Reflections on T3A

As those of you who have me on your RSS feed readers may have noticed, I haven't posted in a few days. Just like in November, I have found that posting every day is just too much time and effort for me. Plus I feel like the quality of the posts suffers a little. Any opinions from my readers? How does it impact the entertainment value of my blog? I mean, I have a personal, paper diary I could write this stuff in rather than putting it all up here.

But beyond the logistics of blogging, I think there's another problem with the T3A concept. Although I think it's a great idea to make an effort to notice the beautiful and good things in life, I think that in most cases, the negative experiences are what enable us to learn lessons and gain insights. Writing purely about the good things makes my blog feel flat and without substance.

Anyway, I'm feeling kind of tired today... I think I'm going to go to sleep early.

#3 - Silly English

Here's a pic I took while wandering through Shinsaibashi. It's a typical example of a Japanese-English "single-entendre". I think this is a takoyaki stand, with the creative name, "I see. Happen?"



In case you're completely lost on that one, the Japanese below the name says "Oishii? Happon?" which, if your pronunciation is creative enough, is an exact homophone for the English phrase above it. "Oishii" means delicious, and "Happon" is a counting word, meaning eight of anything sticklike.

So now you get it. It's a Japanese joke. :P

#2 - Love Thy Neighbor

So it occurred to me last night, as I was preparing a salad and realized that I had no dressing, that I have neighbors. Not just random people living near me, but friends who live in the same building as me, whom I hardly ever see.

So I took the elevator down to Peter's apartment, rang the doorbell, and asked him if I could borrow some salad dressing. It just so happens that he had just gotten several bottles of salad dressing from Costco, and he happily lent me one.

Something about that exchange was very ... human. So many of our relationships are structured and defined a priori - when you need X, talk to person Y, etc. But just going over to a neighbor's place seemed so ... organic? warm? I can't quite put an exact word on it. It seemed a little bit old-fashioned. Like walking over to Mrs. Garrison's place to ask if she has a cup of flour you can use for the butter cookies you're baking to bring to the barn dance that night.

I often lament the lost sense of community that seems to be a product of our technologized society, and this experience just seemed to contradict that pattern beautifully.

Plus it was pretty good dressing.

#1 - ...

I'm kind of tired right now, so I think I'm going to stop here. But just trust me that #1 was really, really awesome. :)