Thailand Trip - Four Wishes at the Erawan Shrine With 6 days to go till Chinese New Year, today, being concerned with my new year, I remembered the four wishes I made at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok. 4 Wishes The Buddha in that shrine had four sides, each for health, career, love and wealth. Before going, I checked the way to pray online. The best version I thought was that for each side, you need to knee down, tell the Buddha your name, where you've come from, your wish and what you'll give in return if it's realized. The more particular the information, the better. I did it accordingly, using the SMART principles. Like for wealth, I gave exactly how much I want to earn in 2017 :) Flowery Day That day in Bangkok was rather flowery. I also went to Wat Phra Kaew in the afternoon and bought a small colorful garland in the flower market. When it got dark, I got off the boat on Menam River, went to the road above and captured the beautiful scene of the river dotted by lights of the boats in it and buildings along its banks. There was also the sky wheel. In the evening, for the Erawan Shrine, I bought four yellow garlands. So coming from the river, with 5 garlands, in the crowded street-side open-air shrine that's shrouded by incense smoke, it's like the day was filled with the fragrance, softness and worldly trivialness of those southern girls. Rich Day Then I walked to Baiyoke Sky. Along the way, I saw the great traffic jam of Bangkok lighted up by vehicle lights, lights on the streets and in the buildings. It's really sth bustling, prosperous and beautiful (not to ppl in the cars). The buffet and view were indeed worth the money as one of my fellow travelers said. Even though I hasted to finish it, like a person with no taste (pun), the final selfie showed I was glowing and elegant, like a rich young miss in a highly sophisticated evening party. When I came out, a taxi arrived timely and sent me safe to the hostel. So perfectly rich. Now, I'm back in China. After searching it online, I found myself greedy for someone said you don't have to make 4 wishes. Others say if you get sth without good deeds功德, that Buddha may be only helping you by overdrafting your good luck in the future. More importantly, if you don't go back and pay tribute when the wish comes true, you'll be in for troubles. I feel it rather a tough cooperation with the Buddha but still I'll be hardworking and respectful in the new year. I guess nothing supernatural should happen to me.

A Memory Surfaced Last night, Phil, a member from the Wednesday speaking club I regularly went to, sent me a message. He was running for presidency and asked me, "Dear Coco, will you come tomorrow?" At the midnight, I couldn't sleep for a while. This morning, I got up at 6 o'clock and for 30 minutes, I was tracing the good memories I once had.Then one memory surfaced. We once went to the seaside for an outing. In the dark morning, I went to the beach for the sunrise. Together with two or three other members, I walked along the coast, trying to find a good spot. However, that was a gloomy day. After the day break, we still couldn't see the sun, only a mass of blurred golden light behind the cloud. At the rocks at the east end of the beach, we saw Phil with a small red bucket. I stayed on the rock for a while and watched him picking up the conchs on the rocks and then another girl, Karen, joined me. The conchs were really small, not beautiful but in the quiet cool early morning, I felt rather young when I saw the new member, Phil wearing in red, so cheerfully doing such childish and meaningless things. While he bent down to get the conchs, he also explained where you could find them. It got a little more interesting when there were moving creatures inside them, those tiny little pagurians. Almost every time they appeared, Phil would repeat the word "pagurian" and his tone made these creatures sound even tinier and cuter. As I went deeper down the memory lane, I remembered three of us walking from those rocks to the beach. Karen started to pick up those seashells into a plastic bag. She said she would bring them to members who hadn't come. I didn't think those shells beautiful but was quite amused. Then she found a special one and said, "Wow, this one is really rare. I'll bring it back to Godfather." I was even more amused and sent her words to the WeChat group. Godfather really has an important place in our hearts. When I thought of this, I felt it rather innocent and precious. I remember I also took the picture of Karen and Phil holding their tools standing together and sent it to the group. It was a beautiful picture. Phil was tall, young and handsome. Karen was also very well groomed and showing good mood. I guess the others who hadn't come could also feel from the picture the breeze, the tranquil, cool and beautiful atmosphere on the beach. And one of them commented, "Wow, the boy in red."

Another Training on Public Speaking This afternoon, I attended another training on public speaking. When I was taking notes, I found on the same notebook there were my notes taken last December, for the same event. I couldn't help admiring myself... I've been in Toastmasters for five years. The training today was about advanced communication. Remember the first time I participated it, probably was five years ago, when I had no idea of what the trainers were talking about. Then in 2014, I participated it as a demo speaker. In 2015, in the same meeting room, I was not tired and attended the workshops again. Now, it's 2016. The other day, I decided to meet my old "friend" again to run away from my daily translation work. However, this time, I was rather tired. It was a little stuffy inside. I had been expecting some insights from the first heavyweight trainer, only to realize this was for beginners and I had to bear with the elementary stuff. After the first workshop, the first speech and evaluation... then the second workshop was going on... I put on my scarf and was about to leave... Turned out the second trainer hadn't treated her work lightly. She was talking about how to make public relations speeches. The first point she gave was to always have goodwill whatever the situation. The second was to be truthful... When I heard the second point, I felt my mind was nourished, so I took off the scarf again...Her last point was showing your concern. I think her training was in every way almost perfect, lasting only 15 minutes, clearly organized yet packed with vivid examples and full of insights... Imagine if I had been the trainer on the stage, perhaps another me in the audience would have put on her winter clothes and left long before. So I stayed till the last workshop and still left earlier missing the last two speeches. On the one hand, I was hesitant to have that rash(?) and fresh passion for this as before. Some of the speaking skills were already repeated numerous times in my ear. I felt I had been a persistent on-looker and shamelessly held that amateur attitude for such a long time... On the other hand, I still like being inspired by the exceptional efforts and work of others. I like to see a different world in them. I like to realize life could be funnier, more novel(?) and special through constant trying and improving... And what's more practical is, when I'm obliged to speak, I can still see that beautiful picture where I can speak properly for myself and the people I love.