Ken JI \m/

"Kenji" : Fort Minor

My father came from Japan in 1905
He was 15 when he immigrated from Japan
He worked until he was able to buy - to actually build a store

Let me tell you the story in the form of a dream,
I don't know why I have to tell it but I know what it means,
Close your eyes, just picture the scene,
As I paint it for you, it was World War II,
When this man named Kenji woke up,
Ken was not a soldier,
He was just a man with a family who owned a store in LA,
That day, he crawled out of bed like he always did,
Bacon and eggs with wife and kids,
He lived on the second floor of a little store he ran,
He moved to LA from Japan,
They called him 'Immigrant,'
In Japanese, he'd say he was called "Issei,"
That meant 'First Generation In The United States,'
When everyone was afraid of the Germans, afraid of the Japs,
But most of all afraid of a homeland attack,
And that morning when Ken went out on the doormat,
His world went black 'cause,
Right there; front page news,
Three weeks before 1942,
"Pearl Harbour's Been Bombed And The Japs Are Comin',"
Pictures of soldiers dyin' and runnin',
Ken knew what it would lead to,
Just like he guessed, the President said,
"The evil Japanese in our home country will be locked away,"
They gave Ken, a couple of days,
To get his whole life packed in two bags,
Just two bags, couldn't even pack his clothes,
Some folks didn't even have a suitcase, to pack anything in,
So two trash bags is all they gave them,
When the kids asked mom "Where are we goin'?"
Nobody even knew what to say to them,
Ken didn't wanna lie, he said "The US is lookin' for spies,
So we have to live in a place called Manzanar,
Where a lot of Japanese people are,"
Stop it don't look at the gunmen,
You don't wanna get the soldiers wonderin',
If you gonna run or not,
'Cause if you run then you might get shot,
Other than that try not to think about it,
Try not to worry 'bout it; bein' so crowded,
Someday we'll get out, someday, someday.

As soon as war broke out
The F.B.I. came and they just come to the house and
"You have to come"
"All the Japanese have to go"
They took Mr. Ni
People didn't understand
Why did they have to take him?
Because he's an innocent laborer

So now they're in a town with soldiers surroundin' them,
Every day, every night look down at them,
From watch towers up on the wall,
Ken couldn't really hate them at all;
They were just doin' their job and,
He wasn't gonna make any problems,
He had a little garden with vegetables and fruits that,
He gave to the troops in a basket his wife made,
But in the back of his mind, he wanted his families life saved,
Prisoners of war in their own damn country,
What for?
Time passed in the prison town,
He wanted them to live it down when they were free,
The only way out was joinin' the army,
And supposedly, some men went out for the army, signed on,
And ended up flyin' to Japan with a bomb,
That 15 kilotonne blast, put an end to the war pretty fast,
Two cities were blown to bits; the end of the war came quick,
Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life, with his kids and his wife,
But, when they got back to their home,
What they saw made them feel so alone,
These people had trashed every room,
Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors,
Written on the walls and the floor,
"Japs not welcome anymore."
And Kenji dropped both of his bags at his sides and just stood outside,
He, looked at his wife without words to say,
She looked back at him wiping tears away,
And, said "Someday we'll be okay, someday,"
Now the names have been changed, but the story's true,
My family was locked up back in '42,
My family was there it was dark and damp,
And they called it an internment camp

When we first got back from camp... uhh
It was... pretty... pretty bad

I, I remember my husband said
"Are we gonna stay 'til last?"
Then my husband died before they close the camp.

I Don't particularly care about rap that much. Mainly cuz i don't see too much point in listening to someone blurting out a string of rhyming abusives to a dhin chak beat in the background. then again mike shinoda and co. (excuse my ignorance, but as far as i know, its different than LP) change all that with fort minor. his rhymes really pwn :D

bottom line: even the rock(you rule \m/) and pop (eww to you btw :P) purists should give it a try.

ps. kenji kinda reminds me of the post partition struggle that India had to go through. (err.. yea i wasn't there, but we all have seen the movies and read the books now.. haven't we :) ). being driven out of what you always presumed to be yours. being driven out by whom you always presumed to be yours. and by the looks of it, the country seems to be heading for a invisible partition again. only this time, it seems to be on the basis of caste as well as religion. its kinda hard to figure what exactly are the atrocities the upper caste is infliction on the so called minorities. :\ and if economic equality is what we are aiming for, shouldn't the basis of segregation be economy?
maybe its a tit for tat funda. you oppressed them in the past.. now you pay :|

and then they say India suffers from a lack of nationalism amongst the youth and an increasing tendency to shift base abroad.

who can blame them?

