Note- I published this one on my original blog on March 28, 2016. The following post is identical to what went up on that day save for some formatting adjustments to the footnotes.
*******************************************************************
Hi all,
If you have no clue what this post is all about- I suggest you start here.
Back on Wednesday for the second set of first round contests.
Tim
************************************************************
*warmduscher / German noun
Refers to someone who would only take a warm shower (not an icy cold or burning hot one), implying that they are a bit of a wimp, and unwilling to step outside of their comfort zone
--vs--
*wabi-sabi /
Japanese noun Finding beauty in the imperfections, an acceptance of the cycle of life and death
Breakdown
Two words here that cover almost entirely opposite approaches to life.
Wabi-sabi challenges us to 'roll with the punches'- it approaches the inevitability of change by accepting the limited influence a person plays in the many ups and downs of a full life. To fully live up to this word, one must find calmness within turmoil and seek serenity through the acceptance that a time span of many decades will inevitably bring both good times and bad.
On the other hand, our German representative shortens the time horizon by focusing on the shower, an event thought of over the time span of seconds and minutes (or hours, if you are bored/dirty). It uses this daily cleansing ritual to both read into a person's true nature and to build stability around the swirling forces of changes.
Plus- a bonus point for humor, too.
Ultimately, though, the German word brings an undercurrent of non-acceptance. I can't accept that. People should treat each other with the value they deserve, no matter where the mercury sits in their bathroom thermometer, or perhaps they should just find more meaningful things to worry about in life than the water temperature of someone else's shower.
Our first head to head matchup of the tournament is a bit of a blowout- 'wabi-sabi' moves on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*kabelsalat / German noun
A word to describe a mess of very tangled cables, literally a 'cable salad'
--vs--
*hiraeth / Welsh noun
A homesickness for somewhere you cannot return to, the nostalgia and the grief for the lost places of your past, places that never were
Breakdown
German makes a second appearance in day one with a exasperated yet somewhat optimistic observation of one of life's great mysteries- why do wires always seems to get tangled up? The hours I have wasted untangling Nintendo controllers from corded snares surely numbers in the hundreds.
And I encounter the same today whenever I shove my headphones into my pocket. One of these days, this cable-salad with earphone dressing is going to get tangled up with something else and cause real problems. In fact, I imagine now a scenario where I yank vigorously on this tangled mess which, having also entangled my keys, dislodge my entire capability of opening stuff from my pocket. With some luck, the keys will land in the Charles River. I'm sure the geese thatshit all over the
place stroll about on the river banks will be amused.
The Welsh bring in a more nuanced emotion. The word reminds me of my first return trip to Japan in the summer of 2008 (*). I recall the strangest, most unforgettable feeling overcoming me on the day of my arrival. I was sitting in a train, looking out the window, and realized- I felt like I was home.
But this emotion did not carry through the six weeks of my visit. Although there were many wonderful moments throughout the trip, the little proofs that the home I was returning to was not the home I originally left accumulated.
I recall, for instance, the shock of discovering how tiny the apartment I grew up in was. I also still retain a trace of the disappointment I felt as the streets I navigated in my first six years turned left when my memory confidently asserted they turned right.
I met the mother of my best friend from kindergarten at their home but my friend was not there- he was away at art school. We spoke on the phone and had a conversation using a technology that could have allowed this to occur at any point in the prior fourteen years.
This word, 'hiraeth'- I think it covers a dangerous idea. Finding a place to call home is hard enough- trying to hang onto to something that you do not acknowledge as inherently changing conceals the impossibility of such an attempt.
I'm going to steal an idea about what home is all about from the U2 song 'Walk On'.
Home, hard to know what it is if you've never had one
Home, I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the hurt is
I think 'home' means knowing the places where you can speak to your pain. You can continue the process of healing at home by understanding where the hurt is coming from and finding healthy ways of addressing its source.
This can no doubt happen at a specific geographic location filled with particular intimate, inanimate objects. But these things are intended not to last- stuff wears out or breaks, buildings are bulldozed, rented, bought, and sold. Often, our lives simply move us from one place to the next.
'Home' has to be a place carried with you, and within you. It becomes a place to recharge in ways that are fulfilling to you. Home is true to your spirit.
I think the word is dangerous because it distracts us from building such a place within by diverting our attention outward, toward places that might no longer be, to worlds that can no longer be recreated.
'Cable salad' moves on.
************************************************************
Upcoming bracket
Quarterfinal matchup #1 (4/18): wabi-sabi --vs-- kabelsalat
Quarterfinal matchup #2 (4/18): to be determined on 3/30
Quarterfinal matchup #3 (4/20): to be determined on 4/4
Quarterfinal matchup #4 (4/20): to be determined on 4/6
Semifinal #1 (5/1)- to be determined on 4/18
Semifinal #2 (5/1)- to be determined on 4/20
Final (5/10)- to be determined on 5/1
If you have no clue what this post is all about- I suggest you start here.
