“25 Random Things” you may not know about me January 31, 2009
Posted by bookncurls in A Comment.Tags: BBC News Arabic, Campbell Brown, Economist, Okinawa
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So there’s this “25 Random Things” list going around on Facebook. People send it to each other to find out quirky things. So here’s mine. I thought that if I took the time to do it for FB, I would copy it here with links. If you post one, send me the link.
1. 1. Fun? I would have to say, “everything”. I think life is fun in general.
2. 2. Have become addicted to the news especially Campbell Brown on her “No Bias No Bull” show.
3. 3. Like my BYU parking sticker. I can park anywhere but Handicap and Service.
4. 4. Like being physically active in some way.
5. 5. My most menial jobs: scrubbing soda out of carpets as a house cleaner, cleaning bathrooms for Deseret Towers dorms, dusting and mopping the stairs of the Eyring Science Center…everyday, catering for BYU dinners, taking tickets at BYU sporting events, and taking orders at McDonalds.
6. Think I have a bad habit of falling asleep standing up in the morning because time goes by and I’m not sure what happens during it.
7. 7. Like good lighting and have a cool sunset view from my apartment window.
8. 8. Don’t scrapbook or do crafts, but I like to cook which I consider edible art.
9. 9. My first memories of life are in Okinawa.
10. There’s something kind of fun about eating something that tastes good and feeling healthy afterwards.
11. Subscribe to the Economist most attracted to the Middle East, the US, and the book list sections. Devour anything about Israel/Palestine.
12. Used to carry around a pen and paper making up stories because I wanted to be a journalist.
13. Still think being a journalist would be cool.
14. Like interpreting for deaf people in college classes because I get to learn something, too.
15. Believe that if you get knocked down, you just have to get back up again.
16. Listen to BBC News Arabic every week day.
17. Like teaching because where else would your clients prefer you to play than work.
18. Teach high school because I feel like it’s a way to make a difference.
19. A little mischievous streak.
20. Almost never home.
21. If I had extra money, my first gut reaction would be to travel.
22. I’m a fish. Did synchronized swimming for a short time, love the ocean, and was on swim teams for most of my childhood.
23. Love my family and extended family.
24. Prefer diversity and variety.
25. Usually in the middle of 2 or 3 books at the same time.
My first sushi memory May 27, 2008
Posted by bookncurls in Uncategorized.Tags: bento, elementary school memories, Japan, lunch, Okinawa, sushi
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I was sitting at a long table in the lunch room of my elementary school. A lot of kids had lunch boxes like me but there was a girl who brought bentos (a Japanese lunch) instead. We did live in Japan. That wasn’t really odd. I probably tasted sushi before that. I must have been 7 or 8 years old at the time. I didn’t like sushi.
This girl, though, would open up her bento with a loud ooh and aah at every bite. That day she got overly extatic about a sushi roll her mom put into the bento. She said, “I bet you won’t eat this bite of sushi.” And I wouldn’t have until she made it a matter of honor and pride. That was the age when I ate a live spider because some boy in my sunday school class dared me. (which, by the way…live spiders taste a little hairy and a little light crunchy) In other words, no matter what my taste buds told me, I was going to love that sushi.
So I ate it. And loved it. Actually I realized that nothing tasted bad when it was a matter of pride. Thus was the beginning of my gradual love affair with sushi. And, as with many love affairs, what starts as a light attraction can end in a lot of heat which is what I do to my sushi now. Drabble the seaweed, the crunchy and raw things with a lot of wasabe and fish sauce. But it all started, this affair, as a dare in my elementary school in Okinawan, Japan.
Music of Choice? March 22, 2008
Posted by bookncurls in Reminicing.Tags: Carpenters, East China Sea, Japanese Rock Garden, Okinawa, Rogers and Hammerstein
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When I was a girl, there were four views from our second story flat in subtropical Okinawa. My two favorites were the East China Sea in the distance and the private Japanese rock garden that our landlord kept. The other two views were of an apartment building and a busy Japanese neighborhood. There was only one English channel and it had no commercials–only US Servicemen announcements. I was isolated from American culture. My dad was gone most of the time–he was a pilot. So, we absorbed American culture a little from school and from what my mom leaked to us. She listened to classical, Rogers & Hammerstein’s musicals, and the Carpenters. When I got to the US at 10 1/2, I was pretty socially awkward. What does “fam” mean anyway?(as in “how’s your fam?”) People thought I was a little strange. If you’re American you’re supposed to know certain things. I wouldn’t listen to classical on purpose when I first got to the US. I never could really get into Pop music, though. I spent the next few years..and even now sometimes.. trying to avoid questions like, “What’s your favorite band/group/singer/actor/ress/etc”? Somehow, though, and it’s only been recently, I have come full circle. I’m letting myself love classical music. Don’t get me wrong. There are definitely places and times that only Pop will do. I also like listening to Pop with other people. I still like the music which scored my childhood.
A Cockeyed Optimist May 2, 2009
Posted by bookncurls in A Comment.Tags: A Cockeyed Optimist, Carefully Taught, Okinawa, South Pacific, There is Nothing Like a Dame
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I identify with the musical, South Pacific. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out.
I grew up on an island in the Pacific until I was 10. My first memories of life are on this Japanese island surrounded with American servicemen. We swam every day at the pool with a bunch of GIs. Like in Utah you know where you are based on the mountains, it was like that in Okinawa. We based directions on the ocean. When my dad took us camping we camped on the semi-tropical beaches and when he took us flying he flew us over ocean crashing on the cliffs. He quized us on the names of the American fighter planes that took off from the nearby air base. I actually won 13th place in a nationally writing competition of 17,000 entries writing about my life there as a child. It’s called “Japanese Carp”. To read it click here.
To me as a child, South Pacific resembled my life so the messages in the movie were bound to touch me. In the late 50’s and early 60’s when these musicals originally came out, Rogers and Hamerstein used the music to discuss the controversial issues of the day. I remember hearing “Carefully Taught”, a song that forced me to re-think my beliefs about race. “A Cockeyed Optimist” is what I want to be. “There is Nothing Like a Dame”, I completely agree.
If you haven’t listened to the music or watched it lately, you should. I just did today.