Category Archives: personal development

Happy Fourth of July! Invitations to concerts

Happy Fourth of July! So many FREE concerts in the Boston area next week. My latest ukulele mail-out below includes a NOT FREE concert of a non-traditional string quartet from the Bay Area and my Boston Guitar Orchestra rehearsals and concerts.

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Ukulele Mailing List – latest e-mail

I keep a growing mailing list of ukulele students, peers, and others who are hugely interested in the instrument and everything about playing music together. However, I’m never sure that my emails actually reach those on my mailing list because … Continue reading

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The gift of a music education for yourself or Mother’s Day present

I am forever grateful to my parents for the gift of a music education. I remember my mother tirelessly driving a great distance to my piano teacher’s home off-base on Okinawa. In the hot and humid afternoon, she took a … Continue reading

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20th anniversary analyticalQ

Was I tempting fate by launching my first website on the Ides of March twenty years ago today? Just two years prior, I composed “Ides of March” after experiencing driving through a flood in Houston. It was so horrific that … Continue reading

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My girl band, the Lo Lo’s

Once upon a time, five teenage girls formed a band to compete in a talent show at their high school on Okinawa. Their band performed “Our Lips Are Sealed.” They wore shiny purple blouses and sleek black slacks. They put … Continue reading

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Business models: my grandfather the entrepreneur

Over the years, I subconsciously collected stories of successful business models with a view to writing and publishing an e-book to share with like-minded individuals. Here’s the story of my late grandfather who built a successful English school in Taiwan.

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Songs I lead

I’m building a playlist of songs I can confidently and competently lead a ukulele group. The secret to successful song leading is to do it in a key with the entire melody falling within my most comfortable vocal range. In … Continue reading

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Nontraditional students and their struggles: the pursuit of degrees

In the UK, older students are called “mature students.” In the US, anyone over 25 studying for their first degree falls into the category of “nontraditional students”. In the Netherlands, it is uncommon to see a mature, nontraditional student at … Continue reading

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Visiting Vis, Croatia – the Mamma Mia effect

Barely two weeks after watching “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” – the sequel to “Mamma Mia!” I am now on the island where it was filmed, not quite a year ago in September 2017, not Greece but Croatia. The … Continue reading

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Remembering dad on Father’s Day

Today may be the first time I’m joining everyone else in cyberspace, to remember my dad on Father’s Day. In Mandarin Chinese, the word for father is “ba ba” which sounds like “eight eight” — thus the eighth day of … Continue reading

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