Skip to main content

Random thoughts: Will November 10, 2019, ever end?

Do you enjoy traveling? Then you might not want to travel with me.

For me, travel is: Going through the immigration process, security, getting to and from the airport, and trying to figure out where in the hell I am going.

And I write this in a good mood because TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee and TNKR staff made all of the arrangements.

***

I have arrived in Cambridge. I was off the grid for 14 hours.

* No Internet
* No phone
* No messages
* No computer
* No video games

Remarkably, no homicides.

***

Because of time zones, it seems that November 10, 2019, has been a very long.

South Korea, November 10, 2019
* 5 AM, woke up
* 6:45 AM, arrived at Incheon airport
* 9 AM, plane took off
14 hours of barely sleeping

USA, November 10, 2019
* 10 AM, arrived in Boston
* 1 PM, went to sleep in Cambridge
* 10 PM, woke up in Cambridge, it was still November 10

Can anyone do the math to figure out how long I have been awake and asleep on November 10, 2019? I feel like I have done some time traveling, and wonder if I could bump into myself in another time dimension.

Not only is it "5 o'clock somewhere," but it is November 10, 2019 wherever I am.

**

Yes, I can live without a computer or Instant Messages, so I hope drive-by commentators won't try to come up with deep analysis about this or talk about how people can't survive without mobile devices.

l love to read, write, talk, sing, dance. I can live without checking messages--but can drive-by commentators recognize that the context is different when I am at home with many options compared to when I am squeezed into a seat for 14 hours with few options to do other things? If I could have played the Madden video game for 14 hours, I also would not have slept on the plane, but I would have had a wonderful time and would be posting about how refreshed I feel.

***

The plane landed. I applauded.

It isn't because I spent the last 14 hours squeezed into a seat, unable to check the Internet or messages, having to get the other guy to move when I wanted to go to bathroom, didn't bring a book because anyway others frown with the overhead light on so you can read, etc., but because I still celebrate that humans can fly airplanes. People will celebrate someone dunking a basketball, kicking a soccer ball into a net or posting a puppy video on the Internet.

Humans taking a huge piece of metal thousands of miles in the sky with enough oil to get it done staffed by people who do their best to pretend they like you? Yes, I applaud when we land. So far, in all the years I have applauded when the plane landed, only one person has ever joined me--she was probably eight years old.

Yes, it is a wonderful thing that humans engage in flying across the world--but that doesn't mean I will enjoy every moment. But it is certainly better than taking a boat, although I at least would be to be on the grid and might even be able to play Madden.

***

Immigration is more efficient than in the past. I used to get bothered by immigration, I used to give yes/no answers. Now I realize they are probably bored at their jobs, so I chat them up, even tell them about TNKR. I know they aren't interested, they may ask 100 people or more per day about why they are coming in or about where they are coming from. When I chat them up? They are usually trying to cut me off so they can get to the next person.

***

Baggage claim--my bag looks a bit different from everyone else's bags, so I can usually identify it easily. Still, I am thinking about getting a customized bag, maybe point it gold at the top, purple at the bottom. Even better, have my face on both sides of the bag. So not only would people be unlikely to walk off with my bag, but they'll pointing to me, "Hey, sir, I think that is your bag!"


Popular posts from this blog

Radio, Harvard

I'll be a guest on XM 169 The Power this morning from 10:15 a.m. EST. I'll be talking about teaching English abroad. I'll be interviewed by Brian Higgins of MYB Talk . I sang last night for about five hours with friends but I'm sure my voice will be fine. Tuesday, I'll be interviewed by a Harvard University representative who wants my input on a new doctoral program for education leaders . It is a collaboration between the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School. Some folks at the Booker Rising site are (again) reminding me that I'm not as smart as I think I am. CJL

Scam? Yo Momma!

Note: This was originally posted shortly after Jesse Lee Peterson's book was published, reposted in 2005, and now because of a fight between black customers and a Korean merchant in Dallas, Texas. Scam? Yo Momma! During the summer of 2002 I was an observer to a dispute between the Asian owners of a Chinese takeout and some of their black customers in Washington, D.C. The month-long boycott began when a local activist accused a cook at a Chinese takeout of attempting to cook a piece of chicken he had allegedly dropped on the floor. Despite the best efforts of human rights activist Dick Gregory, popular talk-show host Joe Madison, and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the protestors were unable to coax any media to report on the protest. On some days there were, by my unofficial count, as many as 100 people chanting songs and marching. But one key person was missing: Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was important to the foot soldiers at the boycott that someone from the media report on...

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...

How long until they get arrested? Not long enough!!!

As I recently noted, some executives were arrested for putting industrial ethanol in food they sold. I noted: "Of course, it seems that NO ONE checks on the stuff sold on the streets of Seoul..." I haven't been this wrong since 1982! What will happen to these folks? The Korea Times reports: 24 Percent of Ice Cream Contaminated With Germs About a quarter of ice cream and ice at restaurants and drink shops in Seoul is contaminated with high levels of bacteria that can cause food poisoning, according to Seoul City, Monday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) inspected 74 ice cream shops, fast food franchises, coffee houses and bakeries. Among the shops selling ice cream and ice, 18 shops sold products that contained more than the permitted levels of bacteria such as colon bacillus and staphylococcus aureus that can cause food poisoning. I love 팥빙수 (patbingsu) so I would support the death penalty for anyone selling contaminated stuff in it. The city government also inspec...

Mentoring while Black (Korea Times 2/16/2023)

  Mentoring while Black by Casey Lartigue Jr. February 16, 2023 www.patreon.com/caseylartigue