Thrift Shopping

I seldom get any good chance to do thrift shopping before, especially with two restless kids around.

Today I went there for my new home and found it a really rewarding experience. I should have done this much earlier. It was like treasure hunting and I got exactly what I wanted ----

1) A set of solid oak bedroom furniture which includes a vanity table, two fine dressers, two night stands with exactly the color I wanted and a matching bed headboard. All these come with a pretty reasonalble price.

2) Besides, as a bonus, I get a set of fine and pretty China for a very little price. I mean, a really big set of China which includes 12 regular size dish, 12 smaller dish, 6 bigger dish and 2 giant fish plates. It also comes with 8 cups, 2 pots and some other fancy things which I don't know their names yet. I would take the pictures of those and display them later on.
It is something I always dreamed about.

If not mentioning the goods, the old sales lady is a person I have ever met with this extent of elegance and peace of mind. She is a volunteer to work for the thrift shop. She must be very pretty when she was young and always live in decent families. I didn't see any pressure, anxiety or life difficulty presented on her face, like what I usually find from most of people in California. There is an inside tranquility in her. Usually I am an eager person who is trying to finish everything as quickly as I can, but I am calm around her.

I almost forgot the time when I hunted for my treasure in those attics. Every item is unique and is waiting for a particular person to pick them up at a particular time. This feeling is very much different from the department store or mall shopping experience. Over there you are just getting something you need and you can pick them up at any time and there are always going to be plenty of each goods displayed at all these different sizes. There is no story why I just pick this one but not that one, they are just all the same.

At some degree I missed the old era. I remember each cloth of mine is particularly made by a tailor when I was little, in a beautiful countryside of China. From today's aspect, those cloth designs certainly are old-fashioned or even ugly, but it is unique. Now we have those fashion designers in the top of the society and each uniqueness is usually only enjoyed by celebrities.

You may not believe this, but I had dreamed to be a tailor some day by myslef, although my practical training and effort never goes that way. Maybe some day, when I retired, I would pick one of my dreams to implement, such as writting novel is my another dream. But at this age, life is just thrilling and drives fast.

饮食文化

谈到中华文化，她的方方面面，都与吃喝颇有关联。而饮食文化的形成，又和地域地貌大有关系。＂东酸西辣，南甜北咸＂，说的就是这个意思。

比如说川菜吧，以麻辣为主，概因西蜀獐洼深谷之地，吃辣可御湿气。 湘菜重油，也辣，不过是辛辣，有见过湘人空口吃大红尖椒的。鄂菜是我的家乡菜，特色不那么明显，但是我的最爱。基本上湖北人都知道的有武昌鱼，热干面，糯米鸡，酒阆圆子，还有＂沔阳三蒸＂。好久没吃了。

吃过些些上海菜，偏重甜酸，毛豆丝瓜什么的，并不太爱吃。

来到美国，一半餐馆是粤菜馆，"Dim Sum",觉得还行，是属于＂甜＂那一类。

没多少机会品味北方菜，有知道的补充补充吧。

美国本土的菜，觉得生菜沙拉，牛肉汉堡， Cereal, Yogurt什么的都还行，简单营养，是我们现在的主食。但总有些不太融入的感觉。 也许，饮食就是文化吧。What you taste is what you think.

梅花档案

快冬天了，都有要冬眠的感觉。虽然俗务缠身。

看一部新拍恐怖悬疑片 ＜＜梅花档案＞＞，觉得还不错。特别是最后真相大白时女主角背上的梅花联络图，妖艳诡异，堪称此剧的高潮。 不过仔细想想逻辑是不对头的，刺在背后她自己要看不是太不方便了吗？ 似乎刺在腿上更有道理。

管它呢，反正是娱乐。

Democracy

2006 Midterm Election, yesterday.

Democrats take control of the house and the senate race goes neck-to-neck with two seats undecided. Possible recounts in Montana and Virginia with marginal leads of two democratic candidates.

People are tired of Iraq war. Now they speak up. Why should president Bush make so many lives die in vain ? Time to pull out the troops from Iraq.

Democratic system may not be the best social system, but it is fair.

Need to mention that the Unites States will have the first female speaker of house in its history.
Will a female president come up in 2008 ? Europe already have lots of female prime ministers
and presidents. America is kind of conservative.

Glad I am living in a liberal state --- California.

悲秋

住处附近的枫叶又红了，很快又凋零了。

如花美眷， 似水流年。 好令人伤怀。