"Be"

"Be"


By Yukito Yoneyama





...


Once read between the lines.



Depth of mystery.

Red moon.





It used to puzzle me,




Brush strokes.

Dancing colors.



As the constellations swirl.


Memory of ragtime orchestra.

Red cheeks and clumsy hands.




Typewriters, Titanium.

Letters shot out.

  
Fireball.

Words of Sorcery.




As they cross the brand new horizon,


Our dawn.



Humble.

Somewhere between the heavens and today.





Fresh track on snow.



One of the kind.



Dreamed since before the days of ocean.



Deep blue sea.


It was the warmth of brief moments.




Between the waves and the dusk.


In a flash.



Roar of Thunder.






Beyond a condor and plateaus afar.



We met on the floating city of legend.

Only one

Oh it's been a while.

It's interesting how many thoughts go through our mind every moment in our daily life.
They just fly by, leaving split second of impression and then gone.
Sometimes I think about jotting them down, like any good writers would do, or not do, but the sight in front of me keeps busy, or I've got to do this and that to keep my so called life rolling.

Then I think to myself, what is it really that I live for.

Life, a job, bills, spare time, friends, success, sleep, Facebook, life, life and life.
To be honest, what we talk about all the time in words never really meant much to me.

Going though life, taking care of things, being successful, being who I am , or who I am supposed be, or whatever.

To me , it's all about the ones you love, and the ones who love you, and all the love that being exchanged.


We always repeat ourselves like a broken tape recorder, trying to convince ourselves we are doing well. (if you don't, awesome.)
Why?
Just to feel that we are not alone, perhaps.

Someone I went to high school with posted on Facebook about how he questions the difference between education and brainwashing. I thought he was pointing out something pretty important.

His "friends" posted back some long and serious messages like 5,6 or 10 paragraphs stating their well thought opinions.
I just posted, "be honest to your heart and enjoy the day."

Sometimes I feel like I am Bill Murray living the Ground Hog Day, because the world is so bound to the idea, whatever it may be, that today is merely an extension of yesterday.
The alarm goes off, and the continuation of this life is defined by so many structured conformity.

This never changed whether I was living a good life or was in the time of struggle.
Everything was defined by comparative measures, thanks to scientific and mathematical perspective towards life which was ingrained in me by the good old education.

I know that education have its uses.
But the thing is that all the people I had ever found fascination toward weren't really educated in a modern world sense.
They almost always had this sense of complex inferiority toward the world.

But they were more free than the ones I knew through educational institutions or the ones succeeding in the prestige corporate world or such, who always seemed content, but somewhere they seemed like they were searching for something.

I take no one's side. I respect all of their lives equally.
Because all of us are alive today in this world simultaneously. 7 freaking billions and counting.

I guess I was fortunate to have opportunities to meet so many people from different aspects and stances of life.

Beyond our small sense of "self", there are 7 billion souls out there actually living and breathing, running around or sleeping, sick, healthy, old, young, being born, dying, loosing mind, finding self, settling, exploring, male, female, good or bad (whatever that means), sad, happy, loving, crazy, depressed, blessed, angry, excited, etc, all living and breathing right now somewhere on this earth.

It's pretty crazy, maybe frightening. But it's also pretty damn amazing.
Like Louie Armstrong said, It's a wonderful world, I must say.

I wonder what all these flowing thoughts mean in terms of living this life.
Writing and sharing I suppose have its meaning, but it doesn't make much difference to me.

I thank you, though, if you are reading.
I'm actually writing this out there to the universe.
I don't really know what it is that I want to write about at the moment
except the part I want to share my idea on life about comparison.

From the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep, all we face is comparison and competition, defined by the physical and materialistic things in life (if not, great. and I live more of that life these days and I'm really thankful for my loved ones for that).

I will get right to the point.
It's time to stop comparing ourselves to others. Or our lives to that of others.

Regardless of what you may believe in or what religion or philosophy, school of thought, or ism, or political party you belong to or not, or cool, or not cool, successful or not, or happy or depressed, healthy or dying, only thing we can really agree is that we know this life time is here for only once, however short or long it may be.

