Yesterday, I woke up at 5 a.m. and drank a cup of instant coffee. Then I read the headlines on my smartphone while taking a nasty shit. KAIST is South Korea's version of MIT. You have to be a mathematical wiz to gain acceptance to this prestigious university. Anyway, President Yoon visited the college the other day, and one of the students started yelling at Yoon as he delivered a speech. The young man was eventually dragged away by the police and confined to a room until the president finished his address.
I certainly don't have any problems with the actions of the authorities. It's not fascist in my opinion. Screaming at people while they are talking is downright rude. He's lucky he didn't get his ass kicked.
Rice-Boy Larry rolled out of bed at 6 a.m., and we had a brief conversation at the kitchen table.
I said, "Are you nervous about today's race?"
"Not really."
"Do you think that you'll experience the joy of victory?"
He nodded. "Probably. None of those assholes have my type of endurance."
I patted him on the back. "Confidence is good, but don't get cocky."
"I'm not cocky. It's just that I never get tired when I'm running. It's like I have three lungs."
"That's a great gift. I can barely climb off the sofa without getting gassed."
"What can I say? It's a gift from God."
I caught the bus and got to my office by 7:30 a.m. Then I spent the next twenty minutes making photocopies. I use a lot of materials that I find on the internet. The web helps me locate lessons on vocabulary and grammar. Thankfully, there's lots of shit out there which makes my job a little bit easier.
My day went OK. I finally finished reading The Last Leaf with the middle school kids.
I said, "Raise your hands if you liked the story."
All their arms shot up into the air.
I sighed heavily. "Really? You didn't feel like you were being manipulated?"
One girl said, "This story is wonderful. I wish I was smart enough to write something as beautiful."
I looked at her with surprise in my eyes. "Wow. That's quite the ringing endorsement."
"Why do you hate it so much?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "It makes me emotional, and I'm the kind of guy who likes to think."
She giggled at my words. "But you're not even that smart to begin with."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not saying that you're stupid. But smart people become doctors or college professors. You're more of just an average guy."
Her words didn't hurt my feelings. In fact, she's absolutely correct. I've never been the brightest crayon in the box. And you can't punish someone for telling the truth.
I eventually got home at 6 p.m. Larry was in his room playing computer games.
I said, "So did you win?"
He held up a small trophy that was on his computer stand. "Nobody came close to beating me."
"Wonderful."
I don't want to give you people the wrong impression. My kid isn't a great athlete. Far from it. Sadly, he can barely do ten pushups. He's more like an idiot savant. He simply runs and runs and runs without ever getting tired. Go figure.
I sat on the sofa and turned on Netflix. I'm watching a documentary called Turning Point. It's about the cold war. I've been enjoying it so far.
