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For every dark cloud, there is a silver lining. Does anyone has change for mine? |
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We are the BORG. Resistance is Futile! Excuse me. We are the BLOG, read, comment or be assimilated. (If that joke is old, please drop me a line. Thank you very much!) I never took myself seriously. Why should you? But at least I have some good qualities. I am a good listener even though I am not that good of a writer. I don't like to talk about myself that much, so please comment on your thoughts. I am satisfied with my life, which makes me a very unbalanced person. I do not get bored easily, but please feel free to try. I do not have much free time, so that makes me a Dad. Oh, and because of the previous three items, I can only write in Fantasy Genre. I fantasize about the time the kids will move out. (I will delete and deny ever wrote the above sentences when the time comes that either my wife or my kids found out about my blog.) OK. Let's pull up a chair! No, wait! Where are you going? Please come back! Please! (A bit too much? Tune down a little bit? ) ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** That's my new picture. No, not the toilet. Didn't you see me wave in the tank? |
| I found this finally. He put on this ceremonial robe just so I could take a picture. It was probably above 100 degrees in that little apartment with very high humidity. Of course, once I started it, everyone'd like to have pictures taken with him. He wore it for about 30 minutes. He did not say a word about our selfish demands, and he did not lose that smile for even a moment. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hi all, Sorry it took so long for me to continue my blogs. My wife and kids came back from China. Enough said! Before I continue with my regular blogging, I'd like to thank a few friends. I'd like to thank Miss Gypsy gypsy4evermore  . In the time that I was absent, she sent me e-mails and C-notes to encourage me continuing to put my random thoughts to WDC. It was great for me, although I am not sure if it will be helpful to the continuing problem of Cyber-pollution.I'd like also to thank my friend "Magician". It was wonderful to know you, wherever you are. "Magician" was the jackrabbit that invaded our backyard. For the past few weeks, one of my kids' main activity in the morning was to chase it all around the backyard. It promoted their health, saved my wife and I's energy, and provided laughs and scars on my body that I would not likely to forget. My 7 year old daughter tried to rattle it with a shovel while it was under a bush, and of course, as life imitated cartoons, I got slammed on the head. The shovel was confiscated, the girl was reprimanded and the rabbit was amused. (Not only it was not harmed, it was never in any sort of danger, and I saw it looking around for a popcorn stand!) Then of course, I will come back to the rabbit's nickname "Magician". For some time now, I had known that there was a rabbit in my backyard. I had seen it scrolling around the place in the morning yawning. (with coffee in one hand and a few berries in the other, if I can believe my half-sleep eyes.) I went out to investigate and I found nothing. I must confess that I used the shovel in the first place, but like my daughter, I did not successfully discover its hideout. Then when my kids came back, it was a fun activity for them to chase it around. But to our amazement, it was able to disappear into thin air whenever it wanted. One Saturday morning, I decided to make the event a family affair. So my wife and I and the kids chased the rabbit from one end of the yard to the other. It was not our intention to harm it. We just wanted it out of our yard. So we left the gate open and chased it all around the place. Then like before, it dived under a bush and disappeared. My kids and I were poking around with tree branches, (now that the shovel was relieved of its duty), and my 1 1/2 year old son is throwing pebbles at the bush. His timing is off, so the pebble was not going straight out, but straight up. Very interesting. Then my wife started to laugh. She pointed at a black rock in the corner of the fence. It took about 10 minutes for me to see it. I am very near-sighted. It was the rabbit. It was able to stand in the corner of the fence with its ears tucked in and its head down, only its blackish back was showing. In the first and second and third glance from us, it looked exactly like a rock. I was still convinced it was a rock, until my daughter threw a bunch of pebbles at it. Her timing was good, but her aim was bad. One of the pebbles glazed its long ear, and it flapped around a bit. But still, it would not move. Now what are we going to do? We don't want to kill it. And I kind of inclined just to watch how long it could hold that position. A few minutes later, as my daughter's pebbles brought unwanted dust to its fur, it shook out its head and gave us a look of reproach and ran off. And we had not seen it since. Later, we figured that it was not making a home in our yard. It was just trying to dig through to get to our neighbor's yard. That yard had some tasty watermelon vines growing. But since we blocked off all the tunnels, it figured to be safer to find an alternate route. Oh well, safe journey, "Magician". Now, comes the last installment of my trip to China. On that trip, I met a man. A holy man. He was a Buddhist