남아수독오거서(男兒須讀 五車書)

‘남아수독오거서男兒須讀 五車書’ 남자는 모름지기 다섯 수레의 책을 읽어야 한다는 두보의 시에서 나온 구절이다. 원래는 장자가 친구 혜시의 장서를 두고 한 말이라고 한다. 이 말을 요즘식으로 해석해보면 ‘남아’는 장자 자신을 말한 것이니 꼭 ‘남자’라는 의미보다 그냥 ‘사람’이라고 보면 될 것 같고, 다섯 수레의 책이라 함은 당시 책이 죽간으로 되어 있었으므로 ‘다섯 수레’ 개념 보다는 그 시대 거의 모든 책의 양이었을 것이다. 그럼에도 오늘날의 양으로 꼭 환산해 본다면 대략 3천 권 정도의 책이 되지 않을까 한다. 따라서 남아수독오거서男兒須讀 五車書라는 말을 ‘사람이 태어나 죽기 전에 3천 권의 책은 읽어야 한다’ 쯤으로 해석해도 될 듯하다.
‘문사철 600’이라는 말도 있다. ‘문사철 600’은 문학 책 300권, 역사 책 200권, 철학 책 100권을 의미한다. 극작가이자 역사소설가인 신봉승 작가는 제대로 세상 살아가는 이치를 알기 위해서는 ‘문사철 600’을 30대에 마쳐야 하며 이것이 힘들다면 일생을 통해서라도 반드시 마쳐야 한다고 강조한다. 30대까지 다독을 통해 세상사는 이치를 깨우치고 있어야 함을 지적한 말이다.

우리나라 사람들이 독서를 하지 않는다는 뉴스는 사실 어제 오늘 일이 아니다. 2011년 자료에 따르면 한국인의 월평균 독서량은 1권이 안 되는 0.8권이라고 한다. 이는 미국 6.6권, 일본 6.1권, 중국 2.6권에 비해 우리나라 사람들의 얼마나 책을 읽지 않는지 말해주는 지표다. 월평균 독서량이 1권도 안 되는 0.8권이라는 숫자는 한류를 얘기하고 문화선진국을 꿈꾼다는 나라로서 부끄러운 숫자이다. 스마트폰의 등장이니, IT 발달에 의한 현상이니 하면서 독서하지 않는 이유를 대지만 변명치고는 궁색하다. 물론 통계의 기준을 어떻게 잡느냐에 따라 자료의 신빙성에 문제를 제기 할 수 있겠지만 우리나라 사람들이 다른 나라 사람들보다 책을 많이 읽지 않는 다는 것은 사실인 듯 하다. 전쟁으로 폐허가 된 국가에서 불과 60여 년 만에 경제대국으로의 놀라운 성장에 세계가 박수를 보내지만 책을 읽지 않는 나라의 미래는 밝지 않다.

직장인들의 평균독서량도 연 15권 정도라고 하니 월평균으로 따지면 1.25권으로 2권이 안 된다. 다른 OECD국가들에 비해 매우 낮은 수준이다. 앞에서도 얘기했듯이 제대로 된 교양을 갖춘 지식인이 되기 위해서는 두보가 ‘남아수독오거서’를 통해 강조했듯이 평생 3천 권의 책을 읽어야 읽어야 한다는 생각이다. 또한 ‘문사철 600’은 40대 이전에 마스터하고 만일 지금 40대인데도 넘지 못하였다면 향후 10년 안에 반드시 ‘문사철 600’을 마스터 해 볼 것을 권한다. 책을 많이 읽어 제대로 된 지식인이 많아 져야 사회의 수준이 올라가고 국가의 수준도 올라간다. 정치인들은 말로만 일류국가를 만들겠다고 하지 말고 독서량을 어떻게 늘릴 것인가의 대안을 내놓는 공약이 있어야 한다. 그런 의미에서 경기도 군포시청의 독서 전담부서인 ‘책 읽는 군포실’ 운영은 지방 자치단체에서 진행하는 우수한 사례라 할 수 있다. 자치단체장 한 사람의 진취적이고 창의적인 생각이 세상을 바꾼다.

독서의 힘은 흔히 모죽이라는 대나무에 비교하곤 한다. 우리나라와 중국, 일본 등지에서 자생하는 모죽이라는 대나무는 씨를 뿌리고 난 후 죽순이 나오는 것 말고는 5년 동안은 아무 변화가 없다고 한다. 5년째 되는 해 갑자기 자라기 시작하여 어떤 것은 하루 70센티씩 자라 거의 30미터까지 자란다. 그러니까 모죽은 5년 동안 자라지 않은 것이 아니라 5년 동안 땅속에서 넓게 뿌리를 뻗어 양분을 흡수하고 도약을 준비한 것이다. 독서를 하는 것도 이와 같다. 한 두 권 읽었다고 바로 성장하는 것이 아니라 눈에 보이지 않지만 모죽의 세월처럼 일정 정도 지식의 양이 찰 때까지 견뎌내야 하는 것이다. 그 모죽의 세월을 견디고 도약하는 시점이 바로 3천 권의 독서다. 마치 물이 99도까지는 끓지 않다가 임계점인 100도를 넘으면 끓어서 기체가 될 수 있듯이 독서를 통한 깨달음의 임계점도 분명히 존재한다고 생각한다. 그리고 그 선이 바로 3천 권이라고 생각한다.

http://postfiles6.naver.net/20160306_101/junbh1_1457196886655I9nMq_PNG/%B8%F0%C1%D7.png?type=w3

여기서 말한 3천 권의 기준은 그냥 한 말이 아니다. 실제 이런 기준으로 책을 통해 이치를 깨우치고 새로운 삶을 살게 되었다는 다독가들의 경험담에 기초한 것이다. 목사였던 민들레영토의 지승룡 소장은 이혼 후 나락에 떨어졌다. 그 때 그가 할 수 있는 일은 근처 도서관에서 온 종일 책 읽기였다. 그는 2년 동안 매일 도서관에서 무려 2천 권에 달하는 책을 읽었다. 그 후 포장마차를 시작해 종자돈을 벌어 민들레영토를 시작할 수 있었다. 『꿈꾸는 다락방』의 저자 이지성 작가는 2천권의 책을 읽고서야 뭔가 세상을 보는 시야가 트였다고 말한다. 일본 IT업계의 신화가 된 손정의 소프트뱅크 회장은 26살에 간염으로 3년 동안 입원하였다. 아무 것도 할 수 없어 읽기 시작한 책이 3년 동안 4천 권에 달했다고 한다. 그는 ‘그 3년 동안의 독서가 내 인생을 바꿨다’고 말한다.

http://postfiles12.naver.net/20160306_283/junbh1_1457196773538WeHh9_JPEG/%BB%E7%B6%F7.jpg?type=w3
▲책은 사람을 만든다.
​
교보문고 설립자 신창제 회장은 ‘사람은 책을 만들고 책은 사람을 만든다’고 하였다. 책은 사람을 만든다. 책은 사람의 삶을 바꾼다. 책은 세상의 이치를 깨우치게 해준다. 책은 인생의 방향을 알려준다. 미래가 불안한 그대여 책을 믿어라. 책을 읽어라. 독서가 불안한 미래에 답을 줄 것이며, 독서가 그대의 끝나지 않은 꿈의 길로 인도해 줄 것이다. 아무리 바쁘고 시간이 없다고 하여도 잠을 거르는 사람은 없다. 아무리 힘들고 어렵다고 말해도 식사를 거르는 사람은 없다. 독서를 잠을 자듯이 생각해 보자. 독서를 식사 하듯이 해야 한다.

