Sagashimono. (Searching for...something.)
Well, just for the heck of it, let me see if there's anything going on with me. Mmm... I just finished up another Photoshop course (the third--this time, it was called, "Creating Web Graphics for PS CS3"), and am taking a break from online classes for a few weeks. I'll probably hop aboard again around the third week of April. I've run out of Photoshop courses to take from ed2go, and I'm debating what I'll tackle next. Adobe Illustrator? Accounting? A hopefully titillating pre-intermediate HTML course? I haven't the foggiest. I do know that I want to get together a portfolio of some sort within the next few weeks. I've got some tutorials to look through for making an online one, but I need to have project examples to put in there first. And I'm so clueless as to what I want to do with these newly-learned skills, and how I can market them. I don't like tooting my own horn, or competing for a shot at something, but I'll have to leave the house, kill something, and drag it home soon enough, and I want to have a part time job where I can use a bit of my creativity.
Tonight, I watched the series premiere of a show on ABC entitled, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and really enjoyed it. Mom and I had listened to him speak on Oprah earlier in the day and made a point of supporting him and checking out his show. I really enjoyed his interaction with the kids of Huntingdon, West Virginia (sorry if I got the town name wrong!). In case you aren't familiar with the story, Jamie Oliver is a British chef with a passion for nutrition who lived in the West Virginia town for three or four months to help implement healthy eating and living in the schools and homes there. Huntingdon was voted the unhealthiest city in the unhealthiest region in the unhealthiest country in the world. He's got a lot of hearts to win over and a lot of opposition and crap to wade through. Jamie is a really sweet, kindhearted person who's not afraid to shoot straight when necessary.
Okay, back to Jamie's interaction with the children. It made me remember how much I admired the school nurse and nutritionist at Toyoshima Elementary and the wonderful presentations they gave about what we were eating that week or what foods were in season. They knew so much about food, and I really felt humbled by their knowledge. It was beautiful. I think that if I ever wanted to work in an elementary school, I'd want to work as a nutritionist, and teach our little babies what fresh foods looked like and what they did for our bodies. Yes.
I think my student Kenta's birthday was this week (March 23rd), so I'm planning on sending him a birthday postcard that will hopefully reach him quickly. He's going into his second year of high school (11th grade). Dang, time goes by so quickly. I alternately feel like I was just in Japan, and like it was all a far-off dream.
I get these spells where I'm really productive, followed by dark times of slothlike tendencies. I've just scuttled out of another sloth-fest, which I both enjoyed and feel a bit ashamed about it. But at least I did a (teeny) little something around the house on my lazy bum days and nights. I also got to watch no less than four movies in the last few days (including Chances Are, about a reincarnated soul who meets his widow again, The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl and Gerard "I'm never quite sure if I like him or not" Butler, a mediocre Hindi romance with a great female lead called What's Your Rashee (Zodiac Sign)?, and a personal screwball favorite--Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. I feel more connected to movies this week. I also feel more connected to Inuyasha. Dang, The Final Act is good. I've been reading fanfiction adn trying to connect with the characters again. I've had some good stories and some really not good ones. But now I need to get out of my bump-on-a-log funk and do something beneficial to me for a half hour or so. That'll probably end up being working on my eBay auction template.
I'm such a little nitpicky perfectionist that I don't want to put up anything for auction on that site until I have a nice looking template to surround it. I've made a good start using Photoshop, but I have to meld in a HTML bit (a stretchable table with a pretty border) so that it'll work with what I did in the other program. I've had very good luck with the two books I've sold on Amazon.com, and I hope to keep up the momentum and free up space in my box-filled room through auctions on eBay. Wish me luck!
Tonight, I watched the series premiere of a show on ABC entitled, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and really enjoyed it. Mom and I had listened to him speak on Oprah earlier in the day and made a point of supporting him and checking out his show. I really enjoyed his interaction with the kids of Huntingdon, West Virginia (sorry if I got the town name wrong!). In case you aren't familiar with the story, Jamie Oliver is a British chef with a passion for nutrition who lived in the West Virginia town for three or four months to help implement healthy eating and living in the schools and homes there. Huntingdon was voted the unhealthiest city in the unhealthiest region in the unhealthiest country in the world. He's got a lot of hearts to win over and a lot of opposition and crap to wade through. Jamie is a really sweet, kindhearted person who's not afraid to shoot straight when necessary.
Okay, back to Jamie's interaction with the children. It made me remember how much I admired the school nurse and nutritionist at Toyoshima Elementary and the wonderful presentations they gave about what we were eating that week or what foods were in season. They knew so much about food, and I really felt humbled by their knowledge. It was beautiful. I think that if I ever wanted to work in an elementary school, I'd want to work as a nutritionist, and teach our little babies what fresh foods looked like and what they did for our bodies. Yes.
I think my student Kenta's birthday was this week (March 23rd), so I'm planning on sending him a birthday postcard that will hopefully reach him quickly. He's going into his second year of high school (11th grade). Dang, time goes by so quickly. I alternately feel like I was just in Japan, and like it was all a far-off dream.
I get these spells where I'm really productive, followed by dark times of slothlike tendencies. I've just scuttled out of another sloth-fest, which I both enjoyed and feel a bit ashamed about it. But at least I did a (teeny) little something around the house on my lazy bum days and nights. I also got to watch no less than four movies in the last few days (including Chances Are, about a reincarnated soul who meets his widow again, The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl and Gerard "I'm never quite sure if I like him or not" Butler, a mediocre Hindi romance with a great female lead called What's Your Rashee (Zodiac Sign)?, and a personal screwball favorite--Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. I feel more connected to movies this week. I also feel more connected to Inuyasha. Dang, The Final Act is good. I've been reading fanfiction adn trying to connect with the characters again. I've had some good stories and some really not good ones. But now I need to get out of my bump-on-a-log funk and do something beneficial to me for a half hour or so. That'll probably end up being working on my eBay auction template.
I'm such a little nitpicky perfectionist that I don't want to put up anything for auction on that site until I have a nice looking template to surround it. I've made a good start using Photoshop, but I have to meld in a HTML bit (a stretchable table with a pretty border) so that it'll work with what I did in the other program. I've had very good luck with the two books I've sold on Amazon.com, and I hope to keep up the momentum and free up space in my box-filled room through auctions on eBay. Wish me luck!