New Year's Eve at home

Well I didn't bring the kids out to First Night. We did our little Panda run, and played around at Moh Goon and Jonah fell asleep in the wagon. By the time we got home we would have had to leave again to catch the parade. I was going to do the fireworks with Noah, but Grace got stuck at Dumpling House because everyone was ordering Chinese Take Out for New Years. I guess ordering Nasty American Chinese food is no longer acceptable to so many Americans who have gotten used to good Chinese food. Basically everyone had the same idea Grace did.

Me and Noah played several games of Chess and then Chinese Chess and he started flipping out. On the one hand I'm sad that I didn't get to bring Noah to the parade. On the other hand I am glad that during his little tirade I was already at home, in a warm house and that I wouldn't have to chase after the two of them going in separate directions, in the dark, and then somehow drag them to the train station, and then drag them home from the T. That would have been a nightmare.

Last year we did the Lion Dance in the parade, and that was fun.

Somehow I made time to organize that last year, but that meant that Grace had to watch the children.

I realize that this year, even if I had pushed to do this I just wouldn't have been able to. So it's good that I just took it easy.

As for things I didn't get finished in 2014... my book is still unpublished. I just have to format it and put it out, which will take more time than it sounds like.

But mostly I need to do this because the ideas for my next project are bubbling to the surface. Basically the creative mental stimulation part of the book is over and done with. What's left is the packaging of it, which an author who made money, would pay someone else to do I think.

(Grace said she do it for me.)

Well time for Baths.

The missing Pawn

Noah was playing chess with my relatives. He played my cousin, who beat him quickly. And then he played my aunt. Then Jonah trashed the game. My whole extended family searched high an low for the missing piece they could not find. It was a pawn. It bothered me that it was missing even though I hadn't checked all the pieces but instead put the chess set away for the rest of the family reunion. I didn't want to risk losing more pieces.
"Where is the missing piece Dai Dai?" I asked him.
"I don't know. It's gone forever." he would say.

Arriving back home I decided it was no big deal. After all, I could just use a toy to be the pawn. But Lo and behold as I set up the board all the pieces were there!

Interesting that something that is insignificant and not even true, could have bothered me at all.

Korean BBQ

We went to explore some place in New Jersey that has the highest concentration of Koreans in the country yesterday. It wasn't like being in Korea. It was like being in Korean America. The stores and everything were stil spread out like American businesses, as opposed to the way everything is crammed together in a Chinatown. Among the places that seemed to have a lot of parked cars was a giant Karaoke place and a driving range.

We went to a Korean BBQ place last night. Jonah got really excited everytime a waitress came by and said something in Korean and proceeded to give us more Kim Chee or fuss with the meat. He would start yelling "Yay!" smiling and excitedly. I think it was because the tone of the waitresses was pretty much the same so he figured that's what he was supposed to do. The first time I went to such a place was last year in Korea town in New York. I didn't know what I supposed to do with various foods or whatever. This time I didn't care. I just started devouring Kim Chee. It's weird. Kim Chee is free, and they keep giving it to you like they used to do with bread at Italian restaurants. But if you were to buy Kim Chee Buy itself, it would be pretty expensive. I guess they really make the most money off of alcohol. Which the food did make me feel like drinking. But we decided not to drink because neither of us have very high tolerance to begin with, and ever since I started fasting I feel like my tolerance for alcohol has gone down even further if you could believe it.

We then got some Korean Baos and then Grace got some Korean Make up. It was a wonderland of magical cuteness for her. I guess that's a good ending to our Christmas adventure. Something's wrong with the car though and she is getting it checked out. Which is weird because the car is new.

Anyway, I stiffed myself with various types of Kim Chee and it will be baos for eberyone else's breakfast. Today I am going to start my monthly three day fast for the second time. Then after I come back onto food for one day it will be New Year. Is the Federation doing First Night this year If yes, then I'll do that. If not, then I may bring Noah down there to check out the parade. Or maybe not.

That means we are actually set for food for a while what with the Christmas dinner leftovers we still have.

Time to get back into my Boston routine.

Chinese Food Karma

The house we are staying in is the house my mother had the second part of her childhood in. When she arrived there were no other houses around. there were no streets, just a dirt road, and the part in the back where there is now a bank was just woods.
My mother was always interested in Asian Culture and when she got older she traveled the world,  crossing the Sahara desert twice in camel going up through the middle east and India and even Tibet (back when people were not allowed in China but there weren't real borders there.) and Laos (during the Vietnam war.) She lived in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Japan. She came back to the States and met my Father in Cape Cod.

My childhood was the dichotomy of Chinese (Boston's Chinatown) and my white side (Philadelphia, the house we slept in. I have memories spending Christmas and Summer in this house with extended family. This was the whitest neighborhood I had ever been in.

Last year, while leaving we noticed a cluster of Chinese stores about a mile from the house. This year we noticed it wasn't just businesses but there was a Wu Yi association as well.

Grace decided to go out for Chinese Food. How good could the place be? I was cautiously optimistic because of the presence of an Association.

I stayed home because Jonah had clonked out and Noah and I were playing chess.

Grace arrived at the cluster where all the parking spaces for a block were taken up. There was a line of Chinese people waiting outside one of the restarunts. "Hmm that's weird." She thought.

She chose that one.

Inside, Cantonese was being yelled rapid fire and the waiters were RUNNING around on Monday at 7pm. The place was packed. She said if I went with her, I would have been the only white person there. She thought she saw a black guy but then realized he was actually just a dark Chinese man. Everyone looked like restaurant people. In fact, it even had a gambling hall vibe. It seemed to be as yet undiscovered by non-Chinese customers. There was nothing on the menu like "chicken Fingers." This was bold. This was not Chinese American food. Even the Chinese people in there did not look Jook Sing.

Grace doesn't speak Chinese.

She started to order in English and the manager said, "Don't worry, I know what you want."

We had shrimp and snap peas, rib eye steak and onions and peppers, and pea pod stems. Which is hard for Grace to order. Like the manager said, he knew what she wanted. Rice was free, Desert was free (not fortune cookies but Tong sui, sai mai lo to be exact,  and you could taste the taro and the feel the thickness of the soup.) The price was 20% less than in Boston, no skimping on ingredients and for real it beat the hell out of anything in Boston. How could this be? What Twilight Zone am I living in? I looked outside to make sure I was in the same house.

You could equate this to the phenomenon of Quincy and Kam Man popping up near Boston. But Quincy's food is still not as good as Chinatown. And I didn't see any Associations.

This food was on par with New York Chinatown. A mile from the house where I spent my summers and where my mother brought Chinese cooking she had learned from my father into the house as a foreign thing to be tasted. These two blocks, which will only grow, are more Chinese than the shrinking Chinatown in Boston.

When we first arrived in the house, a rabbit ran across the street as if it had been waiting for us. Grace turned to me and pointed out that Rabbits are  usually a symbol for my mother and that she knew she would see one.

I could not get over, that my mother would have found that two block neighborhood a mile away fascinating. That she would have wanted it. That Philadelphia's Chinatown used to be not as good as Boston's and when we had gone there once when I was a baby, my dad kept on bumping into people from Boston, but that Boston was the area where it was safer and more comfortable for my Dad. That we sort of stayed in Boston for the schools, but also for the Chinese Community, for Kwong Kow, and later, I stayed there to be with the Kung Fu School.

This is just a good kind of bizarre.

There is a dollar store down there called "Grace's Dollar Store." I think we will check that out before we leave too.

Tree Ceremony

We went to Macy's in Center City to see the Tree Lighting show where the Eagle is. I guess it is a thing. We got teir early so we went around terminal market and the kids looked at the trains. We had a Philly Cheese steak, an authentic one. I just had a taste because I felt like I needed to fast after all those noodles. Grace was mad at me for this.
The taste I had was really good actually.

We then traveled back to the tree lighting show which wasn't all that in terms of the show. It was a ritual based much on Episcopalian Church, including organ playing to usher us out. It was the world biggest playing organ.

Grace said they should just to the show more often.

Though what I knew while partaking in the ritual was that the big draw was not the show itself, but the crowd. Where religion has declined, big companies have taken their place, and we naturally need a Giant Temple to do something at.

I thought of how Jesus got all mad because of vending in a Temple (which was common practice.)
But today's Temples have the templing as a part time attraction and it is the commerce that is the central function.

Macy's not only made some money off of us at the parking, and some shopping, (this cash takes the place of a sacrifice or incense) but if you believe in this, they reaped in a ton of THOUGHT for good luck as well.  This type of thinking is less out in the open in the West. But in Feng Shui, for instance, you would place steps and a doorway in such a way that someone coming in would have to bow to your businesses sign out of convenience, and the believe is that the idea or thought of making them bow (even if not intentionally out of respect or worship) will make your business have a higher chance of success.

Well I'm actually glad we did the Tree Ceremony thing. Not that I would do it again, but it was nice, and I had the Christmas song from the organ stuck in my head. Good will and Joy to everyone and all that.

On the way back we went to Chuck E. Cheeses. I think the kids enjoyed that more, and it came out to be the same price as our journey into the city.

Philly Nan Zhou noodles

Boston's Chinatown is supposed to be decent. New York's is supposed to be better. And when I was a little kid, Philly's Chinatown was smaller than Boston's/ Well while Boston's Chinatown is declining Philly's seems to be coming up. The land is cheap which means there is no need to cut corners with ingredients.

Maybe my memory is failing me, as I haven't been to Asia in quite a while, but while eating Nan Zhou hand pulled noodles in Philadelphia I tried really hard to think of a bowl of noodles that was better, and I couldn't. It wasn't just the noodles. The vegetables in the soup were fresh and had more vegetable taste than you usually have at a restaurant. We had just eaten lunch in New York earlier today and that bowl of noodles was on par with New York for sure.

While  we were preparing to leave, two people sat next to us who were obviously deep into the current movement against police brutality. From their conversations I could tell they had been to several protests. I haven't met anyone that into it that seemed to well represent the movement more eloquently as well as be active. So I decided to quickly talk to them before leaving. Yes they were both black. 

I just wanted to see how they would react to my community policing idea. They said it was probably a good idea but what really needed to be done was simple policy. Simply make a rule that you can't shoot unarmed people dead. I pointed out that theoretically that should be against the rules. But if you think about it, in practice, it isn't. 

Is all this really that simple? A more well hashed out law? If it is, that would be nice. And if that all it takes, then the protests could work.  

They also talked with each other about the possibility of the whole thing escalating into violence. 

"I'm not worried about anything on our side. I think we are pretty clear about being nonviolent and distancing ourselves from any individuals who are going in that direction. We aren't against Police. We are against Police brutality and I think we are pretty clear about that. But I am worried about it turning violent on the other side. (meaning the police) this just got real." he said in a calm and eloquent way.

The other man pointed out that he wasn't sure how deeply he wanted to commit. He talked about being at a protest with the Police lined up in barricade style and thought how the whole thing just seemed odd. Surreal.

"I wouldn't want to be in New York right now." Agreed the first man. And talked about the possibility of a mounting reactive protest. 

The mentioned an upcoming march, tonight. 

I think even if I didn't have children, I probably would not go to such a march, because like the more apprehensive man, I feel that the whole thing could get ugly fast. After all, people die in crowds that form for Red Sox games when tear gas is fired at people instead of up, let alone something directly seen as a challenge to the Police (and nuance about being against Police Brutality and not police tends to be lost at night in a crowd.) Not only that, but even though the crazy guy that just killed two officers in New York might have been an individual, it easy to lump all the other protesters into that camp in your mind, especially if you are a cop in that same City.

Well, while I talked to them briefly Noah would suddenly show his stone Chinese Chess piece we had bought and shout, "Chinese Chess!" which made them laugh. 

Well I hope the more outspoken man was right, and that the issue can be solved simply through policy and that the protests can push this to happen more quickly. I mean the counter argument for the police having down the right thing is that the shootings of Michael Brown and all the others were lawful. Even if you didn't make it murder, but simply made it a rule that any officer who does that will automatically be off the force and perhaps serve some other sort of penalty would that fix it? Or let's go further and just call it murder or at least manslaughter. Shouldn't that fix it?

I happen to doubt it.

One thing we all agreed on was that these noodles were some of the best in town. 

Chess

Noah is really into Chess. Too bad I am not a better player. For me board games were always for children. And after I started doing Kung Fu seriously, I sort of dropped everything else. Well I still enjoyed playing music and painting. But it was almost as if I HAD to do those things. Or those things were doing me.
I realize now that I was wrong to not play Chess with friends in High school and College, or at least watch more games. Especially since there were was one particularly good player in High school and also on in College. My College friend put on a demonstration where he basically played the whole school in several simultaneous games. I participated sort of to show support. I knew he would beat me easily. But I was still amazed at how stupid some of my moves were. Because I had not played I made moves worse than what Noah would do now. For instance. I behaved as if my queen could not be killed if I approached to kill another piece. Why? I have no idea.

I have moved beyond that level recently just because I realized I would actually have to teach Noah something other than how the pieces moved. I am still better than he is (for now) but actually if I try to play Noah at Chess and Jonah at checkers, while moving quickly, Noah actually. This has more to do with how bad I am and less to do with how good he is. My neighbor said he will be willing to play Noah.

I also taught him Chinese Chess and even playing him a lone I made quick and stupid moves and he beat me. (Which was good. Since he gets pretty upset when I win.) I wonder how those great players I knew and never even really talked about Chess with would teach their kids?

I have also started trying to learn Go. I made a board and made pieces out of rocks and play dough. I usually play some strange childish version of that with Jonah. I don't think we even take turns properly. I still don't completely understand how to count up points. But we enjoy putting stones down and capturing each others pieces.

We also started reading Hikaru no Go. Even after reading these I have very little understanding of the game. I went to some websites but part of the point of these games for me, is to do something that is mentally challenging but also off of the computer.

Finishing the book

I have been almost done with my book now for longer than it took me to write it I think. I wanted to have the thing out by Thanksgiving. But every time I was almost finished, I took an ax to whole sections and rewrote them. Recently I have been deleting quite a but.
But I can't really say that I wish I was done earlier, because there were ideas that kept coming up, that keep coming up, that I found to be essential for my book. But I have to have it out and printed by Chinese New Year, because I plan on pedaling them at some events I am doing. I wanted to have some as gifts for Christmas. But I'm not sure that will happen.
The book is pretty much done. Really.
But I still have to look at it in its finished form as it will appear. Why does that scare me?

I have to just do it because I have other things to work on now.

I was going to do a biography on John Willis, or Bak Gwai John.

But the more I think about it, I don't have to do that book next. In fact, maybe my kids should be ins chool first. Maybe I can do a quick outline and put in on line and see what people think.

My next book, will  be for children. Because If I had that book now, I could be selling it at my classes. The children's book is something I should have written ten years ago, when I didn't have kids but was just teaching them. But it didn't come into my mind. Now I have a real concrete idea. But even that project will take me a year I think. But anyway it is time to move onto it so I have to finish.

Yoga Pretzels

Grace bought these Yoga Pretzel cards for me a long time ago. They weren't that useful when the kids were younger. But now the kids enjoy reading each card and trying to do the move. I suppose I should make a Kung Fu deck of cards like that, but for Now I'm just doing this. We used to it as a break in between basics. I think it helps that I'm not as serious about Yoga as I am about Kung Fu. It makes me wonder if it would be more fun to learn Kung Fu from a beginner with a beginner deck of cards.

I noticed too that Noah only liked the cards that had step by step instructions. He didn't care for the games or the taking care of yourself ones. Just the ones that tell you to do this and then that.

You know maybe I should make a Kung Fu deck, just so that we can read it together. Because if I tell him the steps, he might get mad. But when the source is from somewhere besides me (or at least seems that way, i.e. some cards that he doesn't realize I created.) then he tends to listen more.

I guess I sometimes find it easier to listen to advice in a book than hearing it from someone too. I might be like "Who the hell are you?" if they try to tell me what to do. Right?

But then if it is written poorly, or in a high horsed way, you tend to put the book down. I guess that's not as bad as getting mad though.

Terracotta Warriors

I just watched Nova's "Emperor's Ghost Army." Mainly because Noah is getting a chess set made of Terracotta warriors for Christmas. The program put Jonah to sleep as well, which was good.
One thing that was fascinating was the weapons were ll real high grade weapons that hadn't been used before. You get the sense during the whole thing that Qin Shi Huang had everyone do all this stuff not just for him, but for his tomb and kind of as a secret too. We only just found the terracotta warriors in the 70's. They were discovered by some farmers digging a well during a drought.
Kind of makes you think, "Wouldn't it have been nice if the guy decided to make something so big and grand for this life, and maybe for everyone? What a jerk."

I was even more intrigued by the crossbow. I had heard about it before but it was nice to see a guy fire a replica. Basically there was a trigger and then this wooden piece that would fit onto ANY bow. It's slower than shooting a bow and arrow regular if you are a real archer. But it's much faster than the European cross bow, plus since they loaded the thing with their legs, chances are the bows had a serious draw weight.
In Hero they show them shooting the bows from a lying position. But this guy showed that was how you drew it, but that you fired it like a rifle or a shotgun. In fact, it is as easy to fire as a shotgun, if not easier. You can learn how to use it on the battle field in two minutes.

Basically Qin's army was no joke. And he buries all these weapons just for him. And then of course his Empire collapses shortly after his death.

Then they talk about how they got people to do all this for him. Not just slave labor, but all of society was under Legalism. A lot like Communism under Mao, except when Mao tried to get steel made it messed it up real bad. Qin's China was all the horror and terror, only they got stuff done right, all the details were on point. The end makes a comparison to Modern China.
Not sure about that. But those warriors basically shows Chinese culture and even Japanese and Korean Culture right there, or at least the problems with it. That's how Kung Fu is taught anyway, Top down, punishment and rewards, have your neighbors responsible for each other. I mean in the states there is a lot of American influence and even in Southern China there is a lot of U.S. cultural influence. I definitely noticed how some of the ritual conversations my Sifu lead were very Democratic where everyone got a turn to talk. Even as an American Youth I found some of this tiresome and annoying. I only mention it to show that as a difference between how class was taught, which was very top down. It was like two systems of thought, and a lot of students mentioned that they learned the most after class. But without that top down class, would anyone have good basics?

How were the cultures of the other 7 countries that got conquered by Qin? Less Top down? You will notice a lot of older Chinese people want a top down style class, where as more Americanized ones want to talk more. Obviously Qin was able to get stuff down with the Top down approach, and even though it seems like everyone hated it, it seems like Chinese Culture kind of says, "well when it really needs to be done that approach has always worked the best." That's how he Shaolin monks nowadays are trained it seems like. There is nothing about Buddhism that would say learning like that is the only way to do it.


