from paulo coelho's book, "by the river Peidra i sat down and wept"

Man runs into an old friend who had somehow never been able to make it in life. "I should give him some money," he thinks. But instead he learns that his old friend has grown rich and is actually seeking him out to repay the debts run up over the years.

They go to a bar they used to frequent together, and the friend buys drinks for everyone there. When they ask him how he became so successful, he answers that until only a few days ago, he had been living the role of the "Other".

"What is the Other?" they ask.

"The Other is the one who taught me what I should be like, but not what I am. The Other believes that it is our obligation to spend our entire life thinking about how to get our hands on as much money as possible so that we will not die of hunger when we are old. So we think so much about money and our plans for acquiring it that we discover we are alive only when our days on earth are practically done. And then it's too late."

"And you? Who are you?"

"I am just like everyone else who listens to their heart: a person who is enchanted by the mystery of life. Who is open to miracles, who experiences joy and enthusiasm for what they do. It's just that the Other, afraid of disappointment, kept me from taking action."

"But there is suffering in life," one of the listeners said.

"And there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever even knowing what you're fighting for."

"That's it?" another listener asked.
"Yes that's it. When I learned this, I resolved to become the person I had always wanted to be. The Other stood there in the corner of my room, watching me, but I will never let the Other into myself again-- even though it has already tried to frighten me, warning me that it's risky not to think about the future.

"From the moment that I ousted the Other from my life, the Divine Energy began to perform its miracles."

in taiwan

this is part of a modern art exhibit in taichung at the museum next to mr. zhangs house. its a bunch of water jugs with orange lights inside. looks amazing at night.

the weather here is nice now. as opposed to the hot and humid summer, the few days i've been in taiwan have been rainy, which is nice and cool. but the sun is peaking out through the curtains here, so i'm guessing it may warm up today. amoung the first things i did here was to eat some of my favorite taiwanese foods. had a mango shave ice, fried chicken with msg seasoning, beef noodles, seaweed rolls, melon tea with milk and papaya milk. Not all at the same time, of course, but over a day. i'm hoping to get to my old stomping ground, the hot dog place today. its good and i'm friends with the owner. i bought my friend bekah some blueberry gum, rachel a pen case, and myself some prayer flags. found a store yesterday during and after dinner stroll that sells all tibetan stuff. i'm going to go back today to check it out. work has been going ok. i've been assigned the project of helping to sell some exotic cars from brunei. pretty stoked on that. we'll see if it works out as well as i hope it does. if anyone wants a bently, let me know. flight home tonight leaves around 8. should be back in the us around 4 in the afternoon. I get 4 hours of my life back. that's always a good feeling. hope to see you at home soon.

taiwaning

I'm in Taiwan now. Got here last night and it was a blast. Luckily, i flew on the flight that my friends wife was stewardessing on. SOOO i got to sit in first class on the top level of a 747. That's always been my dream. And it was so cool because i actually slept on an airplane. That's something that hasn't happend to me in about 23 years and it made me happy. I don't know if i'd ever pay for that seat myself, but for what it cost me, it was worth it. I also was given a VIP gift basket from the airline. That includes 2 bottles of wine. If you'd like one, let meknow. Maybe i can use them to cook.

I also read about half way through my newest Paulo Coelho book, the Pilramage. Like all his other books, its just blowing my mind away. I can't say enough about him or his ability to say profound things that leave me amazed witht the virtual simplicity of everything.

read his books if you haven't.

Taiwan is hot and sticky. Wearing business attire doesn't help that much. I'm heading to HK right now. There we've got some really good meetings set up. All these chinese guys want there money invested elsewhere. Hope i can help them.

I feel like i'm on the cusp of the rest of my life. Fearing that would be a terribly dibilitating thing to do. So I just think about what I want to happen and work to make that happen. My optimism has turned out well so far. I hope that streak continues!!