I’m taking a writing class to help keep my brain from pooping out. My first assignment was to write about a childhood memory, so I wrote about one of my top five favorite people, Grandpa:

My grandfather doesn’t command your attention; he incarcerates it, slams the iron doors in its face, jolts you into submission, inhales your soul, and then carefully places it into his pocket. No, “command” gives you a choice, but there is no such thing as “choice” with forces of nature.

In his heyday, grandfather stood six-feet-tall with broad, muscular shoulders—polished as a warrior with which his Manchurian ancestry graced him at birth. With bones of adamantium, he survived through bullet wounds, malaria, a fall through thin ice, and a heart attack. He never sought a fight, but wouldn’t blink an eye to quell one. Tell a lie, try to cheat him, do anything immoral, grandfather will turn your skeleton into jelly through his wrath that’s so palpable, you see the flames emanate from his eyes. Grandfather is mayor, general, judge, jury and executioner all in one.

Yet, to this day, his magnitude of presence matches the magnanimous heart that fuels his existence. Grandfather always gives to those who need help whether you ask for it or not—be it financial, educational, anything within his power. In the past, he would spend his entire paycheck on meals for his less fortunate friends, even if that meant eating free cafeteria food until the next payday. He would rebuild an entire town if he could, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried. Grandfather is first and foremost, an honest man.

Which brings me back to my unforgettable childhood memory. It was a stifling summer day when we walked by a beach on the way home that looked like an oasis of ice-cold water in a sweaty glass under the blistering sun. Therefore, I incessantly badgered through my frail grandmother’s regretful “no’s” to let me play at the beach. I tried to pull all the guilt cards I could muster, “I came all the way from the U.S. to China to visit you two, but you won’t let me go to the beach?!” When I was ten-years-old, I didn’t understand the concept of my grandmother being perpetually ill and thus sensitive to prolonged sun exposure—she looked fine to me.

After about ten minutes of my high-pitched whining, my grandfather’s “NO!!!” detonated, sending pulsating, concentric shockwaves from the epicenter that almost quite literally, knocked me off my feet. Then followed the quietest taxi ride home ever.

Grandpa always keeps it honest.

As of late, I don’t feel as though I’ve actually accomplished anything terribly significant. In order to fill this void of my vanity, I’ve decided to sign up for a triathlon that will take place in September—a foreshortened triathlon.

Consequently, I must eat healthily, breathe healthily, and exercise regularly. I dusted off my “4 hour body” book and skimmed the ways of Tim Ferriss. The health diet is quite manageable—something not too far off from the one I’m accustom to anyway which involves plenty of protein and vegetables. The white carbs I can do without since I don’t crave them really, except for pepperoni and jalapeno pizza. I don’t have a sweet tooth, so that’s OK too. I need to focus on regular exercise, especially something as mundane as swimming. Well, I have no choice if I want to pass this race.

Mache greents, grass fed skirt steak, and beets from my backyard

grass fed skirt steak, broccolini, and two hard boiled eggs

—

I developed an interest in Muay Thai, so I started training for that recently. Three classes so far and very bruised shins. I’m hoping I’ll become stronger soon because it stings so much whenever I tap the punching bag with my shin. My punches are still wussy-like, but I have hope.

My restaurant concept is coming along, albeit slowly. Very slowly. Like a turtle with two legs and thorns in each paw.

My brother got me into reddit today, so I’ve become a big fan.

A month ago, my friend gave me another chance to draw something for his art exhibit, so naturally, I waited until the last week before it’s due to work on it.

I wish the political fuss over gay marriage would end. We spend eons restricting those who want to and should be treated equally, but we can’t afford a second more to bring justice to monsters who have created financial ruin for many people in the world. Priorities are so screwed up.

Really uninteresting updates, but updates they are. Sweet dreams to planet Earth and all the other planets in the universe.

I find it difficult to bring about the “Buddhism” topic around many friends.  It’s not that I want to sport flip-flops and a tunic to spread Buddhism ideologies to the poor. I just want to see if anyone else ever looked into it too?

So, when someone “finds” religion later in their life, without parental influence, that event is typically preceded by a singular or series of unfortunate events.  I’ve seen people find religion after a big break-up, or job loss, or something along those lines.  I’ve also seen people embrace it all their lives.

For me, I’ve always felt insignificant in the greater scheme of things.  Not in that “oh-pity-me-im-insignificant” way.. Rather, this world, this universe for that matter, is so incredibly vast beyond anyone’s comprehension, that it makes me getting dumped by a boy seem not all that important anymore–just a tree in the forest, bump in the road, (insert adage here). Yah that sucks I was a victim of a hit-and-run, but it really doesn’t matter so long as I’m still alive and healthy.  In hindsight, all those unfortunate events in my life have always led me to something better.  Or maybe I wouldn’t value the good things in my life as much if I didn’t have some bad events happen to put things into perspective for me.

With that said, I feel like if I try my best to be a good person, not to get angry so quickly, understand people’s motives, that things will always turn out well in the future.   I mean, genuinely be a good person who acts selflessly and not that “if-i-open-the-door-for-this-grandma-i-hope-someone-will-see-me-and-give-me-a-hundred-dollars-for-being-a-good-samaritan” type of person.  With that said, sometimes I do things for selfish reasons. But I try not to.  8)

I have a filter, even though it doesn’t seem like it most of the time.  I just choose whether to listen to my intuition at that particular moment.  Meaning, when your mom says don’t touch the hot pot, you do it anyways.  Difference is, I learn from every mistake.  Doesn’t mean I won’t make a similar mistake again, but I will definitely learn and try to become wiser.  I believe one should yield to most temptations, as my good friend Oscar Wilde suggested when he was alive, in order to gain solid experiences to become a wiser person.  What I meant was, try things out of your comfort zone to gain new experiences.  Or if you really have to, try things against your better judgment to see what happens, just dont whine when you meet the consequences of your actions.  Depends on the situation, avoid being inconsiderate. But for the insolent selfish swine who, without an iota of concern for someone else, continues to hurt people for his/her selfish gain…?  Well, one can only hope he/she will stop someday and become a nice person.

So..where was I…religion..inspiration..Buddhism.  There, no wait, inspiration.  So my inspiration to research Buddhism wasn’t isolated to one event.  I remember hearing about it in snippets from various people throughout my life.  After a series of sad events in my life, which included unfair treatment, I experienced a week of feeling angry and thus found myself talking myself out of my anger so I wouldn’t have to feel so negative because what’s worse than feeling angry.

For me, I didn’t blame anyone for feeling this way or sought an extraterrestrial outlet to explain why things happened.  Things happened because life was lived.. It’s how I wanted to deal with my discomfort was the issue.  I needed to understand that there is justice in life and that being angry only adds salt to wound.  The best thing I can do is.. not be angry.  However, some anger is easier to extinguish than others.  Death for instance, can bring about a torrent of negative emotions that only time and patience can heal. But there’s petty anger, which happen more frequently and is way more fleeting.

Because there are many things that are out of my control, my job is to focus on the things I do have control of, try my best, and know that I tried my best, which ultimately ends in happiness. 8) That was the impetus for me to download the Buddhism “cliff notes” application on my iphone.

I had always heard Buddhism was, for the most part, not a religion in the traditional sense, rather, a way of life.  For the most devout Christians, Buddhism isn’t a satanic go-straight-to-hell-if-you-explore thing.  According to my cliff notes application of Buddhism–it’s a way of life.  Ideals that coincide with my beliefs, which in my opinion, can be summarized in one sentence: try your best.  I mean, really try your best.  Do things because it’s the right thing to do, not because you’re afraid someone will judge you otherwise.  Found out some interesting facts too.. like Henry Ford converted to Buddhism, along with Steve Jobs for reasons explained in the application (Jobs isn’t in the application).  But those aren’t the only reasons to explore Buddhism. Do it because you’re curious to learn more about the multi-faceted things in life.

