While walking around the neighborhood as a form of unqualified exercise yesterday, I saw a boy of about ten to twelve years of age cutting hair for his father. They do look alike, or is it my imagination, and I assumed they are father and son. The boy looked rather skilled and showed remarkable composure. … Continue reading Haircut →

I enjoy "Harriet" a lot and shed a lot of tears, but at the same time I'm disappointed with the movie which didn't stick with Harriet's real stories. Her carrying of a live chicken is not depicted--there's no mention of the time when she was stopped by patrol but saved herself pretending to chase her … Continue reading Enjoy it →

I have to go out to buy groceries. To avoid the weekend crowd in the Asian grocery stores around here, I didn't go out for the last two days except a long walk in the neighborhood. The spring flowers are mostly gone; trees gain a deeper shade of green; wind is comfortably warm on one's … Continue reading Stay At Home →

When will everything go back to normal? Don't tell me that's never going to happen. I don't want reasonable skepticism no matter how healthy that is. I want hopes, illusions, and delusional optimism. Escapism is desperately needed for this trying time. Too bad that I've already passed the age of mad absorption in a book … Continue reading Escapism →

I'm glad she called. She wanted to ask an urgent question about somebody we both know and I replied quickly and right to the point. We haven't talked with each other for quite a while. Being just acquaintance doing a project together for a while, we separated quietly and there seems to be no occasion … Continue reading I’m Glad She Called →

There's an unintended advantage of wearing a face mask, which I didn't realize until today--no need to fix your hair or even wear makeup before you step out. Face masks can be liberating, time saving, anxiety reducing. I mean the anxiety of feeling yourself not looking as good as you should look. Now it is … Continue reading The Unintended Advantage →

Some stores have gained sudden popularity since the start of the lockdown. I am talking about the Asian grocery store right around the corner from where I live. By the way, when will everything go back to normal again? I yearn for the good old days when we complained about the boredom of living in … Continue reading Sudden Popularity →

My friend has an iPhone and the battery needs constant charging. Whenever it is not charged, the battery bars go down from fully charged to zero in just one long phone call or one wechat conversation. "Replace the battery at once." I said, wondering if it sounds silly to be asked so obvious a question … Continue reading Phone Batteries →

I reordered three bottles of "Wellness Formula", less for the real purpose of wellness improvement and more for alleviating my wellness anxiety. In the era of face masks and virus scare, anything that is remotely related with increased immunity is a comfort to possess. They came in much smaller bottles than I anticipated. I bought … Continue reading Wellness Anxiety →

I must have chosen this video because of its title, "From Paris With Love". My mind wiggles a little whenever it hears "Paris"; my mind wiggles a little bit more when the title reminisces one of the Jame Bond series; my friend's mind wiggles also when he saw John Travolta in the trailer--I didn't notice … Continue reading Because of the Title →

My friend said New Jersey is getting more rainy each year and I totally agree with him. When the rain comes, it comes for two or three days at least, sometimes for a week; often a light rain is not actually falling but rather misting and saturating the air--even with an umbrella, your face and … Continue reading A Cloudy Day →

I woke up at six o'clock in the morning, groggy and uncomfortable, wanting to sleep more but unable to, wanting to read something but impossible to focus. Half an hour later, not knowing how, I went back to a shallow dream, which I can't remember now what it was about, and woke up at nine … Continue reading A Day →

One tablespoon too much and everything is ruined. Now I look at the oyster sauce, the innocent looking perpetrator, and imagine an ideal world where everything is reversible--including the cooking process--and nothing regrettable needs to be regretted. The problem is that in order to save time, I made a big batch of it. The shear … Continue reading One Tablespoon Too Much →

The headache came last night and wouldn't go away even now, 24 hours later. Since headache is one of the symptoms of the new virus, I naturally suspect that I might have got it. Actually, a random cough here and there, an occasional sneeze, or even the gurgling sound from the stomach can alert the … Continue reading Headache →

Watching "Parasite" with a friend, I was a little astonished to find that he mostly sided with the rich family. I am rather ambiguous about the moral issues here and more sympathetic towards the poor family, who has to hustle in order to survive. I thought everybody thinks like me, but as often is the … Continue reading Watching “Parasite” →

Getting up at six o'clock, one can enjoy the twilight for almost an hour, from the early darkness with a diffusion of light almost purple-ish to nearly seven o'clock when the morning light, obscured by thick clouds, arrives reluctantly. Turning on the light will spoil the natural grey mixture of light and shadow; not turning … Continue reading At Dawn →

Route 27 is almost empty at 10AM. More than one of my friends detest this road, especially this section of the road in Edison--congestion at every crossroad, cars going in and out of the plazas and strip malls, double yellow line disregarded for good reasons. More than one suffered an accident or narrowly escaped one. … Continue reading Empty →

Whatever I tell, you will never hear. Whatever I think, you will never know. Every time I hear about Woodbridge and its virus cases, I worry about you. I wish you've already left there. No soccer tutoring for the school there; no reading to kids in a straw hat; no photo with the mayor. I … Continue reading Never Say Never →

I never know I have mob mentality. Probably due to my sloth personality and my dislike of physical activities, my mob mentality has never had a chance to manifest itself. Well, not until recently. Finally the pandemic has unleashed my inner mobster, if not in anything else, at least in buying things. I bought so … Continue reading Mob Mentality →