I wonder though,  who invented that cross bow. It wasn't Qin himself. Did he get stuff done or hold everyone back by making them all work on his stupid tomb for 37 years? What could they have achieved without him? Yeah Qin wouldn't have conquered the other 6 States. That would have meant more wars, but it also would have meant competition between countries. What of ideas were shared often and the push was toward bettering society instead of this guys tomb? What if he created something more like the EU instead of China?

I mean would it have been possible for that ancient culture to invent airplanes in 37 years instead and perhaps even rocket ships? The more I learned about their ancient technology and attention to detail over items to be used for death, some other guys death, and looking at how Google and other companies operate now, I think Qin  held us all back. These things were invented by people hundreds of years before him. Plus he stared with the book burning. It's cool that we can dig up these warriors and see how life was back then, but imagine how much more could have been done if the geniuses working on this tomb were allowed to work on stuff they wanted to work on too.

I guess what I am saying is after two years of Kung Fu I was an enforcer of an instructor. I demanded that the newer students (often older than I was) have a high standard. Not as high as the standard for myself, but I guess I bullied, when what were we doing? A Kung Fu Form? A dance? So I cared about it. But that doesn't mean I should force them and be a bully about it. I didn't beat or cut anyone, but I was harsher with my words than was necessary. At the same time,  I did produce some pretty good performances from people... before they quit.

As I eased up, people still quit anyway and people I taught in the past would still come back and start again or say they wish they had more time to practice or someone to force them etc.

I guess what I am saying is there needs to be a balance. All Qin all the way is no good. In fact maybe stay away from that method as much as possible except when it's like some sort of exercise in discipline. Like, "Let's try it this way for a week and then talk about where it got us."

Balloon Baseball

Noah gave this game it's name. We used foam noodle swords to hit a balloon back and forth to each other while Jonah took a nap. In other words, we did this activity for two hours. I got bored quickly but if that's what he wanted to do then we should do it. It's not like I didn't get anything out of it either. I did feel like it was helping with my sword form, in terms of relaxing, focus, and hitting a target that was not in a good spot for you. Then I realized after I got bored that I had wasted my work out opportunity. Why hadn't I been in a low stance the entire time? Then I realized I had wasted a cardio element. Why not swing the noodle sword continuously even when the balloon was not near me to simulate a fight?
Oh well.
Darren Yee (he's a Kung Fu Karate guy from Chinatown) had actually demonstrated something similar as a drill/game he did with his students. But it was a solo activity. Actually even when I first saw it (I guess that was two years ago) I thought, "That could be made into a game."

And actually you could really use it to actually practice for real. It's just that I had been lazy about the whole thing.

It got me thinking about sports in general, and about how there is a Kung Fu saying about a few good moves being much better than knowing a bunch of moves and not being able to use any of them. In sports, you basically always learn a few good moves. In Baseball you can do a horizontal swing, you can throw a rock, and you can run. That's enough for a fight isn't it? In football you tackle, throw and you kick the ball (though usually people specialize and don't learn all of these things necessarily. In Soccer you kick.
 Then Boxing and wrestling are combat sports.

But if you put all those sports together, even taking away the combat ones, you have  martial art right there don't you? The problem is people usually take the sport itself seriously and make that the end in and of itself, even with kids. But actually basketball, for instance, was just created to get people to move around in a fitness class.In other words, it was a way to get students to train while having fun.  Now people train to play basketball.

Such good little children

This week my Kung fu class was in the Gym. We started with laps of Kung Fu running as the 10 animals.
In the first class some kids never stopped running but most lined up to do basics and forms. Surprisingly it was the ones who were usually good who were running and a lot of the kids who were usually "bad" who were lined up. I guess they just needed to get some energy out.
We ran out of time at performance time again maybe because class started late, and I didn't get to do everything I wanted. Also my prizes were passed out more haphazardly then I would have liked.

The second class was good and everyone got a prize. But they were good last week too.

"The last class was good too. Only one problem. My prizes had run out. I only had two left and so I had to make a tough decision about who would get them. Everyone did pretty well. But again. There were only two prizes. I had to do the second one by skill and ability rather than just behavior. I actually had to have a Kung Fu off. It was a close call.

I might have to limit the prizes I give out next week. We'll see.

Community Sense (How to have a United Revolution without Blood or Protest)

Community Sense

(How to have A United Revolution without Blood or Protest)

Foreword
By: Henry Louis Gates Jr. (or someone like him.)

Detailing: the historical significance of this re-founding moment briefly touching (with the bad and the good) on Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, The Civil Rights movement, and why in this internet age, the re-founding moment will simply come directly from the people. One or two pages please.

Introduction: Declaration of a New American Society
by: Neil Degrasse Tyson and Geoffrey Canada. Or people like them. But hopefully them.

Detailing in one page: how the simple steps in this book will not only create a more Just and Equal United States, but an even greater Leader in the world Scientifically, Environmentally Economically, and Politically than during the Cold War, than after World War II, than ever.

Signed by: Politicians, educators, Big thinkers and innovative Billionaires like Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Larry Page and Sergey Brin...i.e. the founding fathers of our time.

Part I The Problems

Chapter One: Economy and Environment and Healthcare
Five pages including graphs and stats and Data. Written by whoever. Should be as easy to read as a comic book. Should include stuff on drug addiction, food deserts, obesity, affects on economy, unemployment etc.
 Poverty and Hunger.

Chapter Two: Crime and Punishment
Imprisonment, killings by police officers, crimes and homicides, racial inequality.
How much this costs tax payers and society. Graphs data, research.

Chapter Three: Brain Drain
Where we are in the scientific community compared to other nations and compared to where we could be. Our education system. How Science has meant success and economic growth for the U.S. in the past. Our status as a world leader.

Chapter Four: Over spending
How we need to get the country back on track financially. Stats, Graphs. Written by someone in the Tea Party camp. Problems with Social Security, Health Care spending, Police spending, military spending. etc.

Part II A look at the competition

Chapter One: Things other countries do better than us.
Community Policing in Japan. Cool Infrastructure China has. Education in Finland. Studies stats graphs.

Chapter Two: Stuff done in the U.S. now that we should use as examples for a solution.
Google, Ron Finley, Solar Powered Highways.

Chapter Three: Examples from the past that worked
FDR's CCC, Victory Gardens, Why we can find a way. How we can change our society. They thought Abolition was impossible. They thought a black President was impossible. They didn't foresee the Internet being used the way it has been. etc.

Chapter Four: The power and zeal of youth
Show how Young people as young as middle school can be organized and powerful from present and historical examples. Good and Bad. I.e. studies on young gang members and selling of drugs. Red Guards, Hitler Youth. All examples where youth did a lot of damage to society. But clearly show potential o do good through zeal and organization.

Examples where youth did good in society through leadership and thinking outside the box.

Part III: A Solution

Chapter one: A Federal Community Police/ Education Bureau
Brief description of what this is. Community Policing based on Japanese system. Payment and function. Unarmed officers in the community who also work as outdoor teachers. Also oversee community gardens. Required classes in Math, programming and science part of compensation for officers, that can carry over as college and high school credit. Officers will also lead classes and groups in the stuff they learn. Kung Fu, Yoga, fitness classes. Officers inspired to think and create events and solutions for their community. Required to talk directly with community door to door, to ask what they want done, and also to foresee what the community would want but does not yet think it wants.

Note: this would not replace local Law Enforcement. But it will Consolidate and cut the budgets of Federal Organizations. Which ones? seriously which ones. Also, save money by demilitarizing local police.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick." these community police will be the soft voice. The big stick will be a combination of demilitarized local police, and then in situation where force is needed, use our actual Military. Some people will hate this idea but it will save money and veterans  of color view actual military much differently than militarized police. A careful balance is needed to win hearts and minds of our own citizens.


Chapter two: Who are the officers and Why?
Young people. As young as middle school and up through Grad school age.
Also, Elderly retirees, to connect the generations, and also this compensation will be part of Social Security payment. I.e. Social security will mean compensation for service. Such service will also benefit the elderly person taking part, socially, emotionally, and health wise.

Chapter Three: Who will pay for this?
Get the money from other parts of government spending and simultaneously cut spending drastically. War on drugs? Gone. This will also overlap with welfare spending, policing, and a whole host of other areas where the government wastes money. Back lash from Police Unions? unavoidable. But the smartest brightest of them will be absorbed into this new structure.

Partner with Forward thinking Companies to have them alleviate some of the cost. But they must also get something out of it. Company partnerships should be able to be changed quickly. Some people will hate this and say it is conspiracy. But is it worse than the current system? The idea has potential.

Chapter Four: How will this lead to a better society
Less hunger, more fit people. Unarmed community police acting as smart creative initiators recruiting from inside the community to get followers to create a better community. Providing people with the scientific and programming tools to create and invent new solutions. Changes will not be over night... or maybe they really will. Focus on making things better instead of fighting crime and drugs.  How this type of community policing will be better for everyone and reduce real crime. Discuss some drawbacks but why overall it will produce a better society.

