Prayer

Have been apart from this blog for a few days. Perhaps not in the best form to write because of lots of things to handle at the moment. Yet it looks everything is under control, except my physical condition. All I hope is to get well as much as possible before I go back. I need to pray...

A lesson

Sometimes you will find yourself awkwardly stuck in a situation where you can hardly justify yourself, even though you think you can be well justified. Looks I tasted what university politics was like through today's experience. Although I felt wrongly treated, I had to admit that a little more carefulness would have saved me from the embarrassment I experienced regarding our newsletter I was working on.

Basically, what happened was: There will be an academic conference to be held in town this weekend, and some of CommDev faculty and students will give their presentations. After reviewing my draft, I was told by my director to add all those CommDev faculty to present papers at the conference by checking its website. I swear I did so, quite a few times last night, yet its schedule then was still a very brief one, without the info I needed. However, it turned out they finally updated the schedule today, and I didn't make a last-minute check before sending out the newsletter, which resulted in that one faculty member sent a note to my director saying that his or her name was missing in the faculty presenter list, which is, in his words, a sensitive issue as people do read our newsletters.

I felt bad about all this. I should have been a bit more careful or should have found another way to make sure all the info needed had been acquired.

However, what I care more about is that I was mistakenly taken as not paying attention to what has been told by superiors. It is not the way I'm doing things, yet it turned out that I had bad luck this time. : (

Yet no worries. I will get over it. Next time, it won't happen again. No big deal. : )

Long hair

My personal hairdresser here in this town (so called imperial barber or Yu Yong Li Fa Shi in Chinese), who is also one of my best friends here, went to UK for an academic strip, and he won't get back until Nov. 20, the day when I fly back home. That means I wil have to keep my hair and let it grow so wildly that I probably will become unrecognizable at the airport. How terrible, yet please be prepared. : )

Good-night song

Now bed time, finally. Yet I just wanna send out this song for you. : )

Pimples break out

A few minor pimples began to break out on my face, after a long time of non-zit status which was thought as a best indicator of how I have been enjoying a life of good food, enough sleep and deliberately less burden of study since the surgery. Does that mean my recovery has been doing quite well that I have almost resumed my normal physical form? : )

Free flying feeling

I stepped out of the house to take a fresh breath. It was a windy and partly cloudy Sunday afternoon, with occasional sunshine that made one feel not so chilly. I looked up in the sky, suddenly saw a hawk soaring high up there. With its wings stretched wide, the hawk seemed to be sliding all the way across the blue-and-white sky, so gracefully and beautifully. I was amazed at the scene. Human will never taste how it feels when flying like a bird. Tools like airplanes and sliding parachute may be able to play a substitute role, yet that unbound feeling of flying freedom never belongs to human.

Time shortage?

Feeling that a day passes so quickly and time is not enough, with so many things to deal with. It's not that I'm feeling bad for being unable to handle those things; it's just that feeling of shortage of time to get things done well burns me. Well, I admit I exaggerated a bit. Doesn't burn me. Just makes me feel a bit anxious, though I know things will eventually turn out to be fine. ~~

Friendship

How connected should I be to my friends? Sometimes I ask myself such a question. Because friendship is certainly a big part of my life, however, my personal inclination tells me that I need a certain distance from many of those friends. They are of course nice, yet being nice doesn't mean being intimate, being so close enough that you can share almost everything with them. On the other hand, you can't expect me, a guy, to develop a confidant-type relationship with other female friends like many girls do. Nor am I so interested in those women's talk in shopping, fashion and those kinds of stuff. And I don't think I'm a gossiper.

So basically, I feel kind of keeping myself a bit away from many pals, when I'm not in school and prefer some kind of being alone in my private life. Sometimes I may start a call to my out-of-town friends to get their updates. That's something I'd like to do. Yet for those in-town ones, for most of the time, I may not be the one who is qurious enough to initiate such a call. Sometimes I'd opt to online chat instead. Maybe subconsciously I think, as long as we are still here in town, we will get chance to learn about what's going on on friends' end.

I don't whether my such choice is good or not because sometimes I fear this might result in losing some friends. Yet I can't do something that is against my mind. To bend my willingness in order to court so-called friendship isn't what I'm looking for, though I always appreicate what my friends have done for me and am always prepared to repay them as much as I can.

Home

This song is for today, and tomorrow. : )

Cheap CD buy spree

My long-supressed CD-buying desire erupted this afternoon at our town's only music record store, though my enthusiasm's target was only those on-sale discs that sold for $1-3. Really cheap, yet fairly good stuff, thanks to my lengthy sampling listening time. I did some maths afterwards: 15 CDs for less than $38, which equals to about RMB 15 yuan for each CD. Quite a good deal, and the more important thing is: I like my choice.

OK, here is the list:

Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
Kenny G - Breathless
Kitaro - Tenku
Suzanne Vega - Days of Open Hand
Coldplay- X&Y
Nestor Torres - Burning Whispers
Crystal Gayle - Ain't Gonna Worry
R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant
Sade - Stronger Than Pride (depulicate, gotta replace it)
Robert James Waller - The Ballads of Madison County
Bouquet of Film Classics
Marilyn Scott - Avenues of Love
A Winter's Solstice IV
Paul Simon - Negotiations and Love Songs 1976-1986
Gary LeMel - The Best of Times (The only one I wanna return)

Prejudice

OK, I admit it is my prejudice: Whenever I see someone typing Chinese characters and making an obvious mistake between "zai (在)" and “zai (再）" which in most cases is not a typo, I would think that is a demonstration of lack of good education, a so-called low-level indicator. Every time I see them write that way, it almost drives me crazy, especially when it comes to cases involving my good pals. I don't know why I've formed such a notion. I just think that is something very basic that everyone should learn well in his or her maybe kindergarten days, though I admit there are a lot of Chinese characters I can't name or tell the difference correctly.

First post-op check

Tomorrow will be my first post-op check. Feeling not bad these several days. I guess the doctor won't say anything negative. Well, perhaps I just need more suggestions on how to better and sooner recover instead of giving me a list of pills to take after seeing my status.

In fact, after last time's lesson, I've been much more careful to keep me from straining my body too much in order to at least stablize my status. Any some minor physical exercises will do me good, like the Yoga practice Nian taught me.

Well, I'm determined everything will be fine, and just like what I told the Internews friend today: I will be patient and I will be OK.

A song for mama

Happy birthday, mom! How I wish I could be at home celebrating this big day with you and singing this song to you...

The end of year

Almost missed a good movie. It is definitely a non-blockbuster film, with limited budget and no-star-studded cast, yet it won my heart (and tears) with its poinant realism, sometimes camouflaged in well-arranged humorous spicies that only Chinese can understand.

The film is entitled: The End of Year (Yi Nian Dao Tou). In press reports, it was billed the first Chinese movie that sets the plot around the annual massive homebound passenger flood during the Spring Festival period. Yet I'd rather take it as, behind the forever theme of "going home" for the holiday, a true panorama of the current Chinese society, all its joys, tears and helplessnesses. Thank God it's not all a hopeless picture.

Just look at how many viewer comments at Douban. Most of them saluted such a small-budget domestic production instead of those big-budget and big-cast counterparts. I believe there is a strong demand in the domestic audience for something that truly reflects THE life they are experiencing.

At the end of the movie, Xu Wei's Blue Lotus (Lan Lian Hua) floated up with the scenes of what we Chinese are all familiar with. Tears came to my eyes. I miss home.

Guess guess guess

I don't wanna guess, though Daniel Chan's song is so nice.

Obama set to win

Watched the debate tonight. More and more I'm inclined to Obama. To me, an outsider, McCain is too old and too canny to take the position. The way he talked during the debate was like an old man trying to talk sweet to lure people, to get them rise to a bait. It isn't a way that a big country's leader should communicate his message to a national audience. In sharp contrast, Obama looked much more firm, clear and candid in his tonight's performance. He deserves a win. Just like what the ISFS advisor joked to me when we were about to finish our meeting this afternoon: "Let's see how McCain got beaten again!" I think she saw that happen, like millions of other Americans did tonight.

Rolling Stone story

Just finished reading the long story on McCain entitled Make-Believe Maverick. An very interesting piece. Politicians are politicians, no matter whether they are in a capitalist country or a socialist one. NPR also talked about some of McCain's anecdotes mentioned in the story. Should be a good guide before the unveiling of tomorrow's debate between McCain and Obama.

A bit tired. Bed time.

Creative vs. wild

Last night lying on bed, an interesting idea struck me. It was for my environmental planning class' final project. Yet if done well, it can even be reshaped into a good marketing plan. Sometimes I think I'm good at creative thinking, yet it's not enough. Or I should say I'm not good at wild thinking. :)

Feeling good

Once again, I woke up quite early. Still, I tuned in NPR for a morning radio shower. Good thing is, with these days' such kind of intensive English input, I kind of have a better "feel" of English. It is a good feeling, of course. Similar to that I had last year when I finished that nearly two-month home stay in an American family due to my internship then.

The effect? I guess it showed right away. I mean today. This afternoon, we had a kind of video screening meeting among us CommDevers. The preview was for selecting the final films to be shown in late October at our first ever CommDev Film Festival (well, its scale is hardly that festival-type, yet we haven't come up with a right name so far) organized by the Communication and Development Association (CDA) in which I take up the role of vice president. Since our president was out of town for personal emergency this afternoon, I then took the role of presiding over the event. I felt quite nice with the whole process that was quite smooth, including my use of English. It's not that I don't have chance to use English at other daily times or activites, yet I would more like to regard this afternoon's meeting as a confidence resurge touchstone for using English appropriately, naturally and smoothly at whatever occasions. I can't say I have achieved that, but I'm feeling good to make that happen in the near future.

