He aquí los pensamientos aleatorios de un epistemólogo andante.
I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.
피할수 없는 고통이라면 차라리 즐겨라
As of June, 2013, I have assumed a new identity: I am a cancer survivor. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
"A blog, in the end, is really not so different from an inscription on a bone: I was here, it declares to no one in particular. Don't forget that." - Justin E. H. Smith
재미없으면 보상해드립니다!
"All things are enchained with one another, bound together by love." - Nietzsche (really!)
Leviticus 19:33-34
Donc, si Dieu existait, il n’y aurait pour lui qu’un seul moyen de servir la liberté humaine, ce serait de cesser d’exister. - Mikhail Bakunin
Solvitur ambulando.
"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to soliloquize. Where was I?" - the villain Heinz Doofenshmirtz, in the cartoon Phineas and Ferb.
My name is Jared Way. I was born in rural Far Northern California, and became an "adoptive" Minnesotan. I have lived in many other places: Mexico City, Philadelphia, Valdivia (Chile), Los Angeles. And for 11 years, I was an expatriate living in South Korea. In the summer of 2018, I made another huge change, and relocated to Southeast Alaska, which is my uncle's home.
For many years I was a database programmer, with a background in Linguistics and Spanish Literature. In Korea, worked as an EFL teacher.
In June, 2013, while I was in Ilsan in South Korea, I was diagnosed with cancer, and underwent successful treatment. That changed my life pretty radically.
Currently, you could say I'm "between jobs," somewhat caretaking my uncle (to the extent he tolerates that) and getting adapted to life in rural Alaska after so many years as an urban dweller.
I started this blog before I even had the idea of going to Korea (first entry: Caveat: And lo...). So this is not meant to be a blog about Korea, by any stretch of the imagination. But life in Korea, and Korean language and culture, inevitably have come to play a central role in this blog's current incarnation.
Basically, this blog is a newsletter for the voices in my head. It keeps everyone on the same page: it has become a sort of aide-mémoire.
For a more detailed reflection on why I'm blogging, you can look at this old post: What this blog is, and isn't.
If you're curious about me, there is a great deal of me here. I believe in what I call "opaque transparency" - you can learn almost everything about me if you want, but it's not immediately easy to find.
A distillation of my personal philosophy (at least on good days):
I have made the realization that happiness is not a mental state. It is not something that is given to you, or that you find, or that you can lose, or that can be taken from you. Happiness is something that you do. And like most things that you do, it is volitional. You can choose to do happiness, or not. You have complete freedom with respect to the matter.
"Ethical joy is the correlate of speculative affirmation." - Gilles Deleuze (writing about Spinoza).
Like most people, I spend a lot of time online, although I try to limit it somewhat. Here is a somewhat-annotated list of the "places" where I spend
time online.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Knowledge and News
I spend about half of all my time online reading Wikipedia. It's why I know stuff.
I get most of my world news from Minnesota Public Radio which includes NPR, BBC and CBC, depending on when I listen.
I don't really "do" social media. I have a membership at Facebookland but I never log in
there. I don't like it.
I have a membership at The Youtubes but I mostly use it for work. I also listen to music on youtube, frequently - I prefer it to typical streaming services, for example.
Humor and Cat Videos
Cat videos and other internet novelties: Laughing Squid.
Geofiction - this has evolved into a significant "hobby" for me. I like to draw imaginary maps, and there is a website that has enabled this vice.
I worked as a volunteer administrator for the site OpenGeofiction on and off for a few years. I created (but no longer maintain) the site's main wiki page: OGF Wiki. I am not currently working as administrator but I remain active on the site.
The above work has required my becoming an expert in the Openstreetmap system. Openstreetmap is an attempt do for online maps what wikipedia has done for encyclopedias. I have considered becoming an openstreetmap contributor, but I feel that my current location in Korea hinders that, since I don't have a good grasp Korean cartographic naming conventions.
Starting in April, 2018, I decided somewhat capriciously to build my own "OGF stack" on my own server. This was not because I intended to abandon the OGF site, but rather because I wanted to better understand the whole architecture and all its parts. I built a wiki on the Mediawiki platform (the same as wikipedia). This wiki has no content. I built a map tileserver and geospatial database, which contains a very low resolution upload of an imaginary planet called Rahet. And I built a wordpress blog, which is a separate, low-frequency blog intended to focus on my geofictional pursuits rather than this more personalized, general purpose blog. All of these things can be found integrated together on my rent-a-server, here: geofictician.net
TEFL - my "profession," such as it is.
