Since I left Boston on August 17th, I have not been writing blog at all.  I was just busy with school - readings and activities.  And it's so hot in Virginia!  Gosh Boston is like the north pole when compared to Virginia.  I even took a shower 4 times yesterday.  It's like the moment I twist my body to pick out a book on the shelf, I sweat. 

 

There have been a lot going on on campus.  New (cute) faces walking around Grounds.. hmm.. but I'm so busy these days that I have no time to put my thoughts into word like I use to when I was in Boston.  I don't know if this tight schdule will eventually make me a "confused" person like I was last year.  You know, like when people say "Meditate so that you can focus your mind on one thing."  But the thing is that I'm kept too busy that I can't afford to meditate, or I just forgot to meditate.  Ok, let's not go so far as to meditate, just think about keeping my mind focused.  Hopefully this semester I can better control my mind so that I know what I'm doing and I can spare some time (even if if I have very little time) to contemplate on what's going on with my life. 

 

But now I need to sleep.  My first class tomorrow is at 8.

I just finished writing 26 pages of memoir!  I couldnt believe I did it.  Actually there were so many things I had to leave out because my life in Singapore was just so eventful... And I'm tired, too.  , switching back and forth between financial crisis and life experience.  I 've been writing essays for weeks now.. haven't been using my left brain (is it the left brain that do calculations?) except for when I do grocery shopping and look at calories and saturated fat content.

 

I just talked to my mom.. She is so cute haha.. she dug out my short letter I wrote to her on Mother's Day in 1994 and scanned it to me.  There were only a few short sentences saying that I loved my mom and I wanted to live with her forever.  A little drawing of me hugging my mom was at the bottom left corner of the paper.  She also attached the draft of her speech to the shole school for Mother's Day when my brother and I were still in primary school, or perhaps I haven't even entered primary school that time.  She was like the representative of all the moms in the school.  From every sentence I read about a mother's care to her child, I could imagine how it is being done to me.  She wrote it from her experience, and wvery word is true. 

 

I love my mom.

 

I'm also very tired now.. My brain is drained from writing essays... but the half an hour phone conversation with my mom just now revived me a little.  She always has funny things to tell me.. "Tell me immediately if you know when dad is coming home so I can be prepared, ok?"

 

Haha.. Sure!

It's getting cold again.. and so I start to appreciate hot weather a little bit.  Actually it's about 25C during the day - not that cold compared to the weather a few months ago - and 15C when I sleep..  But my feet feel so cold, so I look up on the Internet if having cold feet is a sign of some health problem or some psycho problem. 

 

Then I discover that cold sensation to the feet can come from poor circulation, which means a person with cold feet may be prone to having diseases like this sound-funny Buerger's disease.  Buerger's disease is an inflammation of small blood vessels in the legs which occurs to every one person in 2,000.  Is that considered rare?  I think so.  It's like saying there are less than 10 people in UVA with that disease.

 

Cold feet can also come from other health conditions like sclerosis, heart disease and disordered nervous system.  (Then I paused.  "What the heaven is sclerosis?"  So I looked it up.  Oh, it's a thickening or hardening of a part of a body, like an artery.  It happens because of excessive formation of fibrous tissues of an organ.)

 

So many diseases are linked to the cold sensation of feet.  Hmm, so how do I cure it?  I want to prevent those diseases to actually happen to me because I know that, at least at this point, I don't have such diseases.  Scrolling down... "Keep your feet warm and dry by wearing natural fiber socks (like wool.)"  Wear socks in summer?  That's not quite a good idea.  Not only my legs will sweat, I will look stupid, too.  (I thought I would look stupid because the first image that came to my mind was me wearing Japanese socks that were raised up above the knees.)

 

Ok, so I need to improve my heart and the circulation system.  (Not like I need more love from you so that my feet will feel warm.)  How about taking vitamin E?  I remember learning in secondary school that vitamin E helps improve one's performance in sex.  It's like vitamin E improves circulation, so some things harden when they need to and some things soften when they also need to.  Hmm vitamin E may work.  Better circulation, warmer feet.  I am getting a bottle of vitamin E.