Back on Wednesday for the second set of first round contests.
Tim
************************************************************
*warmduscher / German noun
Refers to someone who would only take a warm shower (not an icy cold or burning hot one), implying that they are a bit of a wimp, and unwilling to step outside of their comfort zone
--vs--
*wabi-sabi /
Japanese noun Finding beauty in the imperfections, an acceptance of the cycle of life and death
Breakdown
Two words here that cover almost entirely opposite approaches to life.
Wabi-sabi challenges us to 'roll with the punches'- it approaches the inevitability of change by accepting the limited influence a person plays in the many ups and downs of a full life. To fully live up to this word, one must find calmness within turmoil and seek serenity through the acceptance that a time span of many decades will inevitably bring both good times and bad.
On the other hand, our German representative shortens the time horizon by focusing on the shower, an event thought of over the time span of seconds and minutes (or hours, if you are bored/dirty). It uses this daily cleansing ritual to both read into a person's true nature and to build stability around the swirling forces of changes.
Plus- a bonus point for humor, too.
Ultimately, though, the German word brings an undercurrent of non-acceptance. I can't accept that. People should treat each other with the value they deserve, no matter where the mercury sits in their bathroom thermometer, or perhaps they should just find more meaningful things to worry about in life than the water temperature of someone else's shower.
Our first head to head matchup of the tournament is a bit of a blowout- 'wabi-sabi' moves on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*kabelsalat / German noun
A word to describe a mess of very tangled cables, literally a 'cable salad'
--vs--
*hiraeth / Welsh noun
A homesickness for somewhere you cannot return to, the nostalgia and the grief for the lost places of your past, places that never were
Breakdown
German makes a second appearance in day one with a exasperated yet somewhat optimistic observation of one of life's great mysteries- why do wires always seems to get tangled up? The hours I have wasted untangling Nintendo controllers from corded snares surely numbers in the hundreds.
And I encounter the same today whenever I shove my headphones into my pocket. One of these days, this cable-salad with earphone dressing is going to get tangled up with something else and cause real problems. In fact, I imagine now a scenario where I yank vigorously on this tangled mess which, having also entangled my keys, dislodge my entire capability of opening stuff from my pocket. With some luck, the keys will land in the Charles River. I'm sure the geese that
The Welsh bring in a more nuanced emotion. The word reminds me of my first return trip to Japan in the summer of 2008 (*). I recall the strangest, most unforgettable feeling overcoming me on the day of my arrival. I was sitting in a train, looking out the window, and realized- I felt like I was home.
*This was fourteen years after moving to America. The official moving day was March 31, 1994, so the twenty-two year 'anniversary' is just around the corner.
But this emotion did not carry through the six weeks of my visit. Although there were many wonderful moments throughout the trip, the little proofs that the home I was returning to was not the home I originally left accumulated.
I recall, for instance, the shock of discovering how tiny the apartment I grew up in was. I also still retain a trace of the disappointment I felt as the streets I navigated in my first six years turned left when my memory confidently asserted they turned right.
I met the mother of my best friend from kindergarten at their home but my friend was not there- he was away at art school. We spoke on the phone and had a conversation using a technology that could have allowed this to occur at any point in the prior fourteen years.
This word, 'hiraeth'- I think it covers a dangerous idea. Finding a place to call home is hard enough- trying to hang onto to something that you do not acknowledge as inherently changing conceals the impossibility of such an attempt.
I'm going to steal an idea about what home is all about from the U2 song 'Walk On'.
Home, hard to know what it is if you've never had one
Home, I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the hurt is
I think 'home' means knowing the places where you can speak to your pain. You can continue the process of healing at home by understanding where the hurt is coming from and finding healthy ways of addressing its source.
This can no doubt happen at a specific geographic location filled with particular intimate, inanimate objects. But these things are intended not to last- stuff wears out or breaks, buildings are bulldozed, rented, bought, and sold. Often, our lives simply move us from one place to the next.
'Home' has to be a place carried with you, and within you. It becomes a place to recharge in ways that are fulfilling to you. Home is true to your spirit.
I think the word is dangerous because it distracts us from building such a place within by diverting our attention outward, toward places that might no longer be, to worlds that can no longer be recreated.
'Cable salad' moves on.
************************************************************
Upcoming bracket
Quarterfinal matchup #1 (4/18): wabi-sabi --vs-- kabelsalat
Quarterfinal matchup #2 (4/18): to be determined on 3/30
Quarterfinal matchup #3 (4/20): to be determined on 4/4
Quarterfinal matchup #4 (4/20): to be determined on 4/6
Semifinal #1 (5/1)- to be determined on 4/18
Semifinal #2 (5/1)- to be determined on 4/20
Final (5/10)- to be determined on 5/1
