Sometimes, extremes leave you feeling off. Waving back and forth between one end of the spectrum and the other can really upset your instruments. The things that help you center don’t seem to work even.
In the space of one weekend, or even one day, I felt both the closest and furthest I’ve been to people since I’ve been here. There are some folks you really connect well with. Similar backgrounds, similar world views, similar openness; bonds can quickly and firmly form under such welcome conditions. Conversely, there are the folks who’ve been around a while and with whom bonds have been made, but somehow moved into outer orbit. Whether it be personal or exterior circumstances (more often than not are they mixed), the wedge continues to be inched inward, like the slow movement of plate tectonics.
Yet, all in all, the weekend was great! I learned how to knit (and purl, which expanded my homonyms for that word to 3), and made excellent food. Relaxed and watched a few DVDs. Also, went to Tokyo to watch Aroop’s debut at The Room, a small nu-jazz club (Kyoto Jazz Massive owns the place). He was mixed in with about 5 other DJs, and the place was packed. The DJed music wasn’t very enjoyable, tho - just because it’s new jazz doesn’t make it good. Just because you sample music that’s not sampled in other kinds of electronic music doesn’t make it original. In fact, I found the sets to be entirely repetitive and unengaging. With no inspiration to dance, and without a space to talk, the experience quickly faded into the gray of forgotten memory, steadily and unforgivingly trodded into the mud of the mind by the heavy, marching 4/4 drum track.
Photos! [clicky]
I’m feeling my mind prepare for post Japan. Suddenly, thots are drifting off to the more distant future. I’m having a hard time focusing on the now, or maybe it’s just work. Yes, I have a hard time focusing on work. Lesson planning is really nice and streamlined now, so I’ve got more time to mull and read. The internet is a big place. digg it?