Feb 26
2010
2010
Archive for February, 2010
I watched this movie “Up in the Air” in December last year, 2009. I like George Clooney (I’ve been a fan 
when he was still playing a doctor in “ER”), and even though the story wasn’t as convincing towards the end, I still enjoyed it. George Clooney plays Ryan, a jet-set executive flying around the country firing people on behalf of his clients. There was a series of scenes where he told people that they are let go, and he had to handle their reaction and lead them to take a “transition package” and leave the room.
Considering how the economy has been struggling the last few years, one might say that the movie hits too close to home and the storyline is depressing. However, one of the most memorable lines also came from one of those firing scenes. Ryan fired a guy with two children, and he got understandably upset – he stated that he is old and he can’t be a superstar in sports or anything like that. Ryan then said “But you can cook”, pointing out that he has gone to a culinary school by looking at his resume. Then he asked, “For how much money did you to give up your dream?” While I forget what the exact number was (probably mid-20K or low 30K), I thought that was a very powerful question. My husband and I talked about this after the movie. I believe some people know themselves well enough that they know what they want to be when they grow up at an early age, but there are many who still do not know even in their 40’s to 50’s. I wondered how many people can answer that question like the guy did in the movie. Knowing how much your first job paid is one thing, but what about your dream? I believe that some people don’t even know what it was – or is.
In my case, I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was 21. I tried to find jobs in my 4th year of college, without knowing what I really wanted to do with my life, and naturally I didn’t find anyone who’d hire me. I believe that I was lucky that I didn’t find a job at that time, because that forced me to look at myself and ask some serious questions. In the end, I decided that I want to work for the United Nations and took the path to pursue that goal. Now, many years later, I am on to pursue my new dream, but it was because I learned back then that it’s up to me to decide what I want to do and do what I need to do to achieve it. I hope that many people will find that to be true for themselves. To assist anyone who needs support in pursuing their dreams, I’ll start a group where people come together and encourage each other in going for their dreams. Stay turned for more information!
Feb 19
2010
2010
Crush It!
Last November, I met Gary Vaynerchuk at a tWineup in San Diego. He wrote a book “Cursh It!”, I talked to him in person, took picture and got a signed copy. I was fist introduced to 
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: 1. Love your family 2. Work superhard 3. Live your passion. This book is a great inspiration to everyone, but particularly to those who are wondering about how they can turn their hobby into business by utilizing various tools that are now available for everyone for little money, if not completely free.
He also talks about how personal branding is now a necessity for everyone – not just for entrepreneurs, but every single one of us, even if you are happily employed. He talks about how he utilized social media in building his personal brand, and how you need to be who you are – in his words, “let your DNA lead you”. He writes; “You may not have connections, or an education, or wealth, but with enough passion and sweat, you can make anything happen”. The thing is, even if you quit your day job to do what you love, you might be putting the same or more amount of hours you did when you were employed, but if you truly feel passionate about it, it doesn’t feel like work. Your personal life and your professional life will be meshed into one, and you’ll be the brand.
While I really enjoyed my job at the Japanese school for the past 4 years, I felt that I could not express myself fully. I started writing a blog in May 2009, but I was still filtering myself on what I should and should not do or say while holding that position at the school, because people saw me as “Executive Director at Minato School”. I started teaching parenting class called “Redirecting Children’s Behavior(RCB)” on my day off, but I felt like I was still representing the school and it started feeling like a cage. My RCB instructor friends suggested that I should try to bring in this RCB courses to my school but I felt deeply conflicted in doing so, and that if I want to continue teaching this and to start reaching as many parents as I possibly can, I could not continue working there. It was a natural course of action for me to leave. Now that I have gained the freedom to be and express myself, I am ready to take massive action in expanding my network. I’m working on setting up RCB course to be offered near LA where there is a bigger Japanese population, and I’m in the process of creating tele-classes on parenting so people can call in to take my courses over the phone. Just like Gary describes in his book, I reluctantly go to bed at night, and excited to continue with where I left off the night before. I’ll also offer my course in English this year. Dear readers, thank you always for supporting me, and stay turned for my next move. I totally intend to crush it!
Feb 13
2010
2010
Princess And Frog
A few weeks ago we went to a military movie theater with our kids to watch a Disney movie “Princess and Frog”. I was curious if our older son could sit through a 90 minutes animation film, and 
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. (more…)
Feb 6
2010
2010
Gift Of Giving
Today I attended a San Diego Women’s Foundation membership committee meeting. I’ve been a 
member since 2008 and was selected to be a 2008 “class coordinator”, meaning that I am in charge of encouraging people who joined in 2008 to attend events and meetings. This is a unique organization in a sense that we give out a certain amount of money to different worthy organizations, but we do not do any fundraising event. The money comes from membership contribution ($2000 a year). The idea is that there is a limitation of what $2000 individually can do, but if we pull every member’s contribution together, we can collectively do a lot more things that are beneficial to the community. (more…)
Feb 4
2010
2010
「子どもの日本語力をきたえる」
How To Improve Your Japanese
(Dear English readers of my blog – this is a review on this book with the above title. This post is in Japanese only)
みなと学園を辞める前に、学校の図書室でこの本を見つけました。著者は齊藤孝で、
「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。 (more…)
