:: Momentary Flash of Genius ::
What's in this section?
These are little grains of genius that strike at unexpected moments. Keep in mind that what I consider "genius" may not be quite up to snuff with what *you* consider genius!
What You're Worth
Thursday, February 07, 2008
If someone were to ask my what my biggest struggle in life is, I’d have to say it’s the issue of self-worth.
Self-worth is so essential and yet most of us, if not all of us, seem to struggle with it on some level. Some of us struggle more than others. And sometimes it’s only about very specific things. Most of the weird negative social behaviors stem from lack of self-worth and people searching for some kind of validation.
Recently I was struggling with this issue again. It always turns up when I don’t even notice it. It sneaks into my language (ex. always apologizing for things that don’t need to be apologized for), my self-deprecating humor and even my actions (ex. not taking the “nice chair” because someone else should get the better chair). My friend Lennox, ever the observant caller-outer of such things, did just that. He called me out.
“Why do you feel like you’re not worth it?” he asked.
It’s funny--sometimes you think you have everyone fooled. That no one can see that you don’t fully like yourself. Or like yourself at all. But it comes out. People can feel it, even those who are not particularly observant. And when someone calls you out, you end up feeling a little bit like you were caught with your drawers down. But he didn’t just ask the question. He told me a story about his own epiphany about self-worth. And it’s based in real estate.
What is a house worth? If we add up the materials that it’s made of, that’s one thing. Concrete, wood, nails, wiring, piping, insulating, etc. But that’s not the *worth* of the house. A house is worth whatever anyone is willing to pay for it. For example, if I wanted to have a 2 bedroom house in Montana or Nebraska, let’s say it goes for 120K. BUT if you move that same house, made of exactly the same building materials, to Beverly Hills or Manhattan, suddenly the price skyrockets to a couple million! How does that happen? It’s because someone thinks it’s worth it to pay that much to live in Manhattan.
So what does that have to do with me? Or is the analogy way too obvious already?
Am I worth something because of what I’m made of? Or how good I am at this or that? Or is worth given by how much someone is willing to pay for me? Jesus paid his whole life for me. And if Jesus paid for me with His life, then I must be worth a LOT. I know I’ve heard that a lot before, but I don’t think it ever made it from my brain to my heart. I think I get it now. I’m worth it to Him.
So it’s time for me to *believe* that value and move on, stop trying to haggle down the price for me. It’s something I want so much to believe. So this is the beginning of new things. And hey, it’s Chinese New Year! Gong hay fat choy! And happy new beginnings!
Thanks Lennox.
"American Idol" for Writers - help my co-worker Sheila!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sheila, a writer on my team, has written a sci-fi novel and needs YOUR help to get it published!
Amazon and Penguin are having a contest that invited anyone and everyone to submit their written works. Sheila wrote a sci-fi novel for young adults called, Humanics: Reality Bytes. She made the first cut and it’s now down from 5000 to 1000. W00t! Made it past first cuts!
Now she needs YOU to read the first couple chapters and give it a solid review so that it gets the attention of Amazon and Penguin. Based on your reviews, the 1000 will be chopped down to 100. And from that group, the top 3 books will get published. What a cool way to be discovered, don’t you think?
Here’s the link to her book: Sheila Reading’s Book--Humanics: Reality Bytes
You have until Feb. 19! Gogogogogogogo! Read! Review! DO IT NOW! (I’m such a hypocrite cuz I haven’t done it either.) You have to be an Amazon member, but I think that’s the only catch. For more info, go to Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award site.
Bunlette OUT of the Oven! Welcome Joshua Kotaro!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Yasuyo just gave birth to a boy! I have a new nephew!
At 8:30 am, Joshua found himself in a whole new world (cue Disney’s Aladdin music). He is 7 lb. 7 oz. and 19” long. Or tall. Or whatever. I’m still not used to all this baby stuff. But he’s here and he’s cute! Thank goodness he’s cute! I mean, who wants to be the aunt that can’t muster up enough enthusiasm to lie about an ugly baby? LOL I know some of you are gasping in horror as you read that. But I’m not going to be that liar saying, “Oooh, you’re sooooo cuuuute!” when he really looks like an old man. But like I said, Joshua needs no such faking. He actually IS cute!
He’s even got wavy hair! I wonder if it’ll stick. Both Yasuyo and Kenny are pretty tired, as they didn’t sleep much of the night. But aside from that, all seems well! All systems are go! Yasuyo’s mom is here to help and my parents are close at hand too, so support is all around. They’re heading home tomorrow. They don’t give you much time in the hospital do they?
The funny part was watching the hospital staff using the Electronic Medical Record system that I teach. I kept looking over their shoulders as they typed. “Oh, they’re doing *that* in the Doc Flowsheets...Interesting.” Or “I can’t believe they remembered that part from class!” I got to see the EMR in action!
AND I got to hold a baby. For those of you who don’t know me, you must know that I have not a single maternal bone in my body, and have thus managed to avoid holding/babysitting/being in the general vicinity of babies. But this one is different! I’m breaking myself in and this one has no choice but to be the guinea pig for my experimentation. I mean, Love,...yes, guinea pig for my love. And corruption! So I held him.
Ah, how innocently the corruption begins! 
More pics of Joshua can be found here at my Picasa album.
Multiplicity: my own photo shoot!
Monday, October 01, 2007
Thanks to Rommel, I have a photoshoot of my very own!
I’ll show you more pics of that later, but I just want to show you the final render of one of the shots. It’s me. Lots and lots of me. More than you’d ever want to handle! lol
Click if you want to see a larger image that you can zoom
There were still some kinks, like the two MEs having an argument looks more like one of the MEs is about to get a roundhouse to the face, and one of the MEs looks like she has a Abe Lincoln style beard, but aside from that, it turned out very interesting.
Thanks Rommel!
Subject Matter: Marisa
Friday, September 28, 2007
With an expensive D-SLR in hand, you’d think I’d be taking pics of EVERYTHING, right? Wrong.
I’ve actually been quite the slacker. I’ve hardly taken any pics at all. Well, that’s not entirely true, but I definitely have not been getting out there to find new and interesting subjects. I do have some things that encourage me to get out there and shoot. My friend Rommel is my photographic partner in crime, and so far we’ve done one photoshoot of Long Beach at night. I’ll post a couple of those in the near future. Starting now, I’m more dedicated to exploring photography more actively.
In my hunt for new subject matter, I found my cousin Marisa. She’s 12 and at that age where watching America’s Next Top Model gets you thinking about whether or not you’re “model quality.” (Btw, “at that age” pretty much means 0 to 99--EVERY woman wants to be considered beautiful enough to be a model!) So I did her makeup and took some shots of her. It was kind of spur of the moment so we didn’t have too much by way of props, but I think they came out well.
What do you think?
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By Special Request: The Bee Costume
Sunday, July 08, 2007
After the passing of an individual, it is customary to have a wake.
This wake is perhaps a little less dignified that one might wish it to be, but it is the time to remember all the good times, be it serious or otherwise. And so for Toby, I’ve posted these pics as Laura requested of Toby in his bee costume. It took me a good long time to find these pics because they were actually on my parents camera.
I found the costume out in Hong Kong when i traveled there with Shelia. Toby was a little less than thrilled at my gift and that i (a) had not only found the most embarrassing costume for him EVER, but that (b) we then pulled out a camera and proceeded to take pictures. So now, i will embarrass him for one last time by posting these pictures so that all the world can see.
I hope you all enjoyed this little peak into Toby’s secret life as a bee.