I’m adding archived “ongoing letter” entries as I find them.  I’m doing a deeper search in my computer archives to see what I can find.  See “archive” in the Categories to read them all.

I believe it was 2001 when a virus hit my computer, so entries between 1998 and then are likely gone forever.  We’ll see.

November 20, 2001

Yup.  It’s been ages since i’ve written anything.  Fall is upon us, leaves are changing colour outside and falling to the earth.

Sun is low in the sky making our balcony full of plants happy.  Not only is the sun lower but the trees are barer now allowing more sunlight to come in.  A good reason to like winter the most.

i’m exercising almost every day now making my wife happy.  She says i’m too damned skinny.

Our cats are gone to live with my dad.  The apartment is pretty quiet now.  Better for them, even though they don’t know it right now.  They’ve lodged themselves in the basement and won’t come out to visit.  I’m sure they miss us and wonder just what the hell is going on.  A valid concern, but given a month or so i’m hoping they’ll come around.  They left us November 5th.  We went to the aeroport with us in cages on an aeroport express bus, none to happy, meowing most of the time.  Then they got wheeled around the aeroport to the quarantine office in their cages for an hour.  Then another 1-hour bus ride to the Air Canada freight building.  Then another hour with us.  Then, between 11am & 4:30pm, they sat waiting to get onto the plane.  Wow.  Think that’s bad?  They then sat 12 hours in the belly of an Air Canada cargo jet in extreme noise and extreme cold.  Naughty, i’ve figured out while he was living here, hates noise.  Hates the radio or TV being on.  Can you imagine now much he’d hate 12 hours in a plane?  Both of them, i think.  No wine, no pillow, no on-board movies.  Just cold & noise.  Only to get put in the aeroport for 4 hours while Aizlynn argued to convince the aeroport people to hand them over.  Yvonne, my step-mom, said she’d pick them up but later changed her mind, though her name was still on the documents.  So Aizlynn picked them up from Air Canada, and Yvonne later came & got them.  <sigh>  Anyway, they’re now sitting in their basement.  Apparently they left a couple little presents on the living room floor.

Just called now to their house.  Apparently they’re playing downstairs in the basement but won’t come up to be seen.  Makes sense – they’re not going to be sad & morose forever.  Gotta start being cats again.

I got a package from my sister just the other day with a package of bran, another of wheat germ, and a Canadian Living Christmas cookbook for Hanmee.

later

Aizlynn, my sister, has been taking driving lessons for the past month.  Her test is on December 17, 2001.  Wish her luck!

Thursday October 11, 2001

Turns out Hanmee’s mom is recovering nicely.  Yes, it probably was a stroke, despite what the docs say.  Her face is pretty much back to normal, both in shape and feeling in her skin.

Winter is settling in now, and leaves are falling.  Cold weather has hit a week or so ago.  Cold nights, i’ll tell you.  But during the past couple nights, the floors in the apartment (especially the bedroom) have been really warm.  If you’re viewing this “ongoing letter” from a Palm or Handspring or whatever PDA or cellphone, you won’t see the photos.  Sorry!

I’d been downloading a bunch of movies, sit-coms, and other stuff from the internet through a program called Morpheus.  Kind of like Napster, i suppose, but Napster was limited to only music.  Morpheus shares music, documents of any description, videos, photos, software, and whatever else people want to put on there.  Video games, porn, MP3s, news programs not normally available, newspaper clippings, etc.  Just anything, in other words.

I got a package in the mail today from mommy!  Socks, bran (yes, bran, for baking), a bottle of New Skin (liquid bandage), some Korean money, a calendar from Lethbridge Community College, and a letter.

Wednesday September 26, 2001

After a month hiatus, the “ongoing letter” is back, but it starts on a bad note.

Let me start off with some bad news.  Hanmee’s mom has had a stroke.  No one is sure just how bad it is yet as they (mom & dad) don’t think it’s necessary to get to a hospital right away.  They went to a Chinese hospital and had acupuncture done.  This didn’t help, and so for the past two days they’ve been waiting it out, so it seems.  Her face is distorted, vision in one eye gone, and skin on one side numb.  Apparently, it happened a couple days ago, but everyone thought it should be kept secret to prevent anyone from worrying.  Hmm.  It didn’t work.  Hanmee is considering going to Wonju tonight with Hanyoung (brother in Inchon) to bring her to the hospital.  It’s 10:30pm now, and Hanmee is only trying to get real information on her mom’s state.  No one is saying anything definite.  I printed Hanmee a bunch of info from Mayo Clinic.  She’s now discussing it with Hanlim (brother south of Seoul) to find out more.  More later.

Saturday August 25, 2001

As anyone might guess, i’ve been a little busy lately.  Anyway, the weekend is here now.  Good.  Hanmee is at Myongdong looking for some clothes, and i’m sitting at home working on some stuff.

Not much to say that i haven’t already said.  But i’ve said nothing!  That’s right.  Nothing to say.

