My Osaka....

Osaka brought forth some good and bad memories from the past and in the end added a fleck of that laurel in my head.

2007 - USJ with some friends, of course was so much fun, a big getaway from the recent heartache and final closure with HB. On our way home, the Shinkansen stranded us for 12 hours, we literally slept in the station.

2009 - The height of T's infedelity. He went to USJ with that girl. He lied to me saying he was going to his hometown for Obon Yasumi (the 2nd time in that summer) and used the memory of his grandfather who passed away 7 years ago, just for that. It still shatters me to pieces every time I remember that time. But I'd like to believe that the worst things that happened to us will turn out to be the best things that ever happen.

2010 - Preparing for perhaps the biggest project implementation of my professional career, I went back to Osaka to get to know it's fashion and shopping district, and to train 'my soldiers' for the project. After 3 sessions and a marathon of Okonomiyaki, I'm relieved that I have accomplished that mission.

Three different places in different times brought very different memories that make up who I am at this moment. Osaka will never be the same to me and I probably will never be able to quantify what my Osaka experience has been. But the one thing that Osaka will be to me is the reminder that the wind could blow in a totally different direction, and no amount of preparation will make us better fighters against tradgedy, or more graceful winners of adversity. All we can really do is enjoy the moment, cherish what we have now, because there is no way of knowing when the good things will last.