I wrote this on my phone and it made me happy. Then I drank some coffee. That made me happy, too.
Little Things
December 14th, 2010Sorry this is gonna show up on Facebook and LJ, too. Just never you mind it.
September 13th, 2010I changed the name of my blog to Coffee-Flavored Coffee for no compelling reason.
I Have a Private Practice!
September 3rd, 2010It’s true. I have a private practice now! It’s at NE Glisan and NE 60th. I get the office for 5 hours per week. I even have a website: Portland Counseling Therapy. Yes, it has a silly, keyword-rich name.
Now I just need clients…
Catharting. Carharting.
November 30th, 2009I’ve realized lately that I’m much better than I used to be at understanding how others experience the world and respond to it in different ways than I do. Sometimes it’s great but sometimes it kinda sucks.
Yesterday from the staff room
November 30th, 2009This is yesterday’s shot from the staff room. But really this post is just to see how my blog-to-facebook gateway deals with pictures.
Tanksgivin
November 29th, 2009Electra and I had Thanksgiving last Saturday at the American Consul General’s house in Sapporo. It was fantastic. And it turns out she’s really rad. It’s nice to know that people like her are representing us in those kinds of diplomatic positions.
Also, she has real ovens. In her house! Such luxury!!
So much!
November 4th, 2009Sometimes I’m astonished by how much cheese there must be in the world.
What’s Your Yearly Dinosaur?
October 14th, 2009I was hanging out after lunch with some 5th graders today. One of them is really into dinosaurs. He kept trying to drag my attention away to talk about them.
To try to keep the others involved, I asked another boy, in Japanese, if he liked dinosaurs. Now, the Japanese word for “dinosaur” is “kyoryu”. But I messed up and said “kyuryo”. That means “salary”. The kid rolled with it nicely. First he kindly corrected me, then he said (in Japanese), “My dinosaur is $1,000 per month.”
Awesome.
Honcho = 班長
October 7th, 2009You probably know that we borrowed the word “Typhoon” from Japanese. But I’ve been learning that we’ve actually borrowed quite a random assortment of words from Japanese.
For example, “honcho” from “head honcho” comes from the Japanese word 班長 (hanchou) which means “group leader/boss”. Apparently English speaking POWs in WWII were put into (quite brutal) workgroups by their Japanese captors and one Japanese word they never forgot was 班長.
I imagine many words we imported from Japanese were learned that way.
At the Park
October 4th, 2009Electra and I were going to go to burgers tonight after I finished counseling, but I decided I really wasn’t hungry and wanted to chill at the park in the cold, but wonderful-feeling, air.
I walked into the park with my headphones on. The park smells of healthy pond and is mostly lit by the occasional lamp and the neon on distant hotels. So it feels private and lovely but not dangerously dark. I took off my headphones to hang out next to the pond and listen to ducks and — someone was playing a flute! He’s in the dark near the pond and I can barely make out his shape. I think it’s some kind of bamboo or wood instrument, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a shakuhachi. His playing is beautiful! It echoes around the pond like a New Age meditation CD. And it’s pretty much exactly what I needed tonight.