43rd Anniversary

 

#39

 For our 39th anniversary, I was undecided on how to celebrate.  One initial thought was to see if Shohei Ohtani was pitching that night.  We had gone to see him a few weeks ago and had a great time.  He pitched on Thurs.   I looked into my usual backlog of ideas, concerts, stage plays, special events.  Nothing panned out.

Then this event notice came out from various people I know.  I was out of options, so I figured that we could always go to one of our favorite places to eat in Little Tokyo, Azay, before the showing.   We weren't too sure what this was and assumed it was a standard video showing. No one I had talked to knew what to expect.  When we go to the theater, it was a packed house as we ended up in the balcony.

If they ever do another performance, I would highly recommend seeing it. It was a combination of video, live narration and live musical performance. How to describe it after that is difficult.  When we got there, you could see a list of well known folks in the JA community and a lot of reserved seats. A podium, stool and music stand on the left, a grand piano, 8 mics on stands on the right and soon, a cellist and violinist.  Tamlyn Tomita was the MC.

After Tamlyn finished her intro, the podium was removed, David sat down on a stool, musicians and the choir came out.  And the narration and video began.  After the performance, everyone was emotionally spent and very few dry eyes.  I really don't know how to express my reactions to the performance.

David Ohno and Jeff MacIntyre did an incredible job in producing this event. The ABC owned affiliates sponsored the production.  I don't know if there will be other performances or if it will travel to other cities, but if you ever get a chance to see it, you will not regret it.  

This is the link to the program
https://definingcourageshow.com/

11 Years and Counting......

 11 years ago I had my heart surgery, quadruple bypass.  I still have a difficult time looking at the scar that has keloid up and down the center of my chest.    Just when I am successful in ignoring it, it demands attention by becoming uncontrollably itchy and soothes only with vigorous scratching  longitudinally along both sides of the scar, almost penetrating through the skin.

To celebrate, we went to an Angel Baseball game to watch Shohei Ohtani pitch and were treated to fireworks at the end of the game. As a bonus we were able to see the Disneyland fireworks over the freeway on the way home.

Even though I grew up watching games at Dodger stadium, it was a fun experience at Angel stadium.  My dad always listened to Bud Blattner over the radio so it brought back a lot of memories.  

I still remember a few things, like the nurse trying to remove my wedding ring prior to surgery, Gayle climbing onto the hospital bed to get me breathing so they could remove the tube down my throat, the amount of equipment and tubes that kept me alive and the rumbling of the portable X-ray machine coming down the hallway at 5 in the morning.

This is starting to break free the ignored memories of that event.  I was considered young at that time to have a heart attack, much less bypass surgery.  I guess I have now aged into my medical history.  It matches how I currently feel and look.

 

It's That Time Again

 Three years have passed since my last Colonoscopy, 6 years since discovering I had Colon Cancer.

I know too many folks that did not survive, I did.  This was a reminder.

You Tube Video of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny of Lead from Behind

https://youtu.be/5sXkIUZEWIo

Surprises

 Other than how Putin and Russia can get away with what they are doing to Ukraine, things continue surprise me.  Among our generation of JA, we are continuing to explore the incarceration of WWII. 

While at times we take it for granted that everyone knows about it, we find out no one really does.

This is from today's LA Times comic section from one of my favorite comic strips.

In the same edition, published was the obituary for Secretary Norm Mineta.  In my research for my films, he has come up often as a  subject of interest.  In my google image search for this year's film, I came across this photo taken by Mario Reyes of the Rafu Shimpo.  It is by far my favorite of all the photos.  This year at the Heart Mountain Pilgrimage they are to celebrate the groundbreaking of The Mineta-Simpson Institute at HeartMountain.  

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks.... Sort of

 I was told tonight that I haven't posted in a long time..... time to catch up.

I was given lessons by my daughter in law in Facebook.  Yes I have posted a few things recently, but I didn't understand what I was doing.  Friends, accepting, Friend Requests, Public.  All the things I didn't want to take the time to figure out.  I was laughing  when I found out I had 141 friends, and that quite a few I never met.  How does that happen?  Well I found out tonight.

Old folks use Facebook, the next generation uses Instagram and who knows what the youth of today use.  I don't understand Twitter and what all the fuss is about when Trump Tweets.  Who really cares?   Apparently a lot of people do.

I also got a lesson on Facebook Messenger.  It will become another way to communicate with the grandkids other than FaceTime.  And apparently I have messages from years gone by.

But in the big picture of things, I still am a luddite when it comes to social media.  The wife and I barely keep up to keep in contact with the grandkids.  But I am slowly learning that some of these new fangled apps may be of benefit.  

Marrying Up

 Ok, I never said I was a genius.  Whenever the discussion with the wife drifts to intelligence, It is always assumed that I married up.  It takes me a longer time to figure things out where the wife seems to get things instantaneously.  She claims that the intelligence of the children are determined by the mother.  You can see where this is going.  I am unable to label any of the sons as mediocre in smarts.

I got into film making as something to keep me occupied during chemo therapy.  A friend was gracious to invite me to join him in the class.  He would drive me to chemo sessions and every week to our film class downtown.  I should add he has produced some great films.

I never thought of me being a storyteller.  I don't tell jokes, Im not a conversationalist, nor outgoing.  I hate sitting in theaters for long periods of time in the midst of strangers.  I don't see movies (yes, that means I am culturally ignorant) and have a disdain for actors who believe they are a gift of the gods for the ability to essentially lie for a living.

But then last night after my last post, it occurred to me, this blog was my way of telling stories in the short form.  This led to film making.  Their structure is the same, and are not preplanned.  They just occur.  When I create a film, they are short (thank goodness), and I admit the result of hours of research and film (interviews).  Yet when I sit down to the computer, I pretty much know how it all is going to fit.  I can remember sections of the interview from the numerous clips that I stitch together.

Now I'm not saying that I am a genius at film making (I'm not Kurasawa or Miyazaki).  Far from it.  I am an amateur student film maker with no plans to make a living out of this.  My films follow a familiar structure with an unintended message.  Yeah, I don't go in with a pre planned message in mind, but hopefully let the subject tell their story.  The film just happens.

Going back to intelligence in the marriage, her response is always "I married you".  Interpret that any way you want.