I am going to have to read Jane Eyre -- never read it; a boring book; did not like it as a recommended book in English Lit classes. But as we grow you can not escape noticing family dynamics and changes all around you ! Perhaps I was wrong and could not see it at the time. Funny how attitudes change.
Wonderful and Fantastic news, I knew my sister would not let me down. I must tell our Auntie the good news of the deep email I received. I loved it. I do not know how she bares her soul so freely on the Web.
She must be very brave. When did this courage begin ? I never noticed this quality when we were growing up. And it does not matter that she travels a lot and hardly stays at home. Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan and Sichuan is a vast sea of people and she simply does want to be anchored and moored at these places.
I was away when she packed her bags and caught the taxi to the airport. I would have gladly driven her there in my new red sports car.
I think Auntie mentioned that she will stay in Thailand teaching Mandarin for 18 months. Her next stop will be to Monaco, South Of France, then Luxembourg before settling in Edinburgh - for how long I do not know. She plans to catch with her travel buddies. Who knows what her plans are next.
Come to think of it she is so unlike our Auntie, who has the endearing surname of Rainbow. The colors of the rainbow each radiating frequencies to make the giant iridescent hemisphere in the sky. And as the leprechaun lads would say: there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I think Auntie has found her pot gold with happy deep-work and slow productivity in her research on her kelp farm. My sister has skills in Communication; writing and presentations no wonder her skills are sought after world wide -- why would she stay at home and drown in a sea of people ?
I had a funny thought, pure speculation. I was watching the film Bourne Identity on TV : you know essentially multiple passports; hidden caches of cash, jewelry, clothes, grooming kits ,keys to prime residential apartments all over the world, and to , emotion many past deep relationships and encounters.
Then I thought, could it be ? is my sister an operative working for some obscure organization because she travels a lot and there are hundreds of stamp entries in her passport ? It makes you wonder though
I laughed,my Imagination ran wild and I would joke later to my Auntie about it and see what her response was. We would burst out laughing for sure at the preposterous idea.
There is another psychological explanation: the Peter Pan syndrome - Puer Aeternus as Jung would say: wanting to be child for ever; not wanting to grow up and go to fantasy land. I enjoyed Peter Pan too.
Maybe I have been recollecting film ideas/ themes and trying to weave an explanations - well I do write fiction after all and blessed with an active imagination.
Perhaps I should not be speculating until there is evidence to the contrary. My sister is my big sister that is and unlike other sibling relationships you hear about, our bond is very strong. There I go again making up narratives HAHA
Well at least I will have some ideas to talk about when I have tea with Auntie this afternoon.
So dear Sister if you can sense this, as I send try to send my thoughts telepathically to you.
Please pen more of your strange adventures.
I hope you were mildly amused
PS
I remember a while ago I went to an Archery range with a friend, who never drew the bow before.
Would you believe she got the bulleye on her first shot.
Later she did mention that she is a Sagittarius -- do not know this came up but it explained everything. HAHAHA
I think you can expand this into a short novel. A bit unsettling when he became me though. He became you. God help me if I ever fall in love with a Sagittarius. It would be like moss trying to feel the weight of the mist.
She laughed then I did too after reading her declaration that she desired to be a special agent.
Though Anastasia is not here now, I remembered that laugh. I missed that laugh, smiled and laughed again. Her laugh was best described as a slow laugh that rose to a range of two octaves like a soprano's singing an aria that reaches a glorious height in a cathedral ceiling and stays there until it diminishes, so when people came in the room and did know or caught the tail end of the joke or whatever, they too laughed when they heard it. It was infectious laugh and it seemed she had a tool of power to wield over us - over anybody really.
I knew Anastasia is a funny person deep down, I always knew that though she writes in a sad reflective ways about long gone episodes of her life that she believed in and had special meaning for her. I wondered whether our childhood pact was broken and that her persona was some elaborate plan to throw me and others off the scent as to she really was or represented.
There was one way to find out: by machine learning and data science.
I could use AI to tell me if Anastasia is an special agent to settle this once and for all. It is true AI is getting better which each new product release at not having hallucinations. The problem with AI has been, if it didn't have sufficient data to train on, it would give answers that were best gibberish or hallucinatory. Some would say the answers were mystical or perhaps in some Alien Intelligence that hacked into our Networks to reveal new knowledge for mankind to avoid the ingrained destructive tendencies.
I constructed slowly a considered prompt thinking of facts and themes my sister writes about, her likes and dislikes.The countries she visited; passport and Visa details, her reading lists, her views on East & West mysticism, and the physical activities she always performed and finally her contract and project work and the list of clients she successfully worked for over the years she told me about, to answer the ultimate question: Is my sister an special operative or not ?
I never saw any obvious patterns or signs that Anastasia was. However I did randomly speculate recently that maybe she maybe be like Jennifer Garner's role in the popular Alias TV series or that blond Australian actress, Peta Gia Wilson role in La Femme Nikita TV series also, that mysterious Section One.
AI's answer only took a few seconds, and answered with a precise 88.888% probability, she is an Operative. I noticed all those eights in the percentage probability; it seemed too coincidental having recalled what my sister said about the number eight; 8, if you lie 8 on its back like ∞ , it is the mathematical symbol for infinity or lemniscate. It represents endless love or hope. That's it. It couldn't be more clearer to me.
