Saw a group of "quotable cards" in a bookstore downtown Mountain View today. Some quotes I have never seen but like very much:

Some people walk in the rain. Others just get wet.
--Roger Miller

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.
--Nietzche

There isn't a particle of you that I don't know, remember, and want.
--Noel Coward

Hmm, on their website there are a lot more. I bought one long time ago, saying :)

You had best be quick, if you are ever going to forgive me at all; life does not last forever.
--Murasaki Shikubu

Sitting at a Chinese cafe in downtown Mountain View, California, drinking pearl tea, watching to Chinese karaoke on big screen, listening to soft Chinese music, writing a postcard to myself, and I enjoy the internet. Mountain View downtown is very nice. There are a few bookstores. BookBuyers is a very large, organized used bookstore, one of the best I have seen. The small paperbacks are only $2 and the large ones are $8. Too bad I am on travel and I already have 6 books with me for the trip, so I only bought 3 books here.

About a dozen Asian teenagers are in the cafe. All the boys are wearing the same style of cloth--plaid. ...

Well, we are all different from most other people. The idea is that everyone is different, and people should appreciate the difference and variety. But of course not everybody thinks so (this also proves that people think differently), so this is one main source of conflict and suffering in human beings. It is true that nobody can live in isolation, but people often don't know the boundary between individual and the society. Maybe the society and the individuals are constantly at war against each other. Individuals want to be individuals and society wants to organize as a whole. I guess we as individuals have to learn to live in harmony with all ideas, all people, all the rules of society, and everything else in life. So for me I have felt a sense of peace and freedom after I recently became aware of this, but for some people with their different values and thoughts they might be bound to be unhappy. I want to keep encouraging you to find your own paths. No need to go against the older folks or anybody, and no need to justify your action to anyone (you can tell me though). Just do whatever you want to do (just don't hurt anybody deliberately) and everything will be fine.

-- my "advice", although I've just learned from Tao Te Ching to say little and keep quiet....

I don't know about anyone nowadays. Sometimes it seems the more I know about myself, the less I know about others; the more I like myself, the less other like me. Complete happiness is not possible, although personal contentment is probably attainable.

------
I believe all things will happen at the right time for anyone if one does not push for or against things. My life goes on without me worrying about this or that.

People don't always know what I want to do with my life, but it's because they don't really know me. For a long time all I wanted to do is to find out what I want to do with my life, so I tried a bunch of things. Now I am at a stage that I have finally found out who I am and what I want to do with my life, so I don't want to lose any time to really start my life as an awakened individual. What I have realized is that I am not the same as everyone else, and in fact, I am quite different from most people. That doesn't make me a bad person or a failure. It only makes it harder for me to find my own way around this world. But this problem is solved. I have gained enough confidence in myself to feel free to be myself, whoever I am. What I want to do is to experience being myself, to express myself, to enjoy all life can offer to me. I know I talk in vague terms, but this is me, and this has always been me (everyone knows this about me). I also know how to apply myself in practical life. I know what I want to do, what I can do, and how to achieve what I want. I think this is quite enough.

--thoughts shared with my sister (more like a restatement of my apology).

so there is a time for everything. some time for writing, some time for thinking, some time for loving, some time for resting, some time for nothing. i fear the more i like myself, the less others will like me. the more i use the word "i", the more the others use the words against me. this should not be right. there must be a state of harmony in which everything and everyone is in its right place. the truly wise one should be able to effect such a change of state. when the attachment is deep, the motion is difficult. nothing is easy in this world. stay in or stay out, one must choose a side, because the rules are quite different. inside, some things and some people are inherently binding.

My life seems so unstructured, unorganized, unfocused, unpredictable these days. Sometimes I feel people would prefer it otherwise. I don't know. I have no secret. I have nothing much to share. I am just being a bum right now. Let me be.

This set of advices from my piano teacher.... I used to have this on my homepage but when I disconnected my old website, I left it out. The words were not written by my teacher, but were given to me during my piano lessons. At that time I found his words very insightful and inspiring. I had forgotten all about him until just recently. It is really good if you translate the words into life:

Individuality means youth and freedom. It's like say, "I will do as I please."

As a individual, be bold and stand out.

Live all the hours clearly so each minute can be "heard".

Experience every moment. There's no unimportant moment in life.

No hurry. Take your time.

Do not depend on luck. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Always have more technique than needed.

Even when you are resting, your day should to be interesting.

The whole idea of beautiful life is the ability to join and merge with the world smoothly.

Create variety.

Do not just live what is planned. Add flesh and color to the skeleton.

Make it clear what you want to express in life.

Make it clear where you want your life to go. Do not let it stand. Live with motion.

Put your weight in life. Live emotionally. Live with feeling.