The Abalone Quest

My Chinese-kiwi friend and me on the Wellington Coastline

When my mother dropped me off at the airport, she gave me her order: Bring home abalone. And every boy wants to be a hero in the hearts of their mothers.

In Auckland, I found a flight on my miles from Auckland to Wellington. It was more miles than I wanted to spend, but at last minute - such flights were horrendously dear. And Wellington was calling. I had to go.

I had no problems at the airport this time. When I landed in Wellington, my Chinese-Kiwi friend, Andre, picked me up. It's been over four years since I saw him.

We stopped by his house for only five minutes, and we were already off to the coastline with the free diving gear I brought home with me. I haven't used my dive gear since I left New Zealand over ten years ago. Imagine flying into the airport - only to be whisked away on a free dive excursion immediately.

It was summer in New Zealand and the weather was good. The sun was shining. From the capital city of Windy Wellington, we had to drive a good forty five minutes to an hour to our dive spot. We drove through the hills and the farmland to arrive at the rocky coastline. From the car park, we put on our wetsuits. I had to carry my fins and hoodie and my gloves and my boots and my mask and snorkel.

Do you see the seal?

New Zealand water is cold; it's 15C or 59 F. It's only 3 or 4 hours to Antartica from New Zealand. So you can imagine how cold that water is.

So I brought 7 mm wetsuit. My friend has a 5 mm one. You definitely need a hoodie, or your head starts to hurt in the icy water. First it's cold; then, you get a headache. Then it starts pounding in your head, and finally, you get numb.  Eventually, the chills and shivers run through your body. For me, it almost always starts at the feet.

With our gear, we had to walk about another 3 miles (5 km) to the spot. While walking, we talked about our times together, when we dove New Zealand's South Island waters to catch abalone and crayfish.

I remember Andre and I caught so much abalone together in the South Island. My brother was with us. So, I sent it home for my brother to bring home to Mom.

My mother was so happy. That was ages ago, though. And she needed to be happy again.

Back then, Andre flew in on a small airplane to the South Island. I met him at the airstrip.

We drove through the top of the South Island. We all took a fishing boat out there, and Andre reminded me of how he got sea sick. I gave up my spot on the boat; so he could lie down. But I was sea sick too in those choppy water. To be honest, I didn't even remember the whole incident, until he reminded me.

Andre's an impressive swimmer and free diver. He was a champion swimmer for New Zealand. He helped me improve my swim strokes while I lived in New Zealand. I don't know if I remember though my lessons; it's been so long.

One time, Andre dove down and found a lobster and grabbed it with his bare hands. He had no fear. The spiny lobster shell ended up tore up his hand as it flickered its body through his bare hands, but he was determined to get it.

I cooked it up for dinner for us that night. Those were good times. We were young and privileged and free and had only one concern then. That was to enjoy life.

Abalone's important to our family. My mother always alleged that it made one healthy to eat. It's also a delicacy in Asian cultures - especially the Korean and Chinese ones. Because of the overfishing of it, many species are extinct or close to it - like the white abalone in Los Angeles.

A good size abalone costs $50 USD. Some people don't seem to understand the value of them, but usually, because they haven't had it properly prepared. I've had it prepared in so many different ways from raw to steak to fritters to soup. Mom knows best; she always makes it in a soup.

I've had so much experience cooking abalone, I feel like nobody knows how to prepare abalone better than me. Over my lifetime, I've caught hundreds of abalone and had the luck of learning how to cook it in all types of ways from French to Chinese to Korean to Kiwi.

Abalone grows really slowly. But for some reason, it grows much larger in cold water. The same species of Haliotis Iris grows much larger in the South of New Zealand than in the warmer waters North. Even though abalone is being farmed these days, the farming can't keep up with the demand from Asian countries.

We finally arrived at our dive spot, where we saw a few New Zealand brown fur seals. And in distance, we saw the fins of either dolphins or killer whales out there. We assumed they were killer whales, because the seals were swimming back to shore frantically.

We put on our wetsuits. My wetsuit was tighter at the chest. I reckon my shoulders muscles are larger from the boxing than when I had the suit tailored.

My friend gave me a screwdriver to get the abalone. But immediately upon entering the water, I dropped it. I don't know what happened.

So my friend came back and found in the seaweed and gave it back to me. Andre told me, "You're useless - aye?" I felt that way This wasn't going to be easy. I was rusty; I haven't dove for abalone in over four years.

We walked into the icy water. And then I swam out. I started diving in the waters and saw the abalone hidden between rocks and seaweed. But there was a problem, I didn't have enough weight. I didn't bring a weight belt. And because of it, I kept popping up too quickly - not giving me a chance to stay down long enough to pry off the abalone.

It reminded me to a time where my Marine Biology mentor and professor, William Hamner took us to the aquarium. There was a huge Pacific Cod in the tank. It's funny what I saw and what he saw. It was the difference between what a novice and an expert sees.

I saw a big fish. He then told me, "Look, Paul - how big that fish is and its incredibly buoyant. It's a mystery how they regulate their buoyancy. For you to be as buoyant would take a careful calibration of lead weights, and even then, you couldn't achieve what that fish was doing." Some lessons, for whatever reason, stay with you for life. And I wasn't buoyant, because I didn't have my weight belt. I kept floating like a log in water.

On top of that, there was a strong swell. A swell is where the water swishes back and forth. And the great force of it, was dragging me around the water like a rag doll. I was feeling really sea sick.

I would try to grab onto the rocks, but the swell was so strong it knocked me off and bumped my knee against a rock. This was going terribly for me. And because I couldn't focus, I lost Andre's screwdriver. It was gone. Now I wasn't going to get any abalone now.

But something inside of me said that I wasn't ready to give up. And I managed to still pry three abalone off with my own barehands. You have to do it fast, or they'll suck onto the rock. Then they're glued on there, and it's impossible to pull them off with your bare hands.

Being swished around in the water like that, made me wonder if the leviathan lived in those New Zealand waters. It would suck in the water and spit it out and create a whirlpool to get caught in. The Maori people believe that guardian spirits or monsters live in those waters. They call it the Tangiwha (T-ang-i-fa). In the West we call it the leviathan.

Even the Bible speaks of the leviathan. In Job, God tells Job that the leviathan scales are stronger than any armor and that human weapons, like spears, cannot pierce it's skin. While diving in the water, I had a vision of the Leviathan calling to me.

The Leviathan dragged me into his cave. (Why all these monsters live in caves, like dragons, or Grendel, Grendel's mother, or cockatrices or  lamaias, who knows?) He had black scales and looked like a massive dragon. He raised his long neck and head out of his water, then lowered his head to make eye contact with me. His eyes were like ice blue sapphires, and inside, there was a burning fire sparking inside. He bore his teeth, and his incisors had the look of viper fangs. He was a ferocious. And many have died of fright just by making eye contact with him.

According to one legend, he asks three difficult questions. If he doesn't like the answer - he kills you. If he likes all three, he grants you your wish. Each question is supposed to be harder than the last one.

And through psychic powers, he talked to me in my mind.

He asked me, Why are you here?

And I answered him, Because, it is who I am.

 I was here when the earth was laid. What can you possibly have to tell me?

All life is just a progression toward, and then a recession from, one phrase — "I love you."

He growled, while hearing the answer. Then he asked, Where did you learn that from?

It doesn't matter, because the person who taught me stole it from someone else.

Son of Adam, what do you request?

To finish my quest. That's why I'm here.

Your request is granted.

And with that, I popped up to the surface for air and the sky was above of me. I was useless without my screwdriver or a weight belt. And I felt stupid and shameful and dumb. Here was this Kiwi champion swimmer, and the fact that I only have three abalone made me look like the proud but know-nothing American.

