团圆饭

今天是在美国的第四个感恩节。今天跟Steve抱怨了好几回，说一点都记不得去年感恩节做了些什么了，虽然零五、零六年的感恩节都还记忆犹新。Steve提醒我说可以查看一下邮件。费了老大劲把已经十分“厚重”的gmail往前翻了一年，看到的是Macy's的广告“ beat the crowd!”，纽约时报每天清晨的新闻摘要，几个朋友的祝福，还有跟老师要推荐信的邮件。

事实是，去年的感恩节我可能真的没做什么。因为刚到匹兹堡的那个月发生的一些事情，整个人尚处于绵绵不绝的余震阶段。因为在适应新城市新学校新专业的同时还一直秘密复习LSAT，跟后来玩得特别好的几个Tepper的中国同学也还没怎么接触……

写到这里突然想起来，那天应该是去廷龙英达敏杰家吃团圆饭去了，阳方也肯定是在的──就是后来的金刚五人组。不过依然想不起来那天的细节，足见我当时是多么的心不在焉，或者说心事重重。

嗯，跑题了。话说星期二放假后，楼里的同学们一个个拖着大包小包地回家团圆了，本来热闹非凡的宿舍楼一下变得冷冷清清。一个人站在电梯里自我安慰地想，人少了之后感觉就很像Midwest，所以偶也算是“回家”了。

今天我们四个1L约好了一人做一道菜，然后一起到我们宿舍来吃。Wei平时总说自己不谙厨艺，却做了三道大菜，装了四个大盒子，且色味俱佳，实在令我等垂涎三尺，喜极而泣。CF是刚离家三个月的大家拿小毛孩，从他在13楼的窝端上了一盆菜，非常的不上相，看得Wei和Steve连连摇头。我虽然也深感那盆貌似“土豆鸡丁”的菜长得也忒像一个pancake，但却并不灰心，因我从第一天就看出此孩有下厨的潜质（刚来Fordham的时候我厨具不齐，只好在他那里做），而我看人向来眼光独辣。开吃后大家发现这菜果然和他人一样的内秀，那土豆香脆可口，一问之下，原来先用醋过过，还真有点技术含量。Steve的珍珠奶饭把台湾美食发扬到了一个新的高度，成为每人面前的钦点主食，也因太好吃导致每人都吃得有点撑。我的那道菜就不说了，因为我只顾品尝新鲜美食，只吃了一口自己做的、那最熟悉的味道。

完后他们看电视，我洗碗，他们夸我“闲会”（闲在家里什么都不会），我油然想起自己的这点性格倒有点像妈妈。虽然早就了解自己热爱洗碗，但此时我才发现边享受水的按摩边从60度的角度看电视边听人有一搭没一搭地聊天是一种享受。在家过年的时候，妈妈也总是忙里忙外的收拾家里，爸爸和我叫她一起看电视，但她总说她忙得很快活，很快就弄好了。那时候只是觉得妈妈勤劳，不一定能体会她内心所想。今夜却突然有一点懂了。

平时大家总批评我不参加集体活动──其实不是这样的──但今天我要说，因为有了你们这几个朋友，纽约中城的这个小小公寓里，有了一种家的温暖；这个注定不能尽兴的感恩节，也因为你们，我会一直记得。

Wei Wang at 10:27pm November 27

哈哈，酸……

不过很开心呀～～贤惠的展先生！我应该把这抄到我的Space上去作个纪念，又省笔墨又省时间！

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 10:29pm November 27

抄吧抄吧，伟大厨

反正大家也无心学习，还真不如打牌呢

Wei Wang at 10:33pm November 27

qie~~我们都被你拒绝得心灰意冷，哪里还有兴趣？

现在说来是不是晚了？

等考试结束把……

Chingfei Kong at 10:34pm November 27

i used google translator and your post made no sense...

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 10:38pm November 27

kid, that's because I'm such a terrific writer in Chinese. You think google translator will make sense for a Supreme Court Justice's opinion?

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 10:39pm November 27

wei: 不要栽赃，是你先说不玩的，也是你拔腿先跑的。

Wei Wang at 11:36pm November 27

什么时候了，还有心思打牌……

早些时候你拒绝我们多少次了！！！5555……Steve多难过

Steven Hsu at 10:18am November 28哈哈哈哈哈
好感人的一篇文章

那結果王偉
妳回去唸書了嗎？
沒念就揍死妳啦

Bonnie Qin at 11:05am November 28

Mouth watering... So sad that Wei told me nothing was left...555555555555...