monk. He was about 88 years old. I had been trying to find a way to describe him, and I could not find the right words. He was like ..., well, he was sort of like ... He kind of was like ... Let me put it this way, did you ever watch the movie "Forrest Gump"? He was like Forrest Gump, except, he was no Tom Hank, he was a Chinese, he was a Buddhist monk and he could not run. Otherwise, he was very close to that guy. A good guy, a decent person. People took advantages of him, and he was very happy about that. His life was very simple. He woke up at 2am in the hour, prayed to Lord Buddha until around 6am. Then he rested a little bit. He received visitors from 8am to noon. Then he took his only meal of the day at noon. If the visitors came around noon, then he would skip his only meal. He rested in the afternoon, and more prayers. He had the reputation as the holy man in the region. His true titles were that he was the Abbot of a couple dozens of temples around the region. The titles were only honorary. He had no controls of any of these temples, although he raised the money to restore all of them from ruins. His disciples were numerous, ordinary people found peace by watching him going about his normal activities. In China, all religions were controlled by a federal agency, with political offices governing all the temples. They were the real power behind the scene. So they used his fame as an ATM. He was put into all of those run-down temples one by one. When he resided in one, people will come to see him, to pay respect. Then their donation will be collected by the temple for restoration and such. Once that was done, he was shipped to another temple. He lived in a small apartment with one bedroom and one living room just above the norm for all the monks. It was small and without air-conditioner. In a few months, he would be off to another temple. Some of his wealthy disciples bought a car for him a few years back, one of the officials in the agency took it for his use. Then the disciples bought him another one, then of course, another official took it. Throughout, he never complained one word. I hope you can see the resemblance of him and Forrest Gump. I really really hope you do. When I went up to meet him, I did not know what to expect of him. In the sad world we live in, most of these so called "Holy Man" are just fakes, frauds. I was half expecting that he was a mysterious man with mysterious gifts that could see into the future and past. (Well, actually, I did see a lady with that kind of quality, but I am still reserving judgment on her abilities, so I would not write it here, yet.) Or I had hoped I would meet a scholar, well versed in the mantras of Lord Buddha. Instead ... I met Forrest. A simple man. Not that well-educated. Not that famous, although some of his people thought him as Buddha re-incarnated. He was just an old man, happy to see visitors. His famous words are, "Do good things, don't do bad things." "It is advantageous to be taken advantage of ." Well, the second one is hard to translate into English. Basically, it means if someone took advantage of you, don't get mad, just accept it. Or in biblical translation: "Turn the other cheek." Can people do what he did? I don't think so. At least, I cannot do what he did. He was born into a well-to-do merchants' family who believed in Buddhism. When he was very young, he want to become a monk. But that would of course meant that he would go into a temple and never got married. So his family begged him to reconsider. His father gave him a grain store to manage. But soon, he almost managed it to the ground, because he would give credit to anyone who asked. There was an old saying around here, "If you cheat me once, shame on you; if you cheat me twice, shame on me." Basically, nobody is gullible enough to believe the same lie twice. But let's turn that around, what if you can be gullible enough to believe the same story every single time, and gave your hard-earned money to cheats time after time until they found in the goodness of their hearts not to cheat you anymore. Can you do that? Can anyone except a holy man be capable of doing that? When I visited him the first time, I got home puzzled. He was just an ordinary old man, why did these people say he was holy. Then I read his biography written by one of his disciples, and I was impressed. The stories were numerous, and they were ordinary. But they were all about the same thing. Accept all bad and unfair things in your life and move on. Accept that all people are good. If they did bad things, it was because they were either igorant, bad-tempered or scared. Then I visited him second time, mainly trying to confirm the stories and to see with my own eyes, if it was possible that he was truly a holy man. I got my confirmation. It was just a feeling. That "Hi Forrest" feeling. Nobody except a fool, or a senile old man, or a true holy man could do what he did. If the abbot of the ShaoLin Temple could go about his business in his brand new car, and talking on his cell phone, then the least this old man can do was to add a window air-conditioner to his apartment. He was happy and he was at peace because of his faith. It was not just the faith of Buddhism. It was also the faith of the goodness in people's heart. Amazingly, I have a thought about "End of World". As long as a person like him, like Forrest still existed in the world, who was still foolish enough, senile enough to believe in the goodness, then our world will not come to an end. I pray for his long life. |
