A Wonderful End to January

The last while has been hard because I've been on the outs with my friends. I was worried about having class with one of them this morning, what with being given the silent treatment for an unknown malfeasance, but that obstacle was removed from my path thanks to the $1 guaranteed hangover: Soju.

It gave me the freedom to enjoy my caramel macchiato (first one since October, and deeeeeelicious), and to get to know the girl next to me, Tammy. I helped her practice pronouncing the alphabet, and we worked together on the conversation drills (what's your name? I'm blahblahblah, and I'm an American. I'm a Canadian. etc.) During break time I found a really cool bike where someone had taken 2 bikes and put them together in 1 machine, and I dragged her away from practicing to see it.

I got up the courage to ask if we could do lunch together (not as a date type of thing but as a, I'm really shy and incredibly insecure, but do you want to consume food while talking sort of thing), and not only did she come, but she added two others, Luke and Steve. I had kind of noticed Luke from afar and was pleasantly surprised by the addition. Of all the places in all of Korea, though, they wanted to eat at Burger King, so to BK we went. Luke and Steve work at a school with a really good reputation, but they also have to work six days a week, from 3:45 to 10:30. Ouch. Tammy's schedule is 5 days a week, and from 12-8 or 1-9 depending on whether there are special classes or not; she is the only foreign teacher there, and they only have squatting toilets. It really makes my M-F, 10-6 look good, and I plan on remembering how fortunate I am when I have to work February 28th, a Saturday, and miss my last Korean lesson for this session.

One cool thing is that Tammy knew them from church! They go to a service at 2 p.m. on Sundays; they all get to work the subway, so I have to find someone to help me figure out the bus, but I'm definitely interested in seeing what it's like. I'm also interested in expanding my social circle, of course!

After lunch, we went shopping which really entailed a lot of laughing and enjoying another person's company. We talked to two strangers (shoe salesman and a professor), played a crazy fish-candy game, pawed through jewelry, and used the tester make up at a face shop before taking a Valentine's Day picture of her in front of a big red love sign to send to her boyfriend off in England.

It was a genuine adventure with lots of pictures. If you haven't already, go to http://katefiftytwo.blogspot.com; it's not updated every day, per se, but crazy doesn't happen every day.

Blessings In Disguise

Lately, I feel as though I have been put in a lot of positions where I've had to make the best of some really awkward or hard situations and had to make a choice: wallowing versus seeing the silver lining. For instance, I nearly reached a new level of starvation when I was unable to cook for myself, but at the end of it my stomach shrank and I lost a good deal of weight, overall improving my health.

Lately there's been something in the water that has made people cranky, unfriendly, and malicious, and I've just been holed up in my apartment trying my best for self-preservation. Today, however, I realize that this is my golden (silver?) opportunity to move out of my comfort zone at my Saturday morning Korean class and make new friends. I'm more likely to meet people when it is driven out of necessity, so here goes.

And now, dear reader, a challenge: leave a comment and let me know your recent silver lining!

Reason #1412

Why my mother is always right.

For weeks she's been telling me to get an ankle brace to help with the pain and swelling and to stabilize it while I walk. Today while I was in the pharmacy for my fifth (and final! DAMNIT!) round of bronchitis/sinusitis, I poked around the braces and they had a large-sized ankle brace.

Best $5 I've spent in a long time. The pain is gone when I'm sitting, and greatly diminished while doing other things--like the all-important walking! It's been seven weeks or so since I got the cast off; I probably would have been happier succumbing sooner. :)

In other news, I think America is the greatest country in the world, and really, what more would you expect from a countryman? I would never, ever expect a Brit to say, "Oh, the U.K.'s great, but it isn't the best." I also don't expect anyone from another country to say, "Oh, you're right, the States are the best!" But living in Korea has given me respect for the progress that has been made in our country. I'm proud that we think for ourselves and don't give into socialized medicine, and I'm proud that we come back stronger after every set back. It means that our market history is volatile at best, but steady over the long haul. It's possible that what America has going for it is its own self-confidence. I've heard it said over and over again that confidence is sexy; confidence in and of its own right gets things done. This is starting to ramble, but I sort of get that way anytime I hear a country song celebrating our liberty and the red, white, and blue.