Mmm, many thanks to NPR, to my Creative player, to this blog, and to you. :)

Yeah, another good-feeling thing to thank you, hon. This morning's over-the-phone CD buying spree was quite successful and exciting. I hope that will also bring a rich treasurehouse for your musical enjoyment, at least for the two months. ^_^

Sunshine Otaku

After missing out tonight's lecture by Jeff Corwin (Animal Planet host and leading conservationist) because the tickets were sold out (once again, it proves that free events in most cases sell better than those charging money) when I rushed to the venue around its opening time, I've decided to quit being a post-op otaku (a Japanese word meaning home geek). I will go to school every day to stay tuned in with the latest happenings in town, even though I may not have class on certain days. In that way, at least, I should be what Jay sings as "Sunshine Otaku"! : )

Radio Gaga

Chanced to use my Creative media player's radio function today. Although not many FM stations available, at least NPR turned out to be rather satisfactory. The point is, the experience brought me back to my college days when we were supposed to listen to original foreign radio programs in order to improve our English listening comprehension abilities. Gosh, the memory of that old radio (I remember it was a "Globe" brand) suddenly became so vivid to me. I remember I used to put it beside my pillow, always turned it on after going to bed, tuned in some foreign channel like VOA or BBC and quickly fell asleep with the amazingly hypnotizing function of the radio. Yet I couldn't remember its whereabout after graduation.

Huang Yunling had a song related to the radio called "Radio that can never be turned off". Youtube has a very short sample of the video. I used a full live version here that was used to accompany the video uploader's Taipei ride tour. Mmm, it is really nice to listen to radio while driving. An enjoyable experience it must be. BTW, Radio Gaga is a song by Queen.

Freak out

I have to complain about my fellow students here: Why is it so hard for you guys to write a few lines about your summer experiences? Why is it so hard for you guys to fill a simple bio info form and turn it in? Why is it so hard for you guys to send one picture of yourselves? Why are you still behaving like a group of primary school students that I have to chase after all the time to get things done? I'm almost freaked out.

Bed time in a bad mood.

Life is...

Some say, life is like a besieged fortress.
Some say, life is like a huge web of all kinds of relationships that one can hardly escape.
Some say, life is like a broking business that requires lots of skills of speculation and calculation.
An idealist like me would rather deny all such definitions and instead say, life is a mirror.
What say you?

A different lifestyle

Had my first real shower in seven days since the surgery. It was a life-saving feeling. My roomie helped me tape the incision part with some plastic wrap before I could fully enjoy the pleasure of bath. I had never experienced such a long non-shower time. I could almost smell myself stink before the watery and soapy enjoyment came to salve me.

In fact, I've realized my lifestyle has changed quite a lot due to the surgery. I have to try to live in an almost totally different way, which rendered little comfort in the first place. Sometimes when I was sleeping on the bed, I kept telling myself: You are already lucky enough. Think about those who can't see, hear, speak or those get handicapped. I just had some level of post-surgery clumsiness that is natural. I should be grateful enough.

Yet anyway, now I really hope I can regain my healthy form asap, even though I have, through my own experience, learned how hard it is for people to live with varied degrees of disabilities.

Better in Time

It's been a while since my last post here. I've been more or less missing it, believe it or not.

Had the long-awaited surgery last Thursday. It was done in a way that was like I just had a sound sleep and the doctors hadn't even started yet. When I woke up, I just felt extremely thirsty and dizzy. Then stiffness and pain in the incision area gradually came to grab me. When I saw myself managing to get off the bed and trying to walk, clumsily, I should admit that I somewhat had underestimated the influences the surgery would have upon my life.

Anyway, after several days' attempts and struggles (and I believe I'm still doing so), I've gradually gotten used to the post-surgery lifestyle. It is of course not graceful or desirable. I am a human after all. However, as long as the problem that has been troubling me for years will be killed, no matter how big the pains will be, they will be worth it.

I should thank Nian and both families of ours. Without your love, I couldn't have faced it, so bravely.

When I was staying in the hospital, I saw Leona Lewis' MV "better in time". In an instant, I got hooked up with this beautiful song. Put it here, just hope I will be better in time, with all your love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdluY1vMD2Y

Flying a Pigeon

I was stood up today by a professor as she played no-show at our scheduled appointment at 11:00. In Chinese, this is called "flying a pigeon". (This Chinese term was coined based on an old lottery scheme in Shanghai and the fact that the owner who sets free a trained homing pigeon would lose nothing since the bird always knows the way back home.)

Well, I didn't mean to blame her. Just noted this down to remind myself that I have to get ready for any possible unexpected happenings and take precautions.

