Going back about 2.5 years, I arrived in Bay Area to do my master degree at Stanford. It was then that I landed this small part-time at a local art gallery in Palo Alto. 2.5 years…how quickly time has flown by now that I look back, and everything’s different and changing.

This weekend I found out the girl who’s been working there full-time (started slightly before me) will be leaving the area to return to the mid-west. An indeed nice and cheerful gal I’d say. Although I would not say we’re friends-friends, we’ve always exchanged small fun chit-chats at the gallery. It’s been a good time. Finding out suddenly that she’s going is a bit of a shock and a bit sad.

Prior to this, I did think about how long she will stay or if she’ll move on to another better location/job someday. The art gallery is a nice place, but reality is reality, it cannot be a permanent place for her – a young Stanford alumni also. Hence I’m happy for her departure, venturing into unknown. Brave soul.

Another good note – I will have another tourist guide in Chicago :P

I always feel more free and calm when I’m walking/hiking in nature or just sitting somewhere that lets me obsere it. For that, I am thankful for the window office I’m assigned to. Whenever it gets dull, boring, frustrating, or even angry, it is always helpful and encouraging to just take a look out the window for a few seconds. At least that’s how I feel. Take a look :)

And obviously, I am a big nature guy.

See news about New York Subway Superman

I actually saw this on the TV news. It’s one of the first few reported, pretty big news obviously. In a nutshell, Wesley Autrey jumped on top of a man who’s fallen onto the subway track and covered the man enough to save both of them from a oncoming train. For that, he received the highest NY citizen honor – a copper medal! Well, I should not be cynical. This man did something extraordinary. Seriously, I don’t know if I’ll be doing that or for many people even if I was present in the scenario. He deserves our respect. To end the news on a happy note (I feel happy for him too), Wesley is receiving rewards from random people for performing this deed, including scholarships for his daughters and $10,000 from Donald Trump. Though I thought, “Oh, it’s Donald Trump. Wouldn’t he be giving a little more?”

Oh well. We should be happy there’s some good news on the news nowadays.

I was gonna do a repost of something today but decided not. My day started crappy with a traffic ticket. It’s a bit ironic how I never get ticket for speeding though I do it frequently and by wanting to go to a bank at a place I never intended to in the 1st place, I got a ticket for right turn on red because of unfamiliarity and hence did not see the sign. I will be going to the court to attempt to waive some penalties.

Next, I returned to the gym after 2 weeks of slouching. Glad that my weight capacity has not decreased.

I did not get a chance to mention this. As of this past Sunday, I found a roommate who promptly took the room and wrote me a check for his 1st month’s rent. A US-grown Brazilian named Jean (I thought it was John…haha) Just like how people always take Ken for Kin I guess.

I was somewhat reluctant about having a roommate due to the loss of some privacy/freedom, but I have to say Jean has been a pleasant roommate for the few days.

In fact, he rented a Brazilian movie named The Man Who Copied (aka O Homem que Copiava) tonight. It started out a bit slow as a small town story but took QUITE a twist that makes you think “what the heck” half way through. It was entertaining :) Highly recommended if you want a not-so-invovled, light-hearted movie to relax in the evening but also be entertained.

At the end of the day, things got brightened up and tomorrow is another day. For that I’m grateful.

And I shall persist on my piano pieces that’s proving to become challenging -_-

One would think the execution of the pre-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would close a chapter of the events in Iraq. Not so. Take a look at Saddam’s daughter joins protest in Jordan.

Remember 2 days ago reading the news of his hanging, he doesn’t look any different than any other old person, only helpless but calm. One would feel pity if without the knowledge of his past tyranny and atrocity, but then, in some of his own people’s eyes and people who believed him, he was just doing what he must to protect them, from what they see as enemies (Americans).

So for such a person, is forgiveness an option? I’m not here nor the one to decide but here’s some thoughts.

For people who’s friends, relatives, family, or the ENTIRE family were killed because of him, they can’t help but desire revenge. But looking at the article and from numerous lessons of history, hatred only produces more hatred, and killing, well, leads to more killings. Funny that even we can use the comparisons of two markov chain transition matrixes, one defines the transition of a violent/militant policy and one a pacifist policy, also explains the same idea, such that the 2 matrixes show the militant policy results in substantially larger amount of terrorists when one calculates to the stablized states of the chain.

This means, if you are not familiar with markov chain, in a nutshell that the militant policy – what US doing in Iraq, only leads to the creation of more terrorist vs. that of the pacifist policy on a large scale. This leads one to wonder what the heck they are doing in Iraq and why are we fighting, but hey, this is not solid proof and another topic so let’s move on.

So then, I question myself if I will be able to forgive someone who killed my family WITH the understanding of the idea described above. Or perhaps I will kill him for revenge and then his family and friends will kill me and people related to me. I cannot answer for I am in no such situation. Such forgiveness requires such courage and a big heart for how it may leave yourself with a burden to carry instead by giving forgiveness.

So what do we forgive? Forgive all wrong doings? Forgive nothing? Forgive some wrong doings? Forgive family/friends but not strangers? How do you choose? What a difficult topic. I can only wish I am wiser and I apologize for the lack of conclusion.