Another Fine Lolcat Update

So I haven't done much more than sit around letting my ankle de-puff, but as I'm on my way to a hair appointment, I stop in at Lolcats...


more animals

Hell Week

I remember hearing shouts coming from the Oval and poking my head out my window just in time to see dozens of naked butts running past as the Freshmen were initiated into various fraternities on campus. While funny, I thought it was kind of stupid--no one's really proving any nettle by doing naked laps, are they? (If so, that's one more club I can cross off of my list.) Regardless, because of tradition, the Freshmen were humiliated for the sake of humiliating them, and the seniors got to feel superior--while in reality the Freshmen were the real winners, having survived and been accepted by a new band of brothers.

The last six months have felt a little like a hazing ritual, what with being the only social American at ECC. The teasing about my homeland is nearly relentless, from the Canadians bragging about famous Canadians (Michael J. Fox, Avril Lavigne, Jim Carrey, Colin Mockery, the list is extensive but not so extensive that they don't repeat the whole thing every time) to the New Zealander adamant that American's aren't the best just because we proclaim ourselves to be (no, but our Navy actually having ships may play a part of it). I'm left feeling a little like a Freshman teacher, sent through the ringer, and wondering what comes next.

And then I realize something. (Okay, my mom points it out.) I'm one of two people genuinely happy with my job. I wake up excited for work--I honestly didn't know that the other teachers didn't feel the same until today. They hate going, they hate doing the job, while it's the absolute highlight of my day. I have succeeded. And in this instance, I am the real winner, and my band of brothers includes a whole swarm of six-year-olds armed with rocks, papers, scissors, and Disney Princess. And that's pretty frickin' cool.

Learning Korean? Not so easy.

Another instance of funny pronunciation errors...

I'm watching an awful, awful movie on TV while I "clean my room." (Read: stare at my junk wishing I was telekinetic.) So I sound out the title, "Po-li-na." Well, I had a similar mistake to the mis-read on Saturday. After 15 minutes of searching, I had to remember Jim Belushi's name (because I couldn't remember Steven Seagal's name to look up the movie on IMDB, what with Paulina not bringing up any titles at all). Then I had to Google, "looks like Jim Belushi" and sure enough, on the tenth hit there it was. Good ol' Steven Seagal.

So I go to his profile, and I scroll, scroll, scroll, and find nothing. No Paulina! Well, maybe IMDB is out of date? I wonder. No, it's a pretty old movie. And then I see it. Not Paulina: The Foreigner. D'OH!

I'm putting together a tutorial to show why I'm so inept at reading English in Korean, haha.

Christmas, Pt II

Look, my blog is like the movie theaters of summer '08: full of sequels! (Okay, it was triquels, but I'm still clever!)

This morning I was walking to school, mulling over about how Christmas really wasn't that bad. The day itself was rough, but it turns out I'm easily distracted (oooh, shiny!). I was thinking about lunar New Year coming up this Monday, and how it's going to be more deserted than Christmas was, so I might get a weird deja vu feeling.

Little did she know.

Today a package arrived that was supposed to be filled with bras and underwear I ordered in a post-Christmas sale, what with Koreans having neither breasts nor an ass--or any notable body fat to speak of. As is my habit, I opened it from the bottom because by the time it arrives, there are so many papers taped to the front that I can't cut through them. Immediately I was greeted by a suspiciously familiar lime green fuzzy blanket. "Why did mom send me Gammy's blanket?" I wondered, then realized there was a pink ribbon wrapped around it. "Why did mom re-wrap Gammy's blanket?" was the next thought to follow. (For those who are unaware, under all this red I am blond.) Realizing it was probably new, I still didn't put two and two together, "Why would they buy a new one?" Then the light flickered: it's a present from someone else! WOO HOO! I open up the card (cute little reindeer) and smile: Tabitha, Tamara, Tosha, and James all signed it (probably at Tuk Tuk). I'm grateful for how well-thought of I am, despite completely abandoning them to trot around the globe.

A bunch of stuff came that was neither wrapped nor tagged, so it could either be from them or my sister. Molly definitely sent me a beautiful journal and an awesome apple necklace, but then there's: another journal (with a pen, thanks!), cookies, Crystal Light (probably Tamara, what with having a severe addiction to Cherry Pomegranate), gummy bears (whose packaging lies: 8 oz is not a value pack; five pounds is a value pack), Lemon heads, a martini glass (Tabitha's influence?), a candy shot glass (heh, Tamara), lotion, and a cute felt Santa bucket to keep it all in. And various safety pins and sewing apparatuses, probably my sensible mother.