남아수독오거서男兒須讀五車書, 3천 권의 책을 읽어야 한다는데, 그대는 지금까지 몇 권을 읽었는가? ‘문사철 600’ 30대에 마스터해야 한다는데, 그대는 지금 어디까지 도달하였는가? 지금 당장 근처 도서관이나 서점으로 달려가자. 3천 권이라는 숫자는 평생 이루기에도 결코 만만치 않은 숫자이다. 1년에 100권씩 10년을 읽어야 1천 권이다 나는 모든 사람이 3천 권을 읽었으면 좋겠지만 현실적인 것을 감안하여 누구나 50살이 되기 전에 ‘문사철 600’은 반드시 달성해야 한다고 생각한다. 600권이라는 책도 1년에 50권씩 12년을 읽어야 하는 숫자이다. 지금 당장 100권 읽기에 도전을 시작한다면 50살이 되기 전에 문사철 600은 달성할 수 있을 것이다. 일단 한 번쯤 1년 100권을 달성해보면 책 읽기에 눈이 트인다. 책 읽기에 눈이 트이게 되면 세상이 다르게 보이기 시작한다.

나는 근 20여 년을 자녀교육 컨설턴트로 살아왔다. 교육 현장에서 누구보다 독서의 중요성을 몸소 체험하였고, 독서를 통해 아이들이 얼마나 바뀌는지 지켜보았다. 나는 신이 인류에게 준 가장 보배로운 선물은 언어 문자라고 생각한다. 그 덕분에 인간은 만물의 영장이 될 수 있었다.
​바로 책이 그 신의 선물이다.

출처: http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=junbh1&logNo=220646783779

놓지 말아야 할 규칙

일하면서 수업을 드는 것이 무슨 큰일인가?  그런데 오랫동안 수업을 들지 않다가 일하면서 들어보니 과연 쉬운게 아니었다. 나이가 들어서라는 핑계는 이제 진부하다. 그냥 보통때 그 만큼 공부를 하지 않는 생활의 휴유증일 뿐. 이제 자꾸 나이들어서 이렇다 저렇다란 표현은 피해야겠다.

다행이 수업시간은 허락을 받고 다녀서 걱정없이 수업에 참가할 수 있었다. 수업이 끝나면 회사 일을 했다. 그리고 회사일이 끝나면 곧 바로 숙제와 공부로 이어져 보통 12시, 어느땐 새벽 2시까지 책상 앞에 앉아 공부했었다.

수년동안 지켜온 새벽기도회 참석과 수영은 못하게 되었다. 새벽까지 공부하고 자면은 아침에 일어나는 것이 곤욕스럽다. 전에 아침에 일어나기가 그렇게 힘든 적이 없었다. 계속 앉아만 있는 생활을 하다 보니 배도 더 나오고 체중도 더 오르게 되었다.  놓지 말아야 할 규칙을 놓아버려서 받는 징벌같은 느낌까지 든다. 이제 원상복구하기도 힘들다. 다시 한걸음씩 돌아가야겠다.

학벌에 미친 한국인들

조선시대에 계급사회가 있었다면 현대사회에는 학벌로 따져지는 계급사회가 있다. 명문대 나온 사람은 보통 사람보다 무슨 특별히 주어진 무엇이 있고 그리고 보통 사람이 받지 못한 특별한 교육을 받았으므로 거기에 맞는 대우를 누릴 수 있는 특권이 주어진다고 특별한 생각을 하는 사람들이 한국사람들이다. 이것이 우주의 진리이고 모든 사회에서 적용되는 것이라는 발상을 가지고 살아간다. 한 사람의 운명은 학위로 인해 결정된다해도 말해도 과언이 아니다. 나의 부모세대는 어떤가?  자신들 스스로는 좋은 학위가 없어도 대통령이 대학을 나오지 않았다고 하면 일단 무시하고 편견된 눈으로 사람을 판단한다.  학위가 없으면 백정취급한다. 얼마나 바르세인적이고 몰 상식한 발상인가?

내가 시험을 쳐서 들어간 고등학교는 세상에서 최고의 과학고등학교로 여겨졌던 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology 이다. 당시에 MIT 와 몇몇 큰 공대에서만 있어던 수퍼컴퓨터를 Westinghouse Project 대회에서 승리를 해서 학교내에 설치되어 슈퍼컴퓨터 구조학 반이 있었고 대학에서만 있었던 Hologram 반 그리고 로보트 (Robotics)  반 등이 있었다.  나는 학교를 대표하는 컴퓨터 팀의 캡틴으로도 활동을 해서 학교이름으로 여러 시합에 나가 상도 받아왔었다. 종교채험으로 인해 나는 신학교를 갔다. 아무나 받아주지 않는 신학교인 Moody Bible Institute를 나왔다. 나의 아내는 한국에서 대원외고라고 졸업생이 명문대를 제일 많이 들어간다는 고등학교 출신이다. 거기에다가 신학교로 치면 명문대라 할 수 있는 Trinity Evangelical Divinity School 를 나왔다.  고등학교 졸업하기 전에 목회하는 아버지를 따라 미국으로 이민왔다. 물론 좋은 학교에 갔던 자부심이 있지만 그렇다고 그것이 무슨 대단한 것이라고 생각하지 않는다.  나의 친구들은 하버드대에서 교수, 스탠드포드대에서 교수, 정부 실험실에서 시니어 과학자, 뉴욕 타임스에서 제일 잘 팔렸던 책을 쓴 저자 등 여러 실력자들을 배출했지만 좋은 학교를 나왔다고 다 세속적으로 잘 되는것은 아니다.

최근에 어느 나이 많으시고 늦게 안수를 받으셔서 목사가 되신 분의 집에 잠깐 방문할 기회가 있었다.  전에 시카고에 사신 경험이 있으셔서 아내가 석사를 했던 Trinity 신학교에 대해 알고 계셨다.  아내가 그 학교 출신이라고 하니까 그 때 반응이, “아, 그 학교 나왔으니, 인정해 줄께,” 라는 말을 하셨다.  그럼 학교에 대해 언급을 하지 않았다면 그냥 별 생각없었다… 뭐 그런 말인가?  아무튼 괜히 기분이 묘하면서 나뻤다. Trinity 학교에서 졸업했다고 말을 하지 않았으면 하는 바램까지 생기는 것 같다.

한국 사람들 중에 자신의 학력과 경력을 조작해 공개하는 사람들이 많다고 들었다. 미국 사회에서 자신이 Ivy League 나온 것을 대화 중 빨리 알리는 것은 자신을 뽐낼려는 의지가 있다는 것이며 보통 미국사람들은 문제삼을 것도 없지만 사실 매우 경시스럽게 취급한다. 이미 명문대 나온 사람들이 그런 경향이 있다는 것을 잘 알고 그것에 크게 비중을 두지 않는다. 오히려 명문대 나오지 않은 사람들이 대인배같고 명문대 나온 사람들이 소인배같은 느낌을 받을 때가 있다. 이렇게 크게 나타내지 않으면서  인격을 더 중시여기는 사람들이 한국사람들이면 좋겠다.

쳐 발라가며 자신의 스펙과 남에게 어떻게 보이는지 연연하는 미천한 인간들 말고 좋은 인격으로 속이 꽉 찬 사람들 말이다.

더 올라갈수록

높은 곳에 더 오를 수록 낮은 곳에서 보이는 것을 기억해야 하고

한 곳에 오래 있을수록 초심을 기억해 더욱 겸손해야 하고

남들의 오류가 더 보일때 자신의 오류가 보이지 않기에 더 고개를 숙여야 하는 법.

