Recently in Personal Reflections Category

Tink's many jobs

By Kristen on April 6, 2018 9:46 AM | No Comments

Months ago in Bangalore, my friend and colleague, Karthik, asked me about what sorts of jobs I've had. I started recounting them. it was a fun exercise in memory and I recalled all sorts of work adventures. I was sure I didn't remember everything so after our conversation, I made a list. It started out sort of chronological, but it isn't really in any order by the end. Anyway, there are fifty eight things I've been paid to do since I started working at 15.

Babysitter
Lifeguard
Aerobics instructor
Camp program assistant
Tutor
Video rental clerk
Bartender
Photocopier
Retail sales
Teacher
Secretary
Desktop publisher/designer
Corporate marketing/events
Stage manager
Telerama school director
Prep cook
Academic computing trainer
Academic IT manager
Feature writer
Interviewer (journalist)
Academic courseware developer
Webmaster
Year 2000 test center manager
Entrepreneur
Scriptwriter
Camera operator
Boom operator
Gaffer
Continuity girl
Video editor
Logo designer
Graphic designer/illustrator
Model
Narrator/voice actor
Ghost writer
Jewellery maker
Translator
Fixer (video production)
Brand designer
CMS programmer
Technical writer
Test subject (cosmetics)
Hoop performer
Hoop dance teacher
Wedding planner
Costumer
Yoga instructor
Circus performer
Choreographer
Circus teacher
Ringmaster
Circus prop maker
E-book writer
Business manager
Art teacher
Meditation teacher
HasGeek director
Musical performer

No wonder I don't know what to do next. Maybe it's time to review and repeat some of the best ones.

25 Words

By Kristen on December 31, 2017 11:59 PM | No Comments

Be careful what you wish for. First Italy, Vietnam, and China with Rob then triangulations among Kamogawa, Bangalore, and Ephrata. Always home and always homeless.

And all the 25 Word entries I've written since 2001:

2016
Half century joys: circus successes; drawing again; driver's license; warm neighbors; loving husband. Sorrows: multiverse branched and Zoupi vanished; my heart broke; mould ruined everything.

2015
A new era began with Japanese eijuuken and freedom to do anything! We quit Tokyo for rural Chiba. Now we have time, space, and ease.

2014
Our 25th anniversary. Eyes opened in Ireland and India to a new life together. More adventures, independence, inventiveness, alliances. Yes, yes! The ayes have it.

2013
Running away to the circus confused me. Spent ten months wondering "What next?" Tried resting, contests, midwifery - not my things. Travel, teaching, performance? Yes. Circus.

2012
Hooping took me up to Tohoku, down to Niijima, and around the world on tour. Ukulele, yoga, improv, songwriting, skating, visiting, & fundraising filled the gaps.

2011
Mother Earth trembled and futures fell apart. Uncertainty ruled us for months but in the end I'm still in Japan, married, hooping, and feeling happy.

2010
Lived my hoop dreams, wheeee! Connected, created, collaborated, choreographed, costumed, capered, camped, coordinated, but then crashed hard. Ouch. Healed and found my truth. Full circle.

2009
Rose petals in blue sky and the scent of muddy elephants conducted me to presence. An intense upwelling of joy revealed the universe inside me.

2008
I made dresses, meals, 100 necklaces, friends. Grew food. Witnessed a birth! I am greying, wrinkling and fading, but I started hooping, so who cares?

2007
Food ruled 2007: went almost vegan, developed recipes, and lost 10 kilos. Also sewed Morsbags, made political statements with robots, and explored Tokyo real estate.

2006
Forty was a pleasure/pain year - a roiling emotional sea. Heartbreaking anguish half drowned me but also un-dammed a flood of patterns, photography and creativity.

2005
This year, a lesson in
How to bear pain and loss.
Travel doesn't cure heartache;
Friends ease the agony.
Healing and peace flow like water.

2004
Did more, finished less.
Strengthened friendships and traveled.
Constructed 18 videos, knitted scarves,
Shared my pencils and my love.
Still seeking realisation of my principles.

2003
Hello Tokyo finally done
Neon Chopstix now begun.
'Twas mostly work but also fun.
Hosted friends from far away.
Another visa for three years' stay.

2002
Celebrating four years in Japan, I exercised my right brain and my poetic voice. I filmed then procrastinated. I waited for the axe to fall.

2001
Spent seven weeks on holiday in Maui, China, mainland US. Wrote lots, taught many, earned little. Saw the inside of my head. Didn't do enough.

Be 2018

By Kristen on December 24, 2017 9:15 AM | No Comments

My guiding theme for 2018 will be Be.

It wasn't my first choice. I had a different word in mind this autumn and I thought it was just right, but I didn't write it down and I forgot it. Mustn't have been as compelling as I imagined.

Yesterday, I started over by browsing through the Qs in the thesarus. I chose Q because it has a pretty shape, but so many of its words are negative. Quux was tempting; it means foobar or whatever, which fits my inability to choose and I like that it has two us in a row. But I passed on quux because it also means "yuck" and also because I should try to choose a word that offers more guidance than "whatever."

