12/24/13 Do you Believe In Angels? Part I Angel In LA

Do you believe in angels?  I do!

As Christmas is just one day away, most of us know a message that Christmas represents--a message that God came down from heaven to be with us, as we call Him Immanuel.  A message that was delivered by heavenly beings called Angels.  First, it was a special Angel, Communication Director Angel, Gabriel, that delivered a special message to Mary about her role as the mother of the Son of God.  There was also a group of Angels that delivered a message in songs to the lowly shepherds that the Christ had been born in the little town of Bethlehem.  There were many stories of encounters between angels and men as well as women in pre-Christ Old Testament.  I love stories of these angels including the story of the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ having a wrestling match with Jacob or Israel.

So there were stories of angels in the olden days of Bible; what about modern days?  Does God care enough to send angels to people?  Do I believe in angels in these modern days?  The answer is an emphatic “Yes”!  I will talk about some of the stories of special people that could be angels in various times during my life.  I will have three part stories about angels and I; let’s start with Part I: Angels In LA!

This part of the Angels stories was an updated version of the one I posted in Facebook more than a year ago.  Enjoy and be touched by the angels too!

Sometimes angels came in the form of human strangers and friends; they are sent by God to rescue you or offer you comfort in time of distress, loneliness, and fear like the stories we read in the Bible such as Jacob’s and his dream of Angels ascending and descending on the ladder from heaven to earth while he was on a lonely journey.

In 2011, a friend, Jeremy Koff of Koffeehouse, a famous LA producer of events to promote new named musical talents, invited me to a private fundraiser event for Fender Music Foundation.  The place is called Hummingbird Nest Ranch, which is outside of but not too far from LA city.  Being directional challenged, I had slight problem because according to the invite, the place was in Santa Susana, but my GPS only had it as Simi Valley.  Since I had no choice at the time when I was already in the car and no time for Map Quest, I just had to trust my lady in the GPS and selected Simi Valley.

 http://www.hummingbirdnestranch.com/

The place was very nice as you can see from the picture in the link that I am posting.  When I went there, it was still daytime and the weather was quite nice and sunny.  There were refreshments, appetizers, fruits, and good companies of people who supported the cause.  There was of course music because the event was to raise funds for music education to students in underprivileged areas where music budget in school was extremely limited.  I enjoyed the event and pledged to partially adopt one of the schools in LA (Jeremy was able to raise over $25,000 for this event.)

Then the evening came and the sky outside the window was dark; since I came by myself, I thought it would be wise to leave before the event was over, and because I promised an artist friend, Ashley Cuellar to go and support her that night at her “Cabaret Idol” competition in Hollywood (she won, by the way).  So after I stopped by the powder room, I walked outside, but the place outside was not lighted brightly with spotlight that night the way it looks now in the picture.  I parked on a slope with a line of cars between there and the building, and since it was a ranch like surrounding on rolling hills and mountain, the area was very dark.

Being directionally challenged, I was a little concerned that I would get lost in the dark, so I asked for direction to the parking from the only gentleman that came out of the building at that time.  I couldn’t even see his face, and it started to sprinkle.  He said he parked in the direction I said I parked as well, and he would accompany me there.  He offered his arm for me like an escort the way they do in wedding when the usher offers the arms to a lady guest, or in old movies; you know what I mean?  I held the arm he offered as we walked down the steps of the Spanish style building.  I felt like a familiar person was being my company, and I felt safe.

It was pitch dark and as we started walking down the slope, the rain started to pour!  I was not prepared for the rain as I was wearing summer high-heeled slippers for the party.  He asked me what type of car, and I told him as we walked briskly.  I got to my car first, so I quickly thanked him for his company and escort.  All this time, I didn’t see or recognized his face, the way the disciples were walking and unknowly meeting with Jesus on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection (Luke 24:13; Mark 16:12).

