Bursting the Bubble... Among Other Things

I like bubbles.  Last summer I was thinking about buying a nice bubble blowing set from The Dollar Tree, a store where everything is just $1.  Yes, I was thinking about doing this and I'm 49!  I'm a little eccentric though some people might not notice. ;) This particular bubble set had a huge wand and came with a big bottle of sudsy liquid.  Back in the day when I was a kid, most of the bubble blowing sets same with a tiny wand that was small enough to fit inside the small bottle of bubbly liquid.  The liquid didn't last long, so I would make up for it by taking some of my mother's Joy dish washing liquid and make my own sudsy water, placing it inside the bottle.

I like bubbles because they are harmless and innocent, floating glass orbs reflecting the light, hints of pink, blues, greens.  Bubbles can be burst too.  We have our bubbles, the illusions and fairytales we like to hold unto. Some of us do this into middle and old age, but hey! life is tough, so I can understand.  Sometimes...  It's even tough for the folks who appear to have it all.  They REALLY don't have it all though, believe me. I gather this from my observations.

The other year I read a novel called The Tale of Murasaki about a Japanese court lady who lived over 1000 years ago and who is believed to have written the first novel The Tale of Genji.  In the Tale of M. a character is mentioned named Sei Shonagon.  Like Lady Murasaki Sei Shonagon was also a court lady who became a celebrity, but unlike Lady Murasaki, who was a reluctant idol and would have rather been left alone, Sei Shonagon bathed and luxuriated in being popular.  Her character did not have a large role in the novel, but even though she didn't I was intrigued by the mention of her collection of writings called The Pillow Book.  It was a collection of lists, observations, poetry, gossip, and other fragments.  This style of writing is referred to as zuihitsu. I recently found out that Sei Shonagon was a real person.

I haven't actually read Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book, but I've read a few portions online.  I have a copy of it on order right now.  Even though I haven't read it yet, I felt I could go ahead and create my own Pillow Book online, and it will deal with the now, my now and a lot of other things.  So it begins...  I have never done a blog of this nature.  Usually I have written about others lives and what I put down was fine, but in some ways what I wrote was safe and impersonal.  So it begins... Let's see what happens. :)