Reflecting on this whole journey, I think there were a lot of things that my teammates, Christina and Segovia, had to go through. There were many hurdles to jump over, but I think the rewards were definitely worth it. Emotions and stress levels ran high, but we all pulled through. Good call by Christina to have daily yoga in the morning to Shantha’s music, to help center and focus us on the tasks at hand.

The week leading up to the Conference was a roller coaster ride for everyone: working late hours, trying to repair equipment that was not working, and getting up in the early hours of the morning. For me, this journey was not only a physical journey, but a mental one as well. I think I surprised myself at what I am capable of doing.

For those who have listened to the calls (as I did), there was A LOT of information to absorb in such a short period of time! Hopefully, I can get through all the replays and ask questions in the forum. Such a wealth of knowledge was given to us in only a few days, and it’s going to take a while to absorb it all. The speakers were amazing! And the feedback we got from participants has been overwhelming (in a positive way).
Thank you to all those who joined on this crazy journey with us!

Tags: shanti, yoga conference, yoga event, virtual conference, virtual yoga conference, teleconference

Through the years with this laptop, the amount of grief, anger, and heartache Vista has caused me has been just about unbearable, almost to the point where I was extremely tempted to throw my laptop out of the window and run it over with my car.

Finally, I decided to take my laptop to my brother-in-law so that he could erase all traces of Vista on my laptop and put in a decent operating system.

He downgraded it to XP.

And thank goodness for that! Now I can work much more efficiently without having to worry about those annoying Vista widgets that get in the way. Also, I know where everything is!

Vista has truly caused a lot of heartache for me! That just goes to show…sometimes old is better than new.

Tags: vista, xp, windows, microsoft, IT, laptop, new software, new version of microsoft

In reality, a cell phone is not really a phone anymore. I’d say that over 80% of the time I don’t even call my friends to talk. I text them. I reply to them on twitter via my twitterberry app on my Blackberry. I invite friends to events using Facebook mobile. Instead of talking to them, I write on their virtual walls. I communicate via email for business – most of the time through my “phone.”

Is voice dead? Of course not – it’s always nice to hear someone’s voice, but for those quick “how ya doin” or “where we going?”, text has taken over. Now if I could just decide between Blackberry, Android and iPhone…

Tags: iphone, blackberry, facebook, twitterberry, virtual walls, text messaging, sms

Stress is not fun. Nor is it attractive.

But how can we cope with stress in this fast-paced society that we live in? What are effective ways to deal with stress?

One of my friends shuffles cards and works on his magic tricks, while another friend of mine does balloon sculptures. I do yoga. Or, if the stress is really bad, I like to put on some ballroom music and pretend I am Ginger Rogers dancing with Fred Astaire.

Recently, I came across a quote from Anne Wilson Schaef: “Sometimes you just need a good scream. Remember, a good ‘scream-a-logue’ directed at no one is often more effective than a dialogue or monologue.” This quote reminded me of a news segment I saw a number of years ago about a man (I believe he was homeless) in Berkeley who would allow people to yell at him to get out their frustrations.

He would go up to business men and women and ask them if they needed to vent about anything. Some people were very modest, but others screamed at him. Of course, he didn’t take it personally. However, those people who needed the release felt so much better afterwards.

It is so important not to hold in stress. If there isn’t a release of it, stress will just start to build up and make you feel like a pressure cooker that is about to explode. It is not safe for the body, nor is it safe for those around you when you are ready to burst from all that stress!

Tags: stress, pressure cooker, anne wilson schaef, frustration, scream, busy society

I was feeling better on Friday, so I could make it out for youth group and was able to see a very interesting video. It’s so relevant to today’s society, where everyone is so busy and rushing to get to their next appointment. How many things do we miss in this life because of our schedules?

My prayer for everyone this holiday season is that people will take enough time to see the important things that are right there in front of them before the violin case closes and is gone forever.

Here is a few of Joshua Bell’s great performances:

• Joshua Bell plays Beethoven
• Joshua Bell playing Ave Maria

Tags: Joshua Bell, Josh Bell, nation’s greatest musician, Washington Post, Violinist

My weekend was a kind of nice, as I had four days off to relax. What I enjoyed this long weekend was that, first of all, I finished reading a book called “The Hundred Secret Senses” by Amy Tan, who also wrote the “Joy Luck Club” book that was adapted to a film in 1993.

