This morning, I decided to try a new coffee. Sick of constantly saying, �No, I don�t drink coffee,� and then having to explain this unusual facet of my personality, I decided that it was not really worth it and set out to find a favorite drink. Currently, it is a caramel macchiato. However, I have been kind of annoyed at the cost of my favorite sugar filled wonder and so I decided to pick something a little lower down the menu, �vanilla latte� to be precise.

It was awful.

The beautiful little coffee shop that I have been frequenting because of its fine macchiato, cheaper prices and nice staff, was surprisingly lacking at 9:35 as I waited for my coffee. They did not understand that I wanted not a vanilla latte hot and instead tried to make just a latte iced, which I have never understood. Why would you want your latte iced, if you could just let it go cold and drink it then? Anyhow, I pitched as little fit as I could and received another one; hot� no syrup� which was probably my fault.

It was that and the fact that I had not really gotten that much sleep the night before and the fact that I tripped over my own feet� again, and falling halfway down the stairs, that lead me to a general resentful feeling for the remainder of the morning, which I did not like. I went home for lunch and on the way back had this conversation with myself:

�Well, assuming that the book your just read was correct, we can assume that we can just change your attitude.�
�Gggerl, just shut up.�
�Come on, Jin-�
�Look, I had a legitimately bad morning! I didn�t sleep last night, my coffee was terrible, I tripped down the stairs and I still have this horrible cough.�
�Well, according to our mood tracker, one tiny thing can change your mood at any point during the day, so it is just as reasonable to believe that something good could come up in the end half of the day to rectify the rest of it.�
�Fine,� I replied, �But for just a moment, I want to be miserable.�
So it was that I was miserable for about fifteen seconds and then let it go.

The second half of the day was based around the theme of �what we need� and �what we want�. For instance, I did not need a decent coffee this morning, I simply wanted it. However, I did need to breath in air and I enjoyed that very much when not impeded by my hacking cough.

It was a great question for class, though. Each class threw in their own tidbits from air, shelter and water to family and friends. With my oldest class, I had them erase one thing from their need list until they only had one thing left. The cars and the houses were the first things to go, then the clothes. Surprisingly, I think the food went after that. They cut out friends before family and we ended up cutting out family before we cut out our own hands. In the end, we lobbed off the hands and the halves of both our brains and our hearts before we finally got rid of water and air, which we decided pretty much killed us off.

And that was when I met Hko Sook, a very pleasant young man recently graduated from High School with his GED. I was headed back from a pleasant dinner date with my friend Lena, who is being decent enough to teach me Korean and answer all my weird-ass questions about what Korean L337 it like (and buying some fantastic new track pants, by the by) when I realized, yet again, that I was lost.

�Schlejiman,� I asked diffidently to the friendliest stranger I could spot.
�Yes?� he said in surprised but perfectly accented English.
I was equally confused. My brain was processing Korean, right then and I was not really prepared for that, �Jihachoal, odi-e-o?�
�The subway? Well, its right up here,� he said.

We got a good conversation going about how he grew up in New Zealand and how now he was working for Burger King and applying to colleges in Seoul. We talked about how strict the Korean college system was and how it used to be a lot like that back in the US. We talked about where I had been, my school, all that, all in such as easy and friendly way. I liked him so much, that I hardly noticed that he was taking me to the wrong train station until we were already there. So, we traded contact info and I bid him farewell� and well I probably won�t ever see him again, but he was a really cool guy and oddly was that one thing that made my day.

interesting. that is why one of the ways to be rich is to understand what is need and want. if u only spend on what u need, then u will be able to ample of savings.
» renaye on 2010-10-18 11:33:46

Very interesting day! Love you and miss you!!!!
» Rachel (98.245.159.47) on 2010-10-18 11:47:10

This was me this morning
Friday mornings just aren't my friends :(
But I think you're friend is right. Somehow, something always makes it better (usually come nighttime for me). You can call it something like karma I guess. Not that I know much about karma but the idea works :D
» frostbitten on 2010-10-22 10:10:12

yleeccch, coffee is gross.
» Zanzibar on 2010-10-24 12:34:40

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