Draw back to consider and to be hashed out. Use a fail fast approach instead of trying to get the system perfect before implementation. Incremental decision making is necessary:
 Death of community officers bang gangs.
Conflict between Federal community officers and local police.
Corruption.
Potential money wasted. 
Conclusion: Amazing things that have come from the people and the ghetto in the past

Inventions, Art, science. Music, Dance. Why we are wasting what could be a crucible for the betterment of society, and creating crucibles of crime and stagnation instead. Instead of holding people down, refocus the energy to have society not only rise up, but scale up, as a whole, improving exponentially. Are there potential hazards with


A note from me
I wrote this outline. But no way I can write this book. Instead it should be written by many people. For instance all that brain power protesting right now. The brainpower for the Tea party. The brain power in the Occupy movement.  Politicians that actually want to get things done. If a bunch of smart grad student like people each wrote a chapter in the form of a well researched 3-5 page paper that is easy to read, this book could be written and on the internet in a week. If an organization like the NAACP got behind it, the people who write it can be hired on Craig's List and paid to write it. Or they could even crowd fund it. The book could continue to be honed and sharpened until it becomes a data driven catalyst for change in the legislature and something can actually happen. Something can be done on several fronts.

Late to school.

We were late to school today. But it was unavoidable. I was wondering what I should say if we were late. We are within walking distance. So Traffic is not an excuse. We woke up at around 6am so that is not an excuse. What is my reason?.....

We all had to poop at the same time.

When I say we I mean just the boys +one man. Grace had already left for work. But seriously what are you going to do about that. If we had gotten our um.. stuff together earlier, imagine how horrible of a day that would have turned out to be.

Speaking of which, I had been doing my mostly beans and brown rice and veggies diet. Which felt good at first. But today, not so much.

Is brown rice constipating? Or is it soy beans? It has to be something like that because the kids didn't mention any problems.

Well I hope I didn't spoil your lunch. But that's my post today.

Are we headed towards a Racial War? I have an honest proposal.

So the police officer in New York who caused the death of a guy allegedly selling illegal cigarettes (wait I know people who have done that.) has also not been indicted. There is a saying that they would indict a ham sandwich.
Something has to happen soon.
But you won't see me out there protesting because
a) I don't want to be shot. On purpose or by accident
b) I don't think it will solve anything

Okay there are a lot of young whites out there. I'm not sure if they think they are safe protesting. But they are not. From what I've heard, even well meaning police are rushing toward protesters at various moments of voices rising with their hands on the triggers of their weapons. Accidents are bound to happen. Also, from the PR job that the leadership in Ferguson is doing asking the players on the Ravens who put there hands up in symbolic gesture of solidarity with protesters, it is clear that the leadership, or whoever talks to the press, in that organization is living in some sort of alternate bubble.

It reminds me of the mindset the police in Northern Ireland must have had before that massive crackdown in Derry which was later dubbed Bloody Sunday. They probably didn't understand why people watching in England were whining about. They were on a completely different page.

(note: If you are black, this event. As a half Asian and therefore a semi-person of color, I found learning about white on white racism to be enlightening and to even have a calming affect on me.)

If you think that sort of crackdown wouldn't happen in the states think again. Their may even be some people hiding among the protesters, or who are just among the protesters who would like to force such a situation to occur. It only takes one bullet or explosion FROM the crowd and then scared police will use full military force on unarmed civilians.

Also, I haven't been watching Fox news or whatever the other side of this is. But I witnessed a man, well known to me, who went nuts and started shouting at me about how my ideas that the officer should have been indicted were the cause of media bias and censorship. I thought I was talking to someone who was brainwashed and programmed to start fighting. He wasn't even white. The words "up here." as in which state I resided were quoted. If he is like that, that means half the country is like that. That's right, there is a half the population who a pretty much have nothing to do with the issue because they aren't black. who are so angry they are ready to start fighting too.

As to the extreme side in the African American camp, violent revolution would not be an unreasonable political stance to have. I haven't seen anyone saying that on TV, but seriously is that such a stretch.

Just saying.

Here is my little idea for where such a movement could go and what it could do unlikely Allies it could find  and multiple problems it could solve.

My idea is Community Policing, based on the Japanese System.

First of all, these community police should have very low pay, and maybe you make an enemy of police unions at first, but in places like Ferguson there needs to be an entire rehash. On the upside, you can get a lot of Republican allies, who want to cut government spending. That is key. Get conservative whites to actually be ON YOUR SIDE.

These new community Police, who will have very very low pay, and live in a little shack and be unarmed, maybe a benefit they get is tuition forgiveness. So you get a lot of liberals on your side for that, and you solve a serious problem. Also, who will want this crappy job. Among the wealthy, only crusaders who are protesting now for free. The OCCUPY type. They did stuff like that for free. So they would probably do that job for a couple of years.

Also, People of Color are more likely to be willing to do a job like that. BAM the bottom of your Police Force will be mostly non-white. Will their still be racial problems? Of course. I'm just saying Police shooting innocent people will go down. Maybe in the beginning, these unarmed police getting killed will go up.

The police will actually learn to like this system. The unarmed Community Cop will be spit on shit on perhaps by gangsters. But meanwhile they will quietly collect data, not making any arrests whatsoever. After a few months or something, hardcore police with military equipment come in and arrest key serious criminals all in one go. Criminals smart enough to move or away and stop criminal activity before this get lucky. But wait, if they stop, who cares? Isn't that the point?

Finally, another group that would be good at such a crappy job with no hope of upward mobility would be retirees. Old people who would normally be collecting Social Security. Yet another problem solved! Why do I say old people? When I did Crime Watch , FOR FREE in Chinatown, 70% of the people doing it were elderly FOR FREE. If one would do it for free it stands to reason they would do it for say $10,000 a year plus room and free meals from grateful neighbors. Okay $10,000 is way too, low. But seriously some people would do it. Including me. Are the protesters getting paid now?

$20,000 would be reasonable with tuition reimbursement. Throw in free courses and it is definitely worth it.

This system will promote corruption you say? These poorly paid police will be forced to sell drugs etc.

First of all that already happens. Secondly, you fire those guys. Believe it or not I think a lot of people who sign up for stuff like Teach for America, would be interested in being this kind of cop for a couple years after college. So would people who are homeless. So would people who are old and have nothing else to do.

This little bottom feeder group will either have to be Federal (probably will never happen) or this has to be some sort of experiment in one town that also has to be ghetto, and it has to have proven benefits.

I don't know how to make cool marketable posters with words, but seriously this is the way for a movement to go. Because it is doable. I don't know what the other ideas protesters are thinking about in terms of a SOLUTION. But my isn't bad right? Needs some work of course. But it is feasible and you can get people across party lines to agree. It solves a lot of problems. first and foremost being the death of young teens by accidental shooting by Police.  But my idea will bring everyone together for a time.

Otherwise we could be heading to some serious violence, or at the very least, a continuation of the same serious violence with nothing changing.

Cookie Pie Addict

I've always liked pie and cookies a lot. But I didn't realize I was addicted to them until I started fasting. It's really the crust and not even the inside of the pie itself, because I ate what Dai Dai left on the plate as a throw away, and had this buzzing feeling of goodness as I ate the flakes of processed non food. It kind of felt like my arteries clogging. Then I decided it was kind of like that time I ate a percocet after I had oral surgery.
A flowing feeling of well being, like something being fulfilled that is not hunger. After all, I was already full.

However I am no tempted to eat these things at all while fasting. In fact I sort of started the once a week fasting because after Halloween I noticed I was eating a lot of candy. Normally I am not addicted to candy. It's only after I start eating it that I start just mindlessly popping them in my mouth.

I found that once a week,  a little reset of eating nothing helped me with this.

But after doing the three day thing, I don't want to do the one day once a week hing, because I feel like the combination of both could be bad.

So I figured I would do the diet thing. Sort of. As in less meet and more rice and beans and veggies.

Bu we had a whole chicken left over so I ate quite a bi of meat today. So I know that's it's not a lack of vitamins that had me going over to the cookies.

But before I would have eaten a ton of cookies and a ton of pie as a snack. Whereas now I just had a little bit. Well, not a ton anyway.

Maybe I should try doing the once a week restricted diet and three day a month fast.

My Santa Claus belief

Yesterday we watched Fred Claus. A movie about Santa Claus's older brother. I love the concept. It was hilarious. It also reminded me of my own belief in Santa Claus. When I was little my mother had already told me the whole story of how Santa Claus was already a story and didn't exist as a physical person but as a spirit. In a weird way I think this caused me to belief in Santa Claus more, later in life. Even though by second grade there were kids who raised their hands when asked by the teacher if they believed in Santa Claus, and I wasn't one of them, later in Middle school, I recall talking about Santa Claus with my aunt in Philly, after watching the Santa Claus. as if he were real. It was almost like Santa did not exist in Boston for me, but he did exist in Philadelphia.

Noah kept asking me questions about elves in a way that would make it seem that the whole notion of Santa Claus was completely foreign to him. How could this be? We used to watch the Polar Express every day. I asked him if he remembered last Christmas. He did not. That was weird to me too, but I guess he is still young.

Anyway, in "Fred Claus" there is a part where this inner city kid is Fred's buddy, and he gets taken by social services. Later he gets moved to the top of the naughty list for complaining about Santa's hypocrisy and then fighting a bunch of kids writing letters to Santa. The words he uses are straight out of one of Fred's rants against his older brother.

I thought about what I would say to some inner city kids who were debating the existence of Santa Claus, or what arguments I would use anyway.

#1 Belief in Santa Claus is the same as reasonable in as any other religious belief. In fact, t is much easier that one man deliver so many presents in a night, especially with technology like the internet and the ability of our own government to "print" money electronically, than it is to belief in an Abrahamic God that is master of not only the Universe, but the multi verse. So arguing that belief of Santa Claus is unreasonable, is argument against religion itself. Do you want to get into that fight?

