Jan 13, 2021
Gallery
There's a saying that, time flies when you're having fun. In my experience, time doesn't wait until you're having fun. It flies anyway. While shopping for greeting cards last month, I was startled to see that 2021 is the Chinese Year of the Cow, or more formally the Year of the Ox. The First Chinese New Year I passed living outside of the U.S. was the Year of the Ox. That was three full zodiac cycles-36 years-ago. At that time, I was a Chinese language student in Taiwan. It was an extraordinary time. The country went from post-martial law, with soldiers stationed at street intersections, to pro-democracy marches, fistfights at legislative meetings and liberalization of trade and travel with mainland China. After returning to the U.S. and getting a teacher license, I was working at a small recruitment firm. A coworker handed me an application for the JET program. I applied and to my surprise, i was accepted. That was in 1997. I arrived in Japan the following year, and have resided here since then. It occurred to me that, after all this time I'm still working out basic questions about my life. The main one goes something like, have I made a horrible mistake? should I have moved back to the U.S. after JET? should i have come to Asia at all? In some ways, I'm less prosperous now than the first day I arrived in Japan. The state of employment for foreigners is a topic for another day. But it's far too easy to let time drift by, and suddenly the future is here. Members of friends and family have passed from this life. That being said, I have also been rewarded, in ways i sometimes forget. I teach English for a living. But I have always aspired to be a performing artist. Since my Taiwan days, I have been on television, in film and onstage as a singer, guitarist and band member. From my years in an international share house, I have dear friends around the world. There's also what has NOT happened. I haven't been beaten up, shot or had my residence broken into-and that's just the police! i know myself and my fellow performers appreciate going home from a late show without major concerns for our safety. Until now i have not mentioned the pandemic. It has had an impact on many areas of life, especially entertainment. My guess is, the fallout will be with us for some to come. What does that mean for us-no one can say for certain. But I've always tried to be where I am because that's where I want to be-not because I think somewhere else is worse. Whatever happens, I'm going to make the best of where I am and what I have. By the time another ox joins my personal history, I hope all of us will be in a better, brighter place.