OK, fine. Based on activities of 2017, what word might guide me to a better 2018? Secure, keep, and settle came to mind quickly but they seem too passive, too stodgy. Something more active, then. I looked at a bunch of words like change and plan and they made me feel tired. So nothing too active.

What about an emotion? Love is good, right? Peace? They didn't resonate. Neither did joy or happiness. These words are too one dimensional.

Somehow that led me to Be: fundamental and basic to everything. Lifecoaches smugly offer it as single word advice. Be shows up in loopy script on inspirational posters. We overuse it terribly in our daily writing. Have you ever tried to avoid writing "be"? I managed it in this paragraph, but it required many rewrites.

Perhaps Be will help guide me through changes in 2018. Whatever.

Here are my guiding words and themes for previous years:

2009, no shopping: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/archives/010634.html

2010, connect: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/archives/010736.html

2011, relate: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2010/12/reverb-1.html

2012, engage: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2011/12/engage.html

2013, move: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2012/12/move-2013.html

2014, develop: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2013/12/develop-2014.html

2015, explore: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2014/12/explore-2015.html

2016, realise: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2015/12/realise.html

2017, open: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2016/12/open-2017.html

The themes still seem to lag behind by two years.Though my theme for 2017 was Open, according to the lag I was likely to experience Explore instead. I certainly did explore a lot of things this year, though there were elements of Open as well. These theme words are vague like horoscopes; they can be interpreted in many ways. So let's see if 2018 focuses on Realise. I feel like it might, as I can see some decisions coming my way and I must realise answers to them.

Happy 2017

By Kristen on January 1, 2017 12:00 AM | No Comments

25 Words

By Kristen on December 31, 2016 8:53 AM | No Comments

Half century joys: circus successes; drawing again; driver's license; warm neighbors; loving husband. Sorrows: multiverse branched and Zoupi vanished; my heart broke; mould ruined everything.

And all the 25 Word entries I've written since 2001:

2015

A new era began with Japanese eijuuken and freedom to do anything! We quit Tokyo for rural Chiba. Now we have time, space, and ease.

2014

Our 25th anniversary. Eyes opened in Ireland and India to a new life together. More adventures, independence, inventiveness, alliances. Yes, yes! The ayes have it.

2013

Running away to the circus confused me. Spent ten months wondering "What next?" Tried resting, contests, midwifery - not my things. Travel, teaching, performance? Yes. Circus.

2012

Hooping took me up to Tohoku, down to Niijima, and around the world on tour. Ukulele, yoga, improv, songwriting, skating, visiting, & fundraising filled the gaps.

2011

Mother Earth trembled and futures fell apart. Uncertainty ruled us for months but in the end I'm still in Japan, married, hooping, and feeling happy.

2010

Lived my hoop dreams, wheeee! Connected, created, collaborated, choreographed, costumed, capered, camped, coordinated, but then crashed hard. Ouch. Healed and found my truth. Full circle.

2009

Rose petals in blue sky and the scent of muddy elephants conducted me to presence. An intense upwelling of joy revealed the universe inside me.

2008

I made dresses, meals, 100 necklaces, friends. Grew food. Witnessed a birth! I am greying, wrinkling and fading, but I started hooping, so who cares?

2007

Food ruled 2007: went almost vegan, developed recipes, and lost 10 kilos. Also sewed Morsbags, made political statements with robots, and explored Tokyo real estate.

2006

Forty was a pleasure/pain year - a roiling emotional sea. Heartbreaking anguish half drowned me but also un-dammed a flood of patterns, photography and creativity.

2005

This year, a lesson in

How to bear pain and loss.

Travel doesn't cure heartache;

Friends ease the agony.

Healing and peace flow like water.

2004

Did more, finished less.

Strengthened friendships and traveled.

Constructed 18 videos, knitted scarves,

Shared my pencils and my love.

Still seeking realisation of my principles.

2003

Hello Tokyo finally done

Neon Chopstix now begun.

'Twas mostly work but also fun.

Hosted friends from far away.

Another visa for three years' stay.

2002

Celebrating four years in Japan, I exercised my right brain and my poetic voice. I filmed then procrastinated. I waited for the axe to fall.

2001

Spent seven weeks on holiday in Maui, China, mainland US. Wrote lots, taught many, earned little. Saw the inside of my head. Didn't do enough.

Open 2017

By Kristen on December 28, 2016 9:24 AM | No Comments

My guiding theme for 2017 will be Open.

Some years, choosing the theme word for the year involves a lot of thesaurus consulting, debating and mind-changing. But this year it came to me in a flash and I haven't considered anything else. Open is just right: honest, undecided, unobstructed, obvious, objective. I may find myself beginning something new, or exposing something hidden.