Whether there is heaven or hell, or reincarnation, or seventy some virgins or whatever else. This life time is here for once, although we will never really know til death anyway, and if there is void after that, we would never really know. I have my own belief, but again, I will never REALLY know.

Well, I can say I know. Because it is true to me, but I can't take anyone else to actually physically show you what I think is the so called truth like a tour through NYC. "Here is the end of life and this is exactly what happens, make sure you take a group picture in front of it to tell all your friends about it." you get my point. If you can show me through it, let me know. Just remember that I have no money to give you for it.


Now here is the thing. How do you compare your life to anything else if there is only this one life.
Really.

Most of us know the basic mathematics.

If there is only one, how do you compare it? Compare to what else?

You can compare it to that of others, but they are not you.
Each of you have different context of life, no matter how close the others' life may seem to your own.

My life is here for once for sure, what ever comes after or not come after.
There is not another life in the world to compare it to.

Neighbor's grass is always greener and we always want what we don't have.
This is like a Ground Hog Day formula of life.

I like the idea of not being bothered by this stupidity.

Better car, better life, better job, better outfit, better body, better vacation, better house, better friend, better family, better lover, better life, better income, better life, better life, better life...

It is absurd to pursue something that isn't really there.
The one you have is the only one you have.
It really is.

Because soon after we think we have something better, as time pass by it becomes the same as what we had previously.

We are creatures of habits. We think we earned something better, then we get used to it.

Then we want more, more, more, on and on and on.

For example, let's talk about TVs and cars, since they are like our necessities of life today
(by the way I do not watch TV because it is just simply absurd, although I understand the importance of entertainment. There are too many better things out there than staring at a screen made of plastic and other things.)

Just remember what kind of TV or car you used to have 10 years ago.

You most likely have upgraded since TV and car industries upgrade there products rapidly and continuously to keep you paying and happy.

But I can guarantee you that after 10 years many of you still want a better car, maybe BMW, or Land Rover, or Mercedes Benz, Lexas, or bigger and better flat screen TV with better quality with more features. The idea or the part of "wanting the better one" stays the same.

TVs and cars actually consist of metal, plastic, and other raw materials, which were all excavated from the very earth we live on. From unique and forgotten perspective, of course, we always want to take more and more things from the earth.
Ironic, isn't it?

 
I think it's very similar to the idea of "tomorrow".

If you think about it, "tomorrow" never comes.

Because "tomorrow" means "the day after today".

We always live in "today". We never live in "tomorrow", since "tomorrow" becomes "today" the moment we wake up.



This must be the so called "illusion" of life, the wise men had always pointed out in history.


Everyday we sleep (if you are insomniac, then maybe every 30 days or how long ever your body can tolerate), and the new day comes. Everyday is a new day. The Sun sets, and rises. The cells in our
body die and regenerate.

Waves in the ocean come and go. The tide rises and retreats. It rains and it is sunny after.
Everything circles around as the Earth spins around the Sun in a grand scale beyond our daily life, and the Nucleus and Electrons also spin around Atoms in similar fashion in the most miniscule scale.


So I like to appreciate "today" and not dwell on anything, I mean anything.

Enjoy the day. Enjoy the sunny day, enjoy the rainy day, cause plants we eat from need water.

Cherish the time with the ones you love. Cherish right now, however it may feel at the moment, or whatever life presents.

Seize the moment, every moment or enjoy being lazy. Seize the lazy moment.

Every single moment, regardless of the emotional quality, becomes part of our own personal history.

There is absolutely no such thing as waste in life.

They are part of a whole as life, part of this once in this universe experience, the life we live.



"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time" - John Lennon.



I am done writing because I want a beer now.
Have a nice day in this crazy and wonderful world.


cheers,


Y


   

ご一緒に。- Together

振動し、共鳴する世界。


”競争”　から　”共奏”　へ。



It's all vibrations
 

From:

"競(compete)争(battle)"   -  Competition

To:

"共(together)奏(perform)"  - Collaboration *


Pronunciation:

競争 - Kyoh Soh

共奏 - Kyoh Soh

* 奏 - play or perform musical instruments. / create vibrations





y

KEEP IT NATURAL pt. 6

(Just returned to the Wrong Island, chosen as my rightful place of living. After 15 years, I still get confuse between L and R. I also get confused between riders L/R or lookers L/R.. )





Our home at Yosemite National Park was a canvas-covered tent-ish structure.

