Remembering Mr. Kot

Had dinner with my parents, sister and brother-in-law near my studio last night.  In our conversations, we shared our memories of late Mr. Kot who passed away on Christmas Eve.  Apparently, my dad had known this good friend since 1986, that’s more than 30 years of friendship!  As for me, my earliest memory of Mr. […]

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Childhood Neighborhood Visit

Got up really early and made a rehearsal drive to the bus station where I’ll be taking the bus downtown to the half-marathon starting point tomorrow morning. Still very early afterwards, I decided to go visit my childhood neighborhood. Started a long walk in the nature trail at around the time I’ll be starting the […]

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Thanksgiving II

It’s thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada. Besides friends, I’m really thankful that my sister’s family welcomed me to stay in their house during this long vacation. And my sister cooked us a wonderful and warm thanksgiving dinner tonight!

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Hospitality

At the Toronto airport customs, I was asked when I last visited Canada, I told them it has been more than 6 years, and the personnel’s response, “wow, it’s been 6 years?! You should come back more often to see family and friends!” Not exact wording, but that’s seriously what he sounded like to me. […]

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Short Okinawa Trip

Joined my sister and brother-in-law on a short 5-day trip to Okinawa last week.  The trip did recall memories of my trip to Hawaii 4 years ago, that’s still one of my best trips thus far.  I once again got to see the boundless horizon of the ocean, which is becoming somewhat of an annual summer tradition […]

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Readings and Recent Updates

Finished reading a couple of good books (Where’s God When It Hurts, Man’s Search for Meaning).  I’ve always avoided reading books on war, death, and suffering, and I would probably never have picked up and read those books if not for my uncle’s recent passing away. My uncle’s passing away seems to be transforming me still, […]

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Uncle’s Funeral

Was at my uncle’s funeral last night and this morning, it was my first time in a buddhist themed funeral and also my first time helping out in one.  Helping out as a receptionist, I asked those who came to the funeral to sign their names and in return I handed them a “吉儀” – an […]

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Starting Life Anew

After a week of mourning and using cartooning and bible scriptures to help myself emotionally cope with my uncle’s passing away, I wished to start life anew this week.  I started my running practice again, made 3 short morning runs over the week, the associated endorphins generated seemed to help.  I also started a new daily routine […]

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Mourning… (end)

It was about this time last week when my uncle passed away.  I’ve since started a week long mourning by avoiding any kind of social gatherings including Sunday worship, calligraphy class, and fellowship.  The avoidance came natural as I have the habit of hiding myself when I’m down.  I’ve also tried out an unorthodox therapy […]

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R.I.P. Uncle

Since visiting my uncle at the hospital and seeing his worsening condition more than a week ago, I have been researching about how to help my uncle review his life to make him know that he has lived a meaningful life.  I was almost ready to start mocking up a list of questions to ask […]

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