Living By Clichés: a new blog

These very very short stories have become longer and longer and are threatening to take over this blog. Big Frank cannot allow that to happen, so it has been spun off onto its own blog, entitled "Living By Clichés". So readers who are interested in the development of that story of the Freeman, Madelyn, Ron, and Patti should read the blog: "Living By Clichés". The story will continue - it is moving well beyond a very very short story into a short story, and will soon become a novella, and after that . . . who knows.

In the mean time, What It Is can resume its life. It was never intended to be one long story without anything else. So to get back on track, here are a few things to think about:

1. The United States is embarking on the first truly Keynesian experiment to see if massive injections of capital from the government can truly stimulate the economy enough to jolt it out of a depression. This is an experiment. How does it feel to be part of this?

2. Who is really running your show? Big Frank means, when you talk about yourself - what exactly is it that you mean? Which self - the little person in the control seat in your head who calls the shots (you don't really believe that, do you), the plot line of the narrative that is constantly evolving as the story trails behind, or that elusive core at the bottom of everything that you can't ever see, but you've heard about?

3. Does concrete get harder and harder as time goes on, or more brittle, or both?

4. Is it really possible to avoid self-deception?

5. Why is it now that plants and animals that come from abroad are called exotics, but people are not?

6. If you met your evil twin would he/she think that you were the evil one?

7. Why are movies getting louder and louder and the scenes shorter and shorter?

8. If life is so precious and wonderful, and sleep is like death, why is it that we have trouble waking up in the morning?

Space = + or -

Space = + or -
---- Big Frank Dickinson

"In general, separability is a technical hypothesis on a space which is quite useful and -- among the classes of spaces studied in geometry and classical analysis -- generally considered to be quite mild."
---- Wikipedia "Separable Space"

1.
Ron was unloading a new shipment of mattesses that had come in that morning, but his mind was not on this work, which was pretty mindless, it was elsewhere. He was thinking about his old girlfriend - Patty. Why had she broken up with him? He still did not understand. Everything had been going well; they had been seeing each other for over two years, and then - out of the blue she tells him that she doesn't want to see him anymore. Well, she hadn't exactly said it in those words. What had she said? She said something like: "This isn't working for me", or "We should probably stop seeing each other for a while and spend sometime figuring things out." Figuring things out? He didn't need to figure anything out - what was there to figure out? He loved Patty and she had told him that she loved him, the sex was good, they never fought, they spent a lot of time together. He used to hang out at her place a lot. In fact, he was even thinking about suggesting that they consider moving in together. Why not? It seemed like the logical thing to him, what with the savings on the living expenses and all. He just didn't get it. Out of the blue it happened. He even had suggested, when she was talking about moving to Seattle for that new job and all, that he would move down there with her. That would have been an easy move, there was even a Mattress Heaven down there and they were always looking for salesmen - lots of turnover. Come to think of it, why hadn't she taken that new job she had been talking about for months? It just didn't make sense. Was she seeing someone else? He was going to have to call her; maybe she had figured things out by now. That was probably it: she had some kind of mid-life crisis. He had heard about women like that. Everybody always talked about men going through that, but women who no longer had kids at home, and were single sometimes did some crazy things. This might be just one of those temporary crazy things, and now that she saw that not being with him was not helping her at all, in fact, she was probably missing him as much as he was missing her. He would call her tonight, and then it would probably all get straightened out. He thought about what his buddy had told him he had going in his favor, and it was, not doubt true: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

2.
Patty was on her way to her third appointment of the day, her third physician. Celebrex, lipitor, and viagra - that was her mantra: celebrex, lipitor and viagra. It was like an annoying jingle that wouldn't leave her head (celebrex, lipitor and viagra), but those were her mainstays and those were the pharmaceuticals that Pfizer, her employer, told her to push, push and push. There was never a problem with the renewed orders coming in (well, viagra had taken a small dip due to generic competition) but getting appointments with the new doctors, that was a challenge. Challenges - not something that she shied away from though, she thought to herself. Just look at how she had taken charge of her life lately. It had been a challenge - just figuring out what it was that was dragging her down. That had taken months; thank god she had gone to see Freeman - he had made all the difference. It was like she had been walking in a fog for the past year or more. Blind to the numbing nothingness that her relationship with Ron had amounted to. He had been convenient, pleasant, and always there. She could always count on Ron, . . . but for what, other than his presence. He was the most uninterested person she had ever met; a man of such numbing routine and regularity that she had eventually gotten into lock step with his TV watching, routine dinners at the same restaurants, and even his friends . . . Was it possible, she thought, that there were people who just continually replayed the same tape in conversations: just substitue a different sports team - "Hey, how about those ______ (insert team name here)", "Did you watch _______ (insert TV program here); "We ate at ________ (insert restaurant's name here), great food, etc. etc. Patty had finally discovered that she didn't want to fill those blanks she wanted to create her own blanks, and she wanted to be around other people who had surprising blanks that she had never heard of. Ron, poor Ron. He just didn't understand. It was funny, she hadn't thought of him in weeks. What was the old saying . . . "Out of sight, out of mind."

