the walk home from studio

the walk home from studio

I guess I'm usually too preoccupied in my head to enjoy the walk home from studio in the middle of the night, but tonight, there seemed to be something charming in the air about it.

Maybe it was also me re-evaluating in my head exactly how long I've been in Seoul -- It's been about 2-1/2 months... which may not seem so much to you, but to me, it feels like it was eons since I was soaking in the sun in Thailand.

So I pack up my things as my eyes droop, and start the journey home. The sky has the weird purple tint to it again, but I don't bother taking a picture because no photo I've taken thus far has given it justice. There's someone lurking in the shadows, but then it turns out that it's one of those goofy night security guys picking something off the ground and muttering to himself. I decide to take the quieter way home, the back alleys where it seems everyone is asleep. It's dark, quiet, and a person or two walking. And then I think to myself, once I go back home to the states, there probably will be no other place where I can walk home without any fear of things lurking in the shadows (St. Louis? You can forget about it.)

The usual stray cat scurries by; a guy with headphones in is standing and searching for his keys (i'm thinking, i could mug this guy he is so vulnerable), and then I pass our corner store, where, under the lamplight,  the middle-aged men are gathered around the red plastic lawn furniture, smoking, and talking about something intriguing. As I round the corner to the apartment, I hear the echos of hiccuping coming down the street. It's a businessman with his briefcase, staggering, stopping, staggering, and hiccuping loud enough that it's starting to echo down the street. All this goes on as some young girl is leaned on the side of my apartment, seeming like she doesn't notice the hiccuping man, but rather is whispering into her cell phone.

And then I'm home. Whoa, I'm home.