Friday, July 3, 2009

Being A Practical Adult

This weekend I could have gone to a tiny island off the west coast of Korea and spent about 100-150 bucks. However, next weekend is Mudfest and the weekend after that I'm going to China. And technically, while I could afford to go it would definitely dip into my safety net. So, I made the adult decision to stay behind in Anyang for the weekend while 11 of my friends go have a blast.

This is called being a practical, fiscally minded adult, right? This coming from someone who often has trouble remembering how old she is. I actually have to stop and think '22? 23? 24?' because of how I give one age to Koreans and one age to expats and the rest of the time I never think about it and then someone asks me and I have to stop for a second and remember 1986, I was born in 1986.

I am whining and ranting! Positive things about my weekend:
-Going to a blow-out party tonight at Psycho.
-Treating myself to more books on Saturday. Recommendations? I need a combination of modern/post modern prose and lighter vacation reads for the next couple of weeks. I find that when I go into the bookstore with specific books in mind I manage to stay within my budget. Otherwise I come out with 150 bucks worth of books which is fine in the grand scheme of things but annoying when it comes to reworking my budget. Why do I have no trouble blowing money on books and lots of trouble blowing money on weekend getaways? ...because I am a book addict. Only my addiction is (sort of) socially acceptable and even smiled upon in certain circles.
-Going to a roof top barbecue Saturday night.

Negative things:
-Salsa Boy is one of the 11 people going on the trip. He wouldn't have gone but I knew he really wanted to so I said I was totally fine with it. Which I am.
-Laundry. God I MISS DRYERS SO MUCH. Laundry was so effortless. I still procrastinated but it was SO EASY. Even in college, all you needed was some quarters or to fill up your student card.
-I have to get out of bed soon and get ready to go out.

Technically I could throw on one of my tried and true fitted black tops but it's boring. Also, as it is 4th of July weekend I feel like I should wear something colorful. I'm not really much of a 4th of July person. I do like an excuse to barbecue though. Or rather, I love an excuse to have someone barbecue food for me since the closest I've come to barbecuing is to turn the grill on and off for my mother. I could go with white but white is a dangerous color in the land of kimchi and other staining red sauces. Also, Murphy's Law: if I wear a white top someone (possibly even me) will most definitely spill beer on it right when I walk into the bar.

On another note: I AM OFFICIALLY GOING TO BEIJING ON JULY 30th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very cool. Now I just need to book a hostel, plan my itinerary and get my photo for my visa application in the mail to my travel agent.

On the bookshelf: This week I finished White Teeth (I think I mentioned in a previous post, the book by Zadie Smith) which took forever to finish because 100 pages are from the point of view of a character I hated. Today I started and finished Bridget Jones' Diary which was cute but the movie was so closely based on it that it wasn't as exciting and different as I hoped it might be. Still funny though and makes for excellent commuter reading. I can't decide what sort of literary mood I'm in. Do I want bizarre post modern? 19th century classics? Futuristic dystopian? Autobiography? Magically inclined? More Hemingway? I miss indie book shops in the states where the bibliophiles who work there each have a shelf packed with their recommendations. Okay scratch that, I miss gigantic bookstores packed full of books ONLY WITH ENGLISH and tiny shelves of other languages instead of the other way around.

...Scratch that too. I miss the library. I salivate over the thought of my library card. Piles of books FOR FREE. I am also missing (missed?) the summer library book sale. Last year I picked up a box full of books, including a mint copy of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire set which actually sounds really appealing right now but it is unfortunately at home in NY, probably buried under an inch of dust.

It's 9:23 at night on a Friday and I'm not ready to go out yet and am instead, procrastinating by updating my blog. I'm going!

7 comments:

Nancy K said...

Not quite an inch, but the dust did seep under the door from our renovations. It will be dusted and cleaned before you get home in September. Yea! There will be clean sheets and all those lovely books. I won't ask it of you in September, but when you come home in February, I really need you to go through the sitting room bookcases and throw out kiddie stuff you don't want.

Anonymous said...

not that I know of any, but Try surrealism. You ended yourpost by stating that it is 9:23 pm, the time of the blog post is 9:04 pm, and today is the 3rd atr 9:30 am. i didn't see your post for the past two days.Kinda like pback to the future, don't you think? Try weraing RED skirt/pants/shorts with a BLUE top and a WHITE belt on the 4th. Very Patriotic, without the problems of stains.

CousinnFred

Josh said...

i'm SO sorry that you are having to become a responsible adult! believe me, i FEEL your pain kiddo!

Have a good time in Beijing! I can't believe I'm missing you by such a narrow margin (I have a layover on the 16th/17th)..... I need to find out from you where I need to go for some quick/good shopping!!! Don't have a BIG budget for it, but should be able to bring back some nice things for $100-150..... Maybe some random knockoffs too! :)

Alex said...

Mom-I'll go through some of it when I'm home in September.

Fred-I'm a NYer. I wear black. Though I did pick out an awesome blue dress which is going to be my patriotic statement of the day.

Josh-You can get a TON of stuff for 100 bucks. Make a phone date with me and I'll tell you the good stuff.

Nancy K said...

Any pictures from your side of the world? Want pictures!!!! Hope you are having a great party, or maybe you didn't go yet? It's 8 am here, so only 9 pm there. By the way, don't try and call us. Our phone is out of order until Monday when the repair man is scheduled. Of course, it could be like last time, they call the house, get our Verizon voicemail, think they are getting an answering machine and say oh, it's fixed. NOT. You can try and skype me though

Alex said...

Not only did I take pictures from the party, the first thing I did was ask my friend to take a picture of me, just me so that you could see me. Also, thank god for skype.

Anonymous said...

Geee I'm a NY'er and I've worn a navy blazer, with white pants and shirt and red tie with white shoes, and a straw hat. And that was to shul on a July 4 Shabbos!

Ok so I'm older now but if you don't do these things when your young, they make comments about you when you do it when you are older.

So, so you think that when the Chinese in Beijing want to go out for dinner, they look for a nice Kosher Deli? (lol) Beijing must be a great Jewish neighborhood- look at all the Chinese restaurants they have there (lol)

Enjoy yourself, but be careful, remember you will be, in effect, on the other side of the DMZ.

CousinFred