Commitment

My new film this year is on the Japanese American National Memorial Court.  It is dedicated to all the JAs whose lives were lost while serving their country.  It is turning out to be eye opening to say the least.  It started with last year's film on the Buddhahead Breakfast Club.  A group of older Sanseis that meet once a month.  Their common bond was their lives growing up as products of the internment camps and the Nisei relocation.  The common theme was they were all deeply affected by the Vietnam war.  Whether they fought, served in other areas or had college deferments, it was an impact on their lives.

This is a memorial separate from the Go For Broke Monument near the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.  This is an isolated memorial next to the JACC.  In my research, I am learning of both the Korean War Vets and Vietnam Vets and their dedication to this small courtyard.  I am trying to document what it means to them, the significance of the memorial for the JA community.

My problem is not getting the interviews, but understanding the purpose.  It can't be just another commentary on war, sacrifice.  It needs to communicate the purpose for future generations.
Is it just for those families who lost loved ones, or for those who remember lost friends.  Why does the memorial need to exist when there are many other.

In interviewing these men of both wars, I can't help but admire and respect their choices and life and how it made my life that much easier.  It did not end with the 442nd.  I come across names that are familiar, men I knew but not of the service.  Some of them friends of my dad.

Most of my films were results of this blog, the narratives were products of these ramblings.  I haven't had a entry in months, but I realize that I need to continue writing to formulate the story line.  This one scares me the most, as I feel that I need to do their story justice in about 7 minutes.  Will it be just another recounting of men dying, or will it actually convey its overall purpose for future generations.

Isn't That Amazing!!

To quote Huell Howser of Public Television.  Gayle now has a watch that monitors her heart and can call 911 if she falls and can't get up.  She now talks to Alexa to turn on the Korean Soap Operas and the light next to it.  Of course she doesn't quite understand that Alexa hates to be called Siri.

Right now the youngest is in Japan.  Yesterday he was FaceTiming from the Pokemon store with Jordan in Seattle, Us in Covina with #2 grandson and grand daughter and Jeff and #1 in Dallas.  All on the same screen on our iPhone.   Holy Jetsons.

And to top if off, the day my tech support leaves for Japan, my desktop goes down.  Amazing, scary, frustrating and indispensable.

The curse of Ken Burns

I've been watching the new Ken Burns documentary on Country Music.  I have always had a soft spot for country music. At times during a shuffle a country song would pop up in the play list and the wife would go where did that come from?  I grew up watching KTLA channel 5 on the weekends.  They would broadcast country bands on top of a flatbed truck.  I also have memories of Buck Owens.

The curse is that his documentaries run two hours straight, with no breaks.  A fade to black soon gives way to a new direction.  The curse?  I have to time my liquid intake prior to watching the series.    No bathroom breaks.  I do have to learn how to plan ahead to record the series.

Gotta go, Patsy Cline is coming on.

Hello Kitty

Ok, the grand daughter is almost one year old.  And I will have you notice that I have yet to buy her anything with Hello Kitty on it.    No stuffed animal, no onesie, no suitcase.  I do have my eyes on the Hello Kitty Toaster.  At least not yet.  Im still getting used to the fact that I have a grand daughter.  

The girl already withstands the wild energy of her two older brothers.  At a recent relative wedding, it was mentioned many times of their energy level.  When we fist saw them at the airport, the noise level rose and calmness evaporated.  Now this is not a complaint, we enjoy the madness, even though we don't remember anything close during our kids childhood.  But we tend to revise history in our old age.

Even though through our travels we constantly buy cute things for her, just no Hello Kitty.  The oldest grandson already knows that their monthly package from grandma and grandpa will mostly be for his sister.  The middle one sings the song of "nobody ever listens to me" and the realization the young princess is subtlety attracting more attention.  

So the challenge is how do we make sure all grandkids are equally loved, just in different ways.  It is difficult as we compete with school, sports, church and Pokemon.  Just be aware that Hello Kitty is mainly geared towards the female gender and is omnipresent.  Im thinking Godzilla may be more appropriate to fight off those big brothers and future boy friends.

Personality Credit

We just spent the part of the past week with the Grand kids and both of the older sons.  #2 reinacted a swearing in by a Washington State Appeals Judge after passing the Washington state bar.  It has confirmed that the same two parents create three completely different personalities in the embodiment of little children.  Our three are a CPA, Lawyer and Software Programer. Of the grandkids, one can recite the every characteristic of each Pokemon, one defies logic with endless energy and appetite for snacks and the other can calmly charm me to submission.  There are parts of their parents in each one, but not in the same proportions or concentrations.  What is scary are the bits in them that are pointed out to me by others and attributed to me.

