We were only 13 years old when we met. Within a very few months I would know how short her Sovereign Journey would be. Myself, a poor country boy and this school friend (a neighbouring school actually) had come from Japan.
Yes, this was a very sweet girl but it’s not what you think. We and our school friends were just a bunch of 13 year olds who love having a lark after school and it so happened that I had to draw a picture for my art class and she was the model.
But only after 3 months, she was suddenly taken very ill and bid us all goodbye, to return to Japan for treatment. She had become a part of our lives because she had wanted to be here with us. This was a very wealthy person who chose to have fun with kids her age as her final wish. You see, she died within a month of returning to Hiroshima, Japan.
She was born to wealthy merchants whose parents survived the atomic bomb during the Second World War in Hiroshima. It so happened that Yoko, our friend, paid for the legacy of the war and her grandparents’ nuclear afflictions with her life. She died from a type of leukemia.
What was memorable about her life was that she chose to do what she wanted to with her very short life span. She had known that life would be short and she was prepared to live life everyday like she was going to die tomorrow.
Clean out your financial clutter. I know, sounds like mum is right up your rear end with a big stick and it’s not even Spring. But it is at the end of the year.
Now, it’s such an important issue no matter if you use Feng Shui, make new year resolutions or believe in the lucky horseshoe.
Removing all the confusion and mismatched costs and unwanted subscriptions, interest payments, etc. you’ll stand to save a significant amount of money.
Cleaning out your clutter always makes you more prepared to face the next phase of your Financial Journey.
Call it your Sovereign Journey to Financial Freedom.
Congratulations President Elect Mr. Barack Obama. At this point, this is his crowning achievement; his Sovereign Journey.
President Elect Obama – what will unfold from this man’s historic victory?
But wise as he is, he knows the challenges are yet to come. His first challenge is to put America back on it’s financial feet. Americans need to build their financial freedom; the freedom to live their lives as they will; not encumbered by debts and failing economic prospects. Can Mr. Obama balance the need for security without tromping all over everyone in the world? This includes Americans.
And it brings up the deficits. What’s really causing it all? China has been blamed for their over productivity. But what’s where is the real cost? It might be closer to home – with the last 8 years of the Bush administration’s direction. What is the true cost of the current war efforts? Try a mind boggling and tear jerking 3 Thrillion Dollars!
Now, perhaps it’s time to focus on bringing down foreign spending and borrowing and building the American net worth instead.
What an opportunity America has on a strongly voted new President.
Australian Idol Anthony Callea singing the Prayer.
He may pursue a life of the adventurous business entrepreneur or the genius scientist or the social champion or even all of them. It’s his choice as he’s making an important one today to begin and end his promise of faith. That’s courage inspite of peer and societal pressure.
Soon, very soon he will be making all the growing up decisions he needs to make. I will be there to be his guide, his friend, his mentor to help him on his way to hopefully make the right decisions as he journeys through life.
Then, one day, he can say he is travelling his own Sovereign Journey. Good Luck Dominick.
Ahh…at last. This is the life. I didn’t even feel like taking any pictures, much less videos. But the picturesque scenes begged to be displayed for posterity.
This is one of the most storied and legendary of all China’s legends. This is the river where many love stories were told. This is the river of legendary wars were fought over. Emperors, poets, story tellers, playwrights claimed great magical powers arose from this river. Life was born unto earth here too.
Cruising this river with hardly anyone else around (must be because of that special time of day…) and simply because everyone else has gone home. I took a very special trip upriver very slowly at dawn hence some foggy pictures as I wandered the scenic hills and then had a last trip of the day back.
Now, bear in mind, this is an 84 kilometer water way of extremely beautiful scenery. Notice the Guilin peaks framing the river. My guide chattered away about each special spot we came to. I’m sorry to say, I didn’t even listen very well as I lazily watched this ancient world go by. I did remember Xinling, a fishing village, but all the more interesting because of the way they fished – they use Cormorants. A kind of large diving bird tamed and trained to catch fish for their sponsors. This way of life though over a thousand years old (some say as old as time itself) is really only meant for tourists like myself these days to watch.
Perhaps I’m again quite tired of the maddening crowds as I stayed away from the large scenic tours which are always chock full of tourists but prefered to hire a small boat operator that catered to my every whim. It cost more but I really enjoyed the experience far better.
Oh, yes, see those peaks here there and everywhere? They all have very fanciful names and there are hundreds of them; e.g. White Rabbit, Elephant Mount, Peacock Peak, Horse Ridge, the names of celestial Dragons, Tigers and there’s even a Turtle. All very aptly and meaningfully named since ancient times. Surprisingly, there is not much pollution here. Even the large ferry boats didn’t make much of an impact. It’s obvious the Chinese government is certainly taking steps to preserve this area.
Now I know many people would be so excited to write about this as an adventure. But to me, it’s like being home…I wonder why I felt like that while there? Was it some long ago soul adventures I have had here? Well let’s just chalk it up to another sovereign journey.
This is one Incredible Sovereign Journey. A story of mankind’s quest for peace. It has traversed politics, hate, violence, love, challenge and Time…an Olympic Sovereign Journey of the Olympic Torch.
