When a pessimist reads Schopenhauer

I didn’t like philosophy and I used to have the preconception that those who do are kind of neurotic. However, Schopenhauer changed my view. The great philosopher awakened the pessimist living inside me.

 A few excerpts from Studies in Pessimism:

No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that Time is continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment Time stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of boredom.

In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like children in a theatre before the curtain is raised, sitting there in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a blessing that we do not know what is really going to happen. Could we foresee it, there are times when children might seem like innocent prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life, and as yet all unconscious of what their sentence means. Nevertheless, every man desires to reach old age; in other words, a state of life of which it may be said: "It is bad to-day, and it will be worse to-morrow; and so on till the worst of all."

The delight which a man has in hoping for and looking forward to some special satisfaction is a part of the real pleasure attaching to it enjoyed in advance. This is afterwards deducted; for the more we look forward to anything, the less satisfaction we find in it when it comes.

To be continued...

修鞋记

一直觉得小区门口的修鞋摊是个很有人情味的地方。修鞋的女子大概三十几岁，似乎跟周围的街坊都很熟。

春节假期后的第一个周末去修鞋，路过的一些老人都会跟她打个招呼，问声过年好，顺便拉拉家常。聊天中得知她刚坐了三十多个小时汽车从甘肃回到北京，我问她是甘肃哪里的，她说老家在陇南那边，靠近四川。我这才注意到她脸上还真有一抹高原红。也许那只是常年风吹日晒留下的痕迹。

我不禁好奇起来。她在北京会住怎样的房子？过怎样的生活？为什么要背井离乡，来大城市做这么辛苦的工作？我想如果自己生在农村，大概会留在家乡种地吧。

类似的问题我考虑过很多年都没有找到答案。或者我只是在杞人忧天罢了。

修鞋那天天气还算晴朗，站在阳光下有感而发。

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.