Entomophobia II

T

he Cicada Days are fast approaching. According to sources, the cicada are due to emerge sometime between May 14 and 18 and will be above ground shedding, screeching, mating, laying eggs, and dying until the end of June. That's approximately 8 weeks. Virtually the entire first session of summer school. Thanks to ldyalanna9's BF for hooking me up with another gross photo of the dreaded cicada. The thought of cicadas--a relatively unfamiliar insect--is starting to give me the heebie jeebies. Check out the red eyes. Is that not weird or what? I went walking outside today and found a bunch of small deep holes around the trees next to our house. M told me that some of the cicadas have probably already emerged and are preparing to break from their shells. I looked up into the trees wondering if these very bugs were looking down at me from above, gleefully waiting to gross me out...

Bugs didn't always freak me out. As a kid, I could pick up snails and grasshoppers, but mostly on dares. I think there was a desensitizing effect from always playing outside. Back then we did not have the Internet, PS2 or Gameboys. Every summer, we played from sun up to sun down outside ih the backyard or in the park and as a result grew accustomed to the environment which included bees, ladybugs, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies, ants. They were still kind of scary, but you learned how to play around them. The scary ones were the unfamiliar ones. I remeber encountering a big black bee--at least that's what my friends and I referred to it as. It buzzed our heads and I all ran home screeching to my mother: Is it poisonous? Do they have them in Japan? Will we survive?

Today, I dislike bugs for different reasons. No, they still give me the creeps, but I have an adult excuse to avoid them: They're filthy. Who knows where a grasshopper or beetle has been crawling? And I'm sure I don't even have to discuss the feeding habits of roaches and flies. Yuck. But I must admit that unfamiliar bugs still give me the willies. When I went to Japan to study--my first time living for an extended period in Japan by myself--I was confronted by a new world of insects. During the summer, they had these mosquitos that had clearly distiguishable black and white stripes around their bodies. One landed on my arm and I was frozen with fear and curiousity as it started to suck up my blood--*gokun, gokun*--before I swatteed it on my arm and saw the splat of my own blood. Gross.

The insect that really freaked me out was one I had never seen before: the cricket. Believe me, if you have never seen one, it bears no resemblance to Disney's Jiminy... Anyway, in the late fall of 1984, I was living in a six-mat tea house in Zenpukuji (Suginami-ku, Tokyo), when I heard an eerie sound. I wasn't sure what it was, but it reminded me of the chirping of insects I had heard at the beginning of the ride at Disneyland, Pirates of the Carribean. I looked around the small room, then into the bathroom where I found a small black critter. Is this what was making the sound? It looked like a small black grasshopper. No sweat, I thought, as I reached down to pluck it up by its hind legs. Then I saw it. On the back of its body, there protruded two horns. Woah! What's this! The grasshopper from hell! I was totally unprepared for this. I jumped back to the other room, grabbed a broom and smack the living daylights out of it. I don't know if it was dead or not, but I got a handful of tissues, grabbed it, and threw it outside. My heart was still beating very hard when I sat down at the kotatsu (heated table), trying to catch my breath, satisfied that I had survived an insectoid attack...

My Japanese friends laughed when I told them what happened. I learned that what I smacked was a cricket, and that many in Japan find their chirping to be rather soothing, and don't consider them to be too much of a pest. Like hell...

What was the wierdest insect you ever came across or was unprepared to confront?

On Mother's day (2)

Y

esterday, Detachable commented: "I think the term mother's day shouldn't be taken so literally. it could mean a day for someone who takes care of you..."

Gotta agree with that one... I spent Mother's Day shopping with M. Yeah she's my wife, not my mother, but I must admit she takes care of me very well, so not to show my appreciation would engender "divine punishment"--tenbatsu “V”±, or bachi for short. Besides, two of her sons are in Japan, and Unagi-kun--her middle son--is not always able to express his appreciation--through no fault of his own. We went to the local mall and M chose some tops for the summer. There were some sales so that helped a bit.

