Thursday, August 18, 2005
Pictures Update
I'm going to write a real updated soon, but in the mean time I've updated the pictures site with a new menu, check it out: newpix
Monday, August 08, 2005
earthquakes and city lights
Life in Japan, what a mess. No, really things have been going fine. Keiko and I are exploring the rather sensitive nature of developing a relationship between two people who are still learning about the other and all that it entails being from two wildly different cultures all in an apartment the size of a shoe box (and a Japanese one at that which means size 9, not 12). We've had more ups than downs and we're trying hard to make it all work. This is not meant to sound negative, I have to say that all things considered we're doing pretty well. We had a nasty little hump to get over last week spawned by some withheld concerns but spent a few hours and half a bottle of whisky talking it through and have made some progress that seems lasting. Myself, being an expert on the cut and run, find myself in quite a new situation here. In a few hours I'll pick up my first full paycheck, which means that I'll be financially independent for the first time in several months. But still I'm in no position to run if I wanted, this means that I have to actually stick it out and try to make a relationship work, this is very new for me. You would think at 28 I would have a few more long term relationships to look back on and learn from while the reality is that I was the master of short bursts of passion where myself and the other person, as a couple, extended a thin situation out until I eventually cut the ties that bind to move on. Wash, rinse, repeat... I've always been good at that, I guess it is time to grow up. All praise to Nick Hornby for the bitch slap set to the best pop music.
As far as Japan, or more precisely Tokyo, well it is what it is. Massive, suffocating at times, and full of urban beauty with glittering streets and magical lights. Most of you have probably seen Lost in Translation, there is a shot of the luminous dinosaur walking across the facade of a building in some ubiquitous electronic advertisement that is difficult to escape in the busy areas here, well, that image is so true to the essence of Tokyo. That spot is in Shibuya, home to one of the largest train station/subway stations in the world and possibly the busiest crosswalk where a thousand people cross the street at as many angles as people every 6 minutes. To see it from above is like watching the gentle trails of the largest meteor shower possible. The millions of lights fluttering down mixed with the waiting headlights of the cars in permanent traffic tucked temporarily over to the side, this image is most powerful at night especially after a rain where it seems the streets themselves are imbedded with their own light sources (and to that end, sometimes they are). I would be lying if I said I spent a lot of time in these areas, in fact, as I settle down into my more quiet life of books in my apartment, dinners with Keiko, I find these places at times anathema. There is still enough of Austin in me, my beloved city of a measly 600K, where I can bike the streets and be guaranteed a few casual waves of the hand or nods of the head from faces familiar and not, that here, in a land built for anonymity, there are times that the reality check of the world can be a bit too strong in its ability to make one feel entirely insignificant. But I know ultimately it's a different style of life that I'm slowly opening up to.
I have begun to search out the artistic heart here that makes this city pulsate with creativity. So much of it here is simple artifice and the issue is compounded by language difficulties, it takes a time to disentangle the genuine from the mere vanity. In that regard I did get to see a very cute pop weezer-esque pop band a few weeks ago which was followed by some other groups specializing in less noble derivatives. We drank the rest of the evening away allowing the music to recede further from our ears. I've also met a cool French-Irish guy here who I share a lot of the same interests with. If and when I ever get a guitar we've playfully floated around the idea of trying to play together. This could provide impossible since I can't really play, but since the sound we discussed would be more of an experiment in volume, it might not matter so much. More than likely, it was just casual talk. I'll go completely white the day my childhood rock star dreams move a step closer and I play in a band. But my friend did introduce me to couple more people, most hailing from France but also from England. The night I walked into the organ maker's apartment (yes, organs like in a church) I was all but hustled into a room and hounded for political opinions since I was the sole American. I have to say I didn't mind in the least and spent the great part of the next three hours in a trilateral bull session. Ah, it felt good to be alive and arguing, errr discussing.
This is getting rather long, so I'll gut things off here in a moment. I think I mentioned it before but I am now legal here as well. I have students ranging from 6 to 78, pretty wide range to plan for but they're not in the same class thank god. I'm not sure how I could get a granny to do the hokey pokey without stressing over a possible heart attack.
The last Japan observation: Screw that damn earthquakes! I mean, I've been lucky so far, when there was a rather large one a few weeks ago that caused no damage, I was on a superbly built train line and I didn't feel a thing. I only knew what was going on when the train stopped, they sprayed out some Japanese over the intercom and my eyes left my book to see the power lines swaying in the windless sky outside. That one was fine, but the dozens of little tremors drive me crazy. My apartment is right next to a rather busy freeway and sometimes I'm unsure if it is the lorries or something more serious that vibrates the room for a moment. But there are times when they are most definitely that something else. Being from Texas I have never experienced this before. Last week I standing at my school talking to the owner and the secretary when they both looked at me and simultaneously said "earthquake". Their eyes looked like their souls had briefly left their bodies and a moment later the room began to shake ever so slightly for a couple seconds. I shit you not, these people have a sixth sense and as soon as it passed they laughed it off and gave me advice for serious ones. They keep coming at night when I'm sleeping. I haven't been drinking that much here, but the feeling when you are woken from sleep is somewhere between stumbling intoxication and those shots in Fight Club where the faces shake furiously as Brad Pitt tells you that everything in life you believe in is nothing. That is how you feel, momentarily empty, thinking this could be it, at least at night I can find Keiko sleeping next to me (she can sleep through the small ones) and her presence gives me some comfort. When I finally make it back to sleep I feel the images in my dreams are unstable and that even they may fall apart. The Japanese are well aware of the sensitivity of the land this great city is built on and I often wonder how the knowledge of the inevitable "big one" plays on their psyche. How would you make it through life with the knowledge that a small bomb promises at some point to go off without warning somewhere in your metropolis which happens to be one of the most densely populated cities in the world? Do you keep those closest to you closer, or keep your distance because you never know whose number will come up?