Konfuzion :\

ahh...so, nothin seems to be goin your way? everywhere u step things seem to fall apart, eh? Oh, but the little voice inside your head tells u to move on. things will surely get better. keep working.

and so u do it. keep working. sometimes things do get better. but sometimes... well murphy's law is there for a reason. ergo, things keep falling apart. u keep pushing.. they still keep on cracking to bits.. and there you have it. the epitome of a vicious circle becomes you and your actions. and fact remains: there ARE some days when everything just sucks. its just a plain and simple suck fest.

now, is there some way to discern which one is which? when will good ol' murphy own you and when will you get to laugh at his theories? mayb. at least i haven't been blessed with this special power. :( so, i just go through the day, hoping it'll get better. if it doesn't i sulk at the end of the day and starting yesterday; blog it out :D.

So at the end of the day when nothing was done and probably all your efforts were in vain you begin thinking. about? everything in general and nothin in particular. mind goes back to the good old days. when something used to get done at at least some part of the day. when fun was a verb and not an abstract noun u talk about these days. and confusion sets in.

everyday waking up it feels like heaven to realize that I've been blessed with what others just hope for and see in romantic movies. to have someone who stands by you in your darkest mood and hour. someone who cares for you with all her life and soul.

hmm.. and the other side of the coin? in reality, there is no other side. theres just one side and the previous para describes it in an unjust but almost complete manner. but then even fairy tales and movies have a twist in them. the plot has to thicken, my dear watson.

so it does. in the form of distance, in the case of yours truly. unreachable distance. distance with no solutions. live with it or leave. ohh!! Grey clouds in the bright and sunny sky. so complexities arise. so you think think and think. and what do we see. a solution is it? :O

alas, "the solution" can happen only some years later. so its back to ground zero for now. then again, we can relieve the pain by thinking of the solution in all its glory. the solution and the future. when the sun shall shine again in a clear blue sky. :)

so u think, you imagine and plan. the future. wait. weren't you thinking before the mighty solution had come? and you're thinking now. the difference? thinking and discussing makes you feel good. makes the pain go away.

does it?

before you know it, all you do is think. its like being on painkillers. you become an addict. thinking makes you feel good. you see yourself in others who follow the solution. that makes you smile.

err.. but wasn't the feeling of being in love supposed to make you smile? the feeling of enjoying everyday and sharing everyday with your mate? weren't you supposed to go one step further with realizing and admitting what you felt? one step further than being the best of friends who had amazing times together? and that was with the distance not without it.

as i see it addictions end with saying no and taking the pain head on. the solution is there and its good to know its there. but it shall be seen when it comes to us. for now i say no to thinking about it. i say no to the speculation. i accept the pain and i accept the love and understanding that comes with it. they say holding on to just one good feeling can make you survive hell itself. we have one bad feeling and heaven to glide us through it.

in the end; its just about saying no.

0rganis3d Ka0s

th3 beginning and end 0f all Quests. th3 reason of all life, !ncidentally th3 reason behind the end t0o. puzzl!ng yet so very beautiful.
Chaos.
Cha0s.
ka0s.



organised: (adjective) Methodical and efficient in arrangement or function.

understanding the order..the organisation in the kaos is how i perceive life. Bringing a little more simplicity to the overly ka0tic mess that it was till yesterday is how i live it.

!ve made countless mistakes and mayb knowingly or unknowingly i have been given second chances. Ive stumbled a lot along the way and mayb messed up those second chances too.

Realisation. that is what order simplicity and organisation mean to me. And as i stumble along day by day this is where ill describe my personal ka0s and my own version of order. :)