I finally returned to Vancouver/Richmond suburb 8 days after Canada opened its border (August 9) to US double vacinees holding a confirmed and uploaded negative PCR test within 3 days of departure, a PCR nasal/oral test obtained in the Vancouver airport lobby upon exiting but no required quarantining (last year 14 days). My first time in 20 months!
Richmond continues to boom with 11 visible cranes pulling up condos around them and large pits where others will eventually erect. Visible excess in the more than half of parked luxury cars some never encountered before such as Model Y Teslas, Porche and Lamborghini SUVs. Richmond is a safe spot, with mandatory and compliant indoor (mall, grocery store, library) masking and requisite QBR confirmation of double vaccination at all indoor venues (restaurant, movie theater, health clubs). As before, in this area busy with malls, shops, food courts and restaurants, I cross paths with few if any Caucasians and Cantonese > Mandarin > English or all three swirled together rules the communication waves.
Two noticeable changes: a beehive of turquoise-vested, -hatted, -scootered silent electric drivers ferry take out everywhere leading to the consequent rise of obesity in young Chinese males who eat in and couch in.
Tai chi class resumed in a new studio as the old one was demolished to make way for yet another condo high-rise. Vaccination, masks and 9 feet between practitioners allow me to attend 7 sessions/week 1.5-2+ hours each. The Sifu (teacher-father) has refocused on basic e.g. everyday warm-up exercises for both disciples and longtime students: horse stance (crouching pain), spiral force (cheen xi ging), shifting weight side-to-side, and ‘walking’ (hang low) sinking low into hips back upright supported by interminably burning quadriceps. He is reteaching these at a more nuanced, advanced level while demonstrating the martial application. He or lead disciples Mary or Jack stand adjacent to you and pick apart your inner workings with radiographic clarity. Although this remedial emphasis may sound boring, I’ve experienced multiple epiphanies this session having traversed a tipping point where I’m now able to perceive previously imperceptible subtleties in Sifu’s movement and even mimic them. This session has proven to be my most fruitful and both my balance and proprioception have noticeably improved. But there is no space for egos as he uses me as either an ‘errant example’ or as a punching bag to demonstrate how to generate power!
Although my elder friends have been reluctant to eat out in restaurants, we’ve managed to gather in home relying on takeout. So this fall has not been as isolating as I worried beforehand. Several have experienced significant health issues including COVID. Many are artist–friends from whom I acquired five wonderful paintings. I attended superb movies with one younger Tai Chi-artist friend at the Vancouver International Film Festival both in person and by streaming, she 45, me 13 … recommend Official Competition (Brazilian with Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas) and Drive My Car (Japanese) based upon a Haruki Murakami short story.
Still making neurons fire. Have read 51 books this year, recent recommended non-fiction reads: The Code Breaker (Walter Isaacson) an account of Jennifer Doudna 2020 Nobelist and the race to discover CRISPR, The Premonition (Michael Lewis) a profile of several forward thinking, game-changing physician-scientists during COVID, The Search for John Lennon an insightful foray into the mind of this complex musician, His Truth if Marching On (John Meachum) a biography of the John Lewis, and The Empire of Pain (Patrick Keefe) an expose of the Sackler Family/Purdue Pharma’s incendiary role in the opioid crisis. Two fiction reads: My Old Home (Orville Schell) a heart wrenching story of the cultural revolution through Tian An Men and China (Edward Rutherford) a sweeping panorama from the Opium War to the Boxer Rebellion. And several projects continue with the updating the CVS pediatric guidelines, a NASPGHAN position statement on telehealth, and a prevalence study of microaggressions towards Asian American medical students.
Take care of your health and mind,
 |
| Cora Li-Leger 'Equisetum' 2016 - reminds me of a feminine bamboo grove |
 |
| Fanny Tang 'Square Round 30' 2016 - reminds me of an Chinese imperial ball |
 |
| Fanny Tang 'Connection' 2021 - reminds me of my former intestinal endeavors |
 |
| Li Jingwen 'Universe' - "from night, daybreak emerges to assure good things" |