I started free diving in search of the screw driver. And I saw a sudden neon lime green handle. I dove for it, and behold, hidden in the seaweed, I found a diver's knife! It was rusty, but it would do. And a few feet away, I found the black case for the diver's knife. What luck!

Andre came back full of abalone in his catch bag. He asked me why I didn't have more; I said - because I need a weight belt.

Andre emptied out his catch bag, which attached to the waist. He measured my three abalone - which were all undersized; so, we tossed them back. That sucked. Then we filled up the catch bag with rocks, and I went diving again.

This time, over an hour, hovering near the sea floor, I was able to get my catch with my new dive blade. I called her Red Rust. It was like flipping a steak off.

The trick with catching abalone is first spotting large ones. Then, you come back up for air. Then you go back down, hold onto a rock nearby, because the water is pulling you in a direction. Then when you have a chance, you quickly flip it. That way, it doesn't suck onto the rock. And if you have to fight the abalone, you waste more oxygen fighting with it. And that you don't want to do.

I got sea sick in that water. I felt queasy and threw up my lunch. The particles of brown and red floated through the water. A grouper came by me and started eating my slurry lunch. I had to keep going though. I needed to catch my share - or it'd be shameful. And my mom wanted her abalone. Some years, she rewarded the relatives that made her happy and withheld them from people that upset her that year. It was a currency of influence she enjoyed to have in the family.

That day, I caught 7 abalone. 10 is the limit per day. Given all the challenges, I did well. And I could hang my head up high that the American didn't disappoint. Had I caught nothing, I knew Andre would remind me later about how I caught nothing and had to take his catch to Los Angeles. But that didn't happen today.

I persevered, even when the odds were against me, even when I lost my tool. It was a good lesson in improvisation too.

The problem was we had to walk back 3 miles carrying heavy abalone. We took turns carrying the heavy bucket. It was like carrying rocks back. No wonder why they call it black gold. At times, it felt like my arms were going to fall off from carrying the weight.

But on our way, we chatted about life - while the sun was setting. The hills were behind us. They looked like the same ones in King Kong - where the monsters come crawling down the hills - ready to attack humans.

At one point, I realized, I lost the dive knife walking. I had to walk back for it, and I found it on the ground again. Why is this whole knife thing such a problem for me?

Andre was at the carpark, talking to his friends - who were envious that we had so much abalone. They tried to tell me I couldn't bring it home to the United States, but that annoyed me, because I already knew the law allowed it.

Then, they asked Andre if they could go out with him next time. That bothered me, because I felt like they were using him. But that's how greedy people could be to get their abalone. Andre told me they were an envious kind of people that lied a lot to impress others. They must of had a bad catch, but I think Andre enjoyed his reputation of being an impressive free diver.

Andre bought me Indian food for dinner. That was kind of him. I bought myself some red wine at the market. It wasn't the best, though We brought the food home, and we ate and drank.

Andre shucked and cleaned the abalone. I took a hot shower. Then he took a hot shower. The hot water running through my hair and head felt so good from the cold freeze from icy New Zealand's water.

After, we played a game of Uno with his daughter.

Andre's an early sleeper. So we all went to bed early. I was going to have lunch with friends tomorrow, and then, we were going to go back to dive for more abalone.

Andre bought me Indian food for dinner. That was kind of him. I bought myself some red wine at the market. We brought the food home, and we ate and drank.

Andre shucked and cleaned the abalone.

I took a hot shower. Then he took a hot shower. The hot water running through my hair and head felt so good from the cold freeze from icy New Zealand's water.

After, we played a game of Uno with his daughter.

Andre's an early sleeper. So we all went to bed early. I was going to have lunch with friends tomorrow, and then, we were going to go back to dive for more abalone.

The Korean Kiwi Wedding

After exploring the City of Auckland with an new Northern Irish guy I met named Pete, I had to head off to a Korean-Kiwi wedding. Pete told me about all the conflict between the crown loyalist and the Irish nationalist. He had a cool accent. I told him about how I wasn't allowed to go to those areas according to the US State Department back when bombings and shootings were taking place. We drank coffee a lot together. He even told me about how Game of Thrones was filming outside of his front yard. After drinking a glass of red wine with him in the Auckland City Central, my judo sensei and I had to head off to the wedding.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing; I did it five times.

I knew two other people at the wedding - the groom and my judo sensei. We all knew each other about eight or nine years ago. We were all part of an immigrant community, and we needed each other to survive, because we didn't have family in New Zealand. So; there was a special bond between all of us.

My immigration experience in New Zealand really helped me appreciate my parents more. I remember my first year in Kiwi land was tough, and I spoke the language, and I had a good education. When my parents arrived to America - they couldn't speak the language, and they didn't have an education. I can only imagine how difficult their lives were.

My favorite memory with the groom was that we took a car and slept in it the night before our hike at the Tongrariro Crossing. It was a last minute trip; that's why we didn't even have a place to stay. I remember looking at the stars that night, and the sky was lit with a million glowing stars. Now he was getting married, and I was at his wedding.

I also remember that my judo sensei, and I would walk to the rocky beach on a beautiful Sunday afternoon - when the sky was bright blue and all the families were eating and drinking at the beach with their children. They would help me carry my dive gear then, as I'd dive for abalone for all of us.

The groom got married at a destination kind of wedding. Most of the guests were Korean, Koreans from the Republic of Korea and Koreans that were native kiwis. The venue was beautiful, and you can see the pictures below.

I was sat at a lawyer's table. I guess his wife knew a lot of Kiwi attorneys. It's not the first time I've been to a wedding, and I was sat at an all lawyer's table. We talked a lot about travel. They all had significant travel experience.

The ceremony was short and beautiful. We all had a good time.

It was time to start getting ready for my journey to see my friends in Wellington.

Detained at Auckland Airport; The Third Degree With My Judo Teacher

Something was wrong when I checked in with my passport, instead of the system letting me through it had a big red X mark and said "Go see assistance." The person at the control let me through, and I noticed a woman cop staring at me. When I went to the restroom, I was detained.

She waited for me to pick up my luggage. Then she walked me into a private area. It looked like they were detaining a lot of young single guys - not too many women, couples or families.

I was told that New Zealand intelligence flagged me because there was a problem with my visa - especially because I was a permanent resident and didn't need to enter as a tourist. I told them back that their new system doesn't have any options for someone in my situation.

Anyways, I was asked a number of questions - like how long I was going to be gone. Why I was here? Why I had a last minute flight? Where the wedding was?

The officer took out all my stuff and had a dog sniff every item he took out. It was all very unpleasant, and although I was cooperative, I told the officer over and over again, "This isn't how to welcome a resident home after being away for four years."

He kept saying - "It doesn't matter if you're a citizen, we would do this."

That wasn't true, because he told me that there was a visa problem. A citizen would be on a NZ passport. And the government's new system wouldn't have a problem.

The entire search took an hour and was highly invasive. And Kiwis say America is bad. I told the officer to note that this not happen again. He said he would.

Outside - an old friend - my judo teacher was waiting to see me. She said to me in Korean, "What took so long?"

In Korean, I said: "I was detained. They treated me like a security risk."

I gave her a hug. She said, "I should've known. You're a trouble maker and you've always been one. And you know what? You're just a problem."

I laughed and said, "I just got here. Do you really have to start?" We haven't even seen each other in four years.

She bought me a beautiful Kiwi cappuccino. She also paid for my hostel two nights by her place. That was kind of her.

During the ride, she gave me a lecture on all kinds of things - about how I need to settle down, how I need to marry and have children, and how my life is not an approvable one.

I told her I need to make more money.

She said, "The only reason you're not rich is because of you. You're not taking enough responsibility for your life and working hard enough. You're smart enough to be superrich if you wanted to."

