Tag: Holiday

Above and Below

I live next door to a convent and behind a restaurant/bar. The differences are quite obvious: Above and Below.

One life style is to focus on the afterlife, the other , this life.

For the weeks leading to Christmas, I heard rehearsals and refrains on one end, toasts and talks on the other.

Both found an intersect: human frailty (life is too short!).

But parted company at different conclusions: invest in the afterlife vs burn baby burn.

Paul Anka’s My Way speaks to man’s deep desire and yearning for self-assertion “I did it my way”.

We are endowed with different set of genes.

Combined, we shall conquer, Our Way.

I am not proposing Purgatorial compromise.

Just 1+1=3.

We would all be better off learning how the others feel, and fail, how we could be of help, or send for help.

Instead, we close our eyes (and ears), mumble a few thoughtless words, and secretly wish the problems (in this case, person) would go away.

Of course, we all are going to go away (Life is too short)

But in the here and now, we share the commons, and together we can conquer.

It’s better for students to learn the science and art of being fellow human first, than for them to learn the high art and science of above. Or, as a compromise, I propose a triangle: Above, You and I. In other words, the person we are interacting with deserves full and equal weight in that triangle at each  encounter and engagement (after all, we are all Mercy’s presence to each other).

We know Life is too short. We appreciate each passing moment and memory.

We realise each one of us is far from being perfect. The burden is not on us to “decode” them, or “fix ” them. Just acknowledge that we are weaklings, our weakness is their strength, and hopefully, vice versa.

That’s why we need each other, even enemies. In Joyeux Noel, opposing sides agreed on a cease-fire to celebrate Christmas. All Alpha Males. Farewell to arms. Just toast. Just below, but thanks to Above (the Reason of the Season).

What a beautiful picture. Very moving. And it could be found in the here and now, even in enemy’s camps. I know, I know, you want to do it your way.

I am just saying, this is “My Way”, not necessarily Above-or-Below forced dichotomy.

Life as Unfinished Book

I brave heavy traffic to get to the book store on Nguyen Hue again.

Just to find out if Murukami’s 1Q84 part II in Vietnamese was available.

It hadn’t. Back and forth for nothing. But the two interwoven stories must have that crisscrossing point, a happy ending.

Can’t wait to find out.

And that was just a novel.  With its dream-like quality.

How about our own lives?

It’s Christmas in Vietnam. The lottery-ticket peddlers are still out pushing luck. The dumpster divers are still after a lucky find. Children are in school, workers at work just to improve their lots.

Nothing unusual, except for the concentration of tourists and picture takers at Saigon tourist quarter, where hotels put up Vegas-style Christmas display.

Noel, as it is called here, is a convergence of realities, now as it has always: manger and Magi, homeless and Honda.

People here don’t believe in magic. Just money.

Isn’t everywhere else?

Cash or credit?

The tree can be fake or real, but the cash has to be cold and hard cash.

Will your life and mine have a happy ending? or like the story of Christmas, it started with birth and ended with burial. The Resurrection sounds like it was added on to give the movement some momentum (Like the Mayan believers after Dec 21st).

For now, the story got another reading. Baby and bath water.

Don’t throw both out. Just believe. Finish the first part of the book.

Just like your lives and mine: beginning, middle and ending.

Can someone tell me what happens to Aomame and Tengo in 1Q84. Will they meet again and have a happy ending. I can’t wait to find out.

When dreams are gone!

A few blogs ago, I wrote about Noel Decoration in Saigon.

A few weeks from now, the glitters will have been all gone.

Party is over.

Then, it’s a long grind. 2013.

The quants have already crunchedl year-end data: sunk costs, margin, consumer behavior (irrational at times – hint: sell spirits over the holidays).

The monks look on Christmas helplessly. They wait their turn (Buddhist birthday).

Girl friends are hoping loudly for gifts, employees for bonus.

After all, it’s Christ‘s birthday.

The author became a character in a  play he had created.

Empathy. Homelessness. Rejection. Illegitimacy (ask him for his birth certificate).

Our consumerist society has co-opted and corrupted every single occasion to sell merchandise. Together, we build “brand”.

The dream goes like this, “it’s Christmas, the season of giving. So borrow and buy, first for your miserable self, then for those near and far, like them or not. Ship them, don’t like them, then return them. We will send something else, or give you store credits to shop some more”.

Many of these “gifts” end up in the closet along with next year’s wrapping papers.

And dreams just don’t stop there. New Year’s Resolution, ranging from vocational training, weight loss program, and cosmetic surgery. We keep trying, because after all, “life’s a moment in space” with a few surprises around the bend (hopefully they installed mirrors around the curves).

“When dreams are gone, it’s a lonelier place”. In a few weeks, those same hot spots where decorations are now up, will be desolate.

The crowd will have moved on, from Bethlehem to Babel, from cashier to customer service. Next! Return or exchange? 2013, long grind.

Advent and Apocalypse

Parents prepare gift-wrapping and children get wish list ready for Santa.

Suicidal souls worry that this would be their last season, or else they would die by default on Dec 21 or 23 , Mayan calendar apocalypse.

What would we like to do in these short weeks?

Finish those novels to know their endings?

Send an encouraging note to a child?

Cheer up an old colleague who is looking for work?

I would pray long and hard, with sincerity. By that I mean, for about a minute.

All else devoted to pounding the pavement.

Major historical shifts always involved men and women of conviction, who acted.

Their sense of self, of destiny and of timing in lock step.

In denying self, they found it.

In going to war resisting Evil, they found peace.

In the end, they face death with dignity and sense of fulfillment.

I remember reading Jobs’ biography around this time last year.

How stirring it was.  Learning about his eccentricity and obsession about product quality.

Now everyone wants an I Phone 5.

I am sure it’s on a lot of people’s wish list.

Even with Apocalypse pending.

It’s Advent season.

Both Advent and Apocalypse draw us to our knees.

To realise there are greater things than ourselves.

And we share those hopes and fears with others.

It’s the season of sharing, of gifting. This year, of hoping we can see Dec 24th and open those wrapped gifts.

Past lives

Alpha-Omega or reincarnation?

Steve Jobs didn’t believe all those talents would disappear in a flash.

Many here in Asia believe the same.

Hypnotism brings back deep-seated memories in the brain, recalling multiple past lives .

Duyen No.

L’amour and Debt.

No coincidence.

Just virtuous or vicious cycle.

Spin it baby.

Make your choices. Think you are in control?

I know I have my parents’ gene pool.

My kids are partly mine and their moms’.

So on so forth.

Today Vietnam celebrates its Founding King.

Thoughtfulness and simplicity. Banh day Banh chung.

Round and Square, rice and beans, the Earth and the Moon.

Harmony. Peace. And Stability.

Being a small country, Vietnam has to fend of invaders with whatever comes handy.

Giac den nha dan ba phai danh (when attacked, women take up arms).

Then peace time. Farewell to arms. Welcome L’Oreal, Louis Vuitton and Lauren.

Just don’t assume. Behind the make-ups lies strength and subtlety.

Hai Ba Trung. Ba Trieu.

Don’t mess with them.

Just smile, sweat and sorrow.

Fight on. Firm up your footing.

Turf and territorial protection.

This land is our land.

Shinning seas and dusty hills.

Fight on.

Then come home to simplicity, sweat and smile.

Alpha-Omega? No.

Next lives. Non-stop. Live on. Pay forward and pay backward.

Waste not your time. But then, time is always on your side. At least, here, in Vietnam.

For thousand of years people celebrate simplicity, harmony and subtlety. Gio To. Gio Cha. Gio Chong.

The self is not celebrated. It’s communal. It’s trans-generational. It’s eternal and cyclical. Forever bound in an unbroken chain of melody and harmony. Sounds like a chant, sounds like music. Sounds like Holiday. Sounds playful. Zen-ful.

Blogging is sharing

It is also fun.

Certainly it is not work.

An insight here, a discovery there.

Hey, look at this!

