Good News in the World of Matt
1/26 '15
No news is good news?
Yeah, so I've been negligent for a while now. Sorry about that.
Things have been good. Really good. I'm going to Japan. I keep having to tell myself that because it hasn't really sunk in yet.
For those who don't know - this is huge for me. I started looking into ninjutsu as a martial art when I was young. Maybe when I was... 15? Anyway - that sparked a desire to go to the land of the rising sun that wouldn't leave me. Ever.
Thing is, I'm not a guy who really expects to be able to do much. My financial resources have always been woefully stretched, I spent most of my life pretty solidly planted in a single locale, and I just always thought of Japan as a kind of dreamscape - a place on the map labeled hic sunt dracones.
And now I'm going to go. For a month. With my best bud.
While I'm still 'in town' (even that has come to mean something entirely different for me - currently in Jacksonville Florida) I've been training a new recruit - Tanner. He's not going to be doing my job - he's going to be supporting it. I'm showing him the ropes so he knows what it's like for us out in the field before he starts supporting us.
Kid's smart. He's funny as fuck. He's 'our people' - completely our people.
So really, this has been like hanging out with one of my beloved PhilaDel pholks and getting paid to do so. He understands when I explain things to him - the first time. He can repeat it pretty much flawlessly after the second.
While I know that isn't all that goes into being a good support person, I'm happy to know he will be supporting us.
Did I mention that I'm going to Japan? For a month?
Which brings me to another point: I'm nervous as hell.
Those of you who know me can appreciate that I don't get nervous much. You might say that I'm too much of a buddhist, I guess. I figure there's not much point in worrying about what might be. Just prepare as best you reasonably can and go with it.
For the record, it's not really true. I do stress. A lot. I just usually manage it - at least on the surface. I've seen what happens when person A is stressing out and person B fuels the fire by also stressing while in close proximity. It's the wildfire with a tank of gasoline. I would much rather be a calming influence when I can.
But in this case? I'm openly freaking the fuck out. I've been doing a lot of homework. I've been polling friends and family who are in the know about Japan (despite the fact that Mark will be there for a large portion of my time). I've read countless web pages. I've learned about flight plans and rail schedules and cities and towns. I've studied for this more than any other single adventure in my life.
And I feel like I know nothing.
I won't speak the native language. That's a hurdle. In the end though, I will probably pick up enough to survive (generally speaking). The real thing that is worrying me is that I won't be able to read the language. That's a problem since I don't like interacting with people when I need help.
It's not the 'typical male' thing. I'm not a proud man. I just really like to understand my situation as best I can, and that happens (more often than not) by reading.
Reading the nearby signage. Reading the expressions and body language of the people around me. Reading... anything and everything.
I won't be able to do that as a stranger in that strange land.
I've grown too comfortable in my travels thus far, and I know it. When I find I don't have something I need, I can just 'stop somewhere and pick it up'. Difference in Japan? I'll be a giant. A fat giant no less. Who can't read the signs. I'm actually a bit fearful that I will be a perfect example of a fat dumb gaijin. I do not want to be a (bad) archetype.
I recognize that at this point I'm just rambling on about my stress, and that's not productive, so I'll stop.
Suffice to say: I'm only bringing my two bags of worldly possessions and that feels a little like grabbing the first backpack you see and jumping off that nearby cliff - hoping that the backpack holds a parachute.
Enjoy your adventure!
GOOD ON YA!
You'll be fine. You'll have lots of emotions, there will be some tearing down and some vulnerabiliy and uncertainty. All of these things are ok.
Surf the chaos.
Remember to breathe.
And best of all, remember to stare in wonder and soak it all in.
We'll be here when you get back and look forward to hearing all the stories and seeing any pictures you decide to take!
Remember to breathe.
And best of all, remember to stare in wonder and soak it all in."
Hmmm. Actually? You just made my night. Those are three things I feel like I tend to do better than... well... most folks. And really, I know that you're right. If I can do that - for one month - I'll be fine.
Pretty sure I can do that for one month.
I'm hoping to do some significant posting while there in my down time (evenings and the like) so hopefully y'all won't have to wait too long.
Taking my good camera too.
Last thing: pretty sure I know what you mean by Edge City, but I have this nagging sense that it's in reference to something I'm not recalling. Is that right?
Edge City is a term that comes from Kesey and the Pranksters (and was written about in Electric Kool Aid Acid Test) but also used by HST. It's the place outside of civilization, a scary place where the rules bend or are non-existent. But also the place where people can be whole...where you can find yourself, where you are challenged, living on the edge of sanity and everything that you've been used to, a place where boundaries can be pushed and souls found.
