Six weeks remain before my move, but I'm already saying goodbye to my home, little by little.

Here are pictures of my current apartment, which is my favorite of the three LA places I've lived in:


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Because I should be writing my dissertation.

And, because I should be writing my dissertation, I shall tell you about my weekend!

Singing a big choral piece, like Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah, is probably the closest I will ever come to knowing the ecstasy of athleticism. We rehearsed for 3hrs on Saturday (plus another 1.5hrs for commute and set up), ( Read more... )

I'm working, honest I am! This is just a quick break!

Actually I'm going to do what all humanities students (that I know of) eventually do when deadlines press too hard -- plagiarize him/herself. So this post doesn't contain any recent news. Instead, it is a concatenation of accumulated dribs and drabs that probably make little sense either together ( Read more... )

She offers and accepts help gracefully.
She does not hesitate to try new experiences.
She loves all living things.
She knows how to take care of herself, and is starting to take care of me, and doesn't mind me trying to take care of her.
She is concerned but not stressed about money and time.
She delights in beautiful rituals and artifacts.
She is ( Read more... )

Family Men
After gorging on dim sum, I actually went to an all out Labor Day barbeque: six-layer dip, veggie platter, beer, grilled chicken, grilled steak, vegetarian abalone, roast lamb, champagne, watermelon and birthday cake. The cake was for Uncle George, the host, who will turn 60 this week; or, if one counts the age of his liver, 24; or, if ( Read more... )

The final
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I sold my bicycle today. The balcony looks emptier.

This is the third bike I've owned. The first was one of the most wonderful gifts I have ever received from my father. It was a single speed child's bike, with a black frame and yellow decals -- to me, in the first grade, it was among the most "big" and "real" things in my life. I did not have to ( Read more... )

There is a term that sounds (as is often the case) much more poetic when literally translated than in the original language: "流水帳".

A "flowing water account" is a long and trivial description, usually generated to nominally satisfy an external authority. It is often characterized by frequent use of the word "then," forms of the verb "to be," and the ( Read more... )

My mother made sure that my sister and I understood the importance of "家教" -- literally translated as family-lessons, or being brought up in a good home -- since our infancy. They have served me extremely well, even though given my native temperament toward extremism, I have taken some of them too far. I hope that I can pass them on through words ( Read more... )

David Denby review of Ratatouille, NYer, 7.23.07, p.85:

Toques off to Mr. Bird. At a time when many Americans have so misunderstood the ethos of democracy that they hate being outclassed by anyone, when science is disdained as dangerous and expertise as elitism, this animation artist, working in a family medium, has made two brilliant movies that ( Read more... )