Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred moments so dear.
How do I measure my 2011?

In lines of code I checked in?
In nights I overworked?
In mornings I struggled to wake up?

In songs I listened?
In miles I traveled?
In courses I took?
In cups of hot tea I drank?
In glasses of wine I tasted?
In words I out-poured myself?
In G+ posts I shared with friends?
In smiles I exchanged with strangers?

In number of packages I received?
In number of shuttles I missed?
In number of visits I paid to doctors?
In number of hours I spent in gym?
In number of inspiring talks I attended?
In number of interesting people I run into?
In number of people who came and left my life?

In number of times I broke down?
In number of times I cheered myself up?
In number of times being too straightforward?
In number of times I truly appreciated friendship?

It's time now to sing out though the story never ends.
Let me remember 2011 in the life of friends and love.

Working hard but daydreaming even harder

I had an additional obsession due to my new phone. The speed of the phone consuming the battery is like me finishing the baked potato chips without anyone else watching.

The consequence was that I had one more item in my bag which was the cellphone charger and my newly developed compulsive behavior was to take out the charger everywhere I spotted an outlet to feed my new gadget.

I didn't enjoy this experience too much. I seldom made any phone calls nor did I receive any. I used the phone mostly for checking time/weather/emails. It doesn't matter too much if it runs out of the battery. Therefore, the reasoning made me go easy with it.

Unfortunately, I didn't have this kind of luck with my other hobbies. Sometimes, I looked at my overflowed closet, all I want to shout is "I wish I knew how to quit you."

The Chinese traditional philosophy suggests that we should not pay too much attentions to any belongings. All in all, we, as an individual, came to this world alone and will leave the world alone one day. However, I think some of those small addictions, healthy or unhealthy, did turn out to be useful tools to handle a person's daily little happiness or disappointments. If they do work, then why not? Aren't those small stubborn addictions helping us go through the interludes in life and understand ourself better?

I wish people who smoke stay happy and healthy.
I wish people who exercise stay happy and healthy.

In summary, I long for the right amount of living wisdom. Not too much, not too little, just right there.

漫搵英雄泪，
相离处士家。
谢慈悲剃度在莲台下。
没缘法转眼分离乍。
赤条条来去无牵挂。
哪里讨烟蓑雨笠卷单行，
一任俺芒鞋破钵随缘化。

Happy Holiday Shopping

I enjoyed online shopping a lot. It was time efficient, less human interaction /interference and gave my daily life some persistent small expectations. However, I did have a great real life holiday shopping experience recently.

I managed to get to the downtown. The main purpose for the trip was to activate my new android phone. In less than 20 minutes, I got it set up and found myself wandering the streets aimlessly.

I stepped into a footware store and received an instant greeting from a middle aged guy.
"What can I help you today?"
"just look around...nothing in particular." I said absently.
Usually, I expect that would be the end of the conversation. However, he carried on the conversation by asking,
"What kind of sports do you do?"
"Me? Kickboxing." I started to pay a little bit attention to the guy. He is about medium height and has a masculine figure.
"Try vibram." He suggested.
"Oh you mean those five toes shoes?"
"Yes. Kickboxing requires frequent pivoting on the ball of your foot. You need a good pair of shoes to give support ."
I was surprised because what he said was absolutely true. I didn't observe that much requirement of the pivoting of the foot and hip in other sports activities. Nor did I expect a salesman would know in such details.
"That is very true. I wore asics running shoes to the classes." I started to take the conversation seriously.
"Well, that is different. Try vibram. You will know the difference."
"Size 7." He measured my feet.
"Yeah, that was expected."
He brought me a pair of new shoes. I didn't expect it was so hard to put those shoes on. My toes refused to separate as the shoes want them to be. I got frustrated.
"It takes some time initially. No rush. " He said.
He sat beside me watching me to separate the toes clumsily.
" I was a professional kickboxer before. I was in tournaments."
"Oh really?", I stopped trying on the shoes and stared at him.
"I hurt my left shoulder because the bag I tried to punch was too far from me." He said.
"What a pity! Does it heal now?"
"Yes. But I was not able to go back any more."
"My teacher was also a professional before. She run into financial problems in 2008 and had to switch to teaching." I felt a little bit sorry for him and tried my best to continue the conversation.
"I can imagine that." He nodded.
" I love kickboxing. I finally put them on!" I stand up.
"It is a great sports. Now show me some kick." To my surprise, he pivoted slightly and suggested me to kick his left leg.
"I can't do that." I looked at him.
"Try it." He encouraged.
"Ok." I put my hands over my head and did a fast kick.
"Nice kick, young lady."
" Thanks, thanks. Now I know what you talked about. The whole control of pivoting through my feet and strong support." I looked at him happily.
"Yes." He smiled.
Unfortunately, the store didn't have the size of the style I like. I felt sorry.
"No worry. Remember the size and look online. Wear the shoes to your kickboxing classes." He comforted me.
"I will. Thanks for the help. And happy holidays!" I gave him a big smile.
"Happy holidays!"

The next stop was a small Jewelry store to enrich my personal earring collections. It was very crowded by people who were looking for holiday gifts. The checkout line was further slowed down by the exquisite gift packaging requirements.
"I don't need gift packaging. It is for myself." I handed the ear ring to an elegant old lady behind the counter.
"ok. I will put in a small pouch for you then. How beautiful the ear ring is. I am pretty sure it was just out this morning." She complimented.
"I don't know why I always prefer gold and black combination." I said.
"Yeah, it is stunning. And black matches your hair and eyes." She smiled.
"Yeah, maybe. A part of me always want to be stunning." Both of us laughed.

Stepping outside the Jewelry store, my next stop is my love and hatred, lulu lemon. Notoriously expensive but comfortable, the shopping experience is beyond words and forgetting very fast purposely. :-)

The last stop is that famous Korean bakery store with "Paris" in its name and Eiffel tower as its icon. I randomly sampled some bread and proceed to the checkout.
"Your ear muff looked really cute." The in-season white fluffy ear muff with blue flash light made her look very pretty.
"Oh, if you pre-order a cake, you can get that too." She handed me the brochure.
"Maybe it is a good idea to get one and wear it to the Sandy's SF concert." I thought to myself.
"It is very expensive also." A young guy interrupted eagerly.
Both the girl and me didn't know how to respond to his words. Suggesting the real value of such a cute stuff was not helping indeed. There was a silent awkwardness before three of us burst into laugh at the same time.
"I will think about it. Thanks." I said.

My shopping trip came to the end. I think I enjoyed it so much because of those fleeting community moments with others. The moments can be transient but uplifting.

The pursuit of truth

My office is close to a tech talk venue, a kitchen, a laundry room , a piano and a gym. They helped me fight against my everyday blues.

I remembered vividly it was a Monday morning, with a cup of coffee at hand, I was intrigued by a tech talk title which was Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy. I immediately convinced myself to skip team meetings and attend the talk instead. Why not? If Monday becomes less organized, it won't be a Monday.

The talk turned out to be a disaster. I walked away from the talk with the following three points.

• The speaker really loved a comic book about a life of a logician.
• In reality, the logician held his pipe in his left hand, while in the book, he used his right hand to hold it.
• The logician had quite a few love affairs in his life which were omitted intentionally or unintentionally. The speaker has not figured it out yet.

To be continued.