A line from a lovely essay about writing I just finished in the Dec. 25, 06 New Yorker by Orhan Pamuk. It’s called “My Father’s Suitcase.”
“The writer’s secret is not inspiration – for it is never clear where that comes from – but stubbornness, endurance.”
If you say “ai yah” with the proper inflection, it is the commonly used Korean distress sound and can be equivalent to anything on a spectrum from “Oh dear” to “S***!”
In this case I am working on including more of myself and my voice in my thesis intro (as directed by my committee) and I’ve run across this line in Bruce Hainley’s latest article in December’s Artforum, “But the first person now catches in my throat like a fish bone.” I think he’s just referring to a section in his article that he edited out – but somehow his words have a way of jumping out and addressing me personally (in disapproval). Which reminds me, I want to check out his new book Foul Mouth.
Korean tradition has the children bowing to their parents on New Year’s Day to show their respect. In return, the parents give the children a symbolic gift of money. Traditionally we also eat ttuk duk, which is a soup made with rice cake ‘dumplings,’ (small round medallions to symbolize wealth and prosperity in the upcoming year – another reference to money!) Our family has added the tradition of sharing our New Year’s resolutions, specifically one goal in each of three categories: mind, body, and spirit.
Bella never ever forgets this Korean custom and she presented me with a little New Year’s resolution poster yesterday – with lots of hearts mind you – and is anxiously awaiting the official bowing today. If I could figure out my scanner I would share her colorful poster with you.
In the meantime, here are my resolutions:
Mind: Complete the Spanish Rosetta Stone Level I. Continue participating in the book club I’ve joined. And dare I say for the third year in a row… finish my thesis!!
Body: Continue running and maintain body weight at 120#. Do yoga once a week. Exchange massages once a month.
Spirit: Read The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren. Work on accepting Christians and their doctrines. Read The God Delusion, which may shed some light on why we humans seem to need religion so much.
This 2007 is going to be big one. It’s scary to think about. Here are some things I will be doing in the new year to-do list style:
1. Plan a wedding and get married.
2. Find a new job.
Option A – preferably involving writing and/or editing in the magazine world.
Option B – apply for a doctoral program.
Option C – continue working as an English Language Arts Coach.
3. Buy or rent a condo/apartment/house in south Orange County.
4. Find a good high school for Bella to attend.
5. Rent my old house.
6. Budget my finances.
7. Reach 5,000 hits a day.
Wow. Looks like a steep learning curve kind of a year. Yikes and double yikes. But I suppose people get married, set up new homes, and find new jobs all the time, right?
If you’re sitting around the house with family like we are, here’s a good site to check out. It’s the best re-cut movie trailers of 2006 according to Rolling Stone magazine – you’ll find “Scary Mary” there and The Shining re-cut to be a sweet, heart-tugger… and don’t miss Jaws re-cut to be about “shark love in a fluffy, family-friendly adventure.”
Or I suppose I could save you the trip and embed it here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92yHyxeju1U]
An exquisite recipe from my friend Caryn:
DARK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
(Yield: 30 truffles)
Ingredients:
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
OR
2 8-oz. bars of dark chocolate–the darker the better
optional: 1 tsp. almond extract, rum flavoring, THC
Coating: 1/2 cup cocoa powder
———————————————————
Preparation:
Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
Pour cream into a saucepan and bring to a simmer; add butter. Slowly add cream/butter mixture to the melted chocolate.
When thoroughly combined, pour it all into a glass bowl.
Now here’s the tricky part: you want the chocolate to cool down so that it can be formed into bite-size morsels. If it’s too hard, you won’t be able to work with it. If it’s too soft, ditto.
Before you form the individual pieces, the chocolate mixture should be refrigerated for a couple of hours.
If you keep a close eye on it, then maybe you can scoop it out and form little balls about the size of malted milk balls by rolling them in your hands.
Or… you can pour the cooled (but still liquid) chocolate mixture into some sort of mold or form. Use your imagination.
Once you’ve shaped the truffles, roll each one around separately in a bowl filled with the cocoa powder. Gingerly remove it and set it on a plate.
Refrigeration depends on the weather.
Get ready for an intense oral experience.
Last King of Scotland gets an A. It is a compelling and convincing telling of how a young Scottish doctor gets drawn into being the personal physician to Idi Amin, the brutal Ugandan president in the 1970’s. Based on true events! Superb acting from Forest Whitaker who appears to be the popular bet for best actor this year (imdb 8.1/10.0). (Warning: some flashes of intense graphic violence.)
