270 Taxi

ハードワークを終えてタクシーで帰宅する夜中、ふつうは熱心におしゃべりしたいなどとは思わないものですが、タクシードライバーが話好きで、快活で、かつ話が面白いという好運に恵まれる時は、プロのDJトークを聴くような趣きがあります。先日遭遇したのは、「飛行機嫌い」のドライバーでした。本物の飛行機嫌いにはこれまで出会ったことがなかったので、（自分が飛行機好きであることを伝えた上で）、いったい何がそんなに怖いのか、と夜中に熱心な議論になりました。とりとめのないお喋りの中にこんな面白い話がありました。「一度だけ、まったく緊張せずに安心して乗れたときがありましたよ。珍しいことにパイロットやキャビンアテンダントが大勢客席に乗っていたんです。皆でまとまって移動でもしていたのでしょうか。彼らがフライト中に静かに目を閉じて座っているのを見て、何だ飛行機なんて慌てるものじゃないなと思ったんです。それ以降克服したかのかといえば、また普通の乗客と一緒に乗ってみたらやっぱり緊張するんです」

飛行機に乗るのが日常のプロ達に囲まれると安心できるのなら、このドライバーの特等席はコックピットに違いありません。

269 Animals at Work

仕事場に、好きな動物を一人一頭（一羽でも）いつも傍に置いておけるとしたら、何がいい？（飼える飼えないや、餌やケアの心配は全くないと仮定して）

と同僚と冗談を飛ばしていました。これは仕事場にというのがポイントです。仕事場にいるのと、家にいるのと、あるいは一緒に旅に出るなら、というのでは選ぶ動物はおそらく違ってくるでしょう。仕事を共にするなら、なんとなく仕事における自分の分身という気持ちになりませんか？

という気持ちで選んだわけではありませんが、まず思いついたのは「アルパカ」。実用的に、冬が近づく中で手触りのよさそうな動物がいいというのもありますが、あのユーモラスな容姿が、仕事場でもユーモアと笑いをふりまく存在でありたい、という願いと重なっているのかもしれません。

オフィスに居たら愉快そうな動物をひとしきり考え出した後、最後に大笑いしたのは「ハゲタカ」。金融業界には今でもこのイメージがあるでしょうか？

268 Happy Birthday, Mother

I seldom write about my family here as I value my anonymity, but being my mother's birthday (yesterday), this is a special issue. 

My mother is not French---but I dare to say she looks like a cross between Anna Karina and Juliette Greco. She is a Parisienne who has never been to Paris. She is one of the coolest and the most humorous women I've ever met. She has taught me morals and rebellion. She never be fussy about home discipline but she's eager to discuss from world's affairs to coffee tasting, and whatever hilarious and joyous which could shed light on our life.

On someone's birthday you notice how much they mean to you.

267 Phytoncide

Here's the latest photo of my little plants. Sometimes I really just marvel at the fact they grow only with water and sunlight. They do grow admirably and soundly even though I only care for them 30 minutes in a week. I don't know if these ivy or dracaena plants have its own so-called Phytoncide, but there's surely something "feelin' good" that I tend to think of as a tiny forest bathing. 

266 Non-Fiction for Fashion

With all due respect, I'm kind of questioning the quality of "Fashion Stories" these days. What I see on fashion magazines are mixture of art-photo, edgy styling and non-sense concept. The women and men wearing nice clothes with odd make-ups and hairstyle look so vague that they fail to express any kind of beauty and elegance. To me fashion stories are already a way of modern art. They might be dreamy, but people don't need clothes when dreaming and don't dream when choosing outfit. 

But clothes can sparkle in real world in right place in right moment. If you look at a few pages of "The Sartorialist Closer", Mr. Scott Schuman's second book, you'd meet many women and men who proudly of effortlessly state their own style. Here these clothes perfectly fit their own personality. From head to toe their outfits are part of who they are. There is no art, no conceptual stories but their own stories and fun for wearing something they like. 

Of course they are not just the real normal people. They are one of the most remarkably stylish people as well as real and normal. So this sparkling effect that people and their clothes create might not be seen in your street. But that doesn't matter because the wonderful thing is that this is really happening. This is non-fiction and you'd likely to imagine their real stories behind the moment. When their appearances and atmosphere of outfits match their stories and personalities, they make their one and only style.

265 Just Experience It

Last weekend I was on stage again with my dance team. I've already written here "how I felt on stage" a year and a half before, then I'd like to talk about "how I did off stage". Actually I've been frequently asked why I could keep dancing while already engaged in a pressing work. I'm only sure that the answer is NOT about time management. Here's my ideas and if it makes sense, it'll be keys for anyone who wish to develop dancing skills as I do.

1. Keep listening
Listen to the music anytime you can, again and again and again. Dance is about music. Not just physical movement. I've heard so many great dancers saying that the dancer's body is a musical instrument. So keep listening, memorize the sound, beat, groove, tone, tense, and learn to be part of it.

2. Move Slowly
On the other hand, practice doesn't just mean moving to the music. If you don't get the idea of the choreography and can't control your body in the first place, you never dance with music. So start moving slowly. Move slowly as much as you can (it's harder than expected) and think about every movement, every positioning of your body, and every flow of the choreography.

3. Keep Imagining
When you learn and understand the music and the movement, then imagine yourself dancing with listening to the music. Not yourself from audience's view, but your own eye's vision when you dance. Can we see ourselves when dancing? Actually no. But the view that our eyes catch is the view you'll see on stage. So get used to it, with the music.

Dancing needs not only body. Your ears, eyes and especially your mind matter the most.