Four in the Morning
The shift ended at eleven. I was home by midnight. I should have slept. Instead I opened the laptop and went back to Amazon — and stayed there until four in the morning, sitting with three drop-down menus that would decide how a stranger finds the book.
Read essay →The Airport Lounge in Hanoi
It was late evening at Hanoi airport. Five of us were moving through the terminal — my parents, my twin brother Jerry, my young niece, and me. What followed taught me more about how credit cards quietly work than I had learned in the decade before.
Read essay →The Day My Shift Got Cancelled
A couple of years ago, on a beautiful fall day, I was supposed to go to work. I had already prepared myself for the shift. Then I got the call. Business was slow. The hours were not needed. The shift was cancelled.
Read essay →Why Korean?
When I tell people I have been learning Korean, the question is usually some version of why. The honest answer involves my work shifts, a paid tutor, and what I had to learn about how a hobby actually becomes permanent.
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