Jack, The Baby Tiger

Jack, the baby boy of Hans & Jane. It took me 3 tries to get his spirits (and I lost mine in the meantime), even though the drawing is nowhere as cute as the real Jack (among others, the chin is too long).

Jack has the biggest blue eyes and the longest & curliest eyelashes that I’ve ever seen on any baby boys! He keeps on reminding me of Elijah Wood in “The Lord of the Rings“. Well, don’t judge my words by this drawing though.

Chi Kung (自發功) – Gerry’s Day 1

Surprisingly, Gerry, not David, was the first person practicing Chi Kung with me. Of course he had his doubts, but he was curious enough to give it a try. He and Ingrid lived in Indonesia for years and had their share of “strange” experience that could not be explained by modern science.

He showed up expecting that he could not get into Chi Kung state. He told me that he had a headache but would give it a try nevertheless. I explained the Chi vessels diagrams from the two Chi Kung books that I brought back from Taiwan, to let him know what this Chi Kung practice could achieve. Afterwards, I showed him how to get into the Chi Kung state and what to do to finish the session. He was a good student; he had doubts, but he followed my instruction anyway.

I saw that his body was tilting back and forth slightly, but, just like my Day 1, he thought that he just didn’t stand stably. Our neighbors’ kids were making lots of noise, which constantly broke his concentration and made him want to quit. So I asked him to take off his shoes, close his eyes, and just relax, and he did. After a while, he started rotating his head and neck in circles. Occasionally he walked sideways like a drunkard, while continuing to rotate his head and neck.

He was standing in a corner full of fallen pine needles. Yesterday David and I trimmed 1 bad bush and tidied up the yard, but I didn’t pick up pine needles. I was thinking to let Gerry practice on the grassy side of yard, away from those pine needles. But somehow he kept on going back to that corner, no matter where he started. Even he thought that it was hilarious! I figured that it was the old pine tree on the left of the photo; it was feeding Gerry good Chi, so he couldn’t really get away from it.

After half an hour, he felt that he troubled me enough and wanted to quit. He was surprised that his headache was gone, simply by following what his body wanted him to do what felt good. To him, there wasn’t a label for it called “Chi”; it was all natural movement. But I made him to practice another half an hour, to take advantage of this beautiful day and warm climate.

I discussed Gerry’s practice with David and told him that I liked Gerry’s explanation. To me, Chi is something very natural and has been around in the Chinese cultural for thousands of years. Chi vessels are body circuits, while acupoints are resistors. If a body is healthy, the resistence is low and the circuit can flow easily, and vice versa. Those acupoints are the spots where the masseurs work on, to break the cluster to make Chi flow easily again. However, massage is a force from outsiders and its effects will wear out shortly. Practicing Chi Kung is the  way to keep one’s body healthy permanently.

But Gerry’s explanation is much easier for the Westerner to accept. Removing the voodoo-like “Chi” word and focusing on “body’s natural movement” is a better strategy to persuade my Western friends and family to practice it. I can’t do like what my sister has been doing — giving a copy of Professor Lin’s book to friends and family — due to the language barrier, but I’m doing my best to let more and more friends and family know about it and actually want to practice it to improve their health.

Chayse

Chayse, Jon & Tammy’s cute little girl. Guess what? Chayse actually loves to share her toys and play with other kids! A very good-natured kid indeed.

The original photo was taken when she was just woke up from her nap, so she was a little unsocial and confused still. 10 minutes later, she was all happy and singing through her collection of songs.

Sunset on 11/24/2006

Another beautiful sunset with the Golden Gate Bridge on the foreground.

2006 Thanksgiving

Hans and Jane resumed their annual Thanksgiving hosting party, so we got to have the super yummy deep fried turkeys again. Yup, baby, deep fried turkeys, the very best!

It was baby Jack’s first Thanksgiving and everyone’s first at Hans & Jane’s adorable new home. While baby Jack was keeping his parents busy, Jon & Tammy’s daughter, Chayse, was singing her ABC to keep everyone entertained. The party was smaller than before, but with these 2 cute kids around, somehow the hustle and bustle was more and happier than ever.

As you could see from the photos, everything was perfect on the dinner table and everyone was well fed!

Dorothy, a Bodhisattva

Dorothy, David’s mom, a Bodhisattva in my humble opinion. I worked really hard on this drawing, but according to David, the thing that assembles the real person the most is the sweater. *sigh* Maybe because the person looks too happy, unlike the forever-worrying Dorothy?

[11/25/2006 Update] Since I mainly study Buddhism in Chinese, I don’t know the corresponding English terminology. The precise term for the title should be “Dorothy, an Avalokiteśvara” and the image I had in mind was Kuan Yin (觀世音菩薩), the most popular Bodhisattva in the Chinese culture. The followings are a couple of (unusual) photos of her that I took in Taiwan; most of the time she can be seen in paintings in flowing white robe.

My Self-Portrait v.3

Yet another self-portrait. It still doesn’t look like me, but closer than the previous two (v.1 and v.2).

It’s tougher to draw oneself than others. The “Me” in my head is usually different from the real “Me”, and it’s already hard enough to draw the real “Me”. In short, self-portrait is just asking for trouble.