Meeting Jamie Chan again with his students and artworks

By Juesatta art, Photography
Ascetic gautama - clay art by Jamie

Ascetic Gautama - clay art by Jamie

Last week I went to visit Jamie Chan. Remember the post of Jamie Chan the animal lover last year on juesatta? Jamie is an art teacher.

When I visited Jamie during the evening, he was at his art class teaching a few children. There were five students. Due to the Chinese New Year period, children were having holiday so not many attended the class on that day. 

When I arrived, Jamie was writing Chinese calligraphy, then we started our chat with warm greetings. On my request, Jamie showed his artworks to me. I had a chance to shoot some photos of these amazing art pieces: twin-headed turtle, alien in an egg, lizard fossil, lizard, fantastic drawings, dinosaur teapot, and my favorite the ascetic Gautama. 

Later on, out of no where Jamie brought out his collection of his old drawings in his early years in primary school and secondary school. Jamie’s paintings were mostly freestyle, his brushes flowed freely with his feeling and mood. It was really interesting to see how Jamie improved throughout the years, and how his style evolved could be anticipated from his early years’ paintings.

Furthermore, Jamie loved clay art and did many in recent years. Most of them were made and colored then displayed in nicely decorated fish tanks in his class. These wonderful display in class, however would provide an artistic atmosphere and would inspire the students’ interest. These clay artworks were all my favorite especially the ascetic Gautame which seemed like a real unearthed artifact to me.  

Jamie and his partner, Joan are both art teacher of the class. Although the mother wasn’t there when I went, the daughter, Si Si was there learning from his daddy. A very artistic family indeed. And I know Jamie from his sister, Janic who is also a great artist and has recently resumed her art class too. I hope I have a chance to shoot Janic’s artworks in future. 

Photos to share with you: 

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Wai Mian De Shi Jie (外面的世界) by Ringos and friends

By Music and video

This is a song by Qi Qing (齐秦) titled, Wai Mian De Shi Jie (外面的世界). Actually i was searching for this song high and low. Thanks to CJ, i now know who sung this and the title of the song as well.

This performance was taken at Ringos Cafe which is opposite of the famous Geographer Cafe in Melaka.

Enjoy the song as much as we enjoy having you at Juesatta! 🙂

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[News] Secret millionaire Grace Groner donates her fortune

By Compassion
Secret millionaire Grace Groner (photo from http://www.bittenandbound.com)

Secret millionaire Grace Groner (photo from http://www.bittenandbound.com)

Grace Groner was orphaned when she was 12 and lived simply until passing away at age 100 in January. Grace left the world a better place, at least her little corner of it.

Groner, a secret millionaire, left her entire estate worth $7-million-dollars to her alma mater, Lake Forest College in Illinois.

In 1935, Groner purchased $180 stock in Abbott Laboratories – where she worked as a secretary for 43 years –  and, thanks to her frugal lifestyle and thoughtful investing, Grace amassed a $7-million-dollar fortune in the last 75 years.

Grace lived in Lake Forest in a modest one bedroom cottage with plain furnishings, mismatched dishes and a decades-old television set. She bought her clothes at rummage sales and walked instead of driving.

Grace had already donated $180,000 to a scholarship program at the liberal arts school.

“Oh my God,” was the reaction of Lake Forest College president Stephen Schutt upon learning the amount of Groner’s generous donation. Schutt reportedly knew that Grace intended to leave money to the college however, until her death, he had no idea how large the gift would be.

Grace’s money will help Lake Forest’s 1,300 students take internships and study abroad – experiences that many of them would never have had without her help.

Her little home was also donated to the college and will be used to house recipients of scholarships from the foundation. The house has been named “Grace’s Cottage,” in honor of a woman filled with grace.

[source: http://celebriscoop.com/2010/03/05/grace-groner-secret-millionaire-donates-fortune-to-lake-forest-college/]
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A friend who lost an arm and a leg – 失去一条胳臂和一只脚的朋友

By Compassion, Wisdom

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. “Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know.” the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.

A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide.

The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.

They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

Moral of the Story…

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.

Tonight, before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a little prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, not as you think they should be, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

Take time to think about this…….

