WHAT THE . . .

So, South Korea's President Roh Moo-Hyun (it's actually pronounced "Noh," so I don't really know why it's written as "Roh") is not to be impeached, according to the nation's Constitutional Court. That means President Roh/Noh can get back to doing his leading-the-country thing, and I just read that one of the items on his upcoming agenda is to move the country's capital from Seoul to somewhere closer to the middle of the country. WHAT THE ... ?!?!?!

That's so weird. I guess it makes sense in a way: Seoul is kind of way up on the northern end of South Korea, and it's so damn close to North Korea, and there's too many damn secret tunnels from the DPRK running right into Seoul, and that's just scary. It's good to be among the people, right in the middle, where everyone can have access. But ... that's so weird! Seoul, as far as I know, is the most developed urban center in the country. What, they're just going to leave all those palaces and gardens and museums and government buildings and culture and history and legislative centers behind and go build some more elsewhere? WEIRD.

On the other hand, I guess it's not that weird. In 1996, my college friends and I were taking a cross-country road trip from Fort Lee, NJ to the Pacific Ocean coast in Oregon. As we drove through North Dakota, we stopped for Blizzards at a Dairy Queen (about 15 minutes from the Canadian border -- don't ask) and to see the Geographical Center of North America. My friend EMS had been there before with her family (don't ask -- they're all educators) and she told us it would be to our right, a few feet away from the Dairy Queen. Well, we got to the Dairy Queen, purchased our Blizzards, and walked outside to look for this mini-monument, but it was nowhere to be found. We turned in all directions, wondering where the heck it went. Then EMS exclaimed: "WTF! It's across the street! They moved the geographical center of North America across the street!"

It really was a mind-boggling moment.