Rushton,

I hope that you are enjoying Osaka and Nara.  My wife and I were there several years ago when we were invited by Mukogawa Women's University to attend a 50th Anniversary Ceremony.  We spent about 12 days in Japan visiting several important sites including Nara, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Fuji.  We had a great time,so we decided that we would go back again, and again.  We were there for three different tours, and saw different sites every time.  I know what it feels like to be in charge of students tyring to cope with another culture.  I spent 3 years in Madrid, Spain as Director of International programs for the State University of New York.  Quite an experience!

Frank Longoria

To visit another country with students is to learn while you teach. It is fascinating to me that the three of us,  Rushton, Frank  and myself have seemed to walk in the same places and crossed paths in Europe, Middle East and Asia. For seven years, while Chairman of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Guam, I went twice a year (sometimes more with students) to Taiwan and Japan (Toyko, Osaka and Kyoto). Just this night, I pulled out 200 Japanese Edo prints (mostly late 19th c.) to photograph and sell on eBay. Then, getting back to the computer, I read what the two of you had written about returning to Japan for visits.

My interest in Japan did not start through the prints and culture (that came later). It started in the 1960s with my interest in getting my black belt in Judo (which I finally did before messing up my back with a throw at the Kodokan in Japan). My art training then steered me to the Edo prints so from 1970-1976 I invested all my free money in collecting prints. My students from Guam would go with me and learn how to collect (finding the best price for the best work).

But enough of that. Your two entries really brought back memories of small hotels, with the place to bath down the hall, taking a warm bath then a very cold one. It brings you totally alive (especially in December in Kyoto). All those memories came rushing in as I read Rushton's and Frank's remembrances. Thank you both. Also what the students got from the experience will stay with them for life. You appreciate our country when you learn to enjoy another land that "is not Kansas, Toto!"

Joe

Sounds like everyone has been very busy with exciting projects and travels.  Joe, it was so interesting to hear about incredible collections. I need to go to your website and visit.

Traveling with a group of students is indeed a challenge.  I have not been out of country with groups, but have spent many days with groups here in the US.  Fun times, but keeping up with 15 to 18 year olds, that need little sleep is wearing.

Speaking of wearing, we just returned from San Diego. We spent two weeks entertaining granddaughters, and visiting with  my sister and her family, my two brothers and families, and my 91 year old mother, who still can out walk me.  Dinners everynight were served for at least 18 people.  My sister and I decided the next meal we'll cook is Thanksgiving.

Today is catch up day.  All the mail, e-mails, bills etc.  We leave again for the mountains on Tuesday.

It is great seeing so many posts in this forum.

Carol Anderson

Carol, you are correct about everyone being so busy.  It is certainly true for me.  I don't know why Summer is often associated with fun and relaxation because I am constantly flying.

However, in spite of my busy schedule, I did treat myself this past Wednesday by attending the San Juan Capistrano Rotary meeting with Joe Krueger.  It was sure nice to see everyone again.

Thursday was spent meeting up with my Chapman University Alumni.  The annual Board retreat started with dinner at the Orange County Mining Company.  The fellowship was great, and the food was not bad either.  The retreat concluded on Friday with the group renting a "duffy" boat to cruise Newport Harbor.  Don't ask me why I volunteered to be the boat's Skipper.  Well, that lasted about 10 minutes before my shipmate offered to take the helm.  Thank God for small favors. 

Along the route, I learned that there is a home, but more appropriately, a mansion listed for sale at $37 million dollars.  So, if any of you out there are looking for a cheap piece of property, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the listing agent.   

Seeing all the shared thoughts and stories about trips around the U.S. and Spain and Japan and everywhere is really a joy!  Makes me think I don't log in and check the forums often enough.  Hmmm. 

Today was twelve straight hours of Tokyo.  First, the Asakusa area, with its famous temple, Sensouji (completed in 645 A.D. - and you thought the average Rotarian was old) as well as Kappabashi Street, with its vendors of plastic foods that are sold to restaurants for their display menus.  Bought a shrimp nigiri sushi, I did.

Next was Shibuya, where the kids shopped, ate and gawked, and did what any of the rest of us would (and did) do.  That was followed by a quick three-minute subway ride to Harajuku, which included getting to spend time around some of the interesting folks who dress up as animation characters.  In the expanse of human hobbies, some people garden, others collect stamps, and some dress up in cartoon sailor uniforms, I guess.  I also got to hear a trio of young musicians playing near Yoyogi Park (expansive and wildly beautiful part of Tokyo), and bought a CD in the hopes that I wasn't just charmed by seeing them live and that the music is genuinely good.  Regardless, it's a story.

