HHC Blog

When I saw the word “Twist”, I thought of the moments when someone had twisted my words. Twisted words produce twisted emotions. How could I take a picture of either one? Then again, do I really want to see a picture of twisted words or twisted emotions? Then again, maybe, just maybe… I do like to see it (?).

What about a twisted mind?

Inspired by: Weekly Photo Challenge (http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/)

While staring at the Eiffel Tower, Wei asked, “If Eiffel Tower is not an icon of France, do you think people would like it as much as they do now?”
I couldn’t answer his question. But it was obvious that we couldn’t take our eyes off the tower.

This is my entry for Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge.

Is it true that only aged trees would show their roots above the ground like this? I mean normal trees…

And after we have aged, we, too, would let others know a little more about ourselves.

Sunset at Bay Water House, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland

I am going to take a 2-week vacation starting from tomorrow. “Vacation” sounds strange for a retired person, you probably think. For me, vacation means I don’t do anything I normally do, no cooking, no cleaning (not that I have done a lot of these normally), maybe no blogging (not sure if I will have internet connection where I will be). If I can, I would post some pictures during these 2 weeks…

It is a bad time to take a 2-week break from blogging. I recently announced my blog on my Facebook, and made some friends in the blogging community. I am really enjoying blogging and happy to see people visiting my blog. Two weeks is a long time. Will readers remember to come back 2 weeks later? I hope so, but I really don’t know.

But isn’t that true for many things happened in our life? I mean we can worry sick for this and that, while life keeps going on. Well, I have a piece of good news for you young people: when you get old, you tend to worry less. I think it is because when you get old, you begin to see that “life is too short”, and “everything takes much longer to get it done”, and you are sure, finally, that sky is not going to fall.

I started blogging in 1999 or 2000, I forgot. I’d blogged once a week for several years. Then it became once a month… once a year. And then I stopped completely. At that time, blogging did several things for me: (1) practicing writing English (2) sharing my thoughts and stories like most writers do (3) providing mental support to my sister Karin, who was diagnosed with breast cancer 12 years ago.

To be honest, when I restarted blogging this time, I had no idea what I was going to write about. I just thought blogging might help me fill in some of the emptiness spot that Karin used to occupy. But as days go by, I suddenly realize I do have more stories/thoughts to share. I want to share things I wish I had known when I was young. I want to ask question that I’ve always wanted to ask.

I am excited about my vacation. At the same time, I am so looking forward to blog again. Maybe two weeks is not that long… yes?

Imaging cooking in this kitchen – no gas or electric stove, you couldn’t start the fire… and your mother-in-law is hungry…

I like reading books. Most of the time, I don’t remember what I have read, but some books I remember them clearly. When I was in junior high, I read a book about a Chinese woman who was abused by her mother-in-law both mentally and physically. I remember thinking how could anyone live such a miserable life. It was worse than dying, I would tell her over and over. And it was at that very young age, I promised myself that I would never put myself into a situation like that.

Happiness is a word, which is used to describe a certain mental state. When you are in that state, you feel good and maybe even a little excited.

I am happy when I meet (get to know) nice people. They don’t even have to know my existence; I am just happy that there are nice people around. For example, I recently started following . Don gives good advices to other bloggers; he encourages us to follow other bloggers’ blog and even invites us to tell others about our blog on his blog. He’s inspired me!

I am happy when I see a great piece of art. I discovered via Don’s blog. I love her photos – they make me happy. Really!

I am happy when I have a nice meal at a restaurant. It doesn’t have to be a fancy restaurant, but it has to be comfy, and has good food. Ok, I admit, I like romantic restaurants.

I am happy when realizing my old friends are still remembering me, even though I have a habit of being a silent observer from time to time.

I think what bothers me the most about that Chinese woman in the story is that she couldn’t be herself. I still feel sad for her.

I used to collect maple leaves. In the fall, whenever I was under a maple tree, I would pick some colorful leaves from the ground and later carefully place each in a book.

One July day, while getting ready to visit my sister Karin at Albany, I asked my roommate if she wanted anything from New York.

“Red maple leaves,” she said and laughed.

She didn’t know that I had left a box of dried maple leaves at Karin’s house.

A picture of my mother and my sister Karin…

Mother’s Day is coming. The following is what my sister Karin wrote about our mother. (Karin passed away last Nov.)

***

My Mother – the Greatest

Mom was a very good mother. She always prepared our breakfast early in the morning and was always home when I came back from school. Mom washed clothes by hands and hung them up on the cloth line for drying. Then she walked to the supermarket to buy vegetables and meat for the day. Sometimes, I went grocery shopping with her; she was treated nicely and respectfully by all the vendors in the market.   Mom pampered us; her only requirement out of us was to study hard and get good grades at the school. She seldom asked us to do house chores. She especially wanted her girls to have a good education since she had missed so many opportunities because she didn’t have one.