남들보다 더 많은 것을 했을 수록 자신을 낮출 수 있는 사람이 되어야 한다

미세먼지같은 차별

눈에 보이지는 않지만 미묘하게 상황들이 결정되고 이루어지는 것을 보면 당했다는 느낌을 받게 하는 경우가 종종있다. 미세먼지같이 전에는 느끼지 못했지만 수년이 지나고 나서 몸을 상세히 검진해 보니 혈관에 침투해 여러가지 질병을 유발시키는 것 처럼 10여년을 누구보다도 열심히 일하고 노력해도 새로 바뀐 상사가 들어오면서 여러가지 핑계를 대며 인도인과 유색인종들은 하나 둘씩 몰아내는 것을 경험하게 된다.  처음 들어와 “나는 아메리칸 소프트웨어을 만들고 싶다고” 한 미친놈. 우리가 만든건 아메리칸 소프트웨어가 아닌가?  난 30년 미국인으로 살았다. 그런데 나를 외국인 취급한다. 고위 경영진이 그 아무리 사탕바른 말이 많았어도 아~ 유색인종이었기 때문에 이정도로 밖에 생각을 하지 않는구나 하고 느끼는 점이 있게된다. 물론 백인이라 해도 비슷한 경험을 당할 수 도 있지만 겪는 사람들이 다 유색인종이라면 눈이 병신인 놈 아니라면 상황파악이 너무나 쉽게 된다.  조금은 어처구니 없지만 이러한 것을 언급하면 왜 인종에 차별적인 시각으로 상황을 보느냐면서 반문하는 백인들이 대다수다.  이런 것을 그냥 모른체하는게 인종차별을 하지 않는 것이라는 이상한 이념을 가지고 사는 백인들.  그들은 차별을 느껴본 경험이 없는 눈먼 맹인들이다.  탓하기에는 너무나 무식한 백정들. 2년전에 나가게 되었던 흑인 동료하나가 인종차별을 신고하면서 나갔었다.  믿기 어렵겠지만 최고 경영자 같은 사람이 인도인이다.  자기 밑에서 일어나는 일에 별로 신경쓰지 않는 인간. 공상가같으면서 포부가 넓어보이나 경영자로서는 꽝이신 분. 나는 상당히 민감한 사람이지만 한 곳에 말뚝을 박으면 고통스러워도 직접적으로 자존심에 타격을 받지 않는 한 좀처럼 움직이지 않는 성격적 결함이 있어서 나름 누가 오래 버티나 두고보자 하는 마음으로 내 할일 다 하면서 어떻게서든지 버틴다.  하나님 앞에서 마음을 바로 먹어야 겠지만 인간적으로 사실 한번 피터지는 격투기라도 해서 판을 지고 싶은 마음이 저 한곁에 있다. 그러나, 완벽한 자 누구 있으리.  알고 지내는 필립핀계 미국인 교수도 동양사람에 대한 차별에 대해 언급을 하는 것을 보면서도 저런 지휘에 있어도 겪는 것 같구나 하는 생각이 들었다. 사실 마음 한켠에는 사회적으로 더 높은 자리에 있으면 이런 서러운 일을 당하지 않겠지 하는 생각을 안해본 것은 아니지만… 친구 교수가 그런 것을 겪는 것을 보면 차라리 그냥 내 마음을 고처 먹는 것이 이 백인땅에서 사는 것의 지혜가 아닐 까 하는 생각도 든다.

Now entering the world of mathematics

With the life-changing religious experience aside, a bigger part of me had proclivity towards the immutable. First, it was the absolutes of the Biblical truths. The absolute Being and His absolute laws–especially the moral laws. It was soon after I had come to a certain, but a simple realization that the adults of my family had broken the sacred laws, and the bubbling spring of pain in my childish heart silently taught that breaking such absolutes caused a whole lot of pain for the innocent. I went to college to study the Bible, and majored in Biblical studies, learning the absolutes of this absolute Being. However, I found that the Christian Church, that is supposed to be entrusted with such immutable truth, is fraught with people who took the Biblical truth like a sugar pill that’s supposed to help them feel less painful living in the world. I’ve had enough of meeting men with empty chests. Instead of promoting a high view of the Scripture, the Scriptural authority is constantly trampled upon and its values treated as secondary to the prevailing values of humanism and secularism.

So, I return to the subject that is filled with fond memories of youth. I was once called a genius for winning various awards in math, and in state and national computer competitions.  I remember my teammates sitting and standing behind me while I typed away the code to win first.  I felt little bad for them, but I was the only one who knew what to do. The math was much more private endeavor, and I excelled at it. I think it had a lot to do with the encouragement of teachers early on and the fact it was also dealing with a type of absolutes.

Having treaded the path as a Jundosa (“youth pastor” or “assistant pastor”) for nearly over 20 years in Korean American churches, I’m now back in college studying math in after-work hours. I’m still passionate about learning the languages of the Scripture, and desire to do so if time allows it, but I see very little future for a jundosa in any church setting. Church attendance is low, churches are filled with old people who just want to keep the status quo, and it is poor. They’re acutely, but quietly aware of its own demise. You just put on your optimism and hope for the best. Of course, Christ’s Church shall prevail, but I see no intentional investment (they would if they were hopeful and had faith), or no excitement to keep others excited about the things of God.  I sometimes feel like a lone voice in the wilderness, but I’m sure the senior pastor feels it at a much more depressing level.  He faces it at a greater scale, on a weekly basis.  I only preach to little kids and few teens.  I should be more hopeful, but I know the church isn’t going to put up a serious financial support to cultivate an aging worker. They probably prefer someone much younger–like a young man in his 20s. My heart has broken more than I can count at numerous church leaders I had previously worked with.  My expectations for Korean American church has come down to the sinkhole.  And all these years, most of them have been singing loudly about the ministry to the second generation.  I entered ministry fully dedicating myself to that generation for nearly 20 years, and I’ve only discovered that it was just a facade, and churches are just as materialistic and more worldly than its counterparts in the secular establishments. They pride themselves for sending their children to Ivy League schools without a care in the world about their faith. They work long hours to buy big houses, meticulously build diversified portfolios, and other long-term assets with exceptional liabilities like luxury cars while donating their leftover trash to the church, and saying reluctant amens to Jesus’ call to store the treasure in heaven, and seek His kingdom and His righteous only. Am I jaded?  I used to be.  Am I now bitter?  I used to be. I’ve got over them.  I just make sure I do my part in the good service that God has called me to.

After graduating from an elite high school in Northern Virginia, my heart felt no inclination to math or science. At the time I desperately needed an emotional component, because I was getting none from the family. I had a gargantuan appetite for a spiritual connection, a human connection that was more than human, and for that fervor of the spirit.  That’s one of the major reasons why I had chosen to go to a Christian school for college. When I did, I did find what I was looking for. It was fulfilling at a deep, personal level. And I’m probably one of the few peers who had stayed in the church, and tried to remain faithful to the calling… in spite of the feeling that not even the closest people around me cared about such calling.  So am I abandoning a faith?  No.  Am I about to leave the church and the place of serving?  No, but as a human being, I feel like there’s no support around me, and I need to change my career. I’ve developed my career during the weekdays as a programmer.  But with a recent experience at workplace with a new boss, who swiftly demonstrated a direct, full-frontal something with a hermetic pretext of needing to build a new system, I’ve been deeply scarred but still clear-headed. It’s not the boss’ fault, but inept management that has had no skin-in-the-game in the development of its software.  In spite of quietly building a robust system myself at a personal expense, the management never tried little more than throwing new IT manager at the problem. And the problem is compounded by fact that new IT manager is always trying to prove themselves in the beginning instead of humbly trying to understand the existing system and improve upon it.  I pinch myself to be reminded that I live in a real world where everything seems to be imperfect — in a profoundly systemic way. Every meeting with this otherwise an intelligent gentleman with a Ph.D. is a diligent practice in how to overcome attrition. I’m not sure he realizes it, but he has effectively pigeonholed me by having everyone believe that we have an old system, and that I’m incapable of adopting to a new development environment. Everyone in the management team believes this now, and he has also created a very toxic environment by allowing the speed of adoption and skills over and above valuing people. It was painfully apparent in how he interacted with a quiet Indian employee, whom I had hired when he was still a student and allowed him to grow at the workplace.  Even David has oriented towards such priority, and he now believes he’s learned everything he needs here and that he needs to grow his skills elsewhere.  I’m not sure the price we are paying as a medical outreach group is worth the people-burning, people-disposing, and devaluing people for someone’s personal glory. The whole management is jaded and bought a fluffy version of “let’s create a people friendly culture” while having no reflection whatsoever on the very environment they have massively contributed.  Let’s bring the consultants in, and all of sudden we have a new culture.  Yeah, right.  Wherever you are, there you are.  Again, this environment only serves to remind me how imperfect our world is, and how blind the managers are.  They just don’t want to hear the complaints.  It’s a reflection of how inept they are. That way they can believe they’re doing a better job, because all of sudden people have shut their mouths to create this new “culture” the management so cherishes.  Creating this new “culture” is put before whether things are working properly or not.  They can afford it, because they have so much more money to burn through.

