David's Space...

Kidney Stone.

Last Thursday morning, I woke up with a slight dull pain on the left side of my stomach. I thought I had stomach ache so I sat on the toilet bowl and it took me quite awhile to realise nothing was coming out. I thought it might be a food poisoning so I grab my keys, changed and drove myself to the clinic. 

By the time I arrived at the clinic, the pain became more severe and it was throbbing. It got so intense, I had to lie down on the row of chairs while I moan and groan quietly to myself. Fortunately, there was no one at the clinic. Then the nurse called me in to see the doctor and by that time, I was sweating from all the pain and slight contraction going on in there. 

The doctor suspected kidney stones but couldn't give me the painkiller injection until my urine was examined. So I mustered every ounce of energy left in me and took the little plastic cup and went to the toilet and issued a tiny bit of urine. By that time, the pain was at its peak. When the doctor examined the urine, she said there is a trace amount of blood and it should be kidney stone. She muttered the name of the painkiller and she jabbed in the butt. 

But there was no relief after that. So she said that I had to be sent to the hospital. She smartly asked for my phone and I gave her. Then she asked me who to call. I only managed to whisper hoarsely, "Paul or my dad."  Before I knew it, a series of phone calls was made and Paul arrived with Jace. They brought me into the car and I was driven to the hospital. 

By then, I was screaming in pain as if I was going through labour pain. Paul just asked me to concentrate on breathing. Somehow, I managed to follow what he said and was suddenly conscious of the fuss I am making. So, I kept quiet and thought of some virtuous thoughts (of taking the pain of obstacles of Kechara. Very YSH! I know.) and the pain didn't lessen in intensity but seemed to be distant. 

I arrived at the hospital and they gave me a big jab in the butt and took me for CT scans. Here are some of the scans taken by Paul. The little white dot in the center is the stone, apparent 3-4 cm in diameter that was causing all that pain.

Well, the pain is gone and I am still taking some urinal alkalizers and diuretics to hopefully dissolve the stone so I can pee it out. Well, I have no pain but the stone doesn't seem to be out yet. Wish me luck! 

 

A New Abode

Due to monetary reasons, Paul (my housemate) and myself have been looking towards moving for sometime to lower our rental cost. Simulataneously, my mum has an apartment in the Hartamas area and she had recently asked me to find someone to rent the place because she didn't want to live in this 1600 square feet apartment.

So, I asked her to allow me to go over to take photos of this place and here are some of the photos I have taken of it. It is a nice tidy little place and I remarked that maybe one day I would like to stay here. She jumped on the topic and asked me to consider it and added that I don't need to pay her a single sen. She had already paid the apartment in full except for the monthly management and amenities fees. 

I spoke to Paul and Jace (both remaining housemates of Heruka House) about it. I even took them on a tour of the place and they liked it. Eventually, Paul accepted as it would help him to save quite a bit of money. 

The beautiful hall of the apartment faces the balcony with a breathtaking view of the Hartamas area including a Turkish-looking mosque in the distance. 

My mum had this console installed for a flat screen TV. Now, we just need a flat screen and we are set. Unfortunately, most of us wouldn't be free to watch. Perhaps Zamkar (Paul's white schnautzer) would want to learn how to operate the TV remote. 

The cabinets in the kitchen is fully done up with cabinets along with the state-of-the-art electrical stove and exhaust hood above the stove. No excuse for not cooking and saving money from now onwards.  

The apartment has 3 bedrooms and each have a bathroom either next to it or attached. This is the master bedroom and my mum got the wardrobe and table all done up. I like the brown walnut colour, quite classy. Not bad colours from my mum.  

The breath-taking view from the balcony of the apartment.

The view of the pool area from the balcony and I can plan where I want to land if I were to commit suicide. There are the usual apartment facilities like the gym and others but I like the pool. Perhaps, I could skinny deep in the pool if I ever get a chance. What do you guys think? You like?

I was attacked!

I was attacked by Amnesiac Monster who had a sidekick called Laziness. They both pack a powerful punch and quickly overpowered me. Well... Not really.

I was just busy and I had completely forgotten about this ole' blog. So much has happened since the last post and it would fill a whole big book if I were to update about what happened in between posts. Anyway, I have just an hour before Lamrim class and flea market packing, I thought I resume a blog. I realised I had nothing really substantial formed in my head so I am just writing out what comes immediately to mind. 

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day at Amcorp Mall, setting up booth and ending it with makeup, a tight trashy little dress and a handbag to match. Looks like I am going to die as a man and reincarnate as a trashy drag queen. Well, it is going to be a photoshoot and I am going to be the unwitting star as a drag queen. If you do see me on site (somewhere in town), please don't wolf-whistle and lose your concentration while you drive. You might crash your car and I ain't going to pay for your car repair's hunny! 