I felt I was onto something secretive here.
Knowing my sister, I weighed up everything I knew about her including AI's reasoned answer and decided, WOW! Anastasia is an special agent all along and has hidden it well over the years with red herrings, misdirection, playful ruses; side jokes, nimble-witted, jubilant frolic and horsing around.
This meant our childhood pact is unbroken after all ! we agreed as youngsters that we would be there for each other and that she would never marry. Since we are both fire signs: Aries and Sagittarius, we understand our elemental energies of our signs and life's mission completely.
I will not hazard to tell my revelation and idea to our Aunt, it is my sister's business if she confides to her or not.
I will keep it a secret and will not even tell Anastasia what I now know. She would deny it of course and dismiss it outright then laugh it off and say what an imagination I have. But I now know how things really are. I would play ignorant and not rock the boat. I can safely say I have never ever upset my sister as I was full of admiration of her skills and personality. I looked up to her always amazed.
It goes without my saying, my sister is a one-of-a-kind complete strategist! going about her business fluidly and effortlessly in the world. Anastasia can be anywhere at any season and at any time in the world and I very glad and proud to be her brother. No one I know even comes close.
I laughed and laughed reading her post again now that I now. You can't fool me, your little brother Anastasia, I learned all the tricks of the trade from you. And I can only get better HAHA.
I practiced an experimented with Cesar's Aria flight forward ( fuga hacia adelante) writing process which surprisingly yielded over 12 short stories in 5 weeks; writing slow and deliberate with minimal revision. I wanted to know how Cesar had written over 90 books.
Started advanced Calligraphy classes - they are awesome and out teacher is so amazing.
I Read Dominic's; eight time memory champion, book on how to develop a brilliant memory
His secret:
Memory is all about : 1) association 2) location and 3) imagination to create stories to easily remember and store things in the brain - writers very have good imagination so it is not problem.
So practice, practice like all you music scales. I will tinker with the concept to learn 1000 serious Mandarin words this year
Hope you are super productive CY -- heard an old 60's expression : Life's a gas man! - isn't that groovy ? I happened to be at a supermarket and saw a T-shirt: Pink Floyd 1973 London.
I wear it and people look puzzled as they read my T shirt, or perhaps they think I'm ancient .
It started in 1997 my first time visit to South Island, New Zealand where I met Liangyin Yang a fellow graduate. (Yes another Yang, they are everywhere it seems and I do so far make friends easily with them and surprisingly we share many common interests. the Last Yang I even ...
After graduating, I was inspired to travel after having read some translated Russian paperbacks I bought at a small Russian art store about a ten minute walk from University.
I would visit the store when my lectures had a two hour break between them. It was curious store and hardly any patronage run by two retired senior women who always smiled and were cheery. They would say the same thing each time I entered the store.
"hope you find something interesting. If not, never mind maybe next time".
There were many art craft items, religious ikons and cheap paperbacks. One book caught my attention: In Search For the Miraculous by Peter Ouspenky, I saw three other by the same author, the Fourth Dimension, Tertium Organum, A New Model Of the Universe. These were topics unknown to me or ever discussed in mainstream media. Though written in 1914 it was a fascinating travel book and a recollection of personal history and experiences.
I made the book shop owners very happy after several visits of consideration I finally bought the books by Ouspenky.
I related some passages of the book to Liangyin and told her I too want to start traveling very simply. She said she wanted to be my travel buddy. Our style of travelling, we did not know at the time, found out later it was was backpacking.
I met Liangyin at a test centre for the The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. After the persoanlity test I was having coffee at an un-occuppied table at a cafe. Lianying saw me, introduced herself and sat next to me and asked how I faired in the test and what peronality type I was.
She mentioned tha she is as: ESTJ (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). I said I am a ENFP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving). Though sometimes I waver between introversion or extroversion. As I got older I gained more confidence in myself and when I discussed the results with sister. She said I was an extrovert. I had to laugh at how people see you differenrtly to what you imagine you are.
We planned, like in the book, to travel to the mysterious East in search of the "miraculous". First we would fly to Egypt, then India, Sri Lanka before reaching Russia, Moscow and St Peterburg. When we arrived in Russia, there was tension in the air. I told Liamgyin that I felt uncomfortable. We stayed two days and then jetted out to London.
The author could not define or explain what the miraculous is. He felt that our daily life was filled with absurdities - and that there had to be a better way. Perhaps a school, society or an order that protected knowledge from being corrupted by the West. There were however snippets, glimpses of that knowledge scattered throught out the East by some wandering solo travelers - was it only hearsay; myth, legend. However it became elusive to trace the roots as we found out.
I still itch to travel with Liangyin, however as mentioned I met another Yang, Chloe who I married. It is not possible now to travel. I believe I had to get this wandelust of travel out of my system whilst young. When I look back on that eposide of life, It served its purpose to expand my knowledge and experiences. There is no desire to travel now. As they say: home sweet home and a happy wife, is a happy life. I do not know what had became of Liangyin. I suspect she taken over the running of family's business in Hongkong or to care for aging parents.
