My Left Hand

I am a right-handed person. My wife is a left-handed person.

Because of this, I have become a little more sensitive to the nature of being left-handed. When you're left-handed, you angle for the left side of the dinner table. There is also the need to have appropriate scissors. You also must think about how to arrange the buttons on your computer mouse. Lots of small things to consider.

One of my favorite books is Joe Perry's biography "Rocks", about his life as Aerosmith's lead guitarist. He plays right handed, but one of the things he reveals in the book is that he is left-handed, so learning the guitar was an exercise in flying upside-down for him. I wonder how his learning would have changed if he started with a left-handed guitar?

I also remember a golf tournament many years ago. Tiger Woods was in jail, his ball against some brush. He wasn't able to take a normal stance, but to the announcers' amazement, Tiger turned the club upside down and took a left-handed shot. It made sense that he would know how to do this as there are some professional baseball players that can bat from either side of the plate.

As for me, I make an effort to use my left hand when I think I have a choice. For example, I will try to open a bottle of pills or reach into a cupboard for a mug with my left hand. It's a small thing, but I feel some solidarity with left-handed people. Both sides of my brain gets some usage when I spread the work like this, and that's got to be a good thing.

Thunder Road

The Bruce Springsteen movie is in theaters and it prompted me to listen to my favorite Bruce Springsteen song: "Thunder Road", from his majestic 1975 "Born to Run" album. The song is a timeless beauty to me, and I can remember when I first heard it (circa 1982-1986).

In high school, I attended retreats led by the priests at my all-boys Catholic school. These retreats were held in a large house in Sea Bright, New Jersey, on the Jersey Shore. My memories of the retreats are mostly dim except for that one morning someone put on this album (vinyl).

A fellow student flipped through the albums at that retreat house and announced "Bruce!" He cued up the first song and Thunder Road began, filling me instantly with its lyrical imagery. Mary's dress swaying, skeleton graves burning, and the exhortation to let the wind blow back your hair.

I've loved that song ever since. Recently I've come to enjoy the version he did with Melissa Etheridge. In that rehearsal he said "there's no chorus" (presumably to arrange the duet). There's just a bunch of lyrics was his lament, and she said "But they're really good lyrics!" Absolutely.

My Book's Anniversary

Earlier in the year, I experienced a remarkable moment. I was in the library, browsing computer books when to my great delight I saw the book I wrote on the shelf! It was a momentous occasion for me.

Ten years ago to the month my book was published and sent out into the world. It's okay if you missed it. It is a technical book, and it's for a technical audience. Still, I'm proud of it, and back then I thought the publisher would distribute the book to every bookstore and library.

I spent several months of 2015 and 2016 looking for my book among the new computer books in every random bookstore and library. I never spotted it. I knew people were buying it, because after a few months I began to receive very modest royalty checks. But I longed to see it on the shelves.

Eventually I stopped looking for it. The royalty checks were enough evidence, I suppose. And I am grateful for the money from the book (though it's only a fraction of my current salary). An author I know told me that the secret to making real money with books is to write more than one!

At the library, I pulled down my book and leafed through it. The technology in the book is something I use every day, and I know it much better now than ten years ago. The book is aimed for beginners, and I wonder if I could write for them now like I did back then.

I didn't spend much time with the book. There's only one section I reread, and that's the acknowledgements. I go right to the last paragraph where I thank my wife and daughter for their patience and love during the year I spent working on it. I would certainly write them in now like I did in 2015.

A Return to Golf

I played a real round of golf last week, after a long hiatus. It was just nine holes, but it counts! The last time I played any real golf was 2009. Somehow, since then, I drifted away from this sport. People have asked over the past years if I played, and I joked that I had retired from golf. But had I?

A few years ago, maybe even pre-COVID, the office landlord installed a golf simulator. This is where you hit a golf ball on a mat into a screen. A machine detects your club head speed and angle, and then projects the ball's flight path on the screen. It can simulate good shots as well as bad shots. After a few good hits I began to think I could still play this game.

