How's your climate change life going? You may have heard Wednesday was the hottest day in Japan's history, or since records started being kept, anyway. It was 35 Celsius here or 95 Fahrenheit. Did I stay home under the air conditioner like a sensible human being? No, I walked to work for over an hour under that clear, blinding sky and felt oddly at home. Sure, back in my hometown of San Diego, it was not unusual to see the temperature get up to 111 Fahrenheit but the humidity is much stronger in Japan which can feel stifling. Maybe the humidity melted on Wednesday because I found it a lot more comfortable than usual.
I was due at an elementary school. English events are being held at various schools in town and I've been going to different schools every day. No students ended up coming to that event (possibly due to it being the hottest day in recorded history). At around 11am, I left to go to my shift at a junior high school in the afternoon. I stopped by the river and ate some potato wraps I'd made in the morning and listened to Elvis Presley on my iPod and felt really good. Maybe I was delirious.
I say potato wrap but I've been thinking of them of potato burritos. I make mashed potatoes with salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, and habanero powder and wrap them in my homemade wheat flour tortillas. They're pretty good if I do say so myself. Yesterday I added some lime to them and they were even better. I don't use milk for the mashed potatoes, just a little water and canola oil.
Rockabilly seems to suit walking in this weather particularly well. I've been listening to Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis a lot.
X Sonnet 1954
The frozen boiling point was marbled meat.
She tried to step beyond the rocket pad.
The eager smoke was curling round her feet.
The party coloured warnings drove her mad.
Descending paper pierced the humid clouds.
A thousand cuts of colour stormed the launch.
She climbed aloft on gleaming silver shrouds.
She doffed her top, the leaking fuel to staunch.
A press of roaches clogged the vessel's way.
But acid tides conduct a worthy ship.
And so the captain's laser held its sway.
The hopeless quest advanced a healthy clip.
At dusk she found the stash of hearty rum.
A mission fades when other sport would come.