I started reading the other Ouspensky books. I had to slow down several gears as they were esoteric, not easily understood with topics I knew nothing about, but felt I had all the time in world to decipher their strange inner logic. If only I can make a little progress with each reading, it will compound over time to better understanding.
Dear Onyx Oxia, my public journal; I like to give names to my journals they are easier to remember like people. Today will be a short entry and my last in this space.
I plan to handwrite daily musings into my private note book journals for reasons I will explain later.
I will now describe our sensational lunch date gathering with Chloe's sister Liang.
The drive to the restaurant took a while to get there. It had magnificent panoramic views and it reminded of a famous ink painting of Lao Tsu sitting and contemplating the flow of the river and lakes with misty mountain tops in the background.
Inside the restaurant was an explosion of colours: reds, yellows, blues, mauve, pale and burnt oranges, greens and browns. I like wearing colors, my favorite is green and red. In fact for this lunch date date I bought a pale red hoodie with red airmax sneakers.The electromagnetic frequencies of colors can affect the mood ; the color you wear can have a big impact on how you feel.
Liang was petite and oddly wore head wear with a short veil covering her face. I thought is she a traditionalist ? but realized it was modern stylistic touch.
I could she that she was riveting and very beautiful much more so than Chloe. Perhaps she or her mother decided a veil was needed for protection from unwanted attention.
In fact my friend, Chloe's partner, confided to me that many families with eligible bachelors sent their sons with gifts to Liang for marriage proposal. At twenty six years of age, while amused at these proposals Liang did not want to settle down yet, her parents agreed as she had a proven career. Perhaps in her mid thirties she would consider marriage.
She and her mother understood her beauty was not natural, a beauty that is devastatingly beautiful, the kind that causes destruction and wars. I do not exaggerate.
You only have to refer back to Ancient Greece, the story of the heavenly blond Helen of Troy that was stolen by Paris to take back to his country Troy.
King Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon gathered Greek forces of a thousand ships to bring her back. This caused the costly ten year Trojan war. It was later the guile of the hero Odysseus that conquered Troy, but is was costly personal price to pay, as it took him ten years too to get back to his home of Ithaca. The Gods punished him ...
I could say that Liang was an oriental Helen beyond doubt.
Her name Liang is a measure word for Car, and suggested that she is driven', and has plans and is ambitious.
Liang is also the number two, so is she a Gemini I thought ? ; the twins, a duality of split personalities. I thanked my lucky stars that she is a Leo, one the three highly compatible fires, Aries and Sagittarius.
My brother, cousin and colleagues are all Sagittarians and we all get along well. However they are unreachable when they draw the their bows to some lofty ideal, they are full of questions and at times I could not sway them with logic on some debate. It was almost zen like, like "One Arrow, One Life: Zen, Archery, Enlightenment" described, but they of course did not see it or call it that. It was just them.
I could sense Liang, a Leo was a expansive and effusive, very vibrant, confident, and enthusiastic. It was promising good start.
I kept looking and her and she smiled. I caught myself looking at her too much. So I changed tack.
I asked how did she spend her time. She told she is published author of five YA novels. However her latest project, a historical novel was difficult even though she finished her second draft. Her editor wanted twenty five thousand words cut, for the standard YA genre. She nearly was in tears at the prospect of cutting her written work.
Liang asked what do I do ?
I told her I started writing too.
What do you write, what genre ?
I write anything that affects my soul I said
She was amused and smiled.
So did we hit it off ? Was I in the dissolution stage of Alchemy, the separation of essences and perhaps ready to coagulate ?
So dear reader I will only say the story is a happy one, one spiced with daily lucky events falling into place, with no plan, all moving along
naturally.
I will stop here reader and continue to write privately.
I do so because of late I have become Irritated by the Big Tech leaders who enslave us by telling their opinions on how to live, behave and what to do, their ulterior motives of promoting their own products, services, or interests and their control of technology and data.
There is also a huge disconnect of their lifestyles; resources and experiences that is so different from the average person.
No wonder their advice seem out of touch or unrealistic.
Friends in the ZeroFinity group talked about their creative habits. It was sort of a cryptic name for creating something out of nothing borrowing ideas from astrophysics.
The common theme was having a notebook and pencil under your pillow to capture in waking moments fragments from the subconscious or snippets of scenes in dreams to boost your creative output. I mentioned to them, I never remembered anything and was not was not sure that I dreamed at all. They all said I forget because I place too much emphasis on my waking life and have no mental space for dreams.
They impressed upon me to have a notebook just in case when I arise to have a glass of water or go to the bathroom in the early hours of the morning; the alpha state which a river of flowing ideas. I may well then catch a dream they said. All I had to do was quickly jot down ideas that came to mind.
So I began that practice.
I awoke in the early hours hearing my dog bark. I lifted a Venetian slat and saw my dog chasing magpies in the back yard. Did I place pellets in his bowl and topped up his fresh water last night ? Wait a minute, I have seen magpies stealing his dry food. I better check.
It occurred to me then to look at my notebook under my pillow and see if I wrote anything down. I could hardly make out my own writing, understandable as I half a asleep when I jotted down something. There some puzzling words: dog leash, Asian grocery store. Yes, I better take my dog to the park reserve for his walk.
