I Found This in the Garbage

I know I really shouldn’t have, but I just wanted to try it out. And then it turned out to be a pretty awesome ride-with lots of room for groceries and a really trusting skinny hipped friend with a weak neck, if I can find one of those.  I found it on Tuesday and I […]

Never Change

There’s a secretary at work who dresses like she’s about to play soccer, but she’s not.  I like her.  She shuffles everywhere.  She moves slow. She doesn’t talk much. In an office of people who are yelling and gesturing and grabbing papers like they’re playing a stock broker in the movies during a collapse of […]

A Home

http://easthouse.cyber-ninja.jp/guesthouse_e/nishifunabashiI_en.html

I moved into a new share house when I came back from S.E. Asia.  On the spectrum of “I love the feeling of community that communal living provides!” and “I can’t afford my own toilet, shower or kitchen; leave me alone,” I think we fall closer to the “I can’t afford my own toilet, shower, or kitchen; leave me alone,” side of things.

One of the first people I met drives a semi truck.  I do wish my first reaction wasn’t to ask questions about the cab while thinking, “I’m so going to try to ride with him somewhere.”

This morning I went into the kitchen before work where a middle aged man in thick glasses, high wasted gym shorts, and a deeply tucked in shirt was leaning over a charring piece of salmon. I said, “you should turn the heat down or flip it,” and he said, “No, no, the top isn’t done yet.” When I left for work the kitchen was filling up with black smoke, and he was still just standing there watching it.

So it’s kind of a house for the functionally retarded.  I’m feeling pretty at home here.

 

A Big Pudding

The thing about junior high is that they’re the same ages, but they’re totally different sizes and at different stages of development.  It’s rainy season and everyone’s sweaty, but lots of the boys walk around with their arms around each other’s necks and shoulders.  Some of them look mismatched like a bull mastiff in love […]