15-minute flowers

Time: 15 min
What: pen and markers
When: 6 pm
Why: to experiment with markers, blotchy-style.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

The paradox of the pearl is rather intriguing. It brings wealth, power, and status to whomever bears it. Yet it brings peril. At first glance into the "Pearl of the World," one may see a bright future, a future of abundance. Eventually this tainted image morphs into one of insecurity, fear, and death. I am reminded of the ring in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: "One ring to hold them all, one ring to bind them..." and also of Epicurus's idea of insatiable desires. Sure, the pearl brings wealth, but it also brings an endless desire for more, a reoccurring theme in society throughout the ages. The tragedy of pearl symbolizes good and evil and perhaps serves to remind us of the importance of moderation.

The Horowitz Steinway

Location: Tom Lee Music, Richmond BC
Time: 16:30
Forecast: cloudy; light drizzle

Today I had the great honour of playing on Horowitz's piano, the Steinway CD314503. Vladimir Horowitz, arguably one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, trusted no other piano but his own. If you were around for any of his performances, you would see a crane lifting his piano in and out of the building in which he was scheduled to play. Where ever he performed, his piano would follow.

Recently, this very piano was to tour the nation for anyone to see and lately it happened to be in Richmond. When I entered the room containing this piano, my eyes were out of my head. Undoubtedly, music can connect you to the past. But at my finger tips were the same keys that Horowitz played so beautifully. It was surreal.

Hand-washing workshop for kindergart'ners

Kindergarten class (x2)
Second Street Elementary School
Burnaby, BC
09:30 am

"Do any of you know what a pharmacist does?" we asked them.

"I know--I know! ... he makes--animals!" the kid in green shirt and pants exclaimed.

We broke into laughter and when the laughter subsided, one of us (but not me) said in a kindergarten-teacher-like-voice, "Not quite, but that is very close. When you get sick, you go to the doctor. But the doctor doesn't have the medicine in his office. So he writes the medicine on a piece of paper and you bring it to a pharmacist who gives you medicine. But today, we are going to teach you how not to get sick. We are going to teach you how to wash your hands."

Rainbow over Irving

How to get kicked out of a restaurant

It's been a couple months since we were basically kicked out of an Italian restaurant and told never to return. But the reason that I am reminded of this event is because this restaurant has shut down, recently having been replaced by a Chinese place.

Now, how did we ever find ourselves in such a predicament? I mean, it's not every day that someone gets kicked out of a restaurant. Getting kicked out of a club is much more common, but that's the topic of another story. I can assure you though that it had nothing to do with me.

Culture and the wheel of change

Frog on a spinning wheel, Royal BC Museum, Victoria BC

I have always been fascinated by culture. One of my good friends is Indian but I realized that over the years I didn't know that much about Indian culture (mind you, there are a plethora of Indian cultures). Most of what I knew revolved around food. I learned about saag, paneer, and alu gobi, how to say water in Punjabi because I often needed it. Then I learned about the mundir, temple, where they have a food kitchen every Sunday.

Just to be clear, we are not talking about a bacterial culture. This is not the kind of culture you find in yoghurt. Instead, we are talking about:

• something profound,
• a universal human capacity,
• an inevitable human expression,
• something that connects us to our past.

Here are some interesting facts I compiled:

• In some parts of Europe, they celebrate birthdays to ward off evil spirits.
• In the Yugar (a Chinese minority) weddings, the groom shoots his bride with a blunt bow and arrow three times. He then breaks the arrows to signify that their love will be forever.
• (Ireland) On a child's birthday, they pick up the child, turn him upside down and bump his head on the ground "x" times (where "x" = age).
• (Gypsy) Girls get pulled out of school at age 12 and marry.
• Clapping is as old as humanity itself, dating back to the Romans who clapped to show approval when gladiators fought to the death.
• (China) Wearing a green hat shows that your wife cheated on you.

Culture is an amazing thing. It may help us to define our goals and values, to foster a sense of belonging. In many ways it is like a bacterial culture. It can grow and spread, and be passed down from generation to generation. It is cultured. Like the appearance of new strains of bacteria, culture changes and fuses. The wheel of change must keep spinning.  So maybe our roots may be worth exploring. After all, they may remind us to celebrate our identities, to be part of something grand, to see how far we have come.

Winter Monarch

An experiment with pen and messy pencil crayons.

Taj Mahal

Boats and Scorpions

Superhero Politician?