I don’t think I’m going through a mid-life crisis, but I feel like I’m under-utilized at church with no support for the future growth, ignored at workplace for not having sufficient credentials in spite of the fact that I had built the backbone of most important systems, and not respected at home. Sometimes, I feel like I want to run away from all and start over, but that would be too painful for the family, especially the younger ones. And I had promised myself and to God not to break the family like my own parents did.  So, here’s the first, tiny step towards a change.

続・深夜食堂을 보고

심야식당 2. Midnight Diner 2.

마치 중심인물인 마스터가 음식을 만드는 것 같이 만들어진 영화. 간단한 메뉴에 모든 사람들이 모여 앉아 먹을 수 있는 이 식당은 밤 12시 열어 아침까지 열지만 의외로 많은 사람들이 방문한다.  続편에서는 크게 세 가지 이야기가 나온다. 사기꾼에게 속아 넘어간 후 승려와 결혼하게되는 여인. 10여년 연상의 여자와 결혼을 하기 원하는 청년. 보이스 피슁에 넘어가 아들에게 돈을 준다고 규슈에서 동경까지 홀몸으로 오게된 노모.

영화다운 영화답게 첫편에 이어지는 모티프들은 그대로 살아있다. 일본 경찰 홍보물 처럼 그려나온 인물인 순경과 그를 사모하는 배달부 처녀. 남여노소 상관없이 아무나 다 같이 앉을 수 있는 식당. 청렴결백하고 인간미 넘치는 식당주인 아저씨. 각각 인물마다 뚜렸하면서도 거슬리지 않는 특색과 성품을 보여주는 것이 이 영화의 특징이다.

내면과 외면의 두 세계가 있다는 일본인의 성품은 그 어디서도 찾아볼 수 없고 마치 서로 서로에게 마음을 열고 훈훈한 인간의 정을 보여주는 것이라고 할까. 추억속 안개뒤에 가려진 훈훈했던 인관 관계를 마음 아리게 그리워하게 한다. 서로 서로 다 이웃이지만 다 따로의 삶이 있고 서로 서로 걱정해 주고 관심을 보여 준다는 자체에서 이런 훈훈함이 엿보이는 영화이다. 보통 소리내어 말하지 않는 것들이 자연 스럽게 표현되어 나오고 그것에 자연 스럽게 행동하는 것들이 사실 우리의 일상과는 거리가 느껴지지만 그러한 마음들이 있다는 것과 그리고 우리가 타성에 젖어 행하는 것들 뒤에 그러한 미덕이 있다는 것을 다시 한번 확인 시켜주고 있다.  우리게에 잊혀진 것들. 같은 길이고 같은 음식이고 같은 사람들이지만 그곳에 촉촉한 오아시스가 있다는 것을.

이번에는 여러 사기꾼들이 두번이나 등장한다는 것이 특징이었다. 일본사회에 난무하기 시작한 것들일까? 그런 사건속에서도 담담하게 이겨나가고 회복되는 사람들.  이중잣대로 자신 스스로가 탄로가 나는 어느 청년의 어머니. 사실 우리의 모습이다. 끝까지 고집을 피우는 모습, 그러나 모두가 다 동의 할수 밖에 없는 상황이고 판단인 것. 아들을 위해 희생을 두려워하지 않는 노모. 노모는 아들의 사는 모습을 멀리서 바라보고 다시 만나는 것이 아니라 그냥 보기만 하고 조용히 떠난다. 택시의 창문이 닺히는 모습을 보면서 눈물이 핑 돌았다. 왜 이럴 수 밖에 없는 것인가. 유유히 돌아가는 택시 뒤에 노모를 도운 순경이 자전거를 열심히 타며 뒤를 따라가고 있다. 여기 미국과는 너무나 다른 경찰의 모습. 일본의 경찰은 시민들의 경찰로 영화에서 홍보된다. 이런 영화가 있어 사회를 잔잔한 사회로 조금 더 감수성이 풍요로운 사회로 이끌지 않나 하는 생각이 든다.

Reluctance

I know better than to accuse someone groundlessly, but having seen both the good and the ugly in my three decades inside the Korean American churches it is hard not to cling on my experience and intuition when I see a clergy openly hint at something.

The head of well-known North Korean ministry in South Korea was visiting Albuquerque not too long ago, and the main purpose of his visit was to gain support for his ministry of course. My pastor and the elders seemed to have agreed. I think that was his second visit. While eating with him, bunch of church members, and North Korean girls he had brought with him, I noticed that he was comfortably embracing one of the teen girls without hesitation.  I understand that physical touch, and such embrace used to be something very common in Korean culture, and I’m sure all the other adults in the restaurant probably didn’t think much of it, but it really bothered me.  He was sitting down, and one of his arm embraced the girl below the waist around her buttocks after he had called up the girl to introduce her to the group. The girl enthusiastically massaged his shoulders at one point, too. I had an internal knee-jerk reaction. Here’s a pastor who was traveling globally to gain support for this ministry, and yet his actions and how he embraces these girls doesn’t even come close to meeting any international standards on etiquette. Again, let me point out that many adults in his age group is more comfortable about physical touch than subsequent generations, and I even know how such things are rationalized–“oh, he’s treating her like his own daughter”–but enough with the bullshit.

Three decades in different churches, mostly as a youth pastor, taught me that pastors are human beings, with all of its glorious flaws. And many mega-churches have come to ruins because of the illicit conducts of its senior pastors. This is no news. And in light of such cultural failures, you can only expect dimwits to believe that this respectable(?) pastor from Korea is clean with his hands when it comes to dealing with these girls?  If he’s not hesitant about such embraces of these girls in the open air, I don’t want to imagine what he could be capable of when he’s alone with these girls. Growing up hearing so much of sexual misconduct by pastors, I personally became hesitant to even shake hands with youth group girls, much less embrace them “in Christ.”  I had created a big, internal monitor on self to check my thoughts and behaviors. Even with my own daughters, after reaching certain age, I’m more careful about how I embrace them.

Would you allow your own daughter to be handled that way by ANY ONE?  Start there.  I don’t know why these adults continue to allow these self-designated religious leaders to handle girls this way. Since he left, he’s requested to have various things translated–for free. After completing one of the translations, my heart turned weary… with the barrage of news coming from Korea about pastors who secretly raped teenage girls under their care (the latest is so-called the verified “x-file” of pastor Kim Gi-dong of Sungrak Church)… I really pray and hope this specific pastor would be pure in his life, but I’m not naive enough to have no serious doubts about it.

귀성 (歸省)

연어나 홍어 같은 어류는 알을 낳기 위해서 상류로 올라간다.

온 힘을 다하여 온 몸이 부딪쳐 만신창이가 되가면서 귀성한다.

본향의 자리에서 죽어 새로 부활하는 고기.

본향을 잊고 물 보다 더 빠른 속도로 물을 앞서려는 어리석은 자들이 현시대의 우리의 모습이다.

저 고향의 냄새를 맡고 돌아가자, 우리.

Korea has been the dumping ground for low-quality meat

(Sorry, but the video is in Korean.  The documentary clearly brings awareness to Koreans who have been fooled by believing that the beef quality increases with the fat content. The most expensive beef in Korea are the ones with the most fat content.)

When I was growing up in Korea back in early 1980s, eating meat was for special occasions.  I’m not sure if that’s the real reason why there weren’t many fat people back then, but it’s a different landscape now. Although I have been living in the U.S. for over 30s year now, it seemed like a lot of Koreans ate meat on a daily basis starting at some point in recent past. I guess the price has gotten lower and people just oriented towards what tasted good for them. For a while, our own family didn’t eat that much meat, even though my wife is an ethnic Korean. She immigrated back in early 1990s. Anyway, after recently joining a local Korean American church what surprised me once again was how much Koreans liked sam-gyeop-sal (sliced fatty pork belly meat).  It’s basically 90% fatty bacon.  People usually consume it by frying it on a grill in front of them, and wrap it with a leaf of lettuce w/ chives and other side dishes with rice. Once or twice a year there would be sam-gyeop-sal party at the church. Koreans love meat.

