TITHONUS' DIARY!!
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while I remember So, I went to see my best friend one last time before I leave. He was there with his girlfriend, who's Japanese, and her little sister and her mother and her grandmother. So, I was a little shy when I came in, and tried to say hello in my very limited Japanese. It was a little awkward at first. Anyway, we all sit down to play "Alhambra", which is a board game I gave him for his birthday. And his girlfriend is explaining the rules to all the rest of the extended family, and they're asking questions, and the air is filled with this beautiful melliflous chatter which I can't understand, but which nonetheless seems to have the same "tone" as any discussion of the rules of a new game. Anyway, there was lots of laughter and it was funny how her mother and grandmother kept taking less than the maximum money available because they didn't want to be "greedy"... cultural thing, obviously... I don't know. It was just a beautiful evening, is all. It reminded me of how little it takes to be happy. I left after one game but the younger sister was very keen to have another game immediately. She'd come in third. I was second. My friend had managed to come last. They wanted to know what the English word for "loser" was... it was funny to hear the rapid-fire stream of incomprehensible words being punctuated with "loser"... hmm. - "You've got me under your wing" - Bob Dylan |
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