Greetings,

This is a continuation of yesterday's Random Bits & Pieces,  "a streaming of miscellaneous tidbits of my life, in no particular order or design."

I recommend this exercise highly.  The nooks and crannies of your  life are there to be explored when you are ready.   "When the student is ready, the guru appears."

I was readier than I thought.

I am a fiercely independent, self-sufficient person.  I came from a privileged, upper middle-class home, but chose not to exploit it.  If I could do it myself, I did it.  You see, my father was a real-life Horatio Alger  hero to me.  He claimed the American Dream by pulling himself up by his own bootstraps.  In his case, his rubbah slippahs (pidgin for rubber thongs, zoris, go-aheads). 

I aspired to be just like Dad.  Emulating his personal initiative and self-sufficiency,  I earned scholarships for college and worked part-time and summer jobs to cover my living expenses.  

When I was 13, I was given the opportunity to go to a college preparatory boarding school on another island.   I realized that it was gift given to a very few.  While I needed my parents' financial help then, I stubbornly resisted asking my parents for more than what was absolutely necessary to subsist. They were already doing so much for me.

My father's financial success created challenges for me, as I was eliminated from any consideration of financial aid based on need.  I was limited to scholarships based on merit, and this limitation proved to be the best incentive to do my best as a student. Maintaining a near perfect GPA to earn  scholarships, while working part-time jobs, was an intricate juggling act,  which required foreplanning , efficiency, and focused effort.  These acquired lifeskills have served well ever since.

In college, I lived an ascetic life of self-imposed poverty, and  I often felt like I was following the Buddha's footsteps.  He gave up a princely life to learn poverty, in order to learn that it is best to live the middle way, between luxury and poverty.

>> More about Gautama Buddha's life

 As did Buddha, I had a safety net.  My parents.  I knew I could count on them.  They would have fed me before I starved to death, or loaned me money before I had to drop out of college for  lack of funds. This sense of security allowed me to take greater risks for growth and forge ahead on my own.   

To this day, I don't mooch, and I don't take a shine to moochers.  I don't waste, and I disdain wastrels who dissipate time, money,  and material resources.  

Most of all, these days,  it's "pay back" time.  I am now the safety net for those who are stretching themselves, going beyond their "limitations".  

I am an independent thinker.  I am not a conformist.  I am that odd one who, like Henry David Thoreau, marches to a different drummer.  

>> On different drummers

I have a strong sense of right and wrong, which has helped me to resist temptation, sometimes against  all odds and having to  withstand overbearign to go with the group consensus.  Whille I am not infallible, but  I have yet to compromise my personal and professional integrity.  I walk the line.

I am more of a listener than a talker.  I am not, however,  afraid to speak up on ethical matters, knowing that if God is for me, who can be against me.   I have often surprised those who stereotype me as a submissive minority woman, a fragile flower.  This forthrightness gets me tapped for leadership, power, brain trust,  and political positions that I neither aspire to or relish.

I am a maverick. With a strong individualistic streak, I like doing my own thing, preferring to be unbeholden to interest groups, political organizations, and commercial interests.

Life is not a popularity contest or a conformity fest. Because I am tenaciously steadfast and independent in my thinking, I have been able to  help my fellow humans on a national and global level in a quietly effective manner.  Waffling, justifying and and rationalizing never makes a  wrong a right. This, I inherited from my father, who inherited it from his ancestors who practiced the way of the warrior.

>> Before you read on, click here and see if you think outside the box.  

I am known (and occasionally misunderstood) for thinking outside of the box.  I don't take it personally.  I was one of the first fruit of the gifted children's program in Hawai`i in the early 1960s.  

We were given the Stanford-Binet and Wechsler IQ tests and gained entrance based on our scores. There were six of us selected from three grades, and we met with a teacher once a week.

Early in our academic experience, we were encouraged to be inquisitive, question, and think creatively and independently.  We were taught to be original, unconstrained by apparent parameters.  We were trained to look at problem from various perspectives, especially the long shot; and we were rewarded for not accepting the obvious answers.  

We were gifted with the freedom to be ourselves.

I am a registered Independent.  I dislike politics.  I am wary of politicians.  But someone's got to do it, and I don't want to,  so I don't complain. 

I go out of my way to exercise my freedom to vote,  appreciating it as a hard-won right and privilege.  As an Independent,  I  vote for the person I feel is best for the job.  I am blind to gender, color, race, political party, sexual preference,  and religious affiliation.  I didn't vote for Mr. Gore or Mr. Bush. I was more attracted to their vice-presidential running mates; Mr. Lieberman's high integrity and Mr. Cheney's formidable experience were attractive.

In hindsight,  I'm glad that President Bush was elected, as he has surrounded himself with competent, experienced advisors. I especially like General Colin Powell.

We need all the smarts and cool heads that we can muster, including our own. 

I love my Cloud 9 pajamas and booties. (I'm wearing them right now).  They are the most comfortable ever, and yes, I can't wait to get home from work to put them on.  

Recently, O personalized them for me.  I had some dog biscuits in my right pocket, and she literally ate  two inches off the pajama top's lower edge  to get to them.   The right side is shorter with a  frayed lower edge.  

I've since come to like O's mouthcraft. It's an original with a one-of-a-kind, asymmetrical look.

O is quite the artiste.

In spite of a strong aversion to needles bordering on a phobia,  I had my ears pierced in high school.  Just one hole per lobe.   I've never considered body piercings or tattoos.  My tastes have evolved with the ears, and a person is stuck with their holes and tattos for life.

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