Happy

Received a sms from Jeffrey today. So nice to hear from u... thanks for the motivation! It got me studying again... (I was slacking away.. lolz)

Silent hill

Yes! I passed both challenge exams for medical chinese 1 & 2 today! Which means i can skip both classes! 2 classes down! 3 more exams to go!

Went back home and my neighbourhood was gone! Got swallowed up by a thick fog... looks like silent hill huhz.. scary..

Exam week

History of Medicine test today, and i got... 108/100! Lolz... got all the questions right, plus all the extra credit questions too.
1 exam down... 5 more to go... hope my bod can last me through... Tiredz...

Treatment

So i decided to seek help for my poor body from my fellow schoolmates today... Was seen by Jennifer n Dimitri and was prescribed a set of herbs. I got a pot too... n the school sold the ancient pots shown in the movies! looks really funky...

And after 2 hours of discussion, they decided to stick 11 needles into me! And if u look closer, u'll notice something too... i've grown fat...sobz.. hahz.. well, Jennifer said it was all muscles... ehemz... N my anatomy teacher seconded that.. i have strong latissimus dorsi and erector spinae! lolz

An intertesting ink pad I found in a Japanese stall... Basically it translates in chinese to "choo's meat" Lolz!

Greed

Greed... its such a scary thing. Sometimes, some ppl just wan something, and it doesn't matter if everyone around them suffers, as long as they can get it. No remorse shown... Sighz...

On a lighter note, got to talk to Eric over the phone today! Knew this kid when he was 10.. and now he's 15! Time flies... i feel old... lolz. And before i left for the army, he gave me a lucky charm. I wore it on every training n still have it. Thanks Eric...

Alritez.. gonna disappear for a while. Seclusion mode activated... 3..2..1... Seclusion mode in progress...

Roller coaster life

Feel like my life's a Roller Coaster ride, happy then sad, happy then sad... up, down, up, down... in chinese we'll say buei siao si kei e ah! (not crazy is fake one)

Went back to De Anza today. 7 years since i first step foot there. So much has changed, but yet so many familiar faces still. Lydia, one of my English professor is now the Dean of language arts! N the grandmother who works at the book store is still there and she's 92 this year and still going strong! So I chatted with her for a while... N Marilyn Patton, Marilyn Cheung, Alicia, Joseph, Mark, Karen, Julie, Kuan, Angelica... its sooo nice to see all of u again! Thanks for all your guidiance over the years and always welcoming me as part of your family.

ANd i received a call from my good friend John Lim too! All the way from Mahattan, New York! So great to hear from u! Really miss those days when we were all living at Safti.

Pain...

A tcm diagnosis on my body reflected that the portion of my body relating to my heart feels as if its frozen.. and my qi channels messed up resulting in cold hands all the time... so i joked that i'm cold blooded and have a frozen heart.

But this frozen heart is still bleeding...

Healing...

Decided to run away from all the stress today and left with Sandy and Tina for the hot springs in Calistoga! Spent 5 hours soaking, swimming, having a picnic and allowing my body to heal.

Went back to Berkeley at 5pm and followed Rev. Heng Sure up to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah where we participated in the ordination ceremony of 2 novice monks. It was great to witness yet another 2 brave souls daring to take up the challenges of the monastic life.

Got to meet up with all the boy's school students too! Jackie, Bill, Jim, Andrew, Sunny... I really missed u guys! Thanks for the extremely warm welcome!

FInally got home at midnight. Long day... 5 hours of hot springs, 8 hours in the car... but i received so much healing today!

Last thing... Jeffrey, i miss u too! =P

Complicated Life

Why must people make life so complicating when it can actually be so simple... Sighz...

Sometimes i just feel like disappearing somewhere, fading into oblivion...

I'm strange...

My Anatomy teacher called me strange today... coz part my body structure did not match the standard human structure... I guess i'm an alien... lolz

Dream land

Made a new friend yesterday! But not in this world. Met him in the astral... the dream world. We hung out, watched tv, played video games, and even went to school together!

Then my alarm went off, and its back to reality... and i realize that I don't know anyone who looks like that friend in this world...

But it felt so real then... which is the real reality? I wonder...

Other halves...

Was chatting with my childhood friend Nathaniel today, and his nick wrote "What is the true me? Someone tell me please!" Its so interesting coz it was just yesterday that i was feeling that way. It was almost as if we were both feeling the exact same thing thou we're in opposite ends of the world.

And thats not all, we both recently bought pianos too... n I remember throughout elementary school, when ever i fall sick, he'll fall sick too. COincidence? or something more? its like we're other halves of each other, linked in a certain way...

But whether we're linked or not, I'm so glad to have u in my life... Thank you for all your friendship and love for the past 15 years...

Night in the monastery

So here I am again at the monastery, by myself & this time, spending the night here alone...

