Another year is about to be gone. The end is near! I long ago decided not to hang any clocks in the house to be reminded of the time passing. Clocks and watches are just human inventions which in spite of their obvious functions and good intentions, causing us so much stress and grief. But whom am I kidding?! Whenever I turn around in the house, there is time slapping right on my face. It’s virtually everywhere you look: computer, cell phone, microwave, oven, TV, stereo set... Run, Pingster, Run. I run to my car, here you go again. It's there in front of the dashboard as soon as the engine is started. Exhausted, then I come to the realization there is nowhere to run from time.
New Year's Eve brings the pinnacle of that reminder of time passing. Even though it's months before your next birthday, you feel you are one year older already. Every loud group count-down shout towards the midnight pounds on the weakening heart. You follow up with Happy New Year cheers but happy is not the exact mood in which you welcome New Year. You can be merry at Christmas because supposedly Christ was born but how could you be happy at New Year because the coming of New Year also means you lost the old year. What the hell did the past year go? Out of 365 days, it's really cruel being solo on the last day of the year. You need someone by your side who does not know the answer either. 2 "don't-know"s equal to 1 "don't-care". Cheers to marriage. In the first year after I moved to Seattle I had the New Year's Eve alone. I drove to the Seattle Needle a few hours before the midnight firework show. Impatient of the long waiting in a crowd of strangers, I drove home and cracked open a large Margarita bottle. Over half a bottle later, I felt tipsy to half drunk, and believed I was knocked out by alcohol to sleep before the midnight. Later that next year I told Richard about my previous New Year's Eve. Seeing that same leftover Margarita bottle, Richard laughed uncontrollably. He said it was only Margarita mix and there was not single alcohol content in it. I then read the label. He was right. If the conceived alcohol could make me so delusional as to feel drunk, why couldn't time?
I just read this of Max Ehrman's prose poems today. It came to me in a time of need:
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Happy New Year!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas 2008!
Ho, Ho, Ho, Christmas is cancelled this year. Says Santa.
Let it snow. Those were the words on the Christmas cards I sent out to you all this year. That's what we have wished all along for this Christmas. But be careful what you wish for. It started to snow over one week ago, and there have been no signs of slowing down since. We've got about 2 feet snow around the house a few days ago, according to the measurement by the man in the house. The heavy snow days have turned us all Washingtonian callers into volunteer weather reporters (Guess we all want to have a meteorologist's job. It's not only economy proof, but also weather proof. A meteorologist can report to work while vacationing in Thailand because any mistakes they make, it's the weather's fault. What can you say.) You bet when a phone rings all you are going to hear is how much snow the other side is getting, or whether it is still snowing. People send in their snow shots around their houses over the phone. We do the same. You think you've got more snow than us. Look, we’ve got more than you. Now the results are in. Here are our photos. We won. Richard is worried that the roof of his parents house is going to collapse. We watch the snow piling into hills on the front wood decks. At first we are afraid they will give in, and then we remember we have home insurance to cover the decks. We find ourselves plan on the details about how to expand the decks if they give in, of course using the insurance money. Snow, please fall in more. We like the new deck idea.
After failing on my all-wheel drive car, Richard tried his 4-wheel pickup truck. It got stuck on our own driveway halfway. Luckily, one of our neighbors is the local Fire Chief. Think about it. Everyone else can be stuck in the house but not the Fire Chief. To ensure the Fire Chief be able to get out of his house, a contractor was hired to plow his driveway so as a collateral benefit, all of us neighbors on the same road got the free plowing service on our driveways. We are no longer trapped in the house.
With all the snow in the truck bed, it almost feels as if we are heading to deliver the snow whenever we take off. Snow anyone? At the corner of the road by the Walmart today, a young man was holding a sign that says "Homeless. Sleeps in the Car. Needs help." Felt bad for him standing there in the snow. But sorry guy, unless you need snow. We got a full trunk load.
While it might be too much snow than we asked for, it is still the most beautiful and peaceful sight. You don't look at rain the same way you gaze at snow. Rain falls down fast, and gets lost the minute it drops on an object whereas snow falls gently, and with each flake it accumulates until it creates such a perfect decoration on everything it touches. That’s quite a metaphor to the results of rushing in vs slowing down. Look around. You are the interior decorator of your house. The snow is the exterior decorator. Now it’s the perfect setting for the Christmas, only if we can get to the party location.
For this Christmas, I'm sure some people have to call it canceled simply because of the undrivable road condition, unfortunately. Ho, Ho, Ho. Not us! No way!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Let it snow. Those were the words on the Christmas cards I sent out to you all this year. That's what we have wished all along for this Christmas. But be careful what you wish for. It started to snow over one week ago, and there have been no signs of slowing down since. We've got about 2 feet snow around the house a few days ago, according to the measurement by the man in the house. The heavy snow days have turned us all Washingtonian callers into volunteer weather reporters (Guess we all want to have a meteorologist's job. It's not only economy proof, but also weather proof. A meteorologist can report to work while vacationing in Thailand because any mistakes they make, it's the weather's fault. What can you say.) You bet when a phone rings all you are going to hear is how much snow the other side is getting, or whether it is still snowing. People send in their snow shots around their houses over the phone. We do the same. You think you've got more snow than us. Look, we’ve got more than you. Now the results are in. Here are our photos. We won. Richard is worried that the roof of his parents house is going to collapse. We watch the snow piling into hills on the front wood decks. At first we are afraid they will give in, and then we remember we have home insurance to cover the decks. We find ourselves plan on the details about how to expand the decks if they give in, of course using the insurance money. Snow, please fall in more. We like the new deck idea.
After failing on my all-wheel drive car, Richard tried his 4-wheel pickup truck. It got stuck on our own driveway halfway. Luckily, one of our neighbors is the local Fire Chief. Think about it. Everyone else can be stuck in the house but not the Fire Chief. To ensure the Fire Chief be able to get out of his house, a contractor was hired to plow his driveway so as a collateral benefit, all of us neighbors on the same road got the free plowing service on our driveways. We are no longer trapped in the house.
With all the snow in the truck bed, it almost feels as if we are heading to deliver the snow whenever we take off. Snow anyone? At the corner of the road by the Walmart today, a young man was holding a sign that says "Homeless. Sleeps in the Car. Needs help." Felt bad for him standing there in the snow. But sorry guy, unless you need snow. We got a full trunk load.
While it might be too much snow than we asked for, it is still the most beautiful and peaceful sight. You don't look at rain the same way you gaze at snow. Rain falls down fast, and gets lost the minute it drops on an object whereas snow falls gently, and with each flake it accumulates until it creates such a perfect decoration on everything it touches. That’s quite a metaphor to the results of rushing in vs slowing down. Look around. You are the interior decorator of your house. The snow is the exterior decorator. Now it’s the perfect setting for the Christmas, only if we can get to the party location.
For this Christmas, I'm sure some people have to call it canceled simply because of the undrivable road condition, unfortunately. Ho, Ho, Ho. Not us! No way!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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