周末的作业, 中国素质教育 做了一周末的作业，厌倦不已。然却忆起了初中时住校上强化班的时光。适逢教育改革，学生减压。老师布置的作业并无因此削减。当时的班规是作业不写好者不许上课，屡次不改者要带家长。万般无奈只能在周日和同学一起抄袭彼此的作业。现在想想自己对有些学科的憎恶之情或多或少就是从那时候积累起的。我从来不抄英语，英文我发现自己做比抄还快。 虽然当时作业的完成和学期的成绩没有丝毫关系，我总因中国素质教育繁重的课业压力，对中国教育予以恨之入骨的情愫。教育制度之无理而野蛮，引人发指。 如若有志同道合者怀振兴国家之夙愿，余当与君共谋教育改革之大计。 BTW, I am currently pursuing a Bachelor Degree in the US, so at the beginning of my notebook entry, I was saying that I had been doing my college homework for the whole weekend. Just to make sure the context is apprehensible. :)

Of the Appropriation of Civilizations Of the Appropriation of Civilizations In much of the known world on our planet, physical entities are of certain belongings exclusive to their owners. So are civilizations along the lines of one’s ancestry. However, the ownership of civilization, comparable to tangible objects, transcends mere proprietorship. No one is entitled to the sophistication of their civilization unless one devotes themselves to the study of it. Like all the other tools invented and employed by humanity to facilitate all of our industries, civilization continues on one’s timeline of existence provided there is sufficiency of maintenance.

Or if that matters at all Two summers ago I volunteered at a Nursing Home in Minnesota so I could be with people, mostly elder ladies. My voluntary work occurred daily at the beginning but wound up sporadic after two weeks till the end of summer. My host mom at the time once asked me if I were truly humanitarian and cared about those little old ladies in their 80s and 90s because it seemed odd that an 18-year-old young man could be more fond of being surrounded by elders on the verge of dying, than to be with friends at his own age. True, depressingly, every once a few weeks someone died. They carried away with them all their memories and emotions. The utmost cruel conclusion of a human life, somehow, ought to be death. It was not death that inspired me, after all. It was their struggle to live the last breath of their lives. Most of them couldn't walk. Their muscles were so weak that literally everything they had to do to continue their lives were assisted by caregivers. They fell asleep at any unpredictable time and sometimes it made me feel they were so close, but also so far away, in their own worlds. Still some just never woke up again. The closer to the point of death, I fathom, the closer it is for us to apprehend life itself. I often wonder, after that voluntary experience, that if I am fortunate to live up to that ripe age, what I will have come up with when I am sitting in a wheel chair. That image has helped me ever since, to let go, let live, and live.

What do you think of Chinese guys?

I know it's more or less about national stereotypes; but it would be really interesting to know how people around the world actually think about guys that are of roughly, if I were right, one tenth of the world's population.

Honesty to yourself If honesty to others is uneasy considering circumstances, honesty to yourself is much harder. I guess that's when enlightenment happens, when you are true to yourself.

Mirror Self in mirror, Existence in both.

Sunset When the Sun sets, Let it all fade. Blood darkens; Veins burst. Morals relinquish. Cease, seize, seeds.

Burned eye lips I cooked some salmon and burned my eye lips a little bit. Every time I hurt myself I instantly realize how fragile life is, and how fortunate I am to have what I do at the moment. Like I could have lost my eyes and be blind the rest of my life, but instead I am still able to see. Helen Keller taught me well - a lesson about being thankful for having enough.

"Please teach me!" Well, so I woke up with two alarms and had a Japanese class via Skype and now it's about 20 minutes to 8 o'clock in the morning. The lesson itself was just like every other one I had with a Japanese language tutor on italki but there was one thing this new Japanese teacher said, really stroke me and kept me inspired. When we were going through the textbook with English explanations of the grammatical structures of the Japanese sentences she taught me, we ran across a word, ''declarative,'' but she was unable to pronounce it. Now if you are familiar with what Jesus said - ''students are not greater than their teacher (NLT).''- you will know where I'm coming from. She, instead of skipping the word itself and continuing her instruction, asked me how to pronounce it. ''Please teach me!'' she requested, with earnestness. She could've chosen not to even mention about something she couldn't read though. She didn't. This experience with her reminded me of how studious Japanese people have been through the centuries and how they flourished. I adore that.