A (Lunar) New Year

February 8th starts the lunar new year holiday here in Korea. Often referred to as "Chinese New Year", it would be better if it were called something like "Asian New Year." In Korean, it is referred to as 설날 and sort of pronounced "suhl-lahl." There are several uniquely Korean things that sometimes happen on new year's, but one thing that almost always happens is that the younger relatives bow to the older relatives.

The way to say Happy New Year in Korean (not literally) is "say-hey bohk mah-nee pah-deu-say-yo." So let me wish you a happy lunar new year.

I never made any regular new year's resolutions, so I don't expect I will make any lunar new year's resolutions. But since I am on vacation now, I will try and be a bit more active on the Blog, at least for a while.

If you are reading this Blog you may be wondering who I am. Well, one easy way for me to post more, is to post things about me and thus help you learn a little more about just who this Robert guy is. I will do this for a while until I run out of interesting things to say about myself (which could happen sooner rather than later).

I got an email forward today from a really good friend. It just so happens that this email item fits the bill for letting you know more about me. Nothing profound or revealing, but something to say nonetheless.

1. What time did you get up this morning? The alarm went off at 7:00, but I stayed in bed till about 9:30. Hey, I am on vacation.


2. What was the last film you saw? Some odd art house flick called "Ten minutes".


3. What is your favorite TV show? Hmm, not much to choose from here, but I like watching Stargate SG-1.


4. What did you have for breakfast? Haven't regularly eaten breakfast since college, and rarely do now.


5. Beach or mountains? The mountains close to the beach.


6. What is your favorite cuisine? Maybe Mexican, but that could just be because I haven't had anything like it in a long while.


7. What foods do you dislike? Not much really, but anything with tubes in it (intestines and things similar) tend to dull the appetite.


8. What are your favorite Potato chips? I eat a lot of Pringles Smoky BBQ flavor. But there isn't much variety in chips, here. The Korean version of Sun Chips are pretty good.


9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Haven't been listening to CD's. Mostly Internet radio from different places.


10. What kind of car do your drive? Car? Car? Ha! How about bike? I believe it is a Giant.


11. Favorite sandwich? I have to make it myself, so it is whatever is handy. Which usually means peanut butter, tuna salad, or ham.


12. What characteristics do you despise? Hypocrisy and stupidity (not ignorance, that can usually be fixed).


13. What is your favorite item of clothing? I wear a soft fleece pullover type thing a lot, but that is because it is often cool in my apartment; otherwise, jeans, I guess.


14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Either Europe or China, but it would have to be for a couple of months.


15. What color is your bathroom? Uh ... White.


16. Favorite type of clothing? Anything comfortable.


17. Where would you like to retire to? Have never thought about retiring, but maybe the desert south-west, USA.


18. Favorite time of day? Sunset.


19. Favorite sport to watch? Was college basketball, but really don't watch much sports these days.


20. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? I won't be sending this on to others, probably.


21. Person you expect to send it back first? See #21


22. What fabric detergent do you use? It is called 스파크 Seu-Pah-Keu or "Spark" if you read it fast.


23. Coke or Pepsi? Kicked that habit a while ago (though I still indulge from time to time) Currently the drink of choice is Sunkist Mango juice.


24. Are you a morning person or night owl? More of a day person.


25. What is your shoe size? Depends on the brand, but either 10.5 or 11. Yeah, that's right, big feet, big ...


26. Do you have any pets? Nope, no room, no inclination at the present, though I do miss having a big dog.


27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with your family and friends? Uh ... Nope, unless you can call my foot healing normally, exciting.


28. What did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut, actually. I would still like to get out there and would even jump at the chance for a seat to Mars or beyond, even if I knew it was a one way trip, but I don't think NASA has room for an armchair explorer.