Frustration with Today's Internet

It's getting harder and harder to read articles online. Websites care money much more than their readers. Their logic is obviously not right because they forget only these readers can bring them the money. They are advertising to these people so they should respect them. When you open a website, two thirds of the page is filled with stupid things you don't want to see or read but they bluntly put them there to attract your attention from the article you want to read. I just hate this. If I were capable, I would build a website clean of those bullshit. In this regard, I really respect the founder and CEO of Wikipedia. He made an ideal come true in a world of pure bussiness. Maybe you can say it's a great bussiness idea. Well, not all good bussiness ideas have to be dirty, do they?

Recount 2008 on New Year's Eve/2008年终回顾

Still cannot believe it's already the last day of 2008. When it started, I bet not many people would have thought how terrible it could turn out. Well, it surprised the hell of everyone of us. But not all bad surprises, there are still some good ones: like the astonishingly wonderful opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympiad. And let's not forget this is the very first time for China to hold it with the whole world watching. Well done, China, well done. You not only nicely shocked the world, you kindly shocked us who grew up right out of your arms. Like the sports commentator said during the broadcasting of the opening ceremony, "wow, this is almost intimidating." Yes, you did it. We're very proud to be Chinese.

And what else? Oh, the "yes, we can" amazingly lovable Barack became the first African-American president of the USA. One thing for you people to keep in mind is, actually there are two of them, and one of them is he lives only blocks from where I used to live. My dad is probably boasting to his friends in China right now, that he passed Mr. President-elect's house many times when he and my mom went out for a stroll in the neighbourhood. Another one is he used to be a professor at my school. If you're well informed, you'd have guessed where I go to school by now. Several of my friends actually took Mr. Obama's class before and the word is he is also charming in classroom. Well, I doubt they really thought of that when they were taking the class or just think of it retrospectively. By retrospectively, I mean influenced by the result of the election and the status he has just achieved. No matter what, this is still quite exciting. Think about it, I'm not even American. But we non-Americans do feel for the American people. We're truly happy for you. Yes, we can.

Personally, we moved from the Windy city to the desert. Good move, good move. Driving several thousand miles across the country when the gas price was sky-high was not fun though. Have to admit this is the hottest place we've ever lived. Seriously, on the last day of 2008, I'm wearing a jersey dress. Just exagerated a bit. I also have a light sweater topping the dress. But this is just me. You should look at others: t-shirt with shorts, flip-flops, tank tops. People here are crazy. In their minds, there is probably only one season: summer. With that said, we're loving the sunshine, the open-all-year pool, and the outdoor basket ball and tennis playing in December. This reminds me the severely sprained ankle I had in 2008, unfortunate by-product of tennis playing. I had to walk with crutches for a month and I limpped on the flight back to Windy city, and throughout the 2008 AAR conference. I gained new respect for people with disability and decided to help them more from now on.

CG's got his very first job in the U.S. this year and he is enjoying it so far, and I'm happy for him. This, I'll leave for him to write. When my parents were still visiting, we had an American style road-trip to the east coast; showed them the world-famous Niagara Falls, Big Apple, Washington D.C. and Old Philly. After the moving, we explored the grand-canyon state a little bit around Sedona and Flagstaff and travelled quite several times to California, mostly visiting San Jose, where most of our friends are now dwelling. Had a nice day-trip to Monterey Bay and the secluded 17-mile Drive. Enjoyed another day-trip to Stanford and San Francisco. I just loved the Stanford campus. For Christmas, a spontaneously planned trip to LA can be concluded with one word: COLD. It was not the best beach time but we did get a view of what the Pacific Ocean was like in the wintery cold. Visited Manhattan Beach, Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier and Malibu. Even with the face-scraping wind, freezing winter rain, they were all very beautiful. Definitely, We Will Be Back. (Thanks, Governor, letting us borrow your line.) The tour of Hollywood almost ended with us turning into ice-sculptures but except that it was quite an experience as tourists. Finally got to worship the mecca of Beverly Hills: Rodeo Drive, baby, Rodeo Drive. It was fun to be a tourist, especially on a double-deck bus. If you’re on it, it’s impossible not to treat yourself like a tourist. In Hollywood, how many people are not, really. Two other interesting holiday-tourist experiences to remember: had dinner at Fuzhou Fandian/Restaurant where Jakie Chan shot the film Rush Hour (the food was not so great though, kind of made both of us sick afterwards), and watched Marley & Me at the famous Chinese Theatre.

Too many things happened in 2008 and I chose the good ones to remember it by. It's not that I will forget the sad, heart-breaking ones. They all will be in my memory of this special year. Life will go on and let's expect a better 2009.

