An email from a friend to wish me Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and list all of the things in my life that made the last year great. A joy to get and quite humbling to have a friend I haven’t seen in months take the time to remember the good things about my life.
Happy Hanukkah my friend. And thankyou.
In response to this post from Maria.
Uniformity is not something that plays really big into the neighborhood I live in. My neighbors include a tatood lead singer for a death metal band, a lesbian couple, and a lady who dyes her hair neon pink, drives a pink car, and owns her own tatoo shop. They are all great people. But conformity is not something that comes to mind. Yes it is more quiet than the city and entertainment is a bit of a commute to get to. But, I can sit out in the sun in my backyard and read, I can fire up my powertools anytime I want. I think I would have to pay as much for parking as I do for my house payment if I lived downtown since I own two cars, two trucks, and two motorcycles. Granted I don’t live in a neighborhood that is part of a home owners association, so my neighbors and I aren’t regulated by rules that require us to keep our houses to a certian level of tidyness and lawns perfectly manicured, or keep us from playing music too loud, or having a party. But when you live next to understanding and open minded people, things like that don’t really matter anyway. 
Though, more and more there are perfectly semetrical housing tracts showing up here. Those I do fear.
The sunset (and sunrise) looks different from where ever you happen to be looking at it from. Weather, dust, and even polution play a big part in what it looks like. That’s the techincal explanation, but regardless, the emotional connection that you are seeing the sun from someplace new is what makes the biggest impact.
What time it is someplace else is always a hard concept. It’s easy to figure out, but being the center of our own universe, it’s hard to get out of “right now, right here.”
The sand is different too. White coral sand. Beige, red, and even black volcanic sand. And star sand where little grains of sand are litterally shaped like tiny 5 point stars.
Then again, I can’t imagine living any other place than here.
I don’t often socialize with people I work with. But there are a few exceptions. Lisa is one of those people who I would.
A couple of months ago, she took off work for a week with nothing more than “I’m going to be out for a week due to surgery.” and that’s it. She returned to work and I didn’t hear anything else about it. She picked up on her projects a week later and continued on.
Last Wednesday I got an evite for a party from her titled the “Going! Going! Gone!!!”. It was an invitation to a martini party where a friend of hers was saying goodbye to 30 years old, and she was saying goodbye to her hair. She was beginning chemo.
In true Lisa fashion, she sent me an IM saying “I thought I should warn you, but, um, there will be mostly gay men there.” I laughed and responded “That’s not something that affects me one way or another.”
The party was fun. The martinis were strong and tasty, plenty of appetizers, and lots of gay men (I don’t think I’ve had my ass grabbed so many times in one evening), but mostly it was a lot of good people there for a friend.
They sold raffle tickets to see who would get a chance to shave Lisa’s head. I bought 20 and gave them away. It’s not something I would have wanted to do and the way my karma works I didn’t want to take a chance. As the night rolled around to 10pm, the drawing was held, a winner to do the honers was picked.
Lisa had a seat in the chair and the shaving began. Two friends on either side of her holding her hands. The rest of us watching, cheering her on…and holding back tears. It was difficult to watch. I sat in a chair and held my girlfriend. It was emotional to say the least.
Even though the joke was that we were there to see her get her head shaved, we were really there to support her. To offer a piece of our own strength, that individually each of us alone might not have. To maybe help her have the strength she will need in the months to come.
Uchinanchu is the term used to describe Japanese of Okinawan descent. The home coming festival is a celebration held every five years to welcome back all family, friends, and descendants of Okinawan people who migrated elsewhere. Okinawa is to Japan what Hawaii is to the United States. A state, but with it’s own culture and history. And every 5 years, they invite everyone back for a big cellebration.
What if we were talking about Washington State? People who grew up here are moving to other parts of the world all the time. People who’ve lived here for a little while move away all the time. Some people have family that moved from here, but they’ve never been here. Some people who don’t live here now have ancestry from here.
Now imagine if Washington decided to invite everyone who has a connection back and threw them a big week long party? Not only that, but if you were from a particular town, that town would have a party for you. A party for everyone who once lived in Seattle. Another for everyone who once lived in Colville, and so on. Then, to top it off, you and everyone you brought with you would also be invited to a few family parties (almost family reunions if you will).
There would be parades, performances, food, gifts, and drink. A big party. There is more going on that just the party. Because of the dispersion of the Okinawan people after WWII, it is a way of putting people in contact with each other and rebuilding the history that was lost during the war. It’s putting back together family ties. It’s also building business and personal relationships with people from all over the world (28 countries were represented when I was there). So while it is a big party on the surface, it is a way of putting a community back together, back in touch, and showing the younger generations their roots.
I went with the Yomitan club from Hawaii of which a few friends of mine are in. This group was a small part of the Hawaii Okinawa association. 1100 people were registered from Hawaii. 4800 (the size of my hometown) registered overseas participants.
I no longer think “I would like to go.”
Nor do I think “I wonder if I will ever get to go.”
I now think “I’m going to go.”
and “How soon can I make it happen.”
No book, video, or story can prepare you for it. It’s not enough to say “I heard about that.” You have to be there.
In the last two years I’ve…
been dunked by a six foot wave on the North Shore of Hawaii.
was informed that I was speaking in a local accent.
Used chopsticks enough to have to think about how to use a knife and fork.
Climbed Diamond Head.
Put my feet in San Francisco Bay.
Walked the worlds crookedest street.
Learned a (very little) bit of Salsa dancing from a large Filipino family.
Walked across the San Francisco bridge.
Learned how to say “sumimasen” quite well.
Seen a “parade float” that was over 800 years old.
Learned an okinawan folk dance.
Ate a good deal of Beni Imo.
Forgot again how to use a fork and knife.
Put my feet in the East China Sea.
But it’s not only about the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen. It’s also about the families I’ve met and the friends I’ve made. Those who have not only invited me back, but said that I have to come back. In some cases setting the date when they will see me next.
Telling me that their door is always open for me.
http://rdsd.com/gallery is where you want to go. So far around 900 pictures have been uploaded. I’ll have to start a second and third gallery to get them all on there. Also note that they are not sorted or screened so you get all of the good with the bad pictures. Yes, they are all perfectly work safe.
Every trip has a favorite picture that seems to capture the moment. This is my friend and I at the top of Inuyama Castle in Japan. The entire trip was absolutely amazing. The memories will last a lifetime. Together we took around 2000 pictures and have stories to tell from every stop along the way. It will take me some time to get them all together. I could write a book. 18 days. Every one of them something new and something special.
The time of my life. I cannot put it into simpler words. From the Fall Festival in Takayama to the Uchinanchu festival in Okinawa to the family that invited me and then invited to a local party with their relatives. I could not be in a better place at a better time than right here, right now.
A good friend of mine was uploading her pictures of Thailand yesterday and today when it came across the news that a coup de ta is happening there. Funny timing. It was interesting to hear on the radio about something happening in a place I had a direct link with just a few hours before.
I think this also has to be one of the most polite overthrows in history with comments from the military leaders like “We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience.” and people trying to get their pictures taken with the tanks and soldiers.
I wonder if the guard in this picture was part of it. Anyway click on the picture to go to the gallery where it is posted. There are some spectacular buildings to see as well as a giant reclining Bhudda.
A book I ordered from Amazaon arrived yesterday. I bought because a person who I consider an authority on writing recomended it.(Hi Maria!). It is not my normal type of reading material. My bookshelves are filled with technical manuals, a few works of fiction, a few reference books, one book which has my name in it, and one book a friend wrote. This book is about writing. “On Writing Well.” by Willian Zinsser.
I really like it so far. Not only is it easy to read, but I find that a lot of what he says is what I already apply whenever I write programs, design automated systems, create process, or create websites. Simple, clean, easy to understand, and lots of revision. Now to apply the same method to my writing. Easier said than done. It is tempting to bloat sentences with big words, as the author says, to make them sound more important.
I like his style.