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| Ok, so I chose to go to London! I am really doing this! Nervous, scared, excited; all of the above is how I feel. It's gonna be quite the experience. I've never formally taken any kind of art class in my life. Well, besides an intro art class in high school which I actually really enjoyed if I look back on it. It is a one year foundation diploma course in Art & Design w/ a photography pathway. That's the title of this further education program at the University of Arts London College of Communication. It sounds like a lot going on doesn't it? I am curious to see what they teach me and how they teach it to me. Will I be focused? Oh you bet I will be! I'm paying international fees; plus I wanna do all I can to rightly earn my opportunities of possibly sticking around longer in London. When I went to Tokyo to teach English, one year flew by so quickly; that I just had to stay another year. I think one way that I can stay as focused as a peregrine falcon, is to become a sketch hunter: "The sketch hunter has delightful days of drifting about among people, in and out of the city, going anywhere, everywhere, stopping as long as he likes ---- no need to reach any point, moving in any direction following the call of interests. He moves through life as he finds it, not passing negligently the things he loves, but stopping to know them and to note them down in the shorthand of his sketchbook....He is looking for what he loves, he tries to capture it. It's found anywhere, everywhere. Those who are not hunters do not see these things. The hunter is learning to see and to understand--to enjoy." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- London! I can't wait to experience you and all the inspiration that you can exude upon an artist. Even though we have never met before, I already know that we will get along just fine and vibe off each other to create something wonderful. Respectfully, Sketch Hunter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |
| Right now I am at a transition and crossroads in my life. I recently moved back to the United States after teaching English in Tokyo, Japan for the past 2.5 years. Now I am faced with three options and roads in front of me: 1.) Masters in Social Work at San Diego State University 2.) Masters in Special Education at California State Los Angeles 3.) Foundation Certificate Course in Art & Design w/ Photography pathway at University of Arts London School of Communication. Which road will I start walking along? That is exactly the dilemma I have been dealing with for the past month since I've been back in the U.S. I honestly wish that God had the ability to get on gmail and shoot me an email telling me what I should do. I wish it was the easy! I guess that's the beauty in faith, free will of choice, and your life as it unfolds in front of your eyes. Of course, a natural part of me worries if what I choose to do is in sync with what God wants me to do. Therefore, I asked God to give me a dreams in order to hint at me or communicate with me about how I should go about making a decision. Growing up going to Sunday school at church or in the classroom at the Christian schools I attended, there were always stories about people in the Bible getting visions and dreams from God. I thought this was a legitimate thing to ask of God right before closing my eyes before bed. A little one liner shout out, "Give me a dream God, peace out....zzSNOREzz". Well, let me just tell you that he did respond and the dream went like this: I was driving a car up on a mountainous winding road off the coast of the ocean. For some reason, I was reclined all the way back in my chair and was steering the wheel almost blindly as I could barely see over the dashboard. There was someone sitting in the backseat whom I believe to be God. He was not giving me instructions to continue straight nor turn the wheel right or left. Instead, he was simply assuring me that I was ok and doing fine with every hesitant motion of the wheel. This lasted for awhile until there was a point where I really started to panic and worry about falling over the edge and plunging straight into the water. Next thing I knew, we were flying over the edge and headed for the waters below. However, this was not your ordinary nightmare. I was not screaming and was rather fairly calm; more like a "aww shucks, gosh darn it" kind of feeling. As we hit impact and started sinking I realized that I was actually sitting in the passenger seat. Then, I woke up! After thinking about what the dream could possibly mean and talking with other people about it, here are some possible interpretations and things to ponder: ~I have some control issues to figure out concerning my life as far as who is in the driver's seat. ~God is telling me that no matter what I decide to do for the next chapter in my life, things will be ok as long as I put him in the driver's seat. ~If I put God in the driver's seat, I won't have to worry about falling over the edge. ~Falling over the edge is not necessarily a bad thing and could just represent stepping into the unknown. ~Whoever was in the driver's seat during the dream, could have represented a distraction that causes me to go over the edge. What do you think the dream means? In the dream, who do you think was in the driver's seat then? I wanna hear your opinion. It could be sarcastic, witty, scientific, biblical, etc. Thanks for reading, Dreamcatcher
