The Air, My Friend

How it’s too important, to try our best, to keep that, positive attitude toward everything we encounter in our lives, because that, is the determinant of how we will, get through the trials in our separate, lives, the column by Jimmi Liao, translated by me…

He Must Loves the Rain So,

Being Completely Drenched, and Still, Quite Happy.

He Must Have, Weathered through All the Life’s Trials Then,

Enjoyed Turning the Tragedies, into, Comedies.

the artwork of Jimmi Liao, from UDN.com

He May Not Love the Rain,

May Not Have, Seen it All in His Life.

He Just, Has, that Smile on His Face

Eternally is All.

So, this just showed, how whether or not we are, happy or upset, it’s all due to our own, interpretations, and yeah, we may feel down and out from time to time, so long as we don’t forget, that the sun is, hiding inside the dark clouds we are weathering currently, that all shall, come to, pass…

Weather Forecast: Sunny Skies

How we should, live our lives, disregarding what trials may come later on in our lives, living in the moment, enjoying life itself, a poem, translated…

The Weather Forecasts Said that the Fronts Hadn’t Arrived

It’s a Sunny Day

I’d Cleaned Up the Windows in the Winter Sunshine

like this…

from online

On that Crystal Clear Morn

Caring Less How the Rain, the Wind Will, Dirty Them Again

And so, this is how it goes, despite the weather forecast, you still decided to clean up the windows, because you wanted a clearer view to the outside world, and even if the rain came later on, it’s okay, because, at least, you got that look through that cleared window from before…

Head of CDC, What if, These are, Your Kids

Yeah, but they’re, not, so, I really couldn’t, give a, FUCK!  That, is the response of the head of the CDC, Chen, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The legislators were asked by the parents, that there was a student who was up north in his studies, who’d had a high fever during his quarantine, with the stuffiness of his chest, that he’d gone by the protocols, called up the related agencies, but not gotten an answer back from the government agencies, it’d worried his parents in Taichung so.

As the head of the CDC, Chen was asked about this situation, first, he’d questioned the motives of the legislator’s asking the question, then said, that the students are responsible for caring for themselves, that the schools won’t leave them alone.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Chen is also a parent too, how could he possibly say this?  How hard it is, for an ill adult, to care for her/himself, let alone, a student who’s away from her/his family.

Director Chen, “the hearts of parents all around you should empathize”, if this were your child, will you still say, that college students are old enough, to take care of themselves?

Yep, this just showed how LACK of empathy, these god damn government officials of the DDP are, like how the train accidents from before, the head of transportation waved that off, like it was nothing, or the total number of deaths that’s occurred so far in the outbreaks, the government officials could careless, and how the president was so clueless, on that “tour of duty” she’d made, to see the locations hit hardest by the typhoons from before, and yeah, we the people are, on our own, because we can’t count on this god damn GOVERNMENT, to do anything for us here!

The Students from Chenggong University Just Wanted to Lie Down Flat, Lai Was Stunned

This next generation of “children” surely are, in desperate need of, motivation, and they’re still totally, NOT getting that here!  The forum of the VP with the students of the university here!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Younger Generations Feel Lost Toward Their Futures, the Professors Worried on How Will They Become Swans from Ugly Ducklings

The vice president, Lai went to Chenggong University to hold a forum with the college students there, and he’d asked those who were present what they will be willing to do, as the world faces more challenges in the future, and, forty-two-percent of the students said they wanted to “lay flat”, it’d let the VP dumbfounded, but he’d still encouraged the students to face the futures, to accept whatever challenges that will come their ways, to change into beautiful swans from ugly ducklings.

Forty-two-percent of the students in the forum selected to be members of the “Lain-Flat, Aunty, I Don’t Want to Work Hard”, thirty-five-percent said that they will chose a set professional career twenty-four percent wanted to be entrepreneurs, eighteen-percent wanted to go for the public office posts, and seventeen-percent wanted to go into politics.  And, as Lai read the results, he’d joked that the students may need to find an “aunty” who wouldn’t mind hear them complain.

i only, our futures were, this, easy…

photo from online

The professor that Lai had from Chenggong University, Tang worried, that if everybody just want to lay flat, how can they become swans?  The president of the graduate students association, Jeng stated that, the younger generations may have been bombarded with too much information that they didn’t know what to do with, so they wanted to, lie flat.