#2 You guys have your gifts ideas all wrong. If Santa is based on Odin (he is) and Odin's gifts were poetry (the ability to write it) and sometimes he gave gold (which can be considered business ideas or your stocks going up) and also stories, this gifts are entirely possible.

Now let's just invite out Odin Santa to the debate shall we?


 Kids: How do you deliver all those gifts to everyone who asks for them in one night?

Odin: Who says I deliver any gifts whatsoever? I give out one or two when I feel like it. I take them when I feel like it too. After all these gold rings and the mead of poetry are stolen.

Kids: (nmore nervous now) Uhh okay, How do the elves make all those gifts?

Odin: How should I know? I stole this stuff from the Dark Elves in Alfheim. Or sometimes We call them Dwarves. I snuck in a hole by turning into a snake and then banged this girl to her pleasure and she just handed over the mead of poetry.

Okay Odin let's just stop right there cause your scaring the children. But you can see where Santa's routes are.

Now let's look at how kids are just asking for the wrong gifts and how Odin Santa can actually offer more hope then Commercial Santa (who Odin would still approve of as a good public front.)

Odin can give the gift of poetry, or spitting rhymes and dropping records. And there is no reason why it only has to be Christmas when he does this. So he can help poor kids either get monetarily wealthier, or at least be poetic about their circumstance and therefore be wealthier in a different way. But he doesn't give gifts to everyone. And as Jolly as he is, he has been known to slit throats for fun. But since he is just an idea anyway, let's keep him Jolly and friendly and mostly good, the way he has developed. But I'm just saying, do you really want to ask Santa for some cheap thing made in China that costs between $20 -$200? I mean let's say it is $1,000.00 Or let's say you ask Santa for a car or a house. Is that really more valuable than say, an idea like Facebook, or an idea to start FUBU, or the gift to write poetry and novels like Zora Neale Hurston? The latter died poor, but after death what is wealth? Her works are still important now?

Sometimes we criticize kids for asking Santa for too much. Maybe they are asking for such small tokens compared to what they really could have. And asking for gifts that are less tangible, are actually more possible to receive aren't they? Because they come from within you. Just a Christmas thought.

By the way I do prefer the Odin that has been converted to Christianity and stopped the throat slitting. I'm sure he likes it better too. He gets that much more in prayers and letters and offerings of cookies. Also he gets credit for physical deeds. How many Saints of gods can you say this about. Hundreds of millions ask for a specific thing and on Christmas morning, it is actually there. Who cares if the parents actually bought it? The point is there is a physical thing you can point to, every year.
That's pretty crazy.

But again, Kids should THINK BIGGER. Ask for the next Big IDEA.

Breaking the Fast for Thanksgiving.

Thursday morning I broke my fast with bits of apples and carrots that my children had discarded. I saved them for three days and then microwaved them. They reminded me of apple pie. Then I had the cereal that Jonah didn't eat, and realized I had to stop eating processed food.
I ate some more leftovers and that was breakfast. Lunch was the last of leftover rice and Chinese Stew that Gong Gong had brought, and then came Thanksgiving dinner.

The first meal, breakfast, really tired me out. I would imagine if I did a longer fast, it would require more preparation for breaking it. But for me, by dinner, I was pretty much back to normal. I ate seconds. But I tried to stay away from breads and things like that.

My dreams were really intense during the fast. I dreamed I was on a spaceship that was occasionally on the sea. The waves were heavy and I could actually feel intense rocking of the ship, like being on a roller coaster. I was actually afraid during the dream. Not for my safety, but just of that intense motion. Isn't that weird?

Last night, after eating, my dreams were still intense. They involved my son, relatives, a party, and zombies. Not exactly zombies, but crazy people that ate other people, and the idea was once you were exposed to that experience, you were more likely to eat people as well. So the zombies had a mental disease instead of a physical one, like they do in most modern zombie movies.

Third day fasting

Well it's my third and final day fasting today. All I have to do is go to sleep tonight and then when I wake up in the morning I can start eating again. The first day of this fast was much easier than previous first days. I also noticed when i sleep or nap, I am not hungry at all. In fact my body starts buzzing with chi flow, much the way I recall I started buzzing in high school when I first started practicing Tai Chi Like stuff. We called it Mein Lay jum.
I had continued to work out, but focused on internal. I don't think I really did the 45 minute thing, but it's probably more to do with Gong Gong visiting and the house being more festive and stuff.
I was going to fast next week but suddenly realized, after I stuffed myself with pie on Sunday night, that a) I needed to fast and b) it would be better to do so with more people around.

I did this ear irrigation thing with what I thought was clean water. I usually use these two big bucket/tuns to bathe the children. One bucket is the initial cold water and the other is the hot water. Then I adjust the temperature by mixing. I feel like it saves water. When I feel like it I use the left over water to wash myself, or at the very least, flush the toilet. Anyway I used the "clean" cold water. Maybe it wasn't clean, though, as I sort of have phlegm that I didn't have at the beginning of the fast. Or is that just from fasting? Not sure.

Well I won't do another fast until next month. Or should I keep doing the once a week thing too? Of I don't I have to watch what I eat. I have been noticing that at the end of each week, before the next fast, I have trouble keeping to the "diet" What I do is eat more rice and beans for protein and then a lot of vegetables. I eat everything else too, but just for taste instead of for calories.

But Like I said, on Sunday I had two slices of pie, when really I just should have had one. It wasn't until after I ate it that I could feel that I should really have stopped. I guess I used to feel bloated and full like that all the time, and even thought of it as a healthy thing, because I knew I would work off the calories anyway. But now I realize it was excess and holding my body and brain function back. But I was obsessed with eating a lot because I was working out so much.

How to avoid teens getting shot by police.

Was I surprised by that the police officer wasn't indicted? I wouldn't be surprised if he was acquitted or given a light sentence. But then on reflection, how many police officers are indicted for shooting someone? Probably not that many.
Are black teens more likely to be shot? Probably. Are you sage because you are white or not black? I wouldn't count on it. Are you safe because you are rich and white? In certain instances yes.

There is some talk that Michael Brown may have been charging at the police officer, and there is other talk that he was running away.

It might hurt people's feelings, but I'm going to assume (for the sake of a thought experiment) that the officer was actually shooting in self defense. (I'm not saying that's what happened. I don't know what happened. It's just what the Grand Jury seems to have said happened, for whatever reason. Corrupt or sound.)

Now I'm going to transpose a scenario I had with Campus police while in College. I was practicing Kung Fu n a parking lot where (unknown to me) there had been damaged cars by "kids."

Here are two ways I was approached on different occasions.
 One was by an old Campus Police officer. He approached slowly and stayed in his car. I thought while he was talking politely with me that perhaps he had already pulled his gun. I would never charge him because he seemed calm and unthreatening, while simultaneously being in a superior martial position. He asked me questions as a human being and we talked and then he left, assessing that I was in fact doing Kung Fu. In fact he never let it be known that he suspected me of anything. He talked to me as someone simply interested in Martial arts. I saw this technique by Boston Police when I was on Crime Watch, and they explained that although they suspected the person they were talking to, it was better to be friendly and to eventually catch them some other time.

The second time the two officers rushed in like they were playing grand theft auto, driving recklessly. They jumped out of the cars and then came so close to me on foot that they were within my striking distance if I simply stepped forward a few stances, which I am still very fast at. The short woman had her hand on a weapon. The taller man had his arms folded and was exposed. They commanded me to get my hands out of my pockets and proceeded to accuse me of destroying property and claimed to have video. I was nervous that the small woman would pull what I thought was a gun and shoot me by accident. They were obviously inexperienced and stupid, and I didn't want to die because some untrained rent a cop put her hand on the trigger instead of the "break."

But I was a criminal Justice Major planning to be a police officer so I knew how to get out of the situation. However, if she had drawn (in turns out all she probably had was pepper spray. I later applied for that same job and learned that Campus police officers were not supposed to carry weapons.) Anyway I would have charged.

My point is, even if Michael Brown was charging, he could have still been charging in self defense. It is possible that the police officer meant well, but was just over confident and stupid.


So how to avoid this situation?

One way is to send your kids to a boarding school where if they are put in a situation where if they are put in such an encounter, the night watchman, or whatever will not be armed, or less likely to care. Maybe that's why rich people do that. In retrospect, that's one of the reasons my mother wanted me to go to Boarding school, where I would be safe. Though she was probably more concerned with me being shot by a civilian than police.

Or they try to move into neighborhoods where the police department is small and they know them and can ingratiate them.

My point is rich whites have some protection from being rich and white, but they are not completely immune to this situation. So their parents use their money to take extra precautions.

This is of course a race problem. But what is there to be done about it?

Elections? Revolution?

Just because racism is part of the problem, doesn't mean it has to have anything to do with the solution. Parents of rich white kids would also feel safer if the police patrolling the streets were more like the night watchman at boarding school.

Instead of militarized police, what if we had community policing the way they do in Japan. Ever coupld of blocks they have a guy living in a little kiosk. He is unarmed and part of his job is to politely knock on everyone's door and ask them what they want him to do to make him a better police officer and to help the community. So he knows everyone by face and name. That's part of his job.
Because he knows them, they probably respect him more. At least they know what he's about. He's not a "fucking cop." He's whatever san, who they see everyday. If he comes up to you and takes cigarettes away from you and lectures you, you respect that, because he knows your parents and you also know him.

