Part 1: You need a nose job, Loser.

Like everyone, I have been told a lot of things in my life. "You need a nose job" was certainly one that stuck with me, but I gave no weight. My nose is what girls with "a deviated septum" ask for. Period. On the other hand, I have also been given sage advice. Before getting married, I received lovely tidbits like, "You will mature at different rates. Be patient while the other catches up." Or, "Give without expectation." As a married woman, these words have carried me from time to time. And, I pass them on to those who are stepping across their wedded threshold.

I can site examples of such times; like our first 3 years of marriage. It was a prolonged adjustment but also a time of exceptional growth. We went through several jobs, earned a higher degree, moved 3 times and finally found some peace. For almost 3 years we have enjoyed a pretty copacetic existence in our Kyoto home. The turmoil led us here and we feel triumphant every time we think back to those first few years. It has made up realize how ready we are for new things in our life and drives home the fact that you can't always be a winner. I came to firmly believe it is more about how you handle the times when you think you are the "loser" than being a winner (try telling Charlie Sheen that!).

And this word, "Loser". Rather a funny term. A mainstream term, perhaps engrained in my generation's psyche by the 90's Beck song of the same title. "Soy, una perdidor. I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me." While Beck never meant for this song to crown him king of the twenty-something "slackers" movement of that time, it did; and funnily it was the antithesis of what he even stood for. He worked hard for little pay for years, was even homeless for a while. So it's ironic that a song called "Loser" made him anything but in the eyes of the world. When he sang those lyrics, he just meant he couldn't rap very well. Go figure his self proclaimed lack of talent would catapult his art into the mainstream, making him a beloved musician. Ironic, no?

Boy did I digress! Ah well, I like where this is going and will leave it here to be picked up again. I'll certainly go to bed with that song stuck in my head. Good luck not singing it all day/night, too. But just remember, you are as much a loser as I need a nose job.