It Is What It Is (Part 2)

It Is What Is (Part 2)
---- Big Frank Dickinson

Try to remember this: what you project
Is what you will perceive; what you perceive
With any passion, be it love or terror,
May take on whims and powers of its own.
Therefore a numb and grudging circumspection
Will serve you best . . .
---- Richard Wilbur

- I was wondering, Freeman, why do you have "It Is What It Is" on your business card. What does that have to do with your work?
- Madelyn, it's just a cliche, I know.
- So why put a cliche, on your card?
- Well, on one level it's a cliche, but underneath it there is a very apt message - for my line of work anyway.
- Yes, . . . ?
- People come to me with problems. They usually are able to resolve them, with my help, when they can see their situation as it really is: It is what it is . . . do you get it now?
- So, what you're saying is that what it is, is not what they are seeing.
- Exactly, what they come to me seeing is what it is not. The reason that it's a problem is that they are looking at it as it can't be for them. They want it to be what it should be for them, so I help them look at it as it is.
- OK, give me an example.
- Well, do you remember that woman that came to see me about deciding whether to take that job in Seattle, or stay here in Spokane?
- Yeah, I do; it seems that you really got into that one. You spent a lot of time with her. I thought it was a cut and dry case - she should move and take the new higher paying job.
- Well, that was one way of looking at it. It was more money for her. However, when I delved a little deeper into the situation it turned out that that wasn't what it was all about - that is not what it was. It wasn't about money; it wasn't about moving; it was about change. She wanted a change in her life and thought that a change in her job, and a change in her city would revitalize her. However, it was basically the same kind of work - more money, but the job was the same. It's probable that within one year or so she would have completely recreated exactly what it is that she had right here in Spokane. The only thing that would have changed would have been the name of the city she lived in: Seattle rather than Spokane. I discovered what it really was and when she saw that she stayed here.
- And . . . what was it?
- It was change - she wanted change. There were lots of more important things that she could change right here. So we drew up a list of what she spent her time on and with whom and then she made the changes. She has a much different life now - and she's happier. No more talk of moving!
- What kind of changes are you talking about?
- Well for one, she got rid of the guy that she had been seeing for over two years. He was taking up all her time and giving her nothing in return.
- You told her to dump her boyfriend?
- I didn't have to: when we laid out, where it is that she wanted to go, it was obvious that she wasn't going to get there with that lunkhead.
- That was the first big break, and then she started doing things that she had always talked about doing, but never had: traveling, joining a church, getting a new place to live, and meeting new people. Nothing all that big, when you look at them individually, but the whole package resulted in a lot of changes in her. One change begot another and the next thing you know . . . she liked her life! It is what it was! And what it was, was her being in rut! She climbed out of it.
- I wonder what the guy she dumps thinks of you? Did you ever think about that?
- Oh, well, I don't think he'll be coming to see me for advice any time soon!
- Do you know him?
- Well, actually I do. His name is Ron - he sells mattresses.
- No way! He's the one that got me out of the valley?
- You got it; and that was after their break up. Now that you mention it; you don't think that mattress is sagging a little do you?
- It is what it is!

