A little bit of Seoul

Here goes (long series of adventures in the Philippines, sort of real time):

4/8 

An early morning limo ride to O'Hare started our day. 

Man... just a little bit of nerves but having a driver was a killer way to get to the airport. The Korean Air counter area was filled with people but everyone just seemed really chilled out and relaxed. This was a good thing because I know that I wasn't. Our trip through ticketing was also easy and even through security. We were wondering if we were in fact at O'Hare. Weird man, But cool. So as any international flight we got there several hours early. This was going to be a VERY long day. Actually, I don't know if it's day or night as I'm writing this.

 The food has been amazing. Man, give me some bi bim bap any day. I'm all over it and it's my new favorite dish.  Not bad for airline food. So anyway, I think we are flying over Russia. That is not something I can usually write in these adventures.  Can't get any sleep on the plane yet. 6 more hours to Korea. We should be in rare form for our 4 HR layover in Seoul. 

The Incheon airport was hopping. It was clean and pretty nice, but busy.  A lot of duty free stores and food just like many other international airports. We couldn't read a few of the names but found a Taco Bell that served beer. Interesting idea but it's still Taco Bell so we kept walking to a little pub by the gate. Tried a Korean beer called Kloud that tasted pretty much like an MGD. Enough said. The time was around 6pm and for the first time this trip we saw it getting dark.
We were exhausted and already up for 21 hours. We hopped on the plane for Manila, just 3 more hours away. At this point I can't tell what day it is... Or night now. Our guide, Ramon, picked us up after a hot and slightly confusing outdoor traffic/pedestrian system. Their immigration and customs were surprisingly easy to move through although it was 11:30 at night. Down the hot humid brightly lit traffic filled streets to Hotel Jen. It's late at this point, 1AM but we gotta unwind after the day plus work of travel. Man, this is crazy. Off to Silang Cavite tomorrow to meet our son...

Death, Goth, and Reality.

There has been a lot of death in my life lately. A band mate, feels like my youth sometimes, certain attitudes, and the freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want (that sounds horrible eh?) but that's OK. I gave up some freedom getting married but adopting and becoming an instant dad is a whole new thing. I'm really looking forward to this next adventure so don't misunderstand. It does seem like the death of my old self, what I am used to, but the thing about death is that there is life on the other side... A new life.

Liza and I are super excited to adopt our son. It's been a very long, expensive, and mentally taxing process. We are ready for that new life. I think of seeing all the old things that we have experienced through a new set of eyes. Things that we take for granted like God's natural creations of earth and sky, places we have been, family and people that we know etc... Everything will be new to him and I'm looking forward to seeing those things through his eyes and experiencing them in a brand new way.

Providing that we have a safe trip there and back, I'm looking forward to getting back to some of my musical roots and totally redeveloping my musical identity. Goth band? Blues? Guitar rock?  I'll save that for later posts. Right now I'm more concerned with flying into Seoul South Korea and on into Manila. Yeah, sounds like some of the safest places in the world at this point in time... Wars and rumors of wars... ? Anyway, keep us in your prayers if you're the praying type. Alright, I'm off to work on some new goth rock...  The good stuff like The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Mission, Sisters of Mercy etc... Tomorrow we are traveling to the other end of the world you know. This will be the biggest and most amazing adventure yet! Stay tuned to this blog/diary post for the latest from the Philippines.
 Much Luv, TPK