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In: Japan

This year has been quite the year for natural disasters in Japan. Well, for everyone, really…but since I’m in Japan, it just feels like every week there is something happening. First, we had a long and extremely cold winter with the unusually large amount of snowfall. The cold weather threw off the arrival of spring and caused confusion to the cherry blossom trees. Of course, we also had that horribly destructive earthquake at the same time and with all the chaos that it caused, spring went by without much notice. Then, when things were beginning to settle down, summer approached, leaving us with a veryRead More →

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In: Parenthood, Photography

It’s no secret that I’m a photographer of some sort…at least in an academic sense. Still, I love to document things I see and experience through my lens everyday. So it’s no big surprise that E picked up on that interest and wants to be like me. Now I’m all for fostering my child’s interest in learning and exploring new things. I just don’t want to do it with my cameras because, frankly, they are nice cameras and E has butter-fingers. I use to let her play with my Fujifilm instax a lot but she kept dropping it due to the weight and she alsoRead More →

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In: Life, Reflections

I’m not much of a crier. Well, at least not when I’m around people. It’s a strange habit of mine to cry alone. For some reason, I have it in my head that crying in front of people is a negative thing because it shows weakness. Plus, once you start crying you just can’t stop. That display of uncontrollable emotion is something I’m not comfortable with. I’m not quite sure how all this came about but I know it has to be a childhood trauma of some sort. All I know is that I try to avoid situations where I would find myself unable toRead More →

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In: Parenthood

E is at quite a fun age right now. I’ve been told that the toddler years can be a lot of fun as well as frustrating since it’s when they learn how to communicate and at the same time test their boundaries. These days, E is very talkative. Sometimes a little too talkative….like those days when I have a migraine and all I hear is “mummy, mummy, mummy.” Despite those days, it’s actually a lot of fun conversing with E especially since she has quite an extensive vocabulary now. Her vocabulary is about 70% Japanese, 15% English and 15% Ellie-go (her own language). She singsRead More →

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In: Life

We are all storytellers. I believe that every one of us has stories to share.  In fact, our lives are made up of many little stories all woven into one big one. Our stories are an important part of our lives because they are reminders of our past memories and experiences. We share stories as a means to bond with others as well as to teach the lessons we’ve learned from our past. There are so many different ways to share stories too.  Many of us share them verbally when we talk to family and friends about things that happen in our daily lives orRead More →

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In: Parenthood

Mommy, why is the sky blue? Why do I have to eat vegetables? Why do I have to go to school? Why? Why? Why? Ah, questions. Not just any question but the inevitable “why?” question. I imagine that many of us have been on the receiving end of those why’s, right?  I know that when I was growing up, I use to ask my parents why all the time.  Sometimes it was just to annoy them.  Other times it was a trick for me to try to get out of whatever they are trying to make me do.  But then there were also times whenRead More →

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In: Uncategorized

Pretty, pretty please. If you ever, ever feel Like you’re nothing You are perfect to me. – from “Perfect (clean version)” by Pink I sometimes think like a perfectionist but I’m very flawed. I am very OCD about being punctual and get irritated when others are late even when I tell them it’s okay. I have panic attacks when I’m late. I have a certain way of doing things and get annoyed when other people don’t do it the same way. I am very stubborn. I like to clean but complain about having to do it when no one notices the difference. I complain aboutRead More →

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In: Updates

So far, this week has been a rough week for E. Why? Because E has a pretty bad canker sore on the tip of her tongue (on the right edge). It’s been hurting her so much that she finds it too painful to eat, drink and even sleep. Oh and she’s been drooling a lot too. Poor E. Hopefully, in another day or two it will hurt less. Otherwise, she’ll be eating only Cheerios everyday and I’m pretty sure that’s not a good diet. If only she’d try yogurt or popsicles, then I wouldn’t feel so worried about her food intake. Why doesn’t Cheerios hurt,Read More →