on the true nature of being

I'd forgotten to write about this when it happened, but I think about it enough that I think I will write it now.

My mom was getting ready to play a concert a few weeks ago and so was practicing daily which had been a rarity what with the holidays and things happening. After about 3 or 4 days of practicing in a row, she was taking a break in the living room when I walked in and she commented to me:
"I finally feel like a real person today! I mean, a real person who plays the violin. I mean, a real violinist."

I think she was self-correcting her errors but when I think about it, that's the order I hope to perceive myself in, too. I'd rather be a real person over a 'real teacher' or an 'real artist' any day.

When life gives you lemons...

At the end of our meal last night, my mom picked up the slice of lemon sitting on the plate for the fish, picked the seed out of it and popped the entire thing, peel and all, into her mouth and started chewing! I was surprised to say the least, but felt something akin to filial pride fill me as I thought, "That's a lesson! 'When life gives you lemons, eat the whole damn thing!'" Feeling happy with this I sat back and mused to her that I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to eat the peel...when she unceremoniously spit the entire thing out, still intact, and declared, "That lemon was too hard."

I guess even Superman has his kryptonite.

Alien basketball fans

I was watching the Spurs/Nuggets game last night and my mom watched for a minute, too, and finally asked me what all that squeaking was about. I listened and then I told her it was the sound of their sneakers on the court as they stopped short (I'd stopped noticing it I guess). She said it sounds like an alien language.

I was watching the Celtics just now and was listening to the squeaks again. I told her it was pretty funny that she thought it was an alien language, and she explained further that she'd thought it was like a simultaneous broadcast of commentators, only this wasn't in a foreign language, but in an alien language.

Basketball is forever changed for me. I can only wonder what those alien commentators are saying.

onomatopeia - mctm style

My mom didn't like the lettuce in our salad at dinner tonight. I told her I thought it didn't taste bad, but she said it wasn't pasa-pasa. Now there are a million different words in Japanese that come from the sound of something, often used to describe texture, but this one was new to me. So, just to make sure she hadn't just invented it on the spot, I asked her if that word really exists in Japanese. She said it does. "It's the sound of dry bread."

Apparently our lettuce was lacking the quality best summed up as that of the sound of dry bread. I'll ask my grocer about that before I buy the next head of lettuce.

Movies (rock me Amadeus)

It's my week off (actually, everyone in Japan's week off, practically) and one of the TV stations is playing one old movie each night this week. I actually watched Gone With the Wind in its entirety for the first time last night. What was most interesting was, even though I knew the cliché moments from the movie, I didn't actually have a clue about the story at all. Anyway, then tonight they played The Sound of Music, and at the scene where Maria (Julie Andrews) decides to make the children's play clothes out of her drapery, my mom starts laughing to herself. I asked her what was so funny, and she said that she never thought she'd see two movies in a row where someone makes clothes out of the curtains. For anyone who hasn't seen Gone with the Wind, obviously it happens in it, too. She's right, though. What were the chances of that? I keep thinking about it and laughing to myself. (Oh, man, I am her daughter.)

On a side note, this same channel (which is called BS, by the way) was playing "Scarface" on New Year's morning (an odd programing choice, right?) and my mom had never seen it before (as she said, "No wonder I've never seen it; it's so violent!"). I pointed out Al Pacino and that actor F. Murray Abraham since I knew she'd recognize him as the guy who played Salieri in the movie Amadeus. "It is Salieri!" she remarked when she recognized him. I couldn't think of his name right then, but said I thought it started with an 'M.' (I was close!)

"It's Mozart," she told me.

The battle for kin'en continues...

We were at a coffee shop at a gas station, sitting in the smoking section, not that that means anything in Japan - there might be two tables right next to each other and one will be smoking, the other non-smoking. Anyway, the section we were in was definitely a smoking section, but it also had the one long couch type seat instead of stand-alone chairs, so when this couple came in with their sleeping grandson, maybe 2 years old, they came to lay him down on the couch area. I told my mom she shouldn't smoke since there was that baby and everything. And she says, "They're probably sitting over here because he smokes."

She was talking about the grandpa in case you thought the same thing I did initially. And she was right. Sigh. This country.

P.S. Kin'en means no smoking

Beauty for beauty's sake

We're literally about to run out the door, but I had to tell this first...

There's this vase full of these plant stalks with red berries on them; very pretty, but when they are on the table, they block the view of the TV so they've been sitting on a side table, out of the way. This morning, just before we're about to leave, my mom puts it back so it's in full view but blocking the TV a bit, saying, "When we're not home, let's put the vase here. It looks prettier that way."