Categories
Design

9 Design and Korea 1: I Know Nothing

Two years ago I had no first-hand experience of South Korea. My expectations were those of a moderately well-read and well-traveled European. High-income country based on GDP per capita. Densely populated. Very plugged-in, overworked populace. High-tech. Eat live octopi. That is to say, I knew nothing. The first time I visited, I was dumbstruck. I […]

Categories
Design Life

8 Design and I

I hate design. There, I’ve said it. To be precise, I detest working as a graphic or ui or ux designer. As a web designer, even more. The work process is about 5% creativity, 50% routine pixel-pushery and 50% puffery. And yes, the bad maths is part and parcel, too. Don’t get me wrong. I […]

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Life

7 Europe’s Esperanto

One. Two. Tree. I was so proud of those first three English words I carried to my first day of International School. A few months later my first grade ESL teacher complimented me on correctly using “circling.” I fell in love with the English language and soon it was my home. But Slovenian class.

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Life

6 Our Golden Age: Podcasts

Ours is a golden age. I know. It’s hard to believe. We have orange goblins and secret policemen and climate cooks and kooks. Bear with me. I listened to the BBC World Service on shortwave radio in Dar es Salaam in 1990. The radio ran, I drew, and I thought received pronunciation was normal. In […]

Categories
Cooking Life

5 Food in Korea II: exoticization

Early in our relationship YL had a great fear. We met in Lausanne, the edgiest and most crime-ridden city in Switzerland. This means that the city is very safe. Old ladies with manicured dogs dominate the promenade and three night-clubs stay open late on weekends. This also means local taste is adapted to saucissons, choucroute, […]

Categories
Life Play

4 Dungeon, dragon, table, troll

I play and run and create tabletop role-playing games. Things like Dungeons & Dragons. They’re fantastic. Many of my friends have made fun of them. Some, perplexed, asked “but, what are they?” A few play them. I’ve tried to explain TRPGs many times and floundered every damn time.

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Life

3 Europe like air

I was at university in 2004 when Slovenia joined the European Union on Labor Day. That’s the 1st of May. Some people complained, some people cheered. I got on with the life of a know-it-all student. Years passed and Europe was there. Slovenia joined the Euro and the biggest news was the price of a […]

Categories
Cooking Life

2 Food in Korea I: specialists

Food is an amazing cultural artifact. I love food. I love meals with friends. I love the magic of raw ingredients becoming cooked. The very essence of what it means to be human is bundled into every meal. But I’m getting carried away. Backpedal. When I travel, I try every single thing I get my […]

Categories
Life

1 Oversealander

Hello, Busan. About a month ago my wife and I moved to Busan. But that’s not my topic now. No, my topic is irony. Ten years ago I built a blog for myself and called it “Prekomorec.” I coined that word in Slovenian to describe myself and it means “male person from over the sea.” […]