And just beyond, beckoning like the sweet sound of the Siren's of old, lay:
Against all odds and all hopes, the infinite expanses of limitless human ingenuity--forms named progress and prestitude--had suddenly given way to the unbound beauties of nature, as though she herself had placed a wall upon the land, stood upon is, and quoted a certain grey wizard in his own call against the fires of war and industry. Thoughts of the future, of a home far away, of small places and small problems, and write and wrong and tragedy all melted away in an instant. And in their place peace and possibility. For nature lies closer to our doorstep than we think, and it take but a moment for it to caper in and catapult us into celestial bliss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those of you who don't know, Tolkein's work can be allegorically read as a treatise against excessive industry at the expense of the natural. The hobbit who made the movies expanded this idea somewhat to make them a little more blatantly obvious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, I've been thinking a lot about the future lately. It's not that I'm unhappy here, or that I don't like my job--quite the opposite for both, actually--but more that Konosu, though green, is still not as green as Portland. Maybe that's an unfair statement, but at the very least it's a very different kind of green. Mostly what I've been missing, though, have been breaks in the city. As I've said before, Tokyo never seems to end, and though I've always taken the same train lines to get where I've wanted to go, it none-the-less was getting to me that, no matter what I did, I would undoubtedly hit city, city, and more city. Having grown up in Portland where we love nature so much that we are home to the smallest national park in the world--Mill Ends Park: at .292 m^2, it's more of a glorified flower pot, although it's completely natural--and where the city itself is interrupted by the glorious Forest Park--over 2,000 hectares, all of which are located inside the city--the lack of green space was really getting to me. It is apparently a rather common issue in Tokyo, where they've installed speakers in the subway system and other underground areas to play bird noises so that people feel that they're close to nature. But when you know people who've been scaled by a squirrel--and have almost been so yourself--canned bird noises just ain't gonna cut it. As such, I was starting to go a little insane...until I found the end of the city. And when I say end, that's what it is. It just stops. I couldn't believe my eyes...I had been living within three miles of this beautiful, open space for six weeks and had no idea! I mean, it had fields...
And a river called the Arakawa:
Oh so very reminiscent of the Deschutes [pronunciation for you non-natives: Deh-Shoots; known for deh white water, where you can have deh time of your life with deh runs] in its calmer, narrower points. And lastly, the attribute well known by all who live within a valley:
Look at those hills! Look at them: that is what a horizon is supposed to look like. And I found wildlife--there, off in the distance, the slow circling of a bird of prey (I think that I can identify it as a Grey-Faced Buzzard, which is a fantastically beautiful bird that we in the New World would call a hawk) signalling the immanent death of something small, cute, and possibly annoying. I even saw a House Crow, standing on top of a telephone pole. I couldn't tell if had a worm in its mouth, or if it had a mustache, but I will let you, dear reader, decide:
If you could not already tell, this discovery made me very happy indeed. I now have a world of nature to explore, and I cannot wait to see what I will find. As one added bonus, when I left the paradise I glanced back one more time to find...
That's right, I saw a parasailer (that is a word, you silly google-thing you) gliding in for a landing. Can anyone else say best sign ever?
Other than this amazing surprise, there are only a couple other things to note about this week. The first is that, on Friday, I was observed at work. This basically means that a trainer from the head office comes in, watches me teach, and then gives me feedback at the end of the day. And let me tell you, getting feedback felt great. I thrive on feedback, I love feedback. Every night after every play with the extraordinary directors in High School (particularly the beautiful Stephanie Mulligan) I would look forward to the feedback time to know what I needed to improve on. As an actor, it's kind of my bread-and-butter-,-better-currency-than-salt-,-I-need-this-now-fix...and I hadn't been getting much of it. Which means that I'm either viewed as a lost cause, or I'm great, neither of which really helps me. However, from my feedback, I now know what I can start focusing on. I also know that I always appeared prepared, confident, and professional. Which means that I now have the element of surprise on my side if I ever decide to show up in a speedo. True, I would need to buy one first, but I'm sure that isn't too hard. Anyway, I was so excited to get feedback, that I imbued my kids lessons the next day with as much energy as I could and, wouldn't you know it, by the end of the day I felt a slightly familiar twinge in my left knee...apparently I had over done it a bit. Good to know. So, I really relaxed this weekend, didn't do much, and aside from the occasional stairs issue, I'm doing fine...I hope...
The other fun aspect of note this week is this fun creation:
Say hello to the world's healthiest doughnut! (soon to be added to my cooking section). Why yes, observant person, that is an avocado, and yes it is filled with yogurt. It also happens to be delicious, nutritious, and compact. In other words the perfect meal for today's on the go adventurer. As a further cooking note, just as, 'tomato bisque + whipped cream + cocoa puffs = slight mint taste," apparently, 'skinned kiwi + chili beans = light-green Listerine taste.' According to Amazing Sciencey Friend #Mind [read Number, not hash tag you internet zealots], this has to do with the fact that the sensors in our mouths that pick up menthol are really good, and some of the easiest to activate. However, that still fails to explain why they both didn't taste more similar... Anyway, this has been another exciting--and photo filled--adventure in the austentaious. If you liked me, tell your friends; if you hated me, tell your enemies; and if you didn't care either way, tell everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment