Hope

After all those pains, there is hope.

This is somewhere close to Kilmore on Hume Highway, where the Black Saturday bushfire had burnt over. I'd been passed this area like ten days after the fire, and it was all black, with nothing but desperate death all around, and the smoky odor sneaking into the car.

More than one month now, the pain and horror was obviously not gone far, we drove by this area again and I snapped this picture. There is green new leaves thriving up the burnt black trees although it is autumn. There is grass starting to grow, almost transparent but definitely green. There is hope.

I was very glad to see there is sense of life reviving this fire-ravaged ground, after all those savageness and extinction. Yes there is hope.

7 months, 7 days

Well in a word, we were together for 7 days in our 7 month relationship. That's it.

I don't quite remember most of the other days that we'd not been together, but I do remember in every detail all the days I'd been with you. No matter how much it hurts thinking of you during those 'intervals', it's pure pleasure being with you. Those were the sweetest memories that were to last.

You are always as you are, no negotiations, even when it comes to our relationship, which is not your own matter. And I've learnt that, although I doubt you could eliminate me completely after you said that. I was to ask you if you ever think of me after breaking up, but I'll hold it up til later.

Distant relationships are not easy to maintain, I knew it from way before you. But it was our choice so I made myself believe in it, and I did til days before we broke up. I prayed for our relationship to last while I was back in China in a temple, and there's obviously not a need to redeem it as it doesn't work out just after two months. That's probably because I started doubting it first, you've only made the actual move.

I tried to make myself cry, I couldn't. I was stronger than I thought I was, I actually wished I could just cry and all is gone instead of having to occasionally panicking about things.

The Easter plan of me going up to meet you was obviously ruined. My friends from Gold Coast was so kind to have invited me up on hearing that but I was obviously booking too late while flight tickets had become so expensive I could not afford it (this was a reason and an excuse). And I feel pretty sorry not to have shown much interest at the invitation, don't get me wrong I was eager to go up and see you guys again, it's just not the right time at the moment...

I haven't quite got used to life without you, I don't know whom to think of in my sleepless nights. To be honest.

Mr. Lonely

I first heard the song in a flash anime several years ago, in which the sound was very distorted due to excessive compression, it still impressed me. All I remember about that flash was that it was about a cat or two, but I remember the song very well.

I saw this movie not very long ago, like a year after its release. Not so impressive to be frank, probably worse than that flash. The story itself being bit complicated involving heaps of people who want to be somebody else. The blog from which I read about this movie says the blogger was moved by it and he cried, I didn't.

Yesterday was Sunday, and I worked as usual. It's been almost two weeks I haven't heard from you. Suffering from a still very bad sore throat I didn't bother talking much to customers. When the shop is empty I started to panic and changed my facebook status to the first verse of Mr. Lonely. I started singing that song very quietly in the shop and tears started welling up my eyes. And there's customers coming in. I didn't bother serving them yet, can't let them see me cry at least. I tried to open my eyes wide and accelerate the evaporation and it worked. But I can't help myself singing that song to myself, and when I sing it I will cry. I feel like I am Mr. Lonely.

Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely. I have nobody, for my own. (Actually I'd rather sing the last one as 'I'm on my own')

My First Day Back, from Fungi Fight to Ikea, Yesterday

It was during those record hot waves that had hit Melbourne while I was escaping it in the extreme cold in China, that one of our tubs broke and flooded the house... When my housemate's back a few days before me she told me online that there was mushrooms growing in her room and I started to worry. Luckily though she told me that one of our neighbours might have seen water coming out of the house and turned off our water supply so it's not that wet while she was back.

While I enter the house I could smell the mould obviously but I didn't know it was that bad until I had a shower and started checking my stuff, which seem absolutely normal at first sight. A pair of my shoes which I do love for years was moulded seriously and the suede was dyed by the moulds and became hard that I had to thow away. All five of my bags that I've left on my floor was moulded and I throwed two of them away, one other suede one costs a fortune so although I should throw it away I tried to rescue it, but it's main problem was not with moulds but with extended soaking that distorted the shape of it... I don't know what will I do about it yet. One of my bedside tables was so moulded that the drawers stuck in. My undies and socks inside were safe though, but I had to throw this drawer away obviously. The boxes which I've put past lecture notes and bills and stuff was also soaked through I had to dump the bottom part of it. Luckily the important documents were stored in a different place. Mystically my printer, subwoofer and Wii were all safe although they were all placed on the floor...

