My friend's refrigerator died just when the refrigerator is most needed in this 90 degree (Fahrenheit not Celsius) weather. Not completely dead. Just the freezer part. He blames his bad luck, considers the manufacture unreliable, and opts to buy a new one of a different brand instead of calling for a repair man. At the … Continue reading Too Much Distancing
Month: June 2020
Alternative Interpretation
There's always at least one alternative interpretation to events and stories of a philosophy book or a psychology book. I mean a book like "Emotional Intelligence". I wonder what will happen if the author change his angle a little bit and add the cultural and ethnic differences in his interpretation of emotional intelligence. For example, … Continue reading Alternative Interpretation
Incomprehensible Paradise
I am completely lost. I don't know what "Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained" is talking about. Is there even a plot for this long endless poem? I bought this book because it is on sale at Audible. Time and again, such a preference for discount has led to my not liking or even understanding a … Continue reading Incomprehensible Paradise
My Favorite
"The Philanderer" is the best play from Shaw that I've ever read, as good as "Man of Destiny", better than "Mrs Warren's Profession", Arms and The Man, You Never Can Tell, The Devil's Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Don Juan in Hell, Major Barbara, Pygmalion, Heartbreak House, The Apple Cart, The Millionairess. I … Continue reading My Favorite
The Other Three Or More
"The Descent Of Man And Other Stories" is as interesting as the previous short story collections I read of Wharton. Actually I like her short stories even better than her novels. Comparing her with other short story writers I like, for example, Alice Monroe, Everlyn Waugh, Issac Babel, John Cheever... Why do I want to … Continue reading The Other Three Or More
Exercise Or Not Exercise
A sloth doesn't want to exercise when she doesn't have to, but as time goes by, the sloth wants to be a healthy sloth. So she starts to exercise, in addition to buying grocery at Trader Joe's, reducing nocturnal activities, reconciling to the fact that not every book is worth to be read cover to … Continue reading Exercise Or Not Exercise
The Views Of The Beholders
What is Juneteenth? What did Thomas Jefferson and George Washington do--I mean what did they do other than being a proper founding father? Now suddenly there come new terms to be learned from the news, new facts about famous figures to be revealed to ignorant people like me. History seems no longer a boring dogmatic … Continue reading The Views Of The Beholders
Indispensable
I got up late today. Almost 9 o'clock when I woke up from a vague dream about something happened in the sitcom "Frasier", which I watched before going to sleep. There's no time to lose since I had to be at "Trader Joe's" before shoppers as ravenous as me emptying the shelves of my favorite … Continue reading Indispensable
Conversation About Cars
The year, the model, the trend, the size, the color, the brand. I have a friend who knows a lot about these things. He pays attention to them. I don't. How people defer! He has a seven-year-old BMW. It is an admirable brand, but it makes trouble at least three or four times a year … Continue reading Conversation About Cars
The Name Of The Store
I can't believe I discovered Trader Joe's only three days ago. Not that I didn't know its existence. I heard about it for years. Then a couple of years back, when I drove past Barnes & Noble on Route 1, I saw, at the place where the bookstore used to stand and show off its … Continue reading The Name Of The Store
The Impact
The impact of this new virus is not restricted to all the regular perils and sufferings of a lockdown. The travel between the U.S. and many Asian destinations are completely thrown into chaos. Stories and rumors abound. A college student couldn't fly back home from Newark Airport directly and had to resort to an outrageous … Continue reading The Impact
Perspectives Old And New
The recent protests have brought me perspectives that I really haven't thought much about before. I've read something about Christopher Columbus in "The Half Has Never Been Told", but the book is written in a less entertaining way than what I prefer that I only have a very vague memory of what it says. Learning … Continue reading Perspectives Old And New
The Descent Of Memory
“A serious piece of work—the expression of your convictions. I tell you there’s nothing the public likes as much as convictions—they’ll always follow a man who believes in his own ideas." I highlighted it but I have no recollection of it. Actually I read half of "The Descent of Man" already--when did I do that?--but … Continue reading The Descent Of Memory
Happy and Happier
I like "The Happiness Hypothesis" a lot although I don't always agree with the author. His elephant metaphor is very apt and I too have often felt that I am riding an elephant which has a mind of its own. The thing is I want to let the elephant be natural and unforced and inspiring, … Continue reading Happy and Happier
Crucial Exploration
I thought it would be more suitably titled "Crucial Exploration" rather than "Crucial Instances". I like everything Wharton wrote, almost indiscriminately, even if when she's exploring different possibilities with her writing in her "Crucial Instances". Some people say "Crucial Instances" are better than her first short story collection "The Greater Inclination", but I have no … Continue reading Crucial Exploration
Eating Vicariously
I don't know how to use the word "vicariously", but it's a word I have always wanted to use and never got to do it, until now. Even though I've never used it, it's a word I can never forget after the first encounter since it describes modern life, modern love, modern enjoyment so aptly. … Continue reading Eating Vicariously
A Video and A Statue
I watched the news of the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, UK and the statue of Leopold II in Brussels, but I don't connect the dots. I don't know these two people and I don't much care of the significance of their statues. Of course I want to care, I am … Continue reading A Video and A Statue
Thoughts New And Old
Growing up, I've never heard any of my neighbors having any trouble with the police. Of course that's very much a half rural, almost un-industrialized environment where almost everybody knows everybody else. Even if you don't know that particular person, you know somebody who knows him. The unemployment rate is very high among young people … Continue reading Thoughts New And Old
What I think
I can't help feeling seriously inadequate right now that all me and my friends can talk about is keeping away from the street and hoping that no Asian stories getting looted or set on fire. The immigrants community is a little out of loop from the surrounding society. We take stricter caution for coronavirus and … Continue reading What I think
Not Quite Like Onigiri
It doesn't taste like the real Japanese rice ball--onigiri--I had before. Something is off but I don't know what it is. My enthusiasm for cooking has waned to the point that I don't mind it is real onigiri or not as long as it is eatable. I admit it is eatable. How can it not … Continue reading Not Quite Like Onigiri