It was approximately 10' x 10', possibly much smaller, and it housed about 7 of us (me thinks).

It could have been that it was supposed to be for less people, but the close ones got together to hang out to overcome the overflowing flood of stinky teen spirits.
The uncontrollable teens snuck out of their own tents and migrated into the romance nests.





I spent a lot of time outside during the night alone,
sometimes with friends, when I was a teenager.
I enjoyed the serenity.


Where I lived back home in Japan was pretty crowded residential town, but after about mdnight, you seldom saw anyone out.


I usually told my parents that I'm going to McDonald's or Danny's (open 24hrs with Japanized menus)
to get some food, or hang with my friends.

They complained most of the time, but I did what I wanted to do.


The emptiness made me feel like I was the only resident of the town.


I was the phantom of the night.



It was always quiet. The air felt cleaner and more breathable without many cars being on the road near by. And especially in the summer time, the scent of grass, cooler night air gave me strange sense of comfort.

I have always been a night owl, I suppose.





The habit followed me to Yosemite.

Besides, along with the others, I was to excited to sleep.

We were scheduled to be on our separate journeys soon after the Yosemite trip.

The short-term, soon-to-be long distant, and most likely to never continue after the year is over relationships (most of us were from different parts of Japan) were having their own climaxes.


I don't want to raise your expectations, well I suppose I already have,

It wasn't like American Pie band camp of any sort. Kinda, maybe a little.


But if you want hot steamy stories,

I'm sure you can find it through Google.




I remember them making a big deal about the bears at the park.

Rangers and park employees constantly reminded us not to leave any open food in cars or tents.

If you do, you are welcoming bears into your party.

And I don't think BYOB or BYOF were an option.



When I woke up after the first night at the park, people were gathering at the main parking lot.

The bears broke into one of the parked cars by smashing the windows, since there were open packages of Doritos or whatever else left inside the car.

The bear must have been watching the commercials.

The crunch, the flavor, it's tempting.

I wouldn't go as far to actually break into someone's car for it though.




The last night there was definitely memorable.

Toshi, Lolita, Straight-up, Naive, Drama-shots (I think he was there), Champ,
and few others including my romance were in the tent. (Vague memory.. please excuse me if I left you out! )


We talked in the darkness with flashlights, since we were directed by park officials to turn off all the lights in the tent, perhaps not to attract the bears that wander around at night.


I recall talking about dreams, ideals, and whatever else with our naive teenage state of mind.

Too bad that the detail escaped my memory, but the intensity of emotions that I experienced have been unforgettable to this day.






The park rangers and officials constantly reminded us to conceal our food and never let open food packages out while we sleep.


After all the lights went off at the park, we made sure that all our food were put away.


Champ the teddy bear was a big eater.

He had a big bag full of snacks and goodies in his possession.


We told him to put them all away, including several candy bars that were left open and half eaten.

He fell asleep soon after his scheduled snacking with

graceful Snoring Philharmonic Orchestra behind him.
 



We felt safe, and went on our teenage life & love hotline business.




The bath room was in 2 minutes walking distance.

During the night, some of us payed unscheduled visits to the loo.



When it was my turn to go, I stepped outside.

The whole place was dark and serene,
 except the sounds of crickets and other rightful resident of the paradise.


The cool air reminded me of the nights I spent back home.




Around 2 am, just after we were totally relaxed, we heard someone approaching the tent.

All of us froze in an instant.

We loudly whispered to each other frantically.


"Sheeee!"

"Is it the bears??"

"Maybe the ranger patrolling."

"I think it's the bears!! I gotta go pee! What am I gonna do??"

"Hey be quiet!!"


"Tell Champ to stop snoring! Fudge! (non of us were Mormons btw)"

"He's out cold!"

"Wake him up!"

"Be quiet!!"


"No, don't wake him up!"

"Where is he anyways?"


He wasn't actually snoring anymore, and was covered in blankets,
 so we weren't even sure if he was there.




