Yesterday, I woke up at 5 a.m. and drank a cup of instant coffee. Then I read the headlines on my smartphone while taking a nasty shit. A 37-year-old man from Incheon got arrested for abusing his wife. He filmed her having sex on many occasions and uploaded the videos to the internet. Sadly, the victim was so mortified that she went ahead and killed herself rather than enduring all that public shame. The culprit, needless to say, is looking at some serious prison time. In fact, he could be spending the next seven years in jail.
I prepared breakfast for Rice-Boy Larry. I served him three eggs with toast. Then I slipped him fifty bucks. He normally gets forty a week, but I added ten to pay for his hospital visit.
I said, "When you see the dermatologist today, ask him to give you some Accutane."
"Suppose he says no?"
I shrugged my shoulders.. "What can you do? No's no, I guess."
"So this Accutane stuff really works, huh?"
I nodded. "Like a charm. And the good thing about it is that you'll never have to see a dermatologist again in your life."
"Then why are they so stingy with the stuff?"
"It has some pretty severe side effects. You can actually become psychotic. I shit you not."
He frowned at me. "Well, that's certainly not good news."
I patted him on the back. "Beauty comes with a price."
I caught the bus and made it to my office by 7:30 a.m. Then I called my mother using Facebook Messenger. She was relaxing in bed.
I said, "What's the fucking problem? It's only 5 p.m. over there."
"I'm upset."
"Upset? How? Are you depressed or something?"
"No. Nothing like that. It's my stomach. I must've eaten something that didn't agree with me."
I let out a heavy sigh. "Thank Christ. I thought you were dealing with another of your famous bouts of melancholy."
She changed the subject. "Sis is going through a hard time at work. The principal has been on her case since visiting the union rep."
I smiled at her. "That might actually be a good sign. He could be putting pressure on the bitch."
"You think so?"
"Why not? You just can't fucking fire people simply for the hell of it."
My day at work went OK. It's just that I've been balls to the wall for the last month or so. Therefore, I only write for thirty minutes a day if I even get the chance to write at all. With that said, the kids have been very nice. I never have issues with discipline, and nobody is threatening to cut me with a knife.
I saw my friend Richard Hurtz during lunch.
He said, "Do you ever watch Korean baseball these days?"
"I gave it up."
"Why?"
"My favorite team used to be the Samsung Lions, but now they're complete trash. The company quit spending money for the good players."
He stuffed some rice into his mouth and chewed for several seconds. "Isn't Samsung a Daegu squad?"
"Yes."
"But you're a Seoul boy. Why not support the home team?"
"People from Daegu and the surrounding area love Americans. But folks from Seoul hate us with a passion. The crowd from Seoul are worse than the San Francisco liberals."
"Good point."
I eventually got home at 6 p.m. Then I drank a bottle of soju and a big can of beer. It went down smooth.