After I got in the car, I drove off, but directionally challenged as I was (and still am most of the time), I went the wrong way, went down a pitch-dark road along the mountain, and I saw a house, which is probably a living quarter for the caretakers of Hummingbird Nest Ranch.  I asked for the direction of the exit, and he said I had to drive back the opposite way.  Then there was a car that probably was following me to this wrong way, so the car backed out as I did, and led me to the right path in a little winding road down the hills and out of the ranch compound.  The car went different way and disappeared in the dark.  I made it to Ashley’s “Cabaret Idol” competition that night, and arrived home safely after.  Guess what Ashley sang in her first competition-it was one of my favorites, Sarah McLachlan's “Arms of the Angel”.  See Ashley’s performance in this Youtube video link.  You may also like her fan page on Facebook following the link here: https://www.facebook.com/fansofashley

Ashley Cuellar's rendition of Sarah McLachlan's Arms of the Angel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1IQ3YRet9Y

Another time that I encountered human angels was when my church friend invited me to attend a concert at Forest Lawn Memorial auditorium, Hollywood Hills.  It was a fundraiser concert for Glendale Adventist Academy music department.  After the excitement for the amazing presentation by the students and the music teachers, I had to leave and walk down the hill from the Hall of Liberty, where the event took place.  Without the help of a couple, who drove me to my parking place at the end of a very dark road, it would be possible that I would be roaming the Forest Lawn cemetery looking for my car all night.  Again, strangers became my angels to the rescue, and I just want to write about the sighting, to celebrate them and God’s amazing love towards me!!

My next post will be about my experience with angels in Japan, probably in a few days.

End Note:

1) Jeremy Koff’s Koffeehouse production website is http://koffeehouse.com/.  The site is now open for applications from musicians that wish to perform at Koffeehouse Chateau, the largest evening of independent music at Sundance Film festival on Sunday, January 19, 2014.  It was voted “Top 10 Parties of Sundance” 2011 by Film.com.

2) Also note that the lighting at Hummingbird Ranch was sufficient in my subsequent visits at the Ranch.

12/20/13 My Favorite Things

I like to watch movies during Christmas month of December.  Apart from the usual movies such as “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Miracle on 34^th Street”, “While You’re Sleeping”, one of my most favorite movies for the holidays viewing is  “the Sound of Music”.  I had “the Sounds of Music” in both tape and DVD, but due to their popularity, both changed hands and gave to one of my family members, and I can’t recall who.  So I was glad when there was a remake of the musical on TV, starred Carrie Underwood.  Although most of my friends had harsh critiques on her performance as Maria, I was just happy to hear the music again, and did not compare the production with the original “Sound of Music”, the movie, which won Academy Award, and starred Julie Andrew.  The movie just brings more good memories from my high school year as an Exchange student in the US.

After the initial time of adjustments to culture shock in America, I was introduced to a musical production based on my favorite movie, the Sound of Music!!  Kenwood High School, where I attended for one year staged a musical production, with members of the school choir, the Thespians Club, and the school band participating.  My American host sister was one of the stage lighting crewmembers, and her boy friend at the time played Ralph, the seventeen year-old boyfriend of Liesl, the oldest girl of Captain Von Trapp.  I was cast as a nun singing with the chorus the Morning Hymn and Alleluiah, and the wedding march chorus.  Just for fun, I was almost assigned a role of the nun that sang “A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown”!!   Since I had not perfected my regular English speaking just yet, I had to decline the fun challenge, and stick to the regular beautiful chorus songs like Morning Hymn, and Alleluiah!  I sang first soprano then, but would not attempt that nowadays, since my voice now is several keys lower.  “Climb Every Mountain” may suit me better now. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3oxDzO2Isw&feature=kp

It was an exciting and fun experience that I have treasured.  These are the words I wrote in the Year Book in which I was given a page of the AFS Exchange Program section: “..The picture of the cast and the stage crew, some yelling, some crying with delight in the success of the play is still staying in my mind and it is so clear that I think it is the event of yesterday.”

