Random Thought

One of my coworker's daughter is turning 18 today. 18 years old, how long ago was that? Do I wish I could turn back time and be 18 again? Oh God no! I don't ever want to be that silly, naive, and unwise ever again. I am not a sentimental person. I throw old stuff out without thinking twice. Every time I look back, I always say to myself, 'Thank God it's over'.

Everyone who has seen my baby picture from last post says, 'What has happened to you Vivi. You looked so happy there.' Hahaha :D

People who claim to be too busy to read usually don't read anyways. People who claim to never read Harry Potter usually don't ready anyways.

Recently I have heard couple of cases concerning relocation for relationship. I just have to post this one here (Washington Post column:Tell Me About It by Carolyn Hax)

Hi, Carolyn:

I'm in a loving relationship with a wonderful guy. We are both in our 20s and will both be coming up on big moves for school and work in the next couple of years. We talk of the future, and we want to be together . . . but at what point is it okay to start making plans when you don't have a ring on your finger

Washington


By "ring on your finger," you mean when you barter your free will for a trinket?

He doesn't marry you, you marry each other. I'm loath to turn this into a male-female issue, but rings on fingers go straight there without my help. In a decade of advising, here is a question no man has ever sent me: "Should I wait till we're engaged before I relocate for her?"

It is your life. It was your life before, it is your life now, it will be your life when you do or don't get married. Nobody is telling you otherwise -- except you. He's either committed to you, or he isn't. You're either committed to him, or you're not. You either trust your judgment, or you don't. Stop waiting for someone else's permission to chart the course of your life. Look around. People live like this every day. I'm guessing your boyfriend is one of them.

To Live

You probably have heard it from time to time. Couple months ago it was the pet food, now it is the toothpaste. These are the stories outside of China. I wonder if you have ever wondered how life is inside that country? According to the laws of business, when quantity goes up, price goes down. So what is the cheapest thing in China? People! Lives!

Tai Hu is the 3rd biggest lake of China. It is so beautiful that it is used to be called 'Paradise on Earth'. This is how it used to look like:








This is how it looked like last week, which left millions of people with no water:








Everytime I go back to China, I feel it is like a giant machine, old, enormous and loud with steam coming out everywhere. It keeps on going, and every step is heavy, large and ground-shaking. If you look closely you can see almost every piece of metal is rusted and every nail and joint is lose. The whole thing might fall apart or explode anytime, but surprisingly it just keeps going...

Everytime I go back to China, I feel 'man, I love this place to death!'. This is almost a heartbreaking type of love. I see how the country and its people are misunderstood by the rest of the world and are portraited as some communist monsters. I see how hardship shapes personality, how growing up without privacy leads to rudeness and inconsideration. I see how poverty nourishes ignorance. I worry about the future of the children because their government views its people's life as cheap as dirt. Forget about the glorious history and civilization, the one thing that Chinese are truly the best at is just to stay alive.

PS. I recommend the movie 'To Live' if you haven't seen it already.