It Is What It Is

It Is What It Is

---- Big Frank Dickinson

"It is what it is

says Love "
---- Erich Fried

1.
Just when he had thought that the weather had turned and winter was gone, it snowed. Well, not a lot, but still enough so that his thoughts were no longer hinged on renewal; but rather on a reassessment of a number of things. One, of course, was the business that he had somewhat rashly begun last year. It had always been a dream of his to open his own business and he had finally taken the leap almost exactly one year ago. His business was pretty broad in scope, but infinitely interesting, and the first year had gone fairly well, as far as his enjoyment. The income, however, was not all that he had hoped for. His business was a kind of combination research, counseling, and private investigation. The sign outside his office read: Problems Solved, and that is exactly what he did. People came with their problems and he solved them. Well, to be more exact, he offered possible solutions. He didn't guarantee anything, but for most of his clients the issue was mostly that they did not have a clue about what to do, where to begin, and needed someone to show them options and encourage them to act in some way. That is exactly what he did. His business card read: Freeman Pastore, Problem Solver; and at the bottom of the card in italics there was this quotation: It Is What It Is.
2.
Madelyn awoke early and was concerned about Freeman. They had spent the evening together and he had seemed a little distracted. This was not something new. During the last year, since he had started his new business, he was often somewhat distracted. Perhaps he was taking his work home with him, as it were. While he did not have all that many clients, still he took his work very seriously and spent considerably time mulling over the more puzzling problems that he was presented with. For example, there was that woman who could not decide whether she should take a new position in a city on the other side of the state, or remain where she was. It seemed, to her, a straightforward situation: the new job paid slightly more, and she was single with no kids, so why not? However, Freeman built these complicated grids and tried to bring in all the extraneous factors and possible repercussions and was constantly adding new data. The emotional factors - he spent way too much time on those, she thought. Well, it had been an OK evening, otherwise: a movie followed by dinner. He had spent the night at her place, and now they were both waking up, lying in bed awake with eyes closed. Any minute now they'd look at each other and start their Sunday morning: coffe and conversation. Still, they lay in bed postponing for just a couple of minutes the end of the sleep, the beginning of the day. She thought of his business motto: It Is What It Is.

There You Go

There You Go
-- Big Frank Dickinson

"Oh, the world keeps spinning round.
It's a wonder tall trees ain't laying down;
There comes a time. . . "
---- Neil Young

1.
Spring was a time when hope sprang anew in his heart. It was easy to feel that way at this time of the year, because there was real anticipation in the air. This was not some kind of metaphysical nonsense, like giving off positive energy or learning a lesson from the universe; no, this was real honest-to-goodness season change as manifested in the very grass that you walk on or the leaves in the trees above you. He was thinking that if that rebirth was programmed right into the planet in such a pervasive manner that it was probably programmed into him too. He was thinking in cliches, thoughts like: "When a young man's thoughts turn to love . . .", and "Here comes Peter Cotton Tail hopping down the bunny trail." That last thought was actually getting stuck in his head and much as he liked spring he found that song to be invasively annoying. So with sticky bits of that tune clinging to his brain he left the house and went to one of the two things that spring most brought to mind: his yard (the other he could not go to because she wasn't there). His neighbor was in his backyard looking at his yard with his arms crossed. "Looks like I'll have to get on this yard again; I'm getting an early start!", he shouted. His neighbor replied: "There you go!"

2.
Her yard had been carefully prepared for spring last fall. All the debris that had fallen from the trees or blown in from neighboring yards had already been disposed of. Her ornamental grasses had already been trimmed, the sprinkler system had been drained, and the delicate trees had been bundled up. She was not thinking about her yard; she was thinking about Easter! And at that moment her phone rang; it was her sister. They talked for a short time, and it was a typical conversation that had little to do with spring or her yard. It was mostly about a friend of theirs who had recently been ill, but had recovered. In passing they discussed Easter - the Easter dinner! This was always carefully approached because it entailed some suble negotiations about whether the family was going to do something together for Easter or not, and if so, then who and where and all that had to be decided in such a way as to keep everyone happy but not put a strain on anyone. Everything was pretty much up in the air so far, which meant that she did not have to do anything beyond what she normally did. Easter was a time to decorate (lightly) her home, but was not treated, by her, as a holiday that should entail any family gathering beyond her immediate kids, who were not in town. So that meant that she was really not going to mark this Easter in any way. Her sister actually asked her: "Do you have any Easter plans?" Her reply was short: "No, I think I'll stay home and work on my yard." "There you go!", replied her sister.

