Tag: #Love

  • Short Story Review: “The Death of a Certain Woman” by Yasushi Inoue (Translated, from the Japanese, by J. Martin Holman.)

    (The short story “The Death of a Certain Woman” by Yasushi Inoue was published in the November 16th, 2026 issue of The New Yorker.)

    Illustration by Molly Heng Cheang

    There are many good points I can make about how enjoyable, affecting, and well written this story is. But I think the greatest magic trick Yasushi Inoue weaves in his story, “The Death of a Certain Woman” is how he made me forget the title of the piece as I was reading, especially as I neared the climax which would lead to the death of a certain woman. I should have clearly seen the tragedy coming, but Inoue swept me up in his story, and I was powerless.

    When I finished the story, I wondered; Was this a tragedy? Was it a manipulated memory? Was this a fairy tale of classic romantic proportions? Or was this all just blunt realism? Were the gods just on the edge of the story, present but unseen? Were these people fighting the tide of their better judgement?

    I don’t know, and I don’t think I will ever know. And I think that was the point.

    I am still surprised at how much this story has stuck with me; both seeing the world as a wonderful and awful place at the same time. How we judge when we shouldn’t. How we start like someone when the give us something. How quickly we can turn our backs and move on.

    I will not describe this story, nor give any more details, except to hint at one. Inoue already told you one thing that will happen, but the rest of the story is to be discovered as you read it.

    But the one detail I have to share, at least refer to, is the amazing last line of the story. How succinct it is, perfect to the story. It embraces the passage of time, and how heartbreakingly bitter sweet that passage can be. To be the person who still remembers when others have forgotten. To wonder still, what was the point of it all.

  • Running with My Kid

    I am not a fan of working out, but I understand the need. As a person with a wife and child, I want to spend as much time with them as possible, hence why I try to work out. Not that I am good at it, or even good with keeping the schedule of working out, which leads me to say that, though I may not be “in” shape, I most certainly am not “out” of shape.

    My daughter used to play soccer, which would practice three days a week, and play one game on the weekend. Sadly, she got burned out on the sport, and has been without a physical activity since June. Not one to sit around and do nothing, the kid asked me if we could take up jogging together.

    I am not one to discourage my child, and feel that one of my primary responsibilities is to support my child on whatever endeavor she wishes to pursue. So, of course, I said yes to her request, and we planned on jogging around our local park, two days a week to start with. You know, see how we feel about it.

    The kid loves it.

    It’s been painful for me.

    My knees have been hurting, along with my left foot, and I have been waking up in the morning with a sore right hip. But the worst part, by far, is how clearly running with my kid has shown that I might, in fact, be closer to “out” of shape, rather than “in.” I can only run so long before my lungs start burning, and my muscles feel weak and rubbery. I even noticed that the kid is slightly annoyed at how slow I run, and has started just running way in front of me, and waiting for me to catch up with her.

    I keep telling her that I will get up to her speed, but it’s just going to take me some time. I gotta practice and get my old body back into the swing of running.

    “Sure, dad.” She says to me. “Sure.”

  • ODDS and ENDS: Getting Started, Oh Tottenham, and Bloody Mary Brunch

    (Forgetting her’s the nature of my flight…)

    Boy, do I suck and starting something new. And I also suck at just getting back to good habits. I say this because I have found a way to completely, and in the most air-tight form of rationalization, not go to the gym for a month. Even this morning, I was ready to not go to the gym, and I made sure that I did not go. Do I feel good about this decision? Absolutely not. Will I go to the gym on Monday? Odds are that I will not. Yes, indeed; I have found a way to squander the entire month of September. To a degree, I have impressed myself. You may think that this is easy to do, but it is not. Okay, okay, okay… Tuesday of next week; I’m going to the gym.

