Author: J

The Baby Bat

by J

In the back yard of the house, there are different things show up out of no where. Spider web, trash bag, big glass hopper, a piece of plastic that I have no idea what it is for, a big piece of pine tree leaf, and so on…

One day my wife told me there was a bat hanging outside in the morning while I was at work. She said she was so surprised that she forgot to take picture of.

On the next day, while I was watering the back yard, my wife in the house suddenly yelled, “bat!”

I looked at the direction where she was pointing at. It took me some time to recognize the little dark gray creature sticking and crawling on the mosquito net at the door.

I immediately took my cell phone and started filming. Some of you may have seen bat in real life but they are not anything pleasant to look at but I had never seen one so, I was filming as I observed what it does.

I have observed it for some time out of curiosity but at the same time, I was a little scared of the creature. I wanted to go into the house but I was worried that it may fly into the house when I open the mosquito net.

After a while, I realized that the little bat would not go anywhere for some time so I picked a stick to see if it would grab onto it so that I could remove him out of my way. I may have scared the creature, and it has started crawling again on the net. I’ve tried to offer the stick but it just ran away from it.

I looked in the yard and I saw a piece of palm tree leaf with a big dried surface that looked like a scooper. I have grabbed the leaf and glided against the mosquito net so that the little bat would hop onto it or fall onto it.

Bingo! Though unwillingly, it has fell on the leaf. I have hurried to the short bush area of the backyard and placed the leaf on the soil.

The bat has crawled off the leaf, and crawled towards my onion garden. After exploring the area, it has started climbing the wall behind the onion garden.

After climbing the wall to about a foot height, it fell on the ground. It has tried to climb the wall again, and it has climbed to my eye height. Then it has paused and rested for some time but when it started moving again, it slipped and fell on the ground.

I do not know if bat feels pain but it did not move for a moment… but after the moment, it has started climbing the wall again. Then fell again. The little creature has repeated this several times.

I was getting a tired of watching it fall, I went inside the house.

While I was fixing dinner, I still saw the creature on the wall but I saw less movement.

On the next day, I looked out in the backyard, I did not see the bat anymore. I was wondering where it went but after my breakfast, I went out to my onion garden where the bat may have fell again.

After observing the area for some time, I saw the bat hanging upside down at the edge of a plastic pot. I don’t know if I was being too loud or if the sun was too bright but it started moving and hid it’s head under the onion leaf.

Still, I did not think it’s a pleasant creature to look at but I started growing attachment to this little creature… it has round ears that make it look a little like a mouse. It has a sharp little tail. It’s foot have some fingers but hands have a single nail that can be used to hook on the wall…

I did not see what it eats or if it eats anything special but I saw a plenty of leaves and some insects so I thought it can survive just fine in my little onion garden.

I may have been wrong…

When I came back from errands in town, I saw it lying on the onion pot. I did not see it moving… I picked a stick and poked the little bat gently but there was. No response…

I did not know what I should do but I thought maybe it was just dehydrated under the sun so I watered around him but nothing…

I have regretted I should have googled what baby bat feeds on but it was too late. I have removed the body from the pot and placed it on the soil to see if there is any sign of life but I saw none at all. It was already just a little piece of corpse.

I dug a little bit of soil next to the onion garden and buried him. There was nothing else but the his body… I wanted to put something next to his body so that he wouldn’t feel so much loneliness but i could not think of anything he would like.

I wonder… how did he even end up in our backyard? Was he left alone by his parents? Was he a messenger from the great being to me? Anyways, he must have been lonely and scared…

I could have used the technology to search how I could save him but instead, I was using the technology to take video clips of him suffering… too late now but I hope I won’t make the same mistake. Great power comes with great responsibility…

I only wish the onions in my garden has gave him some comfort and cheered him, at least…

Nandaro… what is it?

by J

Before our daily 18:30 meeting, my colleague, who was preparing the presentation for the meeting, suddenly raised his head, and asked me,

“J-san, what does ‘Nandaro’ mean?”

