Journeys (Part III): Past vs. Present

In keeping with the theme of the previous two posts I'm writing this based on a passage from Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.

Paraphrasing what Calvino wrote he states that if a person is shown two photos: one of a city in the past and the second of the city in the present the viewer must prefer the past to the present to avoid offending the owner. However, a fine line is being walked, because the viewer must balance their preference in admitting the beauty and prosperity of progression shown in the present photo while also lamenting the loss of innocence shown in the past photo. To me this seems that we are increasingly seeking growth in the name of progress, expansion, and development all things that equate to success. Once in the future with the realization of these goals we lament the past, the loss of innocence, and simpler times.

As children many would look to the future, imitate adults, 'play house', and we often couldn't wait for the next phase of our lives. As kindergartners or preschoolers we are praised for being 'big kids' and regaled with the promise of elementary school. Following elementary school the process takes on a life of it's own as we look to the upper grades and eventually to the prospect of middle school or junior high. Once in junior high seeing our siblings or friend's siblings we watch in awe the 'cool' of the high schoolers. In high school we are taught to dream big and plan for the future, because college is around the corner. College, often thought to be the 'best times of our lives', might be on of the few times where if we are lucky we took the time to really enjoy the experience mostly because many do not want to 'join the real world'. Once we leave college after undergraduate studies or post graduate we likely get married and begin families of our own. At some point in the later phases of all of this (during college or after) everyone begins to reminisce and often lament about their childhood and simpler times. "It was so much easier back then. I didn't have so many responsibilities." Some will now learn to embrace life and really enjoy every moment and others will spend the remainder of their lives trying to regain or capture what made our lost childhoods so wonderful. In short as children we look longingly toward adulthood and as adults we wistfully remember our childhood.

Journeys (Part II)

This post doesn't have much to do with it's title, but it is continuing with the theme from the previous post about things that I resonated with from a book I read. 

In each new place does one find again a past of theirs that they did not know they had?  The foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign unpossessed places.   I think this is the essence of travels.  Through our travels we discover parts of ourselves that we didn't know existed or more importantly we rediscover parts of ourselves that we have lost.  Nearly 10 years ago I was an engineering student that traveled to visit my parents in Singapore.  On that trip we took a family vacation to Cambodia and a small nearly imperceptible moment on that trip has forever changed my life.  As we wandered the ruins of Angkor Wat I took a photo.  At the time I didn't consider myself an artist and never had.  I didn't think I could match the artistic talents of my aunt who creates beautiful paintings and 3-D art pieces, my cousin who also paints beautifully, or my mom who has made amazing stained glass lamps and pieces.  After I returned home and developed my photos I found something amazing my photo was beautiful.  The lighting was right, the angle was right, and the colors were perfect.  Suddenly I found I could artistically express myself and I embarked on a journey in discovering photography.  The amazing part about that photo was it was taken with the simplest point and shoot camera.  I found a past of mine that I did not know I had in Cambodia. 

Journeys

The next several posts are all somewhat related, but at the same time unrelated.  What does that mean?  I started reading a book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, which was about the fictitious conversation between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo as the latter describes the cities he encounters on his explorations to the former.  There were some interesting thoughts which I gleaned from the book and I'm intermingling into the aforementioned posts. 

Do we move forward with our heads turned back?  Do our journeys only take place in the past?  To me this is asking whether while we move forward are we fixed on our past.  Do we live in our past despite embarking on a bright future?  Does our past constrain us?  Sometimes I think that our journeys forward are only meant to serve as means to right our past or forgive our past transgressions.  For better or for worse I think our past has made us who we are and though our actions in the past may not have been admirable we cannot let them dictate our future.  Naturally this is easier said than done. 

This afternoon we watched a powerful, albeit at times hokey, movie called My Name is Khan.  This movie is a Bollywood movie that was filmed in San Francisco, which was the driving factor behind my wanting to see the movie.  Anyways without giving away too much of the movie it ever so slightly touches on the idea of forgiveness following an extremely grievous act.  Of course it is far easier for me to preach about forgiveness from the comfort of my life where all is well, but it is a heavy burden to bear if you hold onto the pain of that act.  I'm not saying to not hurt or grieve, but forgiveness is the key to continuing on our journey.  The roots of hatred, anger, and animosity are in our past or actions that have hurt us and the only way to live with our heads turned forward is through forgiveness. 

A little boy's dream (Part 2)

In June while on assignment in Vancouver I blogged a post about how awesome it was to watch a construction site in operation. Over Labor Day the HyWy and I were in San Diego for fun and there were two things that I wanted to see: the San Diego Zoo and the USS Midway. The zoo brought out the HyWy's inner child and it was great watching her get excited about the animals. The next day it was my turn and I was so excited to be on the aircraft carrier. Two years ago I toured the USS Hornet in Alameda, which was impressive but nothing like this. The Hornet was a WWII era Essex Class aircraft carrier and the Midway is a post WWII, Vietnam/Gulf War era Midway Class aircraft carrier. As far as I can tell the Midway is the largest publicly accessible aircraft carrier, which was a big part of why I wanted to tour it. I was just blown away by how enormous these ships are. The cliche is that they are a city at sea and I can see that firsthand. It was as if I was a 10 year old all over again itching to run all over the ship looking in each corner. In the moment I was very aware that I felt like a kid again, but then I thought perhaps my excitement is because I'm a mechanical engineer. Naturally this I really understood how the majority of the ship worked, which was amazing to me. I was able to explain the propulsion system to the HyWy, I understood the emergency wiring, and the takeoff procedure for the planes.

The aircraft carrier is one of the few places that I know (maybe the only one) where engineers are cool. The fighter pilots are basically engineers as are the officers in charge of getting them off the carrier and back safely. Picture this a 5 year old kid is asked in his kindergarten what his dad does. He responds he goes to his office and sits around doing nothing all day. This actually happened and that kid acknowledges years later that while his dad did important things it was not easily distilled to a kindergartner's understanding and hence 'boring'. So now you can imagine my vindication as a now 'boring' engineer when I realized somewhere there is a kindergartner whose dad is an engineer, but the kid tells his teacher that his dad helps planes takeoff a carrier in less than 3 seconds. That is so cool.

Have you ever had any problems with the police or immigration?

This was the question that was posed to me on my return from Santiago. I stopped off in Toronto to visit family for an overnight and then headed back to San Francisco. Ironically the last time I was annoyed by the security at an airport was also in Toronto.

Anyways this time I went through the "regular" line and thought I was good until as I was trying to go to Customs I was informed that I should go into a side room. I looked around as I was informed this thinking that the agent was referring to someone else, but it was clearly yours truly. The side room was overflowing with hopelessness as students, new immigrants, or foreign travelers sorted through their stories. One student had all his paperwork out, another person had recently changed passports, and the problems went on. It seemed strange to me, at 530AM, that I would find myself in this room, because I didn't share anything in common with these people. At the counter I began to get the third degree. Where are you coming from? Santiago. Where are you going? Toronto. Where do you live? California. How long are you here? One day...doh! The agent asked to see my return ticket. This is where it got good. I didn't have a printout of my ticket. It's an electronic ticket why would I have a copy? He suggested I check my PDA or smartphone. Little did he know that he had one of the least technologically forward people in front of him. I informed him that I didn't have such a device, but my ticket was only in my email. He asked if I could pull it up. I told him that I didn't have access unless he had a suggestion. He scoffed at what he assumed to be a request to use his computer, but what was in reality a jab at blocked off wireless service in this side room. We moved on. What "company" are you traveling with? The obvious answer to me seemed to be the name of my employer. He looked confused and restated the question. I responded with an emphatic, "did you mean what AIRLINE am I traveling with?" If you are dealing with weary travelers getting off a 10+ hour flight, half awake, and often speaking broken English it might be good practice to have patience and phrase your questions in the simplest most obvious way. The flip side is that I should have patience for him b/c he's probably been working 12 hours talking to a bunch of frenetic travelers. However, that is a fault of the system...too few workers = tired/snappy workers. Anyways we finally reach the end of our stalemate with the agent stating that he needs my ticket and conceding when I give him my uncle's name and wrong place of birth. The conclusion was later reached that I was deemed suspicious for only being in the beautiful city of Toronto for one day.

What is a salad?

In my mind a salad is a reasonably healthy food option, which contains a majority of vegetables. There is often a dressing involved to give flavor to the mostly raw vegetables. The reason I ask this question is because I was in a fast food restaurant the other day and noticed their nutrition facts. I enjoy reading this to see what is at either end of the spectrum. In my mind a salad belongs at one end of the spectrum, but I think that I place it at the wrong end. I never thought that the most unhealthy item on a menu would be the salad. The two salads on this menu had the most calories of anything on that menu. Naturally these salads break my "definition" of a salad by including fried meat (chicken strips, fried chicken, fried shrimp, or some related item) and they usually have a significant amount of dressing. The HyWy made a good point that the serving sizes were not considered so a 300 calorie small item might contain more calories/oz than a 900 calorie larger item. The funniest part in all this is to see the people who are watching their weight order "healthy" and get a "salad".