Five Secrets to a Happy, Healthy & Successful Life By Marilyn Tam
You make well-meaning resolutions to improve your life. But your resolutions fade under the stress of multiple demands on your time and attention. Oftentimes the resolutions are history before the month is done. How can we ensure that we actually benefit from the good intentions that we made with such conviction?
Many years ago I made an earnest resolution to work less and to spend more time on my personal life, family and health.
Being a type A personality, it was easier to say that than to follow through. By late in the same month, as I am running through another airport, I realized that I am already back to my old pattern of working seven days a week.
On the next plane ride I took the time to ask myself a few hard questions. From that experience I developed these Five Guidelines to have a Happier, Healthier and more Successful Life. Isn't that what we are ultimately after?
1. Make resolutions that you can manage. Specify your desired end result and make the goals measureable. For example, instead of saying that you want to lose weight, give yourself a specific time frame for a number of pounds or inches broken down into smaller pieces so that you have incremental targets to meet. Make the objectives a slight stretch but achievable. You are more likely to continue once you see positive progress towards your ultimate goal.
Mu Performing Arts presents Mu Daiko, Minnesota’s foremost taiko drumming ensemble, as it returns to the Mcknight Theatre At Ordway Center For Performing Arts,345 Washington St. in St Paul, MN., to present its 15th anniversary concert. Starring Hanayui from KODO, legendary Odaiko soloist, Yoshikazu Fujimoto and featuring North American guest artists, Tiffany Tamaribuchi and Megan Chao Smith.
The first weekend of performances (Feb. 9-12) will feature Mu Daiko in concert. The second weekend (Feb. 16-19) will feature Mu Daiko along with special guest appearances including:
Hanayui from KODO: The top founders and artists from legendary group, KODO, come together to bring the best of Japanese taiko to the Minnesota stage. Long recognized as visionaries of the artform world-wide, Hanayui features three top female artists in traditional and fresh new performances of dance, drumming and song. Also featured is Yoshikazu Fujimoto, long-considered the best Odaiko performer in the world.
Tiffany Tamaribuchi: Grand Champion, 2002 All Japan Odaiko Contest. With her two signature strengths of power and form, Tamaribuchi was proclaimed by contest judges to have “a perfect hit.” She brings 22 years experience touring and training professionally with several top companies and folk artists throughout Japan.
Chakrabarti, an award-winning actor and internationally acclaimed musician, starred in three short films- Rehana Mirza’s Zameer & Preeti: A Love Story, Soham Mehta’s Fatakra and Shiva Shankar Bajpai’s Raju- that screened at the Festival. Film projects in the can include A.J. Carter’s Extinction, Deepa Mehta’s Winds of Change, Dagen Merrill’s Murder in the Dark, Michael Walker’s Price Check, Richard Atkinson’s Dogs Lie and Salim Khassa’s Desperate Endeavors. His recent guest starring appearances on TV include “Outsourced” (HBO), “In Treatment” opposite Irrfan Khan (HBO), “30 ROCK” (NBC) “The Horrible Terrible Misadventures of David Atkins,” and “Bored to Death.”
USC film school graduate, Vicky Shen, humbles the “Tiger Mom” controversy with her new film Adultolescence, which she wrote, produced, co-directed with Zoe Bui and starred in. Check out Adultolescence, which recently played at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, at the free screening on Monday, June 6 at the Ray Stark Family Theatre at USC School of Cinematic Arts, The screening will be followed by a Q&A.
Adultolescence tells the story of Lea May (Vicky Shen), a Chinese-American artist suffering from post-college career ennui, who returns home to live with her parents (Jeanne Sakata as Mrs. May and Michael Yama as Mr. May) after having been disowned by her strict, immigrant mother.
Ms. Shen used the story of stagnation for one twenty-something to reveal larger themes of the economics of emotions for post-grads, boomeranged back home after college. The film also blends the dual identity of American-born children of immigrant parents.
“This film’s greatest asset is demystifying the TIGER MOM debate by revealing that there is no unifying rulebook when it comes to Asian parenting and garnering an interesting portrayal of an Asian mother by humanizing the individual, rather than making her a stereotype,” said Ms. Shen.
Friends
and
family
honored
Shirley
Fong-Torres'
life
at
memorial
services
in
San
Francisco
on
July
24.
Her
life
and
vivacious
personality
touched
people
worldwide
with
her
books,
television
appearances,
and
her
Wok
Wiz
company's
daily
guided
walking
and
culinary
tours
of
San
Francisco's
Chinatown
and
North
Beach.
Shirley
was
born
November
16,
1946
in
Oakland,
daughter
of
Connie
and
the
late
Ricardo
Fong-Torres,
and
was
a
graduate
of
U.C.
Berkeley.
She
was
a
teacher
in
Texas
and
California,
a
chef,
and
after
working
in
marketing
for
Levi
Strauss,
she
created
Wok
Wiz
in
1985,
offering
tours,
as
well
as
cooking
lessons.
Her
business
drew
rave
reviews
and
quickly
grew,
and
she
built
a
staff
of
tour
guides
to
meet
demand.
She
wrote
such
books
as San
Francisco
Chinatown:
A
Walking
Tour,
The
Chinese
Kitchen,
Wok
Wiz
Chinese
Cookbook,
and The
Woman
Who
Ate
Chinatown.
Shirley
wrote
articles
for
many
food
and
travel
publications
and
frequently
appeared
on
radio
and
television
including
The
Food
Channel,
History
and
Discovery
Channels,
and
inflight
for
Hawaiian
Airlines,
Qantas
Airlines
and
JetBlue.
She
was
active
in
many
community
groups
and
often
served
on
the
board
of
the
San
Francisco
Convention
and
Visitors
Bureau.
She
had
homes
in
San
Francisco
and
Pacifica.