to Incheon Airport. It was easy to get through since I only brought 1 bag, a small carry on with papers. The duty free shopping was very nice and had a nice meal.

Then I met an person from Canada, he was going to Osaka also, then we met a lady from USA, then a person from Canada and another one from Canada, so we had 5 people all to start with. I was so glad that I wasn't going their by myself. I later met 2 other people on the plane so by the time the flight ended we had 7 people all going to the same location. What was funny was that the last 2 were Americans who are both of Arab ancestors, They both told me that it was funny because they were the ones next to the escape hatch on the plane, They told me that the Stewartness asked them both not to touch the hatch at all. They both laughed because in American their is no way that they would even be allowed near the hatch. They took it with humor and we all had a good laugh from it.

What was weird was the smell, or a lack of a smell, in Osaka. I just got so used to the smell here in Korea. I was really surprised by the clean streets.

We took the subway on the way to the South Korea Consulate. If you have to go please take the Express Train, it cost alot more but its well worth it. Another thing we all discovered was the price for a lot of things are definately higher in Japan. The papers, the food. It was worth it.

We made it to the consulate, and it was ok, we had an hour wait so we found a nice little dinner, its called the tomatoo. The food was great and it wasnt that expensive. We all made it back and got our new visas. We took the express train back to Osaka and it was great, very roomy and comfortable. I am 6'4 (1.93 Meters) so finding comfortable seats here has been hard. That why I liked the express train.

I counldn't find Cubans their in the airport and I almost missed the flight back but it was fun.

Now for the worse of times.

Their are many things in my life that I have come to accept, That I am an American, A Texan, A member of the GOP. So because of these things people will hate me and they don't even know me. That is the real sadness for them. Sad to say, I ran into that late Friday night/ early Saturday morning.

I went to the Wa-Bar like I sometimes do in Suji, It a nice bar that I went to when I lived in Yong-In city. I met my friends and after awhile we went outside to sit and talk. One person was from Australia and I asked him to please explain "The Wiggles" to me. (they are a kids show from aussie land that is very popular with the kids) he said that they were famous and we laughed about it. Then later it all went bad.


To be honest here, I really dont know the kid or that much about him. All I recall about him was that he was wearing a England Football shirt, so I thought that he was from the UK (Found out later he is from Canada.) This guy starts talking about how much he hates America. (now normally IM ok with that what the kid didnt realize was that I'm ex US Army and the other American their is active US Army.) This kid just keep saying stupid stuff and what made me lose it is when he said this.

The American's who died on Sept.11 DESERVED TO DIE.

That's when I lost it! Sad to say I think that I have lost an associate on that day, he died in the Pentagon, I knew him he knew me. Now with the War in Iraq and maybe soon Iran and North Korea. I fear that I will lose too many people that I care about. I darn near wanted to hit the kid but I didnt. My cooler head prevailed. To his credit he did buy me and the other American a drink, neither of us drank it. To be honest it made me very upset but nothing will happen, if he doesnt bother me, I wont bother him. What was sad about this while thing someone that I like saw this whole thing and now I think that I've blown any shot that I might have had with her.

She has a blog also and I read hers, shes from Canada and I think shes very smart and beautiful, my Army friend said that I should ask her out so I have, via email, now because of the incident Don't know if she'll want to talk to me again.


Like I said earlier, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.