27 February 2005 Sunday

After bears and blankets

The sun is out gently but firmly today. Traces of snow still holding on bravely, though.

China’s been infiltrated successfully.

Katrina Diaz has a baby sister as of yesterday (no name yet, i hear..).

I am now a kottke.org micropatron :) Jason Kottke decided to make his website his full-time gig, and of course the success of this plan requires (voluntary) monetary support from readers. I really like the whole idea, and I’m looking forward to seeing the whole thing continue well for Jason.

I’m wearing Batman shirt.

Currently playing Devendra Banhart – ‘Little Yellow Spider’

23 February 2005 Wednesday

dinner tonight

hbe was over tonight for dinner, with whole family;
i made (keyless) lime pie, lime meringue pie, mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, rotisseried (trader joes) racks of lamb, green beans, and popovers.
we watched ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ together afterward in the Big Room, and then talked in the darkish.
tomorrow night he’ll be over again; i’m making pizza (gotta start the dough in the morning for the crust).. and then we’ll watch our Wednesday night movies together — one last time.
Currently playing: Guster – Come Downstairs and Say Hello

19 February 2005 Saturday

Hello Sunshine pt.2

yesterday was my grandfather’s 7th-seven… the 7th week/49th day after his passing. my mom sponsored a Sok at the Tibetan Buddhist temple (we’d been to one just two weeks ago, i think…) and she brought most of the food (people seem to bring anything: cake, cookies, crackers, cheese, ham, rice, lasagna, grapes, peanuts, etc.)…

A Sok, by my understanding and experience, consists of a whole lot of prayers and chanting (very rhythmic at times; also accompanied by a loud but pleasantly dull-sounding drum at parts) and various blessings.. food that has been brought by the Sok participators was laid out nicely on a table… one of the temple persons conducts prayers over them while we’re chanting in our seats with the prayer books.. then handfulls of food (crushed up) from each dish are gathered into a bowl and water is drizzled over it slowly until the dish contains a mountain of mushed food… maybe incense is placed on top now… at certain point in prayers, person takes dish outside and offers it there.

then you’re given some type of alcohol in your palm and you sip that and pat the rest over your head… and you take a pinch of this grainy/gamy thing they bring around, and you eat that.

also later, you take pinches of uncooked rice they have available, and you sprinkle a lil on your head. and then at specific points in one of the prayers, you toss it around you… which means there’s rice flying at everyone from different directions and that’s rather fun.

later, everyone is given a plate and a small piece from every dish is given to everyone… your plate ends up being quite a hodgepodge of different stuff… especially is there’s been a big turn out/lots of food. then you take a small bite of anything from your plate. and then a bowl comes around and you take something or a handful from your plate and put it into the bowl. that bowl gathers the “leftovers” from everyone and that gets offered out.

then after prayers are basically done, we all eat. don’t have to eat everything one your plate, but it is considered blessed food, so good to eat at least a little.

---

breakfast time!

Hello Sunshine

referring to previous entry..

booyah. throat hell is gone. now mostly mild discomfort and general throat soreness. that’s a very happy improvement.
i’ve soup downstairs still that i can put together and keep throat happy with… and i’ve been meaning to eat ice cream since yesterday… (no cookiedough icecream, tho.. cuz that’s of slightly questionable helpfulness for unhappy throats… though tried and tested goodness for spiritual well-being.)

sun’s out fairly early this morning, as radio yesterday promised… i forget whether they said the sun would stay out today… i hope so..

Nursing a sore throat

basically cont’d from Swollen Throat entry.