I have to know that all this knowledge and these experiences accumulated during my life doesn’t simply dissipate into thin air when I go DOINK.  What a waste of time that would be!  I have to know that these things carry into another existence where I can build upon everything I’ve ever learned and apply these lessons to more life.  I have to believe that we’re not all fighting an uphill battle against Time just to die then eat peaches in Heaven for all eternity.  Then again, a Heaven with all your loved ones and all the yummy food you can eat and all the entertainment you could ask for is a great alternative too.

Anyway, the last thing I need is to subscribe to a set of strict codes that will send me to hell if I waver.  That’s not life, and I don’t think anyone or thing intended one to live that way.  I’m also not looking for something to justify my actions.  If anything, any deity or whatever, would first and foremost want a person to be accountable for his or her own actions.  If you slapped someone, you slapped someone.  Not because there’s a greater purpose for it, or because they deserved it.  You own your action and it’s up to you if you feel bad or not.  If someone dissed my mama, I’d slap her too. But, if someone undeservedly received the sting from the back of my hand, I need to own it and apologize profusely and be prepared to never have that person as a friend ever again.

Shoot, so I lost my point.  Anyway, I’m glad I can blog about my interest of Buddhism rather than be shut down during the first 5 seconds of the conversation.  I’m interested in all faiths quite honestly.  But I’m more interested in learning about you and me and why we do the things we do.

Happy New Year

Learned how to season an aluminum pot.

Realized I can’t use my new stock pot to cook my secret weapon because my pot is aluminum.

Learned how to sharpen my knives.

Sharpened knives.

Played a little poker.

Went to Brian’s Shaved Ice.

Went to Best Buy for video games and headphones.

Picked up my brother from the airport.

Looked for Book 4 of Akira and still can’t find it.  Can’t believe I can’t download it on my iPad.

I finally finished traveling for the time being, so got to spend some quality time with friends who I hadn’t really hung out with for a year. Within the last 2 months i learned a lot about myself I previously never knew:

-I’m whipped by my boyfriend.
-I must really like my boyfriend because I don’t drink anymore
-Im naive for hanging out with the wrong people.. Guilty by association.

Which is odd, because I thought that I:
- simply grew tired of 8 months of debauchery (a few months before I had met my boyfriend)
- thoroughly love drinking wine every now and then with good food and maybe a bit of poker, especially with my partner in crime at my side
- am old enough to befriend anyone who’s kind to me, and conversely, de-friend anyone who’s not.

It’s a wonder what a few bad apples can spread about you behind your back when you’re not looking.

That said, my life is beautiful, because everything is simple. I am surrounded by the kindest people, have time to read many books, and have easy access to the yummiest foods. Everything else, is useless noise.

But I have to admit, a good whipping or two is good for me sometimes.

I’m almost finished with my secret project. And by almost, I mean i could be more productive.

U COOK, I eat.

I’ve been working on a website that I’m really happy with.  Spent a very long time figuring out DIV language to do the most basic things.  I’m currently  trying to figure out how to create a favicon by  directing the website to an image of the icon.  I’m not sure if that’s possible, but that will be easier for me vs. changing the themes files.  Anyway, this is what my website is about:

What this website is:

• This website is for you to find the restaurant that I think has the best ____ . This is food that I think is the very best in the respective cities. There’s a lot of good food out there, but few oh-my-god, I-must-have-NOW foods–this website is comprised of these. The best foods, until I have better.
  
• I’m often asked for food recommendations, so instead of re-writing a list of restaurants & attaching pictures to e-mails every time someone asks, I thought I’d make it easier on everyone.
• If you share my palate, then you’ll like everything I recommend.
• I think it makes more sense to categorize food recommendations by the food type you’re craving. Are you feeling noodlely?
• This is an ever organically growing site. I’ll notify updates via twitter.