Fear

When ever the grand kids get injured, the Miyoshi side reminisces about their injuries.  Each one has a scar to prove out their story.  But it always comes to the story of Todd and his daughter Michelle that does not involve physical injury.  When she was young she got a hold of a pair of scissors and cut her hair under Todd's watch.  His story was he only turned his back for two minutes.  It looked so bad that even a attempted hair cut by the family hair dresser couldn't fix it.

What we laugh about was that it was the only time his brother Cliff witnessed fear in Todd.     This is the guy who was fearless on the football, rugby and la cross fields of division 3 NCAA against guys bigger, quicker and stronger than him.  How does he face his wife Erin who cried when she saw Michelle's do it herself trim?

Jared did something similar, but we ended up laughing more than anything else.  The hair cut required a #0 hair trimmer guide Marine style.  Cousin Michelle already had set the precedent and buzz cuts on a boy is no comparison to a young girl's beautifully cropped hair with gaps.

Of course none of these events that occurred to the Wada boys were ever on my watch,  knock on wood.  Wait, we are soon traveling to Texas to watch the grandsons.  Cross my fingers......

In Recognition Of

To commemorate my 1 year check up from Colon Cancer: 6 Silent Symptoms of Colon Cancer:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/6-silent-symptoms-of-colon-cancer-you-might-be-missing/ss-AAoPB3U?ocid=ientp


And the American Cancer Society now recommends that Colon Cancer Screening should now start at the age of 45.

http://www.businessinsider.com/colon-cancer-screening-guidelines-2018-5


And lets not forget the Quadruple Bypass event of 2011
This one tends to be a little obsessive as everyone experiences at least one of these symptoms,  But if you are experiencing multiple warning signs, please schedule that Cardiologist appointment.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/20-warning-signs-your-heart-sends-you/ss-AAqfZku?ocid=ientp

Wada Tradition part 2

Just when you thought it was a fluke of nature.  #2 ran into a closet door requiring 2 stitches.  Apparently due to the location and position, the Urgent Care folks had to secure #2 to keep him from moving around.  It looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie.  I'm guessing I can post because they were posted on Facebook.

Of course Grandpa and Grandma sent more bandaids and a more things to cuddle for comfort.   This time he actually has a boo boo to cover.  Thank goodness for Amazon Prime.

Jeff now has to consider opening a family account with the Urgent Care center or think about acquiring the naming rights to the building.  Wada Urgent Care?  

It is noted that both accidents occurred during Jeff's watch.  Hockey helmets are on order.

Uncle Jordan still claims the record for # of stitches.  

Confession

I just read a previous post on the Honorable Rice Pot and looked at the posted picture.  It is the same one used in the promotional materials of the video I created, the Traveling Rice Pot.

I cheated.  If you look closely, the aluminum teflon coated 3 cup inner rice pot was inserted into the rice pot.  I had cooked the rice and didn't want to take the time or effort to cook it the retro way.

It was corrected in the video.  All rice shown was cooked in the pot.  The hard part was finding a wooden shamoji (rice paddle).  Auntie Yoshi, naturally still uses one.  Now, shamojis are plastic with holes and bumps to prevent the rice from sticking to it.  At home, we have a pink rice paddle, one that stands up on the end of it's handle, and one shaped like a Mickey Mouse white glove. I'm now looking for a non cancer causing asbestos heat insulating pad.  The family used to remove the pot from the stove and place it on a asbestos pad to rest for about 5 minutes..

Just a FYI, there are numerous posts on the internet on how to cook rice in a pot on the stove.  Up until I had inherited the rice pot, I had forgotten you could cook rice without an electronic cooker.  Google 'How to Cook Rice'.

Note:  For those of you that have seen my video, No I haven't heard from my Aunt yet on the last clip.  For those of you that haven't seen it, I will post a link later.  There are issues that I need to clear up on posting with Visual Communications.

Modern teflon coated pot inserted into the Yokoi rice pot.

Cooked rice in the Yokoi rice pot.

Collection of rice paddles, with bumps, holes, slots, color, standing and Mickey Mouse glove.

Perspective

The one problem with being a part of the Digital Histories program, is that they keep referring to us as Senior Citizens with a "rich" history.  When did I become a Senior Citizen?  When do I get accustomed to the label?  When do I embrace my status as a Senior Citizen?


This sums up how I feel.

Heart and Soul

The video on the family rice pot was shown this past weekend at the Aratani theater in Little Tokyo.  It is a little strange viewing it in a large theater and listening to the reaction of the audience to various portions of the video.  On mine, it was laughter at various points that I didn’t anticipate.  The reaction would sometimes masked the ongoing dialog.

Of course there is always sacrifice in what you present.  Time is a factor, pacing, matching dialog to pictures, etc.  Ken Burns I am not.  But I guess everyone has a point of view.  I just got to see mine on the big screen. 

The end result?  I guess in some ways it is a validation of what my vision is.  Being able to nudge me as motivation to proceed.  I still want to document pastor’s stories looking back from their “retirement”.  I want to also document Asian basketball stories.  Both are integral to the JA community.

The Digital Histories program is in limbo.  They are seeking sponsorship to continue the program.  This showing was the most viewed and hopefully has influenced sponsors to continue the program.  VC has been phenomenal in their sponsorship and support of the program.  They treat us in the DH program like all the other professional film makers struggling to create their visions.  But I now understand how they keep telling up that our perspective is different and valuable as “seniors”.  What I produced would have been completely different if the younger generation produced it.

Which brings me to the heart of the program.  I am one of the younger ‘seniors” in the program.  It is the older participants that are the heart and soul of Digital Histories.  They are the ones seeking the stories that are vanishing, they are the ones with their iphones, not afraid to create their film to tell their stories.  Those of us more technically adept can be produce slick, polished projects, but it is the raw stories and videos that hit the heart the most.  Without them, the program is hollow and empty in emotional content.

Hey Wada! Productions was named due to the unique Wada experience.  As stated in a previous post, we are somehow called by our last name.  And to get our attention, it is often “Hey Wada!”    Go figure. 

Remembering

I was sitting with my cousin Jon the other day and he reminded me of my dad's proclivity to purchase an odd assortment of cars.  There was the Rambler that never quite ran well, the Dodge Pioneer with push button transmission buttons, the Dodge that barely made it up the hills of Seattle, one of the first Mazda rotary engines that ingested ash from Mt. St. Helens and the Opel Cadet that had no acceleration.  Try driving the Opel onto Washington State highways with short on ramps.

When we moved him down from Vancouver Wa. to Los Angeles, there were at least 10 copier paper boxes of toothpaste.  Any time there was a sale, apparently he bought toothpaste.  I always assumed it was a by product of his upbringing when supplies were scarce.

In my youth there were adventures in the garage.  It was filled with so much stuff, I created tunnels to crawl through.  A two car garage with no room for a car.  I guess that is why we had a carport.  As I set out to find stuff in my garage, I find myself navigating through stuff like i did when i was young.

Dad had loyal friends.  Friends from the Army and Japan.  Recently I attended a funeral of an old Army buddy of his from MIS interpreter school.  To this day his sons reminisce about how their dad would talk about their friendship.  His friends would come by and tell stories of how he would buy food and supplies from the Army PX and distribute it to people he knew in need during postwar Japan.  They were fiercely loyal to him in friendship.

There are some things I inherited from my parents, both good, bad and strange.  I find in myself more of the strange traits than good.