fusion project developments

Recent developments in the life of Korea's most spectacular Fusion Project: she loves banana and avocado. She does not love blueberries and applesauce. She loves my new i-pod*, she loves her daddy, she loves cartoons and SHE HAS TEETH! Ta-da! TWO teeny-tiny sharp little pearl nibletts on her lower gum. They have been tested** and found sufficent. Let the games begin.

And finally, I still haven't found a new job but I have had a few offers, which keeps some wind in my ego sails, and am getting increasingly adept at phone interviews. We shall see ... soon.

The Hidden Cameras - smells like happiness.

Here's a song to dance to, from The Hidden Cameras of Toronto. Self-described "symphonic indie pop", with a homo-erotic flair, je pense. Oooo la, la. Have a good week!!~

* an early, early Christmas gift from the Buddhist Mr. Lee. He still doesn't get the 'Christmas Morning' bit, and perhaps never will. I have to hide HIS Christmas gifts in a secret location because he does much more than shake them and peak under the wrapping paper. The fun never ends, in these parts.

** on my left one!

beta ask advice first

A bunch of people have emailed me to say that they can't comment on my blog anymore because they've switched over to the beta version. So, I'm wondering: couldn't you come up with a better excuse?

Heh. I'm just kidding. But I do really want to know, is the new version really better? Should I make the leap, or do you think it'll muck up my template and cause problems?? For those of you inclined to say "nahhhhh! You'll be fine!" please recall that I AM the arshole who crashed a thousand browsers in remote countries a few months ago. I think NASA might be still looking for me. Something about a mars surveyor gone AWOL.

So anyway, with that in mind, your advice would be appreciated. Pros and cons and honest reviews would be keen. To switch, or knot? And if you can't comment (!) then an email would be just fine too.

And for kicks, here's a photo of the world's perfectest baby, learning to sit up and wait patiently for her walk. I look bored and indifferent but the truth is - I'm just listening to a student give me a concocted story about why he had to skip class. Dead dog, my foot!

Coming next week: a real expatriate post - all about the Bits 'O Pop Culture that I've missed out on over the past seven years, living in Korea. I had to ask my sister what an American Idol was - and where Montel had gone. Honest.

And this here is a song for my favourite husband. You know who you are.

Jackpot - psycho ballerina.

a rose by any other ....

Lately I've gotten a lot of questions about Hayden's name, primarily: 1) isn't Hayden a boy's name? 2) is Hayden her Korean name as well? And, 3) WHY did we choose those names?

The answers to these questions are simple: 1) Hayden is both a girl's name and a boy's name. 2) Her Korean name is 이윤서 or Lee Yoon Suh. And 3) we chose those names because we like them. And because my in-laws deemed them to be auspicious enough. And, on that topic, here are 8 more names we may have liked but couldn't really select for Hayden. LEE. Because we know life is hard enough...

Mary. Hera. Ida. Claire. Dale. Belle. Eva and ... Drew. LEE.

In case you missed the family name the first time!

Also, I'd like direct anyone-who-is-everyone or everyone-who-is-anyone on over to Melanie-Ajumma's new weblog. She's decided to join the bevy of Jet Settin', Fusion Lovin', Word Jivin' ladies-who-blog, and I'm sure she'd like it if you could just click on over and say something nice to her in html. She only has a few posts up so far but I'm sure it won't be long before she has mastered the art of linking, uploading, htmling and CSSing and will be regaling the blogspehre with tales of her own Canadian Self and her Korean Golden Boy Husband. I do love me some Melanie, that's for sure.

Cat Power - the greatest.

Have a good week!~

oh, really?

It seems excessive alcohol consumption without food can hurt you. A women in Gwangju apparently died after trying to lose weight on something called the "Booze Diet".

And also, it seems "soaring housing prices perplex home buyers" in Seoul. Oh, really? I can tell you that I'm perplexed. Holy fudging expensive, batgirls! If I had 70-100,000 dollars for "key money" I would be using it for a real house key, in Canada.

And coincidentally, here's a snapshot of me, homeless and drinking booze in Seoul.

Johnny Cash - four strong winds.

Have a great week!~

the mind bloggles ...

If you could see a picture of my own Personal Hell it would probably look like a big timetable, and every week would be week 9, 10 or 11 of the Fall Semester - just looping over and over and over again. I've been so busy that I honestly haven't had time to do anything besides teach, prep for class, breastfeed Hayden, smile wanly and see to basic hygiene. Forget about blogging or writing that novel or Frolicking in the Autumn leaves, no, no. I'm terse and harried and absolutely baffled as to how some women manage to work 40 hours/week and tend to more than one child! And some women have colicky or cranky babies! And husbands who do not wash floors and iron clothing. My own mother had FIVE daughters! And she cooked 3 meals a day AND SHE FREQUENTLY SMILED AT US! I am in awe. And I mean that! Big-eyed, gape-mouthed, head-shaking awe.

But anyway, no complaining. I'm here to give update on the world's cutest Fusion Baby. Hayden has learned to squeal. It's a terrific noise and I've had the opportunity to study this sound in some depth over the past week or two. It's not an unhappy squeal and seems to turn up (!) when she's very excited, or thrust into a new environment. Like, our recent train trip to Seoul, for example. She was very good for about 4 hours and 50 minutes of the 5 hour trip, and then squealed like a hyena on helium for the last 10 minutes. It was loud. People stared. Some assholes glared and tsk tsk'd at us.

And Hayden just gleefully ignored them and sang on to her heart's content. Only breastfeeding seems to woo her into back into silent/sunny submission so I'm afraid she's going to inadvertently associate energetic screeching with good food. We're hoping it's just a natural part of her language acquisition and that she'll grow out of it soon.

AND! There's MORE! She's cutting her teeth and drooling like, 10 litres of spit every day. No, let me correct that. Not litres, gallons. Urns. Vats. She's drenching *everything* and frantically clawing at every visible piece of fabric and trying to cram it in her mouth to suck on it. She seems to have a particular penchant for green silk, and anything that might be dirty or unhygienic. All this chewing and sucking is for naught, however, since she still doesn't have teeth. Or hair for that matter. We keep trying to shame her into development by saying things like "What's wrong with you? Where is your hair? Baby Suri has hair!!" or "What!? No teeth yet?? What's the matter with you? Baby Ivo has TWO teeth already!!." And so on. Hopefully she'll be sporting a full of hair and a set of molars by this time next week. And if not? Well, we'll still love her. As long as she stops making that racket.

And for those of you who come for the music and not the baby talk (Craig, maybe?:) here are five four sloooowish songs - one for every day of my loooong blogless last week.

The Mountain Goats - get lonely.
Eva Cassidy - oh, had i a golden thread.
Matt Weddle - hey ya.
Beth Orton - conceived.