Thoughts on Reagan

The Reagan memorial was put together really well. I turned on CNN while eating breakfast, in time to catch the live coverage of the CA sunset burial. By that point unless I rushed I was going to be late for class, so I decided to just skip it and watch the summary of the Washington, D.C. service. It sure was a big event, with everything carefully planned and carried out. It was a little odd seeing all of the living former presidents sitting together. I heard that Clinton was upset that he wasn't asked to speak. Both of the Bushes did a good job speaking; I read the full text of Bush Jr.'s speech online--someone did a good job writing it, and he did a good job giving it. Margaret Thatcher did look rather bad and much different than she did on the taped remarks.

I knew a lot of people thought of Reagan in a positive light, but hearing him compared to Gorbachev and Thatcher put him in the proper perspective, I guess. I just recently (last month) read part of his "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speech online. It seems he did a lot of positive things for the country and the world. It sounds like Reagan's optimism helped get America going again after its recession. It's a little weird that the president who was in office when I was born is dead.

Mrs. Reagan looked so frail--I guess all the stress and cross-country flights, jetlag, long days, etc. was getting to her, besides her phone ringing off the hook from world leaders. It's nice that it seems the family, despite whatever problems they've had in the past, was able to cooperate for the funeral. The two boys hugging was touching.

When I first turned on the TV it was completely silent with Mrs. Reagan breaking down at the casket. When she finally turned to leave, the sound of clicking cameras was like an earthquake, and struck me as distasteful. Sure, he was a popular president, but shouldn't the family have some privacy?

When Arnold Schwarzenegger passed the casket and crossed himself I couldn't help wondering if he was thinking about becoming president some day.

Towards the end of the program CNN showed a series of photos, some from the Friday service and some from Reagan's life, while Ray Charles sang America the Beautiful. They also showed pictures of the two men together.

When I got up this morning the bathroom light fixture had fallen during the night and was hanging by the cord. The way it was hanging, the metal of the fixture was cutting into the casing that surrounds the wire, so not such a good thing! I spent about half an hour trying to screw it back into the ceiling. After I got it up, I took a shower then as I started to blow-dry my hair it fell down again. I put a cloth between the wire and the metal to keep it from getting cut worse, finished getting ready, and went out. At that point I was incredibly frustrated of it--I can't even reach it well, it's so awkward, and I don't have anything resembling a screwdriver!

First stop was E-mart to look for a pedometer. First floor is all food, so I went to the second floor and walked all the way around--nope. On to the third floor. The first two floors were chaos; the third was a little more controlled chaos. Several employees greeted me (in Korean) or bowed; I returned the bow but didn't approach anyone for help. At first all I saw were clothes and baby stuff, but then I saw hiking goods. Another employee who looked like she didn't have anything to do greeted me so I asked if they had a man-bo-gae, or "ten thousand steps machine," (surprisingly similar to the Japanese name, man-po-kei). I did it while making a small box with my hands. She thought a few seconds and said yes, then directed me to another section. They had 5 choices, ranging from 9900 won to 40000 won ($8 to $35), including a "couples" pedometer set. Yes, your pedometer must match your spouse's! Most were made in Japan. The one I got had Korean on the outside package but Japanese on the machine itself. It's the no-frills version, so only one button (and another tiny button which I think controls the sensitivity. I didn't see any brand names that I recognized, so hopefully it's of a decent quality. With my one item I still had to wait longer than I would have liked to check out.

Then the 15-minute walk to the Lotte complex. I wanted to make it for the 5:05 movie, but arrived at just that time, so instead inquired about the 6:15 movie. They only had a few seats left so I got a seat in the front row. I went to Lotteria for lunch. It was really crowded. There was some type of concert or special event going on in the courtyard, so people in Lotteria (especially the second floor) were enjoying the view. By the time I finished eating some people had left, so I sat a little longer and got started on the Nicholas Sparks book.

The movie was The Day After Tomorrow. Could that kind of thing really happen?! It was certainly action-filled; seeing even huge buildings covered in snow and ice was cool. Some of it wasn't quite believable, or perhaps I just don't know enough science. Super-cooled air rapidly descending and killing people on contact?!

After the movie I was suddenly tired so didn't want to wait a long time to catch the bus. I got on the 5-1 bus that said it went to Mugeo-dong, and I was sure I'd seen that bus number pass by the University before. At first I just thought the bus was taking a round-about way, but then it had made so many weird turns that I didn't know which direction we were going. Then, quite a while later, after crossing the Taehwa Bridge and going through a ton of apartments, it passed Home Plus. Wait a minute, where is this bus going?? Then we passed Mega Mart. NO WAY! Mugeo-dong! Let's go to MUGEO-DONG! The road suddenly got very dark and very deserted, with us passing lots of bus stops but no one getting off. I was slightly worried about where we would end up, yet still enjoying my book. There were no taxis around, so for the time being there was nothing to do but stay on the bus. When I finally figured out where we were (45 minutes after getting on the bus), I laughed at the irony of it. One of the reasons I didn't go to Korean class this morning was that it's too far away, yet I end up all the way out there after 9 PM!

I got off where I would normally get off for the class, crossed the street, and got a coke while waiting for a bus to come to take me in the direction that I'd just come from. The 114 bus came after only a short wait and I continued enjoying my book on the 40 minute ride back.

It's suddenly cool again, to the point of needing a light sweater or walking very briskly to stay warm. Warm spell, cool spell, when will the weather stabilize?!