A special anniversary: June 5th

On June 5th, 4 years ago, I kicked the smoking habit and exiled myself from the smokers' paradise.
I had my last puff at 11:20 a.m., on a beautiful day, at a beautiful spot, in a little park just outside Toronto's only castle Casa Loma. I made it into a whole ritual, and I knew then and there that it was for real - no more going back to smokers' world. I had stopped numerous times before, staying off ciggies for quite a while, and then would pick up the habit all over again. However, this last time, it was different. In my previous attempts I'd apply 'gentle approaches', aka skill over will, this time I decided to apply will over skill, meaning I stopped cold turkey - and it worked.

Life withouth smokes has been great, so much so that I wish I had stopped earlier. I try not to preach and not complain about people smoking around me since I remember how as a smoker I despised reformed smokers who'd endlessly preach about the harms of smoking. Smokers are not idiots - we (yes, I can never call myself a non-smoker but a smoker who's consciously choosing not to smoke), know all about the damage, but the addiction and the pleasure are so strong, they are difficult to live without.

If it weren't for the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and the stench, no one would mind smokers, right? I believe that if smokers were more considerate (especially here in Korea where smoking is as prevalent as oxygen breathing), and non-smokers less judgemental, we could all live happily ever after.

Somehow, class and money found their way into the whole issue. In Canada, as in other Western countries, it's the working class who smoke, the ones who cannot afford healthier and more expensive pleasures, settling for the Friday night beer and smokes. Ironically, however, the price of cigarettes in Canada is at about $10 (US), not cheap at all. If a couple who shares a pack of cancer sticks a day quit, they can save $3650.00 / year. Chances are that if they are serious smokers going through 2 packs a day, they can save $7300.00/year - enough for a great vacation at some place exotic, or downpayments on a car or even a smaller house.

But, here I go, talking like a reformed smoker, so I'll shut up. Let me just say that in most cases when smokers stop smoking they find an alternate way to spend their money - they start buying more expensive clothes, indulging in better food,coffee,wine...Unless they set up a special account to which they'd deposit each $10.00 buck saved on ciggies, no-long term financial benefit comes out of it.

To finish my little treatise on smoking, let me just say that I am mighty annoyed at the smoking situation in my work place. At my universtiy, all buildings are supposedly non-smoking, but students, professors and admin staff alike still smoke in corridors, entrances, restrooms. It's unfair to non-smokers and the buildings smell of cigarettes. I'd understand in the depth of winter, but why now? Just take your smoking pleasure out. It's not too much to ask, especially if you're breaking the rules and regulations regarding smoking introduced by the Korean Ministry of Health and applied by our university authorities.

The Genuine Goatess

WARNING: This is a very self-centred entry. If you're not in the mood for something like that, just admire the photo.
When in about 60-odd years I am nothing but a playground for warms and rats and fertilizer for grass growing above me, I'd like to be remembered by those of you who survive me as smiley and happy, in my favourite garb, doing my favourite activity - hiking, just as I am in this photo taken by the new hiker Vance of the Lense. God bless his good eye through which even my abominable arms look acceptable.

No joke, dear visitor: One of the most grossly underestimated side effects of aging is the pain accompanied with looking at the pictures of oneself. Photos differ greatly from mirrors. The latter are very deceptive, believes I. If you dont' like something, you just arrange your face in a different way, or concentrate on the good part of you, or, if all fails, move away from the mirror.

It's different with pictures. They are the most persistent witnesses of your imperfections and your deterioration. Let's be frank. All that talk about "you're only as old as you feel" is just that - talk. You see and feel that you're changing, body and spirit. You just have to accept it and make the best of it, not pretend like you'll be an exception to the laws of aging, as if preserved in formaldehyde. It's the cosmetic/diet/exercise industry that's trying to convince you that by buying this and doing that you can immerse yourself in that fountain of youth and look 30 in your 50's and 60's. Do you really want to look like Joan Rivers? All she look is freaky, not young - and most certainly not good.

Pardon me, I digress. Let's go back to the issue of looking at a photo of yourself: the rest of you might look the best it ever has, but you tend to fixate on that triple chin that somehow came out of nowhere, the splash of age spots on your neck, or (the worst!) your Basset Hound-mated-Brezhnev jaws.

What joy then it is when quite unexpectedly you come across a photograph that totally matches the preferred image of yourself. I've been lucky to have come across such a picture, taken unbenownst to me by a new (hot!) hiker Vance. I ain't no Heidi Klum, but I look healthy, content, relaxed, youthful.... Don't I? Vance, thank god for your Lense.

The Marine and Me

The American marine Areum (her name is translated as Beauty) and me. You see, I can keep up, and even be ahead of the fittest of 'em. O.K., perhaps, a bit of a strech there...
Yes, dear visitor, I'm alive but barely kicking under the burden of work, work, work and an ocassional morsel of fun. I promise to update my blog some time soon with goss and gloss. I've been to a couple of cool parties, had a wonderful afternoon with maaah mojita ladies from the ABCD club (Andrea, B-me, Clare, Deb) on the terrace of Gecko's Garden, I've been up on the roof of the Somerset Palace, a have-not glancing at the oiled suntanning bodies of the haves. I wasn't even envious, - well, not that much, anyway. I'm sure most of them cannot make it this high in the world as Areum and I did - on Baekundae, the highest peak on Bukhansan.