The Rainy Weekend and Se7en Are Back!

It was supposed to be quiet, lazy Saturday morning.

I expected birds to be singing while perched on my neighbor's persimmon branches under the bright summer sky.

I also expected to see around the neighborhood moms taking the kids on a walk and on strollers, enjoying the weekend morning while their dads were still in bed trying to catch up on sleep.

I also expected people leisurely having brunches at the restaurants along the main street in the neighborhood (in Hannam-dong), starting their relaxing weekend with pancakes and omelettes.

But....the weather made sure those were not to be.

Instead of birds singing, I heard the deafening thunder which became my alarm today, waking me up from a very restful night's sleep.

Instead of families strolling down the main street, heavy rains showered all over the neighborhood (and the city), drenching rooftops and unfortunate pedestrians caught in the deluge.

And instead of filled brunch restaurants, customers were scarce.

With thunder and lightning brandishing a sound-and-light show over the city's skies, coupled with the heavy rains threatening to inundate the neighborhood all day long, who wouldn't want to stay indoors?

And indoors, it was.

Trapped with only my laptop and the television, I was reduced to sending emails and flipping TV channels....until I stopped on a channel playing some Korean pop music.

It turned out that the show featured the top songs in this part of the peninsula for the week. And the number 1 song? "Better Together" sung by Seven, or as he writes it, 'Se7en'.

I thought he looked familiar. I suddenly remember, I have met this guy! Not in Korea, but in a restaurant in Koreatown in Los Angeles!

It was in a tofu restaurant where my friends treated me to lunch while I was in LA.

I remember Se7en was seated with his companion across our table and I told my friends he looked familiar. It took me a while to recall who he was, and when I did, I told my friends who became more excited than I was! They wanted to meet a Korean pop singer!

So, after Se7en got up after finishing his tofu and crab with chili sauce, I went up to him and asked, "Are you Seven?" At that time, I was also done with my tofu; no crab with chili sauce though. Ha-ha-ha!

Perhaps, he was surprised with my very simple question as he wasn't able to immediately answer. So I just blurted out another sentence - a declarative one this time, "Okay, you are Seven!" Ha-ha-ha!

So there we were, in the middle of the tofu restaurant posing with Se7en, even with the smell of Korean food coming out from our breath as we smiled. Ha-ha-ha!

As expected, other Korean customers asked to pose with him, too, after seeing us grinning next to the Korean singer. He was friendly and accommodating considering he was still digesting lunch. But I guess he was already full at that time.

He was cool. And so is this summer weekend, with the rains bringing the high temperatures down.

Well, congratulations to Se7en on his new hit song, which I found likable as some parts sounded a little bit of American pop, unlike the current Korean pop songs which all sound like monotonous, tuneless cheering to me without the 'rah-rah-rah' part. Ha-ha-ha! (Oops!)

I'm sure my friends would also want to wish him success in his comeback to the Korean pop music scene. I'm sharing one of the photos with him.

By the way, 해물순두푸 (tofu in seafood stew) is my favorite dish nowadays.

Back to bed...