The students told, that reasons why the younger generations not getting married, not having children is due to the rising costs in living, how they can’t find jobs after graduations, the enterprises had a lot of openings, but can’t find any employees.  Lai said, that the government has the responsibilities to help lift some of the burdens off the younger generations’ shoulders, that the government is currently working towards that, that the government will continue to work toward this goal in the future continually.

And sadly, these are the people who will be, leading this god damn country of ours, wow, are we all, screwed over or what?  Because they all just want to, lie down flat, and not work for their living, not trying to find meanings to their own lives, not contributing to the world in their own ways, and, that’s just on the personal levels, if you magnify this shit, and, spread it throughout this country, then the rest of the world.  Wow, might as well, call in the four horsemen of the apocalypse right now, so we can all, lie down flat, and D-I-E now!

Using the Attitude of Planning Out a Concert to Approach Everything in Life

How this conductor of a percussionist group used the serious attitude he took to plan out a performance, to every other aspect of his own life, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

After every performance, the musicians would often give one another the encouragements, grateful, and celebrated the success of a show, and, at the moment of the musicians taking their bow before the curtains fall, the applauses from the audience are combined with the joys of the performers, having performed a good show, and it’s always, moving to me!

And yet, there are, the behind-the-scenes hardships that’s now show on stage.  How to have a perfect performance on stage, it usually takes a hundred times of the performance time of the show, even more than that, and the work the artists put in, as well the time spent in perfecting the show, is, unimaginable.

A concert forming, is like the team drawing a huge circle, with the center being the passions of pursuits of a common goal of the team members, the start of the circle would be the thought of the project, along the center, thinking of the goals, the meanings of the work?  The kinds of the shows we want to make?  Following, add in the producers and the creators, meshing, to have that first formed raw form of the work; the performers, through the repeated rehearsals, working on the project endlessly, continually, to fully perform the depth of the meanings of the work.  And, on the planning portions, the workers started with the program designs, the advertisements, inviting the audience into the concert halls.  With the team members working at their separate posts, continually communicating with one another, adjusting, circling the audience in, to fully put on a good show for the audience.

here’s a performance of this man’s percussionist group, off of YouTube

【Got my Beat】朱宗慶打擊樂團Ju Percussion Group – YouTube

(and yes, the link works!)

The hard-to-calculate time and investments, and how it’d become the audiences being moved by the performances, what the performances inspired the members of the audience to think and to feel, that, is what’s so intriguing about the arts!  And, the performance arts is a one-time, gone-easily, live experience sort of a thing, which made every single show unique, and for all who came to see it, it’s worthy of their time and mind too, and, all the performers also shoulder up the responsibilities for the audiences’ enjoying the qualities of the shows too.  What’s behind the standing ovation from the audience, there’s, usually the walking on eggshells, heading on stage to perform, carefully planning the show, and, hoping it all goes well mind.

I’d worked in the performance arts industries, for close to forty years now, and, every time it’s for real, putting everything I had in, attention to the details within, the details, it’d become, internalized into my own values too, recently, a member of the teams mentioned, that I’d carried the attitude of planning out a performance in everything that I was doing.  Whether it be advocating the arts, the arts education, or running a theatre, even in my daily living, I’d always, cared about everyone around me, every single movement, and cherished every chance I receive, with my focused state of mind which I took, to produce a show, living this way, through every moment of my life.

On teaching and lecturing, every time before I shared or lectured, I would research into the music my students were into, and, made the models of our possible class discussions, being fully prepared, I firmly believe, that even if the encounters are once in a lifetime, it will make us tighter in connection, because of how we treated each other in relating to one another; theatre management, organization management is exactly like so, expanding this mean to goal setting, to policy planning, from the activities, the functions, the hosting of the conferences, I’d always engaged in the discussions with my group members back and forth, from setting up the goals, to evaluation of the processes, to putting the theories into practice, being careful in every single step, so every project I’m involved in ends, perfectly.