The strange and unidentifiable sound of foot steps slowly passed right near the tent.

The tent was concealed pretty well, and if you open the zipped door to peak, it would attract attention.

So we stayed still without a flinch.



Whether it was the bears or the rangers,
we didn't want them to know we are hanging out wide awake with some of us being in the wrong tent.

The foot steps seemed to fade away from where we were, so we let out a breath.


"Phew....."


Just when one of us were about to say something,

we heard a loud "Bang!!" right by the tent.

Now we really froze as if we had been stared by Medusa.



I thought maybe Champ went to the bathroom,
and he was looking for more food outside along with his fellow bears in his half-awake state.


I looked at the bed where he was sleeping, and saw his foot sticking out the bottom.

Ok, it's not him.

There must be a bear right by our tent, unless one of the rangers is throwing a fit or being a drunkard, which is very unlikely.


One of us caught a sight of open bag next to Champ's bed.

"!!! put that bag away!!"


We heard the drunken ranger, or a bear make another loud "Bang!!"
and there was a sound of the large trash can rolling on the ground, and it was literally 2 feet away from the tent.

There was nothing but a thin fabric which covered the tent between the unknown trash digger and us.


We thought we were next for sure, if it's the bear,
since it must had already smelled the open bag of goodies.


It was very nice of Champ trying to share his bag o' joy with his hungry friends.

The picture of the car with broken windows flashed in front of eyes.


I thought to myself,

"I guess I'm not gonna get to eat potatoes and hang with the cowboys."

The chicks and dudes were holding each other tight, which brought them even closer that night.



Then we heard the sound fading away in the distance...





This experience gave me the best adrenaline rush I have ever gotten just sitting still.

I had gotten such a kick out of it. 

That night turned me into more of a dare-devil.




Thanks to the cleverly placed trash can, I am still here, today, writing this.


I mean we had no idea what kind of bear they are or what they do.

All we knew was that they are strong enough to break car windows and they were hungry like the caterpillars. 



"Phew!"







to be continued....





love,


y


My brain had turned into liquid, probably beer,
after one week of recuperation in the woods.
Or maybe a bear ate it while I was sleeping...


Who knows.





ps.

Thank you for the great time at Yosemite.
This goes to all the wonderful people I spent the precious time there.
I will never forget (although details are fading a bit) you, and the days there.

Stay gold, and keep it naturale!







    

Healthy Food Cult

by Yukito Yoneyama / 米山ゆきと


I've been on vacation past few days.
This year I chose Mars as my destination.
It is beautiful here.
Desolate, quiet, no traffic jams, and the mystique in the atmosphere,
are what make the trip through the light years worth while.

There is only one thing.
I can't breathe.



I woke up almost suffocating from the dream,
since the blankets I was using were covered in cat hair.
I'm allergic to cats.


I've been hanging out in a little cabin in the woods on planet Earth.





My family and I eat healthy and well.

Well, the definition of "healthy and well" is a bit abstract today,
but from our perspective, we do.

We spend a lot of time researching what is in the food that we take in.

Knowing the ingredients is crucial, since it is hard to see
what you are actually eating these days,
due to the extraordinary input of marketing and promotion into the food business.




When I go to the supermarket to buy food,
I always wonder how we came about over packaging what we eat to this extreme.


For example, when you shop for cereals for kids to eat,
most of the packages have some kind of characters on them to attract buyer's attention.

From kids' point of view, they must be at first confused on the contents of cereal box.


When I was a kid, Kellogg's Corn Flakes were just starting to appear on store shelves in Japan.

One day, my mom came home with a box.

She bought the cereal for breakfast Plan B.


Although my parents strongly believed in the healthy quality of traditional cooking,
which was passed down the generations,
the modern lifestyle did not always give them enough time.



Before opening the box, in my honest and innocent mind,
I seriously thought there was "Tony the Tiger" inside the box.
I waited for him to jump out the box saying "ggggreaaat!", and sit down next to me.

Nothing happened.

I stuck my hand in the box and searched while my mom wasn't looking.
It was a huge disappointment on my end.



Even today, I still catch myself being fooled by exaggerated marketing strategies.


