As the son of a master machinist and the brother of a master building contractor, I have the utmost admiration for people who could create with their hands. I, alas, am a bookworm. The only useful thing I can do with my hands is cook (and even there my brother is better).
Home » Articles posted by Tarnmoor (Page 16)
Author Archives: Tarnmoor
The Dalai Lama and I
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
I first posted this on January 22, 2021.
The circumstances behind my seeing the Dalai Lama in April 1991 are indelibly etched in my memory. I arranged to first meet my friend George Hoole at his girlfriend’s apartment in Santa Maria, and then we would both go to the University of California at Santa Barbara to see the Dalai Lama give a speech.
I had only been driving for six years at the time, and I did something that killed the engine on my 1985 Mitsubishi Montero. Instead of staying on U.S. 101, I decided to take San Marcos Pass to Solvang, where I would have lunch before making my way back to the 101. Unfortunately, I drove up the pass in second gear. By the time I got to the top of the pass, my engine was a smoking ruin. I arranged to have the car towed back to Santa Monica Mitsubishi for repair, which was no easy thing as ’85 Monteros with automatic transmissions were a rarity.
George came to pick me up in Solvang and I was his passenger for the weekend. We heard the Dalai Lama give a great talk in his broken English … and this turned out to be the beginning of a difficult period for me. I teamed up with George to start a new company called Desktop Marketing Corporation, along with several of my co-workers from Urban Decision Systems, where I had been working since 1971.
It never took off, and I had to live on my savings for over a year, Ultimately, I left Desktop Marketing and managed to get a job in a Westwood accountancy firm called Lewis, Joffe & Company. Plus I had to shell out several thousand dollars for a new Montero engine.
Things don’t always tend to go your way. The early 1990s were a time of career change and retrenchment for me. But I never regret seeing the Dalai Lama in person. There is perhaps no religious figure I respected more, not even Pope John Paul II. There was something about the twinkle in his eyes which helped see me through a difficult period in my life.
I’d see him again if I could, but I would definitely avoid San Marcos Pass.
Shop
Why, books, of course.
Nisei Week in Little Tokyo
Japanese Tea Ceremony
This morning, Martine and I took the E-Train downtown to Little Tokyo. It was the beginning of Nisei Week, and there were some interesting events and exhibits to experience.
We had not attended Nisei Week since before the Covid-19 lockdown, so we were surprised by the smaller crowds and the obvious cutbacks. There were no events in the large Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) courtyard. Some dozen years or so ago, I remember fondly seeing a program of five films starring Raizo Ichikawa at the center’s Aratani Theatre. This year, there were no film programs, no musical programs.
On the plus side, there was a fascinating Japanese tea ceremony. Martine did not know what she was missing when she decided not to attend. The forty-five minute program included a re-enactment of the tea ceremony in a little wooden tea house on the ground floor of the JACCC. There is something about the ritual and multiple exchange of bows that is somehow close to the very soul of the Japanese. And, at the end of the ceremony, we were given some excellent matcha tea and a Japanese sweet.
On the ground floor of the center, we saw a beautiful flower arrangement exhibit. I could kick myself for forgetting to bring my camera, because some of the arrangements were highly artistic; and there was even enough light in the room to make good pictures without flash.
On the fifth floor, we also saw an exhibit of Japanese dolls (not my cup of tea) and ceramics.
After the JACCC events, we trudged to Weller Court and had a so-so Chinese meal until such time as the karate event at the Terasaki Budokan gymnasium on Los Angeles Street was to start. Most of the event was like watching people do calisthenics, except for the team match-ups where there was something that looked like real fighting. There were teams from Japan, the United States, France, and Canada—and that was the order in which they finished.
Some of the Japanese participants were really fierce and fun to watch.
Will we go again next year? Probably not, but we’ll check first to see what they’ll have to offer.
Carry-Ons
Daily writing prompt
What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?