Online English Grammar reference Grammarist. Useful for settling disputes over grammar.
The "-야" verbal ending (not to be confused with vocative -야, which attaches to nouns) is one that I see and hear all the time, but I've never seen it explained in any of my grammar books. I've labeled it "BE-FAM" above, for "BE, familiar" - meaning it seems to be a kind of slangy version of the copula that does't get explained in grammar books. Or maybe I'm wrong and it's something else, but anyway, I get the meaning of it.
Later I accused him of "irrational optimism," which he took badly, but in fact I see that as a positive trait: irrational optimism is stronger than rational optimism, because the latter is subject to sudden dissolution in the face of facts.
[daily log: walking, 7.5km; carrying heavy box to post office, 0.5km]
새도 가지를 가려 앉는다 sae.do ga.ji.reul ga.ryeo anj.neun.da bird-EVEN branch-OBJ be-picky-FIN sit-PRES Even a bird is picky [when choosing] a branch to sit on.
This advocates for the thoughtful, intentional life, I think. One should choose one's place, setting, friends, career with care.
I'm not sure what an equivalent English aphorism might be.
I ran across this aphorism in my book of aphorisms.
자는 범 코침 주기 ja.neun beom ko.chim ju.gi sleep-PRESPART tiger nose-needle give-GER [It's like] giving a poke at the nose of a sleeping tiger.
My book says this is similar to "Let sleeping dogs lie." One shouldn't provoke those more powerful. I'm not sure these are exactly the same, but good enough.
서투른 무당이 장고만 나무란다 seo.tu.reun mu.dang.i jang.go.man na.mu.ran.da unskilled shaman-SUBJ drum-EVEN chastize-PRES The unskilled shaman just chastizes her own drum.
게으른 선비 책장 넘기기 gye.eu.reun seon.bi chaek.jang neom.gi.gi be-lazy-PPART scholar book-page turn-over-GER [Like] a lazy scholar turning a book's pages [to the end].
This means a student or worker who is just "going through the motions" or "watching the clock," only interested in doing the minimum necessary to get by.
I learned this aphorism from my book of aphorisms.
시어미에게 역정나서 개 옆구리 찬다 si.eo.mi.e.ge yeok.jeong.na.seo gae yeop.gu.ri chan.da mother-in-law-DATIVE anger-happen-SO dog flank kick-PRES [She's] mad at the mother-in-law, so [she] kicks the dog.
This means the same as "shit rolls downhill," I reckon. It's the idea of the pecking order, or the food chain, or whatever you want to call it. The traditional Korean household is hierarchical, and the mother-in-law outranks her daughter-in-law. So the daugher-in-law has to maintain the utmost respect and deference toward the former, and when she's mad, she has to vent her anger elsewhere. Poor dog.
I learned this aphorism from my book of aphorisms.
주린 고양이가 쥐를 만났다 ju.rin go.yang.i.ga jwi.reul man.nat.da starving-PRPART cat-SUBJ mouse-OBJ meet-PAST-FIN "The starving cat met the mouse."
This is where the poor man finds an unexpected boon. A stroke of luck.
I'm not quite sure of the exact context of this. Does it just apply to financial or material luck? Or could it mean other types of luck, too? Did the cat meet a mouse when I won my unexpected victory against cancer?
담벽하고 말하는 셈이다 dam.byeok.ha.go mal.ha.neun sem.i.da brick-wall-WITH talk-PPART guess-BE [One could] guess it's [like] talking to a brick wall.
This is exactly the same as the English expression, "like talking to a brick wall." It's not so often I find exactly matching aphorisms. Perhaps dealing with dense individuals is a human universal.
I tried to learn this aphorism from my book of aphorisms.
총명은 둔필만 못하다 chong.myeong.eun dun.pil.man mot.ha.da intelligence-TOPIC poor-handwriting-ONLY unable-do "Intelligence can't even do as well as poor handwriting."
