Retirement

I have been looking at all I have to do between now and the time I make my semi-permanent move to the United States at the beginning of August (for the first time since graduating from college), and as much as it pains me to say this, I think I have to go into retirement as far as this blog is concerned. I've got to focus on things that pay the bills and what free time I have will have to be focused on wrapping up loose ends and what-not.

If the planets are aligned just right, and I get enough help in other areas, I may be able to continue blogging at an almost normal rate, but don't hold your breath. If somehow I end up getting a MacBook Pro to replace this five-year-old iBook, I might return to normal blogging, just because it will cut in half the time it takes to prepare a post. There's also a chance that when I get to the States I will be able to return to normal blogging, but it can't be a priority. I and the people I work with have other creative projects that must be done first.

Unlike some people who "stopped" blogging, I won't be taking down this blog, and I will answer questions. I may also stick up some things from time to time. In fact, there's not a small chance that this announcement might be followed by far more blogging than usual.

UPDATE (May 2008):

The planets never were aligned right. The end of July 2006 came and I had to turn off my Internet and sever my wi-fi membership. It took me over two weeks to put my stuff in storage (books, an entire office including five computers, plus clothes, pictures, you name it), and then I flew away in early August. My life is now very busy, though I always keep up with Korean news and events (it's part of my job). I do some writing but a catastrophic family event that occurred shortly after I arrived in the United States sucks up virtually every bit of free time I have. If you find yourself in Hawaii and you'd like to have a Blue Hawaiian from a translator in this blue state, drop me a note here and maybe we can meet up. The Kona coffee is also good. Sonagi, if you're reading this, get my email address from The Marmot and drop me a line. If you and I are not the same person, of course. 

SECOND UPDATE (Sunday, February 1, 2009, 7:51 a.m.):

Well, a couple months after I wrote the first update, I decided I wanted to carve out some time for this blog. And what started out as a trickle of posts (even in 2007 there were a handful of them), turned into a full-blown stream of them: 167 posts from July to December 2008, about one a day. As it now stands on the first day of February 2009, I think things are sort of back to normal as they were in Seoul, but my focus is a little different, particularly in that there are a few more things here having nothing to do with Korea, and a few more that would be related to my other homes, California and now Hawaii.