Hiroko Nishimura's Blog

Mourning the Bittersweet Lasts

Some day in the spring, my second baby stopped breastfeeding. One day, he said, “Nah, I’m good, ma,” and that was that.

I had expected it to be a battle like many of my friends had described, where it was the battle of wills, buckets of tears, and potentially few choice graffitis on choice body parts.

But no. He suckled for a few seconds, shrugged, and that was that. He stopped, and never asked for a feeding again. What a bittersweet moment. Breastfeeding was both extremely excruciatingly ...

Aphasia: Hunting for that word

Writing with aphasia
Is like reading a book
With words blurred out
Here and there
I hunt and hunt for the perfect word
But sometimes I never find the one
I’m looking for
I leave … (space) … to come back to fill later
But sometimes I just … can’t find … that word
It’s lost in the darkness
Rattling around at the bottom of the well
That is my subconscious
I wish all of my lost words
Would return to me
I’ve been hunting for them for
Over a decade
But for now
I shake my head;
Left and right
Left and right
And hope the ...

Become AWS Cloud Practitioner with an AWS Hero!

Are you considering taking the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02), but not sure where to begin? When I first began studying for this exam, I was completely overwhelmed, feeling like I was staring into a black box, unable to distinguish one service name from another. Amazon S3? Amazon EC2? Amazon Aurora? Amazon DynamoDB? They were all Greek… cloud-speak to me!

My sense of panic only got worse as I spent weeks attempting to memorize different product categories, services, and fram...

Summary of ADHD and Dyslexia(CHADD)

This post summarizes the podcast titled “ADHD and Dyslexia” in the series “Training on ADHD in Children and Adults” by Pocket MD. Pocket MD is a podcast hosted by CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder).

“ADHD and Dyslexia” (PD4457R-031525O)What is Dyslexia?Dyslexia: language-based learning disorder affecting phonological processing, word processing, spelling, reading comprehension, but not related to intelligence, hearing issues, or vocabularySpel...

Summary of ADHD and Learning Disorders (CHADD)

This post summarizes the podcast titled “ADHD and Learning Disorders” in the series “Training on ADHD in Children and Adults” by Pocket MD. Pocket MD is a podcast hosted by CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). It’s free continuing education (CE) credit course accredited by ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC.

“ADHD and Learning Disorders” (PD4457R-020125N )Learning Disorders and Learning DisabilitiesSpecific Learning Disorders: unanticipated difficulties inclu...

You can’t be a Straight A student in life, so pick 3

I was a “strive to be Straight A student.” I say strive to be, because in reality, I was a “mostly A’s, but a B’s here and there” student.

In short, I was a failing perfectionist. And that’s its own kind of disaster. You want to be perfect, but you aren’t, so you’re always failing because only 100% is acceptable. You never achieve “good enough” because “good enough” doesn’t exist; just perfection. And you are never perfect. What a way to live!

This post was originally published on Hiroko’s...

My batteries, and the gift of self-awareness

It’s 8:30 am on a Sunday, and I just rushed the husband and 2 babies out of the door into the car for them to visit their yéye (grandpa)’s house. I came back into the house, sighed, and sat down at my computer with a cup of coffee my husband brewed for me first thing in the morning.

As always, the morning was rowdy and energetic with a 2 year old and an infant who just gained mobility.

This post was originally published on Hiroko’s Words, a Substack Newsletter I have been writing since end...

Summary of Occurrence of ADHD in Adulthood (CHADD)

This post summarizes the podcast titled “Occurrence of ADHD in Adulthood” in the series “Training on ADHD in Children and Adults” by Pocket MD. Pocket MD is a podcast hosted by CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). It’s free continuing education (CE) credit course accredited by ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC.

“The Occurrence of ADHD in Adulthood” (PD4457-040121BR)ADHD in adulthoodWhat is ADHD: syndrome recognized by behavioral manifestations, typically wit...

Summary of Recognition & Diagnosis of ADHD (CHADD)

This post is notes for “Training on ADHD in Children and Adults” course from CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). It’s free continuing education (CE) credit course accredited by ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC.

Main page on this blog that collects all of these summaries (and links to course content) is here:

ADHD: Summarizing CHADD Pocket MD Podcast

“Recognition & Diagnosis of ADHD” (PD4457-040121AR)What is ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorde...

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02) Free Study Guide

As may of you may know, the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02) had a huge update in September 2023, turning it from CLF-C01 to CLF-C02. There was a lot of content added, including a lot of services and a few frameworks and concepts.

My AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam preparation courses hosted at LinkedIn Learning have all been updated to help you prepare for the CLF-C02 update! Check them out here: Introduction to AWS For Non-Engineers!

I’m currently hard at work prepa...