My Birthday

Well, I know this should be better written, but I really don't have the time.  So instead, I will have a quick rundown of all the events that took place on 7.22.04.

My mom called me early in the morning, when I was in the shower getting ready for work, to wish me a good day as, well, that was the time that in both time zones, we were on the 22nd.  Then off I went to work where I discovered a lovely present on my desk from Lindsey. It was a pack of Harry Potter Jelly Beans and the first book of the Harry Potter Series.  Lovely, indeed, especially exhilarating for me as it was a sign that Lindsey cares for me.  Then not too long into the day, I got a call from a strange number, which turned out to be from Parith. Yes, he wished me a good day too.  There were small talks about his and my life and what not. It was just happy to hear from him.

Then it was quiet for a while. At lunch, Dan Egel won us a free lunch from AMex and people ended up singing me the happy birthday song.  Early afternoon, Zoe surprised me with a hand-drawn card and a tea cup filled with lavendar flowers.  Great girl.

After work, we went to 4th Estate for drinks and the Dupont Italian Kitchen for dinner. Dan and Amrita were truly good friends and gave me great company.  Stuffed with way too much food, I decided to bring the crew back home to sit and relax and drink some tea. So we were chatting and celebrating in our living room, where Dan and Brennan brought out a cholocate pie with 24 candles.  Touching as I was, I couldn't be happier to see a room full of good friends.

There went my 24th birthday, filled with joy.

Beautiful Tour de France Hostesses

Jen sent me this article and it is just drop dead funny.  It's consolating to know that there are news reporters and editors just like me out there.  See some fantastic quotes.

The Tour de France has its hotesses. (The term means "hostess" in French, not "hotty," despite the resemblance.)

This nation's leggy, high-cheekboned angels have been bewitching men for centuries. Beautiful women are formally endowed with an elite status here: Professional models have been among the select cadre of professions entitled to a sizable tax rebate.

The hallmarks of the Tour hostesses are glamour and sophistication, and Nessrine Mousli has both to spare. Tall, with large dark eyes under a fringe of bangs, she looks something like a dewy, brunet Brigitte Bardot.

He likes to joke with the girls. The first time she zipped him into the yellow jersey, "his eyes were glittering and he was very excited," she said. "But then one day he was bitter, you know? Sour. He said to us, 'Maybe this is the last day I'll have it.' "

Hostess Emilie Moreau is a veteran Armstrong kisser, having accessorized the American's victories at the Tour finish on Paris's Champs-Elysees for three years running.

The hostesses are strictly forbidden to get any closer to the riders than those officially sanctioned pecks on the cheek. Fraternizing is strictly forbidden. However, love doesn't listen to rules, and romance has been known to arise from those calculated kisses. 

Undergone major changes

I was unhappy with how my blog looked like.  After browsing around for a while, I decided to change it to the current view, powered by Blogger.com.  It is surprisingly simple to switch templates, but all the additional links that I used to have were lost as a result of this facelift.  I managed to restore most of them.  Now there is still two features I would like to have. First, it would be nice to have a "books I am reading" section. This way I can always keep a log of the books I ever read. In addition, I can write my own book reviews from time to time. Second, Josh has a nice "quote" section on his blog. The purpose is to document the nice quotes from the books he read. I guess I can create a post to do that--it's just not as easy to browse if I don't have a separate category for book quotes.
 
What else has happened in my life lately? It's Brennan's birthday today on 7/18.  He was born in 1979. Nichole Theriault baked him a chocolate cake and it was delicious. Brennan was happy about it and said it was the first time people baked him something.  All the nice little things between those couples make me want to have a girl friend too.
 
It's late and I should go to bed. More to come soon.

Beijing flooded after a rainstorm

Beijing was completed flooded after a severe rainstorm. Walk bridges became real bridges as streets turned into rivers. Buses and cars also became vessels.

Rain

A gust of wind whisked down the alley. I was waiting for this to happen.

The sky has been grey for almost half an hour now and the air is so thick that I could barely breathe. A moment ago, I was still rushing home, hoping to make it back before the rainstorm hits. But when I was sweating more and more, one idea hit me. What I try to avoid is being soaked in the rain, but I've already soaked myself with sweat. If I could choose between soaked by rain or sweat, I'd actually prefer the rain. Immediately, I slowed down, processing at a speed that only lesiure tourists would go at. That is, especially when they get lost. I quickly noticed how hot it was. In fact, I started to sweat even more! Since the rain didn't bother me any more, I sat down in front of an alley to cool down a bit.
The wind finally started to blow. A broken bottle rolled around with a monotonic sound. All a sudden, the air was engaged in many different motions, torrenting with leaves and trash. I took a deep breath and was filled with the smell of rain. It is really going to rain.

Friends' Blogs

I had a chance to carefully go through Josh's blog yesterday and it was rather impressive. The layout and sidebars make it easy to navigate, but I was much more interested in the contents, especially the creative writing Josh does from time to time. From there on, I went to see Tim's blog and enjoyed it too.

What I find interesting is that when I see a person and become friends with him, I believe I get to know them well. But when their writings are presented to me, I am often times dumbfounded as I witness a different soul unraveling in front of me. That is to say that we simply do not have the sensory faculty to see through people and read their minds. That is also to say that people have multifarious personalities and what we know may not be the whole picture.

I long to drift
All over the world
See feel smell hear and smile

To do what
To do nothing
For purposes are incentives not guidance
Life is guidance; the passage of time is guidance

Poetic

I think I can be quite poetic from time to time. I found the following piece in my AIM self-description and am lovin' it.

I looked left, then right, then left again, but still couldn't find
you. Then, down goes my spirit. I know you occupy my whole heart, but
still long for the extra physical presence of yours.

And also this...

What are we struggling for and what are the purposes of our existence?
Nietzsche would scoff at such questions as to him, life, being and the world
come into existence before rationality has reigned. We should not be too
disappointed if we failed to explain the former with the latter. In fact, Niezsche
concludes that this is the very source of our unhappiness. But what does this
have to do with us?

I still cannot stop questioning, cannot quit thinking and cannot sit idling, but
ask the same questions again and again... Where are we going with our
life and very existence?