I can't believe it's already August 11th!  A few more days to turn in my Econs papers and my memior.  Then a few more days to travel.  And then a few more days to go back to the routine of going classes 5 days a week and cramming with other 18 thousands people on campus.

 

Do you guys eat a lot when you have to do work?  Like when you have heavy workload, do you eat animal biscuits with low-fat peanut butter, brownie-cheesecake (the oh-God-heaven-is-real-2-gorgeous-in-1-piece type), apples, bananas, soymilk, cereals (not breakfast cereal, I mean the all-day-all-night cereal), or plain yoghurt?  I think that's gonna be a horrible lifestyle.  Not much fat in the diet but it's just oh-so-high in carb...  I pity those who can't control themselves on their eating when they are stressed or simply busy.  I mean people wish they have power.. power to conquer to world (like Brain, Pinky's friend), power to earn a lot of money, power to be superior over spouse, etc.  But these peopl don't even have the power to control their own diet...

 

Poor Palmy

I forget all my sadness when I see old people or babies smile.  Their smiles seem more genuine than the smiles of teens or adults.

 

I left my apt early this morning because I was so disturbed by the noise from road contruction outside my window.  "I'm writing my econs papers... I just need a little extra concentration, but why you have to dig holes on this particular day.."  It would be too harsh to say that to those men.  They were already working so hard under the hot sun, so I decided to shut up and just leave my apt... Take a small loop to avoid the noise and the dust.

 

I'm also pretty worried about my papers.  East Asian crisis and governance in relation to economic development - what's there to write?  NO, actually there's a lot to write, but I just don't how to put the information together.. Anyway, I'm lazy too.. I still have work from another class to finish.  I kept thinking about my work and some other bothering stuff on my way to the library.

 

When I reached Harvard yard, I heard even louder noise... but this time, it's not the kind of irritating noise from digging holes (ok, I'll say construction.)  "That sounds kinda fun..  Is it some kinda summer fun fair on campus?"  There, on the temporary-built wooden stage, a group of middle-aged and old men and women were dancing in front of a huge sign that said "... SALSA..."

 

Then I looked at the crowd, about 80 of them, sitting in groups below the stage.  I realized their total age might have reached 5000 years easily.  They all looked so contented, chatting, smiling, laughing, and just forgetting all their sadness and fear.  It's probably some kind of community service for the elderly in Cambridge organized by Harvard.  I smiled myself when I saw grannies dancing, turning round and round and just enjoying themselves.  I loved their smiles and their laughters.  They warmed my heart, and cooled me down at the same time.

 

I like to see people smile, and I want to keep smiling even though my life is not smooth sailing.  But, "salsa"?  I'm wondering if it;s the same word as the kind of Latin or Mexican chili dip.  Have I already lost all my memory - my concentration - now? 

What would an ice cube say if you were to put her in an oven at 350, just like when you bake your brownies?

 

Nothing, I guess.  In fact she would have melted away and disappeared even before she could utter a word! 

I can't believe bears hibernate in winter.  I feel like hibernating right now.  Spending my summer in Boston is like staying in the tropical zone - Bangkok or Singapore.  The moment I step out of the house, I feel as fragile as the little ice cube.

 

 

We can no longer judge one's gender by one's size of boobs alone.  On Monday while I was walking back from class, I saw one lady walking in my opposite direction.  I knew she was a woman because her breast size was rather noticeable.  But her hairstyle didn't seem womanly, so I needed more information to confirm my hypothesis.

 

My eyes then traveled down the breast to gather more observation.  However, they simply passed though the person's center of gravity as there was nothing "significant" enough to counterpoint my hypothesis.  She must be a woman, I repeated silently. 

 

Suddenly, "Holy!  It's a man!"

 

As my sight was placing on the person's legs, I knew my hypothesis was completely wrong.  The amount and the thickness of hair on "his" legs was monumental.  At that moment I realized which two parts of my body that people were going to base on when they judged me.  I hoped no one would ever look at me and say "Holy! It's a man!"