I tried to clean the carpet a bit, using those powders and vacuuming them spray disinfectants on, I could still smell the mould though...

I had a 2 hour nap on the flight so I should be tired but I decided to go to Ikea, at least I have to replace my drawers and those boxes. So there I went, taking a bus to Northcote then train to North Richmond then tram to Ikea. I saw what I want for the drawers right at the entrance of Ikea but I went around the showing rooms like three times trying to find it, asked the staff and they were as helpless and I had to get out to the entrance again to look at it, mark down the funny Swedish name and go back, I finally found that it was only showing in the marketplace though... It was a good choice though, cheap and most importantly relatively easy to carry cos I had to use public transport to go back home. There was some funny looks at me at the bus station though, I didn't bother to care.

That thing didn't require screws or something like that to assemble, instead it uses only a hammer which is the only thing that I don't have in my house... I used a spanner that did the same thing though. looks pretty nice at last. Huh~

And yesterday I spent another day in Ikea with a friend, bought heaps of stuff again and sort of got caught in the extremely packed tram :S Was home safely at last though with a tabletop for my drawer which I wasn't able to carry last time, a cute panda cushion which my friend didn't want to hand back to me obviously and a swivel chair. That's about it. I helped building her shoe shelf in her place and then got my chair and tabletop onand went to sleep almost straightly.

Quite a While Huh?

I tried several times to post something here but all gave up at last...

The first ten days of February, very busy back there in China... I haven't had much time staying in China actually, and I do have heaps and heaps of friends to catch up with, so it was like non-stop. Plus the fact that I had to prepare for my coming back to Australia. Was pretty glad to have seen some people again though, I am still an innocent boy in people's eyes, just because I tell the truth. Some other people had changed, in the way I don't want them to be but they are no longer part of my life anyway so I just don't bother worrying.

After that was obviously my coming back to Australia. It was a night flight but I didn't managed to sleep much at all. Watched a handful of movies though.

Finally got to see Coming Down the Mountain, it's still dead on my eMule but i still want to download it. The story was quite nice, and although David did something horrible, he's still the most miserable kid in the family and parents don't usually think of his feelings apparently just because of his intellectually defected brother Ben.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas almost made me crying loudly out. It was just bland and beautiful at the beginning while Bruno's exploring their backyards and accidentally found Schmuel in the concentration camp and made friends with him, bringing him food and stuff. They were aware of people missing and those chimneys exhausing inbearable gases but they never knew what that was. While Schmuel was treated pretty badly in the camp Bruno was cheated by the video that life in the camp was even better than outside and he does think that it was because he was not Jew that he doesn't have the right to get in the camp (not the other way), until the days comes when Schmuel's father was lost. Bruno dug into the camp in the 'striped pajamas' that Schmuel brought and they set out to look for his father. They were mistakenly taken to the toxic gas 'shower'... And just before that Bruno was suggesting 'why not try the cafe in the camp' while they were bit tired. And there was those desparate cries from Bruno's parents and sister when they finally know where their missing Bruno is.

After landing in Melbourne I had to deal with all those moulds growing in my room for the whole first day, I think I should write this in another post :P And I got a cold somehow after that... It had just become better that I was up here in Dookie campus for a Viticulture subject.

So, here we wrapped it all up again.

skins Season 3 the New Crew

Freddie. A less overwhelming and less controlling Tony, actually sort of like Maxxie in terms of character sometimes. The actor (Luke Pasqualino) was hot btw :P

Cook. Supposed to be Chris, well combined with Anwar's homophobia and lechery. Messing up with gangsters are like Sid messing up with that PHD thing? Not so sure... So far the craziest role in this season.

JJ. Sid obviously. Same geeks.

Effy is still Effy and Pandora is still Pandora, nothing much to say here...

Katie. Abby? Almost same slutty.

Emily. Michelle? Almost same miserable.

Can't really find much of the connections other than these so far with characters in the previous skins.

We've yet to meet Thomas but I have a gut feeling that he represents Jal...

So, who's Naomi? I don't see such an isolated person in the previous skins... Wait Sketch? She should not be that hated cos she's done nothing wrong...

And where's Maxxie? Cassie? Anwar anyone?

Choir

Been back to my middle school choir the other day for an event of the departure of the graduating members. it was 8 years since my departure and I know no one in the current choir obviously cos they change members completely every 6 years along with the school. Luckily some of the old members which I know had attended that as well so that I could have someone to talk to.

