Long Post, Part 2: Freaky Encounters

I don't know why I always have some weird encounters with Koreans. Okay, so far I've only had two but let's make it three by including that Cho guy who was responsible for the shooting at Va. Tech. I am aware this will pass for a bad generalization. However, I can't be blamed if the only encounters I had with Koreans turned out to be freaky. The only one that isn't is that with my friend whom I met in DC. He's way far from these two, which you are about to hear.

On my way here to CA, I was seated beside a Korean mom. (She told me she was flying here to visit her son or something like working on papers for the citizenship of his son. Whatever.) 1, 2, 3 hours into the flight she was fine. She was decent and friendly and CALM. There was no hint of her being... Anyway, then came the breakfast. Instead of getting soda or water or juice, the lady decided she wanted red wine. So she got it. I thought, it shouldn't be so bad. After all, many girls drink that. They get drunk alright but a little bottle shouldn't hurt. After the meal, she took some medication. Okay, she was still fine. And then it happened. The lady started going through her stuff. She had so many bags with her, handbag and plastic bags from Duty Free in the airport. At first I thought she was just looking for something so important she already had to look for it. But boy was I wrong. 4th hour, 5th, 6th... she just wouldn't stop. She kept hitting me as she tried to 'look' for something underneath her seat, the guy in front of her's seat, my seat and the lady to her left's seat. I couldn't freakin get sleep! She was pulling out all the stuff from the bags, now they're scattered all over her seat. And she kept standing up. She even kept talking to me in KOREAN! And I already told her I don't speak and AM NOT Korean. I even pretended to sleep just so she would shut up. But she wouldn't! That lady!!! Later on she started throwing stuff to the guy in front of her. An empty plastic bag and then... something that seemed to me like an underwear. It was somehow confirmed by the lady seated to her left because she couldn't stop laughing I found myself laughing too. I was trying sooo hard to hold it back (I was able to, a bit) and no, it wasn't easy. Attendants had already tried to calm her down (apparently, she went to their 'station' I don't know for what but they eventually figured out something was wrong with her), and she did but only for a while. That lady just gave me my worst. flight. ever. (My sister is to blame for putting me on that seat!)

Then came my second encounter. Last Thursday, as I was on my way to The Grove riding the bus, a guy who seemed normal, somewhat bordering on looking weird, entered and sat beside me. I already kind of figured he was high the moment he started talking to the driver. He goes, it's so hot out there dude. The driver responded and he goes, I know dude. Thanks buddy. Now while that might sound normal, it was the way he said it. And the way he looked. From afar, he looked pretty decent. Like a typical Korean. A moment later, he tapped me perhaps with the chopsticks he had then asked me, Are you Korean? I go, no. Filipino. He goes, oh. I go, Are you? He said, Yeah. He continued, there are a lot of Filipinos in blah blah. A look closer reveals he's got pale lips, that stoned face, and... dirty fingernails. Plus he had a pair of chopsticks sticking out his mouth and a cigarette, which was apparently lit earlier. Under normal circumstances, I would've been utterly nice and interested to chat. But with someone looking like that, oh gosh. Those two freaky encounters with Koreans got me to putting in my yahoo messenger status, What's up with Koreans? Really though, how could I have such freaky encounters with the freaky people?

To continue my seemingly inexhaustible list of freaky encounters, yesterday on my way to Beverly Hills, again inside the bus, a black lady sat beside me. Something in my mind told me, something's wrong with her even before she sat. One minute passed, then two and three, there was nothing. So I thought, well, I was wrong. Then again, I was mistaken. All of a sudden, just like the Korean mom, she started mumbling. I couldn't grasp what she was saying but she was saying something. Then she just started pointing to something, although her arms were not fully extended. It was at that point when all my freaky encounters came on a flashback. The Korean mom, the Korean dude, then this one. I couldn't remember those in the past but I'm positive there were also a lot of that because I can remember thinking about the same question: why the hell am I surrounded by insane people? Oh gosh, I thought. I hope this isn't a preview of what my life will be for the next year and in the future.