假日的图书馆

鉴于近来work-from-home 计划的极度失败，关于重归图书馆的决定显得必要而且急切。昨晚的严重头痛直接导致了今早的晚起。接近中午时分，终于到达了图书馆。兴冲冲地走进常常自习的group-study-area。这里的落地玻璃幕墙让自然光充分地洒入，这也是我选择这里的最重要原因。

可惜今天走进这熟悉的房间，却发现它空无一人。其实还是有一个人，就是每天都会在沙发上小憩的janitor。我的脚步声吵醒了他。不过有一个熟悉的面孔还是让人感到一丝亲切。回头想想，这是圣诞和新年间的寒假，学生十有八九都回家或度假去了。整个校园也是十分冷清。没有其他学生意味着可以任意选择我喜欢的座位。通常面对或接近落地窗的座位是我的首选。

很快肚子就开始抗议，只好在坐了一小时后，决定去union觅食。可惜大多店都没开。连超市里的寿司餐盒都没有。只好到楼下吃Burger King这种快餐。结论是又贵又难吃，而且不利健康。由于天气寒冷（只是沙漠中的冷，比起芝加哥的风雪还是差远了。），决定破费地买杯热咖啡暖暖肚子。Starbucks的Latte还是又香又浓。

走到外面，中午的阳光洒满校园。找了个阳光下的位子坐下，打算享用午餐。只是这沙漠冬天的阳光也依然那么强烈，坐了不到两分钟我还是被晒得逃进了图书馆。这次竟然有另外一个人在自习，使空旷的屋子不再显得那么冷清。而且当我偷眼望去，那人好像还是以前就在这间自习室见过的。给人一种“革命战友”的感觉。

从窗子望出去，不时有一两个人走进走出。阳光铺在通往图书馆大门的阶梯上，一切都显得那么恬静惬意。

沙漠的冬天

When sunshine is a given in the Valley, deemed as a desert by most people, clouds and rain become a valued rarity. The snowstorms are in the news almost everyday recently but they are in the north. What we have here are several days without sunshine. I am so longing for some snow or even just rain. But this is the winter in a desert. Don't expect too much.

Went to the post office today. It was nice to see people waiting in line to send gifts, holiday cards, and letters to their loved ones. The staffs today are nice and helpful. You can feel the holiday spirit in the air. They even have a manager-like high-spirited woman waiting on the people in line, answering questions, providing envelopes, boxes, and most importantly keeping the line moving as fast as she can. Even though there were many people, I did not feel it would take a long time and it probably took about the average time you would spend in a post office but it did not feel long at all. People kind of just like me enjoyed the moments leading to the holidays.

祭逝去的友人

不知如何开始说起，镇惊，流泪，痛心，沮丧，不平，都已试过。心情却依然难以平静。接连失去两个同学，朋友，让我不得不再次面对‘死亡’这个人人都避讳的概念。不，它不只是一个概念，而是现实。一个每次出现都能重创我的现实。

然而CG的一句话让我的心情平复下来，面对现实地平静了下来。他说，“你觉得他们离开了吗？” 就是这样一个问题让我找到了一直没有找到的面对这个残酷现实的解决方案。我的回答是，“没有。”

如果能将逝去的亲人，友人小心地长久地珍存在我们的心中，这也许是生者对他们最大的祭奠。也是我们继续人生的动力之一，用我们的存在延续他们。人类的延续，文化的延续，精神的承继亦是如此。

逝者安息，生者继续前行。

颜真卿多宝塔

小学时上写字课（那时学校没用书法这么大的词，想想也是，就是小孩学写字吗），就是用的这个经典碑帖。从那时起，就认定了颜体是书法中的上品。当然，对王羲之的敬仰使我在芝加哥的公寓墙上贴了几年的《兰亭集序》。但作为临习，颜体永远是我的首选。希望我那本《颜真卿多宝塔》在冰城的家中还找得倒。

关于书法，还有一事一直没忘。就是一次冬天放学回家后，脱下衣服发现红色的羽绒服背上一道墨黑的“一”。也不知道是“一”还是就一横，反正都一样。我心里很气。但父母的态度是息事宁人，没有去学校问。可能不想那个肇事的孩子受责。所以至今也不知是谁在写字课上，在我的背上画了那一道。不过现在好多国内，国外的衣服上有各种涂鸦的设计。 没准儿起头搞这种设计的人就像我的同学一样，从小爱在衣服上写字，画画。有时间，我也找几件旧衣服来写写画画。