That society isn't particularly friendly toward non ethnic Japanese. You can't even become a citizen if you are a third generation Chinese person living in Japan. In other words, you would be virtually indistinguishable, and yet you are a different race and unable to be a citizen. Basically that society has huge race problems.
But I never heard of anyone being gunned down by police in Japan either. Not only that, but people generally respect the unarmed police there. Something to think about.

Showa Festival

Yesterday we brought the kids to the Showa festival. There was so much carnival atmosphere created out of cardboard and paper that I realized we could be having a lot more fun with these materials at home. Not only that, but a whole Chinese New Year festival could be done at Noah's School in such a way. Okay there was a lot of work involved, and when adults in graduate programs try to make something like an exhibit about Bento boxes, or ninjas, that is different than what kids would be able to do in the Boston Public Schools, but it opened my eyes to what is possible.
I mean, in many ways the Showa festival was better for Noah and Jonah, than the real festival why was it better for kids? Because everything was free and  everything was something they could do. Plus they won a prize every time, which was candy. You know what? The Showa festival was better than Halloween.

When you say "it's the thought that counts." Sometimes that's especially true for children. In a couple of hours they travelled to all these temples, met ninjas, made bento boxes and got their money or book stamped and then we went home. Going to those real places would simply be too intense at this age too much walking. Too much traffic. Hecl we'd have to get on a plane for a whole day.

Sometimes I wondered at Corporate events why they made a fake Chinatown, when we are in Boston and you can just go to it.

Maybe I should rethink my plan to bring Chinese New Year to JP in terms of what I learned at Showa yesterday.

T-t-t-t- Tigers

I realize now that Friday class had more good about it than bad. Like one of the girls groups came up wth this song. 

T-t-t-t- Tiger, tigers, tigers....T-t-t-t- tigers, tigers ROAR!

They danced all around with tiger claws and then jumped into a pose at the end. The finished product on stage after one day was nervous and not as strong as the rehearsal. But the thing is, I have it stuck in my head. 

I had been thinking of all the Kung Fu stuff we had to get through before we got to the "Fun" stuff. But instead I should just turn this class on it's head and focus on learning from the kids, instead of showing them Kung Fu. I mean we still did punches and forms right? And that took like 10 minutes. I forgot that doing 1000 punches once a week is useless anyway, that they will have to practice on their own to get better. 

I mean I did have all those girls punch the pad and do forms. Even the boys did the form. Then the groups made up their own forms. They can practice and perfect those and perform those at the end of the year. I mean that Tigers thing was already pretty cool, and simple, and I never would have come up with it myself. 

In fact, I may use it in my other classes. I've already started doing it around the house because like I said, it's stuck in my head.

Dim Lights

From what I remember in high school, dim lighting in a classroom can have a calming affect. It can also help put kids to sleep. Dim lighting in a restaurant can be romantic and encourage a couple to do things they wouldn't do in  harsher lighting. The same is true fro a night club. I recall once in middle school, that the lights went off and everyone started punching each other immediately. Our teacher was very upset by this and wanted us to explain our behavior. I can't remember whether or not I participated. I think I didn't. But in any case we couldn't explain it, it was just something we did.

These ideas flashed through my mind on Friday's class which was moved to the auditorium, where it was dim because we could not find the lights or only a custodian could turn them on. First when I was waiting for the class I was calmed. Then when the class came the children it was crazed. The only thing we got done with the full group was to go through Luk Lik, the basic form, on stage. This sounds good. Actually it was. But the thing his the kids were moving too close to the edge. Usually there are always a small number of kids that act out, and I can sot of turn a blind eye so that the class continues. But instead I had to focus all my attention on trying to get everyone to stop moving so that we could all do the same thing, because otherwise somebody might fall off the stage. It was ridiculous.

Another teacher took all the boys away and then with the girls I broke them into groups to create their own forms. That worked pretty well, but we ran out of time at the end because of the time lost on the beginning.

They got the lights on for K-1 and 2 were actually great classes.  That being said, I cant deal with the craziness of the dim lights and the added danger of the stage with the older kids. At Kwong Kow, there was a stage too, but the lighting was bright, and it was never really an issue for the older kids.

We are going to try the gym next time. That will be good for the kids that like to act out I think. He can bring in more sprinting Kung Fu drills like Jau gong. and games, like Fishy fishy cross my ocean. Plus they were excited about doing the form.

I am debating whether to do the story songs with them or the traditional basics. The girls like the songs. Some of the boys are too old for it. But they also are not really part of the class. After five minutes they always leave for soccer so they have never been socialized to what we do in my class. So we will try not to have them in my class at all during this time I guess. Or in the gym I guess they could get something out of just doing one form or one Kung Fu sprint if they accidentally get put there again.

I think the gym will work better traditional and creative activities.

Captain Underpants

I just read Jonah a Captain Underpants book including the background of the author.
Basically he was a class clown and the teacher told him he needed to shape up and couldn't make silly books for the rest of his life. Marc Brown, said something similar in his lecture that Noah and I went to, and Quentin Tarantino said pretty much the same thing.

At Jonah's playgroup the teacher mentioned some horrible experiences her daughter had at school because her daughter was so smart and I guess her teacher was threatened by that.

These stories are definitely an argument for unschooling.  But Noah loves school. And I think Jonah would love it too. Plus even if they were geniuses I would still send them to school to learn how to play with other kids. It's a good thing that Noah's teacher is so good. But what about when they get older?

Well it just has me thinking.

It also has me thinking about my own classes. As much fun as I put into them, they are still very "follow me." type classes, especially now that I don't incorporate a whole lot of coloring. The heads usually just don't make it to my class recently.

Something to think about.

Thanksgiving Excitement

"Baba! I want to sleep by myself on Thanksgiving!" proclaimed Noah.
"Why? because Gong Gong is coming?"
"Yeah."
That is the only difference between Thanksgiving and a regular day off. So it must be that Noah doesn't want Gong Gong to know that he still sleeps with Baba.

The kids are pretty excited that their grandfather will be visiting. It makes Thanksgiving feel like a real holiday.

I was never that into Thanksgiving. Which is why we aren't going to be cooking a Turkey. But Grace will probably be baking a Chicken. And whenever I smell baking in the house I am reminded of Christmases in Philadelphia.

"That's  how white people cook." Grace would say when I mention this. They say that smell is what triggers memory the most of all the senses. Thinking about it, I realized that even though my mother often cooked in Philadelphia, she didn't bake much at all when we were in Boston. In fact most of her dishes were Chinese ones. So to me baking = holiday. And not only that. Baking=childhood memories of real holidays surrounded by family. When family is usually just you and your mom, there is a sense of safety and power when you are with a large group of people tied together by blood or at least marriage.

I guess for Noah, there is the added stress of keeping a reputation of independence in front of his grandfather.

Fasting and Christianity

On Monday I fasted again. much like last time I was thinking, "Why the hell am I doing this?" for much of the time. I did more Kung Fu than usual, to distract myself. And then I started reading this book I borrowed from the library about fasting and Christianity. It wasn't as useful as I thought. I was expecting more academic research and , well, substance.
When I read the scientific book about fasting, I felt like most of it was studies trying to show the benefits. Which is great. But, I'm already on board, and I'm working without a doctor's supervision so I'm not doing anything over three days. In fact, yesterday I only fasted for 24 hours exactly, breaking my fast with macaroni and cheese, which I probably shouldn't have done. But I felt fine, because it was only one day.

Some things that were interesting about the book. Early Christians fasted twice a week, which the scientific book said can be damaging. They also did it more for faith than health. It sounds like they mixed it with prayer. A lot of the fasting sounds similar to vision quests in Native American  and other Shamanic cultures. Except there aren't any drums involved. But in general the book was a little too Christian Feely for me.

What's the word I'm looking for?

Basically I feel like there are two types of Christian language and conversation. There's academic stuff which I find fascinating and cool, which will break down where a myth came from and what it's purpose is, that sort of thing. And then there is stuff that feels like it is trying to sell me something, and get me to accept a fairy tale as is. It seems cheap and commercial. This book had moments of both I guess.

Commercial. Commercial Christianity. Now that I am sort of Christian I guess that's what I'll call the stuff that turns me off.


I'm realizing that the book that I am looking for, "fasting experiences for a "normal" guy who used to work out more than 6 hours a day and eat like every two hours." You know, fasting for someone, who used to consider it to be crazy. And maybe something like "Faith for a guy that like believing in everything but makes sure his decisions are made rationally and even atheistically.

I'll write that book after I'm done with the one I'm working on, and then the one that is still in outline form.

The book I'm working on now is no longer a self help book, but a book of fiction that reads like a self help book. I've decided to take an ax to much of the personal and beautiful parts that I have emotional ties too. But only by doing this can I create the book I want it to be. So, no mercy.

I will still attempt my three day fast next month. Should I still do the once  a week thing leading up to it? I might just try to keep a healthier diet. But then again, it is fasting that helps me do this in the first place.

Martial Artsy Saturday

Yesterday we had a huge turnout at the park for our class. Noah actually followed along for all of Sup Ji (the first Kung Fu form.) The other kids lost interest in that but the adults did it, and I figure the kids will just be socialized to it. After that we did itsy bitsy spider and going on a lion hunt and wheels on the bus. It was pretty fun. One of the father's had done Shaolin Kung Fu before. It sounded like the modern Northern Shaolin stuff.

