Dumb and Numbar

替Sister Ying从纽约捎带一个Bose Wave System，结果自己也买了一个。耗费大量行李空间才带回来，不过果然是很赞的一件家用音响。个头不大，但是音量实足，音场覆盖一个大客厅也绝对没有问题，声音的细节体现十分出色（原来用DVD机播放外接一般低音炮的效果比较下来简直就是...)。而且Bose就是为非专业但又追求音效的人设计的，不用看dummy's guide也能马上学会使用。

昨晚回来就迫不及待地拿了一张自己刻录的mp3小试牛刀，音色十分之清亮，特别是人声部分，高低音也已经很不错，原来没有听出来的细节都一一呈现。广播功能就和一般收音机没啥两样，还有个闹钟功能。唯一的缺憾就是需要用变压器转成120V电压，再外接美国专用插座。

499美元，赠送一个remote。还是比较物超所值的。B&O太精贵，不好养，还是Bose这样的简单产品比较靠谱。

今晚在雨后清新的空气中抵达首都国际机场，深吸一口气，回家的感觉真好。

奥运开幕式后一天出发的6日折腾差终于顺利完结。第一站到的是赌城Las Vegas，从飞机栈桥刚一出来就看到大厅里一排排的slot machine，闪着诱人的彩光，邀你一试运气。一路走到行李传送带，再从机场驶往酒店，应接不暇的尽是各种表演秀的广告（譬如Chippendale Boys的大幅海报就理直气壮地立在沙漠般的路边）。

内华达果然还是荒漠之地，太阳炙热，空气中的水分似乎已经悉数蒸发。即使是太阳落山之后，空气中也是一股热浪。晚上为了倒时差的缘故和同事出去逛街，顺带peoplewatch。LV那才一个叫不夜城啊。晚上9点还是人头攒动。从我们的酒店一路走到人造的许愿池，再绕了个圈来到了享誉盛名的Treasure Island，等待正点的Siren号表演。TI旁边的赌场规模也很震撼。在最简单的老虎机上小试了运气，今日看来财运不佳，赶紧收手。近旁还有一个大的shopping mall，可惜已经闭店。只好看着Zara、Abercromibe & Fitch、Diesel的橱窗忘而兴叹。Siren号表演10点开始，观众实在太多，没能占据最有利地形，不过旁边有个哥们拿着摄录机在近拍，盯着他的屏幕比直接望向舞台似乎要轻松也要清楚许多。说实话没怎么看懂，就是一帮健美的穿着节省布料型海盗服饰的男男女女上蹿下跳，又打闹又亲热，跳进水里再上船卖露性感。只有接近尾声时的大炮和焰火让我怦然心动。

Siren's Motorcycle

看完节目后再徒步折回。偶然瞥见一个还开张的gift shop就扎了进去。里头的商品可以算琳琅满目，但是没有我想买的CSI剧服T-shirt，空手而归。回到酒店，刻意酝酿的睡意此时阵阵袭来，戴上眼罩，插上耳塞，倒头便睡。

第二天正式活动，中午直接飞往华府（此处飞机上邻座两位老美将空调开至最大导致本人感冒），深夜到达。第三天一整天的公务，见到了彪悍的美国女警察，也见到了著名的政治评论家、前总统特别顾问和资深公关人士Lanny Davis。晚上在我的强烈要求下顺利拉到馆里的Joanna载我去M街shopping。一个小时的时间里从Abercrombie杀到贝纳通（看到那不爽的黑底双人头T-shirt系列），再到Club Monaco到Sisley，买到几件大折扣商品，匆匆回馆，不过还是没有赶上晚上安排的看电影。

第四天一早坐火车奔赴大苹果。下午两场公务，晚上安排去百老汇看了《Lion King》，位置很好价格也很咂舌的票。不过演出出乎意料地好看，可谓本次出差的亮点。不过climax之后居然被拉去夜宵，一直到一点半，算不算anti-climax呢?