This Is As Good As It Gets

This Is As Good As It Gets
---- Big Frank Dickinson

"Squeeze out
all the segments
of this orange day
before it disappears
into the sunset."
---- Dennis O'Driscoll
1.
He had promised his girlfriend that when he was abroad that he would get her a present. This was something that weighed on him as he trudged through the various markets in these foreign lands that he was traveling through. There was no real reason for him being so abroad other than his wanting to put himself in a different place than the one that he was overly familiar with. He had this idea that traveling to unfamiliar countries alone was something that he needed to do. He wasn't sure why. He was not familiar with this country in the least. The language was so strange that the only words that he understood were the occassional "OK" - which he recognized, despite the fact that it was said with the first syllable stressed and asperated. It sounded like the kind of "OK" that the foreigners said in movies. It was said like this "HO-k. In fact, he somewhat felt like he was in a movie. A movie of a foreign land.

He found lots of stuff made out of wood. Wooden boxes, wooden plates, wooden coat racks, wooden balls, and wooden dolls. He decided to buy a wooden doll. He asked (well, he actually motioned) for the clerk to take down a big wooden doll. The foreigner said, "HO-k" and gave him the big doll. And then, much to his surprise, the clerk opened the doll and inside was another, and inside this yet another, and so on and so on. He decided that he should buy it: "This is as good as it gets" he said to himself.

2.
Why were there so many different kinds of mattresses? He was out shopping to get a new mattress. His old one had a very large valley in the middle of it. He could not sleep on either side without sliding into the middle of it. He had slept like this for a very long time, and it was not something that had much bothered him, or something that he had much thought about in any way whatsoever. However, he had met a girl; one thing led to another and they were now sleeping together. Sometimes he slept at her house. She had a very nice mattress. It seemed like it was high. Perhaps because his girlfriend not only had a mattress, but she had a boxspring on which the mattress was perched. And the mattress, his girlfriend had told him, had padding on the top. It also had springs and there was no valley in the middle of it. He liked being in the valley with her, but she said that he generated too much heat for them to be in the valley together. He could not regulate his temperature, so he was buying a new mattress.

The clerk told him that the word "mattress" came from the Arabic word for "throw" as in a mat or something like that is thrown on the floor. He immediatly starting thinking about that Japanese kind of mattress - the futon. He that that would be too low and told the clerk that. The clerk told him that this store didn't sell futons, it only sold mattresses. He then started to tell him what they did sell. Ron, the clerk, said they need to start with the size: twin, double, queen, California queen, king, California king, or super king? He told the clerk that he need one big enough for two, but that his bedroom wasn't' that big. They started looking at queens. Then Ron asked him about the mattress components: spring, foam, water, or composite? He said that he really didn't know, but he thought it should have springs so that there would be no sagging - no valleys. So Ron showed him some inner spring queen mattresses. Some had a little padding on top, and some a lot. Some had box springs and some not. Some were extraordinarily expensive - over $2,000.00 - and some were only a few hundred. It was a tough decision, but he chose one that was peach colored (there were many different colors and patterns), and cost about $600.00. He skipped the box spring. He said to Ron, "This is as good as it gets."

3.
He and his girlfriend had a fight. She had liked the doll he brought her, and she was happy with the mattress, but she did not like the fact that he sometimes talked to her about vague feelings of dissatisfaction. She would say, "What have you got to be dissatisfied about?" He wasn't sure what - he liked his job; he liked her; he enjoyed his weekend and evening activites (sometimes with her and sometimes with his friends), and he was optimistic that his life was going to get even better in time. However, sometimes he felt sad; and sometimes he felt more than sad - he felt depressed. However, he didn't know why he felt this way. She did not have these feelings - ever, and thought that maybe it might have something to do with her. He told her that it did not, that he really did not understand why he felt this way. It was not a common feeling, but when he felt it he was not fun to be around, and he also did not attempt to hide the fact that he was feeling down. She had talked to him about this many times, and it had always led to the same dead end. Sometimes she probed him about how exactly it felt. He told her it felt like a fire dying inside, like a premonition of a catastrophe, or like the knowledge that he had forgotten something that would have dire consequences. Sometimes she tried to give him advice and told him that he should just stop thinking about it, or he should go do something active, or . . . concentrate on all the good things he had going for him. Then she would sometimes get frustrated, because she loved him, and did not want him to feel sad or dissatisfied. He would tell her that he too did not want to feel this way. They couldn't solve his problem. Finally he told her that he was going to try to look on the bright side because he did have a lot to be grateful about. He told her: "This is as good as it gets."

