Whatcha gonna do with all that junk?

The timing: Saturday night

The setting: Seoul, South Korea. The new canal and Itaewon.

The characters: D'Arcy, Jessica, and some guests.

5:00 - we jump off the bus at Jonggak and take a relaxing stroll along the canal that winds through Seoul.

5:15 - we realize we went the wrong way and the canal stopped short soon after we set out. No matter.

5:35 - after a bit of walking we got cold and hit the subway. A man offered to change seats with me so D'Arcy and I could sit beside each other.

5:42 - Realizing at the last minute it was our subway stop, we bolt. I make it through but alas, D'Arcy's foot gets caught! A kind soldier uses all his manly strength to wrench open the doors for her and she just makes it out in time.

6:30 - we devour delicious burritos at Taco Chili Chili's where the Korean owner speaks Spanish fluently. He says he's Mexican. He's not.

7:15 - we walk into a dusty second hand bookshop and find many, many good titles despite the word on the street that it's bad. Nice!

8:00 - we have a beer at Gecko's...

Ahh, enough of this.. let's get to the point.

Sitting at the bar in Rocky Mountain Tavern, who knows what time it was, a guy walks in and I say "hey, that looks like Chris." "It is Chris," D'Arcy replied rather nonchalantly.

I flipped out.

Ten points for whoever can remember who Chris is. Okay, give up?

He's the guy who did the midnight run waay back in July when he and I were both scheduled to go to Japan for visa runs. It was summer holiday and I had a feeling something was askew when he didn't show up for the flight we were both to take to Osaka. The Monday morning following he didn't show up to work and the director found his apartment bare with loads of outstanding bills and other things missing. What a spineless prick he was to just pick up and leave like that, totally screwing over my very generous and accomodating director. It's been eight months since then and we hadn't heard from him at all.

And here he was!

He talked, we stared and occasionally blinked, as it had been when we knew him before. A few things were cleared up and it was kind of funny knowing what really happened after a lot of speculation. It reminded me of reuniting with an ex-boyfriend or something and finding out all the details that you always wanted to know. Why'd you do it? How'd you feel? That kind of thing.

I really care too much about dumb things that don't matter.

He left because of the long hours and a whole bunch of other ridiculous reasons, and is now teaching in Daegu. He said he felt some regret but he wouldn't apologize for what he did.

Then he bought us Jagger shots. It made it worthwhile.