Ants Will Find A Way

Posted on March 29, 2013 by birdhousebirdy

From 2010 to 2011, every Sunday afternoon we made a little trek to the Myanmar Buddhist Vipassana Meditation Centre in Singapore for a one-hour Buddhism lesson. We were introduced by a friend to the resident monk, Master U Pannananda and he agreed to give us lessons every week. So for about six months, every Sunday we went to the little, somewhat run-down shop fitted into a somewhat older strip of buildings for our lessons.

google street view

We were a little timid for starters, since this was a whole new ballgame for us, but the lovely, humble Burmese people who worked and volunteered at the Centre were so kind to us that we began to settle in. This is my son having his homework checked by Master U Pannananda.

We learned some very interesting and generally applicable principles during our lessons and came away better people for them.

One of the core messages throughout our lessons was the idea of moving beyond self-cherishing (that instinctive view that motivates us to put ourselves, our own ideas, and our own needs above others) toward cherishing others and the needs of others. This is loving compassion and the class mantra was simple, “Be kind to every living creature.”

We saw the impact this had on us immediately. Soon after our classes ended, my fourth-grade son had a kleptomaniac classmate. Throughout the school year the classmate had stolen money from my son’s backpack and other valuables from all the kids’ backpacks. The kleptomaniac also stole my son’s favorite stuffed animal that my son was keeping in his school desk.

The plushie’s name is Thor and is about the size of a fist. He’s a little fellow and was a family favorite because he surprised us by joining our family on our last trip to the famous Kiddyland in the equally famous Omotesando street of Tokyo.

Well, the kleptomaniac made off with Thor, then proceeded to mark all over Thor with a black Sharpie marker, and finally claimed Thor was Kleptomaniac’s own plushie. My son was very upset, to understate his emotion. I was angry and may have suggested that we bring down this kleptomaniac kid. My son paused and said in response to my suggestion, “But I want to be kind to every living creature, and that includes Bob.” (Names have been changed.)

The next day at school, my son did indeed gently manage the situation with kindness and returned home successfully with Thor. Son was filled with joy that Thor was home and the situation was resolved with peace and compassion.

But what do I do about these ants swarming along the corners of my kitchen walls?

The ant problem is exponentially compounded by the fact that this apartment has an open kitchen. Open to the outside, in case you were wondering. Open permanently because there is no wall on outside. I know. It’s weird. More importantly, the missing wall is overly welcoming to the little ants that I ought to be treating with loving kindness.

Now we have already dealt with the bug issue. Last summer both kids were working on a nature project with the local zoo. One requirement was to capture, gas, and pin a certain number of bugs to start a bug collection. The issue of showing kindness to all living creatures was again raised, and brilliantly overcome. Instead of seeking out live bugs, they worked extra diligently to find recently dead but still preserved bugs. They would collect and pin the already dead bugs rather than killing live ones, and we all found joy in that solution.

But the ants. What to do about the ants? My strategy so far has been trying to dissuade their interest in me and my kitchen by spraying a citrus spray along the surfaces open to the outside. I spray all the corner paths that I watch them traversing in hopes of convincing the ants to just move along peacefully. That is my gentle kindness to the ants.

Unfortunately, my citrus spray is not keeping them out permanently. Every morning the little fellows are scurrying along new routes. Always, ~~love~~ ants will find a way.

The Gospel of Jane Eyre

Posted on March 21, 2013 by birdhousebirdy

Throughout the day today I have searched a dozen times for the same flights. The dozen searches are not because I cannot find the flights, it is that I talk myself out of them, close the browser, then talk myself back into them. I am struggling to click the Book Flight buttons for this trip, and that might be a first.

You see, we are frequent travelers because we are in an on-going game of World Domination where we try to collect as many countries, and their flags, as possible.

Here is my daughter’s backpack with her flag collection. For a 14-year old kid, she is amassing quite an empire.

We each have quite a nice collection but there is one flag that would be a gem, the Arkenstone or Heart of the Mountain, as it were. A prize above all others. It is the only non-quadrangle country flag in this world and we’re pretty sure it is a necessity. You have to admit, this flag would look very nice on that backpack.

crwflags.com

So here’s the full situation with all the variables that are keeping me hovering around the Book Flight button.

Spring break. That’s a biggie. A whole week plus weekends to see somewhere new. We’ve been in Singapore for three years now. Our first spring break we went to Australia, and loved it. Our second spring break we went to Laos and Vietnam, and loved it. It would be a pity not to find another interesting destination for our third spring break here. I should say, third and final spring break in Singapore. Because we are moving from Singapore in June, this is our last chance for an easy flight in this region.

Oooohhh. This blog post is seriously doing its job and helping me talk myself into this trip. I’m so ready to click the button.

