of mamma mia
And by mamma mia, I really mean my mom and not the movie.
In a bid to spend more time with my family before I head back to the states next fall (I think), I allowed myself to be convinced into getting up at 6 something on a Sunday morning to go with my parents to the botanical gardens. My parents have been crazy over qi gong over the past year (enrolling in many "expensive" classes) and every early Sunday morning they join this shi fu and a group of other qi gong enthusiasts at the botanical gardens. I prefer to get up past noon on weekends, but well, life's not always perfect i guess... =(
So when we got there, I was quite impressed by the "new" botanical gardens. It's definitely much nicer than what it used to be after all the work done on it. I liked the "evolution garden" very much, and I thought the landscaping was beautiful and comparable to the golden gate park in SF (though of course i still think our botanical garden is way tooooo small). My parents met up with their qi gong friends and I went running. Now, I couldn't help but notice that at 7 in the morning, the park consists of only 2 types of people: the runner (tends to be younger, or sometimes a super fit-looking older person, all usually in some serious sportswear, except for me of course) and the, I'm gonna call them, the qi gong-er. The qi gong-er tend to be in their 40s to 70s, and for some reason, are all in sweat pants and a white t-shirt. Each group is extremely "territorial" and once they occupy a nice patch, they will aggressively defend it from other qi gong-ers. Each group is also led by one and only one shi fu, who sometimes sounds like a politician when he's demonstrating or giving instructions. A few groups are funkier: they have this huge radio set that's play some crazy beats and they're doing some kind of "techno qi gong". That's something I tell you.
When we arrived at the park, I started poking fun at my mom for not putting on sun screen (cuz she's always telling me how i'm gonna get skin cancer from outdoor swimming). My mom then pulled out this bright pink cap that looked like it came from the set of mamma mia. I don't know who on earth designed it, but it has an abnormally dinosauric "front part" (you know the part that protrudes from a cap over your forehead to block off the sunlight) which seriously is a walking hazard cuz i swear you could hit someone in the eye while talking to him/her with it. My mom proudly declared that she got it from china for like 1 buck (i hope she didn't get 1 dollar milk there, cuz kidney stones and brain damage are not cool).
When I got done with my run, I got back to where my parents' qi gong group was. The moment their class ended, everyone started making a run for the huge trees in the vicinity! I thought that was kinda weird, and when did my parents become tree-hugging hippies? so I asked my parents why. They quickly told me to snatch a spot by "standing on the buttress roots" of this huge ancient tree they were at. And then all those qi gong-ers started throwing their hands up in the air and started doing some breathing exercises, then suddenly they started hitting their tummies with their bare hands etc etc and I was starting to freak out. I jokingly told my parents "the tree is gonna die if you guys come and trample it every weekend."
Now, this is the exciting part. My dad coolly replies "oh yah, we better get its life force before others get it." (my mom nods vigorously by his side) And I'm like "WHAT? what are you talking about?" My dad then goes on to explain how the shi fu had taught them these terrific exercises that allowed them to "extract good life force" from the environment, and by stepping on the roots of these ancient trees, they were "absorbing the life force" of the tree (my mom nodding even more vigorously at this point of time). So I kinda laughed it off and said "yeah right.... yeah yeah i'm sure the tree is dying from you guys absorbing its life force", and then my mom suddenly hit me on the chest and exclaimed "oh my god! look at the little bamboo plant we have in our room! do you know why it's DYING? BECAUSE WE FORGOT ABOUT IT AND PRACTICED OUR QI GONG IN THE ROOM AND SUCKED OUT ALL ITS LIFE FORCE!!!!!!!! AH-KAI THIS IS FOR REAL!!!!! WE SUCKED ITS LIFE FORCE AND IT'S DYING.........!!!!!!!!"
sigh, if you treasure your life, don't drink milk from china, or hang around my parents when they're performing qi gong... after all, our bamboo plant at home is dying!
In a bid to spend more time with my family before I head back to the states next fall (I think), I allowed myself to be convinced into getting up at 6 something on a Sunday morning to go with my parents to the botanical gardens. My parents have been crazy over qi gong over the past year (enrolling in many "expensive" classes) and every early Sunday morning they join this shi fu and a group of other qi gong enthusiasts at the botanical gardens. I prefer to get up past noon on weekends, but well, life's not always perfect i guess... =(
So when we got there, I was quite impressed by the "new" botanical gardens. It's definitely much nicer than what it used to be after all the work done on it. I liked the "evolution garden" very much, and I thought the landscaping was beautiful and comparable to the golden gate park in SF (though of course i still think our botanical garden is way tooooo small). My parents met up with their qi gong friends and I went running. Now, I couldn't help but notice that at 7 in the morning, the park consists of only 2 types of people: the runner (tends to be younger, or sometimes a super fit-looking older person, all usually in some serious sportswear, except for me of course) and the, I'm gonna call them, the qi gong-er. The qi gong-er tend to be in their 40s to 70s, and for some reason, are all in sweat pants and a white t-shirt. Each group is extremely "territorial" and once they occupy a nice patch, they will aggressively defend it from other qi gong-ers. Each group is also led by one and only one shi fu, who sometimes sounds like a politician when he's demonstrating or giving instructions. A few groups are funkier: they have this huge radio set that's play some crazy beats and they're doing some kind of "techno qi gong". That's something I tell you.
When we arrived at the park, I started poking fun at my mom for not putting on sun screen (cuz she's always telling me how i'm gonna get skin cancer from outdoor swimming). My mom then pulled out this bright pink cap that looked like it came from the set of mamma mia. I don't know who on earth designed it, but it has an abnormally dinosauric "front part" (you know the part that protrudes from a cap over your forehead to block off the sunlight) which seriously is a walking hazard cuz i swear you could hit someone in the eye while talking to him/her with it. My mom proudly declared that she got it from china for like 1 buck (i hope she didn't get 1 dollar milk there, cuz kidney stones and brain damage are not cool).
When I got done with my run, I got back to where my parents' qi gong group was. The moment their class ended, everyone started making a run for the huge trees in the vicinity! I thought that was kinda weird, and when did my parents become tree-hugging hippies? so I asked my parents why. They quickly told me to snatch a spot by "standing on the buttress roots" of this huge ancient tree they were at. And then all those qi gong-ers started throwing their hands up in the air and started doing some breathing exercises, then suddenly they started hitting their tummies with their bare hands etc etc and I was starting to freak out. I jokingly told my parents "the tree is gonna die if you guys come and trample it every weekend."
Now, this is the exciting part. My dad coolly replies "oh yah, we better get its life force before others get it." (my mom nods vigorously by his side) And I'm like "WHAT? what are you talking about?" My dad then goes on to explain how the shi fu had taught them these terrific exercises that allowed them to "extract good life force" from the environment, and by stepping on the roots of these ancient trees, they were "absorbing the life force" of the tree (my mom nodding even more vigorously at this point of time). So I kinda laughed it off and said "yeah right.... yeah yeah i'm sure the tree is dying from you guys absorbing its life force", and then my mom suddenly hit me on the chest and exclaimed "oh my god! look at the little bamboo plant we have in our room! do you know why it's DYING? BECAUSE WE FORGOT ABOUT IT AND PRACTICED OUR QI GONG IN THE ROOM AND SUCKED OUT ALL ITS LIFE FORCE!!!!!!!! AH-KAI THIS IS FOR REAL!!!!! WE SUCKED ITS LIFE FORCE AND IT'S DYING.........!!!!!!!!"
sigh, if you treasure your life, don't drink milk from china, or hang around my parents when they're performing qi gong... after all, our bamboo plant at home is dying!