Michelle's blog

Thank you very much for all of your messages.

I am extremely sorry that I haven't been on Ipernity for a long time, partly because I was preparing a quite difficult test for the past months, and partly because our "National Great Wall" on Internet controls is never this high. It always takes me a long time to open pages on Ipernity....Plus, Facebook, Youtube, Blogspot, etc are still being blocked...By using PROXY to log on these websites, it takes longer time than usual.

Weeks ago, I read a report saying that China lists as No. 181 on an official list of something like "Internet Freedom" ranking list. Of course, there are only 193 coutries on the list, and I am glad to know that after all these years' of developing, we are one rank ahead of North Korea. BRAVO~~

I hope things can get better after the Oct. 1st National Day. But anyway, I will log on Ipernity more often in the future and get back to the world with your beautiful photos and sharings. :-)

Regards to all of you!!

In the recent National Geographic news, a video of an alien-like deep sea squid was revealed......It lives 2.5 km underwater.

This squid seems to be a real-life version of those aliens described in the book "War of The World". Scientific research indicates that squids actually have amazingly high IQ, and they are able to solve certain problems individually. The only problem is that they don't live long enough to envolve to be something more intelligent. Say, if squids can live for 80 years, it is highly likely they will start some deep-sea parties and underwater BBQ, after all, they have enough "arms" to work/to cook.......

Modern Olympics is a battlefield not only for athletes, but also for brands.

The following are some impressive ones that can stand out from the noise:

Once it begins, it goes on...

An old post from a Chinese artist Liu Yang. Still funny to read:

German culture VS Chinese culture

(and yes, blue is German & red is Chinese)

opinion

Lifestyle

punctuality

social network

Way to show anger

queuing

Sunday streets

in restaurants

traveling

three meals

old people's daily life

imagine each other

Doing hot Yoga in summer is a bit miserable. Instead of the meditation I should have followed, I actually came up a list of my dream pets. And it did cheer me up.

You might have known that we began the national wide lament from May. 19th, one week after the earthquake. But you might not know why it was that date, why we didn't do that earlier. Because in the Chinese tradition, the 7th day after one's death has a significant meaning. On that day, the spirit of the dead will come back to visit his beloved ones for the last time. Then he will forget all the happiness or sorrows of this life and go into his next reincarnation. So the 7th day is treated as the day for farewell.

For these 3 days from the 19th to 21st, all public entertainments are stopped and all media are broadcasting images & news about the earthquake. Yes, this is overwhelming, but not about the propaganda this time. It is too sad, too heartbreaking to see and to hear about the earthquake for non-stop. It is too difficult to keep back the tears even just to watch the TV for 20 minutes.

However, the most heartbreaking moment is not about seeing the fragile human flesh, or hearing the wawls. It is about seeing the numbness caused by such tremendous grief. I see people who have lost all the cloest family members, running around and trying to help without much face expression. They seem to feel nothing when getting wounds and cuts, and they are so unusually calm when talking about their late child or parents. All these indicate potential psychic trauma. When life goes back to the normal track, when they cannot keep themselves occupied again, the feeling of losing the beloved ones forever will finally attack. I still remember the feeling of like sitting in the dark universe all alone, and then realizing the only power that can save me from total collapse is my own will. So sincerely, I pray to whatever god above to give them strength to be shining again, even if it might take a long time.

This earthquake happened on May. 12th is a terrible disaster. Up till May. 13th, around 12,000 people are reported to be killed and the earthquake center is still not accessible at the moment. So the casualty will still increase rapidly in the next few days.

Almost the whole China felt the shake this time.

I was working on the 25th floor in an office building in downtown Shanghai. At about 2:30pm that day, I suddenly felt very dizzy, so did all my colleagues. Minutes later, we realized that it was actually the building shaking. 

When I got downstaris, lots of people were already in the lobby and all looked very confused. Because outside, the city looked perfectly normal and the security guys working at the lobby said they felt nothing. But we went out of the building anyway. Later on, the main roads were alomost blocked by thousands of people running down from the surrounding office buildings.  We walked aimlessly for 10 mintues and then got the news that a 7.8 earthquake happened in central China. Like lots of the others, I immediately tried to connect my friends living in that area. But the network was totally collapsed and no one got any news from their friends/families in the earthquake area for hours. 

Luckily, my friends are all fine. But so many people have died. I just heard a news that at one primary school, almost all  young kids were dead because they were all having classes......The tragic images on TV & newspapers keep on getting us.

So, if you are in China, please join the donations on money, necessities or blood. IIf you are not, please pray for them. Thank you!

My 3^rd wisdom tooth is forever gone yesterday, with one dentist, two nurses, one dentist hammer and my tears & blood.