Now, I would like to ask, why?

Why is that they have to go so far beyond in decorating and manipulating
what the actual products, whatever they may be, represent?



I understand the principle of competition.

Businesses must survive by generating more profit than the competitors, or they won't be able to continue what they are doing.

However, in my opinion, these "contests" have gotten out of control.

It seems to me that the whole purpose of businesses and corporations
is to win against their competitors,
while satisfaction and happiness of consumers became the secondary factor for their operation.




Picture two buses driving next to each other on a road.

The whole purpose of the buses is to get the passengers/customers
to the destination in one piece, in safety.

Perhaps, getting there in a given timeframe would be the next important thing.


Since these two buses are from two competing companies,
they started to advertise.

"We are safe, and we are faster!" or something like that.

After the safety of the buses have been taken for granted,
customers start to choose which bus to use depending on
how fast they can get the passengers to their destinations.

Slowly but surely, these two buses start to race against one another on the road.



It becomes the talk of the town which bus is faster and such.

The owners of two companies start to pressure the drivers to drive as fast as they can, but safely...
(a common business paradox)


The buses do just exactly what they are allowed to do legally to be the "fastest bus".

After a while, they can no longer go any faster, so they begin to decorate the buses with nice seats, TVs, good looking attendants, and so on to attract more customers.


One of the companies is facing financial difficulties.

But the competitor just launched a new campaign hiring a celebrity to represent the bus ride.
Fearing the competitor taking their customers, they decided to do the same.


Meanwhile, the bus was due for a tune up, tires and engines and such.
However, since they had just spent a fortune in hiring a celebrity for their ads,
they could not afford to do sufficient maintenance.

You know where I am going with this.


Let's get back to the beginning.

The sole purpose of the buses is to transport passengers to given destinations in safety.

The "contest" had gotten out of control,
and the customers suffer the consequences, or being put at risk.






I also veered off the subject.


Back to the food story.
In my opinion, if the product, let's say, a bag of potato chips is so tasty and irresistible,
that is all I need to know.

I don't care what type of container they are in, or design of packaging,
or the character that represents the freaking potato chips.

Yes, they are Very Important Potatoes and they must be represented by an imaginary friend.


After all, I do not eat the packaging.
I eat the potato chips.



I won't be surprised if they started airing commercials saying,

"Now a brand new potato chips for the 21st century!!
  You can even eat the colorful packaging!! Yeah!!"

with a cool beat in the background, and things flying everywhere, or whatever.



Then we will start seeing kids munching on bags of potato chips,

"Hey dad, it's really crunchy, and this packaging is pretty yummy itself!"


I'm scared, are you?





My in-laws told me how they used to buy potato chips in waxed bags at a local mom and pop store.

The bags had no pictures, no preservatives, no anti-sunlight film inside the bags,
and whatever else.

They told me in nostalgia how they came fresh in homemade style.

I believe in the quality of fresh food.

The potato chips in waxed bags were freshly made.
People went to buy them when they were fresh, or reasonably fresh and edible.

They did not need to extend the shelf life of the potato chips,
because they were meant to be eaten in reasonable timeframe.
Several hours, perhaps.

That's why they were good and tasty.




Have your mother or father ever prepared dinner while taking the shelf life (table life)
of the dinner into consideration?

I think not, and hope not.



"Hey honey, let me put some chemicals in our kid's meatball pasta,
  so that her/his dinner can stay on the table for a long long time."


"Oh dear, that is a great idea!
  You know what, now you have mentioned it,
  what do you think of hiring a panda from a zoo to represent this
  once-in-a-lifetime meatball pasta I made tonight!
  So that the whole world will know what a wonderful pasta maker I am!"


"My, sweat heart, what would I do without you! let's get right to it!


......



I suppose the same can be said about everything that is out there for sale.



I have been noticing quite bit of change in the food world in this country.
When I first came over as an exchange student, the food was pretty awful.

No offense, but when I spent a year in Idaho,
I could count the variety of food options I had in one hand.
Pretty much.

The almighty McD's, Taco Bell, Domino's, potatoes (come in many forms, but still),
and steak (my favorite of all times, still to this day).