Human Flesh Search

Had two interviews today. First one was more fun as I had chance to talk to a Godlike figure at Mop.com, one of China's biggest online community attracting millions of young users. The conversations were about the controversial human flesh search engine. I just thought that my own search for those sources' contact info showed that I was also doing a human flesh search project. Some time later I myself might become the target. Definitely a double-edged sword. It is a scary thing, to some extent.

Poet in Love

I've never imagined me with a talent of writing that kind of classic traditional Chinese poems. I know older generations like my parents can do it somewhat well. Like the poems they wrote and read to me today, across the oceans, in the homesick evening of Mid Autumn Festival.

In fact, the poems don't have to be so literally perfect. Still, I can feel their hearts put in them.

Just like the one I received just now. It was really a pleasing surprise.

Suddenly it reminded me of the one we wrote at the dawn of New Year in 2006.

The following song is one I like a lot. Perfect for this post. ; )

Melancholic Shining Moon

The third Mid Autumn Festival abroad.

I have no expectation for relishing delicate moon cakes or any big feast. Like the past two years, CSSA will hold its annual outdoor celebration, where we can pay two bucks for a treat of a small moon cake and a few Chinese dishes, you know, that take-away fast food type (thank God they usually offer quite authentic Chinese flavors). I know I can hardly expect too much.

For a very very long time, I haven't been able to enjoy this festival at home, with loved ones. To a large extent, I'm used to this kind of status, although I don't want to.

Just received your message, asking if I'm OK as I sounded a bit low.

I replied "maybe just my festival melancholy", and you said "I'm with you."

What else can I say except a "Thank you" from the bottom of my heart?

I tell myself, for the next Moon Festival and the ones to come, I will not be alone.

As Leslie sings:

"一再望 这月更亮 但愿我与你岁月长"。

Star

Not in the best form to write today. Maybe a minor cold has caught me.

However, still, I should dedicate this song to Leslie, whose birthday is today, September 12. He is a true artist and true man.

Song quiz

Guess where my voice was in this song? : )

Try to remember

Really sad to know that only twenty-something people went to watch the Peking Opera show last night at the Chang'an Theatre. Is this traditional form of art really so unattractive now to people busy with urban rhythms and modernized life? I can't say it is doomed, yet it is at least marginalized.

Reminded me of a book that I just finished reading today. It is a collection of black-and-white photoes taken by an amateur photographer in the 1980s in Beijing, together with a number of illustrative and reflective articles written by the cameraman's wife. A sort of sad yet helpless sentiment flows out of the pictures and texts recalling those good old days now long gone. It is a sharp contrast between our tranquil and easy lifestyle then, with almost everyone's undisturbed mind, and the society now characterized by consumptionsim and materialism as well as the rush-for-money (or survival?) life pace for people at large.

Let's try to remember.

Course shopping

Really pissed off with MSN Live Messenger. Always down suddenly these days during my conversations with friends online. And it takes like forever to even start running the program and get myself logged in. Just re-installed it, yet the problem seems to remain. Shoot.

Anyway, today is the first day of school. The small town of Athens officially came back to life. My main task these two days will be course shopping, showing up in different classes, getting the syllabi, having the first trial taste of what the courses are like, and then making a decision as to take it or not. It was fun, although a bit tiring. Why girls never get fatigue with shopping?

Tried to find Yang Qinghuang's Jing Jing Xiao Yuan (Green Campus) on Youtube or Tudou yet failed. Put another classic here. Remember? : )

A vision

A quick post here before going to bed. : )

Learned that some scholar has put forward a new concept of "virtual water", meaning the water use amount during the processes of production and distribution of food and consumer products. For instance, to make a cup of coffee we drink requires 140 liters of water, a hamburger roughly equals to 2400 liters of water, and a computer chip which weighs about 2 grams is manufacturerd at the cost of 32 kilograms of water.

Meanwhile, more and more people abroad have opted to an "old" lifestyle: to carry a water container for self use instead of buying bottled water, because the latter is non-environmentally friendly. Estimates show that the US will consume about 10 billion US dollars worth of bottled water every year, yet only one fifth of the used bottles will be recycled, while to produce the chemicals necessary for manufacturing the bottles will use up about 1.5 million barrels of oil every year, which is able to support 100,000 cars' gas usage.

Quite shocking figures, aren't they?

After watching Wild China, I've more and more keenly felt the critical need to protect our natural environment and resources. No need to talk big here. I think I will be quite motivated and committed.

Mmm, this vision has made my CommDev's final professional project more or less clearer: a user analysis to find out the possibility for non-profits to use Web 2.0 technologies in environmental protection endeavors.