I am pretty glad to see that I was not the oldest one there. One of the leading voices in my time had gone back to the school as a teacher and to assist the director with the choir. I've seen that the style of the choir have some what changed after seeing the DVD they gave me, from more general and international works into more remote and aboriginal style, especially the addition of Tibetan elements. And I don't see a single Mandarin work through the DVD.

I saw one thing from their performance. The director kept telling the choir to sing with their deepest emotion, well they did seem like they did. Yet I don't think that it was their true emotions cos I don't think I understand all those songs all that good by the time I was like 14. I don't even understand them quite well now when I'm 23. The conclusion is easily drawn here: they act. There is nothing wrong with acting, thing is, you better call an acting an acting instead of 'the truest emotion' as the director do. Of course this does no harm to the choir, on the contrary it adds to the reputation of it, what it does is the harm to the soul of the students. In a simple word, the school teach students to pretend and to lie, for the good of the reputation of the school itself. What will the students do when they grow up? Pretend and lie for the good of the company or country or whatever? They have a decent excuse for wrongdoing.

It was a shame though that some of the old members which I were longing to see didn't come along, but I think we'll make it another time, better before I go back to Australia this time.

Leaving etc.

Not actually that willing, it is always good seeing family back home I know. And I understand it would be a long time after this time I go back that would happen again. Not actually know how long. I can't stop eating in my first dinner home, mum always is the best cook in the world.

Yes the year 2009 is my year of the Ox. And it is a crucial year to China of course. Looking back, from when the Communist party had controlled mainland China from 1949, every ten years there will be some big disaster taking place in China. And the year of 2008 had already set a fantastic background for all that to happen. I was actually bit of worried that I might be blocked out of the border but I got in without a problem which means I'm not actually nasty enough for them to consider arresting me. But there are plenty of examples that China jails democracy fighters and people speak of bad towards the Communist Party.

Another thing to do before leaving an empty house behind would be to clear up the fridge, I actually did this one pretty badly, getting myself an ingestion that I could not sleep the night before departure past midnight while I had to get up at 5AM the next morning to catch the flight, and I still had to get rid of some of the remaining stuff at the last minute.

Well anyway I was tired after such a long day and I really should go to sleep, now.

Looking Back on the Year 2008

The year 2008 slipped away, before I realize it (just like every other year actually, and it usually takes a few days for me to recognize it was another year). The rising sun doesn't seem any different to me on my way back on early in the morning of New Year's Day, every day the sun is new anyway.

During this remarkable year, my rent's been rising for three times and I'm surprised that I still bear to live in the same place... Well if I got the chance in that Homeshare program I will definitely leave here, crap as hell for that sort of rent. But otherwise I don't see myself leaving, mainly due to the trouble of moving all my stuff... (consider the day I step on the earth of Australia with a suitcase, a shoulder bag and a backpack, I think my stuff could well fill up a van now)

During this remarkable year, heaps of new people enter my life, only two important ones though. I would like to thank them, for, everything. I can't imagine a 2008 without you two (doesn't necessarily mean it would be difficult, but obviously the two of you changed me a lot). There are other guys though, people comes and goes, and the best stays. I would always treasure all the friends that kept me in touch for long time.

During this remarkable year, I sort of ended the chaos of my intimate life thanks to you. A distant relationship is hard to sustain as far as I experienced. I didn't hesitate to jump into another one with you though, still hoping that it would work out at last, and last. At least it was not an international one this time.

There are lots of other things happened in the year 2008 outside of me as well, which makes me more aware of the existence of evilness. There will definitely be more of such events taking place in the year 2009 though. And I wish that the devil will be punished soon, we'll see. I signed the Charter 08 on the first day of the year 09 after a bit of struggling, but it's obviously not regretting it.

Untitled

I miss you honn. Missed your touch, missed your hugs, missed your kisses, missed your breath into my ear, even your scratches.

I understand that I wouldn't be able to see you in quite a few months this time... I actually should visit again some time but it seems not quite possible to me cos I got more shifts at work plus you must be busy close to Christmas... Visiting New York in the New year for your birthday and I'll soon be home back in China, that's another one and a half month gone. Not long after I come back my uni will commence again and all I could do is wait for you to visit, which I won't be sure when... I know that you'll be taking another course in January as well, you didn't tell me when will that finish though... Maybe I'll not be looking to seeing you til next Easter...