I could also count the supplemental food group, such as potato chips, snickers (two a day),
beef jerky (crucial to this day), Cup Noodles (they followed me from Japan),
and all other junk food you can possibly think of.

I gained 20 pounds in 2 months.



Prior to my arrival, my diet wasn't anything to write about.
Indeed, I was eating McD's, Cup Noodles, and other junk foods back in Japan also.


[McDonald's in Japan took a different and clever approach
in order for them to adjust to Japanese market.

They came up with Teriyaki Burger, which was my favorite,
Chicken Tatsuta (deep fried chicken) Burger.
And of course the famous Big Mac and Cheeseburger, which all of you are well accustomed to.]


Although I was eating all these junks while being out,
I ate really well at home while living with my parents.

Most of our family menus were based on traditional Japanese cooking and diet,
which consists of carefully designed combinations of grains, vegetables, meat, fish,
and so on, and most importantly, in moderate proportion.

There is a saying in Japan,

"80 % Stomach"

It means that you stop eating just a little before you feel full.
If you feel full, you ate too much.

I always stayed in good shape without really doing anything about it.




I remember my grand parents teaching me about food on
what to eat, when to eat them, and how to cook them in certain combinations.


They knew which plants and herbs come in use at any given situations.

As a kid, I always wondered how they acquired the in-depth understanding
of the complex dynamics of nutritions involved.

Their knowledge was beyond my understanding.




My grand parents were full-time farmers.

They had been doing it all their long lives,
and they were almost self-sufficient in terms of what they consumed for themselves.

    
I was amazed by their capability on living with the surrounding nature.

They got up when the roosters fulfilled their morning duty,
and they went to sleep shortly after the sun went down.

Everything was done and built by their own hands,
except for the house they lived in (due to the earthquake safety regulations),
and the few machines they had to adopt to use for farming,
since the local coop farming organization, which they were part of, required them to do so.



Their knowledge did not come from labs.
There weren't any scientists in white lab coats testing things and such behind their kitchen.


By the time I was in junior high school,
I had a pretty good understanding of the science and the modern world.

What my grandparents knew often superseded the scientific explanations.

It was based on physical and actual experiences, instead of theories.

It was truly fascinating every time they had shared what they knew with me.


I must say that it was wisdom talking.

The information was built upon generations and generations of trial and error.
I could sense even when I was an adolescent, my grand parents didn't figure it all out by themselves.


My grandpa used to tell me,

"All that we know was passed down the generations by our ancestors.
I had learned it from my grandfather, and he learned it from his grand father, and on and on."


I thought to my self in my kids mind,

"Grandfathers are great, I guess dads don't do anything. Except leave the house and come back."





Today, when my family and I try to share what we learned about food with others,
some of them look at us as if we have feet sticking out of our ears.

Well, that is usually the initial reaction.


When we proceed, they get a bit scared, or even offended.

They look at us as if we are the leaders of some cult group.


After the misunderstanding is cleared,
I would find out that in most of these cases,
they have never questioned nor examined what they eat.


I was astonished when I heard that there are kids out there in this country,
who have never seen fruit or vegetable in real life.
Only packaged food.

And naturally, they think what they eat come from the supermarkets.



"Food does not come from the supermarkets, they come from the Earth."


I'm gonna repeat myself in case someone out there has forgotten.


"Food does not come from the supermarkets, they come from the Earth."



I feel like this should be a mantra of some sort for us to chant and chant until everyone gets it.


"Food does not...

ok. enough.


Join the Healthy Food Cult!
And I will give you a new name!


No. no name change or naked thing here.

We just eat clean, good, and healthy food.

Are you scared? not I.





Keep it natural. just saying.





love,


y

KEEP IT NATURAL pt. 5

by Yukito Yoneyama / 米山ゆきと


The first thing that pops up in my mind about the night time at Yosemite National Park
is when we went to see the stars.

I don't recall which night of the trip it was, but I think it was the first night we arrived.
The program adviser, who was probably responsible for the romance fuses,
led us through darkened trail with flash lights in our hands.
I believe there were around 40 people, quite a large group.

