I am rereading Raymond Carver‘s short stories. Nothing happens in these stories, nothing in terms of real-life events—suggestions of events only. A man and a woman are lying in bed. Nothing happens. Only the woman can not sleep. We follow her restlessness. A postman welcomes a new family in town. He observes them while they settle and leave town again.
There is no twist at the end of the stories—just a little wrinkle, at best.
Yesterday, I walked from our cottage at West aan Zee to Hoorn along the beach, an 8—or 9 km walk. There was a fierce wind in the back and some threatening rain.
I was impressed by the fractal-like figures in the sand, which formed 3D maps of unidentified countries (Which made me think about the barren landscapes of South America and Africa).
I had a great lunch at Kaap-Hoorn, roasted vegetables folded in Lebanese flatbread.
Continued to walk through the dunes and the woods to Formerum. Then, the rain washed me from the street, and I was picked up and brought home by car.
You can always find something unexpected. People dancing on the beach, this time.
Wat in mijn jeugd – 45 jaar geleden – een wit strand was, lijkt nu een illustratie van een wandelend eiland te worden.
Ik verloor hier ooit een een van de eerste digitale horloges. Een Trafalgar, met rode cijfertjes die alleen oplichtten als je op een knopje drukte. Mijn vader had het gekregen van een collega, die het als relatiegeschenk had gekregen maar het ding te lelijk vond. Zoiets als hieronder. Inderdaad erg lelijk.
How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve? – Neil Postman
Nerdy but fun, this option in Wikipedia that leads you to random wikipedia articles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The link will get you to a random articles every time you follow it.
A healthy alternative to doom-scrolling.
Convenience Store Woman (Buurtsupermens) is about an Asperger-like girl in her thirties who works as a substitute worker in a typical small Japanese neighborhood supermarket from the age of 18.
She has excellent powers of observation.
The neighborhood supermarket is a place that is completely normalized, and recovery will soon come for you, too.
Life at the neighborhood supermarket is entirely predictable for Keiko, and she loves it. However, she meets deadbeat Shiraha, and he changes her life. Shiraha’s arrival throws her structured life into disarray and turns it into chaos.
Just in time, she realizes that she was born a Convenience Store Woman, and that is where she finds happiness.
It is a strange story about fitting into society by not fitting in, which seems to be a theme in Sayuku Murata’s work, as Earthlings (Aardbewoners) has a similar theme. However, that book is way more grim than the light-hearted style of Convenience Store Woman.