I thought, She's acting just like my parents. I said - "You sound just like my mom. I've only been in the country a little over an hour. I've been questioned - as if I'm a security threat. And now, I'm being told to get my life together. Welcome to New Zealand."

My Korean was rusty. I haven't used it like this since I came to New Zealand last. How strange is it that my Chinese, Korean, and Russian always improves when I return to New Zealand. For those of you who don't know - English is their main language.

At that she laughed and said, "How many times have I told you - you're a problem."

At that, I laughed too.

She dropped me off at the hostel and checked in with me. The receptionist said in English - "I remember you. You made a reservation for Paul."

She said - "Paul, make sure to come over for dinner, ok?"

"I will."

Then she was gone.

Then, an Irish guy named Pete held open the door for me. We talked a little bit, and later on in the day, we walked to a cafe together and chatted over more Kiwi coffee.

A Second Summer in New Zealand

It was a last minute decision, but I received my ticket to Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday. I had so little time to pack and to go. I had a wedding to go to. So, I went.

I didn't get excited, until my friends texted me the plans of what we'd do together. When I heard from them, I checked out mentally and focused on what I'd be doing in New Zealand.

I was so lucky that a lot of the court days I had in January were moved. So, I could go.

My mom took me to the airport. I took the midnight flight. The flight was full. I couldn't believe how many people there were. The plane was packed.

It was an easy flight, because I slept through 80% of it. When the plane landed, a feeling came over me. I was back home.

I felt free.

Ending 2019, Forecasting 2020 - the Year of the Metal Rat

One line drawing of a mouse by
Pablo Picasso

As of writing this article, I've been back home for 15 months from my sabbatical. If 2018 was about "play and wonder and homecoming", this year has been about being re-transplanted, re-rooted, and plowing the ground. Hopefully, there will be a harvest. One day? Some day?

In settling in, I feel like I've come full circle. I told myself I was never going back to litigation, and here I am, back in litigation. So, I have to tell myself that it's not a circle but more like a spiral, because even though I've come back full circle, I know there's a deeper dimension and understanding in returning to my old job: the lawyer. Hence, I'm in a spiral, not an infinite hopeless loop.

From September 2018 until July 2019 - I was reconnecting back with old relationships. I didn't know leaving so long would create such a vacuum with people. I had to re-establish a sense of consistency and presence for my my family (including my cat Jeh Pan - who was upset at my long absence), my boxing club, my friends, and even church. Also while being back, I went back to litigation and investigative journalism.

Here are the notable achievements of my nonprofit, Plousiouv En Pistei ("Wealthy in Faith" in Greek) and my labor this year.

1. The big story this year, was we got rid of that crooked Baldwin Park School Police Chief, Jill Marie Poe, who was an ex-felon, fraudster, and serial sexual predator. Although I tipped the media to it, nobody took it up. But after Legal Lens featured it - the school board ran her off the campus. Good riddance to bad rubbish. And not bad, to remove a police chief from office with one news story published on my blog.

2. We sued the City of Baldwin Park to strike down their evil practice of fining an activist over $12,000 for hanging a political banner that depicts a council member as a jackass. In fact, just two days ago, on December 30th, 2019 - we filed an injunction against the City in an attempt to invalidate their sign ordinance, which we believe violates the First Amendment.

In short, Baldwin Park's ordinance sponsors censorship - which means they want to be like our parents telling us what we can and cannot say. Sorry; we have a constitution that gives us the freedom to criticize our elected officials. So, let's see what the future holds on this one.

3. I was also able to feature my client's story - who was deported - on the front page of the Seattle Times, Sunday. Unfortunately, the deported man is still in Mexico.

4. For a member of my boxing club, I was able to clear up his record. This should give him more freedom in his future and life. I was really happy to take up this case.

Personally, I liked this case because it aligned with one of my values. I believe my God gives us second chances (if not way more). I need to put that in practice more often to make that happen for others.