The video on top is basically an exposé of how the Koreans value meat is strictly based on taste and not on the soundness of health. Basically, the beef certification system strictly based on how much fat beef contains. The higher fat content, the better beef, thus more expensive.  The documentary points out that such rating system started in the U.S., and then moved to Japan, the home of Wagyu Kobe beef, and then popularized in South Korea. It also features how Argentinians prefer lean meat, and compares the Korean beef cert system to the U.S. one. It also shows how Australians, preferring lean meat themselves, intentionally fattens cows to sell to Korea, a large meat market now.

How did Korea become such a meat loving country?  The answer lies in the not too distant past. Koreans were under dire poverty right after the war, and for many growing up during those years being able to eat meat was associated with well-being, and so that generation instilled in the next that eating meat, with little regard to health — which was taken for granted, thanks for their vegetable-based diet — is something that is promoted within families. In fact, it was only on special days that my father came home with cha-dol-bae-gi, thinly sliced beef, that was roasted on top of a frying pan.  However, all such factors contributed to where Korea is today.  A dumping ground for unhealthy meat. And paradoxically, it has also become a nation of health craze.  Maybe, it was only a matter of time that this type of exposé comes to the general public.

This is yet another documentary that exposes the other meat — pork.  Korea has been the dumping ground for the fatty pork belly meat.

Is this because Korean people in general are more gullible than other nations?

한국어: 정경유착

2017/2/17 KBS News

“한국의 정경유착을 끊을 중요한 시기”

政經癒着
政 정사 정/칠 정
經 지날 경/글 경
癒 병 나을 유
着 붙을 착, 나타날 저

기업가(企業家)는 정치인(政治人)에게 정치(政治) 자금(資金)을 제공(提供)하고 정치인(政治人)은 반대(反對) 급부(給付)로 기업가(企業家)에게 여러 가지 특혜를 베푸는 것과 같은, 정치인(政治人)과 기업가(企業家) 사이의 부도덕(不道德)한 밀착(密着) 관계(關係

한국어: 지양, 추경

출처: 2017년 1월 17일 뉴스

반기문 왈: “죽기살기식으로 정권만을 잡겠다는 행태는 지양돼야한다”

止揚 (지양) – reject [for the sake of improving]

①더 높은 단계(段階)로 오르기 위(爲)하여 어떠한 것을 하지 아니함 　②어떤 사물(事物)에 관(關)한 모순이나 대립(對立)을 부정(否定)하면서 도리어 한층 더 높은 단계(段階)에서 이것을 긍정(肯定)하여 살려 가는 일

 

출처: 2017년 1월 11일 뉴스

“한국은행의 기준금리 인하로 추경 편성이 급류를 타고 있다”

追更 (추경) => 追加更正豫算의 약자 – supplementary budget

예산(豫算) 작성(作成) 후(後)에 생긴 사유(事由)로 해서 기정 예산(豫算) 경비(經費)에 부족(不足)이 생겼을 경우(境遇), 이에 추가(追加)하여 작성(作成)된 예산(豫算)

A repost of “Why I Chose to No Longer Wear Leggings”

For girls.

A post by Veronica Partridge (now deleted, but the old link was http://veronicapartridge.com/why-i-chose-to-no-longer-wear-leggings/)

For the past several months, I have been having a conviction weighing heavy on my heart. I tried ignoring it for as long as I could until one day a conversation came up amongst myself and a few others (both men and women). The conversation was about leggings and how when women wear them it creates a stronger attraction for a man to look at a woman’s body and may cause them to think lustful thoughts. God really changed my heart in the midst of that conversation and instead of ignoring my convictions, I figured it was time I start listening to them and take action.

I went home later that day and shared the convictions I was having with my husband. Was it possible my wearing leggings could cause a man, other than my husband, to think lustfully about my body? I asked my husband his thoughts on the matter when he got home. I appreciated his honesty when he told me, “yeah, when I walk into a place and there are women wearing yoga pants everywhere, it’s hard to not look. I try not to, but it’s not easy.”

I instantly felt conviction come over me even stronger. Not that I wasn’t feeling it earlier, or else I wouldn’t have thought twice about the conversation, but after talking to Dale, it hit me a lot harder. If it is difficult for my husband who loves, honors, and respects me to keep his eyes focused ahead, then how much more difficult could it be for a man that may not have the same self-control? Sure, if a man wants to look, they are going to look, but why entice them? Is it possible that the thin, form-fitting yoga pants or leggings could make a married (or single) man look at a woman in a way he should only look at his wife?

And at that moment, I made a personal vow to myself and to my husband. I will no longer wear thin, form-fitting yoga pants or leggings in public. The only time I feel (for myself) it is acceptable to wear them, is if I am in the comfort of my own home. I also want to set the best example of how to dress for my daughter. I want her to know, her value is not in the way her body looks or how she dresses, but in the character and personality God has given her. I have been following the vow I made to myself for the past couple of weeks now and though it may be difficult to find an outfit at times, my conscience is clear and I feel I am honoring God and my husband in the way I dress.

Where should I be focusing my eyes during keiko?

As the old saying in kendo goes, “1. eyes, 2. footwork, 3. courage, and 4. strength” (一眼 二足 三膽 四力; ichi-gan ni-soku san-tan shi-riki), seeing is considered to be the most important.  The act of seeing is divided into two aspects (観見の目) one that of sensing or perceiving [as mentally] (観; kan) the whole of your opponent, and another is that of simply observing [as physically] (見; ken).

1) Observing eyes

There is a saying, “eyes are the mirror of the soul.”  It’s possible to read a person’s heart through his eyes. If the heart is in disorder the eyes are murky, and if the heart is clean the eyes are clear. There are some who look at the target (men, kote, dou, or tsuki) before making a cut, and that is akin to relaying to your opponent where you are going to be cutting. So, if you want to read the other person’s intention you have to practice to observe your opponent’s eyes and read the heart.

2) Seeing eyes

You can sense the movement of your opponent’s whole body through his eyes. This is because the human field of vision sees best 30 degrees from the line that connects the upper part of the ears to the eyes. There are some who look at opponent’s tsuba or hand to avoid any attack, or focuses on the feet to see the movement, but you can’t track the movement of shinai with your eyes, and you can’t see the whole if you focus on one point.

Therefore, you should see as if you’re seeing a far-away mountain, and also see opponent’s eyes to comprehend your opponent’s whole (heart and mind).

* This is a translation from Jissen Kendo by Edo Kokichi kyoshi.

恵土孝吉. スポーツＱ＆Ａシリーズ 実戦剣道. 東京都: 大修館書店, 1985. Print. Q 7.

 

20 Rules for a Knight and comparative notes from Bushido (Part 1/2)

Recently, Shane posted a recovered letter by Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawkes of Cornwall (c.a. late 15th century) regarding 20 rules for a knight, which was written to his children.  I found that in essence the virtues outlined here coincide with classical virtues of Confucianism, which the Japanese bushido (code of warriors) had adopted.  Here’s a quick association and notes on each of the rules from Shane’s original post.  This is part 1 of 2.

