Week in Review: Week 288

Warning: This is a long one…and heavy on BTS content. It was just one of those weeks!

MONDAY

Did we even DO Monday this week? I have zero recollection.

TUESDAY

Okay, I have to boast about The Boys (youknowwho) a bit. They have been appointed by South Korean President Moon Jae-In as Special Presidential Envoys for Future Generations and Culture – So Proud!

During his speech at Tuesday night’s ceremony, President Moon thanked BTS for “exporting and raising the stature of Kpop and Korean culture internationally which has greatly enhanced the dignity of the Republic of Korea.”

First Lady Kim Jung-Sook said, “Our generation studied English listening to pop songs, but now the global audience is learning Korean to understand BTS songs” <- hey, that’s me!

These young men are certainly influential!

As part of their first official duties as special envoys, BTS will be accompanying Moon in his visit to the United States later this month to attend the United Nations General Assembly session in New York. They will give an address again (following up on Namjoon’s iconic speech at the UN in 2018) and perform.

Now, what this means to ME is that BTS will be in New York (their first travel out of the country since the start of Covid)…and *I* am in New York…which SURELY means we will bump into one another on the street and become instant BFFs and I will be asked to move to South Korea and be a part of their lives forevermore and we will all live happily ever after the end.

Right??

WEDNESDAY

On this day (September 15) in 1973 (I was 13). I got my first dog. Airehart. An Irish Setter. I’d wanted (and begged for) a dog for years and always heard nonononono. I’d read all the library books about getting a dog, taking care of a dog, training a dog. But nononono. Until one day out of the blue my father said, “want to go get a dog today??”

Uhhhhh…what now?? I mean, obviously YES…but at the same time I knew this was not how you were supposed to do it. I should have been able to research breeds and breeders, picked the parents then wait for a litter…I should have had food and bowls and leashes and toys and all that stuff already at the house. I should have had a GAMEPLAN.

But I thought if I said any of that, he’d say “alright, never mind,” and that would be the end of it. And I obviously couldn’t risk THAT.

So off we went…way out east…for what seemed like HOURS. It was actually 50 miles, but in those days, at that age, that might as well have been the end of the earth.

We wound up at a place called Sportsmen’s Kennels (which still exists today), which, at the time, seemed only a couple notches above a puppy mill. Not that at 13 I’d ever heard of a puppy mill, but in hindsight, that’s how it seemed. They were sort of mass-producing a large variety of breeds. Anyway, it was now or never.

I wanted a younger puppy (like the books said)…but my father decided we should go with the older one who already had all his shots so we wouldn’t have to drive BACK to the end of the earth to get the rest of this shots. Was I disappointed? Slightly, but in the end…I HAD A DOG!!!

And THENNNNN we got home. And I learned that the dog was not going to be able to live inside the house with us. This was a shock. We didn’t live on a farm where the dogs live outside. We were in the suburbs with no fenced-in yard. So, WHHAATT???

I never got the full story, but I think it was probably my father who decided I could get a dog and my mother said IT’S NOT COMING IN THIS HOUSE.

Now, the biggest part of having a dog, for me, is the companionship. There’s always a head to be patted while you’re doing homework…someone always follows at your heels when you go to the scary basement to watch tv, etc. So…this situation was not like that. If I wanted to be with my companion, I had to go sit outside on the screened-in back porch with him. In the heat, rain, and cold. Yes, we walked around the neighborhood a lot, and I exercised him (he was a pretty hyper guy) from my bike…but…there’s just so long you can keep walking around a densely-populated suburban neighborhood.

It was not an ideal situation.

Years passed…I never really spent as much time with him as I wanted (and I’m sure way less than HE wanted). Eventually, my father built an enclosed dog run for him and a dog house…and that actually made it even harder for me to hang out with him…at least on the porch there was lounge furniture and I could sit with him and read or draw or whatever.

To her credit, my mother DID drive us to training classes every week, and dog shows lots of weekends. We used to show in obedience classes. And he was a challenge. He was ALWAYS the dog that ruined everyone else’s sit and down stays. He’d sit or lay there for like 3/4 of the time…looking left, looking right…then looking right at me…and BOLTING. There were few dogs that could resist joining him and after awhile I’m sure people cursed us anytime they’d see us pull up at a show.

When I was 18 and went to Virginia for college my mother was like I DON’T WANT TO TAKE CARE OF THAT DOG, so my father found a hunting dog (like hound dogs) “breeder” about half an hour from the college, who agreed to board Airehart for like $50/month, but he was just in an outdoor pen and I had no car and could only get someone to drive me there like once a month.