When I watched the remake of the Sound of Music, starred Carrie Underwood, it brought back the delightful memories of the good time.  Memories are strange things, at the same time as good memories came; another kind of scene from my memories came back to me--a visit to Austria, beautiful place, which was the backdrop of story of Maria, Captain Von Trapp, and family.  In the year I went to Europe to attend a post-graduate diploma program, we had a chance to travel on the Euro train to several countries after the study and before I came back to work in Thailand.  One of the countries that we visited was Austria, where we visited beautiful Schoenbrunn Palace, where Mozart used to perform for the royalties and honorable guests in 1772.  The trip was supposed to be a happy trip, when my then husband re-united with me after 6 months apart while I studied abroad, and he was back at home.  Receiving some hurtful words and bad news in the course of the conversations during the European trip, I knew that life storms were brewing beneath the calm and beautiful palace and the hills of the Sound of Music…

http://www.vienna.info/en/sightseeing/sights/imperial/schoenbrunn-palace?gclid=CJCsk6uZvrsCFeZ7Qgod3k4Aew

With good and bad memories that emerged once again from this show, I chose to stay with the good and beautiful memories, and like the song, I simply remember My Favorite Things, and then I don’t feel so bad!

Enjoy your holidays every one!!

Long Live the King!

The Artist King's Birthday

This week is the week that Thai people celebrate the King’s Birthday.   Most of my American friends might not know that His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej was born in Massachusetts on December 5, 1927.   His Royal Father was Prince Songkla, and was a medical student there.  Prince Songkla, the King’s Father was a younger son of King Rama V or King Piya the Great, who abolished slavery in Thailand over a hundred years ago.  The King’s Mother was a commoner, who took care of her three Royal children so well after the untimely death of her Royal husband.

The King with Princess Mother:

The Young Royal siblings, King Rama VIII, and his Royal sister, Princess Kalayaniwatana:

He was very active in finding ways to do things better, such as agriculture, engineering, and other projects that bettered the lives of Thai people.  I can remember a few of his projects, such as the Artificial Rain Project that helped provide water in the drought regions of Thailand, engineering endeavors that helped divert water from flooded area in and around Bangkok.  He had quite a few experimental pilot farming projects within the gate of his estate surrounding the Royal Palace right in the City of Bangkok!

For more of His Majesty information, follow this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej

 His Majesty became King in 1946, and has since tirelessly worked and visited Thai people all over the country.  In recent years, he has been in ill health, but has not stopped to provide guidance with his love for the Thai people.  Another thing that connect me most with His Majesty was that he used to be an avid jazz musician.

When I was in the Pre-university School in Bangkok, there were occasions that he came and joined with Chulalongkorn University Students band.  His sense of humor and showmanship lifted up the spirits of students then.  I felt privileged to be an alumnus of Chulalongkorn University even though my time there at the Liberal Arts Faculty was only four days.  My late husband, who was the bandleader for Thammasat University had the honor of playing with His Majesty at the University and occasionally at the Palace Radio Station and with the Royal band.

During my junior high school days, there was so much time in the afternoon for the morning group of students in the all-girls school.  One of my activities was Thai Classical music.  I learned Saw U with the Master of Thai Classical music, whose name was Phraya Phumi Sevin, who was the Chief Musician of King Rama VI.  Here is my picture when I still remembered how to play Saw U.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saw_u

Any way, the perk for students who endured the strict Master was to play at the Royal Radio Station at Dusit Palace!!  When there were occasions like the Prince or Princess’ birthday, the teacher would compose Thai Classical songs to wish them Happy Birthday.  Sometime, we got to see the Prince came out to play on the other side of the gate at his residential Palace.  Another perk was after the performance that was broadcast on radio, we got to eat a simple but delicious meal.  My favorite was the huge yellow banana that came with the dessert!  That was one of my childhood amazement: to eat a banana from the Palace!!

While I was playing there at the radio station, little did I know that my future love of my life was there in the next room, and fate would bring us together one day, I was just a little kid then.…

Did I mention that the King was an avid jazz musician and songwriter?  Here is one of my favorites from his song collection that I used to sing a lot---H.M. Blue

            We’ got the Hungry Men’s Blues.

            You’ll be hungry too, if you’re in this band.

            Don’t you think that our music is grand?

            We’ve got the Hungry Men’s Blues.

            You’ve eaten now all of you.

            We’d like to eat with you too,

            That’s why we’ve got the H.M. Blue.

