Beward the Ides of March

It's March 15, and right now there are probably a few stressed out guys in Korea who are wondering and plotting how they can fix what they broke yesterday: forgetting White Day.

I won't go into too much detail, because Jodi does so adequately around the twelfth paragraph of this post (frankly, I don't believe the story of "Mr. Park" that follows; I have heard a version told to me as a joke before, and the carefully laid-out story relies too much on people doing other-than-expected behavior for me to believe things really happened as told there), but Valentine's Day, White Day, and Black Day are pretty much as follows:

On Valentine's Day (February 14) in Korea and (I think) Japan, girls give gifts (typically chocolate, but other romantic things are okay) to the object of their affection.

On White Day (March 14), guys reciprocate and give gifts (again, typically chocolate) to the object of their affection. Considerate gentlemen will also give gifts to their female friends, co-workers, fellow students, etc., which can lead to whacky comedic confusion on the scale of Wilde or Shakespeare. [I remember as a kid that on Valentine's Day, we elementary students were expected to give Valentine's Day cards to all the students—including those of the same gender. But in California, run by the gay mafia even then, it was all a part of the plot to get us to bend gender roles and preference in our tiny, impressionable minds.]

On Black Day (April 14), those who received nothing on either day are supposed to get together and commiserate (and by commiserate, I mean hook up^^) over bowls of jjajangmyŏn, allegedly "Chinese" noodles in a blackish sauce which is yummy over seafood fried rice.

A few people not raised in Korea (or Japan) are blindsided by the White Day tradition, and have hell to pay for because they "forgot" it. Of course, they can get revenge three days later on March 17 when they have every right to give their angry significant other a friendly slug in the arm for not wearing green.
[photo: The road to my heart is through my stomach (and later my intestines), and it is paved with chocolate.]