Seymour Hersh totally just harshed my buzz

Attempting to go to war with Iran (and its 450,000-man army) despite a lack of congressional authorization in the hopes of splintering the Middle East into sectarian micro-states to alleviate Israel's fears of a nuclear attack and create stability on top of all that oil seems like a great way to spend another few hundred billion dollars and tens of thousands of lives.

Wedding

My friend Shane got himself married to his Korean girlfriend (and soon-to-be mother of their child). The ceremony was interesting, and very short. The buffet afterwards was pretty good (sushi, crab legs, steak tartar, and lots of other stuff). The reception was at an Irish pub, where we drank lots of free beer. Weddings in this country cost about $7,000, and one company takes care of everything for you (location, clothing for him and her, food, music, photographer, flowers, and the necessary personnel).

Shane's brother (white shirt, holding the microphone) is an attorney at Kenneth Starr's law firm in D.C. He's considering taking a position as Barack Obama's deputy counsel, though, which would be good both for his career and his soul, one would think. (Kenneth Starr is a piece of shit, and Barack Obama is black JFK, minus the speed and philandering.) His dad is an executive (CEO or VP or something) at some big company in some city in the States. His mom couldn't come as she's afraid of airplanes.

Weekend

Going to a wedding tomorrow. An American teacher named Shane is marrying his Korean girlfriend, so the ceremony will be of the local variety (mercifully short, gaudy decorations, weird music, peculiar rituals) and the reception will be Western (four hours of open bar! OPEN BAR, DUDES! FARVA RULES!!!) So I hope to get some pictures to show you what this sort of thing is all about before I slip into a gin coma.

We went out drinking after work last night, to this Japanese chain-pub called Wara Wara. They have these tasty soju and fresh fruit concoctions. Our bill came to 211,000 won, or ~$260. This Korean guy came over to our table and made it known that his friend really wanted language lessons. Cal and I made an effort to be polite to the guy, while everyone else ignored him or told him they were definitely not interested. I stupidly gave him my e-mail address, with no intention of replying to anything he might send. (Why didn't I give him a fake e-mail address? Because I'm an idiot, that's why.) After a few minutes the friend he was speaking about showed up. We got up to leave, as it was already 3 in the morning, and the guy insisted on paying for our whole bill. He wasn't some rich old dude either, probably in his late 20's. He followed us out and tried to pay for our cab too. Weird.

Eatin' crazy crap

We got paid yesterday, so Greg and I went out and had some sea cucumber and grilled clams. I'd never eaten raw sea cucumber before (or cooked sea cucumber, for that matter). Greg's had it about five times now, and claims to have serious cravings for it. He described the texture as what you would imagine a human nose to feel like, and he wasn't joking. It's supposedly really healthy, and it doesn't taste too bad either, but it's not filling at all and for ten bucks each, I'll just go clams-only next time. Holy shit do I love clams. It was possibly the first time I got completely full eating only shellfish.

That whitish-purplish stuff is the sliced sea cucumber, and the pile of shells on the grill are the clams, conches, and oysters. The lady cooked it for us, as she kindly didn't want us to poison ourselves. The big thing on the right of the grill is one giant mollusk of some sort, chopped up and simmered in its own juice with onions, spices, butter, and garlic.

Food GOOD

I got a package from my folks yesterday, full of cooking ingredients that I can't find (or afford) in Korea. Among them: pine nuts, almonds, dried cranberries, saffron, sage, tarragon, oregano, rosemary, dill, blended tandoori seasoning, and creamed coconut. The next thing I'm going to make will be pork tenderloin tournedos filled with pine nuts, rosemary, and ricotta, to go with saffron risotto. I made tandoori-coconut shrimp last night.

Oh, and my friend Dylan's wife Ge is pregnant, which they're both very happy about. In North America we say "They are going to have a baby," but in upside-down world (here) they say "They have had a baby." (Dylan does not say that, of course.) I was amazed by how many of my students were "born" in Paris, or America, or Jeju-do (the island south of the country with transplanted palm trees where Koreans go for honeymoons). Then, I realized that by "born", they meant "conceived". The kids don't seem yucked out at all by being party to this information. If I ever have kids, I'm telling them that I stole them from the maternity ward of a hospital on a dare.