The punchline isn’t coming

A New Zealander, an American and an Australian are sitting in a Jazz bar… the problem is I haven’t got a joke here.

Last night I was able to relax for the first time in a long while with a couple of friends. I don’t get out much having kids and all. In the course of the evening my wife rang me a few times because the little tykes won’t sleep. I was shirking my duties as a father.

But was able to have some great conversation about being minorities (I love it when the white guy realizes his minority status), cultural mishaps and past misdeeds. The fact that I had once spent six years doing nothing but reading amused my friends somewhat. And thinking back on it it was a great time in my single life. I learnt a lot about myself through indulgent contemplations.

It amused them even more that my marriage got me off my butt to restart my graduate school ambitions. Being responsible for the lives of others (a partner and two kids) is like no other motivation… at least for me. Yes, I am weak when it comes to self-motivation, but because it works for me I can’t and won’t complain.

And when I got home my wife’s glare said it all – they were finally asleep after a two hour wrestle (she was team tagged). But she forgave me soon afterwards knowing how much I needed to release some stress.

Three more assignments and then it’s intensive course work. Joy.

Bald what?

I guess I didn’t notice any bald men or women.

I have been so incredibly busy that I haven’t even updated my blog (blasphemy).

Six assignments to complete in two weeks leaves no time for blogging. But it is a good thing. If my life revolved around a blog I would be in trouble.

Wearing bald filters

This post by Lily on Hot Bald Guys (HBG) got me thinking about perception.

While in linguistics there is much talk a lot how about language colours our values – the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis – virtually nothing is said about how direct perception works in this way.

Sure, Lily has planted a meme in my brain with her “mind-controlling” post but it need not be from the words of another for me to get fixated about something. The purchase of a spanking new state-of-the-art Italian racing bike in my school days made me notice every bike and every person not on a bike (but should be, according to my philosophy then) for the first three months.

While it can be argued that a “filter” like this could have been set up by words previously I think this is too simple a view. It’s the chicken-or-the-egg all over. It doesn’t matter which comes first. If filtering starts, it starts. They reinforce each other.

So how many bald guys – hot or not – will I notice today?

Do we stand on firm ground?

The ground is not as firm as we make it out to be.

With recent reminders from the such natural events as tsunamis and earthquakes that the workings of the planet are far beyond our control should humble us. Yet modern society believes otherwise, that the human species has all the answers, holds all the cards, and is greater than what the planet can deal us, like having aces up one’s sleeve.

Yet for all the bluff we are ultimately at the mercy of the planet. Being at mercy is perhaps too passive and too negative an image. Perhaps it is better to say we are indebted to the planet for all that we have. In short, we are lucky.

Take, for example, the earthquake which struck Eastern Japan yesterday and killed seven people. Japan being at the edge of two large tectonic plates is an island-nation susceptible to earthquakes. Tremors per day can be from the tens to the hundreds, most not being felt. And as a country used to earthquakes it is ready for them like no other nation.

Yet the worry is not the devastation from a earthquake that is our only concern today, but also problems from nuclear and chemical accidents caused by natural disasters.

But what if an earthquake/tsunami similar to the Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004 struck a region with a higher concentration of nuclear plants (like Japan) and causing similar devastation? The death toll directly from the natural disaster would simply be compounded by the man-made disaster that follows. I cannot imagine this and neither do I want to.

Literally, we do not stand on firm ground. It can move and crumble into the sea. It can be swept away by mechanisms greater than our collective being. A nuclear plant can literally be tossed into the air and no safety system can stop it from breaking. Nothing we can build today can match the destructive force of the evolving planet. And we should not try to even think such thoughts, let alone act in this way. It is simply foolish and it will disappoint us.

Ideologically, we also do not stand on firm ground. Perhaps if we learn to be humble once more we may learn to live with the planet and not against it as is the recent trend. And we may see that all that we have is but a long stretch of good fortune rather than any true ingenuity on our part (the human species cannot take credit for the billions of years of evolution that created them). And perhaps we will, one day, be defined as the species which “conquered life” with humility and gratitude. This is my sincerest hope.

The meditations of wo-chan

“So how do you deal with thoughts? I can’t seem to stop my thoughts when I tried meditation.” my friend from Australia asked me.

Perhaps this is one of the first and most fundamental mistakes first-timers make when meditating. Meditation isn’t about stopping your thoughts, although some advanced meditation techniques aim to do this.

Close your eyes for a moment now and try not to think, even for a single seconds. It is virtually impossible. The harder you try the harder it seems. The point is meditation isn’t about stopping your thoughts but rather becoming more aware of what thoughts are and how they work on the individual.

By understanding thoughts it is possible to deal with them more realistically. Meditation need not be from the Buddhist or Yogic perspective. It could just a practice for control and awareness. To believe anything more in the powers of meditation would be to make it into something more greater than what it is.

Again there are claims of powers gained from meditation, but has it really changed the world? Do we have leaders with supernatural powers who has come to save the world through their meditation? The answer is an emphatic no. The change is within oneself and there is nothing to show for it except for, perhaps, a better understanding of (and relationship to) the world and an unusual sense of serenity. And it is in the (non-)self that it shall reside. To ask anything more of meditation is to be chasing spirits.

Out, damn gout, Out!

So Friday my gout peaked to a crescendo of screams between work and wife. Then I managed to have a quiet Saturday, this time in between lying in bed and quite literally crawling around on the floor with my daughter (zero years-old as they say in Japan).