It seems it's been long time since the last time I heard your voice... I was to call you but I was afraid that you might be busy or whatever that you wouldn't pick up... Well I hadn't even tried and I got that conclusion, although should only be called speculation. Well I should argue that you never called me though...

Well, Merry Christmas.

The Power of Discount

Hmm, what do you think a sexy Stussy jumper, a Stussy tee, a Stussy shirt, a small Stussy bag, an Independant tee, a Freejive tee, a huge Mossimo bag, a white Penguin shorts and a cute Penguin vest worth altogether? No matter what you think, I got all of them for A$190, which I think was fair (for me) enough, the Jumper's A$40 and the tees are 3 for A$50, all the other items are $20 each. So I got myself quite a lot for this Christmas, end of story.

Not sure if I should tell but if you don't regard me as advertising (I really am not), the sale is still on 500 Brunswick St, Fitzroy til Christmas I guess everyday 10AM - 5PM. But going early is highly recommended as things seem to go fast. The sale range is simply street brands such as Stussy, Mossimo, Paul Frank, Superdry, Globe... The lines include clothes, accessories, shoes, undies and other weird stuff. No high end brands such as Bape though... All at crazy price!

So, it's Holiday

Exams over, life gone. I've actually expected this. I always feel like uni when I'm on holiday and holiday when I'm in uni... I've become so lazy that I have to push myself hard to get myself on this post...

Well I did almost nothing lately, applied for that homeshare thing though, which means if I'm lucky I won't have to pay rents anymore and replacing that by doing housework and caring for elderly or disabled people.

Been spending a lot of money lately but fortunately I'll be working more from next week so that I'll not be that struggle.

Been moving away from Bach a bit now, since listening to sonatas by Brahms and Beethoven, Bach seemed real cold and cruel comparing to them, but still dignified and elegant. Well I'm finally off just Baroque I guess... Although Baroque is still appealing to me.

I think that's it, the start of my holiday, meant to be, er, nothing.

From This to That

Hmm you've changed, I mean you towards me, since last time we met.

After the last time, I was like pretty sure I'm in love with you while you kept telling me things like you enjoyed being single, you're not ready and all sorts of stuff. And you always tell me that I love you more than you do. Well, I can't think of a reason not to admit that until this time. And I've been giving myself various excuses when it comes to all those temptations.

And this time, I do feel that you've changed, Although you didn't tell or you might not have realized yourself, that you love me. While you are still telling me that I love you more than you do and I'll start to think about it now. And, I'll not be able to persuade myself with those excuses anymore, because I started to feel my responsibility to you. And I felt like I've hurt you before using those excuses, and I feel guilty. I do.

Well responsibility, a long lost word for me. And I'm picking it up. And I'm not dropping it again, hopefully.

the Ugly Chinese

This book is written some 20 years ago in 1984 by Bo Yang, a famous Taiwanese author who passed away earlier this year. I've heard of this book for a pretty long time but I hadn't got a chance til recently to have bought it from Taiwan and read it thorough. This book is also published in mainland China in the year 2004, but censored of course, I guess most of the second part of the book is gone cos "different" voice from the government is presented as the responses to the book goes on like a war on the Chinese magazines of the United States.

Well it was my opinion, I don't know whether it was that Chinese people had become uglier or something, this book doesn't seem to have revealed every ugly thing about the Chinese people, such as shameless and greedy as far as I see. Anyway, Mr Bo Yang wrote this book in the hope of seeing the 'uprising' of the Chinese people and community in the world, whereas I've already lost every single hope of Chinese ever being any good again. They are just hopeless. They are boasting of what a long history or what dazzling achievements Chinese had achieve in the ancient times, well note this 'ancient times', look around yourself now do you see any modern utilities been developed or invented by Chinese? Nothing.

Self-humiliation while comparing themselves to the people in developed country while cynic towards everything in the developed world and jeer anyone that goes towards them as toady to foreign powers, well, if there is something that the developed world is doing better than the traditional way (not just some I guarantee, heaps), what one should do is not to try to push it down by groundless blames and not admitting that you yourself is inferior but to think of what is so good about it and either find a way to make yourself superior of even simply mimic is better than just satirizing the good ones and keep your stupid way. And that is what Chinese people are doing and that is why I lost all hope.

