Month: May 2005

Another story my father told me last week was one about his uncle(I’ll call him grand-uncle from here), who in his 50’s, was having problems with his stomach. After going to a Western doctor, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, something at the time some 20 or 30 years ago was almostly certainly fatal. After having heard the news, my grand-uncle went to go see a chi-kung master. When he went into the man’s office, the man was sitting there with his assistants around him. Before my grand-uncle even said anything, the healer, some 10 feet away, told him he had a problem with his stomach. The man then proceeded to concentrate with his hand up towards my grand-uncle, some 10 feet away. He said that he had felt a very warm, even hot sensation grow within his stomach. When had gotten home that day, he told the whole family about his experience, and that his stomach was feeling a lot better. After a few more times going back to him, my grand-uncle didn’t have any more problems with his stomach and never did again.

While in Georgia last week, I stopped by the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market to shop for some food with my mother. While we were there, we stopped by a kiosk inside where handmade dumplings were made. Now, these were really something else, the quality of the dumpling really in a class of its own. The man who made them–a real professional, an artist really–explained to me quite a bit about his dumplings. He had been a dumpling maker in South Korea for years and had moved to America a few years ago. I had mentioned to him that I was a fan of Chinese dumplings, to which he mentioned that he used to make pork dumplings in Korea, but that the quality of pork in America was so bad that he wouldn’t make them anymore here. He also showed me one of his dumpling wrappers, stretching and stretching away without the slightest tear, and afterwards putting it on top of the back of my hand to show me how smooth it was. Amazing! I was invited to pull on the wrapper as well and was amazed at the quality of it.

The dumpling he did make had absolutely no fat in them as well as were made with three different types of mushrooms amongst other things. He cooked them in a very unique way of having boiled water put in a large bowl and dropping the dumplings within it, then after a little time getting them out with a strainer spoon.

The end result was an absolutely fantastic handmade dumpling! It was really something to experience, both the dumplings and the man. It’s really quite startling to see someone who really is a master of his or her craft doing their work, showing such an obvious mastery and passion at what they do. I was really humbled by it all. Perhaps one day, with many more compositions under my belt, that sort of mastery over musical material will manifest itself. I can only continue working and find out.

^_^

Warning: If you’re interested in nasal irrigation, please do research the topic before trying. I’m not a doctor, just a person with a story to tell.

Last week my father told me an amazing story. For as long as I’ve known, my father has had issues with his sinuses and allergies, with even some 5 or 6 years ago getting surgery to try to alleviate the issue(that only helped for a short period of time). He told me last week that he actually had a great fear of dying by suffocation from his sinus issues, as he had been suffering from these sinus issues since he was a kid in Korea, some forty to fifty years by my estimate.

Well, while we were at home we were talking about the health benefits of salt water and ways it could be used, discussing bamboo salt in particular, when we go on to the topic of nasal irrigation with salt water. Now, this is a practice I’ve heard of, usually with a neti pot, where one flushes the sinuses with salt water, but the way my father did it was a little different, using both nostrils for getting the water in and allowing the water to drain out either the nose or to the mouth and spitting it out.

He said he had heard of and tried salt water a few times before in his life but only doing it once or twice and thinking it didn’t do much. About a couple of months ago, though, my mother had told him of a patient she saw that had sworn by the salt water irrigation as curing his sinus ailments (he said he had used a gallon of water at a time, which my father thought was probably a bit of an exaggeration). The story was enough to pique his interest in it once again, but this time he had determined that he would really give it a concerted effort, to do it “religiously” as he said. After two weeks of irrigating daily, he told me that his sinuses were clear, that he could breathe freely, and that his allergies were mostly gone, and have been the past two months.

Incredible, dealing with something that affected the quality of his life for such a long time, he was able to be cured with such an amazingly simple solution. I’m so happy and relieved that he’s breathing freely and no longer has that to worry about.

^_^