Tales of the Typhoon

Greetings.

It's been some time since I have last written--nearly three months, in fact.  A lot has happened since then.  Namely, I moved to Japan.  I am now writing this entry at the cusp of my first Japanese typhoon, although I must admit, my naive mind does not really know what that means quite yet.

The rain is coming down pretty hard though.  A lot of people are making a fuss about it; it's all the rage on the news, and even the teachers at my school have taken to interrupting their busy schedules to check the weather reports.  Even earlier this evening--when it actually wasn't raining--the downtown area of the city was eerily quiet, as if people had paused their lives so that the typhoon's passage wouldn't necessarily be a disruption to them.

The typhoon's reportedly the strongest one in ten years, which I guess is why people are taking extra precautions.  With all the damage that's happened in other parts of the world recently, nervousness seems to be a trait of the moment.  And I admit, now that I am hearing the beat of the wind against my windows, the hairs on my arms are raising a bit.  But, I'm more excited than nervous.

Ironically, it's been during this time--just before the typhoon--that people have finally been able to view Mount Fuji in all its height and glory.  Before, the clouds and humidity had made this impossible.  Even though I climbed Fuji-san at the end of August--which is itself a magnificent, though tiring, experience--and stood at the summit itself, my eyes hadn't gotten the chance to take in the full view of the mountain.  And I still haven't seen it.  But I'm looking.

In a sense, this typhoon is pretty much analogous to the way my life has been since I got here.   And that's about the best I can do at recapping the last three months. 

The Final Countdown

*Edited: I actually wrote this last week.  For some reason, it didn't post.  Oh well, it doesn't change the substance of the post.

I just got my first goodbye messages today.  Granted, they were just emails, but considering they were from people I didn't know three months ago--people I can honestly say only know me on a superficial level--I was touched at the sincerity behind the messages.

I've had my fair share of good-bye gatherings.  And they're always sad.  But those good-bye gatherings have also always been with people whom were already my friends.  I had known them for a while.  We had shared experiences together, both good and bad.  The sadness at these good-bye gatherings, then, had more to do with the loss of the physical presence of my friends rather than the loss of any friendships themselves.

But what about the people who aren't your friends yet?  The people you meet and think, "wow, I really think you're cool and would like to get to know you better..."  But you just can't because the timing is all wrong.  I've been thinking about those people lately.  There are a lot of them in my life right now.

The countdown to Japan is beginning...

Something to Remember

I am generally not inclined to document my days, action-wise, but I feel like today should be an exception.

It was honestly just a great day.

I had the day off due to the July 4th holiday, so I woke up at 8:30 am instead of 6.  And the sun was shining.  It was one of those corny indicators that the day would be good, waking up well-rested and anticipating great weather.  

Normally, there might be a caveat to this.  "Yeah, it started out great, but then _____ happened."  But nope. 

First, I enjoyed a refreshing cup of iced Peet's coffee as I drove into San Francisco to meet up with a friend.  Yes, that Peet's coffee is indeed part of the greatness that is today.  My friend and I met up at the Chinatown Kite Shop in order to satisfy a not-so-secret desire that we both have had for some time--to fly (which means that we needed to buy) a kite.  And the mission--at least, the first part of it--was accomplished!

A yummy lunch at a Chinese eatery followed, and then I made my way from San Francisco to San Jose to take care of some business at the 2009 North American Bengali Conference.  Though I started out incredibly nervous and slightly afraid because this is the first time I am working on a piece individually for my internship, I am happy to report that things went well, and I can't wait to work on the material that I gathered.  I just hope I can make something of it!

From San Jose, I drove back home, where I had a three-way phone conversation with my brother and my grandmother over Skype.  Well, my grandmother was on her landline, but the fact that we had a three-way conversation was really nice, because my brother is actually in Rome right now.  It made me hopeful of keeping in contact with my family in the future.  And the conversation itself was just hilarious.

Then, I cleaned my car.  I feel compelled to add that the sun was still shining, because this made cleaning a much nicer activity for me--I got to be out in the sun again!  And having my car spick and span again is great.  I am not much for dirt, but it had been piling up for a while simply because I have been so busy.  So, the greater implication here is that I have time, which (speaking from the perspective of never having enough time) is amazing.

From there, my sister drove my dad and me to  Tilden Park so that we could have a breather out in nature.  I hadn't been to Tilden in years, and neither had my father.  Needless to say, we had a great time walking and hiking along the paths.  I wish I had my recording equipment with me then because the sounds of nature, from the trees creaking to the deer we saw hopping, were quite amazing.

After Tilden, the three of us did a bit of grocery shopping at Raley's.  This is going to sound terrible, but I honestly haven't been in a grocery store in months.  I think I have gone once in all the time I have been living at home.  And let me tell you, when you look at a grocery store with fresh eyes, everything about it--from the items the store sells to its employees to just its very concept--is kind of mind-blowing.

So after this exciting (for me) trip to the grocery store, we came home.  I finally ate my dinner, and then I watched a terrible, but appropriate, movie with my family:  Bride Wars.  I call it appropriate because my parents are obsessed with marriage, and my sister wants to be a bride.  And as that kind of terribly appropriate movie, it was not so bad.