We finished in Akihabara, famous for its electronics stores perhaps more densely packed than Seattle's coffee shops.  I found a hole-in-the-wall-in-an-alley ramen shop and put way too much of the various spicy additions into what I ordered.  Very, very tasty, but I was sweating for the next half hour.  By that point, the weather had cooled substantially, and it was downright pleasant outside - a precursor to the forecasted rain coming tonight.

Tomorrow we've a day trip north to Nikko to take in the beauty of that part of the country, and see a shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu.  If it's still raining, we'll just write in diaries in an effort not to forget the life experiences we're having.

Yet another good reason to access a forum, that.

Not going to win the Subtle Award with this post, I'm guessing.

Summer means open air concerts - yes, if you happen to be in Dana Point, CA on any given Sunday between now through the month of August, stop by Heritage Park to enjoy one of the many free concerts that are being offered this summer by the City of Dana Point Parks and Recs.  For more information, Google Dana Point Summer Concerts.

If you like movies - something I do not do often because they are so darn expensive.  I paid $ 11.50 for General Admission this past weekend, and that was for a Matinee.  I recommend Mama Mia.  As usual, Meryl Strepp was great.  Of course, Pierce Bronan (I think that is his name, the new 007) is not bad either. 

Hope you are all enjoying your summer.

August 7-8: Drove from Houston to Pittsburgh (total driving time: 26 hours, I drove 23 and Anne drove 3, but got to listen to four novels in talking books on CD). One of the novels was James Patterson's The Fifth Horsemen. I remembered the first four from an etching by Durer in the 14th century: Conquest, Death, Famine and War (the Bible only mentions death as one of the four but does not name the other three). The fifth horseman is MAN, the ultimate destroyer.

August 9-11: Played with the grandchidren who flew in from Houston on Saturday (along with their mother, our daughter) and read over 300 emails from all over. One email struck a heartfelt cord. Its subject was "Help!"- from a professor who I taught one class in contemporary art with in 2001-2002 at the Tbilisi Academy of Fine Arts, Republic of Georgia. She was using the Internet to reach out to friends and use this media to call on Russia to stop the killing for political gains. I guess that I too am using the same tool here to do the same: stop this senseless killing of the giant on the smaller democratic neighbor.

August 11-19: Will travel to upstate Pennsylvania, in the woods, for a family retreat and reunion. We have it each summer. Looking forward to seeing my brother who recently moved to South Carolina from Pittsburgh. Also during this time, I have reviewed all the Pittsburgh papers and read everything that I can find on the life of Randy Pausch, the author of the Last Lecture. It was heartening to find a whole page that was devoted to selected comments (from all over the world) on what he meant to them (some also dying from cancer) and how his recent death struck a core in their hearts (but uplifted them to enjoy each moment that they had to live.) I am still blown away when I review The Last Lecture which Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon University (here in Pittsburgh, where I attended in my youth- art classes on Saturday mornings.)

Joe 

August 12: My relatives saves all the newspaper and magazine articles about Randy Pausch and his recent death. Since much of his work was done in Pittsburgh (and Randy taught at Carnegie Mellon University where I went for Saturday art class from the age of eight to eighteen), it was a chance to research his work, writings, other people's comments and editorials. Here is my article about Professor Pausch, his Last Lecture and his influence:

Dr. Randy Pausch: My Last Lecture At many colleges, professors are asked to give a “last lecture.” In this talk, they ruminate on what matters most to them. As they speak, audiences mull the same question: What wisdom would you impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance? As Dr. Randy Pausch said in an April 6, 2008 article in Parade Magazine, “Last year, I agreed to give a last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, where I’m a professor in the computer science department. A few weeks later, I learned that I had only months to live- I was dying of pancreatic cancer.” 

In the lecture, Pausch made the following points after this opening, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” It was a paraphrase of a previous statement made by Mrs. Gandhi when she was asked how she led India as prime minister, “Fate are the cards that you are dealt; skill is how you play them.” Pausch was summing up lessons that he had learned in his 47 years from many sources. Here are his basic points in the lecture: 

Always have fun.  “Each of us must make a decision, best captured in A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh characters. Am I a fun-loving Tigger or a sad-sack Eeyore? It is clear where I stand. I won’t let go of the Tigger in me. Someone asked what I want on my tombstone. I said: ‘Randy Pausch. He lived thirty years After a Terminal Diagnosis.’ I could pack a lot of fun into 30 years. If that’s not to be, I’ll pack fun into the time that I have.”

 Dream Big.  “Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids’ dreams too. Once in while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes.” 

Ask for What You Want.  “On a trip to Disney World, my dad and I were at the monorail with my son Dylan, then 4. Dylan wanted to sit in the nose-cone with the driver, and my father though that it would a kick too. “Too bad they don’t let regular people sit there,” Dad said.  “Actually, I’ve learned there’s a trick to getting to sit up front,” I said. “Do you want to see it?”

 I walked over to the attendant and said, “Excuse me. Could we please sit in the front car?” “Certainly,” the attendant said. He led us to the nose-cone. It was one of the only times I ever saw my dad flabbergashed. “I said there was a trick. I didn’t say it was a hard trick.”

Ask. More often than you’d suspect, the answer you’ll get is, “Sure.”

 Dare to Take a Rick.  “In a virtual-reality course I taught, I encouraged students to attempt hard things and not worry about failing. At the end of the semester, I presented a stuffed penguin- ‘The First Penguin Award’- to the team that took the biggest gamble while not meeting its goals. The award came from the idea that when penquins jump in water that might have predators, well, one of them’s got to be the first penguin. In essence, it was a prize for ‘glorious failure.’

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted. And it can be the most valuable thing you have to offer.”

Make Time For What Matters.  “When Jai and I went on our honeymoon, we wanted to be left alone. Since my boss demanded a way for people to reach me, I recorded this greeting: ‘Hi, this is Randy. I waited until I was 39 to get married, so my wife and I are getting away for a month. I hope you don’t have a problem with that, but my boss does. Apparently, I have to be reachable.’ I then gave the names of Jai’s parents and the city where they lived. ‘If you call directory assistance, you can get their phone number. And then, if you can convince my in-laws that your emergency merits interrupting their only daughter’s honeymoon, they have our number.’ We didn’t get any calls.

Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.

Let Kids Be Themselves.  “My job is to help my kids foster a joy for life and develop the tools to fulfill their own wishes. My wishes for them are very exact and, given that I won’t be there, I want to be clear. Kids, don’t try to figure our what I wanted you to become. I want you to become what you want to become. And I want you to feel as if I am there with you, whatever path you choose.  

“After I gave my lecture in September 2007, I expected to go home and quietly spend time with my family. I never imagined that my talk would be viewed online by millions worldwide. The response has overwhelmed and moved me.

Thousand of people have written to me about their life lessons. I’ve also been buoyed by former students who’ve told me how my teaching made a difference to them. There’s no greater gift for a teacher. 

I’ve had great fun too. In my lecture, I told of two childhood dreams: playing in the NFL and being Captain Kirk on Star Trek. Strangers fulfilled those wishes. I was invited to scrimmage with the Pittsburgh Steelers and got to say a line in a new Star Trek film. Both experiences were thrilling.  

I’m lucky to live longer than I expected, allowing me more time with my kids. I’ve tried to do unforgettable things with them- such as swimming with dolphins- so they’ll have concrete memories of us and of my love for them.” 

As Randy Pausch said in his last lecture, “It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, it’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, then karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.” 

On Saturday, July 26, 2008, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a simple headline, “Randy Pausch, October 23, 1960- July 25, 2008: CMU Professor Who Inspired Millions.” Also the paper ran one half of a page with a sample of all the email messages that had come in during the twelve hours since Randy passed away in Virginia (having fun right to the moment that he died.) Here are only a few of those: 

“A man of Randy’s magnitude doesn’t die. He will be forever alive in our hearts and minds.” –Neuza Turner, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

"Last year, I was also battling cancer. Randy was such an inspiration to me during the dark times. Now that I am well again, I keep a stuffed Tigger on my desk to remind me to live my life life a ‘Tigger’…thank you, Randy, you will be greatly missed.” Abbi Ratieneck, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA 

“Randy has been an inspiration to millions who never met him! Let his message carry on!” Nancy Johnsrud, Minnetonka, Minnasota, USA 

”I think Rancy Pausch should be Time magazine’s Man of the Year—he has single-handedly touched (and changed) more lives than ever imaginable.”—Julie Madill, Whitty, Ontario, Canada 

“My sincere condolences go out to you, with fond Aloha. Randy gave me an eye opener as I am a cancer survivor. I take each day with a smile to my face, and cherish and love and enjoy each thing or saying that they give to me.” – Lyn Medeiiros, Kanerohe, Hawaii, USA

Joe

We moved to the mountains of New Mexico during the summers three years ago.  We thought this would be a pleasant change from the hectic life we lead.  It turns out we need to go back to Albuquerque to get a chance to rest. Not that we are really complaining...

