Matsu’s World: The One Less Traveled

It is interesting how much one learns of themselves by interacting with others. Yes, by interacting with people around you it helps you see yourself better and therefore you end up knowing yourself.

In the past several years I’ve worked with a person who has brought into focus the amount of influence my upbringing has affected my personality and character. I grew up in Japan. In fact, I spent most of the first 18 years of my life there, with the exception of three times when we lived in America for a year each time while on furlough. Well, the oriental influence on me is inescapable. And, this co-worker has been like a highly reflective mirror and given me a better view of myself and how I’ve been shaped by the oriental influences of my childhood.

One of the characteristics of oriental society is subtle communication. So, when I saw this photo posted on the Kyoto Daily Photo blog, I laughed out loud. It typifies how subtle the Japanese people can be, and by extension, how I am at times. The theme for the July 1st daily photo blog photos is “no.” The assignment is to take photos of signs that say “no” or “not permitted.” So, the photo of a walking path of large stepping stones with a single smaller stone sitting atop the first step means, “do not enter,” in the social language of Japan. That is a wonderful example of how small and subtle communication is in Japan — and while it’s subtle, I find it also to be crystal clear and almost obvious. But, that’s just because I think in those same terms.

So, thank you Bert for giving me a better view of myself and through that awareness, making this photograph that much more meaningful and amusing.

Disclaimer: The photo used in this post has nothing to do with the Kyoto Daily Photo blog. I wanted to use the stone path photo, but I didn’t have permission. Therefore, I found a good friend’s photo on the Wilmore Daily Photo blog site and used it without his permission. Hey, what is a friend going to do, sue me? Oh, oh! He seems to be tight with the local police. Maybe I should reconsider my attititude!

Today is Easter Sunday. To celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I attended my church’s sunrise service. The photo shows the rising sun which I captured with my cell phone after the service.

Last night several tornadoes hit in and around Jackson, Tennessee, USA. One of those tornadoes ripped right through the campus of Union University. It is estimated that 40% of the residential housing (dorms) are beyond salvage and can’t be used any longer.

About six years ago I stayed in one of those dorms (pictured above) while attending a CCCU technology conference hosted by Union University. The amount of damage to buildings, cars, and personal property is staggering.

As an I.T. professional I immediately began to think of what their I.T. staff would be doing and wondered what they might need in order to get things online. Their e-mail and web servers were not online (or at least not responding to my attempts at reaching them).

I was able to reach the local newspaper’s website which provided some information, including the emergency (temporary) website set up on a public blog server. That site then linked me to the flickr photo log showing the extent of the damage.

By the end of the day my fellow I.T. Director at Union University sent an e-mail to the professional list I’m on and confirmed that their I.T. infrastructure was mostly intact. Their greatest I.T. problem was getting power in a city where the utilities were ripped out and may be out of service for many days. They were able to get a generator to help get critical servers online and planned to get a much bigger server to help get the campus some power for additional services.

At least now their main website (www.uu.edu) and e-mail servers are back online.

For now, they do not need any I.T. people or additional network or computer equipment. So, I and my colleagues across America remain in “standby mode” and stay where we are — feeling somewhat helpless. Well, not totally helpless because we can pray for them and all of the students, faculty, and staff at Union University.

To our colleagues at Union University, please know that you are in our prayers today and we will continue to pray for you in the days ahead.

Not very long ago I attended a good friend’s wedding. Before that day, he asked me to take some photos of the ceremony. Since I have retired from doing wedding photography, I agreed to take my camera to the wedding and take some snapshots while I was there. So, I did.

I am certain I am breaking all sorts of professional wedding photographer codes of conduct by posting anything online before giving the photos to the bride and groom, but here I go…

Congratulations, Rich and Carie (or should I say, Carie and Rich?). The wedding ceremony was beautiful. I hope you find my snapshots good enough to keep, for a while.

Carie, I will get the entire set of photos to Rich very soon!

One week ago from right now I was tired and my body was sore.

Just as I had done in past years, I once again volunteered to be an Ichthus photographer at this year’s Ichthus music festival in Wilmore, Kentucky (USA).

This year I wasn’t able to take photos of the entire three-day event because I was out of town the first two days attending a technology conference in Pennsylvania. But, I did spend the third day out at the festival grounds taking photos for about 10 hours.

It was more difficult to get into it this year since I missed the beginning. But, by the end I was back in the groove and ended up taking over 4,000 photographs.

You can always count on Toby Mac jumping off stage and leaping into the audience. He does that every year.

After Toby Mac played then Switchfoot hit the stage. They did a great job.

And that is just a sample of seven pictures of the 4,200 pics I got. But, you get the idea.