For many years, I’d been in the performances, my passions, and often heard the members of the audience shared of how a moment in the shows, became an eternal memory to them, all of these, made me, cherished every time I’m on stage, every time I’d shared my experiences, every story, every opportunity I have of interacting with another, it’d made me believed, that if we can carry that attitude to setting up a concert, performance, to deal with everything that happens in our lives big and small—with the truest heart, the most focused attitudes, plus the practical means of achieving the goals we’d set, then, we will, do everything to the best knowledge of our own, separate means of, perfection eventually!

So, this, is not on how to achieve perfection, but how this man made sure that he evaluated himself, after each and every performance he’d given, and, it takes a whole lot of planning, and everything else that goes with it, to make a show happen, and, this man carried the seriousness of attitude of planning a performance, to other areas of his own life.

When the Name-Brand Car is Worth More than a Human Life: He’d Hit & Killed Someone with His Car, and Delayed on Paying the Cost, Used His Money to Buy Another Car First

This is how wayward the values are right now, when the worth of a HUMAN’s life isn’t as much as a god damn name-brand car!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The man killed an adolescent motorist, Chang, and promised his families that he will pay not just the three-million dollars N.T. settlement, but another one million to settle the case, and he’d not fulfilled it, but, a month after the case, he’d, finished the last installment of $1.29 million N.T. for his high-end name brand car; the judge found that he had the money, and didn’t pay the family the settlement first, that he’d carried an awful attitude after he’d killed him, found him guilty of vehicular manslaughter, sentenced him to a year six months, and this can be appealed.

The 34-year-old Lee last year at around eight in the morn on October 9^th, out on his small pickup, he’d wanted to turn left onto Yuemei Road from Kangchuan Road, he’d not let the cars going straight to have the right of way, causing the motorist, the adolescent, Chang to HIT the traffic, Chang sustained the severe head traumas and died, Lee turned himself in at the crash site to the police, the father of the adolescent lost his son, and sued Lee.

The judge believed that Lee had violated the traffic laws of right of way, fought to turn left, that he was, negligent; but the adolescent was speeding too, and he too, was, negligent.

The Cost of His Brand New Car was a LOT Higher than the Settlement He’d Agreed Upon with the Families

The courts considered that Lee had yet to reach a settlement agreement with the families of the victim, that he’d not promised any amount for their losses, and only stated, that other than the insurances, he was willing to pay another one million dollars N.T., and told the families, that he can only pay $300,000N.T. now, and, will pay in installment for the remaining $700,000N.T., at $100,000N.T. per month.

The judge found, that in just a month after the accident, Lee took out a loan of $1.29 million N.T.’s to pay for the final installment payment to buy a new car, and afforded a luxury sedan for himself of $1.39 million N.T.s, believed that he had the money, or was willing to buy another car for himself, but hadn’t made an effort to pay the families of the victim, and that the cost of the his brand new car was higher than the money promised to pay the families of the adolescent he’d killed.

The courts believed, that Lee did NOT only work hard to make it up to the families of the victim, he’d treated a young life he’d taken with such disregard, and said that he would be willing to pay for the damages in “installments”, compared to how he’d, paid up what he’d owed on the final car payments, it was like he was, giving a handout to the victim’s families.  The verdict found, that Lee carried that awful attitude, that it was shameful, that he’d needed to be punished severely, for him to remember and learn the lesson the hard way, to turn his twisted values systems back right again.

And so, this man’s behavior showed how he’d, DISRESPECTED life, how he’d, killed the teen, and carried a bad attitude, that he was, willing to pay for the final car payment, which was HIGHER than the settlement he’d reached with the family members of the young man he’d killed, in INSTALLMENTS, and he needed to get punished SEVERELY, for the BAD attitude, for his show of DISRESPECT, for taking a human life!