In the afternoon, I traveled to Salem for a Lion dance at a Silat/Eskrima/Kung Fu school there. It was sort of a 10 year anniversary party.


At home Noah built a tent with Mommy. They had a lot of fun, but I think it became too much for Grace. I don't think I should go on any long trips like that again. Not until the children are old enough to come with me.  I.e. out of their car seats.

So I had a very martial artsy Saturday. Now for the rest of the weekend!

Noah's Dream

Noah has started to help me blog and write. Today he will share his dream.


Once upon a time, there was a shark planet. And there were alligators, and wah Moi's, and chocolate cakes, and  gingerbread. And then there were aliens attacking that planet. The good guys (I assume that's the gingerbread, Wah moi's and Chocolate cakes and crocodiles) had space ships.

Noah did you know that Alligator's and Crocodile's are two different animals?


Yes.


The Crocodile's just came.


And they all played violin but the crocodile's played drums.

Where are the Wah Moi's. Right here. Why is it spelled right? (i.e. not underlined as a grammatical error)
I don't know.

The end.

Now Baba's dream.

I was in Japan in this weird hospital hotel where robots replaced the hearts and eyes of three women. They then had a party next door with the Doctor. My roommate had left, and there was a parade of cosplay people who screamed "who wants to go to the dojo!" in English.  There was a giant arena in the harbor that moved around. Some sort of event. It began to snow as I looked out the window and I couldn't decide if I was in Kyoto or Tokyo. Actually I was in some sort of dreamlike place that doesn't really exist.

I started getting ready to do out because I realized it was Friday and that I could go out instead of just sleeping. Oh yeah there was some sort of strange video game that came to life in the lobby involving Ninja turtles and legos. That part of the dream was actually stressful.

Then I woke up.

Noah's Dance awards.

I picked up Nah today to find him with a light up paw around his neck. It looked exactly what childhood bling would look like. "Is this for you to keep?" I asked.
"I think so." said Noah.
"Yes." Confirmed Noah's friend. A boy.

"Sifu Adam?" said a girl across the table. "I'm not sure. I think Noah just took it."

I decided I would have to check with an adult. The Dance teacher who bestowed the award, was still teaching, so I had to ask someone else.

It turned out that yes indeed, this was a thing. What a great idea.

Now Noah can get his awards and trophies (which frankly are not as cool as the light up paw. The paw can be worn, and can help you see in the dark) outside of the martial arts. I'm not saying I will never be the kind of Sifu to give out medals. But I definitely like how the dance teacher is giving out awards that are more diverse.

In my mind, I had a few ideas instead of medals and belts. Sticks, or swords. But that can get complicated. Various toys are cool too. Plus I could just use stuff I wanted to throw out. Maybe I should do what the dance teacher does just to get rid of some toys. After all, toys that you don't play with are useless. Toys that are found are kind of cool. But toys that you WIN!

We might have to hang Noah's light up paw on the wall.

Veterans Day

No school today. The children stayed home. We played in the playground and enjoyed our free and stable country thanks to veterans. The only veteran like thing I did was listen to stories about veterans on the radio. Growing up, veterans were people like my Uncle. People older than me. It disturbs me that now veterans are often younger than me. The stories about parents of marines who died were particularly sad to me.

Not only have I never served, but I really wish that nobody had to serve, and whenever I hear someone  young telling me about how they love their country and have no problem dying for it, I almost kind of tear up and feel that it is somehow wrong that this person who is so full of goodness should have to consider such a thing when so many other people are so wicked and corrupt.

Hearing people who did serve, and how glad they were to serve so that others didn't have to, makes me realize that I'm really not that great a person. In fact, when I hear people talk like that I think they must be Saints of some sort. I don't feel guilty or bad about myself. I'm just saying I'm not that good. And I am surprised that others are.

The only reason why I would consider serving, would be to ensure that my children don't. Of course I would serve so that they won't have to. But that generosity just doesn't extend to strangers and their kids. (not yet anyway.) And for  many military people or people interested in signing up that's what it is about. Not to say everyone in the military is a Saint. I'm just amazed that some people could even think like that. When I was younger, I guess part of me felt that way, but a much bigger part of me did not.

I only ever considered ROTC or something like that in college.  It was not the idea of serving so someone else didn't have to. It was just some sort of vague post 9/11 patriotism, mixed with being alone in the world and so why not? I recall several people talking me out of it. But they were just voicing opinions that were already a part of me.

Now that I am older, and the people coming back from war are still younger than me and have childlike faces, I think it's pretty backward that the ones who go to protect the rest of us are so young.  I feel like we should be protecting our young. They are smarter, and quicker, and full of better ideas. Our young are our future, and yet we send them off into harms way. In this country they volunteer of course, but still.

I'm not saying I will be signing up to go when I am 50. Though it would seem more fair to our children wouldn't it?

Explaining Veterans day to my children was difficult. I just vaguely talked about honoring people who fought in wars for our country, and I found myself parroting what I hear on the news without thinking. Even though I  never served and I hope my children will also never serve, I feel like somehow we should do something more. Perhaps we should have sent some sort of cards like I saw some teachers do on Facebook.  Or for a long time I have been thinking that Mein Lay Jum could possibly help a lot of the symptoms of PTSD. Anyway, I have noticed ex-soldiers who seemed to have found comfort in Kung Fu over the years.

Well to all the Veterans and active members of the military,

 Thank you for you service.

Porch vs. Pond

This weekend we did not spend much time outside. I'm not sure if it is because Noah needs time in his house because of so much time spent at school now, or if it is because he spends most of his time indoors at school and has gotten use to staying indoors.  On Sunday they spent a lot of time on the porch taking in plants and helping Mommy re pot things. They seemed to have a lot of fun doing this. I guess what they prefer, over playing outside, is some sort of chores.

Jonah was always more of an indoor person. This morning he didn't want to go outside at all. But I know that later in the week it is going to be really cold and I will also want to stay indoors, so we better go out when it is sunny and relatively warm. We went down to the small pond to throw rocks where there were Brookline High students (I assume) collecting pond data. I noticed some of them wore what would have been the intention behind the dress code at the prep school I went to. I wondered about that. Even with the dress code I always ended up wearing some sort of Kung Fu pants, in fact I dress much the same way right now. I wonder what my kids will wear in high school.

Anyway Jonah did all of his stances on the rocks with the stream rushing (okay just bubbling lightly) past. 

"sei ping ma! dan been ma!" he called out and then switched into what looked more like a yoga pose than a stance, "Sei ying ma!" or snake image stance. I guess he has been paying attention during my classes, even though he often rebels during them. 

Thanks for the Birthday wishes!

You know I really like looking at all the Facebook happy birthdays. I also like wishing people happy birthday. Say what you will about it being virtual and not "real" but I liked how a Google program wished me happy birthday, and I like how Facebook now has a little cake with exploding fireworks. I mean it's the thought that counts. And even if a program doesn't have to think, it's actually my thought that counts. It makes me feel positive to receive and type in Happy Birthday. It's not a waste of time. It's like a little ritual. In fact it's practically the only thing I actually do on Facebook.

It was also Peg's mother's birthday on Peg + Cat. Actually her birthday is the 30th of some month, but that episode was on today. Peg's mom turns 30. That means I'm actually older than Peg's mom. How old is Peg? I always thought of her as definitely older than Noah. I mean her math skills are around the same, but she's out doing her own thing with her cat, she's at least in first grade right? So Peg's mom is actually pretty young compared to the mother's I usually see on the playground. Or maybe Peg's mom had to be a number divisible by ten. So it was 20 years old, which means she had Peg at 14, 30 years old, which means she had Peg at 24, or 40 years old, which means she had her at 34.  To have her at 44 would be dangerous I guess.

Jonah saw this episode and offered me a kite that Noah made 3 years ago or so for a birthday present. Actually I really enjoyed it! Peg got her mom rocks. 30 of them. I guess that would be cool but then what would I do with them?

I was going to do something with the boys, but it's actually one of their friends birthdays and there is a party on Sunday so I don't have to do anything. In fact I may even pretend they are singing happy birthday to me instead. It's okay, it was suggested by the friend's father.

People also suggested I should go out and go nuts tonight, as it is a Friday. Pretend I don't have kids. I think if I were to pretend I don't have kids, I might get in trouble. I am considering going to a free Ballet Class I have a coupon for and which expires next week. I mean that's not exactly clubbing, but I think it is a fair substitute. Plus it's free. Plus it would challenge my brain and body. I guess I'll do it, no reason not to.

Fasting

Last month I tried fasting when I got sick. I heard somewhere that there is a Harvard study that says if you fast every month for three days your immune system resets itself. Before I could do more research I had an intestinal thing so I figured I would try it. I planned to go for three days. But the Grace brought home Mayonaise shrimp and various other great Chinese food. But actually the fasting served its purpose of a warm up even though I didn't even last 24 hours. Or I guess I lasted almost exactly 24 hours.

I was able to do my after school classes and actually felt energized (but weak at the same time) and felt like I had a lot more time on my hands. I was also pretty cold.

Well this past Monday I tried again. This time just aiming for a day.

"MMM you're going to have trouble fasting through my dinner." said Grace. She made drunken chicken and all this other food with cleansing looking soups. It looked so healthy. Whatever. I ate. But again, the time I did fast served it's purpose.

