Baby Buddha: Chinese Teahouse and Dim Sum!

Yesterday my boyfriend and I made a visit to Baby Buddha in Norwich, a chinese dumpling paradise in disguise as a teahouse. The tea is good too, but it's the Dim Sum menu you really want to be the focus on your visit. It's quite a small yet cute menu, with a couple of extra dishes available from Sat - Tues. For the fish lovers - this is the fishiest Dim Sum menu I've come across, for the vegetarians the menu may not be so convenient as other competitors.

 Overall, the food was great. As always - the BBQ pork dumplings was my favourite (and has been with all Dim Sum places!) but the rest of the dumplings were good as well. Baby Buddha does a FANTASTIC mango pudding - I really recommend it for sweet tooth readers. It is a good idea to eat the mango pudding last, as it leaves a satisfying smooth after-taste. We also had some kind of puff pastry 'thing', that wasn't too great & we've had better spring rolls, but overall I was quite satisfied with the food.

When ordering drinks however, I must encourage readers not to order Ooolong Tea with your Dim Sum. Oolong Tea is a lovely blend, but it does not go well with dumplings or anything sweet. For Dim Sum I'd probably recommend Green Tea from the small selection I am accustomed to.

The staff at Baby Buddha were lovely. The music, although it was your typical cheesy music, was fine and good for a background scene. I noticed to my amusement, when custom was slow the music followed suit, and when there were more customers the music was speed in pace. This has inspired another post.

I defiantly want to visit Baby Buddha again. It is not the best place for Dim Sum out there, but it's quite high on the ranks and defiantly worth any excuse to go.

Box

It starts with the housemate who orders the mother's day gift, or the birthday present for a second cousin law.

Then, the day begins to wind down. It requires a moment of silence. A moment where procrastination desires to develop into a tangible beast. You have to sense it. You have to be aware. You have to listen to the calling.

 You don't understand at first, but a part of you guides you into a state of supreme understanding about the nature of the world. You don't fight it anymore. You just let it overpower your ordinary mundane senses. Your harness this new... Creative energy...

And waste an entire evening making polyester models.

 

Because why not?

I got a little bored, so I edited some old photos.

I've found a whole folder of photos I took of shadows. Mainly myself holding my guitar.

I don't understand either, but it's 'experimental' for a reason... Right...?

This is my personal favourite. I took this originally from a monastery, and was going for the old school, academic book look.

I do like colours too. I should get round to taking a camera round Bristol at some point...

Yay for British weather.

Classical Guitar

I've always enjoyed sound and admired instruments, but until recently, I never felt fulfilled playing the guitar. I was always the drummer girl, or the ninja sneaking into the pianos in highschool and university. My dad taught me a few chords, and a therapist taught me how to play a short melody, but I was never really inspired. Then came a boy who was very interested in ukuleles, and suddenly, strings became interesting again. I could bring my guitar to university and use it to escape from stress and woes. Now I weave between four strings and six, and I find it fun. I want to learn more and get better.

While walking around in Bath, I happened to come across a man playing a familiar melody, and when he finished, I asked him two questions. Firstly, what was the melody he was playing? It was "Romance" by Vincente Gomez. More than six years ago, a lady working at a hospital to taught me a simplified version, and now I could learn how to play it properly. The man caught my smile, and explained it was quite a popular melody on classic guitar. Then I asked, if I could take a photo of him playing. He said sure.
But of course I forgot to bring the memory card for my camera. I no longer have the cable to connect my camera to the laptop. So he's stuck in a little black box. He did look similar to the man in the video though, so I'll just pretend it's him.

Living Poetry

Living poetry continues to sweep the air around my ears and bring warmth. It's a comfort, a scarf round my neck that isn't too tight. Concentration is a little difficult, but it's okay, because pressure has loosened. Nothing right now has to be perfect. But perhaps that that is a stronger beauty. Is that a little too cliché? Forgive me. I was tired last night, and I'm tired again. But there is this undeniable peace that is coming, closer and closer. It is like an aroma, you can't hold it. But it's there, and it's soft and it's kind, and it's gentle. Muscles may be heavy, but restlessness has been repelled by this aroma, and it's okay. I guess you have to accept it first, and sometimes it's a little bit strange, but it's certainly worth it. 

I can smile without guilt, smile without issuing a burden upon myself. I don't have to fear nor worry nor load myself upon stress.

This special incense can burn forever, but I will probably forget about it sometimes. When I do, you'll notice, but, eventually I'll remember and then it's okay.

I am thinking and thinking about a past I don't recognise. A child holding a glass rose. All the candles we used to burn together. The little flames still flicker now as ghosts. It's different now, because there is peace. And the warmth of a fire so alive steams inside and keeps me strong. And when I hear those silky whispers float and spin from each wall, it's okay.

A tired nonsense post.

Firstly, I apologise for this post. Tiredness and I have been cheating on life for quite a while, so while I will try to be coheriant in writing, I may occasion drift and lose the strength to guard grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. So conclusively, bare with me!

But on the upside, things have been moving along quite nicely. I've finally got round to reading The Time Traveller's Wife and The Other Hand. I enjoyed both books, but I found The Other Hand best written and more gripping. (I'll write reviews later.) I've started reading "Jpod" by Doulas Coupland, which is a very weird humour book. It's kept me entertained though. I'll also probably try to read a couple of others on a go, it makes it easier to read more sad or serious stuff when I have a crazy wacko humour book to read now and then to dilute things a bit.

