Cats and Crazies

I have related to a lot of characters in the books I've read throughout my English Literature career. J.D. Salinger's John Gedsudski, the Laughing Man is one of them. Much more than Holden Caulfield's upper class dissatisfaction with minor Patrician disingenuosities, I found John Gedsudski's kind-hearted poverty, which lead to his jilting to be more personally relatable. In fact, the Laughing Man's girlfriend's loyalty could have been compromised by the unhappy, but never financially uncomfortable broodings of the young Holden Caulfield had they crossed paths in the same short story I'd wager. (If I had any money to wager)

It is not often one stumbles across a protagonist so long in the tooth as I have become. What do we do that would merit a good story? By my age I should be married with children and comfortably mired in the long-term job that will define my life. These are the prime earning years! Old enough to have become very good at what you do and young enough in body, brain and spirit to do it with vigour. But, lo and behold, I came across a character in an old Hawthorne short story yesterday to whom I could relate. Hawthorne himself, (like Salinger), a well known recluse, and authority on the type of character we are talking about. The aging, or old, dude with some wild eccentricities, (or crazy habits, depending upon how much money he has), sometimes requiring a considerable relaxation, in his behalf, of the common rules of society. Hawthorne wrote that the mind of such a man originates such caprices due to the lack of an engrossing purpose. An engrossing purpose such as a career, a wife, children, a hobby, a goal... He goes on to say that, "if he were mad, it was the consequence, and not the cause, of an aimless and abortive life."

I would hasten to add that if he had shown himself to be mad, (nowadays), it may well be the consequence of readily available mind altering substances coupled with a glut of electronic devices that encourage, nay, demand almost constant reporting of status, thoughts, opinions, inner-most feelings, and after a few beers, T.M.I.'s and overshares aplenty! So NOW one can exhibit awkward comments, advances, gestures, or behaviour while online, thereby creating two disadvantages old Hawthorne hadn't even thought of: 1. The person or people affected by the inappropriate behaviour often have no concept of the prodigious amount of chemical mind altering that has been self administered before said behaviour, and 2. The behaver, having administered entirely too much mind altering substance/substances can not even recollect the inappropriate behaviour!

Here I am a pretty dog gone reclusive person, having lived on my own for the majority of my life, having spent the last 30 years in chaste, barren, spouseless, and some would say purposeless futility, living in the country, with my nearest neighbours able to only communicate in a foreign language I know little of, but in the electronic and internet capital of the world, South Korea! What I guess I'm saying is strap in, there might be a little "eccentricity" to come! Well, not for a while yet. With my financial situation, there will just be insanity. What I'm also saying is, geez, maybe I need some sort of direction. A purpose. Structure in my life. That might encourage normality. Whatever that is.

Well, ask and you shall receive. We had a big barbecue party on Thursday, October 8th here at the camp/school where I now reside. It was awesome! We had burgers, hot dogs, sam gyup sal, and plenty of beer and soju. In fact, too much of all of the above. What I got from the event was the assurance from the principal that even though the end of my visitor visa is fast approaching, I should not worry. They have things figured out. Well, I met his lovely wife and daughter at the barbecue and I know that he has a stellar career as an educator behind him, so I don't think he's crazy or eccentric. I believe things are well in hand. However, today is Sunday the 11th of October. It's one week before my visa expires and I haven't even signed my contract let alone negotiated the visa number, waited two weeks or more for it, travelled to Japan, spent 3 days waiting for the visa, come back, applied for an alien card, or gotten a bank account yet. ALL of these things are necessary before I can really say I am working in Korea again. With all due respect to the principal of my new school, I'm FREAKING OUT!

So I text him and ask when we're going to meet next. He says Wednesday. This leaves us two days to do the 2 weeks or more of visa negotiations since my visitor visa expires on Sunday and immigration offices aren't open on the weekends. I don't think. But I will trust that they know what they are doing. Here's a picture of the talent show we had at the barbecue. It was a lot of fun!

So once I get going on the job, I'll be a man with more direction for sure! But as if Fate weren't quite satisfied, I heard the saddest meowing today outside my apartment here. It's a cold, wet day here and there was a tiny, black kitty on the path behind one of the classrooms crying. He or she didn't have very much energy at all, poor thing. I got to it and gave it some milk mixed with crushed up crackers. I had to lift its head into the milk and it nearly fell over. Then I put some on my finger and put it to the poor little guy's mouth. I could feel his sharp teeth trying to bit my finger. He knew it was food. So I put him back into the dish and he ate some. Then it started to rain so I picked him up and brought him into my house. There he remains. I may live to regret this! But probably not for a while. Here's a picture of the little guy. I'm assuming he's a guy until I find out different.

I better go see how the little guy is doing...