Well, until the next post... See ya hunny! 

 

Red Planning

We had a briefing today at Kechara House Gompa with Liaison Paul Yap leading it. It was all prim and proper with a name list of people in charged along with the itinerary for the two-day event. When all was settled, the liaisons and Kechara Care ushers went downstairs to for a trial run of the escort.

Paul had a whole formation of men mapped out to escort Rinpoche the moment he steps off his car. It was all very meticulously drawn and planned out on paper and in his mind. A Kechara event has never been planned out so meticulously! Kudos to Liaison Paul and his crew for doing such a great work organising the Grand Dzambala and Setrap Puja. 

Check out the event:- http://www.kechara.com/gsdp/

This picture was taken from the Kechara facebook page. The red lanterns have been recently hung to create the festive mood, which is also an idea of Rinpoche's. 

 

Poor Dog, Poor Men

 

The news is abuzz with a video footage of a brown poodle being abusively trained to stand. What's amazing about this video footage is the amount of publicity it rallied and as a result, so many people want to see the perpetrator behind bars now. I guess that's the power of Facebook and the Internet. 

I am actually amazed that people are so upset over this video but they ignore hundreds and thousands of videos of even worse brutality that occur daily in slaughterhouses around the world. Why get so angry over this man's actions when the very meat that people eat daily supports worse brutality. It's soOOoo contradictory! I am not even an animal-loving person but after watching enough poultry slaughtering, I am cutting out all types of meats from my diet. I am not trying to sound 'holier-than-thou' but being vegetarian makes me feel less guilty during meal times. 

That's why when I saw this video, I didn't feel angry, I didn't swear and I didn't even wish the foolish man behind bars. I actually felt sad for him because he doesn't know the severe repercussions that is waiting for him. What do you think that the poodle did in his previous lives to deserve such torture? Why only feel pity for the dog when the man is heading towards a similar situation as the dog. 

Flea Market Adventure

We are already on our 3rd Week of our flea market adventure. This adventure is a combined effort of Jean Ai, Shin, James, Bonita and myself based on what the older student's of Rinpoche used to do when times were bad. Rinpoche recalls fondly of this in his blog- http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/12/flea-market-at-amcorp-mall.html So to kickstart this endeavour, Rinpoche gave us a lot of stuff to sell in the flea market. Just in case you were wondering, our flea market is held in the suburban Amcorp Mall, that is famous in all of Petaling Jaya for its weekend flea markets. 

Our flea market is on every Sunday (till Chinese New Year) from 10 am till 6pm. Our stall is usually located on the 1st floor. 

Although for the first weekend, our stall was on the lower ground floor where all the other antique and second hand resellers congregated with their junk, antiques and curios. The crowd there was also thicker but we never got back to the same location again. When I enquired at the event management, they told me that those stalls have been there for more than 10 years and management have allocated newer stalls selling second hand items on the 1st floor. Oh well! 

The flea market begins with layout of our 'haul' of the day on the table. Bonita got us a nice stainless steel rack to display books, CDs and DVDs. Naturally, we also get a lot pre-loved cuddly soft toys as you can see here.

Bonita makes headway with the passerbys while I was just admiring the soft toy. Jean Ai told me the turtle toy was from Wee Liang and I remarked, "It looks just like him!" She agreed with a laugh. 

We were very fortunate to have lots of Nepalese and Tibetan paraphernalia (that were given by Rinpoche as well) that eventually became the bestsellers of the day. Pictured with me are Matthieu and Julian Morriset - Margaret's boys that Jean Ai brought along every weekend. They make good slaves, show-stoppers with their mischievous antics and they do look good in pictures. 

Mr Yee, our regular patron of our flea market stall is proud of the beautiful items he is inviting including the Manjushri fiery wisdom sword held by Shin Tan. I was playing with it for awhile and contemplating to get it but I am happy nonetheless that Mr Yee got it instead. (I know! So YSG and that stands for 'You're So Goooood!' :o) )

Jean Ai loves kids! She loves them and she plays with them and she is good with kids and she's also part of the fledgling Kechara Youth group. She got Matthieu and Julian in to help out at the flea market. Besides them, we had Sharon's son, Sean (pictured here sitting next to Jean Ai), Edward (picture here in orange) and Beatrix (both are Angel's kids) along with mummy Angel. We also had Phillip Yong, the young intelligent guy with glasses in the picture below.

It is great that so many of these young people help out at the flea market. First of all, it is FUN and second of all, they get to spend their time doing something beneficial and if they help out long enough, they might even learn to value money (most parents would heartily agree that they need this) . Not to mention, we spread the name of Kechara, Tsem Rinpoche and the Dharma. 

 

So... Come one! Come all! And enjoy great bargains!

Congratulations Dato' Ruby Khong!!!