And then, while chillin up in my room, I skyped with my two friends who are in Mumbai right now.  Due to poor connectivity, they sounded pretty robotic, but it was good enough for me.  And they had their camera on, which made the call a lot more fun.  There is this thing about the Indian head nod, and at one point, they both did it.  Seeing the two of them shake their heads like that was a definite highlight of my day.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

And that's basically it.  Really, if I were to think about this day from a different perspective, it might not seem that special.  But it's a good day to me because it incorporated a lot of different things that I care about.  And that's why it's something to remember.

Happy 4th of July, friends.

Keep it in yo pants!

I'm watching Larry King Live with my father right now.  Larry, of course, is discussing the big news of the day: Governor Mark Sanford's infidelity.  My father's reaction?

"This is really a disease...Such a disturbing thing, f*** b*********."

In case you were wondering, that b-word is an extremely bad word in Hindi and Punjabi.  Essentially, my dad called the Governor a f***ing motherf***er.  Now you know where I get my potty mouth from.

But really, it has to make you wonder.  John Edwards did it.  So did Eliot Spitzer.  And remember Bill Clinton back in the '90s?  And I am sure there are more whom I have failed to mention.  I tend to overlook these highly public revelations of infidelity just because they are exactly that--highly public.  There are tons of people who cheat on their significant others; we just don't have the media hopping on these cases to really know about them.

But as a counterpart to my father's reaction, this is what my mother had to say:

Mom: "I feel sorry for the guy."

Me: "Why?"

Mom: "Because he got caught!"

I guess my mother's point is well taken.  If you are in public office and you decide to cheat, you sure as hell shouldn't get caught.  The mere fact that you are already in the spotlight makes media hype inevitable, so much so that people feel sorry for you when you blow your cover.

It's funny how much of a reaction the situation as elicited from my parents, however.  They are not what you would call news junkies.  I wonder what the citizens of South Carolina are thinking.

Checking In

I just looked at my blog and realized that I have only written one post this month.  Hmmph.  This is kind of ironic because June has been one of the more exciting months I have had in a long time.

 To be quite honest, my life is very interesting right now, albeit routine.  It sounds like a paradox, interesting routines, but trust me on it.  Anyway, because of said routine, my body wakes me up automatically at 6 am most days.  Save for four days--two which have already passed--I work every day this month.  Some days (not a lot, thankfully), I wake up, go to one job, leave that, then go to the next!  I'm not trying to call people up for a pity party here by stating this.  But, it makes me realize how much time I did have on my hands after I graduated, and how finite the time that I have remaining in the States actually is.  As the Japanese say, "maa!"  (That's for "wow"...or so I was told).

In other news, at the end of May, on a flight to LA for one of these whirlwind weekends I have tried to make a trend (the trend's over, sadly), I had the great privilege of reading an (autographed!) short story that my friend wrote.  Okay, it was just a print-out copy from his computer, but I have a feeling this friend will be making waves in the future with his writing.  Another friend of mine actually got a publishing deal not too long ago.  She's translating a book from English into Spanish.  I know, my reaction is the same.

But in all honesty, I feel like I am surrounded by incredibly smart people.  Or maybe I just like to surround myself with smart people.  One of the two.  It's really crazy.

What's even crazier is that lately, I have been having these pseudo out-of-body experiences.  Instead of just going about my day, I'll actually think about me going about my day as I do it.  While thinking about this, I try to imagine how I must look like to an outsider.

I have discovered that I look like...an adult.  Holy $@*#!!!  

In a Flurry

Not quite six months ago, I was in Washington, D.C.  That's where I took this photo--standing out on Pennsylvania Avenue after waiting in the cold for about 15 hours.  Even though the place I was standing at wasn't particularly crowded, people were bumping against me on both sides when the Obamas' limo passed by--that's why my picture came out the way it did.  And of course, my camera battery chose that moment to die.  Needless to say, I was pissed.  Here I was, at Inauguration, and this was the best I could do at getting a shot of the President and the First Lady?

But looking back, I kind of like the way the picture came out.  My glimpse of the President really was just this--a fleeting moment, a flurry of activity, and a blur of different colors, of different people, all trying to witness history. 

It's hard to believe all the time that has passed since January.  I guess art really does imitate life sometimes.

What is the World Coming to?!

That was the last thing my coworker wrote jokingly in a brief email he sent to me yesterday, remarking on the fact that I, uncharacteristically, was not online. This is what happens when you end up spending about 90 percent of your life in front of a computer.

I used to think that people who spent 90 percent of their lives online were losers. But let's face it, work is much more interesting when you have a half dozen or so friends, all in different places, who also spend about 90 percent of their lives online, and who are all willing to commiserate with you the joys of online living.

And now, I have something to admit: I am getting into Twitter. I know, I know. I thought I was stronger than that too. Though I had joined it a few months ago simply to keep up with the changing landscape of social media, I am now finding myself logging on to be part of the change (That's supposed to be corny, naturally).

And considering that I am blogging about Twittering, I guess there is just one conclusion: I am a social media whore.

But hey, I guess that is what the world is coming to!