"One thing at a time"

 No words are sufficient to describe the work of Handel and Messiah that he wrote in such a short time. Messiah was composed in 1741...yes, it is a bit ago. The first performance was apparently in Dublin and later in London.  In 2020, the year of Pandemic, we still enjoy Handel and his work. Christmas season is especially precious in terms of music that we add to our festivities welcoming the birth of Christ.  Our family, all of us, definitely enjoy Music in all shapes and sounds. We have been so blessed to have a pianist who can play things his parents can't play. We are also blessed to have a high quality Grand Piano, our miracle Steinway.  Someone requested Erik if he could play this piece for a service and he worked on it for weeks to prepare. On the 20th of Dec, 2020, he performed it as a postlude after a Christmas Service. I enjoyed listening to it during the Service so I did not record it. I asked him if he would let me record it at home later in the evening. ...

This afternoon, I was looking for a particular book that I needed for my writing project. While looking, I found another book on my shelf that I had not picked up for years, and it stopped me,, for a good reason. What a journey I have had in terms of friends,,,,and how true this book is. This book was a gift from one of our neighbors for my third birthday in July, 1969. I have a distinct memory of my third birthday party my mother had for me at our house when we lived in the University Housing at the University of Wisconsin (Madison WI). I remember that the family who gave me this book lived a few doors down from us and had two boys a bit older than me. The university housing was likely a cluster of very small duplex housing for many young researchers and their families, but my memory of this is that the house was roomy with living room, Several neighbors were foreign researchers from India, Germany, or Japan like my father was. There were also many young US families at the Universit...

No human, to our knowledge is immune to COVID19. This VIRUS, I will call Mr. V does not differentiate anyone from the members in the Royal Court to an Ordinary like myself.  But some of us are more vulnerable and some of us are more protected. Some of us are surrounded by the resources to fortify the protective walls around us, but some are more vulnerable due to their unfortunate physical conditions, simply their age, or their choices to smoke (per Chinese data, Smokers are at a super high risk to get severely ill if Mr. V visits you and stays with you. No data exists as of the date of this writing about Vaping, but we all know Vaping does not help your lungs at all, so I would consider it a high risk personal practice). And, some are also highly vulnerable because they refuse to accept information and take actions accordingly. If you think you are fine because you are healthy, you may redefine the meaning of what healthy is from the perspective of Mr. V. No lev...

今回、パンパース（P＆G) Japan のご好意で、 第28回 日本新生児看護学会 と 第６３回 新生児成育医学 会の両方の学会に参加させていただくという光栄な体験をさせていただきました。 メインとなる目的は１１月２４日のパンパースジャパン主催の看護学会側でのランチョンセミナーでした。それについて後方で紹介します。 今回はたくさんの方々のご協力とご支援を得て日本滞在中の活動をさせていただきました。その具体的な側面を紹介するために写真を含めた内容とさせていただきます。全ての写真について、このブログでの掲載・利用について提供者、また写っている個人の皆さんから許可をいただいていることを明記いたします。写真の提供をしてくださった方、許可をくださった方々に感謝申し上げます。 成育医学会において新生児の薬剤開発の課題について世界で動いている International Neonatal Consortium （INC) に関する１１月２２日の午後の医学会のシンポジウムが企画され、話す機会をいただきました。このセッションではINCのCo-director マーク ターナー氏から、INCが発足した背景、目的、なされてきたプロジェクトや今おこなわれている様々な努力についての説明があり、さらに、薬剤開発側、規制当局側、治験を行う現場の医師の視点からなぜ世界的な協力が必要であるのかが発表されました。同時に、小児、特に新生児分野の新薬開発が危機にあることが現実である、というディスカッションがされました。私は、どのような関係者が（stakeholders)がこの協力体制には必要となるのかという視点から、看護やご家族メンバーの存在の重要性に焦点を当てて発表をさせていただきました。 看護やご家族というStakeholders (日本語では利害関係者というのだそうですがちょっとニュアンス違いますね） がどのように新生児の薬剤開発という複雑で難しい事業・課題に貢献しているかを具体的な例と実際にご家族やナースメンバーが会議やプロジェクトに参加している写真なども使って話しました。聞いてくださった皆様、ありがとうございました。著名な先生のお一人が今日本で強化すべき部分は何か、、というご質問を最後に投げかけてくだいました。薬剤開発に関してはを新生児を擁護する法律が欧米にはありますが、日本...

