I am a geek, that I cannot deny. Not so much for the small things. I can't pretend to know what to do with a transistor, or how to fix a TV on the blink. But the potential of technology to change the world, now that gets my motor running. Forgive me - no, tell me - if there are errors in what I say below. I am most definitely not a scientist.

Some ( Read more... )

The sky has no colour, but the air feels unusually substantial in the cold. Somewhere high above, a bird squawks in curmudgeonly complaint. The sound echoes - one but everywhere.

An elderly man in wading boots drifts serenely past on a rusted tangle of once-was-bicycle, leaving a trail of foul smelling tobacco in his wake. It's one of those days ( Read more... )

Everyone has his talent. I really believe that. Some people pull coins out from behind your ears, or pull numbers out their own behinds to trick you even better. Some people drag trucks with their teeth. Some people dance like butterflies, or swans or some such. Some people have the words to say what I wanted to say right there.

Me, I make things. ( Read more... )

Dear, distant friends who do kind, gracious things like send me thoughtful sparkly Christmas cards from afar with news of your year. Your gesture lights up these dark winter days and gives warmth to my heart. Knowing that you've thought of me, and taken the time to put pen to paper, makes me feel that the special bond between our hearts will never ( Read more... )

Rush hour station floor
Tired feet eddy around a
Discarded pompom.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

NaMeaNoWriMo ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. I was seduced away from my creative commitments by a big ol' burger and a range of elaborately girly cocktails. In my defense, they had umbrellas. Oh, the humanity.

But that heroic failure aside, I'm pleased with how it's played out. I've mostly written, most days this month, mostly in full ( Read more... )

I like learning. And I like teaching. But until I taught, I never thought about what it meant to learn, and how differently we do it.

We learn differently as people, and we learn differently based on how we've always learned. I've sat through explanations that were crystal clear in the eye of the explainer, but which made me feel like such a fool. I ( Read more... )

We read a short story in Japanese class today by a writer called Sasaki Kotaro. There was a man who took a bus where he didn't normally, and stood so he didn't have to face the politics of giving up his seat. A well-dressed elderly lady tried to persuade a young mother to take half a daikon radish that she had had to buy whole, but couldn't ( Read more... )

9pm, a crowded Keisei train.

A man shifts in his chair. "Eneos," he mutters gently, "Eneos". He twists more violently, his agitation increasing. "Eneos!" he says again, decidedly.

Eneos sell engine oil.

He takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Disneyland," he adds. The young lady next to him tilts her head gently forward, letting her ( Read more... )

Japan is a land of contradictions. And layers wrapped in layers like honorifics and bean-cakes, and a whole load of other class A bullshit too.

But there's one contradiction that continues to bemuse me, and probably always will. Why is it, in this land of bowing robots, sky-crowding skyscrapers and erudite toilet seats, in this pulsing city of neon ( Read more... )