Another

modified photograph.

Water Lily, Water Lily, Water Lily, Turtle

"Whew... I made it!"

"Gimpy Brown"

Once, while I was taking a creative writing course at UCLA, the class was assigned to write a short story.  We didn't have to write a complete story;  we just had to come up with a good beginning, meaning one with an intriguing "hook".

So I thought about it a bit and came up with what I thought was a pretty promising premise for a humorous story:  it was to be about a man (named Jones I think... this was a long time ago and I don't have the manuscript any more) who died after having led what might generously be described as a moderately dissolute, though not particularly evil, sort of life in the fictitious town of Narrow Bend, Alabama -- then came back to life at his own funeral, to the shock of everyone.  Here I had the town doctor, who'd pronounced Jones dead, say it was "the most unusual thing he had seen in ten or twelve years" (I'm rather fond of this bit of understated hyperbole, if that makes sense;  it sounds classic American to me, not too unlike the signature style of... Mark Twain(?!) (please forgive the awesomely daring impertinent allegation!)).

Naturally everyone was curious to know what, if anything, Jones remembered about his experience while he was dead.  And yes, Jones had a story to tell -- boy, did he!  Indeed a whopping astounding yarn!  The moment his soul was unburdened of its mortal coil, said Jones, it dropped straight down into Hell (rather as expected by the good townspeople), but it turned out that Hell -- overseen, by the way, by manager Mr. Scratch, who was a fat black fellow with a multicolored bowler hat, a scraggly beard and a hearty booming laugh -- was not nearly so bad a place as it had been made out to be in Bible class, not by a long shot.  In fact he'd found that it suited him just fine precisely because it was chock-full of all the things and practices that were considered bad and immoral in this life, such as gambling, poaching, loose women, even cussing and fattening greasy diner food!  Vice was the currency of Hell.  What a "life" he was set to enjoy for eternity, until somehow his damn ticker decided to start ticking again!

And that's as far as I got with the story.  I never tried to finish writing it, because, well, I kind of felt I'd bitten off more than I could chew, at least at that stage in my training and life experience, and was afraid I might finish by botching up what started out as a decent beginning.  I put it away, thinking vaguely that I would some day return to finish it -- but other things in life got in the way, and over the years I sort of forgot about my would-have-been career as the next O. Henry.  Oh well.

One thing that I do remember, though:  Jones had a best friend, a man whom everybody knew as Gimpy Brown.  I didn't think it was a particularly clever nickname;  after all, I'd envisioned the character as actually having a bum leg -- it was something of a throwaway detail -- but for some reason my classmates seemed to find it quite amusing and even witty.  Maybe they thought I would come up with a funny backstory to explain his limp😄

Which brings me to the real point of this post.  I had just added a new batch of cicada skins to my cache

when I noticed that somebody had lost a leg.

Normally I don't keep such seriously damaged shells, but as there was no way to find out which one it was, I had no choice but to just throw the leg in the jar, too.

Maybe that's why that one individual was reluctant to join the others in the jar...

Anyway, all the foregoing about the short story I was reminded of, by the mental image of a brown bug missing one leg.  Alias "Gimpy Brown".

Place of honor along with my other treasures

Rather Startling

Dumbo Goes Begging

When I saw this cloud my first impression was that it looked like an elephant.

But then that "trunk" also made me think of a panhandler with his hand out, saying "Brother, can you spare a dime?"

Or maybe its an elephant going "Dear human, can you spare a dime?"

An Unusual Rock

One of my prized possessions.  Known in Korea as suseok (수석 --"water and stone"), these rare stones have naturally occurring landscape-like images embedded in them, and being considered minor miracles of nature, can fetch high prices among collectors.  The most valuable specimens actually command prices ranging in the hundreds of thousands of US dollars!   Although this particular stone is not nearly so expensive (obviously, since I was able to afford it), due in part to the fact that it has been cut and ground flat and therefore not in its original, pristine state, nevertheless the "view" itself is quite genuine.  Perhaps in ancient times people would have considered these miniature worlds to be proof of the earth's power of spontaneous generation.

"Head And Shoulders Above"

Who's that watching from behind the clouds?

Related post:  Rain God Dancing

2 Things Wrong With These Steps

#1.  They should have been built to face the door

#2.  That first step was too high 

Tiny Miracles

Photographed just as it was found on the sidewalk.  What are the odds?

Another Old Photo

taken inside my old flat.

I miss the collection of books, music and movies that filled it before it became necessary for me to move back to Korea after a lifetime in Los Angele.  But after spending a fortune to have all my artwork professionally packed and insured and shipped off to Korea, I simply ran out of budget and couldn't afford to have all the other stuff sent along, too.