I remember getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, not being able to comprehend why such annoying creatures are wandering around in this beautiful and peaceful paradise.

I kept hearing people slapping their faces and bodies, getting sidetracked into the darkness.
The mosquitoes were the uninvited guests, and we were the well-welcomed preys.

Despite the first few minutes of hustle,
we came out to a clearing after the few last push through the "Dark Forest of Vampires".
As I was putting away my garlic and a cross, someone shouted,

"Wow, look up!"

As I looked up to the night sky above, I was almost overwhelmed.

The numbers of stars, as well as the brightness of the light they were sending down to our seemingly lonely planet, was simply astonishing.

I had to admit, it did not feel like we were the only existence in this vast universe.

I thought about contacting SETI, to let them know that I finally found what they have been
looking for.


I mean they were bright! I seriously thought I can catch them with a net,
as they say in children's books, if the handle was long enough.
They really were falling on us.


The bright night sky looked two dimensional, just as Van Gogh painted in his "Starry Night",
perhaps on an euphoria after lighting a sugar cube on fire,
then dropping it into his glass of Absinthe.

Just a guess.

I am writing this as I drink my Adirondack Lager.


The trail we were on led onto a narrow wooden board walk, about 3 feet wide,
which stretched beyond the starry blurred horizon.

It was blended into the dark navy blue, as if ascending into the stars.
I could see the caravan of pilgrims in front of me, paying there visit to the
Temple of the Starry Night.


The wooden path lit by the stars seemed to float on the meadow below,
which was pitch black absorbing the light from above.
For a moment, I thought we were walking on a hanging bridge,
as I looked down into the abyss beneath me.



There we were, risking our very own lives,
just to witness this breath-taking display of extraterrestrial beauties.
I held my breath so that I can focus on each step that I took.


Then the adviser, who was leading us through this amazing journey, shouted.

"All right everyone! let's lay down on the boardwalk. I want to show you something!"


Like making us walk on this narrow bridge with nothing to hold on was not enough,
now she wants us to lay on it?

I thought to myself,

"This better be good, or I might feed her to the cute bears that hang around here."



Oh my my, oh hey hey,
was she the one with the great idea.

Now it was an outdoor IMAX theatre.
I clenched my fist tight and waited for these starts to fall right through me into the abyss below.


Well, the IMAX wasn't what she was talking about.







By the way, it is really strange how we refer what we see to movies or photographs.

When I spent a year in Hawai'i, I kept hearing tourists saying to each other,

"Wow, it really looks like the photographs! Amazing view!",

when they confronted the tropical dreamscape in front of their eyes
right next to where I was hanging out in peace.


The truth is that the scenery do not look like photographs.
It's the other way around.
The photographs look like the scenery. Really.


It is just one of many testaments to our perception being built on second-hand experiences,
which manifests in this kind of illusion.

Be hold! The power of one-way bombardment of information by the medias.

I consider it to be a bit insulting for someone else to determine the sort of information I take in.
There are sayings like,

"We are what we eat." (for the body) 

and

"We are what we read." (for the mind)

We used to carefully choose what we take in, whether it was food, or information.

For instance, when we go to a restaurant, a chef prepares the food using his skills
to mix up all the good ingredients and spices to create a memorable dish.
(Just as writers mix up all the words and idioms to prepare a memorable reading experience)

Then a waitress/waiter brings the savory dish to your table for you to enjoy. 
(as publishers and bookstores bring you a book with well designed cover.
Well, Amazon.com and Kindle in the 21st century)

Now, do they feed you the food into your mouth, or do they read you the book out loud,
as if you are a 2 year-old??

NO.

(Except audio books. It has its uses, since they free your hands.)

You get my point, I sincerely hope.



I believe that having a choice is the most important component, when living the American life.
And I do not think it is too far off to say that it is that very aspect,
which defines what this country is all about.
Or at least that's what I have learned for my foreign-self from the past 15 years of being here.

I must say that I owe it to the wonderful free-minded people of this country,
whose lives and time I was fortunate enough to come across and share with my own.





Back in the 50's, when TVs first started to appear in Japan,
one of the intellectuals wrote a book called,

"The Entire-Nation-Becoming-Retarded Theory", or something close to it.

