The Constorium of Greater Minds

second winter, japan. first full year, japan. last new year, japan. two-thousand-eight has been a…significant year, i suppose. heading into 09 there is a much different feeling than the one present when greeting 08. what is it, what’s changed or what hasn’t changed, perhaps? I love japan but will be ready to leave in this new year. better to leave when you’re ready than precipitately. But oh-ate…travel, of course. The ship took me to the mountains and snow of far north japan and the island of Hokkaido, then to the tropic heat of Bangkok and Singapore, the madness and energy of Manila, the emerald waters of Borneo, the city lights of Hong Kong, twice, and of course, the grime and glamour of Busan. Owe-eight also brought me back to America for the first time since leaving in early 2007. Newport, New York, DC, Seattle and LA. a bitter sweet return it was. Sweet were friends and family, bitter was…a stone tossed into the lake of life, sending out ripples that are still stirring the calm surface masking a fervent churning beneath. Cause in 08 and effect in 09. I could go on. But, japan, japan, japan. I’m an outsider leading the most solitary existence of my short 24 years – a realization I think eventually catches up to many “gaijin.” It’s a role I’ve never played. But I learn from it and all the emotions it brings. Tokyo is my escape but even she has turned on me. It’s the plight and the reality of the city, magnified ten fold in the world’s biggest. The feeling of being alone in a terrain teeming with people is much different than the feeling of being alone in nature, stripped bare of man. It’s a gnawing frustration that grows with every silent train ride into the city, crammed against bodies that don’t speak, that walk through life like walking on egg shells. It’s every eight hour romance in bars and screaming nightclubs. It’s every beautiful stranger floating by like a ghost in a subway car going the opposite direction. It’s the constant coming and going and not ever staying. Japan is a thrill tinged with sadness for the interloper. I’ve got to get out but I know I’ll miss it when I do. So, twothousandandnine. Goodbye japan, hello…who knows, but change is good. I’m eager for what the new year holds.

Best of Lists for 2thousand&ate

Because I live in years past the titles found on these lists are not exclusive to this past year. in fact let’s not even refer to them as best of lists, let’s just call them lists of stuff from my life in 08. the contents of the following three lists belong here because their existence was revealed to me sometime in the past 365 days.

film:

Vicky Christina Barcelona
Darling
Elevator to the Gallows
Dan in real life
A woman is a woman

music (10 title extended list):

MGMT – oracular spectacular
The Virgins – The Virgins
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
The Roots – Rising Down
Santogold – Santogold
What Color Is Love – Terry Callier
Bobby Humphrey – Blacks and Blues
Keith Jarret – The Koln Concert
Arthur Russell – Calling Out of Context
Max Roach – Deeds, Not Words

books:

The Naked and the Dead – Norman mailer
Colors and Other Essays – orhan pamuk
Snow – orhan pamuk
The Japanese Mind – collection of essays
The Essential Neruda – Neruda

1999 to 2009

thanks to paul mittleman