JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

Do you think that understanding the difference between genuine sentiment and perceived sentiment of nourishment of the soul can hold a key that may open many doors is an important factor in life?

All my life I’ve had a semi-love affair with hogs. I guess it stems from an uncle who had me on the back of his bike before I was even five. Growing up, my father usually had a biker coworker who would visit for dinner during the holidays and take us kids for rides. (Poor Dad, Mom just thought the whole bike thing was too risky to allow such a vehicle be a permanent part of our family garage.) Hubby even used to ride. (Now-a-days there just seems to be too much traffic and too many car fumes on island to make it worth the while.) When I do get the chance to visit family, one of the first things that happens is I’m invited to plop on the back of one of my siblings’ hogs and we’re off. With that being said, I just ran across these great pix of an unexpected mix of two iconic institutions.

Having lived overseas for most of the past thriry-three years, sometimes I run accross "sayings" that I just don’t recognize. A little while back I ran across this dictionary. (In my case this could be called a modern slang bible for dummies.) Being a person who tends to create her own words and phrases (usually mixing verbal images of cultures I’ve experienced) to better express a mental image of a situation or person, I found this site extremely interesting.

Most people in modern society are fully aware of the immune system. Is there such a thing as a mental immune system?

I ran across an article on ancient laughter. Being owners of two absolutely hilarious and expressive dogs, this subject was particularly interesting. We always thought those two dogs were enjoying a good chuckle now and then.

This morning was windy as heck, but that seemed to almost be erased from the senses (other than my hair all in the face) because the sun was shining soooo brilliantly. It makes me feel a little sorry for those people I run across in life that are so miserable that they have no other coping mechanism than to get overly inebriated and try to make the lives of those who are content with life miserable. There are so many beautiful and wondrous aspects of life to enjoy; too bad they can’t see that.

History professor Jonathan Zimmerman wrote a very observant piece for USA TODAY yesterday. I think anyone who has lived in a multi-cultural environment soon begins to realize that although there are cultural (or group) norms, every culture also consists of individuals with individual thoughts and beliefs. Why else would there be politics and political parties?

Just a brief reminder for those whose busy schedules may have taken over their memory functions, today is the solar eclipse. For those of us who live in Japan, a live webcast of the 7:00 p.m. (JST) eclipse from Turkey will be available. Click here for further information. Thank you to all of those who work so hard to provide us with this opportunity.

Simon Cowell may have found the hotest ticket in the industry right now. His creative talents are no longer limited to Fox’s “American Idol”. He also has a stake in ABC’s “American Inventor”, which premiered this month. As well as a new across the board talent search production “America’s Got Talent” for NBC. Can anyone say “sizzle”!