Zen of Tofu

Finally, I read some news and reports that the 2007 and newer Scion tC vehicles are legal to be imported into Canada! Finally! This is absolutely great news considering the fact that this car is bound for success and is a respectable addition to Toyota’s lack-of-a-sports-car lineup. I just hope they start making them available at dealerships instead of relying on importers to bring them up North.

With that great news, comes some rather exciting news that the new Nissan Skyline GT-R will be hitting North America in 2008 and it will feature a 450 hp twin-turbo variation of the 350Z engine, with an all wheel drive drivetrain and a 0-60 goal of 3.8 seconds. But the downside of this news is that the car will rival the price of a Porsche and that will translate to the rare sightings of this car on the road anywhere. Regardless, I’m all for the return of the Skyline and I hope to see one on the road in the near future.

written by tofu

I am sure you know a handful of those.

The type that turns shopping into a sport. Whether it be buying the most in the least amount of time, or buying the most with the least amout of money…Whatever it may be, the share the common bond of “shop ’til you drop”. 

Ever wondered how advertisements turn window-shoppers into senseless buyers? In a lecture, one professor shared some food for thought on this topic. The purpose of ads/commercials is to make its audience unhappy…with their current lifestyle/situation. The viewer would look at the ad and think, “Geez, life is actually not all that great!”   

But the ads don’t stop there.  After displaying your current lifestyle in less than spectacular lights, they provide you with the solution to it all.  Buy the product! “Here! This is the only thing you need to make life perfect!”  And so, countless people fall into this buying trap, hoping to make life better with additional materials.  Life would be complete, once I get fancy dinner plates/teeth whitener/the doll that can sing in 10 different languages.

So what is a good way to counter-act this effect?

A well respected philosopher strolled around the marketplace in Athens.  Out of curiosity, his followers would ask, “Teacher, you taught us to be non-materialistic.  So why are you spending so much time at the marketplace?”  To this the philosopher replies, “I like to walk around the marketplace and see all the products they sell, all of which I am fully happy without.”

I wish I can adopt the same attitude when I go shopping. 

written by tlc

As the saying goes:

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Not only is this a wise saying, but it can also be a metaphor for our very own lives. We can give our perspectives, opinions, and critiques on a piece of art or image, but are we willing to pass our own personalities through the same judgment? Many times we hold biased opinions simply because our opinions make us biased. But when we think about it, our lives are objective to almost everyone except us. I say ‘almost’ because those who are close to us, may have different views of you depending on how you portray yourself in front of them.

It is quite enlightening to meet people for the first time, especially when we engage in good conversation with them, because many times they will enlighten us to our own flaws or strengths that we never knew existed before. Their objectivity is such a gift, and that is why it is great to constantly meet new people — it’s enriching! These people that we may never talk to again, can help us ‘capture’ our lives in a way we never thought possible. But here’s the kicker — each and every one of our lives is like a painting, picture, or photograph in a world void of mirrors! We have to talk to others to find out what we really look like and at the same time we find out what makes us appealing, or not-so-appealing. So, here I shall declare my own new rendition of the saying:

Life is like a picture, and worth a thousand questions.

written by tofu

You had a bad day
You’re taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don’t know
You tell me don’t lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don’t lie
You’re coming back down and you really don’t mind
You had a bad day…
(Sung by Daniel Powter)

Ever feel like throwing a pity party, complete with pin the blame on society/parents/the fifth grade bully, seven minutes in hell, and loot bags full of tissues? A down day here and there do add up quite a bit! But what purposes do these down times serve? “Look at me! Let’s talk about MY problems, and MY life!” When we have pity days, we neglect how much we’ve been blessed with. We focus on what we lack and become displeased with life.

“If you know you’re only going to live a few weeks, every day becomes precious, and you don’t have time to have a ‘bad day’. You get up every morning and drink deeply of the elixir called life. Even moments of sadness are to be savored and remembered, because soon those moments will be gone…How different this is from the way most of us live. We can afford to have bad days, because we’re planning on living a long time. A bad day is a luxury we give ourselves, because we figure with so many years to go, we can pour or have a pity party today.” Ray Pritchard (The Way of Excellence: Hope)

Being sad or happy is more choice-based rather than circumstance-based. Circumstances may be static, yet your responses are anything but.

written by tlc

Last Saturday, being 7-7-07, was supposed to be the luckiest day of this century. Hundreds of people around the world took advantage of this and got married. Churches and banquet halls had to be pre-booked months, and in extreme cases, years beforehand. Bakery shops had to hire extra help, taking on night shifts inorder to finish decorating all the cakes for their customers’ once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The luckiest day of this century and tofu spent it by waking up bright and early… to watch Formula One Grand Prix, followed with writing a lengthy entry of reflection??! Talk about a good use of luck! No buying of lottery? No making a wish at wishing wells? No eating of fortune cookies?

Now, the previous paragraph should be taken as sarcasm. In fact, being unmindful of dates and such, I totally forgot about the whole thing…until Sunday when a friend brought it up. Not a big believer in luck, I wouldn’t have treated the day any differently had I remembered. I would treat last Saturday and the coming Friday (Friday the Thirteen) the same as any other day in the year.

written by tlc