First day of 2009

How was your first day of 2009?

My mom's 2 close friends visited us today. One of them, Miss M, was a high-ranking police official in a "hot" department within the police force many years ago before she retired. Many in the police force, the underworld as well as criminals knew this formidable woman then. Now she is just a nice friendly lady who likes to give me advise. So today first day of 2009 I had distinguished visitors.

I also went to the Buddhist Lodge in Kim Yam Road, River Valley, to offer lights and flowers to Buddha. As usual, I offered flowers to the standing huge Amitabha Buddha outside the main hall and circumbulated 3 times around Him, and also passed the 18 arhats as well. Then I offered light to the huge Shakyamuni Buddha inside the main hall. After that I went up to the 4th floor roof top where the Four-Faced 1000-Arms Chenrezig (Guan Yin) was, and circumbulated around Guan Yin 3 times. This is my usual practise.

Then I had a bowl of udon at the basement where Mediya Supermarket was. The different stations there sell udon, curry rice, sushi, katsu don, respectively. I had the Katsu Udon today. Their udon is one of the better and cheaper ones I know. I remember last time, I would eat there whenever I attend lamas' teachings at a building nearby.

Strolled along the river and went to a shopping mall to get something. It was so crowded, a vast contrast to the streets outside which were pretty quiet today, post-Countdown. I quickly left the place. Was supposed to go to the nursery to get a plant and soil but decided to head home as it started raining heavily for a short while.

The whole day was quite peaceful and meaningful apart from the distressing call from sis before I reached the temple. She fumed and complained about nephew throwing tantrums again. I had to call the boy at home to find out what happened. Sis was scolding nephew, why was it I felt as if she was scolding me? So suay. To me, the issue was still manageable and it was a matter of discipline, not anger. Nevertheless, I sms her after that to say next time, please cool down before calling me. I hate to be at the receiving end of other people's nonsense and suffering the brunt of their angry moments, especially when it has nothing to do with me.

Other than that minor hiccup, we ended the evening popping sparkling juice and I was happy to see my Grandma who paid us an impromptu visit tonight. Last night we also "popped" red wine for countdown. All that started well ended well. I think the best advise I had today was what I saw on the temple grounds - 看破放下自在随缘念佛.

Let's hope this is a great start to 2009.