Suddenly people are all wearing masks in stores and even in parks--something that was not considered advisable for more than a month is becoming advisable now. I don't know what's the underlying reasoning for wearing mask now, for not wearing masks before, for the change of direction. The news have been continuously depressing. It's more … Continue reading Face Mask →

It is said more people are buying the book "The Plague" by Albert Camus due to the coronavirus. I've always thought I would read it, since my college days, but I've never done that. The problem is that I'm stuck with "The Rebel", the topic of which is relevant to my life and endearing to … Continue reading “The Plague” →

There's no better time to finish "In Xanadu" than right now, when I am eager to escape to another world, if not physically at least mentally, away from the depressing virus news and the seemingly never ending lockdown. Yet I'm not able to proceed from the 27% mark of the book which I had forced … Continue reading “In Xanadu” →

There's a rumor that all the Asian grocery stores in the region are going to be shut--dwindling supplies, scared cashier quitting jobs, and probably the stress of keeping up with the cleaning of the aisles and the protection of the staff. Face masks are nowhere to be found for a while and it would be … Continue reading Rumors →

A surprise discovery of a nearby park today--no need to drive to the wooded area near Menlo Park Mall, or to the walking trails near Rutgers University. The real distance between this park and where I live is only 1500 feet, but there's no direct road possible. I have to walk the opposite direction, pass … Continue reading A Nearby Park →

There's a new drive-through virus testing place in Monmouth County opening up. I really want to know if I am one of those people who's positive but without symptoms. Should I go? My friend said that I need to drink a large cup of hot tea to raise my temperature first before I can be … Continue reading Am I Positive? →

Cooking has become a part of my daily entertainment since the virus locked down began. I've had a love hate relationship to cooking all my life, starting from the day when I heard my mom complaining about the responsibility of cooking. That was a sunny day and we were about to have lunch. I pointed … Continue reading Love and Hate of Cooking →

Somehow it feels that a big jump in the number of virus cases will come soon. The grim foreboding. You don't want to face it, but you feel that you can hear the approaching sound of terror. Today the number of virus cases are climbing a frightening steep curve to 427 in New Jersey. Maybe … Continue reading Romance in the Mind →

Somehow I can’t concentrate today, for unknown reasons. Reading “In Defense Women”, no concentration; reading “Emma”, without going forward for several pages; writing is equally without progress. Feeling my own weakness and lack of improvement, but still dreaming of improvement. Reasoning cannot deter a person’s unreasonable thoughts about herself, me being the best example of … Continue reading Uncertainty →

No rubbing alcohol No hand sanitizer No toilet paper No vinegar "Why vinegar?" I asked. "Boil it and the vinegar steam will disinfect." My friend told me. "Try the God and Silver Flower, the herb of little sticks, bitter flavor. It kills the virus." My friend told me too. Well, this is my virus strategy: … Continue reading Virus, Virus →

I haven't seen any flowers around, though it's the early spring, though the weather turns almost 70 degrees today. Yet I have the allergy. It's a sore throat, mild, not bothering me except when swallowing, not getting better or worse but not going away, for a week by now. At first I didn't know it's … Continue reading Allergy or Not →

Menlo Park Mall was quite empty in the evening, compared to its usual state of bustling liveliness. No doubt it's caused by the fear of the new coronavirus, the figure of which climbed to 23 of confirmed cases in New Jersey, according to the hanging flat screen at the dry cleaner. The children's play area … Continue reading At the Mall–Empty Due to Virus Scare →

There's an ache in my throat, sometime better--usually in the morning, sometime worse--usually at night. I thought it would go away but it has lingered, for three days now. A mild form of the most feared coronavirus that is widespread? Who knows. It's so much like a common flu and it's so mild that I … Continue reading Flu or Not Flu →

She was several steps before me and went to the recycle bins first. When she turned back to the big dumpster, we met face to face. I was carrying six bags of garbage—all plastic bags which have been a source of my guilt for quite a while as somebody deserving a scolding by an environmentalist. … Continue reading At the Dumpster →

I accidently saw a Fran Lebowitz video on youtube, in which she talked about her sloth like habit and her indolence. I feel like sloth too, for example, today. Other than reading books, I am motivated to do nothing at all. There are quite a lot of things to do—laundry, checkbook balancing, vacuuming, shopping for … Continue reading The Sloth Girl →

It's difficult to summon up enough will to exercise every day. Even though I contrived various ways to distract myself during the exercise, so that it doesn't feel as boring as it really is, exercise is something unfavorable akin to taking medicine or going to a dentist. When I was young, my mom loved herbal … Continue reading Exercise →

I didn't think I would like this book, "Climbing with Mollie", but after reading it, I do like it. The only regret is that it is too short and I would like it to be longer, with more characters, more climbing stories, more dangerous situations etc. The book really piqued my interest in the life … Continue reading Climbing →

Thoughts are so scattered, disjointed that it is hard to string them together. I feel that they seem to exist in defiance of being put together into something coherent. I can write notebooks after notebooks of one thought after another, but it seems that I just put them onto a dusty shelf to be stored, … Continue reading What to Write →

Reading just cannot be done in the same day with writing. At first I thought I could just order my mind to do the switch, but it just couldn't happen. Once the mind is hooked on reading, it refuses to go to reading, and vice versa. Not only our heart has a will of its … Continue reading What to do? →