Ok, that is all for now. I apologize about being lax on responding to emails, I’m working on amending that.
________________________________________________________
"...by that I mean there is a degree of excellence in games or sports that we especially resent seeing reached by an unorthodox opponent, a categorical "bastard" of some kind - a Formless Bastard, a Showy Bastard, or just a plain hundred-per-cent American Bastard..."
-J.D. Salinger
Seymour - An Introduction
As far as Japan, or more precisely Tokyo, well it is what it is. Massive, suffocating at times, and full of urban beauty with glittering streets and magical lights. Most of you have probably seen Lost in Translation, there is a shot of the luminous dinosaur walking across the facade of a building in some ubiquitous electronic advertisement that is difficult to escape in the busy areas here, well, that image is so true to the essence of Tokyo. That spot is in Shibuya, home to one of the largest train station/subway stations in the world and possibly the busiest crosswalk where a thousand people cross the street at as many angles as people every 6 minutes. To see it from above is like watching the gentle trails of the largest meteor shower possible. The millions of lights fluttering down mixed with the waiting headlights of the cars in permanent traffic tucked temporarily over to the side, this image is most powerful at night especially after a rain where it seems the streets themselves are imbedded with their own light sources (and to that end, sometimes they are). I would be lying if I said I spent a lot of time in these areas, in fact, as I settle down into my more quiet life of books in my apartment, dinners with Keiko, I find these places at times anathema. There is still enough of Austin in me, my beloved city of a measly 600K, where I can bike the streets and be guaranteed a few casual waves of the hand or nods of the head from faces familiar and not, that here, in a land built for anonymity, there are times that the reality check of the world can be a bit too strong in its ability to make one feel entirely insignificant. But I know ultimately it's a different style of life that I'm slowly opening up to.
I have begun to search out the artistic heart here that makes this city pulsate with creativity. So much of it here is simple artifice and the issue is compounded by language difficulties, it takes a time to disentangle the genuine from the mere vanity. In that regard I did get to see a very cute pop weezer-esque pop band a few weeks ago which was followed by some other groups specializing in less noble derivatives. We drank the rest of the evening away allowing the music to recede further from our ears. I've also met a cool French-Irish guy here who I share a lot of the same interests with. If and when I ever get a guitar we've playfully floated around the idea of trying to play together. This could provide impossible since I can't really play, but since the sound we discussed would be more of an experiment in volume, it might not matter so much. More than likely, it was just casual talk. I'll go completely white the day my childhood rock star dreams move a step closer and I play in a band. But my friend did introduce me to couple more people, most hailing from France but also from England. The night I walked into the organ maker's apartment (yes, organs like in a church) I was all but hustled into a room and hounded for political opinions since I was the sole American. I have to say I didn't mind in the least and spent the great part of the next three hours in a trilateral bull session. Ah, it felt good to be alive and arguing, errr discussing.
This is getting rather long, so I'll gut things off here in a moment. I think I mentioned it before but I am now legal here as well. I have students ranging from 6 to 78, pretty wide range to plan for but they're not in the same class thank god. I'm not sure how I could get a granny to do the hokey pokey without stressing over a possible heart attack.
The last Japan observation: Screw that damn earthquakes! I mean, I've been lucky so far, when there was a rather large one a few weeks ago that caused no damage, I was on a superbly built train line and I didn't feel a thing. I only knew what was going on when the train stopped, they sprayed out some Japanese over the intercom and my eyes left my book to see the power lines swaying in the windless sky outside. That one was fine, but the dozens of little tremors drive me crazy. My apartment is right next to a rather busy freeway and sometimes I'm unsure if it is the lorries or something more serious that vibrates the room for a moment. But there are times when they are most definitely that something else. Being from Texas I have never experienced this before. Last week I standing at my school talking to the owner and the secretary when they both looked at me and simultaneously said "earthquake". Their eyes looked like their souls had briefly left their bodies and a moment later the room began to shake ever so slightly for a couple seconds. I shit you not, these people have a sixth sense and as soon as it passed they laughed it off and gave me advice for serious ones. They keep coming at night when I'm sleeping. I haven't been drinking that much here, but the feeling when you are woken from sleep is somewhere between stumbling intoxication and those shots in Fight Club where the faces shake furiously as Brad Pitt tells you that everything in life you believe in is nothing. That is how you feel, momentarily empty, thinking this could be it, at least at night I can find Keiko sleeping next to me (she can sleep through the small ones) and her presence gives me some comfort. When I finally make it back to sleep I feel the images in my dreams are unstable and that even they may fall apart. The Japanese are well aware of the sensitivity of the land this great city is built on and I often wonder how the knowledge of the inevitable "big one" plays on their psyche. How would you make it through life with the knowledge that a small bomb promises at some point to go off without warning somewhere in your metropolis which happens to be one of the most densely populated cities in the world? Do you keep those closest to you closer, or keep your distance because you never know whose number will come up?
Ok, that is all for now. I apologize about being lax on responding to emails, I’m working on amending that.
________________________________________________________
"...by that I mean there is a degree of excellence in games or sports that we especially resent seeing reached by an unorthodox opponent, a categorical "bastard" of some kind - a Formless Bastard, a Showy Bastard, or just a plain hundred-per-cent American Bastard..."
-J.D. Salinger
Seymour - An Introduction
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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