Hindsight

Today I have been very blue. So I am thinking about the pasts which have been cheerful and fascinating.

Here is more reminiscence. Associated with the memories is an iPod, the inseparable device I brought with me while walking and living in Japan last year.

“A Sorta Fairytale”

Tori Amos

Minamikusami bus from Kokura, in front of the MOVE building, to Kokura Higashi Koko Mae (Kokura East HS) stop near Tahara JHS. Also linked to Murakami-san in that I made her a copy of the “Scarlet’s Walk” album and she loved it.

“Monochrome”

Yoko Kanno, vocals by Ilaria Graziano

Isolation in the colder months. (lyrics)

“Pete Standing Alone” and “Everything You Do Is a Balloon”

Boards of Canada

These two songs are intimately linked with my memories of exploring Akihabara for the very first time.

EssGee

Underworld

What the Statement of Agreement video might have sounded like. The song that brings it all back to me.

Work was full of wackiness. A bit more than usual, which can be equated to almost far too much. But all of us got a bit done and it was just another day at work with good company.

When I come home from these night shifts I sometimes get the day’s mail. Sometimes I’ll procrastinate until the next day. Maybe it was the hope that I actually would get something.

I parked at the designated lot and walked to the mailboxes. Sifted through the mail and what do you know… something from my Board of Education supervisor. From Kitakyushu. I literally smiled at it for a few seconds, out in the cold.

After throwing my shoes to the side, near the front door, I opened up the envelope. A Christmas card. “Various Japanese Foods” - I could actually discern the Japanese still.

How subtle a task this might of been for her, to mail this card out to me. Not someone necessarily close to me, but someone who just brought themselves in touch by way of a simple message; a message that didn’t go by way of e-mail, but by a tangible piece of paper. It may sound awkward, but I am moved by this.

Merry Christmas.