I replied,

“what is it…”

“I hear N-san often say ‘Nandaro.’ What does it mean?”

“Yeah, it means what is it.”

“I think it’s a Japanese word. What is it.”

“Exactly, what is it.”

“No, I am asking…!”

Another college of us in the room got what I meant from the beginning but he had been watching our comical conversation. In the end, he could not stand it, and started laughing, which explained everything.

Exchange of Life

by J

Some people may find it creepy but this is what seems to happen with our family or maybe to happen to everyone but nobody realizes…

I was born in Kagoshima, in the southern island of Japan. That’s where we get sedimentation of volcanic ashes from Sakurajima volcano once in a while. When it’s falling, it looks like snow but when it accumulates on the ground, it’s dust…

Kagoshima is where my mother is from and her parents were living in a house with a small Japanese garden with a pond. The pond is surrounded by green moss and various flowers. On one side of the pond, there is a waterfall as well.

In the pond there were many Koi fish that my grand parents were raising. Around the pond, there were lizards that just migrated.

Now, what’s interesting is that all the Koi fish died and they were floating their stomach up one day a few weeks before I was born. About a decade later when my brother was born, there were multiple lizards lined up in the garden and they were dead.

I do not know why that happened but maybe a huge energy is required to bear a human baby… and some of those smaller creatures’ life are exchanged for us…

Super Hero’s Biggest Enemy?

by J

I have been training martial art for some time, and recently, I have found a common weakness that any hero must deal with… which is their biological needs…

Imagine that a villain shows up, and starts messing around the innocent people, and you, a super hero, is just about to stands up and leave the restaurant table to fight the villain.

Right at that specific moment, you realize that you really need to go to the restroom. Would you go to the bathroom to finish the business and then go or would you go fight the villain, during which you need to hold your bladder…?

Even more vulnerable instance would be that when you, a super hero, is in the bathroom, doing your business. During this 20-40 seconds of the business, anything could happen.

In fact, if I want to play dirty, I would target the super hero when they are doing their business, simply because that’s when any one is the most vulnerable!

… or is it that super hero’s train their bladder as their first lesson? At least, that is not the curriculum in any of the martial art school that I know of… and I do not think any of the series or movies show how this serious problem is dealt…

To conclude, if you want to become a super hero, do not under estimate the bladder training. The true enemy is not the villain but is yourself!

Eggplosion

by J

POOM!!!

I knew that it exploded, and I knew it did, indeed.

What caught me off guard is the timing, the sound, and the scale of the explosion.

In the middle of the kitchen, I stood still, and so did my wife and my roommate behind me.

In the moment of silence after the POOM, I saw the egg white, egg yolk, and egg shell splashed all over, on the wall, on the kitchen counter, on the floor, on me.

Let me rewind a little bit. My wife was fixing quick dinner that night. I do not remember what I was doing exactly but maybe I was watching Sponge Bob Square Pants or something…

I was not paying attention to what my wife was doing but I heard her chopping things on the cutting board, boiling water on the stove, and using the microwave oven.

My wife asked, “do you think two-minute is good enough to cook egg in the microwave oven?”

I replied that she should not put eggs in the microwave oven but it was too late. She had already been doing it. I stopped watching the TV, and ran to the kitchen. I think my roommate sensed something extraordinary is about to happen so he came after me.

When I got to the microwave oven, nothing had happened yet but I saw a whole egg with shell in a dish, rotating on the turning tray inside, under the orange illumination. I immediately opened the microwave oven door to stop it from heating the egg further, then I slowly reached to the dish with the egg. I was relieved that I stopped the egg from exploding…

I have slowly removed the dish out from the microwave oven, and took it to the kitchen counter. I did not know what I would do next but since my wife wanted to make a boiled egg, apparently, I decided to boil water in a pot, then throw the egg in there.

