wanderer

Excuse my obscenity, but guess if you got two parking tickets within a month, right in front of the house you are living (while I am renting), you might want a way to vent out your disgust, too. My first ticket was due to that I parked my car on the drive way, but since the guys upstairs had his care in front of me, my car blocked the side walk which is perpendicular the drive way. My bad, I know it is doubtful when I did that. But for 30 minute in the house for a lunch break, the cop quietly sneaked a pink slip envelope on my wind shield, asking for $35, that's a bit uncalled for.

Now today, I parked on the street, as I usually do during the noon time. When I came out, a $30 ticket was smiling at me. I searched for clue to find my violation, in the end  saw a sign along the street, 'No parking 9am-4pm, Thur-Fri', 30 meters away. Nonetheless, the sign governs the whole street. The problem is, They don't enforce the rule on regular basis. In the past, I never had a problem. And today the cars, on this side of street, in front of and behind mine, are all clean, simply because they are not caught the moment the authoritian parking bastard is cruising here. I'm doomed. 

I strongly suspect the real intent behind the regulations is to collect money for the local city. No matter how careful you are, there are millions of way to cause temporal  inconvenience to the public, or to oneself. Aside from the above citations, one can get tagged for litering (what if you accidentally dropped something), for jaywalking, for large item dumping, for not mowing the lawn, for illegal biking, for millions of ways of traffic violating. Those city law-makers who have no more virtue than creative taxing people put everything possible into law,  and leave them the freedom to tighten the enforcement anytime they need more money. They make and implement the regulations not for better, ordered community and happy people, they deem the regulations the important means for fiscal income. So they welcome you to live in this decaying city, knowing you are surely bumping the ropes of the trap, sooner or later. In this sense, If you analogize them to looters in uniforms and suits, you are right on.

China and India have a border dispute traced back to 1910s. Chinese Army waged a war in 1962, defeated the India, took over big spate of land between the two countries and then retreated back to the line 'of actual control', status quo was remained ever since. Now several pieces of land by the gelid Himalaya, probably the most remote human habitat sites, ignite not only the interest of India and China, but the Western media. New York Times sent journalists for tour, Wall Street Journal stepped in later and had a detailed coverage last Friday. What's interesting is the responses from readers attached to the report. Once again, comments overshadow the original article, those who are well-rounded, plus those who think they are, and those who are intelligent and who claim they are, join the word fight. People take a stand, make a shot, and then being shot. It's entetaining and pedogogic. An India ridiculed his fellow Indian, bunch of Chinese lashed out an Chinese-born American, and a White guy fought with a white guy. Not surprisingly, Indian camp and Chinese camp had direct punch exchange. A small excerpt from the tip of iceberg.

Pranay Manocha: I think the two commenters before me (clearly Chinese) have been fed too much propaganda. This strategy of the Chinese army to take land inch by inch and to annoy the border-folk till someone from the Indian side is forced to retaliate reeks of the tactics employed by Nazis before they attacked Poland (sorry about the comparison, but there you have have it).

This is clearly not a trap set by the WSJ. This has been reported for months on end in Indian media - and rightly so because unlike in China, we have Freedom of Information and there is (thankfully) investigative reporting as well. It would do India well to be wary of China for the foreseeable future.

That aside, it makes natural sense for the US and India to be stronger allies. They are the world's two largest democracies and have many shared values. 

XIE MUYI: Actually, you have been fed too much progaganda.

Ran Smingh: Mr. XIE,

I think you should go back and read history of China and India relation. It was Mr. Nehru who brought China in world community. In response to this China betrayed INDIA in 1962.

India is not Pakistan that will sing Chinese Song because we have our own Song. From 10-15 years now you will see a different India in terms of Its Economy and Military Power.

Raksha Tripathi: Ran,

I am not sure what you mean by "China betrayed India". Was "Forward Policy" by Nehru not a betryal to Chinese? One of the many dumb things Nehru did in his life time.