Dreamgirls gets a C+ (but Bella thought it was ‘really good”) imdb 7.1/10.0. Remember the king in The Holy Grail, the one who was always shouting to keep his son from bursting into song? Don’t get me wrong, I love musicals, but Dreamgirls needed some heavy-handed editing. I found myself making snipping motions in the air every time the dialogue turned to song. Basically, the premise was fun, the stage shows entertaining, but there were no lovable characters, the music was mediocre, and all the sung dialogue needed to be cut. I still like Eddie Murphy. And Jennifer Hudson, who was voted off American Idol, is now in line for Best Supporting Actress.
Hmmm. I’ve been wondering about the V-sign Bella and her friends throw in every picture they take and Corrina came up with some info. Here is Corrina’s email on the subject:
“After reading your blog and your inquiry about why Bella always throws the peace sign, I asked my co-worker about it. He’s an avid photographer as are most of my co-workers. I noticed that most of my co-workers also throw the peace sign when getting photographed, and someone had told me that it was an anime thing. My Korean roommates and their friends do the peace sign for photos too. So when I asked Charles at work about it, he e-mailed me back and said, “you mean why do Asians throw the peace sign for photos?†And I said, well, my niece happens to be half Korean, but she lives in Joshua Tree. So he sent me back this info:
it’s funny you asked. i was curious myself and did my own research a while back. i found the answer including the history of “why asians do the peace sign when taking pictures”. i actually have the document in my phone since this topic always happens to come up ESPECIALLY among asians…
The V Sign
The V sign is a hand gesture in which the first and second fingers are raised and parted, whilst the remaining fingers are clenched. Generally considered a “Victory” sign, it can also carry connotations of “Peace” and “Defiance”. In Asia, the gesture is often used by persons posing in photographs, with no necessary particular meaning.
Winston Churchill
The V-sign is an ancient sign. It stands for the letter V for Victory. Victory over an opponent. Victory in War with, at the end of it, Peace!! The sign itself does not mean Peace, but rather Victory in Battle after a gruelsome slaughtering fight between opposing camps. The sign was widely introduced by Sir Winston Churchill, the Second World War Prime Minister of Great Britain, Europe, when the war was won over Germany. Early on in the war he used palm in (sometimes with a cigar between the fingers). Later in the war he used palm out.
Japan and the V Sign
During the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, figure skater Janet Lynn stumbled into Japanese pop culture when she fell during a free-skate period, but continued to smile even as she sat on the ice. Though she placed only 3rd in the actual competition, her cheerful diligence and indefatigability resonated with many Japanese viewers, making her an overnight celebrity in Japan. Afterwards, Lynn (a peace activist) was repeatedly seen flashing the V sign in the Japanese media. Though the V sign was known of in Japan prior to Lynn’s use of it there, she is credited by some Japanese for having popularized its use in amateur photographs. Perhaps due to Japanese cultural influence, the V sign in photographs has become popular with young Koreans as well. Thus, spreading throughout other asian countries.
Through the 1970s and 1980s in Japan, the V sign was often accompanied by a vocalization: “piisu!” This gairaigo exclamation, which stood for “peace”, has since fallen into disuse, though the V sign itself remains steadfastly popular. Saying the the word “peace†when posing for a photograph may also be another way of saying “cheeseâ€.
An additional significance to this sign is seen in the anime show, Ranma. In one episode, a character repeatedly attempts to take surreptitious pictures of Ranma, to catch him off guard. But the photographer is disappointed that, upon developing, every photo features him looking at the camera and displaying this sign, indicating that he was aware at every instance of the pursuit. Hence, the sign could indicate a posed photograph.
…sooo, I guess it’s just made its way all over popular culture (unless Bella and/or her friends happen to be into anime). The increase in availability of cameras and access to the photos themselves probably has helped spread this phenom.
-Corrina”
I’ve actually pieced together my introduction and have gone to work on my conclusion! My office is getting so clean it is unrecognizable. I have drunk so much Earl Grey (with lemon like the queen) that it may take weeks for me to get back to a normal sleeping pattern. My neck is so tense I have been going to the chiropractor on a weekly basis, instead of monthly. All of those thoughts are related.
Looks like the San Francisco trip is in the bag; however, I have backed out of going to NYC in January as the Feminist Future conference at MoMA is completely sold out. Darn.