In between, bump into Doug Powers and after the usual 'How do u do's', he went straight to give me advice about my life, and it was something i really needed at that moment. It was almost as if he had read my mind and subsequently gave me the answers.

It made me realize how much I've lost myself over the 2 years back in Singapore, indulging in whatever caught the attention of my senses, becoming dispersed, living the fool's journey and being caught in the maelstrom of existence once again.

Its about time I wake up from this stupor, to start grounding, step by step, and begin finding my self back again. Gathering the senses... returning home...

Piano

Bought an electric piano yesterday. Resolved to learn it myself. So far, got 2 lines of the Spirited Away theme song down... For a self taught beginner... I'm satisfied =). Guess i'm on a DIY spree... cut own hair, teach ownself piano, just built my own cabinet too... lolz

Spirited Away

Woke up thinking that my hair wld b in a disaster after my experiment last nite... but turns out to be not so bad! hee hee heez...

Got the piano score of the Spirited Away song online and was practicing it on this hundred year old piano in the monastery. Surprised that i can still read the notes...esp since the last time i had piano class was like 10 yrs ago, and i didn't even pass grade 1... =P.

Also skipped lecture to help Andrew on his satire essay. It was nice just spending time with him there. And he's going back to ukiah tml!... sobz... i'm gonna miss u bro...

Hair Cut

Gave myself a hair cut today as my hair was getting unruly again. So, armed with a thinning scissors, a comb, and a huge mirror... I started on my experiment! Its not perfect... but, its not too bad either... At least its free! Lolz

Day 2 in the monastery

Woke up to a great bowl of Pho (Vietnamese noodles) this morning. Andrew's mom makes some of the best Phos!

Left for the monastery around noon. Made a detour to meet Gwo He, a nun friend of mine, and even got a xmas present from her! Also visited UC Berkeley before finally settling into the monastery around 2pm =P...

Had a good chat with Sunny online for almost 3 hours! We compared living in US and SG... and we agreed that SG is still more fun, with its peculiar characteristics, the plethora of activities, and about how everywhere u go, u'll meet familiar faces! Yet the US has its own style and resources that attract us too. We are 2 people each leading double lives... We want to be in both places at the same time! COnfuSed... I miss Singapore... Lolz

Going back to Andrew's place tonight and will be heading to school from there tml mornin.

Care taker

Its a cold, dark and rainy day and here I am all alone in the monastery studying about human bones... I had offered to look after the monastery today since i have no class and Rev. Heng Sure will be out. Its a great place for studying...

Hours passed quickly and soon it was time for the evening meditation sit. I thought that no one will come becoz of the rain, but i was surprised to find a small crowd waiting outside the monastery under the rain when i open the doors. A nice sight to behold... to see the resolve of these cultivators...

Was told that i can sleepover if i want since i'll be closing the monastery tonight, but i dun know... the dark alleys look scary... and the cold is bone chilling...

So yupz... i'll be heading over to Andrew's tonight to sleep over! At least I get to spend some time with my bro before he heads back up north for school... and on top of that... its warm there... Lolz

Decisions

Went car shopping today. The 1st sales person was horrendous... basically looked down on me, said i cannot afford the car and refused to let me test drive... what kind of sales person is that... Well... it spoilt my whole day... fortunately the last place was really nice and also offered drinks. End decision - I decided not to buy anymore... so tired of searching.

Bbm

When was the last time u really ate and tasted your food instead of gulping down everything? Well, eating lunch beside Rev. Heng Sure today was really nice... got to munch and eat mindfully. Sutra talk in the evening was great too, got the hear many stories of virtuous teachers and Rev Heng Sure also played 2 Bob Dylan songs. A very meaningful day...

Crazy day

The Bay Area just got hit by a huge storm. I guess thats the disadvantage of living near the coast. A couple of fences in the neighbourhood including our house got blown away, trees uprooted, power's out... Sitting in my car, i could feel the wind rocking the entire car.. Read the news later - the winds averaged about 80 mph (128 km/h), highest it got to was 125 mph.

My car's gps went crazy too, leading me all over SF... My new gps got me out. Bad start.. but i guess, still better than others... one other schoolmate got his car smashed when a tree fell on it...

Anatomy class was crazy too... went through about 206 different bones of the body and each had about 5 characteristics or so... and we're supposed to memorize all of them! Its only the 2nd day of school and my teacher is already on like chp 8. of the txt book!... School's tough...

Coming back, stuck in Traffic for like 2 hours... so crazy... I miss Singapore... I miss u...

1st Day of School

So i made it to my 1st day of school... 1000 till 2030 hrs... 10 hours of classes with only a one hour for lunch... crazy... In Anatomy class, we covered 2 whole chapters on the first day... This is like fast track man... Chemistry class... the teacher didn't know what he was talking about... Finally moved into my new place at Pacifica