User:Kyoko

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_{This user page was designed by Sango123 and further modified by me.}

I'm Kyoko, a twentysomething woman from Montreal who currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. My father's from Japan, and my mother's from Quebec, and I am proud of my combined heritage. I also participate in the French version of Wikipédia, albeit much less often than in the English language version. I don't feel competent enough with my other languages to bother signing up for their corresponding Wikipedias.

Like the Tachikomas from the anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, I'm eager to explore, curious about everything, and rather easily distracted as well, though unlike the Tachikomas, I also have a pronounced streak of melancholy (more on that below). While I am interested in many things, lately my Wikipedia edits have focused on health-related articles, reflecting concerns in real life.

I should probably point out that I am a different person from all the other people who seem to use the word "Tachikoma" as their username on various other forums, mostly related to videogames, which don't interest me at all.

I try to always treat others in a kind and compassionate manner. If you feel that I have hurt your feelings through my own incivility, please tell me.

—Kyoko

Short term projects:

• improve articles relating to pulmonary hypertension (PH), something that I've been forced to learn about because I was recently diagnosed with it. PH is an incurable, progressive, and potentially life-threatening condition that affects the lungs and by extension, the heart. Just by looking at me, you wouldn't be able to tell that I'm anything other than healthy. My condition isn't so bad right now (I'm at class II on the NYHA scale), meaning that I can walk around fine, as long it's not too fast or too far or at too high an altitude. Running is much more tiring now than it ought to be. I really could be much worse off. I guess it helps that I'm otherwise pretty physically fit.

• I'm well enough right now that my PH isn't nearly as much a concern as other things in my life, but nonetheless it is something I think about. I don't want to let PH define who I am. In other words, I am a person and not a disease. I do think, however, that my Wikipedia contributions about this and related matters are more meaningful to me right now than what I might otherwise contribute towards other topics like anime or literature. I hope that my contributions will help others too.

Incidentally, November is PH Awareness month, and the light purple colour of my userpage is similar to the awareness wristband for pulmonary hypertension.

• make a proper Lung transplantation article, rather than the simple redirect to Organ transplant that it currently is. This is an important topic, and it's quite a surprise that among the million plus Wikipedia articles, there isn't an actual article about lung transplants. I'm currently writing this article offline, and uploading revisions to this sandbox. I recently completed an article on the related lung allocation score. Feel free to read my drafts, but please post your suggestions on my talk page before making any changes.

Long term projects (not in any order):

• eventually finish reading The Abyssinian by Jean-Christophe Rufin
• expand coverage of Canadian, and especially Quebec literature
• flesh out some of the English Renaissance theatre stubs
• work on expanding Wikipedia's literature content in general
• learn more Japanese, not just the scattered bunch of kanji and kana that I know
• learn more American Sign Language, because I would like to better communicate with a deaf co-worker
• translate missing content from French Wikipédia to English Wikipedia and vice versa
• improve articles related to medicine, especially in the areas of pulmonology, nephrology, and cardiology.

This last project is something I feel pretty strongly about. Many of the Wikipedia articles relating to medicine and science seem to be written towards a doctor's or scientist's point of view, rather than that of a patient or interested layperson. I do not want to "dumb down" the articles, just make them more understandable to everyone, without diluting their scientific content.

It's a hard task to accomplish, because as I've said on the Science reference desk, using scientfic jargon saves time for people who are already familiar with the field, while it confuses or frustrates others. You may have noticed in my own contributions to scientific and medical articles that I tend to lapse into more formal and jargon-filled language because it allows both precision and brevity, so I'm just as guilty as anyone of that. Even so, I truly feel that Wikipedia should be for everyone, both novices and experts, and I hope that there is some middle ground that will satisfy everybody.

...is partially due to clinical depression, a common mental illness that is still widely misunderstood by people who have never experienced it.

I've written about my recent attempt at suicide in the hope that it will educate people how depression feels like, and chip away at the social stigma that discourages many people from seeking treatment. If you or someone you know is depressed, I strongly urge you to seek professional help. There is hope!

Words may be just words, but malicious words truly hurt, and the scars that they leave, though invisible, can last a lifetime.

— me

The Little Mermaid, with songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, was recently rereleased on DVD.

I'm overjoyed that Disney decided to release this film in a restored edition. This was one of my favourite films as a child, and I still enjoy it today. :)

Feeling rather distressed and frustrated from things in real life, and also my apparent inability to keep other people from using my talk page as their personal chat room when they should really take it to e-mail and not anywhere on Wikipedia. It's all making me feel powerless, and feeling powerless is making me feel depressed.

Essay on my depression, and why I thought I had to end my life leave Wikipedia
Sandbox for an article on lung transplants
Sandbox for a revised userpage
Reading preferences
My Esperanza template
Reference pages so I don't have to search the main help files
Sandbox for my Tale of Genji project (postponed until another reading)
Sandbox for my L'Abyssin project (sort of on the back burner)
Sandbox for All She Was Worth (lost interest in writing this)
Sandbox for the novel Norwegian Wood (I already made the story summary, so I might delete this)
Userboxes that I have created
Welcome message for newcomers
Welcome message for anonymous users
Javascript tools
List of custom warnings

This user is a member of Esperanza

This user is an Esperanzian, which is someone who is a member of Wikipedia:Esperanza. Esperanza is an association of Wikipedians dedicated to strengthening Wikipedia's sense of community. It is primarily involved with establishing and maintaining a support network for its members, who want to build a place where Wikipedians can go for hope and reassurance. Esperanza is an approachable, small community designed to recognize situations where hope, reassurance, or help are needed and to match those who desire help with those who offer help.