Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Sync Your Brain


2008
11.18

Hi there! It’s been a while. Let me start by announcing that I got a new toy. It’s an iPod Touch! No, I am not bragging. (Although it’s really an awesome product.) But it is how I found out about this Brain Syncing thing.

I got the iPod not for music or the games. I got it so that I could use Getting Things Done on the go. iPod Touch is like an iPhone without the phone or camera. It can use many, many, many of the apps developed for iPhone. And this lead to my discovery of Binaural Beats.

Here comes the brain thing… I don’t even know how I came across this little program called Mind Wave that uses Binaural Beats to get you to shift/condition your state of mind. It even claims to help relieve headaches! Sounds kinda weird but I was intrigued. After a little Google research, and talking to a couple of people who actually used Binaural Beats with results, I decided to give it a try. Just to satisfy my curiosity really. Also, I was wanting to find something to help me focus and learn when school starts.

Being a meditator I am very cautious of what gets into the mind. I don’t want any subliminal messages embedded in anything that I listen to, so I looked for recording that uses only Binaural Beats. It’s one thing to alter frequencies of brainwave. It’s another to try to feed ideas into your mind.

I started with Mind Wave which gives the bare audio tones without background noise/music. Then I found a series of CDs produced by Dr. Jeffrey D. Thompson. Highly recommended by some. His series of CDs include classical, new age, sounds of nature, electronics, etc. I got a variety of sounds that include all four major frequencies, Alpha, Beta, Theta and Delta. I also got Gamma Meditation for deep meditation.

My experiences with the Gamma CDs have been very interesting so far. There are 2 discs. First one is classified Gamma frequencies, the second is HyperGamma. You see, I didn’t read the labels in the beginning, so I didn’t know there was a difference. :-) I started with the first one lying in bed doing mindful practices. I found it calming, even making me feel a little drowsy. But the focus stayed sharp when directing the mind to do so. That particular soundtrack was about 30 minutes. The first 10 minutes were very pleasant and mindful. Then all of a sudden I became aware that the soundtrack had ended. Whoa! What happened in the last 20 minutes? It seemed to had passed in just one quick second. This phenomenon is not unheard of in meditation. Time has no meaning in deep concentration. But did that happen to me? I am not ready to say yes. More experiments needed, with added mindfulness to see the changes in state of mind.

Next I tried the second disc. Again, without reading the fine prints first. 2 soundtracks. I started the first expecting to have similar experiences. But I stayed completely alert. Focus was sharp, but none of the fading away feeling. I wondered if something wasn’t right. But later I read that this particular track was designed to be used while doing other activities. Anyway, I moved onto the 2nd track and that fading away feeling came back. But this time with added effects. In the mind’s eye colored flashes started to appear. Purple and magenta. Maybe some green. This was something I experienced before when meditating. But I was very intrigued that the audio soundtrack was able to bring a similar experience.

Gamma is quite interesting. Other sounds also produce some notable effects. Like brightening the mood, helping the mind to stay focused and energized, etc. But I am not making any recommendations for anyone to try this. I just find it a very interesting blog topic. Please do research if you want to try Binaural Beats. There are some concerns for people who are prone to seizures. Consulting a doctor first would be very wise. OK, OK. End disclaimers. You are on your own if you try. :lol: And one more thing. This absolutely does not replace the mindful practices that lead to Awakening. Insights and wisdom come from investigating one’s mind. Although these sounds seem to be able to help calm and relax you, or make you become more alert, you still have to direct your attention to the right practices to gain insights. Without that intention, that effort, these sounds are really just relaxation tools.

Ask Sarah Palin


2008
10.04

Got questions to ask Sarah Palin? Text your question in and it will show up on a billboard outside of Palin’s rally today at Carson, California.

From The California Democratic Party:

Sarah Palin is coming to the Los Angeles area today and we need your help. We’ll have a giant, electronic billboard outside of Palin’s rally where we’ll be displaying questions for the McCain-Palin campaign from Californians across the state.

To submit a question for our electronic billboard, text the keyword ASK then the question to the number 69866

For example, send to 69866: ASK You said you’d run a respectful campaign on the issues, what happened?

Keep your questions under 160 characters including spaces and remember to keep them family friendly since we’re showing them in public.

Online video chat by Ustream

More On Sarah Palin


2008
10.03

For crying out loud. McCain and “FRIENDS” proclaimed a victory for Palin on last night’s debate. They said she did a “magnificent job.” Excuse me?!? Have we really lowered the standards of a V.P. so low that merely to complete sentences and to recite talking points can be considered awesomeness?!?

I feel a little confused. Are we trying to elect someone to fill the position of a Vice President? Or are we trying to customize THE JOB to fit a person’s ability?

The V.P. Debate


2008
10.03

I don’t think I’ve ever dedicated a post entirely to politics. Well, after watching last night’s V.P. debate, I just need to vent a little bit. I have a few points to make.