    Wow! Tottenham Hotspur sucks this season. Really sucks. They suck in a way I thought was impossible to suck. There was no way they could get worse than last season. No, no, they found a way. And they spent a shit ton of money, and somehow they suck even more! They are at the bottom. Completely at the bottom of the Premiere League table. Sitting at #20, with two points. Incidentally, their two points is equal to as many goals they have scored this season. Just… wow. Now, as a Cubs fan (and the Cubbies did get eliminated from the playoffs recently) I know what it’s like for your team to be at the bottom. And normally I would say that there is only one direction, and that’s up! But in the Premiere League, there is relegation, so we might not have hit bottom yet.

    Saturday, I have brunch plans, which sounds fancy, and a little pretentious… All of that is true. But it also means morning/day drinking in a very socially acceptable way. Happy weekend to all, and to all a good drunken afternoon nap.

  • I’m back from fishin’ (Unedited)

    In reality, I was traveling to Texas to visit my family, especially my father. See, back on Labor Day, while my dad was staying with my brother and his family, my father had an angina episode. Though scary as all hell, it wasn’t a heart attack, and he is fine. He’ll have some follow ups with his doctor and cardiologist, but on the whole, he’s fine. I was staying with him for the week, to make sure that he took it easy and recovered. Besides, I like spending time with my dad. And I got to see my whole Texas family, so considering what had happened, it actually was a pretty good trip.

    Before the trip, it was awful. I got a call from my brother saying that Dad was having chest pains and they were taking him to the hospital. My brothers and sisters-in-law did a great job of keeping me and my family in the loop on what was going on, but being 1,500 miles away, all that it created in me was a feeling of powerlessness. Cheering on from afar, but knowing there was nothing I could do other than get on a plane.

    Funny how there are still instances and situations that I can find myself in that just smack me down to feeling like a helpless child.

    Though I told myself no to go there, not to think those thoughts; I did. I thought of living in a world without my father. To exist orphaned, no parents, lost and adrift. So what if I am middle aged? My folks are supposed to be here forever.

    But I already lost my mother. It will be six years this October. I can feel the gloom building in me as I get closer to that date. It’s not as bad as it was. I’m healing, learning to remember all the things that made her a wonder mom, and all the quirky weird stuff that she did that made her uniquely our mother.

    Just not ready to lose my father.

    And I haven’t, for which I am thankful. Still got some more time to make him laugh.

  • ODDS and ENDS: World Cup, Working Out at Home, and Saturday at 8:30pm

    ODDS and ENDS: World Cup, Working Out at Home, and Saturday at 8:30pm

    (Life ain’t always what it seems, oh, yeah…)

    Father exercising indoors by jumping, sweat on face, son sitting on couch watching TV with remote
    A father works out in the living room while his son watches TV.

    The World Cup has started, and I fell asleep watching Mexico and South Africa. Please don’t take that as a reaction to a very boring game. No, that is just what happens to me now when I sit down on the couch by myself; within fifteen minutes I will fall asleep. Anyway, Like I thought, Mexico won in a very bizarre red card heavy match. I thought that South Africa’s goalie, Ronwen Williams, was actually pretty good, it was just the rest of his team couldn’t keep their cool. Anyway, I also watched South Korea play and beat the Czech Republic. Korea didn’t look great out there, but they did look competitive, and when they play Mexico, I suspect that match will be filled with fireworks from the aggressive play. As for today, I intend on watching some of Canada v Bosnia and Herzegovinian, and I say some as I have errands that I need to run with the kid before the thunderstorms hit today. The big match will be USA v Paraguay. For me to believe in this Team USA, they have to win this match. They need to win their group and get past the first round of the knockout stage. Just saying…

    So, the kid is now on summer vacation, which for me means that I don’t have to get up at 5:30am. How that translated into today was that I over slept to 7am. Not a big deal, but it did throw off going to the gym, as I had to go and move the car for the street sweeper. This is a very long way to go to say that I had to go my calisthenics at home, in the living room, in front of the kid, who found all the exercises I do very funny. Mind you, I have only been doing this stuff for about a month, but my kid was confused and asked, “If you do all this stuff, why haven’t you lost weight?”

    LET’S GO KNICKS!!!