What a fortnight!
So much traveling… it’s a little tough to process the whirlwind tour that began but two weeks ago, but let me to try to summarize. It began with a jaunt down the I-5 to Redlands, site of so many of my undergraduate triumphs--including a memorable evening in the local jail (counterfeit operation gone horribly awry), a citation for trespassing in some apricot orchards (it’s a small town) and countless sleepless nights spent silently cursing the housing director for pairing me with a meth addict for my senior year. But to begin that story, the one that started 6 short years ago, at the tender age of 18, is too much to attempt. Instead I will tell you about my recent desert homecoming, which I suppose provided some closure to the Redlands experience. Before I went to New York, which I’ll get to, I read the Sunday Times and practiced my fist shaking and ethnic slurs in order to better fit in. Before I left for Paris, where I am now, I tried to watch a few Jerry Lewis movies, brush up on my miming techniques and perfect some deep-throated frog laughs. Whenever I go back to Redlands, I always watch a few episodes of COPS just so I know what I’m getting into. Call me what you will, I simply feel that my people weren’t meant for Southern California. The drive alone provided all the familiar warning signs. Flatbed trucks, mullets, “Jesus is Da Bomb” bumper stickers, American flags embossed over tinted windows super-imposed over the Virgin of Guadalupe, slaughter houses (five of them), church marquees threatening fire and brimstone to the non-believers, gigantic billboards alternately inviting you to classy desert strip clubs (Spearmint Rhino, Flesh) and noble Indian casinos. Luckily, Dave Chapelle offered some relief with his racially-tinged comedy routines, and Josh’s homemade lamb schwarma added multiculturalism as well as some interesting smells to the landscape. My crew was in fact a tight-knit unit, hailing from northern California, ready to turn around at a moment’s notice should anything overly-Redlands occur, so unsure were we of our decision to revisit the red earth of our youth. I don’t mean to paint such a cynical picture, so I won’t elaborate on the suicide pact we discussed around Bakersfield. At any rate-- we came, we drank. We reconnected with some great people, and skillfully dodged some sketchy ones, and sampled all the cultural fruits that San Bernardino County has to offer: tasty Mexican food, tragically misplaced English pubs, discounted strip malls full of irregular and oversized merchandise, where the shoppers meet the same criteria. More importantly, we made peace with our past. Whether we achieved this by throwing bottles off the roof of our old dormitories, berating underclassmen, hugging a large skunk promoting a President’s day sale outside of the grocery store, or simply by leaving, I think we accomplished something that weekend in the dessert. I did make some outstanding friends during my stint at the old U of R, and I am truly happy to have seen them before undertaking another questionable trip overseas.

Incidentally, another thing that makes me warm and fuzzy is my I-pod, which I have begun taking to the bathroom with me, just in case.

So special thanks to the people who welcomed us back to Redlands and were cool to see. I hardly ever do this but (but I hardly even write these days so)… Frank, Dustin, Lily, Benton, Jess, Katie, Colleen, you guys are very cool, and it was great to see you. Also these older people David and Anna, they are unquestionably hip. They not only let us watch the Simpsons at their home, but are also former members of the Mexico City Opera, and own numerous chickens and cats, a chihuahua, a wolf dog, and a chameleon named Giuseppe.

Also to the people at Apple, keep up the good work, but you not only need to fix the I-Tunes Software for Windows, but you need to resolve this battery-life issue as well.

To be continued from a less baffling keyboard…

Stepped in some shit today, presumably dog. That and the current storm pelting my windows can only bode for tomorrow's trip to NYC.

Hi... Andy

This is Hansol...

Do you remamber?

I couldn't send a e-mail to you for a long time, so I'm so sorry.

But, Now I got a internet and repaired a computer

I got a second in the classroom at the test.

By the way, I finished LIKE.

I have practiced listening English until 2 monthes ago,

Because, l think I can not listen English.

My bowels are open,I have to end this e-mail.. Just kidding

Can you answer a e-mail to me?

Good bye~

My bowels, too, are open and so I have to end this post.