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$228 million? Me?

lotteryticket

Yesterday, at a bank, while waiting for some assistance, a stranger also waiting for a customer service banker asked me,

“Are YOU THE winner of the lottery!?”

This gentleman asked, not jokingly, but seriously, so I was taken aback.

???

me: “Ummm…hah?” totally dumb-founded confused … “what?”
He: “I thought YOU could be that lottery winner.” finally getting the mistaken identity …thinking… oh, wow …WISH!
me: “why? Did someone win in this town?”
He: “Yes, a big one – didn’t you hear about it?”
me “No, I’ve never bought a lottery ticket in my life – How much did she win?”

He: “$228 million jackpot!

Whaatttt??!!!!

Whatever possessed him to think I could actually be such a winner of fortune? It’s INSANE!
Insane – the way David Chang, Chef of Momofuku would say… just Insane!!! Me?

I guess this interaction made me think about the image I project. I wondered:

DO I look like a 200+million $ Jackpot lottery winner?

According to the local news, the winner turns out to be a man and he “told the California Lottery he has no plans for the money yet.
‘I just want to be a normal man,’ is what he said. It is reported that the winner chose the annuity payment option which will give him the full $228,467,735 jackpot paid out over 30 years.

*** So now the question is – should I be flattered to think that someone actually thought that I could be that

LUCKY?

And if you were the winner of a jackpot, what would you do?
How would you spend that ?
Would you want to be just a normal person or ?
It’s interesting to note that lottery winners are not necessarily leading a more fulfilled or happy life. Really.

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Angels Everywhere

forestangel

May today be peace within.
May you trust your highest power that you are
exactly where you are meant to be…

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you…

May you be content knowing you are a child of God…

Let this presence settle into your bones,
and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love.

It is there for each and every one of you.

― Mother Teresa

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The Zen of Steve Jobs

There has been a lot of attention turned to late Steve Jobs due to this month marking the third anniversary of his departure. Apple just came out with iPhone 6 but the man who created Apple itself is … gone…at age 56… too premature for a final exit. Just as premature as his Zen teacher, who died at age 64 while trying to save his 5 year old daughter from drowning. In front of our very own eyes, both demonstrating how fleeting and impermanent our lives can be…Realized lately how many people do not know about this fascinating book. Here’s a description from Amazon:

An illustrated depiction of Steve Jobs’ friendship with Zen Buddhist Kobun Chino Otogawa and the impact it had on Jobs’ career
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs (1955-2011) had such an enormous impact on so many people that his life often took on aspects of myth. But much of his success was due to collaboration with designers, engineers and thinkers. The Zen of Steve Jobs tells the story of Jobs’ relationship with one such person: Kobun Chino Otogawa.

Kobun was a Zen Buddhist priest who emigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the early 1970s. He was an innovator, lacked appreciation for rules and was passionate about art and design. Kobun was to Buddhism as Jobs was to the computer business: a renegade and maverick. It wasn’t long before the two became friends–a relationship that was not built to last.

This graphic book is a reimagining of that friendship. The story moves back and forward in time, from the 1970s to 2011, but centers on the period after Jobs’ exile from Apple in 1985 when he took up intensive study with Kobun. Their time together was integral to the big leaps that Apple took later on with its product design and business strategy.

Told using stripped down dialogue and bold calligraphic panels, The Zen of Steve Jobs explores how Jobs might have honed his design aesthetic via Eastern religion before choosing to identify only what he needs and leave the rest behind.

The more you sense the rareness and value of your own life, the more you realize that how you use it, how you manifest it, is all your responsibility.
We face such a big task, so naturally we sit down for a while.

― Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi