You forget, you are taking a ballet class in Seoul aka place with zero chill 😂

Korean-American himself. Who knew I’d end up in Pittsburgh! And that I’d be worried about planning the last week of the semester around the NFL draft being hosted here 😅

Mentally bracing myself for the NFL draft to take over the city next week. Interestingly, my only (very-distantly-related, roundabout) NFL story has to do with Hines Ward, who played with the Steelers. I want to say he sponsored an NGO I volunteered for in Korea after graduating from college as a

(Un)expected benefits of weight training: When you can easily lug a big package (30 lbs) delivered to the wrong address, at the other end of your block. Grateful to the office manager of the other building for letting me in. And a big 🤬 to FedEx for screwing up, twice in two weeks now!

TFW you have finally cleared all admin/teaching decks so that you can finally devote some time to writing tmrw 😭

Thank you! Final stretch is always the most difficult, I find!

Counting down until the end of the semester next Friday! Sure, there’s grading and graduation left, but I’m ready for my summer to begin!

Wish I had asked around on the webs before booking a rental to participate in graduation here in a few weeks’ time. And can confirm that the colors will work for any of the UCs—I graduated from UCLA! Going to have to figure out how to wear the fancy hood since I didn’t walk.

Looking to get a physical copy for myself as it contains tributes to Carter, without whom I wouldn’t be who I am, doing what I am doing where I am now. Indeed, his parting words to me were to get back on the market! Oh dear Carter, if only you could see me now 😭❤️

May have been visited by a porch pirate today, which would make it a first since the pandemic when I was still in LA 😭

Highs in the mid-80s today made me run the window AC unit in the sunroom, the warmest room in the house 🫣

쿼터제 너무 힘들죠 ㅠㅠ 힘내시길요! (라고 말씀 드리는 저도 지금 소파에 붙어있답니다 😅😭)

You can’t really learn much if you’re having AI generate your homework, your papers, and everything else you need to complete a class, but for some reason universities keep shoving AI into the learning environment on the assumption that it’s an improvement.

TFW you get a promo code for books from a retailer by “women” authors but learn that Han Kang isn’t included—yes, promo said select titles, but still!

저도요 ㅠㅠ 그래도 이번 주 무탈하게 보내려면 오늘 저녁에 좀 해놔야 되는데 힘드네요 ㅠㅠ

Erm, 2025 and not 2015! Blaming the thumbs and fatigue for the typo 😅

Truly a golden age for Korean literature, with Han Kang winning the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award! What a privilege is it for me to teach this book in two weeks’ time. www.bookcritics.org/awards/

Just finished reading this book for one of my classes this week. Grateful to Morgan Giles for bringing this book into English. Absolutely devastating but a must-read, as it pushes us to really re-think the bounds of Korean diasporic literature, especially in the anglosphere.

우선은 버텨보려고요 ㅠㅠ 지금 살고있는 집 홈 오피스 햇살이 너무 좋은데 모니터로 가리기 싫기도 하고 ^^; 하지만 사무실에는 고려해 봐야겠어요!

Another sign of aging: Further zoomed in on MS Word to write. Used to be able to write at 70 percent because I liked seeing the entire page at once; now I’m at 150 percent because my eyes get tired otherwise 😭

One thing I miss from Virginia is the flowers—beautiful flower trees all around the buildings where I worked, as well as the wide availability of stunning cut flowers, which for some strange reason I can’t find at all in Pittsburgh to celebrate the spring 😢

안그래도 선생님 뵈었을 때 코트가 제일 인상적이었어요! 1년 넘게 barn jacket/chore coat를 찾아보면서 맘에 든게 없었는데 선생님께서 입고 오신게 정말 멋스럽더라고요^^

Wish we could swap offices, I have no heat and am freezing despite layers I put on for today!

First day back in the office after spring break and long travels to AAS, not to mention below-freezing temps and snow = the biggest “Monday” blues!

All I want to do post-AAS is to curl up with a cup of hot tea and indulge in all of the good vibes from Vancouver from last weekend but in reality I need to unpack and get ready for my own classes tmrw 😂😭

저도 이번 여름에 서울에서 사봐야겠어요! 오늘 발표 잘 하시고, 다음에 또 반갑게 뵈어요 선생님^^

Vancouver is really, really far from the East Coast! But glad to be here to see friends and colleagues.

선생님 발표를 너무 듣고 싶었는데 발표하실 때 제가 출국하는 일정이라 못 듣고 오게 생겼어요 ㅠㅠ 아쉽습니다!

무엇보다도 방수가 되는 신발이 중요한 거 같아요! 지난 주 몬트리올 눈 조금 온다는 거에 정말 아무 생각없이 갔다가 신발 망가뜨린 경험을 토대로 이번에는 (전혀 패셔너블하진 않지만 편한) duck boots를 신고 가려고요.