For dinner, we went to our local watering hole. I have found that having a wife who enjoys beer is a double edged sword. She drinks as much as I do, so it can get expensive at times. But on a day like today, she doesn't want to go to some fancy-shmancy restaurant. She'd prefer to go to our local sports pub. On our way from the mall, we passed a couple of restaurants that had people waiting outside, as you might imagine on Mother's Day. But not Glory Days. Any seat at the bar, the undivided attention of the bartender and a pint glass that is allways filled. For her, that's what Mother's Day is all about. I can hardly disagree...

Unwanted toys revisited

Tonight, I tried the crane game again, and I couldn't catch squat! Damn, I spent... nah, I'm too embarrassed to say how much I spent. You'd laugh at me. Actually, I got one Rabbit, that I asked a waiter to hide, then took our son to play the crane game. I got the rabbit from the waiter and gave it to Unagi-kun, and told him to give it to his mom. Just pretend that you grabbed it. This pleased his mother, and started a whole conversation on how it's Mother's Day, and I wasn't supposed to catch anything anyway, that the powers that be led Unagi-kun's hand. I just smiled and suckedon my beer. As long as everyone's happy and loved. Speaking of which...

In my recent entry on the Musubichan Preserve for Unwanted Stuffed Toys, I think some may have gotten the wrong idea. Some of these toys are pretty strange. Not the kind you'd cuddle up with. Mr. Turkey, who some found to be cute, actually was holding a rifle. As I am not a member of the NRA, I immediately relieved him of this weapon. And the eyes are ping pong balls cut in half... But to give you a better idea of some of the varmints in that glass case, let me introduce you to Plankton. For those of you who watch Sponge Bob, he will be familiar to you as the evil mind trying to get the Krabby Patty Formula (whatever that is!) and lives in the Chum Bucket in Bikini Bottom (wherever that may be). For a kids show, this name don't sound very politically correct... Apparently, his famous line is: "I went to college!" So much for education... Anyway, the photo on the right is of three planktons. Actually, we have four, but he ran away when I brought in the camera... They are soft and plush, but I must tell you I have a hard time defining these underwater whale-feed as cute. Ugh!

Anyway, I've been procrastinating waaaaaaaay more than I usually do these past two weeks. I definitely have to do some work, or else people around me will hound me to no end...

So what did you do on Mother's Day?

Happy Mother's day

T

oday is the second Sunday of May, Mother's day. Hmmm, I don't think that there are very many mothers who visit my site, but I'm pretty sure most of you have mothers. Be sure to wish them a Happy Mother's Day, give them a big hug and a kiss, let them know how much she means to you.

At school as a kid, we often spent the Friday afternoon before Mother's Day making cards and drawing pictures to give to Mom. As I grew older, I tried to give something more, usually flowers, sometimes lunch or dinner. But these are things I would do during the course of the year anyway, so I have no real memory of a specific Mother's Day "event." I also remember wanting to give her something more substantial. But present selection was limited. My mother was the type who did not want appliances as gifts. A toaster for Mother's Day? Forget it. A vacuum cleaner? The kiss of death. What kind of message does that send? You're just telling me to work more, she once said. As I reflect back, I can't remember a single Mother's Day present I gave her except one. The first one. When I was seventeen, I was working part-time so I had a little spending money. I wanted to give her something nice. Something that would last. Something by which she would remember me. I went to the local jewelry store in J-town and bought my mother a chain with a gold pendant on it. The pendant was the Chinese character for mother: .

She seemed relatively pleased with it, and she began to wore it quite frequently, even to work. She would get some teasing, people pointing at it and saying; hahahaha... which was suppposed to be a pun of sorts, because the Chinese character is read "haha" in Japanese. Over the years, however, she wore it less and less until even I had forgotten it's existence... until two years ago. As we kids were going through our mother's things after the funeral, I recalled the pendant, but could not find it. I wonder where it went...

I suppose it shouldn't matter. Indeed, to be concerned with such a trinket--let alone the flawed concept of giving her something "by which she would remember me"--suggests the self-satisfaction of giving a gift, rather than being concerned with the happiness of the recipient. What is important to me today are my memories. Which is why I am sad that I can only remember this single present I gave her rather than anything specific I did for her on Mother's Day.

Presents are nice, but be sure to show your appreciation by doing something with your mother. "Spending quality time" sounds rather corny, but in the end those memories are the most important.