To see how hot the egg is, I patted the egg. That is when the whole world inside the little oval shell popped out into the big wide world of the kitchen in a college students’ rented apartment.

By the way, I realized later but the egg splashed even on the ceiling!

Gasoline Replaces Wedding Rings?

by J

Mexico Gasoline Crisis

Maybe it was two years ago, around this time in January or February． It was found that mafia group had been stealing gasoline from the pipeline that distribute gasoline to different parts of the country.

Mexico’s oil industry had been controlled by the government until recently. What the industry does is to produce oil, export it the US, and import gasoline back. I wonder why the government does not invest in the refinery technology more so that Mexico can do a lot more with its resource but it must have its own reasons…

Anyways, what was stolen had been sold in black. Someone must have been getting a lot of profit. To prevent further loss, the government shut the pipeline, and started transporting the gasoline using tank trucks. The problem with tank trucks is that they are inefficient.

Because of the inefficiency, all of the gas stations in the central Mexico ran out of gas. Many cars drove around looking for a gas station that still has gas but many stopped looking, eventually to save what is left in their tank. It was a big hit on Cab and Uber drivers. No gas, no business so, many of them lined up in front of gas stations for hours.

The crisis lasted for a month or two. During the crisis, some people went creative, and came up with those below. These works have been shored with me by my colleague, S.R.

Off the topic, but this guy is one of a kind. He was in Mexican Air Force, parachuting from the sky, and combat on the ground. One time, he drove one of the company vehicle, Mazda 2, got into an accident. I have no idea how it happened but some how, the little Mazda 2 rolled several times to the side, and stuck in the ditch.

The car was completely crashed, and bystanderds thought the driver was seriously injured, or possibly dead. When we received a call, another one of my colleagues rushed to the site, where S.R. was standing by the chunk of metal, without a scar!

Anyways, going back to the gasoline crisis, here are the creative art of the crisis shared by S.R.

People, really, are creative…!

The god of gasoline, Huachicoloyotl

The State Security Force Searching the Clues of Scarce Hydrocarbon Case

Will You Marry Me?

Until We Become the Legend…

by J

We may not have to drive in the future but for now, drive safe

I started driving cars when I was in high school, and since then, I have been driving in different countries. Thanks to many people who have cautioned me various things, I have been fortunate not to be in a serious accident so far, although I have been in near miss accidents a few times.

What is unfortunate is that some of my friends and acquaintances drive or drove very dangerously, and some of them even lost their lives so, I would like to take some time to share the things that I keep reminding myself when I drive.

0. The big lesson

On one rainy day, I was driving on a busy street with road construction. The traffic was moving slow so most of the cars were rushing to go before everyone else but I made sure I have enough room in front of me to stop, in case of an emergency break. Several cars cut the line but I did not care. I yielded for them. The car behind me was obviously eager to go faster, and it was tailgating me and flashing the headlights at me to close the distance in front of me. I knew he was very frustrated how I was driving. I felt pressured and I was tempted to close the space in front of me but the next instance, I saw several cars in front of me stepped on their breaks.

I only expected the traffic to be slowing down but it turned out to be a complete stop!

I stepped further onto my break pedal but I was getting closer and closer to the car in front of me. I thought I would crash. Fortunately, I was able to stop just a few inches behind the car in front of me.

As soon as I felt the relief, I heard a big crash behind me. It was two cars behind crashed into the car behind me.

I was able to stop in time, and so was the car right behind but that was not the case for two cars behind me.

1. Distance, distance, and distance

When there are no cars, people, or any object on the street, you would not get into an accident, unless if you fall asleep, but in reality, there are all sorts of obstacles on the street. On those chaotic streets, what you can control is very limited. In fact, there is only one thing that you can control – your car. On top of that, the only thing that you can control by controlling your car is the space in front of you.

You cannot control the pedestrians. You cannot control the broken tire on the highway. You cannot control the traffic. You cannot control the driver behind you, who is eager to go faster and getting closer to you.

