Archives

Category: Personal Reflections
  • Origami Vision Boarding, Part 2

    Origami Vision Boarding, Part 2

    After defining my actions and assigning them colors (see part 1), I got to work on a collage using origami paper. I began by cutting some random shapes and moved them around on the page until they started to tell a story. I filled in the details as the story unfolded itself in my head.…

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  • Memorial

    Memorial

    Yesterday I went to my first Japanese memorial. Funerals in Japan are very formal and I have yet to attend the official part of them. When I do, I will need to brush up on my etiquette. Yesterday’s event was more casual, an affair put on by the NPO where Asada Daisuke worked for 16…

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  • Origami Vision Boarding

    Origami Vision Boarding

    I am participating in a two-week a Origami Vision Board class led by my friend, Liane Wakabayashi from Genesis Art, https://www.genesiscards.com/ I was already in the process of doing a vision board in my usual way using a feng shui grid when this class fell into my lap. Not wanting to start over from scratch,…

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  • Hey, Kristen

    Hey, Kristen

    This morning at 3:04 I heard Tod ask for me, “Hey, Kristen…” and I woke up, braced for the rest of the sentence. Usually it’s a request for settling cats who are getting into trouble. But he was asleep, as I discovered when I rolled towards him and asked if he needed something. “Did you…

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  • Reworking my portfolio

    Reworking my portfolio

    Do you know when is the best time to rework your portfolio? When you are looking for new clients. And since I am, I’ve given my Work page a once-over. It had grown into a cluttered, overwhelming mess over time. Like all decluttering activities, it was challenging. Almost all of my jobs are interesting in…

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  • Audience over Product

    Audience over Product

    Your audience is more important than your product or service – especially if you are an artist. As entrepreneurial creative person, it doesn’t matter what you are selling, making, or offering. If you are trying to make a business from creative endeavors, whether as a side hustle or a full time income, you absolutely have…

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  • Senmaida De-lights

    Senmaida De-lights

    Today I helped out at Oyama Senmaida for the first time. The annual illumination event is over – I wrote about the torch lighting in October – and today we removed all the LED lights, cleaned them, and packed them away for next time. The work itself was not too stressful – I filled three…

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  • More Maura Walks

    More Maura Walks

    Maura’s visit to the vet yesterday did not include taking his stitches out. We have to wait another week. I almost cried; I am sleep deprived from adventuring. You know how in fantasy novels, the author glosses over the long arduous journey: “They made fast for Thoradil, changing horses and riding through the night, arriving…

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  • 8mm wonders from 1976

    8mm wonders from 1976

    A school mate from Pennsylvania posted a couple of 8mm transfers to YouTube this week. What a time capsule treasure of fashion and location. In one of them, I found both myself (age 10) and my sister (age 7). I had to watch a few times to be sure that girl on the film was…

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  • Chasing the first sunrise

    Chasing the first sunrise

    The Land of the Rising Sun makes an event of the first sunrise of the year, with news articles and maps highlighting sunrise times and the scenic places to see it. The earliest sunrise in mainland Japan (excluding the top of Mt Fuji) was at 6:44 this morning on Mt Kiyosumi in my own town…

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