Contemplations of Humanity and Nature – November 27, 2006

It drizzled and showered today. The air filled with a cool, breezy humidity. California’s dry, everlasting summer paused for this particular morning.

Unfamiliar grey clouds shrouded the open sky, but the persistent blue holes attempted vigorously to unveil the earth. The drifting nomads allowed various patches to open and revel in their brief victory, but nature’s curtains then closed once again.

It’s amazing how this shower complimented the arid landscape. Nature leapt alive and danced and thrived for the rest of the day. Not a single thing has grown greener though. In fact, the amber colors of fall have begun to bronze the towering Eucalyptus tress and the tufts of tall, uncultured grass rise from a bedding of brown leaves.

I searched for a spot to record nature’s triumph today and returned to an accustomed point of previous inspiration. To my dismay, I found my coarse wooden balcony bench violated by new garish blue plastic picnic tables. This desecration of organic engineering angered me! Natural, gorgeous, fantastic beauty envelops the woody landscape, but people always seek to improve. Why can’t modern humanity recognize the beauty in antiquity?

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Tag! I'm it!

I've been tagged.

You've heard of traditional tag, freeze tag, and even phone tag, but a new game has been launched in the blogger community: blog tag. My mother graced me a tag from her after she was tagged by another blogger. (Click here to see her tag post.)

The object of the game is to get to know new people. If you happen across a tagged blog, read about the blogger and then read who they tagged. Networking couldn't get easier.

If you get tagged, as five people at the end of this post shall, write five things about yourself in a post on your blog. These do not need to be spectacular stories of intrigue or romance, but five things that give a bit of who you are. Then, tag five other people and the gift shall go on.

And so, without much further ado:

1. My middle name is Amedea. I received this middle name from my mother and she shares it as well. Further down the family line, her father held the middle name of Amedeo, the male version of the Italian name. This name originates from Amedeo Giannini, the founder of Bank of America, first known as the Bank of Italy. Giannini was an Italian immigrant who began a small bank in order to help the stuggling Italian immigrants in San Francisco. Thus, Giannini rose to the status of an Italian hero and earned many namesakes for his ingenuity and charity. Click here to read a small bio.

2. I was born in Iwakuni, Japan in a small Japanese hospital right off of the Marine base stationed there. My father was stationed in Iwakuni as a Marine helicopter pilot. I lived there until I was three and a half when my family moved back to the United States. I am an American Citizen, as I was registered at the American Embassy, but I have a birth certificate in Japanese as well.

3. Tying into my origin, my only memory from Japan is of a restaurant which we frequented. We called it "The Chicken Shack." Obviously, this is not its real name. I can remember that there were very large drums, and by large I mean 6 feet tall, by the parking lot which you could play with. The restaurant's entrance was an outside area which boasted lush greenery with a waterfall which cascaded into a Koi pond filled with colorful Koi darting and pushing for attention. In my specific memory, we went at night to the Chicken Shack. My father either brought bread or got bread from the restaurant so that my brother and I could feed the Koi. After a bit of joyful fun and splashing, we were seating outside near one of the grill areas where they cooked. I also remember that I could gaze inside at the indoor seating as well. The aroma of authentic Japanese Teriyaki filled the senses. And that is about all I can remember.

4. I am a recovering procrastinator. After years of recognizing my addiction, yet putting off the recovery process to my next essay, I finally put my nose to the grindstone and began the slow trudge to timeliness. Although I have made leaps and bounds this year (I've written two of my required papers for classes at least three days before they were due), I unfortunately succummed to my habit with this post. My mother tagged me ages ago, well, weeks anyways, and I've only now written this post. With perseverance and support, I am sure that I can make it through though!

5. My Myers-Briggs Personality Profile is: ENFJ. This means that I am Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judgmental. (Please note: "judgmental" is a psychological term for a decision maker.) I've taken the test numerous times and on occasion I have tested as INFJ or ESFJ. This has only happened two times out of the five times that I have taken the test though. You can read more about my profile here.

And so comes the point at which five more bloggers shall be tagged.

Drumroll please . . .

. . .

. . .

And they are: Mike Morabito, AJ Harbison, Big John, Eleanor, and Helen Wang.


Take some time and read these awesome bloggers.

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