Notes from Yokohama.
Oct. 13th, 2009 05:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sechan19I had my first shodo (calligraphy) class today. Already, I can tell that this class is going to try my patience, but in a good way. My great life lesson this time around is patience, so I'm always on the lookout for new aspects of that lesson. Shodo will most likely focus on the area I need the most work in - patience with myself - and I'm excited to see how well I progress in the coming months (both in terms of calligraphy and in terms of patience).
I'm not sure why I'm okay with shodo when I was not okay with ikebana. I had an brief introduction to the art form last Friday during a class outing at the Sankeien, and I hated every single minute of it. But I got to keep the flowers when I was done, and I pulled the ugly arrangement (that I had been forced to make) apart with a quickness once I got home. I made some things that I liked with the materials instead. I'm sure they'd be severely criticized, but I don't give a hoot.
Clearly, I'm somewhat lacking in the aesthetic department.
I took a trip up to Nasushiobara this past long weekend, and it was wonderful but brief. Seeing P. & T. (and Y.) was a lot of fun, and I'll try to write a bit more fully about our adventures tomorrow - or another day (no promises). Of note was that P. commented that I'd gotten even skinnier than the last time he saw me, and T. agreed with that assessment, going so far as to give me a clay pot for cooking nabe (Japanese stew). She says that when I was first taking lessons from her (which was almost five years ago to the day), I was pretty roly-poly. (And I was.) Now, however, I've apparently reached the point where she needs to fatten me up! I was treated to more than one multiple-hour feast during my short stay.
My "fat" fluctuation is a pretty funny thing. I always gain weight in California and lose it in Japan. (And I pretty much just maintain whatever weight I'm at in New City.) This time, though, I may have gone a little overboard; none of my pants really fit anymore. Still, that's kind of what happens when the dollar is down to the point where you begin to begrudge spending money on food and transportation and start eating sparingly and walking in the neighborhood of three miles a day.
As the Japanese love to say: shikata ga nai (it can't be helped). ;>
I'm not sure why I'm okay with shodo when I was not okay with ikebana. I had an brief introduction to the art form last Friday during a class outing at the Sankeien, and I hated every single minute of it. But I got to keep the flowers when I was done, and I pulled the ugly arrangement (that I had been forced to make) apart with a quickness once I got home. I made some things that I liked with the materials instead. I'm sure they'd be severely criticized, but I don't give a hoot.
Clearly, I'm somewhat lacking in the aesthetic department.
I took a trip up to Nasushiobara this past long weekend, and it was wonderful but brief. Seeing P. & T. (and Y.) was a lot of fun, and I'll try to write a bit more fully about our adventures tomorrow - or another day (no promises). Of note was that P. commented that I'd gotten even skinnier than the last time he saw me, and T. agreed with that assessment, going so far as to give me a clay pot for cooking nabe (Japanese stew). She says that when I was first taking lessons from her (which was almost five years ago to the day), I was pretty roly-poly. (And I was.) Now, however, I've apparently reached the point where she needs to fatten me up! I was treated to more than one multiple-hour feast during my short stay.
My "fat" fluctuation is a pretty funny thing. I always gain weight in California and lose it in Japan. (And I pretty much just maintain whatever weight I'm at in New City.) This time, though, I may have gone a little overboard; none of my pants really fit anymore. Still, that's kind of what happens when the dollar is down to the point where you begin to begrudge spending money on food and transportation and start eating sparingly and walking in the neighborhood of three miles a day.
As the Japanese love to say: shikata ga nai (it can't be helped). ;>
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Date: 2009-10-14 02:39 am (UTC)And you can't hide that dancing ability anyways. ;-)