Every single time that the government had done something wrong or lied about something, what they do was not to try to find the truth but help the government to cover its fault 'for good' or 'for the respect of our glorious China' while your rotten China had already been known as the biggest liar in the world.

Most recently, the so called 'Shenzhou 7' the spaceship, absolutely fake and few people actually doubt that within China after a bunch of hints pointing directly towards the falseness of it: a news leak about the spaceship describing in every detail of the spaceship in the space when it was not even launched, bubbles (well they manipulated the videos on Youtube so that the 'bubbles' look like pieces of paper as they say, which further proves the falseness of the spaceship) that indicates the video is shot underwater, an aside that calls for two 'motiles' approach 'underwater', the sudden change of type of clothes from cordless from the ship to corded indicates airflow need when you think of they are underwater so that there would be less bubbles (still proved to be inevitable though), the time difference between the portion of earth shown in video and the 'actual' time demonstrated, plus the video had demonstrated the 'getting out' from various angles showing the astronauts while there's nothing about the spaceship itself and all the camera is focussed at the door of the cabin, don't think it bit ridiculous? Well if there's only one suspectation was observed I might trust the the saying of the government, but what about all these? I wouldn't believe these evidences are all fake and only what the Chinese government says is true.

Someone asked me recently that whether the Chinese government was corrupt or not, my answer was very. And when asked 'could you buy someone over?' the answer would be you will HAVE TO buy someone over in many circumstances or you are just nothing. The whole government is corrupt like that and nobody ever give a shit that they are even happy to buy them over for a ‘reassurance'. No wonder huh?

The bottom line is that, this is a pretty good book for the mainland Chinese people as an enlightenment. It does show many of ugly behavior that is unique to Chinese people and will show them that 'if you guys don't do anything about such I don't see a future of China', and they did absolutely nothing I would say.

And believe me buying the uncensored Taiwanese version is a must if you are gonna read this one or you could actually compare the two versions and see how evil the Chinese government is that they don't even tolerate any say against it.

Newcastle

Actually been back for like a week now, was impressive and I liked it.

I was pretty shocked mistaking Sydney as Newcastle on the plane, well if it really was that would be horrible, endless lights spreading into the night, a city that never sleeps. I thought Newcastle would not be that huge, and I was right.

The airport is obviously small, with only two or three parking places for planes. and you will have to go around the plane to get back to the terminal building. Switching on my phone, considering that you might not have arrived that I should call after going to toilet. I was rushing to that sign of a faceless stand straight man while you suddenly spoke into my ear that you are going to pay for your parking.

You drove me around the city although it is dark and not much is actually seen, all I could feel was Newcastle is actually a pretty hilly city with heaps of beaches. Then to your place, which was pretty dark (no doubt at night). We are both bit tired and we just fell asleep.

The weather next morning was pretty pleasant as far as I remember, and I was surprised that it was actually Lake Macquarie outside your window. Was to go to the beach but it seems we are pretty slack so we only got to go for grocery shopping and for the materials I need to cook for tonight.

It took quite some effort to find the Asian grocery that you found on the Yellow Page, we finally got there though. Well, just really a grocery, pretty small, we found all what we need though, that's good enough.

It was hard to find the steamer under your housemate's bed, we pulled out every single box and opened them and checked, and it was finally there. Pretty small one, means we'll have to divide the chicken into two and steam them separately.

Yes steamed chicken with Shitake mushroom is one of the dishes that night, with boiled dumplings and a stir fry. Rice had to be bought from a nearby restaurant as you don't have a rice cooker here.

The vegetarian stir fry was surprisingly good as I actually seldom do stir fries. (stir fry is actually not Asian, instead American-Asian as we don't actually do it at home, it was invented by the immigrants but you guys love it) It seems the chicken was not as welcomed, think it was bit bland though but I still love it. Seems we had a lot of alcohol that night.

The next day we got up at 6AM, going to Maitland where you worked, I just go around the small town and take pictures everywhere. Two things surprised me, it was not a big town and there are like half a dozen churches, and the churches sound bells! This immediately evaluates my favor towards the town. At the centre of the main street mall was all kinds people singing and dancing hilariouly. Bored and tired by the last one or two hours of the waiting, I just sat at the back.

It rains in the afternoon and we were trapped in the cafe of Hunter Valley Gardens, pretty regretful that we didn't visit the vineyards though, just comforting myself that the grapes are not ripened at this time of year, and there is always next time.

It was another slack morning on Sunday, and a 'completely Aussie BBQ experience' for me at lunch. Everything's overcooked (just as usual) though...

Beach. Simply wonderful.

The last day, we had a fight in the morning, my fault though. And we just drove around trying to kill the time before the flight, realizing there's no opening restaurant for a dinner at 4PM the only choice was junk food.

We seated ourselves right opposite to the chek in counters chilling for like an hour and felt the guys inside peeping at us, and it was time to go.

Got myself a Latte and a window seat, a bit of a rush, just finished replying a guy on facebook and it was boarding time.

I will remember that old man running on and off the skybus like five times and making me miss the train home!!!

Lots of Podspeakers by Scandyna Recently

Yes you don't have to tell me they are cute, I knew it. Well I've been dreaming to have a pair of the Drop with the Amp from Scandyna, and I finally did. And as usual, things that you don't actually own is always more attractive. And yes, I am thinking of the Minipod now...

I'd been wondering the difference between the two, same manufacturer, same units, would it be same performance just different design? I found an article that indirectly says: Not really. Although this review rather than mentioning the Minipod, tested the Cinepod, which is pretty close to the design of the Minipod. Btw, a review solely and technically on the Drop is pretty hard to find on the internet at the moment...

The biggest difference between the Cinepod/the Minipod and the Drop is, that the drop is a sealed box design while the other two are relax cabinet, see the holes down there? That one's not present on the Drop although it might just look decorative for symmetry on the Minipod.

Well I do not have a Minipod or Cinepod, but according to the articles I've found, the main difference in terms of sound would be that the Drop have a quick, slick and punchy sound while the other two would rather have a mellow, widened and laid-back sound thanks to that hole there. (I've read some of the reviews solely on the Minipod which support this)

That means I really should have, both... orz

Well I'm at least not regret with my choice cos the design of the Drop are simply astonishing, and I do listen to musics such as trance and D'n'B which are punchy by the nature (I tried them and they sound gorgeous). But on the other hand I do enjoy some chill out and Bach while relaxing which is obviously more on the Minipod's end. So, how about the Julibee matte black version of Minipod with golden sputniks? Well when I have that money and if they are still there I might. But here comes another problem, the Amp would only support one pair of speakers and, I don't actually have a desk big enough for both pairs, the Amp, my SACD player by Marantz and my laptop...

OK let's talk about the sound of my Drops and the Amp (the other components of the system include the Microsub which I got some time ago and sound sources including an SACD player, my laptop and my MD player), one word, incredible. Especially when it comes to the details. I'm not good at explaining such but you will know it when you hear it. The high is slick and dazzling while the mid-range is smooth and flaring, the bass is sort of not deep enough as the Microsub is the smallest sub within the line of Scandyna. (Mentioning the Microsub, I got it with my Micropods as a set and sold the Micropods when I made up my mind to get the Drop and the Amp but saving the Microsub cos I knew I'll need it :P)

Another thing that I began to miss is the Ferguson Hill FH007, a totally transparent speaker system minimized from the luxury FH001-003 system. I just comforted myself by wondering how long does it take to turn yellow and again, although minimized, I don't have the space for them. The class A/B amp included in this system does sound tempting though. (The Amp is a revised design class D which is said to be comparable with class A/B amps, well using the technologies from B&W again I suppose?) Well I have to say that the huge version is way astonishing though.

Yes I am in love with Scandyna the day I got my box of Micropod+Microsub 2.1 system. for that one, the process of sticking the spuniks into the pods are dodgy as far as I recall and I was actually upset that the manufacturing is not very good for that one (again the sin of Made in China) that made me sort of disappointed until I hear the sound from that little round white box. Well the Drop, you might have known after seeing the price tag, is Made in Denmark and the finish is way better than the Micropods, thile the Amp is still a Made in China, it was not as bad as the Micropod, again, related to its price tag I have to say.

Sushi

I've actually never imagined I would work in a sushi shop like this... Not even now did I ever consider that I would stay there for any long. But I actually stayed and decided to work here at least for now.

They pay shit no wonder. There are good sides though, I got a free lunch there and the sushi that is left over could be taken home for dinner which means i got two meals on top of the pay, well we earn for living and eating is no doubt part of it right? Plus the people working there are nice to me and I could actually burn some serious fat doing the hard work. Yeah, so why not?

