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Pandora's wine

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Kawasaki, 2020.04.25

When this charming millennium was still young there was in Canada a show on TV called "Corner Gas". It's where the world got the word "staycation" for a vacation taken while at home. In the episode "Pandora's wine" a resident of the show's small town in Saskatchewan brings a gift of wine to dinner with a couple that had previously relied on a "wine with a bull on the label". The new wine bumps them out of their habit as it's substantially better. However, the new wine is also more expensive, which causes the couple to grouse for the rest of the episode (and attempt retaliation).

I've now had a few cases of this being bumped from my "bracket" due to living on my own here in Tokyo during the Corona Times. First, all of the natto was sold out in the grocery store except for the stuff that costs an extra ¥20 or so per container. So now I'm hooked on that, because it's significantly better than the regular stuff I've been eating.

The greatest cases of all came just now when I lit into the food sent by Mari's parents. There were garden fresh white onions (I can't even find white onions in any of the markets here) and tinned Saba (Mackerel). I slashed into one of the onions and mixed that with a tin of Mackerel and some mayo. I was immediately struck by its obvious superiority to what I've been eating from the stores. And I have quite a few tins from the store and some dispirited yellow onions. Dang!

Bonus: I'm expecting another bump from my usual, this time in the case of the brown rice I've been eating. The next bag I'll be eating was again all they had left when I bought it, and it was substantially more expensive than the normal.

Don't worry store brand lemon tea, we'll always have each other.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges