The Heavens have gained another beautiful voice…

12 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Birdie in Life, Music, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Facebook hasn’t been accessed yet, but one can only imagine that it’s filled with posts about the passing of Whitney Houston.  When I saw the Internet news on AOL about her, my heart sank.  And, you know, it was shocking to see that she was only 48 years old.

Just days before the Grammy Awards… people must be scrambling to change the flow of the show, celebrations might be quieter, lights might be dimmer…

(Sorry… I feel like I’m just rambling.  So many feelings dashing around in my heart.)

Reading one article, there was a video of her last performance… according to the article anyway.  Whitney was singing “Amazing Grace” with someone else.  A part of me was startled hearing her raspy, gravelly, almost unrecognizable voice… yet another part of me was comforted hearing that oh-so-familiar warmth and tenderness as she sang.

The first time I ever heard her voice was the duet she sang with Jermaine Jackson, “Take Good Care of My Heart”.  (Way back in 1984.)  Had bought the record and fell in love with that song AND her voice.  Then she came out with her own album the next year.

No matter how she lead her life, no matter what choices she made, we are all blessed that she shared her amazing voice and talent with us.

Ms. Houston, may you rest in peace…

Monsters and Fairy Tales…

12 Feb 2012 3 Comments

by Birdie in Childhood, Life, Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

My childhood bedroom… stuffed animals, tons of books on the shelves, a poster of Leif Garrett, other posters of characters from fairy tales, one with my favorite singing duo, Pink Lady.  Sounds like a typical little girl’s room, right?  Well, I also had a BIG poster of Dracula, a smaller poster of Frankenstein and a glow in the dark poster of King Kong!  🙂

For some reason I had the biggest fascination with monsters.  If there was a book about monsters or movie creatures in the Scholastic book order from school, there was a HUGE check mark next to it.  (The time I got a monster-related poster with the order, talk about being filled with elation!!)

You could ask me questions about Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and I had ALL the answers!  (Yes, very strange little girl…)

But the fascination didn’t stop there.  One of my favorite Japanese cartoons was (and still is) Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro.  (Not sure if it has an English title or not.)  Loved all the monsters in the Ultraman series, loved Godzilla, all the odd creatures in the Kamen Rider shows.  (Loved them all, yet at the same time, I was quite scared of them, too.)

Wonder if anyone else out there liked/likes monsters?  Anyone?  Anyone?  🙂

88 and Looking Great…

09 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Birdie in Life, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

My main job is teaching conversational English to anyone who is interested.  There are group classes and private classes… classes at one elementary school and two kindergartens, three community centers and two hospitals.

My youngest student just turned two.  (Yes, it’s a bit more like babysitting.  🙂 )  My oldest student… well, he is the reason for today’s title… he will be 88 this year!

Mr. Hashiguchi is a character!  He grew up in Nagasaki, studied English in junior high, didn’t have to go to fight in WWII but had to watch a lot of his friends go and never saw them again, worked in the black market for a time in Tokyo, realized that wasn’t the path to be taking, moved back to Kyushu, worked on some of the U.S. military bases, then got a job working for the city.

What a life, right?

After he retired, he decided he wanted to study English.  He started taking a class locally and it was soon after that that I met him.  (Just happened I was asked to take over the class he was in.)

Mr. Hashiguchi not only studies and writes a diary in English every day, he takes a haiku class (and has had some of them published in a local paper), he was taking a computer class until just recently… he walks every morning for about an hour and loves watching the sumo tournaments on TV.

He loves fried chicken and drinks some beer and 3 small glasses of shochu every night.  (Shochu is a type of Japanese liquor.)  Whenever we have a class party and he starts drinking, he’ll always start singing songs like “My Old Kentucky Home” and “Old Black Joe”.  (Songs he learned in junior high… and trust me when I say he remembers ALL the words for ALL the verses!)

I hope that if I live to be 88, I’ll be enjoying life as much as he does!  Here’s to my Japanese “grandpa”, Mr. Hashiguchi!  🙂

Another New Year…

31 Jan 2012 Leave a comment

by Birdie in Life Tags: , , ,

It’s hard to believe that 2012 has begun!  (Okay… more like, it’s hard to believe I haven’t done anything on here in over a year!!)

I can say, honestly, that one of my resolutions for last year did come true… the weight loss one.  The kilograms continue to fade away… slow at times, but the loss has been steady.  Would have to say that my mother seems to be the one who is elated about this fact.  (I saw her last fall and every time we’d see friends or relatives, she’d start with, “Look at Roberta!  Doesn’t she look good?”  Kinda feel bad for making her worry all those years…)

Anyway, the first month of the new year is coming to an end… already!!  And I am bound and determined to do better with this blog!  As far as topics, well, there’s a whole year’s worth to write about from 2011 and there are always fun things happening in and around this place.

So, here we go… here’s to 2012!  May it be full of more ups than downs, more smiles than frowns, more friends than foes and may love abound wherever the path goes!  =)

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