The LPs were part of my father's collection, but the rest were all my own, collected over the decades.  Now when I look up the books I used to own, it's shocking how rare and expensive some of them are.  Some are long out of print and can't even be found.  I found a used copy of The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles Finney with the famous hallucinatory illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff -- the edition I used to own -- offered for sale at AbeBooks at $600 USD.  Another edition (also used) was listed at $2000!  As for the movies, aside from the usual classics and popular favorites I had also accumulated all sorts of lesser-known and obscure titles, artsy experimental films and cult favorites on DVD, now all but impossible to track down.  And hundreds of Korean movies.

For the longest time I had little interest in Korean culture (aside from a few favored Korean restaurants) and had no interaction with the larger Korean community in L.A. unless strictly necessary.  Then, in 2003 I came across a newly-released Korean movie called A Tale of Two Sisters (directed by Kim, Jee Woon and remade in the States in 2009 as The Uninvited), gave it a try and I was hooked!  It was beautiful, complex, scary, mysterious and bittersweet -- even the soundtrack was wonderfully poignant, and remains among my favorite compositions to this day.  My eyes were opened to a whole new world of cinema (and by extension... yes, to Korean music and drama series as well😏) and I started collecting Korean movies left and right.  And not satisfied with just watching them by myself, I started going over to my friend Evelyn's house every few weeks with a few Korean DVDs to watch with her (she was an Emmy-winning script writer;  she spent a great deal of her time watching all sorts of movies in any case, both for her work and for personal pleasure... R.I.P., Ev).  I even formed a group with local Mensa members that met downtown once a month to have dinner, walk over to my place and watch Korean movies.  Many of those can't be found any more, either.  I guess I'll never stop missing them.  They were a big part of my life.

An Evening Worm Rescue

Number of worms rescued so far:  77

To avoid the killer heat I went down to the market after sundown.  On the way back I was surprised to see a large worm crawling down the middle of the sidewalk.

It looked slick and shiny, as if it had just crawled out of wet soil.  I put down my groceries, picked up the worm and placed it in the bushes by the side.  But as I picked up the grocery bags I noticed it crawling out of the bushes and heading back for the sidewalk!  I waited to see what it would do;  for a little while it crawled along the edge of the pavement, then finally re-oriented itself and started back toward the bush.

The One And Only Time

that I remember being a total sneaky scheming rat (there may have been other occasions, only not so well remembered for not being so blatant).

This was many years ago when I worked for a company in Santa Monica that made artsy little fashion accessories.  I was living hand-to-mouth then and I desperately wanted a raise, but me being the timid little introvert that I am, and with business not being so great at the time, I didn't dare to go up directly to Roz the boss lady (not Rose but Roz, pronounced Raahzz, and she did have a personality to go with the name) and ask for one.  So I came up with a plan.  I had a friend James, who ran a small business in downtown L.A.'s jewelry district importing imitation gemstones.  I asked him to call the shop the next day during the time when I would be out for lunch, and ask Roz to convey a message to me when I got back;  a vague message about how he needed Sam's answer soon.

When I got back from lunch, Roz asked me in an annoyed tone of voice, "Sam, are you looking for another job?"  I acted surprised and was appropriately defensive and apologetic, going on about how sorry I was for not letting her know earlier, but I was going to, etc.  The scheme worked, and I got my raise.  Not a big one, but I was so relieved... and proud! Sam the mouse had managed to pull off a scam on his scary boss like a tried-and-true snake oil salesman.

Errant Truck

A shoe charm that fell off someone's Crocs.

Related posts:  errant

Just A Quick Little Post

Just now I was listening to Thomas Quasthoff singing "Das Wandern", from the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin by Schubert.  Apart from the fine singing, I also appreciated how accompanist Justus Zeyen on the piano varied his playing to highlight the differences in the lyrics of each verse, even though the music is exactly the same.  I closed my eyes the better to listen, and suddenly I started tearing up.  How beautiful!

Another Try

Yesterday I went to visit Semiwon Lotus Museum in Yangsu.  It was a longish train ride -- I left in the morning and came home late in the evening, sweaty and exhausted, but happy to have made the trip.

["Back when tigers smoked" is the Korean equivalent of "Once upon a time"]

Related post:  Despite The Heat,

I Think A Dryad Lives In This Tree

It was giving me the side-eye as I walked by.

I've Got No Room For Coffee

on my little coffee table, but I made room for a cicada in amber and two large cicada nymph shells.  One coming, one going.

And Today's Iridescence Pt. II

Related post:  And Today's Iridescence