4.
She saw him quite often, but did not live with him. She had her own house and she enjoyed her time alone. This was not time that she sought to escape from anyone - certainly not from him. It was time when she could be by herself. When she was by herself she sometimes kept herself quite busy. She liked to do a few crafts that had to do with pottery and also with collages. In fact, she was working on a new technique to incorporate collages into her pottery. The mixing of the glazes and then the selection of just the right temperature to create the impressions of a mixture of disparate scenes on the pots was a challenge that she hadn't completely solved. She also enjoyed the silence of her place and the beauty of her yard, which she had spent considerable time on. In the morning, her favorite time, she would rise with the sun and brew green tea (two minutes). Then she would take a sketch of the collage that she was working on creating for her next pot and she would take it to the table in her kitchen overlooking the garden. As she drank the tea, she sketched the scenes that she would need to create glazes for to fire on her recent pots. The silent creation led her to think: "This is as good as it gets."

On the road with Gina (to Wallace & back)

Gina is home for spring break for the next week or so. Today they hit the road - headed for Wallace, ID. They made quite a few stops along the way - some tourist, some shopping - lots of thrift stores. It was a good easy day and we actually did make it to Wallace. However, it was pretty cold over there - lots of snow still on the ground. They walked around, poked into a few stores, had some lunch (jalepeno burgers), and then turned the car around and headed downhill back to Spokane. Nice day.

What do you mean it's gone?

When did it Become the Past?

How can it slip away without you knowing?
Like the image of your face, or your daily routine,
It seems to be the solid backdrop to
All that is common in your act -
Look at it now and know that it will slide away;
It always does. The cereal bowl you always used,
The paper that stood by you every morning with
The box scores, financial news, cartoons, whatever -
They used to be something that you looked forward to,
A constant regular part of your day, your everyday;
Just like the evening TV show you always watched;
What was it: Ninja Turtles, CSI, My Three Sons, Friends?
And your tight group of friends; always going everywhere together,
Til one day not- as gone as the face of that clock that used to wake you -
Now as absent as the warm indentation in the bed next to yours or the
Neverending needs of your kids, the demands of your parents -
All gone, in the past now. It went around the present's
Corner when today's clouds cast their shadows -
Somehow that one got away and then the next - gone too.
The names, the faces, the touches, the seeming solidity
Of them all - in your life - like recess or merry-go-rounds.
Now they surface through other's questions and from
Unexpected pools you catch yourself looking into
When you slip and look down from time to time and see
The vanity of lost desires and late night regrets - all gone now
Like pictures in your attic that you look at when you clean,
Or landscapes you now pass on trips back home -
Still there, but now - only in passing.

---- Big Frank Dickinson

Your yard is your gym

Big Frank has been wondering lately about all the wasted effort that goes on when people exercise. OK, maybe not wasted in the sense that no good came of it, but wasted in the sense that the effort's only result was in the physical benefit to the exerciser and the energy expended pretty much just goes up in smoke, as it were. So what if that energy could be captured and put to use? For example, there are some gyms at universities that are hooking up their exercise machines (treadmills and staionary bikes) to generators and capturing the electricity to power their energy needs at the university! Grand Valley State University and Oregon State University are doing just that.

So what about me? I'm sure you are asking that along with Big Frank. Well, actually there is something that you can do. Many common exercises - and a few not so common ones too - can be harnassed, as it were, to actually pay direct measurable dividends to you beyond your physical fitness or mood lift. You can get fit through GARDENING - which means you can get your yard all spiffed up while you get your exercise at the same time! There are books on this, and websites, and even videos . So grab that rake -bend that thigh, position the shovel - lean into it, lunge forward - pull a weed: it's all that simple. This could be a revolution!

Spring Yard Tips!

The first day of spring is tomorrow! Are you all ready? Do you know what it means to be ready? Big Frank is definitely not ready, but he still is determined to get on the move anyway. Anyway, in this part of the country - Eastern Washington, it doesn't matter what the calendar says, spring is NOT here. OK, the marmots are out and the robins are flying around, but the air is still chill and there's still spots of snow on the ground. That's actually good news, because that means that Big Frank, and other procrastinators (you know who you are), still have time to get ready for when the REAL spring comes. So as far as the indoor stuff goes you should clean your carpets, shake out your rugs, replace your filter (air and water), clean your windows, and air out your house! Now for the outdoors - that yard. Big Frank has done a little research and here are some links that he encourages you to take a look at. First of all let's start with Martha Stewart. This is not a real persnickety list - actually a pretty common sense one. She does mention that you check your soil ph with a soil test kit (click on the previous link and you can find one at amazon for $16.99).