Okay.  Now is as good a time as any to say this.  I’m closing down the daily entries in the “ongoing letter”.  How come?  I’ve nothing to say.  And besides that, i think no one out there is reading it.  So, officially, here marks the temporary end of the “ongoing letter”.  Hope you enjoyed it so far.  If you want, i’ll let you know if / when this thing ever gets started up again.  Email me to tell me you’re interested.

Cheers.  Be good.

Allan

Monday August 20, 2001

Hot one today.

Sunday August 19, 2001

I bought another scanner today.  Gave the old one (Agfa) to my brother-in-law, Hanyoung.  I don’t know if he’ll need or want it, but he took it anyway.  It works but only on Win95/98/Me.  And i’m not going back to that.  He also took our video player and iron and wants to take our couch, too.  

This time i got an HP Scanjet 2200c, if that makes any difference to you.  Works well.  Still fiddling with it.  Where did i go?  I went to Youngsan with Hanyoung.  I swore up and down i’d never go there again, but we went today.

So far no comments on my website from the peanut gallery.  That’s you.

Saturday August 18, 2001

Hmm.  The old allaninkorea site is still here.  Like a ghost haunting us from afar.  Well, <tch>, can’t be helped.  It’s a gradual process.

My DVD / CD Writer / Rewriter is here again.  Fixed.  For how long?  Can’t be sure.  <Knock on wood.>  Anyway, it works.  But i still don’t have any DVDs to play, so i can’t be a hundred percent sure.  

Friday August 17, 2001

Today is the last day for the name “allaninkorea.net”.  From now on, as you’ve probably figured out by now, “allansplace.ca” is the name to use.

Sunny day today.  We went to the fish market a couple days ago for a raw fish lunch.  Pretty good, but i think the best way to eat raw fish is to go to a regular restaurant and have someone serve you.  That way you get quick service (you don’t have to wait for the fish to be killed, cleaned cut up, and presented on a plate), a big variety (not like our experience where we bought two fish and ate only that), and good surroundings (not a smelly, wet market).  Anyway, it was enjoyable enough for me, but not for Hanmee.  Oh – another bonus of restaurant eating – much friendlier service.  Oh – and another – no drunk people with their drunk extramarital lovers next to you.  Ha ha!  I paint a rosy picture, eh?  I tell it as i see it.  I don’t think i’ll be working for a tour company here in South Korea.

Wednesday August 15, 2001

Well, I’m back.  New OS (Windows 2000 Pro) on my computer, dual-boot system on Hanmee’s (Win98 & Win2000Pro), and virus-free hard drives.  Caught a virus called Code Red II a week ago or more that shut me down.  Apparently it spread to thousands and thousands of Microsoft NT & 2000 servers in South Korea, bringing government offices, large companies, banks, everything to a grinding halt – or at least dropping them into slow-mo – something that still hasn’t been fixed yet.

We went to Noe-ryang-jin, a fish market about 30 minutes’ scooter drive from here.  Hanmee didn’t have fun at all.  I was wondering what crawled up her butt because she was down the whole time.  Turns out that shop-keeps there are really aggressive and not open to people who want to inquire about prices.  Really pushy people at this market.  I see now why no one wants to shop at traditional markets anymore.  Read on.

Hyundai Department Store, Galleria, Lotte Department Store, E-Mart, and lots of other medium- to high-end chain stores were ordered by the government to stop their free shuttle-bus service to & from their stores because of pressure from traditional market & small store owners.  What?  Yes.  True.  Department stores are more expensive, yet people are shopping there instead.  How come?  It’s all about service.  Kind sales people that don’t give you dirty looks for asking prices of many different styles or models of something.  You get to try stuff on.  You aren’t charged more if the salesperson hasn’t made much money that day, if you’re not old & wrinkly, if you look stupid, if you’re wealthy, or if you’re a woman.  You can get a refund or exchange your stuff for something else.  You don’t have to stand in the rain.  You don’t have to – and certainly aren’t obliged to – barter and argue about pricing.  And, if you walk away from their shop, you aren’t called a bitch or anything else.  Some people say, “It’s a shame that traditional markets are hurting.  It’s sad they can’t make money.  It’s too bad they’re coming close to extinction.  This longstanding traditional Korean shopping … way of life … blah blah blah.”  No.  It’s not like this.  It’s survival of the fittest, man.  Yes, department stores are more expensive.  But there must be a reason people are going there instead of smaller shops & marketplaces.  It’s called:

service

And there you have it, in a nutshell.  Don’t get me wrong.  Not all shops are like this.  Our plant lady (so we call her) is very kind.  The shop-keeps near here in Apkujong-dong are really friendly.  The guy we buy all our plastic tubs, storage boxes, kitchenware, etc. is friendly.  There are nice people out there in the big, ugly world we’ve made for ourselves, but it’s just easier, as many people will testify, to avoid unpleasant shopping experiences.

On to other things.

Still no CD writer / DVD player.  Still broken.  Or at least, it’s not inside my computer working, as it should be.  The guy is supposed to call tomorrow with some news.  I thought it’d be taken care of yesterday, but apparently not.  We shall see.  We shall see tomorrow.  Perhaps.