It's his world now. We're just living in it.The other day, I was in Ranch 99 Market. If you don't know Ranch 99 Market, let me sum it up for you. It's Hong Kong, Bangkok, Korea, Beijing and Tokyo compressed into about 10,000 square feet. The one I go to is at the backend of a mall that is filled with Chinese restaurants that almost only the Chinese community eats at. There are Ginseng emporiums that have everything Ginseng, from teas, jellies and sex creams, to the odd looking roots themselves, which resemble mutant life forms trapped in exotic tubers. There's a store filled with Miyazaki art and stuffed dolls. I never knew there could be that many variations of "Totoro." There's a jade dealer there too. You get the picture.
So I have been on this curry kick lately. Its the turmeric. Obviously my body is craving both the heat and the healing. So I wander into Ranch 99 at 10AM, avoiding the seething masses by about four hours. I'm on the hunt for coconut milk to supplement my curry.
I see a guy stocking the shelves with a Ranch 99 vest on. As I approach him, he puts his hand up and starts waving me away, like he's got some virulent strain of pigeon flu and doesn't want me to get it. But that's not really his intent. You see, he doesn't speak English and he wants no part of me as he furiously feeds the shelf with packages of Ramen. I don't realize this until I ask him about the aforementioned coconut milk. He utters some grunts, something passing for "no." I could swear that he's trying to throw some chi kung in my direction to block me from moving any closer.
Now this guy is no kid. He's balding, has glasses and he can't even muster a reasonable "no." I say to him, "You don't speak English, do you?" Again, more grunty head shakes and hand waves. He's pissed now because I interrupted his machine-like-rhythm. I get the hint, but I am not happy.
Off I go in search of coconut milk, circumnavigating aisles like an ancient maze, deciphering unknown languages, decoding the order of objects and their relative relationship to one another. I finally find an aisle with twenty different kinds of chili sauce. I think this "might" be the aisle, but that creamy coconutty goodness still eludes me.
My mind is speeding. I wonder what happened to my country. I wonder about that guy that pushed me away and where he lives. I wonder about how he lives. I try to imagine how he got here and how long he's been here. How did he get hired? What is the criterion to get hired at Ranch 99 anyway? I wonder about all the out of work people that could do exactly the same thing he's doing AND tell me where the god damned coconut milk is.
I've fallen down a Glen Beck rabbit hole and only coconut milk can temporarily save me from plummeting any further.
I vow that once I find that coconut milk, I'm going to track his ass down and shove that can of coconut milk in his face and make him repeat after me, "C-o-c-o-n-u-t M-i-l-k, C-o-c-o-n-u-t M-i-l-k."
I finally stumble upon it, on an end cap. It somewhat mollifies me. I take a deep breath and as I head back towards his aisle, I have visions of hard ass railway bosses abusing the cooly workers as they lay the tracks that would join the continent, from station-to-station. Its not a pretty picture in my head. I time traveled and became a very ugly American. I decide to abort his forced English lesson after this past life review.
I pay for my coconut milk and leave.
The other day, ESPN ran a tasteless headline about Jeremy Lin. Although he had scored 28 points, he had a bad game, turning the ball over fourteen times. The Knicks lost for the first time since he began his magical run as their starting point guard, eight games ago. Their headline for Lin's first less-than-stellar game was; " A Chink In The Armor."
My good friend Marv, first generation Chinese-American thought it was kind of funny. Maybe I should bring him with me the next time I go to Ranch 99.
Personally, I thought it was tasteless and I can't believe that ESPN would pass that through at least two editors to make it a front page story. They were trolling for publicity, good or bad. It doesn't matter. See, I'm writing about it. I told Marv that, "They were guilty of yellow journalism." He laughed and they are. Jeremy Lin is busting everyone's stereotypes and ESPN decided to get cute. They're assholes. But enough about the Disney owned, Bristol sports mafia. Let's talk more Jeremy Lin!
I finally stumbled onto Lin's chart the other day, birth time and all. Seems like there are Jeremy Lin sites sprouting up like tree fungus all over the net. Some of them use astrology. Some of them scraped my on him. I tracked it down and I agreed to let them use it as long as they used my name and linked back to me. They agreed.
A blogger in Taiwan also linked to it and even translated it.
I found Lin's chart and birth time at one of those sites that used my content, so I was happy that I could discover it. His chart is fairly impressive and there's no mistaking the power of it making a serious impact on him and now, the world.
In the last post on Lin, I talked a bit about his Pluto in Scorpio sextiling transiting Pluto. That's a powerhouse alignment. And as I mentioned before, there's a lot more going on. In this version of his chart, Pluto sits right on his ascendant in Scorpio. It makes complete sense, especially as transiting Pluto turbocharges its dramatic transformation for not just Lin, but Asian Americans, especially male Asian Americans. Lin is forcing us to re-think and transform our stereotypical view of them (identity/ascendant). The Sabian Symbol for that degree is pretty interesting;
A DROWNING MAN IS BEING RESCUED. It speaks to an act of rescue and the premise of second chances in life. Mike D'antoni was most certainly drowning as his record as the Knicks coach, on a roster of very high priced talent was not commensurate with it. Lin rescued his job. But he also rescued his own job and in just two quick days, from 2/4 to 2/6 he managed to obscure the light of the New York Giants and their fresh win at the weirdest Super Bowl of all time, replete with Madonna's dark halftime ritual. Lin didn't just rescue our attention from the Giants, he ripped it away.
As I also mentioned before, Pluto has just moved off his natal Neptune and is headed straight towards his Moon, which has a wide trine with his Sun. Pluto on his Moon in Cap is a potent combo for a rising NBA star with a degree in economics from Harvard. Soon, very soon, Jeremy Lin will be entering Tiger Woods territory, from an ad/testimonial perspective. He will also impact Asian youth in a very big way. While Bruce Lee might have inspired them years ago to learn the white crane stance, Lin will usher in a new era of Asian kids lacing them up in gyms across not just the US, but the world. But Pluto can be a little overwhelming too. After today's win against the league champ Mavericks, where he scored 28 points (again) and had 14 assists, Lin implored the press in Taiwan to leave his family alone and respect their privacy, especially, his 85-year-old grandmother (Moon).
When he started his run back on the 4th, the Moon was in Cancer conjuncting his natal Chiron in House 8. It was squaring his natal Mars and opposing that cool, Cap Moon. Chiron also trines his ascendant and natal Pluto. That transiting Moon was also triggering transiting Uranus. Something alchemical was going on beneath the surface of the 8th House. When the Moon would emerge fully on the 6th, his real breakout game against the Jazz of Utah, it would be in his 9th House, a house where sports and athleticism are exalted. There, it would join up with his natal Venus in Cancer, trining his True Node in Pisces. Add it all up and it was/is his time.
On the 4th of March, he'll have another pass of the Cancer Moon kissing his natal Chiron, making it one full cycle since his magical run started. It will be a nationally televised game against the rival Celtics. That will kick off a three-game run culminating in San Antonio on the Virgo Full Moon, conjuncting his Sun, which is in the 10th House, usually indicative of "fame." The only thing that can stop him now is some unforeseen injury. That game agains the Celtics jumps out at me in that regard BTW.
So how did Jeremy Lin handle ESPN's stupid headline? It was no skin off his back. He forgave them, saw it as an error, a mistake, and moved on. No drama. He simply rose above the fray. He's a Christian for crissakes. What else was he to do? ALL is forgiven.
