So, we went to Steve's barbershop girl's house and partied with them for a while before we all racked out in the communal bedroom.  I have distinct memories of waking up with a 2nd degree burn on my right thigh.  Traditionally Korean homes are heated by forcing hot water through pipes in the floor.  This makes for a nice warm floor to sleep on if you use a traditional Korean sleeping mat.  That is what Chong Mi and I were sleeping on, but Steve's friend had a western style bed that was raised off the floor.  In order to heat the air I guess she had cranked up the heat on the floor.  My bare leg had rested directly on the floor and the beer had kept the pain to a minimum, allowing me to sleep through being baked alive.  I warned Steve not to leave the bed until he had socks on, but of course he wouldn't listen!

     At this point, we just kind of fell naturally together.  We never really discussed where our relationship stood, we just knew we were comfortable with each other and that was what mattered.  We didn't try to categorize ourselves as "Boyfriend and Girlfriend," we just were.  We tried to keep our relationship a secret, but I'm sure it was obvious to everyone else when I stopped my incessant advances.  They probably figured I'd either given up or met my goal.  I think we kept it secret for about 3 months from the majority of the people we knew.  Then it went public, and I didn't care.  There were quite a few people who were jealous of me, many who were surprised, and a few who were simply pissed off.  Whatever, I didn't care.  (Ok, I did get pissed a few times, but for the most part I let it all slide)  *you can't see the paintbrush with the glossy paint  Everything was cool, I had a lot of really good friends, a great bar to hang out in, an interesting mission to learn and perform, and an awesome girl!  What more could you ask for?

     Before too long I was spending more time at her house than I was in the barracks.  We finally discussed moving in together.  I thought this was a great idea (it was mine), and she agreed.  Pretty good deal, too, I didn't have to pay for anything!  I did it the legal route, got permission from my chain-of-command and housing before I moved out.  This was more involved than you might think.  Chong Mi was surprised when I told her the apartment would have to be inspected by the housing office, but she played along just fine.  Once I got the approval, the unit was trying to get me to clear out of my barracks room post haste.  Apparently they had someone else slated for my cell (actually, they turned my room and the room next to it into a kitchen/dayroom).  I stalled as best as I could, being lazy and not very interested in moving all of my stuff, but suddenly I came down on orders for a 3 month TDY.  That meant that I really HAD to get moved out.  So, I called Greywar and we loaded his blue station wagon with the 110 electrical cord hanging out of the hood with as much of my stuff as we could.  It took several trips as I recall, and I remember in particular how Chong Mi's eyes got bigger and bigger with each load!  I don't think it was even two days after this that I left for 3 months.  She gave me a lot of grief over the years about "dropping your stuff off and then just leaving me to put it away."  Of course, I didn't want to go away, any more than I wanted to put my stuff away!

Well, I guess that's enough for now, I'll bore you all again later!