Finally 30.
Posted by terri | Filed under watashi
I have so much to write, but so little time. I just wanted to note in my blog that I have at last turned 30, and really, it’s no big deal. I think I managed to accomplish a lot since my last birthday entry when I turned 29. I certainly want to write an entry celebrating this pretty significant year, but for now, it’s off to Maui!
Short Story Long.
Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, health, watashi
I lately have been oversharing a lot of bits about my health these past several months. When using Twitter, I have been rather ambiguous about my condition, while being more specific in my blog. Unfortunately, my blog has been rather ignored (per usual) and so all there has been lately is ambiguity as to what I’m dealing with right now.
First of all, let me say that I am not going through anything gravely serious. I am not looking for sympathy or pity, because what I’m going through certainly doesn’t warrant it. I do want people to understand what is motivating me to take better evaluation of my health and why I may seem “healthier” these days when in actuality, I am just trying to mitigate any problems I may have in the future due to my current ailments.
Read the rest of this entry…
Japanese Karaoke-ドケ！
Posted by terri | Filed under tunes, video
One of my favorite hobbies whenever I can find the time, the money or the companion(s) is Japanese Karaoke. When I lived in Japan, Karaoke was one of the few pieces of entertainment that I thoroughly enjoyed, and it is always a fun challenge trying to read Kanji and Kana off of the screen while singing along. I certainly am not a great singer, but I think I possess a spirit that makes it fun every time — no matter how bad I sound.
This past week I went with 友也 who is the only one I know who enjoys Japanese Karaoke as much as I do (and it doesn’t hurt that he knows the “old school” songs I know.) We set the camera and just let it roll. Instead of taping the usual “Random Karaoke Pick” segments that I normally do, I decided to retry a song that I really effed up on the first time around. “真赤な太陽” (makkana taiyou) by 美空ひばり (Misora Hibari) is probably the only song I can dare to attempt from the famous singer, and it has turned out to be one of my most favorite to sing.
And if you’re wondering how that song is supposed to sound, there are lots of videos on YouTube including this performance by Misora Hibari:
And this one by African American enka singer Jero:
I don’t know how many more songs I can add to my repertoire as I am not exposed to Japanese music much lately, but I think I’ll be singing Japanese Karaoke for many years to come with the few songs I know. I think I’d have no other reason to retain my Japanese reading skills otherwise.
Unexplained Owwies.
Posted by terri | Filed under health
I unfortunately have been plagued with some issues regarding my right arm and hand. What’s more unfortunate is that I can’t quite recall any incidents that may have caused my right extremity to be so sore. It feels like I am suffering from a sprain or fracture on my ring finger and my pointer, along with a tennis elbow and a stiff shoulder. I was alarmed enough to visit the doctor, but it turned out to be an almost worthless visit. She couldn’t come to any real conclusion except to guess that there were all unrelated things. The only thing I got out of it was having some blood work done and then a referral for a hand specialist. To make matters worse, I have to wait three weeks to this specialist for a problem not quite identified.
2009 has definitely been the year of me realizing my mortality, if you haven’t already figured that out. I can’t ignore every little thing going on with my body like I could before. I’m inclined to believe that this pain in my hand is a bad sign of things to come. I would like to hope for the best, but my recent lackluster medical treatment has left me with little confidence in leading a healthy, complication-free life. Oh well, we shall see what this hand specialist has to say when I see him…
Mandated to be Motivated.
Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, health, watashi
I haven’t put an entry in over a month. Anyone who reads or subscribes to this blog would think, “Well, you hardly update that often anyway.” What I am happy to report is that I actually have two good excuses. Today’s entry: Good Excuse #1.
Back from Vegas!
Posted by terri | Filed under watashi
I just came back from a long awaited vacation to Las Vegas. Almost 30 years old, and I had never been there in my life until a week ago. I spent 6 whole days there, including Hunny’s birthday for the last day. I had a pretty good time because of all the excitement and the great company I had with me (my sister, my boyfriend, and his mom.) I lost about $40, and I’ve come to find that gambling is not for me. Not sure if I’ll ever want to make it back here, but at least I had some awesome pictures to remember this trip! Between the 4 cameras that Hunny, my sister and I brought, we took about 19 GB of photos and videos, amounting to about 1200 pictures and 53 videos.
It’s great traveling with your fellow paparazzo! I hope we can take another trip sometime together soon!
Living In The Past.