| Friends! Every time I went back to China, I would always meet with my friends there. I really only have 3 friends there, two from middle school, and one from high school. They used to be my buddies, pals, brothers ... well one sister. Our bond is the lost innocence of youth. It is definitely a strange way to look at it. When I first left Shanghai, my first priority was writing to my wife, (Who was just my girlfriend then.) But occasionally, I would write to them as well, and rarely, they would write back. When we had finished colleges, and went into the real world, the writing had completely stopped. Only through my wife, I knew where my friends were, and how they were doing. Every time I went back to China, I would have at least one visit with all of them. Sometimes a dinner gathering with all of them, sometimes, just causal café meetings with them separately. We never had much to talk about. Our worlds are so different now, there was almost no common ground between us anymore. My best buddy, Wang, was a business man and consultant in the telecommunication market. It sounded nicer than what it really was. He was a sub-contractor, a go-between of the customers and the construction crews. His business usually took him away from his home in Shanghai. I did not even see him on this trip. He was away in Beijing busy with a new company he created with some of his friends. But he made a thick 40 CD copy of his favorite Chinese Opera collection and sent it to me. Yao, the second guy, was my little brother. Actually, he was older than me. But in my mind, he was always like a little brother to me. He just got divorced. It was not his ex-wife's fault, he was a womanizer. It really pained me to give him that definition. But he was not a very good person. He lied to his family, cheated on his wife, was indifferent to his son, and seduced a girl 10 years younger than him. I told him that in 10 years, he was nothing but a dirty old man who was penniless. If we had not been friends for 20 years, I would not even talk to him. In all definition, he was a scumbag. But ... he was still my brother, one of my best friends. It really pained me to see his life was a dead end of a dark alley. He got no money, and a not very good job. He lived alone now, in a little one room apartment. Even though his girlfriend seemed to love him, her parents had already seen him as who he really was, and had forbidden her to see him. But of course, out of defiance, the girl saw him anyway. It was probably just a youthful crush for her, nothing more. All of his life was just an illusion, castle on sand, and the tide was coming. But he did not know that. He refused to acknowledge it. On my last visit, Wang and I spent a couple hours trying to reason with Yao. In the end, Yao acknowledged that everything we said was true, and yet, he would not change. I could see the despise in Wang's eyes. Even though Wang had his own vices, he had never imagined that anyone could abandon his own family. At that moment, I found another link between Wang and I besides the golden thread of our friendship. I was really amazed at the indestructible bond between Yao and I. I silently listened to his rant of how he was wronged by everyone around him, when in truth, only he wronged others; My wife and I even went to his birthday party, knowing that he just wanted to show his girlfriend that he still got friends. After the party, my wife and I walked for a while in silence. Then finally, she said, "You owe me one." I nodded, "Yes, I am sorry. But you know, I don't have many friends ... And besides, we only meet once a year." I don't know what will happen to him in the future. I dared not imagine. But still that thread of friendship was there. The girl among my friends, Qiao, was never married. She was the head of a branch of a huge mail-order company. She was the most successful of us all. Wang, Qiao, my wife and I used to be a very tight group in the middle school. Our seats in the classroom formed a little square in the corner so we could talk in class. Ms. Lu (our math teacher) used to threaten to break us up all the time, because our talk would be so loud that she could not teach anymore. Then in high school, both Qiao and Wang went to different high schools while my wife and I remained, but our bond was still there. When my wife and I got married, Qiao's contact with us faded to almost nothing. My wife was very envious her actually. A successful career, master of her own time, tons of free time to pick up yoga, reading, and other stuff. When we contacted her on this trip, she offered to take us to different restaurants every week. My wife was shocked to find that she was trying to read a book in ancient Chinese. "Look at her, and look at me now!" my wife said, "Of course I am envious." I smiled and said nothing. But in truth, I think Qiao was envious of my wife as well. A vibrant family, someone to talk when you got home. Innocent, happy, cute kids. Somehow, Qiao lost the opportunity to start a family when she was struggling to make to the top. I was not a very observant person. Well, OK, my wife said I was slow as a snail and dumb as a door knob. However, I knew for a fact, Qiao never liked the class on Ancient Literature when we were in school. I could not imagine how bored she must be that she would try to read that book! Qiao had changed over the years, just like all of us. Her eyes were sharp as hawks now. One glance of you, she could basically summarize you up. How nice a person you were, how much you worth, and most importantly, what class of a person you are (politician, business man, worker, bottom feeder, scumbag ...). That was a necessary skill if you want to be a manager, especially a girl trying to make it in a man's world. But with that cold sharp analysis, she had seen too much, and left nothing to imagine and to romanticize. Think about it. Everyone has faults, shortcomings, bad habits. None of us are saints. We all have wants, lusts, greed. When you see a person in that light, always in that light, how much more do you want to know about him. She had wrapped a cacoon around her. She did not have friends among her co-workers. They either fear her as their boss, or they would not make friends with her because they wanted her position. She could not make friends outside because most of people she met wanted something from her. She could not make friends with the people who did not want anything from her, because they were usually big bosses like her. They had all the pride and arrogance associated with responsibility. And pride and arrogance were definitely poison of any relationship. Even her old friends from middle school and high school could not be friends with her anymore. It was simply because of her position. Some of them were jealous of her status, and some of them wanted favors from her. All she had left was us. My wife and I. Two tourists from outside. Old friends, would not want anything from her, and visit here only once a year. She could finally relax among us, talk of whatever she wanted, and she would not be afraid of it reaches the wrong people. The last haven for her. I was very shocked to discover that. My wife wanted to introduce her cousin to Qiao because she might help him in his business. I said no. I did not want to taint that last piece of haven for her. We are just friends, nothing less, nothing more. In the end, time changes everything. The buildings will come and go. Fashion will come and go. People will change while they come and go. Memories will separate. The good ones will sink and stay, the bad ones will float and drift away. But I have my treasures. My friendships with them will stay. |
| Shanghai is my birth place. I spent my first 18 years in the city. The city had changed so much during the last 16 years, I had become a foreigner in the place. The house which I was born and raised for 14 years was still there. I still had some relatives living there. But I never had gone back there once. It was partly because I did not have anything to say to my relatives there, and it was partly because I could not handle to have my childhood memories tainted by the reality. The sunny little quiet walkway in a warm autumn afternoon. That was the memory I wanted to remember forever. The streets were different. Sitting in a cab, with my wife calling out the familiar street names, I could not connect any of them with my memory. Not until I was at the door, I realized I had come back to my high school. I spent 6 years there. (Well, I am slow, but it did not take 6 years for me to graduate high school. The school is a combo of middle school and high school.) I made long lasting friends there, including my wife. I recognized the main building. The tracking field was new, so was everything else. I did not even remember which classrooms we had been in. Everything had changed. Even the names. When we tried to ask several people where was the office for the third grade of the middle school department, they all stared blankly at us. Then finally, a lady realized what we had been asking for, "You mean the 9th grade office? It is on the fourth floor, turn right." So I guess there was no longer middle school department in this school, only the 7th to 9th grade offices. Only one of our old teachers remained in the school, Ms. Lu, our math teacher. It did not matter actually. My wife and I were very close to Ms. Lu during our time in the school. She was so surprised to see us. Two snotty kids, all grew up, and with a 6 years old daughter, trailing shyly behind. She looked so small and ... old. That was the reason I hated reunions. They destroy memories. We talked about everything, from how we were doing to how she was doing ... Well, that was it, actually. The visit was not long. The duration of our visit was dictated by my daughter's attention span. Besides, I think I am still too young to be visiting the past over and over again. |
| It is hard to talk about my trip in China, besides the meals. I did not go anywhere. The weather was too hot, the kids were too noisy and did I mention the meals were great in Shanghai? My wife took my daughter on a zoo trip. She got her pictures taken with some lion cubs. She was holding them in her hands. For all of you thought that was adorable, please try to remember the stench of the zoo in the summer. I went to the book store instead. It smelt much better there. Unfortunately, for a big store of 8 stories, I could not find more than 2 books I barely liked. It was not that all the authors were bad, it was just that the whole industry had been changed to be like cheap magazines. Flash covers with weird plots, and no endings. All of them were like that, no depth, no soul reaching depth. It was all about money, and copying. It just made me sick. Coming out the bookstore, I started to think that I have stayed in Shanghai too long. Beneath the surface, I started to see the real Shanghai. Everyone wore long pants. That was the summary of my observation. OK. I am near-sighted, but I wear glasses, so please bare with me here. The weather was hot, and I wore shorts. But wherever I looked, I was the only one. It took me some time to realize that. The only ones who wore shorts here were the tourists. The reason was simple. It was not the question of fashion, but everyone here was too serious. They were all busy to earn a living here, and only long pants were the business attire around here. Only the dumb tourists like me were relaxed enough to wear shorts. The whole Shanghai was like one big corporation, and everyone here was struggling to make a living. The tension was unbearable, and unhealthy. One day, my wife and I took our daughter to one of the good restaurant in town. Our son was too small to make the trip with us. The food was OK, but the service really sucked. Finally, one of the waitress accidentally dumped a whole pitcher of red juice on my wife's pants. We were so mad, but the waitress seemed indifferent. She did not even apologize or anything. So I told her that I wanted to see their manager. At that point, she started to cry, and said that she would surely be fired, if the manager knew about this. That kind of changed my perspective. The service sucked because all the waitresses here were new. Girls just came to Shanghai from other provinces, immigrants in a sense, trying to make a living in a harsh world. So I leaned over to my wife, who was still mad about her favorite pants. I said to her, "You know, our meal here is about one month of her salary." Well, actually I exaggerated, it was just about half of her monthly salary. But that hit my wife's heart. She told the hostess who came to see what was going on that she was not going to complain to the manager, and she wish they would not give the girl a hard time. The hostess thanked my wife, and offered to take off some charges from our meal. My wife told her that only if it was not going to take out of that girl's salary. That was actually the norm there. If anything went wrong, the damages would come out of the waiter/waitress's salary. So the meal ended with my wife had a pair of soggy orange/gray pants, latest fashion. We did not know what happened to the poor girl, she did not come out of the kitchen after the hostess showed up. We wish her the best of luck to make it in the city. After that, wherever I went, I saw that girl's image. The whole Shanghai city was prospering. The streets were cleaner (relatively better than before.), more and better restaurants and malls popped up everywhere. But I think few of the people here were actually happy. It was like they were all on a moving train. The train was moving faster, and more people were getting on, and they were all trying their best not to be threw out of the train. |
| Boy, that Jason Williams is really something huh? Ok, OK, I will get to my China trip. (Eyeing a nice-looking girl slowly putting the pistol back into her pocket.) Shanghai was hot and humid. Air conditioner was running non-stop most of the day. I stayed with my In-laws. It was a nice gated community complete with security guards patrolling on bicycles. Yes, they looked very ridiculous. They were talking about guards on horses at one point, but I doubt anyone knows how to clean after a horse after it did its business. My daughter would have loved it, though. Oh well ... Every driver in Shanghai was a better driver than me. I will have to admit that. 6 cars can share 4 lanes, side by side. You will have to know that it was a 2 lane street, the other 2 lanes were supposed to be used by the opposite direction. Driving on the street, you will need nerve of steel, sharp reflexes, loud horn, ... and a blindfold. It was a complete jungle. The huge buses are the elephants who yields to no one, and I have seen a bus dashes across 2 lanes to beat a yellow left turn light while 3 or 4 sedans scrambled out of the way. The big trucks were the lions. They have no idea that there was white lines on the ground. I have seen a truck missed an off ramp on the highway. It made a complete stop, backed up, made a 125 degree turn and got off the highway from an On ramp. The driver even had the audacity to horn at the cars who were trying to get on the On ramp. The cabs were definitely the jackals. They could zip through traffic like snakes. If you got in a cab, and the guy was behind a bus for more than 5 seconds, you got a newbie on your hand. They were the guys made the record of 6 cars on 4 lanes. When any driver changes lane, turn signal was seldomly used. Actually, if you use your turn signal, you would never be able to change lane. As soon as you signals, all the cars on that lane will pacted up. Nobody will give you an inch. The reason is quite simple, as soon as you let your guard down, at least three cars will swoop in and you are 10 minutes late. The correct way to do it was to turn your car towards the car in the adjacent lane as if you were going to give it a kiss. Then you step on the gas as if you were going crazy. If the other driver was so shocked that he stepped on the brake, then you cut in. Now if the other driver had better nerve than you, or he was blindfolded just like I said earlier, then you will need to step on the brakes, and as soon as that car passes you, you cut in immediately before the next car had time to react. Surprisingly, I