Wednesday, July 18, 2007

"Forever Young"

The Han River
...in the direction not taken.
(Image from Wikipedia)

I've made an unplanned trip to the university today because my internet link at home is broken, but I'm relying on an unreliable electrical system that too often overloads and blows its circuit, so who knows if I'll have the patience to deal with frustration over lost words everytime the circuit blows...

I'll try to keep my entry short today, which will constitute a minor miracle if successful since I'm usually so longwinded.

My wife persuaded me to buy a bicycle a couple of days ago, and since the Koreans celebrated Constitution Day yesterday, we took our kids out for a riverside ride along one of the Han River's tributaries. My wife had mentioned that we could ride down the tributary until we reached the Han, which would mean heading for the city's center, but I soon saw that we were heading upstream. I kept my mouth shut, however, for the mountains ahead looked more inviting than Seoul's steel-and-glass canyons. We'd gone several kilometers before Sun-Ae noticed her minor navigational error.

I was having a grand time, however, and pretended only slight disappointment that we wouldn't see downtown Seoul from the banks of the Han. My reward for such a spirit of generosity on my part was a generosity of spirits on hers. She treated me to two cold beers at an isolated spot under a train trestle that sheltered a few tables where some working class family served boshintang and cold beer on tap. I partook only of the latter, for I wasn't quite hungry enough to devour any of man's best friends.

I hadn't ridden a bike for several years, and En-Uk is really still just learning, but all four of us bore up well under a hot sun and a hard ride. En-Uk kept me laughing with his complaints -- Mama was riding too fast, Sa-Rah was passing him too often, Daddy was being too bossy. I swear that his mouth was running a lot faster than his bike, and I told him that if he'd just attach some Rube Goldberg device from his lower jaw to his bike's back sprocket, then he'd outrace us all.

Eventually, we wended our way back home, where -- in a frenzied fit of physical fitness -- I proceeded to run up all 25 floors to top off the long day, feeling despite my fifty years forever young...

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13 Comments:

At 11:46 AM, Blogger Hathor said...

Before I linked, I heard Bob Dylan as he sang it in the 70's. Nostalgic.

 
At 11:49 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Yeah, me too. I actually like the Dylan version more.

Jeffery Hodges

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At 11:30 PM, Blogger Conservative in Virginia said...

If you have an unreliable electrical system, then you need to get a UPS. They are indispensable here in the Old Dominion.

 
At 4:01 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

CIV, thanks. My own electrical system at home is reliable, but the university faculty office has an unreliable system and could probably use a UPS (which I'd never heard of).

What, by the way, is the "Old Dominion"?

Jeffery Hodges

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At 8:39 AM, Blogger Conservative in Virginia said...

The Old Dominion is a nickname for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

 
At 8:47 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

I had an inkling that it was ... or perhaps a faded memory. Maybe you even told me before...

By the way, I realized this morning that my post could easily be misread. The internet problem was at home; the electrical problem was on campus.

Anyway, my home internet connection is working fine now because my wife bought a new whatchamacalit. That's the English term for it, anyway. I don't know the Korean word...

Jeffery Hodges

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At 10:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm glad ya'll enjoyed your ride. But you missed a good meal.
JK

 
At 10:56 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Yeah, JK, I know...

I've also missed out on them there mountain oysters and warshing 'em down with shots of moonshine. But maybe you'll keep some of them oysters in your ice box and jugs of that there moonshine out behind the outhouse.

That way, I can try 'em both sometime...

Jeffery Hodges

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At 1:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well I have to say I do have my limits, though the list is short. I tried one oyster (yes they usually come in pairs but) it wasn't to my liking. But I guess it's a bit like kimchi, it's an acquired taste.

Just one I'll forego acquiring.

JK

 
At 3:03 PM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

I'll probably forego the boshintang. Probably...

Jeffery Hodges

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At 2:47 AM, Blogger jj mollo said...

I write all my longer documents to my thumbdrive now. When something goes wrong, I don't lose anything. From time to time I copy the drive to my hard drive on the computer.

 
At 2:49 AM, Blogger jj mollo said...

My UPS has saved me several times.

 
At 5:20 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

JJ, I don't know what a thumbdrive is, but I'm always saving to my hard drive what I've typed, so I wouldn't lose much.

Jeffery Hodges

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