Category Archives: Daily

I’m reading this book.  And finally it is grabbing my attention.  Just as she struggled to learn how to meditate, I struggled the same to stay with a book.

**  I just found out how difficult it is to copy some text from a SCRIBD book even if you are a paid subscriber **

Just wanted to save some typing while reflecting on this subject.  But it is not to be..

“I knew that to eliminate the ‘I want’ frame of reference I would have to become more relaxed — to be a participant in the middle-way, a way that recommends no over-indulgence nor extreme ascetism.”

This resonates with me in my thinking about reading.  I found that my mind often wanders when I read.  Maybe it’s the fact that I read on my ipad or like now I am reading on my big 27″ apple monitor.  The ease of reaching for the keyboard and do some searching in the browser does not help me when I am ready.  Maybe that’s why Scribd has a full screen mode so you can focus better.  Nevertheless, my mind wanders like hers when she was meditating.  Yes, I can gently bring my mind back to the text in front of me, but it is equally frustrating for me as it was for her.  And to be honest, this applies to most things we need to focus at hand.  I often put audible on and listen to a book while I cook or clean (rare occasion), it helps me finish the physical tasks while engaging my mind.  Even then, my mind can wander away from the narrator and go into its own stories.  Maybe a few minutes later, I will catch myself and pay attention to the book again.

So the mind wanders often and all the time without our awareness.  If we do pay attention to its wandering, we probably will get frustrated often.  This is the struggle between ‘over-indulgence’ and ‘extreme ascetism’.  The word compromise comes to mind, which means the same as ‘middle-way’ in her book.  Also, mindfulness is to be able to observe the mind wandering and detach from it instead of identify with it.  The peace and calmness comes from that observing entity which understands that the mind likes to bounce around but it does not need to.

So be kind to yourself.  Do not get flustered by the quickness and aimlessness of the mind.  It may be the nature of the mind.  It may be the animal instinct that has existed in us for generations.  Just know that I am not the mind, or the thoughts, or the dreams, I am separate from them.  Observe them and let them go.

 

Yesterday, we went to Whole Foods to get some fruits and vegetables for me to do a few days of raw food/vegetables diet.  I have been eating poorly lately, too much meat and not enough vegetables.  Watched some raw food lifestyle youtube videos and got motivated to go back to it for a few days.  Really want to lose a few pounds that have been accumulated around the tummy.  At the check out, saw Elim called and sent a text to wish me happy birthday.  Surprised to remember that it was my ‘real’ birthday and I totally forgot about it.  She didn’t.  This made me both pleasantly surprised and happy.  Didn’t even get upset for me forgetting about it or even Leo.

We went to Bahama Breeze for lunch and celebrated the birthday there.  The mood was dampened a bit by their really, really slow service.  We waited 10 minutes and nobody showed up.  I went to the receptionist and asked who our waiter is and that started the ball rolling.  But then it took forever for the drinks to come.  The waitress asked the manager to come over, she said she had no explanation for the delay and apologized.  I asked for some water and that was the extent of their concern.  So 30 minutes after we sat down, we finally got our drinks.  The margarita flight was ok, looks pretty but the taste was ok.  The Ahi Tuna appetizer was really good, and it came with lots of greens.  The seafood paella was ok, nothing special either.  And the whole service was spotty and slow.  Even after the waitress dropped off the take home box, we had to wait a long while and ask for the check.  Maybe it’s just a one time deal, but the experience sucked.

When we got home, I took Benny out for a pee, and saw a box of flowers sitting by the door.  I knew immediately that it was from Elim.  She sent me flowers from “Pro Flowers” to the office when I was working for 2 consecutive days when she knew I was having a hard time at work.  She is a sweet daughter.  This time it’s from both her and Ryan.  Their note was sweet and made me happy.  And they called later again too.

It turned out to be a nice surprised birthday.  I am still bathing in warmth today.  And the number 60 seems to be significant.  Feels like I should have done something special about it.  Maybe I will.  From 9/24 to 11/5 is my birthday ‘period’.  I have plenty of time to reflect and do something about it.  Wow, 60.

Still trying to find a workflow to insert pictures into the post from lightroom.  Drag and drop works on the Add New Post page, but it isn’t set as the featured image.  There isn’t an option in the image upload window to set it.  Have to manually set it from the post.

While walking Benny a couple of days ago at the Al Lease Park, I came upon this tree with the unknown fruit ripen at the op.  Wondering what it is…

We haven’t been to Lih Wah for a while so in the spur of the moment, we decided to go there for lunch.  I wanted to play with my camera and try my hands at creating a video for it.  So I used the iphone for this experiment.  Leo kept asking about when will the video be ready.  And I wanted to get my workflow worked out for the pictures and was playing with the photos and videos anyway today.  So I finished the short clip.  It’s getting easier being the second time I try to edit a video with music.  Pretty fun.

These were the best photos of the 6-7 tomato I grew this summer.  We bought a plant that already had tomatoes growing on it with a cage on top.  The tomatoes and the leaves were already growing sideways out of the cage and the pot was relatively small.  I was very enthusiastic and the tomatoes grew nicely in the first few weeks.  The pictures were tken when they were nice and plump.

But then before I knew it, even with daily watering and plant food, all of them split before they were ripen and the insects got to them.  We got to taste a couple before they rotted on the plant, the rest all went to the trash.  So sad.

Well, I tried and at least I had pictures when they were still promising and nice.

       

This was a project long time coming.  We have been in this house for 9 years now and I just got to it in July this year.  It wasn’t bad in the beginning, but 9 years of accumulation has made it impossible to walk through to the back.  We talked about it, me and Leo, lots of times in the 9 years that we will go down and start throwing things out or giving things away.  And I have made a couple attempts at sorting the electronic things into drawers.  But eventually, things got out of hand and were left to disarray.

After Elim left for San Diego, I was in a low spirit for a couple of weeks and decided to do something productive to get out of the funk.  And this was the project that I picked.  Boy am I glad I did.  It was overwhelming in the beginning when it was hard to move let alone sort in the basement.  After moving some out to the rec room area, I was able to slowly make progress.  It wasn’t a linear process either, things got moved around plenty of times before they settled in the final spot.  I went through all the boxes and containers this time instead of just piling them up.  Now that it’s finished,  life feels lighter too.

I didn’t stop there, I went through my dressers and threw out and gave away clothes that I don’t wear any more.   They were so crammed, they were hard to close.  Then I went to the office and rearranged the camera equipments and made them easier to access, too.

Today, I got the last big cardboard box of sheets sorted out from the rec room and cleared the last bit of misc, the rec room is also back to its original shape.

Now if only we can keep things in maintenance mode and not create any more chaos.  At least that is a goal.

Tried to find a way to post from Day One to this WordPress blog today.  Found out there is a newer version of Day One, so I updated both my MAC and Iphone for it.  First the journal file won’t sync between the two.  After trying different syncing server and after matching the Day One version on both devices, and syncing now to Day One server for both, they finally showed up on both.  It was not clear from the get-go though.

Then trying to post a Day One entry to this wordpress blog was another hurdle.  The email from the generic WP settings does not work.  Went across a Google search result that mentioned Postie in my research.  Installed it and the email from Day One has all been sucked in.  Another hurdle jumped through.

All of this to solve the problem of sending images from the iphone easily to the blog with text.  Now I can journal in Day One and choose to either post it by emailing it to WordPress or not.  Mark this as an accomplishment for today.

I finally got the brush pen sample from Jetpen out today and tried them.   It is easier with the form/hard pen than the brush pen as a beginner.  However if I want to play with colors, I think I need to practice with the paint brushes.  And I found I like the smaller ones, even the 00 size brush.  And using a cheap set of water color from Michaels is more than sufficient for the purpose.

This is one of the things I am “playing” with since I took a break from ballroom dancing.  I am reading more, journaling more, playing with colors and knitting more.  Things I put aside when my focus was on dancing and taking 4-5 lessons a week.  I was usually exhausted after the lessons and called it the day when I got home.  Now I have a lot more time since I’m not spending 90 minutes commuting to and from the studio, plus time working on the computer after the lessons.  I feel free and creative and turned my attention to more spiritual matters too.  I don’t know where this will lead me, but I am ready.

Ryan and Elim’s wedding went off spectacularly and smoothly.  Everything turned out well thanks to the hard work of the wedding planner and the couple themselves.  They put in a lot of thoughts even with their busy work schedule.  I am very impressed and relieved that I didn’t have to plan it.   I would have gone crazy and still wouldn’t have planned as well a wedding as they did.

At the Church

The Reception

Of course many thoughts went through my mind but I can’t put them in words yet.  Maybe later after everything sinks in a bit.  But I am happy for them.  I feel relieved that Elim has settled down.  I am excited about the beginning of their life together.  I am happy.