mine of wisdom December 18, 2008

I’m a late adventurer for reading, and also an extremely slow reader. I’m not sure which came first, I didn’t like reading when I was young because I was a slow reader, or I am a slow reader, because I didn’t read much when I was young? Nevertheless, I love reading now, even if I am still a very slow reader. Maybe this will change one day.

I say this with hesitation, but it usually takes me months to read a book. Aside from feeling slightly embarrassed from what others might think, I don’t really mind it too much myself. I guess, if I had a choice, I would wish to read slightly faster, so I can read through more books. But really, its not so bad. I am mostly just happy that I finally found my chemistry with books and now want to savor each word as we interact. I literally do read each word when I read.  Yes, even the is, but, and ands... I don’t know how to skim and don’t understand how others can. This must be why I’m so slow.  I feel like a teenager being in love for the first time, never want to miss any little glance, slight movement, blurred out words coming from the other person.  I’m afraid I might miss something if I skipped a word.

Even with such diligence and carefulness, I still often come across passages that I don’t fully understand.  Some of it may be because I’m still a learning reader, others, might be exactly the reason why reading is so addicting and satisfying.  Bizarre, I know.  How can something be satisfying when you cannot fully achieve the satisfaction of thoroughly understanding it?  I don’t know, but I like it.  It’s always challenging and never predictable.  Its like there are bite sized wisdom scattered throughout books, some more than others, that I stumble upon.  Even if I don’t fully grasp all its meaning, I can tell the flavor is there.  I can keep chewing on it and more meaning will keep coming out.  It’s mysterious.  It’s satisfying.  It’s profound.

Other times, I run into lines of words that just resonate, and I’m impressed that someone can put such intangible emotions or believes into such precise and effective words.  That is also satisfying!

Since I started reading, I’ve been meaning to write this post.  Partly, to have an ode to reading, but more practically, to have a place to remember these bite sized wisdom that I come across as I read.  The older I get, the more I realize, sometimes, if something is worth remembering, we’ve got to write it down somewhere, otherwise, it may be lost forever.  And that would be a sad thing.

So, here’s the first of many… The current book I’m reading, based on a friend’s recommendation, is Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. It took me a while,  a pretty long while to finally get to the main meat of the story.  I didn’t really mind the religious setups in the beginning.  It was interesting as I have very little knowledge or experience on the topic.  There were definitely worth remembering lines from that section that I want to write down here, but will have to go back and find later.   Now, the voyage is about the start, I’m looking forward to it.  But just before it,

“Things didn’t turn out the way they were suppose to, but what can you do?  You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.” (91)

Sometimes, we need to be reminded of exactly this.

Another one of my callings… October 5, 2008

Adobe InDesign*, the perfect program to deposit my obsessive compulsive urges.

In an effort to create my marketing materials for Ren Duvet and further extend my skill sets, I started taking an Adobe InDesign class at Berkeley Adult School a month ago.  Although not quite a master at graphic design yet, I am beginning to believe that I may have chosen the wrong major for myself during undergrad. Graphic design work is so much fun!  I get to create beautiful things on blank screens without having to spend years learning to draw, although I always had the curiosity to paint one day.  I get to obsess over the exact placement of every line I put down without feeling my own suspicion of being crazy.  In print design, every detail counts, and I love to, and also can’t help to, drown my time in the details.  This is the perfect software and excuse for someone who is destined to think small like me!  Yet again, I’ve found another calling; another part time career potential…

Life is wonderful, isn’t it?

*Adobe InDesign, a publishing software commonly used by designers for print media.

Home, Sweet Home! September 14, 2008

Sunday Farmer's Market at DMV

After 2 months of traveling and drifting, and 1.5 months of not having access to wordpress, I am finally home!

Vietnam was incredible, much much more than I had ever imagined. The food was simple, dynamic, and extremely flavorful and refreshing! The people were timid, friendly and unbelievably forgiving! Because we took a bus from Saigon (pretty south of Vietnam) all the way to Hanoi (the very north of Vietnam) along the west coastline, we were able to see the changing landscape along the way. Vietnam is beautiful! The ocean is calm and perfect for a surf beginner like myself.

Visiting Beijing during the Olympics was a proud and humbing experience. I was proud, honored, and excited to be part of this historical moment with China, with my country men and women, and with the world. I was proud that China had pulled it off, produced a spectacular event and has safely carried it out from beginning to end, From my memory, Beijing has never been so organized, so green, so friendly and so helpful as it was during the Olympics… It was refreshing, surreal and jaw-dropping all at the same time. Watching the games live was without a doubt one of the most blood boiling activities in my life. I was addicted to the high you get from simply being a spectator. I cannot even begin to imagine how the athletes must feel living through their most crucial moments a second at a time. Their abilities were unfathomable. It made me feel completely unathletic and unworthy in terms of fitness. I am forever humbled and inspired from Beijing 2008.

You would think after all these exciting events coming home would be difficult. It wasn’t. Both Alex and I were eager to have a home-made breakfast in the morning, even if it only involves pouring hot water from our trusting electric kettle to instant oatmeal. That was how desperate we were to the idea of home. Truly, the old cliche of not appreciating things until you lose it, even if its temporarily, it’s so-I hate to say it-true.

Two months away from home was enough to make me miss all the simple pleasures that I had so easily neglected in the past. The comfort of our own bed, and I now realize, we really do have a very very comfortable bed, cannot be replaced by even a 5-star hotel experience, although that was far from the experience we had for our 2 months travel. The blue sky, the perfect California weather, the Berkeley hill directly across from our condo, my little bike, our pleasant walks to our neighborhood shops, cafes and restaurants, the never dull joy of going to Berkeley Bowl and the amusement of picking from the hundreds of fresh and organic produce they offer, the simple pleasure of having a crisp and fresh salad at home, the comfort of standing on my own deck and stretch in the sun, the quiet moments of reading in my usual chair, having reliable and constant internet, drinking out of our delicate and spotless bodum glasses, my never ending effort of chasing after MiaoMiao with a brush in hand, fresh air, TAC, cooking…

It’s good to be home!

