Day 175 of writing every day.
Just a random thought. When I was paying rent for today, I talked with my landlord about empty rooms in the apartment complex. Something I considered if/when I get permanent residency, is to start my own business. Not every business has to be big. It just has to turn a profit and have real projections to earn enough that you see it to be worth your time.
The landlord’s daughter actually uses one of the apartment rooms to run a shodo or Japanese calligraphy class that’s taught on Fridays. The students are mostly elderly folks, according to my landlord, and the classroom doesn’t really turn a profit. In summary, he described his daughter’s classroom as a hobby.
The room is located on the top floor of the complex, which is six-stories tall. Being on the sixth floor and staring out the open-air corridor, my view of the surrounding area was quite different from what I see on the second floor where I live. For example, the demolition work being done on the vast grounds that used to house an electrical appliance company’s office is still ongoing, but the noise blocking tarp only sends the noise upwards. This meant that I don’t hear anything from a block away on the worksite, but I could hear the machines echoing through the air on the sixth floor.
Furthermore, my landlord commented that the elderly calligraphy students found it discomforting walking down the open-air corridor of the complex. I could relate as well. When there’s no wall or glass separating you from the outside, you definitely feel the pull of gravity on you more acutely. Looking down really does make you feel like the ground is waiting to suck you up. Perhaps the age and architecture of the building may play a factor as well, as it felt like it was slightly leaning towards the railing.
While the railing offers decent safety measures by going up to maybe the abdomen of average height adults, they are in no way fall-proof. Wind blowing from a certain angle might magnify the fear of somehow falling over. The metal used might be some kind of aluminum alloy as they don’t feel that heavy and dense to the touch.
I felt pretty glad to be living on the second floor all these years. I don’t know why people want to live in high-rises where you spend so much time just going up and down. Some might enjoy seeing how everything looks from above, but I find it pointless and I can just enter some building space open to the public if I wanted to gaze down on people.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 