Even if you're smart, if you don't take notes or document things well, you won't get far. This comes down to "diligence is worth more than smarts," and is thus somewhat similar to those sayings in the vein of "Success is 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration." I suppose I myself suffer from this shortcoming. I'm bad at taking notes. I am often trying to teach my students to take notes, and realizing how inadequate I am to the task, myself.
냉수 먹고 잣죽 트림한다 naeng.su meok.go jat.juk teu.rim.han.da cold-water drink-CONJ pine-nut-porridge belch-up-PRES "Gulp down cold water and belch up pine nut porridge."
This is a little bit hard to understand, without some cultural reference. Apparently in old Korea, belching was a way to indicate satisfaction with a meal. It's not that that's not true in the West, but it didn't have the patina of vulgarity that it has in the West - indeed it was specific to even high society.
Pine nut porridge was considered a delicacy. So a young nobleman, too poor to eat well, might gulp down some cold water before entering into company with his peers, thus causing himself to belch in their company. He could then boast of the fine pine nut porridge he'd eaten.
This means to "put on airs" or "make a fine appearance but without any substance."
I learned this aphorism from the Shamanism Museum.
和氣自生君子宅 화기자생군자택 hwa.gi.ja.saeng.gun.ja.taek
I have no idea how to even translate the individual hanja - I think this is pure Chinese (as opposed to Koreanized Chinese). But the translation given is "온화한 기운이 군자의 집에서 우러나오는 구나," which means "A warm aura (feeling?) comes from your home." I guess this means a welcoming home.
I had some problem with the picture I took of the panel showing this saying - the detail picture I took of the label allowed me to write down the aphorism, but the panel itself is blurry. So there's no nice picture.
I learned this aphorism from the Shamanism Museum on Friday.
가화만사성 (家和萬事成) ga.hwa.man.sa.seong home-harmonious-everything-achieve A happy home can achieve anything.
It was on a sign board on an outside wall (picture at right).
The most notable thing at the museum, to me, was the extreme similarity and parallelism between these shamanistic accouterments and images and those I normally associate with Korean Buddhism. I suppose 1500 years of coexistence has led to extensive syncretism on both sides.
So I took some other pictures at the Shamanism museum.
There were some exhibits.
There were various rooms.
There were token examples of Nepalese and Tibeten shaman costumes, perhaps to justify the name "Museum of Shamanism" as opposed to "Museum of Korean Shamanism."
There were stylistic pseudo-Chinese decorative objects.
There was a tranquil-looking back room.
The museum's location is in a newly developed neighborhood of typical Korean highrises, but the building itself is a historical site of some deified ancestor.
I learned this aphorism from my book of aphorisms.
나를 칭찬하는 자는 나의 원수 na.reul ching.chan.ha.neun ja.neun na.ui won.su I-OBJ praise-PRESPART person-TOPIC I-GEN enemy A person who praises me [is] my enemy.
Beware of those who offer praise. This is a fairly universal sentiment for aphorisms. I had some difficulty with the word 자(者) because several dictionaries I checked didn't make clear the meaning "person." This single polysemous syllable has half a dozen unrelated meanings (derived from different Chinese borrowings). Once I found a dictionary that included this meaning, I remembered running across it before - I guess it's kind of an archaic term, but pops up in aphorisms and fossilized phrases a lot.
"Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." - Luke 6:26
발이 넓다 bal.i neolp.da foot-SUBJ wide [Someone/he/she/you] has a wide foot.
The online daum dictionary pointed me to this page which said the meaning was "아는 사람이 많다" - "knows a lot of people." In my conversation with my coworker, the meaning was tied in with the idea of a broad social network. She was trying to explain that another coworker was good at networking - not in any modern high-tech sense but just that she had a really wide field of acquaintances.
I guess in many ways I'm the opposite. I'm really bad at maintaining my social network. The field ends up pretty narrow.
계집의 올굴은 눈의 안경 gye.jip.ui ol.gul.eun nun.ui an.gyeong woman-GEN face-OBJ eye-GEN glasses [Like] a woman's face [through] eyeglasses.