  1. Did you all notice how Palin ignored questions and answered something entirely unrelated? And she even made a point to tell us that she wasn’t going to play by the rules? OK. First agree and accept the debate format, then ignore the moderator. Nice. This just demonstrated to me that Palin is not a listener. She would tell you what SHE thinks that you want to know. Will she also decide what’s best for you without listening? It also demonstrated that she does not play well with others. She does not handle interaction with others well. Zoning in on the camera helped her focus on PREPARED talking points. And did you notice she had no reaction after Biden’s emotional moment? She was able to immediately turn to the camera and continue with her talking points. She was totally in the zone… the Sarah Palin Show zone.
  2. All the folksy talk, the Joe six-pack, the you betchas, the hockey moms, the winking, just sounded like a sales pitch. Yes I know, they were all trying to sell themselves to us. But this one reminded me a slimy car salesperson. (Sorry, but it did.) Do we want to let someone charm her way into our lives and forget about the important stuff? Haven’t we already let someone cowboy his way into our lives for the last 8 years? Do we want that to happen again? DOG GONIT!
  3. It was very convenient for her to drag Obama and Biden’s history into the equation. But when Biden mentioned Bush, it was backward thinking? HUH? And if I remember correctly, some people cannot do enough to separate themselves from the Bush administration. How do they do it? By pointing out Bush’s mistakes of course. Oh wait. Maybe Palin doesn’t need to know the past. Just like she doesn’t need to know what caused global warming to fix it.
  4. There were still moments that she did not sound coherent. Can you imagine if she HAD to answer questions and not recite prepared talking points? And yes, I DO think she memorized her answers. Oh wait, they are answers only if they can be applied to questions.

I know I am a little mean spirited this morning. But gotta get these things off my chest somehow. Thank you for reading. :-)

Take A Bao


2008
09.22

Take A Bao is situated in the middle of the food court at the Westfield Century City. I had been impatiently waiting for it to open for months. I love baozi 包子. I can be happy if that’s all there is in a meal. Steaming white bun filled with all kinds of goodies. Meat, veggies. Even sweet bean paste. Baskets and baskets of them. But I discovered a week ago that they weren’t doing baozi. Instead, they were doing guabao 割包.

You might have seen similar stuff like guabao. They use them for Peking Duck sometimes. I also love guabao when they are done right. The steamed bun can be opened to add fillings in the middle. Like a sandwich. Very popular in Taiwan. Usually stuffed with soy braised pork belly, pickled veggies, fresh cilantro and peanut powder. I am drooling just thinking about it.

Take A Bao didn’t serve the traditional guabao. They offered several Asian-fusion kind of combinations. I think you can also build your own with the stuffings they have. They are good. Just can’t compare to the original in my opinion.

The service that day was absolutely awful. I think they weren’t prepared to serve a crowd. The orders were out of order. The people in charge looked like they just zoned out and didn’t want to bother with customer service. They barely whispered your name when the food was ready, and it could sit there forever if you did not go up and get it. We watched people coming up behind us get their orders first, and had to inquire about it before they went to look for our order. We weren’t the only ones. A couple was waiting for their food at the same time as we were. They were still waiting by the time we finished eating.

OK, enough complaining. I found some positive reviews on Zagat. So, maybe they’ve finally established a system and is running the restaurant smoothly now. Don’t know if I will go back often though. I was really looking forward to having some good baozi!

Conflict


2008
09.11

There seems to be a conflict between my schedules. What schedules? Fiber Activitities and Work. They can’t seem to work around each other at this point. :-( This blog should be called “Jason Knits… No So Much”. SIGH I have to work some fiber activity in the schedule, for relaxation.

Fruit & Hair Update


2008
09.08

OK, you may think that both ‘fruit’ and ‘hair’ are about me. You are WRONG!

Saturday Farmer's Market

First, about the fruits. No, NOT me! We went to the new Saturday Century City Farmer’s Market situated at the Twin Towers. Location is hard to find. Bad signage. Parking is under the Twin Towers which usually have heavy security check. I wonder if that would seem less attractive to shoppers. But they let us by with just a quick look around. And parking was free with validation.

We got there just after they opened at 10am. Only 6 or 7 vendors. Very small. And most of them weren’t quite ready, yet. Very little shoppers, too. But we did find very good fruits and vegetables. Especially some Japanese Kyoho grapes and some melon that I don’t know the name of.

Japanese Melon & Kyoho Grapes

I especially loved the flavor of the Kyoho grapes. I even went online in search of the live vines so that I can have a chance to grow my own in the future. If I ever get a yard, that is. But I’ve always wanted grow a beautiful grape vine. This would definitely be my first choice.

Now onto the hair. Yes, THAT’S about me. It’s getting pretty long, but not quite long enough yet. Here’s a quick look:

Second shot taken just out of the shower. No product in the hair yet. Not that any product can help my hair look better, of course. :lol: