Forgotten Pictures

Ken and I were going to go here today for a much-needed break from city life but, sadly, we woke up to pouring rain this morning. And, yes, it's still raining cats and dogs at 2:30 in the afternoon, with no signs of stopping. (The little picture to the left is Toronto's weather as predicted by Google... for the whole day. *sigh*)

As a result of the crappy weather, I've been forced to kill time inside all day; first making a heart-stopping breakfast of eggs and greasy bacon (so much for becoming vegetarian), then putting the finishing touches on my useless resume (it won't be useful until I can legally work in July), then cleaning already-clean parts of the apartment, and, finally, sorting through picture albums on my computer and organizing them simply for organization's sake.

Which leads me to this post, of course. I found some pictures I had neglected to post online before, so I've decided to rectify that sad little fact. (I'm bored and have little responsibility at the moment, so why the heck not?)

Here it goes!

1) Our Korean boss's daughter's wedding. 

Yu-Jin's wedding occurred only a week or two before Ken and I bid Korea adieu at the beginning of March, so these pictures got lost in the mayhem of moving from one side of the planet to the other.

(Her dress was by none other than Vera Wang.) 

The overall wedding was rumored to have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and this was the precise reason cited when we asked our boss why she hadn't paid us on time before our contracts were finished. (We were eventually paid in full, but not before putting up a huge, stinking fuss.)

The above picture (taken at the extravagant wedding reception) may have been posted during Facebook-days-gone-by, but I think it's cute enough to post again for posterity.

2) Our Centum Star apartment. 

Our apartment in Busan may go down in history as my favorite. Of course, it didn't occur to either of us to take many pictures of it before we left, so I only have a few grainy shots I snapped a few moments before our couch and table were hauled away by their new owners. 

Ugh, my heart hurts a little bit every time I think of that amazing window. I miss waking up to its view of Jangsan Mountain every morning. As it stands, we're waking up every morning to a view of everyone in the condo across from us waking up. (Money sure buys you a lot more in Korea.)

3) A weird wedding present. 

Our sweet school principle in Ulsan made a little wedding present for Ken and me shortly after we were married:

Cute idea, but they wouldn't fit in either of our suitcases before we left, so they ended up in the recycling bin. *Guilty cringe*

4) My Valentine's Day present.

(My sweet tooth was over the moon.)

5) The picture from Hawaii that didn't make the Flickr cut...

...for perhaps obvious reasons. But I'm posting it because you can't help but smile a little bit when you look at it, right?

And that's all for now, folks. I'm off to go read the most boring book I've read in awhile:

I'm determined to finish it, if for no other reason than principle. (It was a winner of the Nobel Prize, so I figure it has to get interesting at some point, right?)

All Things Book

Living in Korea, although admittedly frustrating upon occasion, has been great for a hundred plus reasons. One of the reasons my life is so enjoyable on this side of the globe is the fact that I have a significant amount of free time to do as I please. Although I am quite possibly one of the laziest human beings to have graced this planet, I do occasionally put my free time to good use, and lately I have focused the majority of it on reading. Ever since my early teenage years, I have been an avid reader of all things fiction (and occasionally non). When I went to university, however, I had very little time to read the books that I deemed read-worthy, and when I graduated from university and found myself in the forces of the real world (some might call it a "career") I found even less time to do one of my favorite things. But now that I'm in Korea, my free time abounds and I have spent it reading book after book, cover to cover. I have read well over twenty books in the past year and I feel more well-rounded and intelligent because of it. (And, yes, I like to toot my own horn every now and then.)

I decided to make a short list of the books I have read recently for my fellow book-lovers. If you haven't read these books yet, I highly recommend checking them out of your local library. Some of them are even own-worthy.

1. Anna Kerenina (Leo Tolstoy)
I cannot even begin to explain how good this book is. Tolstoy's development of his characters throughout the story is insanely genius. The 940+ pages may be a bit daunting at first, but I promise it's worth the time it takes to get through it. Read it.

2. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
If you can handle the occasional curse word (sorry, Mom), I highly recommend this book. Steinbeck allegorically tells the story of Cain and Abel and it's definitely good food for thought. I read it a month ago and I'm still talking about it.

3. On Love (Alain de Botton)
Once again, this book has its profane moments, but it's worth a read. It's basically de Botton's philosophy on love in a novel-like setting and it's strangely accurate and thought-provoking.

4. Traveling Mercies (Anne Lamott)
I read this book for the first time a couple of years ago and I have read it twice since then. I'm currently on my third time reading it, if that tells you anything. It's a memoir, but it's not the self-righteous, "This is what I've learned; look at me, I'm so great" sort of book that most memoirs turn out to be. It's a controversial book, at best, (within most Christian circles) but I learn something new every time I read it.

5. Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse)
I have become a devoted fan of Hesse's writing. The man was either a genius or a lunatic, some might say he was a bit of both. I don't care. His work is amazing and Siddhartha is my favorite book of his so far.

6. Generation X (Douglas Coupland)
I've heard that Coupland actually coined the term "Generation X" when he wrote this book. Whether or not it's true, the book is a good read for anyone who falls within the Generation X bracket, or anyone who wishes to understand it.

Six is an odd number to stop at, but I just realized I'm writing book reviews here, which I had no intention of doing. I'm just bored at the moment and apparently feeling particularly wordy.

On a completely different and unrelated note, Christmas has apparently come to visit my blog. I realize red and green, when together, seem to scream "Christmas!" but I have been an admitted lover of both of these colors for a very long time. I rarely use them together when dressing or decorating, however, simply because I want to avoid the all-too-predictable comments, such as, "You look like a Christmas tree." Thank you very much. But I finally decided to do away with the Christmas stereotype (or my fear of it) and deck my blog out in red and green. I'm embracing my favorite colors together and I feel strangely liberated.