Thinker

Koala

Everything must strike a balance

Koerner Library, UBC

I got a ride from a friend to school today, which put me in a good mood. Who wouldn't if they could save 20 minutes?
After class, I stayed till around 5 pm to do some studying in Koerner before heading to the bus loop. When I got to the 49th stop, Jenny was standing beside what seemed to be a fallen student. Someone was lying on the ground. Turns out it was Peter. Then Sam came over. So, Jenny, Sam, and I all stood around Peter as he lied on pavement. In fact, he had had a long day.
Soon we all boarded the 49th bus and I was in full anticipation of arriving home. 20 min into the ride, the bus broke down (in front of a bus stop too). The driver tried starting the bus like seven times before announcing that the next bus would be here in 5 minutes. So we simply exited the bus, walked to a previous stop and took the next next bus (the immediate next bus was full).
So in essence, it seems like it was a coincidence that the bus happened to break down when all five of us boarded the bus. It is like the coming together of titans. So beware next time you are on a bus and see all five of us sitting in the back. Oh, and the 20 minutes I saved from that ride from a friend today? It was offset by the 20 extra minutes it took to get home. As the old adage goes, everything must balance.

Move to the back of the bus

Anyone who has every stepped foot onto a bus has heard this phrase: "Move to the back of the bus." In fact, I hear it so often that I consider it Translink's slogan. No, it isn't "moving people" or "connecting people" or anything generic like that. It's "get your ass back there." Yes, all the way to the back such that your cheek smears the back window.
Some bus drivers have been fed up with simply telling people to go to the back of the bus. So, they have become creative. Yes, they have that button, which they push to have a pre-recorded voice tell you to go to the back of the bus. But, I have also heard phrases such as:

In Need of Air

Today was a daring day because a friend and I were going to bike the Sea Wall.  (Yes, this would give us tremendous bragging rights). I left my house heading towards 29th Avenue skytrain (because that was where we decided to meet) when I realized that my bike needed some air. “No big deal,” I thought to myself, “I‘ll get some air at Shell down the road.”

When I got to Shell, I found that they charged 50 cents to use their air. Reasoning that being 50 cents short would mean that I would not have enough change for the Sky Train to Water Front, I decided to ride down to Kingsway and get some air from Chevron. (This was on the way to 29th Avenue so I wouldn’t be losing any ground.)

Surely Chevron didn’t want to suck every penny out of me too. And sure enough the air was free, but the machine was not working. A worker at the gas station just told me to push the button and then stick it in the tube. Not a chance. Instead, in doing so it sucked out every last molecule of air from my front tire. I was in distress.

From a distance I sighted an old man pushing a bike.towards the gas station.  His front basket was full of vegetables. I asked him, “Do you know how to use the air at this gas station?” He didn’t follow. Maybe he was hard of hearing. I pointed at my front tire, squeezed it with my hand, and made the opened-palm gesture of nothingness; he did not follow. Instead, he smiled and walked into the station, perhaps to purchase a paper.

“Should I go back to Shell?” But that would require me to trek up that hill. So I decided to walk to 29th Ave Skytrain. It would only take 10 min, tops. From there I could skytrain to another station where hopefully a gas station would be nearby. Having been triply disappointed, I had still a shred of hope. I walked down the street. Above, the clouds looked as if they would open up to thunder or to rain.

If gas stations wouldn’t give me air, maybe I could resort to mobile air pumps. By that I mean other bikers with pumps on them. I looked around for a biker. I looked across the street, and into the distance. No luck. Then I looked over my shoulder and POOF! A biker. I was blocking her path on the sidewalk. Like the old man back at Chevron, she had a basket too. But there weren’t vegetables in it. There was a foot pump!

Playing dumb I asked, “Excuse me, do you know anywhere nearby where I could get some air from my bike?” In response, she gave some directions to get to an auto shop a couple blocks down on Kingsway. Usually, I don’t ask for things directly; I like being offered things. But this occasion was an exception.

I questioned, “Say, how about you lend me your pump?” She agreed and lighted a cigarette. I got some air and she got to feel good about helping a stranger.

Lessons Learned:

1. Always carry extra coinage.
2. Bring a handheld pump with you when biking.
3. Do not be afraid to make use of all available resources.

Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

Location:  False Creek, Vancouver BC

Chinese New Year in the SUB

 

Looks like there were some Lions in the SUB.

 

 

How to make money

A suburbian street in white

Filming of a Supernatural Episode

Location: Champlain Library, Champlain Square, Vancouver, BC

When all the bike racks are taken

Location: UBC Bus Loop one morning