  1. Solitude
    • “Create time alone with yourself. When seeking the wisdom and clarity of your own mind, silence is a helpful tool. The voice of our spirit is gentle and cannot be heard when it has to compete with others. Just as it is impossible to see your reflection in troubled water, so too is it with the soul. In silence, we can sense eternity sleeping inside us.”
    • 男兒一言 重千金 = the word of a man should be as heavy as a ton of metal
      This is the complement of the old proverb that says a mistake in inevitable with many words.  Hawkes’ purpose of solitude is as a meditative means to grasp a better reality of things through introspection, whereas the context for the promotion of solitude is in the context of relationship with others, reinforcing the wholistic notion of relational universe in Confucianism. The value of solitude is as an instrument of integrity (信 trustworthiness).
  2. Humility
    • “Never announce that you are a knight, simply behave as one. You are better than no one, and no one is better than you.”
    • 禮/礼 (rei) or 礼儀 (reigi in Japanese) = politeness or manners
      In Bushido, the essence of politeness is that of humility. This is often considered to be the external manifestation of 義 (righteousness), which could be expressed as a moral expression of one’s responsibility to others as a member of a society.
  3. Gratitude
    • “The only intelligent response to the ongoing gift of life is gratitude. For all that has been, a knight says, “Thank you.” For all that is to come, a knight says, “Yes!”
    • Hawkes’ religious context as a Christian is a type of all-encompassing gratitude towards the Almighty for all things, past, present, and future. Where as in Bushido, again, this is an aspect of 礼儀 (reigi) where the gratitude for the other person is the other side of humility. Even in today’s kendo keiko (稽古 practice/training), for example, you are required to say “[respectfully] thank you very much” (どうもありがとうございます) at every practice session with your practice partner.  Gratitude for the opportunity to train in a lifetime cultivation as a shugyosha (originally a Buddhist term as a “seeker of enlightenment,” or more commonly, someone whose life is dedicated towards the perfection of virtues and skills), and gratitude for helping to realize one’s weaknesses.
  4. Pride
    • “Never pretend you are not a knight or attempt to diminish yourself because you deem it will make others more comfortable. We show others the most respect by offering the best of ourselves.”
    • The idea very much overlaps one found in Bushido.  気位 (kigurai = pride or self-respect) is to be expressed through proper posture, etiquette (礼), and most importantly through the spirit (気 ki). In regular practice sessions, one is to give one’s utmost (physically, mentally, and spiritually) as a sign of respect for others’ time.
  5. Cooperation
    • “Each one of us is walking our own road. We are born at specific times, in specific places, and our challenges are unique. As knights, understanding and respecting our distinctiveness is vital to our ability to harness our collective strength. The use of force may be necessary to protect in an emergency, but only justice, fairness, and cooperation can truly succeed in leading men. We must live and work together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
    • 和 (wa, harmony) is one of the virtues not only in Bushido, but in its greater Japanese cultural context. Japanese had even labelled themselves as a people of 和, as one of the most highly prized virtues. This can also be considered as a outward manifestation of 仁 (jin, benevolence of mercy), which is one of the four major virtues of Confucianism, and considered to be the very essence of all other virtues. Hawkes is not so far from putting this as the most important concept like in Bushido when he equates the absence of this virtue as a sure destruction.
  6. Friendship
    • “The quality of your life will, to a large extent, be decided by with whom you elect to spend your time.”
    • Hawkes’ understanding of friendship is one that we, as Westerners, can easily identify with. The Bushido’s idea of friendship is one that is characterized by a deep, relational commitment that can seem to override even the absolutes of moral codes at times. 忠義 (chugi, loyalty) is tightly bound with the idea of 名誉 (meiyo, honor), and more often than not, the traditional version of this idea represents a deep sense of loyalty.
  7. Forgiveness
    • “Those who cannot easily forgive will not collect many friends. Look for the best in others.”
    • In Bushido, a similar virtue is also encouraged, more often expressed as overlooking the offense of others. The central tenet of 仁 (jin) expresses this idea implicitly, although when it comes to the actual practice it is often limited to one’s close circle of relationships.
  8. Honesty
    • A dishonest tongue and a dishonest mind waste time, and therefore waste our lives. We are here to grow and the truth is the water, the light, and the soil from which we rise. The armor of falsehood is subtly wrought out of the darkness and hides us not only from others but from our own soul.
    • 真実 (shinjitsu) truth, along with 誠実 (seijitsu) sincerity are considered as one of the eight virtues as outlined by Nitobe Inazō in his well-known book on Bushido. The spirit and the attitude around honesty happens to coincide very closely with Spartan stoicism, with its strong emphasis on frugal living and abstinence from any form of greed, which usually acts as the originating force towards dishonesty and pretentiousness.
  9. Courage
    • Anything that gives light must endure burning.
    • 勇気 ( yuu-ki) courage is the modus operandi of 義 (gi) righteousness or rectitude, and it is always in service of 義 and outside of that it would not be called courage. This is also one of the four important elements of kendo.

稽古 7-79: oikomi, hikiwaza

稽古 7-79 / Baca Center / 2016年 10月 19日 (水)

14707021_1084035008379163_6424120478089198471_o

Oikomi: men, men-kote, men-kote-dou. We usually don’t practice going forward that much so whenever I instruct the class I try to put in oikomi or other practices that help with this. We start with a kiai, and then go on for continuous uchi in fumikomi. Near the end of dojo, we finish with shomen uchi and then zanshin. I felt light today, however, my left foot felt like it was being dragged along rather than snapping in for some reason. Sensei didn’t say anything about it, so it must look okay from the side.  This feeling may be due to the lack of practice of this sort.

Men-kote uchi felt natural, with the right distance for footwork coming surprisingly naturally even during the fast drill. I sometimes think this as a rather enchanting aspect of kendo. What was difficult before has finally become a second-nature, and it’s a satisfying feeling that you don’t commonly find in other aspects of life, except maybe in academia.

We ended practice with sensei’s instruction on hikiwaza and then jigeiko. I tried to focus on cutting somewhat explosively, but I was little too tired for this by this time. This is usually manifested by higher ranking kendoka who have been practicing for a long time with right chudan no kamae with proper suburi.

My energy level was excellent for this keiko.

Signing with a GPG key in a Git workflow

If you’re working on a project and you want to doubly make sure of your code integrity, it’s good idea to sign your work to make sure what you add to the code base is only from you and from no one else. This is particularly important in building a secure application, or if you’re a coder in a team setting.

If you have some authority over the development workflow, it may also be a good idea to adopt the team practice of signing commits even before you do a git init on a project. There are plenty of references on configuring your GPG keys, so that’s not covered here.

Get your GPG configured, and a personal key installed. Configure Git to use your personal key.

$ git config --global user.signingkey 0A46826A

Signing tags:

$ git tag -s v2.17 -m <span class="s1">'version 2.17 signed by MH'</span>
$ git show v2.17

With the signer’s public key in the keyring, you can verify the tag:

$ git tag -v v2.17

Signing commits

You can sign commits simply by adding -S once your environment is configured.

$ git commit -S -m <span class="s1">'push a signed commit'</span>

You can check and verify via git log:

$ git log --show-signature -1

You can configure git log to check any signatures and list them in output via %G? format.

$ git log --pretty<span class="o">=</span><span class="s2">"format:%h %G? %aN  %s"</span>

You can also reject commits that are unsigned and invalid:

$ git merge --verify-signature non-verify
 
$ git merge --verify-signatures signed-branch

Sign the merge commit itself:

$ git merge --verify-signatures -S signed-branch

On the Korean script war

One of the silent wars that has been raging on the Korean peninsula is between those who promote only hangeul usage and those who wants to conserve the traditional mixed script usage where both hanja (traditional Chinese characters) and hangeul are used interchangeably. It’s true that in the linguistic history, specifically the history of written script, of East Asian countries, especially in Korea and in Japan, the use of phonetic scripts have been looked down upon as inferior to the use of classical Chinese idiomatic characters.

It seems that Korean people (those who are living in Korea) are evenly split between the all-hangeul-use camp and the mixed-use camp, with a lot of nonopinionated stuck in the middle. I’ve memorized around 500 hanja characters so far, and in spite of my large ignorance, I incline towards the mixed-use, not because I am an elitist but because I believe there is more to lose than to gain. History is already a largely marginalized subject in schools due to overt emphasis on job skills in education, and it doesn’t help to establish any more sense of connection to history if you herd an entire generation people to an ignorance of scripts used by their forefathers. Take the example of the writings by Ahn Jun-geun (Korean: 안중근 (安重根)).  Thanks to a popular bumper sticker, everyone is familiar with his hand print along with the word, “大韓國人,” (Korean: 대한국인), literally translated, “The Person of the Great Country of Han.” However, the main writing which this was part was “黃金百萬兩不如一敎子 ” (Korean: 황금백만냥 불여일교자), translated, “100,000 pounds of gold can’t equal to a [proper] teaching of [one’s] child,” is largely unknown to the populace. He wrote this while in jail, waiting for his execution, which was the penalty for trying to assassinate Ito Hirobumi.

