Silver linings

カリフォルニアで子育てとか仕事とか。

Recent favorite writer

2008-08-24 22:35:41 | 日常

松浦弥太郎随筆集
くちぶえサンドイッチ (2003)

My recent favorite book. But I have to return it tomorrow. I got this book from my coworker with some sticky notes. She put them for some pages that I might be interested in. And I really did.
Thank you :-)

The author Yataro Matsura got inspired by San Francisco’s cutting edge indie publisher/bookshop "City Lights" and he also started his own bookshop back in Japan. Now he is the owner of a unique bookshop called "Cow Books" in Tokyo. I, too, like the City Lights in San Francisco.

Matsura-san has an eye for sensing the subtleties of everyday life, I think. He senses so many things from simple daily life and translates them into words. Very simple and natural, but somehow it is touching. I like his essay.

Here is some essay out of his book.



「何をしよう、どこへ行こう」
松浦弥太郎

大好きなS&Gを聞いたり、ギターを弾いたり、
遠い景色を見たり、小さな旅をしたり、
何かを選んだり、何かを探したり、
本を読んだり、手紙を書いたり、
一生懸命料理をつくったり、それを食べたり、
他愛ないことを話したり、聞いたり、
歌を唄ったり、くちぶえを吹いたり、
助けたり、助けられたり、
わがままを言ったり、わがままを受け入れたり、
作ってこわして、また作ったり、
グチや弱音を言ったり、それを聞いてみたり、
嘘をついたり、嘘をつかれたり、
退屈したり、夢中になったり、
昔のことを思い出したり、今日を思ったり、
忘れたり、忘れられたり、
秘密をつくったり、打ち明けたり、
ぼんやりしたり、ごろごろしたり、
さわったり、さわられたり、
辛かったり、うれしかったり、
怒ってみたり、褒めてみたり、
どきどきしたり、どきどきされたり、
涙を流したり、笑ったり、
抱きしめたり、抱かれたり、

近づいたり、離れたりするけど、
決して心は別れない。

何もしない、どこにも行かなくても、
一緒にいることが当たり前な関係でありたい。

そういう当たり前な友達でありたい。
そういう当たり前な家族でありたい。

---

nmm... sweet, but straightforward :-)
松浦弥太郎随筆集 くちぶえサンドイッチ
松浦 弥太郎
DAI‐X出版


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Takagi Masakatsu Live

2008-08-23 10:51:48 | 日常
I had a good Friday night.
There was a concert of Takagi Masakatsu in Kyoto and I went there with my friends.

Takagi Masakatsu - Girls


Takagi Masakatsu is a visual artist and musician whose work has been projected and played in art spaces and clubs throughout Europe, the United Sates, and Japan. He travels around the world documenting people's everyday lives, and then returns home to Japan where he delicately edits&creates videos and composes music. He lives in Kyoto.

It’s my first time to see his him live, though I’d been listening to him for long time. The sound was just so beautiful and the visuals were was amazing. Listening to the lilting piano lines in his live performance, I almost cried. And right in front of my eyes, the sensuously striking motion video synchronizes as he plays the piano. Amazing.

In his video, people’s everyday lives are projected digitally, there people's motion, facial expressions, and nature things like water, light, wind etc, all that are brilliantly colored and vibrantly motioned. It was truly inspiring. Reminds me that the world is so much filled with color, sound, motion, and wonder.


at a Caffe in Hosomi Art Museum (before the concert)


Spritually healing Friday night. Thanks :-)

Osaka B-gourmet tour

2008-08-22 00:19:29 | 日常
Having a scholar-friend visiting from Tokyo, my coworkers and I went out on a B-gourmet tour in Osaka. What is B-gourmet? It is a food which is relatively low budget. So, simply, it is a B-class food (not A-class, not fancy and not high quality). But that does not mean "not good". Even if it is B, there are many good food with cheap price. In that sense, Osaka is a paradise for B gourmet!



While most restrants/bars were empty because it was Wednesday (mid of a week, not so many people go out), this Ajiho was different. The restaurant was full of people and had a vigorous atmosphere. People drink, eat, talk and laugh loudly. The menu, written by hand, all displayed on walls, lively-talking waitless, and your eyes start smarting with smoke. Wow! This is the very Osaka restaurant! And takoyaki is the star of B-gourmet! (Don't say it's C...)


Takoyaki ¥300
味穂(Ajiho address)
大阪府大阪市中央区西心斎橋2-8-33 センタービル1F
Tel: 06-6213-8806


Doteyaki 2 sticks ¥300(どて焼き)

Oishi~!!!!! (taste gooood!!!!!)

Good friends, good food, and nice topics. Nothing more to say. That is what it is all about - our life. Well, the truth is that it is not the quality of the food, but it is the good company, which makes the feast. With great friends, any food will be A-class!