5. In terms of exposing corruption, a lot has happened this year. The City of Baldwin Park is finally being audited for their corruption. Also, we discovered that Mayor Lozano and his family have been cheating the City and County of Los Angeles of money by pretending his dead father is still alive. He expects us to pay taxes, but he doesn't want to. More to come on this story.

6. And I want to say in my own personal life, I believe I've matured. This year, I decided to forgive more people and let go of past wrongs and be more understanding of others.

Looking back, 2019 has been one of my more challenging years, probably because it involved the transition from roaming the world to being settled in. I was living a fast paced lifestyle to a slower and more predictable one now.

Really; I feel like I've been uprooted and planted back in Los Angeles' soil, which is what I didn't want. But it happened, and I've learned to accept it (as one does in grieving). So, it's going to take some time to have my roots grow back and to be grounded.

Today, the year of the earth pig in 2019 has left us, and the year of the metal rat is ushered in for 2020. According to legend, the rat was the first animal to arrive at Buddha's birthday. It tricked the ox to carry it to the party, but once there, it jumped off the ox and ran first to meet the Buddha.

Another legend says that cats didn't appear at Buddha's birthday, because the rats drowned the cats by crawling over them, while the cats were fording a river. That's why the cat is not one of the animals of the Chinese zodiac. (I don't think Jeh Pan would be happy to hear this story; so, I wont' tell him.)

Both stories have a theme of shrewdness and maximizing a position of weakness. Although cunning was involved, what I like about both stories is that the rats didn't let their lowly position or their small size prevent them from obeying their calling to go. They went, and when challenges came, they improvised, right?

But I want to return to the Christian scriptures. In reviewing what I've learned this year, this particular verse impacted me perhaps the most. "God turned [evil] into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened." (Genesis 5:20, GNT).

Hopefully, that theme carries out for 2020. Happy New Year, everybody!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying time with their family and friends.

For me, it's been a typical litigator's Christmas - which means that I've just been working and working and then working some more. I squeeze in time for boxing and running and managing errands, but in general - it really has been the days of the lawsuits, filing them, defending them, and prosecuting them. That just means a lot of paperwork, research, and writing.

Not all has been bad. From time to time, I've been able to hang out with friends this Christmas season. And that's been fun.

I got the best gift this year. I had a personalized thermos. The signature of my name is actually done by hand. Wow!

Anyways, again have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you to Sim and Betty Ling!

What's on top? The Los Angeles Winter.

Lobster and Cat by Pablo Piccaso

My cat, Jeh Pan (Trial) stood up, hunched his head over the green bucket and looked down at the black water. He reminded me of a Turkish gypsy looking for love. She gazes into her brewed tea, desperately hoping answers will surface for her in the tea leaves.

What was Jeh Pan looking for in that water? What questions could a cat even have?

Jeh Pan pawed at the dark water in the bright green bucket, pressed his nose into it, and then licked and tasted the dark water. After deciding whether he liked the taste or not, he excitedly came to me and sat between my legs and watched me siphon off the dirty aquarium water into the bucket.

I haven't changed the fish tank water in awhile, and by the looks of it, it was time. For some reason, my cat tends becomes fascinated when I clean the aquarium. He wants to bond with me during this time. I still don't understand his thrill with aquarium water changes.

It was a lazy Sunday. And I woke up with a refreshing and amazing deep sleep. I ran 7 miles yesterday out on the streets. Friday, it was the same. I usually run in the hills, but with all the rain that's been pouring, I decided against it, because rain makes mud, and mud destroys shoes.

I know. My last pair of boots were destroyed in the mud. It's because of the suction created by the mud and the force of lifting your foot out of it. That's what you call real wear and tear.

I have a new pair of running shoes too; so, the last thing I wanted to do was destroy my new running shoes. Perhaps, when they get older, I'll worry about them less.

I needed a long run. I was reading a book about the children of alcoholics yesterday. The testimonies were powerful but disturbing and sad.