This means "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." The word 계집 [gyejip] was unfamiliar to me - it apparently means woman but specifically "woman" as an object of desire. Perhaps it could better be translated by a more slang-like term like "chick" or "babe." My dictionary had "the fair sex" which actually seems about right, though of course it seems a bit archaic - but then again, I suspect the Korean is a bit archaic, too, given it appears in an aphorism. The phrase has no verb, but it has the clitic topic marker, which rather implies a verb.
I learned this proverb from my book of Korean aphorisms.
십년공부 나무아미타불 sip.nyeon.gong.bu na.mu.a.mi.ta.bul ten-years-study "namo amitabha buddha" [After] ten years of study, [one is reduced to saying] "Namo Amitabha Buddha."
This is an interesting Korean proverb, because although the proverb itself is Korean in origin as far as I can figure out, the phrase "Namo Amitabha Buddha" (rendered as namuamitabul) is Pali (the language of Buddhist scripture), filtered through Chinese.
The phrase "Namo Amitabha Buddha" is an invocation of the Amitabha Buddha, which under the Pure Land tradation ("Amidism") within Buddhism, frees the invoker of his or her karmic hinderances.
The meaning of the proverb, however, is about the phenomenon of Buddhist monks who become enchanted by secular women, apparently a commonplace in the Korean folk tradition. So the monks would chant "Namo Amitabha Buddha" in an attempt to escape such enchantments, but the point of the proverb is that they are trying to escape the earned consequences of their own behavior. There is a specific story where a monk studied for 10 years and then fell for a dancing girl. So after 10 years of study, all is come to naught. The proverb roughly means "All in vain!
This proverb is exceptionally apropos, as I approach the 10th year anniversary of my sojourn in Korea, and yet, due to my own laziness and poor behavior, I still have failed to really master the Korean language: ¡십년공부 나무아미타불!
I learned this aphorism from my book of aphorisms.
구렁이 담 넘어가듯 한다 gu.reong.i dam neom.eo.ga.deut han.da snake wall go-over-AS-IF do-PRES [He/she/it] acts like a snake going over a wall.
I think this must be more or less the same as English's "Like a snake in the grass": sneaky behavior, creeping up on on a situation unnoticed.
This makes me think of Bob Dylan's old song, "Man Gave Names To All The Animals," which is my favorite song from Dylan's "Christian period."
I would like to include a youtube embed of Dylan's song, but Dylan is one of those performing artists who is VERY aggressive in his takedowns of his work online. I personally consider this reprehensible, and combined with his assholery around his recent Nobel prize, that's why he's gone down substantially in my estimation as a human being, if remaining high in my estimation of him as an artist.
What I'm listening to right now.
Townes Van Zandt, covering "Man Gave Names To All The Animals," by Bob Dylan. It's perhaps a better rendition than the original, anyway. But regardless, Dylan is an amazing lyricist: the ending of the song is poetically brilliant.
Lyrics.
Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal that liked to growl Big furry paws and he liked to howl Great big furry back and furry hair "Ah, think I'll call it a bear".
Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal up on a hill Chewing up so much grass until she was filled He saw milk coming out but he didn't know how "Ah, think I'll call it a cow".
Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal that liked to snort Horns on his head and they weren't too short It looked like there wasn't nothing that he couldn't pull "Ah, I'll think I'll call it a bull".
Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal leaving a muddy trail Real dirty face and a curly tail He wasn't too small and he wasn't too big "Ah, think I'll call it a pig".
Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago.
Next animal that he did meet Had wool on his back and hooves on his feet Eating grass on a mountainside so steep "Ah, think I'll call it a sheep".
Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal as smooth as glass Slithering his way through the grass Saw him disappear by a tree near a lake ....
달팽이 뚜껑 덮었다 dal.paeng.i ttu.kkeong deop.eot.da snail lid cover-PAST The snail keeps covered.
This means that people who keep to themselves are unknowable. Which seems kind of self-evident, but in a culture like Korea's where a major portion of socialization among peers is "enforced" (obligatory at some level), keeping to oneself is an outlier personality trait.
My friend Seungbae taught me this four-character aphorism over the weekend.
靑出於藍 청출어람 cheong.chul.eo.ram blue-occur-from-indigo "the blue from the side is bluer"(?)
This seems to be a reference to some dying or pigmenting process involving the color blue, wherein the blue accumulated on the side (of a container?) is a deeper blue than the blue drawn from the main reservoir. The idiomatic meaning, however, refers to the student exceeding the teacher.
