I flew over to Oahu last week to teach a weekend workshop at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. I took some extra time over there to turn the trip into a vacation and to visit my cousin on the Big Island. Somehow, the trip ended up as an eating orgy and with myself packing in an extra 3 pounds on the way back.
First stop, of course, was Leonard’s Bakery for malasadas—the big, fluffy Portuguese holeless doughnuts are a must on every visit to Oahu. As usual, the line was out the door here, but definitely worth the wait.
It’s been almost a month since the devastating earthquake/tsunami hit Japan, and as we all know, the country continues to struggle with its ongoing nuclear crisis.
Whenever I go to Japan and visit the mega department stores like Takashimaya, Mitsukoshi, Isetan or Seibu, I love to window shop and look at all the pretty things they have there. But I rarely buy anything, because just one look at the price tag and I go into sticker shock. For someone whose favorite store is Target, the $100 t-shirts just don’t seem that appealing.
By now, you’ve probably heard about the “
My thoughts turned morbid over the weekend as I contemplated death. No, not mine in particular, but just in general. I was guessing that more people die around the holidays than other days, and it turns out I was correct. Researchers have found that Americans are more likely to die on Christmas Day, the day after Christmas, and on New Year’s Day than at any other time of the year. But before you read the rest of this blog, take a stab at why you think that is. The reason makes total sense, but it may not be what you first guessed. 
I have to admit that after I wrote “Letters from Iwo Jima,” I feared I would find a host of angry U.S. veterans knocking at my door in protest of the portrayal of the enemy as protagonists. But in the end, the most unexpected and best perks of the whole experience for me have been the positive reactions by veterans and the stories I heard of how the movie affected them.
