COPS, Korean Style

I went downtown after work today for a little walk-around. I noticed something. When I first came here I looked at people. I walked with my head up and my eyes meeting the inevitable attention I get. Most times, when I'd catch the eyes of the curious looking at me, a smile would ensue, or a "hello, how do you do?" (Yes, I rhyme.)Lately, though, without even a conscious thought about it, I've been walking around with my head down or my eyes focusing on anything but people. It's not good. I think it's much better to walk around with your eyes meeting what's going on around you. I'm going to remind myself to keep my chin up.

Actually, it didn't help today that my lower back is killing me. The pain wraps around and forms two charlie-horses in my thighs. I'm walking crooked, with my pelvis stuck out. (Actually I'm sure it's not that noticeable, I just feel tilted. It's like when you get one of those muscle spasms in your eye. To you, it's like you're doing that "time for the rubber room" twitch, but if you look in a mirror, you can see it's nothing, really, at all.)

Once I got back to my neighbourhood, I passed by couple of cops conferring with a group of people. Something had happened, but of course, I don't know what. The cops had apprehended their perps, though. Three high-school aged boys stood with their arms up in the air, very "stick 'em up," except they weren't being robbed. This is the same pose I see some of our students striking once they've exhausted their yellow-cards. Only our students are usually holding up heavy plastic chairs. Maybe the captive hoodlums would have been holding furniture as well, but the benches were all bolted into the ground.