Homecoming

Called home tonight. I learned that my dad's cousin had called the other day and expected him to pay a visit to his hometown Changshou, from which he has been away for decades. My mom told me about her concern over my dad's might-be sad feelings aroused after seeing those old hometown scenes (especially when it comes to those involving close family members like my grand parents who had passed away and I had no chance to see them) could do no good to his health, given his age. What I thought was a bit different. I just don't want that going back to his hometown in order to cure his nostalgia, deeply rooted yet well concealed in my dad's heart, should become an unfulfiled dream to him. My mom's concern could be reasonable, yet to me, that kind of nostalgic desire may weigh much more heavier on my dad's mind. I told my mom that, once he makes up his mind and get determined to go, very hopefully he shall be able to overcome those sad feelings. Although my thought might be too simple or naive, I just felt that no one but himself can beat those bad feelings.

The problem is that my dad himself looks so uncertain or hesitant on this thing as he won't say yes or no to such a plan. I don't like that.

However, it seems I suddenly realize the meaning of a sentence in an old Chinese poem: when one gets closer to his long departed hometown, he becomes more afraid to face it. Listening to Hagood Hardy's "Homecoming", I feel my tears rolling in my eyes.

Long day

A long day today.

10:00-12:30: CommDev orientation.
12:30-2:00: Helping new CommDevers with their class registration.
2:00-5:15: Working in the library (doing some massive housekeeping work with a big pile of Chinese magazines)
5:30-6:20: A short nap.
6:30-8:30: Dinner at a fellow Chinese CommDever's dorm and meeting with other returning CommDev Chinese gang members after summer break.
8:30-10:30: Reciprocal hair-cut between a friend and myself as well as some nice intimate chat (I regard him as my younger brother in Athens, a very nice guy).

Now I feel really a bit tired. Sleepy. Need to have a sound sleep tonight to get recovered.

Where is herself?

Saw a CommDever write on her blog that she felt sort of so lonely and depressed that today's meeting with other fellow students in our program after a long break turned out to be a salvation moment for her. Yet when she got back to her dorm and left herself alone, she began to feel losing herself in loneliness again, feeling blue again. Then a serious philosophical question "Where is myself" started to haunt her mind before she reached a temporary answer that a woman needs to find herself in man's love.

Hehe, she is a girl in her early twenties. Just graduated and almost blank social experience before coming here. Kind of typical Shanghai girl, with a nice family and an almost smooth track of life so far. According to the another friend's comment, her psychological age is almost equivalent to a child. Mmm, I can't say she is childish, yet sometimes she needs to learn a lot of things that one has to face in life. As for her answer, I should say a woman can find a better self in man's love, yet she has to first show a lovable herself, and vice versa.

Sign post

Had a talk tonight with B, my fellow CommDever. How should I describe the conversation?

We started with briefing each other about our recent activities in life, and then the main topic moved to our prospects after graduation. A rather non-cheerful topic, given the job-hunt situations out there in the market. B said that they all (referring to other Chinese CommDevers) regard me as a sign post that indicates how good their chances will be, given my overall ability and performance in their eyes. OMG, I've never expected that I will be such a role model, although I'm quite confident in myself.

Anyway, the conversation yielded "no constructive result", yet my feeling is that, since we are now second-years, we have to start thinking about the roads ahead, seriously.

Wild China and Dinner

When I was having dinner tonight, I took a glimpse of ppstream's documentary "Wild China(http://www.pipi.cn/movies/77/77781.html)" shot by BBC and an arm of CCTV, and instantly got hooked on it. Really incredible visual tour of China's wild life species, natural beauties, as long as substantial record of human life and society progress in China, and without obvious or blatant political biase. Highly recommended.

The only doubt, for me, is that why the title is translated into "Mei Li Zhong Guo (beautiful China)"? Still because of concerns on the Chinese side about the undesired interepretations of the title that may go against our "harmonious society" image? That's my guess. Hope it's not correct and I'm only over-sensitive.

BTW, speaking of dinner, I have a long-held doubt: Why does the word "supper", which we learned in our junior middle school days as one of the basic English words, seem no longer in use, and people here always tend to use "dinner" instead? Quite interesting.

Age of Innocence

Tonight must be a fun night, to my roomie and his gf.

Thanks to many closets in our house , they two made it a perfect place for hide-and-seek, a kid's game that I believe everybody in this world must have played during his or her childhood, as long as there is company.

They for sure enjoyed it a lot, as I could hear their laughers and screams, watch them rush all around the house, in pure excitement.

Suddenly, I felt that they are still kids, and I'm a bit too old to do this, given my uncle-type age to them. : )

Anyways, it's good to at least see a scene that reminded me of the age of innocence.

