Emptiness

Last night, we had another writers' briefing cum dharma talk from H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. We started around 8 and ended at 2a.m. - a bit like a half day at work, but what amazing revelations! Sprinkled amidst explanations about Buddhist items such as singing bowls and scripture holders were gems of wisdom and Buddhist dharma.

TR talked about emptiness - what is the realization of emptiness? It is the awareness that everything is a projection of our self centred mind. All karma is due to projections of a dualistic mind. When you stop these projections, you stop acting on projections, and you can break out of samsara. No more rebirth. Talk about mind blowing. Wow. The difficult thing is to distinguish between understanding, which is a passive intellectual exercise and realization, which is an active one.

However, while realization will bring you out of samsara, it will not necessarily bring you to enlightenment. Wow. I wanted to talk to Webby more about what we learned last night but Webby had an early morning meeting so we just chatted for a short while and went to sleep. So much for realization.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Watched the charity premiere of "Memoirs of a Geisha" last night. Lovely Wills had been so kind to have bought tickets for Daph, Cookie, B, Webby and I. Unfortunately, Daph took an MC, and Webby didn't make it since she was sick. I asked Pyng and Sheryl, but they had already seen it, then Kim, who didn't reply my sms, and Serina, who agreed to come, then at the last minute couldn't, so I happened to bump into Pat online, who fortunately was free and said yes! Wills and I were wondering if there was going to be a bomb at KLCC or something since it was a bit disconcerting that there were so many obstacles! In the end we still had one spare ticket.

Pity Webby couldn't come, as she was really looking forward to it. She missed a fabulous film. I heard it was panned by critics but I simply loved it for its sheer visual feast! The plot and sub plots were okay, but how simply wonderful to watch Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi and Datuk Michelle Yeoh in beautiful settings for 2 hrs and 16 minutes. After the movie, Pat, Wills and I were musing over if given the choice, which woman we would love to have out for dinner. I still can't decide. All I can say is I can't wait for the DVD - legitimite one with all the commentary etc!

Thanks for the Memoirs, Wills!

First Weekend of the Year

The first weekend of the year absolutely flew by.. Dinner on Friday night was with Webby (of course), Cookie, Faery, Fandy, Blurkids and James at The Ship, then we proceeded to my favoritest hang out, Captain's Cabin! We were meant to have around 20 people - but at the last minute, we were ffk-ed by more than half of our expected numbers.. 13 people cancelled: Gary, Bibs, Anita, Suja, Tilak, GL, Kim, JB + family. How fortunate that Cookie had invited her motley crew.. otherwise it would've been a pitifully small group for Captain's Cabin. Later, Sonny and 'Susan' turned up.. and Pyng and Serina too... so we were a respectable number in the end! Unfortunately Webby must have eaten a nasty oyster, which took its revenge by making her nauseous.. along with the smoky environment, we had a pretty unhappy Webby. I didn't improve things by freezing up since I didn't know how to make her feel better. I forgot the golden rule of empathy rather than simply problem solving. Oh well.

Late night out meant late rising on Saturday.. we woke up in time for lunch with Cookie and GL at Esquire Kitchen and then we had to dash off for our Dharma marathon session at 3 p.m., leaving GL to take Cookie home. The session started around 4 and broke for an hour and a half at 6.30 for dinner, when Faery, Webby and I ran off to Champs. Shirley surprised us by turning up for the second session. Almost twelve hours after we stepped into Damekhang, we finally left for home. Amazingly enough, I did not have a single bored moment.. though the huge amount of information was a bit too much to absorb towards the end, TR was as interesting and entertaining as always - somehow making dharma easily understood and applicable to my monkey mind! Until the next session!

Came home and saw our empty sofa... no Cookie :( But she left a sweet card for us in my laptop (how did she know I would look at my laptop when I got back, I wonder).

Another late night, another late morning.. woke up in time for lunch with Gary, Bibah, Hanis and Isaac at Chilis. Was lovely to see them and catch up before they left for Brunei. After that we had to run off to DMK to drop off keys for KMT then off to 1U for Webby's wall climbing class. Shirley surprised us again by dropping by and we went off for dinner at Cravings.

I can't believe that the weekend is over already.

Cookie's cast is off!

Took Cookie to run errands yesterday - went to her office, went to her GP (though we didn't actually see her since she was reportedly on her mobile phone and after waiting about 15 mins we decided to leave), went to the bank and finally to GH - to see Dr. G. I dropped Cookie off at A&E, but wasn't allowed to park anywhere near. The public car park was a good 15 minute sprint to A&E so I called Cookie to tell her I'd simply wait in the car until she was ready. When I picked her up an hour and a chapter of my book later, she had gotten rid of her cast - yay - she can now party! We got home about 6.20 p.m. and darling Webby had cooked a splendid Mexican meal - chicken tortillas with cheese... mouthwateringly delicious - especially as I was pretty hungry. After stuffing my face, Webby and I dashed off to play badminton with Pyng, Pik Choo, Anita and Suja. Had a great time as usual.. I do love the game. Hope Cookie can join us soon sans bum leg!

Quiet start to the New Year

Last night we had a farewell dinner for Webby's parents and Blurkids Simon came back with small fry's computer, so he stayed for dinner. Webby made linguine with funghi and sundried tomatoes while I, the eternal carnivore, roasted a chicken. After dinner, we put away the table extensions until the next time.

This morning, Webby's parents left around 9a.m., Webby went to work, and small fry went to school.

The house seems suddenly so empty.

Only cookie and her bum leg and I in the living room and Umi hiding somewhere in the back.

Such a quiet start to the year.