The good news is that the only thing you can control will drastically decrease the chance of getting you into an accident. Of course, many crazy things happen when you are on the wheels so, it is not the 100% protection. However, I feel that too many people do not take care of the only thing that they can take control of.

It is important to pay attention to your surroundings but remember, the space in front of you is your sacred zone. You must secure it at all time, even when you are tailgated!

***By the way, I have been taught to count the seconds from the moment the car in front of me passes a landmark till I pass the same landmark. If I count to three seconds, then that means I am maintaining the optimal distance. The time it takes for cars to stop is relative to how fast we are driving. If you maintain a 3-second distance, you can likely come to a complete stop in time.

2. Pay extra attention when changing lane or turning

When you are going straight, the only thing that you need to take care of is your sacred zone in front of you but things get complicated when you are not going straight. Many accidents happen when cars are changing lane or when making a turn. Do not forget to do all the due diligence.

3. Look at tires

Sometimes, there are cars cuts in all of a sudden…, or you feel like all of a sudden. Especially when you are driving long distance on a highway, you lose concentration, and your reaction time delays. For me, it had been difficult to detect a large truck coming into my lane when it was dark at night, and when it was raining… Someone told me to watch the wheels of the vehicles. Voila!

It is so much easier to detect vehicles changing lanes when you look the wheels.

4. Driving safely is much more important than showing off techniques

The sole purpose of driving on public streets or highways is nothing else but to get to our destination.

Who cares how closely you can drive behind a car and how fast you can react to a stop. It only bother people… Please read below if you are one of those who enjoy practicing or showing off your driving techniques…

5. Stay cool, and yield

To tell you the truth, I used to get road rages. I was so intense and I easily became short tempered when I was driving. When someone was driving slow on a highway, I tail gated. When someone drove faster than me, I speeded to chase the car. When someone told me directions incorrect, or too late, I yelled and made crazy turns. In traffic jam, I made sure I leave no space for other cars to cut in.

I feel very embarrassed how childish I used to drive… but at the same time, I understand how those childish drivers feel when they are driving crazy, and I also understand how difficult it is to control their emotions. I am not expecting that I can change all the raged drivers in the world but I hope this article can help some drivers… or even one driver…

How I was able to start coping with road rages was a shock remedy… In the company in Missouri, where I started working after graduating from the college, there was this quality manager who loved driving his green mustang. Whenever he left the company, we heard his mustang driving away. He was born and grown up in south part of Chicago, in the ghetto area. He was a big white guy with a strict father, who valued courtesy. Despite the education at home, he grew up doing street fights with the gangs. I remember him telling me one time, in his deep voice, “I recognize the smell in the bathroom. Someone is doing pots in there.” Then, the company-wide drug test was carried out, and a few people has been kicked out.

He was divorced but he was still in love with his ex-wife. One day, he told me with a big smile on his face, telling me that he is getting back with his ex-wife. Then he told me the story of the special rings he prepared… I do not remember the details but he melted the original rings to make a new ones, or something… The tough big boss was a romantic guy. That weekend, he took us to a bar in town, then took us on a drive in his mustang. Because he was speeding so much, we were caught by the police, but some how, he was able to talk out of it. Several weeks later, we attended his wedding, and celebrated the happy re-married couple.

Unfortunately, things went south a few months later.

He had been accused of some ethical issue at work, and he was fired. He found a new job but it was three hours away, in Iowa. He started living in Iowa, and came back to Missouri during weekends. He moved back and forth between the states for a few months, then the horrible accident happened.

He must have been texting his wife while driving. His mustang slipped off into the opposite lane, and crashed into an oncoming car, taking lives of two persons, including himself. The worst part is that on the oncoming car, there was a child also, and he lost his mother because of one person’s careless driving.

Since this accident, I started thinking about what it means by responsible driving. I learned that it is not only the matter of myself. I started thinking it is better to yield than causing an accident and make multiple parties suffer. I started thinking how childish it is to get road rage. I started feeling the sense of accomplishment when I managed to control my rage. Then, I realized one thing. No matter how fast I drive, and try to go in front of all the other cars, I cannot even halve the time it takes to get to the destination.

There are a lot more to pay attention to but above are things that I noticed many people value less. I hope less people get into accidents… but who knows, maybe in a few decades, we become the legend… the generation that survived actually driving cars!!! Until then, drive safely.

No, Siri, no!!!

by J

It was back a few years ago. There was a colleague of mine whose hair was as fluffy as bird nest. It is said that he has never combed his hair on his own…

Anyways, one day, I was in a meeting with a couple of my colleagues, including Bird Nest. I do not remember what we were discussing about but the discussion has started heating up between the president and Bird Nest.

The president was very upset towards the end, and everyone else was quietly listening to the two. Usually, the president is very calm but that day, he was a hot potato. He literally yelled at Bird Nest, “don’t you understand the gravity of the problem!!!?”

Bird Nest was quiet for a moment, looking for the most suitable response. While everyone was looking at Bird Nest, we heard someone else answering the president,
“Sorry, I don’t understand what you are saying…”

Everyone looked at each other’s face, then the president.

It was Siri, the iPhone of Bird Nest that spoke.

The intense face of the president has frozen…, and so did everyone’s face.

I wanted to laugh but because everyone else had serious face, I looked down and tried to hold my laughter.

All quiet, either looking at the president or down, like me.

The next moment, the president has finally started laughing, and so did everyone.

What happened is that Bird Nest squeezed his palms because of the intense discussion. In his palms, he had his iPhone, and his thumb pressed the center button for a few seconds unintentionally, and Siri was activated.

Tea

by J

The gentle flavor with the natural sweetness expand and linger in the back of my mouth for quite some time, after a sip of my favorite Chinese tea, Pu-er cha, goes down my throat, warming my body and calming me down.

I had never cared about tea until I went to Malaysia, where I met Jackie. I was 14… or maybe 15 back then. Jackie had a little souvenir shop on the ground floor of the apartment building, where I lived. When I was 15 years old, I did not speak much English but some how, I managed to communicate with him. Jackie was a short Chinese Malay, always with a big gentle smile. I do not recall since when but I was always at his store drinking tea. He has introduced me different kinds of Chinese tea and tea sets.

In his store, there were displays of Malay crafts, like the Royal Selangor Pewter plaques, cups and containers, artisan’s batik fabric, and other little things like magnets and keychains. I also remember kites made of batik fabric on the glass window as display… I always wondered if they would actually fly in the sky…

Surrounded by those products, there was a counter where Jackie hid himself and his tea sets, and I was hiding with him, drinking tea. It was not that we were trying to be away from the eyes of the customers or anything but the counter was so tall that it hid us.

My favorite tea, back then, was TieGuanYin tea, which is a family of Oolong tea. I like this tea is because the flavor lingers longer in my mouth than Oolong tea, and I like the flavor of it too.

What I did not like much in the beginning was Pu-er tea. It has earthy flavor and I thought I am drinking mud water. What is funny is that Pu-er tea is my favorite tea now. Behind the earthiness, there is subtle freshness and sweetness. It reminds me of refreshing rainy day when the rain plays the natural music, the breeze brings the fragrance of the wet soil, and plants on the field are enjoying the shower from the heaven. By the way, ladies, it is said that drinking Pu-er tea helps with losing weight.

Just as the sound of rain, I like the moment when hot water is poured into the tea pot. Not only does it make nice sound, the smoky steam escaping from the tea pot is just pleasing to watch. When the tea is just right in the third cup, I can smell the flavor when water is poured into the pot. I can enjoy the flavor before sipping, and even after finishing the cup. The flavor remains on the cup.

