13/1/22: Wild Violets Poem

A poem from Emperor Horikawa's 100 Poems

Where I once called on her,
The garden fence is now in ruins
Flowering there I find
Only wild violets, woven through
With rank spring grasses

Mukashi mishit
Imo ga kakine wa
Arenkeiri
Tsubana major no
Sumiere nomi shite

"Such is the desolate scene that once must have been in the poet's eyes"
"How mutable the flower of the human heart, a fluttering blossom gone before the breezes touch"
- Yoshida Kenkō

19/1/22: Reasons I Can't Get Rid of my Phone

I want to switch over to my old Nokia phone with buttons but can't. Here lie the reasons for my present state of misery, disgust, and anger:

• I would't be able to speak to my international friend
• I'd have to learn how to read a map
• I'll be accused of being an up-and-coming unabomber
• Multiple channels of communication I maintain with my friends will be destroyed
• Social media has been a catalyst for my discovery new ways of thinking (at least occasionally), I wouldn't want to lose that easy access to it
• My attention span has suffered the consequences of years of being barraged with content already
• I can't be bothered explaining to everyone I meet why I've got a Nokia with me
• I cannot function in society without one.
• I cannot function in society without Zuckerberg's apps to keep me in touch with my workplace, keep me informed of when people's birthdays are, what they are doing, and what events are on near me. I cannot function without SnapChat to talk to people who frequently use SnapChat and nothing else. I cannot function without Gmail consistently reminding me I have emails to read, or I run the risk of forgetting they're there. I cannot leave my mobile data, and live in terrible suspense while I'm out that I've missed something. I cannot disconnect, I cannot leave, I am conditioned and pacified, I am trapped.

Reasons to Get Rid of my Phone:

• Freedom.

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I think to accomplish this wee goal of mine, I would need a group of likeminded friends who all worked at the same place and were all happy to become disconnected from not the digital world, but the corporate digital world. THere's a big difference, but that's a rant for another day. That scenario is my Utopia. My Utopia where I own a second hand bookshop cafe and I am my own independant movie director free from the institution and industry of film constantly driven by profits limiting creative freedom.

I want to switch back to an old Nokia because every day I reluctantly take part in the disgustingly greedy cessspit the 'internet' has become. The cesspit where Instagram shuts down its Threads app to promote the irresistable endless scrolling on Instagram Reels, to force you into spending as much time consuming their product as possible. I'd have to put actual thought into writing an elegant piece about this which I'm really not in the mood for RIGHT NOW at 2am so yeah later. :/

**Also, I wrote this in a fit of rage after watching two episodes of the Hype House reality show, so it does come on a little strong.