And I should add that watching this dance routine gives me goosebumps.

An illustration of the power of thought comes to me from my life as a Swing dancer. Whenever there is a crowd of people watching a group of dancers doing their fancy moves, there can be two responses to the dancing. One says, “That’s amazing! There’s no way I could ever do that.” The second says, “Wow! I want to learn how.” And these thoughts become self-fulfilling prophesies. You can especially see how the former thought limits the possible set of experiences available to the thinker.

So when I read Jesus’ statement in the Bible that says, “He that has seen Me has seen the Father”, I imagine two responses. One is that made by traditional Christianity, which says that Jesus is an exception to our humanity. He is Special. We cannot be like Him because He is different than who we are. It too is a limiting thought. It says, “I could never be like Him.” And so it is. The second response, on the other hand, says that Jesus is an example of our humanity. What He became, we can become. This thought expands the possible set of experiences available to the thinker.

I choose to adopt the second type of mindset, not because it is objectively true, but because subjectively I can create a more empowered, creative, and fulfilling life experience for myself. And this is the power of the Science of Mind in action.

For the last two years, Swing has not just been a part of my life, but it has been my life. I found it at a time when I was just emerging from a one-year hermit phase. Thus, it launched me from my social isolation into a world where I was having multiple encounters with people each week. It also broke my one-year isolation from other foreigners here in China. It allowed me to develop the extroverted part of my predominantly introverted nature.

But it seems as though that time has come to a close. No, I’m not closing myself off and re-entering a hermit phase. I’m just moving away from Swing and concentrating my creative energy in other areas. In November last year (2004), I started to discover other bloggers and also the phenomenon of podcasting. I started connecting with people online, and I began contributing to conversations with others through leaving comments and giving feedback through email. And it has been an exciting time for me.

I’m not sure what the ultimate goal of this new direction in my life is, but I can tell that it’s the right direction. And that’s thrilling.

The hosting woes that I experienced a few months ago forced me to find a new hosting solution and ultimately a new blogging tool called WordPress. And the change has been fantastic. It’s a very powerful tool. But I’ve been sitting on the default look of the WordPress 1.5 install since then, so my site looks like too many others out there. I have been looking for a new design for the header at the top of the weblog, and I finally found one last week. So, here is the new look. It’s a star scene that I generated entirely from the mathematical functions found in the GIMP drawing program. I feel it suits my character and the nature of a “Mad Philosopher” quite well. Here is a screenshot of the new look. Here is the old look for comparison.

As always, comments are welcome. Thanks for joining me in the journey thus far.

I’ll be in Shanghai from Friday to Friday. I and 12 other friends are taking the overnight train and going to the Shanghai Swings Speakeasy party. We’re all quite excited. We’ve got a boombox planned, and we’re going to take over the sleeper car and dance in the aisle! All night.

This is my first visit to Shanghai. I hear it’s quite different from Beijing. A different feeling, history, dialect, culture. Everyone will fly home on Sunday evening, except Allena, Gulistan, and I will stick around and tour the city for two days. Then, a boat trip to Suzhou (the Venice of China), and a day and night in Hangzhou (the Silk Capital of China).

Awesome.

• AccuRadio’s mp3 feed page

My mom and Aron got married last week and it was fun and beautiful. They’re now in Spain and I’ve got the house and my mom’s car to myself.

I had a great conversation with my friend Dave Ballantyne about all things copyright and capitalism. I learned some surprising things about how the idea of intellectual property is actually anti-capitalist, and so is 100% of all discussion on either side of the copyright war. But the world has to wait until Dave finishes his Master’s thesis this summer before we can read his ideas on the subject in essay form.

And last night I had a great conversation with my friend Bruce Dean about his life right now, his adventures being the official driver for Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft during the election campaign, and how he got wrongfully fired three weeks ago and is now fighting to get his job back on two fronts. And yes, as he said, he seems more at peace about his life now than he’s ever been before. I wish him well.

Tonight I’ll have dinner at my sister’s. And then tomorrow I’ve got a dance with Swing-Out Edmonton. Sunday morning I fly outta here, in time to catch the dance class in Beijing on Monday night. See y’all there.

There were 80 to 100 dancers at this camp, with teachers from the US, Sweden, the UK, and Japan. Swing Beijing! was represented by me, Adam and River, John, Steve and Angela, and Hong Ying. Shanghai Swings was represented by Orchid, the two Zee brothers, and a Japanese guy who is just new to Shanghai. It was a great bonding time for all of us from China, and new friendships were formed with everyone else. It gave us a chance to dance with so many people, to experience so many styles. At the party on the last night, I was still dancing with followers that I hadn’t danced with yet. There were that many. It was great! But as I told my girlfriend (who couldn’t come to the camp), all the girls at this camp were really ugly and couldn’t dance very well. It made her happy to hear that.

I didn’t get much of a chance to see Singapore, but I was lucky enough to spend Thursday night with a local family in their home. It was quite a contrast to Beijing. First of all, I couldn’t imagine that they would be living in a house (maybe it was a townhouse) as opposed to an apartment. Singapore is a very small island, but its population isn’t that large (4.6 million, July 2003), so it’s not crowded enough to exclude real houses for some families. I was very impressed.

It’s right-hand drive in Singapore, so all the cars are on the left-hand side of the road. That was something I never got used to, a problem that could lead to a deadly mistake by looking the wrong way while stepping onto the road. It’s a beautiful city with a very organized public transit system. Unfortunately, bicycles are not allowed on the roads or on the sidewalks! Where do they go, then? Well, I saw very few bicycles being ridden. So don’t expect me to ever settle in Singapore!

On the resort island, I spent one afternoon looking around. I got to visit Artists Village, which is an art gallery and studio, home to about five resident artists. It wasn’t a well visited attraction of the island, but I enjoyed the peaceful quiet desertion of the gallery. This is one memory I’ll take with me from the weekend that wasn’t related to dancing.

Another good memory is the time I spent with Steve and Angela, since we shared a 3-room hut together. One night after the lights went out, we had a story time, where I got to learn how Steve and Angela met. It’s a good story involving a lost girl, a butcher knife, and a guy lying on the ground bleeding from the head. It ended with Steve and Angela walking the streets of Dalian holding hands. They stopped there, not wanting to share the rest of the details. They’re a sweet couple. And unlike some couples while telling a story, they interrupt each other in a good way, adding details instead of fighting about them. They are friends I will keep for a lifetime.

Well, the plane is descending and soon it will be time to pack up my keyboard and put the lunch tray away. Beijing, here I come. I’ll head home, wash, pack for tomorrow’s trip, and then go for dinner with Gulistan before Swing tonight. It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that Swing!

Tomorrow I fly to Edmonton. I don’t enjoy the 11-hour flight to Vancouver or the jet lag, but it will be great to see family and friends again.

I come back to Beijing and sleep in my own bed Monday night, and then Tuesday I head home to Edmonton for three weeks. The reason for the trip is that my Mom is getting married to Aron on March 10th, and I’m really excited for her. I will also be able to catch Trinity’s second birthday on March 3rd.

All in all, it’s going to be a great vacation. See you in Singapore, Edmonton, Calgary, or Beijing!