had not seen one instance of road rage. That was probably because firearms were illegal there. Food there was fantastic! Even a fast food chain restaurant I went to was better than the best Chinese restaurant in town here. Although, surprisingly, McDonald and KFC in Shanghai were usually packed with people. Go figure! Walking down the main streets of Shanghai, I was like in L.A. or San Francisco. Tourists from all over the world were there. Big screen TV in the square were broadcasting ESPN, and Ads for Gucci or Rolex were all over the place. Some of the shops were like Macy's here, department stores that were 8 to 10 story high, selling everything from electronics to clothing to furniture. Then you have the malls. Huge malls covering several city blocks, and they were still 7 to 8 stories high. You could definitely spend days there. Great restaurants filled the place, and kids' stores complete with playgrounds. It was a pretty exciting place to visit, as long as you have money. |
| Has anyone heard of delayed jet lag. This is the second time that happened to me. There are 15/16 hours of time differences between China and U.S. So it is almost exactly the difference of night and day. (Give or take 3 hours.) My plan to adjust is very simple, when I got back here, I will not fall asleep the whole day. Then when the night came, I will be so exhausted that I will fall asleep right away. The plan worked perfectly. I got back on 7/4 in the morning. (I left China on 7/4 in the afternoon. Talking about weird...) So I worked whole day 7/5. I was slow and groggy, but that was probably just from getting old. Anyway, I had to work the whole week including Saturday, and then I slept Sunday. I mean I slept the whole day. I started 10pm on Saturday and I did not wake up until 3pm on Sunday! Then of course, I did not get a wink of sleep Sunday night, and I was back with the same jet lag problem. In the name of the sage Homer Simpson, I will say. "DUOOOOOOH!" So I was sleep walking on Monday and tried the whole routine again last night. Then I remembered, it happened to me the last time I came back from China. My jet lag did not actually happen until the second week. Talking about weird! Did anyone watch World Cup Soccer last Sunday? I had not been a fan for almost 16 years. It was pretty big in China, so I picked it up while I was there. I will have to admit, soccer is long and boring up until the moment someone scored. Then it was very much exciting and unbelievable. (Of course, after that it fell back into long and boring.) I saw a penalty kick by Beckham of England, (Who is the husband of one of the Spice Girls, and voted the most handsome man on the face of earth. So to all of you Johny Depp fans,  ). A long and curved missile that was just perfect! It curved almost 90 degrees and slipped past the goalkeeper's hands and entered the net at the upper right corner.Talking about Wow! And that was his trademark. He did it for the past three World Cup. The goal kept England alive for another game. I can see the appeal of the game, but I cannot sit through 90 minutes of it. I was more of a NBA fan. I saw the last game of Heat vs. Mavericks. Actually, I was not a fan of either teams, but there was a particular player caught my eyes. Jason Williams of Miami Heat. He was not a star on that team with flashy Wade and powerful O'Neal. But he used to be my favorite. Back in 1999, the year after Michael Jordon retired, NBA was at an all time low, the games were slow and boring, and there was not a particular superstar that could catch everyone's attention. Then the Sacremento Kings came to stage. They were actually nobody at the time. The team was at the bottom, the new star was a troubled young man Chris Webber (Who did not want to be there, and rumored that he almost strangled his old coach) and a washed up center Divac. Then there is a new point guard Jason Williams, a rookie they just picked up. He was a very good passer. He gave all kind of wild, unbelieavable passes. No look passes, behind the back passes, completely out of control. All of a sudden, the game was exciting again! It was fast, it was wild and it was funny. Wow! Did you see that pass? Oh, my god! How about that one! The shot clock was 24 seconds, and their pass and shoot was done within 10 seconds. In that year, they reached the playoff, but they were eliminated in the first round! The Kings reached the playoff every year after that. And everyone tried to emulate their style of play. From the New Jersey Nets to Dallas Mavericks to Phonex Suns. Everyone wanted to go fast and faster just like the Kings. NBA even changed the rules to favor the guards like Jason instead of the centers and forwards. It was amazing. But the Kings traded Jason soon afterwards because his play was too wild. It was entertaining but not suitable for a mature team wanted a championship. Jason got traded a couple times after that. The Kings were not the same afterwards. They got better, matured, more controlled, and then they went downhill. I was surprised to see Jason in Heat's lineup. He was the backup point guard behind Wade. When he played, he was very much changed. There was none of the flashy plays in his earlier career. He was a traditional point guard again. Of course, then Heat won the championship, and he got a ring to show for it. It was kind of ironic that the Kings traded him in pursue of the championship, and he got there first. Humm, let's see, I forgot something here. Oh, yes, a tip for all of you who needed to travel aboard. When you go through Customs, regardless of which airport, and which nation, always go to the line that was furtherest from the direct path. It will be faster, trust me! It is so interesting that it happened to me here and in China. I always picked the easiest, which is in the direct path that faced me. And the officer, whether he/she is a Chinese or an American, was always the slowest. He looked through everything in slow motion, and checked everything throughly and slowly, then he would let you pass, while the furthest line was letting people through like a revolving door. I don't know why that is. I suspect that the guy in the middle always got the heaviest load, or he always got the attention of the supervisor or something, but he had to be slow and through. Oh, well, just a tip of the day. That and how to deal with jet lag. I think I can hear myself snore at this moment. I need to get off now. See you again! |
| Hi my friends! I am back! Well, I am just half way back. My internal clock is all messed up. I am half asleep, but I will try to keep awake for the fireworks. So a short one today. Just to pop my head in. (Ouch! did not time that right, just smash my head into the cyber revolving door here.  )I will get everything off my chest in the next few days. (Those contraband weighed tons!  )Did you know they installed a sonic shower at San Francisco Airport? Well, at least, that was my understanding of the new security gate they installed just before the metal detector gate. The lady picked me as the lucky guy to test it out. You stand in the door with the front half closed. Then she said to me, "Just stand still ..." Now, if you are a good person, please, please, never, ever use that sentence. That was usually reserved for when you notice a king cobra coiled behind you best friend. So, of course, all the hair on my neck stood up as I was left alone in that little half open booth. Then, after a minute of silence, several steams of cool air hissed at me. 1, I got scared almost out of my wits 2, I was disappointed that was the point of "Just stand still..." 3, I was glad I showered before I took the flight 4, I got to use the bathroom at that point, and the door was still closed, and if I backed out of the booth, I think I might invite some unpleasant aftermath. 5, I feel so violated. (e:cry} Anyway, now you have to remember, I just got through two custom check points, 10 hours of flight, and a tons of standing in line. So after that, a few more minutes had passed, the door was silent, and the light was still red. (Did I mention there as a light at the door? Well, there is a light. And it can turn from red to green.) I can almost hear the machine taking my scent and smacking in its mouth. I was glad, I was not a garlic person. Finally, the light changed to green and the door opened. I almost cheered when I got out, but I remembered my place, and followed the next person to the metal detection gate. OK, for the next entry, I will try to give a tip on how to get through Customs without having the urge to run for your life. The ... Ohh! The firework started, got to go! See you later. |
| Hi All, Following my wife's lead, I am going to China with my daughter. I will be back on July 4th, when the beautiful flowers blooming in the night sky. Until then! (Wish me luck on a plane with a 6 years old for 12 hours. Boy! Aren't we lucky that the door cannot open at high altitude!)  |
| Another story from the Chinese Ghosts book. (Actually, I have no idea how to translate the title of the book. If translated word by word, the title is Records of Strange Things From the House Named Talk . How is that for a weird title? Or I'd like to translate it as The Talk House Presents: Believe it Or Not) Anyway, the title of the story is "Monster in the Garden". There was a famous scholar at the end of the Ming Dynasty. He converted himself into a Taoist at the beginning of Qing Dynasty. (When the tribe Manchu of North conquered China. They officially ended the Ming Dynasty and started the Qing Dynasty. As the first order of business, they ordered all the people of China to shave half of their head, and to made a pigtail out of the rest of their hair. The only exception will be women, the dead, Taoist, or Buddhist Monks. So a lot of the educated Chinese converted themselves into either Taoists or Monks. That circumvented the order, but that also meant they would never have offspring. It was a cruel, savage but effective rule to root out all resistance movements. But that also brought about the misconception that all Chinese had half shaven head and pigtails. It was so funny to see some of these TV shows or movies, like "Stargate SG-1" in which they portrayed the ancient Chinese sage King Yu as dressed in the Qing Dynasty costume. This is like having George Washington dressed as the Terminator.) Anyway, this scholar, or now I should call him the Taoist read a few books, and learned a few tricks. Now he was famous as a ghost buster and demon slayer. So one day, he was laying back and having a Margarita. (Hey, if they can have Yu dressed in pigtail, my Taoist can drink a Margarita, with a little umbrella, no less.) An invitation came for him. A family who he did not know invited him to a feast. Now the guy did not want to go. He was chilling and relaxing, but the servant who delivered the invitation insisted. So finally, the guy said, "Oh, alright, if your master really wanted to see me that bad, let's go." Then they got out of the house, and the Taoist rode his horse, and they went to the home of the master. The master was very polite. He went to the door to welcome the Taoist. He was invited in, and the feast began in his honor. Now, the Taoist was curious. He asked the master why did he invited him here? The master did not answer. He just invited the Taoist to eat more. The conversation went like: "So, Mister, why did you invite me here?" "OH, Oh, have you tried the General's Chicken here? It is quite good." "Why thank you! But you still have not answered ..." "Hey, your cup is empty. Come on, have a bit of this very fine Whisky here." So, by the end of the feast, the Taoist is very drunk, and he still had no clue as to why he was invited. As all drunks did, the Taoist drifted into sleep. By midnight, he was awoke with a strange sound. He rubbed his eyes, and looked around. He was still in the dining hall. The table was not cleared, the feast, or whatever remained of it was still there. And nobody besides him was there. That was very strange indeed. But the master did cover him with a cotton quilt, did not want him to catch cold. Then the strange sound happened again. This time, it was near. It sounded like an elephant was doing a ballet dance. The whole room shook. The Taoist got scared. And rightly so, if you have ever seen as horror movie. But the guy was smart, instead of like all those stupid characters in the movie, who went to the door to investigate, and got sliced and diced, the smart Taoist hid inside of the quilt. OK. He was not that smart after all. He was more like a scared little boy, shaking inside of the quilt. But like a brave boy, he peeked out of the quilt. The sound came near, near, near, NEAR, NEAR, NEAR ! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, BOOM! Just like in the movie "Jurassic Park". A monster appeared at the door. The book described him as with beastly head, human torso, and the whole body was covered in fur. Ok, now I am no expert, but this author is either describing a "Big Foot" or "Beast" in "X-Men III The Last Stand". Personally, I think it is a toss up. The monster came into the door, stuff around and he started to eat the remain of the feast. He ate the General's Chicken, Mongolian Beef. Fried Rice. (Since we are into stereotype here, we might as well go all the way.) Yummy! After the big dude finished his meal. He noticed something strange. A self-vibrate quilt in the daybed. Wow, he thought, a new invention! What these smart humans will think of next. So he went over there to take a closer look. Of course, all of my readers here knew it was not a self-vibrate quilt, it was our Taoist shaking under it. As the monster got near, the Taoist jumped up, threw the quilt over the big guy, and he ran out of the dining hall. He could hear the angry roar sounded behind him, and he was chased by the monster. He ran out of the room, and he screamed for help. Nobody answered. He ran to the front door, it was locked. He ran to the back door, it was locked. Now my readers would have asked the very intelligent question of if the doors were locked, how did the monster got in? Now the book did not mention anything on that part. But I knew from a good authority (My head) that the monster jumped in. So the Taoist could not get out. He finally climbed over a wall, and found himself in the stable. (Now you understand. If this dude could scale the wall, it was not that difficult for the other bigger dude.) The next day, the family returned. The master unlocked the door, and found the home was empty. They panicked and searched everywhere. The noise woke up the Taoist who had slept in the stable the rest of the night. Seeing the very smelly Taoist, the family gave up a sign of relief. The Taoist questioned the master. "What in the name of the General's Fine Chicken, is going on here? Why did you lock me in there and left?" The master apologized, and said that there was a monster in his garden. (Duh!) So he wanted to get rid of it. He thought of the Taoist, but he was concerned that the Taoist may not want to come to face the monster. (Duh! Duh!) So in his infinite wisdom, he cooked up this scheme of inviting the Taoist to a feast, and then got him drunk, and left him there with the Monster. Duh! Duh! Duh! Duh! Duh! This guy definitely need to have his head examined. The Taoist of course was through the roof. "What the heck in your pea-sized brain were you thinking? First of all, my speciality is in expelling ghosts, not so much with demons or monsters. Secondly, I have a weapon in my saddle which I could use against the monster, if you had ever told me the truth!" The owner apologized again, and the Taoist went home to take a shower. But the funny part of the story was that, after that fiasco, the monster never came back. It turned out that he was so surprised with the self-catching quilt that he ran out of the room after the Taoist, not to chasing him, but to run away from the quilt. The thing about this book was that it was not supposed to be fiction stories. The author was trying to record down what he had heard in the tea salon over the years. Most of stories had names who were like the author's second cousin's friend's neighbor. So the chances are there was an unlucky Taoist who went into that idiot's home and faced a bigfoot, and they kind of scared each other pretty good!  |
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