Classic oldie

Just felt like wanting to hear this song again…

Quote of the day

“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” by Tom Bodett.

Read this… love it but I’m wondering if I get any more test in the future, can they be at least multiple choice exams?  But I am so sick and tired of tests… maybe a yes and no test would be better… less “inny minny miney mo” choices and at least I have a 50% chance of guessing right. 

Aunt Mary

Today's episode was actually quite... depressing.  To me, Mary's desire to be loved and appreciated is the main point of the show.  (Well, actually on almost all the episodes, the surrounding theme is one individual or another needs to be "loved" and appreciated in their own way.)  But this episode showed me how Mary is quite selfish, even though through her eyes, she is almost a most giving person.  How does someone who has lived to her age be so unaware?  Does she realize it is sometimes her attitude and her actions make others around her upset?  Does she really care?  I mean in any relationship there has to be a two way street, right? 
Interesting...  

Two statues…

  Both these statues have one of their arms raised and the other holding a book…

but that’s about the only thing they have in common.

What do they symbolize for their respective people of the nation?  Unfortunately, I can only answer for myself regarding the lady on the left.  Growing up in the United States, the words from the Declaration of Independence are indelibly engraved into mind and soul…

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

I am not saying the US is a perfect nation because I do realize that there are numerous dark stains in our short history.  It took President Lincoln and the Civil War to free the slaves.  It took another 144 years, 14 years after Susan B. Anthony’s death to get the 19th Amendment of the Constitution, women’s right to vote.  Iran-Contra, Watergate, the assassination of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Korean & Vietnam war, September 11… I could go on and on but I am not here to give a history lesson.  I really like the reply from Anthony when she was asked if all women in the United states would ever be given the vote.  She stated, "it will come, but I shall not see it...It is inevitable. We can no more deny forever the right of self-government to one-half our people than we could keep the Negro forever in bondage. It will not be wrought by the same disrupting forces that freed the slave, but come it will, and I believe within a generation. Failure is impossible" were the words she left with her "girls" to encourage them on in the long discouraging struggle ahead.  Will I, in my lifetime, see a glimmer of freedom of light for all the people of China?  

June 3, 1989

It seems a lifetime or two ago.  Twenty two years have past and the exact details of what went on that night has faded somewhat but I still remember the feeling of dread and impending disaster.  I recall how it all began…a warm early summer evening, we had just finished dinner and all of a sudden the phone rang.  It was Tina in Beijing to my godfather, “He gave out orders to send in the People’s Army to Tiananmen Square!  His kids are on their knees begging Deng to rescind the order and he is refusing to do so.”  That phone call is when our vigil started and we were glued to the front of that television for hours to come. The phone didn’t stop ringing from that moment… HK, Beijing, Shanghai… updates poured in.  Trying to assimilate and digest all these reports had my head spinning.  I remember looking at my godfather and said “How’s this possible?”  He replied “It’s possible and the aftermath is even going to be even worse.  Any head that isn’t agreeing to this will have to watch out for their life.  Believe me, they will be silenced sooner or later.  The country is not ready for this kind of challenge and they will crush any who threaten their very existence.  The students that head this demonstration are not stupid but the people who follow them will suffer or die in the cross fire.”  Needless to say, on both counts, he was right. 
Twenty two years later, unfortunately I still don’t think that the country has moved towards democracy or acknowledging human rights.  Just seeing first hand some of the “high government officials” that come to Vegas, and just how they act or how full of themselves they seem, I am still disgusted.  They sneak in money to gamble, they eat, drink and whore like there is no tomorrow because the government is paying for it.  Isn’t there any accountability?  When President Obama comes, he at least don’t have these ridiculous request for a specific type of Mercedes limo, which doesn’t exist in the US.  Once recently, I couldn’t help myself but snicker and clap my hands, because a group had to cancel their trip because there was a brief corruption crackdown in China and they “chickened” out. 

五十集後...

幾日唔得閒睇劇，一口氣睇咗五集... 覺得最好玩係第四十八同四十九集。

玫瑰:  睇完第四十八集... 一個字！ 暈！ 真係撞鬼！ 佢肉麻到呢... 我甘拜下風！ 哈哈！ Well... 佢最好野同最聰明就係冇放棄個森林！  真係如果我對住玫瑰我唔知好嬲定好笑!  Brings a long forgotten term to mind… “boy crazy”.  Actually, she reminds me of a college friend of mine… her most memorable line to me was… “Hey, virginity is like a disease, I am going to find a cure for it this weekend!”  I remember telling her that she’s crazy but I couldn’t stop laughing.

貝兒:  一個對"親人"同朋友心軟的酷酷外型的女人... 我開始喜歡佢!  I love it that she is at least now showing she is not all that tough when it comes to outrages request from her “mom” and when she was busted and confronted by 國棟, heck, she did a good comeback!  Quick thinking!  I am wondering… she doesn’t seem to have any friends so far in the show other than 玫瑰, I wonder why.  Is it because she is so cool?  However, in my eyes, 玫瑰 and 貝兒 are like the female “Odd Couple”.  Great contrast in personalities and styles but great chemistry.  (Note:  Please don’t think in terms of homosexuality because that is not what I am trying to say.) 

Have you ever had or have a very close friend and everybody that knows both of you say… “我都唔明點解你哋兩個咁好？ 兩個嘅性格都咁極端!”  Let you in on a secret… sometimes you need someone who has a totally different perspective than yourself to stay grounded.  Most times… you don’t need someone to agree with you all the time because then you become too full of yourself.  Hahaha!  Nor do you need to agree with someone all the time because then you will just get totally down on yourself after a while because you have “lost” you and you will question your own decisions.  Plus, I actually enjoy variety of personalities but sometimes the old saying is true… 話不投機本句多.  It just depends on my mood and state of mind, I guess.  Tell you another secret… I really, really do hate “fake” people.  They irritate the hell out of me and I can’t and won’t bother with them.  Guess that is one of the advantages of being “old”.  Kakaka! 

Yikes… what has this post become?  Sigh…  I must be bored out of my mind.

Undercover…

When my two favorite characters go undercover…

…..what is it with the HAIR?!?! Kakaka!  See?  They do have something in common!!