Destinations...

So I've been thinking a lot about destiny lately and I have a weird story from last Tuesday that reaffirmed my faith in the universe.

Basically, I had a pretty rotten day. I received two additional job rejections to add to my pile (including this one cool part-time position that woulda made me essentially, an Avenue Q consultant-- a person who helps college students figure out their purpose in life and how they want to shape their career). And my friend who was supposed to attend a Tibetan movie premier with me was sick after going through a relapse of dysentery (which she caught in China-- another reason I have no interest in visiting there) or getting food poisoned. In any case, I was left alone.

So I went to the movie premier all by my lonesome and sat in the back corner, since the only people I knew were the hosts of the event and they were too busy to chat with me.

All of a sudden, I turn around and I see an old friend who was just about to tap me on the shoulder and ask, "Excuse me, sir. Is this seat next to you taken?"

What were the odds?!?!?

I went to this one event feeling pretty bad and a random coincidence happened restored good feelings about my world. I feel like this was some kind of wake-up call for me that things would turn out all right... =)

In case you're curious, this was the movie we were watching: Tibet in Song.


Anyway, these ruminations about what's meant to be had me thinking back to my time in Thailand too-- so as promised, I'd like to share some photos of my trip with you.

Here's my first meal of street chicken pad thai and milk tea (also known as a "Thai iced tea" outside of Thailand) next to a small lotus pond on the street. This became my staple food for the entire trip. Yummy and cheap!


This was a monk I saw, lighting a candle in a temple that my first tuk tuk driver took me to (before he tried to talk me into getting a prostitute!).


Shockingly, I was able to meet some chicks whilst touring around different areas by myself. Here I am with my first girlfriend-- Bambi, a pretty tall Japanese girl from Osaka (some of the other friends I made on the trip swore that she must be a model). She wouldn't stop making that annoying peace sign in every photo, though. We toured the floating market and saw a cobra show together--it was definitely love. Unfortunately, I was too stupid to remember to get her contact info after we met! Boo!!


Here's the sign of respect that Ronald McDonald pays all visitors of this land. Heheheh.


The next day, as I was touring the Bridge over the River Kwai, I made a new girlfriend-- a Chinese girl Phoebe who seemed to love me! Unfortunately, her government doesn't allow the zillions of photos she took of myself and her to get posted on the web, so our time together was not meant to be...


Rwaaaarrrr!! I got to hang out with some cool Thai-gers at this temple! I still think they must've been sedated, given how calm they were with strangers coming around and taking photos with them...


And here is lovely Grasshopper, in front of a holy Banyan tree in the Ayutthaya kingdom. The Banyan tree was the one under which the original Buddha attained enlightenment . Over the years, many people have cut the heads off of Buddha statues and stolen them (not really sure what for-- besides maybe displaying in their living rooms). This one head, however, landed on the ground and became encased in a Banyan tree. Another sign of "it's meant to be"?? Perhaps!!


I also had an insanely lucky day this week. I got standby tickets to the Martha Stewart show (even getting ahead of an old lady who was ALWAYS trying to get standby tickets), and I got a pizza from Di Fara's (supposedly the best pizza place in NY) without waiting a minute! On that day, one of my friends flaked out on meeting with me-- but another friend randomly IMed me and we got to meet up! I even tried to play my good fortune by buying $5 worth of lottery tickets-- but alas, that wasn't meant to be... I think my way to earn money will have to be through hard work and not blind luck. Oh well... It was still good that I got some of the things I wanted that day, though!

I've been thinking a lot about my next step in life, though, and I've been getting the idea that Boston or East Timor (or perhaps any other obscure country in the South Pacific) would be good locations. Not sure if this has to do with some songs I've been listening to about those places, though... Heheheheh.

Meditations at 5AM on Sunday night...

Again, I'm having a sleepless night-- I seem to have been having a lot of those lately. Maybe it's all those naps I take during the day...

Anyway, Grasshopper is still searching for his next step and decided to ponder questions about spirituality tonight. That is, I've been listening to classical music on youtube that are accompanied by nice-looking paintings/photos and thinking about what a nice world we live in.

Cheesey? Definitely. But there were actually a few things I've wanted to mention recently and I figure that now is as good a time as any to talk about this.

First, the story of stepping into poo.


A few weeks ago, I went for a walk around Manhattan with one of my friends and nearly stepped into a pile of dog crap. The reason I missed it was that he pulled me aside at the last second and saved me from putting my flip flops into poo in the middle of the sidewalk. Thank goodness!

The next day, I went to view a few real estate properties for my internship and was on my way back to the office by noon. After getting to my desk, I noticed a weird smell... And it was coming from my shoe?

Odd, I thought. I never had foot odor before. What was going on?

I turned over the sole of my shoe and noticed that I had, in fact, stepped into dog poo. And I spent the next hour scrubbing off my shoe, as well as the carpet that I had walked on (not to mention, also buying disinfectant and cleaning everywhere I had been in the office!). Not fun...

But this provided me with a lesson of destiny. The night before, my friend had rescued me from stepping into dog crap-- but I couldn't avoid it the next day.

Perhaps this challenge was meant to be and my fate was sealed. Or I just need to be more careful about where I step. Nonetheless, it was food for thought...

The other story I wanted to mention was about the Buddhist figure with whom I feel most closely associated, Avalokiteshvara.


The details of his story vary a lot by where you hear it from, but the version that I originally heard (and like the most) is that Avalokiteshvara was a prince who sought to cure the world of all its misery. He swore, "if I fail, may my head break into 10 pieces!"

As he helped people along, however, he noticed that once one problem was fixed, another would immediately arise and he began to despair. The second he lost hope, Avalokiteshvara's head broke into 10 pieces.

Seeing this, the Buddhas decided to help put the pieces back together as individual heads, and gave him a third eye on each head and an eleventh head above the original 10. This way, he could always see the sufferings of sentient beings around the world.

Additionally, the Buddhas gave him 1,000 arms so that he could lend a hand (so to speak) to everyone in need.

Today, the Dalai Lama is considered a reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara (or "Chenrezig" as his name is called in the Tibetan language), the Bodhisattva of compassion.

And all of this reminds me of my trip to Thailand, but I'll have to share actual photo highlights in a separate post.

Suffice it to say that it was really while I was in Southeast Asia last summer that I got this idea of feeling at peace with myself.

One night while I was traveling, I just imagined what it would be like if I were to die in my sleep and whether I'd be upset looking back on my life.

Somehow, I came to the realization that I was pretty happy with the way I have lived up until that point and I've made it a fairly common practice to reflect on everything every once in a while-- because you never know what'll happen.

I guess, although I'm still unemployed and I haven't had a chance to raise a family or do some other big things in the world, I'm pretty satisfied with what I've accomplished in my years on Earth and would feel comfortable knowing what I'm leaving behind-- even if it's not a legacy that people will necessarily remember in generations to come. My friends and family all know how much I appreciate their love and support, and I hope they know that I would gladly do the same for them.

All we really have is the present moment and it's important to really live.

So on that note, I bid the world good night!

I'll try again not to sleep through all of tomorrow. Teeheehee!