Such a long journey

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey ...
T.S. Eliot, 'Journey of the Magi'

Inspired by Prof. Ravin Balakrishnan, I decided to read "Such a long journey" by Rohinton Mistry -- a book painted scenes so vividly with words.

Just like its name, it was quite a journey to read it. It took over one year to flip through its 413 pages, and through which the papers light browned and the edges curved. The story slowly evolved around Gustad Noble -- a mid-aged Indian bank clerk in Bombay. His laughters, and mostly his sorrows and struggles together with his wife, sons, daughter, and friends in the tidewater of internal corruption and external threats in an enormous developing nation.

The language is beautiful, attractive even to a person who normally treat English books as sleeping aids. Here comes the rain:

"Rain had started in the early morning: great sheets of water pouring out of dark skies ... The rain crashed deafeningly on the bus shelter's corrugated metal roof. The air was heavy and disagreeable. Traffic lay like a soporous monster on the shiny wet surface of the road, throbbing and spewing out its effluvium, rousing itself now and again to move a little, sluggishly. The petrol and diesel fumes were strong and noisome; they seemed to have disolved in the very moisture; and the moisture blanketed everything".

It took a year to read a book, and a lifetime to learn the language.

Online Internet Community

Such a wonderful world, I have to say, enabled by the amazing technologies.

Imagining messaging with people across the ocean, and hearing their voices like inches away ...

Working in the field of IT for so many years, it's not until recently, I started to feel the passion some of the pioneers disclaimed. I am amazed by the power of technology and its ability to unleash the human potential, and begin to really appreciate my career direction.

In research, social computing is one of the sizzling topics, and with messaging, blogging, and online communities, I started to receive its real benefits. Today, I can hardly tolerate any moments without the mighty Internet, where searching, communicating, browsing are integrated into our hearts and souls.

Email is the past tense; VoIP (voice over IP or internet telephone), messaging, and Blogs are the ongoing buzz words, and the future -- imagine the infinity! Maybe your cell phone will pocket all the community information with you, and connect to any of your friends will be as easy as using the desktop ...

How can we better prepared for it? Each of us will have several images or identities, including the physical self and the virtual self. Maybe we will have an identity designed only for social ocassions, and another for career and professional lives, or even one for each hobby or interest. Human beings are multi-faceted by nature, but it's the technology provides us the chance to fully explore and enjoy its benefits.

A more complete individual in future will have the ability to decorate his/her images in both worlds (both physical and virtual), and get involved in both communities, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish which is more important in one's life.

Fascinated by the unlimited possbilities, maybe it's time to think about how to get involved in social computing more seriously!

Random Thoughts

My roommate moved to a different city, and now I have the place for myself. This is a quite night, and suddenly have a feeling to write something down.

My roommate has the same last name as me. He has been to Canada for more than 5 years. Like most immigrants, his journey is a mixture of different tastes, but he always kept his attitude and had a kind heart.

He is a good cook, and enjoying it. Everyday, he can make a banquet for himself. I remember before we moved together, he used to invite me and another friend to his place for dinner, and within a few minutes, he can produce something delicious. For a lazy cook like me, he becomes a great inspiration, and I learned a few dishes from him. These skills will probably benefit me in many years to come.

He loves playing badminton. Him and another friend of mine are badminton fans, and that's how we met and knew each other, but compare to them, I am not as dedicated. Too many things distract me from playing it every week, but they always kept their schedule.

He also has a kind heart and like to help people in trouble. I remember when another friend of mine had a family emergency, my roommate gave him a check with considerable amount.

His girlfriend lives in another country. They haven't seen each other for 5 years, but they exchanges phone calls everyday: a classic love story.

Now, he is working in a different city, and I hope everything will be the best for him.

Fenghua Salon: today, Fenghua Salon's application for recognition by UofT has been approved. A great news! Without noticing, I have been involved in this organization for more than 2 years. I found it a wonderful place with intriguing and kind people. The original Fenghua Salon was founded by Steven Xiao, a northern Chinese with a great sense of humor and dedication. Although a few of us helped, he is still the determining factor for it to happen. He set a good example on making things happen with dedication. Later, with the contribution of many other volunteers, Fenghua Salon now has more than 300 members. With the approval of Fenghua Salon @ UofT, we can now rent rooms and equipments for organizing more interesting events. It will be 'fun' to bring more fun to our community.

www.sszhao.com
It's interesting to find out that someone else uses the word sszhao, and that site is indeed quite interesting.

The Components of Mindfulness

I was fortunate to go to this talk today at UofT on components of Mindfulness. I don't remember everything I heard, but roughly, mindfulness includes three parts.

1. Total concentration
2. Mindful reflection (without greed, hatred, accumulate spiritual gain)
3. Insightful (understand the properties of objects)

I am glad to find the Buddhism study group at UofT, and excited to know there is a conference on Mindfulness on Oct. 15 from 9 am - 5 pm at Bahen center.

For more information, one can get it at www.religion.utoronto.ca/

On the way back, I found an English translation of the poem I liked by Hui-neng, the sixth patriarch of Ch'an (Zne):

There is no bodhi tree,
Nor mind of mirror bright,
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight?