2010
Just By Being There
A few days ago, my friends from Japan who live here in San Diego called me to 
let me know that they were heading to the hospital to have a baby, and that they’d call when they need my help with translating (English – Japanese). Sure enough, about an hour later, the husband called back as they needed some help at the hospital triage. He handed his phone to the nurse and she started asking me some questions. Unfortunately the phone line was breaking up, and before I could translate anything, it got disconnected. They somehow managed to get their point across without my help and by the time he called again, they were already taken up to the room where she’d deliver the baby. I went to sleep at midnight. The baby was born early the next morning. Today I visited them at the hospital and got a chance to meet with the brand new baby boy. He was sleeping so peacefully and I got a chance to hold him. When I apologized to my friend for not being able to be of much help when her husband called, she said “It was enough to know that you were there on the other side of the telephone”.
Later that day I looked back at that visit and thought, how nice it was for her to say that. Even when I couldn’t be of much of help on the phone, they appreciated me. The mere sense of my presence where they couldn’t even see or hear me gave them some comfort and confidence to get through one of life’s major events. I think that we sometimes don’t give enough credit to ourselves for how powerful we all are, and how much of a positive impact we are making to other people’s lives just by being there. If you happen to feel sad or discouraged, remind yourself that your showing up or even just a smile might have made someone’s day brighter today. If someone made a difference in your life today, or you are the receiving end of someone’s kindness, why don’t you tell them know what it meant to you and how much you appreciated it? Trust me, it feels good to be appreciated!
when he was still playing a doctor in “
Gary Vaynerchuck by my friend Alan Underkofler – he posted one of many Gary’s talks on-line, and when I watched him speak, I was blown away by how passionate he was about his subject matters which are wine and business development. People say passion is contagious, and you can experience it by reading his book; in his book, he talks about how he has been 100% happy by following these 3 simple rules: 
it turned out he did fine for the most part, though there were some parts where a voodoo doctor appeared which was scary for him. It was an entertaining story with so much color and music, with an unique storyline; The main character Tiana turned into a frog when she kissed a voodoo cursed frog, thinking it’ll turn him back to a prince. Together they visit Mama Odie, hoping that she’d undo the curse, but she told Tiana that she needs to understand the difference between what she wants and what she needs. 
member since 2008 and was selected 
「声に出して読みたい日本語」などを書いた人です。先日まで補習授業校で勤務し、たくさんのバイリンガル家庭のお子さんを見てきたこと、また私自身も二人の子どもを日本語と英語という環境で育てているため、子どもの日本語力を鍛えることには大変関心があり、タイトルに惹かれて手にとってみました。私自身は国語はずっと得意科目だったので、高校の現代文や入試に至るまで、あまり国語で苦労した覚えはなかったのですが、子どもに教えるとなると話は別です。この本を読んで、将来子どもが読解や感想文が苦手と感じたときに、どのように手助けをして教えたらいいのか少しわかったように思いました。 
genetically designed so she could be a perfect donor to her older sister, Kate, who has leukemia. In the movie, Anna, age 11, decides to sue her parents seeking to win control of her own body on the grounds of medical emancipation as she no longer wanted to give her body parts to help her sister due to the potential impact it would have for her own life. Despite this serious theme, I found the movie enjoyable and somewhat uplifting. It was also thought provoking; would parents really go as far as having another, genetically designed baby so they’d have a perfect donor to their dying child? Where is the line between wanting to do everything within their power to help, and going too far? 
るまでは、子どもがいなかったこともあり、私はその存在すら知りませんでした。2005年の夏頃のことですが、私は定職についておらず、大学に戻って博士号でも取ろうかと考えてはいたものの、時間もお金もかかるし、そこまで投資する価値のあるような情熱をかける研究テーマもなかったことから、一歩踏み切れずにいました。そんな時、趣味のスウィングダンスを通じて知り合った
beginning of the event, she asked who had attended this event last year, the year before….and I realized that this was my 4th time attending this event. She again hired 
abroad, going to Zimbabwe to work on an HIV/AIDS project, the experience of giving birth to babies, attending a self-development courses….all of which are my own life changing events. Life changing events are not always pleasant – I am certain that some people would say that losing a family member or a close friend affected them significantly. I know many people who have said that the 9/11 event changed their lives. For me personally, losing Miroku would qualify as one of such events. The other day, I came across a phrase; 
