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!

Another new start...

So it's been almost a year since I've posted and I'm happy to inform anyone who happened to stumble on this blog (I doubt any of my original 3 readers are still checking this site...) that Grasshopper finished his graduate degree!

After spending 2 years "studying" for my MBA, I walked across the stage right into funemployment land! Well, I interned for 2 months and spent my last month job-searching-- but I've pretty much been a useless blob.

Anyway, I have to admit that I never felt quite at home as I was pursuing the MBA, as it was some weird world where people acted like they were in high school or college, but were really in their late 20's/early 30's. There would be constant parties until 4AM each night and scandalous encounters would happen after I had already exited each event. People clawed after one another for a spot at the coveted McKinsey or Goldman Sachs companies. And a supposedly "popular" crowd of people, who acted like they were BFF's since the first day they met, basically set the tone for the school's culture. Definitely not a great place for someone who's socially awkward and doesn't like most people. =P

I also have to admit that my creativity has really been stifled over those 2 years (I'm sure many people can see that business school is all about conformity), so I haven't had many interesting thoughts to share.

I do, however, still need to post photos sometime of my travels. During the past two years, I had visited, but not posted photos of:

• Costa Rica
• India
• the Philippines
• Thailand
• Singapore
• Canada (Toronto and Vancouver-- for the 2010 Olympic Games!)
  
• Nicaragua
• Austria
• Hungary
• Slovakia

So there are definitely a lot of travel updates I need to make!

And now, as I enter a stage in my life-- where I am searching for the next big thing, I feel like I can start blogging again about all that's going on.

In addition to my internship and job search, I also moved three different times to new sublet arrangements in the past few months (i.e. I've been "grasshopping" across Manhattan). Once to a former classmate's/ex-friend's apartment near my old business school. Once to a boarding house in midtown east. And now, I shall be moving onto an apartment share in a luxury building on the crookedest street in the world (hint: NOT Lombard Street in San Francisco).

Give up? I'm moving to WALL STREET!

Yep, Grasshopper is going where the sharks swim and living in the crucible of all evil. It'll be an interesting time, if anything...

I've also been going to the gym a lot lately and I swear that my newly washed grey polo shirt didn't fit as easily around the armholes as before. Either the shirt had shrunk or my biceps have gotten bigger. I'd like to imagine it's the latter. Teeheehee!

I actually realize that the last time I had such an insane dedication to swimming and exercise was another period of unemployment in my life... Perhaps these sad bouts of being completely useless just bring out the most physically active side of me. Who knows?

OK, it's 6AM and I still haven't slept. Not really sure why I'm so awake (unless you count the fact that I woke up at 11AM this morning, watched online videos, went back to sleep and got to the pool only at 5PM), but I should really try to get rest at a normal time. Don't wanna turn into a vampire! Hahahah.


Good night, world!

Lost and Found...

Oddly enough, I had this weird experience today that has me jarred-- and this is sort of a follow-up to last week's posting...

I had a meeting with a client for one of my classes today and I lost my glasses in the haze of the morning. When I got home later in the day, I was sad to find my extra pair of eyes gone. :(

So of course, I passed out at 6PM on my bed and woke up an hour later with an irritation in my eye. I rubbed it briefly and then it was gone-- but so was my left contact lens, I noticed.

So the universe was playing some sort of strange game where it wanted me to be blind...

And a few months ago, I put these two Buddha paintings in a bag, where I meant to give one of the paintings to my Mei-Mei and keep another for myself. But I lost them and couldn't find them!

So here's the strange part...

I suddenly had a thought to look in this brown paper bag for the Buddha paintings-- and there they were!

Then (although I had already combed through my apartment with a flashlight-- and even dug through my trash, looking for leads!), I saw my glasses hanging on a window curtain string in the bathroom!

AND I found my contact lens on the floor next to the bed, where I had ALREADY looked earlier in the day!

I was wondering if this was some weird poltergeist playing a prank on me, but I'm not really that insane. Hahahah!

It is a weird coincidence that I had a bunch of lost things found today... I just wish I could think of more things I've lost, so that I could find them now.

I'm on quite a roll as of the past 2 hours!

(And now, I think I'm finally over the Fray song, since I'm experiencing the founding of lost posessions...)

