Squire and I got to do something new that we just wanted to share. And of course, thank our friends for adding some extra fun in our lives. Silly and not scary, we hope you enjoy.

And THANK YOU to our friends that helped us with this. Jeff Orig, video master extraordinaire, Gabriella Marchetti, Shannon Griffin, Jennifer Waihee Polk, and Robert Kevin Garcia Doyle. Awesome = this group of fabulous people.

Juon Gets a Job from Jeff Orig on Vimeo.

Juon Gets a Job

Producer Monica Coldwell
Producer Squire Coldwell
Director/Producer Jeff Orig
Writer Squire Coldwell
Editor Shannon Griffin
Camera Jeff Orig
Sound Gabriella Marchetti
Juon Monica Coldwell
James R Kevin Doyle
Jackie Jen Waihee
Jacob Squire Coldwell

So there are all types of critters around the Nature Center,  especially since we are surrounded by wilderness to an extent.
I’ve known for a while that these guys would be found in many of the nooks and crannies of our office but I finally have gotten a friend of my own. He is very brave and I hope I get to feed him again.

So if you didn’t know yet, I’ve changed jobs already. I barely stayed three months in my old job but jumped directly into my new one. 

As I was growing up I always believed that leaving a job (especially so soon after getting one) to be a bad thing but I have to say in the last ten years, I’ve had no patience for putting up with random bs. I have been VERY lucky considering this fact and am as grateful, if not more, that it has worked out for me.

And yes, I love my new job. I am working for Hawaii Nature Center. I don’t know if the bloom will fade but it is nice to be somewhere, where it does bloom outside. Though I can honestly say that I am a mosquito magnet and am now worried that I’ll die of deet poisoning from Off products.

I had a couple of epiphanies yesterday that I wanted to share, just because it’s fresh and still on my mind.

I started a new job a month ago (ending the 4th week today). It is a great place to work and we provide care and support for children that have been affected by sexual abuse, and for my job in particular, abuse in general. I can’t think of a more rewarding thing to do. When I first started working in theatre as an actor, my first paid job was with the Sex Abuse Treatment Center. We did a show that focused on preventing date rape. It is interesting to now be in another place that bookends that experience. It is hard at times because it is a subject matter that I find to be a sore spot for me. I think I’ve figured out why though. I’m a romantic at heart. It could be a libra trait. So when it comes to this type of abuse I feel that it really takes love away from those that suffer from this crime and that hurts me. So that was epiphany number one.

Epiphany number two, no matter where you work people are not going to always get a long. I had a hard time coming into this job because it was pretty obvious from day one that there were issues. I just realized something though that I really need to work into my daily life. I can’t look at people as I would like them to be, I need to start to see people as they are in front of me. It is definitely a hard road for me. But I’ll try to work on it. I promise.

I have always been fascinated by mass manipulation. I try to avoid it as much as possible and I feel that there is no better place to see it mirrored than with our youth and their use of technology.
Scary as it may seem, we are trying to engage our 2-yr old nephew in using words and the best way we were able to is by buying him a little cell phone/book kit this past Christmas. He immediately picked up the phone and started to mimic the sound of “hello.” I was mortified (he didn’t even notice the books were connected but knew exactly what to do with the phone).

This coming March 7 at sundown begins “Unplug Day” and it ends on sundown, March 8. I am going to try it out, although I am not a hardcore user of technology I bet I use it more than I think I do.

On a side note:

I found out about this day on Upworthy.com, a site that I’ve been frequenting for my technology/parenthood news (I have two nephews and a niece growing up in world 2.0 that I care about very much). The site is full of stuff of interest and the idea behind why they created it is one I can definitely get behind.

I admit that I’m a crybaby. I prefer not to watch anything if I know it will be sad. I think I got worse once I got married. Such an emotional experience for me and I turned into a faucet whenever I was moved by anything. I admit to two things about this video 1) I don’t like to watch reality tv for the manipulation factor, however I like the talent of singing and dancing so will fast forward to avoid personal story I’ve also limited the intake of these types of shows to one at most. 2) this one caught me off guard because I didn’t realize till the end that they interwove the story into the entire piece, that being said, I didn’t mind too much because it has to be one of the most genuine and relatable performances I’ve seen from one of these shows. I was so happy for him and it made me feel good to see a person like him succeed.

So I have spent too much time on Youtube this past 36 hours (probably three hours worth of watching) but it has inspired me to try a different approach to my blog. I know videos and random excerpts are the new norm and I’ve decided to link some of my favorites here to share as I find the ones that stand out or mean the most to me at the moment.

This weekend of youtube started because I was going through old cds I had made and happened upon the Rent song, “Seasons of Love” featuring Stevie Wonder. He is one of my favorite musicians for all the obvious reasons. And it reminded me of one of my favorite Stevie Wonder performances, a live duet I found on youtube a few years ago with Stevie Wonder and Tony Bennett, “For Once in My Life,” for Tony Bennett’s Birthday Bash. And that’s when I went down the youtube rabbit hole and started to click on those cursed recommended videos.

I really like Stevie Wonder and I was curious about a video captioned with him surprising a singer named Ahsan in studio about a year ago. Mostly because who would be granted such an honor to have Stevie Wonder pay them a visit. I immediately liked the singer’s voice when he started to sing, “Ribbon in the Sky,” and when Stevie Wonder appeared my respect for both only became greater.

And now for the kicker, Ahsan was about 14 years old when he met Stevie Wonder. Great story for forever.

I discovered a comic strip character that I really like. Her name is Aunty Acid by Ged Backland. She reminds me a lot of Sophie, another acerbic-witted woman comic strip character, but with a tinge more softness on occasion.

Some of my recent favorites are below, the final pick also had a little pidgin (language) tinge, which made her a front runner for me.

So I bought the Nokia Lumia 1020 for the camera feature and I haven’t been disappointed yet. I like gadgets that have a niche, the best camera definitely appealed to me and it holds up spectacularly. Here are some pics of my cat, Kili, with a fun app called strange camera and one of the Nokia camera apps.

Happy New Year, Everyone.

This year I open with retrospection.

I don’t want to be a person that focuses on the negative so when I start to feel like all I may be doing is complaining, I don’t like to write.

Things aren’t bad most times so why focus more time and effort on it? Yes, easier said than done.

So how did I get here, or rather, what informed my choice of action or inaction?
My family. I’ve spent an impressive amount of time in 2013 avoiding my mom, spending time with my grandmother on my dad’s side, visiting with my dad who now lives in Thailand, and meeting my new niece in Georgia.
My work, went back to work with an old company and spent a lot of time growing but wanting to quit at the same time. I continue to love the people there and always will.

It was a good time in general and time to start anew, with family and work.