And Asian grocery store ... ? It took a moment, huh ! That' right, I decided yesterday to buy some Mandarin noodles with ghost pepper sauce -- not the super hot peppers I read about only the milder strength peppers. I planned to do what my friend did and visit the grocery store to see if there was someone like Chloe Zhao Yang. A long shot for sure. I could not believe I wanted to attempt this. I stopped my inner critic and went along with my plan. As it happened there was no Chloe like person around in the store. I knew it, but I had to try. At least I found and bought my Mandarin noodles.
When I got home, I decided to take my dog for a walk. He was excited and eager as soon as I held the leash. It was peaceful in the park, and my dog would stop sporadically to sniff, have a little wander and stare. Then he froze and pointed his muzzle to the direction above the oak trees. I saw it too, orange flames and billowing smoke. A bush fire, the forecast was for a very hot day 40C. Soon I heard wailing sirens and fire truck screeching to halt. The firemen wore face masks and were connecting hose to hydrants. They quickly created a hazard perimeter and told people to move away as the smoke increased in thick volume.
Well that was eventful I said to my dog as I filled his bowl with water. I turned on the TV, and the community message was Total Fire Ban today with the soaring heat. I sat down, turned off the TV and sipped my Chai latter.
MY cellphone pinged, it was text message from my friend who said Chloe spoke about me to a friend and wants us all to have lunch. My friend mentioned she has three sisters and that she works on a rare earth lab/ factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. I had to smile at this coincidence, it was nice of Chloe to think of me. However I have never been on a blind date before, what if we have nothing in common. I was overthinking again and my inner critic had his usual negative say on the matter which I did not like.
I will go, why not ! It can't be that bad, if it is not Chloe's match making friend, then there is her three other sisters. It is a rich field to make new friendships as I do not want a relationship yet. Let things flow.
My cellphone pinged again, it was Mum. She asked the usual, am I eating and sleeping well ? have I found someone yet. To stop her barrage of questions, I told her I want to visit her next week and take her to a fine dining restaurant -- its been a while since I visited her and maybe tell her about Chloe's friend or her three sisters to make her a little happy.
The next day I had coffee with my friend who just returned from the Galapagos Islands via Berlin, he said that he was pressed for time and could not do the Easter Island leg. He wanted to catch up and I wondered whether he had some important news - perhaps he married Chloe Zhao Yang, a neuroscientist who likes exploring different world cultures; their local food and the expansive blue sky outdoors. She is also very handy and adept with prism-less cameras and has an impressive landscape portfolio.
Or maybe my friend quit his job and became a nomad himself from Chloe's influence
It is amazing how he met Shelly though, apparently he said he needed black sesame seeds but had no luck at a western grocery store. So he had the idea to go to an Asian grocery supply store. Overwhelmed at the rows, rows and aisles with overstocked supplies. He did not know where to start looking and he could not read Hanzi. So he asked for assistance and then saw a rare beauty. They made eye contact that lingered for than normal for a casual glance. He knew he told me that he loved her at first sight and wanted to know more about her.
He could not explain this feeling that he never experienced before. I laughed and told him that he is lucky to fall in love at first sight. I mentioned that you only hear or read about what other say about that love in romance novels which happens to be the biggest and lucrative genre market. People simply want love in their lives and are willing to pay and buy books. He said eventually after several visits they agreed to start dating. I guessed they were still happily together.
He also said, NY is overrated and expensive and did not know at the time there were 336,000 millionaires living there though most creators were flipping burgers or waiting tables until such time when they had a break out year to start earning a decent money to quit their menial job. He figured to survive in NY you had to be different, stand out from the crowd and somehow be lucky enough for people to love you work and maybe later build a following or community.
We worked out a time place to meet via email last night. I have not heard from my friend for over 12 months, so it was a good chance to see what he was up to.
The first thing he said when we met at the street corner cafe, is that I have put on two kilos ? I told him you too are not exactly slim like a mian tiao. We burst out laughing.
He further said he did not like the Weight Loss Industry . I asked why ?
He told me he loves food and why should he suffer with rabbit food diet everyday. Why not enjoy food glorious food! He pointed to his stomach and said he was proud that he invested a lot money on his belly. Ridiculous logic and I nearly rolled on the floor with convulsing belly laughs - I had to wait several minutes before I could drink my coffee.
Oh Really I said, and laughed some more.
So what's up I asked, how is Chloe ?
He said his first feelings and impressions were right and believes she is the woman for him.
WOW that is great I said. He said they planned to marry after their nomad days are over. Chloe is and independent researcher as you know he said.
So what are her interests ?
She has a fascination for AI, Biotech, Longevity and of course the brain. I think down the track she wants to have a start-up with some like minded friends.
This was very promising news when then we digressed in to mundane chit chat- boring but essential to reconnect for old time sake.
I wondered and wondered perhaps I should visit an Asian Grocery store and ask for assistance too ?
Never thought I would say this:
I am going to have to read Jane Eyre -- never read it; a boring book; did not like it as a recommended book in English Lit classes. But as we grow you can not escape noticing family dynamics and changes all around you ! Perhaps I was wrong and could not see it at the time. Funny how attitudes change.
