There is a certain serendipity in saying hello to strangers.

Serendipity is a propensity for making fortunate discoveries while looking for something unrelated.

I wasn’t consciously looking for anything when I said hello to Sam when we were both visiting a Starbucks but our conversation helped me to discover something. Sam was there with her month old daughter, sitting across from me and we began to chat.

We had a great chat and I reflected on one of comments later in the day. She told me that I had been helpful in explaining some web related things to her and that should offer my service to people. I have been told this many times over the years by friends and acquaintances that I have chatted with.

After talking to Sam a day or two later a friend said “You are such a great sounding board.”

I thought about this as a I went to sleep and the next morning Sounding Board Services was born.

I happened to see Sam again in Starbucks and thanked her. She told me to visit her blog because she had written about our meeting. Here is what she wrote:

A man sat down across from me and made some sweet comment about my daughter. Now, most people would smile and bend their heads back towards their work. Not I. I am awful at ending a conversation and worse at not engaging with someone who’s sitting directly across from me. Now, most of the time, the stranger and I will chat, and inwardly, I’ll be groaning about the lost time. Not this time.
Within ten minutes, the stranger at Starbucks had me running my own successful business and being a published author. I was staring at my books on the shelves at Indigo, spending my days in front of a bay window writing, and all it took was someone making me believe in my dream again. My strange and rare talent led me to a job coach, an inspirer, someone with his own very interesting life story and exactly who I needed. Life is extraordinary, and we can do anything we want with it, but sometimes it takes an odd encounter with a complete stranger to remind us of that.

Thanks Sam! You are an inspiration!

Visit the blog of Samantha Bailey and read her blog posting The Art of Meeting Strangers.

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I haven’t blogged here since November 30, 2009. Yikes.

Recently I have been having a rough time with issues related to Acquired Brain Injury such as losing track of what I need to do especially projects. It has been as if on some things I have been in a suspended state where I am able to see what has to be done but cannot figure out the first step to take – it has been overwhelming.

So I have been cutting back on just about everything and clearing away a lot of web projects that have been ongoing but going nowhere AND constantly taking time and energy on my part. Sort of spring cleaning.

The result has been that I am getting going again although I have a number of clients who not happy with me at all. I mean HOW do you explain this stuff that I have been going through to people? Hell most medical professionals don’t have a clue about this stuff. Oh dear….hehehe Well at least I can still laugh about things.

So here I am writing.

I have moved this blog from one hosting platform to another. I had 5 hosting platforms with different companies and I am now down to 2. I have let a number of domains go by not renewing them. Just now mapping out what do do with a number of other websites. I already feel less stress and less overwhelmed.

Lots to do.

Need to write some words about my trip to China last year and my upcoming trip to China this September.

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My life has been hectic since returning from China at the end of September.

In China I visited 3 cities: Wuhan, Kunming and Beijing. My time in China was quite amazing on many levels and I have definitely fallen in love with China. The people were so friendly and helpful.

I will write more about travels in China in the coming weeks.

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I’m slowly getting caught up with my writing and one of the first things I need to write is this bit about my friend Mary Ann Brundage and Mystic Harmony a trio of which she is a part.

I arrived home from Brussels to find a package from Mary Ann, a Christmas gift, of two Mystic Harmony albums Mystic Christmas and Kindle a Flame. How thoughtful! You can listen online to a number of the songs.

I have been enjoying listening to the albums often… they transport me.

Mary Ann Brundage

Mary Anne is a classically-trained musician whose first love is folk music.

She has undergraduate and masters degrees in music performance from George Mason University and has spent over a dozen years working as a professional music director for churches. All the while she had been hearing a certain musical “sound” in her head that she longed to express.

Eight years ago she was lucky enough to come together with two other people that shared a musical vision and desire to create that sound in the world as Mystic Harmony. It began a journey of weaving friendships, lives, music, collaboration, leading and being led, and constant attempts to create that “sound” that would not go away.