第五天上午参加了一次有点滑稽的新闻发布，主持人水平实在太不敢恭维。中午在东王朝自助餐后赶JFK，在极其有限的免税店里完成大部分代购任务，登机回国。此处对JFK机场要客柜台的国航地勤提出表扬，居然满足了我提出的在我自己看来都有点过分的要求（block了飞机上中间的一排位置给我一个人），然后我就幸福地躺平，吃了片感冒药，沉沉睡去，最后平安到达。

紧张的弦终于可以松开。

过去的两周末分别暴走青岛、上海两地。下周末则要开始从拉斯维加斯一路东行，从华盛顿换乘火车抵达大苹果。两种不同的旅行方式，自然也是迥然不同的体会。

曾几何时淡定神闲的公务旅行如今已被压缩再压缩，直到每个再微型不过的团组需要在尽可能短的时间内完成最大化的任务这才罢休。出这样的公差一路留下的印象大抵不会超出机场贵宾室、酒店、会场和少数几个可以通过按相机快门就声称到过的景点。

而我理想中的旅行不是串行每一个游客光顾的景点，而是有选择性、不紧不慢地走一次自己设计的路线。甚至可以仅是流连目的地城市的街市，在咖啡厅里悠闲地观察路人，或是在当地的书店里埋头一个下午寻找让你心动的故事，在偶然发现的小店中淘到心仪的纪念物。如果更悠闲一点，乘坐地铁或是有轨电车穿城而过，在博物馆和美术馆里钻研异国的历史与文化，在名餐厅里享受当地美食，在夜色转浓时随意见酒吧而入，体验blend in的新鲜感。所有这些都让我心驰神往，但公差唯一卖点也许就是攒里程保金卡和见缝插针式的紧凑购物了。运气差一点，这两项都摊不到，还落得身体失调(Peru)，或是钱包被盗(New Zealand)的dogshit运。

所以说因为工作缘故去过那么多国家定是看尽各地风情那可真是太臆测了。所以想象自己去旅行，不用顶着时差与长途跋涉之辛苦第一时间投入旷日持久的高强度工作，不用对所有人都强颜欢笑，不用累如黄牛，不用忍受呼噜声与烟圈，可以和交心的朋友一起欢笑玩笑，一起海吃血拼，一起挥汗合照，那可真是快意。

当然，快意的事总是近在咫尺却很难真正做到。大多时候，还是需要默默忍受缺乏人文关怀的公差安排，然后摆出无所谓的姿态，奔去-拼命干活-奔回。

After a merry spell always comes a down spell.  You are not necessarily struck by bad luck, but in relative terms, things just don't look as promising or turn out as fine.

There are always signs indicating an imminent change of luck.  In my case, this shift started yesterday.  First, I met the lamest taxi driver.  Then I didn't perform to my average level at work.  Last night, I wanted to watch cable, only to find my set-top box failing on me.  I called for service but the line was always engaged.  And today I woke up feeling strange, a bit depressed and disoriented.

Murphy is right again about his law.  Things will get worse if they could.

The cough I got from my Peruvian trip is still eating into my health and I'm afriad it has mutated into something of a chronic nuisance.  August does not look rosy, with my Olympics-fleeing trip coming up and potentially two follow-up trips of the same destination in the brewing.  A few things broke down at my place and need an immediate fix.  My GMAT prep has been constantly interrupted by errands while the planned T day is looming close.

As I run out of luck, my emotional curve is also heading south.  I don't feel like traveling (official or non-official), or socializing, or blogging.  I feel like skipping work.  I feel like shutting my mind.  I feel like cramming myself into a little shell.

I was chatting with Roberto from Lima, who claims to be more unfortunate to be overtiming at the ungodly hour of 1:30 a.m and to have a persistent sour throat condition.  So I conclude that we both hit bumps in life.  And for the sake of self-comfort, I imagine God must have a savings program for every one of us.  We despoit our luck at his entrusted bank (hopefully with accrued interests) and one day we will make that big withdrawal. Judging by our current luck status, we must have just made a huge contribution to our accounts. 

Now I understand why we have fairy tales.  It's all about make-believe.  It's an artistic way to plaster over the imperfections of your life.  It's a faith-booster that helps bring yourself together in misfortues or simply in the absence of luck. 