Posted by terri | Filed under ryuichi
Finally! After a month of having two awesome gifts in my possession, I get to watch them on my TV! My friend Tomoya gave me two LUNA SEA concert DVDs from Japan: 真冬の野外 (Mafuyu no Yagai - 1996.12.23 concert) and 真夏の野外 (Manatsu no Yagai - 1998.08.10 concert) both of which needed a region 2 or region-free DVD player to view them. I did not have one, except for my iBook, and I couldn’t figure out how to hack my Blu-Ray / DVD player (and not that I wanted to try.) Thankfully, I was given a DVD player by a friend who recently upgraded their home theatre and then I was able to dig up the hack for unlocking the region code. WIN!
This entry is a continuation of the one two entries ago, as I had promised Tomoya after receiving his thoughtful gifts. No one cares to know about how crazy I am for this band, except for maybe Tomoya, but I definitely will love writing this entry!
Read the rest of this entry…
Twitter-pated!
Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta
Today makes one year since I relaunched my blog (which was still ra-se-n.net) as well as my then dormant Twitter account. I have not really done that many blog entries in the past year (34, not counting this one) but I have done a lot of Twitter updates (776, if you’re wondering.) My preference in the “method of oversharing” is clear.
I can’t remember when or why I first signed up for Twitter, but in the beginning, I hardly put it to use. I knew of a couple of social media gurus who used it, and I think I just signed up for the sake of signing up. It was when iPhone 2.0 came out that I had started to use it more and more; it made all the difference. Though I could have used Twitter via mobile web, it didn’t provide the fluidity of a native app which 2.0 offered. Needless to say, I twitter from my iPhone almost all the time.
I recognize that Twitter takes a lot away from my regular blogging as it meets the need of getting quick and sometimes random sentences and thoughts out there on the Internet. I think with Twitter, I may never get into that groove of blogging nearly everyday like I had back with my old blog back in 2001 - 2002. Things roll so much faster when all I need to do is get a thought out in 140 characters or less.
When I do put a blog out on aspiraling.com, I try to put a little more thought and cohesion to my entries, but more than half the time, I get distracted and end up giving up altogether. For 2009, I had hoped to make it a New Year’s Resolution that I would write at least one entry a week. Perhaps if I had verbalized it here, I might have actually stuck to it; but then again, I’m not very good at verbalizing things a lot of the time so that’s why it never happened. As I am trying to get more into the routine of things, I am placing hope that I can get myself and my thoughts more organized and that this current run of my blog will have more significant and interesting entries in its second year.
I definitely find my Twitter entries (or “tweets”) to be rather significant and sometimes interesting as I go through them. I find Twitter as an awesome tool to post-remember things that I’ve felt and experienced, even if they are about the most trivial things (and maybe not so trivial. Anyone remember the blackout aka #hipower?) And though I put them on the Internet to share with others, I don’t think I use it much as a tool for communicating with the world like many other people do. A lot of the time, I end up forgetting how much of the world is actually reading my rants and blurbs.
To celebrate my one year with Twitter, I went ahead and archived all 776 of my tweets into a .csv file using a web app called Tweettake. The app works fairly well. I’m a little sour that I hadn’t thought of creating the app first. It would have been an awesome challenge to create it for myself, but I guess I can be relieved that someone made it so that I can use it right here and right now.
Upon seeing what I’ve written in the past year in tweets and entries, I’m finding that it would be awesome to utilize my blog more and to make something meaningful out of my online presence, even if it is just for myself. I can definitely celebrate the success of my blog, but I would love to reach for more.
Twenty-Nine And a Half.
Posted by terri | Filed under health, watashi
I had a good friend who once told me that St. Patrick’s Day is a day that I should celebrate because for me, it marks 6 months until my birthday. That was something I could appreciate because that day marked the longest possible time between my last birthday and my next birthday. On the other hand, I hate being reminded that I am getting “incrementally older.”
Today being March 17th, I am now 29 “and a half” years old. I have been thinking about this day for awhile now. I figured when the day came, I would just be thinking about how I can savor the next 6 months of being a “twenty-something.” The big 3-0 seems like a huge deal to me and I guess it has a lot to do with the unrealized potential I’ve had throughout my twenties and earlier. The sensible part of me says that age really is just a number, and that I shouldn’t let a number tell me that it’s too late to follow my dreams or to strive for something better. Then there’s a passionately sensitive part of me that says that I just can’t ignore the significance of two whole digits changing in my age.
