Michael T. Miyoshi's Blog, page 16

Unexpected Snow Day

What do you do on an unexpected snow day? I just write.

I live in an area where snow can affect whether we go to school or not. And believe it or not, there are times when teachers hope and pray for snow days too. Oh sure, we make them up in June, but there are times when you just want it to snow and for school to be cancelled.

But what do you do when school gets cancelled?

I know some kids and colleagues go back to sleep. No school? Get back to sleep. It is a natural reaction. Get a lit...

My Philosophy of Life

A student of mine recently asked me what my philosophy of life is. I told him that I could tell him, but I might get fired. But then I thought about it more and decided that I really ought to dig deeper to see what my philosophy of life really is.

Philosophy means love of wisdom, but a philosophy of life is how you live your life. Or how you believe you live your life. And to my way of thinking, your philosophy of life ought to be fairly short and sweet. Like a mission statement of sorts. ...

Thanksgiving 2022

I just realized that I am thankful for the people in my life.

Okay. I did not just realize it, but I am truly thankful for the people in my life. Those who have been in my life in the past and those who continue to be in my life in the present. And although I did not just realize it, Thanksgiving is the perfect time to be introspective and really think about being thankful.

I am most thankful for my family. My wife and kids. My brothers and sisters. And their kids too. Oh I am thankful f...

¡Gooooooooooooooool!

[It is the men’s World Cup time again, so I thought I would pull out an old piece of writing that had not yet seen the light of day.]

It might sound weird, but there are times when I wish I was watching the FIFA World Cup soccer matches on a channel where they did not speak English.

I remember watching World Cup soccer as a kid. We watched matches at Grandma and Grandpa’s on a black and white TV. It was all that we really needed to watch those great matches. Nobody really understood soccer i...

Veterans Day 2022

I do not tire of saying, “Thank you for serving,” to veterans and active duty people I know.

Veterans Day comes every November 11, but I like to thank veterans and active duty members of the armed forces whenever I meet them. I also take that holiday to say, “Thank you,” to my friends and relatives who served or are serving. And I never tire of doing so. It is because I do not want to take their service for granted.

We should never forget that freedom is not free. Somebody has paid for our ...

Halloween Comes and Goes but Batman Miyoshi Lives Forever

Halloween comes and goes but Batman Miyoshi lives on forever.

When our boys were young we used to take them out trick or treating on Halloween. They would dress up in great costumes. I would put on my cowboy hat and cowboy boots and pretend I was John Wayne and we would all walk around the neighborhood trick or treating. It was great fun.

One of the greatest costumes that the kids used to wear was a Batman costume. It had a cape and a mask and wristbands with jaggedy things sticking out lik...

Perspective: The Best Day Ever!

When you put it all in perspective, today is the best day ever.

We were on a plane recently when my kids overheard a person say, “I got to ride in a car, on a train, and now on a plane! This is the best day ever!”

Of course, it was a kid who said it. Yes, my adult children were having a little fun at the expense of the kid in the story (long after we had deplaned). And yes, we all laughed. But we also talked about what a great perspective it was. Or at least my wife mentioned it. Which of...

Prompts

I think I am going to try something new. I think I am going to grab pictures as prompts for my blog posts.

I am a boring person. Really. I know that sounds hard to believe, but I do not live that exciting of a life. I read. I write. I go to work. I eat. I try to exercise each day. And I spend time with my family. That is about it. Pretty boring to many folks. Just normal for others.

Oh life was not always like that. It just seems to have slowed down. It seems that when the kids ar...

Wordle and Worldle

If you have not tried Wordle and Worldle yet, you should. They help you keep your mind active.

I like puzzles. All kinds of puzzles. Rubik’s cubes, jigsaw puzzles, Jumble. Just about any kind of puzzle. Which is why I like Wordle and Worldle. They are puzzles on the internet.

To be sure, if I could only do one puzzle to do on the internet, it would be Wordle.

Wordle is a word guessing game. All the words are five letters, you have six guesses, and the answers are never plurals. At lea...

Motorcycles Do Not Like Me

My friend and faithful reader, R, said that we should get tattoos and Harleys and ride off into the sunset. I told him that we could not do that because motorcycles do not like me. (And I should point out that we live on the west coast so we would not ride very far into the sunset.)

Now I know that we should not give inanimate objects personalities or other human qualities. (The technical term is called anthropomorphism.) But it really does seem like motorcycles do not like me. I know that...