I spent most of Saturday holed up at my hotel. As I mentioned before, it was a sweet suite, so I lounged and ended up hitting the sauna, where I had a good soak, trying to beat the shitty-beer hangover gripping my innards from the night before.
That afternoon I wandered around Kangnam, taking in the lovely fall weather and attempting to orient myself with my Seoul surroundings. At one point I ran into a group of three foreigners, two of whom were wearing big-ass cowboy hats. At first I assumed they were very enthusiastic Americans, but when they opened their mouths, hard to pin-down accents came out. Turns out they were South Africans on their way to a "gay cowboy" theme party. We made our way down to the Han River to take in the spectacle of big water in a big city. They drank out of cans of Hite as they walked, which is a bit gauche in Korea. There are no real laws against drinking in the street, but it's pretty much not done, and it doesn't make us foreign-types look to good in local eyes. It's funny, because just yesterday I went onto
this guy's blog to take him to task for taking others to task, but I will concede that staggering down the road with open beer should best be avoided here. It's the total mark of a newby feeling liberated in Asia. Do it if you want, but know you will be looked at like a mucksavage.
Before the show, I joined Sam, Angry Steve, and Will in Itaewon, where we grabbed some pretty good Mexican food - by Korean standards. We caught the end of the Korean baseball final game on a sidewalk TV, which was a thrill-fest. It was 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, and the Gwangju (Kia) Tigers hit an out-of-the-park home run to win the thing. Amazing, really. You couldn't write a more classic ending.
The show was packed - a younger, sold out crowd. My set was decent, if not stellar, though Brian and especially Kerry slayed the fuck out 'em, so the kids got their money's worth. Methinks I could benefit from some more fresh material. I'm workin' on it, though. At the show I met
wondershot, who joined us for a drink afterwards. He's up in Seoul and read about the gig here, so came out to give me a handshake. It's always interesting to meet invisible internet friends in the real world. I've only done it a couple of times, and it gives you a face to the icon.
Will and I ended up at the Walker Hill Casino, where we stayed all night and won a big stack of cash each, which takes the bite out of the castastrophe I had a few weeks back. The next day Sam and I ate breakfast at the Rocky Mountain Tavern - the Canadian joint where I always end up. They do a decent eggs and bacon and have some tasty beers on tap, which we supped mightily until good and drunk, my casino profits pickin' up the tab.
I fell asleep on the KTX with my MP3 player in my ears. Sam reports that my MP3 was "shushed" by one of uniformed train blackshirts. I don't even have to be talking or awake to get shushed on the KTX.
The last two days I've been back at work. I've been in a foul temper and spent last night and tonight at home, where I've cooked and curled up with the cats to watch a couple of obscure foreign movies that I picked up in Shangers.
I was going to have a date this week but I'm not quite in the mood. I'm feeling pissy and depressive, and just want to be by myself for a few days. Today I didn't want to talk to anyone and really felt the everything sucked. The approach of winter is grinding in the reality of my parents' deaths, I'm bitter about my sudden breakup, and feel spent from the rollercoaster stress of doing comedy. The alcohol isn't helping matters, either, though I've been sober for a couple of days now, for what it's worth.
This weekend I have a show with my new band, which I'm not yet excited about. We have barely rehearsed and kind of sound like shit. More practice will help, but I barely have the time and am running out of energy quickly. It is Halloween though, so a couple more days of rest and I'm sure I'll be chompin' at the bit. I love Halloween.
I think I'll get back with my cats and read until sleep comes, if it comes.