I didn't mean to do it. I totally was just going about my business as usual. I was tempted by the offers and so I went for it. I had no idea it would amount to this!
I actually ate the three most famous and important foods from my region... on the same day!!!! Ahhh... I couldn't help but buy the Unagi Seiromushi (Freshwater eel with a sweet sauce, over shredded, fried egg and rice) ... it was so much cheaper than I'd find it in the restaurant. I hadn't planned on that being dinner... but that's how it turned out. And, when I got up to head over to the ramen shop at 10:45am, I didn't realize the coincidence that was taking place. But, it is my local hangout and they invited me to come (along with the other first 999 people who would receive a free bowl of Kurume/Chikugo/Fukuoka- famous Tonkotsu Ramen.) It was pouring rain and I stood on line for two and a half hours to get in for that broth! Foolish, silly and chest- hair-putting-on'ing! Great Ramen, and they gave me a Tatsunoya Ramen Soup spoon as well as coupons for dumplings and extra noodles for next time. And I only went to the yakitori guy, Ochida, because he is a friend of mine and I had some gifts from Thailand for him. While we were talking I nonchalantly ordered mixed sticks of yakitori.... and polished it off. In the span of seven hours (from the time I actually ate the first bite of ramen) I managed to sample Chikugo's best. Rad.
By the way, I was number 345... and I got in at 1:20pm... if you think I am stupid, you should have seen the amount of "baka" mothers who had their toddlers out in the same pouring rain for the same amount of time, standing behind me. And I had proper outdoor rain gear. And those kids get sick and then go to school and infect other kids and eventually... yup, their teachers, like me. Idiot parents. They exist in every country. And there is a huge scare about the Swine Flu over here... well, I reckon it stems from the mothers who force their 3-6 year old's to stand in the rain for 2.5 cold hours... Despite the passion to blame outsiders and foreign countries, the problem has a root in the very culture that blames. Whoa... I didn't mean to get here... but, I did. So there.
2009-05-18
2009-05-17
Getting older
It's true... not me, but other people. In fact, many people I know are actually getting younger. But in the truest essence, folks are maturing into their life-roles... and that is really cool. In the last week, I found out about eight marriages of friends/ acquaintances... and that is amazing! I am so happy for all of them, including that bad boy from Dallas... Mr. Feldman: present's in the mail buddy! Cousin Rachel, Mazel Tov to you and Tom... such wonderful news!
--
Thailand was a life-changing experience for me. It is hard to go into detail, but here is the gist: Many different paths of my life converged at once and the energy was on the same wavelength. I had the ability to "be" in the moment and be the same "person/ego/character/etc" at the same instants. In essence, I was free and comfortable with in my skin. No pressure, no worries, no self. Words are getting in the way of this discussion about energy, but it all came to fruition... and I have a goal, a plan and a dream.
I am once again excited to wake up everyday and live it to the fullest. I had had a lot of introspective figuring in the months leading up to this vacation and it just happened that the humidity of southern Thailand let all of the thinking melt away. In its place came the "feeling" that had been missing: the true, "gut instinct" that has gotten me this far- the same intuition that I am told to ignore by the "civilized" world. Anyhow, it's back... I reckon, a vacation is sometimes all that is needed to get refocused, fired-up and passionate with a desire to live. But one has to be ready to feel, otherwise the vacation can be more entrenching than liberating.
Naoko sensei told me that she noticed a difference in me while we had Yufuin water the other day. I joked that it's my sunburn/tan... and she said that wasn't it (It also wasn't the typical Japanese answer that "You've lost weight..."). I laughed and she caught it immediately... "Dave, we have missed your smile.. It's important that you do it more." I guess Thailand is the "Smile Country" because in my short time there, it is the only part of the language that I was able to speak fluently by the time I left. I forgot it during times in the week I have been back, but every time I remembered and it resurfaced, the attitude of the entire world around me seemed to transmorphimigize into peace. You think that one's attitude about the world is the direct reflection of the world back to that person?
--
Thailand was a life-changing experience for me. It is hard to go into detail, but here is the gist: Many different paths of my life converged at once and the energy was on the same wavelength. I had the ability to "be" in the moment and be the same "person/ego/character/etc" at the same instants. In essence, I was free and comfortable with in my skin. No pressure, no worries, no self. Words are getting in the way of this discussion about energy, but it all came to fruition... and I have a goal, a plan and a dream.