I’m Not a Porcelain Doll, the Reflections in the Doll Corner

This morning, the Porcelain climbed off that high shelf that her owner kept her on display, toward the floor, and, she stood there, in front of the mirror (b/c it’s a girl’s room, and ALL girls want to get dolled up, don’t they???), and, she’d looked at her self in the mirror, left, and right, like how a scientist is examining something s/he’d just, discovered…

I’m not a porcelain doll, Porcelain mumbled to herself, although I looked delicate, fragile, easily shattered, but, I have, a heart of a Raggedly Ann, you can SHAKE, toss me, and let me DROP to the floor, I still won’t BREAK!

not my photo…

I’m not a porcelain doll, the Porcelain decided, that she will NOT be fragile like she’d always been, she’d wanted her owner (a little girl???), to pick her up, and play with her without worrying about shattering her, and so, Porcelain started changing, metamorphosing, and, the little girl who’d owned her, hadn’t seen her, she’d, forgotten about the existence of this particular Porcelain she loved so much.

not my photo…

I’m not a porcelain doll, I won’t break if you shake me too hard, and, even if you tossed me high up in the air, and I come down, landing on my head, I still won’t CRACK wide open!

But, although Porcelain had, made up HER mind on not to break anymore, she still can’t change her physical self, and, surely enough, she’d, shattered, for the last and final time, and, we are all gathered here today, to MOURN the loss, of our dear friend, Porcelain, she was, a very good doll, she just can’t get satisfied, being WHAT and WHO she is, that, is why, she had “died”………

The Perfect Face with the Perfect Body

There’s NO such thing!

The perfect face with the perfect body, how is that defined?  Based off of one’s perception, knowledge, of what beauty entails, right?  And, do we NOT have the same definitions of what “beauty” is?  So, there’s NO way, that someone can have the perfect face, WITH the perfect body, it’s just not, humanly possible, is it?

The perfect face with the perfect body, well, let’s suppose that someone DOES have that, but, the moment s/he opens UP her/his mouth, you’d wished, that you hadn’t asked the person to talk, because the person is, quacking like a DUCK, or that the person sounds like shattering of those glass windows.

So, to be perfect, in EVERY single way, is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE, isn’t it?

The perfect face with the perfect body, if someone does have what’s been “defined” as a perfect face WITH a perfect body, does that mean, that the person will have it made for life?  That s/he is NEVER to experience ANY kind of difficulties in one’s life?  Of course not, because, as stories often has it, there’s NO such thing, as a good life, that comes with the good looks, and everything, take ALL of those fairytales of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid, etc., etc., etc., didn’t ALL of those heroines have to go through the trials of their own lives, to finally GET what they are searching for, and, for some, even IF they’d given it all they got, they still fell short (like Little Mermaid???), so, what, does THAT tell you?  Think about it, then, you MAY, get back to me, but, it’s NOT mandatory, and, I don’t want my mailboxes to be “stuffed”…

Walking Out of the Darkness After Losing My Marriage

The growth of a woman, translated…

My close friend, Hsin-Yi and two girlfriends’ floral shop opened, a few of us, their close friends, made the time, to give them the congratulations.

We saw how in the small space of the shop, there were so many colorful bouquets, potted flowers, and fashionable pots, plus the professional floral arrangements too, with the explanations of the concepts, it’d made us all happy for her, that she could, get from underneath the dark clouds of the loss of her marriage, and find her strength again.

Three years ago, after Hsin-Yi’s husband had an affair, she was in pain, but, for the sake, of giving her daughter a complete home, she’d decided, to put up with her husband’s bad behaviors, but in the end, she couldn’t save, this already shattered marriage of hers, and ended up divorcing her husband.

After her divorce, she took her five-year-old daughter, moved back in with her parents, other than helping with caring for her daughter, the family members would give her encouragements often.  Plus, her two girlfriends from college would often come by to say hi, have heart-to-hearts with her, hoped, that she could, get out, from under the failed marriage, to not get trapped by the depressive moods, and encouraged her, to make plans for herself, and her daughter’s sake as well.