But who cares! I will get my last bit of wisdom out of me as soon as possible. Maybe when there are only stupid teeth left, I can figure out what kind of wisdom is that.  

Some GUY wrote the following rules from the male side to the females:

1. Breasts are for looking at and that's why we do it. Don't try to change that.

2. Saturday=sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of tides. Let it be!

3. Shopping is NOT a sport, and no, we are never going to think of it that way.

4. Crying is blackmail.

5. When asking for what you want:

        Subtle hints do not work!

        Strong hints do not work!

        Obvious hints do not work!

        JUST SAY IT!

6. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

7. If you think you are fat. You probably are. DO NOT ask us.

8. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways make you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

9. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. NOT both. If you have already known the best to do it, just do it yourself.

10. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

11. All men see only 16 colors, like the Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color to us.

12. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine, really!

13. You have enough clothes.

14. You have too many shoes.

15. I am in shape. Round is a shape

And he also said "Pass these to men to give them some laugh, also pass these to women to give them some education." HAHA~

1. You look like you are 18

2. You like to eat meat attached with bones

3. You have never kissed your mom or dad,and they have never said they love you

5. Your hair sticks up when you wake up

6. You take showers at night

7. Most girls have more body hair than you, if you are male

8. You keep a thermos of hot water available at all time

9. You have learnt some form of martial arts

10. You eat thousand-year-old eggs and smelly Toufu

11. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they always ask if you have already eaten, even if it's midnight

12. You don't tip

13. Your parents prefer you living with them, or in the same neighborhood as long as they still alive

15. You wear contact lens

16. You give money when attending weddings

17. You sing Karaoke with your friends, colleagues and even parents

18. You always cook too much

19. You know why there is no number 4 and 14 here

20. You sincerely agree with the above-mentioned and will think about adding more

I have been back from the trip for about a month,and it's time to have a bit of collection on the FAQs I have received from my family members, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, etc. Here we go:

The following 3 questions normally pop out at the very first beginning:

1. Ah you are back!! Did you enjoy the trip? Yes, very much! I love .........(bla bla bla)

2. Did you meet some interesting people? Yes, of course.

3. Any photos to share with us? Yes, but I am still working on them. There are a lot....you know....

And then:

4. Where did you visit and where do you like best? I really like Aix-en-Provence, Nice & Paris

5. Nice? Ah, there is a lake with a monster there!!!   (Silent for 5 seconds) Er....that's Ness and it's in Scotland. Nice is a city in south of France, near Cannes...(silent for another 5 seconds)

The Chinse translations for Nice & Loch Ness are the same, sorry Tristan, sorry Renaud

6. You went traveling alone? No, my French friend invited me

7. Oh? Male or female? Male

8. Boyfriend? No.....  Just a friend?  Yes.......  

   (some continue) Why not? How long have you met? How did you meet each other? He is in Shanghai?...........

FAQ only from girls:

9. You are much tanned! Didn't you use any cream or make-up? Nope, as usual

10.You get fatter? Seems not. 3 kilos in 20 days. Don't look at the face, look at the body.

We can always hear some beautiful stories about people meeting their soul-mate or love of the life during a trip. It happens quite rarely, but we always fall for it, because one can drag his mind to as far as he wants, and the fantasy can be totally different every time, which are the exact beauties of day dreams.

On my flight back to Shanghai, I watched the movie “Before Sunrise” again. I remember we were talking about it during a dinner in Aix and the discussion we had stimulated me to review the story. In the movie, here is how everything begins between a girl and a boy who meet each other on the train, and he says the following when trying to persuade her to get off the train with him: “I don’t know, all I know is that I have to catch a flight tomorrow morning and I don’t have the money for a hotel, so I was just going to walk around, and it would be more fun if you’d come with me. If I turn out to be some kind of psycho, you can just get on the next train…… Ok think of like this, jump ahead 10, 20 years, and you are married. Only your marriage doesn’t have that same energy that it used to have. You start to blame your husband, and you start to think of all those guys you met in your life. What might have happened if you’d picked up one of them, and I’m one of those guys. So think of this as time travel, from then to now to find out what you are missing out on, and what the situation now could be a gigantic favor......to you and your future husband to find out that you are not missing out anything. I’m just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, boring. You made the right choice, you are happy.”

This logic is combined with reality and certain absurdity, but is undoubtedly tempting. The story begins with it, and ends because of it. This movie is not a romantic fairytale, but being 90 minutes all about Jesse and Celine walking in the town and talking whatever comes into their mind. I think if there is real experience behind the movie, the writer presents the story in the way he remembers, not how it actually happened. Isn’t it better sometimes? After 9 years, the sequel called “Before Sunset” was shown. Equally fantastic! I have found the DVD out, and maybe watch it again tomorrow. 