my cup runneth low

more drained

than i have been 

in a long while

because

marital stresses

long-standing dysthymia

breaking into depression

chronic life-altering illness

relationship issues

and work problems

take their communal toll

and i am

privileged to listen

and support

and love

and weep with

and pray for

but

drained

chinese new year bleahs

ardent red exuberances exhaust me

lion dances mandarin oranges festive songs

and other symbols of unalloyed commercial fervor

new clothes new stuff new flavors new lives

also i don't like prolonged repeated hearty family do's

and i shut down at earnest lectures on tradition and culture

although i like the two days off work

when the whole country shuts down

and i wish life could too

but doesn't. because chinese new year

okinawa thoughts

• goya champuru. bitter melon. tofu. scrambled egg. spam. belatedly discovered in my middle age. it's a glorious toss-together of textures and tastes. especially for that spam, which breaks every nutrition rule i've tried to make HOM live by
• sadly, after all the hype the soba is underwhelming. i'm afraid it tastes like chewy noodles. and without the lip-sticking broth of ramen either
• kōrēgūsu is awesome. HOM is agitating for our own version now that we're home. chilli padi in chinese hua tiao wine, he suggests. i'm beginning to agree
• more english than during my last visit to tokyo last year. that, or my hand gestures have improved. plus i figure out what the jap word for restroom looks like
• fewer smokers than in tokyo. or perhaps we were just lucky. although they still smoke freely in their tiny restaurants and one really wishes they would not, because the restaurants are wonderful otherwise - neat little tatami lined spaces with all manner of attention to detail that you don't get anywhere else in the world
• skinny cars for the narrow lanes. which makes many cars look taller. think of tidy little white boxes tootling along their roads
• heated toilet seats. are. da best. few things relax the sphincters as smoothly as sitting on a warmed up w.c. on a cold winter's nite after you have shivered your way to the loo