Reminescing about 佛山

  Tonight I was watching the HK blockbuster 葉問, and found out that the town, Foshan, where I grew up in China was once known for the art of kung fu.  I was surprised, because I thought Foshan was only famous for its culinary and ceramic art.

  佛山 (Foshan), literally means Buddha mountain, I think they named it so because way back people thought the place was home to the Buddha spirit.  I googled the town, and found picture of 祖廟, a Buddhist temple that has always been a tourist attraction, and a place I would always visit with family during Chinese New Year.  Apparently they repainted the front gate and hung up new lanterns.  Looking at the temple just brought back so many fond childhood memories.  According to info on google, construction for 祖廟 began during the Song dynasty and was open around 1451.  I didn't know the temple was that old until now, which is odd because I don't even live there anymore.  

   And another place that I'd like to visit is the Lotus world.  I don't think this was there when i was in Foshan.  But it looks pretty neat, with lotus flowers all over the pond.  I wonder if there're restaurants nearby with lotus dishes...

  Another picture I found, showing the typical high-rise apartment complex so ubiquitous in China.  My friends and relatives in Foshan all tell me that when I come back to visit, I would be so surprised by all the changes.  At least I can be sure 祖廟 will still be there.

The thing about pessimism...

I was reading Gwyneth Paltrow's webiste GOOP, and found this wonderful newsletter addressing the psychology of pessimism from different people's point of view.

"By analogy, when you see your friend, you meet her at a given moment, but she is sailing through her life fully loaded with past influences – all of us express our entire lives in this very minute. The minute is fleeting, but the momentum carrying us forward is immense.
Your friend’s pessimism isn’t about what’s here and now. It’s about the fully loaded cargo she’s carrying. Here and now you are tempted to say, “See? There’s no reason to be suspicious or negative. It’s a beautiful day, we all love you. Be happy.” This approach never works. Not because your friend is stubborn but because this beautiful day and your loving feelings are a tiny fraction of her reality, her fully loaded cargo [...] She and you are both on a journey, and if it happens that you exchange a burst of light on the way, appreciate that and be alert to the next time you can share a moment of clarity."---Deepak Chopra

" What we see is who we are. When we are in a good place, we see goodness all around us. When we are in a bad place, we see darkness. We might think we’re picking up these flaws in others because we are smarter or better. But the deeper truth is our judgments are merely an indication of where we are at spiritually."---Michael Berg

"First the eye of the heart must open, and only then will one see confirmation in the external world. As long as suspicion and pessimism are being projected, suspicion and pessimism are what the cosmos will confirm."---Cynthia Bourgeault

Inhale. Exhale.

  Recently, I got an email newsletter from Dr. Hohn about the role of oxygen in the human body,

"Secondly, let's address the acid and alkaline condition of our body. An acidic body is low in oxygen. An alkaline body is high in oxygen. The food we eat determines to a large effect whether our body is acidic or alkaline.

Third I want to address stress. Stress tightens our muscle fibers and restricts the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the cells. Stress and suffocation are closely related. If we learned how to fill our lungs fuller and empty our lungs more completely, we could easily double our energy and endurance."---Dr. Hohn

  This week has been a busy and super frustrating week at work.  So i was surprised to see how much difference deep breathing can do to release my stress.  When I stress out, I can feel my chest and shoulder tighten, and feels like there's something building up inside.  And the more tighten I feel, the more upset I tend to be.  It's a vicious cycle.  But all that is gone when I do deep breathing and fill up my lung to the max. Instantly, I feel more at ease and any negative emotion would subside.  Amazing how little things like that can turn my mood around.

A rummy tiramisu

A weekend ago, I made a tiramisu with the assistance of Lansia. I don't remember exactly where I got the recipe, but it was simple enough.  There was no baking required, just soak the ladyfingers in rum (and we added Kahlua), layer it with coffee-flavored mascarpone cheese, then top it with cocoa powder.

   Looks appealing, until we started eating it. It turned out that my tiramisu was too rummy.  I should have diluted the rum with milk or coffee or something, because the tiramisu tasted more bitter than creamy sweet.  But I enjoyed making it, and watching the mascarpone cheese semi-melt itself into the soaked layer of ladyfingers.

"Time to get real"---NPR

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

   So with all the recent talks about the economic downturn, i thought this clip on The Daily Show is pretty thoughtful.  For those of you who doesn't know the backdrop story, Jim Cramer is the host of CNBC's Mad Money, where he gives investing advice.  And Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, launched a so-called  anchor war when he criticized Cramer's judgement and CNBC at large.  So Cramer later appeared on Stewart's show.  

   A day after the show aired, NPR was commenting on it, siding with Jon Stewart.  I personally think most ppl would agree with Stewart's point that stock experts out there need to take more responsibility by emphasizing to people about the downside of investment. And that most people who make quick profit in the stock market (before it crashed) were pros, and everyone else's retirement/savings account got screwed when the stock index tanked.   My favorite part is when Stewart said that it's largely misleading to convince the average person about making "quick money" as if it is a sure thing with little risk involved, and that we are a nation of workers, and only through work and savings can you build up your wealth, anything else contains risks.  What bothered me was when Cramer told Stewart that Bear Stern's CEO had lie to him about the company right before it went bankrupt, even though he personally knew the guy for like 20 yrs!

   After seeing so many stories surfacing the news these days, I think the recession is here to stay for the next 3-5 yrs.  It's simply karma, companies were dishonest to shareholders to inflate the bubble,  borrowers lie to mortgage companies to obtain assets that they can't afford.  So it's not surprising that we are in this mess right now.

During group meeting

Going over plans,

Boss: you know, you are too detail oriented.

Me: well, i am a Virgo.

Crazy stuff

Today I got a haircut, and my hairdresser convinced me to change my parting from left side to right side. She said that changing parting can prevent hair loss around the original parting, and the new parting would have more volume to it. So after that, i googled hair parting, and came upon this article .

"A left hair part draws unconscious attention to the left side of the brain, which controls activities traditionally associated with masculinity. A right hair part draws unconscious attention to the right side of the brain, which controls activities traditionally associated with femininity. [...]A woman who parts her hair on the left and wants acceptance in a traditionally male role - business, for example, or politics - will be taken more seriously than a woman with a right part."

It's kinda crazy how they show different pictures to support the theory. Anyways, just thought it's interesting, i guess i am more "feminine" now because my parting is on the right side.