The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Alexander McCall Smith is another author living in Edinburgh who has written a series of 7 books about a lady detective in Botswana (the other Edinburgh author with a 7th book coming out this summer is, hmm, you-know-who). I am a big fan of Mma Ramotzwe, a traditional build African lady, who is very smart, determined, kindhearted, charming, humorous, and resourceful. Reading about her everyday life opened my eyes to Botswana. It is good to know that good people are everywhere, and we are very much alike.

I'm eagerly waiting for the 8th, 9th, and many more books about Mma Ramotzwe.

Weekend

After attending Boston Secession's Mother Tongue: The Music & Meter of the English Language Friday evening and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's dance show at the Wang Center this afternoon, I wish I could sing or dance.

Setback

I transfered backwards!

Mad at myself.

BTW, I still have all the substrates. I just need to repeat.

Waiting

In Ha Jin's 1999 National Book Award winning novel Waiting the main character army doctor Lin Kong tried to divorce his unattractive wife from an arranged marriage. He ended up waiting for 18 years, all the while with his love by his side, but not be able to consummate their relationship. However, the married life after such a long wait was not exactly what he expected. A voice in his head told him, "Actually you never loved her. You just had a crush on her, which you didn't get a chance to outgrow or to develop into love.... In fact you waited eighteen years just for the sake of waiting".

Eighteen years is long enough to age everybody.

Eighteen years is not long enough to really learn how to love someone.

Eighteen years is not long enough to really learn what to love.


哈金是我的校友。我感到自豪。他的近作是为纽约大都会歌剧院写的《秦始皇》歌剧脚本，就是张大导艺谋导的，谭盾做曲的，多明戈唱的那一出。

Radar and Beer

Well, apparently Radar doesn't like beer. He was very hesitant when introduced to some oh-I-don't-know-what-brand beer: he tasted a little bit very cautiously, and then waited for 5 minutes. When convinced he was not going to get anything else, he tasted the beer again. Then another 5-minute's wait. Eventually he finished it.

In contrast, he loved vodka/tonic water. He gulped this mix just like he drank water.

So our conclusion was: dogs don't like beer; they like vodka.

Just when we felt good about our new scientific discovery, V found this article in THE ONION:

Unemployed Scientists Prove Dog Likes Beer

What the XXXX is going on!

V's comment: these guys are working on our project (with opposite results), they
even plan to test Andy's idea at the very end... we have to publish before we get scooped!

The Divine Gas

波士顿当代艺术馆大厅里的这幅巨作非常有视觉震撼的效果。

Chiho Aohsima, "The Divine Gas," 2006. Installed at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
我拍啊拍，看到了标题才明白。。。


原来小屁孩的屁变成一朵祥云，上面还端坐一个小屁孩。

我为当代艺术叫绝。

另，本馆禁止拍照。我侥幸被允许带走已经拍的片片，所以请赶快欣赏，过两天我把它删了。

还有，我拍那朵祥云的时候还以为就是一朵祥云。

Happy Postdocs

Have you ever met one of them?

That's the question we were thinking about on our way to ICA tonight. Unfortunately we don't think we've met any. Sad.

OK, maybe AA was a happy postdoc, considering that she only did it for 9 months AND is super successful now AND has two most adorable cute girls.

Obsessions

Wednesday.

M, H, and I were chatting after M came back from a trip.

H said, "M, did Allegro tell you about her new obsession?"

Seeing that M looked puzzled, I went, "Oh, stargazing!"

H said, "That now? I meant Elizabeth I."

"That's so last week! Now it's stargazing! It's true that I watched two movies on Elizabeth I and spend one night wiki on her, but I am completely over her now. Stargazing is my No. 1 obsession at this moment."

Saturn

My new obsession.

Details and credits are here.

那些花儿

I love Faye's rendition best.



作词:朴树
作曲:朴树

那片笑声让我想起
我的那些花儿
在我生命每个角落
静静为我开着
我曾以为我会永远
守在她身旁
今天我们已经离去
在人海茫茫
她们都老了吧?
她们在哪里呀?
幸运的是我曾陪她们开放
啦………想她.
啦………她还在开吗?
啦………去呀!
她们已经被风吹走散落在天涯
----
有些故事还没讲完
那就算了吧
那些心情在岁月中
已经难辨真假
如今这里荒草丛生
没有了鲜花
好在曾经拥有你们的
春秋和冬夏

Guinness

I'm not a beer drinker, so when Mac Daddy D told me he named his new dog Guinness it didn't ring a bell. Today I told V and L about D&H's new addition. They both started laughing, "What? He named his dog after the beer?"

Apparently Guinness fits very well with his name: he's a doberman/shepherd mix with a black coat mixed with tan above his eyes, around his muzzle, under his chest, and on his legs. Guinness the beer is dark colored with tan foam on top.

Now I really like the name and the dog and admire D for his cleverness and passion for beers.