So, since late January. I’ve had not only the pandemic to deal with, but other personal issues to deal with. I am one of the lucky ones who experienced pandemic plus. But now my energy is back to normal levels, and with a brand new psychological mindset to boot! Watch out, Japan! Seriously, though, having no energy to do anything extra leaves you time to reflect on how much time one wastes when you have lots of energy and sit around, not doing anything extra. This is overused, but 頑張りましょうか?は!
Continue ReadingGrasping This Beautiful Moon
A Zen Master lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, while he was away, a thief sneaked into the hut only to find there was nothing in it to steal. The Zen Master returned and found him. “You have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.” The thief was bewildered, but he took the clothes and ran away. The Master sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, ” I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.” — from… Read More
Continue ReadingInspiration
So, it’s not easy to be inspired during a global pandemic. Even less so when you’re watching fools prance around with no masks on, breathing wherever they feel like it. But, of course, the secret to life is not just inspiration. It is effort after inspiration. And it’s not easy to put effort into anything but the basic survival skills during a global pandemic. However, what is the alternative? Working, eating, sleeping and nothing else? It’s like one goes through a set of stages of experience with the facts of the world around them. Like the stages of accepting death is coming, but a bit different. My stage now is… Read More
Continue Reading自粛省察の恐怖
ビールが好きな?俺も!一緒に居酒屋行こう! マスク?マスク??マスカは弱虫な人の事だぜ!コロナウイルスは終わった!終わった! おーおーおー。待って。見て。あそこマスクを被る人。面白い!弱虫の人だな?牛乳しか飲んでいる!うふふふ! 横に行こう!顔で咳き上げよう!いいジョウダンだぜ!セエノ! そう。マスクを被っている。コロナウイルスは深刻だと思う。家族が別れた。友達が別れた。他人が好きとマスクを被るのは大切だ。 その二人は、何をしているか?一緒に笑って、近くに来ている。冗談は何だ?
Continue ReadingJapanese in the times of Novel Coronavirus
So Shakespeare wrote King Lear during the plague, did he? Who did the cooking and dishwashing and cleaning while this mighty man was dipping his quill in the ink? I’m not going to lie. My studying stopped a month ago. Mentally, I couldn’t handle work, and isolation, and general life, and studying Japanese. The most I’ve done is write some moments on HelloTalk. But last night, I had a thought. “If you don’t care, why are you bothering?” This seems like a stupid thought, but it reminded me: I began studying Japanese because I loved its culture I began studying Japanese because I wanted to travel around and not starve… Read More
Continue Reading