Because of my medical history (diabetes, no pituitary gland), the most important thing to carry with me all the time are my medications, especially my insulin and hydrocortisone. Next in importance: reading glasses, pen, wallet, and keys. I guess I should be happy I don’t also have to lug around an anvil, though it feels like it some of the time.
My Video Collection
When I bought my first video cassette recorder (VCR) in the 1980s, I thought I had it made. I had a great cable television setup near a neighborhood where many film industry moguls lived, and I could record films that were being broadcast on the many channels to which I had access. Eventually, I had a library of several hundred films that any film fanatic would be proud to own.
But then, little by little, they started to go bad. The VCR units had a hard time rewinding. And, of course, you couldn’t view a film until you rewound the reel. The tapes got stretched and started to go blooey. And rewinding became more and more of a chore.
When the DVD players first came out, I thought that was the way to go. I mean the laser didn’t even make contact with the surface of the DVD the way a VCR did with a videotape cassette.
One of my friends even suggested I convert all my videocassettes to DVD. I quickly pointed out that it would take years to accomplish this feat, during which my cassettes would continue to deteriorate.
Then I found out about a thing called “laser rot.” Even DVDs were not immune. After all, there was this metallic coating on a thin plastic disk. And plastic, as we know, won’t last forever.
In the age of streaming, people don’t keep the films they see: They just play them while downloading them. After viewing the film, it is gonzo!
Change?
Daily writing prompt
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?
I think I would be most happy if I thought people were reading my blog … period!
Alternate Universe
That’s easy! The whole Trump/MAGA/Republican schtick IS an alternate universe characterized by outrage and nausea.
The Cliché Is Inexperienced
One of the lesser works by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick is Galactic Pot Healer. Even in his minor works, Dick never fails to be of interest. In the first chapter, hero Joe Fernwright plays an interesting word game based on loose synonyms. Below are several examples:
The Lattice-work Gun-stinging Insect
This refers to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. “Great” sounds like “Grate,” which is a kind of lattice-work. Thugs used to refer to guns as “Gats”; and the “Stinging Insect” is a bee. Grate Gats-bee.
The Male Offspring in Addition Gets Out of Bed
This refers to a novel by “Serious Constricting-path,” or Ernest Hemingway: The Son Also Rises. This one requires no further explanation—except perhaps in the name of the author: “Hemmed Way,” or Hemingway.
Those for Whom the Male Homosexual Exacts Transit Tax
Another work by “Serious Constricting-path”” For Whom the Bell Tolls. I presume that “Bell” here is kind of like the masculine version of “Belle” (though I could be wrong here: Dick does not explain.)
Quickly Shattered at the Quarreling Posterior
Get ready to groan. Here is Joe’s conversation with a fellow gamer named Gauk:
“Jesus,” Joe said, with deep and timid bewilderment. It rang no bell, no bell at all. “‘Quickly shattered.’ Broken, maybe. Broke, break. Quick—that would be fast. Breakfast. But ‘Quarreling Posterior’?” He cogitated quickly, in the Roman sense. “Fighting. Arguing. Spat.” In his mind no solution appeared. “Posterior.’ Rear end. Ass. Butt.” For a time he meditated in silence, in the Yoga fashion. “No,” he said finally. “I can’t make it out. I give up.”
“So soon?” Gauk inquired, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, there’s no use sitting here the rest of the day working that one over.”
“Fanny,” Gauk said.
Joe groaned.
It is apparent that the answer to the puzzle is Breakfast at Tiffany’s or, Break Fast at Tiff Fanny.”
The Cliche is Inexperienced
Another book title: The Corn Is Green.
Dick leaves us with one more, to which he provides no clues: “Bogish Persistentisms, by Shaft Tackapple.” I nhave wrestled with that one but have not been able to decipher it.
$$$ Meal
Daily writing prompt
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?
I spent over a hundred dollars at Oscar’s Steakhouse at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas. It was sort of all right, but not worth the money.
Tarnmoor 
You must be logged in to post a comment.