And then there is the deeply honored historical figure called General Yi Sun-sin, whose writing was only in hanja. Some Koreans may have heard of Diary during the War (Korean: 난중일기 (亂中日記)), even may have read a translation of it, but only very few has ever read it in its original writing. Of course, it doesn’t help that he wrote mostly following the Chinese grammatically rule, just as the literatis of his day did, but even knowing the characters themselves would help to identify the words with which he wrote. Continuing to neglect the linguistic heritage, and marginalize its use for the future generations of Koreans is to distance the Koreans to the real historical identity of its past, and only to ostracize its people from sharing the common heritage of its own history, as well as its connection to its neighbors.

Car Repaint Project: [LAST] Day 7 – Wetsand and polish

Wetsanded the car with 1000 grit, and then tried polishing it using Ultimate Compound.  I’m guessing the clear coat wasn’t sprayed well because even after polishing, the paint looked dull.  The car looked rather shiny after the third coat of paint, but with the clear coat sprayed on it didn’t look so shiny anymore.  I guess it may have something to do with my polishing. But anyhow, I’m glad it’s over, and the paint has a coat of protection on it. Since it’s white it doesn’t need to twinkle or anything.  I’ll probably post the photo later, but IT’S DONE!

UPDATE: I may need to use a buffer to polish it up better.  It’s still a blur.  It’s going to be a long weekend, so I might as well take the time. ;-(

Car Repaint Project: Day 6 – Two layers of spray-on clear coat

Finally. The last day painting or spraying is here. I’ve sprayed on the Rust-Oleum clear coat. Two layers of them. It’s lost some luster, but I guess it will be there with some polish later. I’ve been putting aside all the other evening routines for this darn project, and it’s nearly over.  I’m happy, but tired.  Tonight’s work took about 2 hours after another physically intensive keiko session of kendo this evening. I just want to take a shower and go to sleep, but I still have to wake up at 4 am tomorrow. Without daily morning swim sessions and kendo, I don’t think I could have continued finished this car paint project within 7 days while working full-time during weekdays and take on loads of ministry responsibilities during weekends.  I’m just thankful.  In spite of the good (paint) mask I was wearing my sensitive respiratory system reacted time to time.  The fume just isn’t good for anything, so if you’re doing something similar, I HIGHLY recommend a well-ventilated area, and a GOOD painting mask. Don’t compromise on safety, else you may end up with some bad stuff in your system that may even cause permanent damages, so use your common sense and care.  Here are some photos at the end of day 6. It’s nearly 12 am now.

I could have done a better job covering the windows, but no worries.  I just a scraper to scrape off the paint from windows and it’s good as a new.

Tomorrow, I may polish up the car… using Ultimate Compound perhaps.

 

IMG_20160831_230410 IMG_20160831_230431 IMG_20160831_230442 IMG_20160831_230500

Car Repaint Project: Day 5 – Fine Sanding and Third Layer of Paint

I took Monday off.  I just didn’t feel like working on the car yesterday evening.

Before I log this day, let me note that it’s 12:30 am right now. I started the work at around 7:30 pm. So, it took me exactly 5 hours to finish.  If I learned one thing today it is that painting with heavier paint takes longer time.

I thought I had bought 800 grit, but I found that I had 600 grit instead. I used it to makes scratches all over the car.  It’s impossible to sand off the paint with it. Just rough up the car for easier reception of the third layer of paint.  I prepared the paint by just pouring more paint into the 40/60 can I had prepared before. It’s probably more like 1:5 ratio, maybe little too thick.

The paint definitely felt different this time. I wouldn’t say that it was easier to paint than using 40/60 paint, because it wasn’t, but there are some differences that sometimes made it easier. You can paint the whole panel for example, and then come back to brush over it.  If I understand it correctly, the paint is supposed to dry faster with more thinner, but I found that the heavier paint seemed to dry faster.  Anyhow, I guess it depends. I’m glad this is going to be the final layer, even though I’ve read that some people would put even more layer of paint from here.  I think three layers suffice for this type of work. Besides, I’ve gone farther than some of the write-ups I had read.  Anyway, here are photos after the third layer of paint was put on the car. I like it. I’m going to be spraying with clear coat tomorrow after work.

IMG_20160831_001520 IMG_20160831_001454 IMG_20160831_001435 IMG_20160831_001400 IMG_20160831_001543 IMG_20160831_001508

Introduction to basic commands in PostgreSQL for MySQL users

Last tested on Ubuntu 16.04.01 LTS (xenial)

Getting into DB console.

MySQL:

$ mysql -uroot -p

PostgreSQL:

$ sudo su postgres
postgres@hydrogen:~$ psql

Creating DB

Creating a database and granting a user complete access.

MySQL:

mysql> create database mydb;
mysql> grant all on mydb.* to dbuser@localhost identified by 'mypass';

PostgreSQL:

postgres=# create user dbuser with password 'mypass';
postgres=# create database mydb;
postgres=# grant all privileges on database mydb to dbuser;

Listing DBs

You can list the DBs.

MySQL:

mysql> show databases;

PostgreSQL:

postgres=# \l

Selecting a DB

You can select a DB.

MySQL:

mysql> use mydb;

PostgreSQL:

postgres=# \connect mydb;

After selecting a DB you can go ahead and execute SQL commands.

Listing all tables

You can list tables in a DB.

MySQL:

mysql> show tables;

PostgreSQL:

postgres=# \dt

Change the password of a user

You can list tables in a DB.

MySQL:

mysql> set password for 'dbuser'@'localhost' = password('newpassword');

PostgreSQL:

postgres=# alter user "dbuser" with password 'newpassword';

Exiting from DB

Ctrl-D should exit from both.

Car Repaint Project: Day 4 – Sanding and Second Layer of Paint

Today I spent about 4 hours after church sanding and putting on the second layer of paint. This time, I took time to sand using 400 grit, having learned from putting on the first layer. What I’ve learned is that paint don’t really stick well without enough sanding, especially on vertical pieces like the doors. Even with a good scratches from sanding it can be little frustrating, but it may have something to do with the amount of thinner I’ve added to the paint. Mine was nearly 40 thinner/60 paint, which really isn’t according to many recommendations I had read, including the one on the paint can itself, which recommends little or none.  Anyway, first two layers are supposed to be somewhat thin anyway, in order to speed the drying, and the last coat is supposed to be thicker.  I normally don’t praise the my own work, but after putting on the second coat I had impressed myself. It started to look like a decent paint job!  I’m now a firm believer in using Rust-Oleum. 😉  Of course, having done the work myself, I know all of the little inadequacies and places where there are too much paint or too little, but overall, it’s quite satisfying, albeit back-breaking. This ran into late evening hours, and I won’t get into details of little pesky bugs sticking on the paint and so on.  Just use your common sense if you’re following a similar procedure.

IMG_20160828_211522 IMG_20160828_211533  IMG_20160828_211631 IMG_20160828_211646 IMG_20160828_211707  IMG_20160828_191250  IMG_20160828_211610 IMG_20160828_211513

For a better comparison I should have taken some photos before the job, but I was merely thinking of blogging this as a type of record or a log.  Anyway, I had to rummage through my old photos to find this one (a stitched-up panoramic version) I had taken at Taos several years back.  You can see how the paint was coming off.

nissan-before-paint

 

Car Repaint Project: Day 3 – First layer of paint

It must’ve taken up a good half of Saturday for this.  After taping and spraying the car with primer, and waiting for it to dry, I’ve applied the first layer of paint.  I had no previous experience of painting using form brushes, so I was little frustrated with how things looked and I even had some places where I accidentally squeeze the form causing bubbles to appear and then even vertical drips.  I’ve learned quite a bit on this first layer.

After spraying on the primer.

DSC03641 DSC03642 DSC03643

After the first layer of the paint.

