Ear Connections

 I'm back on the blog, baby. so apparently there's a difference between Substack and the traditional blog medium. I read one blog post about it five minutes ago so I'm pretty much an expert in SEOs now (that means Search Engine Optimization, morons!).  I want a fresh start. I don't care if I have to write that again two years later. I want to feel like I'm blogging, which means writing just for the shits of it. writing as my contribution to this vast cloud of the internet. I kind of want my writing my now to just go wherever it has to. which doesn't have to be anywhere.  see, i'm working on loving the process rather than focusing just on the destination. it takes hard work to put this into practice.  today, I feel pretty mellow. not overcome with a particular zesty mood, but a mixture of colors on a palette. a little bit of overcast, like the weather when I looked out the window this morning in San Francisco. calm and peace when I walked down the streets of ...

I remember it was my second week at ASEB , back when I was still tagging along Sameer from Texas , Sameer would always give you a choice,  between math exercises and just talking,  And so we would just talk. I asked you if you had a hope for the week , or if there was one thing that by the end of the week would make you happy (you quickly noted that you know the difference between content and happy.) You said you'd like to own a dog . Your neighbors own a dog, and sometimes when you visit them you take naps with him. Sameer graduated and I stopped showing up for a while , I came back in the spring and saw you sitting by the window in the sun, a table to yourself with a glass of water,  a pencil and a piece of paper,  looking up and outside.  I asked you if there's anywhere you'd like to go , and you said you'd like to get donuts. Your favorite donut is old-fashioned chocolate , I wrote down that so that I remember when we finally get to go some day.

I know that each boat waits for us      to hop in,      to bail  out the water from last night's rain     and ride, beating the next day's sun,          whispering to ourselves that one song.             leave all your lovers weeping on the faraway shore             out on the briny with the moon big and shiny              Our spine resting     against undulations          — sound and touch —      throughout the inky night          that covers us all,                like that one Kerouac line,     blinking less to notice           when heaven reaches Earth,               at least just for the t...

First photos of 2022.  Sunrise at Donghae Beach, Gangwon Province of South Korea. A day with our dad's side grandparents: clam kalguksu (knife-noodles) and my grandpa's plushie. Shadowing my dad on his rounds, endoscopy, and bariatric procedure at his new hospital. Falling in love with Jinro soju.  Getting interviewed with our grandmother for her favorite Korean opera/ballad singer's YouTube fan club channel ("for our sake"). Family photoshoot with our grandmother, THE Roni Han.  I don't know if I have any strict life mottos that I live by, but I suppose I do have some ways of living that I stick to. Something I firmly believe in is that we need to look back in order to see where we are and to see where we are going. I remember it was the day before I headed back to Korea to be with family during the winter of my freshman year of high school, when my brother sent me an email with a writing template for questions to reflect upon as the year ended. I wish I stil...

Thanksgiving Dinner @ Uncle John's 11.22.18 Today is Thanksgiving, day of giving thanks. I'm not sure how I feel about Thanksgiving (maybe a B tier holiday for me), but I do have quite a few Thanksgiving stories I've amassed over the years since I've been back in the US.  For some reason Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle John's, featuring Dr. Samuel (photo below), from four years ago was the first memory of Thanksgiving that came to mind. Uncle John (photo above) is not actually anybody's uncle (or at least, definitely not mine). His name is Hyukman Kwon (권혁만), and he and his wife Maria are proud residents of Palisades Park, New Jersey (for over twenty years now). As with all connections, the way my family met Uncle John was through my grandparents. My paternal grandparents met Uncle John at a church in Seoul (명동성당), and my parents reached out to him when we moved to New Jersey. In Korean, we call Uncle John 요한아저씨, which almost literally means Mr. John — John comes f...

This is a momentous event in the history of mankind. Shine Kyuho Lee is starting a blog. Cue thunderous applause and trumpet celebrations.  The way I made this blog was simpler than I could have imagined. I just made a Blogger account and created a new blog. The original name of the blog was going to be One Piece by Day , because this blog was meant to be a space for me to store my thoughts and ideas — a piece of myself — a day. I've actually always wanted to try blogging ever since I read Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half , a graphic blog later turned into a book. Maybe these pictures look familiar: But I ended up choosing In the Middle of a Name  because I can already see myself falling off and not posting every day. I'd be trying to make a promise I can't keep, and there's nothing worse than a guy who makes promises he can't keep (coming from somewhere who has never showed up to an appointment on time).  In the Middle of a Name  captures the way I often feel...