Koreatown

Today I took my mom to see the dentist in Koreatown.  Why Koreatown?  Well, as you may know, older folks are often creatures of habit.  So accordingly, my mom has been going to see this same dentist since teeth were invented... 

The office of this aforementioned dentist is located right around Wilshire and Western, deep in the heart of Koreatown proper.   After parking the minivan, I walk my mom up to the office and tell her that I'm going to get my car washed while she's getting her teeth looked at.  She smiles and says "OK sonny," and I'm off like a rocket. 

My trusty GPS puts the nearest car wash at 4th and Western.  I pull into the car wash and say to the nice man at the counter, "I am Chinese and I would like your cheapest, most basic car wash!"  Suddenly said "Nice" man isn't smiling anymore...  He immediately starts grumbling and scribbling, or is that scribbling and grumbling???  Well, whatever... I just know that the "Nice" man I had been talking to, is now gone and has been replaced by a very angry ogre that looks quite a lot like Shrek.  Not knowing whether he was going to shoo me away or eat me, Shrek eventually handed me a ticket and said, in his best Ogre-ish accent, "You pay inside!"

Shrek's wife, "Fiona", rings me up and I go outside to wait for my car.  After twiddling my thumbs for 30 seconds, I notice a poster accross the street adverstising some pretty awesome "Man Suits".  This strikes me as funny, so with my trusty cellphone camera in hand, I go and snap a photo.  Pleased with myself and knowing that I had time to kill, I continued around the block looking for other gems of comedic value to be found in Koreatown. So this is a picture log of my finds along this 40 minute walking tour of Koreatown.  Enjoy...

"Here is the first shot that got me started...  Man Suits made in Korea!  99 bucks!  Get out of town!  I would very much like to look like a man and I think a Man Suit would be perfect.  I better hurry though, I only have until Sept. 19th."

"Hey, Y'all have a Chicken Day ya hear!"

"Are you unhappy?  Do you like to read?  Well, I have the place for you!"

"Now be honest... Do you wake up scratching every morning?  Do you think you might have a  Bed Bug problem?  Now you know where to go!"

"There it is!  Soju Town!  Don't we all want to live in Soju Town?"

"That's right!  In Soju Town, you can eat as much BBQ as you want for as long as you want until 2 AM!  Don't you always find yourself hankering to eat as much as humanly possible at 1:59 AM?  Yep, me too!  Meet ya there at Soju Town!

"Time for lunch at Crunchy Sea, ironically located on the same property at where I'm getting my car washed!  I am so gonna get my car washed here more often."

"Fish Tacos!  These tacos lived up to the name and were the crunchiest fish tacos I've ever had.  Crunchy Sea has been on my Yelp "To Do" list for a while now, so getting my car washed and putting another notch on the foodie belt is a double bonus"

"Twas the night before tacos and all through the hut, not a creature was stirring, not even your butt..."

"What is that sound?  Why yes... I believe... Well, I'm not sure, but I do think that is the Sound of Scissors..."

"Darn those kids at Soju Town!  Up all night eating all they can eat!  I just want to sleep and hear the soothing sound of scissors.  Is that too much to ask?"

"Yes, can you tell the REMOTE and the ROOM to talk louder?  Or at least, can you tell them to slow down and speak more clearly.  Thank you, I would appreciate it."

"Yeah, I've been to St. Andrews and let me tell you that this ain't it..."

"Even in Koreatown, all drains lead to the ocean..."

"I"m a little tired after my walk. A little rest and a little prayer sounds  mighty nice right now"

So I've come to the end of my journey and now I'm asking myself, "Have we learned anything today?"  I'm not sure there is a life lesson in this post anwhere, but it does speak to the fact that there are interesting things all around you.  If you stop, slow your roll, and take notice, there really are a lot of funny and interesting things in your world.  Like my childhood idol, Ferris Bueller once said,

• Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Kyle's First Note

So I haven't blogged or written anything in a while.  Yesterday, when I was writing an overly long status, Facebook prompted me to write a note.  I didn't even know you could do that and what the purpose of a Facebook Note was.  Either way, I needed to start writing again and this was a good enough reason to force myself to do it.  So, I sat down and this is what came out.

