If You Must Tweeze, Proceed Cautiously

I'm not really sure how to ease my way, wittily, into this one. There seems to be nothing in my head that I can think about telling you that would create the passage I had hoped so I will just throw it out there. Today on the train I watched as a 50 some year old man tweezed his ears most diligently on the train. This is a first for me. A first to actually acknowledge that people do in fact tweeze their ears and a first to realize that it is considered acceptable to do such a thing on the train. Not only did he have the tweezers and the mirror to ensure the careful plucking of specific hairs, but also a cloth that I watched him continually wipe the tweezers with. Right about now I am sure more than a few people are wondering why I am even sharing this story, it really has no substance past the fact that it perpetuates the stereotype that there are things about this country that we will Never understand as foreigners. To be honest, I write about it because it wasn't so much the occurrence that has left me unsettled, it is the reaction I had as it unfolded. Maybe it can be chalked up to time, 'see more, expect less', but what really got to me was the whole safety issue. All I could think about was 'what if the train stopped suddenly and this man got his tweezers lodged in his ear? As one of the people closest to him, would I have to try and dislodge them? Would the most exciting thing that happened to me on this Friday night really have to do with ear hair?' These are the questions that went through my head as the train jetted forward... and yet, perhaps these are the thoughts that are supposed to go through one's head when amazement has worn off and comfort sets in.

A Little Late Non New Year's Resolutions

I am just about to reach the 9 month mark on my adventures in Japan. It has taken a while but reality has once again become somewhat of a hindrance on my daydreams and fantasies of life abroad. Japan is an interesting combination of east and west and it is a combination that does not help foreigners feel like they are ever really at home. I spent the day in Harajuku with a friend catching up and talking about all of the things that life over here brings or doesn't bring to the table. For a little while now I have felt anything but myself, I have locked myself up in side to hide away from the cold, creating a life more suitable to someone 3 times my age, and yet, at the time I was content with it, I didn't want to do anything, the fantasy had worn off and here I was, working full time, living away from my family and not really sure what my next move is. (For anyone who knows me well, I am compulsively planning my life in what seems like yearly increments) Perhaps this would have happened sooner, a lot sooner, had I not had someone so wonderful to spend my time with. To be honest I don't know if I would still be here if it weren't for him. And yet here I am! The winter cold is finally past, harder than most because it was so unfamiliar. The Plum trees are blooming and in a week or two the cherry blossoms will come out and the world will turn on its side again in its constant rotation through the seasons. I didn't do any New Year's resolutions this year, if figured they are usually made up on the spot and just as quickly forgotten. In holding with that, I will make no resolutions here. I will not expect existence as I know it to change because of a few thoughts written, but lets just say I have some goals to accomplish in the new year, some are big and some small, but all are things that I will be the better for doing. 1. I want to get better sleep, I want to sleep through the night and not only that, be able to fall asleep within the first hour after my head hits the pillow 2. I want to dance more. 3. I want to learn more Japanese, I understand that I will not become fluent in a year, but I want to feel comfortable in simple conversation. 4. I want to climb Mt. Fuji, hey, if my parents can do it, so can I!! 5. I want to run more, do yoga more, lift weights more and feel more at peace with my body. 6. I want to let go of my fear of new things... mainly fish type entities, often considered delicacies in Asia. 7. I want to start planning my trip through Asia and then my life back in the states after that. 8. I want to keep in better touch with my friends, it seems no matter how much I love them, I have the hardest time writing them. 9. And last but not least, I want to get to know me better, I still don't understand half the crap I do and sometimes I could just shoot myself for the things I say, I want to become quieter and listen to me and not those around me. While I understand it is customary to make lists out to be 5 or 10 or 100 or something, 9 fits me just fine, I am sure there are many things that I am forgetting but I think this will be good for now... and I am sure my dad, after reading this, will help me to remember anything I forget!!!