Month: October 2012

It has been a loooong time since my last random blog and I have a few partially started ones just hanging out in space. So, they’re all being thrown together in one, huge, bubbling pot of random. Here’s a heaping helping of random for your Sunday.  🙂

I wonder how much easier life would be without expectations. I read somewhere that disappointments are the difference between what one expects and what one receives. How simple would life be if we didn’t place our expectations on people? On circumstances? What if we just allowed ourselves to accept anything that came along and didn’t fret over what could have/ should have/ would have happened? With out expectations there are no disappointments, right? But then, would no expectations color life in a monochromatic way? Or would pleasant surprises be all the more pleasant? I’m a deep thinker, today.

Sometimes, I just don’t feel like doing anything except being silent and ignoring my thoughts.

Love doesn’t leave you where are: content with your shortcomings and slipping into complacency. It challenges you to grow, change, morph. I’m sure a butterfly experiences some level of pain while being transformed. But what if the butterfly shunned that temporary discomfort and chose to stay as a caterpillar? It wouldn’t experience anything extraordinary. Our old nature is comfortable, but our new nature is freeing and beautiful. Pain? Sure there will always be some level of pain. But what makes the butterfly beautiful is not her new, colorful guise- it’s knowing what it took for her to get to her new state. The mystery entrapped; visible to no one but God. An intimacy between the Creator and the Creation, experienced by only those two during a specific season. It’s envy-evoking.

I just saw this quote on Twitter and I really like it: “What if God doesn’t owe us an explanation? What if He is…God!?” and it reminds me of answering one of Malachi’s many causewhy?! demands with, “Because I said so! Because I’m the boss!” And also because I know what’s best and he, with his little four-year-old-mind, knows nothing of the world I know. And I, with my twenty-seven-year-old-mind, know nothing of the world that God does.

“Our worst prayers may really be our best. God seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us off guard.” -C. S. Lewis

I’ve been wriggling around with a certain beef I have with this new social society in which we live. After using Twitter for about a year (I closed by account, re-opened it and haven’t used in since) and since being on Facebook for almost four years, I’ve found this inability to form thoughts or sentences (read: blog) consisting of more than 140 characters; it’s driving me absolutely bonkers! My attention span just calls it quits and I have to concentrate to think beyond my initial thought. Maybe another sabbatical is in order; you know, to maintain the human part of me; to connect with real people in real life and have real heart-exchanges.

I cannot even tell you the glee boiling up in my soul for Japanese thrift stores. I LOVE THRIFTING. And I feel like I shall have to dedicate a blog or two to the epic things I find. I don’t even need to accumulate material possessions to appreciate the cathartic experience of just exploring. Textures, patterns, weird art, teeny tiny appliances- it all adds up to , I feel, the real Japan.

I think my new thrill in life, besides Japanese thrifting (obvsly), is refurbished… anything! When I see old, rugged chairs I want to take them home and make them pretty. My refurbished vanity has sort of lit the spark of excitement, of what could be;  but I’m not, you know, at the point of digging through garbage bins or anything, *laughs nervously*…

what i love about japan:

– the old men are adorrrrrable. i want to hug them all. but i won’t because they’re probably ancient and will break.
– in october, a certain tree explodes with little bunches of orange blossoms and fill the air with their most amazing scent. the only thing i can use to describe this sweet smell is pez- it smells the way pez tastes. you can’t escape from it; you don’t want to. it’s the best thing about fall. and i have a feeling fall will be my favorite season around here.  
– watching the old people tend their farms.
– fish markets.
– the produce. pineapples are so sweet. they have kiwi berries! and you can pretty much guarantee whatever you eat will be devoid of toxins and junk.
– thrift stores. ohhemmgee, i have missed thrifting. when you walk into a thrift store in japan, you just know  you’re going to find some ancient, priceless relic. or some out-of-this-world fashion disaster waiting to pounce on your unsuspecting but adventurous sense of style. <— hasn’t happened to me, yet. thank God.
– pear green tea. srsly, you haven’t lived until you’ve had this tea. i plan on mixing it with my kombucha the moment i lay my hands on a SCOBY. 
– finding horrible, scary, tasty, weird candy and snacks. my most favorite has been the melon shake (it’s like they shoved a cantaloupe/honeydew melon hybrid into a can and my life will never be the same. ever.) or their version of caramel popcorn. imagine: packing peanuts shaped like macaroni, tasting like caramel goodness. 
– the look on the japanese faces when mal bows and says, “domo arigato”. they are so impressed and he is so proud of himself. 
– the simple fact that it is october 9th and only just beginning to cool down. seventy-three degrees just 73 days before christmas?! yes, please! also, that whole matching 73 thing was totally coincidence. 
– new friends and new community. it’s harrrrrd being the new girl. luckily, i’m not the only new girl and everyone has been gracious and welcoming. 
– my culture club! once a month, my group of about eight spouses gets together with the same number of japanese women (some of them have been part of this culture club since the 1940s!) to share our culture and form friendships. d’awwww. <3

what i do not love about japan: 

– cicadas. or, as it’s pronounced in australia, cicawdas. anyway. you guys, the noise they make? ear-splitting. and when you have hundreds of them calling to their lovers and engaging in adult cicada activity? grosss and ear-splitting. and when you have all of that at three-o’clock in the morning? alien invasion. i kid you not.
– their disdain and fear of tattoos. yeah, dude. i made my four-year-old get a tattoo. and join a gang. 
– street signs. they read like sentences. so, you’ll see six posted signs (in, say, two rows of three) pretty much just telling you not to park on the street and please go 30kph. also, traffic is like never-ending rush hour.
– when the my look of total confusion is ignored and the little, japanese lady behind the counter continues to blab on as if i am also japanese and understand every word she says. awkward, “ummmm” *signs something to show I DO NOT UNDERSTAND* “ummmm.”  moment is awkward.
– squatty potties. nuf’ said. 
–  it takes one hour to drive 30 miles. because there are stop lights on every.single.block.
– the distance i am from all my friends and loved ones in the states. you’re still in my heart and thoughts! love you!