Peanut Butter anecdote

Today I got a phone call from J who was at the grocery store. She was looking for peanut butter.
"They don't have any," she said.
I asked her where she was looking and she said she was by the butter.
Makes perfect sense, and certainly more than it being over by the coffee, tea and cereal in our grocery store, but that's where I directed her.
"Ah, yes, here it is."

Grocery bucket

I'm just realizing that if I don't share these stories somehow, they are not living up to their full potential.

Last night J and I were eating a sort-of egg-drop soup with dinner and I realized that I've had eggs almost every day over the past 4 days. There are really so many ways to use egg that I had either dismissed or outright avoided.
J said that her family used to buy lots of eggs at the market; so many in fact that her mother would bring them home in a big bucket. Forget the carton, in China, they sell eggs by the kilogram! I just love the image of someone bringing home a bucket of eggs.

Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet

Cool Globes is the latest art installation project in Chicago for the summer of 2007. Chicago has been incorporating these projects into the cityscape since 1999 with the launch of Cows on Parade which has since toured the globe, including a stint in Tokyo last year.
In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing Cool Globes this summer and am considering arranging for a free 45-minute tour. Check out the homepage for the site:
http://www.coolglobes.com/index2.htm

The Day I'd Been Waiting For

On June 30th, 2007, I experienced a life-changing event. I met with Dr. Iguchi who sat me down and calmly opened my file. He pulled out a piece of paper on which my results had been written. Down the right side of the page was a string of zeros.
He looked at me and handed the paper over so I could scrutinize it closely as he spoke.
"Well, as you can see, aside from the last item, you showed absolutely no signs of a reaction."

I read over the results and sure enough, every item showed a zero, except for the last one which was for animal dander. Ah, not surprising that I was still allergic to that.
What was surprising was that I am no longer allergic to egg whites. Since the age of about three, egg whites have been my archenemy. Now that would change.

"Well doctor, I must say, this is going to be a little change in my life. Thank you for the excellent results!"
Dr. Iguchi said he was happy to be of assistance for such an event and congratulated me. I left the office a new man.

I didn't eat an egg right away. In fact, I waited until the following Tuesday. That evening, J made dinner and she prepared a dish with tomato and scrambled egg with rice. We took a few commemorative photos and then picked up our forks and dug in.

So now that I can eat eggs without any worry, I have been thinking of the omelet I'm going to eat at the Pancake House back home this summer. I used to make omelets for people, or french toast, and think, "Hmm, looks pretty good," but I was never able to eat it myself. Looking forward to it now.

I can't say eggs are my favorite dish now. Actually, I'm just getting used to their flavor. Eggs seem to take on different flavors depending on how you eat them - which I had figured would be true before, but am now experiencing it first hand. So little by little I'm trying different dishes when the opportunity presents itself. The day I'd been waiting for has finally come!

Office of Secretary

Last night I was inducted into the office of Secretary for my Toastmasters club. I even received a pin that says "Toastmaster Secretary" on it (will post a picture later).
We all celebrated with a paper cup "half full" with white wine. Nice to see we follow our namesake to make things official.

Afterwards, as we left the venue, we had to conceal the paper cups as there is no food or drink allowed in the meeting rooms there. haha
Here's the pin! :p

Peace & Quiet

On June 21st I gave my fourth speech at Toastmasters. A few people in the group had expressed an interest in hearing more about my experiences in India, so I wrote the following speech. Giving a speech in front of people allows the added aspects of tone of voice, gestures and dramatic effect. So I've added to it somewhat in the written form, although the premise and the outline remains the same. It is titled "Peace & Quiet". Hope you enjoy it.

Peace & Quiet

The first time I went to Shinjuku, the central nervous system of Tokyo, I exited the station and there were people everywhere. There were shop employees standing outside shops on stepladders holding megaphones and shouting “Irasshaimase”, trying to get customers to enter their stores. You can buy anything in Shinjuku – anything except a little peace and quiet. Around every corner, the chatter of the city is unstoppable. It can be so loud that, often, you can’t even hear yourself think!

Funnily enough, this reminds me of when I spent a few months in rural India as a university student. I stayed in the town of Bodh Gaya, which is in the north-eastern state of Bihar, not far from Kolkata or Nepal. Bodh Gaya is a rural community and an important pilgrimage destination for meditation. It is in Bodh Gaya that Siddhartha Gautama sat under a tree, quieted his mind, and entered samadhi (the concentrated mind). It is said that he sat for 49 days, peeling back life’s illusions one by one until he saw the truth for what it is. Here, he became Buddha, which means fully awakened.

We were a group of 30 university students studying in India for a semester, and after a few weeks in India we were offered the opportunity to participate in a 2-day meditation retreat. None of us expected to attain enlightenment during the weekend, however we were prepared to meditate for 13 hours a day. Also, we would agree to a code of silence, which meant that there would be no communication, not only during meditation hours but also during meals, before bed, and in the morning. We were even to refrain from making eye contact during the retreat, all in order to help us to quiet the mind.

I won’t lie. The first day was terrible. Physically, it is difficult to thrust the body into stasis and sit in one position for so long. However, even more difficult was the mental challenge. To be thrust into the stony silence of a meditation retreat, I found the mind becomes agitated without the external stimulation. The mind does not want to stand still in the present moment, so it will race to the future or turn back to reflect on the past. I found my mind was like a monkey in a banana tree, jumping from branch to branch grabbing at everything and anything that even resembled a banana. My body was still, but the activity in my brain left me exhausted. So here was the conundrum: in the city, you can’t hear yourself think; on the meditation cushion, you can’t make your brain shut up. So, how to get some peace and quiet in life?

By the second day, our teacher reminded us that this was to be expected. “Your thoughts are like clouds in the sky. Let them pass by,” he said. Even though we could not stop the thoughts, over time our minds would quiet down.

Gradually, I was able to let go a little better, although occasionally I would find myself riding those clouds as if they were a magic carpet ride. I would catch myself at those moments and try to concentrate the mind, returning to the present moment. At those times, I was acutely aware of the present moment, and felt relaxed in what felt like the first time in years.

Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale.

At the end of the second day, our teacher complimented us on our efforts during the retreat. He could see from our smiling and relaxed faces that we had been able to quiet our monkey minds, if not gain a little insight into ourselves as well. Indeed, it was a beautiful day.

But then something occurred that I always remember when I go to Shinjuku. It so happened that the head priest of the temple we were staying at had returned from a pilgrimage to Lumbini in Nepal. He was to give a short talk after lunch to tell us of his travels and give us the official tour of the temple grounds. The priest was an older man and had a peaceful looking face; he had probably meditated for many hours every day for most of his life.

We were all outdoors, so he was brought a microphone and amplifier so we could all hear his story about Lumbini, the place where Siddhartha Gautama was born and lived until he left his kingdom to meditate among the ascetics. The head priest brought the microphone to his mouth and began to speak…and didn’t stop for nearly 2 hours. He told us everything about Lumbini and Buddha’s early life, in excruciating detail. His voice, although serene, inundated us in a verbal slideshow. His amplified chatter crashed like a tidal wave over the silent paradise I had discovered.

So these days, when I go to Shinjuku and I see the shop workers outside, standing on stepladders above the crowds with their megaphones, I recall the priest in India with his microphone. When the decibels seem to equal the population of Tokyo and I can hardly hear myself think, I am reminded of meditation. Inhale. Exhale. Let the thoughts go. I look up at the clouds passing overhead, astutely aware of the present moment. The daydreams obliterated from my mind. Here I am. This is life.

(Shinjuku on a typical evening)

(The tree in Bodh Gaya as it stands today)