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/the-immortal-woman-author-su-chang-on-her-reading-habits-and-what-makes-jane-eyre/article_c3a83980-f38b-11ef-9e49-cbbdc13a3cfa.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a06&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=AB04D80198E8CD03DE384CB97B30764C&utm_campaign=bk_10602
Wonderful and Fantastic news, I knew my sister would not let me down. I must tell our Auntie the good news of the deep email I received. I loved it. I do not know how she bares her soul so freely on the Web.
She must be very brave. When did this courage begin ? I never noticed this quality when we were growing up. And it does not matter that she travels a lot and hardly stays at home. Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan and Sichuan is a vast sea of people and she simply does want to be anchored and moored at these places.
I was away when she packed her bags and caught the taxi to the airport. I would have gladly driven her there in my new red sports car.
I think Auntie mentioned that she will stay in Thailand teaching Mandarin for 18 months. Her next stop will be to Monaco, South Of France, then Luxembourg before settling in Edinburgh - for how long I do not know. She plans to catch with her travel buddies. Who knows what her plans are next.
Come to think of it she is so unlike our Auntie, who has the endearing surname of Rainbow. The colors of the rainbow each radiating frequencies to make the giant iridescent hemisphere in the sky. And as the leprechaun lads would say: there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I think Auntie has found her pot gold with happy deep-work and slow productivity in her research on her kelp farm. My sister has skills in Communication; writing and presentations no wonder her skills are sought after world wide -- why would she stay at home and drown in a sea of people ?
I had a funny thought, pure speculation. I was watching the film Bourne Identity on TV : you know essentially multiple passports; hidden caches of cash, jewelry, clothes, grooming kits ,keys to prime residential apartments all over the world, and to , emotion many past deep relationships and encounters.
Then I thought, could it be ? is my sister an operative working for some obscure organization because she travels a lot and there are hundreds of stamp entries in her passport ? It makes you wonder though
I laughed,my Imagination ran wild and I would joke later to my Auntie about it and see what her response was. We would burst out laughing for sure at the preposterous idea.
There is another psychological explanation: the Peter Pan syndrome - Puer Aeternus as Jung would say: wanting to be child for ever; not wanting to grow up and go to fantasy land. I enjoyed Peter Pan too.
Maybe I have been recollecting film ideas/ themes and trying to weave an explanations - well I do write fiction after all and blessed with an active imagination.
Perhaps I should not be speculating until there is evidence to the contrary. My sister is my big sister that is and unlike other sibling relationships you hear about, our bond is very strong. There I go again making up narratives HAHA
Well at least I will have some ideas to talk about when I have tea with Auntie this afternoon.
So dear Sister if you can sense this, as I send try to send my thoughts telepathically to you.
Please pen more of your strange adventures.
I hope you were mildly amused
PS
I remember a while ago I went to an Archery range with a friend, who never drew the bow before.
Would you believe she got the bulleye on her first shot.
Later she did mention that she is a Sagittarius -- do not know this came up but it explained everything. HAHAHA
hahaha I love Bourne’s Identity. Maybe one day I’ll become a special agent 😂
I think you can expand this into a short novel. A bit unsettling when he became me though. He became you. God help me if I ever fall in love with a Sagittarius. It would be like moss trying to feel the weight of the mist.
hahah I'm a Sag with ENTJ personality, terrible combination in relationship LOL
She laughed then I did too after reading her declaration that she desired to be a special agent.
Though Anastasia is not here now, I remembered that laugh. I missed that laugh, smiled and laughed again. Her laugh was best described as a slow laugh that rose to a range of two octaves like a soprano's singing an aria that reaches a glorious height in a cathedral ceiling and stays there until it diminishes, so when people came in the room and did know or caught the tail end of the joke or whatever, they too laughed when they heard it. It was infectious laugh and it seemed she had a tool of power to wield over us - over anybody really.
I knew Anastasia is a funny person deep down, I always knew that though she writes in a sad reflective ways about long gone episodes of her life that she believed in and had special meaning for her. I wondered whether our childhood pact was broken and that her persona was some elaborate plan to throw me and others off the scent as to she really was or represented.
There was one way to find out: by machine learning and data science.
I could use AI to tell me if Anastasia is an special agent to settle this once and for all. It is true AI is getting better which each new product release at not having hallucinations. The problem with AI has been, if it didn't have sufficient data to train on, it would give answers that were best gibberish or hallucinatory. Some would say the answers were mystical or perhaps in some Alien Intelligence that hacked into our Networks to reveal new knowledge for mankind to avoid the ingrained destructive tendencies.
I constructed slowly a considered prompt thinking of facts and themes my sister writes about, her likes and dislikes.The countries she visited; passport and Visa details, her reading lists, her views on East & West mysticism, and the physical activities she always performed and finally her contract and project work and the list of clients she successfully worked for over the years she told me about, to answer the ultimate question: Is my sister an special operative or not ?
I never saw any obvious patterns or signs that Anastasia was. However I did randomly speculate recently that maybe she maybe be like Jennifer Garner's role in the popular Alias TV series or that blond Australian actress, Peta Gia Wilson role in La Femme Nikita TV series also, that mysterious Section One.
