I met a girl today. I think she and I had something, well, a little or almost something which I like to call chemistry. At the end I said goodbye. She smiled and did the same.
Maybe I should have tried a bit harder. Part of me feels that way, and strongly. But at least now I know what I'm doing. It's what I might without irony call my Florentino Ariza moment. Not quite the epiphany. But still.
And so that is something, something good.
And I think that's life. In a way we sometimes have to reinvent ourselves a few times in our lives, as my favourite author, Senor. Marquez has noted.
See you!
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
CLXVIII - to the hon. dead
One of the colder nights in Takayama, I was reminded of what Isaac Newton once said to a friend. He said, if I have been able to see far at all, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. Isaac f'ing Newton.
The Shinkansen was built in the '50s by a man and his chief engineer at Japan Railway. As I gather, it is by all accounts an absolute success. However, that man and his buddy sold the idea of building high speed rail by putting forward to the politicians a lower price than they knew to be true. A sleight of hand involving a loan from the world bank was also effectuated. The idea passed and the country never looked back. When the costs were eventually revealed, they accepted responsibility, they also resigned.
I salute you, Shinji Sogo, Hideo Shima.
The word Japan and the words war atrocities are sometimes regarded relatedly. Yes. The tension will never fully dissipate. It will remain relevant as long as men bear arms. But there is shame and there is honour in all things. As knopfler says, we have just one world, but we live in different ones.
If I did not believe in my God, I suspect I would say a prayer to the dead men (and women) before me. In short, I would say, let me be a worthy son to you, my fathers. Let me be worthy of your shoulders.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants
The Shinkansen was built in the '50s by a man and his chief engineer at Japan Railway. As I gather, it is by all accounts an absolute success. However, that man and his buddy sold the idea of building high speed rail by putting forward to the politicians a lower price than they knew to be true. A sleight of hand involving a loan from the world bank was also effectuated. The idea passed and the country never looked back. When the costs were eventually revealed, they accepted responsibility, they also resigned.
I salute you, Shinji Sogo, Hideo Shima.
The word Japan and the words war atrocities are sometimes regarded relatedly. Yes. The tension will never fully dissipate. It will remain relevant as long as men bear arms. But there is shame and there is honour in all things. As knopfler says, we have just one world, but we live in different ones.
If I did not believe in my God, I suspect I would say a prayer to the dead men (and women) before me. In short, I would say, let me be a worthy son to you, my fathers. Let me be worthy of your shoulders.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants
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