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| 1. Monster- Kanye West feat. Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nikki Minaj
2. Low Shoulder- Toro Y Moi
3. Pyramid- Charice feat. Iyaz
4. On Melancholy Hill- Gorillaz
5. Unforgettable- Drake feat. Young Jeezy
6. Home-LCD Soundsystem
7. Eenie Meenie- Justin Bieber feat. Sean Kingston
8. Cooler Than Me- Mike Posner feat. Big Sean
9. Window Seat- Erykah Badu
10. Nothing On You- B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars | | |
| Laconic~ one of few words
Libertine~ one unrestricted by morals
Yesterday, my father came into my room and warned me about continuing to sin and defying what is in the Bible. He was referring to my acts of this... and acts of that.... which is prohibited according to the Bible. Now, I do believe the Bible was inspired by God, but it was written by people; and people are not perfect. I'm not one to really argue and I don't like confrontations; because I think in the end, emotions run my body and I'll just end up getting really angry, sad, or upset. It's like hitting a wall when it comes to talking about the Bible and its truth or inerrant ways. He pounded the Bible and said, "Bottom line, you are defying God and what is says in the Bible", and as he was walking away, he murmured a firm "goodnite". At that moment, I felt like a total "Laconic Libertine". Maybe that should be my new username for something.
Until next time,
Cheahbattaburger | | |
| Well, let me just start off and say that "No, I am not fluent in Japanese!" It is such a pet peeve of mine when people back in the States make preconceived comments alluding that one must indeed become "fluent" in the mother language given the fact that one abides in that foreign country. I guess many people don't realize that it is quite easy to live in Tokyo without knowing any Japanese. Aside from ordering food and occasionally talking to a sales clerk when shopping, you can go days without speaking Japanese. Some days I decide that I am only going to speak English and the Japanese people must deal with it. I can get away with it being in Tokyo, a major city with lots of foreigners. If I was living in a small countryside area in Japan, then maybe I would be forced to converse with the people in the town.... so I don't go completely socially insane.
I am quite lucky to have made close friends here in Tokyo. Surprisingly, none of them work for my company. I thank God that somehow our paths crossed. I probably would have left Japan a long time ago if I didn't have their support and companionship. I feel we are all doing this together, working in a far away land uncertain for what's next in Japan and/or in our home countries. In a nutshell, I feel that I have created a quasi American English speaking bubble for myself in Tokyo. The downside of this is that my Japanese remains poor.
As a result, I have developed some bad communication habits. For example, when in doubt of the meaning when being spoken to; I usually respond with a "hai!" (Yes!) followed by a confused look on my face. Sometimes the (Yes!) as an answer or agreement is elongated to a h---aiiiii in hesitation. In some situations, I go with my gut instinct and guess what the person is trying to convey. I've actually gotten pretty good at it. However, my tactic can get me into trouble. I realized this when I approached the concert venue for the band Phoenix.
This is what happened:
There was this big gate that you entered first to get to the actual venue building about 100meters in the distance. There was a guy standing by the big gate and he said something to me in Japanese when I was about 12 feet away. All I caught in his speech was the Japanese pronunciation of ticket (ticket-o). I quickly guessed that he said, "Please take out your ticket to be checked in order to proceed through the gate". Hence, I pulled out my ticket and handed it to him. Then, he pulled out some yen. At that point, I realized that he had asked me, "Do you have any tickets for sale?" hahaha
From this experience, I realized that I am at risk of being taken advantage of by the Japanese people. However, the beauty is that Japanese people are very kind and I'm not too worried about that happening.
No Problem, No Worries.... if I don't know Japanese. I'll continue to say "Hai!" to everything and guess what people are trying to say to me. Well.... at least for now. I'm thinking of going to a Japanese night language school starting in October and switching to part time work. Ganbatte!
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