What are the chances of my passing on stuff other than my DNA?  That stuff being the quirks of personality.  And how come when it is pointed out, it is never the good stuff?  My grandson's intelligence is never attributed to me.  Their creativity is from their mom (OK, that is accurate), Any athletic ability is naturally omitted from my lineage.  I get the credit for the unfavorable behavior.  And it somehow skips over my sister and is isolated to me.

Bottom line, we had a great time visiting the Olympics, Snoqualmie Falls (for those of you who are of age, think Twin Peaks), and reuniting with siblings, cousins and the next generation of Pokemon fanatics.

Time Catches Up

When I'm Sixty-Four

The Beatles

When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine

If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

You'll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you

I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more

Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall…

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away

Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTunqv1Xt4

Binge Watching Therapy

Shoyu on Rice part two:  As the news of my current condition continues to sink in, well I start wondering.  How lucky was I to not have another heart attack, the timing of the angiogram, a wife that has no problems taking me off at ER at odd hours and her gradual acceptance of my unusualness.  And of course, why me.

As I think about those possibilities and wait for the late night infusion of streaming typing, I decided to watch the Kaminsky Method.  Alan Arkin and Michael  Douglass star in a dramedy series on friendship and life in the elder years of life.  For some reason it made me laugh out loud.  I was on the     fringe of gloom and doom when I started to watch episode one.

The series forced me to identify with a lot of the attitudes and issues they lived.  The prostrate issue was hilarious for us old guys, but the difficulty in accepting friendship and the effects of friendship that are not necessarily the sweet and kind results of the Hallmark channel.  Things you that are at the tip of your tongue but are reluctant to release upon the world, especially in today's oppressive fear of offending anyone.  There exists a cruelty of friendship, and how we endure the joy in torturing each other.  The difficulty in admitting wrong when we can easily get away with things by just being old.

Ok, It's time to move beyond the bypass, cancer, missing colon, chemo brain, neuropathy, stents, endless prescriptions,  stiffness, pending medicare, but not ignore that they exist or have occurred .  The disturbing thought is that it is getting easier to see why people give up.  I will be OK as long as I don't end up in a nursing home where they put shoyu on my rice.

Shoyu on Rice

There are bad combinations in life.  We don't drive a vehicle while drunk, you don't pour shoyu ( soy sauce) on your rice and you don't binge watch Netflix after visiting the cardiologist.  Let me explain.

Today was the follow up to my angiogram last week.  Wait, you may recall my sneaking out of the hospital after my blood pressure spike during the holidays, the Dr. scheduled an angiogram as a precaution.   That is the procedure where they insert a catheter into your artery through your groin to see  if there are any obstructions in your heart.

If you go back far enough, you may recall I had quadruple bypass in 2016.  I had passed my treadmill stress test, EKG and echocardiogram six months prior to my heart attack.  It was described as unusual.  Remember that term.  I had a follow up treadmill stress test and echocardiogram 6 months ago with no issues but I was feeling fatigued.   I attributed the tiredness to the residual effects of the chemotherapy (you might have to read previous posts).  So my cardiologist scheduled the angiogram just in case.  Ahh those precautionary procedures just in case........

The procedure was scheduled the day after New Years, at a hospital further away (not within walking distance) and warnings that I had to have a ride home.   I kind of suspected someone warned the hospital of my adventure down Hawthorne Blvd.  It wasn't Gayle as I had previously booked her travel to Texas to see the grandsons and their new sister on New Years day.  She was not happy with my scheduling, but my economical cheapness won out as I didn't want to forfeit the cost of airline tickets.

My logic and argument was that it was just a simple quick outpatient procedure that will go smoothly and the likely hood of them finding any blockage was slim due to my passing all the previous tests.  I'm used to getting that look of doubt plus I was warned to send her prepared.  It was in the 30s in Dallas with a threat of snow  The first grand daughter and her crazy brothers won over gut feelings.

Angiogram result:  two major blockages and two stents inserted in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, otherwise known as the widow maker, and yes, it was one of the bypassed arteries.  The only problem Is how do I inform Gayle without her freaking out or yelling.   Simple, you FaceTime her with the grandkids.   Evil.  I know, but it didn't quite work out as I planned as the phone call after the grandkids were preoccupied with a Pokemon film was a little more harsh.  And yes, Jared picked me up from the hospital.  Torrance Memorial was a little more prison like in their release procedures.

Today's follow up visit was simple.  Yes there was complete blockage in two spots,  I could have easily had a heart attack, which was probably avoided by the development of collateral arteries.  Two stents were inserted, but wait, if it clogged in the graft after 7 years, does this mean that it will again in another 7?  According to the Doc, the answer was no, but he did admit that it is unusual for this to occur in the LAD.  If I hear that term unusual again, I'm updating my will and planning my funeral (are we seeing a trend in the description as "unusual"?).

Shoyu on rice?  Tonight I binged The Kaminsky Method on Netflix.  Two old guys dealing with old age.  More on that later.  Go to go make my sandwich for tomorrow's lunch.