Brief Interruption

I've spent over a month in Seoul already, and I've gotten some new inspirations for the novel, even in the most unexpected of places. I especially feel good about further defining Sarah's body image, sexuality, and fashion sense, as well as a few travel habits.

Right now, I am interrupting my Seoul stay, in order to briefly return to Los Angeles for a few days to work out some work-related stuff. Once that's out of the way however, and I also make arrangements to vote absentee in the presidential election (as the US electioneering by the South Korean government must not go unpunished), I will find myself back in Seoul for a few more months at least.

I am hoping to bring a few outfits this time - including tunic sweaters and/or my trademark miniskirt suits - as well as my makeup bag, if I can get away with the whole thing.

Once my return to Los Angeles is over, and I find myself back in Seoul, I will look for even more travel opportunities, hoping to translate them into even more inspirations for Sarah. My eventual goals include a weeklong rental of a car here in South Korea (so that I can use some of that time to visit the ancient capital of Gyeongju), as well as a possible visit to Hong Kong, a city Sarah is sure to serve and love. As winter approaches and Seoul gets colder, a few nights in warm Hong Kong won't hurt.

On a different note, I spent time at the movies this afternoon, taking in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, which was supposed to be funny, but a bit too pathetic for me, despite the presence of Kirsten Dunst, Gillian Anderson, and a few other actors I liked. There were two transwomen, both pre-ops (and played by genetic females), in the movie, but they were little beyond the stereotypical strippers and deceptive seducers of men. Sure, Sarah is proud of her male bits in her own way, but she is a hardcore lesbian feminist and doesn't fit these stereotypes!

(And the Korean captions were sure to throw the audience off! When the first transwoman, a friend of Kirsten Dunst's character, shows up nude in front of the male protagonist, he screams "penis!" But the caption translated it to merely "darn." A later carping by Dunst mentioning the "transsexual" simply translated it to "man." Later on, there is a mention about a "woman with a pecker" in the caption, but it refers to the second transwoman, a stripper, whose genital area was blurred inside a male symbol, but the tip was visible at the end of the scene anyway.)