On Sunday was the local festival at the shrine. I had invited another Australian friend to come around for lunch and then to go together to the shrine. Unfortunately my gout had gotten better, but not well enough for me to put any pressure on to my left foot. So she had to go with my family while I laid in bed to rest up. Apparently the festival had drawn a lot more people this year. I am kicking myself for missing it.

So my day ended quietly.

But today I am able to walk but only on my heel. And thankfully it is a public holiday. (Marine Day. What a great name for a holiday). While my left foot still hurts a little I expect the pain to be gone by tomorrow. And since I do not have classes tomorrow I will work from home to give it extra rest.

Bury your money… and help the environment

“Should there be an environmental tax?”

That was the question on one of the TV programs tonight. The show consisted of a mixed panel of experts and television personalities. At the beginning the panel was split evenly between those for and those against. The question was raised by one of the television personalities with a Beatles haircut.

This Beatles look-alike had been to Norway to see the “Norwegian Woods”. And he was trying to convince those against the tax that we need to live closer to nature to realised how important the environment is.

His argument was that with the tax we could plant more trees and “do other things” with the money to protect and restore the environment. But those against the tax had doubts that such a tax would guarantee that the money would be spent this way.

One panellist, a professor of ecology (on the against panel) from Waseda University (a prestigious private institution in Japan, like Yale in America) made the comment that do we really need to plant trees because through ecological succession the environment will renew itself. He also believed that the money from the tax should be buried instead of spent on useless plans like the one mentioned above. That each person should make efforts to consume less. He was made to look like a crackpot for his comments. But his idea is not so far fetched as some on the panel had made it out to be.

Why I say this is because I believe consuming less and spending less are not the same thing. We often mix up financial consumption with physical consumption. Or else we measure physical consumption in monetary terms.

As an individual if I save money by placing it into a bank account I have saved money but I haven’t really “stopped spending”. That money I had put into the bank is lent out for another to spend, so in reality the spending hasn’t stopped; Only someone else is doing the spending or investing. And for my troubles I receive interest.

Once upon a time banks were more like safety deposit boxes. Over time the banks transformed into lending services. And so now we are spending more money than there really is (the banks apparently keep around only ten percent of bank deposits. The rest is either invested or lent out).

So coming back to the idea of consuming less rather than spending less, not only do we need to buy less but also to literally take money out of the system, to slow the Keynesian multiplier.

As the multiplier effect works wonders at even ten percent injection, so it is possible to reverse the trend by a modest ten percent withdrawing of money from circulation. And since the governments won’t do it for us I propose we do it for them.

Have you ever wondered why it is illegal to tear, melt or burn money? And why does it feel like such a sin (for the religiously inclined) or waste (for the economically inclined) not to spend the money in pocket? Try not only to consume less but to also secretly take money out of the system. Try burying it. If it is paper money it might even decompose and add nutrients to the soil. At the same time you would be doing our consumer culture a favour. How’s that for efficiency?

Hiroshima ben

I have only noticed in the last few days that my son is beginning to use Hiroshima dialect, or Hiroshima-ben, a lot more.

He would say Daigaku ni ittan? (You went to university?) instead of Daigaku ni itta?

Or he would reply Taben, (I don’t want to eat it.) instead of tabenai.

He picked it all up from kindergarten, Mum and the grandparents.

While I don’t think I speak with Hiroshima dialect (I was taught standard Japanese) my wife says I most definitely do. The power of wanting to fit in or be part of a sub-group is just amazing. We do it so unconsciously it all but blinds us to its power.

My left foot

So I went to university in our second car – an automatic. Since it was my left foot that was swelling this time I could at least drive myself to school without having to worry about a clutch (in Japan right-hand drive is the standard).

I got to school, did my preparation for the group presentation meeting for the afternoon, had lunch with a friend (walked to the dining hall across the road very slowly), forgot to take my pain killers, took care of mail before the meeting, did the meeting (which went well) and drove home around four.

Then I tried to get out of the car…

The pain was incredible. And my left foot had swollen somewhat. Even with my wife supporting me I couldn’t walk the ten metres (thirty feet) to my door. I couldn’t walk around my house. I couldn’t help with the chores, with the kids.

The whole evening I was a moaning bag of blubber, sitting on the sofa or lying on the bed. We had dinner and I had my medicine.

By the time the kids were asleep the pain had subsided to allow me to sleep… until now… around 1am.

Looking back at this week I realised I had taken in all the foods which are bad for my gout – (a single glass of) beer, prawn, meat. And I hadn’t been drinking enough water. Talk about Diet Hell. Life just doesn’t seem enjoyable any more.

And then I look at my peacefully sleeping wife and children on this muggy evening, soon-to-be typhoon struck world of mine, and feel a whole lot better. *smiles*

DIY wind power

Who said it cannot be done?

I found this uplifting article via Brian Larter’s blog (I need it during my gout attack).

William Kamkwamba, an inventive 14 year old (back in 2002) had decided to haul his father’s bicycle up a tree to make a wind generator.

Two things immediately stuck me:
- We don’t need power companies and electricians to be able to generate electricity.
- And there is benefit to learning English after all, not just to be brainwashed by Cultural Imperialists.

As a teacher of English I have struggled with the question of why I should teach English as a second language when the majority of the world neither speak it nor need it. Not only has this article on William given me new hope about English teaching but also it has reminded me how much I have relied on others for services I have taken for granted as someone who was born lucky.

As I am at the beginning of my DIY-phase-philosophy in life (growing own food, using less prefab crap) I am seeing that there are ways to become free from consumerism and its market orientation.

So I would thank William for showing me, us, something wonderful and I wish him all the luck. I hope he continues reading all those useful books in English. This is just inspirational.