Slant
Hi
I went to 淀 today to explore a 何も無い that I had been curious about all the while I'd been here. There was a bombed out castle, now just two walls and a moat capped by highway on either end, a lonely turtle bobbed it's head out and was gone. Children played in the hollow down below, swinging on the tire-swing and scraping their knees, and I marveled at another flight of Japanese stairs. Mikado calls me a 階段お宅; I always pause and gaze up the, and usually I have to climb the stairs and see them from the other side, everywhere we go. I walked along the 淀川 and then down some streets, trying to get lost. Crates of empty glass coca-cola bottles lured me into the local liquor shop, where an old lady tried to get me to haggle. "How much is this where you come from?" Oh, maybe 150? She laughed and gave it to me for 100 yen, foreigners never know where to start. I left with a "毎度!" and wandered through some temple gardens trying to get the top off of the bottle. I imagine coke sells these in places like 淀 because they know about nostalgia, but it doesn't stop me from indulging (and I think you would agree). Finally I wandered down the central market street and stopped to check on the prices at a local used game shop.
A fine morning!
I desire for everyone to be able to accept truth and live in fantasy at the same time. When I go to shrines and bombed out castles I feel this nostalgia for a time I have experienced without ever having lived in. The time is called: imagination. In Diamond Age we are presented a perfectly scientific world in which societies choose their culture, choose the rules they want to live by and then live by them, and do this on a level that can be controlled. In times of old we looked up at 虹 and saw a two headed dragon dipping it's head into the ocean to refresh itself before a long journey to heaven. Now I see five colors of light that fill me with calm. I would prefer to be able to see five colors of light that fill me with calm, and then turn to my traveling companion and say "have you ever been to the end of a rainbow?" Perhaps then recounting a tale of a friend of a friend of mine who had, and of what he found there. I want this to be always, and not precious sometimes, when we know the truth but are still willing to sing about the lies. Is that so hard?
When I went to 清水寺 with Fei I imagined an online environment that would perfectly replicate the temple grounds, every inch would be open and visitable, but all of it would be off limits. A whole world could exist this way, no invisible walls to stop you from going where you shouldn't, as video games usually contain, and no signs saying "keep off grass". Instead we would simply keep off the grass, ourselves. We would wander the garden paths slowly, tossing bread crumbs to the swimming carp, and stare up at the sky, pensively. I would look to you, and you would comment, "fine weather, these past few days" and maybe I would nod, or maybe I would look back at the carp and we would stand there, in perfect comfortable silence waiting for the day to pass. What's so wrong with wanting a second world, with wanting to go back in time and imagine that you don't know the future, act as if you don't, but never to believe in lies?
Time could pass differently there, you wouldn't have to neglect this other world, where truth is discovered and taught to children. It wouldn't be about delving into dungeons, either: it wouldn't be escape, it would be a second beautiful prison, but one that didn't evolve, or devolve, one that we chose where we could take our time and appreciate fantasy as though it were real. A prison very much like this one, but different and not the same. I want a second world every time I go to place that were.
See you soon!
z.
I went to 淀 today to explore a 何も無い that I had been curious about all the while I'd been here. There was a bombed out castle, now just two walls and a moat capped by highway on either end, a lonely turtle bobbed it's head out and was gone. Children played in the hollow down below, swinging on the tire-swing and scraping their knees, and I marveled at another flight of Japanese stairs. Mikado calls me a 階段お宅; I always pause and gaze up the, and usually I have to climb the stairs and see them from the other side, everywhere we go. I walked along the 淀川 and then down some streets, trying to get lost. Crates of empty glass coca-cola bottles lured me into the local liquor shop, where an old lady tried to get me to haggle. "How much is this where you come from?" Oh, maybe 150? She laughed and gave it to me for 100 yen, foreigners never know where to start. I left with a "毎度!" and wandered through some temple gardens trying to get the top off of the bottle. I imagine coke sells these in places like 淀 because they know about nostalgia, but it doesn't stop me from indulging (and I think you would agree). Finally I wandered down the central market street and stopped to check on the prices at a local used game shop.
A fine morning!
I desire for everyone to be able to accept truth and live in fantasy at the same time. When I go to shrines and bombed out castles I feel this nostalgia for a time I have experienced without ever having lived in. The time is called: imagination. In Diamond Age we are presented a perfectly scientific world in which societies choose their culture, choose the rules they want to live by and then live by them, and do this on a level that can be controlled. In times of old we looked up at 虹 and saw a two headed dragon dipping it's head into the ocean to refresh itself before a long journey to heaven. Now I see five colors of light that fill me with calm. I would prefer to be able to see five colors of light that fill me with calm, and then turn to my traveling companion and say "have you ever been to the end of a rainbow?" Perhaps then recounting a tale of a friend of a friend of mine who had, and of what he found there. I want this to be always, and not precious sometimes, when we know the truth but are still willing to sing about the lies. Is that so hard?
When I went to 清水寺 with Fei I imagined an online environment that would perfectly replicate the temple grounds, every inch would be open and visitable, but all of it would be off limits. A whole world could exist this way, no invisible walls to stop you from going where you shouldn't, as video games usually contain, and no signs saying "keep off grass". Instead we would simply keep off the grass, ourselves. We would wander the garden paths slowly, tossing bread crumbs to the swimming carp, and stare up at the sky, pensively. I would look to you, and you would comment, "fine weather, these past few days" and maybe I would nod, or maybe I would look back at the carp and we would stand there, in perfect comfortable silence waiting for the day to pass. What's so wrong with wanting a second world, with wanting to go back in time and imagine that you don't know the future, act as if you don't, but never to believe in lies?
Time could pass differently there, you wouldn't have to neglect this other world, where truth is discovered and taught to children. It wouldn't be about delving into dungeons, either: it wouldn't be escape, it would be a second beautiful prison, but one that didn't evolve, or devolve, one that we chose where we could take our time and appreciate fantasy as though it were real. A prison very much like this one, but different and not the same. I want a second world every time I go to place that were.
See you soon!
z.