Reflection on Ivan: Thinking

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival for Clueless ABC’s

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 16:10:51 -0700

The Story

A long time ago, there were 10 suns in the sky and the world was pretty hot: dead crops, dry rivers, just pretty bad for everyone. A guy named Hou Yi (后羿) was an archer and shot down 9 of those hot suns. Phew, only 1 sun now. Great! For being so awesome, he got the Elixir of Immortality from the Queen Mother of the West.

Dadding Notes After (About) 1 Year

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 10:37:17 -0700

Dad Sub-roles

The role of dad encompasses a myriad of other sub-roles. Here are just some of them I’ve noticed myself playing.

Bottle cleaner. I’ve spent so much time in front of the sink in the earlier months. I’m pretty sure all my fellow dads are now world-class champions at taking apart, rinsing, and cleaning bottles. I’d love to share notes with other dads on how they optimize their washing. We eventually got a dishwasher basket.
Family clown. Baby’s about to cry. What-to-do-what-to-do-what-to-do? Make funny face. Dance. Make noise. Tickle. Laughs! Yes! Win!
Cheerleader. Hooray for every single tiny milestone! Baby can partly-rollover! Yay! Baby can do pincer grip! Yahoo! Baby can grab a bottle from the wine rack…err… yay?
Gear mule. So. Much. Gear.
Driver. Ever since we started daycare, I’ve been behind the wheel daily with baby in the back seat. As a city boy who doesn’t typically do too much driving, this is a big change for me!

Media

I don’t watch any shows with baby, but I’ve been starting to consume some media that are focused on parenting and/or the experience of growing up as a child to gain perspective and insights that I can bring into my own dadding.

In these small in-between moments, in the noticing

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 09:08:26 -0400

Sarah Wildman, on living the unremarkable life:

Each of those precious days was, indeed, a 10, but it was the fours and fives I began to crave: just lying on her bed, talking, watching her eat pasta and ask for more, seeing her swim. Even the ones and twos — when our car broke down and we needed to find a tow truck off island — felt like wins. What is a transportation problem but a manageable hassle, really? At least we were together, and not in a hospital.

You can always change.

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 10:49:51 -0700

My parents worked hard to support us growing up. They came to the US for the opportunity for a better life for themselves and for their children.

I graduated from high school and attended an expensive private university.

It didn’t work out.

I was disillusioned by my experience in college, and I felt I was wasting my parents’ money and my time. I quit, and it was hard to think that I was disappointing my parents who had done so much to enable me to get so far only to squander this opportunity.

Samuel L. Jackson Reads Pablo Neruda's 'Walking Around'

Thu, 19 May 2022 14:17:06 -0700

I was first introduced to this poem, spoken by Samuel L. Jackson, on the soundtrack to the delightful film Il Postino. Works like this were inspiring to me as a youngster, exploring how to use my voice in words.

Ahmad Atrabolsi · Walking Around (Feat. Samuel L. Jackson)_Luis Bacalov_ Il Postino Ost (Pablo Neruda)

Walking Around

It happens that I am tired of being a man.

Hiatus - Arrival

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 14:08:51 -0700

Listen

The Guest House by Rumi

Translated by: Coleman Barks
Read by: Eva Scarlett Wang

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness:
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honourably:
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice:
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.

Death and grieving: fruit and candle offering

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 11:23:51 -0700

My father, Boris Tse, taught our family a ritual for those experiencing a passing of a loved one.

In his own words:

Put a plate of fruit to the WEST of your property and let it set overnight, afterward, throw them away. Light a [white] candle if you have one. When you put it there and said to yourself, [Name], RIP.

For these years, I am not able to teach you guys about Buddhism. Now to take this opportunity to teach some practice. RIP, rest in peace. The mind(spirit), once it leave the body, will be shock to see how huge the space is, how powerful the mind can do, it can penetrate the mountain the earth, the ocean, and travel with the speed so fast, in a blind, go to every where. It is shock that no body will listen, touch it. So it wander every where looking for shelter, one minute back to home, then another minute to a childhood place and so on. But is getting lonely. So REST IN PEACE is to stop those and their wisdom will help to guide itself to a better World. The first 7days, it will encounter different bright colors, range from Gold, White, Yellow, Green, Blue, Red and Gray. It is so bright that will blind the eyes and make them afraid. So it will try to avoid them. My job now will be every night to remind my sister not to afraid of the brightness, follow it and stay with it, some Buddha or angel will guide her into a better world from there. Then after the first 7 days, then will be another 7days, then 7days, then another 7days. Totally 49 days. In that period, the shape of the mind will be diminished to much smaller, and the urgent to get to rebirth is higher, the anger of no success is bigger and then the REST can be much needed. Usually, if they go to church, temple, the official in the church and temple will give them few word during service to calm down and then they will be on the way to a new world. During their stay in our world, they will be hungry and went to the place they are familiar and connected and look for something to eat. They can not physically eat, but they can smell and will be satisfied afterward. So fruit and hot food is what can help. Candle smell too. All this has been written down and we follows. And when they move to another world, it will move to the WEST direction. So that is why pick WEST. Hope this will answer some of your questions.

Photo memories for self-growth and reflection

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 21:55:51 -0700

Writing one sentence every day is a simple and easy way to journal and help you remember the little things in your life. What can be even more powerful is when you also save a photo memory.

As cliché as it sounds: a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Save a photo memory of yourself every day

To be able to have photo memories, you need to first create them and save them. One of the simplest things you can do is take a photo of yourself every day. This technique was made most famous by Noah Kalina’s project: Everyday.

Jack London: In a Far Country

Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:48:04 +0000

When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to forget many of the things he has learned, and to acquire such customs as are inherent with existence in the new land; he must abandon the old ideals and the old gods, and oftentimes he must reverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto been shaped. To those who have the protean faculty of adaptability, the novelty of such change may even be a source of pleasure; but to those who happen to be hardened to the ruts in which they were created, the pressure of the altered environment is unbearable, and they chafe in body and in spirit under the new restrictions which they do not understand. This chafing is bound to act and react, producing diverse evils and leading to various misfortunes. It were better for the man who cannot fit himself to the new groove to return to his own country; if he delay too long, he will surely die.

Thanks: Uncommon in Common

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 12:07:38 -0700

Thanks to little memory user Angelica for some love in the latest Uncommon in Common dispatch where they asked the community, “Do you have a favorite way to peruse the past?”:

One of my favorite ways to peruse the past is through an app called the little memory. The little memory is a place for recording short daily memories. The app prompts you to “tell your future self” about a little joke or time spent with friends in less than 300 characters, and when you finish, a notification slides down: “one more memory, one more future anniversary.” As you compile memories, you’ll begin to see past memories appear “exactly one month ago” or “exactly 6 months ago.” What was mundane at the time is now a milestone, a special glimpse into the past. I often can’t believe the passage of time, thinking, “was that only 3 months ago?” or “wow, it’s already been a year?” In any case, I always feel a little thrill to see what I wrote in the past contained in a mini, daily time capsule.

Mind the Memory Gap: How Appreciation Helps You Remember

Wed, 10 Jul 2013 15:33:28 +0700

I recently finished reading the book Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer. A longtime Little Memory user and the force behind Tangents & Distractions, Dan Walsh, was so incredibly gracious to send me a copy. Thanks, Dan.

Memory and Creativity

We don’t usually associate memory and creativity together; they are likely even considered to be opposites to most people. What kind of creative endeavor is it to memorize the multiplication table? Or that long list of Kaplan SAT words? <shudder!>