The tour goes on.

Minced Cutlet! ¥750(ミンチかつ!)


Beef & Egg bowl ¥700(ビーフ・ワン! ←ビーフ+お椀 …ネーミングが大阪!)

はり重(Hariju address)
大阪府大阪市中央区道頓堀1-9-17
Tel: 06-6213-4736

We almost did Kuidaore.
(Kuidaore=Osaka keyword, means "Eat yourself into ruin" "Eat until you fall down" )

Environment does matter.

2008-08-19 23:16:58 | 日常
The 2 years and a halfThe 2 and a half years, I spent working with two interesting scholars on an innovative learning project – seeing them most almost everyday – were extraordinary thrilling and intellectually rewarding. There, I encountered a learning principle that influenced my research work.

Unfortunately, the project ended up failing last spring. We didhadn't gathered since that then, but today, I met them and we had a nice talk about what we used to talk – project learning, designing, art and technology, innovative tools, social and emotional learning...etc. And I realized how much I missed them; how lucky I was to be able to see the inspiring coworkers almost everyday. I believe that the 2 years and a half shaped my values, my thought process, and my intellect/academic goals in my work.


@Cocos near Doshisha univ.

Now the project has been over, but the ideas and the intellectual passion remain as much as when I first encountered them. "There must be something more, something different, more interesting things...," that ambition motivates me now.

After all, I think I would like to be a social constructionist who develops own learning through interactions with people in "playful" learning environments. The potential for learning is everywhere - the environment, the people around you, the activity you're engaged in, and tools you use - they all cultivate your learning sensibilities.

Working on that project was always hard but definitely fun. That was a really great learning environment for me.

Into the thin air of Mt. Fuji !

2008-08-16 16:05:53 | 日常
※間違いを赤で修正。
(もう文法は教えられないわ)

----

Guess where it is?

On Aug.8th, I was above the clouds! I don't know what driven drove me to do this, but I finally took the challenge to make the climb of Mt. Fuji with my mom.

We started at about 9:30 on Friday morning at the 5Th of 10 stations, which is the common starting point for climbers. The 5th station was packed with people, and I was actually a bit surprised that climbing Mt. Fuji is very popular not only among the Japanese, but also among foreign people. People of all nationalities, ages, shapes, sizes, and background's come to climb the mountain!

I was really nervous if about whether I could make the climb, since I didn't even have enough time to do some walking. No practice time. (I know, back in Kyoto, my coworkers and my boss were betting if i can could make it!)


At 3400 meters, 2008/08/08, 5:00pm.
The climbing itself was not really challenging but the altitude (3400m!)definitely put a heavy strain on my lungs.


The world below must be very hot and humid on that day, but here above the clouds it was a totally different world, less than 10℃.


2008/08/08, 9:00pm
We reached our rest hut at about 4:30pm, and there we had a light meal and got rest until about 1:30am. After I took that this long break, my worst fear became reality. Yes, I finally got mountain sickness because of the this altitude and the thin air...my head started aching so much and I felt dizziness. It was a really really hard time. 10pm, 11pm, 12midnight, 1am... time goes but the huge headache and nausea did not stop and I could not sleep at all... Meanwhile, I saw some people giving up the climb and going down the mountain. I also thought that I might have to turn back.

I knew that the right judgement is would be critical, since, in the mountain, my safety depends only on me, and no one else. I was very afraid of continuing the climb, but eventually I took a the challenge. "Everything is on me" - the simple principle in the mountain, I liked that idea of self-responsibility.

At about 2am, we were off again trying to reach the top before the sunrise. From the hut to the top, the route was the hardest with real rock climbing, and of course we were in the dark, using headlamps and flashlights. Besides, so many people were heading for the peak around at the same time, and the the trail actually became a traffic jam of climbers.


Yaaaay... !!! 3776 meters high!!!
at 4:30 am, we got to the top in time to see the sunrise around 4:45. Everybody was holding the a camera and waiting for the sunrise.


I was expecting the a thicker "cloud-sea" than this, but there was not as much as I expected:-( but anyway, I happily viewd the the sunrise above the clouds. (Actually I could not enjoy this view so much because of the sickenss)


2008/08/09, 4:45am


The most challenging thing (physically) in this summer!

Returning from the top was actually more exhausting. The trail weaving back and forth going down on the surface of the mountain. Deep sand, and rocks, and our exhaustion, were by far much worse than anything we had dealt in with going up. It felt like forever... Took us about 4 hours to get down.

After the climb, we went to an Onsen(hot spring) near the lake Kawaguchi. The whole time in the mountain, we had been wet with sweat , and muddy with dust, and but finally we got relaxed in the bath.