Original versions of Christopher Wong's covered songs

Made a list of Christopher's covered songs' original versions. Although it is still not complete, it is the best I can do so far. This blog is for its debut. Please allow me to dedicate it to you...: )

〔Moody〕 1987年（寶麗金）

柏原芳恵/イチヂクは木の下で/旁觀者清

徳永英明/幾つものワンシン/我沾濕了的臉

安全地帶/いますぐに恋/暫時戀愛

〔Misty〕1988年（寶麗金）

Nat King Cole/When I Fall In Love/堕入愛河

The Walker Brothers/The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore/一刹那荒謬

〔短篇小説〕 1988年（寶麗金）

齐秦/外面的世界/青葱歳月

Elkie Brooks/Break The Chain/亡命爱情

小田裕一郎/Game is Over/五月過後

〔沒結果的一些感情〕1989年（寶麗金）

井上大輔/Blue Sky/ Blue Sky

One 2 Many/Downtown/玻璃都市

Breathe/Any Trick/演講

童安格/让生命等候/若生命等候

张镐哲/旋转门/哭泣中醒来

〔情歸何處〕 1990年（寶麗金）

The Brat Pack/I’m Never Gonna Give You Up/冲动

Tommy Page/When I Dream of You/情歸何處

Barry Gibb/Stay Alone/再見

黄品源/我该什么样的心来对你/傷盡我心的説話

Glenn Medeiros/The Best Man/火圏

〔Stay With Me〕 1992年（寶麗金）

Sing Like Talking/愛と言えるまで/今夜可否留低

中村雅俊/恋人も濡れる街角/雨中的戀人們

陈升/把悲伤留给自己/舊朋友

沈孟生/说情容易忘情难/解情还需系情人

〔平常心〕 1993年（飛圖）

EPO/ジェラシーと呼ばないで/愛得自然

郷ひろみ/僕がどんなに君を好きか、君は知らない/我還是我

蔡济文/平凡心/平常心

Billy Dean/Somewhere In My Broken Heart/縁盡此生

〔Lyrics〕 1994年（飛圖）

高林生/牵挂你的人是我/少了你一個

Joe Pasquale/Nikki/其实你想不想我走

〔紅塵傾心故事〕1995年（飛圖）

Raidas/傾心

〔Ever Green〕 2004年（環球）

Patti Austin/Say you love me/不再分離(葉徳嫻)

王菲/執迷不悔

Edith Piaf/La Vie En Rose/粉紅色的一生（陳百強）

谷村新司/花/共同渡過(張國榮)

近藤真彦/Just For You/Just For You（羅文）

張國榮+梅艶芳/缘分

Ann Lewis/アン・ルイス(Goodbye My Love)/再見我的愛人(邓丽君)

葉倩文/流金歳月

Santana/Love Is you/早晨（林憶蓮）　

family reunion next year?

Talked to my family just now. I really hope they can make it next year to the US to attend my commencement ceremony. Their hesitation is mainly due to the concern that my nephew's studies might not be well taken care of with my parents' rather strict oversight. I understand that, yet I've felt that I owe my family a lot, therefore coming to the occassion may be sort of a belated compensation to them, at least I think it that way. Hope they can make up their mind and get things started soon.

Feeling a bit tired. Bed time now. Mmm, how will it feel lying on a bigger bed? I was wondering...

Big finding

Really happy today! I happened to find online a huge list of Japanese original songs covered by HK/Taiwan/Chinese mainland singers over the past two decades or so. I bet this list, compiled by a Japanese guy, is so rarely seen on the whole Internet. It is a big step forward compared with what people can easily find on the web, which is mainly a quite impressively big list compiled by a Chinese friend (to a limited extent, I also contributed to that existing list). However, the one I found today is by no means flawless since at least I easily find quite a few more to be added, according to my instant self-search in the music database in my head (for example, my own revised list of Anzen Chitai/Koji Tamaki original songs showed that some were missing in the Japanese guy's list). To be sure, I spent the night doing online searching, which was sometimes frustrating yet rewarding and fun eventually because I was always finally able to find what was targeted by trying a lot of means, which by the way yielded a few surprisingly awesome music by-products. Thank God we've got the Internet!

I will keep working on the list to improve it according to my music knowledge. It will be a big treasurehouse for those addicted to finding original songs vs. their covered versions like me.

First English novel to read in years

Today's work in the library was kind of rewarding. While searching for overseas Chinese scholars, I came across a familiar name: Ha Jin, Boston University professor/writer/poet. I first got to know him a few weeks ago in a magazine in-depth report that was about his new novel: A Free Life. After he came to the US in 1984, he began to write about China only in English, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha_Jin). Already he has won a number of prestigious literature awards and solidly established his position in the American literary circles. Very impressive track record. I was amazed at his ability to write widely acclaimed novels and poems with an acquired language. A very limited number of people can do that, as I have learned.

Luckily, I later found our library has a rather complete collection of his works. Almost on impulse, right after work, I rushed to the seventh floor and grabbed that A Free Life, an over-600 page novel about a Chinese immigrant and his ordeal in the US in order to find inner freedom.

It will be the first English novel that I've ever read in years (shame on myself). I hope it will be an enjoyable reading experience, and I hope it can be a sort of spur to push me to keep reading something in English every day.

Good luck, newcomers!~

Went to CSSA's orientation tonight for new Chinese students this year. A bunch of old faces showed up in the event, including the former CSSA presidents and a few guys alwasy warm-hearted to play some part in public affairs for the sake of the Chinese communtiy here. Sitting there and watching those guys do their presentations was kind of weird feeling to me, especially when I saw and heard the familiar PPT slides and all the life instructions. It was like rewinding memories, bit by bit, slide by slide. I can still clearly remember the day two years for our orientation. Quite a few funny and memorable details then. Now we've become old guns/veterans giving our advice to the eager newcomers. I could sense their faces glowing with excitement, despite minor nerves, to explore this unknown new world, when they were echoing with laughters or exclamations or understanding nods at those "old-to-me-new-to them" jokes.

The last part of the orientation was the self-introduction for us old buddies. Right after that, I was overwhelmed by questions raised by as many as six students, all in either journalism or telecommunication or communication studies or commdev, my current program. Tried to answer their questions one by one, and exchanged our contact info.

Well, adventures have started, good luck, newcomers!~

Copenhagen? Not for me.

Gave up a chance to go to Denmark in October for a conference's panel discussion. I was told about this this afternoon since the original speaker can't attend it because of visa problem, so I was expected to fill in the spot. The topic was kind of interesting. Youtube and Beijing Olympics. At first I was quite tempted, yet I soon realized that I'd better not go because of my tight budget. Although my college will probaby pay 500 bucks for my air fare, I still have to pay at least 500 more for just the air ticket, and other traval expenses (to Europe!) will just add up my costs. I guess if I should go, the total expenses would for sure exceed 1000 bucks, which is too much for me. Well, so be it. I won't regret it as JJ just wrote in her blog that Copenhagen is always so chilly and gloomy that she already started missing the Hawaiian sunny days. See? No wonder the suicide rate is the highest in North Europe than the other parts of the world. Well, maybe I've overreacted to such a missed chance....

C'est la vie.

Made a few calls tonight, to some friends here and back in China. Also had some chats on MSN with a few old friends. One is bravely and strongly battling her early breast cancer. One is busy with Reuters early shifts today. One is feeling kind of post-Olympics emptiness in life. One is pondering over the serious issue of whether she should stay in the US, after her experience back in China this summer. One is leaving for a Seattle trip tonight. One is expecting me to give him a hair cut tomorrow. One is seeing her son turn into a five-year-old big boy by the end of this year. One is saying that he wish he should have studied harder so that he could now stay abroad enjoying a better life since he feels the flowing undercurrents in the Chinese society despite the socio-economic progress in the past decades.

What a panorama of life. C'est la vie.

Sweetness in kitchen

Just wrote a post on my Chinese blog, inspired by a sweet scene in our kitchen just now. I was smiling while writing, because I can smell love in the air, together with the scent of tasty food, and because I can imagine that, some day (I'm sure it won't be too far away a day), I will enjoy that kind of scene, with you.

Mmm, reminds me of Alan's old song: Love is so sweet. : )

Bravo!!!

Now, for Chinese people, Beijing Olympics is perfectly complete with 50 golds and 100 medals. Two simple, symbolic and significant figures. Just saw a funny post on MIT, saying that this result is part of a well-thought and well-arranged plan by our farseeing leaders. Specifically, the plan was:

1. An awesome opening ceremony that shocked the world.
2. A minimum of one gold every day throughout the Games.
3. Ensure that we should get 50 golds and 100 medals.

Someone replied that now it has been revealed that Liu Xiang's quit and our surprising and unbelievable loss at yesterday's diving game were all pre-arranged. What a great plan!

Well, time to say goodbye to Beijing Olympics. What an unforgetable memory of the past 17 days showing the splendor of the world's best-of-the-best sports and sportsmanship, and highlighting countless shining moments of laughters and tears! Although I wasn't in Beijing in person, I know my heart has always been there, together with the Games, together with my motherland. Bravo, Olympics! Bravo, Beijing! Bravo, China!

Is Sha Fa really comfortable to sit?

I was wondering who coined that word "sha fa (sofa)" in Chinese as a way to reply a post. I was first amused by its vivid meaning implying that the person would be the first one to make that reply. A kind of privileged position. (Baidu has several explanations for this word's origin: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/55586934.html?fr=qrl). And this word has led to a few related coinings like "ban deng(stool)" and "di ban(floor)", respectively indicating the orders of replied posts, like the different floors of a building or tiers of a structure.

However, I am now so fed up with the word "sha fa." Whenever I view some celebrity blog, almost unvariedly, I can see the first replied post being "sha fa", followed by a string of "ban deng"and "di ban," and I can also often see people replying something like "Feels great with my reply on the first page!" Often, serious replies can hardly be visible on the first page of a post.

