But...

I wasn't going to post this pic, but... ;-)

Planet Cafe

Snack Nami

Don Don

Den Den Den

Running Dog

"Sexsy"

Not Left, Not Right

Came across this quote while idly surfing the web VIA]:

Being a leftist is to first think of the world, then of your country, then of your relatives, then of yourself. Being a rightist is the reverse.

I don't like either/or philosophical propositions, and I especially hate false dichotomies (think, for example, of "nature vs. nurture").

There may very well be people who "think of the world first." Perhaps more observably, there are people who think of themselves first.

I respectfully suggest that both types are assholes who probably don't have many friends (for what should be fairly obvious reasons). Facebook "friends" and Twitter "followers" don't count.

Wild

Butterfly on a Sneaker

Kid with a Camera: Accidental Feet

The feet sold me on this shot.

Enter

Establishments on Offer at M.G. Building

One Coin

Vending Machines, No. 114

Corridor

On Wearing Glasses

In the previous post I wrote about how I was getting my daughter to help me with my Japanese penmanship. As I suggested to Claudia in a comment on that post, I was (at least partly) motivated by thinking about non-boring activities I could share with my growing daughter. And seriously, sitting down and practicing writing an alphabet has become much more interesting for me with my daughter as my tutor. Her gusto in teaching me is all the proof I need that she enjoys it too. She's "going to be eight next month, you know"... Hell, she'll be wanting to borrow the car any day now...

Anyway, as with any kind of reading, writing, or studying I do these days, I have to put on my glasses if I'm to see what the hell I'm looking at/doing. Doing this Japanese stuff is the first time I've kept my glasses on while sitting next to my daughter...

Wow. I can see the fine hairs on her arms, and the place where she's been scratching a mosquito bite. When she looks me in the face I notice this very light, downy hair on her cheeks. I stare as if I'm seeing her for the first time. I mean, she's my kid, so she's already the most beautiful thing ever to set foot on planet earth in my eyes. But this is almost overwhelming. Wow.

Eye glasses are truly a wondrous invention.

My New Japanese Teacher

Aside from the general frustration surrounding the fact that I'm pretty incompetent when it comes to speaking the Japanese language, there is a more specific humiliation that arises on those occasions when I'm expected to write something in Japanese--like, my name, for example. Now don't get me wrong, I can read my name in katakana. In fact I can read anything in katakana and/or hiragana, as well as quite a bit in kanji. Writing it out is another story...

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Back in my school days teachers used to praise my penmanship ("Dumb as a doorknob, but his writing's quite legible, even pretty!"). I lost most of that skill in the 10 years or so between finishing high school and deciding to go to university. In particular, for the several years in which I pursued rock stardom, a certain practiced "illiteracy" was seen as career-enhancing among drummers (or, at the very least, it kept singers and guitar players from bothering you with their petty problems--"Why am I talking to you? A drummer couldn't possibly understand." More like a drummer couldn't possibly give a shit, really...).

In university I was a furious note-taker, able to transcribe entire lectures at will. It all came back! Not only that, but I added the Greek alphabet to my handwriting repertoire! Alas, my pen pyrotechnics were short-lived, and you can probably guess why. Writing my Master's thesis on a computer was the beginning of the end of my penmanship.

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Anyway, I'm quite familiar with two of the three Japanese scripts. My name is considered a "foreign word," so it should be written in katakana in Japan. I can do it. Slowly. Painstakingly. Embarrassingly. People turn away. People snicker. My "writing" in Japanese looks like something a two-year-old scrawled on the wall the first time he had a crayon in his hand. I know what people think when they see me writing: "This guy is a university teacher?" I slink away in shame...

A couple of weeks ago I happened to pick up a homework notebook of my daughter's. She's in the second grade of elementary school. As I leafed idly through her notebook (a kind of diary that she passes in everyday), I noticed that her Japanese handwriting was very nice...

She's a strict teacher, but generous with compliments when I do well! And she seems to enjoy our lessons as much as I do...

Stars

Flowers