Movements of life
...written on 03.05.03, @ 11:14 a.m.
Wed March 5, 2003
Monday I left a note for my sexy neighbor, Min, in the beak of the little bluebird of happiness perched on his rusty milkcan. It said that I had the next two days off and that if he had time we should go out for coffee.
Boom! Almost immediately upon arriving home, he was at my door saying "Let's go!". At that time I was waiting on a friend to come by and get his birthday present, but I figured it would be a short jaunt, so I put on my coat and followed him to his car.
He told me the usual coffee place was closed on Mondays, so we shot off to Riverside Mall and went to a coffee shop there. Min suggested that we go see a movie as well and I laughed because the last time we went to see a movie, The Road to Perdition (SUCKED, SUCKED, SUCKED!), Min slept through the entire thing and he confessed to having slept through Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers the week before as well.
We went to the movie lobby and looked at the offerings. I hadn't seen "The Bourne Identity" yet, but I knew that Min likes to see human relationships in his movies, so maybe it was a little too action oriented, but then he pointed to the poster for "The Pianist". I wasn't quite sure that that was the best date movie in the world, but I said ok and up we went. He bought us popcorn and coke as I messaged my birthday friend on my phone and told him to come by for his present the next day which was his actual birthday.
I don't know if it was the bend to the screen, or lack of attention in the projection booth or part of Polanski's film technique, but the blurry edges were making me dizzy, and watching the depicted horrors of the Holocust added to my queasiness. Min stayed awake however and after the movie suggested we go to an Italian restaurant in the mall.
We sat there for two hours and ate and talked and plotted our lives and loves on a napkin with a red ink pen. Communication was challenging because Min has an artist's soul and his junior high English and my elementary Japanese fell somewhat short in expressing and understanding his ideas, but the simplicity of it all had its own beauty.
He is giving an acoustical guitar concert on Saturday and he handed me the poster for it. It shows him in his painter garb, with a guitar on his back, bowing in a show of extreme gratitude. He has titled the performance, "End of Life". Sounds kind of ominous, like he's going to off himself after the last person leaves his concert or something, but according to the red scribbles on the restaruant napkin, he is waiting on a certainty that may come when he is 45, 55, 60 or 70 years old, so it appears he'll be sticking around for awhile.
After dinner he drove us up to a mountain overlooking Ogaki and we watched the twinkling lights of the city. We then went back into town and he stopped for another round of drinks at a fast food restaurant.
In the morning I found a bag on my door with a note.. The note said he had a great time and included two mini posters and tickets for his concert. The bag also held two DVDs that he had spoken of the night before.
I have called all of my friends and have invited them to the concert on Saturday. We'll be meeting at my place early and probably gathering here afterwards, so it looks like I may have a post-concert bash. That should be fun.