gurdymonkey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gurdymonkey) wrote2007-12-24 09:29 am
gurdymonkey) wrote2007-12-24 09:29 am
About friends.
Being as I didn't feel the need to lug packages over to![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
mamapduck's just so I could open them on Christmas morning, I finally succumbed and opened the gifts from Josh and Ellen a little while ago.
It has not been my karma to be lucky in love, but I more than make up for it with the kind of friends who make me think, "What did I ever do to deserve you?"
And now, on a not so happy note, this morning I received word that a friend is very, very ill. Please keep her in your prayers as you invoke the deity of your choice.
mamapduck's just so I could open them on Christmas morning, I finally succumbed and opened the gifts from Josh and Ellen a little while ago. It has not been my karma to be lucky in love, but I more than make up for it with the kind of friends who make me think, "What did I ever do to deserve you?"
I suppose I should not be all that surprised. When Josh came out here to the Bay area a couple of years ago for a martial arts convention and we agreed to get together, he showed up on my doorstep with a gorgeous doll in Heian costume that Ellen had made by hand for me and a sprig of barely budded cherry blossoms carefully sealed in Tupperware, complete with commemorative poems. When I took him into Japantown, he came out of Kinokuniya with over $200 worth of books, including three copies of poems by Po Chu I, one of which he presented to me over lunch on the grounds I "needed" it.
I discovered the "extra copy" thing is nothing new when I went to visit them last year. I was handed three "extra copies" of additional books on Japanese subjects from their collection. When I lamented on the Tousando that the Sackler Gallery was out of stock on a publication, guess who had an extra copy and would not take a dime for it?
Earlier this year they went to Japan. And again went bonkers in a book store. The shop at the Kyoto Costume Museum, to be precise.
In addition to a gorgeous, glossy catalog selling reproduction robes and ritual items for Shinto clergy, dancers and festival re-enactments, I have two museum publications on the Heian period and the Tale of Genji! One title loosely translates as Living In The Tale of Genji.The second appears to be an exhibition catalog The Kyoto Costume Museum and the Tale of Genji.
The texts are all in Japanese, of course, but it's glorious, detailed color photos of costumes and furnishings that are the meat of this feast.
I discovered the "extra copy" thing is nothing new when I went to visit them last year. I was handed three "extra copies" of additional books on Japanese subjects from their collection. When I lamented on the Tousando that the Sackler Gallery was out of stock on a publication, guess who had an extra copy and would not take a dime for it?
Earlier this year they went to Japan. And again went bonkers in a book store. The shop at the Kyoto Costume Museum, to be precise.
In addition to a gorgeous, glossy catalog selling reproduction robes and ritual items for Shinto clergy, dancers and festival re-enactments, I have two museum publications on the Heian period and the Tale of Genji! One title loosely translates as Living In The Tale of Genji.The second appears to be an exhibition catalog The Kyoto Costume Museum and the Tale of Genji.
The texts are all in Japanese, of course, but it's glorious, detailed color photos of costumes and furnishings that are the meat of this feast.
Then there's my dear, delightful Samurai From The Outlands. I happened to notice he was on the boards last night, so I wrote him a PM to wish him a Merry Christmas - only to discover a message in my own inbox because he found himself thinking of me at the exact same time. It's a little thing, but still it was very sweet, and by the end of the exchange of several PMs I was laughing at one of his silly adventures.
And now, on a not so happy note, this morning I received word that a friend is very, very ill. Please keep her in your prayers as you invoke the deity of your choice.