Luck or no luck, life has to go on.  When life drops a piece of crap on you, just keep walking and smiling.  Don't swear!!!

After a lot of planning and rescheduling, J, L and I will finally be on the plane to Qingdao this evening for a happy weekend/get-together with Sister Ying (putting He here is confusing, just like Mr. She).

A great assortment of fresh seafood, sunshine on the beach, tanning in trunks and flip-flops, the Taoist Mountain and the famous beer!  The city's name already conjures up these inviting images.  And I can't wait to get my feet wet, my back sufficiently lotioned for the sun, my hands busy with those protein-filled sea creatures and my lips moisturized by a sip of the lengendary beer (I don't usually pour beers into my belly just to get my bladder full.  I prefer to sip, sip, sip, and sip... until I'm the last one standing and sober..Plus everything should be taken in moderation.)

Since Sister Ying is moving back to Beijing very soon, this might well be the last chance for her to host us in the beautiful seaside city.  She's thrilled to be troubled by a bunch of needy-greedy friends like us.  And to make things merrier, her hubby will travel more or less the same time with us, on a business trip to Qingdao.  So she will probably get ecstatic in the company of family and best friends.

The company would be made full if we had Lailai and Caixin with us.  Mmm... no worries, we're saving the best for the last.

Qingdao, here we come!

Zumba is such a great workout!  It's the fusion of different dance steps, all with a strong Latin touch.  A lot of turns, jumps, hip twists and arm movements, sexy, sassy and sweaty!

And my respect for Pepsi as an instructor has just gone up another level.  His body has an amazing mechanism that makes all those moves look casual and easy. 

I sucked at my first Zumba class, at least that's what I thought of myself.  But give it time, I'm sure I can pick up the rythme, dance casually to it and occasionally "shake my bum bum"...

Zumba now becomes my new fav.

There's a boy who got stuck with his responsibilities to his disfunctional family.  He had a dream but he learned about giving up a long time ago.  He yearned for freedom and happiness, but he knew it was too much of a luxury to him.  He was talented, but he was too self-condescending to believe that this talent could be a life-changer for him.  He was afraid to love or be loved because he was unsure he deserved such a noble feeling.

We all have part of this boy in us.  For one, we all have responsibilities as grown-ups, and our dreams too, no matter how wild they could be.  For my part, I want to travel the world for all I care.  I want to become unemployed but never have to think twice about my finances.  I want to stay young and healthy, body and heart.  I want to find that one person that I care and love who loves me back to the same measure of commitment.  I want to be among true bosom friends with whom I share all my joy and sadness, my life stories and secrets.  I want to be worry-free when it comes to my ageing family...

There is just so much burden and pressure that locks you in this box amd sometimes stifles you to the point of choking.  The harder you fight to escape, the more powerless you become.  When you are finally freed from the cubic prison, you are no far from the next "box".

Back to this boy.  Lucky for him, he found his love, his bearing and a way out, notwithstanding the compromises he had to come to terms with. 

Unlucky for us, we still have to live with the baggages that were checked into this life under our names and that we so desperately want to drop off at the next stop or toss to a total stranger.

最近又开始光顾久违的California Fitness。可能是仲夏日盛的原因，也可能是有些提前抵京的奥运选手来做状态训练的原因，总之健身房里游走挥汗的人多了起来。上周五六匆匆锻炼了两次，昨晚又去上了Pepsi教练的Body Pump课。每次去偶都不知趣地在第一排显眼位置站定，然后总是会被叫到换更大的重量，或是成为教练喊“坚持坚持”的对象。

不是偶弱，是赵百事教练太生猛。他居然能够连着三节操课用大重量做足每组动作还那么有劲！几次观察下来，除了每次都在偶右边的短发小号女生动作娴熟标准之外，其他学员也不乏有偷懒或是体力不支的。让体型稍大的学员负重下蹲50次那还不累惨了!

