Writing is a good way to put thoughts somewhere, a place where can be aside, behind, or just to forget. I wanted to note down the dreams I have had. As examples of the dreams I had recently: the falling stand-up paddle boards from airplanes in a beautiful valley where it's full of endless soft grass, or the self-rated wise scene of "an actor can always pretend a week never happened in a play, however an ordinary person never has this fortune in life". Those are the things to put aside so I don't have to remind myself to remember them. What to leave behind or forget then? I guess helpless unhappiness, something like breaking-up (past examples), or the just sad stories from a book I recently read, or random thoughts about death.
The day before our trip to Bulgaria/Greece, I had a refreshing mojito with nice sunshine and friendly chats after work, then was going to purly enjoy the excitement of an upcoming longed-for trip. Then I randomly browsed facebook, then saw an avid facebook acquaintance that I almost unfollowed posted "she got cancer" and it was miserable. Little I interacted with this person, I felt my heart dropped and my eyes turned red, and I lost appetite for my favorite ribs and I got into this thoughtful mode during my trip. I was sad, very sad. In Bulgaria, one thing a foreigner may feel unexpected whenever he/she passes by a residential building is to see posters, layers after layers. What's odd about posters? They are mostly black and white, and they are all about death: name, photo, a few sentences about who they were, and death date. With a thoughtful mode I started reading these posters in front of a library building: someone's 7 years' death anniversary, a man passed away on 7/28/2018 - wait, it was the second day of my wonderful trip. I know it happens every day and every second, but it just feels so bad when it's this close and it could be really closer. Stop thinking. Those are the things I just learned to leave behind until I have to deal with them myself. I also learned (hopefully, gradually) to be easy about things, when I'm stuck or furious about something, it could be really really minor compared to many other possibilities or realities. I liked the Japanese movie "Departures" and impressed by the scenes where the main character threw up after just starting his job at a mortuary, then eventually turned into being able to treasure the death, life, and a delicious chicken. There seem to be many things worthy to treasure, or maybe only a few that really matter.
Why the title? Perhaps the octopus (as snorkeling discovery or food) in Greece gave me the same feeling of chicken leg in movie "Departures", or maybe a relaxing feeling from Beatles' "Octopus Garden", or maybe it's an extended and flexible animal. It's good to be flexible.
