Another run... another side.

Good evening, afternoon or indeed whatever time of day it happens to be when the person who is reading this is reading this. Hope all is well in your merry little lives.

Just been for another late evening run. It's just as calm and still out there as it was a few nights ago with Yudai, but obviously it was a different experience this time without someone by my side.

I may have touched on the following sentiments in my last entry, but I'm just feeling in the right mind to expand on them right now.

There's a side of this village which is just incredibly beautiful to me. At night, it's a different kind of beauty and something I personally find more deeply inspiring, awesome as it looks in the daytime as well. Just past the bus stop and the sweetshop, over the bridge and following the river down the little road of fairy tale cottages, heading towards the grounds of the Chatsworth estate.

Tonight, I paused by the brick wall of a lane in between a tall hedge and a big, grassy field overlooking the village emanating it's street-lit glow beneath the deepening black of night. As this little lane does, it brought some nice memories into focus, which in conjunction with the awesomeness of my surroundings complemented my musical reflections.

At some point on my way back home, I thought about parallel universes - universes which exist for every possible outcome of a decision (at least in fiction, but I like to imagine at least that there might be some truth to the idea), and I allowed myself to envisage alternate me's, as if to see how they were getting along.

Then, finally, I stopped again by the wooden gate of another big field closer to my actual house. I imagine meeting somebody for the first time... imagined a first kiss with somebody very special, somebody with real and uncertain qualities as far as I can tell. Somebody who has lost touch with me lately, and these days wondering where she may have got to is almost painful even if it is for the best. Still, I am sure this will work itself out at some point.

But that moment, that kiss... almost felt real, for some reason. Being out there at that time, feeling the gentle touch of the cool breeze, I could practically feel her kiss. It was kinda spooky.

Yeah, it feels weird to open about this kind of stuff on here, but so what. Chances are most people I know aren't reading it, and I'm a pretty open kinda guy! I just hope that whoever's reading this can take something from it.

'Til the next time.

Jim-x

The Value of Friendship

Jim-eh feels happy!

And he is about to tell you for why. Even though he doesn't understand why people sometimes say that - "for" before why. What purpose does it serve?? Answers not on a postcard, but some kind of media format which is relevant in today's society. Actually, a postcard would be nice - quite romantic isn't it? Yeah, send me a postcard then. If you like.

So anyway, yes. You want to know why I'm happy, don't you?

What do you mean, you don't care?

So, what are you doing here then? You clicked onto this page - somehow - by total accident, and just happened to take a glimpse of this paragraph telling you off for not caring about my present frame of my mind?

In any case.

I've just been for a run, around my sleepy, quiet hometown. A very serene, peaceful place. The weather was very mild, and obviously being after dark it just seems even more quiet that usual. But I didn't just go on my own - as I have often taken a stroll around this calm, tranquil place, many a time, through the changing of many a season and as all the stages of my life have gone by.

I went with my good friend, Yudai.

And this evening, not only did I rediscover the beauty that rests right outside my door which I cannot even begin to describe here, and the awesomeness that is the area surrounding the Chatsworth estate to which we were lead on our path, but the importance and incredible value of true friendship.

There is absolutely nothing in this life like having a true friend by your side. It's one thing to be fortunate enough to live in this delightful world, but having people to share it with just takes it all to a whole other level of wonder.

I remember the moment this thought occurred to me. As we ran, we came across a little pathway leading towards the Chatsworth estate, over the bridge beyond the sweetshop, which I have not been down for quite sometime and has certain special memories attached to it. I don't quite know what set this feeling off, but I was suddenly very grateful for his friendship and I, like many others, am going to miss him when he goes back to Japan at the end of August.

I'm going to enjoy many more such evenings - most likely alone from now on, but in a way that's ok.

Tonight was special. I just wanted to capture this feeling now - recording it here, forever.