Bonnie Qin at 11:07am November 28

Didn't you guys take any pictures (of the food and the eaters)?

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 1:16pm November 28

steve: 扁她，我什么都没看见

bonnie: it's actually in my fridge...

出家无家

处处家

--For my fourth Thanksgiving in the States.



Yibo Zhang at 5:24pm November 27

Home is where the heart is.

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 5:30pm November 27

Thanks, Yibo. Hope all is well with you.

Yibo Zhang at 5:47pm November 27Eaten Turkey today? Happy Thxgiving!

平生只有两行泪

半为苍生半美人

──文怀沙

“诗中的苍生，指的是人民群众的整体，句中的美人，则指

个体的贤士君子与一般意义上的红粉佳人。这一脍炙人口的名句，把忧国忧民之心与爱贤爱美之情统一起来。”

这个解释好像拔高得有点厉害阿。。。



LI Bin at 12:41pm November 24

sign....Chinese education.

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 1:06pm November 24

well, it's actually a pretty creative interpretation...

Wei Wang at 3:09pm November 24

江山美人啊……

Bonnie Qin at 3:11pm November 24

Is this a 脍炙人口的名句? How come I never heard of this person...
Half plus half equals one. What is the other line of tears for?
苍生 and 美人 are not parallel terms.
Conclusion: this poem sucks.

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 5:59pm November 24

2的一半是1，1加1等于2，你离开祖国的怀抱已久，已经不能体察祖国文字的精妙细微之处，原谅你。

P.S. yes this poem sucks.

Civil Servants' physical power competition @ Hangzhou

浙江举行公务员体能测试比赛(组图)

http://news.163.com/08/1121/17/4R9QEOKQ0001125G.html

C the first reader's comment.

Man, open society.

halved sky

Nov 20, 7 pm, Hubei Province, China.

The sky was cut into halves by a huge piece of cloud with straight-lined edge.

http://news.163.com/08/1121/07/4R8PB4O100011229.html

Q&A: When the "Add" button in Mac Word is grayed out

Q:
I've finally gotten sick of seeing Word underline my last name on every paper I write in red, so I decided to add it instead of clicking Ignore all along during spell check. But, the Add button, and Add option on the right click menu, is disabled. Anyone know why? Thanks

A:
Word -> Preferences -> Spelling and Grammar -> Dictionaries button -> Create a new dictionary.

P.S. Especially for a law student, it feels so good to be able to "add" again--we write so many odd and uncommon words on a daily basis.



Bonnie Qin at 2:08pm November 19

Good to know.

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 6:44pm November 19

you don't even use Mac...

Jinjing Jiang at 11:32pm November 19

I do not even use word....Why not take a shot on Papers or freealternatives, such as NeoOffice?

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 11:34pm November 19

because the legal profession is very, very conservative

Can I cash my $450?

According the Nikkei, "Japan's most authoritative and influential business news publisher" (Isn't it more straightforward to just say "Japan's WSJ"):

WASHINGTON (Nikkei)--China has outstripped Japan as the top holder of U.S. Treasury securities, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Treasury Department.

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/CF/FR/GATEWAY/rss_news.cfm?URL=/AC/TNKS/Nni20081118D18JFF04.htm&Check=1

China is holding America's T-Notes in the amount of 585 billion US Dollars.

585/1.3=450.

I mean, CAN I CASH MY $450? With that money I can get lots of good food to pull me through the finals, and a beautiful floor lamp so that I can stay in my cozy little room.

Knock on wood.

Now that I'm an expert on drug dealing

Thank you Fordham, for making me an expert on sexual harassment and drug dealing and ready to run for president of any underground gang in JUST three months.



Hogan Chao at 12:04pm November 17

long memo done?

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 12:07pm November 17

yep, slept 3 hours last night, looked around in class this morning and found lots of people who didn't sleep at all yet in terrific shape

Hogan Chao at 1:22pm November 17

very high!