AI's answer only took a few seconds, and answered with a precise 88.888% probability, she is an Operative. I noticed all those eights in the percentage probability; it seemed too coincidental having recalled what my sister said about the number eight; 8, if you lie 8 on its back like ∞ , it is the mathematical symbol for infinity or lemniscate. It represents endless love or hope. That's it. It couldn't be more clearer to me.
I felt I was onto something secretive here.
Knowing my sister, I weighed up everything I knew about her including AI's reasoned answer and decided, WOW! Anastasia is an special agent all along and has hidden it well over the years with red herrings, misdirection, playful ruses; side jokes, nimble-witted, jubilant frolic and horsing around.
This meant our childhood pact is unbroken after all ! we agreed as youngsters that we would be there for each other and that she would never marry. Since we are both fire signs: Aries and Sagittarius, we understand our elemental energies of our signs and life's mission completely.
I will not hazard to tell my revelation and idea to our Aunt, it is my sister's business if she confides to her or not.
I will keep it a secret and will not even tell Anastasia what I now know. She would deny it of course and dismiss it outright then laugh it off and say what an imagination I have. But I now know how things really are. I would play ignorant and not rock the boat. I can safely say I have never ever upset my sister as I was full of admiration of her skills and personality. I looked up to her always amazed.
It goes without my saying, my sister is a one-of-a-kind complete strategist! going about her business fluidly and effortlessly in the world. Anastasia can be anywhere at any season and at any time in the world and I very glad and proud to be her brother. No one I know even comes close.
I laughed and laughed reading her post again now that I now. You can't fool me, your little brother Anastasia, I learned all the tricks of the trade from you. And I can only get better HAHA.
You were right CY an amazing 2025 !!!
I practiced an experimented with Cesar's Aria flight forward ( fuga hacia adelante) writing process which surprisingly yielded over 12 short stories in 5 weeks; writing slow and deliberate with minimal revision. I wanted to know how Cesar had written over 90 books.
Started advanced Calligraphy classes - they are awesome and out teacher is so amazing.
I Read Dominic's; eight time memory champion, book on how to develop a brilliant memory
His secret:
Memory is all about : 1) association 2) location and 3) imagination to create stories to easily remember and store things in the brain - writers very have good imagination so it is not problem.
So practice, practice like all you music scales. I will tinker with the concept to learn 1000 serious Mandarin words this year
Hope you are super productive CY -- heard an old 60's expression : Life's a gas man! - isn't that groovy ? I happened to be at a supermarket and saw a T-shirt: Pink Floyd 1973 London.
I wear it and people look puzzled as they read my T shirt, or perhaps they think I'm ancient .
hahaha
It started in 1997 my first time visit to South Island, New Zealand where I met Liangyin Yang a fellow graduate. (Yes another Yang, they are everywhere it seems and I do so far make friends easily with them and surprisingly we share many common interests. the Last Yang I even ...
After graduating, I was inspired to travel after having read some translated Russian paperbacks I bought at a small Russian art store about a ten minute walk from University.
I would visit the store when my lectures had a two hour break between them. It was curious store and hardly any patronage run by two retired senior women who always smiled and were cheery. They would say the same thing each time I entered the store.
"hope you find something interesting. If not, never mind maybe next time".
There were many art craft items, religious ikons and cheap paperbacks. One book caught my attention: In Search For the Miraculous by Peter Ouspenky, I saw three other by the same author, the Fourth Dimension, Tertium Organum, A New Model Of the Universe. These were topics unknown to me or ever discussed in mainstream media. Though written in 1914 it was a fascinating travel book and a recollection of personal history and experiences.
I made the book shop owners very happy after several visits of consideration I finally bought the books by Ouspenky.
I related some passages of the book to Liangyin and told her I too want to start traveling very simply. She said she wanted to be my travel buddy. Our style of travelling, we did not know at the time, found out later it was was backpacking.
I met Liangyin at a test centre for the The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. After the persoanlity test I was having coffee at an un-occuppied table at a cafe. Lianying saw me, introduced herself and sat next to me and asked how I faired in the test and what peronality type I was.
She mentioned tha she is as: ESTJ (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). I said I am a ENFP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving). Though sometimes I waver between introversion or extroversion. As I got older I gained more confidence in myself and when I discussed the results with sister. She said I was an extrovert. I had to laugh at how people see you differenrtly to what you imagine you are.
We planned, like in the book, to travel to the mysterious East in search of the "miraculous". First we would fly to Egypt, then India, Sri Lanka before reaching Russia, Moscow and St Peterburg. When we arrived in Russia, there was tension in the air. I told Liamgyin that I felt uncomfortable. We stayed two days and then jetted out to London.
The author could not define or explain what the miraculous is. He felt that our daily life was filled with absurdities - and that there had to be a better way. Perhaps a school, society or an order that protected knowledge from being corrupted by the West. There were however snippets, glimpses of that knowledge scattered throught out the East by some wandering solo travelers - was it only hearsay; myth, legend. However it became elusive to trace the roots as we found out.