"But of course!—the feeling—out here at night, free, with the motor running and the adrenaline flowing, cruising in the neon glories of the new American night—it was very Heaven to be the first wave of the most extraordinary kids in the history of the world—only 15, 16, 17 years old, dressed in the haute couture of pink Oxford shirts,
sharp pants, snaky half-inch belts, fast shoes—with all this Straight-6 and V-8 power underneath and all this neon glamour overhead, which somehow tied in with the technological superheroics of the jet, TV, atomic subs, ultrasonics—Postwar American suburbs—glorious world! and the hell with the intellectual bad-mouthers of America's tailfin civilization... They couldn't know what it was like or else they had it
cultivated out of them—the feeling—to be very Superkids ! the world's first generation of the little devils—feeling immune, beyond calamity. One's parents remembered the sloughing common order, War & Depression—but Superkids knew only the emotional surge of the great payoff, when nothing was common any longer—The Life! A glorious place, a glorious age, I tell you! A very Neon Renaissance—And the myths that actually touched you at that time—not Hercules, Orpheus, Ulysses, and Aeneas—but Superman, Captain Marvel, Batman, The Human Torch, The SubMariner, Captain America, Plastic Man, The Flash—but of course! On Perry Lane, what did they think it was—quaint?—when he talked about the comic-book Superheroes
as the honest American myths? It was a fantasy world already, this electropastel world of Mom&Dad&Buddy&Sis in the suburbs. There they go, in the family car, a white Pontiac Bonneville sedan—the family car!—a huge crazy god-awful powerful fantasy creature to begin with, 327 horsepower, shaped like twenty-seven nights of lubricious luxury brougham seduction—you're already there, in Fantasyland, so why not move off your smug-harbor quilty-bed dead center and cut
loose—go ahead and say it—Shazam!—juice it up to what it's already aching to be: 327,000 horsepower, a whole superhighway long and soaring, screaming on toward ... Edge City, and ultimate fantasies, current and future ..."
Soren will be a great resource; Steve Noreyko (pinball steve/IJG photographer rocktober steve from Austin) can also be helpful. Ask them-- they like helping. Lemme know if you need their contact info. Soren has people there and would glady e-introduce you. I also think Bill The Spy is in Japan... but Hamlet would know that better than me. (I've actually never met Bill The Spy, but he is legendary.)
Your instincts are amazing, and like everyone else said: You are extremely considerate (hello, hansei!) and your smile is genuine and despite your 'bigness' you still come off as gentle. You are the perfect intersection between "You can tell this guy is kind and gentle" and "Do not fuck with this dude."
Ask Soren for info/tips re: getting a cell phone (assuming you don't have this info already). Google Translate has a brandy-new feature where it'll translate on the fly, and you can even take a photo of the written word and it'll translate it for you. (The demo did Russian (cyrillic) to english, so it'll handle the kanji just fine, I imagine.)
Are there YouTube tutorials for teaching yourself rudimentary Japanese?
I am SO EXCITED for you! EEeeEEEEeeeeeEeeeee!! The month is gonna fly by, and I bet you'll make this an annual pilgrimmage because you will fall in love with it so hard.
So happy for you; so proud of you. Look at how freakin' rad you are!!
2. Of course you've never met Bill the Spy. Either have I. Hello? Spy?! Will ping Chris to see what he knows. Wouldn't mind having James Bond. Errr... Bill... on my team.
3. Hansei. I had forgotten that word. Thank you for the reminder!
4. I really do need to talk to Soren re: cell phone. I have a 'worst case' solution, but I suspect he'll know a better option.
5. Sadly the Google Translate will only work if I have a data package or wifi. Hopefully that won't be a problem after talking to S, but my worst case scenario doesn't allow for that. It's a GREAT idea though. Will let you know if I'm able to put it into action.
6. I've watched a lot of Youtube. With more to come. Not much in the way of language. More in the line of "Holy shit - you moron - do NOT do this in public. Stupid gaijin." videos.
7. I thought about the idea of an annual pilgrimage. I suppose it's possible, but not probable. As much as I'm dying to go, if I have a month a year to roam abroad, I'm thinking South Africa, South America, Alaska, New Zealand, Germany... etc etc...
8. Rad? Nah. Paying a price and reaping the reward. It's one hell of a price, and it's one hell of a reward.
As always - thank you. It means the world to me when you weigh in on things like this. I think I'm a little in lust with your brain. #JustSayin