The Parcel

It was fitting that the parcel came just before I left for the airport.

I had about an hour before the cab came, so I opened the parcel and went through its contents. There was a novel and a photo of a couple smiling contentedly. What I was more interested in was the letter.

"Dear Taku,

I heard from Sosuke that you are leaving. I don't think that I can be there at the airport to send you off. I am sorry that I took so long to reply you and return you your stuff. I have been running away from reality since that day we broke up.

I do appreciate your emails, your letters, and your parcels. They really helped to cheer me up when I was struggling to adapt to life in a foreign country. However, I was not strong enough to return your love. I was too young then to understand the reason you initiated our breakup. Now I understand, but it is too late, isn't it? You wanted the best for me, you wanted me to go overseas without having any emotional baggage; that is why you broke up with me. I should have realized that you did it because you loved me, but I just succumbed to loneliness, and I sought solace in Sosuke, who is now my husband. I know it must have been hard on you, because you lost not only your girlfriend but also your best friend.

Once again, I am sorry. Here is your novel and the photo that we took on my birthday, my most memorable birthday. I will never forgot the times we shared, because you were the one who taught me how to love.

Goodbye, and all the best for your new life over there.

Akari"

I reread the letter before folding it and inserting it into a glass bottle. As for the photo, I kept it sandwiched between the pages of the novel, "Of Love and other demons".

~~~
@My apartment

My mobile phone rang. I answered the call. The taxi had arrived. After taking a final look at the place I had called home for the past few years, I locked the door of my apartment and went down to where the cab was waiting. Before boarding the taxi, I placed the novel in the mailbox.

"To the airport, sir?"

"Yes, but before that, there is a place I want to go."

~~~
@Narita Airport

At the airport, I had checked in my luggage and was going through the customs check area.

"Sir, you can put on your shoes now."

I shook off the sand from my shoes before wearing them again.

~~~
@The beach in Enoshima

A little girl running barefoot on the sandy beach saw something sparkle near the sandcastle which she had built with the assistance of her mother. The rising tide had eroded away the seaward side of the sandcastle, but it was still standing tall, for now at least.

"Mummy, look at what I found!" her excited exclamation awokened her mother, who got up from her deck chair and strolled languidly towards her precious daughter.

"Mika, that is only a glass bottle."

"But there is something inside. I think it is a treasure map!" Mika was quite a tomboy who like things that boys her age fancied.

Her mother unstoppered the bottle and extracted the 'treasure map'. As she unfolded it, her eyes brimmed with tears.

"Mummy, did sand get into your eyes? I'll blow away the sand for you." Mika said it in a matter-of-fact tone that only kids could.

"It's ok, Mummy's fine. " Her mother was looking intently at the piece of paper taken out from the bottle.

"Dear Akari,

You don't have to say sorry, because I was the one who chose to love you. I have no regrets. The only regret is that I cannot see our daughter, but I am sure Sosuke will be a good father to her.

Goodbye.

PS: This is the second and last time that I am sending you a message via bottle. Hope it will not take too long to reach you.

Taku"

~~~

Time will pass, but some things never change. True love for example.

Keep it simple

Too bad we are human, otherwise things would be much simpler. We have to contend with not only the head but also the heart; we think with our heads and feel with our hearts.

Things are not in black and white. If you loved her, why did you let her go? If you know he is the guy of your dreams, then why are you here with me?

You know what you want; it is a matter of how to get it, if you ever decide to overcome the inertia and take action.

The best team won

Too bad it was not us. Where did our hunger go? Where did our desire go? We started the match brightly, but after Vidic allowed Eto to get the better of him, we were a goal down, and it seemed that we were shellshocked, so much so that we forgot that we still had 80minutes to play.

I always felt that this would be the best year to win the Champions League, because van der Sar, Giggs, Scholes are not young anymore, while Tevez and Ronaldo might not be here next season. If we had won this year, we would have made history as the first team to successfully defend the Champions League, and we would have maintained our perfect record of winning every Champions League final we reached. Alas, we deserved to lose, because we did not do our best. Did we even try? Letting in goals is one thing; not being able to score against a makeshift Barca defence is another. Indeed, we can even consider it a sin. In the second half, we even had all our Fab Four on the pitch, but still we were unable to breach the Barca defence.

