Sunday, March 16, 2008

swingset chain

deery-lou.
previously on the e-list…

babies, marriage, & death—these are the things the old korean woman in my building speaks to me about. a couple of times this week i've ran into the old korean woman. every time she's sitting on the sofa in the lobby of the building. now that she knows i've lived in korea she is always eager to say hello. i try to spend a few minutes whenever i see her to chat. the first day she couldn't wait to tell me how handsome i was. this of course was followed by asking if i was married. she then preceded to tell me i needed to have a baby. i didn't have the heart to tell her my interest lies in the other sex. before i entered the elevator she told me not to visit north korea. "very bad" she said. then she made a motion across her neck and replied with, "they kill americans". i told her not to worry that i had no immediate plans to visit the north. a few days later i saw her again in her usual spot. she smiled up at me and said, "ansan". she asked if i was in the military to which i replied that i wasn't. i mentioned how i was there teaching english. she wanted to know if i had a korean girlfriend. telling me how every korean girl wants an american boyfriend. sounds like some of the teachers at my previous school. she inquired about whether or not i attended discos. i laughed telling her i was far to busy with school and taekwondo to hit up the discos. she smiled brightly saying, "you must be genius". i smiled politely, bid her farewell and went on with my day. i so look forward to my chance encounters with my new friend. now if only i could score some kimchi from her i'd be set.

friday night i met up with d-goth and his main squeeze for an unmemorable meal in japantown. our conversation centered around lost. each of us adding our two cents as to what we think is happening. which goes to show its not about how good or bad a meal really is, it's all about the company your with. we managed to get in a quick photo shoot before heading home.



i've been walking a lot lately. the great thing about these walks, besides losing weight, is discovering new parts of sf. while out with d-goth on saturday we stumbled upon an art exhibit at the presido officers' club exhibition hall. it was free and even though we were in our "workout" attire we decided to check it out. the exhibit, title "transforming art: the art of chris hardman", was based on the perception of illusion. which translates to a lot of mirrors. there was a really cool 3-d section where d-goth pretended to be swimming among the art. overall the exhibit was pretty good. it was one of those pleasant unexpected surprises.

today i ventured to a different section of the presido where i discovered what appeared to be an abandoned school. it was all fenced off since its military property but that didn't stop me from doing some minor investigating. i made my way to the back of the building where i found stairs leading down. i'm not really sure what my fascination is with old run down buildings but it exists. as i was making my way down i noticed a guard sitting at a table. that was the last thing i expected to see. not wanting to get into trouble for jumping the fence i quickly turned around before he noticed me. as i made my way further up the hill i noticed a giant sand dune. how odd for a sand dune to be out here. at least it gave me something else to investigate. the dirt road that went passed the dune lead to some strange subdivision. it actually felt like i had just entered a commune. the identical red and white houses resembled an old style motel. the street signs were all numbered like 1534 and 1535. this strange neighborhood seemed completely out of place in the city. i noticed an old man sitting in a chair against a backdrop of yellow flowers. the front door was opened and through the window in the back of the house the ocean was visible. there was a lot of activity going on, especially for a sunday morning. i didn't venture too far but definitely have plans to return and take a closer look.

stay gold & be well…

4 comments:

dac said...

The Others....thats all I'm say'n

Pevil said...

You better be careful on your treks. I don't want to see headlines "Man found in abandon building in the Presideo". Perhaps it was an "other" security guard.

Bonnie Conquest said...

Can't believe you visited that parallel universe... So cool.
And - walking is the best! You connect with the neighbourhood, exercise and clear your head.

Kate said...

i want to see this sand dune and commune. let's walk.