Day 343 - Play

Thought of the day: Our chiropractor is a pretty amazing person. She has not only a reservoir of knowledge of her field, but also of other related fields as well. She is well connected to the local homeopathic community and is often able to introduce families to a variety of practitioners ranged from doulas to massage therapists. She is a go-to person you can trust. Today I found out that she has a good heart as well. There is a very unfortunate local family that lost their house in the Fourmile Canyon Fire last year and then suffered an even worse blow this summer - a drunk driver hit them, left the father dead and his toddler girl severely injured. Our chiropractor went to the memorial service of the father and was so moved by the desperate situation of the family that she and her colleagues decided to do something for them. They donated an entire day of their work for the benefit of the little girl. I am glad to be part of it and I am grateful to belong to a community that's so generous in heart.

Photo of the day:

Izzy playing with blocks on the floor of a theater. The injured girl is even younger than her. I hope the little girl will be able to fully recover and enjoy a normal life soon.

Day 315 - Three Girls

Thought of the day: Disasters on the news are overwhelming.  Sad stories among friends and acquaintances are overwhelming. I don’t know if something is wrong with this world we live in or if it’s just a natural shift of awareness as we get older. Perhaps it's both. Resilient as we are, our capacity for pain and suffering is not boundless. On some days it seems so overwhelming and hopeless. In a way, it’s a relief to bear in mind that we walk on this earth for but a blink of time. As such, we will only accumulate a limited amount of burden and carried it over a limited distance. My friend also kindly reminded me today that what we suffer in life we treasure in arts. Arts can transform pain into beauty and make it more tolerable. Being so busy with life lately, I haven't been able to read or appreciate music or other forms of arts as much as I would like to and perhaps that contributes to the problem. The well of life needs to be constantly replenished lest it will dry up. Conscious of it or not, this is the struggle that we fight every single day.  Today is not my day but tomorrow it will surely be better.

Photo of the day:

My girls and Jasmine's friend playing in our front yard.  The well of life is naturally strong in early life. The most important  and formidable task of a parent is to help it stay that way, nurture it and make it even stronger over time.

Day 314 - Garden Path

Thought of the day: I met a very special woman for coffee this morning. She is actively involved in a micro-lending not-for-profit that gives out loans to poor Guatemalan women who would not otherwise be able to get loans through traditional lenders. Like so many other people who devote themselves selflessly to international charities, she has no personal connection to the country. She visited Guatemala some years ago as a tourist and witnessed the poverty and suffering firsthand. The story of a local woman pulled herself out of poverty enough to send her children to school really left her an indelible impression. The size of the loan she took out to have profoundly changed the lives of her family - a paltry 150USD every six months - left her an even deeper impression. After that trip, she got involved in the not-for-profit that gave the woman the loans and had been involved every since. There is a long list of needy corners in the world, perhaps including the very corner of earth we live in, and much of the need would not have been filled without people like her who are determined to make tangible and sustainable differences. I admire her perseverance as much as I admire her kindness and compassion. It was a refreshing and inspiring meeting and gave me another dose of hope for our future.

Photo of the day:

Lila walking on the path in Jasmine's piano teacher's garden.  Where will it lead to?  We often take unpredictable paths in our lives which can define us and make us who we are. They are by no means walks in the garden but they make our lives exciting, meaningful and worthwhile.

Day 300 - Lila

Thought of the day: I watched a PBS interview with Norwegian foreign minister last night.  When the reporter asked the foreign minister what kind of impact the massacre on Utoeya island was having on the Norwegian youth, the minister replied that the activism and participation of the youth actually went way up instead of being diminished by the threat of violence. He finished by quoting the sentence of a Norwegian teenager: "If one man can hate that much, imagine what we can do together with our combined love." That's an inspiring message coming out of the unspeakable tragedy. The worst of human acts brought out the best of human spirits and give you hope for the future of democracy and humanity.

Photo of the day:

Lila painting in her new preschool's open house event.  This photo recalls in me words like "hope" and "innocence". One day, her generation will be shouldering the responsibility of the world.  Right now, her world consists of loving people, vibrant colors and funny toys.  I sure hope that there won't be events that would make her grow up too fast - the kind of impact that an event like the Norwegian tragedy is likely to have on a generation of Norwegian youth.

