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June 2021

Texas

Probably one of the most frequent questions that’s never been asked of me, but probably would be if people felt comfortable asking me questions, would be “what’s it like living in Texas”? Well, specifically for my foreign friends, let me answer that question. Texas is big. I mean really big. It’s one and a half times as big as Japan. A statistic that shocks even Americans is that its less distance from San Diego to El Paso than it is from El Paso to Houston. I-10 is about 800 miles… Read More »Texas

Akimoto Yasushi – a Second Take.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about Akimoto Yasushi, the guy who founded the AKB48 jpop empire. Akimoto Yasushi – Good or Evil? I want to revisit that post now. As I’ve become more familiar with Japanese culture, I’ve begun to see nuances that I didn’t before. Are my previous criticisms valid? Yes. He did create an empire that at least has the potential to exploit teenage girls and young women. And as a driver of culture, he bears responsibility for the effects that his songs have… Read More »Akimoto Yasushi – a Second Take.

Kaepernick’s Folly

America (the United States) is, generally, a very patriotic country. We don’t have very many symbols. We have a flag. We have a national anthem. We have a constitution, a declaration of independence, and a few other important symbols. Generally, we tend to be pretty proud of those symbols, as they represent something pretty special. It causes a lot of offense when someone deliberately tramples on them. Our Independence Day is coming up this Sunday. It is a time of fireworks, picnics, and reflection on the things that make this… Read More »Kaepernick’s Folly

Ants

I have a bit of an ant problem in my house. Dunno where they came from but I started finding them everywhere. Little blighters that get into everything in search for that next bit of food. Harmless but annoying. So I got some Terro. It is a sweet liquid that ants love, mixed with borax. They will feast at it until their bellies are full, take it back to the nest,.and share it with everyone until they die a couple of days later. You can even see them forming a… Read More »Ants

Phobias

A phobia is (or used to be) a very specific thing – a fear of something, sometimes crippling. You have acrophobia, the fear of heights. Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. Tristadekaphobia, the fear of the number 13. No one said the fear had to be rational, but it’s a fear. This is why I never use the words “homophobia”, “transphobia”, etc. The thing about those words, is, I think they started out with that connotation. Many years ago there were many people who were afraid of homosexuals, to the point… Read More »Phobias

Liminality

This is the third post I’ve written on this topic. I abandoned the first two. Hopefully this one works out. In my life, I have had several times when I experienced something I could not put a word to. It is a feeling of unreality, of crushing loneliness, like something is subtly but catastrophically wrong. I have had this feeling in the airport, on an airplane, on a toll road, even in a dream. I described it to someone like, if you were a child and went home, and your… Read More »Liminality

Memories: College

This is the second in a series of posts where I recall some memories of earlier in my life. Think of it as memoirs no one wants to read. The memories are as accurate as I can make them, though they may be slightly embellished due to faded memory, and may merge several related memories together. I mentioned a while ago that I was home schooled throughout my high school years. The only social interaction I had was with those in the church I went to. In that church, there… Read More »Memories: College

Memories: Going to the Feast

I am going to write a series of posts where I recount memories. They may be slightly embellished or multiple memories merged together, but will be completely accurate in their essence. It was the day we were to leave for the feast in Dayton, Ohio. The feast (or Festival of Tabernacles) was a seven day religious conference held in different communities. Members were expected to save ten percent of their income over the year and then spend it for this convention. This year (somewhere in the mid to late 80s)… Read More »Memories: Going to the Feast

Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day, at least in my country. On two levels, Father’s Day means nothing to me. On one level, it’s a fake holiday that I’m betting was created because of fathers feeling left out due to Mother’s Day. I have little to no respect for fake Hallmark holidays. On another level, my father and I were pretty much in active enmity, so I have no reason to celebrate it. Because of my particular background, I don’t think too highly of fatherhood. Not to say my opinion on that… Read More »Father’s Day

The Assault of Memories

I have a very good memory. Too good, in fact. Every minute of every day I am assaulted by memories. Some are good, some are bad, some are embarrassing, and some are traumatic. Some are just dreams of a world that should be and isn’t. But I can’t shut then off, and they don’t fail to affect me. The good memories are maybe the most traumatic, paradoxically, because they are things that are gone and may never come back. It seems as I age, there is a kind of plaque… Read More »The Assault of Memories