Dispatch № 69: Unlearning Aversion

Old habits and old conditioning die hard.

Dispatch № 68: Have Camera, Will Wander

This kind of rest is a sort that must be earned, in that it only exists on the far side of intense focus. It is found only after the work is done.

Dispatch № 67: Continuity

It has been there for more than a dozen generations, and it may remain there for at least that much longer still.

Dispatch № 66: Smooth Pursuit

Over time, stacks of these fragments string together and hang upon the backdrop from which they were extracted.

For Medical Reasons, Somewhere in Japan Temporarily Delayed

I’m sitting in a hospital waiting room at about 11:30 PM on a Monday night because I’ve got a messed up knee, can barely walk, and I’ve got a high fever. Super-duper not comfortable.

Dispatch № 65: I Am a Visitor Here

Not a fish out of water, but a fish temporarily in the wrong body of water. I’m a trout in a tide pool.

Dispatch № 64: No Plan, Best Plan

We lingered there for a time, suspended in the moment, before continuing on, enjoying the snails and mushrooms in the undergrowth, the swaying of the forest canopy, and the trickling of a hillside stream.

Dispatch № 63: No Return

The already-slippery concept eventually all but entirely lost its meaning after years as an emigrant and only regained some of its significance years after settling in Japan.

Dispatch № 62: The Bike of Theseus

But it was a bike, and it was mine. A ticket to personal mobility and a way to get out of my apartment and get out of my head.

Dispatch № 61: But Only Just

It falls on stone statues with both facial features and inscriptions worn indecipherable by centuries of exposure to the elements.