Uncanny Parallels

First written on 21 November 2006.  21 16.

(Above: father and sons crushed fingers. Mine (crushed today); his (crushed yesterday).)

Two uncanny coincidences occurred in the past two days.

It began when I crushed my sons middle and ring finger inside a closing door.  I wanted to surprise him, and when he entered the house I hid in the bathroom. I awaited my chance. 

Hearing him walk towards the room, I roughly slammed the door. 

Unfortunately he had three fingers on or near one of the hinges. 

He screamed the house down. 

Ice and water stemmed the screams but the pain continued. 

The pain remains.

The cause of the disaster met a parallel fate this afternoon.

Rushing to cross a road with the lights on red, I tripped over and fell. 

 Luckily, an oncoming bus just missed missed me, but as I avoided it 

I crushed the self-same fingers between my knee and the tarmac. 

My fingers were the filling; they were crushed without mercy: the self-same fingers on the self-same hand that my son had crushed the night before. Yesterday my son; today, me. 

It pained to write on the chalkboard at work.  Right now, it pains to type.  

I should rest, but its best to get this down before the thoughts disappear.

You may question the worth of this coincidence.  

At least, the accident made my son laugh.  He now understands schadenfreude, too.  

But was it more significant than that?  

Was it a form of cosmic justice?  A little warning from the Power That Be. 

If it was the Cosmic Joker then you made me laugh (and cry).  

I heed your call.

The strangeness continued. 

 

The second uncanny parallel came through the title of a text used in class: Richard Takes A Risk  

It was about "Rick" taking a risk.  He asked his boss for a raise but he didn't get it.  

I wasn't asking for a raise, but I did riskily cross a road to save time.  

And I risked my sons fingers in pursuit of laughter. I failed; 

I crushed his and my own fingers.

No proof of anything supernatural or karmic, of course.  Enough to raise the eyebrows of family and students though.....

A beginning (April 2006)

Well, I have been rushed off my feet this past couple of weeks, and it is no wonder - the beginning of university and college classes are always hectic - particularly for we English teachers. 

The level and motivation of students vary every year and always it is difficult to find a happy medium. Tomorrow is class two of a Media English course. We are using a variety of media  to stimulate a more active interest in the making of and the brains behind the Mmedia. 

Last week was a conversation based lesson where students had to use newspapers and answer "What, Where, How..." questions. They considered whether they were media slaves or media literate and enslaved. I imagined most already are. It is 2006 and Japanese students are so. We are lucky to have the opportunity to instruct them. 

 OK, that's enough from me. If you are in my class, then please drop me a line. I'd be happy to receive messages, though I hope trolls keep away. In the blogosphere, there are many evils lurking. Yet the advantages of publishing material in a foreign language on the web far outweigh the disadvantages.

The picture above is of my son trying to kiss a Cambodian girl who was playing in the Play Room at a park in Takadanobabylon. That's all yer news for tonight! Marking to do...it's too late!!! Aaargh!