Centennial Celebration of Grand Central

This Friday, 22 February 2013, marks the centennial anniversary of Grand Central.

Grand Central is not an unfamiliar place to our family, since both my sister's and brother's families reside outside NYC, with several family members working and studying at Cornell.

Right after Sandy, we rode the train to have a 38-year reunion with two of my former classmates at East Japanese Restaurant. Paul shot many memorable photos before and after. Later we visited our big niece in her lab at Rockefeller University. As we had to go home, our niece accompanied us all the way to Grand Central, by using all side streets and alleys. We did not have wait for long for our express train the way normally passengers had to. With our niece's precise calculations, we only had two minutes before the train was leaving for Croton-Harmon Station.

The permanent scene of people waiting and boarding at Grand Central and other stations is best described by NPR's photo show.

Finding Momoe Yamaguchi (山口 百恵)

Momoe Yamaguchi swept Japan and China in the 1970's, just as Adela has conquered the States today. Despite many melodramatic scenes of death, illness and betrayals in her films, audience were rapt with attention. The climax came in 1980 when she decided to retire at the peak of her short career, a rare quality everyone admires. She was married to her co-star Tomokazu Miura (三浦 友和) with a fierce determination to raise a young family in privacy. The phenomenon of Momoe Yamaguchi is that of Cinderella in the east, with her illegimate birth, humble childhood but true musical/acting talent.

I was looking for her albums every time a Japanese song was heard. With the availability of a premium membership with Spotify, I found my old longing revived again. Google helped me to locate her name in English, Spotify provided me with her instrumentals, but it is YouTube that gathered a collection of films and songs by Momoe Yamaguchi.

25 Luxury Items in Life

This afternoon, Leon, my former language training classmate, sent us a list of luxuries in life. To me, the timing cannot be better. In a time of uncertainty and neglect, it makes us think what is the most valuable item in life, coveting a lucrative position or doing something meaningful?

The following is my translation.
=============================================

Here are 25 luxuries life can provide. How many do you have?

1 Good health which allows you to backpack traveling around the world
2 A job which gives you satisfaction.
3 Someone who always reminds you to wear more clothes on windy days
4 Someone who covers you when you are asleep 
5 A beautiful healthy body even in cheap T-shirt
6 Beautiful handwriting
7 Whenever you plan to take a trip, there is always a good friend who is willing to take time off to accompany you
8 A good and sound night's sleep every day
9 Appreciate a beautiful heart and mind
10 Live a meaningful and happy life every moment of your life
11 Someone who teaches you how to love and be loved
12 A child you are willing to sacrifice everything for
13 Personal freedom
14 Inspire others
15 Learn to give
16 Learn to endure
17 Accept and cherish everything life has to offer
18 Reap what you sow
19 Safe-keep an item which embodies emotions and feeling
20 Retain childlike quality
21 Keep you mind open
22 Keep your promise
23 Enjoy delicious food
24 Be naughty occasionally
25 Turn your romance into reality


下面是一生人可以拥有的25件奢侈品，你拥有了多少？

1 能背着包包走天下的健康
2 舒心的工作
3 起风的天总有人提醒你加衣
4 睡着的时候总有人为你盖被
5 穿上便宜T恤也很美丽的健康身材
6 写得一手好字
7 想旅行时，总有谈得来的朋友愿意请假陪伴
8 每天都能踏实地睡个好觉
9 会欣赏美丽的心和能欣赏美丽的心情
10 每时每刻都过得有意义和幸福
11 一个教会你爱和被爱的人
12 你为之甘心付出的宝宝
13 心中永远的自由
14 带给他人向上的精神特质
15 学会放弃
16 学会承受
17 接受并珍惜生活赐予你的一切
18 亲自播种，收穫
19 珍藏一件凝聚情感的物品
20 寻找失落的童心
21 心境开阔
22 信守一个诺言
23 尝尽美食
24 偶尔使个小小坏
25 把你所能想到的一件浪漫的事变为现实 

Happy New Year!

2012 is ending in 90 minutes.

Happy New Year!
Afrikaans - Gelukkige nuwe jaar
Arabic - Antum salimoun
Chinese - Xin Nian Kuai Le
Dutch - Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
French - Bonne Annee
German - Prost Neu Jahr
Greek - Kenourios Chronos  
Hebrew - L'Shannah Tovah
Indonesian - Selamat tahun baru
Iraqi - Sanah Jadidah
Italian - Buon Capodanno  
Melanesian Pidgin:  Hepi Niu Yia
Norwegian - Godt Nyttar
Polish - Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese: Feliz Ano Novo
Russian - S Novim Godom
Spanish - Feliz Ano Nuevo
Swedish: Gott Nytt år
(Translations courtesy of J. McRee Elrod to AUTOCAT)

Determined to Have a Fabulous Christmas

We had a rough start this Christmas. Since midnight, Mom had been so uncooperative at her care facility, that my sister had to be called in early Christmas morning to talk her out. My sister-in-law had a severe car accident last night, probably due to her distraction over my brother's imminent appointment of VP at a giant PC company in PRC, starting January 2, 2013.

But the depressive atmosphere did not enclose us for too long. We were all determined to have a fabulous Christmas with our kids and Lew.  Our hot sweet potato soup, mashed potatoes, and Lew's deliciously glazed ham finally brought out our high spirits. With bubbling sparkling cider, we chatted late into the night, even though the rain prevented us from taking our Christmas walk. My sister's late call was icing on the cake: Mom had a great night out with her family after all!

SCPL 2012 Noteworthy Fiction and Non-Fiction

Santa Cruz Public Libraries just announced two online reading lists: Notable 2012 Fiction and Notable 2012 Non-fiction. Compiled by two Reference Team members, the lists also reflect the groundwork done by all the staff of Collection Management Services, from selections to acquisitions, from receiving to cataloging, and from processing to distributions to all users. It is gratifying to see what they do making a difference to their community. The following is a list of noteworthy fiction popular and about to be popular in Santa Cruz.

 

Bring Up the Bodies
by Mantel, Hilary

Canada
by Ford, Richard

Dear Life
by Munro, Alice

Flight Behavior
by Kingsolver, Barbara

This is How You Lose Her
by Diaz, Junot

The Invisible Ones
by Penney, Stef

NW
by Smith, Zadie

The Round House
by Erdrich, Louise

Some Kind of Fairy Tale
by Joyce, Graham

The Song of Achilles
by Miller, Madeline

Telegraph Avenue
by Chabon, Michael

The Yellow Birds
by Powers, Kevin

Most Distinguished Rodential Costume of 2012

PennyApple has won a new prize for Lee Anne and Bancroft Library: Most Distinguished Rodential Costume of 2012. The backstory about the book she is holding:  Bancroft has a book that's bound in human skin (its from the French Revolution era). 

 

For more details about 2012 Halloween Prizes for staff at Berkeley, please click here. 

What a day, 6 November 2012!

Nov. 6, 2012, an election day, is one of the longest, most meaningful and memorable days in my life.

Morning
Early in the morning, Paul and I drove to Croton-Harmon Station to be on board an express train to Grand Central to meet Yvonne and Willie at East Japanese Restaurant on 210 E 44th Street. Since we were early for our 12:15 appointment, we set out for 1st Avenue to see United Nations (UN) buildings. Paul took several pictures of me with UN as background, to help me to fulfill one of my youthful dreams, i.e., to be an simultaneous interpreter for UN.

Noon
I immediately recognized Yvonne in front of the restaurant, after our quick visit to UN. She is not changed at all, just like herself 34 years ago. In fact, she looked much younger. Soon after Yvonne found us a very exclusive table, Willie joined us. He has changed into a very distinguished registrar at the UN. We exchanged and caught up with our life changing events of 34 years, in a short span. Along with other 600 students (three grades), we spent three and a half years in Congming Island, study and farming. What was our life like? "Just like Navy Seals," Yvonne summed up most eloquently.

Afternoon
A little before 3:00 pm, we finally broke up after hearty laughter, sincere promises and group pictures. Willie showed us how to get to Rockefeller University on his way to his office. Bursting with pride, we saw our niece Wendy in action, performing experiments in her lab. As it was nearing dusk, we decided to return. Wendy is a true NYC resident, knowing all the back streets from 63rd to 42nd. She managed to find us a 4:30 p.m. express train leaving in 4 minutes, even after our pit-stop at a cafe.

Evening through Night
We arrived at our destination about 5:30 pm and visited Mom at her Manor. After putting her into bed, Paul and I spent our memorable night at Ying's, monitoring ever-changing election results, and eating our late dinner and snacks provided by Sue. We were all very philosophical towards the two candidates, therefore no heart-wrenching or hair-splitting political augments among us. After the final result was pretty much confirmed, we suddenly felt dog-tired and dispersed to our respective rooms. Our nephew and niece had been sound asleep, oblivious of what was going on that night.

Hurricanes in New York

Hurricane Sandy (2012)

Every fall I visit New York, I am always confronted with hurricanes. Fourteen months ago, I witnessed Hurriane Irene. Two days ago I was reminded by Hurricane Sandy. To average Californians, those hurricanes are like fires and earthquakes. But looking around, I have found the locals just minding their normal business. The only signs I can detect are: Paul bought the last five candles at a CVS on Maple Street, people were lined up in Sam's Club for bottled water and Hui's apartment has a little difficult time finding tenants as people are being distracted. Other than these signs, people are very calm. Ying even chuckled when we called him to postpone his invitation of tomorrow's dinner to next Sunday.

Hurricane Irene (2011)

Cat & Mouse

Cat Chippy likes to play with the mouse, but not the real one. As a cat, she likes to play with it. But as a domesticated being, she does not have a killer's instinct. That's why she is able to coexist with hamsters.

But do not get me wrong. Once our garage was invaded by a couple of mice, Chippy volunteered to stay there until the invaders were gone.