Next we have the link to the University of Illinois Extension. This site has lots of good commonsense tips. Everything from how to keep rabbits out, to how to use your old pantyhose for composting, and how you can actually mow ground cover to keep it in line!

Then for those of you interested in moving in the direction that Big Frank is going (starting a meadow) - here's a link on that. Some plants recommended for that include: Black-eyed Susan, liatris, butterfly weed, evening primrose, milkweed, helenium, goldenrod, coneflower, asters, ironweed, obedient plant, and hardy geranium.

Finally, a youtube link on paving - for those of you who are thinking of putting in a brick patio. Now's the time to start getting your act together. Big Frank is all over this one.

Words

Big Frank is once again thinking about the longevity and the inadequacy of words. Here's one that you all know from Emily Dickinson. The thrust of it is that while some may think that when a word is said that it is over, yet the intention of that never ends.

A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.

---Emily Dickinson

Then here's Big Frank on a slight complication introduced into the mix: where's the intention coming from?

Thoughts expressed:
Words that span
Alike worlds of
Heart to heart,
Mind to mind.
But mind to heart
Or heart to mind
Requires an art
Much less refined.

---- Big Frank Dickinson

David Bowie Rocks

Ok, Big Frank has been told that he needs to clean up his links a little better. Evidently, his HTML skills are not very good. In fact they are wrong. So he's gone to school - online that is, and thinks that he now has it right. That means that when you click on a link it should open up within this page and then when you close it you are still on "What it is!". This means that you don't have to be going back and forth. Big Frank thinks that he has it right now. If not - let him know.

And what better way to try this out than with a video of a real rocker - David Bowie, singing (what Big Frank thinks is) his all-time best rock-n-roll tune: Suffragette City. And if that really turned you on and you'd like a very strange video with some very cool dancing in a woman's clothing store - then click this out. The cool thing about that last video is that there is this guy just positively rocking out and all the customers and clerks are absolutely oblivious to his dancing: "Ow, Hit me!"

Not our relatives

Big Frank has been reading a little bit lately on some research being conducted on Neanderthals. As you all probably know - these bug lunks disappeared from the face of the earth, went extinct, around 30,000 years ago. There has always been speculation about the relationship is any between the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. They did exist at the same time for thousands of years. However, we know practically nothing about what if any contact they had with each other, whether they got along, interbred, kept their distance from each other, fought, or what. Svante Paabo is investigating this through an analysis of Neanderthal DNA. He has bones from three Neanderthal fossils and has extracted some DNA from each. His initial findings are that there was probably no interbreeding between the two groups. His studies indicate that Neanderthasl contributed little, if any, DNA to modern humans. Big Frank doesn't know about the rest of you, but he is very pleased to know that his ancestors were not Neanderthals.

Missing

"...there comes a time when contingency itself is contingent on the abrupt desire to happen, a collosal burp brewing somewhere."

--John Ashberry

Missing

It used to loom large and then not so large at all. In fact, the looming really does imply being up ahead, in front, approaching, in the future. It would be enough to get you up in the morning. It could keep you up - but in a good way. And always, always not only a topic of conversation - even with those who probably didn't even want to hear about it., but a mindstew. You know how that goes - the mind goes to that which it wants and it wants to share it's expectation. It's a way of filling in what isn't there now: the talk, the image - you can see its presence and having it - the thought of having it. That is a hole that gets decorated with longing.

The wrapping on a present, or the icing on a cake - the ornaments on the Christmas tree and the snare drum's beat around the melody that hints at what the song is all about - the heart bump that everyone wants to get. Wrap it up nicely because that's the celebration' the pre-part; the not knowing yet delight in possibly getting. Possibly getting it.

The completeness of the imagination leaves one in its wake. It leads, it's always in the lead . . . and you stumble on behind with visions of dancing in your bed. Always around the corner, up the road. The map is continually redrawn like google gone wild - with various close-ups (Hey, I can see your house from here).

