There's a Japanese folk tale about a young man in a village who kindly saves a sea turtle from child tormentors. The sea turtle reveals herself to be aquatic royalty and as repayment for saving her life, takes him to her underwater kingdom where he is lavished with gifts of gold and jewels, with plates piled high with gourmet food. He enjoys endless revelry and entertainment among sequined fish, graceful eels, and fluorescent jellyfish. 

After some time passes, however, an ache in his heart points his eyes upward. Even marine magic can't compare with Home.

With a grateful farewell, the man returns to his village. But it is unrecognizable. There are houses where there was none mere hours ago, the newly built houses are now decrepit, and his own house has been replaced with a lush field.

A man he has never seen before passes him on the road. The exasperated man asks the stranger about his family home. "Never heard of them... Oh, but I've heard that name before. Yes, there is a legend--a man by that name disappeared one day and was never seen again. That was over a hundred years ago." He shrugged and kept walking.

The man went back to the sea and sat at the edge of the water. He caught his reflection and saw white hair, grizzled skin, and translucent, empty eyes. He held his face in his hands and cried.

My question is, should the man have stayed with the turtle's kingdom? Every day would have been luxe and light and pleasant. Is it our attachment to "home" that kills us? Once upon a time, to be nomadic was to survive. The man's mistake was going back, instead of going forward. 

My missionary picture

And my missionary blog: http://postsistertakabori.wordpress.com/

Been a while.

It's been a while since I've blogged. It's been miles and miles and a life away.

Provo's been threatening to skip fall altogether as we dip into wintery days, but as I shake hands with November I hold its eyes with mine to tell it, I'm moving through you and I'm not looking back.

Then I flash it a smile intentionally ambiguous--was that genuinely benign or was there a hint of mischief?--while I secretly think that I'm happy these days and I'm grateful I got there so fast.

*

“I am looking for friends. What does that mean -- tame?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."

"To establish ties?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....”

Earthquake

I'm quietly sitting through a minor earthquake to blog, and it feels apropos.

My summer in Japan has been surreal. I don't know what I was expecting, but I didn't expect it to go this fast, or so far from what I started with.

What my present life consists of: My baby chicks who I teach English to. Being one of the guys, again. Not cooking EVER, and eating delicious food. Procrastination. Procrastination. Procrastination. Repressed panic.

And.

What is no longer in my imminent future: Grad school. Married life. Life in the United States.

I think I'm still too numb to process all of this completely, but I'm pretty sure I'm feeling okay about all of this.

But my new Japan BFFs are great. I love institute. I love my family ward. I love the Japanese language and Japanese people and city life.

But lately I find myself just sitting and staring off into space for a while. Not sure what I'm waiting for.

As usual, I will crawl into movies to hide and/or to find.

Officially addicted.

So I finally started working on my pinterest boards.

And I'm officially addicted.

Get on and join the fun!

http://pinterest.com/amyinpaste/

[And thus I continue falling further and further and further behind in my schoolwork...]

Meta-Jewelry

How creepy is this ring!


It looks like a baby alien hand grasping your finger. Where's the baby alien's body, you ask? It's in yours. The only cool thing that redeems this bizarro creation is that it's meta-jewelry.
[found at Weston Jewelry.]

Fortunately, this estate/antique jewelry store has other rings that are hands-down (and sans hands) gorgeous.

sapphire, diamond, and platinum
Seriously?? So so so so sooo beautiful. It's also $8000 and already sold.pink sapphire, white gold
How pretty! I like the proportions between the width of the band and the circle. This one's only $650. "Only."


Now, I'm really not a diamond kind of girl, but I can definitely this ring on my finger--

diamond and white gold
WOW. My face in emoticon-ese: :-O!
Seriously seriously seriously WOW.
See more shots of this piece of beauty here.
And this one's still available! [Hint hint to a certain someone! Quick!]
And it's only $1900! :)



And this one's adorable.

diamond and white gold
(But I'd prefer the other diamond ring. In case you're wondering.)

But if you're in the Salt Lake area and interested in vintage jewelry, I would highly recommend Antoinette's. The man there is so sweet and really knows his stuff. And you have to actually go to the store because I promise you these pictures don't do the pieces justice. I promise. Here are some that were particularly stunning in person.

aquamarine, pearls, yellow gold, c. 1890s.
Plus, Antoinette's has reasonable prices. This one was $350. (It's already sold.)

amethyst and white gold, c. 1920
I absolutely love the filigree on this. $450.

There was also a gorgeous necklace there of a coral cameo on a diamond-shaped gold place with three tiny pearls dangling from the side and bottom corners, but apparently they don't update their website very often. My ring is even still up there...

PS I'm in Japan, in case you didn't know, for an English-teaching internship. I suppose I'll have to blog about that at some point. I'll be here until the end of August.

PPS I have a pinterest now, so if you're interested, follow me! I haven't done anything with it yet, though, so don't get too excited.

Deeb.

I've been super super busy lately, so I'm going to let my friend Hillary share one thing that I've been up to. And it involves deebs. That's right, douchebags. I mean, douches, in the most academically, historically appropriate sense.

See for yourself here.