Day 299 - United States

Thought of the day: Today is the first day of school in Boulder Valley School District. This day reminded me of a documentary I just watched called "Waiting for Superman". For anyone who cares about K-12 education or with kids in the public school system, it's a disturbing documentary to watch. It shows how broken the US public school system is and why. Other than the obvious issue of lack of funding, the way the schools are run is even a bigger issue. Teachers are not motivated to perform because it's not a merit based system like any other free enterprises. Bad teachers are impossible to fire if they have tenure.  Instead of pursuing a different career that may be more suitable for their abilities and temperament, the "bad" teachers just continue circulating in the system. The lack of accountability is certainly contributing to the lack of improvement in the quality of education. According to statistics, America is facing an education crisis and there's a compelling need for reform. However, there exists strong forces driven by self-interest blocking any meaningful reform. When the system is so broken, simply throwing money at it won't solve the problem. Before that can be fixed, a whole generation of Americans are being given a sub-standard education. It will certainly affect the competitiveness of the country in a long run. Of course, with the reputation of being a melting pot, the US can fill in the education gap through immigration. But that's assuming that the US will continue to be attractive to well qualified immigrants which may no longer be the case if the country can't provide good quality education to its children.

Photo of the day:

Lila standing on the map of the United States in Jasmine's school. It's certainly my hope that she and her sister will receive a good education in this country. The chance is good because we are lucky to live in a good school district but it's by no means given.

Day 279 - Tajik Kabob

Thought of the day: I am watching a segment on PBS about prison inmates getting education behind the bars. As education can help people redirect impulsive energy and maximize rationality, it has the potential of changing even a lifelong criminal's habits and behaviors.  Of course, getting education in prison is nothing new, but most of the programs geer towards training the inmates for specific jobs.  This program is different - it selects a small subset of applicants and gives them a college level education which may entitle them to a bachelor's degree in a couple of years. Instead of teaching specific skills, it encourages creativity and critical thinking and gives them the opportunity to improve and apply themselves. The selected students are among the most curious and motivated - often more so than the ones outside of the bars. After graduating and getting out of prison, many of them turn out to be motivated workers and are making valuable contributions to the society and supporting their families.  Given the chance, hope can blossom in a place that seems so hopeless - it is indeed an interesting and thought provoking story for me.

Photo of the day:

Tasty Tajik Kabob in Dushanbee Teahouse where I took Haeji for lunch before her departure flight.

Day 265 - Jasmine and Apollo

Thought of the day: Jasmine and I rode horses at a ranch today. I had some pretty interesting chats with the owner.  He came to the US from Poland after WWII when he was barely 14.  Like so many other immigrants, he was penniless and knew not a single soul when he landed. He carried out hard, manual labor in various places and ended up in Colorado where he started to buy forest land, bit by bit, at a price that was dirt cheap as few people at that time saw the value in the tree covered, mountainous land.  Over years, he accumulated a good chunk of land and got pretty well-off after its value skyrocketed.  Now his family owns three ranches, two in Colorado and one in Arizona.  His children and grandchildren grew up in the ranch and many of them still work there as the ranch apparently has a mysterious draw for them. He offers horseback riding tours as the ranch is ideally located in the Pike National Forest.  He is already in his late seventies but is still full of energy and vitality and works in the ranch every day. It's another one of those immigrant stories, but the familiarity of it makes it no less exciting or impressive.  Despite the craziness that's going on in the American political arena, people like him truly embody the American spirit. Meeting and talking to people like him never fails to inspire me and give me hope.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine riding her horse Apollo with me riding Roman behind her. Apollo is a super-gentle horse but she has a tendency to walk slowly and Roman kept trying to overtake her.  Other than that, we had a beautiful and unforgettable ride through the forest together.

Day 188 - Girls

Thought of the day: I just watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born".  The movie explored the birthing process and how a natural process had been turned into a business and treated routinely as an ailment and emergency by medical professionals.  When I was still pregnant with Lila, I read the excellent book "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" which delivered similar messages.  The information provided by doctors and by nurses who taught childbirth classes in a hospital setting was often one-sided and incomplete and only helped perpetuate the myth and disinformation of the birthing process.  The other side of the story is told by Ina May's book, this documentary, midwives, doulas and women who have had the natural, or alternative as regarded by some, birth experiences.  Sadly and inexplicably, not every pregnant woman has access to all the information that she is entitled to when she needs to make the important decision of how and where to give birth.  As a result, it's more likely for her to end up in a hospital and for the doctors and nurses to impose their wills on her and take control of the birthing process to make it more lucrative, convenient, and lawsuit-free for them.  That would help explain the rise of cesarean rate, which is currently at an astounding rate of 1 out of every 3 births in this country.  This has reached the level of an epidemic.  Right around Lila's birth, I distributed Ina May's book through a bookstore and other entities to pregnant women because I felt compelled to share the information.  Apparently that activity had not created enough impact as the cesarean rate kept on rising!  And it's rising in many other countries too, especially in China, where the cesarean rate is at a whopping 46%.  As a civilization, we are getting too technologically advanced to respect our body and too incentive driven to remember our soul.  We see the consequence of that in every area of our lives and the unnatural birthing process is just one of them.  Will we reach a turning point and reverse course?  I hope we will, and will soon.