New Year’s Resolution? January 2, 2008

I don’t usually get suckered into the hype of making New Year’s resolutions. I don’t see much point in doing that. If I hope or decide to do something, then I should just do it. There’s no rule that I have to wait until New Year’s to do it. Besides, whatever this wish or determination may be, if it’s going to be challenging, it won’t get any easier just because I committed myself to doing it on New Year’s day… So you see, I don’t have a New Year’s resolution again…

But, this is really not to say that I don’t have any hopes or ambitious set forth for myself this year. I think its both healthy and productive to make small goals for myself in a given amount of time. This way I can constantly know what I’m working towards, and therefore have a sense of purpose in life. Besides, when the goal is reached, however small or big it may be, that sense of accomplishment is also necessary to help keep the positive outlook that I like to have on life.

Anyhow, the goal for 2008 is, sell 1000 Ren Duvets… No, I’m not greedy, just hungry!

The Sunny Side of Jet Lag November 6, 2007

It is only during rare occasions that I naturally wake up really early in the morning, although I have always found the hours of sun break extremely calming and reflective. There’s something about the peacefulness and the stillness that is not lonely, because only mornings hold the certainty of the bustling ahead.

If I walk long enough in the morning breeze, I can see the transformation of the street, the air, the speed of life in front of my eyes. I enjoy doing this the most in China. I guess in life, things are always changing, I am either part of the movement by choice or by default, or I am the quiet observer of these changes.

Here I am sitting in front of my laptop enjoying the quietness of the morning. Not frustrated a single bit by the remaining of my jet lag. Everything is so still, even the color in the sky changes so gradually. The soft music in my ears paints the picture perfectly. Maybe I will go out for a walk and see the transformation this morning…

I’m back online! October 9, 2007

After two weeks of traveling around China, I’m finally back in Beijing and back online. To my surprise I am suddenly able to access my blog in China despite numerous fruitless attempts in the past. I guess the ‘good news’ about China’s tight online control is that it is constantly changing, one day my site address does not fit the great firewall requirement, the next day it does; in either case, no apparent reason will be provided. I am just happy that the fickle ’system’ is working in my favor for the time being.

With much more to come…

Discovering HDR August 31, 2007

Somehow, I decided to explore my long time interest in photography today. And HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging is what I discovered this morning… I never realized how beautiful and true to life photographs can be. In fact, I feel somewhat amazed that for so many years I did not realize the incredible difference between the image that our eyes capture and those captured on film. The images we see with our eyes, are so much more vivid, more colorful and more real than even the most beautiful photographs from coffee table books. Yet, I’ve never consciously realized the difference until today. This realization brought me concerns. Are our perceptions really that heavily influenced by what is available to us? This is a scary thought, because in the case of imaging, we really do have the best available tools to anchor that perception, our eyes!

Anyhow, thanks to thanks to a fellow blogger, I feel awakened. From his blog, Memoirs on a Rainy Day, I learned about, and even attempted to make my very own HDR images.

Note: My first time HDR experimental attempts below do not even come close to the actual beauty that HDR is capable of capturing. To do it justice, I will attach a more skillfully captured HDR image of Manhattan at the end of this post.




* believe it or not, it took these 5 photos to make the 1 HDR imaging below

* the same view after HDR

*and it took these photos to make the HDR image below

* this HDR image is more dramatic because the 3 original images were not shot with the exact same position, to embrace the difference, i decided to give it a even more dramatized finish

* from flickr, photographed by Automatt

The flower of memories August 15, 2007

As I casually walked down the same College Ave that I do almost every single day, these little flowers caught my eyes two days ago. I was instantly brought back to my childhood summer nights in Beijing. These are the same flowers that I grew up with every summer. They always bloomed in pink, white and yellow colors in my yard and in the neighborhood. At the end of each summer, they would turn into these tiny little round black seeds. I loved collecting them on my palm and staring at them. They looked like tiny grenades, so bumpy and oddly shaped.

Along side these little flowers, I collected countless memories of running around the neighborhood catching dragonflies, playing hide and seek, waiting in front of a pile of bricks for the cricket to chirp, and hundreds of images of families and neighbors sitting under giant trees in the street waving fans back and forth, gossiping about the grind of life during those calm and unwinding evening hours.

Yet, so many times, I must have walked by these little flowers, only this time, I see them. Nevertheless, they generously offered this unexpected outburst of sweet memories from Home. I can’t help, but wonder, what else in life have I walked by without giving it a fair glance?

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” Stay Inspired! August 12, 2007

By a random chain of events, I stumbled upon Steve Job’s 2005 commencement address at Stanford . Like many others, I always thought the guy a phenomenal figure, felt curious about what makes him who he is. After reading his commencement speech, my respect for him was reinforced. Apple and Pixar aside, the guy is direct, bold and inspirational with his words!

“You’ve got to find what you love,”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.”

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.”

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

“Almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

“You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

“Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.”

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

the Sweetness in Life August 12, 2007

Catching up with a good friend over a cup of charming hot cocoa is definitely a sweet sip of life. But my mom always says, without ever tasting bitterness, how do we know if it is sweetness that we are having?



* thanks to bittersweet, the chocolate cafe in Oakland, where my intriguing cup of hot cocoa was created and also their sweet reminder of my mother’s wisdom! by the way, the floating heart in the hot cocoa was the inspiration for this post and a complete serendipitous occurrence.