So, here I go. I received 5000 word manuscript regarding a research. I was to work hard to reduce it to 4000 words or less while maintaining the impact of the content and refining the content more. The art of working with professional English, so to speak, to ensure that the manuscript contains sufficient background, significance of the proposed/completed research, methods of research, results, implications-discussions, and conclusions in the proper order with clarity, cohesiveness, and logical flow is not a piece of cake. This level of language understanding can never be earned over night or over 10 years, that is,,,,, unless you are a genius. And I am not. For me, the full 4 years of attending the university in the US in my 20's definitely did not accomplish this acquisition of the writing skill at the professional level at all. I was decently fluent conversationally. But conversational English fluency is near one hundredth (1/100) of the skill required for writing well. At...

If you have ever written a cover letter, you know the care you must give to the detail to tailor each to fit the needs or to whom the cover letter is directed to. Well, my son prepared at least 25 or so cover letters this past spring while he was applying to upwards of 30 summer internship positions that were relevant to a mechanical engineering student. He was blessed to have the experience of being interviewed by two. I helped him with some of the cover letters since he had such limited time to get tings done battling the tide of assignments and projects at the same time. I learned so much about various internship job descriptions that are out there enticing engineering students. I also learned what types of job descriptions really lit up my son's face. There are many job duties that many of these job descriptions listed, including things that are general to many and others that are very specific. After a long arduous period of applying and applying for more and writing and w...

Another year flew by for me. Between my 12 trips to Nashville, 6 trips to Japan, two trips to GA, one each to OH, CA, and DC, I spent much of my time being a good travel agent for myself to ensure that I can be at right places at right time. I just read my last post, which was posted about a year ago after I had just returned from Japan spending two weeks to attend a conference and to visit family members. Unlike last year, I do have a tree and my home is somewhat decorated already. It helped that I did not fly away immediately after Thanksgiving overseas, although I did fly out to work, making me away from home total of 12 days since Nov 29th. I enjoyed being able to purchase a tree the saturday after Thanksgiving and my family enjoyed being able to add a few ornaments here and there over the following week. I have many birds on my tree this year as well as my usual musical instruments and others that we have collected over the years. I think of many many friends and family whose ...

I had never been so inadequately prepared for the season. No tree is even purchased and only a few items decorate small corners of my house. No gifts had been wrapped for anyone from me.   I had somehow raced through the months of October and November, and I had not stopped.  Great thought visited me throughout the day while I was working and I felt the urgent need to put it down. I will remind myself of this next year if I feel the same about how ready or not ready I feel.  Christmas season offers so many beautiful ways that we can celebrate the joy and the true gift that this event represents.  One look around, I see friends spending this busy weekend at NIH getting tests and check ups for life-long illness, others battling cancer, someone nearing the end of their life, many simply hanging on to their fragile lives caused by the political turmoil, and others grieving the recent losses that shuttered their dreams for next spring. My heart b...

Dear Friends If you ever find yourself complaining about how long it takes you to get ready in the morning, because you have a certain routine related to your care of your hair, we must learn first to ben excited about each strand of your hair. Many of you remember when I lost my hair, eye brow or eye lashes due to cancer treatment years ago. I am going through that experience again, not for me, but with my baby brother's wife. This reminded me of how I had forgotten about "being grateful for my hair". I was so blessed to be able to hang out in Japan for a few weeks related to work. This is always a blessing because it affords me an opportunity to be close by my family. My brother's wife has lost almost all of her hair after her second chemotherapy treatment but she was totally prepared for it, since her wig which was ordered specifically to fit her was ready just in time. Uncertainties related to life is not anything new in the history. However, these uncertain...

