Why doesn't anyone like mustard? I mean what is wrong with it? I think its way better than its red colored adversary! I don't think many things in this world are better than mustard on a hog dog. I say that somewhat regrettably, but completely honestly. I guess you will always have to like one over the other. I would rather have salt over pepper and I would rather be cold than hot. I think that is one of the many things that make people interesting. Their differences. If we were all the same then life would be as boring as a political debate. Ok, maybe even worse than that. I guess that is an obvious fact of life, yet it was something that I came to complete terms with last year while living in a country that tries so hard to keep everything similar. To keep everything in perfect harmony.
The Japanese have to, for if they didn't there is no way they would be able to survive on such a small island with so many people. No way at all. I think they all try to be different, but their mannerisms and their general thought process seems to be very similar. Not everything, I'm not saying they all think the same, but just as we are a product of our environments, so are they. The group mentality, the kindness, the sharing, the togetherness are just some of the qualities they share. To a foreigner it could get rough at times. But God I miss it there. It's hard for me at times, even to this day, to wrap my head around the fact that I won't ever go back to living there. I always feel for some reason that I will. That this is just a break and I'll end up back in those classrooms, back in my apartment just as it was, back with my friends singing karaoke late into the night. I always think I'll be able to go on the trips with them or drink rice wine under the beautiful cherry blossoms. There was so much that I didn't do in just one year of being there, and although I was pleased with what I accomplished when I left, I now think about all there still is to see and do. All I wish I could teleport myself to. Just to zap myself back to a potluck dinner with a mixture of Japanese and English speaking friends or to that run on the day where the sunset left the sky glowing in sheer brilliance. I guess there is always a time for wishing and a time for doing, so we will just have to see what time will do. If I wasn't do desperate for a job next fall I could care less and buy a ticket today. But life reminds us all too often that as much as you don't want to grow up, there is just a time where you have to. I admit, I've been avoiding it more than anyone else I know but lately I have been realizing that running from the responsibilities of life isn't really all its cracked up to be. Granted there are pluses to both sides of the spectrum, but I am old enough and let's hope mature enough to be ready for the "real world". This realization came in my own time, as I feel most things in life have. I don't generally like to be rushed and so far things have worked in my favor for that. I can also admit that it has been something I need to work on. I need to push myself to my full potential. I know it is there and I know, if I put my mind to it I can do it. Even if I am one of the only ones who actually likes mustard.
Sometimes I just do what is in my power to do and say the rest will happen as its supposed to. I am a huge believer that everything happens for a reason, but that is NOT a reason to get lazy. That is not a reason to think things will just fall in my lap as they so often have. I need to go out and get what I want. And, to quote the Rolling Stones, "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might just find you get what you need". So even if I do go out for what I want and it doesn't necessairy work out, I might later find that it was actually what I needed all along! Life has an interesting way of showing us that. Today I checked out the book "The Art of Happiness" by the Dali Lama because it is what we are reading for book club. I am excited to hear what good old Dali with his tinted glasses has to say about happiness. Is it going out and getting what you want? Or what you need? Or is it accepting the way things happen to you? Or is it waiting until something does happen to you? Or a mixture of all of it? Or maybe none of it? All I know is that the way I have been living my life provides for more than enough happiness, yet I do believe there is always room for more. Until you burst from it I guess. Except there are no known cases of bursting from happiness. Not that I've read anyway.
Speaking of happiness, here is something that is pretty hilarious: www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2010/01/28/its-a-wrap/
All the comments are what make it worth while :)
Go forth and be good!
