The Alchemist

People say this book is worth reading. Many celebrities including Bill Clinton read it. But... I hardly remember what it's all about except for some sentences in the introduction pages. 
You're impressed when you read a book and come across a sentence you think you feel a special bond with the author. I had that kind of experience in this book.
getting up at dawn and seeing the sun rise while the rest of the world still slept
It's like the whole world is yours.


We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn't work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: "Oh, well, I didn't really want it anyway." We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. 


The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.
Why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?
Otherwise, you don't feel like you are alive. You're one of those people who want to live a meaningful life. 


Basically it's a fable story. A shepherd boy goes on a journey to pursue treasure in Egypt. He was robbed and lost all the money. He decides not to return home even after he earns enough money, and goes after the treasure again . He learns lessons along the way and finds the treasure in the place where he least expected. 


When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. 

Flightless bird, American mouth

I can't forget the song from the Twilight dancing scene. It's a beautiful song, but I don't understand what it means though I tried. It's a poem. Whatever. 
  Flightless Bird, American Mouth  (by Iron & Wine)
I was a quick wet boy, diving too deep for coinsAll of your street light eyes wide on my plastic toysThen when the cops closed the fair, I cut my long baby hairStole me a dog-eared map and called for you everywhere

Have I found you

Flightless bird, jealous, weeping or lost you, American mouth

Big pill looming

Now I'm a fat house cat

Nursing my sore blunt tongue

Watching the warm poison rats curl through the wide fence cracks

Pissing on magazine photos

Those fishing lures thrown in the cold

And clean blood of Christ mountain stream

Have I found you

Flightless bird, grounded, bleeding or lost you, American mouth

Big pill stuck going down

The following is what I got from an Irish GET who worked at my school. 

The first part: a young vivacious boy became too old for playing games

The second part: watching the youngsters now playing where he once played

Truthfully no one will ever know the meaning of the lyrics, only the songwriter. 

It is like a piece of art. Everyone interprets it in their own. 

For me it sounds like he's telling the story of how he was a young, confused boy in America and how he grew into an old bitter man. A love song of how he found his love, though. 

Twilight

I ordered the DVD in advance before its release. I watched the movie at least 20 times. Some scenes have kept lingering in my mind since I saw the movie at the cinema. It was a few movies I was fascinated when I first watch at the cinema. The Matrix was one of them. I bought the soundtrack CD and listened to RATM's loud music a lot. Previously I was shocked at their album cover with a monk on fire. 

Thich Quang Duc burned himself to death in 1963  
protesting the persecution of Buddhists by Catholic South Vietnam government

What I really like in the book is when they're still irrevocably drawn into each other even after Edward reveals his identity. That's typical of youth. You don't tend to calculate consequences when you're young. You just directly rush to your target/destination. On the other hand, you wait so long that you lose the chance when you're old. We get wiser and maturer. I hope we get better with age like a fine wine. 

How old are you?

Seventeen.

How long have you been seventeen? 

A while.

The lion fell in love with the lamb...

What a stupid lamb.

What a sick, masochistic lion. 

If you said, "It's a vampire movie. I don't like it," you're old regardless of your age. You're still young if you're mesmerized by the movie. It's another Romeo and Juliet romantic movie. Sadly, the sequels were poor, though. 

2009 was another transformational year. I moved down to Busan and I had a very hard time adapting to a new environment. Almost everything was annoying, even such a everyday trivial thing as getting in and out of a subway train. 
Reading this book helped console me and I was really into it. I stayed up late at night, actually early into the next morning 2 or 3 am, and got up at 6 to go for work. 

Please Look after Mother

 

1) Summary 

A mother is lost in a crowded subway station and doesn't reappear. Only after she went missing did all the family members care about her and realize her love and devotion while tracking down her traces through Seoul streets.

The first son, whose role is pivotal in every Korean household, didn't live up to his mother's expectations and accordingly feels regretful. The author-daughter, on whom the illiterate mother takes much pride, is contrite for neither listening to her mom's repeated worries and requests nor taking earlier measures on her chronic illness. The father is also guilt-tripped because he walked far ahead of his wife, as usual, on the day of her disappearance and didn't notice his wife wasn't on the train. His wife was more like a neglected slave rather than a lifetime companion. He has been immature and irresponsible as a head and once abandoned his family to live with another woman.

At the end, the daughter prays to ask for her mom's well-being in front of Pieta Maria who cries over dying Christ, but sadly, Mother is dead. The mother, even as a reincarnated bird, visits her family to see if they're fine.

 2) Thoughts

It's very heartbreaking to imagine that the mother suffering from dementia has wandered through Seoul. According to several witnesses, she is wearing blue plastic sandals cut to the foot bone whose pustulant wound attracts flies. The image looks so sad that I hoped they had seen a different woman.

From the beginning the author addresses the daughter and Father as "you," which is embarrassing and hard to understand the story. As I got used to it, I realized that the writer is smart enough to use this literary device as a scolding tool to intentionally make readers penitent.

The mother's name is So-nyo which means an innocent, demure girl. The witnesses say Mother's eyes are as honest and gentle as cows. She is indeed the epitome of sacrificial, devoted mother of the particular generation. Isn't it too much that Mother even secretly worked at an orphanage in her spare time? I've cried enough.

The mother figure in the book makes me keep thinking of my mom who has also lived a life of sacrifice. I've been overwhelmed by my busy life and burden at work and taken my mom's love for granted. Sometimes I even thought mom's worries about me are annoying. Now I'm aware that my mom wasn't born as a mom and she also had a time of being a girl. She wants to look beautiful, regardless of how old she is. I have to be a reliable friend who has a special bond with her. By the way, the other day when my mom called me on my way home from work late in the evening, I wasn't that kind to her, to tell you the truth. I'm always her daughter. I can't help it. 

First they came...

I've come across a famous statement/poem. I guess I once heard of this. It makes more sense to me these days when I often find myself hesitating to come forward or stand up for a good cause. Have I become an old dog?

First they came...  by Martin Niemoller (German pastor 1892-1984)
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The last line leaves a big impact on me, especially older me. As I grow older, I think I have to stay alert all the time since it's more likely to compromise into an easier, convenient way. Niemoller went through Nazism under which German intellectuals were inactive over Nazis' purge, and warns of the danger of political apathy.

Once the results of the latest general election came out, Seungwon lamented again the seemingly never-ending regionalism. Those three incorrigible regions or areas: Kyungsang province, Cholla province, and Kangnam. Even a dog can be elected if it runs with a particular number. Pathetic!

What I didn't expect from him was he even criticized Cholla province. I've thought they have justifiable reasons to always vote for liberal candidates. Well, I know it's almost 95%, more like an authoritarian country. There is neither diversity nor tolerance. He said Cholla should change first. If it happens, Kyungsang feels ashamed and follows. But I disagree. Cholla has been a historical victim. It's unjust to ask them to change first. Anyway, when will the day come a conservative candidate wins in Cholla while a liberal wins in Kyungsang?