The Turning Gate

Colora, MD

Just in from eating crabs with my aunt Julie and Faron, her beau. You just can't visit the Chesapeake Bay area without eating crabs. In Maryland, crabs go into the pot alive, where they're seasoned and steamed to death, then served whole. You rip off their limbs, disembow them and suck the meat out. Brutal, but delicious.

I've stayed on a few days longer at my aunt's, in Cecil County, than I'd intended - arrived on Friday, and staying until Wednesday. I grew up in Cecil County; I hate Cecil County. But Julie and Faron have landed this spectacular piece of land that's almost magically relaxing. Every time I set foot off the property, I feel a twinge of remorse and want to immediately return.

( More photos on Flickr )

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Hittin' the road

It's been nearly two weeks in Bath County, Virginia at my parents' house, and I plan on hitting the road north tomorrow morning. To be honest, I'm not yet enjoying my time back in the U.S. Bath County has plenty of beautiful landscape, but not much else to offer. Sometimes, or for some people, that might be enough, but I'm just looking ahead to what comes next, the Hallmark Institute of Photography and, thereafter, my (hopeful) new career.

And so I've added a new category to the good ole blog, Hallmark, in which I'll be blogging school-related things beginning now.

I haven't much to say about the past two weeks and no photographs, so moving right along ... I plan on making some stops along the way to school, visiting some friends and family. Nothing's concrete yet except that my first stop will be to visit my aunt, Julie, in Cecil County, Maryland. I haven't seen her in a long time, but she's almost like a sister to me, so it should be a good visit. After that, I'll have to sort out later. I'm mostly playing this trip by ear.

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Stateside

The first page of the next chapter

Back in the United States, mixed feelings abound. There's quite a lot I'm already missing about South Korea. I miss my friends, some of whom are akin to family. I miss the indie music scene, the concerts and all the photography that went along with them. I miss my fine restaurants, cafes, bars and the other places I used to frequent. I miss my life, because I don't really have a life in the U.S. anymore.

On the other hand, much as I was enjoying myself in Korea, I'd ceased making progress. I love my friends, and leaving them is the hardest part this. But I'm confident that going to photography school is the right thing for me to do now. It's just these weeks in between; I don't know what to do with them, and my lack of activities is bringing me down. But let's focus on the nice things.

I lucked out on the flight over. The plane had been overbooked and I was upgraded to Business Class. On Korean Air, they call it Prestige. My bags were overweight, but as a Prestige passenger, I didn't have to pay any penalties for them. The Prestige seating area was on an upper deck of the plane, away from the Economy Class seats, very peaceful and quiet. My seat was spacious and comfortable; with the press of a button, I could set it to full recline and lay down. I've never managed to sleep at all flying Economy, but slept like a baby this time. I had a massive movie selection, more worthy choices than I could ever have hoped to watch during a 12 hour flight. I was almost sorry to lose time napping with so many great movies to watch. I love movies! Did you know? The food was excellent. They asked how I'd like my steak cooked, and they baked us cookies and served them warm. And, at just over 12 hours, this was my shortest ever flight from Korea to Washington D.C. All of my past flights took a minimum of 15 hours, more when I had layovers. I was astounded at how short a flight it was. Now that I've been spoiled thus, I can't imagine how I'll ever manage to flying Economy again; domestic flights, okay, but trans-continental? How?!

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The cup'o coffee with Matt Experience

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ...

... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah photography blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah kindergarten blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Korean music blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Lightroom blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Under Byen blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ... This one time, at band camp in Korea ... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Sigur Ros blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Battlestar Galactica blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah David Bowie blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ...

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The Korean soundWave XIII

Taru, Itta, Dear Cloud, Gourmet O.S.T.

I had an introduction, but accidentally deleted it. I don't remember what it said; I wrote it late last night. Nobody comes here for the introductions anyway. Welcome to The Korean soundWave XIII, and enjoy.