Dear Dato' Ruby Khong,

You have been a great friend and Dharma sister for the past 6-7 years. I am in awe at your meteoric rise in your Dharma work. I just love what you are doing with Kechara Soup Kitchen and on top of that, you do it with such sense of style. What you have achieved is absolutely deserving as you are meticulous, hard-working, intuitive, straight-forward and a 'fiery' person. You inspire me and I shall never forget the times you 'gave me a piece of your mind', the times you defended me and stood by me. You are a loyal person and I noticed as you become more and more successful, you seemed to be more and more contented, opened and humble. I really like that about you and I thought I wish you a HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS on the conferment of your Datoship!!! May you bring lots of happiness to others with it. Therefore, like I said before, "You are someone I wanna be when I grow up." (I copied those words from Paris)

PS: Hope you don't mind this unflattering picture of both of us in Nepal. It is the only one I have. Hehe!

XXXX

David 

My Birthday Gifts For Rinpoche

Yesterday was H. E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche's birthday (24th October)

 

and so I offered the following gifts to Rinpoche....

The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia... Why Wonder Woman? Well, she is Rinpoche's all time favourite comic book heroine and I think she is somehow related to Vajrayogini. 

And...

10 Bunches of red-film wrapped Vajrayogini Incense. I believe they are Rinpoche's favourite and to create further causes to uphold my vows. We offer incense to create the causes to uphold morality or our vows. (Need to create more merit in this department)

My last gift is a pewter Amitayus tsa-tsa - The Buddha of Boundless Life force. It is my hope and prayers that Rinpoche live long to teach and benefit lots of people, which I believe he will. A closeup of the beautiful tsa-tsa is as follows. (If you like to get one... Check out http://vajrasecrets.com/tsa-tsas/pewter-collection/pewter-tsa-tsa-of-amitayus-buddha-of-infinite-life-2-inches-tall.html)

 

So with this offering, I would like to wish...

 

Rinpoche!

 

What Would Rinpoche Like For His Birthday?

The whole of Kechara organisation is right now gearing up towards Rinpoche's birthday just two days from now. So, I keep hearing people whispering and asking each other what they should get for Rinpoche's birthday. Therefore, I thought I list here some of the things that Rinpoche likes (from my memory) so it might give you a hint of what you guys can get for Rinpoche. The following are just an indication and whatever offering you give to Rinpoche, he will appreciate it and offer it to the 3 Jewels on your behalf.

Buddhas

Manjushri, Lama Tsongkhapa, Yamantaka, Vajrayogini & Pelden Hlamo

 Manjushri

 Lama Tsongkhapa

 Yamantaka

Heroes

The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa & Gandhi

 H. H. The Dalai Lama

 Mahatma Gandhi

 
  Mother Teresa

Music

Madonna, Donna Summer, Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks), Jefferson Starship, Journey & Mary J Blige

  Madonna

  Fleetwood Mac

 Donna Summer

Movies

First Generation Star Trek Series, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Mission Stardust, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jeepers Creepers and much more... (Good Horror, Sci-fi & Classics of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis & Liz Taylor movies mostly)

   First Generation Star Trek Series

Mission Stardust

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Other Misc Favs

Grace Jones, Mountains, Napoleon Cake, Meditation, Vegetarianism, Mumu & Ozer (Rinpoche's Schnautzers), Animals, Momos, Milkshakes, Thick Fries and the list goes on...

  Grace Jones

 Mountains and trees

    Napoleon Cake            

The Next Step for Kechara...

The Kechara organisation is on the verge of a major expansion again with the renovation of the NEW KH Gompa (prayer hall) nearing completion. I am extremely excited about it and have been taking and posting almost daily photos of the progress on Facebook. So I shall present here some of the highlights of what I have taken so far.

This photo is taken at ground level of the New KH Gompa's facade. Unfortunately, the trees were blocking but you can still see the scaffolding on the walls as the workers are still working on it. 

I went to the third floor of the carpark building nearby and took this beautiful shot of the KH Gompa. You can even see the windows on the roof that lets sunlight into the main hall.

This is a 10 feet statue of Je Tse Zin Ma or the 'Lord of Life Force' that will be installed in the main hall. This is also the long life emanation of Lama Tsongkhapa. He will be the largest statue of Lama Tsongkhapa in South East Asia! We are very fortunate because he was especially commissioned by Kechara Discovery's Liaison Paul Yap. On top of that, there will be a 7 feet statues of Vajrayogini and Setrap arriving soon to flank Lama Tsongkhapa. 

This photo shows the main prayer hall is filled with scaffolding as the workers put the finishing touch to the ceiling. The hall is a massive one and would be able to fit 700 people for teachings and pujas. 

Anyway, for those of you who can't wait, here is how the facade of the New KH Gompa will look like when it's lit at night. It looks like a sleek and modern cinema hall to me! But it is going to me so much more than that.