I take a few quick sips. "This is really good." And I mean it. I have never tasted tea like this. It is smooth, pungent, and instantly addicting. "This is from Grand Auntie," my mother explains. "She told me 'If I buy the cheap tea, then I am saying that my whole life has not been worth something better.' A few years ago she bought it for herself. One hundred dollars a pound." "You're kidding." I take another sip. It tastes even better.

You must think for yourself, what you must do. If someone tells you, then you are not trying. -An-mei

Words are more ardent if a man must struggle to find them.

My parents told me I would become a doctor and then in my spare time I would become a concert pianist. So, both my day job and my spare time were sort of taken care of.

I like to go somewhere where I learn something I didn't know before, like the Dry Tortugas between Florida and Cuba.

You can have pride in what you do each day, but not arrogance in what you were born with.

I was punched breathless by the strongest emotions I have ever felt and they are now stored in my intuition as a writer.