It was about how we would all become stupified by the fundamental theory
behind the creation of TV and the media.


He must have been the reincarnation of Nostradamus.

Wait a minute, the 1999 thing was way off.
Ok, whatever.
He (not Nostradamus, the intellect) was pretty much on point, though, don't you think?


There are things in this world we can fight with our intelligence,
and things that just take over our primal instincts of some sort.
When the latter are at work, we are powerless, except for the trained few,
no matter how smart you may or may not be.


For example, many of us catch ourselves staring at commercials,
not realizing what we are watching.


The fundamental principle behind the TV machines is that just as moths and other insects are blindly attracted to lights, or plants naturally grow toward the sun,
even us homo sapience are attracted to flickering lights.

So, let's think about that.


It is also understood in the field of anthropology,
we are attracted to familiar faces.
This may be for a survival purpose.
Just imagine the development of human race before the recorded history.
Despite the fact we do not know much about them, we know for sure that they existed.
Because we are here today, alive.


Most likely, things were not as comfortable and safe as in today's advanced civilization
with iphones, medicines, overstocked shelves and safety ratings.


Instead, it must have been a constant survival against wilderness
including deadly beasts, insects, and so on.

Death was always knocking on the non-existent door,
if you lived during the cavemen era.


It can be said that amongst our own race,
it must have been critical to remember the faces of family members for survival purposes.
We or they, back then, stuck to people they knew, because others could've been crazies.

The more they saw the particular faces, the more comfortable they must have become.
Without the TV, photography, or painting, there was simply no method other than being physically  
present to familiarize themselves with the faces of the close ones.

Some scholars believe that TV world is merely leaching on this primal instincts of ours,
which our intelligence have no power against to reject.


When I see a beer, I must drink it.
There is nothing intelligent I can do, but run toward it and pop it open to chug it.
Well, let's not judge people, I am only human.


Anyways, if you remember or catch yourself developing feelings for people you see on TV,
and sometimes they can be ugly (in your taste), or not your type.
But if you see these celebrities on the street,
you scream at them that you love them and chase after them, and take pictures with them.


This sort of behaviors may just be caused by the above logic.
I think it's worth a thought today, since all these freaking people (with virtually no talent, just money) on ridiculous reality and other shows, which I know some of you love.


However, I can guarantee you, if for some reason you had to stop watching these shows for significant amount of time, you couldn't care less.
At all indeed.

It happened to me. Many times.
(I rarely watch TV now. Just Netflix. At least I have a choice on what I watch and when I watch.)

This whole thing reminds me of the end of "Trueman Show" by Jim Carrie.
And of course, the Plato's Cave.





I totally got sidetracked.
These mosquitoes. Let me slap my face.

Ok.





It wasn't IMAX she was talking about.
Instead, I saw three or four stars shooting across the sky at the same time.
I shouted,

 "........"

I was speechless. I think many of us were.
After a few seconds, we started praising at this marvelous sight of shooting stars flying across our vision in full screen (I did it again with the backward reference).


And they kept coming. I must have counted 20 something stars in a few short minutes.
That adviser, she must have been sent in by eHarmony.com..


Oh yeah, the Internet wasn't really popular yet back in 1997.

It's amazing and possibly frightening, how our surroundings, the way we communicate, and even our own existence has become based on virtual digital format in just over the past 15 years.

Virtual = no substance

But let's not forget we are physical beings.

I believe that there are positives and negatives in everything which exists in this world.
It is always important to look at things from both perspectives,
just so that they may not come back around and slap us in the face.


It's all about the balance, as Scottie used to always say..






I'm passing out as I write.
So I'm just gonna post it
without checking for typos and such.
Cause I love you all.
Thank you for reading.




love,


y



ps. my son won't let me sleep, so I came back.  Check it out.

zzz..

Spasibo, Russians

According to the stats provided by the mighty Google,
good numbers of people in Russia are reading my blogs.

I don't know a single person in Russia, so I though I was getting hacked by some KBG or whatever.
Just to clear my doubts, I just sent the big G an email to check on it.

Who are you people?
And thank you very much for reading my blogs!


спасибо, (spasibo)

y