National Geographic and A Connection To Earlier Japanese-Obsessive Days

YOUR REPORT CARD:
Category	Grade
Love	A
Friends and Family	A+
Body	A
Mind	B
Finance / Career	B
Your Life's Average Grade: A
'What is your Life Grade?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Once upon a time, when I was little, National Geographic articles were too hard for me to read. The pictures were so vibrant, however, that this hardly mattered. (Even to this day, if I'm not terribly interested in the article, I'll still look at the pictures-- I might not care about all the ins and outs of the experiences of one man exploring the wilds of British Columbia, but I can-- and do-- still enjoy the pretty pictures). I was very proud of myself, however, when I read an article entirely through for the first time: It was about natural disasters, and had driving case stories sprinkled throughout of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, volcanoes, and ice storms. It was something I finally was intensely interested in. I loved the charts about risk factors for all of these everywhere in the United States (the upper peninsula of Michigan, by my estimations, is the safely place in the United States to live). I still like to occasionally review it, when I see it out. (My dad collects them, you see-- he's been getting a subscription since 1966, when he was ten years old-- and we keep them all in a series of cupboards under our bookshelves in our family room).

The second article I obsessed over-- kept it lying out for months at a time-- was a back copy of the April 1990 magazine, which had an article about Japanese women. I found it just as I was getting obsessed, the summer between 6th and 7th grade (ahh, I was becoming the person I am today; obsessed with Japan and Harry Potter :-P lol . . . ). I've just found the article again, now, and am rereading it, because it's interesting now that I know more about the culture and it's more affirming of what I already know than teaching, lol-- though it is a little archaic, as it's been 15 years (holy shit, I was not only born, then, but a toddler!) since it was written, and things have progressed even just a bit in Japan since then, lol . . .

Anyway, I was ordering my books for my classes next semester today, and for Modern Japanese Literature, we have to read a book called "The Waiting Years." I remembered the title from the article on Japanese women I had read-- practically memorized-- so many years ago. The passage it had been mentioned in was about the bitter, "waiting" elements of so many Japanese women's works. I wondered (and hoped) it was the book which vividly described a woman "on her deathbed demanding that her scorned body be dumped into the sea." It was ^_^ "A character named Tomo, in Fumiko Enchi's 'The Waiting Years,' endures a lifetime of unfaithfulness by her husband, shocking him by demanding that her scorned body be dumped into the sea." I just thought that was amusing.

Well, now, I'm going to be off and go re-read this favorite article, lol . . . Besides, Mom has said to me, "YOU ARE ANNOYING ME BY BEING UP EARLY." It's not my fault I've got jet lag; I'd rather be sleeping, thank you, considering I'm still able to stay up until 2:30 am-- I just wake up at 5:30 or 6:30 the next day /-: and I can't get back to sleep!

National Geographic and A Connection To Earlier Japanese-Obsessive Days

YOUR REPORT CARD:
Category	Grade
Love	A
Friends and Family	A+
Body	A
Mind	B
Finance / Career	B
Your Life's Average Grade: A
'What is your Life Grade?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Once upon a time, when I was little, National Geographic articles were too hard for me to read. The pictures were so vibrant, however, that this hardly mattered. (Even to this day, if I'm not terribly interested in the article, I'll still look at the pictures-- I might not care about all the ins and outs of the experiences of one man exploring the wilds of British Columbia, but I can-- and do-- still enjoy the pretty pictures). I was very proud of myself, however, when I read an article entirely through for the first time: It was about natural disasters, and had driving case stories sprinkled throughout of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, volcanoes, and ice storms. It was something I finally was intensely interested in. I loved the charts about risk factors for all of these everywhere in the United States (the upper peninsula of Michigan, by my estimations, is the safely place in the United States to live). I still like to occasionally review it, when I see it out. (My dad collects them, you see-- he's been getting a subscription since 1966, when he was ten years old-- and we keep them all in a series of cupboards under our bookshelves in our family room).

The second article I obsessed over-- kept it lying out for months at a time-- was a back copy of the April 1990 magazine, which had an article about Japanese women. I found it just as I was getting obsessed, the summer between 6th and 7th grade (ahh, I was becoming the person I am today; obsessed with Japan and Harry Potter :-P lol . . . ). I've just found the article again, now, and am rereading it, because it's interesting now that I know more about the culture and it's more affirming of what I already know than teaching, lol-- though it is a little archaic, as it's been 15 years (holy shit, I was not only born, then, but a toddler!) since it was written, and things have progressed even just a bit in Japan since then, lol . . .

Anyway, I was ordering my books for my classes next semester today, and for Modern Japanese Literature, we have to read a book called "The Waiting Years." I remembered the title from the article on Japanese women I had read-- practically memorized-- so many years ago. The passage it had been mentioned in was about the bitter, "waiting" elements of so many Japanese women's works. I wondered (and hoped) it was the book which vividly described a woman "on her deathbed demanding that her scorned body be dumped into the sea." It was ^_^ "A character named Tomo, in Fumiko Enchi's 'The Waiting Years,' endures a lifetime of unfaithfulness by her husband, shocking him by demanding that her scorned body be dumped into the sea." I just thought that was amusing.

Well, now, I'm going to be off and go re-read this favorite article, lol . . . Besides, Mom has said to me, "YOU ARE ANNOYING ME BY BEING UP EARLY." It's not my fault I've got jet lag; I'd rather be sleeping, thank you, considering I'm still able to stay up until 2:30 am-- I just wake up at 5:30 or 6:30 the next day /-: and I can't get back to sleep!