Later on, Hsin-Yi and her two girlfriends decided to go into business together, the three of them decided to open up a floral shop.  Because Hsin-Yi had the working experiences as a wrapper at a floral shop from before, she’d naturally took up the work of packaging, selection of the flowers, as well as the designs for the pots, and the two of them were in charge of the finances and sales.

The three of them worked with the plans of opening up shop, their days were fulfilled, and, it’d ignited that sense of hope, in Hsin-Yi’s life again.

For the sake of gaining a wide variety of customers, as well as upping her own professionalism, six months before they’d opened for business, Hsin-Yi especially took lessons in how to make corsages and bouquets for the brides, hoped, that she could add to her own professionalism, to offer her customers more choices, and to give her daughter a bit more material wealth as well.

Hsin-Yi told me, that getting divorced is not scary, what’s scary was getting sucked, into the glooms of the divorce.  She’s grateful to her own family’s support, as well as her girlfriends’, giving her a lift in time, so she could get stronger, and, start again.

So, this, is with the support from her friend, that this divorcee had found herself again, and, having a social support system like this one is especially important, when you’re going through a major change in your life such as a divorce.

You’re No. 1 in My Mind, from the Mind of a Teacher

Translated…

“Although you’re ranked LAST of your class, but, the attitude you took, to handling everything, you’re actually TOP of the class in my point of view!”

Early this morning, Jun-Ren from the First Class of the Sixth grade took out his year book, handed it to me, wanted me to write something that can give him the encouragements, without a second thought, I’d written those words down, tapped him on the shoulders, showed that I’d believed, how hard he’d worked.

Jun-Ren lives with his sixty-year-old grandmother, just the two of them, early every morning, he’d gone to recycle with his grandma, after 6:30 when the shifts were finished, he’d still must make breakfasts for his grandma, then, head to school for class; after school, he’d returned home to help his grandmother pick up the recycling materials, and wouldn’t get home until late at night.

“Jen is a very well-behaved and understanding boy, back when his parents divorced, they’d handed him to me, for the sake of making a living for the both of us, I’d started picking up recycling materials; I’d felt, that this, is shameful work, and so, I’d worn my face mask when I’d made my rounds, but, Ren told me, that we’d not robbed anybody, nor did we steal, there’s nothing to feel ashamed of doing what we did for a living.”  As Jun-Ren’s grandma talked of these events, her eyes started getting watery, “Ren is a very amazing kid, every day, he’d helped me on my recycling rounds, caused him to not have enough time to study, and he’d never complained about it.”

True, Jun-Ren was not only well-behaved, he was willing and able, to handle the public affairs for the class.  Last semester, as I’d assigned the cleaning areas, there were still two individuals needed for the fourth floor restrooms.  I knew, that there are NO students willing to do this sort of dirty and smelly job, but, as the disciplinary office’s director asked who’d wanted this job at the early morning gatherings, Jun-Ren raised his hands up first, and, invited his best friends to work alongside him.

And, as he’d cleaned up the restrooms, he’d rolled up his pants and sleeves, worked hard, to scrub the toilets clean; even in the cold winters when the water temperatures are freezing, he’d not slacked off either, he’d sweated it all out working the restrooms, giving this brand new aromatic scent to the restroom areas, which was originally wreaking of this rancid smell, he’d even gotten the excellent remarks each and every month by given by the schools too.

Actually, it isn’t that Jun-Ren hated studying, it’s because after his chores, he’d gotten too tired to do anything else.  But, his hard-working attitude awes us all, nobody in his class can compare.  And so, he’s ranked at number one in my mind, I will be giving him a certificate of achievement as well as a “first place for hard working mannerism” prize, to give him blessings for his future.

And so, the reason why this kid isn’t doing well is still NOT because he doesn’t study, but because he couldn’t find the time to study, because he had to help his grandmother work, to provide for them both, and, the teacher understood it, and, gave him the commends, and hopefully, this boy will take the teacher’s heart, and keep working, with his hard working mannerisms.