"The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now, I am the master." - Darth Vader, to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
I learned this phrase at work yesterday. I guess it's kind of an aphorism, but it's a slang-based, very modern one.
김정은이 중이 때문에 못 처들어오다 kim.jeong.eun.i jung.i ttae.mun.e mot cheo.deul.eo.o.da Kim Jeong-eun-SUBJ 8th-grade because-of cannot invade-come-INF Because of 8th graders, Kim Jeong-eun cannot invade.
Basically, the idea is that "kids these days" are so narcissistic, disrespectful, etc., that the dictator to the north doesn't dare invade the South. It's just not worth the hassle of dealing with the kids. The Korean expression 중이 (8th grade / 8th grader) is a kind of shorthand for referring to the the typical disaffected, disrespectful and self-centered nature of early teens, including the slang 중이병, meaning "8th grader disease," as a kind of stand-in term for the characteristic mental health issues of puberty and adolescence.
Thus all the international panic about the North's belligerence is overblown. It just can't happen, see? We've got the kids to protect us.
호랑이 보고 창구멍 막기 ho.rang.i bo.go chang.gu.meong mak.gi tiger see-CONJ window-hole block-GER [Like] blocking the hole in the window after seeing the tiger.
The "hole in the window" refers to the old-style paper windows, which are translucent but not transparent. People would poke holes in them, to be able to look out. So the tiger is right there - you see him through the hole in the window. To be safe, you block the hole. Good plan.
Basically, this might be the same as the American proverb "A day late, a dollar short." A moment when it's too late to solve some problem or prepare for some dangerous contingency.
My students taught me this phrase the other day. I always learn the best Korean from my students.
Actually, they taught me the positive version: 띵가띵가놀은다 [tting.ka.tting.ka.nol.eun.da], which seems to mean, roughly, "goof off", " "play around", or, as I pointed out, "dink around" as in to work completely unproductively. I wonder at the sound symbolism, because of that. Anyway, the term joins my long list of phenomimes and psychomimes. The term is not in the standard online Korean dictionaries, but I noticed that the googletranslate gets it right.
The negative phrase, 띵가띵가놀지마 [tting.ka.tting.ka.nol.ji.ma], I managed to use quite successfully, later in the same class. The kids were duly impressed. Lisa had been playing around with my collection of whiteboard markers, and not really paying attention. She gets easily distracted - a bit of a space cadet. So I said that: "띵가띵가놀지마!" She looked up, surprised.
Annie, who keeps trying to be my Korean coach, raised a thumb in broad approval. "Oh, nice, teacher. Good Korean!"
It's actually much easier and transparent than most of these types of expressions that I've attempted. It's a great phrase to know, too. Especially given the way I sometimes feel like I'm working my way through a dream.
There was a thunderstorm this morning. Nice, the hard rain scrubbing the air.
I learned this aphorism from my book of aphorisms.
나무 잘 오르는 놈 떨어지고 헤엄 잘 치는 놈 빠져 죽는다 na.mu jal o.reu.neun nom tteol.eo.ji.go he.eom jal chi.neun nom ppa.jyeo juk.neun.da tree well climb-PRESPART guy fall-CONJ swimming well swim-PRESPART guy drown-INF die-PRES The good tree-climber falls and the good swimmer drowns and dies.
I think actually this has the same meaning as that quote I offered by Randall Munroe a few posts back; essentially, even experts can make mistakes.
Perhaps this offers some solace to those of us who make mistakes - we might nevertheless be experts.
청기와 장수 cheong.gi.wa jang.su blue-tile dealer "Blue tile merchant"
This is a reference to some old Korean tale, I guess, wherein some guy made excellent blue tiles but refused to share the secret of his technique, so when he died no one knew how to make such great blue tiles. It means someone who keeps a trade secret or has some secret talent. Anyway, blue tile roofs are a very traditional high-quality style in Korea, up to and including the famous blue tile roof on the Presidential Palace, which gives the palace its name, called 청와대 [cheongwadae] - in English "Blue House." At right is a picture of a temple in Suwon that I took in 2010, showing a blue tile roof.