Photo of the day:

My girls lying on the floor exhausted after some fun play in the house.  I love them more than what can be expressed in words.  I hope they will grow up in a world that's healthier in many ways than the one we reside in right now.

Day 184 - Alfafa's

Thought of the day: Alfafa's is back in Boulder!  Alfafa's started in 1983 as the trendsetter for natural food supermarkets at that time.  In 1996, it was acquired by Boulder's Wild Oats which was subsequently acquired by Wholefoods in 2007.  Luckily, FTC required Wholefoods to sell some of its stores for monopoly concerns and Alfafa's former location was on the chopping board.  One of the founders of Alfafa's bought it to bring back the original store.  Today was the Earth Day and Alfafa's official opening day and what an opening day it was!  The store was crowded throughout the day.  We spent an entire morning there with a couple of friends and had lunch in its cafe.  Thankfully, the new, and also the original, owner of Alfafa's seems to really care about healthy food and environment instead of just paying lip service to both and looking at the natural food market as a cash cow.  The store really lives up to his vision.  A lot of the food comes from Colorado, there are no individually wrapped fruits (how silly that is but many stores do it), the salad bar offers all organic vegetables, and 75% of the bulk food section is organic according to the store.  On top of that, the price is pretty reasonable.  I have had gripes about Wholefoods for a long time but still had to cave in once in a while because Wholefoods offered a lot more products than others.  Well, not any more!  I am glad that Boulder finally has a natural food supermarket that's both well-stocked and well-priced, and more importantly, one that seems to genuinely care about healthy food and the environment.  I hope Boulder shoppers are sophisticated enough to recognize that and will allow Alfafa to succeed and become the trendsetter again and put conscience back into the natural grocery market.

Photo of the day:

Life music entertainment in Alfafa's cafe in its opening day.  Izzy danced to the music with her mom.

Day 179 - Peking Acrobats

Thought of the day: This afternoon we attended the Peking Acrobats show.  Jasmine had just participated in a circus show in her school and was very excited to see the stunts performed by the acrobats.  Lila was so thrilled with all the music and actions on stage that she could hardly stay on her seat.  How did these acrobats manage to reach this level of skills and artistry?  Talent, for sure, and lots and lots and lots of practice.  When I watch a show like this or listen to a performance by an orchestra, I am always amazed by the depth of the human possibility and inspired by the people who have mastered the unthinkable.  With all the ugliness and darkness in this world, we are nevertheless a very unique and soulful specie that can do beautiful things and create immortal art and we can all be proud of that.

Photo of the day:

A Peking Acrobat stacking up more and more chairs in a breathtaking performance.

Day 177 - Izzy

Thought of the day:  Borders Bookstore on 29th St. Mall is closing.  It's one of the 200 stores that are closing after Borders' bankruptcy filing.  We went in the store today to take a last look and it was a sad scene - only very few books were left on the shelves as most of them had been liquidated or perhaps shipped away during the past two months.  We visited the store many times in the past and I always made a point of buying something before I left.  A bookstore is a bookstore, whether it's in a chain or not, and it's worthy of our support.  However, I must admit that I am a lot less attached to it as I am to my local bookstore.  It would be a really sad day if something would happen to the local bookstore.  In the era of Amazon and e-books, it's challenging for any bookstore to stay in business.  A bookstore has to be creative, embrace the local population and somehow keep them coming back often.  I think a local, independent store is much better positioned for doing that than a national/international chain.  Our local store is doing pretty well and hopefully it will remain so in the foreseeable future and continue to contribute to the cultural vibrance of Boulder.

Photo of the day:

Lila had a play date with Izzy before heading to Borders with me and saying good-bye to a store that she had visited so many times in the past.

Day 176 - Photo Exhibition

Thought of the day: Tonight I attended an interesting talk by Scott Carlin about his night time photography.  He used a tripod for a long exposure and while the shutter was open, he walked around and "painted" selected surfaces and objects with a flash light so they would be illuminated in the image in a way that he envisioned.  The result was some pretty striking images that I had never seen before.  At the talk, I met a woman who took self-portraits with her built-in laptop camera and then manipulated them with various cartoon like effects.  She came up with some pretty surreal images - some of them might be a little disturbing but they were in general pretty unusual and interesting.  People can be so incredibly creative.  A million people can have a million different ways of perceiving the world and a million different ways of expressing themselves.  It's constantly manifested in photography, arts, technology, and daily living.  I think each one of us is blessed with a unique vision and voice that can be nurtured when we're young; and when we are older and more capable, as long as we have the courage and conviction to stick to them, we may leave a unique footprint on the earth and enrich the lives of many others.  Indeed, much in the same way that the diversity of genes is essential to the survival of species, our individuality is essential to our collective survival. 

