Happy Year of the Mouse! Apparently in China, they call it the year of the rat, but I’m in Japan… and I like mouse better. Every year, I do a Hatsumode (pronounced hah-tsu moe-day ) , a little pilgrimage to the local shrine. Literally, pilgrimage is what the “mode” part of Hatsumode means. I think … More Japan is Awesome – Hatsumode
A short story I wrote was published in Asimov’s Magazine of Science Fiction. It’s called “You’ll Live.” The idea for the story came when I was thinking about self-driving cars, and it veered off from there. I think that when we have real self-driving cars our lives will be very different. Cars will become living … More Published – in Asimov’s
My kanji for the month is part of an 8 kanji phrase, like many are. See below for the whole thing. I wrote the last four. 天地玄黄 宇宙洪荒 But I’ll start with the first two. Tenchi means sky and ground, or for the poets out there, heaven and earth. It basically means everything and everywhere. Then … More Shodo – Universal truth (not a fortune cookie)
My Shodo Sensei is too cool. She’s a master of the craft, of course. Her specialty is modern style. You have a lot more freedom, and has a lot more “meri-hari” which means curves and bumps, sort of. She’s creating a piece for a museum exhibition, and rather than just go for the traditional stuff, … More Ride the Wind of Flowers
There was a fire drill last Wednesday. I was in a different building from where I usually work. And I had no idea they were going to have the drill. All of my meetings for like 3 hours got cancelled and I’d have zero access to the network. You see where this is going, straight … More Fire Drill
I feel like Red Leader in Star Wars. I started Shodo about 4 years ago. I focused mostly on kanji and kana. Surprisingly, I’m progressing in kana more than kanji, which surprised my Sensei as much as me. I just took a level up test, and reached 2nd dan in kana, which is amazing. With … More Almost There, Stay on Target
I’m reading a book, basically a transcription of stories told on the Moth stage. One story kind of hit hard. Let me quote it here. Western mental health workers who came here [East Africa] immediately after the genocide, and we had to ask some of them to leave.” I said, “What was the problem?” And … More Moth Wisdom
Went to the park to play basketball with my 12 year old daughter (13 in 2 months). Two of her middle school friends were there, so she got kind of shy. I asked her if she was feeling weird because her friends were there and she said, “yeah.” I suggested we go get a drink … More Hoops
As I learn more shodo I find I understand not only the art of the lettering, but also the poetry. Truth be told, I don’t really concentrate on the meaning of the words as I’m writing; I focus on the lines and the composition. But lately, the poems themselves are hitting me in the heart … More Shodo – Test up Kana
Been in Japan long enough to be able to read quite a bit now. But English still has a more direct line into my brain. I see the meaning without having to process the words. With Japanese, I have to concentrate, go from top level words to lower level meaning. So if I see a … More Japan is Awesome – Translations
