JANET STERLING SILVER DESIGN

Cliffnotes on Janet (and other things you can live without!)
Click here for the addendum, 5/13/02
Click here for the addendum, 1/4/03

Born: Japan, Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture

Raised: Hawaii, Island of Oahu

High School: Punahou School, Honolulu, HI

B.A.: Santa Clara University, CA; Studied Abroad: Rome. Major: History, with an Emphasis on European Studies; Minor: Art History.

M.A.: New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science. M.A. Thesis: Social Construction of Femininity in Japan (i.e. how it affects single women in their 20s, and how they subvert the roles imposed on them).

Real Name: Akie

Why it was changed: Janet was orignially my middle name (my dad's from California) and when we moved to America from Japan, people kept mispronouncing Akie and it drove me crazy, so my parents ended up switching my first and middle name legally.

My big goal, freshman year in college: "By the time I'm 30," (as if i had a billions of years to go), "I want to have a graduate degree, I want to either be married or have someone around I would marry around then (this was before my "I hate men--I'm never getting married" stage) and my dream job would be to run my own jewelry design company." I kid you not. My exact words. Not that it was a smooth, straight road....

My next big goal now that I'm turning 30 soon: not sure yet, but I'd really like to get a pilot's license by the time I'm 40.

Motto: "Think big; it's free."

Favorite book, fiction: Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut. Right book at the right time--took it on a budget trip to Rome and the Greek Isles with my friend Ana, and everything that could go wrong went very wrong....i.e. Ana got mono+Ana can't carry suitcase or might rupture spleen=Janet carry 2 suitcases through rural Greece; hotel recommendation from friend turns out to be the wrong address and we end up in a brothel; hourly bus turns out to be quarter of a day bus and we're in the middle of nowhere; tried to put sunscreen on by myself and 2 hours later, discover a painfully red map of Alaska on my back; caught the wrong bus to the train that goes to the airport, and had to run a mad 400 meter dash with 2 suitcases in order to catch the plane.... Don't get me wrong; it was a great trip! Santorini, in particular, was amazingly beautiful, I could never tire of Rome; but geez! The saying should be, "Whatever doesn't kill you...makes you laugh at yourself in hindsight." I was the disillusioned Space Wanderer.

Most interesting museum I've ever been to: The Art Museum of the Criminally Insane, Lausanne, Switzerland. Each artwork comes with an explanation of the patient, where they are institutionalized, why they are where they are, and what makes that particular work amazing. For example, there was one of a scribbled lifesize stickfigure on a large piece of brown paper that was really crumpled, and the explanation said that the patient only drew in the dark between 3-4am, and if the guards didn't take it away by the time the drawing was done, she'd eat it.

Scariest (but most poignant) museums I've been to: Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima, Japan (it's next to the Peace Memorial Park, and half the museum is about atomic bombs, what happened to the people of Hiroshima then, , like drawings done by the kids and people right after of how people were melting, and how they couldn't run away because they had no feet, the after effects, i.e. genetics, as well as scientific findings of what our world will be like if nuclear weapons, now more advanced, were unleashed now. The other half is dedicated to the people who were affected by the bomb, the personal narratives of the war, i.e. things donated to the museum by parents, children, and other people.) The Museum of War Atrocity (used to be named the Museum of American War Crimes, but they changed it because they depened on the new American flow of tourists), in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (I would say, at least 25% of the people I saw my age in Vietnam had major physical deformities due to the biological chemicals Americans used during the war, and even though I thought the the whole museum was thought provoking, the most interesting thing was that there was one room that is all about American Vietnam Vets who do not have a voice in America, what happened to them and their children). Dachau, Munich, German (They dismantled most of the barracks where they imprisoned Jews, but parts of the buildings still stand. I was kind of nervous about going in 1991 because there was a protest there held by Neo Nazis a month before, who claimed that the concentration camps are all a lie, that Hitler knew nothing of it, etc., but they were gone by the time I got there. When you see the museum, the buildings, the film footage, the photos, the medical journals they kept about the experiments, it's just unfathomable where those groups get their facts and why they continue to spread their hatred.)

Where I turned 21: Amsterdam

What I did that day: I took a train in from Luxembourg that morning (spring break while studying in Rome), and I was supposed to meet some friends in Amsterdam at the Van Gogh Museum at 3pm (Nora was in Paris, and Kathryn was already running amok in Amsterdam somewhere), so I went to the Anne Frank Museum early in the day (I very highly recommed it--read the book first!), and the guy I was standing next to in line took me out to lunch. Met my friends at 3, went to a couple of cafes, ended up in a jazz bar... All in all, a good day indeed.

Favorite place to ski: Cervinia (Italian Alps). There's nothing like being at the very top of the Alps, next to Zermatt, the "real" Matterhorn! The view is just so breathtaking, and the ride down is long and challenging.

Best thing I ever did in my life: Studying abroad in Rome completely changed my view of life! If you're in college and you're given the opportunity to study abroad, even if it's just a semester, take it!

Pet Peeve: overly aggressive, aggro telemarketers; see Personal Links for info on NYS's new law against telemarketers who invade your personal space! NYS residents only: Pre-register here to block your phone from these animals!

Favorite sushi: Amaebi

Color of the moment: Pink

Number of magazines I subscribe to: probably about 10

How many I actually read: 2 ("Bust" and "Giant Robot"--and not just because I advertise with them!)

Favorite mags to just skim and look at pictures: "Wallpaper" and "Cutie"

Newspaper: I only have time to read the Sunday NY Times

Mental Disorder: I MUST read every article in the newspaper that's on my desk or I can't part with it. Needless to say, the pile is very high right now.

Hillary or Lazio: Hillary

Funniest thing I've heard of (actually, I saw it on a documentary TV show) that I really want to experience: the "I hate my job/life/etc" Plate Smashing Bar. It's somewhere in Tokyo, and rather than the ubiquitous karaoke bar, this bar has a small room surrounded by plexiglass where people, when it's their turn, go inside by themselves, shout obscenities at the top of their lungs that they wouldn't say otherwise (even in a whisper), and they have plates ready for you to throw to the other side of the room!

Addiction: Salami, esp. Peppered Genoa Salami that they have at The Garden of Eden (14th btwn Univsity & 5th)

Smoking or Non-smoking: Non-smoking

Soup or Salad: Soup

Regular or Super Size: Regular

Morning Person or Night Person: Definitely a night person

Favorite Dessert Wine: Vin de Glaciere, Bonny Doon Vineyard

Drink of choice: at the moment, Vodka Tonic (preferably with Mandarin Orange Vodka)

Morning drink(s) of choice: Orange juice and/or a large cup of coffee with milk and sugar

Food of choice when sick: Noodles in some kind of veggie or miso soup

Favorite noodle shop: Dairyu House of Noodles, Honolulu, Hawaii

Most un-PC thing I've ever eaten and enjoyed: raw horsemeat with soy ginger sauce (specialty in Southern Japan)

Most un-PC thing I've ever eaten and didn't enjoy: dogmeat (Vietnam). It's gamey, it's cartilaginous, and I don't know if it was psychosomatic or bad karma or what, but I was really, really, really physically sick for a week.

Obsession: food

Hello Kitty or Kerokeroppi: Hello Kitty without a DOUBT!

Most memorable non-ficton book I read in college that wasn't even required: Fasting Girls: the History of Anorexia Nervosa, by Joan Brumberg

Last fiction book I read: Girlfriend in a Coma, by Douglas Coupland. It was okay; Coupland's good with vingettes, but always has a problem bringing his books to a close.

Most memorable books from elementary school time: This Time of Darkness (kind of sci-fi-y, about a parallel world underground where people can no longer read due to talking computers), Z for Zachariah (althought the ending was weak; Robert O'Brien died before he finished writing the book, and his wife finished it using his notes--it's about the end of the world and the last people on it), Village of the Vampire Cats (murder mystery about a serial killer), Burnish Me Bright (story of a mute boy who befriends a mime). And the sad and sick truth, is that I read all 118 Nancy Drew books (I think they have more now).

Favorite book of short fiction: Where I'm Calling From, by Raymond Carver

Why I love books: my parents were really busy starting their first company in America, so everyday afterschool, I walked from my elementary school to the public library and hung out until dinnertime. I didn't speak English when I first came to the USA, so my mom thought it was the perfect place for me to spend my time. Miss Taniguchi, the librarian in the children's section, always had good books for me to read, and I really credit my love of reading to her. I have no idea where she is now, so if anyone knows where she is, please let me know! I would really like to tell her how much reading has enriched my life!

Most "interesting" thing a kid's ever said to me: I used to teach junior high school, and this one girl said to me, "Miss Janet, why are your wrists so skinny and your arms are so flabby?"

Worst pickup line I've heard this week, "I'm married, too. But you know....sometimes being married just isn't enough."

Best all around fixer-upper to have handy around the house: 5 minute epoxy glue

Best thing to have around the apartment to use when the drive to clean hits me: okay, I sound like a total dork, but that Orange Clean and Oxi-Clean stuff are really amazing!

Mac or PC: Macs!

Scooby or Astro: Hard call.... but I have to go with Scooby!

Sleep or expanding web content: Sleep! Signing off at 3:45am.

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Copyright © Janet Sterling Silver Design, 2001. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

				Cliffnotes on Janet (and other things you can live without!) Click here for the addendum, 5/13/02 Click here for the addendum, 1/4/03 Born: Japan, Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture Raised: Hawaii, Island of Oahu High School: Punahou School, Honolulu, HI B.A.: Santa Clara University, CA; Studied Abroad: Rome. Major: History, with an Emphasis on European Studies; Minor: Art History. M.A.: New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science. M.A. Thesis: Social Construction of Femininity in Japan (i.e. how it affects single women in their 20s, and how they subvert the roles imposed on them). Real Name: Akie Why it was changed: Janet was orignially my middle name (my dad's from California) and when we moved to America from Japan, people kept mispronouncing Akie and it drove me crazy, so my parents ended up switching my first and middle name legally. My big goal, freshman year in college: "By the time I'm 30," (as if i had a billions of years to go), "I want to have a graduate degree, I want to either be married or have someone around I would marry around then (this was before my "I hate men--I'm never getting married" stage) and my dream job would be to run my own jewelry design company." I kid you not. My exact words. Not that it was a smooth, straight road.... My next big goal now that I'm turning 30 soon: not sure yet, but I'd really like to get a pilot's license by the time I'm 40. Motto: "Think big; it's free." Favorite book, fiction: Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut. Right book at the right time--took it on a budget trip to Rome and the Greek Isles with my friend Ana, and everything that could go wrong went very wrong....i.e. Ana got mono+Ana can't carry suitcase or might rupture spleen=Janet carry 2 suitcases through rural Greece; hotel recommendation from friend turns out to be the wrong address and we end up in a brothel; hourly bus turns out to be quarter of a day bus and we're in the middle of nowhere; tried to put sunscreen on by myself and 2 hours later, discover a painfully red map of Alaska on my back; caught the wrong bus to the train that goes to the airport, and had to run a mad 400 meter dash with 2 suitcases in order to catch the plane.... Don't get me wrong; it was a great trip! Santorini, in particular, was amazingly beautiful, I could never tire of Rome; but geez! The saying should be, "Whatever doesn't kill you...makes you laugh at yourself in hindsight." I was the disillusioned Space Wanderer. Most interesting museum I've ever been to: The Art Museum of the Criminally Insane, Lausanne, Switzerland. Each artwork comes with an explanation of the patient, where they are institutionalized, why they are where they are, and what makes that particular work amazing. For example, there was one of a scribbled lifesize stickfigure on a large piece of brown paper that was really crumpled, and the explanation said that the patient only drew in the dark between 3-4am, and if the guards didn't take it away by the time the drawing was done, she'd eat it. Scariest (but most poignant) museums I've been to: Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima, Japan (it's next to the Peace Memorial Park, and half the museum is about atomic bombs, what happened to the people of Hiroshima then, , like drawings done by the kids and people right after of how people were melting, and how they couldn't run away because they had no feet, the after effects, i.e. genetics, as well as scientific findings of what our world will be like if nuclear weapons, now more advanced, were unleashed now. The other half is dedicated to the people who were affected by the bomb, the personal narratives of the war, i.e. things donated to the museum by parents, children, and other people.) The Museum of War Atrocity (used to be named the Museum of American War Crimes, but they changed it because they depened on the new American flow of tourists), in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (I would say, at least 25% of the people I saw my age in Vietnam had major physical deformities due to the biological chemicals Americans used during the war, and even though I thought the the whole museum was thought provoking, the most interesting thing was that there was one room that is all about American Vietnam Vets who do not have a voice in America, what happened to them and their children). Dachau, Munich, German (They dismantled most of the barracks where they imprisoned Jews, but parts of the buildings still stand. I was kind of nervous about going in 1991 because there was a protest there held by Neo Nazis a month before, who claimed that the concentration camps are all a lie, that Hitler knew nothing of it, etc., but they were gone by the time I got there. When you see the museum, the buildings, the film footage, the photos, the medical journals they kept about the experiments, it's just unfathomable where those groups get their facts and why they continue to spread their hatred.) Where I turned 21: Amsterdam What I did that day: I took a train in from Luxembourg that morning (spring break while studying in Rome), and I was supposed to meet some friends in Amsterdam at the Van Gogh Museum at 3pm (Nora was in Paris, and Kathryn was already running amok in Amsterdam somewhere), so I went to the Anne