go.stop... go... stop... go... go...

For some reason, my students seem to like to draw me. I don't know what it is, but I've received lots of pictures, almost always unforgivingly full of freckles. Through this experience, I've been extremely grateful for one incredibly superficial, shallow thing: my removed mole. A little over a year ago, I had a prominent mole that resided above my upper lip "punched out." It had always been a source of both idiosyncratic pride and troubling embarrassment. I feared being known as the "girl with the mole." I had even been teased in third grade by Adam Bell, who pointed at me and screamed, "A fly pooped on your lip!" 나쁜셰끼놈.

Well, it's quite a fortunate thing that I was able to get that sucker removed. There are moments I shudder in fear when I think of the teasing I would've received had I still had it. I can just imagine the pictures that would've been drawn with a big black hole engulfing my face. Crisis averted!

This past Friday, some friends came over and played Go.Stop, a form of Korean poker. The stakes were low but the fun was high. I had to call it quits at around 5:00 am, but three endured the night and played on. I woke at 10:00 am to find that they had literally just finished playing. It was truly amazing. A drizzly Saturday was spent bumming around and playing some more Go.Stop. A few years ago, I would've found this kind of time spent ridiculously wasteful. However, I realize that it's these times and these situations that imprint fond memories into your life story. There are only so many people who you'd be able to do such a foolish thing with. It's good to find those people nearby.