All I did for working out was some light Mein Lay jum, and I think I needed a day off anyway, because I had started doing more calisthenics recently and gotten really sore. Plus I was eating a lot of candy and I noticed that after a day of fasting I was able to stop myself from eating something like that more easily for some reason

It was weird how when I was fasting I was burping a lot. And then when I started eating again, my stomach started making all these weird noises. It was so loud that Grace was like, "I can't take it I can't read like this."

I'm actually looking forward to my fast next Monday like it's some kind of holiday. Maybe I'll do a little Shamanic journey I always seem to fail at, because I haven't fasted before it in the past.

I was going to title this entry, "Fast Fail." but when I though about it, it wasn't a failure at all. It was a learning experience. And it's good that I didn't jump straight into extreme stuff. I'm going to get some books from the library about it too.

Voting

I voted with Jonah today and also contributed to the school's bake sale. Yes I get to vote at the school where my kid goes. Convenient eh?
They always tell you not to say who you voted for, or rather white people usually say that and get upset when you ask them even if they have obvious political indicators on their bumper stickers and stuff. Grace once asked her dad, (who seems to have converted from Taiwanese to Italian), who he voted for.
"I'm not telling You!" he said. And then he told her.

I happened to vote very interestingly today.

First off I voted for the people who I kind of know. As in I meet them all the time or used to work for them or whatever. Dan Conley, Sonia Chang Diaz, Felix Arroyo.

Then for Governor and Lt. Govenor I wrote in Leland Cheung, twice. That might not make sense, but he's not gonna win. Between Baker and Coakley, I'm not sure. I just don't like Coakley. Baker seems alright but still. I say I am independent but I can never bring myself to actually vote Republican. Leland Cheung is a Cheung man, plus he's mixed. Plus I met the guy. Those are not good reasons to choose a leader you say?

Whatever man.

Voting isn't about choosing a leader. In a way it often doesn't matter who you vote for. But it does matter that you vote.

Voting is a game we play instead of having a civil war. Instead of taking up arms we cast a vote. Would I really take up arms against my wife? Of course not. But say the story of Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold can show how a family of opposite political ideals can change your "vote."

Anyway, when people cheat at voting, like when they rig some machinery in Florida, that's dirty, and unfair and all that. But then again all is fair in war.

You vote to show that you would fight. (Of course maybe I actually wouldn't) Or to show who you would fight for, and then we get a winner, and they rule the city or state or whatever it is.

If you don't vote, and your group doesn't vote, nobody cares about you or will pay any attention to you. They will build a highway right through your neighborhood.

If you vote, even for the opponent, they have to try and get your vote.

For a bunch of categories where I didn't really know the candidates I voted for the Green/Rainbow party candidate. Because who the hell are the main guys there. What have they done for me? Why haven't they tried to get my attention. F them.  I'll vote for the guy who won't win to show that they could have had my vote if they tried harder. Slackers.

For categories without a random independent, I just put Cheung. Even though Leland didn't even want those positions. And for Sheriff, I actually put Adam Cheung. Cause who is Steve Tompkins other than a poster. I haven't seen him around. You put some effort and I'll vote for you. He'll probably win anyway, but I'm just saying.

For questions, I got all this mail saying to go No on question 2. But then I saw it was like Nestle and all these companies that wanted that. I read the question and you know what? F soda. I drink tap water boiled. Yeah Grace buys soda but she shouldn't. So not just recycling, but yeah F all soda and all bottled water.

F gambling to. They should pass a law to beat gamblers with sticks. Am I being insensitive? My dad was a gambler. Much respect to him. But F gambling.

What was the other one. I don't even remember.

I'm just saying, From now on I'm going to start a campaign not only for people to vote but to vote my way.
Like don't just vote the party line. Vote for some people you know and try to know the issues and all that. But then for parts you don't know, definitely don't leave it blank or don't just vote for the one candidate.



Yeah vote for me. Or whatever, let's all decide on someone to vote for who probably won't win, but will show up with some sort of statistic to make people scratch their heads and reevaluate themselves and their campaign. Vote to show that you matter (sort of). Or at least that you support someone who does, even if that person won't win.

It's not about making an informed decision. (well maybe the questions are) Imagine you are a Viking tearing up that place with a battle ax. Because that's what voting really represents.

And Jim Braude and Marjory Eagan talking about staying home if you aren't informed about the candidates or saying to leave those sections blank... BS.

Sorry Democracy does not work the way most people think it does. It matters a little who wins, but ultimately the big companies will have them in their pockets. But who they throw a bone to depends on who voted. If you always vote for the same party loyally then they will take you for granted, so don't do that either. This election or that election doesn't matter. What matters is patterns over time of election after election after election.

If your group or neighborhood is the swing vote, even better. Everyone will pay attention to you. So it's good to make your group or neighborhood somehow appear as politically diverse as possible so you aren't lumped into some category.

So go vote.

Cute Misunderstandings

We had a smaller class on Friday which meant that we moved through material much more quickly than usual, especially as the class shrunk more and more as children were picked up for trick or treating. We try to have a feedback section of the class every time but it's not always possible. It's also not always helpful because children find it difficult to come up with a new suggestion when put on the spot like that.
But some girls gave a suggestion simply by doing cartwheels. So we started doing those, and I had a little jumpy section at the end of the second class as well.

The younger kids couldn't do cartwheels so I tried to show them the beginnings of a jump and spin. I later showed how this motion could translate into a jump kick.

As I showed them I got down into a low horse stance and tapped my thigh to draw attention to my low stance, because getting down helps you jump higher and makes the move easier.

One boy got up to the front of the line, did not get down in a stance, but made a big show about tapping his thigh, as if that was a magical and important part of the motion that would enable him to do the move. This was so funny to me. I guess I should have corrected it but whatever he's like 4 years old and class is almost over.

But it's funny how things can develop like that. There are a lot of ritualized things in Kung Fu and Lion Dance, especially among beginner students and students of beginner students, motions that are considered necessary and holy, that may very well have their origins in things like this. The important part was the stance, not the tapping. Just like a Buddhist saying Bruce Lee quotes in Enter the Dragon, it is the moon that is important not the finger pointing to it.

I suppose that's why even in small things like that, getting the full understanding and picture from the Sifu is important, and takes time, even if the Sifu isn't holding anything back on purpose.

Candy Monster

Trick or treating was fun, but Jonah didn't want to work for his candy. In fact all he wanted to do was stuff his face. Popcorn, cotton candy, wrapped candy.. we made it up to Dunster road, which was cool, but by the time we got there it was time to return home. We tok the bus and Jonah screamed laughed and slurred his words excitedly like a drunk.

The kids didn't have any nightmares that I know of, though Jonah started wrecking the house. Who needs to be afraid of goblins. It's your own children that became that way after two or three candies  in a row.

This morning Noah wakes up and immediately demands Wah mois. A Chinese candy. I was happy to oblige because that kind of candy is made of plums and lemon and orange peels. So not that unhealthy. Well it's time to look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas now.

Happy All Saints Day.

Halloween Time

I bought big pumpkins to carve instead of re-painting the old ones. I just used kitchen and butter knives. Jonah chose to do a regular jack o' lantern. (Thank you Jonah) and Noah chose to do Daniel tiger. The thing is after I drew on Daniel tiger, when I started scraping and bracing the pumpkin with wet pumpkin juice hands, the face rubbed off. Plus I didn't feel comfortable just letting the kids carve with the butter knife. They had the most fun just playing with the wet seeds and indulging in their yucky gooiness. Yucky I suppose ina good way.
I stuck the pulp in the microwave. I added water so it wouldn't be too dry. In retrospect I shouldn't have added water at all. Just sugar. We'll eat that later.

As for trick or treating later, It will be a logistical problem since I have my Kung Fu and lion dance classes to teach. Grace will probably pick them up and take them trick or treating for a bit, and I will go and find them later.

If you are wondering why I don't just make my classes a Halloween party the answer is because I can't. It's not allowed. Probably for good reason. Maybe fake blood and fake weapons are not good in school. Also, having the costumes but having rules about them is probably to difficult.So I guess that's why instead of ALL it is nothing. But we will have fun trick or treating at any rate. Noah's friend parents have a little party and we will probably head over there.

Fiction versus Truth

I am almost finished with my book and I have recently taken a strange turn. Though it reads like a Self help Book it is actually a work of fiction. I just found that I had a lot more freedom were I to be able to just make up stuff. I had planned future books like this, that read like manuals but were works of fiction. But I think what really hammered it through was reading a book about a boy going to Jedi School for middle school with Noah.
I have also been writing some kids books. The first one had to match my Kung Fu and the drawings were just so difficult. So I decided to practice by just doodling I ended up making a pretty decent book with pictures and words about a planet with Chocolate cake spaceships and ginger bread people. I think I'll have Noah color it (Jonah just scribbles but maybe that is okay too.) and then I'll post it on my story blog.

Besides Grace doesn't really want to write a book with me and our lives are a little to boring, so instead of embellishing why not just make stuff up. With that my book will definitely be out by Thanksgiving.

 By the way, Gong Gong is coming up to see his grand kids for that holiday. Lol.
But no Amah for some reason. Grace asked me if this was a problem.

"Ain't got nothing to do with me." I said. "Your dad, your house, your kids. I have no say."
She resented that but hey it's the truth. Why should she resent it.

What do I have of my own? To tell the truth your kids are not really ever yours. They are their own people.

What's the Dhamapada say? Fools say Sons are mine, wealth is mine, Kingdoms are mine, but there is not even a Self of your own.

Well the house and the land really belong to the government, and your kids belong to themselves.

I like to think I have my book, my drawings and my blogs.