I wish I was Robin Williams.
Well like this Robin Williams:
and not this Robin Williams
What do I mean by this?
It's like some mornings I feel like taking on the world. Except I have no coffee, no cigarettes, intoxicants, drugs to get me going or keep me going.
The going gets tough and while I want to get the tough going part of me just wants to go sit in a closet and weep. Except that I can't.
When I started this blog everything looked like it was going to be a good day..
Murphy is laughing at me. I hate when Murphy laughs at me.
Which only makes Murphy laugh even more, like a desperate villain who knows that he is doomed but laughs anyway
Now some mornings I feel more like this (mostly having to remind myself) that my mouth- words can be dangerous to me and others. We are not guaranteed at birth that what we think is what we are allowed to say. In fact, we often end up with more restrictions to telling what we think than any other action we get in our life span (shorted for those who choose to ignore these rules). So who make these rules. They do, we do, you too and yes so do I. The rules have always been there, they follow us around like our "American Gods" - they are integral parts of our culture and where ever we are within that culture. You might think you can escape it, but it will find you and before you know it you will spill out some ethic/ethnic/cultural law learned as a child in front of the people you live with (if you are really lucky- those people are the ones who came up with/adopted the rule in the first place) more otfen then not the people will be new group who have different laws altogether.
What is Mike talking about?
It can be language differences: Like when I decided to learn Japanese colloquially. I was at college and I knew some Japanese students. So I went to them and asked. They giggled a lot and shook there heads. They were all girls (even-especially in the Japanese sense). "Mike, I cannot learn you Japanese." Emi said (I was tutoring her in English. "You are a man." More giggling. (sorry no more pictures- blogger keeps freezing)
[here would be a picture of various anime girls in a series of reactions from embarrassment to laughter to shock]
Okay, for some reason the girls would not teach me Japanese, so I asked the guys. Ruckus laughter then thinly veiled hatred. I learned what "Gaijan" meant that day.
As it turned out my friend Patrick (who spoke Japanese -and almost only exclusively to the girls) explained that Japanese is a very gender-specific language. The feminine is strictly for the women and masculine for men. Typically the two don't mix (this is 1989). I suspect a lot has changed. Anime changed a lot of this. Though many of the (it's mine and not yours) Japanese rules remain in place.
well that explains some of it anyway.
There are just as many if not more rules here in the US. Americans are not as aware of them as they once were. You seldom here Yankee or Rebel bandied about as much as you once did. Football has dissolved many of those lines in the sand. But if you are from South Africa and you are the offspring of a Southern American Mother (white) and a South African Father (again white) who has a strong Irish/Detroit/Afrikaaner background it is a whole other matter entirely.
I am truly a fish out of water. The worst part for me is there is truly no place for me to go back to. I was never really from anywhere that would acknowledge me without shotgun diplomacy (a cultural reference to my east Tennessee roots).
The short of it. I am smart and sophisticated (not enough) and cultured on a wide level. I still cannot speak more than a phrase of Japanese nor any language other than Klingon (which is mostly in the way it sounds not what is being said- don't tell the klingons though) [here would be a nice picture of a Klingon gutting me]
Well like this Robin Williams:
 |
| This would be it |
 |
| But not this one (gives me the heebie jeebies) |
It's like some mornings I feel like taking on the world. Except I have no coffee, no cigarettes, intoxicants, drugs to get me going or keep me going.
The going gets tough and while I want to get the tough going part of me just wants to go sit in a closet and weep. Except that I can't.
When I started this blog everything looked like it was going to be a good day..
Murphy is laughing at me. I hate when Murphy laughs at me.
Which only makes Murphy laugh even more, like a desperate villain who knows that he is doomed but laughs anyway
Now some mornings I feel more like this (mostly having to remind myself) that my mouth- words can be dangerous to me and others. We are not guaranteed at birth that what we think is what we are allowed to say. In fact, we often end up with more restrictions to telling what we think than any other action we get in our life span (shorted for those who choose to ignore these rules). So who make these rules. They do, we do, you too and yes so do I. The rules have always been there, they follow us around like our "American Gods" - they are integral parts of our culture and where ever we are within that culture. You might think you can escape it, but it will find you and before you know it you will spill out some ethic/ethnic/cultural law learned as a child in front of the people you live with (if you are really lucky- those people are the ones who came up with/adopted the rule in the first place) more otfen then not the people will be new group who have different laws altogether.What is Mike talking about?
It can be language differences: Like when I decided to learn Japanese colloquially. I was at college and I knew some Japanese students. So I went to them and asked. They giggled a lot and shook there heads. They were all girls (even-especially in the Japanese sense). "Mike, I cannot learn you Japanese." Emi said (I was tutoring her in English. "You are a man." More giggling. (sorry no more pictures- blogger keeps freezing)
[here would be a picture of various anime girls in a series of reactions from embarrassment to laughter to shock]
Okay, for some reason the girls would not teach me Japanese, so I asked the guys. Ruckus laughter then thinly veiled hatred. I learned what "Gaijan" meant that day.
As it turned out my friend Patrick (who spoke Japanese -and almost only exclusively to the girls) explained that Japanese is a very gender-specific language. The feminine is strictly for the women and masculine for men. Typically the two don't mix (this is 1989). I suspect a lot has changed. Anime changed a lot of this. Though many of the (it's mine and not yours) Japanese rules remain in place.
well that explains some of it anyway.
There are just as many if not more rules here in the US. Americans are not as aware of them as they once were. You seldom here Yankee or Rebel bandied about as much as you once did. Football has dissolved many of those lines in the sand. But if you are from South Africa and you are the offspring of a Southern American Mother (white) and a South African Father (again white) who has a strong Irish/Detroit/Afrikaaner background it is a whole other matter entirely.
I am truly a fish out of water. The worst part for me is there is truly no place for me to go back to. I was never really from anywhere that would acknowledge me without shotgun diplomacy (a cultural reference to my east Tennessee roots).
The short of it. I am smart and sophisticated (not enough) and cultured on a wide level. I still cannot speak more than a phrase of Japanese nor any language other than Klingon (which is mostly in the way it sounds not what is being said- don't tell the klingons though) [here would be a nice picture of a Klingon gutting me]
This picture pretty much sums it up for me today, I don't know who she is, but I can say that she has impeccable taste and expression to go with it.
"Oh well." I think I hear her say. "Life goes on but you can always eat Ice Cream (or gelato- which is better anyway).
(I want to give a shout out to a fellow blogger who inspires me to media my blogs more)
I figured I better since I borrow some of her ideas (which are often way cooler than mine and the occassional picture -which is always way cooler than mine as well) Thanks Master Jedi.
And that....
Is life according to Mike on Tuesday
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