A week ago, I got a HUGE wake up call about how I’ve been living my life these past 5 years. At this time, I won’t go into details except to say that it has to do with going to the doctor for the first time in 10+ years. My outlook on life, in a matter of a 15 minute visit with the doctor, ended up changing entirely. In this past week, I’ve gone through a range of emotions such as embarrassment, disappointment, and sadness. Perhaps a sense of relief came over me as well as I have finally gotten explanation of what was going on with me as mentioned in an earlier entry. I’ve approached the news with humor and also with anger, but I have no choice but to look my situation in the face and just deal with it. So today, instead of thinking of unrealized dreams and lamenting on the past, I ended up thinking of the future — knowing that my situation presents an opportunity I have NO CHOICE but to take.
In realizing my mortality, my thirties are definitely going to be different. It definitely takes something like being told that you can die if you don’t change that can motivate you to realize your potential. I know it’s not going to be easy, and so I’m very grateful for the support system I have and for those who haven’t been so supportive because of their lack of understanding, I won’t take it personally nor will I let it set me back.
I know 30 is really just a number, and when I get there, I probably will think it’s not such a big deal after all. I have friends who are already there who say that ends up being the case. So maybe this news comes as a coincidence coming near my “29 and a half birthday.” Whatever the case, I have quite a road ahead of me.
Fangirl Renewed.
Posted by terri | Filed under tomodachi, tunes
I’m pretty stoked to be finally be writing in my blog. At any given time, I can think of about a dozen topics I can cover, but I never get around to making the entry. There’s a bit of added pressure for me to write this entry because of a wonderful deed a good friend did for me.
Over a week ago, I had twittered about making my way to Hakubundo after work so that I could see if they had Ryuichi Kawamura’s newly released single, “ヒロイン” (Heroine). I wasn’t entirely expecting them to have the CD single in stock, but I thought that maybe they could special order it for me and I could just add more points to my membership card with them. Since coming back from Japan in 2000, I had pretty much bought all of my Japanese CDs from them and my purchases accumulated a bit over the years. After so many purchases, you can get a free CD single, and even an album (limited to the stock on hand when you decide to redeem, of course.)
Upon arriving at Hakubundo that day, I was distressed by this sign they had posted:
I could understand that times that are hard, and the nature of their business probably had changed quite a bit since starting that program whenever they did. I should have been surprised that the program lasted as long as it did. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but feel a bit shafted. I was able to tolerate paying the high prices they charged me when I special ordered items from Japan, because I thought as a loyal customer I would be rewarded with at least the recognition that I had spent so much money there over the years.
And when I realized that they did not have RK’s new single, I walked out and decided that my 8 year old customer relationship with Hakubundo was over.
I did my little whine on Twitter and then on to iChat to the one person who knows my RK fanaticism more than anyone else, my “good friend” whom I refer to as “ii.Tomo.” I expressed my feeling to Tomo that I should just stop with this ファンガール business of needing to get any new CD single or album that RK releases. I’ve known for a long time now that I don’t connect so much with what RK releases now than before when he was full of angst and raw energy. I did feel though that buying RK’s work was my way of connecting with an artist that I greatly and deeply admire. Isn’t that always the case?
A week later, I got a slip of paper in my mailbox telling me that there is an Express Mail package waiting for me at my local post office.
And so, you can see where this is going. My “good friend,” who is currently in Japan for an extended stay bought me RK’s “ヒロイン” single along with LUNA SEA’s “真夏の野外” DVD and their “真冬の野外” DVD. As happy as I am to add more of Ryuichi’s stuff to my collection, I was more stoked that Tomo got the stuff for me just to surprise me and to make me bounce off the walls in glee!
In the package, Tomo wrote a note telling me that I owe him an blog entry to be all ファンガール about Ryuichi and LUNA SEA, but I decided this should be an entry about how I should be all ファンガール about having such a thoughtful buddy.
This has made my day and then some, you will not believe:
Thank you, 友也君.
ファンガール post about RYUICHI/RK in progress…
Aloha!
- Hello from the O'ahu in the beautiful state of Hawaii. I am terri, a local girl who at 30 is trying to make sure that life doesn't entirely pass her by. I've recently become engaged and am enjoying living a great life in paradise.
- Check out my photo blog at visually.aspiraling.
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- : Um, I may have spotted a whale. Kind of sucks when you are not sure.
- : Going on the Makapuu Lighthouse hike hoping to spot some whales this time...and I forgot my binoculars! Dammit all.
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- : New 河村隆一 album coming out on 02.24.2010. Wondering if I should get it online or try to find it in HI. Or maybe not bother anymore?
- : After listening to my iTunes with my Bose Headphones, I realize that I need to re-import my music. Where's that 8cm CD adapter???
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