January 18 - On the extent of distances

Thought-Random:

          I am looking past my computer to that expanse of snow from out of my window, and my sight goes to touch the tip of a leafless tree branch... on to the floor of pure, beautiful, white snow, kind of inch by inch,.. on to to the snow covered back yard of my neighbor into which our own back yard flows .... on to still the back yard next to my neighbor's... because in our community, we hold no fences. And I feel my sight has traveled quite a bit.

          My reality is now transferred to this list of names in my computer, the essays of whom await my attention and editing and grading.  My mind does travel in a way it did the snow just moments past because I go fast forward to the process  I have to undergo: looking into substance, grammar, style, format - followed by the decision of a grade.....and all these for each of the 40 students in my lists. And just for the week. Some travel!

        But I am ushered yet into another dimension of travel - not physical or work associated but psychological or spiritual, if I may say so.  My mind wanders to the extent of my existence not necessarily in terms of length.  Or should I pinpoint to this as the essence of my being? So it is not a physical travel I feel I need to undertake - to understand that part of my self which is not of this world, is it?

        

       

January 5 - La Guardia

Thought-Random

        Driving through snow swept highways at dusk on to the Whitestone Bridge of New York past the Hudson river amidst a panorama of Christmas lights till the La Guardia airport, we were to pick up Elise and Kushal who were flying in from Minnesota.

        And yes, the hustle and bustle of this vast airport takes my mind to a standstill. This is just one of several I've passed through as I came and went places that transported me not only physically but psychologically, culturally, and spiritually as well.

        Such personal enrichment covered not only nuances in sights like the Petronas, the Eiffel, the Rhine, .... not only the Red Hills of Colorado nor the Rice Terraces of Banawe nor the Alps of  Salzburg, ...but also sights like the  Neuschwanstein Castle, the Louvre, the Dubai Burj, Singapore's Fountain of Wealth - oh God, just a tip off the iceberg!

         Not to miss out on the Wat Phra Singh, (not the biggest  in Thailand yet) nor Hong Kong's Po Lin... much less  the Great Cologne Cathedral -  if only to touch a bit on religious diversity.  Or Malaysia's reverence for multi-ethnicity in language, among other things. I would also think of flight as portals to renewed relationships: friendship and family ties, as well as introductions to new ones - friendships and family ties!

       Airports do start off thought ramblings like these in me. Myism, in fact, quips of relative jet lag to the max in a straight flight from CA to MN to NY to London to Amsterdam to Dubai to Bahrain! Wow! I had two ways of responding to this: I couldn't have survived this! - and I want to try it! :) But seriously, whenever I am in an airport just to pick up friends or family, I complain to myself, why am I not the one traveling?