02.26.1999
It's a World Cup summer. I caught the game—Korea vs. Czechia—alone in my room, having missed a chunk of the first half already. I watched with bated breath. When Korea scored the equalizer, I was happy, but I didn't jump out of my seat in pure elation, and I didn't scream with joy. When the… Continue reading to you, 20 years from now
My brittle steps carried me along until, at long last, I took my final breath. I had come in sight of the sea, with its sparkling ripples, so brilliant all those summers ago, now gauzy and subdued, as if veiled in tulle. And when the seagulls cut through the clear blue sky, their cries speaking… Continue reading apricity
2 minutes away from the concert venue, streets saturated with parked cars, it dawned upon me that I had not considered the parking situation. A responsible man always considers the parking situation. Despondent but desperate, I cut my death spiral of negative thoughts short and stopped the car. I opened up a parking app on… Continue reading space orphan
You presented a bundle of little wildflowers which you had plucked for me along the way. Though I didn’t appreciate such gestures as a child, it was perhaps because I had since grown and become more wary of taking things for granted, and perhaps because the action itself was reminiscent of a simpler, fonder time,… Continue reading 그 자연이 네게 뭐라고 하니?
There is a scene that has stayed with me long since watching it. It’s from a 2000 slice-of-life Taiwanese film called Yi Yi. Although the film runs just shy of 3 hours, I left the theater wishing that it was longer. Many of the scenes from this film have continued to linger in my mind.… Continue reading on the longing we carry
1/13/25 - MondayFirst full day in Japan. Hasn't really sunk in yet. Train system was harder to navigate than I expected. Scary to not know anyone, nor the language. Train conductor guy was really rude to me, feel bad for not knowing Japanese. Currently on the train to Kamakura. Japan is so pretty. Love the… Continue reading journal entries: the week as a microcosm of life
Dear 엄마, I’m writing this letter because I have a lot to say, but I don’t quite have the courage to express them to you yet. As we’re getting older, I’m realizing that life’s too short to not express the way I feel when I feel things. But for some odd reason, I’m just not… Continue reading a letter to my mom
There is a fire burning before me. It is a good flame—sturdy and predictable. It undulates gently, crackling and popping in steady cadence. The crickets are joining in unison now, their song reverberating in the thin November air. As an immature and impulsive child, I would often make fires burn as big and bright as… Continue reading in some ways i have changed
Whenever the sunlight proved too burdensome for me to bear, I found shade in two places. One was the abandoned playground at the back of our red-brick church. I remember meandering along the shaded, narrow path that led to it while listening to soft background music, and because the church lay nestled beneath a hill… Continue reading remembrance of days past
"He ate his breakfast with his back against the tree, reading the magazine while he ate. He had previously read but one story; he began now upon the second one, reading the magazine straight through as though it were a novel. Now and then he would look up from the page, chewing, into the sunshot… Continue reading perfect days
marginalia 