Btw, just found that the avocado rolls from this shop is nice :P

Die Welle

The English name is translated 'the Wave'. This movie's in German, as my German is obviously not good enough to watch it straight and the English subtitle is mystically missing (hope it will be on the internet soon though), I actually had to change my windows setting to make it able to encode non-Unicode Chinese so I could load a Chinese subtitle and I was finally watching it, and change it back after finishing. The effort is all worth it though.

The movie's recomposed from a true story about a high school teacher's experiment on his students on autocracy, the original story started 1967 in California's Palo Alto Cubberley High while in the movie the story is relocated within Germany. The use of simple but strict discipline, uniform and the collective consciousness, which made himself a autocrat to the group in a stunning five days. After all these the mind control slipped in without the conscious of even the teacher himself, the students have all changed. They become adulatory, selfish and not even conscious of what they are doing as the concept of a group had gone too far in their minds.

The students named the group as 'die Welle', established a website, made their own logo and spread it, they even made up a gesture for the group and tries to exclude and isolate everyone that opposes the motivation, all spontaneously. And they finally become some kind of gang that even go out on streets to fight other gangs.

The ending is obviously not happy. As the teacher realized he is going a bit too far after all those five days, he demonstrated the harm that had already done on their students, to show that Nazism and Fascism is already successfully established in the group and how disastrous it can be if they simply allow this going on. Some of the students, unfortunately, had already gone too far that one of the students even regard 'die Welle' as his whole life that he refuse to end this farce. He's got a gun somehow and after hurting a classmate he shot himself in the throat as 'die Welle' is dead and there's nothing left on earth for him. The teacher is arrested for going too far and the story ends.

The movie thrilled me, deeply. What is most shocking to me is that most of the methods used to achieve autocracy in this movie, I've actually been through while I was back in China. From elementary school we are asked to practice stepping simultaneously, sit properly, raising hands before allowed to speak in class, compulsorily wear uniforms on school days, arranging seats so that 'good' students are usually sit next 'bad' students, elimination of individuality, be encouraged to tattle against even the closest friends... And I believe that this is how the Chinese government achieve its autocracy, and most of the Chinese people are not aware what they have been through and they are still mind-controlled by the government after growing up and even til death. Hey, these students are treated this way when they are like 16 or 17 and there are people who know this is wrong and tries to stop it while others can be woken by demonstrating the harm done to them, and they have the right to choose another subject in the first place; every single Chinese kids are treated this way since they are 6 or 7, totally innocent and haven't got the foggiest idea of democracy or autocracy, every single one that oppose such brain washing is either tortured or made suffered til they surrender or be isolated and excluded for the rest of his/her life in China.

Is this obvious enough?

Wicked Logics of Quilts

Been pretty sick for quite a few days now and skipped heaps of uni... And I was so bored lying in bed daydreaming. And, here's what I've got out these days, about the warmth of 3 quilts, the arranging.

Let's assume quilts 1, 2 and 3, same materials, thickness 1+2=3. Arrangement 12 means quilt 1 is inside with quilt 2 on top, 21 means quilt 2 inside with quilt 1 on top. Simple huh?

Which one's warmer, 123 or 321?

123 definitely. Heat loss rate 1>2>3 no doubt? Heat loss from 3 is easier to go through 2 and 1 than heat loss from 1 to go through 2 and 3, as simple as that. We could go further. The space between two quilts stores heat that is lost from the bottom quilt but not able to go through the top one, the heat is easier to go through the thinner layer than the thicker layer, and if you like, consider the heat between itself as one layer, isn't it warmer when the layer of heat is closer to you?

Does 1+2=3?

No. You could think of it simply because 12=/=21=/=3. Don't mean either 12 or 21 is warmer than 3 though. The opposite. 3 is solid thickness of 3 while either 12 or 21 is not. Think of the heat layer again, yes some of the heat might go back down but there's not as much thickness above to prevent it from the loss.

Conclusion, 1<2<21<12<3<31<13<32<23<321<312<231<213<132<123. Well, not quite a conclusion like that yet, this one is based on the speculation that thickness being the first rule. If not things will be different.

Time to Write a Bit about You

Well it's been... A month and a half since then? My little elf.

I don't actually know what to say here, we chatted a lot and we had a great weekend together and that's all we had been through. I know we have more than that. And yes I do look forward to seeing you again, a whole week? That sounds extremely exciting to me!

Well that's about what I could write here, there are more but I'll leave it for now. You know I love you.