Filling the void, again.
When things in life seem futile, many turn to alcohol. Not I. I fill the voids in my life with things. Glorious, materialistic things. A few months back, in the midst of winter, I set about building a bar in my apartment. Then I turned to alcohol... Things seemes to be going well at the beginning of a glorious summer. . I really enjoyed coming home, but once there... something, something didn't feel quite right. I needed to find the purchasable object that would make it all okay again.
Phase A
This idea came to me when I was at the Tulip Festival. Tonami is billed as "the flower city", so I thought to myself: "Since I am in the Flower City, why don't I buy myself a flower?"... okay, that came out wrong... But I did have a plan. The very next week (I was kindof busy that week...) I went and treated myself to 25 kilograms of dirt. I love retail therapy! Now, like most apartments on the 3rd floor, I don't have a garden. I do have a balcony, and that is where I set up a flowerbed, and a series of pots. Over the last two weeks, I have been taking great care of them, and I am now the proud, single dad of baby lupins, sunflowers and cosmos. As a plan to impress girls, this is deeply flawed. But it is good feel responsible for something other than myself.
Phase 2
Going by the philosophy of "do in Tonami as the Tonamians do" by growing flowers, I am also "doing as the Japanese do"- by growing rice. I will not get into the finer details of how I came into posession of the rice plants, for it is something I am not proud of. I will say, however, that "Operation Rice-Get" occured past midnight. I've said too much already... So, alongside my flowerbed, I have a small rice field, complete with the mud and dirty, insect-filled water. unfortunately, "Operation Tadpole Drop" was unsuccessful. I wonder if this year will be a good harvest...
I feel the flowers and rice have made me feel closer to the heart of the Japanese and Tonameese mentality.
Going by the philosophy of "do in Tonami as the Tonamians do" by growing flowers, I am also "doing as the Japanese do"- by growing rice. I will not get into the finer details of how I came into posession of the rice plants, for it is something I am not proud of. I will say, however, that "Operation Rice-Get" occured past midnight. I've said too much already... So, alongside my flowerbed, I have a small rice field, complete with the mud and dirty, insect-filled water. unfortunately, "Operation Tadpole Drop" was unsuccessful. I wonder if this year will be a good harvest...
I feel the flowers and rice have made me feel closer to the heart of the Japanese and Tonameese mentality.
Phase 3
Undeterred by the failure of "Operation Tadpole Drop", I decided to go up one level. Pets! On the scale of difficulty of keeping alive, interestingness and originality, Goldfish are near the bottom of the pet scale. They sit somewhere between worms and sea monkeys. Still, for someone who grew up with a cat, dogs, goats, turtles, goldfish, tropical fish, birds, guinea pigs, rabbits, eels, lizards and once had a monkey stay over for a weekend, having a pet of any sort is a must. Most goldfish, in my correct opinion, look like failed genetic experiments. This is because they usually are. Comets though, while plain, are acceptable pets, and I chose two groovy clownfish coloured ones. They are named Kami, and Kaze.
So, while I did fill thevoid in my life with materialism, buying (and stealing) living things to take care of makes it slightly less sad. I am investing in life. And if that fails, at least I can take comfort in the knowledge I have a fully stocked bar in my apartment.
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