For instance, I read the story of a bulimic, who turned into an anorexic, who turned into a kleptomaniac. She married an abusive man, who cheated on her and blamed it on her weight. Every time he did, she purged. This in turn led her to be 6 feet tall and 105 pounds. Her teeth were dissolving from her stomach acid, which she spit out. She was killing herself to feel loved.

It only confirms my theory that the children of addict parents are cursed. They either become addicts themselves or co-addicts.

Not a happy read; so, forcing myself out to run, in the rain and cold and night was grueling. But I called on that Korean discipline inside of me and just started running. I remember how many times my Korean judo instructor, a woman, would tell me: "Did you know, I had to swim in ice water at 6AM to start practice? So I don't ever want to hear you complain about practice." Oh, she was tough. Real tough.

Today, outside, it was dark and cloudy and rainy. I enjoyed watching the water spray against my window. The tiny drops reminded me of beads of crystal translucent pearls glued to glass. I was at peace to hear and see the pitter and patter of the rapping rain against my window. It sounded to me like a soft drum roll.

Earlier in the week, I sparred. It didn't go well. My opponent, someone significantly taller and heavier, hit me too many times in the head. He was 30 pounds heavier than me.

I picked it up in the second round, as I wasn't expecting him to be so aggressive in the first. My coach was much happier with my performance then, as my focus concentrated and I changed tact and strategy and landed a number of body shots and a hook. Nonetheless, I should've landed more punches and harder ones at that.

I was disappointed in myself. Inside my chest, I felt a burning shame for not doing as well as I could've. Even though the people who saw the matches were my friends, I still felt the pain of a bad performance watched. I analyzed what went wrong and decided I didn't have enough experience in the ring. There were too many factors that I didn't encounter enough of.

But that's life. You can't win them all. I told myself that the experience could only be salvaged, if I had learned something from it all.

And guess what? I was back the next day at the gym, to work on those lessons without pride or motivation.

The next day, my head paid the price too, with a headache. And to make things worse, my car transmission had failed.

I had work to do too. The work never stops.

In any event, I managed to get through the week. The mechanic loaned me another car. Before that, this week involved a lot of walking.

But even with my failed car, I was touched and grateful that each day I had a ride from someone at the gym. That was very kind of the people who made the extra effort for me.

On the news front, this weekend the Tribune wrote a story on the First Amendment lawsuit, regarding hanging a banner of him as a jackass. I was quoted in the article. I said: "This lawsuit is about protecting the people’s democratic right to openly and freely criticize our elected officials without censorship".

The phrase: "people's democratic right" reminded me of North Korea's official name. (Incidentally, my mother is North Korean.) The official name of North Korea is the People's Democratic Republic of Korea. Ironically, there's nothing people or democratic or republic about that place.

Finally, besides working on litigation, I've been reading a lot. In the last 10 days, I've probably gone through 9 books. Four left to go. My current topics are on addiction, substance abuse, recovery, and tea. I've quit coffee; so, I'm drinking tea instead now.

What have I learned from all this reading? My insight and conclusion on all addictions is this. The root cause of all addiction is pain, shame and guilt. The root solution of all addiction is being forgiven and forgiving others. The latter statement is important, because I haven't seen this proposed in anything I read. I propose that forgiveness is the remedy for addiction.

(I haven't read this directly, but this is what I conclude. Probably at some point, I can write an article about it - but like most of my innovative papers - the current establishment will probably disagree.)

Regarding tea, I find jasmine tea to be beautiful. I also enjoy oolong but need more experience to learn more about her.

Soon, I'll have a whole series of new topics I'll learn about. And that's always exciting.

Well; that's it for now. Tomorrow is new day and the beginning of a new week. Apparently, it'll be sunny tomorrow and that's always a good thing in my book. Perhaps tomorrow morning, I'll find Jeh Pan walking in circles in the dining room. I'll pick him up and squeeze him. He'll meow. And my mom will hear it and scold me, saying, "Stop squeezing the cat."