虽然很受苦，但是很喜欢上课的节奏、操课的配乐和百事教练热情的口头动员。而且一节课确实面面俱到地照顾了身体所有的大肌群，绝对是杀卡路里又锻炼身形的最佳运动。当然，像偶这样没有长时间坚持的，第二天总会胳膊腿胸背臀一起酸疼。

CF的器械确实没有什么可以挑剔的了，各种新颖的器材都有：仰卧起坐投球机、登山跑步机、阶梯机和科学安全地锻炼身体各个大小肌群的玩意儿。当然在这样的环境中出没的自然是与buffy、hunk、stud、hulk之类的词挂钩的gym rats。Peer pressure那叫一个高...

最近观摩了一下传说中的Zumba课，果然是很帅的舞蹈，当然动作看似随意却是很难模仿到位，CJ教练果然名不虚传（百事教练也教，果然是全能！），下次定来体验一番。

最近看了一部印度裔导演萨马兰继《水妖》后的又一部个人认为比较失败的作品《The Happening》。这部灵异片的中心思想就是植物会因为人的存在而感受到威胁，然后会释放出某种物质到空气中，让人抓狂自残而死。最近因为在攻GMAT的Critical Reasoning题，所以现在基本思考都会带有GMAT的风格，比如想是否有discrepancy，是否存在scope shift，是否有oddity，是否有assumption flaws。嘎嘎。。。

所以这部片子一上来就是表象，没有解释灵异现象发生的原因。偶然被人提到的植物威胁论也只是点到即止，专家也没有去深究。用GMAT思维来评判，就是导演把植物受到威胁会释放毒素的这样一个假定和出现非正常死亡的现象划上了因果的等号，没有考虑其他的可能诱因。而且也没有说明为什么植物感到受到了威胁。这么毫无征兆地把可爱的植物变为罪恶的杀手太不靠谱了。

不能证明上述逻辑关系，影片只好变为人们如无头苍蝇般的大逃亡，然后一群群地自残而死。导演估计还想顺便描写一下人们遇到生命威胁时的丑恶人性，包括开车夺路而逃，包括开枪射杀无辜，包括女房东的偏执猜疑，结果也是没啥新意。最主要的是男女主人公都让我觉得讨厌，太做作，没有个性。唉，萨马兰怎么拍完《第六感》和《The Village》之后就没能够把他擅长的心理恐怖再成功渲染一次呢？老印看来黔驴技穷了。

谈到植物的沟通功能，我还是相信的。Discovery频道上曾经放过一个记录片，就是做的这样的试验，你放开心的音乐或是轻轻抚摸植物的叶片，它是会出现生物电流量增加的。对它说话也是能够起到作用。看完这个片子觉得很神奇，不过联系想想，也不是那么不可信：菟丝子就能感觉到周围植物的气息并选择最佳的宿主，一株植物被害虫侵害时一整片的同类植物会释放生物荷尔蒙，吸引害虫的天敌过来。这样大自然中的例子还是很多的。

再联想到我办公室的那些绿色植物，可能正是因为我的悉心照料才那么茂盛吧。特别是那盆陪伴了我快六年的绿蘿，在那么小的盆子里却能长得那么狂野，肯定是因为感受到了我的爱心，今后我要多对其说话，多喷喷营养水，说不定哪天能够回报我的一片爱心也说不定。

另：上周五的豪雨过后，楼下的一棵大树连根而起，倒在另一颗的树上。两天已经过去了都还没有绿化部门的人来处理，真是好不凄惨啊。今天经过还端详了半天，表达了一下我的痛惜和无可奈何。希望老树再支持几天，等救援部队的来到。

善待植物咯！
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后记：两天后这棵被风雨推倒的树非但没有被扶正，反而已被大卸八块，树干树枝分家，只剩一个孤零零的矮树墩斜倒在大坑上。真是一个残酷的世界：摔倒了不会被扶起，反被秃鹫般等候在一旁的猎者拉走啖食，只留下孤零零的一幅白骨。悲也惨也！

嘴上放下了日本，心里还是放不下。

所以决定八月旅日，了却心事一桩。

只身赴日未免有些孤单，遂动员同我一样有游乐激情的小羊，

响应态度很积极，无奈京沪签证区互相排除，唯一可能就是我俩成为家属或加入同一公司。

只好pass周末还在加班的酩轩小羊和上海的一众同学，游伴寻觅继续中。