Nothing Better Than Sunlight and Fresh Air

Each day goes by with the blink of the eye. There seems to be less time available each day as I get older. I started realizing how much I appreciate my schedule. Sure I have to work the normal Monday through Friday, but come the weekend, and I do have the choice to do whatever I please. This means I don't have to be in an enclosed office space with no windows and an ugly wall to stare at. I can actually enjoy mother nature and what the lovely Southern California weather has to bring.

After watching the woman's prison scene in the film "The Reader", directed by Stephen Daldry, where it is a world without true sunlight and fresh air, I can't help but love the freedom of being wherever I'd like at anytime I want. You know what else this means? Time to start traveling!

Above photo montage is of the latest Zuma Canyon hike where we spot two poisonous Southern Pacific Rattle Snakes, and tons of wildflowers.

Love Love Love

The word "love" is every where, every day. You hear in almost every song played on the radio, in every film, in book, but not so in every mouth. I just wonder why it is still confusing to me to understand what love is when it's probably the most prominent existence in our every day lives.

I think Wikipedia seems to have an interesting way of generalizing how it is being used. As it says "As an abstract concept, love usually refers to a deep, ineffable feeling of tenderly caring for another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual emotional closeness of familial and platonic love to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts."

My concept of how to measure love use to be based on how much you are willing to care for and sacrifice for another without necessarily feeling like it's a sacrifice. But I may be wrong in that, this may only measure selflessness and not necessarily love.

Regardless, I think as human beings, we are always running towards love as much as we can, even if we do not know it. That is why we live, isn't it?

I'm on a Roll

I'm on a roll. I'm on the kind of roll where every day is filled up to the point that I forget to think about tomorrow, or the next year, or the next 30 years of my life. It's not the most responsible position to be in life, but it's a good feeling. It means that I've been able to live day to day with a certain spontaneity and life is the most fun this way. I just hope I don't pay it all back one day.

Alright, so that sounds way more adventurous than it really is. All I am trying to say is that I'm enjoying what I have right now despite what the future may be. A few quick examples that came to my head just now are: my nice hair cut I received with some new waves at the bottom that could be my future hair style; enjoying one of the better sangria's I've ever had (and I used to despise this drink)during dinner; appreciating the company I was with.

From Griffith Observatory

Vancouver, Death and the Maiden, Blood Diamond

Since I haven't been posting as much lately, I figured I would combine three new updates in this entry.

Update 1: I went to Vancouver for the first time in my life this past weekend. What a beautiful city that combined city life and nature so well. Being able to stroll around a new city made me realize how much I don't take the time do that at home back in Los Angeles.


Update 2: I recently started working on a new scene from the play "Death and the Maiden" by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. The lead character, Paulina Salas, was formerly raped and tortured during a period of dictatorship in the country. Now that there is change in government, her rapist, Doctor Miranda, appears at her house after helping her husband with some car trouble and she ties him up to hold him on trial. Needless to say, this character is going to require me to see what she sees and imagine what she experienced. I'm both anxious to really get into this role, and at the same time apprehensive that I won't be able to do her justice.

Update 3: Last night I saw the movie "Blood Diamond" and I really do have to say, it was amazing. It made me want to learn more about conflict-free diamonds and how the organizations and governments are trying to push for them.

Life is Too Short

Life is too short. My 45 year old cousin, Andy Huang, just passed away March 31 early in the morning from lung cancer. I've been preventing myself from thinking too much about it. He his my eldest cousin, and the one I know the least of. What I do know is that my father is (was) very close to him and they talked almost more like friends than uncle and nephew. I cannot imagine what it must be like for his parents right now. There is Chinese saying that "white haired" person letting go of a "dark haired" person is extremely painful. I believe it. May he be in peace.

Photos below are really unrelated. There were taking at Long Beach during a free shark lagoon night and just walking along downtown Long Beach: