Letters to Jim

The Beat April 2003


Hey Jim,
Greetings from your buddy here in the witness protection program for the financially challenged. Money is kinda funny so I shouldn't be thinkin' bout goin' nowhere 'cept to bed. But lately I've been afflicted by a grievous hankering for the notion of home. So I took a Korea break. A friend here thinks what really ails me is lack of a mission. Maybe he's right.
Remember missions Jim? Before our backs got hairy, we're going to change the world. Guess the world changed us. I came to Korea to live a simple life. Maybe sleepwalk through a day gig, dumb down on CNN and jack off when the hour of the wolf screamed out loud.
But you know what? Life got complicated. My wife and I wobble chronically between oblivion and bliss. Thankfully forgiveness has a potency no matrimonial scorn can match. And my daughter's seriously magic. Mixed babies are cross cultural canvases. One day they're Asian; the next Western, their genes trying to decide what's up. To righteously hang with her I've got to rock slowly and murmur in ordinary rhythms.
Except being a daddy just ain't enough to make my demons lie the fuck down. Then it takes a whole lot of medicine to help me pretend I'm somewhere else. So I bolted to Thailand. Bet you think I spent all my money callin' Thai ladies honey and wound up singin' the blues, right? Not this time. I went to a remote island and cleaned up in a detox fasting program. Sure I downed a few Singhas beforehand, but after that I was a damn boy scout.
Jimbo, you'd be amazed what comes out your body when you purge the pollutants. It looked like something from Ghostbusters. I mean positively evil. Afterwards my eyes burned bright as beacons. My fasting buddies were cool, Euros mostly. One British chick was vitally hot. We talked about everything; religion, politics, and of course the food we couldn't eat. Chewing the fat helped me forget how foul the cleansing shakes tasted. But I never quite managed casual colonic conversation.
That reminds me, I read that three hospital patients died in Seoul when doctors gave them Ajax enemas by mistake. YEOW!
Until That Time,
Guy Hormel


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