lasik

It's been too long since I last wrote. As usual, there's an assortment of reasons for that, the least of which is not my recent acquisition of Madden 13.


I was scheduled to have lasik surgery last Saturday. I say scheduled because it didn't happen. Despite the fact that this eye clinic had put me through a panoply, yes a panoply, of tests, when it was time for the rubber to meet the road, they had second thoughts.

They called it off at quite literally the last possible second. They had me all ready to go, with even a clamp holding my right eye open, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Then just as the machine was locking in on me to peal back a flap of my eyeball the doctor said it was a no go. The reason, the doctor said, had something to do with the shape of my eyeball. And look, if you're thinking about making some joke about how a Korean person said my eyes were shaped funny, just don't. I already made all of them to Mihyun.

While I didn't get my vision corrected, they must've done something to me, because the doctor put a protective contact lens on my eye, which I had to wear for a day. That kind of worried me, but it also kinda made me think if this eye falls out or something, jackpot! Alas, my eye has been fine, so no lawsuit is warranted.

The good news is that while I can't have lasik surgery, I can have lasek surgery. They're slightly different, with the most important difference for me being that it's 500,000 won cheaper than lasik. Also, whereas lasik is essentially painless with no recovery time, lasek might give me some pain and take several days to recover from fully. I'll be having it done this Saturday (knock on wood), and due to that glorious holiday Chuseok, I have a 5 day weekend, giving me ample time to recover.


Despite the fact that I've spent 35 of the past 46 months living in South Korea, this is presently the longest I've ever been away from home. As you may recall, in year one I came home for 2 weeks after being away for 9 months. Then, in year 2, I ended my contract a month early, and came home after being away 11 months. As of today, it's been about 11 and a half months since I last saw home.

It seems like my return home isn't imminent. It's funny, I remember at the beginning of this contract I predicted I wouldn't finish it, but rather come home after 6 months or so. As it turns out, this will be the one time that I work beyond my contract. The reason is that my school is going under, but they paid rent for the school through February of 2013. They asked that I hang around as long as I can, or want, so that they don't have to get a new teacher for these last few months. And even as I'm working now, I'm looking for another job, which, if found, would extend my stay here one more year.

So I don't really know what I'm going to be doing. But I do know one thing, and that is that if I do stay here one more year, it will be my last.  In that case, I would've spent the second half of my 20s in Korea, and that seems good enough. Plus, I don't want to turn into a lifer, someone who stays here for good. I've met people like that, and let's just say that those guys are a little off.