I recently found out that I share something in common with Clinton R. Nixon, author of The Shadow of Yesterday and The Princes' Kingdom (among others) and co-maintainer of the Forge: We're both graduates of the Korean language course at the Defense Language Institute. Of course, he was in the Army while I was in the Air Force, and he attended some time during the Bronze Age (by which I mean the Nineties), while by the time I got there we were using Space Age implements such as ballpoint pens and white boards, but hey.
Truthfully though, it kind of threw me for a loop. I mean, Korean linguists are a pretty small (some might say "elite," though I have trouble doing so with a straight face) cadre of folks. Equally, indie gamers are a subset of a hobby that's not titanic in proportion to begin with. What are the chances of these two, utterly separate, statistically minuscule populations crossing over like that? I mean, I own some of Clinton's games, for crying out loud. Seriously, how weird is that?
But anyway, from my limited interaction with Clinton up to that point (and by "interaction" I obviously mean "reading his posts at the Forge and Story Games"), he seemed like a really nice guy. Stellar, in fact. So, I put my trepidation aside and... asked him how he liked his bibimbap. Because, as we connoisseurs (some might say "victims") of Korean food know, it's just not bibimbap without the dolsot. A test, if you will.
I'm happy to say, Clinton passed with flying colors. I look forward to chatting more with him in the future.
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2 comments:
Clinton is also a fan of The Mountain Goats, a great band that you may or may not be aware of.
The Mountain Goats have this beautiful song called Downtown Seoul and in another song they sing about kim chi!
Thanks, I'll have to look these guys up. I'm always interested in checking out new bands.
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