Each album is the next step of realizing it with more clarity and purpose. A vision that continues to unfold…

Mystic Harmony Trio

Mystic Harmony is a trio of musicians described as having beautiful voices and instrumental artistry, who began playing Celtic-influenced folk music together in 2000. They write about their music:

Our songs combine both old and new melodies with words that offer inspiration and comfort to listeners. Listening to bending and bittersweet notes and the mix of minor and major keys, we are lifted up by music that touches the heart and soul. We hope our music inspires a sense of mystery, wonder and connection for you.

Comments on Mystic Harmony Performances

“It has been some time since a vocal group has happened upon the scene to test the long standing position held by three or four of the world’s more prominent Celtic artists and performers. Mystic Harmony, a trio made up of Mary Anne Brundage, Janet Booth and Janice Mawson are very likely contenders. Their silky blending of Celtic, World and even, yes, opera on their new album Kindle a Flame will lull you into a megacosm of sweet emotion and crystalline beauty. Traditional Celtic songs, hymns, instrumentals, and folk music are their mainstay. Their cathedral-filling sound and elaborate echoing arrangements are contemplative and uplifting. I think that Mystic Harmony has hit upon a winning combination of songs and instrumentals that testify daily that there is still a strong dependence on faith in the world. There is always hope. Kindle a Flame is one of the best debut CDs I’ve heard in a while.” – RJ Lannan, The New Age Reporter

“When I first received Kindle a Flame by Mystic Harmony, I was already dreading listening to it. With a name like Mystic Harmony, I thought I was in for some new-age torture. Am I ever so glad that I was wrong! I was caught off guard by Mystic Harmony’s three beautiful voices and, as a lover of Celtic music, I instantly knew I had a CD treasure in my possession…If you enjoy Celtic music and can appreciate strong, passionate, yet spiritual harmonizing vocals, you now know about some mystics that can kindle your flame.” – Wil Owen, Rambles (cultural arts magazine)

“The band Mystic Harmony played to a SRO crowd at Jammin’ Java…CDs were flying off the shelves after the concert.” – Daniel Brindley, Jammin’ Java music club, Vienna VA

“Celtic inspirational music is the theme that Mystic Harmony explores throughout “Kindle a Flame”. They beckon you to take a journey, and a spiritual one at that, towards the center of your soul via their enigmatic melodies and lush instrumentation. Peaceful and cathartic, Mystic Harmony reside in Northern Virginia and have played Celtic-inspired folk music and ambient New Age for years. Truly an album that will make your body tingle.” – J-Sin, Smother Magazine

Check ‘em Out

Check out the Mystic Harmony website or the Mystic Harmony Blog.

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As I wrote earlier I’m going to Brussels for Christmas. I was scheduled to already be in Brussels but here I am at my computer in Toronto. What a day for air travel December 21 – The Winter Solstice: Alban Arthan – was .

I arrived at Pearson a couple of early to avoid standing in line for hours. I was through checkin in about 15 minutes and made my way to the Continetal gate. Beautiful clear skies and sunny. Perfect. My flight was scheduled to depart for Newark, the first leg of my trip, at 2:10pm.

Started to notice flight delays and cancellations on the monitor. Hmmmmmm. Turns out that there was lots of snow and freezing drizzle in Newark. Yikes. Then we were told that our flight was delayed and there would be an update at 1:30. I had almost three hours between arriving in Newark to get connected to Brussels.

We then told that our plane would be late but that it had left Newark. The plane would reach Toronto at 3:00 and we would depart at 3:30. Lots of time.

The plane did arrive at 3:00 but 3:30 became 4:00 and then 4:30. We were told there were delays in Newark as well so connections could be made. OK.

We board the plane. The turboprops wind up and we – don’t move. Ground crew moves around the plane with shovels. There is a strong wind outside but not a lot of snow except for drifts. The engines wind up again and we go – nowhere. The flight deck announces that the brakes are frozen. We sit and wait for a fix. 40 minutes passes. We are deplaned.

I am offered a standby on Lufthansa to Dusseldorf at 9:55pm that night with a guaranteed seat to Brussels. However, all the planes have been full that day and no standbys had been getting on. So I opted to get rebooked on Continetal. Nothing available for today – December 22 – so I am scheduled to fly out tomorrow morning December 23.

hohohohoho – A merry Christmas to all.

