Living on this island (Okinawa), for as long as you are not aged 65 yet, you are still considered by the locals as young. The Japanese people received a monthly pension reaching age 65. Once they start receiving the pension, everybody gives greetings, "Omedetou, Omedetou" (congratulations). This greeting tells you that you are certified to join the siniya (senior) people.
I'm the red cap in the photo above. Even as I've reached my siniya level, I'm still the youngest member of this group. I've come to realize that majority of the activity groups that I've joined have members over and above my age group. I don't know how and why I end up in this situation. Just to think that the rest of the friends in the photo do not own a smartphone or know how to operate a PC, let alone understand the word WIFI makes me shiver with inadequacy. As 2022 is approaching, I made up my mind to shift the paradigm. So, I started sending words immediately to friends around that I want to join a yoga class, jazz dance, or aerobic workout group that only involved way below senior level.
Yes, changes have to come from me. A bottle of mineral water comes to my mind. The story goes that a bottle of mineral water costs a dollar in the neighborhood mall but the same mineral water costs $5 at airports cafe. This means changing our position or raising our level of paradigm to upgrade our lives. Never remain in the same place when you need to upgrade.
Well, I made up my mind not to rot with garaki phone carriers for 2022. The Japanese called the flip-flap phone garaki which is taken from Garapalagos Island. To them, Garapalagos Island is where some dinosaurs still remain walking. Garaki phone is ancient for ancient people, this is what they mean.
The photo is at the Pacific Hotel, Okinawa on the occasion of our Haiku Year-End Party (4 Dec. 2021).
By the way, Year-End Party is Bou-nen-kai, literally, it means forget-the-year.
Haiku
Bou-nen-kai line up
nothing left to remember
except this photo.
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