Photo of the day:

Today I went to Mia's 39+ photo exhibit at CU's UMC Gallery.  Her 39+ blog inspired my blog.  Mia's photos have a sense of daily progression - every day's image relates to previous day's image either conceptually or visually.  I'm  more focused within the context of a day as I try to inject a daily thought  that can be connected to the  image one way or the other.  I think we both found a way that worked for us.

Day 172 - Hair Dressing

Thought of the day: My todo list is getting longer, books are piling up...  I need more time in a day than a day gives.  On one hand, I am already looking forward to my birthday so I will be done with my project and get on with life.  On the other hand, I know I will look back at this period of life and be glad that I have done it.  Throughout my life, I have had a few intense stretches of time, some short, some long, when I focused on one special thing.  Those were the days when I felt a sense of purpose, a sense of achievement and personal growth.  Those were unforgettable days.  I hope it will be the same for this year.  At the end, it will all be worth it.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine dressing up Lila's hair.  Today she dressed Lila up in the same clothes, same hairpin, and now the same ponytails as herself.  Lila is her fun "project", at least for a day!

Day 171 - Daisy

Thought of the day: Our neighborhood has an annual progressive dinner event which we have joined for a few times.  Tonight we just had this year's progressive dinner.  The appetizer course was hosted in our home, just like last year, where everybody met for the appetizer before heading off to different homes for the next courses.  After having soup, salad and main entree in three different homes, everybody met again for dessert in another neighbor's home and concluded the evening.  It is a fun tradition which we always enjoy when we are able to participate.  It's a good opportunity to meet people, some of whom we will otherwise not have a chance to meet even though we all live in the same neighborhood.  One thing I observed tonight was that I was the only non-white person in the party - a situation that I had grown so used to in Boulder that I only realized it after the party was over.  There were a few other immigrant families present but they were all from Europe.  Come to think of it, I have only met a single non-white person in the past years of progressive dinners.  It was an Asian woman who became a friend of mine but she moved away two years ago.  Boulder is not a very diverse city, to say the least.  It was so ten years ago and, according to the latest census, it was still so today, despite of the national and state-wide trend of getting more diverse.  Another thing I observed tonight was that there were quite a few overachievers in the neighborhood, and some were more pleasant to talk to than others.  I think what makes a difference is the degree of humility.  A humble overachiever can be really interesting to talk to as you can have a two-way conversation where you get to hear some interesting stories and you get to share some of your own lowly thoughts too.  A not-so-humble overachiever can be self-centered, overbearing and difficult to communicate with.  I suppose this can happen no matter you overachieve or not, but it does demonstrate that being successful doesn't make you a wise person.  It takes a wise person to remain humble and it takes a humble person to be compassionate.  I wonder if this contributes to the curious statistics that while average Boulder residents make more money than average Colorado residents, we are less generous in giving.  I suspect this phenomenon will get worse before it gets better because the housing is Boulder is not getting more affordable comparing to the rest of the state and we may end up attracting even more overachievers to the city in the foreseeable future.

Photo of the day:

One of the daisies we used to decorate the tables for the progressive dinner.

Day 169 - CWA

Thought of the day: This morning I took a nice hike in the mountains.  Good conversation, nice weather, and the beautiful view of a misty Flatirons made it a memorable morning.  I was reminded once again of the beauty of the nature all around us and our duty to pass it on, undiminished, to the future generations.

Photo of the day:

Larry Schweiger of National Wildlife Federation in a CWA discussion titled "Climate Change: Past the Point of No Return".  The catchy and alarming title was a play on words and the discussion was not meant to discourage concerned citizens from making a difference.  In fact, quite to the contrary, speakers on the panel encouraged people to do more but do it with more urgency as we are running against time and it's a race that we can not lose.  I didn't learn many new things from this discussion but I was very encouraged by the large crowd it drew - it was standing room only with a line waiting outside the door.