Thank you all for your thoughtfulness. I sat amidst my pile of presents (aka loot) for a good five minutes, overwhelmed and sincerely, heart-felt grateful. Imagine if you will, Kate Southern rendered speechless.

Rock Star Legacy, Pt II

Today I was doing my weekly shopping at Home Plus. I got toilet bowl cleaner, Jack Daniels, a lint roller, air freshener, coffee cup, avocado, and other stuff I can't even remember, now. I'm excited to have my own coffee cup at work so people will stop taking the one I have rightfully stolen, cleaning it, and putting it away! (This is kind of funny given my recent passion for having all of my dishes clean as soon as I'm done using them. My dad would die of shock, and be very proud in his grave.)

As I was walking out with my cart (to be returned to the coral lest I lose my 10 cents), a little boy who probably learned how to walk two months ago pointed at me, screamed at his mother, then started running as fast as his little chubby legs would carry him right at me. Yeah, I'm sort of a big deal.

Saturday Morning Korean Lessons

I've studied the Korean alphabet for some months, now, but the co-students in my YMCA class are less studied, so on Saturday we practiced writing our names in Korean. It's hard because they don't have the z sound, and they don't have double consonants (like the tr in trailer). So I write mine out--both Kate and Kathleen--easily because in the hospital I wasn't Kathleen, I was Kaesulin.

After helping Heather with hers, I look around the classroom and try to read other peoples' names. "Suh tee ben" being Steven, "Mae tuh" being Matt, and so on. I get to one guy's, and I still haven't mastered the r versus l conundrum, so I sound it out: Kuh ree puh. Kuhreepuh? Creeper? His name is CREEPER? I wave over one of the teachers with wide eyes, "What is that guy's name?" I whisper. "Oh, Cliff!"

What lead to creeper? you may ask. Well, because of not having double consonants, it has to be Kuh lee. Then, because Korean does not have an f sound, it's "puh." Kuh lee puh. I like Creeper better, though.

A Morning with Pororo

Students on the Whiteboard
Originally uploaded by oneglassslipper

Today was FIELD TRIP DAY!!! We all piled into buses and headed into the land of Pororo, an insanely fat blue penguin. It entailed baking cookies, graffiti on a whiteboard, rock climbing, bubbles, fishing, sliding, making bouncy balls, and a lot of photos.

Here's Alice writing on the board while Justin looks on. Have a good weekend!

Korean Blow Up Mattress?

As you may or may not know, in Korea they use heated floors instead of a furnace. As a result, most of life happens on the floor: eating, sleeping, entertaining--really, what else is there? I'm watching TV (shocking!) and I swear there's an ad that looks EXACTLY like a blow up mattress commercial!! You know the one that's like, yeah, you can blow it up in minutes and have a spare room! Your kids will love being on it when they don't have to be sleeping, even, just playing their Nintendo DS! Except it's for an additional heating panel. It's so weird!

Lucky No. 4

Ahem. Someone has a new phone.

This someone didn't necessarily "need" a new phone, what with having kept tabs on the last one. For those who are new, though, let's review.

Upon arriving in Korea, I inherited a phone with a significant amount of credit on it. It was small, blue, and egg-shaped. This phone got me through my first two months quite well, but because it was registered in someone else's name, and that someone else had fled the country, I was unable to continue using it. And there may have been a drunken falling-out-of-my-pocket-in-a-taxi incident that involved a trip to the 3rd district police office. Then again, maybe not.

So, phone number two was an extravagant purchase ($200) and shiny. It was beautiful, I could use it as a mirror. It took wonderful pictures, had a great dictionary (Eng:Korean), and (maybe pathetically) made me happy to play with it. You'd think I would have taken better care of it, but it managed to slip out of my pocket (same pocket as in the previously mentioned possible scenario) on the way back from Costco. Sigh. This was but a few days before the broken leg incident of '08.

Phone number three was a donation from Mel. She and Heather got similar phones (okay, exactly the same except in color), and didn't mind letting me use it. A few times, I couldn't call out, and the phone is in her name so I have to ask her to charge it and etc. We could put it in my name or...