Kyle's First Note

I heard a great new phrase on the radio today...  The phrase was "Paralysis By Over Analysis."  Do you ever feel like that?  I sure do.  When faced with certain situations, I will often over think things to the point of standing utterly still. (i.e. paralaysis)  In the past, I've always been a big proponent of preparedness, sound reasoning, and of anticipating possible outcomes before taking any action.  But I must say, there is also  a lot to be said for just taking the plunge and diving headfirst into that pool of uncertainty.

This topic brings to mind another phrase or quote I've often used in my life, and that is  "There is no right or wrong decision, there is only making a decision and then making it the right one."

I just love that line.  It lessens the pressure of making that first initial decision, yet puts the onus on you to follow through and back up your decision with action.  Everyone including myself, will come upon a time when decisions regarding our respective futures will have to be made.  When that time comes, will paralysis set in?  Or will careful consideration turn into cold refrigeration?

I'm at a point in my life where I'm trying to be the best version of myself everyday. While that sounds admirable, more often than not, I fall miserably short.  Yet, failures aside, I and we must continue to take steps forward and move in a positive direction.  Analysis is good, but not when it results in the kind of paralysis that leads to stagnation and a life of missed opportunities.

The title for this little piece is called Kyle's First Note.  Initially, the meaning of that title couldn't have been more innocuous.  This was simply my first Facebook Note.  Soon though, the words kept coming and the volume in my head got louder and louder.  It got me to thinking about this one little thought, that Every Symphony starts with just One Note.  Just one...

My friends,

Wherever we are in our lives, our symphony awaits...  but we must first choose to play that first note.  What note will you play?

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

It was a wet and drizzly Sunday morning.  I shout "Five more minutes Mom!" to no one in particular and go back to sleep.  Is that a train whistle I hear?  Muttering angrily to myself, I hop out of bed and rub the sleep from my eyes only to find that I am certainly not in Kansas anymore...  A cheery, round faced train conductor beckons me forward past a large red steam train.  "Welcome to Hogmeade!" he says.  "Hogsmeade?" I ask.  "Why of course, now pick up your things and head on up to the castle, Dumbledore is waiting for you..."  With a rush of realization, I take a look around with new fresh eyes.  All around me are slanted chimneys and tiny shoppes crammed together.  A hooting owl comes out of a belfry to ring the time...  I have arrived.  Falling in line with the rest of the eager wide-eyed muggles, I enter a fantastical place of wizards and witches, magical creatures, and of course, Butterbeer.  Yes, today I was in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and there is no place I'd rather be.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is truly a wonderful place of magic and mystery.  That is not prose, that is objective fact.  The Wizarding World is simply a marvel...  While it isn't large, it does have a true sense of place and a transcendent quality that allows you to suspend reality if just for a little bit.  When I think back to all of my favorite destinations I have been over my lifetime, Loch Lomond in Scotland, Chiang Mai in Thailand, Bruges in Belgium, all of those places were true destinations of distinction. However, after this trip, I will reserve a spot for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter alongside those other destinations on the list of my most favorite places.  Am I a biased Harry Potter fanboy?  Maybe...  Am I a theme park geek?  Guilty on that count as well, but when you first step foot into Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, you will literally step right onto the pages of the books and walk right into the scenes of the Harry Potter movies.  Wonderment will be all you feel living inside of a story that has so captivated a generation.  What Universal has done to transport you to the World of Harry Potter is simply astonishing...

So instead of the normal banter and longwindedness of my normal blogging, What I have for you today  is a collection of photos of the Wizarding World taken with just my cellphone camera.  Enjoy the magic.

Here are my lovely companions for this trip.  Kelsey on the left is a Hufflepuff, Katelyn in the middle is a Gryffindor as evidenced by the red and gold scarf, and Kayla on the right is sporting her snazzy Ravenclaw robe.

It is the end of our visit and we must leave Hogsmeade and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  My companions and I make the long walk home, all the while looking over our shoulders at a place we'd rather be.  I turn to my fellow muggles and say "The park is open for another 5 minutes, wanna go back up and take a last look at the castle?"  After an enthusiastic thumbs up from the mini-muggles under umbrellas, we had back up to Hogwarts for one last look...