Although the relic was composed by Prince Chakrapan, it was His Majesty’s idea during the JAM session while he was in Swizerland.   The name H.M. Blues was thought first as His Majesty Blues, but actually it is “Hungry Man” Blues.  The story was that as a musician, he played long and hard the music in the band for the entertainment of his palace staff.  While all the royal court’s servants were enjoying eating and music, the jazz musicians were hungry, and thus came the song “Hungry Man Blues” (Credit story to The Royal Music Book from which the music for H.M. Blues as shown below is taken).

Also, each year, to celebrate His Majesty birthday, I will show off the medals I received during the time of being Civil Servant at Thammasat University.  There are the Crown medal and the White Elephant medal.  I think the White Elephant medal, which was received later has higher honor. 

  I would like to take this opportunity to pay respect to the King and wish him Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!!! 

Me and Thai Costume for this auspicious occasion!

12/1/13 Know Where You Came From

“Know where you came from, examine how your Creator has guided you, then where you’re going will be a delightful destination with plenty of joyful experiences on the way.” ~Me

At first, I was not going to blog today, but since I still have one more day before the Thanksgiving holiday is over, and since today is December 1^st starting of birthday month of a few people that are significant in my life journey, I still have time to tell a couple of stories.

Today is my baby brother’s birthday.  Well, he’s no longer baby, both he and his wife have been my very good friends and support after my husband’s death.  I still remember him as a younger brother that shared many of fun adventures during our days at church youth group in Bangkok led by a Chinese missionary couple from Malaysia.

Was it a co-incidence that three of us siblings were born in the month of December?  Actually it is not a co-incidence but a convenient way that my mother used when she registered with the Thai official to get birth certificates that she needed to get license for teaching Chinese language.  She did not remember the exact dates of her kids’ birthday like many Thai and Chinese parents, who often registered birth certificates long after the birth of their children.  In my mother’s case, she didn’t register her kids, and forgot the birth dates probably because of the war and many traumatic experiences during and after the war: first losing her husband during the World War, surviving in the war camp, and death of first daughter, and her own mother on the way back from the War camp to Thailand.  So my brother, being the only boy got December 1^st as birthday, my eldest sister’s December 15, and mine toward the New Year.  My second elder sister was lucky since she was born seven days after the Chinese New Year during the season when Chinese ate the left over from the feast, and made seven vegetables stew.  But since Chinese New Year is lunar New Year, which has no set date, so I guessed my Mother settled for April 13, which is “Songkran”, Thai New Year.

In yesterday's blog, I shared my adventure as a little girl in the small town of Minburi, where my baby brother was born, so the story now continues about the time of my brother’s birth pretending that it was December 1^st.  My Mother’s water broke and was having birth pain, so she asked my eldest sister, who was eight or nine at the time to go get the village midwife.  Where was my father?  It was not mentioned when the story was told, so I assumed he was taking care of his other family when he concurrently had children of the same ages as us.  It was late in the night, my sister had to run in the dark across paddy field, with chorus of frogs and crickets welcoming the birth.  My sister probably stepped on some other creatures like snakes or snails on the way, but she was brave because Mama didn’t have any one, and she was in pain.  She was able to wake the mid-wife up to come to deliver the baby at our house beside the water.

This is what remains of the birth house, when my elder sister and husband went to visit Minburi last year:

To these days, my brother is forever grateful for my eldest sister that helped my Mother to bring him into this world.  He is now a doctor living back east.  Here’s his picture with me, who was like his twin when we were little.  This picture was taken when I was about seven at Lumpini Park in Bangkok.  See, I still remember about the photo shoot J.

Happy Birthday December babies!!!

11/30/13 Creative Side of the Brain

 In my first blog post on Thanksgiving, I mentioned that it was a good day “when I start a blog and venture in the journey to exercise my left side of the brain to prepare for my third life journey.”  Lennox messaged me that the artistic side was actually the right side of the brain.  This prompted me to want to write something about the functions of the brain, which had  me interested for sometime before writing this blog.  I have been very interested in knowing more about the brain because of something that happened to me in my childhood that I believe affected my brain, and how it worked.  I decided to do a little research about it.