The design of this plan - surely there is one - is yours. Contingencies rule, of course, but you tell yourself that they are all part of the plan. That's the way plans go. The rooms that open up into rooms that have corridors that take you up up stairs into closets that reveal entire shopping centers. And if that's a contingency, then what's its contingency?

-- Big Frank Dickinson

SPRING IS HERE

Big Frank is back in the land of the swinging doors and the home of the box stores. He was a little bit afraid of the rumors he had heard of the late winter snow and the pre-spring dip in temperatures. However, when he emerged from bed this morning he saw the resident marmots emerging from their dens. Now this is a sure sign of spring! Yes! The snow will go, and (alas) the yard will have to be taken care of. These marmots enjoy eating Big Frank's weeds but that is a pretty poor excuse for not putting in proper backyard. So . . . the finalization of the conceptualization of the plans for Big Frank's backyard have now begun. Stay tuned for the playing out of the project. It will entail moving earth for a backyard terrace of slate or stone, the planting of more trees, and the putting in (yai do hoi!) of a prairie-like lawn (buffalo grass, wild flowers, and various other native grasses). The marmots are going to love that!

Coming and Going

Big Frank has seen something in the past week or so of Tokyo and Seoul. These are megacities in every sense of the word. The metropolitan area of Tokyo's population, as figured by the UN, is put at 36 million people! This is the largest metropolitan area in the world. Seoul is the fourth largest with 22 million. Each of these has a population density of around 2,000 people per square kilometer. Now keep in mind that Big Frank grew up in North Dakota - where the population density is around 1 person per square kilometer. Pretty much nobody in North Dakota wears a face mask when out and about. In these cities, however, it is a very common site. Two random photos taken by Big Frank captured (inadvertently) guys crossing his view wearing masks. What does this mean? Everything happens for a reason - OK, that's a cliche; but it is interesting, nonetheless - and they're going in different directions (that's because one's Korean and the other Japanese. They are either coming or going or else one is coming and the other is going. In either case - Big Frank is no longer going - he's coming back.

Korea on Big Frank's mind (and in his face)

Big Frank went tourist today - at least for a little bit anyway. Seoul, like many Asian cities can strike one as a little on the gray side; except for the signs (they are everywhere and multicolored too) and the pockets of parks and temples. So Big Frank went to visit a park today: Tapgol Park in Seoul (the first public park in the city). The park takes its name from the Korean word "tap" which means pagoda. Inside the park is the famous Wongaksa Pagoda - a ten tier stone pagoda. It has eerily been encased in plexiglass becoming a coccoon of the past - with the reflection of none other than - Big Frank (with Korea not only on his mind, but in his face). However, in addition to this treasure (the pagoda, not Big Frank's face) - the gates and central gazebo offer a wonderful collection of colors.

Speaking of Doormen

So Big Frank is still thinking of Doormen, and because he's on the road and whatnot he googled: "I hate being a doorman", because Big Frank really would love to be a Doorman, and so he thought he'd better get the OTHER side of the story. You know - there's more to being a Doorman than wearing the uniform, and not every doorman works in front of some swanky hotel. Most nightclubs have doormen and that's a whole different world. So here's a few things that Big Frank found.

There's this from New York Shopping, an interview with the doorman at the Crobar in NY. That's him on the left, and this is what he had to say in the interview about his outfit:

"I got the scarf at an Indian store on 23rd Street, and the blue blazer is from a thrift store on Eighth Avenue. It was $10, and it took me $60 to make it wearable. I went through a friend’s closet and took all the ties he doesn’t wear. He used to be a corporate guy, and now he goes to work in jeans."

And, what about those people who he won't let in? Here are some reasons - clubbers take note:

"Every doorman has a different list. One guy I work with hates guys in Timberlands—I could care less. For me, I hate athleticwear—like Derek Jeter’s shirt. You’re going to a nightclub, not to a gym. I hate that hairdo that all those Gotti boys are putting out there. Whatever that’s called—the scarecrow, the chicken head. And this thing now of women all looking like tramps, I don’t get that. I hate leg warmers, too."