Last year I went to a corporate event at a golf simulator last year. I had more fun than I expected. I had a few decent hits, and despite my horrible score, it really whet my appetite for playing again. Nothing beats seeing a well-struck golf ball in flight. The organizer said he'd try to do an outing at a real course and encouraged me to sign up. I said I'd think about it.

Last month that same person reminded me about the upcoming golf outing. We'd be outside, playing on a real course, using the low-pressure scramble format. I asked him if I could rent clubs at the course, and he said he had some random clubs I could borrow. I then jumped on Facebook Marketplace to find some golf shoes. For good measure, I went to a driving range to see if I could still hit.

My round last week was about what you'd expect after not playing several years. I lost probably four balls (three into the water), duffed several, and had precious few decent hits. But I wasn't discouraged. I relished being on a course again, playing this fine game. On the last hole, a par three, I hit a gorgeous tee-shot with a pitching wedge that landed just off the green. I think I'm back!

H-Mart

I live right next to an H-Mart, an Asian food supermarket. I could walk there, I live so close. I have ordered boba tea from this place with co-workers, but for the longest time I have not set foot inside, until this past weekend.

H-Mart is wild inside. Maybe it was all the labels with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters. Maybe it was the distinctive odor of live seafood inside of display aquariums. I saw strange fruit and produce. I saw immense bags of uncooked rice (brown, white, jasmine, medium grain). These last items transported me to a scene growing up: emptying out a large bag of rice into an even larger container, the rice making a distinctive sound as it poured out of the bag.

As expected, I saw plenty of Asians walking around, their faces familiar to me, yet also unfamiliar. I thought about my own identity a bit. I am Asian, but that always felt too broad to me. I remember a co-worker telling me that India is a part of Asia (the Indian subcontinent), and I remember being surprised. I should have known this, and felt chagrined that I didn't.

I saw random Caucasians during my visit. Most looked completely at ease with all the options. A few looked like me: dazed with wonder. I thought about my own upbringing, and my own assimilation. Born in the Philippines, but raised entirely in the United States from the age of three. For my parents, their old home is an island nation in Southeast Asia. For me, my old home is Jersey City, New Jersey.

Walking around the H-Mart reminded me of this bit: if you're American, you cannot go to China and become Chinese, but if you're Chinese, you can come to America and become an American. I know this is true. 

Around the circumference of H-Mart were food stalls. I commit to revisiting these more closely, as there could be takeout options here. After all, I live so close!

Planking

A year ago I started doing planks. This is a back exercise in which you position yourself face-forward on the floor, lifting your entire body by your toes and elbows. When done right your back and legs are as straight as a plank. After a minute or two your abdomen and back will feel the strain from holding this pose.

Various people have talked to me about this exercise when I mention my occasional back spasms. Planks are easy to perform, but it took a long time to build up endurance. At first I could only hold the pose for 20 or 30 seconds. I eventually reached a minute. Today, I can hold the pose for a minute and a half. I try to plank at least once in the morning and once in the evening.

About six or seven months into this new routine I realized that my back spasms stopped happening. My spasms tend to be a sharp pain that immediately subsides into a tightened back. I have exercises that reduce the tightness, but my back is wrenched for days at a time. Sitting or getting up with a wrenched back can be painful. However, since planking, these have stopped.

I can only conclude that planking has been the difference in my back and core health. The core of your body governs the back but also your torso (abdominal muscles) and your hips. In other words: posture and mobility. I've stopped regularly doing push ups because I'd rather be rid of my back aches than to have well-defined triceps. I suppose I could do both. Maybe I will.

Bottom line: I recommend a planking routine for those with back aches.

Italian Phrases I'm Memorizing

Ho una moglie e una figlia. Li amo molto ❤️

Sono americano ma sono nato nelle Filippine 🇵🇭

Caffè macchiato, per favore ☕️

Mi piace leggere 📚 e scrivere ✍🏼

È un Michelangelo 👨🏼‍🎨 o un Raffaello? 🎨

photo by tigerorchid