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.
Limit the number of resolutions. Your mind can only deal with so many...
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.
Megan Chao Smith: One of a handful of Americans to perform taiko professionally in Japan, Megan Chao Smith was the first foreigner ever to dance in the sacred Hana Matsuri...
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.
Vicky Shen received a B.A. in film production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Her advanced student film, The Killing Seasons, which she wrote, directed...
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.
She and her former husband, Richard Dong, were the parents of Tina Dong Pavao, and she was a vivacious, fun-loving grandmother to Tina’s two daughters with Matt Pavao, Maggie and Stella....