I Guess I'm a Heretic Then

My friend Dan and I discuss the nature of idleness every once in a while, weighing in on how, as we get caught up in excessive busy work, our lives lose dimensions. I think it began with one of reading a review of "How to be Idle" on "The Guardian," when I said something to the effect of, "This mirrors my philosophy very closely." Dan recently sent me another article on idleness. In it, Mark Slouka, discusses that those who profess enjoyment in idleness blaspheme before the Church of Work. I'll gladly count myself as one of those. He also points out that work is important, but I'll let you read the article. I don't have a problem with work; I do have a problem with work when it tries to take over the entirity of life. Living in Japan is a stark example of what happens when business and busy-ness rules. It occurs with children as well as adults. Kids go to school from 8am to 10pm in some instances, though 8pm to 9pm is more realistic. What are they doing? Being kept busy...so they don't have time to make trouble or think.

I wish I had the mental fortitude to continue this post, but, I was up all night last night and the night previous (something about grad school--which I will admit, is work I like. But, then again, I view it as that "end in itself" crap), and it is approaching 4:30pm here. I was actually asleep but the repair guy stopped by to listen to our washing machine. He told me it wasn't going to be easy to fix and then left. Okay, I really need to sleep. I do have one more thing I want to point out: The Tactical Ice Cream Unit!! Oh, and a cool LaTeX program for putting smooth equations into your Keynote slideshows or Pages documents: LaTeXiT.

Hikone Castle Festival

A Day in the Life of a Samurai
Originally uploaded by Me.

Today was the Hikone castle festival. It was like a mini-Jidai Matsuri through downtown Hikone, A celebration of the Ii family. The Wife and I headed out with a few friends on this cloudy and rainy day. Took in the parade, missed the firing of the arquebus over the castle, and grabbed some delicious ramen at Okabe's. I was instructed to apprentice myself to a ramen shop as it would make me a better person. I heartily agree. Unfortunately, nothing quite compares to Tenkagomen, and I refuse to apprentice myself to anyone but the best. I'm back to work on my projects. Later.

Thoughts

I was told I wore cute man-pants.