JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

I read about this tournament and had to wonder how one goes about training for this new "sport". (Can this really be called a sport?) Anyway, this whole idea did give us a good laugh.

I upgraded to WordPress 2.0.2 today. If you find any bugs please let me know.

Well as if Winter had to make a final statement, the few bright,sunny, and warm days we had have disappeared. And the North Winds have begun once more, just to remind us that it’s not Spring yet.

Oprah had a very interesting topic on today. It concerned the interracial relationships of African American females and non-African American males. I guess there’s a new movie that approaches the still uncommon subject.

As a female who chose a mate outside of the stereotypical demographics, I offer these comments for others to contemplate:

1) I didn’t choose my mate as an act of disgruntled abandonment of my “race” or “culture”. I chose this man because of who he is. If prior to meeting my husband, I had met some other male with the same attributes as my husband and we hit it off (as my husband and I did), then I probably would have ended-up with that person. But that’s not what happened.

2) Maybe I got all the “dream” stuff and Rosa stuff wrong. As a person who grew-up in the ’60s, I took the dream to be one of accepting and respecting people for who they are, regardless of race, gender, or culture. To me that means, taking a close look at the character of an individual instead of the outward image of each person. I don’t remember it having anything to do with, “that’s unless it’s outside of a specified race or culture.”

3) Any one of us is a minority under given circumstances. I have been living the life, and tribulations, of a minority for most of the past thirty-three years. (I am a white, American woman, married to a Japanese national, and we reside in his home territory of Okinawa, Japan.) For the majority of that time I have had no association with the DOD, but have been a registered alien resident and lived within the local culture.

4)The only time couples who are in these atypical relationships seem to have abnormal marital difficulties is when other people outside of the relationship seem to think they have a right to interfere in a personal relationship that has nothing to do with them. In other words, except for difficulties caused by a few really looney zealots, that don’t have any say in a couple’s personal life, other people’s prejudices and hang-ups are theirs. Don’t let their personal baggage become yours.

Well, I’ve been working with the virtual machine for the past week. I was even able to get the Linux system working today. Although it is a little jerky as far as scrolling goes, and a little slow, I really enjoy using the machine. Each day I get the opportunity to learn a little more about how all this works. Now the challenge of a Linux system. I do know one thing, it is very different from Windows. Or maybe it’s just the lingo that’s different. Anyway, learning all of this is fun.

Given my lifestyle, I often encounter many talented individuals, some of who are extremely gifted. On occasion, someone asks, “Who is your idol?”

I do not believe in idols in that sense. (If I did, the closest would still be George Burns.) There are many very gifted individuals in this world. I admire the talent, but never forget that these are still people. People who face a wide array of challenges in life, just as the rest of us do. The manner in which the individual handles those challenges determines whether are not they command my respect. In addition, I always remember no celebrity, no matter how talented, is a God.

For the past few days we’ve been lucky enough to be graced with half decent weather. Birds are singing and sunrays are shining, but a brisk wind still blows providing just enough nip to remind us that it’s not Spring yet. However, given the dampness of everything for the past few weeks, I’m not gonna complain about the wind. Instead I’m just basking in the sun and enjoying nature’s tunes. Taking solace in knowing Spring will be here soon enough.

I was looking at the mobile side my sites and noticed there may be a problem with the kanji again. It seems to have started after I changed to 2.0. If you have any questions as to the correct post, please visit the PC version. Thanks.

Finally a morning where a person can actually see some sunrays. It’s fitting that this morning should be just one of those “special” ones. My project this week was to see if I could get a virtual machine to work on the computer. After several false starts, I was finally able to get this one to work. I am actually posting to this blog from a VMware Virtual Machine Server. Given that I am a newbie at all of this, that’s a pretty big feat for me. The best way I can explain of what having a virtual machine on my desktop is, it’s like a software program that acts as a CPU in which you place an chosen operating system (in other words, it’s like having a computer on your computer desktop). Each machine, you can have more than one, acts independently of the other. It’s all rather fascinating from my point of view. I’ll keep you informed of things I learn as I go along.