Fulfilling Expectations

This is a previous entry that I wrote but never posted. I think it was around mid-February. Kowagaru asked me the following question:

This is really random but what are your thoughts on living up to your parent's expectations?

I don't know if this question is relevant for him any longer, but I thought I'd put up my response since it's a topic that is related to my own story...

As I tell all my students, never live for someone else. Only live for yourself. The only expectations you should be living up to are your own, for if you cannot satsify yourself, then chances are you cannot satisfy anyone else. So do what you want to do, as long as what you do does not infringe on the physical or spiritual well-being of others.

It has also been my considered opinion that parents--for the most part--only want what's best for their children. Of course, this doesn't mean that they are always successful in conveying this attitude. Some parents may push their kids into studying a specific field, because they believe certain fields will prove financially rewarding and ultimately ensure their kids' happiness through economic stability. I'm sure many of you have experienced this first hand or at least have heard of parents wanting their son or daughter to become a doctor or lawyer or engineer. But as I said, this is their attempts to ensure the child's security and for them security = happiness.

But if you do what you want to do and are successful and happy, I have to believe that your parents will be happy, and that you will have fulfilled their expectations.

Have your parents ever insisted on a particular course of study for you? Has the pressure caused stress? If so, how do--or did--you cope?

Senryu salon 川柳つばめ吟社

Inspired by the recent posts of iiSoNySoUnDii, I thought I'd have another senryu meeting.

If you recall, senryu is poetry for the commoners. If you're interested to see how I might evaluate poems read the comments I made of previous submissions. In a real senryu salon situation, there is usually a topic. Everyone submits one poem, and the judge--me--will evaluate and rank them. Since it is the beginning of summer--and for many of us, summer vacation--lets make the topic... Baseball. Here's mine:

He takes off his cap,
as he peers through the knothole:
Star Spangled Banner

I wrote this one yesterday, inspired by a Kobayashi Issa haiku posted by iiSoNySoUnDii. The difference between haiku and senryu is that haiku attempts to capture the essense of man's life in nature--hence the requirement of a seasonal word. In senryu, the focus is on external observation, to compose on man and his activities and how it strikes us--nostalgic, humorous, angry, happy, tired, stressful, judgmental--anything that might elicit a response that is at once mundane and poignant, everyday yet insightful. The poem above tries to represent the essence of the topic, baseball, by capturing a moment in time--like a snapshot--that is familiar to all of us in the US. A kid tries to sneak a peak of a baseball game by looking through a knothole in the outfield fence. He is, obviously, far from the action, perhaps a reflection of the distance between professional athlete and the common man. And yet, there is still a connection. He needs to see the game, even if it is through a hole in a fence--framing the action of a group of privileged humans, suggesting the attention and scrutinization it receives from even a little kid--but when the Star Spangled Banner plays, he, too, feels like a part of the action on the otherside, betraying this attitude by taking off his hat when the national anthem is played.

Okay, maybe its kinda corny, but it reminded me of the Norman Rockwell cover from the Post above. (Click for a larger image.)

Okay guys, now it's your turn. Write a senryu on the topic "baseball". Even if you're unfamiliar with baseball, that shouldn't detract you from trying, as it is all about conveying your image of it. Indeed, the image of one perplexed by the game can be as insightful and poignant as anyone else... Remember, the syllable count is 5-7-5. An extra syllable is sometimes overlooked if it doesn't impede on the rhythm--and only in one of the three lines--but should generally be avoided. Also, reference to the topic is pretty crucial. I single word--umpire, outfielder, strikeout--is usually sufficient. In my poem, the image of looking through the knothole and the national anthem should be enough to suggest baseball, but I must admit, you'd have to be a bit older and American... If you're unsure about what a "moment in time" is, click on the links above, and also think "Rockwell." His illustrations are a perfect example of a snapshot of a moment in time that tells a story.

Of course, you can just give me your thoughts of the above poem... But if you do participate--which I hope you will--remember that I may not be able to comment on all submissions--I will focus on current subcribers as well as those who have bookmarked me at RBJ-- those who have done both will probably get more attention than they might want. All comments will be honest, fair, and when applicable sarcastic. Hahahahahahha!