Well, I started out on this blog with good intentions. I meant to write something every day, but that trick never works, as Rocky used to say to Bullwinkle. If you understand that reference, I’m afraid that really dates you. (When I write, I seem to go into a stream-of-conciousness mode fairly often, but stick with me. I get back to the point eventually.) And the point is... Oh, yeah. I didn’t even come close to writing every day, or every week for that matter. I’m going to try again, but don’t let the time-line throw you. It’s no longer April or even May. I’ll put in some time references in the future when appropriate, but other than that, it’s going to be just day-to-day stuff.
So, anyway, from the first day back, it has seemed like I never left. I don’t mean that in just a poetic sense. I actually wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that I had only dreamed about being back in California. Of course, the feeling doesn’t last long, but it’s pretty intense for a while and actually rather spooky. When I got back to my old university after 10 years absence, I was given the same office that I had in 1999, there were still tape marks on the wall where I had put up a poster, badly, and I found one of my old tie clips in a drawer of the same desk that I had made so many lesson plans on. I’d been wondering where that had gotten to.
The truth is, I hadn’t missed it that much because I don’t think I’ve worn a tie more than two or three times in the last 10 years. That’s something I’ll have to be getting used to again. I still manage to wear Levis to work, something I’m happy about. Not blue jeans, but black or gray or brown that can camouflage quite well with a suit coat and tie. My Japanese counterparts are almost all in suits and ties, although I have one friend, Yoh-san, the aforementioned professor of physics, who manages to get away with casual clothes as well since he spends a lot of time in his lab. He has a an office similar to mine except his has a home-made particle accelerator in it...
Yoh-san has tried to explain his experiments to me before, but I haven’t got a clue what it is he’s doing. When I see his apparatus, the only thing I can think of is that tunnel in Switzerland where they might be making a black hole that will swallow the universe. My friend the professor scoffs at that. He says if a black hole is created, it will only be a small one. That’s reassuring to him, maybe...
The language lesson for today, children...
In Japan, English has a certain cachet, [I may have said that before - sounds familiar] that goes beyond the actual meaning of the words. Think about it. The people here who make all of the things with English words on them are usually looking for design and thinking about style, not actually sending a message. Their audience, for the most part, doesn’t understand the words anyway, so technically, it doesn’t matter what they say. The t-shirts and other clothing with English slogans on them are cool in Japan and often hilarious to English speakers. [As a side note, I’ve often wondered what Japanese and Chinese people think about the use of their alphabet on American items, including tattoos. I’m sure mistakes are made there as well.]
I saw a young girl the other day wearing a t-shirt that said ’Brigands demand your money or your life’. Yeesss, but why put it on a t-shirt? At least it was grammatically correct and that doesn’t happen often. I have a student in one of my classes that wears a t-shirt that says, on both sleeves, ‘Knowledge and recommendation, my ass.’ Again, correct English words, but I have no idea what it means. I do think it’s very funny, however.
The sign here is a good example. I saw it and thought, "None of those words go together”. Still, I guess it achieves its purpose. It's hard to see, but the photo on the right side of the billboard is of a beauty shop. Go to Fresh Salad Emotion for all your clinic and design needs.
