happy November

Halloween was fun. I had five classes that day, and I knew I had to scare the daylights out of my half-dead students. So I bought a Venetian-style masquerade mask for ₩3,000 at E-Mart, packed a Nerf gun in my briefcase, got dolled up in my best three-piece suit, and leaped into the classrooms brandishing the pistol like some kind of madcap bank robber. Quite a few of them jumped or yelped—even the boys. Mission accomplished!

But I didn't come here to tell you that. On to the meat of the subject:

Chalk up another failed attempt to get on the O-Train.

Miss H and I rose up at 6:00 a.m. this morning, grabbed a ₩13,000 cab to Seoul Station, arrived with mere minutes to spare...only to discover that the 7:45 to Jecheon (the railhead in Gangwon-do) was sold out.

On a whim I made my way onto the platform to watch the dratted train itself pull out of the station, and I found out that it's only four cars. No wonder it sold out. Next time, Miss H and I will have to book tickets in advance. We'll try for next Saturday (November 9), I guess. I hope we don't miss out on the autumn hues.

Looks like the cosmos wasn't having any of it today anyway. The sky is overcast and starting to drizzle. I don't know about you, but I was hoping for a train journey through sun-washed valleys and over sparkling rivers, not gray, leaden hills and water the color of gunmetal. Let's hope next weekend has better weather, too.

To pass the time, Miss H and I have decided to grab a few more hours' sleep, then head down to the newly-built Starbucks a few blocks away and work on our respective NaNoWriMo projects. Remember, I'm not officially participating. I'm just penning the first 50,000 words of Novel #4. I'm a thousand words in, so I'm a bit behind. I need to write 2200 more today to get caught up. I also need to keep editing Mugunghwa and finish writing Novel #3. I should have plenty of time to work on those today too.

Aside from a workout at the gym this evening, Miss H and I plan to sit down and get caught up with the TV shows we missed: the new season of Castle and the last few weeks of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Can't wait to find out what happens with both of 'em. I'm hooked.

Happy November...