I have never made any entries in Japanese... but I am going to tonight. Just returned from a phenomenal visit in Japan networking with so many neonatal professionals at many cities. I am truly blessed to have so many friends. Now that I am home, I wanted to share some of my thoughts. 家に着いたら、真っ暗で、星がすごく綺麗で、裏の雑木林から聞こえる虫の音がとってもすごくて、思わず、田舎へ戻ったことを実感 。録音してFBにアップしようと思ったぐらい！！！！ 成田からの帰国のフライトは、天候が悪く揺れが多かったし、アトランタでは時間通りに着陸できず、４５分ほど上空を飛び回ったり、次のコネクションが大幅に遅れたりのトラブルはあったもの、無事に到着。息子がゲートの外で待っていてくれた。小さい飛行場なので、なんと飛行場の真ん前に一時的なら、そして運転手が載っていたら車が止められるため、主人は車で待っていてくれた。。。息子は、顔を見ると嬉しそうに寄ってきてしばらくハグをしてくれて離さなかった。そういうところが可愛い。大学生なのに。彼の友人も両親とは仲の良い子が多いので、決して珍しいことではないがふと日本だったらと思ってしまった。 家に着いたら完全に頭の中が別のカルチャーへスイッチオン。まず、庭の鉢の数多くがどうしていたかのチェック。息子が毎日水やりをしてくれていて、全てが元気。以前、枯らせてしまって、私が涙顔になったことがあるのを決して彼は忘れていないようだ。もう絶対に泣かせない。と言って謝ってくれたことがある。ちょうど大学が夏休みで、仕事をしてるけれど、寮から家に戻っているので、庭やデッキのコンテイナーガーデニングを維持してもらえて大変助かった。実は今年は長期でどこへも行く予定がなかったため、いつもよりも春に植木に投資してしまっていたのだ。。。。。明日、明るくなってから庭の手入れをいろいろしようかなと思っただけで目が冴えたきた。いろいろな夏の花が咲いている。こちらは真夏。 荷物を全部ピック...

No, I have not done a very good job of maintaining this blog's momentum this past year. If I may offer my perfect list of excuses to whoever kindly reads my blog, I have had the busiest year to counter the empty-nest phenomena. I have not purposely designed this past school year that way, but things literally fell on my lap each month! Aside from the monthly schedule that flies me into Nashville for clinical days (which sometimes include teaching days for Neonatal Resuscitation Program or S.T.A.B.L.E course), I have flown more frequently than I had ever flown in my almost half-century-long life. I think, Since the start of the year 2016, I have passed through Atlanta Airport for making connections to go to or return from total of 16 times. Places I went to include Nashville x5, San Jose x1, Washington DC x1, Japan x1 (this was long, 2 weeks). But this year is not even half way through. I anticipate going through Atlanta maybe 20 more times before the end of the year (as long as I...

This past weekend, my family enjoyed the fabulous and amazing concert at Dallas Symphony. A Russian pianist, Kirill Gerstein performed Rachmaninoff No. 3 impeccably with Dallas Symphony on Saturday night for us all to be immersed in a few hours of heaven. My senses are always touched deeply when I think of the political environment during which time the composer had composed the piece of music, and his love for the country. If you google Rachmaninoff Concerto No.3, you will likely hear the familiar tune with the wave like beginning. Dallas Symphony and Kirill Gerstein communicated with each other throughout the performance and we were able to witness the merging of the entire members of the symphony with the pianist. It was simply a phenomenal experience to be in the hall and to enjoy the beautiful, excitement, elegant, and convincing music that is revived again and again. I so marvel at the fact that many of us are able to enjoy the music that composers from years past wrote down with...

I have a dear friend, who lost her fiance in an accident in early years,,,,she met a wonderful man later  and married this man rather late in her life... in today's standard.. she was past 50 but she was a princess,,,and I adored her and enjoyed seeing how happy she was. Her happiness was interrupted suddenly a few years after her marriage by her illness that none of us really fully understood. But it was cancer and it took energy out of her and out of him. He was so dedicated to stick by her side and to support her in anyway he could, although this was his second marriage and his first wife also left him due to cancer. This man is a special man in my book,,,, he is a saint. I had a special and dear friendship with this friend, Beverly. I remember the first time she shared with me that she thinks she met the man of her dreams.....I remember the first time she and her hubby went out on their date. She was precious and he was, too. He took things very seriously and he was s...