Here are my guiding words and themes for previous years:

2009, no shopping: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/archives/010634.html

2010, connect: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/archives/010736.html

2011, relate: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2010/12/reverb-1.html

2012, engage: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2011/12/engage.html

2013, move: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2012/12/move-2013.html

2014, develop: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2013/12/develop-2014.html

2015, explore: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2014/12/explore-2015.html

2016, realise: https://mt.mediatinker.com/blog/2015/12/realise.html

Last year, I noticed a two year lag in the words and it seems to have held true again. Though my theme for 2016 was "realise," I feel that 2014's "develop" was more appropriate. So I suspect 2017 will be all about "explore" and with our new driver's licenses, Tod & I already have plans to do that.

Evolution of Christmas Spirit

By Kristen on December 26, 2016 8:56 AM | No Comments

This year end has been hectic and stressful with driving school, health issues, a broken fridge, blah, blah, blah. I was not feeling the usual "I hate Christmas' mood this year as much as I was completely indifferent and almost ignorant of the holiday coming up.

Boxes arrived from family overseas. I stacked them up. Topped with a bottle of wine, there's our tree for the year. Good enough. I was not interested in being creative.

But inspiration finally struck on Christmas day and I designed a tree out of the cardboard from the boxes. I scissored, taped and slotted to create a three dimensional, self-standing tree. Sort of Suessian, it echoed the shape of the two origami balls we received from the 3rd graders at Nagasa Elementary school.

A string of lights completed the look. I'm rather proud of this tree that came from nowhere. It is whimsical and no-waste.

We completed our holiday festivities with a lovely dinner and opening the presents that family sent. Tod & I agreed to not exchange gifts this year - the first time in 28 years I didn't buy something for him - but he surprised me with a stollen from one of our local bakers.

Creole duck breast, mashed potatoes, greens, and wild rice. Yum.

Omens, Talismans, and Offerings

By Kristen on December 13, 2016 11:24 AM | No Comments

I am solidly superstitious, though usually pretty quiet about it. Omens are things of legend and talismans are for the weak and foolish. Despite that, I've always had a feeling that there are objects and actions that will improve any situation. Yesterday, when I went to the Driving License Center to take my final exam, I was well armed:

I'd dreamed about my hair in big, bun-like knobs, so I styled something as close to that as possible.
I put on a matching bra and panties. I feel more confident if I am nicely dressed on every layer.
I wore a necklace that keeps me calm and safe. It is visible in my driver's license picture and that is sweet.
I polished my boots to honor my father who taught me not only the value of shiny shoes but also was my driving inspiration.
I was thrilled to see Mt Fuji clearly en route to Makuhari; for me, she is a herald of good things to come.

I am certain it wasn't actually any of these actions or objects that caused me to pass the exam. I prepared with study, practice, and review to pass the test. The scientific side of me says superstitions are rubbish. However, they can't hurt and they do help me through the nervous bits of challenging days. So thank you to my talismans, omens, and offerings for ensuring that I passed the test, completed the paperwork correctly, and received my license.

8 Streetlights, 12 Spiderwebs

By Kristen on July 2, 2016 12:25 AM | No Comments

I love walking in the night. Tokyo made me forget the beauty of darkness, but the countryside has awakened my enjoyment of evening calmness. It isn't pitch black, even on a cloudy, new moon night, but photos don't capture the dull glow of sky, the faint reflections in the rice fields, or the shy blinking of fireflies. On my way from Satoyama Design Factory to home last night, I watched my feet on the grey paths, observed the diffuse glow of distant windows behind heavy mist, and counted the sparse streetlamps.

Changes of Season

By Kristen on May 10, 2016 8:52 PM | No Comments

Before we left Tokyo seven months ago, I had a concern about the seasons, of all things. After almost 18 years in the city, I was tuned to the nature there and the procession of plants and weather created a visceral annual timeline for me. If I moved somewhere else, I'd lose my sense of time and it would take years to get it back and, and, and...panic.

And yes, it is true. I have no clue yet about whether I can plan for sunny days this month or what weather is heralded by iris or whether the plums bloomed at the normal time or not. The general brush of the seasons is different here. We're only a couple hours away from Tokyo, but the southern Chiba mountains are a different ecosystem entirely.

I love it. I swear that every day I go out walking, I notice a flower suddenly in bloom everywhere, a caterpillar cruising along, grasses rising up from the verges. There is myriad detail in this parade of nature - so much richer than the city where everything was planted on purpose. Here, layered over what Nature does on her own is what man does with Nature - preparing, planting, maintaining.

So in this first year of living in the country, I am observing and recording without understanding or anticipating. Someday, years from now, I'll get it all put together into an internal calendar again. Until then, taking it one day at a time is not as disorienting as I thought it might be.

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Recently in Personal Reflections Category

Tink's many jobs

25 Words

Be 2018

Happy 2017

25 Words

Open 2017

Evolution of Christmas Spirit

Omens, Talismans, and Offerings

8 Streetlights, 12 Spiderwebs

Changes of Season

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