wanderer

For many sport freaks like me, there is a famous meltdown by ex Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green, who vented his anger at a press conference by shouting repeatedly,  'They (Chicago Bears) were who they thought they were!'. Later Molson Coors Brewing Co stole the scene to make a beer commercial; In Super Bowl, Cardinal fans borrowed the words, upheld a poster on the stand that read: We are who we think we are!  It is such  a nice self-assertive statement.

Really are we who we thought we were?  This tongue-twisted-like line can be actually changed into quite a few other forms: We are who we act we are, we are who we work like we are, who we were trained to be, who we are doomed to be, who we are squandered to be...In a word, let me leave a blank there, everyone can fill what  fits her/his situation best.

Bernard Madoff, ex-NASDAQ Chairman and former renowned investment banker, is now in jail, prior to his sentencing in June. His 'greatness' lies in the unprecedented humongous amount of money he conned from investors. Now we know how it works, by promising and partially honoring fat return, Madoff attracted more people and hence money to his firm, dubbed as Ponzi scheme after a petty offender (compared with him), Charles Ponzi, in early 20th century. What's stunning is the scale and time span Madoff has run this huge fraud,  astrological 50 billion dollars over a decade. Why would he and how could he do this? He thinks he is a smartass who can outplay a massive rich dummies and well-established systems? He is a mass-mind boggling maestro next only to Adolf Hitler.  But Madoff knows exactly what he is doing. He conceded in the court statement that he knew his arrest 'would inevitably come' some day, he is who he's doomed to be.

Ex US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice went to nightly comedy show Jay Leno, a rare occasion to show her light and less guarded side. Rice is a quality person (to use her term for smart, or reverent), all in good faith. She tells how she switched from a music major into political stage at sophomore year in college. Because she saw a 12-year-old played pieces of Beethoven as agile and aesthetic as she could for practicing over a year, she knew she couldn't make a living by performing in Carnegie Musical Hall, even she didn't know what she'd be doing in the future. Thankfully, due to her serious and clueless decision at early age, the world is one mediocre music teacher short, but added one powerful black woman politician, so quality that she was and had been considered for positions Stanford University provost, NFL commissioner, or even presidential candidate. Ms. Rice is grateful of her parents' tremendous fostering effort in her childhood, she is devoting a book to them, to the deeply rooted Southern US black culture. She is who she trained herself to be.

I found this line of summation was convenient for many stories we have heard, many people we have met. Insert an action verb, then we have a punch line. The emotionless verb, however, makes life colorful. We can read out volumes of human sanity and insanity from the behavior. When I was in my juvenile age, we had a gang of 4 kids, with birth difference within 6 months. We had our dreams, in sequence, to be a cop, a top athlete, a chief electric engineer and a scientist (that's me). Now many years later, we become, in sequence, a cop, a cop, a low-rank official, a struggling scientist. I can easily insert individual verb into each case and tell the mundane stories (liked, switched, settled, stuck). Only the gang knows the joy and suffer along the road. We are not quite who we thought we were. 

(1) Sat next to a big woman from L.A. to Chicago. She asked me how to lower the seat back and where to plug the headset on the chairarm to listen to some music. I told her, then the conversation went on.

'Where are you from? China. Do you have freedom? Like what? Anything. Well, it's pretty much the same in the U.S. other than we don't elect the president. we can't openly say bad things about the officials. Something are better, in my point of view. like food. Healthier, huh? Yeah, right, we dont' have much deep fry. I want to go to China some day. Welcome. You should see it if you get a chance, it's quite different. Yeah, I want to see China Wall. My husband actually was about to go to China for a month the end of last year, but they fired him four months ago. That's too bad. He moved to San Luis Obispo with my two daughters. You don't move with 'em? I can't, I am on probation now. So you have some legal trouble. Yeah, I will face the judge in two months, the judge will decide how long I have to do community service after I finish my probation. actually I can't leave Signaw (Michigan), if they find out, I'm in trouble again. So what was your trouble? I stole a car when I was 17. It was a stupid mistake. That's too bad. everyone makes mistakes, some got caught, some don't. Yeah, now I am 21...phew, I wish my trouble will be gone soon.

(2) From Chicago to upstate New York it was a small airplane with 15 rows. I was in 15A with a man in his 50-60s. He cheerfully chatted his trip. When we about to land, the only male flight attendant Mark gave us a heads-up, 'Ladies and Gentleman, we will be landing in 15 minutes, please have your seat belt fasten, seat back straighten, retreat the back table. Usually we will be experiencing some shakes and bumps under windy condition, this is very common...please relax and enjoy.' But I guess these words reminded everyone aboard that a plane crashed in Buffalo suburb just before the landing some days ago. As our plane drew closer to the airport, I could clearly see the control tower, many residential houses and factory facilities on the ground. After serveral seconds of violent swinging, I was trying hard to grasp something, the gentleman's face turned alarming, particularly indicative with his now straight line moustache. The plane was smooth again. 'We landed now.' He said with relief. 'No, we are climbing.' I corrected him in the noisy humming of  engine. A while later, I saw a grander view of the city. The pilot's voice came out this time, 'Ladies and gentlemen,  Captain Greg's speaking. I was just warned by the traffic control that, um, the wind gust on the ground is too strong, I shouldn't risk landing at that condition. Now we will make a circle and do the landing again.' This time everyone is seriously worried about something. My neighbor's face became purple, and I don't think mine was any better. This trial of landing turned out similar pattern, vibrating hard as we were closer to the ground. In the machine's laborious noise, the airplane finally touched the ground,  we felt the happy taxing movement on the runway. A woman yelled with claps, 'Good job.' other clapping follows. After the noise died down, it was the fight attendant's voice, 'Thank you.... Ladies and Gentleman, please remain seated while you are shaking hands(laughs in the passengers). The plane will take a few more mintues for taxing. You can now use your cell phone. While you are leaving the airplane, make sure you take all your belongings. anything left will be distributed among the crew (big laughters). On behalf of the crew of flight 1234, we thank you for your business. We hope to see you in the future. However, if you have any comments, complain, particularly on this flight, the best way to do so is go to Delta.com. Have a great day.'

We were taking a United Airline flight.

there's paradise in somewhere, then there is santa barbara in california.