Instructions On Using Your Brain

Like most guys, I’m not fond of reading instruction manuals. Generally, I just jump into something and refer back to the instructions if:

a. I start smelling smoke;
b. I didn’t buy it from Costco;
c. I find an entire package of screws at the bottom of the box that I didn’t realize I needed.

Yet as I get older, I find more and more need to do so, because if I forsake the instructions, for example, I may never learn how to fend off my son’s devastating Super Smash Bros. Brawl attacks when we battle each other.

Brain Rules, which I learned about today from reading one of my favorite blogs, Presentation Zen, is an instruction manual for your brain. Technically, not just your brain, but brains in general. Brain Rules summarizes 12 important facts about how people’s brains work.

Now, I work in the corporate world. I’m not a brain surgeon or anything like that, so why would I find this important. Simply put, success in my job relies on my ability to communicate effectively with others. I’m in the business of selling process improvements to people who don’t easily understand the benefits of process improvement. Believe me, I need all the help I can get in relating to people! If I understand how people process information and I tailor my communication medium to that process, I’m going to be much more effective at helping people understand what I’m talking about.

In addition, if I understand how my own brain works, I can make sure my lifestyle supports healthy brain functionality, increasing my attention span (which has been eroded away by years of watching TV) and overall mental processing abilities.

I may not be that smart, but I’m smart enough to know if someone writes an instruction manual for my brain, I’d better read it.

BTW, Garr Reynolds, the author of Presentation Zen, put together a short and entertaining slideshow highlighting a few of the points in the book if you don’t have the time to read the whole book now.

Enter The Dragon

Enter The Dragon
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Why are Chinatowns so authentic and Japantowns so fake? Half the stores in Japantown are stocked with Chinese imitations of Japanese goods. It’s certainly not a tourist destination, and I have no idea how most of its shops make enough money to stay in business.

I only photograph Japantown during the Cherry Blossom Festival. There isn’t much to it the rest of the year. Chinatown, on the other hand, is raw and alive any day of the week. The Chinese living in San Francisco Chinatown now are probably several generations older than the ones who built it, but it retains its authenticity. I don’t understand how it changes so little, but it’s comforting.

Fair Warning

(from “The Story of Stuff”)

On Earth Day, I think it’s important to draw attention to the plight of our planet if we don’t curb our reckless consumption. Although Americans contribute heavily to the problem, it won’t work for us to point fingers at one another (as Americans do to China). We must all accept responsibility for endangering our planet and ourselves, lay down our differences of opinion and politics, and DO SOMETHING NOW.

The above quote from Victor Lebow was not an attempt to sell the idea that we must make consumption our new god; he was simply observing a cultural change in America that had already taken place. But it is worth noting that when we create false gods for ourselves, we get ourselves into serious trouble. God’s people did it many times in the days of Noah and Moses and many people died as a result of their sins. Our sin of overconsumption now threatens to cost millions, perhaps billions of people their lives in the not so distant future.

Check out the Story of Stuff - it’s 20 minutes that will entertain, educate, and perhaps transform you.

Kimono Models

Kimono Models
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

I shot another day of the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was too windy and cold to shoot outside - quite the contrast from last Saturday when it felt like mid-Summer. So I stayed inside and took some shots of a Kimono fashion show and a traditional dance. I shot another tea ceremony too, but I haven’t figured out how to use what I have yet.

San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival - Day One

Japanese Tea Ceremony (Usucha)
Originally uploaded by Ameotoko13

My first day at the San Francisco Cherry Blossom festival in no particular order:

- Found a Hello Kitty photo and haiku (yes haiku) book at Kinokuniya that Ayumi was enthralled with. Will pick it up next week for her birthday party in June.

- Shot two tea ceremonies from two different angles. I learned a whole lot about tea ceremonies in the process.

- Had the best shave ice (strawberry / pineapple with condensed milk) since July last year in Honolulu.

- Was invited to visit Osaka by the Osaka Tourist Bureau. We might take them up on that offer.

- Experienced something new and delicious: crispy spicy fried nori (seaweed).

- Caught some koto and shamisen playing (yay) but completely missed taiko and martial arts demonstrations (boo).