新しい日

医学はすばらしい先生です。私はこれが習いました：いい日と悪い日があります。高さとくぼみがあります。成功と失敗があります。生涯と死があります。毎日。

でも、これが覚えておきてください　－　毎日は新しい日があります。

See you.

In English (英語):

A new day

The medical field is an excellent teacher. I have learned this: that there are good days and bad days. There are highs and lows. There are successes and failures. There is Life and Death. Everyday.

But, please remember this – everyday is a new day.

See you.

- Just a peasant

Background artwork for a video game, about fairies, that I never finished (made with Vue6)

Fight （ファイト）

“We don’t need belts or grades in Thai boxing. There are really only two levels of Thai fighter: the one standing and the one not standing.” - as I was instructed once by a fight trainer from Thailand

For all these years, no matter where I go, I still manage to do some sort of Thai boxing or MMA. But the real question is why do I continue to subject myself to such a beating on a weekly basis even if I’m no longer young? Why do I continue taking kicks to the legs, shots to the face, knees to the gut, and elbows to the head?

Because it’s a constant reminder – to me - to keep fighting no matter what happens in life.

No matter how hard things get – no matter how much pain there is – no matter how far there is to go - no matter how much blood is on the floor : count to 8 and get back up.

And I have no intention of quitting anytime soon.

- Just a peasant

Photo of my basic Thai equipment which still follows me wherever I go

Serious Matters – the refugees

Several years ago I started a small humanitarian organization to help Nigerian school children pay their yearly school dues. But yesterday I began the tedious and semi-expensive work of filing for the charitable donations tax-exempt status, affectionately known as 501(c)(3), to start a new objective.

There are approximately 12 million refugees, scattered throughout more than 700 refugee camps, around the world. And in these refugee camps, all the simple amenities we take for granted on a daily basis, don’t even exist. Having once been homeless, I have some empathy for them.

The new objective involves a strategy for helping these refugees and internally displaced people (IDP). Why? Because I’m not comfortable living in a world where people have to beg for civilization’s scraps and are condemned to such cruel sadness. Is that the kind of world you’re comfortable living in? I really think we can do better.

Of course, I hope you will understand that there are certain reasons I won’t discuss the name, or aim, of my organization on this blog. For one, I am at least semi-anonymous here. Years ago, when I was a musician, I wanted the whole world to know who I was. Yet it never happened. C'est la vie. But now, I don't care anymore. Those days are gone forever and I have far more important things rolling around in my brain. Secondly, my blog is not for advertising. It’s just for thoughts and reflection. It’s a frail journal containing some guy’s random thoughts – nothing more. And nobody should have to pay money for that. Finally, it’s also about balance; the balance between serious matters and light-hearted matters. The absurd and the logical. The ugliness and the beauty. I enjoy that balance.

Some days, I need to express my concern over violence and injustice or the absurdities of politics and hate. Other days I get to be mesmerized with human triumph and romance, extraordinary landscapes, or even a particular, beautiful Japanese actress. * If you read this blog you already know who she is!! *

But this week: 12 million refugees. That’s the matter at hand and - it’s a very serious matter.

- Just a peasant

Photo of a child at a Hmong refugee camp from Doctors Without Borders site