Irene Yanhua Peng at 6:23am November 18

Enjoy! Now you would still talk about it as if it was something new... After another sem or yr, I am sure you'd take it as part of your normal life. The worse part? It's merely the beginning...

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 3:37pm November 18

Thanks Irene for your empathy

i thought 2L and 3L should be better, and then much tougher again when in the firm?

Sun Yi at 9:31pm November 18

I love the rape/sexual harassment cases! But I don't think we talked much about drug dealing....

Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 11:15pm November 18

you love the rape...that's horrifying

La Dame aux Camélias

阿芒重回巴黎後，米利把茶花女的一本日記交給了他。日記

中寫道：「除了你的侮辱是你始終愛我的證據外，我似乎覺得你越是折磨我，等到你知道真相的那一天，我在你眼中也就會顯得越加崇高。」

阿芒懷著無限的悔恨與惆悵，為愛人瑪格麗特遷墳安葬，並在她的墳前擺滿了白茶花。



Facebook Comments:

Jinjing Jiang at 11:19pm November 14

......

How I Did Not Meet Your Mother

OK. Since so many people are whining about the "bare sticks day" today, I decide to tell a new story:

HOW I DID NOT MEET YOUR MOTHER

Worldwide season premiere will be on 11/11/2011. Stay tuned,

(Yeah, that's exactly 3 years from now! See how many new jobs I'm creating at this juncture of recession!!)


Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 12:26am November 12

Update: upon seeing my MSN tagline, poly commented

"how i did not meet your mother“..
sounds like what gay couple would say to their surrogate child

darn quirky little mind

【冰点】：可怕的是只有两种声音

——极端民族主义与民族虚无主义的网络激荡

《中国青年报》

“2008年，中国发生了许多惊天动地的事情：南方冰雪，拉萨骚乱，火炬传递受阻，汶川地震，台湾反贪，北京奥运，山西矿难，三聚氰胺……

许多事件在网络上都引起了激烈的争吵。与近些年我们已经见惯了的网络争吵模式相符，最洪亮的总是来自两个相反的极端的声音。”

--kudos to poly

有两首非常著名的诗歌，且摘读其中最著名的几句——

天灾难避死何诉，
主席唤，总理呼，
党疼国爱，声声入废墟。
十三亿人共一哭，
纵做鬼，也幸福。
（王兆山《江城子》）

假如有来生，
当兵只当美国兵。
假如今生注定死于战火，
就作美国精确制导炸弹下的亡灵。
（焦国标《致美国兵》）

王兆山先生和焦国标先生立场截然相反无疑。但这两首诗的思维模式和视人命如草芥的价值观，却完全相同！

......

中国“右愤”与石原等日本“右愤”的区别在于，中国“右愤”坚信“美国总是对的”，“美国伟大光荣正确”，像石原他们那样妄图对美国说“不”，本身就是错的，就是愚昧，就是“脑残”。

在中国“左愤”们眼里，美国除了有钱有枪，其他基本上一无是处，中国没有必要向美国学习，而应该同它作殊死的斗争；而在中国“右愤 ”们眼里，美国就是已经落实到了地面上的完美乌托邦，向美国学习，就必须怀着无限崇拜的心态去学，谁要是认为美国并非十全十美，我们必须学其长而避其短，那就不是真学，甚至那就不是真的对外开放。

......

就在同一时间，网上还发生过另外一波殊途而同归的“各说各话”。今年春夏以来，台湾海峡上空弥漫着近20年来罕见的浓郁的和平气息。对于两岸的人民，这种局面是多么可贵！但极左和极右的人却全都对此感到不舒服。一家著名的极左网站发出多篇文章，指责中央的对台政策太软了，让步太多了，太不坚持原则了。大陆另一家著名右翼网站则指责马英九对大陆太软了，让步太多了，鼓励他“联合美日，使劲向大陆施压，完全不用害怕”。

双方立场截然相反，但其努力的目标都是一个——鼓动两岸重新进行对抗。

这种“冷战尚未结束，同志仍须努力”的思维，意识形态挂帅的思维，“汉贼不两立”的思维，是多么吓人！



Lawrence Zhan Zhang at 10:42pm November 5

although I think it's not entirely their fault--people are forced to the two extremes only by an environment that neither fully honor and protect the freedom of speech, nor (at least strive to) provide unfiltered information.