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| small worldJust now I was notified by my mom about a strange case of "small world"-ness.
For about a year, back when I was in 2nd grade, my sister and I took piano lessons from a piano teacher that lived about 20-30 minutes from our house in Pleasanton. We moved away before I started 3rd grade, but we did buy a piano off of her.
Around 1999, some family friends came to visit us for several days when my family still lived in Singapore. I didn't know of them before. Their youngest son, Robin, lent me his gameboy mini and Pokémon Red, which I got addicted to and played nearly nonstop until beating it (hours before they left). His Mom is named Julia (bringing this up so it'll be easier to refer to them later).
My family moved back to the Bay Area shortly after. As it turns out, their family lives quite close; all of us children went to the same High School. We'd visit each other's houses every now and then.
Jump forward a few more years. About a year ago my father found out he was sick, and had to quit his job to work on recovering his health. Eventually, this lead him to the Zijiu foundation, whose first location was created near Atlanta, Georgia.
So, a few days ago my mom was talking to Julia, and Julia asked her if she knew about [some person]. My Mom said 'yes', that it was one of the people leading the Zijiu organization in this area. What she didn't know, which Julia told her, was that this leader was none other than the former piano teacher who my sister and I had when we lived in Pleasanton about 14 years ago.
That is life.
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| A rebirth (not mine)Last Sunday I attended a ceremony celebrating the "rebirth" of a certain H. Ling Ling.
One may associate the words "rebirth" and "born again", but this ceremony was not religious--it was more literal.
Ling Ling is now a cancer survivor.
She lost her husband to cancer, and was raising her two children by herself. Then, disaster struck as she was diagnosed with cancer as well. Stage 3, not absolutely critical, but in many cases there is less than a 50% survival rate after 5 years (using modern scientific treatment). Less than a year ago, she moved to Georgia to seek the teachings of the ZiJiu Method. Following it, she has now been declared cancer free.
The ZiJiu (自救) Method--it was developed by Master Li, a man who seems to possess special abilities and a deep understanding of life. He created the ZiJiu Institute (based near Atlanta, Georgia) in 2000 to help spread his teaching of the ZiJiu Method. What is the ZiJiu method? It involves a physical and mental aspect. According to its teachings, both aspects need to be optimized to allow the body to draw in the natural energy of the universe--which they call internal innate qi--that helps the body mend itself to reach optimal health. Most people who seek out the ZiJiu Method are people who have, or are recovering from, cancer. Personally, I haven't much to say regarding the authenticity of the ZiJiu Method; however, one may take a look at the empirical evidence which shows several individuals with stage 2, 3, and even 4 (terminal) cancer making a full recovery. That is to say, I have seen these individuals, survivors, in person.
Rebirth, like I mentioned, often has a kind of religious tone to it. But this rebirth ceremony was not strictly spiritual, primarily celebrating a new life--a physical one free from cancer.
I still have my doubts of the ZiJiu Method (I simply cannot fool myself into believing in the supernatural without the backing of some logical or rational reason). But it really is joyous, and moving, and hopeful for the other cancer patients trying their best, to see another person get a second lease on life by fighting for it.
Is not our life the most important thing during our time on Earth (not considering what comes afterwards)? What can you accomplish after you're dead? The man who dies with the most toys (or money) still dies. Why do people keep sacrificing health to accomplish things? If you sacrifice health for money, when you get sick will you not end up paying back more than you made? Is it a mistake that many people are not interested in fixing the causes, but only the effects?
I would suggest finding a balance between staying healthy and chasing dreams (or something worse).
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| Memory is but a curse sometimes. Even so, it's not something to regret.
Happy Birthday Dorothy!
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| My Dad Likes Telling JokesOne about politics:
A Representative in Congress is unhappy with the incompetence of some of his peers.
"Half the people in the House are idiots!" he declared. Several of his fellow Representatives were offended.
"You take that back!" they demanded.
"Fine," he said. "Half the people in the House are not idiots!"
And everyone was satisfied.
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| Truth: Far More Boring Than FictionCurrently, little is going on. I applied late for community (technical) college and missed registering for classes this quarter. Luckily I was accepted, so I can start attending next quarter.
But in the meantime, what do I do? Here I am, in a completely new place, and I know no one. I understand that many people have gone to new places as well or are starting new chapters in life, but shoot, at least most people still know others. If I stayed in California, doubtless I would've had high chances of running into old classmates or other people (since it seems everyone goes there). Out here is square one. And since I'm not taking classes yet, I have no opportunity of getting to know people through common courses and stuff. It'll be a long 3 months.
I'm taking the time to try to learn some basics. Plan a bit for my future path. Mainly, though, I really hope to fix my foundation in drawing. It's tough. Even though I vaguely knew about the theory, I've avoided following it because it takes a lot of work. But there are no shortcuts. I can't ever reach competence if I don't start from the beginning and work my way up. Right now I'm taking a break from anime/manga-style drawing (which is honestly quite poor for learning proper drawing technique) and returning to extremely mundane things like drawing basic shapes. My understanding of light and shadow is bad. Poor at representing different textures. Lame at scenery. I was once quite interested in landscape drawing, and yet it is now among my greatest weaknesses. I need to improve understanding of composition. There's a lot to learn about anatomy and proper figure drawing. It's painful to go back to the basics, but I can't see any other way of advancing from where I'm at.
I don't know what to say. It's awfully lonely here. Everyone has their own lives to attend to though, so all I can do is live vicariously through everyone with a far more interesting present than mine. I dislike being useless, but what've I done for anyone until now?
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