IMG_20160827_145202 IMG_20160827_145122

Car Repaint Project: Day 2 – More Sanding

I don’t know where I had the energy, but I came home after 2 hours of kendo (tonight’s keiko intensity was similar to an hour of aerobic exercises) then I quickly jumped into my old jeans and then brought the car out of the garage to start sanding. It was already dark (8:30 pm?), so I had to put my head-mounted light on.  The scratches on the car was surprisingly easier to see with the flashlight. I managed to sand down the entire car.  Instead of a good clean wash with water, I just wiped down the car with a good dose of mineral spirit with rags.  It’s good enough.  It felt like two hours had passed by, but when I checked the time, it was more like an hour and a half.  I stopped only because I felt physically exhausted and hungry.  I don’t remember what I had for dinner, but the pang in the stomach was starting to creep into my focus.  I just started taping the edges and then brought the car in.  The air was cool and nice tonight.

IMG_20160826_212805 IMG_20160826_212825 IMG_20160826_214517 IMG_20160826_221829

I’m sure someone striving for a perfection would easily spend several more days sanding.

Car Repaint Project: Day 1 – Sanding

Without much time or money on hand, I’ve decided to repaint my 2002 Nissan. It had a Molten Silver color for its exterior according to the spec doc, but the outer paint started to peel off about 10 years ago. The paint looked fine when I moved to New Mexico nearly 7 years ago though, but, now, the peeling paint has made the car look rather shabby to others. I’m not emotionally attached to the appearance of the car I drive, so it didn’t bother me that much.  In fact, I somewhat enjoy wearing and using things that has a look of being well-worn. I think my own pastor and I share a form of camaraderie for having the shabbiest looking cars at the church.  Anyway, my bumper decided to give recently, and when I bought a replacement it came in its raw, black color, and it needed to be painted. I felt that I might as well repaint the whole car while at it.

I heard from a coworker once that an excellent paint job may cost over a 1,000 bucks, and an average paint job typically costs around 300 to 500. I can’t afford that kind of money at the moment, and there are other expenses that are just waiting to move out of my checking account, so I googled the Internet to find a more frugal way and most of the recent answers seem to be around the use of Rust-Oleum enamel paint.  There are actually many guides and write-ups and I’m indebted to them all, especially Styluss, Craig Fitzgerald, and jtech87. I guess this may seem like yet-another-attempt at a write-up, but this is more as a logging purpose for me to keep track of my progress.  I can only allot 1 or less hour a day to this project, and usually it’s in evening.  I may be able to find little more time on the weekends.

Materials (matches Styluss’ preparation, but mine ended up being about 90 dollars total):

  • Rustoleum high gloss white paint – 1 gallon
  • Odorless mineral spirits – 1 gallon
  • Primer spray paint
  • 4″ High density foam brushes – x9
  • 2″ High density foam brushes – x8
  • Paint trays – x3
  • Sandpaper – 2 packs (400 & 800 grit)
  • Painter’s tape – 1 roll
  • Rustoleum clear coat
  • (optional) Car polish
  • (optional, but recommended) Paint mask, ear plugs or earphones, and goggle

The first draft of my plan (similar to jtech87’s) looks like this:

Subroutine M: Wet a rag with paint thinner (100% mineral spirit) and rub down.
Subroutine T:  Use tack cloth to wipe the surface.
Subroutine P: Paint surface.
Subroutine S(n): [Wet]sand with n grit paper.
Subroutine W(n): Wait at least n hours.

  1. Wear a paint mask, ear plugs (or earphones if you prefer), and a goggle if you don’t want paint particles entering your system in any significant amounts.
  2. Clean the car and do S(400), M, and T. Dust off
  3. Spray primer. W(6).
  4. Prepare paint solution (50% Rust-Oleum Glossy White / 50% thinner) and mix it well.
  5. Do P, and W(6).
  6. Do S(400) to get rid of at least 50% of the orange peel.
  7. Do M, T, P, and W(6).
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7, and then jump to 9.
  9. Do S(800). Get at least 80% of the orange peel, but do not sand too deep.
  10. Prepare a slightly thicker paint solution (less thinner than last time). Use a new brush.
  11. Do M, T, P.
  12. Apply clear coat.
  13. Apply 2nd clear coat (assuming you’re rotating around the car, you can start at the beginning point on step 12).
  14. Do S(800 or higher).
  15. (optional) Apply polish.

I estimate about a week, but with only an hour a day, it may turn out to be longer. Anyway, here I go.

With some preparation time, I ended up with only about 30 minutes of time. In a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is a thorough job of sanding, I’d probably give myself 5 on this one.  I managed to cover most of the car except for 3 doors.  I imagine I may be sanding for a whole week before I put anything on.

car-cutout-day-1IMG_20160825_234205 IMG_20160825_234215 IMG_20160825_234228

As you can see in the photo, there’s still much more sanding to do.  (Yawn) I need to sleep.

Copying MySQL databases on the same server

Last tested on Ubuntu 16.04.01 LTS (xenial) with MySQL Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.13

We had to make a copy of existing databases for development app instances.  For example, a database called xp_main was for the production and xpdev_main would be for development. This depends on how date strings were created, but if you have a lot of dates in the records you may want to turn off the NO_ZERO_DATE mode.  If you don’t turn it off, the copying process can be interrupted. Go into your MySQL console.

mysql> select @@sql_mode;
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| @@sql_mode |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY,STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,NO_ZERO_IN_DATE,NO_ZERO_DATE,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

As you can see NO_ZERO_DATE exists.  Copy paste the entire string w/o NO_ZERO_DATE.

mysql> set global sql_mode='ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY,STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,NO_ZERO_IN_DATE,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION';
Query OK, 0 rows affected, 1 warning (0.00 sec)
mysql> exit
Bye

Next, we will copy the database using mysqldbcopy utility.  You may need to install mysql-utilities package if you don’t have it available.

$ mysqldbcopy --drop-first --source=root:mypassword@localhost --destination=root:mypassword@localhost xp_main:xpdev_main
WARNING: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
# Source on localhost: ... connected.
# Destination on localhost: ... connected.
# Copying database eh_bcbs renamed as ehdev_bcbs
# Copying TABLE xp_main.accesses
# Copying TABLE xp_main.accessflags
# Copying TABLE xp_main.activities
# Copying TABLE xp_main.activitytype_items
# Copying TABLE xp_main.encounter_goals
# Copying TABLE xp_main.files
# Copying TABLE xp_main.tester1_intake_subseqvisit_goals
# Copying TABLE xp_main.tester1_game_careplan_goals
# Copying TABLE xp_main.localgames
# Copying TABLE xp_main.roles
# Copying GRANTS from xp_main
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.accesses
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.accessflags
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.activities
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.activitytype_items
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.encounter_goals
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.files
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.tester1_intake_subseqvisit_goals
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.tester1_game_careplan_goals
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.localgames
# Copying data for TABLE xp_main.roles
#...done.

That should do it!

Copying or moving all of MySQL databases

This is just one of the ways you can move all of the MySQL databases from one server to another.  This was tested on Ubuntu 16.04.01 LTS (xenial) distro.

Log in as an admin on MySQL Console and lock the database to allow only read operations.

mysql> flush tables with read lock;
mysql> set global read_only = on;
mysql> exit

Dump all of the databases into a file.

$ mysqldump --lock-all-tables -u root -p --all-databases > dbs.sql

Copy the dump to the new server. RSYNC is preferred over SCP, especially if the file is large.

$ rsync -tvz --progress dbs.sql mhan@newserver.com:~/files/
or
$ scp dbs.sql mhan@newserver.com:~/files/

The DB can be (optionally) unlocked. This may or may not be a good thing to do in your case. Do it at your own risk.

mysql> set global read_only = off;
mysql> unlock tables;
mysql> exit

On the new server, execute this command to import the new SQL dump.

$ mysql -u root -p < ~/files/dbs.sql

IMPORTANT: If your file is large, or you just have a lot of records, you may want to make sure you have something bigger than 16M for max_allowed_packet attribute in your my.cnf (usually found under /etc/mysql/ or /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/) on your new server where you’re doing the import, else the server could hang on a large insert operation and your MySQL server may actually decide to go away, literally.  On one of the servers I had it for 1024M just for this operation and brought it back low afterwards.