official diplomat super good engineering.

No, I'm not giving up on the weblog. I've just been a little distracted lately...

You may have heard the rumors. It's true, I'm off to Japan for a week. I just got the official word and I'm leaving Monday. I think this is going to be a fantastic trip. I'm being flown over for a week, but I'm only working for 2 days, so I'll get to explore a bit. I am really looking forward to it, but I do tend to stress out before traveling, and this is no exception. Last night I had a minor freak-out about everything that needs to be done before I can leave. And with Joe's wedding Sunday, I'm leaving for the city tonight! Still have to pay the bills, pick up travelers' cheques, call the landlord, pick up prescription med, finish packing, and not have an emotional breakdown or get sick. A tall order.

Still, how could I turn down a free trip to Japan? Yesterday I sat quietly worrying at my desk and as my gaze wandered past my monitor to a small paperweight I've had sitting there for years. It's an object that has followed me everywhere, always an afterthought as I move to a new desk. It first found me in fifth grade. The Paperweight first belonged to a friend of my mother's. She was The Librarian (and a fantastic Librarian at that) and her daughter and I were good friends. Our families traveled together during childhood, and Kendra and I would stay up late at night in sundry hotel rooms yelling fermez la bouche at the top of our lungs to the tune of the ascending four notes of the Addams Family theme song while we greasily discovered the virtues of the deconstituted/reconstituted fizzy potato wonder that was (and is) Munchos. I was not aware of The Paperweight during this era.

At some point, the Librarian met The Fifth Grade Teacher. The Fifth Grade Teacher was a sensitive soul, with too much makeup, not enough ironing, and a keen tendency to bring out the sense of wonder that the students, in the thick of their burgeoning adolescence, were so keen to quash. ...the students, of which I was, I suppose, The Student, for the purpose of this story. So, The Student (that's me) would listen to The Fifth Grade Teacher's sensitive tales of woe, would visit the home of The Fifth Grade Teacher, would help select records to play during journal writing period, and would help The Fifth Grade Teacher clean her desk. Which is where The Student first encountered The Paperweight.

The Paperweight is three-halves by one by three-halves inches large. It was probably constructed as follows: Pour opaque black resin into mold, to depth of one-quarter inch. Allow to cure. Place inch high gold replica of Shinto temple on top of black resin. Cover (and fill mold) with clear resin. Allow to cure. Remove rectangular block from mold. Carefully strike clear resin with mallet, creating web of partially fractured cracks distributed evenly on clear surface. Details of temple should be difficult to discern through cracked resin.

The Paperweight mesmerized The Student. While tears leaked from The Fifth Grade Teacher's eyes, because the other students would not listen during class, would not open their hearts in their journals, would not invert their fractions before replacing the division sign with the multiplication sign, The Student stared through the cracks at the shrine, wondering about The Paperweight, what it was, where it came from, what it meant.

At the end of fifth grade, The Fifth Grade Teacher took The Student aside, and presented The Student with The Paperweight. "This was a gift, a gift from The Librarian to The Fifth Grade Teacher... and now it is a gift again, from The Fifth Grade Teacher to The Student."

That was the first I knew that The Librarian was involved. I have worked some excruciatingly long days over the past year, and I've spent a good many hours staring at The Paperweight, searching for inspiration. When I look at The Paperweight, I think of the faith that my teacher had in me, and the wonderful times I had traveling the country with my mother's friend and her family, and how hard I have worked on this product. And I'm proud, and I'm nervous, but I'm getting a little rush from knowing that The Paperweight gets another incidental significance in my life this week.

I should have tons of pictures when I get back. In the meantime, you can see my first few digital camera experiments. I'll check in on this blog if I can, from Japan.