It was not an ideal situation.

I always felt bad that he had a sad life. Dogs want to be close to you. To share your life, your home, your love. And it was just never that way for him.

That’s the sad story of my first dog. I always think of it on this date.

Just got out of Korean class. OMG. I really thought I was prepared this time, I worked So Hard on the homework and review after last class…and we started tonight and in like 5 minutes, they all took a right and I took a left. Ha. It occurred to me after class to look for a tutor! Someone to work one on one with me and help me at least get caught up. So I’m reaching out to some tonight and hopefully Salvation is On The Way.

Cuz I really gotta get myself together before I run into BTS on the street in a couple weeks!

THURSDAY

I’m off work today for Yom Kippur and I FORCED myself out of the apartment, even though my inclination was to stay in and work on upcoming blog posts, start Korean homework, pay bills, etc. But I needed to see the light of day a bit…and I did one of my favorite “alone” things, which is to just head somewhere and take all the unfamiliar roads. No particular destination, no gps…just…go places I’ve never been.

There is always sort of a vague magnetic pull towards the water, and I’ll go up every street that seems to be heading in that direction. Especially along the north shore, most of those waterfront spots are on private property…and while you know the water is RIGHT OVER THERE, you can’t get to it. But over the years I’ve found several nice little spots with beach or waterfront access and no/few other people…and I’ll just hang out there for awhile and enjoy the air and the breeze and the quiet.

Oh, good news, I have a tutoring session booked for tomorrow night.

I’m kind of shocked cuz I never get right on ANYTHING.

FRIDAY

Work. Oofah. What’s happening?!? The downsizing/restructuring of the development/administrative/finance teams earlier this year – the two of us that are left have been managing. But it’s been relatively quiet. Til now. Now some SMALL events are coming up and it’s getting intense. I can’t even imagine what preparing for a BIG event is going to look like with just two of us. So this is sitting on my shoulders a bit.

BUT THERE IS LIGHT IN THE TUNNEL. I just had my first tutoring session and WHAT A HELP. First of all, English is his first language, so it’s easy for me to UNDERSTAND him. And it’s just ME, so if I have to ask the same question five times, it’s okay cuz I’m not holding anyone else up. I rarely ask a question in the actual class for that very reason. Plus, I’m probably not going to understand seonsaengnim’s (teacher) answer anyway 🙁  So there is a sense of relief in this. We’re going to start out each session going over what I did in class the night before…and with whatever time is left after that, we’re going to start back to the beginning of the textbook and I will re-learn (sometimes actually learn for the first time) all the grammar points that I have not been clear on. If there’s time after THAT (cuz at some point I will be caught up on the past lessons) then we’ll practice conversation or pronunciation or whatever. It’s good. I feel better.

And now it’s Friday night so I will watch x number of episodes of my current kdrama til the wee hours of the morning…

SATURDAY

I woke up to Twitter literally ABLAZE with the hashtag #HaveASafeFlight as BTS is HEADED TO NEW YORK THIS MORNING AS WE SPEAK!!! I’m screaming a little. New airport style photos for the first time in over 18 months. First travel since I’ve even been a fan! If I’m not mistaken, their last international trip prior to Covid was also to New York to appear on The Today Show.

I know everyone was hanging by a thread waiting for these very important details 🙂

But I’m feeling a certain kinda way just knowing they’re going to be This Close By. I am well aware of how ridiculous this sounds. And yet…here I am.

I can’t even IMAGINE what their airport arrival in NY is going to look like. The good news is we have two international airports here so who knows which one they’ll fly into. I worry about them just being mobbed – they are SO much bigger and more well-known now than they were the last time they were here.

On more local news…I’m staying in most of the day to whip this apartment into some kinda shape. I mean, SHOULD I meet BTS on the street and invite them back to my place, I can’t very well Photoshop vacuum for their visit (I SWEAR I have not lost my mind, I’m just having fun), I’m gonna have to REAL vacuum. Ugh.

SUNDAY

Had a nice day, it was like a perfect end-of-summer day, sunny, but not too warm or humid. I went with two friends into the city for a walk in Central Park and some brunch…sort of a quick in, quick out trip, but that’s all I had in me. I just needed a little change of scenery.

Oh, Happy Chuseok (choo-suck)! This is Korea’s version of our Thanksgiving – a celebration of harvest and thanks…and families gathering together, etc. It’s a 3-day holiday, September 20-22.

That was your culture lesson for the day.

And now it is Sunday night…and we get to start it all over again tomorrow!