MY Write Stuff
SAMPLES OF MY WORK
PANDEMIC DIARY Day 11—Self Imposed Quarantine!
Still okay with this. Who knew? Don came home from work eleven days ago with his laptop from the office and has been logging on with his coworkers twice a day. (I wake up to their “jibber-jabber” and try to roll over and get some more sleep). Two more days and he will go in to return the laptop, clean off his desk, bring home his coffee mug—and be officially retired. What a time to retire!
Don and I get along together. We have things to keep us busy. He’s in the dining room working on the laptop with Zula by his side . . . and I’m down here in the basement, listening to CDs and writing. I’ve been sorting through my piles of clutter and soon we’re going out for another two-mile walk. I’m impressed with myself and relying on Don’s Fitbit.
At least our house is big enough for the two of us to be in different areas throughout the day. Imagine living in a small apartment or a trailer!
PANDEMIC DIARY Day 14—Don retires from home!
No cake, no party, no celebratory dinner at Otani Japanese Restaurant like we planned.
Don packed up his laptop and will return it and his security badge to Automated Packaging Systems in Streetsboro tomorrow. Then he will turn around and come home, hopefully without encountering contamination. He’s done!
Only Don could retire in a time of a pandemic! There’s a story here . . . it’s been only 19 days since the W.H.O. declared this situation an official pandemic.
Can you spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R? How about P-A-N-D-E-M-I-C?
PANDEMIC DIARY Day 15—Workplace is a Ghost Town.
Don returned to his workplace today which appeared deserted. He brought home his mug, a calendar and a few personal items—but FORGOT HIS PLANT!
DON: “I don’t have a plant, dear.”
ME: “You keep saying that. Look around and pick a nice plant. No one will miss it.”
DON: “I don’t have a plant. The company has a plant service.”
ME: “You forgot your plant.”
DON: “I STILL DON’T HAVE A PLANT.”
ME: “Yes, you do. You just forgot it.”
CHRISTINE KRIHA KASTNER
BA, honors, Cleveland state university, 1983
Some writers roll a sheet of paper into a typewriter and stare at it. Others pull out a yellow-ruled legal pad and stare at it. That’s how they get started. Not me! I never get “writer’s block.” Never. I have many ideas . . . too many . . . and I’m running out of time.
Sentences take shape in my subconscious. It’s like I’m always writing and rewriting—in my head!
I keep a notepad beside the bed so that I can scribble down my thoughts early in the mornings—that’s when my best ideas come to me. Writers know! If you don’t jot it down, that brilliant thought evaporates. No, you won’t remember it later . . .
I’m always writing. Eventually I get it down on paper and it turns into something pretty wonderful.
TRAVELS TO JAPAN
It started with a 2006 late-night email from someone I didn’t know, promoting a reunion trip for anyone with a connection to Kubasaki High School on Okinawa. It was in conjunction with the World Uchinanchu Festival that takes place every five years and brings together people of Okinawan heritage.
Dad had been in the Army. Having lived overseas with my family in various places, I always remembered Okinawa with fondness. I would go! I was going! No question I was making this trip!
When I returned from that trip and began to write, my husband finally came around to the idea of going with me for the next Uchinanchu Festival (every five years). He realized how important it is to do things when the opportunity arises. So many times we heard people say, “Someday when I retire, I’m going to travel.” Don came home from work one day to proclaim, “Someday is now!”
That first trip for the reunion and festival took place in 2006. The next was in 2011. Somehow, we pulled it together and even met up with members of an Ohio kenjin-kai in a dusty schoolyard to gather for a welcome parade. Don and I fell in love with Japan and rode the rails throughout mainland Japan after the Okinawa event, in particular Kyoto and Tokyo. A fascinating country with much to explore, Japan awaits us one more time. Our plans to return in 2020 were scuttled by COVID. We will return in 2023! We are going! No question we’re making this trip!