1. Discuss the wedding guest list. (Apparently the thing to do is to make three lists: must invite, should invite, would be nice to invite…)
2. Put away Christmas decorations.
3. Bring live tree outside. (note: look into buying drip line stuff)
4. Review Bella’s scrapbook pile for 2005 (we save everything and then pick a few favorites at the end of the year).
5. Engagement photo shoot ??? (towards sunset, but where? in the Nat’l Park?)
6. See Children of Men, Dreamgirls, and (I forget the third movie Chad wanted to see)
7. Start reading The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren.
8. Write my new year’s resolutions.
9. Find a Korean restaurant where we can eat ttok guk (rice cake soup) on New Year’s day. [n.b. none within an hour’s drive]
from my dad’s Christmas email this year
…”Next year should be exciting.
Jeannie is getting married in June to the fine bachelor and finally puts the thesis behind (no pressure intended) and gets published at least in part. Balla turns 14 and looks even prettier and remains as a top student.
Songbae seems content with his life in SF and may even be happier if he finds a better half.
Sue is expecting her or their first baby or our second grandbaby (how exciting!) and seems to enjoy relaxing life with ever-caring Joss in Bangkok.
I am looking forward to retiring at the end of June. I will have more time for some other things than work such as traveling, golfing, and some charity volunteering etc while I am healthy. Mom is a little anxious and concerned that I might be in her way too much after retirement, especially at a smaller house. I will of course try not to.
We should be busy counting our blessings.
It has been our family tradition that we talk about our new year’s resolutions on the new year’s day but you are not home so that I think that it might be a little awkward to do it electonically. I hope you come up with a good idea as an alternatve.
My idea is that you read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren in the next few weeks before the end of January. If you have finished reading it, I will be happy to reward you with $100.00 instead of bowing ceremony on the new year’s day. This proposal applies to Bella, Chad, and Joss. It is my bad habit that I believe carrot usually works good for children and adults as well in the Capitalist society.
Well, I can see that you are getting tired of my lecture. so I will let you go.
Love,
Mom and Dad at Christmas 2006″
Chad did a little research on this Rick Warren who happens to be a pastor of church probably fifteen minutes from where Chad is working at this very moment.
from Amazon.com
“The spiritual premise in The Purpose-Driven Life is that there are no accidents—God planned everything and everyone. Therefore, every human has a divine purpose, according to God’s master plan. Like a twist on John F. Kennedy’s famous inaugural address, this book could be summed up like this: “So my fellow Christians, ask not what God can do for your life plan, ask what your life can do for God’s plan.”
Those who are looking for advice on finding one’s calling through career choice, creative expression, or any form of self-discovery should go elsewhere. This is not about self-exploration; it is about purposeful devotion to a Christian God. The book is set up to be a 40-day immersion plan, recognizing that the Bible favors the number 40 as a “spiritually significant time,” according to author Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, touted as one of the nation largest congregations. Warren’s hope is that readers will “interact” with the 40 chapters, reading them one day at a time, with extensive underlining and writing in the margins.
As an inspirational manifesto for creating a more worshipful, church-driven life, this book delivers. Every page is laden with references to scripture or dogma. But it does not do much to address the challenges of modern Christian living, with its competing material, professional, and financial distractions. Nonetheless, this is probably an excellent resource for devout Christians who crave a jumpstart back to worshipfulness. –Gail Hudson
and From Publishers Weekly
“Pastor of Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist mega-church in southern California with weekly attendance of more than 15,000, Warren now applies his highly successful “purpose-driven” framework, developed in the best-seller The Purpose-Driven Church, to individual experience. The same principles Warren has taught to thousands of pastors to help churches be healthy and effective can also drive lives, he says. The book argues that discerning and living five God-ordained purposes-worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism-is key to effective living. His 40 short chapters are intended to be read over 40 days’ time, giving readers small pieces of his purpose-discovering program to chew on. Warren certainly knows his Bible. Of 800-plus footnotes, only 18 don’t refer to Christian Scripture. He deliberately works with 15 different Bible translations, leaning heavily on contemporary translations and paraphrases, as an interesting way of plumbing biblical text. The almost exclusively biblical frame of reference stakes out the audience niche for this manual for Christian living. It’s practical yet paradoxically abstract, lacking the kind of real-life examples and stories that life-application books usually provide in abundance. The book has flaws editing might have fixed. People are quoted without being identified, and subheads simply repeat lines of text, which tends to make the prose sound too simple. This book is not for all, but for those needing a certain kind of scriptural rock, it is solid.”