Taru with Sentimental Scenery

Taru is former vocalist of now-defunct pop-rock group The Melody. An exceptionally talented singer, Taru has been working with Pastel Music to relaunch her musical career as a solo vocalist. Since The Melody's split, she has appeared on record with Humming Urban Stereo and Sweetpea, and on stage with Swinging Popsicle, Sweetpea, Jiteun and others. While these have all been guest appearances, the recently released R.A.I.N.B.O.W. is Taru's first appearance as a vocal centerpiece.

Contrary to what you might read elsewhere, R.A.I.N.B.O.W. is not Taru's solo album. It's a mini-album, produced and written by Sentimental Scenery on which Taru provides the vocals and lyrics only.

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The Korean soundWave XII

Han Hee Jeong's solo debut

Today is the fulcrum of eternity, the point to which all things aspire, and the point from which all things are come. Today is the most glorious day that has ever been, and maybe the most glorious day that ever shall be. Today is the day Han Hee Jeong's solo album, Your Document, hit store shelves in Hongdae.

That's me at Greek Joy this evening, holding an autographed copy of Han Hee Jeong's new solo album. I've been waiting a long time for this. I'd feared the album's release would be pushed back beyond my departure date from Korea, but I am truly blessed that this has not been the case. Oh, and as if that weren't enough of a good time ...

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Selections from Project Seoul, exhibited in Insadong in 2006

Back in August 2006, I participated in a group exhibit in Gallery Gaia in Insadong, Seoul. In clearing out my apartment for my imminent international relocation, I unearthed my box of framed images from the exhibit. They're too heavy to ship home and I have no reason to do so; I can reprint them at any time for a fraction of what it would cost to mail them. I'm hoping to donate them to someplace here in Seoul, which may or may not happen. Anyway, I'd hate to throw them into the trash. Here's a gallery of the images in question.

UPDATE, July 30: Thanks to my friend, Hyun Jin, I've donated the photos to Seoul City Hall. What they'll do with them, I don't know, but I'm glad not to have thrown them away. In return, they also gave me some truly lovely parting gifts. :)

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I'm Mac in the saddle again

My Macbook Pro is back from the service center (and there is much rejoicing) with a new Logic Board. I hadn't mentioned it previously, but I had been experiencing some unusual behavior for about two weeks leading up to Saturday's meltdown. The system had been running hotter than usual, and my battery life had been inexplicably brief. Both of those issues now seem to be remedied.

What's more, the spam seems to have been staved off. Hopefully it will be awhile before I see it again. As a preventative measure for the future, I've enabled Defensio on The Turning Gate. This is a learning system, so if you leave a comment and it fails to show up, it's probably been marked as spam by the system. I'm moderating these and trying to train Defensio to recognize legitimate comments more often; if your message seems to have been flagged as spam, check back later and I will likely have scolded Defensio and put up your comment.

I'm now catching up on my inbox and some of the work I've fallen behind on, and should have things back to usual soon. Thanks for your patience.

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Spam recruits heat, bricks Macbook

The war rages on

I last visited my inbox 30 hours ago; 599 unread messages, 17 of them legitimate and the rest spam. Textpattern and my array of defensive plugins have done a fine job moderating and hiding the spam so that only I have to see it, but I still have to see it, and that's a problem. Oh, but if spam were my only problem ...

Logic should dictate it's a separate, isolated incident. But my instincts tell me the gods of computing have it in for me. The timing is just too sinister. Yesterday, I checked my email before leaving the house, then closed the lid of my Macbook Pro, sending it into deep slumber. Or so I'd thought. Something went wrong, sleep did not descend upon the machine, and, when I returned hours later, I found it scalding to touch and totally cooked. My Macbook is bricked.

On reboot, it sounds the restart, the sleep indicator lights up solid, and the keyboard illuminates. Nothing on screen, and nothing going on inside.

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When it spams, it pours

MAN: You sit here, dear.

WIFE: All right.

MAN: Morning!

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