I still itch to travel with Liangyin, however as mentioned I met another Yang, Chloe who I married. It is not possible now to travel. I believe I had to get this wandelust of travel out of my system whilst young. When I look back on that eposide of life, It served its purpose to expand my knowledge and experiences. There is no desire to travel now. As they say: home sweet home and a happy wife, is a happy life. I do not know what had became of Liangyin. I suspect she taken over the running of family's business in Hongkong or to care for aging parents.
I started reading the other Ouspensky books. I had to slow down several gears as they were esoteric, not easily understood with topics I knew nothing about, but felt I had all the time in world to decipher their strange inner logic. If only I can make a little progress with each reading, it will compound over time to better understanding.
Dear Onyx Oxia, my public journal; I like to give names to my journals they are easier to remember like people. Today will be a short entry and my last in this space.
I plan to handwrite daily musings into my private note book journals for reasons I will explain later.
I will now describe our sensational lunch date gathering with Chloe's sister Liang.
The drive to the restaurant took a while to get there. It had magnificent panoramic views and it reminded of a famous ink painting of Lao Tsu sitting and contemplating the flow of the river and lakes with misty mountain tops in the background.
Inside the restaurant was an explosion of colours: reds, yellows, blues, mauve, pale and burnt oranges, greens and browns. I like wearing colors, my favorite is green and red. In fact for this lunch date date I bought a pale red hoodie with red airmax sneakers.The electromagnetic frequencies of colors can affect the mood ; the color you wear can have a big impact on how you feel.
Liang was petite and oddly wore head wear with a short veil covering her face. I thought is she a traditionalist ? but realized it was modern stylistic touch.
I could she that she was riveting and very beautiful much more so than Chloe. Perhaps she or her mother decided a veil was needed for protection from unwanted attention.
In fact my friend, Chloe's partner, confided to me that many families with eligible bachelors sent their sons with gifts to Liang for marriage proposal. At twenty six years of age, while amused at these proposals Liang did not want to settle down yet, her parents agreed as she had a proven career. Perhaps in her mid thirties she would consider marriage.
She and her mother understood her beauty was not natural, a beauty that is devastatingly beautiful, the kind that causes destruction and wars. I do not exaggerate.
You only have to refer back to Ancient Greece, the story of the heavenly blond Helen of Troy that was stolen by Paris to take back to his country Troy.
King Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon gathered Greek forces of a thousand ships to bring her back. This caused the costly ten year Trojan war. It was later the guile of the hero Odysseus that conquered Troy, but is was costly personal price to pay, as it took him ten years too to get back to his home of Ithaca. The Gods punished him ...
I could say that Liang was an oriental Helen beyond doubt.
Her name Liang is a measure word for Car, and suggested that she is driven', and has plans and is ambitious.
Liang is also the number two, so is she a Gemini I thought ? ; the twins, a duality of split personalities. I thanked my lucky stars that she is a Leo, one the three highly compatible fires, Aries and Sagittarius.
My brother, cousin and colleagues are all Sagittarians and we all get along well. However they are unreachable when they draw the their bows to some lofty ideal, they are full of questions and at times I could not sway them with logic on some debate. It was almost zen like, like "One Arrow, One Life: Zen, Archery, Enlightenment" described, but they of course did not see it or call it that. It was just them.
I could sense Liang, a Leo was a expansive and effusive, very vibrant, confident, and enthusiastic. It was promising good start.
I kept looking and her and she smiled. I caught myself looking at her too much. So I changed tack.
I asked how did she spend her time. She told she is published author of five YA novels. However her latest project, a historical novel was difficult even though she finished her second draft. Her editor wanted twenty five thousand words cut, for the standard YA genre. She nearly was in tears at the prospect of cutting her written work.
Liang asked what do I do ?
I told her I started writing too.
What do you write, what genre ?
I write anything that affects my soul I said
She was amused and smiled.
So did we hit it off ? Was I in the dissolution stage of Alchemy, the separation of essences and perhaps ready to coagulate ?
So dear reader I will only say the story is a happy one, one spiced with daily lucky events falling into place, with no plan, all moving along
naturally.
I will stop here reader and continue to write privately.
I do so because of late I have become Irritated by the Big Tech leaders who enslave us by telling their opinions on how to live, behave and what to do, their ulterior motives of promoting their own products, services, or interests and their control of technology and data.
There is also a huge disconnect of their lifestyles; resources and experiences that is so different from the average person.
No wonder their advice seem out of touch or unrealistic.
Friends in the ZeroFinity group talked about their creative habits. It was sort of a cryptic name for creating something out of nothing borrowing ideas from astrophysics.
The common theme was having a notebook and pencil under your pillow to capture in waking moments fragments from the subconscious or snippets of scenes in dreams to boost your creative output. I mentioned to them, I never remembered anything and was not was not sure that I dreamed at all. They all said I forget because I place too much emphasis on my waking life and have no mental space for dreams.
They impressed upon me to have a notebook just in case when I arise to have a glass of water or go to the bathroom in the early hours of the morning; the alpha state which a river of flowing ideas. I may well then catch a dream they said. All I had to do was quickly jot down ideas that came to mind.
So I began that practice.
I awoke in the early hours hearing my dog bark. I lifted a Venetian slat and saw my dog chasing magpies in the back yard. Did I place pellets in his bowl and topped up his fresh water last night ? Wait a minute, I have seen magpies stealing his dry food. I better check.
