Rain, Far and Near

Popping away in dreams

The sounds, the waves, people's faces

Strike a chord, in a warm fuzz

Rain covers the ground in three droplets

Coating the grass with translucent chalk

Leaving day and night behind

Trouble

* Exegesis: "Trouble" (Cat Stevens)

I think I know exactly how an establishment, an organization, a person's conscience, degrades itself.  It is by a toxic mixture of hubris, ignorance, and false reputation.  But it is largely through ignorance, which often is largely innocent in nature.

It is hilarious when an ignorant person pretends to parse out wisdom, and deeply troublesome when two people who are barely conversant in a topic congratulate one another on their feigned intelligence.  It is disappointing when parents do not let their children grow on their own - it is more cruel then bending the stalk of a growing lily and trying to tie it into a knot.  It is embarrassing when teachers do not know their students.

Tears flow freely from the two unseeing eyes set deeply in my heart, but perhaps this is nothing more than the effect of a fast-approaching autumn.

Myopia Alert

Lorraine sang: "Perhaps you will not understand how ponderous my heart gets, and how glazed my eyes, at the thought of my own future, and just thinking about myopia."  But her song went largely unnoticed because of its muddled message.  Lorraine changed her name and was gone.

In another corner of the globe, Terrine said: "Today I received enough myopia on my skin to turn it bright purple."  Her color did not seem to change, but the terribly exhausted tone of her voice made me feel sorry enough to mutter, "Terrine, oh Terrine."  And someone ate Terrine the day after!

Outside the Solar System, myopia had its own kingdom spread over four point three six seven light years.  It had over a million colonies universe-wide.  What if the kingdom itself expanded to more light years?  Horror!  Myopia kills.  And it seemed to be infecting the entire universe.

But perhaps, I was dreaming.  Was I?

Anti-Exoticism

Before I go join an anti-nuclear power protest parade,

I would like to take part in an anti-exoticism march.

Exoticism is a mode of thought that overemphasizes distance, most of all.

An exotic place is somewhere very far away;

An exotic thing has come from afar;

An exotic person was born in a faraway land;

And an exotic scent has more power to transport than a normal scent.

As if going as far away as possible made one superior.

It doesn't.

What matters is precisely where one goes; precisely which routes one takes.

Far or near, the exact location counts.

Exactitude is a precious gift.

Remember: distance is always measured from a reference point.

And that reference point could be placed anywhere and everywhere.

Zebra Colors

"All of this is all too foreign to me," I cried out, staring at the rows of Chinese characters which were extremely pleasing to my eyes.  They, the characters, were like music, but even grander.  Yet perhaps it was so because I did not comprehend them entirely.  I saw them as droplets of sheer magma, exploding with a curiously warm and silent glare.  At other times, I saw them as pure ice, glinting under the weak sun, and wavering like black leaves.  If the alphabet is organismic, Chinese characters are geological.  Caves and mountains, you name them.  The galaxy.

A Batik Painting

There is a jungle above my computer screen

It is green and red

The fronds of foliage turn and turn

And the sun is nowhere to be seen

Gender Trouble and More

Never say "you're not girly enough" to a girl, or "you're not manly enough" to a boy.  What is "enough," anyway?  But regardless of what people say or don't say, the most horrifying thing is for a girl to think, "I'm not girly enough," and for a boy to think, "I'm not manly enough."  What use is it when one strangles oneself with a preconceived rope of baseless assumptions?

Pink is not for girls, and blue is not for boys.  A quiet person is not anti-social, and a loud person isn't necessarily social.  Not all birds fly; not all flying birds are the same kind of birds, although their differences also do not follow any black-and-white patterns.

What?  This is the world.

Grins

Sometimes, I am sadder than sad.

Despair is a boundless feeling.  It is akin to an incredible sense of security.  Not comfort, but security.

And I am afraid of being too busy, and becoming a headless robot.  By now, I have learned that one misses a whole lot when one speeds up too much, or spends too much time torturing oneself.

English Is

My two favorite expressions in English...

"Good for you."  A positive statement, without getting cloying.  It's far superior to saying, "That's great." or even "Good job." (the latter never really exists as a spoken expression anyway, except in children's talk).

"Why is there so much crap on my desk?"  I have always thought that "crap" sounds like something tasty.  Like "crab."  And being the little Japanese person that I am, "crap" almost always reminds me of "clap," or something festive like that.

Poplar Avenue

"I hate it when people think popularity is everything.

It's not.

It is not nothing, but it isn't everything, either.  Didn't we learn this in high school, or even earlier?

This is why I dislike votes, most of all.  What are votes?

Votes are never individual; they are never about you.

Your vote is always about everyone else, except yourself.  How could this be?

No matter how much altruistic elixir I force myself to drink, I will always die an individualist.

Who cares?  I care,"

Compri said.