The fact of the matter is India lost 62 war with China. Lets not forget that it were Chinese who declared a unilateral ceasefire after achieving their strategic objectives in eastern/western fronts and retreated once the war was over. India is unnecessarily fixated about Aksai Chin (due to Kashmir), the moment it stops its rhetoric abut Aksai Chin, Chinese would stop claiming Arunanchal Pradesh (due to Chinese fixation about Tibet). There needs to be an amicable border issue resolution with China, in my opinion.

India already has a rogue neighbor -- read Pakistan, any further confrontation with China makes no sense, politically, economically or in any other way. The same applies to Chinese too. They have got their own internal/external issues, any military confrontation with India will be harmful to them as well.

XIE MUYI: Ran,
Is that all what your history courses have told you?
Do you know Forward Policy?
Do you know China declared unilateral cease-fire and withdrew to pre-war position?


"From 10-15 years now you will see a different India in terms of Its Economy and Military Power."
Those angry young people in China always say this kind of words.
 
.......

More rounds of fights ensued, they are competing to be the wisest and meanest individual after Winston Churchill. Speaking of whom, no one seems to be in par of his highness. Some anecdotes shown later.

Happy reading.

Season changes. More cloud overshadows than usual, and the rain timely dampens people's spirit. And there are flu viruses with different variations, bad news on wars, regional conflicts. The rich are continuously obnixiously rich, the poor are incessantly miserably poor. Obituaries. Shocking that someone of vigor died. Echelon, hierachial climbers, sell anything that can sell for an vantage point in order to live like a long-live cockroach. In this perspective, life is a bitch.

I must sound like a pathetic angry youth.

No, those are all facts, but don't bother me much, they come every year and go. What let me down is possibly the ordered water molecules are more strongly bonded than usual, hence it is not easy to crack them, hence it is not easy to have easy-to-tap hydrogen source, hence there is not likely excitement that thrills everyone, hence my science dream will slip me away further, hence my slap-in-the-face has to hold before landing on the right faces.

Now I sound like a lunacy.

It's okay to have some confusing moment, even at big age. If something lets me down, I should pull me up. There are silver lining, bright side on everything. Life isn't changing much, but the way you view it. Change the way of looking, not the way of doing. The great virtue for people to prevail in the end is their ability to adjust, and one's mood is part of the adjustment. One can choose to feel down and out, and one also can choose to feel another way.

Sorry I am being confusing, I am a master of prevarication.

Roman Polanski was arrested in Zurich.  A year ago, I blogged him for the documentary film devoted to his life. As talented as he is, he suffered the shocking loss of wife being murdered, then the famous and infamous stature rape of a 13-year-old when he was 45. He pleaded guilty, then fled out of the US ever since. Wanted ever since. He married again, continued his directing career in France, won Oscar in 2004, has been traveling to Swiss free for over 20 years, suddenly he was detained at the airport customs. He is 78. (Why would I hold sympathy towards him, like I do to Mary Key Letourneau, a beautiful 5 children mother who had sex with her 13-year student boy when she was 34. She spent six and half years in jail. Got out last year, then guess what, she married the student and had new children with them. Is this stature rape a real 'true crime', or true love?)

There's more. Craig Fugerson, a Scottish bloke wandering in the US and became a US citizen. He is now an established talk show host. Not like his yelling style of monologue much, but his self-taught experience and shredness of grasping transient opportunity are nonetheless inspiring. Before being famous, he hated school and dropped at 16, was a constant drunkard, doing drugs...Look at him now, a smartass with a witty brain, wrote two books, directed two movies, best of all, solid fixture in the late late night show on the not-native American soil. And more. Eric Clapton. Drunkard, drug user, poached friend's wife (the famous song, layla, is the evidence.) Then his son died young, anther famous song. It is amazing how life can shape a person, or more precisely, how a person can shape his life.

Because there exist two kind of people, inner exhibitionist and bored, lazy, insipid  blogger. The world is changing, too. People are too lonely by nature, people are busy and too distracted to have the mood writing long paragraph, or skimming long paragraph, just some fillings are good enough, being that a burger, or a 140-word long nonsensical gibberish.

Here are some sketches of the people I saw lately.