Alice and I went phone shopping last night. This involved a lot of Korean speaking while I pushed buttons, ate oranges, and drank tea. After a few stores wondered what was wrong with me for not having a Korean credit card, we found one that was happy with my bank account number. So I now have the absolute newest phone possible. It's white and red and has an antenna for watching TV (a function that only works in Seoul, but hey, still cool.) It fits my hand well, takes 2.0 mp pictures, and makes cheerful little beeping noises at every move I take. There's a button specifically for the translator, makes an excellent MP3 player, and doesn't have any buttons easy to hit when talking. Insert happy sigh.

He's Singing In Korean

A clip from the Colbert Report.

100%

When I worked in the Deli at King Sooper's, I had three secret shoppers and scored 100% for each of them. They were really pleased with my customer service skills!

Today I scored a different 100%. I was the only teacher in all of ECC not to lose a student. This can be explained (e.g. others lost students because of the economy, and my classes are small already), but so what. I got a 100%. Suck it, Trebek!

My Soju

This is dedicated to Soju Friday.





Lyrics:

(Verse 1)
My Soju (My Soju)
Prease don't you go
No popo hago shi po

Sarangu (Sarangu)
Prease hajima
You play with my heart
Cuz you're Eepuhrah

(Chorus)
I drinku my soju
With yogurt and I told you
My oppa and my omanee

So cheers to my chingu
Get drunk watch the ringu
Eat another plate of bulgogi

(Verse 2)
My Soju (My Soju)
You are the one...
You sexy like Kim Hee Sun

Sarangu (Sarangu)
I am so Michinom
When I feel so alone
I call you on the phone

(Chorus)

(Break Down)
Baby... Mi-ahnee
You are my gongju number one
I love the way you look when you
sit next to me at Tahoe Galbi
I love you, Sarang Hae
LETS FLY!!!!

(Chorus)

(Verse 3)
My Soju (My Soju)
I love you so...
I never let you go...

Old Day, New Day

Old day:
2:30 a.m. Grumbling admitting that I need to go to bed.
7:30 a.m. Finally wake up after hitting snooze eight times.
8:10 a.m. Run out front door with wet hair and no make up.
8:35 a.m. Slink in, fingers crossed.
10:05 a.m. Return to desk from morning rounds of greetings.
11:15 a.m. Realize it's 15 minutes to lunch and need to do something before lunch.
11:25 a.m. Duck out for lunch.
12:35 p.m. Duck back in from lunch.
2:30 p.m. Recover from lunch-induced coma. Really should do work.
5:30 p.m. Figure whatever didn't get done in the last thirty minutes isn't going to get done, might as well go home. Tomorrow is another day, after all.

New day:
12:15 a.m. Finish current chapter, lights out.
8:33 a.m. Wake up 2 minutes before my alarm, refreshed and ready for the day.
9:10 a.m. Showered, dressed, enjoying breakfast over e-mail and IMs.
9:35 a.m. Leave for work a full 20 minutes early, to prepare and chat with coworkers/friends.
10:05 a.m. Get paid for talking with and enjoying kids.
11:30 a.m. An hour for lunch!!
12:28 p.m. In class 2 minutes early, getting things ready and throwing balls and pillows at the kids.
1:55 p.m. Sad that the afternoon went by so quickly and that it's time to say goodbye for the day.
2:00 p.m. Another hour, generally for prep time. Also socializing.
3:05 p.m. Classes either until 5:15 or 6:00. Regardless, put forth 800% more effort than during Old Day.
6:30 p.m. Regardless of when class lets out, leave early after unwinding with coworkers.

Yesterday one of my coworkers and I were talking in an IM, and he was bummed that today was Monday and he had to go back to work. Meanwhile, I look forward to Sunday nights, now, so I get to go to work. I get to go to work.

In other news, I transferred money home today. I took out 3,000,000 won to send home, and you have to have cash to do so. So they withdrew all 3,000,000 won in cash, and it was the coolest stack. I wanted to take a picture, but I also didn't want to get arrested. Next time, though, I'll withdraw the money on my own and take the picture. Epic. I'm really glad that the economy is bouncing back. A month ago that 3m would have bought $2k, but today it bought almost $2.2k. It's nowhere near the 1:1 rate, but I believe that as people become more desperate and prayers become more earnest, it'll come back. It's done it dozens of times before.

