"The Body Breaks" by Devendra Banhart

She told me she grew up in Chile and had learned English by watching Mr. Dressup.  She said she had an apartment downtown but spent most of her time at her mother's big house in Senneville.  She told me that her father had been shot dead back home, that she had confronted his killer, that she had forgiven him. She told me she was studying law. She told me she worked at a gym, running a weight-loss program. She said she had once been engaged, and that she had once tried to kill herself, and had never fully recovered.  She told me she drove a red Mustang.  She told me she had a Hello Kitty tattoo on her butt. She told me she was once an underwear model.  She told me she had once been in a band.  She told me she played guitar and painted.  In fact, she said she painted a picture of me.  She told me she named her blanket and her mother's garden after me. When I left, she told me she missed me. She told me she loved me.

"Brainwash" by Painkiller (Exodus remix)

During the course of the night, I had consumed alcohol, energy drink, marijuana, half an ecstasy pill, a few swigs of acid water, and some of a mushroom shake. It was now about 9 am, and I was feeling pretty good, although I'm not sure if I was high on anything but the music. (Well, maybe just a little of the E.)

The Full Moon Party, the island's headline event, had sifted out, like grains of sand, all the trendy jetsetting flashpackers and beer-chugging pool party kids. As the ivory orb waned, all that remained was the solid core of misfits, hippies, stoners, lovers of psychedelic trance, and yours truly. And the locals, of course.

"Not Going Anywhere" by Keren Ann

I first met her at a crowded expat hangout in Busan's university district. She was there with her western friends. But when I approached her, she was sitting alone at the bar. We started talking. I put my arm around her. I asked her if that was okay, and she said yes.

We walked around in the night for what seemed like a lifetime. It was she who wanted to walk. I couldn't understand why we didn't just take a taxi. I'm still not sure. Maybe she was unsure of herself. Maybe she was testing me somehow.