The Brown Knowser

The following is an excerpt from the rough draft of Gyeosunim, my next novel. Enjoy. The hotel was surrounded by office buildings, tucked on a narrow side street. Having studied Google Maps, I walked straight from Seoul Station, past Sungnyemun Plaza, where the old city gate near Namdaemun Market still stood tall. It had been reconstructed after an arsonist torched it in 2008 but it looked the same as I remembered it. A gate that no longer kept people out, but welcomed them. Another street to cross and one more block, and I could see my hotel. ENA Suites. Only 15 minutes from Seoul Yuk. My first order of business was a data card for my phone. While I had WiFi in my hotel room, I found that the speed of the free WiFi on the train from Incheon to Seoul was laughable. While I could establish a connection, it took forever to download any page I searched, and I couldn’t refresh my Facebook or Twitter, couldn’t check in with family to let them know that I had arrived. Back in my hot...

If the other night was any indication, 2020 is going to be a long, sleepless year. Last year, I was fortunate enough to get away twice. In late March, DW and I flew to Mexico to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. When we look back on that vacation, we look each other in the eyes and let out a longing sigh. It was probably the best vacation that she and I have taken together in ages. Every couple of weeks, we find ourselves looking at the video we shot of that trip to the Mayan Riviera. Less than six weeks later, I took a solo trip back to South Korea, where I relived some of the days when DW and I lived there, from 1997 to 1999. When I first returned to this East Asian country, I told myself that it would be my last time visiting this far-off land. Since then—especially when I watch the 70-minute video that I made—I've been telling myself that I could easily go back in a couple of years. When DW and I were planning our Mayan getaway, and when I was planning my ...

Any time I've purchased a flash, it's come with coloured pieces of plastic that clip over the head of the flash. In all the years that I've owned these flashes, I've never once used them. These pieces of plastic are known in photography as gels, and they are used to apply that colour to the overall look of the photo. If you attach a red gel to your flash, your subject will appear red. I've seen countless photos in which gels have been used, and if they are used correctly, they can create some wonderful, artsy imagery. I've wanted to try this type of photography but have never given it enough thought to come up with something on my own. Earlier this week (just before I got nailed with a bug that kept me down for a couple of days), I had an opportunity to join my Ottawa Photography Meetup group for a model shoot with gels. It was an interesting meetup and I learned some new techniques. We photographed our model, Roxanne , in front of a white backdrop, upo...

Today is Day 13 of Dry January and so far, so good. Mind you, I did slip on Saturday in my vow to also avoid sugar, having developed an insatiable craving for leftover Christmas cookies and one piece of homemade fudge that my sister bestowed onto the Brownfoots. We received more fudge, this past Christmas, than my entire family eats at any other time in the past decade. But I digress... A couple of days after Dry January started, I thought to myself, would I have to wait until February before performing and presenting another Beer O'Clock review? A couple of years or so ago, I had reviewed a non-alcoholic beer that I didn't know was alcohol-free until after I brought it home and drank it. I asked my Twitter friends if it would be considered cheating if I drank a non-alcoholic beer during Dry January and received a resounding no. In fact, one of my virtual friends even recommended a choice that was available at the LCBO. And so, here we are. Partake Brewing found...

Last night, I deleted one of my other blogs. Wait , you might think: you have other blogs? I do. Some of you might remember my old Beer O'Clock blog, where I posted my beer reviews. That blog ended in 2017, when I moved my reviews back to The Brown Knowser . Soon, I'll move my reviews over to my Brown Knowser YouTube channel, but that's another day. I haven't removed my old beer blog. You can still read the old reviews. But I have other blogs. If you're a long-time reader of The Brown Knowser , you may have forgotten that I had created blogs for my fiction: one, for my first novel, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary , and another for the rough drafts of the sequel, Gyeosunim . If you've now noticed that the title to the sequel is missing a hyperlink, that's because I've removed this blog. When I wrote Songsaengnim , I posted chapters on the blog as I finished writing them. A month after I finished the manuscript and sent it to my publishing com...

More than 25 years ago, in the early to mid 90s, I made my last New Year's resolution: it was to never make a resolution again. So far, I've kept that promise. A year ago, a Twitter friend of mine made a resolution to cut drinking for the month of January, to follow the challenge that is known as Dry January. But at the end of January, she continued to abstain from alcohol and today, she remains a teetotaler. She's also started running, and has chosen a healthy lifestyle that has seen her lose 75 pounds. Though we have never met, I have held her as an inspiration for living a healthy life. Over the past few months, I have noticed that I haven't been eating well and have practically cut out exercise from my life. I have seen my gut expand to what I feel is embarrassing. When I view my video of DW's and my Mexican vacation, and I see myself snorkelling and exploring cenotes without a shirt, I feel disgusted. In December, my Twitter friend was interviewed o...