The Japanese have a phrase that's used in a lot of animes with combat scenes (ironically, I just learned it from the hit show One Punch Man, a great anime for its story but also a great anime to learn high-level Japanese) where the main character has to deliver the finishing move to beat his opponent. (A common theme in Japanese manga and comics and important step, and a recurring theme for manga authors is how to find that finishing move for the hero to ultimately defeat the villain). The best visual would be when the "FINISH HIM!" letters come on in Mortal Kombat when you've pretty much defeated your opponent but are encouraged to deliver the death knell, the hit that finally finishes them off once and for all.
Dealing the final blow is huge in sports, too. Taking (and making) game-winning shots is what legends are made out of, and Michael Jordan, the greatest player ever, largely built his legacy on making game winning shots that finished off opponents like the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Utah Jazz. Baseball has specific players that teams employ for the sole purpose of finishing the game, called "closers." Many say that finishing a game requires certain mental fortitude because it's the time when players are most vulnerable to humiliating themselves, as the gravity of the moment weighs on them. I myself have had a lot of experience in dodgeball "finishing" games, and while I have finished a lot of games before, I've also "choked" under pressure before, failing to get the last out and letting the opponents back in the game despite having a winning position. It really is a very deflating and frustrating thing to be almost point to the point of dealing the final blow to the other team but failing and letting them come back. The crowd's cheering for the other team, everyone except you wants to have an exciting finish, it's truly nervewracking.
In life, too, I often have trouble "finishing off" a project that I've started. Currently, I have a bag of clothes that I took the time to wash and do laundry for, but I haven't taken the last step to fold them and put them away. I just rationalize that I can do it later, when I'm "inspired" to do it. It's kind of dangerous because it's like not pressing the "submit" button after finishing all the other requirements of filling out information for like paying the rent button, but then you don't hit the final button and end up being late on a payment, or not sending an email that you should have sent. That's definitely happened to me more than once or twice in my life.
Luckily, MJ and I (I've started to give ourselves the couple name LeeYan Rimes, has a nice ring to it and LeAnn Rimes the singer still has enough name recognition that people get the reference) filled out an application and completed it before the deadline to get a nice signing bonus (very common nowadays for new apartments, we are now 3/3 for receiving a signing bonus each time we apply for an apartment), and this time we signed up for one right after they decreased rent at the apartment complex we were looking at! I think that's the apartment's trick to get prospective tenants who were on the fence about signing up to "todome wo sasu" deliver the final blow and go forward with the application, but hey I'm not complaining. We are now 3/3 for getting apartments with hardwood floors, 3/3 in getting a brand new apartment that's never been lived in before, and 3/3 in getting a free parking space that comes with the apartment. (Not that easy to get in Los Angeles and probably much more difficult in New York City).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
No comments:
Post a Comment