Every time you turn around there is a group of friends hosting a get together, a trip to a scenic sight, planning and cooking breakfast or dinner in the club house for 50 to 60 people and trips to various locations for lunch or dinner, working on projects for the local hospital, and the list goes on. As you can see eating is the important activity.

A walk through the park takes about 45 minutes, if you are willing to be on the road by 6AM, after that forget it.  Two to three hours, because you have to stop and talk to everyone.

Tom and I keep otherwise busy with our personal projects.  Tom is into wood turning, and I carve and decorate gourds.  However, we have not accoplished very much this summer.

My sister and brother-in-law are coming for 8 days, and our kids and their children will join us next weekend.  Hope it dos not rain at dinner time, or we'll be in trouble.  I cannot imagine feeding 15 people in the motorhome.

Carol Anderson

PENNSYLVANIA FAMILY REUNION

Saw my brother.

Saw my father

In his face!

Talked of Georgia,

Bully with mace.

Hard to relate?

Hugged my sister;

All nephews too.

Raised some hell;

Played games galore;

Kids won 'f'sure'.

Ate more goodies

Than I should;

Drank as much

As I could!

Not driving back

From Reunion "bevwak."

Remarked, "Really great!

Multiple-special-fate

On our plate!!!!!!!"

Will come again

See our kin,

Next warm summer.

"A real win!!!

Family still united!"

It sounds like Joe and family had a wonderful time during the family reunion.  My only excitement this week is that my wife and I will be attending a noon Rotary meeting is San Antonio, Texas where President Lee will be speaking.  Then that same evening President Lee will address hundreds of district Rotarians at the Institute of Texas Cultures.  My wife and I are looking forward to the reception and dinner before President's Lee address.  Next Monday we leave early in the morning for a short vacation in Ruidoso, New Mexico.  We will be staying at a lodge and playing golf for a few days. 

Hi everyone -

 A little late but shared nonetheless.  Tim & I celebrated our 20th wedding Anniversary on August 6th - I'm quite proud of that milestone (in this day and age) if you can't tell  - and we took a long weekend to meet some dear friends in Las Vegas.  We had  wonderful time of visiting, laughing too much, eating too much, and taking in the "people sights".

We did not realize exactly how many people would want to get married on 8/8/08 but when we arrived in Vegas, we began to see brides everywhere!  (There were more brides than Elvis' or Elvi - never quite sure what the correct term is for the King)  They were dressed in beautiful wedding gowns - long, short, with trains and veils, grooms in tuxes and families in tow. Everyone wanted to create that special moment and we spent a lot of time being stopped on the sidewalk to take pictures for them - many couldn't speak English but somehow holding out the camera and pointing to themselves is a universal language!  It was a sight to see and it made us smile, reminicing about being that age and getting married and then looking back over what we've experienced in the past 20 years.

 So, it was good for the soul to see this tremendous sight and to laugh and talk about our life together.  Sometimes, good reminders are just dropped in your lap!

Sher

8/8/08 was a big wedding night, eh?

Who would have thunk it?!

I know I was glued to the Olympics....

Scarlet and I went up to Cape Cod last weekend and then made a slow ride home through Rhode Island. 

We stopped in Mystic, CT for.....Pizza of course. 

Hoping to go to DC this weekend, but if not, it will be beach beach beach.

Trying to get without first giving is as fruitless as trying to reap without having first sown.

It does not do to leap a 20 ft chasm in two ten foot jumps.

Hi Sher,

August must be a lucky month.  My husband, Adam and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversay on the 26th of this month.  We've known each other for over 35 years.  I guess you might say that he is a keeper.   I was 16 and he was 17 when we met.  Who would have ever thought that we would someday be 52 and 53? 

Congrats on your 20th and counting.

Hi Mamie -

 We're the same way - we met in college so we've actually been together about 25 years.  I always joke that I can no longer remember "BT" - Before Tim  But mine is a keeper as well and it's so amazing to have someone like that and a relationship that is so cherished.  I'm very greatful and often wonder what I did to deserve this - must have been one good deed - hee hee!

 Sher