The concept of the functions of the right and left sides of the brain was the work of psychologist named Roger W. Sperry, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981.  Per About.com.Psychology website: http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm  there are more recent research works that indicate that both sides of the brain work together to perform a wide variety of tasks, and are linked together through the “corpus collosum”.  Some abilities that are popularly associated with the right brain include: recognizing faces, expressing emotions, music, reading emotions, color, images, intuition, and creativity.  For left-brain, the abilities include: Language, logic, critical thinking, numbers, and reasoning.

I think that I use the “left-brain” in conjunction with my “right-brain” for my work as a manager and chief accountant.  I need to consciously control my emotions when dealing with people at work, so that the work atmosphere will be normalized.  Since there are many people with different personalities and emotions to deal with, it is important to do so or one can be stressed out.  Being a manager and leader, I need also to be able to use my right-brain to read people’s emotions, and deal with difficult people so that work get done; in other words, I need to have "Emotional Intelligence".  In business, it requires logic, critical thinking, data analysis, and reasoning abilities from the left brain.  But in this changing world of business, we also need right brain’s creativity; “thinking outside the box” so to speak, to work in conjunction with left-brain in problem solving and making decisions.

Ok, I don’t want to sound like an expert in brain functioning and sound like I am very brainy.  On the contrary, I have to let you know actually I have been operating with less than perfect brain.  I noticed long time ago that my sister remembered everything back to when she was three years old whereas I cannot remember a thing that happened to me before I was about six or seven years old.

I was told me that after a time in Bangkok, my Mother was out of work because at the time, there was government restriction on teaching Chinese, and the school where my Mother taught Chinese to elementary school children was closed.  Living in the same house with my Father’s other household did not work out, and she was pregnant with my younger brother.  So she with her children moved to a little town out of Bangkok called Mueng Min or Minburi, where we could survive by eating vegetables that grew wild in the fields, and along the water way such as water crest; catching fish to eat from the canal.  She worked menial labor rolling flax, making it into string of ropes, and was paid by batch or piece work, which was not much.  It was a tough time for her with hard work, but it was good enough that she could work from home.

I was about two years old at the time, but my Mother was working, my eldest sister probably helped her babysit my new born baby brother or went to school in the village.  I would wander off, and often time got lost, and my mother and sister looked for me and found me in the police station singing and dancing the Li-kay, Thai folk opera style dance.  (To understand more, and see Li-kay, follow this link. http://www.demotix.com/photo/421340/li-kay-folk-opera-performance-bangkok

My brain at two years old was probably able to capture some of the Li-kay performances  when they came to the village.  I was performing the dance and singing in front of an audience of total strangers at the police station.  After hearing the story from my sister about my adventure, I often amused myself by thinking that I could have joined the folk opera group and traveled all over Thailand if my Mother did not find me, or joined the Minburi PD as moral booster singing and dancing away.

My little brilliant brain that helped me to remember things very well did not stay with me for long.

One day, I wondered off unsupervised again.  This time my little feet strolled along the bank of the canal; I might have strolled up the bridge, which was so very tall that it was very hard work for a little two-year-old. To these days, once in while, I still have dreams of climbing very tall bridge, which might be the result of the experience from a little girl’s point of view climbing a bridge like this.

I got to the other side of the bridge near the rice mill, and walked along the canal bank.  Suddenly, I was pushed by another big kid who was playing around there, and I fell off the bank of the canal (similar to the one in the picture my brother-in-law took during his recent visit to my brother’s birth place).  Fortunately, or not so fortunately depending on how we look at it, I fell into a boat and not into the water and drown.  As the result of the fall with bad concussion, I could not remember what went on during the first five or six years of my life.   I still have the liking for music though.  I found music and songs have helped me remember things.  An example is when I studied French grammar; I wrote a Thai poem with French vocabularies that identified male and female genders of some adjectives. This helped me pass the dreaded French exam.  To these days, music and poetry are big parts of my life that help me enjoy life through good and bad times.

