戒咖啡第二天

感覺今天對咖啡的慾望消弱了不少

肚子也比較正常了

但雖然是這樣說

下午還是有偷喝一罐可樂來解饞

計劃上禁咖啡的天數是兩天

所以從明天開始我要回復咖啡咽的日子

戒咖啡一天

由於肚子不舒服一陣子了

昨天決定不管如何都不能再喝咖啡了

也不能喝茶

果然，「戒」是不容易的

一整天一直冒出各種念頭、藉口：

「戒咖啡應該循序漸進。先從早上不喝咖啡好了……下午喝可以吧」

「不然Latte好了，Latte比較沒那麼刺激」

……

最後還是都忍住了

恭禧

陽光

陽光超爽朗的

一整個想去海灘

光是為了這陽光

就讓人不想離開美國了吧

新室友兩個半

第一次看見嘉偉時就有點面善，原來他也是清大工科系畢業的(04級)，很巧。

他在台大唸電子所，不過來UIUC唸的是Finance.

June是韓國人，唸生物方面的大學部。很和氣的一個人，和Michael一起上教會。口頭禪是mess up。

Michael是Matt的combo friends，華裔美國人。異常活潑。雖然晚上常常在客廳大笑害我沒辦法睡覺，但的確是一位相當好的人。因為常常過來我們家，所以是半個室友。口頭禪是fail。

再介紹一下老室友吧

Matt是台大電機所來的交換學生。萬人迷。今年七月就會回去了，但再過一兩年就會回來美國唸博士了。

Adrian，電機博士生三年級。每天早上六點半起床，晚上十二點睡覺。

A video directed by my sister

It's took at my home in Taipei, actually a homework of hers.

Seven rabbits in a row

Yesterday was a raining day. Not heavy kind of rain, but misty.

On my way home, near the EE quad, I saw rabbits.

Nothing special about rabbits, actually, I had seen wild rabbits on the first day I arrived UIUC.

But this time, oh my, there are seven of them.... That is huge.

Maybe there is  a party of rabbits or something.

Maybe they like the rain.

Maybe the grass in moisture is more delicious.

Or, because of me? Probably not.

Funny Womenizer vedio

原來美國的宅男印像和台灣也差不多啊

Wow~it's already April

Time flies. scaring.....
About one month later, I will jet back to Taiwan.
That also means that it's almost a year for my studying abroad.
Sigh..........
I would only say it's the busiest year of my life.
However, there is not too much exciting new things knocking my brain.
Not much research, not much inspiring ideas....
Most courses I took this year were already taken in Taiwan before. Just a improved skill and a better feeling of the subject. I hope I could take more challenging courses next semester.
On the other hand, I found that I studied faster now, but think things less. Do keep in mind that thinking and curiosity is the most important.

Rhode Island - day three of the trip

We went to Rhode Island today. Rhode Island is about two hours drive away from Boston. When driving on the bridge connecting the continent and the Island, the view ahead of us is so beautiful. You can see large Island with some small Islands around it. Gorgeous mansions are sparsely built, with size and fashion, along the coast. There is even a house built above the island whose area size is exact the same of the house. No bridge connected, the only way to enter and exit the house is by boat.

The most popular place to go is Newport, town dedicated for tourism and a relaxation of life. We ate Dunkkin Donuts, again, for lunch and then went to a fort that has never been used. Unfortunately, the fort is closed for maintenance. After this, we drove along the coast to Berkeley Mansion. It's so Luxurious. I became wanting to own a mansion like this so much. However, it's said that when the old owner lived there, the family need seventy servants to maintain this mansion, which is unlikely possible nowadays.

Freedom trail-Boston Day 4

Freedom trail is undoubtedly the most attractive place to me, so historical and educational. Walking site by site is like reading a vivid history book. One by one, most important events leading to the funding of USA evolve in front of my own eye. In old south church, I can imagine how the crowd gathering angrily and listening the inspiring speech by Samuel Adams. Five bloody dead bodies were in King street where tea were dumping into sea several blocks away. It is Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party.

It took me a long time to visit each exhibition inside, so I can't complete the whole trail. I visited State house, old south church and old state house. State house has a magnificent outlook and a glamorous ornament as well. The state house is built after funding of USA. There is a wooden cod fish hanging in the house of representative. They said that it is a good luck charm for Boston.

Old south church is a puritan church. Compared to several churches we visited days before, it's stunningly simple. It's almost not ornamented at all, both inside and outside. However it played a crucial role in American Revolution.

Old state house is the political center of Boston in the colony period. Both the governor and representative would use this building. To my surprise, though the independence of American eventually resulting in the eruption of revolution, some democracy system heritage from England were already practiced in colony world.

At last, this trip also answered me a question. Ever wondering why there is so many John Hancock Buildings in cities of USA? Who is this guy John Hancock? The answer is, John Hancock is really something. He is the fist man signing in the declaration of Independence. Besides, he is a Bostonian.

There is presense......even in absence. It must be love

The second day in Boston is a day of Churches.

It happened to be mass on Sunday, so many churches opened to public. There are churches all over the city. Most of them are worth taking pictures, both outside and inside. Yet, some churches look nothing. Puritans' church, for example. But they could be important in aspect of historic meaning.

On the other hand, Boston is also a city of colleges. Harvard and MIT are the most renowned. Boston University is also very famous. Besides them, I saw many other universities and colleges reside in the city.

Perhaps it's because of this large amount of churches and colleges, I felt people on street elegant, pretty and thoughtful. However it's completely opposite situation when we drove. The traffics in Boston is bad, but the drivers are even worse. Rushed and rude, they horned all the time even to cars hesitating for only one second after the light turned green. We had been horned for more than one hundred times.

Boston Day one

This is the most exhausted trip of mine ever......

Leaving Champaign 10 p.m. and being transported all along until 10 a.m. next day. It reminds me what we often say " work smart and play hard". This time, I played extremely hard.

Right after taking off the airplane, we were immediately lost in the awful traffics of Boston. Thank god Boston is such a small city, I met my friend in the restaurant on time even though we wasted so much time finding our way.

With two cups of coffee, I was sustained to stand through all destinations today which are Trinity Church, Public Library of Boston, Harvard University and MIT.

Subway at 2 AM. So empty.

Trinity Church in front

Interesting Stair-like wall of Trinity Church

Another view of Trinity Church

Public Library of Boston

funny panda

Pretty old video.

Yet, it's the funniest one I've seen these days.

People say pandas don't know how to raise baby pandas well.

I guess it's more or less true.

The baby panda there is kind of like a thing put on the ground.

Angela Hewitt

Tonight, I went to enjoy Angela Hewitt playing Bach's Goldberg.

It's fantastic. In the beginning, I was kind of not used to the way she performed because I am too used to the Glenn Gould's play.

But after a while, I started to appreciate her sense of touching.

Thanks that I checked the mail at 5 pm today. It's like a gift to me.

The following is the introduction of Angela Hewitt,

Gramophone Artist of the Year Angela Hewitt (2006) occupies the position in Bach keyboard playing today that Glenn Gould enjoyed a generation ago. Completed in 2005, her 11-year project to record all of Bach’s major keyboard works has been described as “one of the record glories of our age” and has earned her a huge following. Hewitt has been extolled as “the Bach pianist par excellence of her generation” and “nothing less than the pianist who will define Bach performance on the piano for years to come” (Stereophile). Over the past decade, fortunate Krannert Center audiences have been immersed in Bach’s Goldberg Variations through the incomparable Murray Perahia and Christopher Taylor. Now they can witness still more facets of the work as Hewitt—perhaps the most elegant interpreter of this literature—reveals them.

Raining days

About 2 days ago, it rained a lot.

Sometimes it's just mild little rain and I didn't need an umbrella .

Sometimes it's pretty heavy like when I was on my way from Krannert Art Performance center to my office on Friday night. 

The former might be my favorite weather. The mist-like air makes people feel comfortable. Walking in this kind of rain is like walking in a poem. I was born and having a childhood  in Keelung, a rainy city. Maybe a raining day like this just reminds my hometown.

The later one, however,  is the one I dislike the most. Maybe it's because of another experience that whenever it rained my shoes get totally wet. Just imagine sinking feet in water with sox sticking on skins whole day long, it's suffering. And this is another memory of hometown.

Taiwan is not a part of China

今天下午Seminar前甜甜圈時間

話題好像是從Liang the Chinese以為Ian和Ruby一樣都是約旦人開始。Ian是埃圾人，但和約旦人一樣都說阿拉伯話。

然後不知道為什麼話題就變成「Is Taiwan part of China? 」

平常碰到這種話題，我都是含糊帶過。因為我覺得這種東西，是要用實力解決的。嘴巴上口舌之快一點意義都沒有。

不過，今天我並沒辦法閃躲。

Liang問阿拉伯的同學：「Don't you think Taiwan is part of China?」

他們的傾向，是的。

然後阿拉伯人就問我了：「Is Taiwan part of China?」

我馬上就回答說不是。

Liang聽了，丟了一句台獨份子給我。

James, the citizen of USA,過來拿甜甜圈，Liang也問他同樣問題。

James說：「Taiwan if not part of China. This is why I support Bush since this is one of his policy.」

我說了一聲：「Thank you」。一個很奇怪的Thank you，幹麻謝謝呢?

最後，為了緩和一下氣氛，我打趣的說：「Actually, we think that China is part of us.」

事後，我對自已的表現很不滿。因為對這個話題，我沒法用強勢的立場來主導最後的結論。而只能微弱的回答：「No, we are different countries.」。

下次若是再碰到這種情況，我要說：

「China is communism, but Taiwan is democracy. Taiwan and China was once a united country, but not right now. 」

Playing soccer

I went to play indoor soccer in ARC with some classmates today.

It was interesting because this is the first time for me to really hang out with foreign friends.

There are James, Ruby, Mohammed, Ian Qiyue and Liang.

The court was busy today. I heard that on Tuesday it's like no body there.

I haven't played soccer for five to six years, so tonight I felt so exhausted. Much more exhausted than it was when playing badminton. Yet, it's exciting and fun as well.

The last Samurai

Since my hair got longer and longer, people started asking when I am about to have it cut.

And these days, I started to make my front hair into a bundle. Some Arabic friends saw that and felt interested. They said it's like a Samurai, like Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai. I hope I am as handsome as him. I told them that the hair style of a samurai is much more curious than mine. A samurai not only have a hair bundle but also shave part of hair in front. With this curious shaving, a samurai is hardly more handsome than I.

One Chinese friend also have a comment. He nicknamed me "陳小辮".  I think it's not a good nickname because it really sound like something peeing. Especially in Taiwan.

61 kilogram weight

It's has been a long time not writing blog.....

Several weeks ago, there is a party downstair in Wayne's place, which is said to be a Semester Beginning Celebrating Party. Since I hadn't weighed myself for more than half a year, I took a chance to do that. It seems doomed to gain weight living in USA. In the beginning, People scared gaining fat but immediately took it as a excuse to eat more. It's USA's fault, not theirs. They said, "In a country of junk food, what can I do with it?!"

However, it's really a nice thing to me. Because I always want to gain weight. Even when I was in army, I tried so hard like eating a lot, training my muscle and drink milk. Even so, I could not have my weight more than 60 kg. And that day, it's, not so surprising, 61 kg. I made it without intention.

Alright, I think 61 quite enough. Just keep it.

The way I see San Francisco

San Francisco, a city of art. Many shops, like coffee shops or toy shops provide a space to demonstrate and to sell workpieces for artists. This really makes the city a smell of art. The Golden Gate Bridge is itself a master piece. It's so beautiful. Besides, It may be merely a coincidence that all the old friends I visited and new friends I made are all artists.

Rita, my seiner high schoolmate, studied in fine art. She had been in San Francisco for one year. We enjoyed the whole trip together with her boy friends, Mistu a Japanese. Her roommates are also artists. Hermione from Taiwan graduated in the Institute of Art in Chicago, now working in SF. Kevin from China now studies in the same school as Rita. He had worked in video game industry in Shen-hai for years before being in SF. A-Der is a friend I made when we were in the army. He is now studying in another art school in SF. His goal is to become a director making Taiwanese movies. His roommates are also from Taiwan, studying in movie and media individually.

San Francisco is also a city that has extremely freedom to express opinions. There is Gays/Lasbians area where they speak out their rights through parades every year. Their are area of Hippies where you can see people in long hairs, strange clothes with doggies. When Vienein War, it's historically against the war severely.

On the other hand, San Francisco is a dangerous city. The amount of homeless here is the most I have ever seen. They sleep everywhere in the bus stops, street corners, or under light stands. Some regions is strongly told not to go because of the drugs, robbery and gangsters fighting even in day time.

In the New Year's Eve, we came to the counting and the fireworks. It's so crowded. You can hear people shouting and smell everywhere the cannabis. However it's OK. What's so unfortunate is that we had a robbery report. Kevin is robbed of his camera by a group of black people on our way to the fireworks. I was told that this happened all the time just around the acquainted friends.

I think it's exactly this mixing of the beauty and the dirty, freedom to speak and dangerous to live that makes San Francisco attracted. I haven't known it well and I will be back one day.