1) From the hall way came a mid-age lady with light steps. She wore a lavender blouse and a long skirt with abstract pattern. Her hair was short and layered, some grey-n-pepper touch at the side burns and the edge. She expanded her face with a smile when there's eye contact. Her eyes are soft and meek, with the expectation of questions from people she faced.

2) Chris is medium built. He wears a polo shirt, a khaiki pants and a pair of loafer. His hair is short and well-trimmed, his face is opulent and free of wart. He speaks slowly, with a tone of authoritorian. But his words exhibit a friendly atmosphere during the conversation. For more than once, he plucks out his blackberry attached at his waist. In the end, he summes up the chat by saying affirmatively, 'Any questions, let me know.' then gets on his SUV and drives off.

3) Nancy seems smiling even she isn't. Her words are peculiar in that she doesn't pronounce the letter 'l', so she sounds like saying, 'Some people ike to plant a ot of f-owers in their back yard.' She is careful as she walks along, either due to her senior age or her profession. Her arms and hands are typical in old ladies, weathered with brown color and some peckles here and there. As she describes things, her hands wave that perfectly help outline what she wants to say.

4) He wandered down the street with curious eyes looking around the circumstance. He's got a spiky hairdo, obviously out of trendy influence somewhere. His face is impeccably smooth, the youthness and slight attire mismatch radiate a puff of fresh air.

5) 'Hi, Claire, it's me, Stefanie...' From behind came a woman's melliferous voice on the phone, 'Did you see Ann's facebook? Oh my Gosh, she's getting married, I was like, err....' She rolled her eyes and pouted her mouth, 'My first reaction was like, Oh my Gosh, She and Josh? This is so bizzare, so surreal, the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of in my life.' She slowed down her speech speed as if she was acting in a movie scene.

What I try to sketch. 1)a librarian, 2) a small business owner, 3) a realtor, 4) a Chinese New student, 5) a young woman talking on the phone.

I need to install a X-win32 on my PC to access the UNIX server. It is where my pain started. During the installation process, a small pop-up window shows that Java has updates for me to install, urging me to act right now because it provides faster, more efficient and more secure performance for my machine. So I clicked. When X window installation is done, I run it, nope, connection failed. tried it again, another window popped up, saying my X-Win32 9.4 has a higher version to upgrade. So I clicked that too. The machine was cranking and crunching for some long minutes and told me, 'Congratulations, your X-Win32 has been successfully upgraded and properly installed.'

With a little excitement, I clicked to run it again, and again it showed the same error message. Deperately I googled for some solution, hmm, maybe I shoud run VPN. So I did, this time the result is different, the error message became simpler, 'Fail to find the host.' WTF? With Java diligently working in the back, now my web browser is frozen. The hard-disk sign are constantly on, any icon on the desktop is unclickable. It is dead.

The universal solution is tun it off and turn it on. Only this time it seemed taking forever. 9:26am, log in; 9:30am, Windows are loading some crap; 9:34am, side bar showed up, and rightly showed the time on the clock again the frozen 9:30am on the lower right corner (you guessed right, it's Vista); 9:36am, wireless connection is hooked up; 9:38am, Norton is loaded; 9:45am, the notorious UAC prompt window finally showed up to let me allow the machine manufacturer to manage some of their product resources. This is usually a vitorious sign for me that the computer is finally ready for use. Not yet, The browser did load, but just showed the homepage, and not going anywhere. In a few minutes, everything is frozen again. I let out some profanity and hard pressed the power button and shut it down.

Sure I am not the only cynist who is crying out loud for the technology stupidity. The computing is like a living thing that has evolved into higher level of complexity and become fully loaded with whistles and bells, but less manageable. But we rely on it more, we nearly couldn't live without them. More often we are seeing the anxiety and frustration the advance of technology brings us, rather than the ease of work. We are tied with them. Life becomes complicated, which is not necessarily the good sign. Computer accidentally teaches us an emotional lesson: no matter how powerful and versatile a tool is, don't let it overtake you.   

