Once I Got To...

Meet a U.S. General's daughter, at Pier One, where I worked as a teenager. He handled the Soviet Union region. She was fluent in Russian, a beautiful and extremely difficult language, that I have never tried to learn.

Once, I got to try Olympic power lifting at a Russian-Aussie gym, but only with a wooden stick, not with any real weights. It's very difficult to have proper form. It requires a different type of IQ than I actually possess.

Also, I once tried to do a spinning roundhouse kick, but I don't actually recommend that anyone try that move without a martial arts trainer. It's quite difficult to do that if you aren't flexible enough. Just being Asian-American and reading Maxine Hong Kingston's "Woman Warrior" doesn't really qualify a person to accomplish that. Professional trainers are actually required for that.

I once tried bench pressing. I was able to lift the bar and even 30 extra pounds, after a few weeks. However, that was it.

I once tried to give a speech in Latin and French. I better just stick to South Vietnamese.

I once learned how to do the Virginia Reel, and square dance.

I once learned how to curse in French, Italian and South Vietnamese. Of the three languages,  I was better at cursing in French. I don't really understand South Vietnamese slang, or curses because we weren't allowed to use that, while growing up.

I once studied the Cockney accent. I really feel that I should have been detailed to London. However, I got to be in the same state as Maxine Hong Kingston, while in the Navy.

There, at a South Vietnamese-American  Buddhist Temple, I thought I saw another favorite author, Pema Chodron, whose Buddhist meditation books I highly recommend. Here's the link for purchasing her books and donating to her compassionate, humanitarian foundation:

http://pemachodronfoundation.org/store/buy-books/