After Jackie taught me enjoyment of tea, I bought Chinese tea set. Along with the Chinese tea ceremony experience in Jackie’s store, I took Japanese tea ceremony lessons as well. I also explored British tea. I found that in different culture, tea is prepared differently but, there are some commonalities.

Whether if if it is green tea, matcha tea, darjeeling tea, assam tea, infusion tea with dried fruit, or any other tea, good tea leaves have long lasting flavor in your mouth, just as Chinese tea. When the tea leaves are good, I do not want to ruin them. To get the best flavor out of the leaves, I moist them in the tea pot with a little bit of hot water first. After giving moist to the leaves, I pour the water to my cups and other china to to warm them. Then, I pour hot water in the tea pot to drink. This method works well for all the tea that I have tried. The last commonality, though my subjective feeling, is that they taste the best on a rainy day. They give me comfort.

Jackie, I do not know where you are, how you are doing now but I hope you and your family are well. I just want to say thank you for what you taught me and your friendship.

Lame… but here we go… New Year Resolution

by J

It is time of the year to set the new year resolution!

I know that I will most likely fail on day 3 of the year but I still make it anyways… Why? It is because I just feel like I am getting another chance, and I hope I do better next year. I will not share my resolutions but I will share what I do. Actually, my process is not only coming up with goals but there are other miscellaneous activities around it.

Step 1:

List things I did this year. Happy things, sad things, new things I learned, and so on. This year, I made the list with my wife. One of the things this year was that we moved to a new house but we did not have internet for 3 months!!! My wife went crazy and I took so much effort trying to calm her down, and calling the internet provider for the earliest service… I do not want to go through that again but it was an experience…

Step 2:

Go through my financials… I am not crazy about earning or saving pennies but I just want to make sure I did not spend too much on dumbest junks… like cheap drone that flew only 5 min after charging the battery for hours… (I know some of you have experienced that!) Then, I prepare budget for the next year.

One thing that I have started including in my budget since a few years ago is purchase of the new tech gadgets. When my grandfather was still alive, I was teaching him how to download, edit and save photos that he has taken with his beloved camera. It took forever to teach him!!! In a few decades, I can be left behind technology, and I may become just like my grandfather. The only way to keep up would be to continue learning about it. This is just what I do but my point here would be that it is important to know what matters to you, and put aside some money for those things. During this budget process, if I figure what I want to buy cost more than I anticipated, then I plan how much to cut down other expenses, and/or plan longer term saving.

Step 3:

This is the fun but probably the most difficult part – reviewing your life goals and coming up with next year’s goals. Until last year, I just came up with a list of things I want to do but many failed miserably… like waking up early to have productive mornings…. (yes, I am a type of person who can sleep until afternoon!)

This year, I am still making the list of resolutions but what I am doing differently is adding categorization. By doing so, I was able to think about the bigger goals beyond next year’s resolutions.

In the books that I read in 2021, different goal setting approaches were introduced but many turned out to be very theoretical and not practical for me. I have decided to set the following three categories, and make a list.

The first one is “rice work” resolutions. They are the goals for the job that I have now for paying my bills. Even though I do not like my current job so much, I still need to do better to get paid. The second is “life work” resolutions. They are the goals for my non-paid work or projects that I enjoy doing or that I feel useful for other people. These are the things that define who I am in the future when I retire so it is important for me. The last is give-back resolutions. They are the goals for what I would give back to the society. They are not simply donations but they are the things that I would actively be doing.

Extra Things

I take above steps before the end of the year. Then, the first thing I do on January 1 is checking my fortune for the year. I do not believe in it but usually the new year fortune say all kinds of good things that happens in the year, which makes me feel excited.

By the way, if the fortune says anything bad, I ignore them, and look at the bright side. If you cannot do that and tend to be pessimistic, I strongly suggest you not checking the fortune telling.

I hope my new year resolution steps give you some ideas.

I wish you a happy new year!!!