snow's embrace

Usually, I would start the post by saying that the year has gone by quickly. This year is different, however. This year has been a very long year... It began with the lingering sense of loss and heartbreak. There was my master's thesis trouble. Then many good byes and the solo move x-country. There were months of unemployment and disappointment filled with self-criticism and self-hatred. My father's illness and hospitalization. My battle for inner peace and true love... This year has left me rather weathered and listless, which undoubtedly put my spirit frazzled as I boarded the plane headed to Japan. Now that it has been a full week since I've returned to Sendai, I have realized that this was exactly what I needed to recuperate; to mend my heart, regain my balance, and to refocus my energy. As the year comes to a close, I'm begining to (re)construct my resolution; to live my life raw, to (be)li(e)ve in my own wisdom and strength.


Sendai has been rather cold and snowy this holiday season.



Snow has come and gone to our village along with the holiday cheer.



My visits to dad's nursing home aside, I spend a lot of time reading when I visit my parents' house. Since last week, I've finished Into the Forest, and I've began my conquest of Kafka on the Shore in Japanese. VERY interesting. I sometimes go to the English version of the book, and I think it is true that some "things" get lost in translation. I hope to read it through in Japanese, and perhaps re-read it in English again for a complete comparison of the literally experience. I also spend some time solving Sudoku. I take a bath every night. This time, my mother also got me hooked on figure skating broadcasts, and a TV series called Princess Atsu, an epic about a princess who essentially brought Japan to open its doors to the rest of the world and helped the revolutionaries overthrow the old socio-political structure of caste system. Her historical contribution has been only recently acknowledged to the deserved level of importance, and especially after this TV series, she is now considered as the heroin of the modernization of the Japanese society.

In between skating championships and Princess Atsu episodes, I have been also working on the arrangement of Midnight Train to Georgia to be sang by Rapid Transit. This song was voted in in the begining of this month to be sang next year, and since I have a piano here, I want to finish arranging before I go back to Oakland. Besides, it gives me such peace and joy to be able to press the heavy keys (which I used to despise as a child taking lessons) of my grand piano that I have neglected all these years. And, last but not least, one of my favorite things to do here, is making little animals out of clay, and I've made some new ones that I'm quite excited about.


Quite obviously, they are my beloved cats Tiki and Tembo.


Some of you may recognize these lovely dogs: Nico and Henry.


I began creating these little ones for my mother, who is a Japanese washi (paper) doll craftswoman. She usually makes larger, more serious dolls like this one:

but sometimes her artisan school does a large exhibit in which everyone (teachers and students alike) collaborate to create a diorama. And of course, as a lover of creating small things, I wanted to make something.

Due to the master teacher's illness, this year's exhibit was cancelled, but my little animals made a home in my mother's miniture diorama:


With contentment brought forth by the snow's embrace (and the fantastic fortune told by the Six Star Astrology for the coming year), I am ready to welcome the new year.

life is embosomed in beauty.

another slow day at the office today. but i got a replacement chair with arm rests and adjustable seat. yay. many small significant things have happened since the synecdoche post, including the lovely bird-eating holiday, a little get-away trip to mendocino coast, and learning first-hand the creative process of linea carta and other local artists, craftswomen, and designers. these events have also given me plenty to contemplate about, and yes, indeed, i had been a little more emotional than i was before.

anyway, when i replaced my office chair today, they told me i can take the "worn out" chairs home if i wanted to. my office is giving me a lot these days, including the IMQ printed thermos, an umbrella, and baskets that have accumulated over the course of years through catering. those actually helped linea carta lastnight at a holiday sale, and i'm very pleased about it. despite the lack of work (or shall i say the over bundance of internet time??)

so here it goes - a little catching-up report of the last couple of weeks...



you know, as much as it being slightly counterproductive, being unemployed all summer kind of wore me out and that was making me itchy for a vacation. so now that i have a job, i decided i should do it even though technically speaking, i was kind of on a "vacation" all summer... and of course, diva - my partner-in-crime these days - has been feeling the same itch too. so literally in the midst of her stress-attack preparing for various holiday sales, we decided to pack up the car, along with her lil'dogs and took ourselves up to mendocino to spend the weekend at the stanford inn by the sea, a lovely pet-friendly b&b with a scrumptuous vegetarian/locavoire restaurant. even though i've heard wonderful things about mendocino coast, i had never been up there, so i was utterly overjoyed to have had a chance to get up there. and oh how it lived up to my expectations! i would say it's probably one of the greatest weekend getaways you can do living in the bay area - it's got everything you can ask for: the panoramic presence of the grandiose pacific coast, fabulous local wine and produce, a charming sea-side town, plethora of opportunities for outdoor adventures, and best of all, the earthy friendliness of the northern califonians. the inn was aboslutely lovely, and the raven's restaurant was impressive. menue was full of creative concoctions made from seasonal produce from the area - lots of mushrooms and root vegetables - and hmmm hmmm hmmm everything we had from scones to citrous polenta with garden greens to heirloom tomato salad to cormeal encrusted oyster mushrooms to nut based roasted red pepper spread were all so brilliantly flavored and put together. a delightful pleasure in a mouthful.

