Rainbow is "niji" in Japanese, "caihong" in Chinese, and "mujigae" in Korean. I keep claiming that Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are all very similar to each other, but the translations for "rainbow" do not help my case.
Once in a while you get rain in L.A., and that one in a long while you get one of the most spectacular sights in the world: a full rainbow, which is what cut across the Los Angeles horizon this afternoon after a pretty strong rain (for LA) dampened the city and worsened traffic for the last 2 days. It wasn't one of those half-assed rainbows that hide behind buildings or get partially obscured by rain clouds, neither. It was a full-on, St. Louis Gateway Arch -got-jealous, stretched from one end to another type of rainbow too, amplified by the long rays nearing sunset time. It goes to show that once in a while, if you get out of the house or out of the office, you get something really special in life. There's also higher likelihood of getting into a car accident or other type of unforeseen eventuality, but mother nature still can be very beautiful. Rainbow is like one of those miracles of the world: how can something naturally have 7 colors together in such a beautiful pattern? I can't imagine how prehistoric humans felt seeing that, just bow to the majesty of the universe. It's a testament to how much of a miracle human life itself is, with water, air, earth, fire, all of the things existing conspiring to allow human beings to live.
Rainbow has also been associated with the Gay Pride/ LGBT Pride movement, rightly so with the different colors, apparently with each color symbolizing different ideas like serenity, nature, sunlight, healing, etc., and an extra color (hot pink) representing sex. Mind blown. This weekend, I will be taking part in my 4th straight Sin City Shootout, an annual dodgeball tournament hosted by WeHo Dodgeball, itself a LGBT-based dodgeball group, celebrating gay pride everywhere through the greatest joy of sports. It's a great tournament with 50-odd teams competing from all over the country that makes one feel like a real athlete with real stakes. The first 3 years I took the competition part of the tournament way too seriously, trying to win at all costs, and this year as I near the end of my dodgeball career (NOT announcing my retirement!) I realize just to soak in the awesomeness of the tournament like basking in the glow of a rainbow in the middle of Los Angeles on a Tuesday afternoon, enjoy life and the things that come with it.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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