I LOVE reading books: novels, suspense, biography, and manga. But my problem is I don’t know how and when to stop. Once I start reading, I don’t eat, go to the bathroom, or even sleep for a few days until I’ve finished the book because I’m so into it that I don’t want to leave the fantasy world! So whenever I’m busy, I ban myself from reading, sneaking a peak inside a book, or even looking at the book cover!! (I’m serious. This is how bad I am!!)

When my friend let me borrow this book to read, I promised myself that I would STOP reading after a few chapters. And I kept my promise until last weekend. I was a little over half way through this thick book, which is where the more interesting part of the story started to be revealed.

I was invited to a party for Thanksgiving but wasn’t sure if I was going or not, and in the end I decided to stay home, where I kept reading until the book was finished. In order to give myself a treat, I promised myself that I would do some stuff that I had to take care of and spend a “normal” life while reading. And I did it!!

I was so happy that I finished this book! It was very good and well written. I really liked it. And luckily, it didn’t take any longer for me to finish it than I had expected.

On Saturday morning, there was a weekly rehearsal for a play. After that, one of our former co-cast members, who works for a fish import company, brought a bunch of fish. And my play partner in this two performers’ play is a professional sushi chef, so he cut and decorated the dishes for us. Then other co-cast members came with their families and we had a big sushi/sashimi party the whole afternoon.

We had such a fun, memorable time together, filled with laughter and joy.

Tags: thanksgiving, reading a book, sushi, sashimi, rehearsal, play, performance, party, friends, family gathering

I know, I know. It doesn’t happen often but hey…nothing I can do about it now. With my head pounding on Sunday, I wondered if there was any way to speed my recovery. I drank a ton of water, tried in vain to eat, and spent hours in the shower, practically sleeping as the water fell over me. In the end I was fine and recovered fully for Monday.

I was curious though, and found this video with Tara Stiles about Yoga for Hangovers…interesting. But I sincerely hope I never have to employ this routine – ever.

Tags: hangover, rough weekend, busy day, recovery, yoga for hangovers

The other day, I went to the local convenience store and picked up some Dr. Scholl’s foot padding to help with the comfort. I put them in my shoes that night so that I wouldn’t forget in the morning.

The next morning, I put on my shoes and headed out to work. As I was walking to my car, the arches of my feet started to hurt. I just dismissed it, thinking to myself that my feet just needed to adjust to the new padding.

Then a week passed by.

“This isn’t right,” I thought to myself. “My feet should not be hurting this much.” It was getting much more difficult to walk, whether it was around the grocery store or at the office. So when I got home that night, I went to check on the foot padding. I took them out of my shoes and noticed that I had mistakenly switched them (as in I put the left foot padding in the right shoe and vice versa).

“Oh, for crying out loud! How stupid was I?!” I thought. “No wonder why the arches of my feet were hurting so much – I had switched them!”

A total “duh” moment, but sometimes I’ve just got to laugh at stupid.

Tags: new shoes, foot padding, switched shoes, laugh hard, cry out loud

I worked out with a friend, and then headed over to church to help out another friend with a school photo project. We had taken 35 shots of the 36 non-digital roll, and we were stuck on what to do for the last one. I have a penchant for trying to jump on top of or over things, so I took a look at a car parked next to the church. I said, “I can jump over it.”  “No way,” he said. “Wanna bet?” I smiled. So, he moved his car next to the curb, and I took two practice jumps just in front of the car to make sure I could clear it. Obviously, there was no guarantee that nothing bad would happen, but what the heck, right? Moment of truth. I took about 20 steps back, and then off I went, over the car! (I hope to have a video of this soon, but for now, I will just wait to see how the developed picture turns out.) After that, I went to practice volleyball with some of the youth kids before the church-wide Thanksgiving dinner that night.

On Sunday morning I woke up at 6 am, again as usual, and went to work out with the same I guy I worked out with the day before. I’m still training for the 300 workout, by the way. Then, I hit service and Sunday school before going to a birthday party for the coolest one-year-old ever – Ian! I capped off my weekend with third-row seats for the Lakers vs. Rockets game.

Man o’ man, did I enjoy my sleep when I got home that night.

Tags: 300 workout, jump over a car, church, lakers, counselor, thanksgiving dinner, kobe jumps over a car, car jump

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