Singapore Adventure

pictures are in order of description below, but not all are included






I returned from Singapore Sunday night (26 OCT ... had my Design bday the day before in SGP). The adventure was magical from beginning to end. It was great to meet all of the Asia partners with whom I have been working for more than two years. We achieved all of our business goals for the trip, and it was awesome to put faces with names/voices from our work in the virtual world.

Honoring my Strategy & Authority (waiting to respond through my affirmative sacral response) brought me everything I needed and gave me a new experience of my mind letting go. It will never be completely silent, but the new environment with new sights, sounds, flavors and smells gave my mind so much sensory information that it was sort of distracted from needing to make decisions … my sacral response has never been clearer (yes, I’m still talking about Human Design J) Thanks to everyone who sent me advice on must-do activities … you gave me things to which I could respond and have the most satisfying experiences possible!

File will remain active for:
14 days (until November 11th)

Link to file:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/619605507/302a8804920b3904d6a4c21867016d96
I hope you enjoy the download, which also includes recent photos of the furkids.




Picture SUMMARY by image name:




DSC00032 = Ollie … thinks he is going to catch the bird ~30feet away
DSC00054 = Minnie … wonders if I’ll ever stop taking pictures of her
DSC00199 = Xiomy … posing at sunset
DSC00219 = Annie … loves scratches
DSC00461 = me at Merlion park … the statue/fountain is half lion, half fish … Singapore (Singapura) ~ Lion of the Sea
DSC00468 = me at oldest Buddhist temple in Singapore
DSC00474 = close-up of alter behind me in above shot
DSC00481 = the main alter is surrounded by separate alters for major deities … this one is Confucius
DSC00487 = I don’t recall the name of this one, but I liked the photo
DSC00497 = from the top of Mt. Faber (fourth highest point in Singapore) … later in the week, I took a round-trip in one of the glass-bottomed sky gondolas …wow! (I took video of that exhilarating ride with my phone, but my hands were sweating so much, I had to stop the recording)
DSC00506 = zoomed shot of above
DSC00508 = more zoomed … the Merlion on Sentosa Island + lots of cranes building the integrated resort that will open in 2010 (Singapore has 70% of the worlds cranes … construction everywhere) … the mountains on the horizon are in Malaysia
DSC00510 through DSC00725 = mostly orchids at the Orchid Garden ($5) inside the Singapore Botanical Garden (free) … it was the last stop on my bus tour; I left the tour and stayed at the gardens for over four hours … mostly rainy and sort of foggy … it felt like the photos were coming through me … as I was standing in front of each flower, I would touch it and tell it how beautiful it was … my body would move to the perfect perspective, and then the rain would pause for only a second so that I could take one photo. I’m sure it was funny to watch me holding an umbrella and touching/talking to the plants, but I didn’t care. It felt like the flowers wanted to be photographed with the water droplets on them. It was an amazing experience of connectedness.
DSC00523 = the main part of the Singapore Botanical Garden; the tree in the middle of the picture is ~40 feet tall … they line both sides of most roads
DSC00530 = these lilies are all over Singapore and line most streets
DSC00533 = cool pine tree
DSC00702 = totally lucky … there was a 50-piece orchestra playing for the last two+ hours of my orchid adventure … amazing!
DSC00721 = me under one of the arches … the pathways through the gardens had water fountains, arches, benches, a mist house, a cool house … every turn had something unique
DSC00754 = me near the top of the Singapore Flyer
DSC00764 = the top … even though there are concrete high rises everywhere, the spaces are filled with lush tropical plantings
DSC00776 = to the left and behind the building in the center, you can see the back side of a building constructed to show a giant “13”, which is an auspicious number (from the back, it looks like “31”)
DSC00777 = the main structure is the Esplanade (Singapore’s opera house) … it has nickname, “the Durian” because it resembles the prickly fruit of the same name … in the foreground, you can see the bleachers for the floating cricket court … behind the Esplanade, is the new government building that looks like a flying saucer and to the left of it is the old government building with turquoise dome, which is a replica of St. Paul’s cathedral
DSC00785 = the Fountain of Wealth … there are four tall buildings (Two and Three are in the shot) and one shorter building that represent the four fingers and thumb of a giant hand … the fountain is in the center of the palm … the fountain shoots the water down instead of up, so that good luck is retained
DSC00786 = closer shot … fountain in a fountain … the main fountain only runs for an hour three times per day … I was fortunate to arrive just as the main fountain started … the “instructions” say to touch the water, make a wish and walk clockwise around the fountain three times … so I did
DSC00787 = the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac are around the fountain … I was born under the sign of the Horse … I thought it was interesting that the place where I entered the fountain, I was greeted by my sign
singapore_flyer = I grabbed this picture from the Singapore Flyer website … I forgot to take one myself
Singapore Sling at Raffle’s Hotel where the tasty beverage was invented