Kate 52

Inspired by Miss Chris's Project 365, where she takes a picture every day, I have Kate 52. I'm less dedicated than she is, but I definitely am enjoying the push to take a picture as often as possible to share as much as possible. I like the idea of just uploading pictures without tons of explanation for my less chatty times. Check it out when you've got some down time!

Kate 52

Stringy Not Loopy

Today was the start of Korean lessons! And so Heather, Chris and I trudged to our respective bus stops at ten this morning, two of us a bit under the weather (the two soju participants, heh heh). Armed with coffee, pepero, and Coke, we headed downtown, chatting merrily. I was pleasantly pleased to have an easier time squeezing into the small bus seats. Yay broken leg diet!

After grabbing a deeeelicious McDonald's breakfast, we headed over to the YMCA where we had our first Korean lessons. It was definitely entry level, but I enjoyed the class, practicing my pronunciation, and putting some hoity-toity brat in her place. "I just don't get it! How is this being conjugated!" she proclaimed in the first lesson of an entry-level class when we are trying to master the ALPHABET. After confusing our four instructors and getting excessive eye rolls from Heather, I explained, "It's the command form." It kind of wasn't, but she was quiet after that and I was established as the Queen of the Universe once again.

Then H, C, and I went to an Indian restaurant. I'd never had Indian food before, and it was delicious! After teaching about curry and nan to my kids in Carnival 4, I finally got to experience it, and it was really, really good. It was spicy for sure, but in a very interesting and flavorful sort of way.

Throughout the afternoon I puttered around, played some computer games, and in general relaxed my foot/ankle/leg/knee. It's time to stop living in denial: my leg isn't 100%, and it's okay to have a low key day. To reward my inactivity (haha), I made a truly miraculous invention: The Camembert Bagel Bomb. I took 126 grams (whatever that is?) of Camembert and warmed it through and through until it was all melty, then smashed the daylights out of it between a toasted cinnamon raisin bagel from Costco. If you're having troubles with too many trips to the bathroom in a day, I recommend it! Deeeeelicious~

Saving the World

One shot of soju at a time? Actually, today wore me out so much at school that I fell asleep during physical therapy. I also fell asleep after dinner, and decided to skip out on tonight's festivities. I'm glad to have my leg up (for some reason a muscle in my shin is just killing me), and to be able to spend some quality time with lolcats.

Maybe trade out "predator" for "globe traveler," and you've got me. :)


more animals

Miss Chris is Making me Blog

I thought about trying to think of something this morning, but per Kate's usual, I procrastinated up until the moment someone brought my inactivity to my attention. (Those who have known me for a while may remember the Senior Thesis of '04. And '05. And '06.)

School has been a flurry of transitions. In seven of my classes, we changed to new books, and I'm having fun seeing that my kids have actually learned, and that they are able to apply the past to the present. Now not only can we say, "Mike is reading a book," we can say, "Mike is reading a book in the library." Sometimes it's "Mike is read book in library," but it's all a long learning progress.

The countdown has started for when Mel and Kevin will flee the peninsula for greener (whiter?) pastures. Mel will be headed to Canada for a while to hang out with her previously-departed BFF Ashley, while Kevin will embark on an adventure on a trans-Siberia train ride. I'd hate to copycat him, but it actually sounds pretty cool. I'm very interested in the idea of taking some sort of slow transportation to see some countryside: train would be cool, but I'm also kind of interested in taking a boat home. (Slow boat from China anyone?)

For dinner today, Yuria and I reconnected and we went for chicken galbi. It was totally different from the regular galbi! It was chunks of chicken (no really?) with cabbage, rice cakes, and red pepper paste (of course). They brought out this HEAPING platter and of course we cooked it in front of ourselves. Instead of a dangerous (potentially leg-burning) pot of hot coals, it was more like a shallow, wide slow cooker, and we pushed the stuff around, scraping the bottom, for about five minutes. Then we let it cook down and enjoy! There were about ten side dishes, including squid tentacles (do they have tentacles or legs?), cold radish soup, weird tofu + kimchi concoction, broccoli in some sauce, and others I didn't recognize. I do think it's interesting that in the past week I've had six side dishes I didn't recognize, even though I'm on my sixth (!!!!!!) month in Korea.

I have pictures, but again, we're facing the lazy/procrastinating issue, so stay tuned...