Day 154 - Jasmine

Thought of the day: I had a good conversation with Jasmine tonight.  We were walking home from dinner in the dark.  It was chillier than expected so we cheered each other up with stories.  She retold the story of Stone Soup, which she learned in preschool. When I asked her what she learned from the story, she said "Sharing makes people happy."  Indeed, fearing your neighbors and, in general, being too self-defensive can make your life bleak and miserable.  On the other hand, opening up your heart and sharing with your community can make your life richer and happier.  Sharing may even save your life during an emergency, as manifested by Japanese villagers who were trapped and isolated from the outside world in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.  Apparently people in the trapped communities promptly organized themselves, shared their supplies and duties, bended together and survived until they were rescued.  In a way, in the face of the emergency, an entire village came together to make a big pot of stone soup so everybody can share and stay alive.  These real life stories warmed my heart and made me admire the human spirit and gave me hope for our collective future.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine on the way to dinner, with grandma, daddy and Lila in the background.  It's another sunny, beautiful spring day in Boulder.

Day 148 - Copper

Thought of the day: After returning from a good day of skiing, I read and watched news for a short time but it was just long enough to get me depressed: house vote to ban public funding for NPR, situation in Libya, and worst of all: more bad news from Japan - it's hard to believe that the unimaginable human tragedy can get even worse.  So many bad news, tragedies and senseless acts in the past few years from all around the world - why?  Has it always been like that and I just haven't paid attention?  I can't help but wonder how much longer we can be cocooned in our comfortable life.  I can't help but fear when the tide of events will catch us.  I can't help but wonder where we are heading as a race.  Yes, I'm sure a lot of doubts and fears will dissipate by tomorrow morning when the sun rises and I have had a good night of rest, but will anything have changed fundamentally?  Probably not.  Looking at it in a positive light, perhaps all these doubts and fears are what it takes to keep us grounded, no matter where we are, no matter what we do.

Photo of the day:

Ski day at Copper: windy day, icy bumps, slushy runs - they desperately needed snow!  However, my recently adjusted boots were more comfortable and I had great company, so I had another fun winter day in the mountains. (Cell phone photo)

Day 142 - America

Thought of the day:  It's a day of disasters and scares.  Before I boarded the flight this morning, I heard and read about the 8.9 earthquake in Japan and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear emergency.  It was, is, a terrible disaster indeed.  And then a few minutes prior to landing, it looked as if our plane was engulfed in smoke that came out of nowhere.  It was eerie and I had never experienced anything like that before on my frequent flights.  The ride in our small plane got bumpy soon afterwards. Some passengers screamed. I was a little scared too but there was nothing I could do other than holding Lila's hand tightly. Luck for us - it was just a scare.  The smoke came from an ongoing Lefthand Canyon fire in Boulder - the third major fire near Boulder in just a few short months - and not from the aircraft. After going through a bit of clear air turbulence, the aircraft proceeded to land smoothly.  I was, needless to say, quite relieved when we landed.  At the same time, I couldn't help thinking how powerless we are over so many things - earthquake, tsunami, fire, plane crash, to name a few.  Yes, the chance of any of these happening to us is very small, but it's still a miracle that we survive every day.  Not only our life is a miracle, every single day of our life is a miracle too.

Photo of the day:

Passengers taking interest in the huge "America - Why I Love You" map displays in Denver International Airport.  Everything in DIA looked beautiful to me today after the flight experience.

Day 132 - Hope You Dance

Thought of the day: This morning I read on the paper of a recent incident on a local hiking trail.  An older gentleman was lying bleeding on the trail and his situation was clearly calling out for help.  Groups of hikers and dog-walkers just walked right past him without stopping to offer a hand.  At the end, the poor guy had to basically crawl back to his car and drove himself to urgent care.  This story made me sad.  What kind of people would just ignore an injured older man and leave him lying on a hiking trail?  How do these people feel afterwards about themselves?  I am sure these people are not representatives of the general local population, however, I am not surprised that people like that do exist.  They are self centered and protecting their personal interests above and beyond anything else.  Some of them may also have been young and entitled.  I think it's an utter failure of parents to raise young adults who would behave like that.  This incident got me to think: as parents, how do we raise children with good moral values?  Action is worth a lot more than words, so it's necessary for the parents to set good examples for their kids.  And how about peace corps?  Some people say that by the time a person is old enough to volunteer overseas, his character and values may have been too well formed to be influenced for real.   So perhaps we should get them involved in community services early to broaden their perspectives when they are still young.  Unfortunately, there're really no golden bullets here.  There are influences that parents do not realistically have control of.  At the end, we parents just have to do our best and hope that our kids will find the light and grow into people with values and integrity.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine's friend giving Lila a lift up some stairways.  When an 8-yr-old is having so much fun playing with a 2-yr-old, I take it as a good indication that the older girl will grow up into a happy, caring young person.  The complete sentence on the wall  was: "When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance." Dance they did - in the sun.