My appetite is a bit screwed again, but I'm trying to eat more, again. Maybe I'll talk about recipes I followed in future posts.

I've been volunteering for a charity dedicated to raise awareness for hearing loss and the deaf commuinity [among many other related things] which has been great. Funnily enough, there was a strange coincidence today. I was an event in Bristol, and I was introduced to a particular lady who was responsible for managing events in the South East of London. That includes East Anglia, where I'm from. We were talking, and she mentioned she was doing an event in my hometown, on the Monday when I'm actually home. So... I'll be helping out there too. It is strange. I could have passed this opportunity to get involved with the charity in the first place. I could have let myself sink further down to a pool of anxiety and depression. But that one time I didn't has lead to some pretty good things. Of course, it's not always that simple. And if it was a matter of myself simply deciding not to feel down then the game of life would be much easier.

I also met a man who is very good at sign language, and combines it with religion.
Oh, religion and deafness is also what I really want to do for my third year dissentation. I've decided that writing a novel for marking in a short time is not for me. I'll still do creative writing, but I really want to get involved with research within the study of religion, especially with a sociological perspective.

I imagine if I told my brother about all this, he'd find it quite a bit boring. But maybe he'll like me talking about the LARP game I was involved with Saturday, and another I will be involved in later this week.
 If I get enough sleep.

Speaking of which, adios!

Life, life, life & The Decision Book

Late yesterday I said goodbye to my boyfriend once again as he returned to trains, grey brick and city smoke on his way back home. From the time I walked back, from the beginning of the today, I have done fairly little, but ponder on small, naggly things that wiggle around in front of my eyes. Little things, little worms of stress that are either going to be solved on Wednesday, or later in the year. Things. Life things.

To my side, I have "The Decision Book: Fifty models for strategic thinking." It was left in my room since yesterday, and just from a short trip in my bag, it has suffered a few marks on the cover, to the extent that I think I'll secretly buy a replacement.
The book uses a series of models with easy to interpret diagrams and systems.
Systems. Diagrams. I do like me some of those!
This is in order to help ask appropriate questions which in turn - aim to help you find your answer.

This shall be my weapon to increase my philosophy count. *Manic laughter here*
I should explain - I'm having a little competition with a friend of mine. We're trying to write as many profiles for countries and philosophers as we can. The biggest post count at the end of the year wins. You want to ask why we chose those topics? This may help.

So, turning to a random page, I find 'The Flow Model'. This is an indeed very simple model that generously mentions two philosophers. Firstly, two thousand years ago Aristole came to the conclusion that what a person wants above all is to be happy. In 1961, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote "While happiness itself is sought for its own sake, every other goal - health, beauty, money or power -- is valued only because we expect that it will make us happy." He used the term 'flow' as the name of the state of feeling happy, and after interviewing over a thousand people, he found that all responses had certain things in common. When we're in the flow we tend to be intensely focused on an activity, neither under-challenged or over-challenged, with a clear objective that receives immediate feedback.

Following?

This means that his vision of happiness contradicts the idea that relaxation directly follows happiness. Imagine two axis, the y being 'challenges' the other x axis being 'abilities'. There is a line of flow from the 0y, 0x, that rises to a straight positive gradient. If you were to think about the last three challenges you faced, decide the level of challenge it was, compared to the level of ability you had. If they match - you hit into the line of flow. If they don't - you're either above the line of flow - the challenge is too high, therefore you're over-challenged. Or you're too low on the graph and your ability is much higher than the challenge.

I find this an interesting concept.
Just from a quick google search I find he has a video on TED. I still don't have Internet at home, nor have I brought headphones with me today, so I can't judge the quality, yet TED videos are normally good.
Mihaly is also a positive psychologist. Positive psychology isn't just about treating mental illness, but studying positive human development. It is thought that focusing solely on disorder could result in limited understanding of a person's condition.
And finally, while he has lived most of his life in America and is essentially, American, he was born in Hungary.
Most likely this will amuse a certain psychologist I know.

Deafening by Frances Itani

I've finally finished reading "Deafening" after purchasing the book sometime in October. The book did not ask to be rushed, nor was strong enough to hold my interest for too long; yet I can happily reflect that it has been a generally good and worthwhile read.

 The main character in Deafening is a deaf girl called Grania, who grows up in the beginning struggling to fit in a family living in a hearing world. She has a talent for reading lips, and her grandmother Mamo encourages Grania to learn how to speak. Deafening is separated into five parts which allow for time skips and different themes. I found the first part was quite interesting, and enjoyed reading about Grania's family and Grania's childhood. Then came the second part of the book, and suddenly Grania has finished school and falls in love with a hearing man called Jim.

Too quick.

Grania grows up quite slowly at first, so it is rather strange that she is suddenly a woman and is in love. I liked the fact Grania was a strong character and very independent, so I was disappointed she was wooed so quickly. Jim on the other hand becomes more and more likeable in the book. From the second part onwards, he slowly becomes more and more interesting, as he joins WW1 and carries wounded soldiers on stretchers back and forth.

I understand that the book is a historical romance, but even so, romance shouldn't just happen like that, it should be developed. I think Frances Itani was keen on exploring deeper into the historical side of the genre, so goes into detail Jim's life during WW1, and his friends he works with. There is the emotion of fear, sadness and longing that Itani portrays well, but it's hard to believe that Grania can be so in love.

The finale of Deafening was probably where all the drama was waiting to orchestrate, and although it seemed quite rushed and sudden, the climax was overly well conducted. As the author's first novel, I feel that Deafening by Frances Itani is quite the impressive read.