Is it so fun and so meaningful to occupy that virtual position to show one's superiority over others? Other than "nao can (brain lost/brain damaged/brain dead/brain damaged)", I can't think of any other word to describe this kind of stupidity. No wonder some smart bloggers like Wang Xiaofeng has entiredly blocked some posts like "sha fa" and "ban deng", and he even jokingly uses "hei xing xing (chimpanzee)" and "cao lv chong ( paramecium)" to refer to those who reply to his blog posts as a way to precaution people to avoid being among the group of "nao can" repliers. Mmm, what a nice title!

face issue

For thousands of years, Chinese people have sticked to a deeply-rooted notion: it is crucial to save face at whatever cost. This Olympics Games has revealed this clearly enough, with one after another controversial issues. First is lip sync, then performers' costumes of minority peoples, now the underage issue has re-surfaced after Western media's exposure pushed IOC to conduct an investigation. Shoot, hate to see all these disturbing issues coming up again and again. Why are some Western parties always trying to be at odds with us? Why couldn't we do things well enough, if our purpose is really to just save face? Although I know all such things, if they should be true, could be covered up by whatever means necessary, I'm afraid, some day, we could face a real face-losing time.

accidental finding

Finding by accident today led me to 51wma.com, a new music treasurehouse long aspired after because it has a huge collection of '80 and early '90 Cantonese and Mandarin pop songs that were nowhere to find before. Happy! ^_^

Olympic addict

Almost fell asleep just now. My brain seemed in a strike, refusing to run as expected. I knew that indicated a need for sleep. At some point in that drowsing state, I wished there would a kind of mind-writing gadget that could directly input what's going on in my mind onto this blog. If yes, I could remember one thing to note down: I need to get up very early to watch the men's basketball quarterfinals match. OMG, I have become a sort of Olympic addict. Can't imagine what my life will be like after the Games. Well, gotta take a shower now.

BTW, it's weird to know that the playlist link didn't work for Nian yesterday. Anyway, the album's link is here http://www.imusic.cn/music/25931/, and the last two songs are what I meant to show. When did Leslie record the songs? I remember the cover of the album, yet just feel too lazy to google it.

A long and tiring day compensated by music

Tired after searching a whole night for last year's stories on Colombia conflicts by three American newspapers. Felt like a chessman moved by others. The task has appeared time-consuming, especially after this noon's meeting with my program advisor who is going to have a presentation on such a topic in two weeks. I felt he himself had a hardly clear idea on what the piece will turn out to be; all was based on a rough assumption in order to suit the theme of the upcoming conference. I've started to regret taking the task to some extent. Although I was told that I would get sort of compensation for doing all this, that now is not so attractive to me. All I want is just to finish it ASAP. I can't afford spending too much time on this. Sometimes to say NO is not an easy thing, especially when you are asked a favor from your boss. I hope this effort will pay off some day.

Am listening to Miriam Yeung's 1997 album "Private Diary". Her third album. Very light-hearted and easy memodies sung in a next-door-girl-singing way. It helped ease my tiredness. Also, the album's style reminds me of that of the song "Flower and Alice". The link is here: http://www.imusic.cn/music/12157/

Talking of music, I came across a singer's earliest album yesterday. I know most of Leslie fans will dislike him (now you know who he is), yet the fact is that in that album, he sang two songs sung by Leslie as well, and it was just because that he had some contract issue with Capital Records' parent company TVB, so the songs, sung in 1985, were put on the shelf by the company until it was re-released after twenty years in a wave of re-distribution of antique albums. I know hard-core fans like Nian will not easily accept it, yet it is a fact. So pls listen to his these two songs, without prejudice：:)

http://www.imusic.cn/player/play.asp?id=242590242591

Give up or give in?

I guess tomorrow's press headlines will all be the same breaking news: Liu Xiang quit his game in Beijing because of injury. Already, Mitbbs's flooded with posts about his quit. I saw that moment on TV. Obviously he looked painful with his ankle. He bolted out with the false start of some other player, and he limped slowly back. He then made a perhaps his hardest decision in life. It might be a smart choice because of too much pressure on his shoulder after his amazing performance at Athens Games. Four years' hard work now ended in vain. Really sad. But I can feel he might give up this game, but he will not give in as he is still young, and he still has much potential in the future. Go, Liu Xiang!

debut

Nian asked me to start writing something to record and, reflect upon, my everyday life. Well, I thought it would be a bit intimidating in the first place because I haven't written something like that for so long. I do have my Chinese blog with the MSN space service, yet it is, like Nian labeled it, a place for me to post writings with certain subjects. In other words, I'd take that blog as a place to put up some self-assigned write-ups. It is fun because I feel I have got something to say. Here, well, I can't say for sure now. The main reason is, like I explained to her, using English to me is more like using a tool to finish a task, period. How can I make sort of transformation, switching from Chinese to English as the means to express myself, clearly and precisely? I'm still not sure. Yet, I will have a try.

Writing down this as an intro to the debut of my new blog, Leon's Wandering Thoughts.