Frank Museum early in the day (I very highly recommed it--read the book first!), and the guy I was standing next to in line took me out to lunch. Met my friends at 3, went to a couple of cafes, ended up in a jazz bar... All in all, a good day indeed. Favorite place to ski: Cervinia (Italian Alps). There's nothing like being at the very top of the Alps, next to Zermatt, the "real" Matterhorn! The view is just so breathtaking, and the ride down is long and challenging. Best thing I ever did in my life: Studying abroad in Rome completely changed my view of life! If you're in college and you're given the opportunity to study abroad, even if it's just a semester, take it! Pet Peeve: overly aggressive, aggro telemarketers; see Personal Links for info on NYS's new law against telemarketers who invade your personal space! NYS residents only: Pre-register here to block your phone from these animals! Favorite sushi: Amaebi Color of the moment: Pink Number of magazines I subscribe to: probably about 10 How many I actually read: 2 ("Bust" and "Giant Robot"--and not just because I advertise with them!) Favorite mags to just skim and look at pictures: "Wallpaper" and "Cutie" Newspaper: I only have time to read the Sunday NY Times Mental Disorder: I MUST read every article in the newspaper that's on my desk or I can't part with it. Needless to say, the pile is very high right now. Hillary or Lazio: Hillary Funniest thing I've heard of (actually, I saw it on a documentary TV show) that I really want to experience: the "I hate my job/life/etc" Plate Smashing Bar. It's somewhere in Tokyo, and rather than the ubiquitous karaoke bar, this bar has a small room surrounded by plexiglass where people, when it's their turn, go inside by themselves, shout obscenities at the top of their lungs that they wouldn't say otherwise (even in a whisper), and they have plates ready for you to throw to the other side of the room! Addiction: Salami, esp. Peppered Genoa Salami that they have at The Garden of Eden (14th btwn Univsity & 5th) Smoking or Non-smoking: Non-smoking Soup or Salad: Soup Regular or Super Size: Regular Morning Person or Night Person: Definitely a night person Favorite Dessert Wine: Vin de Glaciere, Bonny Doon Vineyard Drink of choice: at the moment, Vodka Tonic (preferably with Mandarin Orange Vodka) Morning drink(s) of choice: Orange juice and/or a large cup of coffee with milk and sugar Food of choice when sick: Noodles in some kind of veggie or miso soup Favorite noodle shop: Dairyu House of Noodles, Honolulu, Hawaii Most un-PC thing I've ever eaten and enjoyed: raw horsemeat with soy ginger sauce (specialty in Southern Japan) Most un-PC thing I've ever eaten and didn't enjoy: dogmeat (Vietnam). It's gamey, it's cartilaginous, and I don't know if it was psychosomatic or bad karma or what, but I was really, really, really physically sick for a week. Obsession: food Hello Kitty or Kerokeroppi: Hello Kitty without a DOUBT! Most memorable non-ficton book I read in college that wasn't even required: Fasting Girls: the History of Anorexia Nervosa, by Joan Brumberg Last fiction book I read: Girlfriend in a Coma, by Douglas Coupland. It was okay; Coupland's good with vingettes, but always has a problem bringing his books to a close. Most memorable books from elementary school time: This Time of Darkness (kind of sci-fi-y, about a parallel world underground where people can no longer read due to talking computers), Z for Zachariah (althought the ending was weak; Robert O'Brien died before he finished writing the book, and his wife finished it using his notes--it's about the end of the world and the last people on it), Village of the Vampire Cats (murder mystery about a serial killer), Burnish Me Bright (story of a mute boy who befriends a mime). And the sad and sick truth, is that I read all 118 Nancy Drew books (I think they have more now). Favorite book of short fiction: Where I'm Calling From, by Raymond Carver Why I love books: my parents were really busy starting their first company in America, so everyday afterschool, I walked from my elementary school to the public library and hung out until dinnertime. I didn't speak English when I first came to the USA, so my mom thought it was the perfect place for me to spend my time. Miss Taniguchi, the librarian in the children's section, always had good books for me to read, and I really credit my love of reading to her. I have no idea where she is now, so if anyone knows where she is, please let me know! I would really like to tell her how much reading has enriched my life! Most "interesting" thing a kid's ever said to me: I used to teach junior high school, and this one girl said to me, "Miss Janet, why are your wrists so skinny and your arms are so flabby?" Worst pickup line I've heard this week, "I'm married, too. But you know....sometimes being married just isn't enough." Best all around fixer-upper to have handy around the house: 5 minute epoxy glue Best thing to have around the apartment to use when the drive to clean hits me: okay, I sound like a total dork, but that Orange Clean and Oxi-Clean stuff are really amazing! Mac or PC: Macs! Scooby or Astro: Hard call.... but I have to go with Scooby! Sleep or expanding web content: Sleep! Signing off at 3:45am.
Home \| About Us \| Testimonials \| Ads & Press \| FAQs \| Return & Exchange Policy \| Contact \| Privacy Policy Copyright © Janet Sterling Silver Design, 2001. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.