{"id":7978,"date":"2014-01-01T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=7978"},"modified":"2014-01-01T10:42:37","modified_gmt":"2014-01-01T18:42:37","slug":"happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=7978","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2014-graphic\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s here! The new year! I’m a little sad to see 2013 go because despite some tough moments which are inevitable in life, it was so fabulous in innumerable ways. But I sense that 2014 may be even better. We rang in the year quietly with just the four of us: me, K, M and my mom (well, not too quietly since we live near one of the major fireworks site in Seattle), and it was a perfect way to end a rollicking twelve months.<\/p>\n

I have a propensity around this time to spend hours and hours reflecting on prior months to see what went wrong, what went right, what I could do to make things better. This year is no exception though I think I have some more pondering to do. I have been thinking, specifically, about this fantastic post<\/a>\u00a0by the talented Anna Dorfman<\/a>\u00a0featuring artist Chuck Close, and the video had a huge impact on me when I first watched it about a year ago. I hope you check it out – I love the idea of a note to my younger self and wonder what I would tell 14-year-old Sanae. More than anything, I am awed by the artist’s drive and perseverance to “show up and get to work”. He utilized his so-called disabilities to create a world that makes sense to him; he refused to be limited by them. It makes me think of this ee cummings quote:<\/p>\n

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"daruma1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I was writing in my journal yesterday, I sketched a “daruma doll<\/a>“, which was a staple of my childhood. Also known as Dharma dolls, these are good luck charms meant largely for children in Japan (I grew up in Los Angeles, but my parents upheld many of the traditions). What you do is make a wish, then fill in one eye. Once the wish has been fulfilled, you fill in the other eye. They’re typically bright red and a bit ominous looking, but I was always fond of them. My wishes usually involved some dramatic makeover of my looks or something so outrageously out of my parent’s price range (my own horse and stable, say), that my daruma dolls perpetually remained one-eyed. Narrowing it down to one wish is always the tricky part, but for 2014, my wish would be this: a new year of contentment with joyous relationships, rewarding work, abundant play and endless creativity and well-being for one and all. Is it cheating to throw in multiple wishes into one?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s here! The new year! I’m a little sad to see 2013 go because despite some tough moments which are inevitable in life, it was so fabulous in innumerable ways. But I sense that 2014 may be even better. We rang in the year quietly with just the four of us: me, K, M and my mom (well, not too quietly since we live near one of the major fireworks site in Seattle), and it was a perfect way to end a rollicking twelve months. I have a propensity around this time to spend hours and hours reflecting on prior months to see what went wrong, what went right, what I could do to make things better. This year is no exception though I think I have some more pondering to do. I have been thinking, specifically, about this fantastic post\u00a0by the talented Anna Dorfman\u00a0featuring artist Chuck Close, and the video had a huge impact on me when I first watched it about a year ago. I hope you check it out – I love the idea of a note to my younger self and wonder what I would tell 14-year-old Sanae. More than anything, I am awed by the artist’s drive and perseverance to “show up and get to work”. He utilized his so-called disabilities to create a world that makes sense to him; he refused to be limited by them. It makes me think of this ee cummings quote: To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. As I was writing in my journal yesterday, I sketched a “daruma doll“, which was a staple of my childhood. Also known as Dharma dolls, these are good luck charms meant largely for children in Japan (I grew up in Los Angeles, but my parents upheld many of the traditions). What you do is make a wish, then fill in one eye. Once the wish has been fulfilled, you fill in the other eye. They’re typically bright red and a bit ominous looking, but I was always fond of them. My wishes usually involved some dramatic makeover of my looks or something so outrageously out of my parent’s price range (my own horse and stable, say), that my daruma dolls perpetually remained one-eyed. Narrowing it down to one wish is always the tricky part, but for 2014, my wish would be this: a new year of contentment with joyous relationships, rewarding work, abundant play and endless creativity and well-being for one and all. Is it cheating to throw in multiple wishes into one?  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-black-and-white","7":"category-illustration","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7978"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8001,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7978\/revisions\/8001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}