I still remember appearing in a school play (Elementary).

Got a lot of laughs from the student body (playing a mother, Tootsie style).

Somewhere along the way, we have lost the inclination for play, the urge to create and an eye for  possibilities.

IKEA is redesigning its home-office furniture to accommodate digital demand of a mobile workforce (first they sit in cubicles, then they commute from home with virtual-style cubicles at work or at Starbucks and finally back to the office, per Yahoo).

More than furniture, we too will need to adapt (CD holder and PC desk anyone? before Goodwill takes them).

Even Palm is up for auction.

I didn’t  let Amazon‘s Fire go unnoticed.

Whoever named that product knows a thing or two about human need for tribal affiliation, for gathering around the camp fire.

Camera men and news men all know that viewers glue to the set when they show fire scenes.

TV screen has replaced that warm fireplace in everyone’s home. Now Amazon’s Fire (pad) wants to take it to go.

Hey look at this (from my Fire).

E commerce has just got leg.

No longer shoppers are desk-bound or multitasking during lunch hour (last-minute browsing and clicking “Put this in Shopping Cart” for the holiday season).

Speaking of Holiday Seasons. It looks as if we are home free with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas-shopping).

Consumers spending drives the economy forward (bulk shopping in December).

What is the point of putting up Christmas decoration in the house while telling your children to shut the door (to guests and families).

Kids are smarter than we think (mine said yelling is counter-productive i.e. honey makes for better mouse trap).

Back to my Elementary school play. Back to childlike creativity and imagination. Back to sharing. Back to the beginning when everyone got his/her allotted sparks of creativity and of the divine.

It’s still there, lying dormant underneath your Christmas decoration. Sharing is not seasonal. And the tribal fire has never meant to be extinguished. It was meant to be shared, in gathering circle.

Just like when we were told to sit in circle, at a school play, dressing up like Tootsie.

Never too old to salivate

I was there on Black Friday.  95 North. Wal-Mart stop. I saw shoppers pushing carts filled with wireless printers, Blu-ray players and flat screen TV’s.

The only other time you see people taking stuff from the store in the dark was during the LA riot or Katrina.

Just as soon as one comfortably sat back and relaxed, watching the flat screen TV that the neighbor started toying with his I-pad.

Hum! One-up-man-ship doesn’t allow for rest. So, when one hears the bell ring, one  salivates….for an I-pad or I-pod. Give me some of that (When Harry Met Sally‘s line, the only speaking part by the Director’s mom).

Then, I stopped at Potomac Mills outside of Washington D.C.. The sign says “Never too old”, urging seniors to take souvenir photo with Santa (who was probably younger under the disguise).

American mall= Chinese showroom. Still the same Holiday ornaments,

same jingles. But shoppers came from somewhere else (nation capital’s immigrants), and goods shipped from where else, besides our factory to the world.

On Cyber Monday, Amazon put on its PR face by showing conveyor belts and its shipping facility in AZ, one of its many regional centers. I know, I know. When you are without a retail store presence, you would want people to see your brick-and-mortar backroom.

Krispy Creme even displays its signature Glaze donuts transformed from dough to donut. (Madonna beat them to the punch: she wore underwear outside, then Jane Fonda picked up on that in her work-out video).

Adam Smith praised the Invisible Hand that regulates the free market.

Then we called in government’s Strong Hand to save it from going under.

The tri-cycle economy is rolling (Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Saturday before Christmas). Keep salivating. We need another pair of socks and one more beanie hat, even when global warming clearly is pushing winter out for another two months – no need to meet and discuss the weather in Cancun. Stay here in N America!).

Still, never too old. A lady shopper pushed her walker slowly uphill out in the parking lot. She probably was looking forward to that Friday morning more than anyone else.

In looking at her, I realized we as a nation were going to win another Shopping race.

We have practiced to salivate much quicker – as soon as the bell rings. No offense. In China, they look at one another, and feel ashamed of personal gratification at the expense of the group. Personal saving rate is higher than US’. And this slows them down, leaving the US once again the Consumer of the Year, or any other year.