The Blog is Back!

Since I'm back in Korea for my summer internship, I figured that I'd start up this blog that's been dormant for a year. Not too much to write about yet since I just arrived a couple of days ago. I did have my first day of work today, but I don't want to talk about any of that because they made me sign a confidentiality agreement, and I don't want any future employers to stumble onto this site and blacklist me for life.

So just some observations...

1) Is it weird that I sort of like airplane food? I don't like it because it tastes all that great, but when you're up 30 000 feet in the air in a fuselage with nothing but potential death around you, you'll take what you can get. Food has become such an It proxy for social status that it's kind of refreshing to be so devoid of options that microwavable pasta, a couple of grapes, and a bag of peanuts are things that you really look forward to.

2) I almost never get jet lagged. I think it's because I can sleep pretty much anywhere if I'm tired or bored enough, even on a noisy airplane in a seat that I'd like to incline more but am prevented from doing so due to an irritating sense of social conscience.

3) I love Seoul's metro system so much. It's clean (with air conditioning too), efficient (a long wait is maybe about 5 min), big (you could probably fit a cow inside if you really wanted to for some reason), and cheap (about $1). A lot of it is above ground too, so you get a bit of a tour of the city depending on which line you take. It's really cool when you get to cross the Han River.

4) I'm very thankful to be far far far away from the spawning of Brood II. I don't think they're gonna hit Philadelphia, but I'd rather not take my chances. Though there are a lot of cicadas in Seoul and while they can get very noisy, you usually don't see them because they're always hiding in trees.

5) Korean liquor is ridiculously marked up in the U.S. However, the thing is that if marketed properly, why shouldn't a bottle of makgeolli cost $20 instead of $2? Is Grey Goose really worth $30 more than, say, Smirnoff, especially when most people end up mixing it anyway?