a buddy

this bag was from marfa national bank's 100th year celebration. it came to the office as a gift from the bank, and nobody was taking it. i wondered why.

sure, i would use it.

since i didn't have a proper medium-size travel bag, it turned out to be such a great company for my 1-week-long trips.

i went to dallas/fort worth with this many times.
i went to hawaii with this (and the bottom of this bag got damaged a bit over the trip, on hawaiian air).
i went to new york with this twice (and it got damaged further).

it turned out to be such a great company to be with when being away from marfa; it has a label that said "marfa national bank," and it always suggested where i came from and where i go back to when i am at different places.

like a loadstar.

but now, i'm tossing this.
i must be smart enough to find my way back by myself, by now.

a tiny company

this was sitting on the windowsill on my kitchen for a long time. probably about 3 or 4 years, since my sister gave it to me.

this little plastic doll came with snack that my sister bought at a store; obviously it was popular then to buy such snacks to collect these mini dolls, and my sister was into it. i remember that she told me that she had been collecting different ones of this series, but this doll is the 2nd of the same design (obviously they dolls have different outfit or hair or something). that was the reason why she wanted to give this to me.

it's such a silly thing, but i thought it would be funny thing to have in the kitchen, and traveled it with me back to the states.

this is about 2 or 3 inches tall with big eyes. though she doesn't look exactly like my friend, courtney, i am sure many of my friends who know courtney would agree; yes, it's her.

so this is in mail to meet and join courtney.

into into into

wiping hands.
as we finish something.
as we settle down our feelings, calming ourselves down.
as we get our hands ready for something new and fresh.

these are japanese traditional towels called "tenugui," which means "wiping hands."

my mother gave 6 tenuguis to me one year when i was back in japan.
i loved the traditional japanese stencil design, but i could never found a way to use these fabrics.

one summer, when i was window-shopping with somebody i was really attracted to, in front of some beautiful scarves at the store, he said that it would be cool to make a scarf from tenugui.

an inspiration.

i made a scarf out of 2 tenuguis, and it became a birthday present for cecilia.

out of time

i had a dinosaur.

it came from the science museum in fort worth in summer 2001. it was the time my mother was visiting me in the united states. the first visit.

we drove to fort worth, went to the fort worth modern (it was pre-tadao ando) and science museum, and ate at an italian restaurant.
it was such a summer day. we were heavily rained on on the way back to dallas.

my mother and i fell in love with this dino at the museum store, and she insisted to buy it for me; "takako, it will keep you a company!" ...well, i was (let's say "already") 24 at that time. parents never accept that kids also get older.

although this dino was with me for a long time, i thought it needs the right company for himself. a dino (which, i think, is basically a dragon) needs a princess to protect, not another dragon (i'm a year of dragon). we both should grow out of each other.

i sent this to my friend's daughter, mira, in new york. she is the perfect princess with the crown (she was wearing a felt-made princess crown all the time, when she was in town last winter), i thought.

hope they get along.

and more.

so, more of them.

one of them, i think i had it when i was in grad school. omg, it's been 7 years.

too long.

talisman

i am a very superstitious person.

that's how i have hard time getting rid of talisman; it's supposed to be burned in bonfire at shrines or temples at the end of year; they expire after a year.

we are not supposed to keep a talisman more than a year, but this one has been at my apartment more than a year. i couldn't find a fire, i couldn't find a right moment to do it.

...also, after having such a thing in your daily life for a year, you get attached to it, and you would want to take a proper process to take care of the object.

.......also, another simple thing; i just loved this talisman. it is such a beautiful object with such a beautiful entity.

last month, i was house-sitting for somebody, and there was a fire place in the house. i knew i had to do it. otherwise, i will carry this talisman around for a long time, longer than i should.

it burned beautifully, and i felt good that i could release this small object.

spirits dwell in any small objects.

keep on going

haruki murakami's writing has been one of most important elements in my life since i read his book when i was in junior high.

some of his writings have answers for who i am, what i want, and where i'm going.
some of his books, i read so many times and those keeps on giving me a balance between what i think and what i miss, what i follow.

except for some short stories, i read everything he wrote over last 20 years. although i had read mostly in japanese, i read some of his writings in english. this is one of those:"what i talk about when i talk about running."

i was always intrigued by the idea of running even before i had read this book. i had tried to run so many times in the past, and i always stopped after 3 or 4 months. i enjoy running, but somehow it didn't capture me and i quit.

when i started to read this book, i know to whom i am giving this book. since i found out that i am not a running person, i wanted this to belong to somebody who is so into running. so it became a birthday present for my frind, runner buck.

i hope it would keep her running, as other writings of murakami keeps my mind running.