You Found Me

We had a conference this past Friday at school, and I was losing a ton of sleep planning things.

Over the week, there was also a lot of stuff due for my classes and usually, I don't get so stressed out about academics but for some reason, I completely felt like I was drowning.

This song by the Fray was on my replay list all week and I'm still listening to it all the time now.

i wonder when I'll get sick of it...

Exploitative?

I just read a blog on MSNBC where some critic is ranting about why he won't see Michael Jackson's "This is It" movie concert (which is basically a bunch of clips from MJ's rehearsals, pieced together to look something like an actual concert) and it's leading me to post my own whiny rant.


The whiny blogger says, "Perhaps to some, it feels like a way to celebrate a great entertainer. But if so, why not just air it on television? Why charge admission?" and the whiny commenters on his blog all seem to agree (http://testpattern.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/26/2044676.aspx).

Now I personally agree that the Michael Jackson movie is slightly exploitative, but let's not forget that MJ had hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and the concert promoters took a huge loss when he passed away-- so it completely makes sense for them to strike while the iron's hot and try to cut their losses (possibly even turning a profit).

The reason I'm annoyed, though, is that there seems to be more outcry over this movie than there was over another set of movies about a sensitive subject that I don't like to think about (or even really talk about) too much: September 11th.

When they made two movies (i.e. "United 93" and "World Trade Center", which starred that horrid Nicholas Cage) about the 9-11 attacks, I found it incredibly distasteful and was pretty angry when critics gushed over how well-made the movies were. (FYI, I refused and still refuse to ever watch those movies.)

As a New Yorker who attended school just two blocks away from the World Trade Center and continues to fast each year on 9-11, I found the idea of Hollywood profiting off of the attack-- just five years later (in 2006)-- to be in extremely poor taste.

I asked the question, "If these producers really wish to educate the public about 9-11 and want to honor the victims' memories, why not create a documentary or movie that can be seen on network TV and available to the public?"

I find it extremely disturbing that the public could be so outraged over a concert film about a pop star (and let's not forget that people who wanted to see the concert would have had to pay a ton more than they would for a movie ticket), but have no such protest for films that are clearly trying to profit off of one of the most horrific events in American history.

I'm seriously hoping that at least the dollars will speak and that the MJ movie will gross significantly higher sales than the two 9-11 movies did.

But on a happier note, the Yankees just beat the Boston Red Sux. Go Yanks!!

The Witching Hour

It's past 4AM on Friday night and I'm unable to sleep.

Of course, I know exactly why. I woke up this morning in order to make it on time for a client meeting (from one of my classes this semester), spent an exhausting day walking through the site and collapsed as soon as I got home at 7PM-- only to re-wake myself at 9:30PM to go to a good friend's birthday party on the Lower East Side.

Now, I'm back at home, awake and annoyed, because I need to meet someone else at 8:30AM.

Another friend, who I'm meeting at noon, just texted me and my neighbor is playing his cello.

So odd that there are so many random people awake at this hour, but none of us are actually interacting with others...

For some reason, my imagination is starting to get the better of me and I'm thinking of ghosts and other supernatural beings.


And this is all reminding me of being back in the Philippines this summer...

For a strongly Catholic country, there were definitely a lot of superstitions going around.

As an example, this one rural village in the mountains that I stayed in had a creek where people would bathe. But nobody would go there after dark, due to the frequent sightings of ghosts there. The story went that there was a scorned woman in that village, who ended up hanging herself on a tree in the mountains. Now, she appears as an attractive ghost to unsuspecting men that follow her-- ultimately off the edge of a cliff, meeting her in the afterlife.

And I also met some other interesting folks who actually said that they were able to see spirits-- similar to the kid in "The Sixth Sense".

Imelda Marcos-- the crazy first lady of the Philippines from the 1960's to 80's-- did some horrible things to people in her country and there are tons of stories of angry spirits still restless in certain areas of Manila.

Oddly enough, some of the Filipinos I know who have visited NY haven't noticed anything strange at the World Trade Center (i.e. 9-11 attacks) site.

They theorize that perhaps the way that the country united in the immediate aftermath calmed the souls...

Strange late night ruminations I'm having, huh?