Mon, Dec 23

An uneventful day. I’m reserving my energy for tomorrow.

And I know it’s only been two days since the winter solstice, but I SWEAR it was brighter when we walked out of class tonight.

Tue, Dec 24: Christmas Eve

Class, yadda yadda yadda. I set out in the evening to go two places, see two things: the holiday lantern festival at Cheonggyecheon (stream), and a giant animated display on the outside of a big department store.

Since my knee has been pretty good recently, I thought why not wreck that and try taking the subway for a change, as it was going to take about an hour less to get to Location #1. I thought I was safe cuz it was late (going on 9pm) and well-past rush hour, but I failed to take into account the fact that it was Christmas Eve (dummy). So the train was still crowded and I had to stand for the whole 40-minute ride.

Yes, that is the traditional Christmas Chicken Drumstick

From the subway I had to walk a bit to a bus…I got..not LOST exactly…I knew where I WAS, I just didn’t know how to get to where I needed to go. I had to reroute several times, ended up on the wrong bus…got off when I realized, got myself on the RIGHT bus, missed my stop, had to get on ANOTHER bus to backtrack to where I should have been in the first place. All that to say it took me a long time to get to where I was going.

Only to find, when I arrived there at 10:10…that they turn the lights off at 10pm!!! WTH? You’d think on Christmas Eve, of all nights, they’d stay lit a LITTLE later! So I walked by all the vendors on the sidewalk, looking for a hotteok stand – that’s my favorite winter food truck delight. Freshly deep fried dough filled with melty cinnamon and honey and other yummy things. I could SMELL them…I just couldn’t FIND them.

Feeling a little failure-based dejected, I decided to call it a night and just head home…but as I was walking to the train I realized I was passing right by the bus stop I needed to be at to get the bus to my intended second destination. So I was like well, I’m RIGHT HERE, I might as well go there while I’m this close. Got on the right bus, headed in the right direction – the TRUE Christmas Miracle…and made it to my general destination fairly easily. The display wraps around the corner of a giant department store, so you really needed to be on the opposite catty-corner to see the whole thing…but it was one of those intersections with like 8 incoming routes…not pedestrian friendly, and LOTS of backed-up traffic. I felt like I was taking my life in my hands getting across one street after another. Cars and busses from every direction were “blocking the box,” so walking across was likeChristmas Death Cross ’24. I spotted a couple who seemed to have the same plan I did so I just scooted in right behind them, thinking drivers would more easily see (and not kill) three of us together, than just little ol’ me, hobbling along by my lonesome.

Wow. It was just a lot of time and effort and death-defying to get a not great spot. Sigh.

But, I saw it. And now I tried to head home for real. Fun Fact: Many escalators in subway stations stop running after 10pm. I walked down and back up, down and back-up at two different stations, trying to find the right line to get home…to no avail…and a now painful knee. And finally just threw in the towel and called an uber to take me home.

It was almost 1am when I finally got home and I felt crippled.

The End.

Wed, Dec 25: Christmas Day

Got up bright and early to have a family Christmas call, then go with a friend to Costco (silly us, thinking it would be quiet on a weekday…not realizing that it was CHRISTMAS DAY and the store was PACKED).

When I got home from Costco I Passed Out! I didn’t even put away the couple of things I’d bought, the only way I could go was down. All the walking (and stairs!) really did me in last night. Costco about pushed me over the edge.

I had a lovely Christmas Nap and dragged myself out of bed around 6:00 for a 7:oo dinner reservation at a Chinese restaurant I’d found that had some American-Chinese dishes (they had me at Orange Chicken). The food was good, and I even won a 50,000w gift certificate in a little contest they had…so when I go back next time, it’s all paid for. Nice.

By the time we got home that night I was just done. My legs were done, my knee hurt, I was DONE.

Merry Christmas.

Thur, Dec 26

I was still so pooped from the past two days that I ended up skipping class and focused on studying for Friday’s test and memorizing my presentation, also for Friday, on my own.

Fri, Dec 27

Stressful, draining day, more studying and memorizing…then the stress of the presentation itself (which went alright) and the test (which I did well on)…I am one pooped puppy.

But all that is behind me for now. Tonight I will catch up on several days’ remote work I’ve missed cuz of the holiday and get to bed early.

Oh! Today, the ACTING President (who took over when the actual president was made to step down after the impeachment vote passed) was ALSO impeached! Apparently he was up to some hijinx to put the kabosh on Actual President’s impeachment. This is Juicy!!! I don’t know who is next in line at this point, but The People are rallying for the impeachment to happen NOW, not in 6 months (or whenever), so the country can have a presidential election asap and hopefully get someone good in this time!

Fun Fact: South Korea did away with the “vice president” position in 1960.

Sat, Dec 28

It was a glorious day of sleeping in and puttering. I’m working on a BUNCH of things for the new year…Chat GPT is my new best friend, creating action plans for All The Things! I might have gotten a little carried away, but I DID get a lot done.

Sun, Dec 29 aka Sat 2.0

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Never left the building. But got a lot done in here.

Can you believe it’s the last weekend of 2024??

See you next year!