Today bank errands have been taken care of. I should not have to visit a bank again for a year, I hope. I've also repaired these very old and worn jeans again, they're almost at the point where even I won't wear them in public.
I fixed the digital scales and found out that my luggage was already up to 17 kg, a bit more than I thought. But now it's certain that my little brother will come visit me in a month so I'm also packing some stuff for him to bring.
I like to be prepared for all eventualities so I really want to bring my tool box. I'm sure I'll need it, my bikes have a tendency to break down. But it's too heavy, so I'll have to settle for a few choice tools. Let's see, wrench, polygrip, a couple of screwdrivers, a knife, one of these multitool thingies... some steel wire, or maybe not... yes, some steel wire, a roll of good string, ...
Gaah, if I continue like that I'll bring it all anyway! I'm too much of a collector and saver to leave like this. Let's try again. Multitool, roll of string. Nothing more. There that wasn't so hard, was it? No, but what if... No buts! Multitool, string, that's it.
Just noticed my little unit converter is out of battery. I'm not even sure what units they use in Japan, so I'll leave that.
Stuff, stuff, stuff, how did I ever get so much of it? And why do I want to keep it all around me even though I know most of it never gets used? Simple answer of course: I don't know what will be needed and what won't. Well, some things I know I won't need. Like the dried aligator head and the bottle of scotch. How about the wax cotton dressing then? If my winter coat gets dirty I'll need to reapply some. But on the other hand I cleaned it last winter and not for three years before that. So that get's left home. Shoe wax? I'll bring that, certainly. Mosquito repellant... do they have mosquitos? Most places do. The lists go on forever and I only have days. Plenty of time really. The only problem is my ever present laziness, even when panicked I'm taking it easy.
This is a blog, a blog isn't really meant to be interesting to read. At least this one isn't. A blog is somewhere to put what's on my mind while making some room to put it in my mind instead. Like placing the dirty dishes on the kitchen table while cleaning away the pots from the sink. Or maybe it's more like hanging out clothes to dry before packing them into drawers and closets.
Flaming puffball... I don't think I even read that book myself, it was my brother who suddenly laughed and said it; "Flaming puffball". It stayed in my mind. Maybe because I never had time to hang it out to dry, or even wash it. It just went right in, dropped down on the floor and refused to move. I don't know why I named this blog after it, suddenly it just lept off that floor where it'd been lurking for years and demanded to be let out, shaking loose all those bits of unfinished thought that drift to the bottom of the mind like sediment. Isn't the italian word for forgetting sedimenti? If it is it's well chosen, because almost nothing is ever really forgotten. Pick up the right kind of stick and stir in those muddy waters and the sediments start coming back to the surface. They will come in no particular order and most often they've been at least partially decomposed, maybe gnawed on by the puffball. I wish I could use a good bottom sampler on those sediments, take up a nice striped core and start going through and analyze what I've forgotten in reverse chronological order. On the top would be those large, recent thoughts almost complete but probably useless "remember to empty the dishwasher", "ask the bank for new a new code card". If sufficiently big these might manage to stay close to the surface even when newer smaller thoughts come drifting down. I suspect there are some pretty big structures down there, like courses long since completed. If I probe around a bit I might find most of my statistical mechanics still holding together, just slightly mashed under the accumulated weight of nonsense and more recent studies.
In all this dark and murky realm of the forgotten and half remembered the Flaming Puffball roams free. Moving things around, burrowing holes to illuminate new areas. Occasionally throwing something up to the surface, either completely of it's own accord or in response to something I do or feel.
To find something worth reading in a blog is like digging in those depths, almost. A blog will never be as extensive, but it will also never have the same amount of interesting morsels. Mostly it's all nonsense.
The bottom line is here _________________________