Day 6

We’ve noticed a new metatrend: people take the weather very personally. If only developing world poverty could ruin picnics. All Bolivian children would be well-fed.

A surprise: someone found The Notebook late at night. She begins, “Greenlake at night is so peaceful and serene. I guess my mom moving was sort of a blessing in disguise. It’s only been a year since but I’ve grown in so many ways since then.” She is driving straight towards her emotions, her situation, her subjectivity. Interesting, as if she thought we didn’t care, she wrote, “Anyways…” before finishing with a nicety, “Whoever reads this I wish for you that life is a little less complicated than it is for me right now. This journal is a really good idea! [heart] Kate”

The Corporation was a bit disappointed that Kate didn’t take us where she almost promised to with her intro. The Society reminded us that it is not every day that one finds The Notebook with a heart of gold. One could be unprepared, like an Oscar-winner for Best Adapted Screenplay but like for real.

One man was prepared, our old friend DKL from the great (nation)state of Canada. He wrote, “Just finished my second run and today is more beautiful than yesterday. Bye for now…” His compatriot, T.S., one of the perkier writers we’ve seen wrote, “Hi, thanks for the notebook! Cool idea! Greenlake is sooooo beautiful. I love Seattle. [heart]” (S)he is the first to use the extra letters, usually vowels, for emphasis. To the best of our knowledge, the quest goes on to find a snappy name for this practice (oh, what a grail). In any case, we’re surprised it took six days.

It being Easter, you’d expect religious sentiment to be running high out there, at least an orange. Surprisingly, the crowd was decidedly secular. One person wished us “Happy Easter” and drew a great Easter Egg, which will be reproduced shortly. Another intoned the common desire to be blessed, “Many prayers. Many blessings.” But in Seattle, our research indicates that the words ‘blessings’ and ‘prayers’ are about as Christian as burning sage and the Maypole.

Perhaps the religiousity was sublimated down into poetry. A child prodigy, judging by the handwriting, gifted the following (sort of nonsense) poem:

“Green lake waters are glistening bright,
In the morning the stars are a sight.”

A less nonsense poem, featuring flowers and an exhortation to love thyself:

“Spring has come
Dafodils Tulips Magnolias
And all…
Bloom like the love
In your heart already
Mere and ever present
And never to leave
Even when the leaves
Begin to fall readying

For winter
Know you are
Loved
OK”

Given the content of this and several other Notebook poems, here is a short birdwalk into Japanese poetry. It is interesting to consider that traditional Japanese haiku are generally about nature and must contain a “season” word/phrase in which the time of year is declared. Corporation friend Wikipedia informs that this word is called the Kigo. There’s even a book called a saijiki, which is essentially a dictionary of ways to say, “It’s spring.”

Now, we had always seen such conventions as strange, bordering on anal. We take all that back. The form (counting syllables aside) is, apparently, quite in tune with human nature and an easy way to codify cliché into tradition. Returning to this here and now, in our little secret saijiki, daffodils blooming are a kigo for spring.

Gigi wrote, “Today is beautiful and I am out for a bike ride with my friend Olivia.” Bikes might quite possibly be a kigo for spring as well, although unicyclists are pretty hardcore and might very well be a kigo for winter.

Right next to her on the page we found this enigmatic inscription, “Hi! 4WRD” The Internauts tell us that this could stand for, simply, “Forward.” The creators of the “Achieve Your Hoop Dreams” 5-on-5 basketball tournament in Carson, California, 4wrd Progress Entertainment, are a good example. A more intriguing possibility exists. The person could be an employee of 4 The World Resource Distributors of Springfield, Missouri (4wrd.org). They are, apparently, one of those invisible companies that drive the global economy (not unlike The Corporation) by moving things around the world. In this case, 4wrd is “meeting the needs for quality resources to equip a growing, global church community.” That is to say, they mostly sell books to missionaries for use in, say, Kenya. While this entry in The Notebook would have to be considered unconventional advertising, perhaps word is spreading faster than we anticipated.

A brief respite can be provided by Carl, “Runners, walkers, skaters, joggers, kids, lovers… and dogs.” He forgot birds, moms, and fishermen, but other than that, it seems a pretty accurate accounting.

We finish up today’s entry with our first same sex couple dual post, courtesy of Sue and Candi (we might be starting to reach for 1sts). Sue began, “Yes, the notebook is a delightful, old-fashioned, timeless idea. I resisted this bench because of the shade, but my girlfriend said, ‘Let’s sit for a minute.’ Now she’ll have to pull me away because I’ll tell her, ‘Just one more minute of writing time, please.’ Better yet. She has something of her own to write so I’ll sign off saying that I love her & today is a great day. [peace sign]”

Candi finished, “Well, hon, your minute’s up—Let’s go! Love you!”