It occurred to me then to look at my notebook under my pillow and see if I wrote anything down. I could hardly make out my own writing, understandable as I half a asleep when I jotted down something. There some puzzling words: dog leash, Asian grocery store. Yes, I better take my dog to the park reserve for his walk.
And Asian grocery store ... ? It took a moment, huh ! That' right, I decided yesterday to buy some Mandarin noodles with ghost pepper sauce -- not the super hot peppers I read about only the milder strength peppers. I planned to do what my friend did and visit the grocery store to see if there was someone like Chloe Zhao Yang. A long shot for sure. I could not believe I wanted to attempt this. I stopped my inner critic and went along with my plan. As it happened there was no Chloe like person around in the store. I knew it, but I had to try. At least I found and bought my Mandarin noodles.
When I got home, I decided to take my dog for a walk. He was excited and eager as soon as I held the leash. It was peaceful in the park, and my dog would stop sporadically to sniff, have a little wander and stare. Then he froze and pointed his muzzle to the direction above the oak trees. I saw it too, orange flames and billowing smoke. A bush fire, the forecast was for a very hot day 40C. Soon I heard wailing sirens and fire truck screeching to halt. The firemen wore face masks and were connecting hose to hydrants. They quickly created a hazard perimeter and told people to move away as the smoke increased in thick volume.
Well that was eventful I said to my dog as I filled his bowl with water. I turned on the TV, and the community message was Total Fire Ban today with the soaring heat. I sat down, turned off the TV and sipped my Chai latter.
MY cellphone pinged, it was text message from my friend who said Chloe spoke about me to a friend and wants us all to have lunch. My friend mentioned she has three sisters and that she works on a rare earth lab/ factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. I had to smile at this coincidence, it was nice of Chloe to think of me. However I have never been on a blind date before, what if we have nothing in common. I was overthinking again and my inner critic had his usual negative say on the matter which I did not like.
I will go, why not ! It can't be that bad, if it is not Chloe's match making friend, then there is her three other sisters. It is a rich field to make new friendships as I do not want a relationship yet. Let things flow.
My cellphone pinged again, it was Mum. She asked the usual, am I eating and sleeping well ? have I found someone yet. To stop her barrage of questions, I told her I want to visit her next week and take her to a fine dining restaurant -- its been a while since I visited her and maybe tell her about Chloe's friend or her three sisters to make her a little happy.
The next day I had coffee with my friend who just returned from the Galapagos Islands via Berlin, he said that he was pressed for time and could not do the Easter Island leg. He wanted to catch up and I wondered whether he had some important news - perhaps he married Chloe Zhao Yang, a neuroscientist who likes exploring different world cultures; their local food and the expansive blue sky outdoors. She is also very handy and adept with prism-less cameras and has an impressive landscape portfolio.
Or maybe my friend quit his job and became a nomad himself from Chloe's influence
It is amazing how he met Shelly though, apparently he said he needed black sesame seeds but had no luck at a western grocery store. So he had the idea to go to an Asian grocery supply store. Overwhelmed at the rows, rows and aisles with overstocked supplies. He did not know where to start looking and he could not read Hanzi. So he asked for assistance and then saw a rare beauty. They made eye contact that lingered for than normal for a casual glance. He knew he told me that he loved her at first sight and wanted to know more about her.
He could not explain this feeling that he never experienced before. I laughed and told him that he is lucky to fall in love at first sight. I mentioned that you only hear or read about what other say about that love in romance novels which happens to be the biggest and lucrative genre market. People simply want love in their lives and are willing to pay and buy books. He said eventually after several visits they agreed to start dating. I guessed they were still happily together.
He also said, NY is overrated and expensive and did not know at the time there were 336,000 millionaires living there though most creators were flipping burgers or waiting tables until such time when they had a break out year to start earning a decent money to quit their menial job. He figured to survive in NY you had to be different, stand out from the crowd and somehow be lucky enough for people to love you work and maybe later build a following or community.
We worked out a time place to meet via email last night. I have not heard from my friend for over 12 months, so it was a good chance to see what he was up to.
The first thing he said when we met at the street corner cafe, is that I have put on two kilos ? I told him you too are not exactly slim like a mian tiao. We burst out laughing.
He further said he did not like the Weight Loss Industry . I asked why ?
He told me he loves food and why should he suffer with rabbit food diet everyday. Why not enjoy food glorious food! He pointed to his stomach and said he was proud that he invested a lot money on his belly. Ridiculous logic and I nearly rolled on the floor with convulsing belly laughs - I had to wait several minutes before I could drink my coffee.
Oh Really I said, and laughed some more.
So what's up I asked, how is Chloe ?
He said his first feelings and impressions were right and believes she is the woman for him.
WOW that is great I said. He said they planned to marry after their nomad days are over. Chloe is and independent researcher as you know he said.
So what are her interests ?
She has a fascination for AI, Biotech, Longevity and of course the brain. I think down the track she wants to have a start-up with some like minded friends.
This was very promising news when then we digressed in to mundane chit chat- boring but essential to reconnect for old time sake.
I wondered and wondered perhaps I should visit an Asian Grocery store and ask for assistance too ?
HAHA my friend maybe onto something here !