Flowers

I am in Tainan now. Yesterday morning when I left parents' place, I notice the flowers are blooming. Very beautiful purple color. The Mistress does not take photos as well as before. Still, it looks like a professional digital camera is better than a built-in one.

Recent...

It's that time of the year when I think I should be with my own family. Strange feeling. It's supposed to be cold, and furnace is supposed to be burning, apple cider with cinnamon served, eggnog kept somewhere in the refrigerator.

I don't like photos that much, but did have a few in my collections. Thanks for the digital photography technologies, those photos look as new as 5 or 6 years ago. With the photos, I get to see the angel in the bathroom. The painting of Standford I received for my birthday. These 2 souvenirs are long gone. The sofa, blank wall, humble bedroom, and the tiny computer desk I got to love much, and that just hides in the corner without taking much space at all, the soup bowels that I keep until now.

Stability seems like a dream, with all those happening right now. When I feel I can at last take a breath, after these few years, and feel relaxed, but then more things are waiting to pop up and stir up my life again.

It's not bad. I feel more alive this way. With all the frustration with work, and the helpless feelings for the others, it is then nice to hide at home, finally emotionally, the whole day on weekends. It is nice to search in the refrigerator, cook something, do some cleanup, and sit by the round table to eat and read my novel.

Not sure how long it is going to last. But browsing at home, I realize that it's not time to get lot of things. If things happen, then all the stuff on the bookshelf could be gone. I'm tired of bringing those with me. Actually there are alternatives for that. Music is already digital. Movies can be tossed. It's time to investigate digital books.

Things I Hate to Do in WoW

This task is to find some microfilms. However in order to find it, I need to throw baits to the wolves. The wolves will run over to me, eat the bait, and then... they poop! I then have to pick up the poop to find the microfilm inside. It's not the first time that I need to pick up such a thing in the game. I was told later in the game, I may have to eat... Not I have to do that in person, but my character having to do that is already nauseating.

The Gift of the Magi

I was told of the story when I was little, and of course it started with "Once upon a time", and ended with a happy ending. Names were not mentioned. So the story was like this:

Once upon a time, there was a poor couple. It was Christmas time, but they could not afford to buy any gift. The wife decided to have her hair cut and sold to buy a watch chain for her husband. The husband decided to sell his watch to get her wife a comb. They exchanged gifts and surprised at what the other had sacrificed, and knew how much they loved each other.

Not until today when I read a magazine in a 7-11 after lunch did I know the name of the story: The Gift of the Magi. Now I know the husband is called Jim (yeah, right), and the wife is called Della. The book was published in 1906, and the full story can be found here.

Now when I read the story, I can tell why both Jim and Della sold their valuable belongings to buy gifts. They are probably still too young. Jim is 22, and Della is supposed to be younger, judging the way she was happy to get the gift. It is nice to have a life when love is above anything. It is.

Pretty Meeting Room

I went to this headhunter for interview. Pretty famous company for its accounting function. Gorgeous office on high floor of a good office building. I was on 27th floor waiting for the recruiter to come in. Can't help looking around the meeting room and out at the street. It's one of the best I've ever seen.

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts

This is a documentary, not really a movie. If I had not liked the music from 'the Hours' very much, I would not have known his name, Philip Glass, and gone to the movie.

We went to the matinee show, just as usual. The movie runs for 2 hours, kind of long for me to sit in the movie theater for a documentary, however, it was not boring and I was able to concentrate the whole time. It gracefully tells the life, the philosophy of Philip Glass in twelve chapters. We learned about his childhood, how he decided to study music, life in Julliard, in France, his composing life, how he thinks of music, how he persuades his spiritual life. In the end, we saw the opening of symphony 8 and Waiting for Barbarians.

But honestly, what impresses me is that he makes pizza for the family (obviously from scratch), and he takes barbage bag to the outside to toss. And he looks just like a regular man.

First Dinner Alone

Well, not really the first dinner along, but there is more food on the table, so it was like a lot of cooking. But you can tell, just simple food. Apple is from few days ago, romaine is also from few days ago when F was here, and we made Caesar salad. I almost finished them all. I had a good time.

Horse?

Things have not been going quite well at work. There are all kinds of issues, product-wise and management-wise. Last week I had to go to the factory to see some of the issues. I had to run out to get some fresh air, and that is when I saw this thing. I had passed it many many times, but just never really paid attention to what it says. Fire Horse? That gave me some laugh.