I can’t call any of this “curing a sore throat” because a) i’m not all better yet, and b) i’m not even sure you can call this a “sore throat”

18 February 2005 Friday

Swollen Throat

how’s that for a pretty title? it’s descriptive, anyway…
Very swollen and sore throat today… started sometime last night when i guess i woke up to the pain and discomfort, and it’s followed me through all of today…
have taken zinc lozenges with echinacea & vitamin c, showered thoroughly which usually helps most physical sufferings, made myself a pretty healthy broth with carrots and mushrooms and rice and a lil ginger, have gargled with vinegar, have napped, have taken one advil early in the day and one ibuprofen when i woke up… not caring too much about the whole ‘don’t take medicines..not natural’ thing right now… throat hurts!
and i’m told it’s going to get worse before it gets better. what for!?

basically cont’d at Nursing a sore throat entry.

16 February 2005 Wednesday

2005february16wednesday

eyes are happier than they were before, though still much time in front of computer… japanese translations getting done.. some small maintenance of sites, but not the half-revamps i want to do… time, i suppose.
leave the country ina few months? will think about that after a few more things get done here. outdoors looks very nice right now… yesterday at this time, it looked wet and dreary… but after getting out, and stepping out of Best Buy, the sunlight was streaming and the rays were even rather warm! so wonderful. beautiful beautiful yesterday.. looking forward to today.
good to catch up with friends, long-time-not-seen/long-time-won’t-see… and Abra’s still lonely..

08 February 2005 Tuesday

Scenes change like seasons;

Ever a choice to make, things to be;
remember the path of past and find
the best of company or self on every way;
Each day like each place;
routines, endings, answers,
wholly shared
but quietly overlooked,
shyly slipped back to start,
shouldered simply and carry forward
every new memory to be.

03 February 2005 Thursday

early February 2005

k. i was pretty excited about that list thing. i’m sort of over it now.. sort of not yet. but at any rate, moving right along….

Abra’s home…
Rhine apparently had an unfortunate incident with a self-inspired diving expedition — directly into a nearby heating vent. He’ll be missed.
sincerest best regards to Hobbes where’ere he be, also.. i was kinda a bit allergic to him, but i liked him much nonetheless. i know he’s missed.
i’m making pizza today. ‘made the dough this morning… i’m pretty sure i messed it up, but maybe.. maybe it will solve itself while it’s rising through the day.
Lorense is gone to cut his hair, and may (god-willing) come home not looking like a member of a boy-band anymore (— not bashing those who currently look like boy-band persons… but my brother really doesn’t bangs.)
the snow’s melting much outside, but there’s still a solid amount of it about.
Bluey’s in the driveway. that’s kind of comforting, in a way…
i like that our brains naturally tend to pretty solidly and subconsciously remember things like how to drive, even if you haven’t done it in ages. would be nice if remembering history and formulas and stuff worked the more similarly for more of us.
the green seedless grapes i picked up this morning are thoroughly fantastic. early morning shopping is sensible.
this site’s pretty cluttered. i feel a bit badly about that, but it’s a pretty overwhelming to consider cleaning/revamping it now. i’ll just whine about it for a few more many months.
i kind of purposely didn’t pick up ice cream today. i’m starting to feel a bit sad about that now, though.
are those snow flurries i see, falling lightly, through my window?

01 February 2005 Tuesday

Home

so i’m home… it’s actually been about a week, but for what may be the first time ever, i’ve been experiencing pretty hefty jetlag.. i think it was seriously aggravated by me taking ‘naps’ at 4pm (i don’t take short naps… catnaps? yea, doesn’t happen for me… i usually lay down for what’s meant to be a 20-40 minute rest, and i wake up 2-3 hours later) and waking up at 3-5am and getting breakfast and starting my day then.

and four airplanes (Penang to Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo to Los Angeles to Washington D.C.) in the span of a day and a half (is that right? well it’s thereabout..) is thoroughly unfun. i liked airplanes so much more when i was little. i didn’t require nearly as much space, and it was far more novel at the age of 4, running up and down the aisles, grinning at random passengers. i also used to sleep much more easily in planes and in cars.

but i made it home safe and well with my family, and i think all of us are just about recuperated from the trip/travel.

i hear the Bush W. got inaugurated while we were out. how could you people let that happen!? blah. i watched the footage while we were in Malaysia. no one i came across there is happy about it.

anyway, there was a good ~7+ inches of snow on the ground when we got here.. which was an interestingly far cry from the sweltering heat over there, particularly the last day or so..

i don’t think i ate nearly as many of the fruits i wanted to, but i did get a reasonable dose of langsat/dukong (they named the fruit and the manatee the same thing.. ...they don’t really look that much alike.. do they?), and mangosteen and guava..

i got to see my Thai sister, Tang, the last day while we were there… she’d made a last-minute drive down from Hat-Yai with her father, and found us despite thoroughly-screwed-up-attempted-email-correspondence.

i’m sorry to miss Thaipusam and Chinese New Year.. but i’m glad i was there to help put my grandfather at rest and the christmas dinner at Uncle Kheong’s and casual New Year’s dinner at Gottlieb were very pleasant.

i miss the cousins who were not there, and very much hope to see them sooner than later, but i’m glad for the time i had with the cousins who were there. of course, everyone grows up so so fast..and of course it’s especially apparent when you don’t live with them… but it’s still a bit shocking and sad and wonderful to realize it each time..

there are hundreds and hundreds of photographs from the past month+, and i’ve managed to get an online gallery up and running and the photos are all there now.. the url is available upon request.

i’ve noticed that a lot of things happen back at home when i leave the country… people suddenly buy new houses, or trade my bedroom for their office, or decide to move to China. some of those things i think definitely would not have happened, had i been around. some of those things most certainly should, regardless of me. :-/ dunno what else to say about that, for now.

i did get onto the text* forums… i started to very methodically try to catch up (skimmingly) on everything i’ve missed in the past few months…. and gave up after 10-20 threads. it’s just way too much. i do have to get back into the Resources site and see what needs work there, and what i can help with on the Textbook project… but it’s all a lil overwhelming.. i’ll soak in bit by bit, tho…

i already miss Penang food.. but i’m happy to be catching up on some of the television shows (some old, some new…damn it.. i do not need more tv shows taking up my time…) and to be cozy in my room and bed and blankets… oh! and it’s nice to be back at my computer. i’d almost forgotten just how adapted to me this baby is. still gotta pick up linux though.

sincere appreciation, again, to everyone who was concerned about me/my family during the tsunaminess. we were very fortunate.. we were crossing into Penang, from KL, when the tsunami struck, and the cove where the bridge and ferry are (Penang is an island) is reasonably protected by natural design. Had we gone straight to Penang, instead of spending the first few days with other famiily members in KL, it is very possible that we might have been eating at one of the seaside restaurants when the wave hit.

but also, i hear there was a particular Penang fisherman at sea that morning… he noticed strange behavior from the fish, and rather than being greedy and gathering up all the fish that were being unusually easy to catch, he decided, “something’s not right” and immediately headed for shore. he furthermore urged all the other fishermen to go inland, and shooed the tourists from the beach… they were pretty upset to be forced to leave the beach… but so many lives were saved later that day, as there were few people left in the water and beach when the wave hit. i think the death toll in Penang was about 50+... a very small piece of the enormous casualty total. new year’s eve parties all over Malaysia (and i’m sure all over Asia) were cancelled out of respect to the tsunami tragedy. i’m sure it’s still the main focus of the media there, even now.

if anyone’s interested in donating towards the tsunami relief cause, i recommend the Tzu Chi Foundation. Tzu Chi is a Buddhist organization; their name means “Love and Mercy”. as an example of their competence and dedication: rather than importing rice and clothing to the disaster areas, they are deliberately buying goods locally to stimulate the damaged economies and employing hundreds of victims (carpenters, engineers, laborers) to help build thousands of new houses in the affected areas. all of their manpower, including administrative, technical, and medical personnel, are volunteered; ALL contributions go directly to relief efforts. if you’ve been wanting to help, but you’ve been worried about your donation being misused, either corruptively or ineffectively, then please consider Tzu Chi.