Ah, Sunday, the day of hangovers and self loathing. Not to mention the day that is overshadowed by the impending doom that we like to call Monday. Sure, it makes up half of the weekend, but it is invariably the shoddy, run-down, other side of the tracks half of the weekend. You know, the place that your parents always told you not to go. It is also the day when I sit down to ponder my finances, contemplate my life, and otherwise do things to depress myself. Today was different, though. Even though I drank quite a bit last night, I woke up hangover free, so there will be very little to no anger and resentment in this post.

In fact, I'm just going to talk weekend. Friday night I was recovering from a severe hangover due to Thursday night's excesses. Why did I drink too much on Thursday? That is a question that I am also trying to answer, so we won't talk about it anymore. Suffice it to say that I felt pretty rough around the edges on Friday. Due to that, I just went to work, hit the gym, and then picked up the always wonderful Jisun from work.

We ate a quick dinner at Quizno's and then decided to walk to the Han River Park. She works in Hongdae, which is just north of the river, so instead of taking a bus or subway, we decided to hoof it the whole way. Once in the park, we just walked along for an hour or so and enjoyed the warm fall weather and nice river views. Since this is supposed to be the last warm weekend of the year, it was pretty crowded with walkers, joggers, cyclists, and people pumping iron. One thing that I like about Seoul is that they have outdoor fitness centers all over the place. Too cheap for a gym membership? No problem, hit your local park and get your workout there.

After spending a nice evening walking in the park, I went home and fell asleep early. As I said, I was hurting from the previous night, and needed a nice rest. It actually worked out well because Jisun had reserved tickets to a morning showing of Inglourious Basterds. I usually don't go to the morning showings, but recently the ticket prices in Seoul were raised from 8,000w to 9,000w, and as Brad Pitt would say, 'Some things I just cant abide.' So I decided it would be better to go to the morning show which is only 5,000w.

We watched the movie and it was a good time. At least for me. Jisun thought it was too violent. Apparently she isn't very familiar with Tarantino's work. Also, Jisun wasn't too keen on sitting in a movie for three hours, but despite all that, she thought it was a good movie, and I would have to agree. The middle section is a bit slow, but every scene that Brad Pitt is in killed me. I guess it will be on DVD in the US soon, so if you didn't see it in the theaters, I would definitely advise a rental.

After the movie she took a nap while I hit the gym again (I am dedicated, what can I say?). Once I got back from the gym it was dinner time, so we decided to hit a Moroccan restaurant in Itaewon for a change of pace. The place was Marakech Nights, their spelling, not mine. However, since the owner of the restaurant was originally the chef for the Moroccan ambassador, I would guess that it is correct, and my spelling of Marrakesh is incorrect, spell checker be damned. It was my first time really having Moroccan food, and I have to say that I was really impressed. The portions were good, it was delicious, and with the dishes being only 12,000w (10$!) a piece, you can't complain. Actually the owner/chef was so cool that he came out and helped us order by telling us what was the best stuff on the menu. A nice personal touch like that goes a long way, so I will definitely go back there again.

After eating dinner, we headed over to the Loft for some reminiscing and beer. Mostly beer. Since it was Halloween, I had promised a bunch of people I would meet up with them in Itaewon, which explains what I was doing there. Most of you probably know that I avoid that place like the plague these days (or years as it may be). But, I have to indulge old friends now and again, so agreed to go there. Plus, Jisun had never been there before and she wanted to check it out. We ended up just staying at the Loft, as they have free drinks for girls on Saturdays, which keeps my spending down a bit. Also, we got there early enough to secure a table, which on Halloween is no mean feat.

We got there at around 7:00pm, and were entertained by various friends (and Tuttle) stopping by for a drink or several, which made the evening pretty enjoyable. As the night wore on, I was trying to convince some people to go to Grand Ole Opry on Hooker Hill, but nobody wanted to. Sad, that place is hilarious. At the same time, Nick was trying to convince everyone to go to the Russian club. I have never been there, but it is rather frightening to me, so I backed down. Unfortunately, I was just getting my third wind at around 1:00am, when Jisun tricked me into going home.

I was pretty drunk, or I never would have fallen for the old 'lets go outside so I can buy you a kebab' trick. I did fall for it, though, and by golly, that was a good kebab. Actually, it was fair to middling, but after ten beers, I am no connoisseur. After the kebab we were trying to hail a cab, which in Itaewon at night is the second hardest thing in the world to do (the first being trying to hail a cab in Gangnam between midnight and 2am). Oddly enough, we ran into Nick also trying to get a taxi. He had snuck out and was trying to get away, just like us. Since Jisun, Nick and I all live in the same general direction, we decided to split the taxi home and be economical.

And that, as they say, is that. At least for yesterday. I woke up bright and early this morning to watch the Phils in the World Series, but of course there was a rain delay, so I got to watch the Seoul Jungang Marathon instead. When the marathon wrapped up, I switched back to catch the beginning of the Phillies game. Quite fortuitous. Of course they lost, which was quite unfortuitous, and I don't even care if that isn't a word.

After the game wrapped up, I convinced Jisun to go to the book store with me. I have a couple unread books in my collection as is, but I wanted to get out of the house, and the book store is always a nice place to go. On the way there, we stopped off at KFC for lunch, which is a wonderful thing on a sour stomach. I actually even switched up from my usual Tower Burger and got the Zinger instead. That probably changes the burger from 1,500 calories down to a manageable 600, so I am pretty proud of myself.

We got to the book store, and I couldn't really seem to find anything that interested me. Finally I stumbled upon a Bill Bryson book that I hadn't read before and figured that would tide me over for a bit. I forget the name offhand, but it was about his childhood. I grabbed the book and headed over to a quiet little spot to read a few pages before moving on. As always, Bryson is hilarious, sincere, smart, and hilarious. If you haven't read him, do it.

I was actually just about to purchase the book when I saw 'World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War'. I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I have a rule that I will not purchase a book unless there is either an alien or a dragon on the cover. An alien dragon is even better, but they don't come too often. Of course, a zombie book doesn't have aliens or dragons, but it is a lot closer to my heart than Bryson's autobiographical work. At first I was going to buy both of them, but in Korea, books are quite expensive, and the 30,000w gift certificate I had wouldn't cover two books. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal to pick up the difference, but I spent a lot of money the night before and didn't want to use any more cash than I absolutely had to. Unfortunately, when you have to choose between an autobiographical work and a zombie book, the zombie book wins every time. Next time, Bryson, I promise.