|
NanYu
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Brian
Birthday: 10/5/1980
Gender: Male
Interests: I have a bunch, but the only ones that I think you really care about are:
Taiko , wushu, Roots, FOOD
And People with whom I can do all this with!
Expertise: Nothing... haha ok maybe laughing... I like to laugh ill admit it. And I laugh loudly...
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
AIM:  bnslugz
Member Since:
11/29/2002
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Henry Leroy MinchThey all thought we sounded like crows. The 3 grandsons of the 3 daughters all calling out "Pa!" We weren't in sync, nor tone, but we were all together down on the beach awaiting inspection, calling out so that he would come out of the house and peer down the 13 steps to the beach and answer us. As grandsons who visited for the entire summer on hood canal, getting to stay with our grandparents right next to a private park, right on the water with a beach, we had our chores. The first chore was always to clean the beach. After the storm of winter and the year had blown all manner of rock and shell onto our beach, the lush living ecosystem of Spring had coax all manner of life to grow. Oyster had sharp shells made even sharper where barnacles grew upon them, and grow they did. But we grandsons were relentless. With hoe, rake, shovel, and wheel barrow we cleaned the beach, during the low tide of the day.
This was our daily routine, our lives governed by the tides. We awoke to check the tide charts, how long would the tide go, how far out would we get to explore. How high would it get at night? would we get to go swimming after dinner? Could we jump off the landing? or just the bulk head? We had no idea what day of the week it was, we just looked at the tide tables and looked for the next day. The morning was governed by chores to clean the beach but one 12 noon hit. We magically transformed into fish. jumping into the drop off, getting knee deep in mud, we no longer had any concept of returning inside. Not just because we feared the rules of the house ( you had to wear shirts at the dining table, you couldn't rest your elbow on the dining table, you had to walk, etc) but we were determined to get every ounce out of the day. In and out of the water we would go. I practically lived in swim trunks all day long, all summer long. Why wear anything else? the only time i wasn't wearing them were the times when they were hanging on the line to dry for the next day. This too didn't stop us from swimming at night when the tide was high and the weather was warm.
This was how i spent the summers of my youth. This time in my life is one of my most precious moments, i learned so much that i would later learn were not things the average kid grew up with. How many kids grew up eating seafood and shellfish of such great abundance that you had caught that you knew no concept of how expensive it was? how many kids grow up setting off legal fireworks you bought on reservation property? How many grow up camping? Fishing? In retrospect it almost sounds like summer camp but it was better. It was with my family, with my cousins, with my aunts, with grandparents, and their siblings.
I stopped making the trips up there in middle school and when high school hit it wasn't even an option as i was taking classes. During college i made it up there for a week for two years and tried my best to soak up what once was. Few years ago my grandparents moved out of their house and none of the grandkids had the finances to even opt to buy it. A few months ago my grandfather went into hospital care for a tumor, and though he seemed at times like the same man i knew all those years ago they were but fleeting shadows of the true. A few hours ago i got the call that he had passed.
I was at Obon festival, it is a japanese festival in which they honor the dead, those who have passed from ones own family. It is a time around family reunions and grave cleaning. It was also a day before what would have been his birthday. I did not go to Obon with the expectation that i would be going to honor my grandfather, but never the less i did.
As I look where my life will take me and where i want to direct it i can't help but reflect on how much he has influenced me. For it was from him that i got my strong respect and interest with science, seafood, cooking, etc. It feels like going forward in life i will now be at a beach calling up to him again "Pa! Pa! Pa!"
| | |
| Call itIts that point. I have reached a mile stone in my life. Im sure you're right there with me. You graduated from school. You got a job. You moved out. You're checking things off of your list like no other. Then a year or two passes and your still.... at that job. You're thinking about more school. And that job is starting to wear thin. And you are hearing it from your friends. They are in the same boat. You are not a pioneer. You ARE and ADULT! you work 9 to 5, or 11 to 7. You have your obligations, boards you sit on, dinner plans, bdays to attend, shopping, maybe a class or two. But you feel idle, you want a change. New Job, Better money! Go back to School, I wish i could go back to college... It sad, we look at grad school as a time commitment we are hesitant to make, and in reality we have made one, just instead of a degree, we made one of little to no change. After years and years and years of a routine of change. Fall, Xmas, Jan, Spring break, June graduation, Summer vacation, repeat. We have landed in, Monday wake up work till Friday, sleep, repeat. With the occasionaly evening with something. I like to plan, dont get me wrong i like having stuff to do, but i sometimes wish the stuff i did had a focus or a momentum i was building towards. The next conceivable step is home ownership which frankly i can't see myself doing just as of yet. So whats between college and.... home ownership?? .... oh wells. | | |
| Do you remember??Ah summer. its back!
And like all good things in life it has a multi pronged attack on use. Experiential they call it i think. Smells and sounds, feelings, lighting. When i leave the office the smell and the sound really remind me of my summers in Washington. I REALLY miss them and the happiness that came with that time. You can't relive the past... that so sad, sometimes i wonder if it prevents us from enjoying and making new wonderous memories of the now...
| | |
| So.... i think im crazyOk today was the first day in... MANY YEARS that i actually took a nap. It was also the first day in many many weeks if not months where i just slept.
I dont get to do this too often but i recall the net results; Im usually physically exhausted at some point at night, but my brain will not shut up. This is where i am right now. I can feel im tired and if i could , i would, lay down and pass out yet again. But i find myself thinking about a short stories and the necessity to stuff poultry when you roast it, is it truely to enhance flavor and provide a side dish/dressing or is there a secondly reason that the bird it self cooks better because it renders the fat since it cooks longer?
Honestly these are not questions nor topics that i think you even care about, i am surprised i am actually caring about them then i thought, why am i? Haven't i had a busy enough weekend? Well nope. I found time to take a bloody nap and not feel guilty and now my brain is well rested and not occupied. There are many reasons i like to stay busy, mostly its because i dont have the time to entertain every crazy idea that comes into my head and its best to keep me busy. I suffer from this at work when the pace gets slow and i find im reading about geffin goods, or various aspects of biology and how they are classified.
Maybe i have adhd, whatever it is if i dont fall asleep in the next 50 mins im likely to start on some kind of project and see where it takes me. Heck i might even head into work 10 hours early just to screw with the coworkers...
| | |
| Sakura.... sakura..... nah nah nah nah naaa na na naah naIts ova! Yes Sakura Matsuri this year hs now officially completed. And after 2 weekends and 4 days, 3 performances on the peace plaza, 1 concert at the Kabuki, and 2 floats in the Parade; its over. Now my aching feet can rest, now my weekends are marginally free, now i can breathe again and think about something that doesn't require me to wear the same shirt as 40 other people. Cherry Blossom festival is really an amazing experience and I do love to see it, as i think festivals, mostly because of the food and beer, tend to make people happy. And what more could you want then happy people?! Taiko is more then drumming, one of the best things about taiko is how we are all there to support each other, to enourage each other and push each other and selflessly give to the greater cause. Its like a religion i guess we just get to bang on big drums and scream and generally make A LOT of noise. So for those who missed the free shows again this year (JONAS) or the parade i strongly encourage you to think about attending our BIG 40th anniversary show in November, as it is very possible no future show will be as AMAZING! | | |
|
