Ladies team

With a new employee on board this week, the number of staff in our China office reached 20 – 4 guys, 16 gals. Some have kids, all daughters by the way. This company is cursed.

Sometimes I really need a private moment during work, probably just 2 seconds to take a deep breath and sigh in the bathroom. But half the time it’s not vacant. It is the last place I wanna say hi to a co-worker.

Me, slim, average height, involuntarily became the strongest in our team since the only guy left last year. F*** my life.

Infant Joy

春节真是一个百无聊赖的节日，似乎前前后后的一个月都不在状态。节后的北京干燥寒冷，天空终于放晴。亮马河上已经结了厚厚的一层冰，记得放假前去河边散步，有人滑冰、钓鱼、冬泳，好不热闹。

A poem to my cousin who just gave birth to a boy

Infant Joy
By William Blake

"I have no name;
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!
Sweet joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while;
Sweet joy befall thee!

PS: Technically I launched this blog in Feb 2007. So happy 5th year birthday!

Hope

What do people do when they meet during the Spring Festival? Exchange information about each other and their families. Some good; some sad. Anyway it’s a new start and let’s hope for the best.

Hope

by: Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I 've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Guilty pleasures

1. Doing nothing
It’s a long Spring Festival holiday, besides eating and sleeping, nothing else to do. Woke up early in the morning, quietly expecting a ray of sunlight to slant through the curtains. What an enjoyable moment!

2. ipad
We didn’t need an ipad before it was invented, but once we have one, we become attached to it. Every week I try the new apps and then delete them. That’s all. When it comes to writing, typing on a screen completely loses the rhythm of fingertips gliding over a physical keyboard. And for reading, I still prefer a real book – only for a touch of the paper.

3. taobao
I’ve written a post about online shopping before. Now with all the online stores closed in the holiday season, I’m a bit uneasy as if something is missing.

Midnight in Paris

Monet.
Paris.
A Moveable Feast.
A beautiful movie.

Ah! 2012

The new year means nothing but a change of number – 2012.

Look at the sky – still shrouded by smog, as if it were the end of the world.
More cars stuck on the roads as if running away from a catastrophe.
Supermarkets are packed as if a wave of panic buying were triggered.

The city becomes crazier than usual. It’s all because the lunar new year is coming!

Holiday phobia

The year end is not just about holidays and bonuses. It’s tough, hectic and weary. One gathering after another… batches of people to socialize with… A people person may enjoy it. Unfortunately, I’m not. Why are we so different? I learnt this very interesting theory in my psychology course:


Eysenck proposed that extraversion was caused by variability in cortical arousal: "introverts are characterized by higher levels of activity than extraverts and so are chronically more cortically aroused than extraverts". While it seems counterintuitive to suppose that introverts are more aroused than extraverts, the putative effect this has on behaviour is such that the introvert seeks lower levels of stimulation. Conversely, the extravert seeks to heighten his or her arousal to a more favourable level increased activity, social engagement and other stimulation-seeking behaviors.

So instead of being with acquaintances in a loud place, I’d rather stay home quietly. Leave me alone please -- I have high cortical arousal level.