I have been with two kids visitors for the past few days. The big revelation is that kids are totally different species. Some reports say raising a kid roughly costs a family about hundred of thousand of dollars to the least. That is only the economic expense. A new born in a family completely shapes the lifestyle of a couple. New diet for the new species, new rules for preparing for food and clothes, hygiene has to be on highest level. No leftover, no spicy seasoning, milk has to be organic whole milk, fruit has to be peeled, clothes has to be washed separately and the material has to be clothing and fluffy. When the little queen claims she needs pee, it means 'right now!', whether you are on a remote section of highway, or in a hustling downtown street. Then there is constant rambling, giggling, running, they stop only after their mom uttered something in a authoritarian tone for three times. From time to time, there is shirking, crying, and a simple line, either a question or a statement, being repeated three hundred time within twenty minutes. The only time when they are quiet, it is when they are engaged in a TV show or a book, but this mostly happens just before lunch or dinner time. The persuasion process would usually last to the full length. Bearing a newly titled 'Uncle' before my name, obviously I am no good at dealing with the 7-year-old and the teenager. Reasoning doesn't work, giving suggestion or order doesn't apply, the lying or tricking only make me look silly in retrospect, they don't buy it. The experience  makes me appreciate all the mothers and the school teachers. It is a highly demanding job to take care of those littles. To me kids are outrageously anti-adult society.

Or I am anti-children?

Either way, I have to deal with them at all ages, sooner or later. I like toddlers dearly, their wavering poise on the ground glue my attention and fondness whenever it happens. But I can't cut off the kid being a baby or being more juvenile if I want to have my own child. Kids are species no one can look at lightly, because they are the master-lings of the future.

Give perpetrators a second chance is probably one of the finest in American culture. It exhibits tolerance, it encourages humanity. For those high-profile individuals, the come-back twist is a great story. Robert Downey Jr. made plenty of entertainment news for his drug abuse and numerous jail visits in late 90s. 'He is done.' Everybody would think, but Robert returns to the film business and rebuilt his career as a prominent actor. 'The Soloist', 'Tropical Thunder', 'Iron Man', etc. if we count backward just a few of his movies, he had shinning performance. Hollywood is not the only conglomerate that loves comeback hero, this year it is NFL that welcomes back Michael Vick.

Who is Michael Vick? Vick used to be the most expensive player in NFL history, 10-year contact worth  130 million dollars with Atlanta Falcons. Vick is a great athlete in that not only he shattered quite a few record books in NFL, but also he can play positions more than a quarterback. He could play a running back, wider receiver owing to his excellent speed, power and agility. Major League Baseball team Colorado Rockies believes he can play baseball professionally and actually drafted him when he graduated from college. Needless to say, the difference between football and baseball is like swimming and running. His versatile sport talent seemed to guarantee him a luxury life and superstar status--'Vick 4 president' is not a uncommon sign on Atlanta's stands back then--but there is only a tiny problem in his hobby, Vick loves dog-fighting.

The rest of the story is all well-known, Vick is convicted in federal charge for running a brutal dog-fighting ring and served jail time of about 2 years. Contrary to some Asian culture, animal abuse is a big deal in the US. Killing dogs is more than uncalled for, it is criminal enough to wreck a celebrity's life. Vick spent his last two years in federal jail in Kansas and filed bankrupt later. Till weeks ago, he regained his freedom after finishing home containment probation on top of being behind of bar. With some process, NFL conditionally reinstated his status for playing the game. And yesterday, unlike suitor Philadelphia Eagles signed him.

It is not a sure thing that Vick would fly eagle-high as he could otherwise, it is sure that NFL fans, as well as the coaches, fellow players, are all expecting to see his play. I do wish Vick success, because this would be so inspirational to many people who are in their own battle ground. Ten years ago, one of my best friends, who worked at then Legend, now lenovo, Computer Corp.,  was sentenced 7 years in prison for taking bribes from his business partners in Shanghai. He got parole four and half years later and went direct to the VP at Legend for the second chance. As excellent in technical and gifted in communicating with people, he was allowed to work at the company from the bottom. In the summer of '99, the last time I met him, he got off work by a bike, a not-so- glamorous sign for a business man. He politely declined my offer to have dinner together as I had companies he didn't know. I never heard of him again. In hindsight, how badly I wish he could have been doing great in his life.