These days, so many people make themselves ill.
They work harder than their bodies can work.
They think harder than their minds can think.
It’s as if both our minds and our bodies have forgotten how to be still,
and the only thing driving them onward is the unquenchable mantra:
“More, more, more!”
Perhaps the saying, “Less is more,” is something we need to remember.
A house can only fit a certain number of guests.
A balloon can only hold a certain amount of air.
A jug can only hold a certain amount of water.
If you let too much inside, it will break and overflow.
But if you don’t let anything inside, it remains hollow, empty…incapable of fulfilling its inner purpose.
So remember to balance, especially during times of high stress.
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Over the winter holiday, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time with my family & good friends while in California, USA. I’d like to share with you some of the photos from this trip. Hope you enjoy them! Wish you a joyful 2010! -A.Z.
This first set of photos is from San Francisco.
A Korean Canadian tour bus in S.F.
Large fries.
Pigeon on a burger.
S.F. Wax Museum - Room of Movie & TV Stars. This figure of me looked quite realistic, don’t you agree?
50. Arrange (Could you please arrange these books in alphabetical order?) (I will arrange for a band to play at your wedding).
51. Adjust/Change (No, it’s not 7:30, it’s 8:30! You need to adjust your watch). (Cindy is from China. She has lived in Toronto for 3 years. It took her 2 years to adjust to living there.) (Change into your bathing suit. Let’s go swimming!) (Where can I change my money? I only have American dollars). (The restaurant changed their menu. They served Japanese food before, but now they only serve Korean food.)
52. Cheat (If you cheat on the test, you will get into trouble.)
53. Check (Joey said, “Do you have an extra pencil?” Cindy replied, “I’m not sure, let me check.”) (They had to arrive early to check in at the airport).
54. Cheer (Cheer up. I’m going to cheer you up.) (At the basketball game, many fans were cheering for their favourite team.)
55. Choke (It’s good to eat slowly, because then you will not choke on the food). (Help! I think this man is choking!)
56. Choose/Pick/Select (If you could only choose one book to read, which book would you choose?)(I hope they pick me to be on their team!)
57. Claim (He claimed to be the strongest man in the world!)
58. Clean (Clean your room! He cleaned his plate).
59. Click (Suddenly, everything clicked in his mind. He double-clicked the”OK” button on the computer screen.)
60. Close/Shut (Please shut the door. What time does that restaurant close?)
39. Build (You need many people to build a house).
40. Burn (Unfortunately, the house was burned downed in a fire). (The food was so hot that my mouth was burning!) (If he stands under the sun for too long, his skin will be burned). (He burned a disk of his favorite songs to give to her.)
41. Burp (No one said anything while they were eating dinner, until Joey burped and everyone laughed.)
42. Buy/Purchase (I’m going to buy a new cell phone.) (Slang: Do you think what he says is true? I don’t buy it. Meaning: I don’t believe it).
43. Calculate (Class, I want you to calculate how many apples I have left if I start with 9 apples and then give 3 to Joey and 4 to Cindy).
44. Call (Mom is calling you to come and eat dinner). (Call me). (Call me Joey).
45. Cancel (I decided to cancel my plan to go to China on vacation, because I was feeling sick).
46. Care (I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you’ve done, as long as you’re not a singer for the Backstreet Boys). (Please take care of my pet fish). (She cares a lot about her friends). (Would you care for some more rice?)
47. Carry (Let me carry those books for you; they look heavy.) (This store carries all kinds of computer supplies). (Don’t get carried away).
48. Celebrate (Tomorrow is your birthday?! We should celebrate!)
49. Challenge (He challenged me to a game of chess.)
Created as a Final Project for UBCs VISA 210 (Digital Arts) course in Winter 2009.
There is no sound in this video and that is intentional, as sound is unnecessary for the images and possibly distracting. The entire video was filmed with a webcam (despite having better equipment available) to create an internet video/webcam conversation/voyeuristic point of view. Also, it is intended to viewed as a continuous loop. (So the beginning becomes the ending).
LSBC (LifeSpan Bank of Canada) and their website is an artificial creation for this project. The video was shot over a period of several days and many details were carefully inserted to reveal the passing of time.
Research regarding the average lifespans and how people spend their time were included into the numbers and figures. Calculations were then made to reflect the predicted minutes and seconds of the main character’s life. What you see in this video is a fiction based on facts. It is an exploration into the nature of time, aging, fear of death, and the desire for immortality or simply “more time”.
The next time you use Online Banking to check your finances, try also considering how you spend your time and how you will spend the rest of your life. And please consider LSBC for all of your time-banking needs. Thank you.
28. Belong (Who does this car belong to?) (I’m going to leave this party; I feel like I don’t belong here).
29. Bite (I am afraid that the spider is going to bite me).
30. Bleed (Help! This person is hurt! Their leg is bleeding.)(My newspaper got wet from the rain and now the ink is bleeding.)
31. Blow (The wind blew my paper off of my desk.) (I need to blow my nose; do you have a tissue?) (I was blown away by how amazing that movie was!) (The car crashed into a wall and then blew up.) (Can you blow up this balloon?) (You shouldn’t have blown all of your money by gambling. You really blew it this time!) As you can see, this word has many different meanings in English, particularly in spoken English. So use this word carefully.
32. Boil (Let’s boil some water so we can have hot tea.)
33. Bomb (During the war, their house was bombed and now there is nothing there.)
34. Borrow (Can I borrow your book? I will give it back to you tomorrow.)
35. Break (I dropped the glass and it broke into many pieces. ) (He ran so fast that he broke the world record!) (Someone broke into our house and stole the Television!) (The couple was not happy, so they decided to break up.)
36. Breathe (She was so nervous that I couldn’t breathe.)
37. Bring (Don’t forget to bring your passport to the airport!) (I brought a present for you from my hometown.)
38. Brush (He brushes his teeth 5 times a day!)
Hope that helpful. I’m going to go brush my teeth now. See you next time, for Lesson 5!
