One Everything

Busy, busy, busy.

I mean that in both a literal and Bokononist sense. Now that I've finally entered winter break (which, despite having no class means that yes, I have to sit at my desk for 8 hours at a time), I have time and inclination and free will which I dare not waste and so without further ado I present a series of adventures from November 2010 to December of that same year (i.e. now).

Hey guys, I went to a Japanese wedding!

Knowing full well about Japan's love of ceremony for ceremony's sake, I still found myself unprepared for the sheer breadth and magnitude of a Japanese wedding. They're super weddings, I tell you!

The chapel was a room inside a hotel inside Kyoto Station, about 3 and a half hours away from Satte. You might think it strange for there to be a chapel inside a hotel, but rest assured, it's never used for Sunday service. Strictly weddings.

Ironically, the ceremony itself was quite short, maybe 30 minutes or so. My now married friends Ben and Akie are American and Japanese respectively, so they said their vows, and exchanged their rings, and signed their names in both English and Japanese, all to the tune of a few Disney classics sung by two choir girls who looked dressed to show up at your doorstep on Christmas Eve. A lot of people cried. I felt a little embarrassed because the ushers sat me right next to the stage in the closest possible seat. I was seated closer than any of his family members although my pew was perpendicular to the stage, so I didn't have the best view. "You're highly visible. Don't vomit."

After the ceremony, we went outside and the newlyweds rang a bell while we all took pictures and threw petals at them. I was especially proud of myself for pushing the petals into a ball which exploded in a blossom storm when it connected with Ben's face. Ca-ching. Don't worry, he liked it.

Next came the reception. This was the real meat of the event. A 3-4 hour multimedia presentation with costume changes and a 10 course, all-you-can-drink meal. They sat me at a table with all my friends from JPN club back at UF and we "shot the shit" as they say for the duration of it. Fun, fun, fun.

Any real wedding might end there. Not a super wedding. Next, we went to another all-you-can event they had reserved at a bar and which was (unknown to me at the time) Ben's early birthday party. I'd really like to tell you more about it, but I don't remember much about it.

Which means I REALLY don't remember much about the karaoke session after that. I do remember walking the streets of Kyoto with Marc, munching on fresh peanuts and singing Tina Turner while we tried to find the Japanese-style inn we were staying at. Nutbush City Limits, indeed.

I woke up to find that I had a bag full of party favors. SUPER party favors. Some furikake to put on my rice. Candies. A nice ornamental bag. A catalog.

A catalog? Yes, the bride and groom have bought you a gift from a catalog and all you have to do is pick one from an entirely too large selection.

I haven't decided yet, but I think I'm going with the coffee maker.

A few weeks later, I was back in Kyoto.

Well, Shiga really, but it's close enough. This time I was going for an Japanese/English interpretation training seminar. Being roughly 4 days of very intense training it was, of course, very... hard. Incredibly exhausting mentally. With my meager language skills I just managed to slide through by the skin of my teeth.

Skin of my teeth... I just Googled that and it turns out it originated in the Book of Job. Huh.

Maybe it wasn't THAT bad, and at any rate trials like this tend to reveal something about your real character, something that even you might not know or understand about yourself. In my case, it reminded me that I have no idea what I'm doing with my life.

WHAT AM I DOING?

I've put all my eggs in one basket and I'm not sure that I've even chosen the right basket. Moreover, I promised myself that I wouldn't throw this basket away like all the other baskets I've tried over the years: (in chronological order) drawing, baseball, jazz dance, writing, trumpet, French, film, painting, acting. The thing I liked about studying a foreign language is that your progress is quantifiable, practical, and involves interpersonal communication which I've always enjoyed at least in a superficial sense, even if I can't get a grip on the illusive Real Human Connection.

So I've dilligently worked for 5 and a half years on it. More time than I've ever earnestly spent on any other pursuit. Yet, there's the simple fact that I'm not THAT good at it. Fundamentally, I've never been a clear thinker. I have a lot of trouble relating what I mean in English, let alone a foreign tongue. I fail to see how anyone can be a successful interpreter without being exceptionally articulate and and level-headed enough to think clearly under a metric ton of pressure.

I've always prefered reading to speaking. My eternal hard-on for written Japanese is difficult for me to put into words. It's complex and beautiful and fascinating and a large factor in what's motivated me to keep at it for the past 5 years. Trying to express Japanese text in English is both challenging and rewarding.

I could do this for a living.

Could I do this for a living?

This whole seminar just forced me to re-evaluate: how good is good? How good do you have to be? Naturally, there will always be someone who is better than you at something. That's common fact. But how close to the top do you need to be to find work? You only have this one skill. What separates you from your peers? How can anyone forge a sense of identity in the sprawling, bloated 21st century that makes everyone feel entitled to a voice, heard and recognized?

Remember when you were 23?

I've got this complex from the time I took an IQ test in first or second grade. I needed a 140 to get into the Gifted program. I got a 130. Frustratingly close, but not close enough.

I'm not giving up on Japanese. I promised myself that I wouldn't long ago. I just need to consider what the hell I'm going to do after JET. Narrowing my options down, my dream jobs are:

1. translation/product localization team member

2. Jurassic Park groundskeeper

3. restaurant/bakery/cafe owner

4. unicorn

5. art critic

6. Ke$ha

Anyway, I'm waaaaaaaay off topic now. What else happened in December?

I went to a David Byrne art exhibition. One installation was an electic guitar hooked up to an amp and looped through 40 or so foot pedals. Byrne himself at some point played a few chords on the guitar and sent the sound looping through the system eternally. Visitors are asked to walk over the pedals, changing the sound with every step. It was awesome. Turn on all the reverb pedals and things get CRAAAAAAZY.

On Christmas, I actually got to eat turkey! (Thank you, Grant!!)

I finally read Cat's Cradle (if you couldn't guess from the beginning of this post) and I'm reading a bunch of Chuck Klosterman essays entitled "Eating the Dinosaur". It's rocking my world. (Thank you, Marisa!!)

This year was the best year for music for me EVER, so I expect my next post will be my pop culture top 5 lists for the year.

Toy Story 3 made me cry even though I didn't think it was that good. TRON: Legacy made me laugh even though I don't think it was supposed to.

My apartment is freezing cold and lonely, so I try and spend as little time there as possible. Hence, you haven't seen me around Skype lately. Expect me back when the weather warms up.

And on that note, toodles.