The Olympic Flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece according to tradition on March 25, 2008. From March 25 – 30, the Torch Relay will travel across Greece, ending at the Panathinaiko Stadium, the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. After the handover ceremony in the stadium, the Olympic Flame will arrive in Beijing on March 31, 2008. In Beijing, a ceremony will be held for the arrival of the flame into China and Beijing 2008 Olympic torch relay will commence.
The cities along the route are:
Beijing; Almaty; Istanbul; St.Petersburg; London; Paris; San Francisco; Buenos Aires; Dar Es Salaam; Muscat; Islamabad; Mumbai; Bangkok; Kuala Lumpur; Jakarta; Canberra; Nagano; Seoul; Pyongyang; Ho Chi Minh City; Taipei; Hong Kong; Macao; Hainan Province (Sanya, Wuzhishan, Wanning, Haikou); Guangdong Province (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Shantou); Fujian Province (Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen, Longyan); Jiangxi Province (Ruijin, Jinggangshan, Nanchang); Zhejiang Province (Wenzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jiaxing); Shanghai; Jiangsu Province (Suzhou, Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing); An’hui Province (Hefei, Huainan, Wuhu, Jixi, Huangshan); Hubei Province (Wuhan, Yichang, Jingzhou); Hunan Province (Yueyang, Changsha, Shaoshan); Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guilin, Nanning, Baise); Yunnan Province (Kunming, Lijiang, Xamgyi’ nyilha); Guizhou Province (Guiyang, Kaili, Zunyi); Chongqing; Sichuang Province (Guang’an, Mianyang, Guanghan, Leshan, Zigong, Yibin, Chengdu); Tibet Autonomous Region (Shannan Diqu, Lhasa); Qinghai Province (Golmud, Qinghai Hu, Xining); Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Urumqi, Kashi, Shihezi, Changji); Gansu Province (Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan, Tianshui, Lanzhou); Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Zhongwei, Wuzhong, Yinchuan); Shaanxi Province (Yan’an, Yangling, Xianyang, Xi’an); Shanxi Province (Yuncheng, Pingyao, Taiyuan, Datong); Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Hohhot, Ordos, Baotou, Chifeng); Heilongjiang Province (Qiqihar, Daqing, Harbin); Jilin Province (Songyuan, Changchun, Jilin, Yanji); Liaoning Province (Shenyang, Benxi, Liaoyang, Anshan, Dalian); Shandong Province (Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao, Rizhao, Linyi, Qufu, Tai’an, Jinan); Henan Province (Shangqiu, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Anyang); Hebei Province (Shijiazhuang, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan); Tianjin; and Beijing.
Excerpts from the China Daily.
Of course, the news of these protests are all over the news, but spare a thought for the energy and direction of the Olympics that ultimately caters to peace.
I hope you enjoyed the video – give me your comments.
She was born to wealthy merchants whose parents survived the atomic bomb during the Second World War in Hiroshima. It so happened that Yoko, our friend, paid for the legacy of the war and her grandparents’ nuclear afflictions with her life. She died from a type of leukemia.
Congratulations President Elect Mr. Barack Obama. At this point, this is his crowning achievement; his Sovereign Journey.
Beijing; Almaty; Istanbul; St.Petersburg; London; Paris; San Francisco; Buenos Aires; Dar Es Salaam; Muscat; Islamabad; Mumbai; Bangkok; Kuala Lumpur; Jakarta; Canberra; Nagano; Seoul; Pyongyang; Ho Chi Minh City; Taipei; Hong Kong; Macao; Hainan Province (Sanya, Wuzhishan, Wanning, Haikou); Guangdong Province (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Shantou); Fujian Province (Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen, Longyan); Jiangxi Province (Ruijin, Jinggangshan, Nanchang); Zhejiang Province (Wenzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jiaxing); Shanghai; Jiangsu Province (Suzhou, Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing); An’hui Province (Hefei, Huainan, Wuhu, Jixi, Huangshan); Hubei Province (Wuhan, Yichang, Jingzhou); Hunan Province (Yueyang, Changsha, Shaoshan); Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guilin, Nanning, Baise); Yunnan Province (Kunming, Lijiang, Xamgyi’ nyilha); Guizhou Province (Guiyang, Kaili, Zunyi); Chongqing; Sichuang Province (Guang’an, Mianyang, Guanghan, Leshan, Zigong, Yibin, Chengdu); Tibet Autonomous Region (Shannan Diqu, Lhasa); Qinghai Province (Golmud, Qinghai Hu, Xining); Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Urumqi, Kashi, Shihezi, Changji); Gansu Province (Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan, Tianshui, Lanzhou); Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Zhongwei, Wuzhong, Yinchuan); Shaanxi Province (Yan’an, Yangling, Xianyang, Xi’an); Shanxi Province (Yuncheng, Pingyao, Taiyuan, Datong); Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Hohhot, Ordos, Baotou, Chifeng); Heilongjiang Province (Qiqihar, Daqing, Harbin); Jilin Province (Songyuan, Changchun, Jilin, Yanji); Liaoning Province (Shenyang, Benxi, Liaoyang, Anshan, Dalian); Shandong Province (Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao, Rizhao, Linyi, Qufu, Tai’an, Jinan); Henan Province (Shangqiu, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Anyang); Hebei Province (Shijiazhuang, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan); Tianjin; and Beijing.
