뒷복치다 (Being Late to the Party)

I've developed a theme of being fancy with new Korean and Japanese phrases I've learned over the years, but sometimes I realize there's a lot of English words I still don't know, and some of them are definitely ones I should know as a functioning member of society! For example, I keep mixing up the meanings of "innocuous" and "noxious" because I made those 2 flashcards when studying for the SAT and they kept coming up around the same time, and they sound pretty similar. (For the record,  "noxious" is as toxic as it sounds, very burdensome, and on the flip side "innocuous" is as innocuous as its definition, not a word that is offensive or gives any trouble. Phew. There's a lot of words that I've just been late to the game too, and for some reason I didn't gain the experiences necessary to acquire those words in my vocabulary, words like "Pyrrhic," which means a victory that comes at too great a cost to be worthwhile for the victor, which I see plenty nowadays in Time magazine regarding the ongoing struggles by the US in Iran, Syria, Venezuela.....etc., etc. Also "defrocked" is in the news nowadays a lot as popes accused of sexual abuse are being defrocked, or stripped of their title. I've been very late to the game on these words, which coincides with the Korean idiom "dwitbok chida," which is literally "beating a drum in the back." 

Sometimes it pays to be late hearing the news, and be able to digest it for the first time a year later. Not so for the latest technology like getting the newest iPhone or newest electric car, maybe, but for certain books, the books still resonate years later, and by then they're discounted at the book seller, widely available, have been converted to a movie, or are available at the local library for free. So is the case with Anthony Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential," which came out in 2000 but I finally read in 2019.......but most of it still probably applies. The useful incite like "don't order fish at a restaurant on Mondays" probably is still relevant nowadays, that raw veggies can also transmit germs, that it's more important for line cooks to be able to follow instructions to a T than have their own ideas, that opening a restaurant is super risky and should be avoided except for the most special of people who have the ability to manage all the details of a restaurant, still all live on, which is important because the memory of Bourdain should still live on (he passed away last year) because he is such a great raconteur, which is another word I just caught on to today meaning person with excellent ability to tell stories. I am pretty bad at recounting events that happen to me, whether it's daily news stories or just a routine occurrence at the office. I struggle to find the right words to begin, to introduce all the characters and timeline, location, and general idea quickly and seamlessly and create the best image to the reader of what happened, all while drawing their attention using descriptive words and attention-grabbing analogies and metaphors. Part of the problem is, I don't remember everything that happened! Bourdain has these excellent stories about his past in the CIA (Culinary Institute of America, not the other CIA) and his experience working at a restaurant in the summers, and describes them in such complete detail that I feel like I was there, without having actually been there. Conversely, even I find the most descriptive and memorable occurrences from my early adulthood (like my experiences at summer camp or law school, for example), I would only get so far into the story and telling what happened before I would stumble, be unable to remember details, or feel like I'm losing the audience. (I can just imagine trying to tell someone a story about camp, finally finishing, and the listener just has a blank expression, "so?") Bourdain has an art about how he writes that really speaks to me, and those are the kind of books that I crave nowadays (his swearing and stories revolving around sex and other indecent behavior don't hurt), nonfiction telling of stories that happened to real people, that draws me in and forces me to keep flipping pages for hours on end before I inevitably, impulsively have to check my phone. The other book I read today (today was a big book day, as sometimes happens for me) was Tara Westover's "Educated," a book on everyone's reading lists in 2018 but I'm finally getting to. Another superb telling of one's childhood and experiences both to just get into college and getting through college, and especially influential considering Westover didn't go to school and essentially learned everything from home in isolated rural Idaho. Remarkable. I love raconteurs and want to be a raconteur when I grow up. 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan