The best people I've met in a long time

A place I will go back to

Starfish Colony, Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Source: tumblr



I miss Tahiti, the pain au coco, Gabilou, hammocks, and poisson cru. That language exchange was the three weeks of my teenage life. Period.

忆童年 - 北京篇 1

不知什么时候, 90后们也到了怀旧的年龄。或许是因为最近重读了一遍Vladimir Nabokov的Speak，Memory，或许是受到了季羡林先生《因梦集》的启发，我竟也开始写回忆录了！这个夏天，我想把自己记忆中20年的点点滴滴记录下来，以防自己忘掉这些极珍贵的回忆。这些文字常常是我在咖啡馆避暑时写在一个小本子里的，准备分成4篇 - “《北京》、《温哥华》、《奥克兰》、〈新加坡〉。本来芝加哥应该是第五篇，可是这里的记忆在脑中太新鲜，写出来未必有所谓的“hindsight”。从学前开始讲吧！

1. 学前

小学前，我一直随外祖父母生活在新华社离休干部的小圈子里面。姥姥和姥爷把我照顾的无微不至，每天照例去老干部局散步一圈，吃可口的南方小菜，惬意无穷。再加上像逛菜市场、去文化宫、和看下象棋这样有趣的事情做，我从来就没觉得无聊过。运气好的时候，还能吃上猪耳朵和新华社特有的“大辫子”面包！童年最美妙的回忆也不过如此。

对于在新华社幼儿园度过的几年，几件事情我如今都记忆犹新。我三四岁时插班进园，先到中二班，后升学到大二班，一直与“二”有缘，当时还频为自豪。有个女生刘畅和我关系极好，每天形影不离。中二班有个老师极宠我们两个，上美术课的时候总让我们发彩水笔，这可是当时最令人羡慕的活儿。后来快毕业时，我还为今后不和她上一所小学而伤心了很久。到了大二班，生活中的烦恼渐渐增多，不但失宠，还开始跟别的小朋友闹矛盾。我想是因为长大了的缘故吧！

大二班的马老师好像一开始就看我不顺眼。一天，她突然打电话给妈妈，告发我叫她“大贼眼儿”这大逆不道的行为。妈自然不信这莫须有的罪名，于是马老师对我的恨日夜加深。那时候，我刚开始学钢琴，演奏水平自然是不堪设想。班上另一个叫黄叶的小女生却已经有了两年的钢琴训练，平时极出风头。一次上音乐课时，黄叶弹了一首《献给爱丽丝》，虽然现在回想起来很糟糕，可我们当时听着就如天堂传来的美乐。她的表演结束后，马老师指示我也出来“献丑”，于是我只好硬着头皮弹了一首车尔尼599的练习曲，里面只有dou re dou re 这两个音符。你想能好听吗？我的演奏水平之差，至今都无法想象，只记得全班哑口无声，连点头的都没有，更别提掌声了。马老师冷笑了两声，道：“你在音乐方面显然没有天赋，我看你一辈子也赶不上黄叶！” 我小时天真纯朴，没有多余的心眼儿，所以听了她的挖苦后即没有丧失信心，也没有嫉恨黄叶，自己脸红了一阵就罢了。现在一想，这番话出自一个教育者口中，绝对是犯罪行为。

马老师虽然对教育工作没有热情，但是却极其期望回报。毕业前夕，她经常用以前学生送过的种种礼品暗示我们去“孝敬”她，恶心地我毛骨悚然。幼儿园生涯的最后一堂课，她亲自带领我们唱一首〈不忘恩师〉，还不忘提醒大家流泪。我因为对煽情的东西没有抵抗力，还真的掉了眼泪，于是离别的时候马老师破天荒地摸了摸我的头，想来也是感到惭愧吧。

就这样，我结束了无忧无虑的学前生活。关于在太平湖和朝阳门小学发生的各种趣事，请看下一篇！

Keeping Calm in :SLDKFJ:SLKDFJ:LSKDJF@@!~!#! Situations

On Tuesday night I went to a BCG info session after work. I walked in having ran straight from the Metra station, panting, hair unkempt, and looking gross in general. In the next hour or so I managed to discreetly groom myself while nodding to the slides and appearing very much engaged (a skill I picked up from attending numerous boring-as-fuck staff meetings). The consultants were so intelligent and impressive and charming and radiated so much awesomeness in general that I just gawked at them the entire time, day-dreaming about my (yet) non-existent high-flyer life. Worst mistake ever. I REALLY should have paid more attention, because, what happened next was so embarassing that I still can't live it down.

After they finished, I went to ask a question. For some stupid reason, I was convinced that the guy's name was Dan. Since names are usually the only thing I remember from a presentation, I didn't even doubt myself and even felt smug about my ability to have people's names imprinted in my brain.

Me: Hi Dan!!! I'm Kathy, nice to meet you!
Hot charming smart awesome consultant: Hi Kathy, I'm Adam. Nice to meet you too.
Me: ............................................

Ok, so it's not that big a deal. But I called him the wrong name and he didn't even flinch. I think I literally froze for a couple of seconds before smiling awkwardly and continuing with my question, while inside all I could think of was F***! F***! F***! Wow, I will never take any names for granted, again, ever.

I fail at networking.

The Ultimate Feel-Good Song

Ah Niu's songs are so cute.

I can't help but click play repeatedly for the past hour. I've played his 24-song playlist on youtube repeatedly since arriving at work this morning. I know my colleages think I'm retarded when they walk past me and see me nodding to happy-go-lucky 90s Mandopop songs. Hahahahaha. Oh well. These songs make me happy and (dare I say it?) even generate favourable feelings towards Excel.