out of my funk, finally

so i was in a funk, as some of you may have noticed. no blog updates, no creepy new photos of my face getting rounder with every dish of fish roe on rice that i eat. today is officially one week since i rocked the boat during our roundtable session at the seoul young writers festival. it was a week of "mental calisthenics" (to quote siege), lots of cozy writerly chats with eastern europeans, swooning over the accents of the latin americans and the nice jawline of one particular romanian. the week-long party ended friday night at a club in the hondae district. siege did a performance that absolutely rocked while i crooned my way desperately through noel cabangon's "Kanlungan" a capella. we woke up to the bleakest saturday in the history of human civilization, and the awful gloom officially ended just today.

and so today, after the requisite hours spent learning korean, we hied off to itaewon for some pakistani biryani, then to the philippine embassy for stuff to put in our booth at the international student festival on thursday. we had a long-ish stopover at What the Book?, an english-language bookstore with amazing titles, even within their used book selection. even after swearing not to buy anything, i scored pico iyer's classic Video Night in Kathmandu and The Lady and the Monk. i wanted to get a couple more but... pissayo! too expensive. we had been avoiding the city hall area because of too many associations with the writers festival. such memories may deepen the abyss already inside the empty husks that were our selves.

but decided to go anyway today because the philippine tourism office is at the president hotel overlooking the lawn of seoul's city hall. had to subway back to koryo de hakkyo immediately after to watch a pseudo-latin music festival/concert that was kinda crappy (picture 6 girls in frilly white with scarlet satin sashes around their necks and waists earnestly breathing into mikes while clutching at each other's trembling sweaty hands). still, there was one or two memorable acts, including a very gay-looking spanish duo vouge-ing to an acoustic guitar, that made the 5,000 won fee worth it. dinner at ever-reliable kookdang with the wonderful manang kookdang chatting with us as she wiped down a table. and then...

surprise, surprise! siege found a little packet at the crimson house lobby with my name on it. from the philippines! with orchid stamps! and philpost tape sealing the edges! no return address, my name in handwriting i didn't recognize. i, of course, ripped it open and saw a lovely little gift from my friend E. he's back home in turkey now on vacation so he must have sent it before he left manila. it's been a few hours since i saw the packet but the perma-smile is still on my face. and apparently, i'm not the only who's been blessed today. a good friend of mine just got an email that i know he had been dying to receive. it's great to know that some things are rock solid and not just in your head. yes, some engines can keep running on vapors, relying on wind, lift and momentum; but after today, i can truly say that having a full tank makes a world of difference.*

* do excuse the weird metaphors here. i'm too happy to even attempt to play the artiste tonight.