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holidays are usually hard for me. they bring my demons to the surface, and they kind of scratch my heart raw. thus naturally, i had my wee breakdown the night before thanks giving, although i think it had a lot to do with the fact that i hadn't cried in weeks and that it was waiting to be purged.

stay tuned... i'm going to finish my story on thank giving sometime soon!

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one of the greatest things about being personally involved with artists, i have discovered, is having opportunities for being part of the creative process. in the light of preparing for the series of holiday sales and holiday orders, i have been learning and helping linea carta production process. it's been so much fun learning how diva's artwork gets printed on the variety of products, how they are packaged, tagged, and wrapped. i've always had a "thing" for busy hand-work (as people call me, ahem, "nimble fingers...") and so i've been enjoying every minute of it. when i was just begining, i was extremely scared of making mistakes, and yes, i did make mistakes (but diva was really nice about it...!), but overall, i think i've done pretty well. i even learned how to use japanese manual printing kit printgocco, which i originally did not recognize, but now i realize as the japan's most popular nengajo (traditional new year cards) making kit pre computer. i definitely remember being in the presence of my friends printing nengajo using gocco (i didn't own one because my family always did the cheeeeesy photo ones made by our photography studio). it is sad to let you know though, you creative souls, while i was doing a little research for this blog entry, i have learned that all manual gocco kits and products are discontinued as of this summer and no longer in production... 30 years of manual printgocco history is coming to a close in this digital age. makes me a little sad, actually. not just about gocco but the whole "digitalized" culture... there is something to be said for being crafty using tools and paint, kids and adults alike, creating homemade items to be given as gifts or simple correspondences. this is how i feel about e-mails and online profiles too (yes yes, you can criticize me for blogging...) - i feel as though as convenient as they are, they are missing out on the essence of staying touch with people who are important to you, or building communities.

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lastnight was a friends & family holiday sale at the studio of jeanine payer, the world renown san francisco based jewelry artist who also invited the ceramisist rae dunn, diva's friend, and linea carta to participate. wow. is all i can say. well, not quite, because i'm about to tell you what the experience was like, but honestly, what i encountered at the event was truly moving and inspirational. first of all, the design concepts of both jeanine and rae were spectacular. in particular, each one of jeanine's jewelry has so much packed into it; the poetry, the aesthetics, the sentimentality, it truly moved me. and it was really wonderful to be able to see the actual pieces in your own hands, in a cozy space where they were born, while talking to the women who all took part in the creative process. i had seen jeanine's work on celebrities and catalogues and such, and always found them very lovely and charming, but seeing it in real life made me fall in love with it. i actually purchased a brilliant piece for myself, a ring with a line from emerson's poem hidden inside. the piece actually looks like this pendant. as you can see, the two halves of the ring twists to reveal the hidden poem: "When the act of reflection takes place in the mind, when we look at ourselves in the light of thought, we discover that our life is embosomed in beauty." amazing. and rae dunn's ceramics are adorable and chic; made me want to deck out my whole apartment with her work. i'm excited to shop this weekend at her studio duing her holiday sale. what was most incredible, though, was meeting all of these artists. they are SO wonderfully genuine and fun, open-minded and shining with vivacious energy eminating from them. i was honored to meet them, and it was delightful to be in their company.

the guests also loved linea carta products, and i was happy to have witnessed the apprciation, joy, and awe that were reflected in their eyes. i think that seeing what the artist does behind the scenes; how much of her soul, energy, love and care goes into creating each one of these products allowed me to see what would be a simple business transaction as something more intimate, something more pure and poignant. i suppose this is how things were before capitalism brought mass production and consumerism into what used to be more personal relationships between the businesses and their customers. with these thoughts and smile on my face, i could not help but be inspired to delve into my imagination and create something beautiful.