Meet the Doorman

To your left is The Doorman. He's Big Franks's Doorman now - well, actually he's everyone who stays at this hotel's Doorman. He is the only one who gets to wear a hat - the attendant lowly bellboys have short jackets and wear no hats. This guy, as with most doormen, is unfailingly polite both when putting Big Frank into taxis or when greeting him when he returns. Although, Big Frank does have to admit that, in this doorman's presence, he does feel a little inadequately dressed. Why is it that the doorman gets to wear the snazziest outfit of all. Think about it, even when dressed formally it is unlikely that you will create the same impression as the doorman. His is an almost military bearing with such coordination and just look at those buttons. Outside the hotel - he is the king! Nobody messes with the doorman. However, inside - it's the domain of the concierge, and much as Big Frank admires the doorman's outfit, his real envy, and perhaps next career, would be that of the concierge. However, that's a story for another day.

Seoul

Big Frank has said good bye to Tokyo and has landed in Seoul, where he'll be staying for the next 5 days or so. It was a pretty quick flight over. Big Frank sat next to a guy named Al on the flight. Usually when Big Frank flies he's not one to get into any big conversations - not even many small ones. But Al was a talker. He's an army officer in the corps of engineers. Big Frank could pretty much give you his life story, but will spare you that. The highlights - as relayed to Big Frank were his getting into West Point where his first year was hell! He lost 50 pounds - his main hazer pretty much wouldn't let him eat at all. However, when another officer saw how much watermellon Al at during a watermellon eating contest the light went on and he made the big hazer apologize to Al. Then Al graduated lived the single life for a number of years but decided he wanted a kid - thought about a surrogate mother, but decided the kid needed a dad so when he met an army nurse - they got married. However, when he first met his mother-in-law coming down to eat breakfast one morning, and she greeted him with a french kiss!! - he knew there was going to be trouble. Maybe because he didn't respond (he speculates) she turned his wife against him. $100,000 in lawyer fees later - he's now remarried and life is good. This is the abbreviated story. The bus from the airport was pretty uneventful - two Japanese women chattering away behind Big Frank, but nobody sitting next to him. He checked into the hotel - got an upgrade to a swanky room (why doesn't anybody use that word anymore?). It's now very late and Big Frank has work tomorrow, so he's going to sleep in all his swankiness.

Sushi in a warm, well-lit place

The joys of the small Japanese sushi bar! Big Frank loves sushi in generaly, but the food is only a small piece of the whole, and when in Japan, he is able to complete the entirety with a visit to a real sushi bar. You bend down slide open the door and are immediatly greeted with "Irashaimase" [welcome], and they say it like they mean it (not sure how heartfelt it all is, but it sure seems real). Big Frank prefers the smaller, family-run sushi bars. Typically there is a sushi chef or two behind the bar and one or two other family members helping to wait on tables. There is always a TV that is invariably turned to some kind of sporting event - usually baseball, but occassionally golf. The bar has seating for 5 or 6, and then in the back there are usually a couple of tatami rooms. Typically groups of business men sit in the tatami rooms and talk, eat, drink, and smoke - rehashing the day's events. At the bar there are guys sitting, watching TV, eating sushi, and reading papers. The atmosphere is warm, the sushi is superb, and the service is spot on. The typical "seto" has a variety of sashimi and sushi with a liberal mound of ginger, a bowl of miso, and a large glass of beer. The sushi is usually served on a wooden plank of sorts, or sometimes - more recently - on a banana leaf. All the while you can watch the sushi chefs chop, mold, press, and prepare. They are dressed in white jackets with white caps. They don't talk, but when an order is placed they will shout that it's received - and, of course, to everyone entering - "Irashaimase" and to those leaving "Arigatogozaimashta".

Japanese angles

Maybe it is the wind, or maybe the sun, or maybe it's just that there were a lot of angles out in Tokyo today. It was extremely windy - and that may be where they all came from: they blew in on the wind. In any case Big Frank caught a few of them. Tokyo is humming and yet . . . there are quiet corners and hidden holes that can offer a moment's respite.

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The woman doll above is a sake bearer - woman of the court as dressed in the 8th century AD in Japan - the Heian Period. This display that she is part of is called Hinamatsuri and is part of girls day, celebrated on March 3. This particular display was in the entrance of the Sumitomo Building. Nobody was paying much attention to it; they are pretty common, but Big Frank was all over it (with his camera that is).

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Oh, yeah - Big Frank found love right here in Shijuku - who would have thought it? And look above - he even took a photo to prove it. What a great statue: notice how drab and boring everying that surrounds it seems. And - nobody is paying any attention to it. Can you believe that: ignoring LOVE? What is that?