New Year Birthday

By the way... January 1st of every year, everyone in Korea flips their age tag up another year. By the Korean calendar, I'm not 25: I'm 27. Blech.

That said, I had my boys all riled up about turning eight, and I asked them, "How old is Kate Teacher?" "One hundred!" "Forty-seven?" "MY DAD IS EIGHTY-SEVEN!" "My mom is thirty-two." I love kindergarten.

Are you naked sittin' in a bean bag chair eatin' cheetos?

Well, no, but close. For those who aren't familiar with the title of this post, it's a line from a Ron White skit. Crass and delightful.

So I thought I had my epiphany relating to what I want to do with my life, but now I wonder if it was the rumblings of a tired girl looking forward to going back to her six-year-olds (who think they're eight). Something that I hate about democrats' economic policy is the "rob the rich and give to the poor" strategy. For instance, I don't want my hard-earned money to be taxed and given to undeserving artists or wasted on a new library when the old one still functions very well--particularly as paper circulation of books peters off with titles available electronically, now. (And how is abandoning one library to build a brand new one "green?" Just how many building materials and irreplaceable resources would we destroy for aesthetics and the privilege to call it green? To be honest, I think it's very green in its current state--it's a recycled bowling alley!)

People counter with, well what about the genuinely poor? I strongly believe that we should help the genuinely poor--those who really are physically or mentally incapable of holding a steady job. (As a bagger at a local grocery store, I saw my fair share of people paying with food stamps then having me carry their groceries to a car newer than my parents' and was once instructed not to set the groceries on the "new subwoofer.") I think that the power of deciding who is worthy and who isn't should be in the hands of local charities and not in those of big government. Seriously, we can financially support artists (and billion-dollar bailouts of private companies) but America has between 700,000 and 2,000,000 homeless people each night? That is like the entire city of Denver being turned out of their homes each night!

The post got a little more politically charged than I anticipated, but I'm still in my youth and likely to leave it.

I want to work for a charity, I think in fund raising. When I was in high school, I volunteered hundreds of hours at Deaconess-Billings Clinic. I infinitely preferred going to work for free there than my aforementioned job of bagging groceries at Albertson's. I pushed wheelchairs, took pictures of crying babies, folded gauze, and ran X-ray files all over, spending my free time talking with the terminally ill in oncology. The whole conversation is lost on me now, but I remember a comment mom made about how I could be a philanthropist when I grew up. And now, nearly a decade later, I think she's right.

Beyond that, I don't really have much insight, other than I feel relief not to focus on a high-powered job as a lawyer, judge, or doctor anymore. It feels like some day in the not-too-distant future, I might be able to have a job, husband, and family that I love. And I don't think I could ask for anything more. Well, except for maybe a bean bag chair.

Epiphany Brewing

I have nothing brilliant to say because I'm mulling.

In other news, Mel walked out into the middle of the street and wrangled a taxi going the right way but on the very opposite side of the five-lane street. Pretty cool.

Happy New Year!

So it's a little late, but my internet was down. I had the most forgettable night of my life, apparently, New Year's Eve thanks to some evil Italian poison. Fortunately there was a Gossip Girl marathon on yesterday, and aside from a quick jaunt for BBQ chicken so hot it made my tongue burn, I spent the day with the remote and enjoyed a blissfully uneventful day.

Today, then, I had a whole day's energy stored up. I woke up, took care of my internet problem, and bounced around my apartment waiting to go to a new Mexican place with M & H. They took TWO HOURS to get ready, and by then they were in the mood for fish and chips. ... I still got a breakfast burrito, so it was all good. Then we shopped and shopped, looking for phone charms, raiding sales, and I found the first blush I've ever really loved. Mineral (mom would be so proud) and perfectly pink. I love pink.

Oh, yesterday I did do some soul searching. The way things stand right now, I see a motherly trait in myself, that I can look at a person and see what they could be at their best and desire to help them achieve that. Just wish some of them would stop resisting... Also, I see that while life is an incredibly long journey to discovering who we are and how we work, I can feel proud of what I've accomplished so far. Yeah, I'm not married, no, I don't have any kids, and yeah, I still haven't gone to law school, but I also spend more daily time with God than ever before, and I show more love on a daily basis than I ever thought I possessed.

On a lighter side, I saw two pretty dragonfly bobby pins that I saw, liked, bought, and am now wearing. Yay shiny~