A Somewhat Local

By Johnny Nghiem

November 8^th, 2019

"Never forget the landscapes from your memory." - Someone

As I begin to think about what to write, it's become clear to me that I'm obsessed with the idea of having a balanced life and the idea of starting over and over again.

Sounds typical right?

When I think about having a balanced life, a conversation I recently had with my friend Jonas, in the midst of many conversations around us, sparked my motivation to jog my memory a bit.

There's a certain type of delicacy that's involved when trying to have a good morning that turns into a good night that I'll never figure out.

However, I don't think it's something to figure out though, it's more of a device to keep life exciting and growing.

When I think about starting over, I think about my mother. There's only a handful of times when I remember her having good memories which I'm sure she's held onto. The other memories were ones that went with that part of her history which includes a war where she lost many friends, a family that was destroyed by a gambling addiction, and an accident that caused her to lose her job and passion.

Within the midst of all of that, she never changed and is still my personal base. I wouldn't want it any other way and she wouldn't either.

My mother always told me that "without troubles, you can't grow balls and you have none."

I recently visited Japan for the fourth time this year and survived my first typhoon.

A couple of things to note:

I've never seen an entire aisle cleared of all instant noodles
How meditative shopping for typhoon supplies can be
And that I no longer feel like a tourist

It takes time to get to know a city and a city is like a person, being, thing, and at some point you're just parallel. I still remain a bit distant though to always remain a stranger anywhere I go so I can save all of these memories to remind me of where I am in the most zen way possible.