8/21/2004: Olympic fever...

I sure have it. The games are fiercely intense, exciting, riveting, that always in the middle of watching I wish I were also good in some sport, and be Olympic material. Winning a gold is a tall order for these athletes. Just making the Olympics already is. But what of us who can never make these games, what grand challenge is there for us to conquer? Mine, ours all, may be… this life. I want to do this right. My Olympic gold would be knowing, after all this is over, that I did it right.

8/18/2004: It's amazing how gems of wisdom...

...can be found in unlikely places, or unlikely sources, at unexpected times, but you only recognize it when you are ready to take it, or when the question is already in your head, waiting, to be answered. I used the word “recognize” – for really, or they say, wisdom, or lessons we learn are things we already know (look up “anamnesis” in google), and this life is simply an exercise in remembering what we already know.

8/12/2004: The kare-kare was a success...

But that’s just kare-kare. Cooking for me had always been easy. How I wish other things in life could be perfected as easily. Or require less skill. Like finding love, and keeping it. Or losing it, but knowing how to say goodbye, or to move on. Or to forget. Pablo Neruda, an old friend, knew this when he said, "Love is so short. Forgetting is so long."