In Memory of UM

送别

长亭外,古道边,芳草碧连天.晚风拂柳笛声残,夕阳山外山.
天之涯,地之角,知交半零落;一杯浊酒尽余欢,今宵别梦寒.

-李叔同作(1880-1942)

Note: K went to see UM Monday night before he passed away. This was his favorite song.

Other note: The lyricist was born in Tianjin, China. When he was 28 years old, he became a buddhus monk (named 弘一). The music was written by American composer John P. Ordway.

RIP

UM passed away today at 2 p.m. Memorial service will be at:
Parklawn Memorial Park & Mausoleums
12800 Veirs Mill Rd, Rockville, MD 20853
Phone: (301)881-2161
Wreath for family.

Springtails. Not fleas!

Often I am so far down the path of the worst case scenario that I forgot other possibilities exist--much better ones. Without the knowledge of the better or best case scenarios, my internal world is often dark and gloomy.

Yesterday I got the assurance from Erica at TMX that the "jumping" insect is springtail (scientific name Collembola), not fleas as I originally assumed and feared. Immediately I feel relieved. And the clouds that hoover over me are nowhere to be seen. "What you told me has made my day!" I told her. Thank God!

Even though they have a nickname of "snow fleas", springtails don't bite human and don't transmit diseases. "Nuisance," says one website. "They are nearly always good guys," says another.

I learned a lesson. Do not loose sight of the best hope. And take actions to find out--that's how one can be insightful.

From Bird Gun to Cannon

Yahoo mail has expended storage space from 6 MB to 100 MB. That really came as a pleasant surprise as I open mail this morning. What a big relief just overnight. Pretty soon people will forget about the small mailbox in "the old days." Doesn't Google's gmail come with 1 GB storage? I'll be looking forward to that, too. But for now, I'll enjoy the freedom and breathing space with Yahoo. Ahhh....

As the Chinese saying goes, this is an exchange of the bird gun with a cannon.

Secret of Life

[121 words]

Take time to Think. It is the source of Power.
Take time to Play. It is the secret of perpetual Youth.
Take time to be Friendly. It is the road to Happiness.
Take time to Work. It is the price of Success.
Take time to Pray. It is the greatest power on Earth.
Take time to Love and be Loved. It is the way of God.

Sense of Humor and the Hot Water Bag

On Charlie Rose's talk show last Friday night, they played a footage of Reagan addressing at a school, probably his Alma Matter Eureka College. Someone in the audience asked him to comment on his less-than-excellent school records (the footage didn't show that part).

"Even now I wonder," said the former president, dressed in a colorful gown, "what I might have accomplished had I studied harder!"

The audience laughed.

One of Reagan's beloved characters is his good sense of humor. As he spoke that, Reagan had a smile on his face, and it was as if he had to make an effort to remain composed to finish sentence. He could "sense" the humor of his remarks.

...

Speaking of humor, here's another one on W. She was putting a hot water bag on her shoulder to help relief some discomfort. Very natually, she started padding on the hot water bag just as she would do to Baby i. Almost immediately, she realized it and reported her silly action to me. We had some good laughs about it.

But seriously, perhaps the hot water bag, too, needed a good burp.

In memory of an ex-president

“Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.” --Reagan

He died at 93 on Saturday, June 5.

The I-know bug

M emailed me a picture of a cicada with red eyes (hence the nick name "old red eye"). It is said to stay underground for 17 years before breaking out to become its mature form (and last just a summer, probably).

The nickname of cicada in Chinese is "Zhi-liao," or literally, "I know" (or perhaps "I knew"). The reason is that the monotonic pitch of its drone resemble the sound of "I know, I know, ..."

As a child, I was told the story about the proud Zhi-liao saying "I know" to all the things he was told, and when he has such attitute his ears are shut to all the things he might have learned.

One time I heard someone on the radio saying the best thing others had said to her is "shut up and listen." Not a bad advice if you can take away the negative setiment.

Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. (James 1:19)

15 years

Today is the 15th anniversary. I can still remember the days like yesterday. I don't think people died in vain. I don't think the government should open fire on the unarmed citizens. I think the PM should have stepped down. To this day, I'm still stirred by the images, the sounds, and the eyewitness' recollections of June 4th, 1989.

Life is...

Fragile. Another classmate with cancer (CJY). Only 2 months after hearing the sad news about ZZB. C was the PE class rep in junior high.