Mom was very smart in managing money. With dad’s little salary, she somehow managed to have sufficient food on the table and never complained. One time someone suggested dad to teach at a local school as a second job. But mother said dad’s health was more important than money and rejected the idea. Both of my parents had never spent any money on themselves.

***

I remember one Chinese New Year, the sound of firecrackers woke me up at 4 am, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. That was probably the only day that I got up before Mom did. Mom was our alarm clock. If we needed to get up early, all we had to do was to let her know, and she would wake us up by the time we’d specified. “Five more minutes,” we would beg. And she would try to wake us up 5 minutes later.

I miss my mother. I miss my sister Karin.

Being Happy (My Happiness Project)

I have read two or three more chapters of The Happiness Project. To be honest, the most useful tip I get out of the book is about cleaning/organizing my house (my room). After reading the book for four months, I’ve realized that, in general, I am already a happy person. Now that I am retired, I am even happier.

It is not a cheerful day today – one of those gray days. I’m a little bit depressed in the morning. If everyone has a quota to meet for being unhappy, my alcoholic brother, no doubt, has helped me exceeded my unhappy quota. That gives me more reason to be happy the rest of the time.

At noon, we visit a local bank to understand their services. The branch manager patiently explained every feature their bank has. He is earnest and trusty. Talking to people like that makes me happy.

I am so surprised when I see an email in my inbox saying “Don Charisma is now following your blog”. I haven’t blogged for a while – retirement makes me somewhat lazy, lazy but happy. Who would like to follow a not-so-active blog? Of course, the first thing I do is to check him out. It turns out he is an interesting person. After reading his blog for 20-30 minutes, I’ve learned (1) to respect the “community” (2) pictures are important (3) making others happy may be easier than I think. (Thanks Don for brightening my day and motivating me to blog again.)

Being happy is not that hard if I can keep being appreciative. It’s a happy day!

Thinking Back

I am at the age that I think back a lot. I thought I would share some with you.

Teacher Zhang

Teacher Zhang wasn’t one of those attractive women, whom you would look twice when you saw her in the hallway. But every time she walked passing our classroom, my classmates and I never failed saluting her with our eyes because she was the best dressed teacher in our high school. In fact, she was the only teacher who wore trendy clothes! Rumor said that she never wore the same dress twice. Some students suspected that she owned a clothing store.

One day, ten minutes after Teacher Lin started our class, we heard Teacher Zhang’s footsteps. Again, we all turned our heads to watch her. For a split second, Teacher Lin wasn’t sure what was going go, but soon he joined us. When Teach Zhang disappeared from our sight, teacher Lin grinned and asked: “Do you guys do this all the time?”

Thinking back, I really appreciate Mr. Lin allowed us to behave like teenage girls. Some other teachers, for sure, would scold us. Many years later, I went back to visit my high school and saw Teacher Lin. We had a nice chat. It was easy to see why he was one of our favorite teachers.

Yesterday was Chinese New Year. Happy Chinese New Year!

We have a cold winter this year. Windy and cold. The day before yesterday I saw several groups of Canadian Geese flying northwest. Did they know something I didn’t? Had their leader made a mistake? I felt like shouting to them: “South is that way!” My husband told me they were looking for open water. He convinced me that they knew more than I did – I wasn’t surprised.

My sister Karin often comes to my mind: I want to ask her how she makes sticky rice cake; I want to tell her about my new project; I want to hear her happy and confident voice.

I ask JT if she has ever had a desire to go somewhere by herself. “I mean somewhere no one can find you,” I add. She says yes. I am relieved that I am somewhat normal. I have given some thoughts on why someone wants to be alone. It could be there is a creative thing that is eager to come out, so this person wants to be alone to focus on creating the thing. It could be someone feeling hurt and being alone is the way to protect oneself so she can have a speedy recovery. It also could be this person is having a minor depression. Unfortunately, some times, you don’t know which one fits the current situation.

In the meantime, I continue working on my happiness project. I stayed up late last night finishing reading chapter 2 (Feb. – Remember Love). Yes, I am one of those who always wait until the last day to study for exams 😉 To my surprise, even though I was half asleep when I read the chapter, I still managed to learn several things. Not to mention I almost skipped this chapter because I didn’t think it would help me in any way.

February

• Quit nagging

I don’t usually nag other people, but I sure nag myself a lot, which is also not good.

• Don’t expect praise or appreciation

I don’t expect praise or appreciation from others, but I can be more generous in offering praise and appreciation to others, particularly to those who need them.

• Fight right
• No dumping

I learned: “Men and women both turn to women for understanding.” And “The most reliable predictor of not being lonely is the amount of contact with women.”

• Give proofs of love

I learned: “There is no love; but there are only proofs of love.”

I also learned: “There’s no evidence for the belief that ‘letting off steam’ is healthy or constructive.” And “Not expressing anger often allows it to disappear without leaving ugly traces.”

I am not done cleaning the house yet, but it does look much better and I am happy for it. I guess I can recommend the book now. 😉