Category Archives: language

3 Chord Thursday: Songs in Spanish

It just so happens that Cinco de Mayo falls on Thursday 5/5/2022. Let’s explore and share songs in the Spanish language. Perhaps this will inspire you: five songs in Spanish with the ukulele! If you play the piano, you can … Continue reading

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Little Donkey

Little Donkey is a Chinese children’s song, arranged here for ukulele in C major with pinyin lyrics. 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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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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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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The freedom and friction of fiction writing

“Pick up a postcard on your table and write your address on it. Take what you’ve learned in this conference and write to your future self. Which words of encouragement would you impart?” Among the postcards of city scenes and … Continue reading

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My last grandma (1917 – 2017)

6 October 1917 – 3 July 2017 We called her “Ah Po” – an endearment in the Hakka dialect.

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All things Dutch and wonderful

When I first visited a local supermarket in the Netherlands, I complained that the only soy sauce was the wrong kind. The bottle was too small, and the soya sauce was Indonesian. I honestly thought I would starve.

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Teaching from the gut

Long ago I posted a blog on Bon Journal called “Teaching from the Gut.” By the title, I meant teaching a subject you know so intimately that it feels as though it’s coming out of your gut. You’re so confident … Continue reading

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