Not included in the photos:
· Had the best sushi I’ve ever eaten at the airport in Tokyo … when I saw the bill for 400 Yen, I thought I’d get in trouble with my expense report, but it converts to $4 … the guy sitting next to me showed me how to eat sushi correctly = use your fingers and dip the fish NOT the rice into the soy sauce/wasabi
· The guy sitting next to me from Tokyo to Singapore advised me to stop at Duty Free for limit of one bottle of wine, one bottle of spirits and one three-pack of beer before clearing customs … alcohol is very expensive in restaurants … I was so busy seeing the sights, I didn’t finish the vodka before leaving, so a couple of guys from New York benefited
· Exited the Singapore airport to 85 degrees F at 1am … rarely got cooler during the rest of the week
· Taxi ride from airport to hotel … 120+ km/hr most of the way … I was flying from left to right in back seat, which had been freshly Armorall’ed
· Chili Crab, Pepper Crab and other seafood delights at Red House on East Cost … thanks, Vivien and Wilson!
· Shopping at Vivo – the largest shopping mall I’ve ever seen … it was like a city, I guess that’s why they call it “Vivo City” … I don’t know how much of it I saw, but I do know I saw some parts of it more than once … it was overwhelming to add to the end of a day at Sentosa
· Satay at Clake Quay … I forget the name of the vegetable dish we had, but it gives spicey a whole new meaning … thanks, Vivien … this was one of my favorite nights!
· Hilton Hotel – nothing like any other Hilton I’ve visited … the breakfast buffet was amazing with the most delicious fruits: dragonfruit, red & yellow watermelon, mango, papaya, kiwi, pineapple, carambola, guava, fig, jackfruit
· HP cafeteria – nearly its own Hawker Stand … open-air type of marketplace where you can try all sorts of local flavors with centralized picnic tables for eating … I ate mostly Indian and Malaysian food … a huge meal with four different dishes was ~$4 Singapore = $2.80 US
· I mention food a lot … appreciation for gastronomy is something I have in common with Singaporeans … I already miss the food … and yes, I gained seven pounds in ten days
· In general, Singaporeans are the most kind and gracious people I’ve ever met … all smiles all of the time … I feel blessed for having had such a wondeful experience

Rave Cosmology and Signposts

Last month, I was surprised when I responded to taking Rave Cosmology. I didn't know what I would be learning, but I trusted and made arrangements. I really thought I would be starting Rave Psychology or BG5 or maybe even PHS. Now I know I am in the right place. I adore the instructor (Deborah Bergman), and the class is small, so it feels intimate (even though the five or six -- depending on if all of are able to attend -- are distributed around the globe) … plus there is a classmate from analyst training (Ruth), so it’s awesome to be here with someone familiar (and very knowledgeable of HD).

The most important part is the content. I'm in the first class of the first semester (Bhan Tugh – there are eight or nine classes total). We're talking about Ra's experience with the Design Crystal Bundle in January 1987, and the first information he received, which is the Rave Cosmology material. We're going through the Bhan Tugh plates that Ra created in Vienna (autumn of 1994). Wow!


The weekend before the first class, I was obsessed with re-doing my "flower of life" logo for my website wallpaper. I spent the whole weekend getting it as perfect as I could at 400% magnification (I don't have AutoCad, just did it in PowerPoint - see image in the menu to the right). In the first class, Deborah talked about Tanit and showed this stele which sort of looks like a bodygraph with the flower of life at the top! [that's what i call a signpost]




This stele was created by the Phoenicians, which is another signpost for me. When I was a kid, my cousin and I made symbols that we could write or carve or paint to make our mark. Mine was based on the letters of my name. I was Larry at the time, so I used L and G ... L = Lamed = Ox-goad ("to teach"; "learning often occurs through effort and difficulty") ... G = Gimu = Gamel = Camel. The significance for HD is that my Design Earth is in the 3rd gate, Difficulty at the beginning. The G, Camel, is an important aspect to the relationship between the Sun and Mercury, but we haven't gotten to those plates yet. The Phoenician letter D = Daltu = Daleth = Door, "a poor man", "lifting up", "elevation" ... "the gateway to heaven or the land of the dead" ... I switched to Drew at my Saturn Return and cut off all my hair, which I had grown for two or three years during the start of my yoga practice. Interestingly, in the reference for G/Gimu, it says, "Paired with daleth, the door of the womb, the temple gate" ... that's also the timing of my yoga experience described two posts before this one. The Phoenician alphabet is taken from the stars, and it is the origin for most of the world's written languages. Ibiza (where Ra's experienced occurred) was first inhabited by Phoenicians.

Flash forward to a week and half ago ... I finally got a desk for my personal laptop; it needed a mousepad for the slick black keyboard tray, and I just happened to receive a Snapfish coupon for 50% off a collage mousepad. I spent a few days compiling the images. The time I spent looking for images and manipulating them caused physical sensations in my body ... the frequencies of the images were physically impacting me, and my body is still vibrating in a way that I usually only feel after a good yoga workout or deep meditation.

I don't know where it is leading me, but I am getting more relaxed with my sacral response. I was expecting something sooner and clearer. It's not that way. It has taken a lot longer than I thought it would when I had my first reading almost two years ago, and I spent a lot of time between now and then being frustrated with not being able to sense it. I think part of it was getting to a place where I could even recognize that my mind was talking non-stop and that that is not who I am. I identified with it, and I had my buttons that kept playing the same dialogs over and over again. I'm not saying it's gone, but I get more aware of it more quickly the more I stay in the moment and really see the characters and stage the way they are.

I did a transit analysis for my upcoming trip to Singapore that I will talk about in my next post. I haven't had the class yet, so I don't really know what I'm doing with a transit analysis, but I have the charts and some interesting things jump out.





All the best,
Drew

MS Office 2003 upgrade to 2007 ... talk about FRUSTRATING!

I should have known, but I didn't follow my S&A ...

There wasn't anything in the environment for my sacral response; I just initiated upgrading my work and personal computers from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2007. It has been nothing but one problem after another. The functionality available in 2003 is not always available in 2007. Things that have been the same for many revisions are gone, and the "enhancements" are annoying. I am reverting to 2003 now. Follow your strategy and honor your inner authority.