During this Thanksgiving season, I want to acknowledge that God has preserved me, despite challenges, the Higher Power had helped me through these challenges. I managed to pass nationwide exams that made me one of the top 50 students at senior highschool level.  During and after high school years, I received scholarships to study in school and universities abroad.  After college education, I was able to work my way through to near the top in two major careers.  I'm thankful that my brain is still working all because of Him.  I would say as Psalmist (139: 14) had said, “I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully, and wonderfully made”

I’m so excited to continue using both sides of my brain discovering what I can do as I continue this life journey.  See you again in my next post, may be on December 5th, the King's birthday.

Good night my friends!

11/28/13 Woo hoo! I’m Starting a Blog!!

This year there have been and will be a few big changes.  Most of them are blessings, and some were challenges that made me stronger.  Now as we approach December month, which is my birth day month, it’s time for me to plan to fulfill some of the things that God might have designed me to do in my life journey.  One of the things that I would like to do is writing.  In my previous life, I have been in academic field with a brief stint teaching Managerial Accounting, and later teaching Economics in a university well known for law and political economy in Thailand.  My last position there was Associate Professor in Economics with a few research papers and books.  After immigrating to the US, I changed to a second life, following the path of Civil Servant with emphasis on accountability and financial management. My past 15 years have been dedicated to the issues of Affordable Housing and Homeless Services in LA, and more recently with community investment programs and services.  Beside the work, I’m interested in arts and music, and that’s why I’m contemplating doing something new that will lead to writing a novel some day in a not too distant future. I’m following UCLA Extension Writing program page on FB, and found encouragement from one of its posting that "one needs to start writing to become a writer, even when it may not be the best."

Why do I think I can write?  Well, during my elementary school days, when I studied Chinese and wrote Chinese essays, my Mother, who was my teacher at the time complimented that they were good essays.  She encouraged my to write by posting on the class bulletin.  Unfortunately, after elementary school, Thailand at the time did not allow teaching Chinese in high school; so my Chinese writing skills have said good-bye long time ago.

Last year, I discovered that my eight-year-old grand daughter who went with her missionary parent to Thailand was typing on the computer a long story about the love of a horse named “Midnight Forest”.  (I will post her writing in the future) This stirred up my desire to try my hand at writing a story about my parents; their story was set in multi-cultures and extended across the sea to several countries, social, and political changes before and after World War II.

When I was a little girl until late elementary school, I didn’t remember I had a father, and when my mother said that he died, I just accepted it and occasionally wondered what my father was like.  Later on when I was about to finish four years of elementary school, he showed up but was not quite successful in talking her into investing in a venture.  I was surprised, however, that my Chinese neighbor knew about him, and I learned later that the big Bangkok Bank founder knew him well.  My brother in law who knows how to read Chinese told me recently that my father was a very famous Chinese Newspaper Editor that commanded respect from the Chinese community.  So I thought there might be some writing gene in me that I should explore.  So here I am starting a blog, which will be about this journey to discover and develop my artistic side of the brain, and stories that show that my life journey thus far has been led by the Mighty Hand of the One who loves me more than any one in this world.  As I have described that “My Potter is not done with me yet”.

Today is a good day, a very good day, it is Thanksgiving 2013, when I start a blog and venture in the journey to exercise my left side of the brain to prepare for my third life journey.  I chose “Bee-Attitude” as the name of my blog because it is an endearing nick name that my father called me, plus I love the encouraging words of Beatitude, Sermon on the Mount, from the Master as told in Mathew chapter 5.  Beatitude was “The Secrets of Happiness” as explained by Dr Billy Graham in his book of the same name.  Also a member of Hollywood Adventist Church, Karin, the church children Sabbath School made a poster that was so cool with picture of bees and a title “Bee-attitude”, which I liked so much and now have to borrow it to become the title to describe me and my blog.  With my name sake combined with blessings in life according to Sermon on the Mount, which is the principle that guides my life.  It is better than my real Chinese name that my father gave me, “Hot Beauty”, or as my sister pointed out, “Summer Beauty”.  Although I wouldn’t mind being a “hot beauty” from the inside out, just saying.

Also, I have additional encouragements to be inspired and stay focus from watching self-development videos of Inspired Ling Application (ILA).  Thanks to my friend, Lennox Fleary, who introduced ILA to me, and is a good role model for self-development.

Watch for more of my life stories and thoughts in my next blog.  Happy Thanksgiving week end every one!!