[source: http://www.citehr.com/121018-pls-do-read-very-touching-story.html]

 

Chinese version:

  这是一个甫自越战归来的士兵的故事。他从旧金山打电话给他的父母,告诉他们:“爸妈,我回来了,可是我有个不情之请。我想带一个朋友同我一起回家。”

  “当然好啊!”他们回答“我们会很高兴见到的。”

  不过儿子又继续下去“可是有件事我想先告诉你们,他在越战里受了重伤,少了一条胳臂和一只脚,他现在走投无路,我想请他回来和我们一起生活。”

  “儿子,我很遗撼,不过或许我们可以帮他找个安身之处。”父亲又接着说“儿子,你不知道自己在说些什么。像他这样残障的人会对我们的生活造成很大的负担。我们还有自己的生活要过,不能就让他这样破坏了。我建议你先回家然后忘了他,他会找到自己的一片天空的。”

  就在此时,儿子挂上了电话,他的父母再也没有他的消息了。

  几天后,这对父母接到了来自旧金山警局的电话,告诉他们亲爱的儿子已经坠楼身亡了。警方相信这只是单纯的自杀案件。于是他们伤心欲绝地飞往旧金山,并在警方带领之下到停?间去辨认儿子的遗体。

  那的确是他们的儿子没错,但惊讶的是儿子居然,只有一条胳臂和一条腿。

  故事中的父母就和我们大多数人一样。要去喜爱面貌姣好或谈吐风趣的人很容易,但是要喜欢那些造成我们不便和不快的人却太难了。我们总是宁愿和那些不如我们健康,美丽或聪明的人保持距离。

  然而感谢上帝,有些人却不会对我们如此残酷。他们会无怨无悔地爱我们,不论我们多么糟总是愿意接纳我们。今晚在你入睡之前,向上帝祷告请赐给你力量去接纳他人,不论他们是怎么样的人;请帮助我们了解那些不同于我们的人。

[source: http://www.banbijiang.com/yipingushi/5132.html]
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农历正月十五元宵节.The Lantern Festival

By Photography

元宵节,是中国民俗传统节日

正月是农历的元月,古人称其为“宵”,而十五日又是一年中第一个月圆之夜,所以称正月十五为元宵节。元宵节的习俗在全国各地也不尽相同,其中吃元宵、赏花灯、舞龙、舞狮子等是元宵节几项重要民间习俗。

元宵节也称灯节,元宵燃灯的风俗起自汉朝,到了唐代,赏灯活动更加兴盛,皇宫里、街道上处处挂灯,还要建立高大的灯轮。随着时间的推移,元宵节的活动越来越多,不少地方节庆时增加了耍龙灯、耍狮子、踩高跷、划旱船扭秧歌、打太平鼓等传统民俗表演。这个传承已有两千多年的传统节日,不仅盛行于海峡两岸,就是在海外华人的聚居区也年年欢庆不衰。
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An endless journey by CJ

By Drawing and artwork, Juesatta art, Wisdom
An endless journey by CJ

An endless journey by CJ

“The birth of a man is the birth of his sorrow. The longer he lives, the more stupid he becomes, because his anxiety to avoid unavoidable death becomes more and more acute. What bitterness! He lives for what is always out of reach! His thirst for survival in the future makes him incapable of living in the present.”
-Chuang Tzu

一个人去工作的时候,早上经过了一条河。放工后,又经过了那一条河。他和朋友说,他一天经过那条河两次。其实,所谓的河,是不断流着的水所形成。放工后,那人所经过的河,还是流着一样的水吗?

相对于河水,当我们观察周围的一切,它们都不断地变化:地球的转动、地核的波动、空气的流动等等。一切物品也慢慢的变旧、变坏,再被从新循环生产,变成新的物品。身边的人也是如此,健康变病弱,也可能再好转,还有人们性格、情绪、爱好等等,都时时地再变。一切都是我们的执着,认为一切都是永恒,痛苦就产生了。

人生其实也是没有起点和终点的路途,并不是出生的时候为生命的开始,停止呼吸的时候为结束。从当代物理学和物理学的角度出发,我们的生命体本就处于每时每刻分散离聚德运动变化之中,幻生幻灭,只不过我们习惯性的把它执着为一个粗大的,可以稳定存在的连续体。

就我们的生命来说,经历了不断的变化。生命的之前一个当下,我们的生命现在的当下正处于分散之后的从新聚合。相对于之后的一个当下,我们的生命又正处于从聚合走向分散。经历每一个当下,我们确实已经经历了一次生死,已经经历了一个轮回。

自己,就是意识到这个当下。当一个人对前一个当下的自己或之前的自己执着着,就会迷失自己。忘了活在这个当下的自己,就会不快乐。每一个当下,都是一个人生,都是一个自己。所以去学会改变每一个当下,当我们放下了这一个当下的爱欲执着,进而改变了自己以往的生活方式和人生态度的时候,我们的生命会发生灿烂的变化。

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