The final scoreline was Man U 0, Barca 2. The 0 signifies the crux of our problems - an inability to score, especially against top-calibre opponents. How can you not score when you are playing 4-2-4, and expect to win? At least Sir Alex Ferguson had the decency to admit the superiority of Barca, but I wonder whether he could have done better. Because our game plan did work, albeit only for the first 10 minutes.

In the end, we lost to a superior foe, who deserved to be champions, simply because they showed us how champions played. They showed the pedigree of champions, with the hunger, the desire, the ability, and the flair.

Staying up to watch this game was worth it, because I got to see the brilliance of Barca. On the other hand, staying up to watch Man U self-destruct with poor defending, misplaced passes and inept finishing was very painful and disappointing.

In the end, everyone got what they deserved. Barca got their unprecedented Treble, Man U got their wake-up call.

Respect the Rank (and File)

Some things about respect that I feel like sharing.

Respect the rank, but more importantly, respect the person.
If the person is your boss, show him or her the respect that should be accorded, even if you do not agree with some of his or her views. More than the rank, respect the fact that each person is entitled to his or her opinions.

Respect the rank and file.
Even if you are a superior, you must be able to look at things from your subordinate's perspective. That is how you win respect. If you only give orders from a top-down perspective without considering things from a bottom-up one, then you are probably living in an ivory tower. The men under you will follow you to the depths of Hell if you show them the proper respect.

Respect is earned, not given.
While we should accord people the respect their rank deserves, it would be hard for us to respect them wholeheartedly if they behave in a way that demeans their rank. Imagine your superior being caught cheating. Would you still be able to respect him as before?

Fight

Fight.
Fight for her, that little angel whose wings are broken.
Fight for them, the homeless orphans who do not know where they belong.
Fight for me, your eternal supporter who will always be by your side.
Fight for us, and our yet-to-be-born future.
Fight for yourself, you who are the shining beacon of hope in this dark, dark world of despair.

As my grandfather finished reading this message written by my grandmother, he told me with watery eyes, "Gin, you must remember that there will always be hope, even if the sky is so overcast that there seems to be no silver lining in sight. Therefore, you must never give up, and fight for what you want. Fight for what you want, because no one else will fight for you. "

My parents would have wanted a more conventional name like Taku or Ichiro for their only son, but my beloved grandfather insisted that I should be called Gin, which meant silver in Japanese.

Perhaps he wanted me to be like that silver lining.

OFFStyle, ONStyle, WINDStyle

In most fashion magazines, especially those catering to Japanese men who are endeavoring to be trendsetters, there will be a section on hairstyles for men, and every hairstyle has a "off" look and an "on" look. Basically, the former is for casual occasions and can be achieved with minimal effort while the latter is for more formal occasions, i.e. work and requires some time and hard work, usually with hard wax or hair spray.

If I had to choose between these two, I would prefer "off" to "on", because I don't believe in putting too much effort into styling one's hair. This does not mean that I am an unkempt person who does not bother about my appearance. On the contrary, I feel that one should be confident enough to appear before others in one's "off" look, in other words, OFFStyle.

Of course, all of us could do with a little help, and this is where WINDStyle comes in. In terms of hair, WINDStyle refers to the aid of the wind in obtaining the desired hairstyle naturally. There is a term Kamikaze in Japanese, and this translates to the Wind of the God(s) literally. To me, the wind is like an embodiment of a Higher Power, and therefore, my ideal style would be WINDStyle, which is achieved with divine assistance.

WINDStyle can be applied not only to hairstyles, it can also be extended and expanded for use in other aspects of life. That I leave to the creativity of my dear readers.

PS: The photo above shows me and my hairstylist in Tokyo. b(^-^)d

A sliver of silver

Just some food for thought here.

What does black have that silver tends to lack? Impurity of spirit, I suppose.

Is that why silver turns black when it tarnishes? Does the change in color reflect the degradation of the spirit?