A Bottlecap of Sauce

A playwright said, “When you write an absurd play, you have to have concrete, reasonable theories, at least, in your mind.” Absurd plays are difficult to understand. But they are attractive. I guess that is because the playwrights have their theories.

Taking care of Alzheimer’s patients is similar. The patients may act meaninglessly. But if their caregivers support them sincerely, they can find their meaning. For example, wandering. From the patients’ point of view, they never wander. They have important reasons to go to particular places. On their way, they happen to get lost. So, some people tend to avoid using the word “wander.” A doctor said, “A good caregiver to Alzheimer’s patients needs to be a good detective.” Superficially, the patients’ actions appear meaningless, but good caregivers can deduce the meaning.

My own observation was that if a patient acts without a reason, they may cause trouble. In my mother’s case, she could stay home alone for a short time, provided some clear conditions were met: She was not hungry. She was not thirsty. It was neither cold nor hot. She needed a comfortable chair and a bed and so on.

One day, my wife and I left her at home for a short while.

When we got back home, we were so relieved to find her safe.

But I was surprised by the unnatural scene on the table. A bottle of sauce was opened. And the bottle’s cap was full of the sauce. Automatically, I started to wonder about the meaning of that. Was she thirsty? Did she have some message for us?

I froze up for a while, looking at the bottle and the cap full of sauce. And my wife said to me: “She was playing with them. OK?”

If my mother was playing, there was no meaning. If a person is satisfied, they start to play.

Japanese

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Picture by Shintako

 

What did you do during WWII?

My favorite comedian, Kamioka, said on TV, “When my father got drunk, he always asked people the same question.” The question is, “What did you do during WWII?”

My parents were children at that time. My grandparents didn’t want to talk about the war. So, I didn’t hear information about the war from my family.

Maybe, for people who experienced the war as adults, there might be many things to talk about.

I guess maybe the conversations were like this:

“What did you do during WWII?”

“I was a soldier in the battle of Imphal.”

“How did you survive?”

Kamioka’s father always asked the question when he was drunk. When he got really drunk, he started to ask the question to younger people who were not born during the war.

WWII had a strong impact on most of the people in the world. Luckily, we don’t have any incidents with such strong impact in our generation.

But the pandemic had an impact on all of us.

Maybe the future drunkard could ask this question to people:

“What did you do during the pandemic?”

“I was a restaurant owner.”

“How did you survive?”

I hope a world war and a pandemic will never happen again.

 

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Japanese

Picture by kimidoro

Realistic Movies

　I love to watch dramas on TV. I am surprised by the advanced makeup techniques these days.

In the old days, in scenes where someone gets injured or is sick, they used simple techniques. They were lovely. They used red or blue paint for the makeup. Those were cheap. But I was able to relax while watching those.

But now, if someone gets injured in a drama, they can use makeup for really painful-looking wounds. If someone is sick, they can make them look really sick and pale.

I know they are healthy actors, but I always start to worry about them.

The mysterious thing is that I can’t tell whether the techniques are done by makeup artists or digital artists.

My smartphone shows me short movies. Many beautiful people are dancing or smiling. But I can’t tell whether these people exist in the real world or are created by an AI artist.

Once, my smartphone showed me a kind of movie. In the movie, a cat or dog got rid of a bear. I believed this kind of movie. I imagined that if a bear attacked me, my cats would help me. But TV taught me these are fake movies.

What should I believe? We should be suspicious of the information from screens.

 

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Picture by Andrea Izzotti

Japanese