I think this has more negative connotations than the English phrase, "A person of hidden talent." In Western culture, I think this phrase is generally meant in a kind of admiration, or anyway saying that the person merits more admiration than we are currently giving. In the Korean, the semantics of the phrase seem to be focused instead on the person's selfishness in the refusal to share knowledge or ability with the community.
A week or two ago, I learned an interesting expression at work: 야자타임 [yajataim]. This is a slang term that means "A time when normal formalities, especially deferential language, can be temporarily suspended."
I was excited to learn this term, because it could actually be useful with my students, in the event they are being too formal, which is sometimes an issue with certain socially awkward kids. It isn't normally a problem if they're speaking English, since Korean students are taught, erroneously, that English utterly lacks levels of formality. Of course English has lots of levels of formality, it's just that we don't use verb-endings and noun substitutions to pull it off, generally speaking. There tends to be a lot of just periphrastic substitution, e.g. "Gimme that" vs "Could you hand that to me, please?"
The etymology isn't very clear to me on the first part of the term, but the second part -타임 [taim] is transparently the fully nativized borrowing from English, "time," which is used in for a variety of meanings and contexts, some of which are similar to the English semantics, such as this one, and others where it has acquired new, weirdly different semantics - as in e.g. its broad use as one of the "noun counter particles" for listing the numbers of class periods at schools. The first part I can't quite figure out, but I'd say the 야 [ya] is probably the vocative particle used for addressing inferiors ("Hey, you!"), which makes sense in context. As a guess, the 자 [ja] might be the verb propositive ending, i.e. "Let's...." It all fits together neatly, in semantic terms: "Let's [have] 'hey you' time," but the grammar seems like an unholy mess.
성인도 시속을 따른다 seong.in.do si.sok.eul tta.reun.da saint-TOO local-mores-OBJ follow-PRES Even a saint follows the local mores.
I think this means "When in Rome, do as the Romans." But it might also refer to the fact that even the most high-minded person will succumb to a poor ethical environment. Maybe this could explain the more disappointing aspects of the Obama administration.
I realized recently that I started neglecting my long-standing habit of posting occasional Korean-language aphorisms and proverbs. Part of what happened is that my little "stockpile" became empty, and I got too lazy to replenish it, which led me to a situation where posting an aphorism was always more work than I wanted to deal with, at the last moment when deciding what to put on my blog.
Lately, too, I have been very depressed about my Korean ability. You might observe that I am always depressed about my Korean ability, so what's really different? Well, obviously, if I'm so depressed about it that I'm actively avoiding my little self-study sessions, such as trying to understand various proverbs, well, then, that's more depressed than before.
I'll have to get over that, right? I have about 7 months remaining to become fluent - since I jokingly said, about 9 years ago, that I thought it would take me 10 years to become fluent. At the time, I thought I was giving myself more than enough time. Now, I've passed my 9th anniversary in Korea, and frankly, it looks like I'd been overly optimistic.
I may be a linguist, but that doesn't seem to mean I'm necessarily very good at learning languages.
Here is an aphorism from my Korean book of aphorisms.
목수가 많으면 집을 무너뜨린다 mok.su.ga manh.eu.myeon jib.eul mu.neo.tteu.rin.da carpenter-SUBJ be-many-IF house-OBJ destroy-PRES "If there are many carpenters, the house is destroyed."
This is clearly the same aphorism as the English, "Too many cooks in the kitchen (spoil the broth)." That's fairly self-explanatory, and therefore a good proverb for me to try to resume my occasional Korean proverbs.
It's a cloudy Sunday, but the snow turned to rain. I made a broth to gowith my pasta, but it wasn't spoiled because I was the only cook.
Last Thursday, watching my uncle chipping wood before distributing the wood chips on his surrounding forest floor, Curt seemed puzzled by the purpose of it all. He said there was an expression in Korean that seemed relevant: "왜사서 고생이야?"
Loosely, this translates as, "why do [you] make work for [yourself]?'
More literally, it is something like, "Why buy and then suffer?" One should not suffer as a consequence of one's purchases, right?
It applies to everyone, at one time or another, though. Nevertheless, it's a type of activity that may be more relevant to some more than others. I, like my uncle, sometimes seem to make work for myself, unnecessarily.