I would have clicked the button a month ago but for two variables that persuaded me against it. The first is that we managed to watch a program on the discover channel about the most dangerous airports in the world and yes, Kathmandu is in the top ten. The second was that my planned route for the trip included a jaunt over the Friendship Highway into Tibet but that became impossible when China froze all tourist visas for entry into Tibet in the month of March. So I hesitated and gave myself time to think more practically and a bit beyond that glorious flag and how perfect it would be in our collection.

That practical thinking has everything to do with one critical factor. That factor being that we will be spending approximately 1 gazillion dollars traveling in the UK this summer with my mum. Hence the hesitation now. How can I possibly justify another trip on top of that already amazing holiday trip for the summer?

Gentle reader, can you see my dilemma? Last easy chance at acquiring an extra-points country like Nepal, but that chance comes mere months before an extravagant summer in the UK.

I may need to turn to the gospel of Jane Eyre to guide me through this decision.

indianapublicmedia.org

Jane would say: “It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom that mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot.”

She would also say: “Who blames me? Many, no doubt; and I shall be called discontented. I could not help it: the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes.”

Looks like we are clicking on the Book Tickets button! Jane is always right in these things.

But not so fast, Jane would also say: “I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”

Drats. I might just have to stick with frugal, simple Jane on this one.

Though I did check to ensure that Nepal offers a “Visa on Arrival” service.

Just in case.

Image | Posted on March 19, 2013 by birdhousebirdy

Hug an Arizonan

Posted on March 18, 2013 by birdhousebirdy

This post is not about books but I need to use books to illustrate a point today.

Here is a photo of about half of our books.

Because we are in the middle of an international move, we had to go from living with this number of books (above) down to living for about five months with the bare essentials of this number of books (below).

Now before you report me to Child Protective Services for this kind of cruel treatment, please let me explain that we are about 1km from four brilliant libraries. So we do have access to more books than just this little short stack.

The question is, what books would you put in your short stack of essentials?

In answering which books are in mine, I have to explain that I am from Arizona. I know I’ve mentioned that before, but the contents of my short stack cannot be understood unless you really understand what that means when someone tells you that they are from Arizona.

For your future reference, Arizona produces outliers. Not just physical outliers or statistical outliers but we are bred to be emotional outliers, which leads us to being social outliers, and basically that just means that we trust no one. Not the pilot, the captain, the president, the doctor, the bank, or, I’ll be honest with you here, anyone. We trust no one. Just accept that without taking it personally. There is nothing that can be done about it so let’s just all move along. Nothing unusual to see here.

Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking of that friend you have from Arizona that is social, fun, normal, and gives standard-type Christmas presents. But I’m here today to tell you that that friend is either not really from Arizona, as in generationally raised by a long line of Arizonans, OR that friend is faking normal. Because a generational Arizonan is never truly normal. We are outliers. In this case, statistical outliers on the normalcy bell curve.

With that little glimpse, you should not be surprised that one book that made it into my essential short stack of books is this one on studying to take the amateur radio license exam.

Or this book on becoming an expert using the map and compass.

Look. I live in a large city and have an iPhone on me 24/7. I’m not out exploring or anything. But if some day we are all out on some old container ship and I’m the only person left conscious and I need to be able to 1) get the ship in a certain direction AND 2) be able to use the radio on board, I’m ready. In fact, I would probably save all your lives after receiving critical coordinates over the radio and then using the map and compass to thread the needle between Scylla and Charybdis. With that kind of pressure and all you nice people relying on me, I simply could not pack up these books in good conscience.

It’s a bit of a curse. We don’t sleep well at night unless we gave our friends this book for Christmas last year, which I did, and bought an extra one for myself.

And this book, same deal. Christmas present for friends and an extra one for myself.

And another one. Exact same. Christmas gift plus one.

The answer is yes. I could in fact save us all from a pandemic and perform the emergency wilderness tracheotomy on you after you choked on the steaks that I properly cut from some critter. And so could my friends, IF they read the books that I gave them.

So the next time you see an Arizonan awkwardly sitting in a corner at a party, just know that we are probably mentally preparing how to safely evacuate everyone from that party should a meteor smash into the neighborhood.

Hug an Arizonan. We work really hard in our imaginations for you.

Love is Sweeping.

Posted on March 14, 2013 by birdhousebirdy

I have lived in the Eastern Hemisphere for about ten years and have traveled to sixteen countries in this region. After careful observation and contemplation, I’m willing to go out on a limb and state that the people in this region sweep…a lot.

On my morning commute, even if I arrive very early while it is still pitch black outside (well, as pitch black as a big city like Singapore gets anyway), I will have passed 500 sweepers.

Here is one happy Singapore sweeper from this morning.

And a lovely sweeper in New Delhi.

Here’s a good one. Here is a sweeper in Cambodia. Do you recognize this sweeper? He’s pretty famous as far as sweepers go. Probably would make the sweeper Hall of Fame or Sweeper Pin-up Calendar. Any guesses?