I am once again excited to wake up everyday and live it to the fullest. I had had a lot of introspective figuring in the months leading up to this vacation and it just happened that the humidity of southern Thailand let all of the thinking melt away. In its place came the "feeling" that had been missing: the true, "gut instinct" that has gotten me this far- the same intuition that I am told to ignore by the "civilized" world. Anyhow, it's back... I reckon, a vacation is sometimes all that is needed to get refocused, fired-up and passionate with a desire to live. But one has to be ready to feel, otherwise the vacation can be more entrenching than liberating.
Naoko sensei told me that she noticed a difference in me while we had Yufuin water the other day. I joked that it's my sunburn/tan... and she said that wasn't it (It also wasn't the typical Japanese answer that "You've lost weight..."). I laughed and she caught it immediately... "Dave, we have missed your smile.. It's important that you do it more." I guess Thailand is the "Smile Country" because in my short time there, it is the only part of the language that I was able to speak fluently by the time I left. I forgot it during times in the week I have been back, but every time I remembered and it resurfaced, the attitude of the entire world around me seemed to transmorphimigize into peace. You think that one's attitude about the world is the direct reflection of the world back to that person?
2009-05-10
Golden Week(s), facts and figures
Three days in Tokyo = 20000 yen (~$200)
Ten days in Thailand = $420
All flights included = $100.25 + 16600 yen (~$166)
Three days with Katsu and his family = priceless
Ten days with Benjamin "8th wonder of the world" Schechter = radical!
Total of 10 days in Thailand and only 7 pictures to show for it! = mendokusai!
Two weeks to travel... to think, feel, be, act = perfect timing.
Three dives (first in three years!) was a first time in tropical waters- and wow the life was incredible... those lionfish are so pretty and so deadly; catchin' up with old and older friends and new ones too; 'yakin' damn near all day and then for another sunset; saved two lives in two countries; pad thai and masaman curry- yes, life changing; caveman coconut cracking-into; tanning into the dark brown I used to always have (summers in SoCal); down 1-4 in five games of chess (I should have quit when I caught up after the second game); re-energized to live in this life and the next(s); read 3.3 books: "White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga, the Memoirs of the Dalai Lama, Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not," and into the first third of "Three Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortensen; got to working on the patience that I had lost... and I have a long way to go!
Back at home in Japan and well rested after an intense six months of international travel, seemingly back-to-back. And, as we landed at Narita, we were informed about the quarantine that we had coming... fools in masks rushed aboard to check on the sick passenger in the back... turned out to be motion sickness after all... my flight was safe that day, but apparently there were three infected fools on a flight right after ours!
And with that... Happy Spring and Peace be with you.
Ten days in Thailand = $420
All flights included = $100.25 + 16600 yen (~$166)
Three days with Katsu and his family = priceless
Ten days with Benjamin "8th wonder of the world" Schechter = radical!
Total of 10 days in Thailand and only 7 pictures to show for it! = mendokusai!
Two weeks to travel... to think, feel, be, act = perfect timing.
Three dives (first in three years!) was a first time in tropical waters- and wow the life was incredible... those lionfish are so pretty and so deadly; catchin' up with old and older friends and new ones too; 'yakin' damn near all day and then for another sunset; saved two lives in two countries; pad thai and masaman curry- yes, life changing; caveman coconut cracking-into; tanning into the dark brown I used to always have (summers in SoCal); down 1-4 in five games of chess (I should have quit when I caught up after the second game); re-energized to live in this life and the next(s); read 3.3 books: "White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga, the Memoirs of the Dalai Lama, Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not," and into the first third of "Three Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortensen; got to working on the patience that I had lost... and I have a long way to go!
Back at home in Japan and well rested after an intense six months of international travel, seemingly back-to-back. And, as we landed at Narita, we were informed about the quarantine that we had coming... fools in masks rushed aboard to check on the sick passenger in the back... turned out to be motion sickness after all... my flight was safe that day, but apparently there were three infected fools on a flight right after ours!
And with that... Happy Spring and Peace be with you.
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