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I’m learning to read, write and speak Korean. It was recommended that I learn a new language as part of retraining my brain. I chose Korean mainly because I have quite a few Korean friends.

The Korean language is classified as a member of the Ural-Altaic family (other members of this family include the Mongolian, Finnish, and Hungarian languages.) Until the early 1400s, most documents were written in classical Chinese characters (known in Korean as Hanja). As the idiographs are difficult to learn, only the educated people could read and write. King Sejong, the 4th ruler of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), set up a special committee of scholars in 1443 to create a new writing system specifically suited to the Korean language.

The result was Hangul (meaning ‘the one script’). It originally contained 28 symbols, although 4 have dropped out of use. The alphabet has 10 vowels and 14 consonants. The consonants represent the simplified outlines of the parts of the mouth and tongue used to pronounce them. The vowels are associated with elements of the philosophy of the Book of Changes.

In 1994, Discovery magazine described Hangul as the most logical language writing system in the world. The simplicity of Hangul led Korea to become one of the most literate countries in the world. U.S. novelist Pearl Buck said that Hangul is the simplest writing system in the world and likened King Sejong to Leonardo da Vinci. Even though Hangul is a system of phonetic symbols, it is categorized as new level of feature system, the first and the only in the world. On Oct. 1, 1997, UNESCO designated Hunminjeongeum as world archive property. Koreans commemorate the creation of Hangul each year on October 9.

The Hangul Characters

The symbols are combined into blocks, each one representing a single syllable. Each syllable must start with a consonant, although the iung is silent in the initial position. Text is arranged either in the traditional vertical fashion, with columns reading from right to left (as in some newspapers and old books) or in rows reading left to right (as in most modern novels and magazines). The alphabet may appear complicated, but it is actually easy to learn. Once you are familiar with the characters, looking up words in a dictionary becomes easy.

When speaking Korean, you use formal or informal words and phrases, depending on the status of the person to whom you are talking. For example, you generally use informal speech to children and formal speech to older people. It is better to err by being too formal rather than showing disrespect. However, Koreans do not expect foreigners to be fluent and will usually excuse minor mistakes.

The above writeup about Hangul is from the website Life in Korea and can be found here.

I’m in week four of learning the alphabet and much to my surprise I can now recognize a few words as I become more and more familiar with the alphabet. One of the really wonderful things about learning Korean is that the words are pronounced just as they are written…unlike English. I’ll be making updates about my Korean language progress.

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Well, I am off to Brussels, Belgium for Christmas this year with my sister and her family. My Dad and his wife will be there as well, so this will be a great Christmas.

I leave Toronto on Dec. 21st and return on Dec. 29th.

I love Brussels…it is such a human sized city.

I particularly love the Terkamerenbos a beautiful park a pleasant walk around the corner and down the Louizalaan from my sister’s house.

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I received this video Did You Know by email today. I don’t always watch these clips but the sender is someone that I respect and his forwards are often interesting and enlightening and having watched this video – which took about 3 minutes but felt like 10 seconds – I am glad that I did.

This video is an excellent compilation of facts and figures which leads to the core question at the end of the video – what does it all mean? – which I think everyone would benefit from thinking about.

I would be interested in getting your reactions and comments after you have watched it.

I will not prejudice your thinking by saying anything now, other than, watch this video, it is worth the few minutes.

FYI – This video was prepared by SONY for a meeting of its executives.

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My website reorganization is finally back ontrack.

I’ve been reorganizing richardeward.com and I got sidetracked which has been an easy thing for me to do over the past 8 years. So the gabapentin is helping my brain get reorganized and healed. yahoooooo.

Blogroll

I’ve moved my Blogroll into the resource directory.

Amazon Bookstore

And I’ve revamped my Amazon Bookstore.

Resource Directory

I chopped my resource directory into separate chunks, leaving some resources here and created some new websites:

• mastersofsuccess.com
• alterativecomplementaryhealth.com

The above websites are in various stages of development.

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My Dad often forwards me interesting jokes, stories and so on. Here is one he sent me today. I enjoyed reading it and you may as well.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—God, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else—the small stuff. ‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

‘Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’

The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’

Please share this with someone you care about. I JUST DID.

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