When my parents named their children, they of course had a fortuneteller choose ones. So, I was named by a total stranger. My parents had their each pick for my name when they visited the fortuneteller and they also had a few other names as spares just in case. The fortuneteller picked ‘Hidemi’ out of the spares, which was neither of their picks. Most Japanese names are written in Chinese characters. Each of the characters has its inherent meaning. My name is composed of two characters. The character for ‘hide’ means ‘excellent’ and the one for ‘mi’ means ‘beautiful’. In Japan, we are often asked the corresponding characters to the name when we give out our names. I always explain ‘Hidemi as in excellent and beautiful.’ And the person who hears it almost always gives me a wry smile. I know how they feel…
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fortuneteller 6/12
My mother turns to a fortuneteller when it comes to a big decision. Every big decision that has fundamentally influenced her life was made by a fortuneteller, including her marriage.
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fail-safe mindset 6/11
The nearest supermarket to my apartment puts half-off stickers to the prepared foods that are left unsold at 7:30 p.m. And sometimes, they put 75% off stickers to the ones that are still unsold after the half off at 8:30 p.m. But it all depends on the unsold amount and the 75% off sale is rarely fulfilled. When it is, though, the supermarket turns into heaven to me. It’s a risky challenge worth a bet. I decided to go for it today and convinced myself that the main purpose was not to get the 75% off foods but to take a walk. This is my fail-safe mindset to protect myself from a bitter disappointment in case nothing is left at the store. I went there, and lost the bet. Their shelf for prepared foods was completely emptied. I kept saying to myself that I came here to take a walk, not to shop. But I had to buy some other mildly discounted items to console myself. I couldn’t shake off the frustration in any way. My fail-safe plan didn’t work for my greed…
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horoscope 6/10
As a daily routine, I check my horoscope every morning on TV. Mine warned a fight. I checked my partner’s and to my surprise, it foresaw a fight, too. We had never had this similar horoscope before. It seemed impossible to avoid a fight as it was and I fell back on another horoscope on my cell phone to offset the ones on TV. I was speechless when I saw it also say that there would be a fight. Now, a fight was inevitable very likely between my partner and me. Feeling gloom, I was ready for it. But I still hoped I could manage to avert a fight somehow and spent the whole day studying his mood carefully and flattering him. As the day wore on, I was extremely tired from the effort not to offend him, which I wasn’t used to. In desperation, I even tried to initiate a fight because I wanted to do away with it. He showed no interest and a fight didn’t happen. It was such a nerve-wracking day. I might as well have a fight as endure a stressful day avoiding one…
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met Jacques Villeneuve 6/9
I met him in person. I was in Montreal and happened to drop by a restaurant for lunch while running an errand. He was there. What are the odds that you bump into someone whom you have wished to meet so badly for a long time? It was a pure miracle to me. I knew he wouldn’t like to be bothered his private time but I couldn’t help approaching him. He listened to me kindly, patiently, smiling, while I was spouting about how much I admired him. We shook hands. I usually wear nice clothes to eat out but on that particular day, I didn’t expect to go into a restaurant. As the happiest moment of my life, of all the clothes, I met him in a $5 jacket, a $7 skirt and with a necklace I had picked up on the street…