Don't forget your sisters

A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day, drinking iced tea & visiting with her mother.


As they talked about life, marriage, the responsibilities of life & the obligations of adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her glass thoughtfully & turned a clear, sober glance upon her daughter.

'Don't forget your sisters,' she advised, swirling the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. 'They'll be more important as you get older. No matter how much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you may have, you are still going to need sisters. Remember to go places with them now & then; do things with them.

'Remember that 'sisters' means ALL the women...your girlfriends, your daughters & all your other women relatives too. 'You'll need other women, women always do.

' What a funny piece of advice!' the young woman thought. Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake! A grownup! Surely my husband & the family we may start will be all I need to make my life worthwhile!'

But she listened to her mother. She kept contact with her sisters & made more women friends each year. As the years tumbled by-one after another-she gradually came to understand that her mother really knew what she was talking about. As time & nature work their changes & their mysteries upon a woman, sisters are the mainstays of her life.

After more than 50 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:THIS SAYS IT ALL:
Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come & go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break......
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.

BUT...............
Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girl friend is never farther away than needing her can reach. When you have to walk that lonesome valley & you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf & waiting with open arms at the valley's end. Sometimes, they will even break the rules & walk beside you...Or come in and carry you out.

Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family: all bless our life!

The world wouldn't be the same without women & neither would I. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. Every day, we need each other still. Pass this on to all the women who help make your life meaningful. I just did.

first stanford update!

school just started this week, and i'm taking quite a few classes~ mostly biophysics and some seminars and some core classes required by the department.. also taking this math class in linear dynamics but i might want to drop it cos i don't want to do the weekly homework (and my advisor agrees)... and i got a research rotation this term with this fabulous, enthusiastic prof who seems quite impressed with me (yippee) hahaha... he brought me yesterday to speak with this prof and postdoc from another dept about a project that they want to collaborate in (and hope to publish a paper), so it's quite exciting.. they were quite surprised to find a 1st-yr student working on it but i guess they seemed quite happy after the meeting, so i'm happy =P

went on a camping trip with the other pple in bio-related departments the last weekend! it was quite nice, we went on a 11-mile hike in a temperate forest, so the weather was fantastic beyond words... no bugs, not much sun, very cooling, didn't even have to sweat =P quite disappointed that we didn't get to see many animals though, the only wildlife i saw were banana slugs and this irritating bluejay that kept crowing above our tent right after sunrise... but it was fun, made some friends... and i mastered the art of roasting marshmallows and making s'mores~ muahahaha

oh and the tent near ours was raided by a raccoon the first night -- it apparently went into their tent (their doorflap wasn't zipped up) and stole a cookie from their bag.. they found the plastic wrapper and crumbs outside their tent in the morning O_O.... our encounter with the wildlife was when everyone was ready to sleep and turned off our flashlights... and then our friends who were sleeping outside (i was sleeping in a tent with this other girl) felt something search through their bags and someone heard a grunt... and i heard something run past.. we're guessing it was a raccoon or wild boar of sorts... but nothing happened, so that was just a fright i guess... nevertheless, it was an exciting trip not being able to shower for 2 days and using a toilet that didn't have a light =X haha

hmm that's abt it i guess.. the exciting stuff tt's happening here in stanford, ca =P besides the fact that i found diaso here (1.50 per item!!) and a nice brown-rice sushi restaurant (interesting and very fresh fish) .... yup!

Time

Was at RJC yesterday to help out at a course my supervisor's teaching for 3 weeks. As I sat at the back of the classroom and watched the students listen to my sup's lecture (or playing on the comp), I had a flashback of JC life. How innocent they looked.... the lack of worries in their lives besides grades, CCAs, university... the hope in their eyes. Intelligent youths looking towards bright futures, enjoying lives with friends all around. Then the irreversibility of time struck me. Like "WHAMP!" There's no way of going back to that age and stage of our lives.... no way to reverse the weathered gaze in our eyes... life ceased to be simple as our teenage years.


A second thought from this morning. Was reading Nat Geog on the train, and there was this photo of the rooftop of a London home. Just like the one we stayed in back then along Gloucester Road. And then I realised how much I missed London. Miss the cosy-ness of the low-rise apartments, the Victorian architecture, the red-bricked walls, the little alleys that led into doorways of pretty houses. There's just something about Europe that'll tug at the corners of my heart, and leave me with a contented sigh and feel at ease as I walk down the streets, walk through the parks. Somehow we just need some connection to some history or culture to make us feel human, away from the hectic, almost mechanistic modern world.

Rainbow!

A nice rainbow appeared after a heavy rain on Wednesday =) This photo was from Therie =) I like how the rainbow looked like it emerged from the top of the colorful HDB flat, looks almost magical =)
If you look closely, you can also see the double rainbow above the main one. "Secondary rainbows are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops, and appear at an angle of 50°–53°. As a result of the second reflection, the colours of a secondary rainbow are inverted compared to the primary bow, with blue on the outside and red on the inside." (wiki)
Very beautiful.... amazing how simple things can light up one's day =)

李克勤-左右手

don't take things for granted before you lose that you treasure

李克勤 - 婚前的女人

the tune is quite interesting.. makes it sound as if a married woman's life is like a battle in the olden days...lyrics are quite true for many too