I just arrived in Boston for business – the first time I have taken a business trip out of town since Winston’s birth. This morning I woke up at 1:30 am thinking about what else I needed to tell Michael and the nanny regarding Winston’s schedule and habits. Usually in the darkest time of the night, I get really worried. I did not doze off until a few hours later, and then Winston woke up. The flight from San Francisco to Boston was supposed to be 6 hours long so I thought that I was going to catch up on my sleep on the plane. But no – I was completely wired the whole time, not reading or writing on my computer, but just constantly thinking about all sorts of things, mostly to prevent my mind from drifting to Winston’s cherubic face, as that would bring me to almost tears.
I now understand what it means to feel a “heartache” - he is so dear to me that I cannot even bear to think about him when I am so far away from him...
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
My First Movie in the Theater Alone
Since Winston was born, I have seen many movies – on Netflix. The convenience it offers is unmatchable – I would often choose to watch a movie on Netflix Instant after Winston has gone to sleep, and if I fall asleep in the middle, I get to start where I left off exactly the next time. I could choose to abandon a boring movie and start a new one anytime.
But there is something about going to a movie theater that makes the movie-watching experience special. I can’t really describe it accurately. The difference between watching a film at home and seeing it in the theater is akin to the difference btween eating a great dinner at home and eating in a fancy restaurant. It’s got that extra edge of excitement – like I am going to do something fun. That sense of anticipation combined with the sense of sharing this experience with many other people I don’t know and will never know makes it not only special, but also somewhat exotic.
Therefore, when a friend recommended the movie “Inception”, I decided to see it in the theater. After all, I still live (as of today) 10 minutes away from a movie theater. Michael took his whole lab out for a hiking trip yesterday. My mom is still around and so is the new nanny. After I put Winston down for his nap, it turned out that it was right before the next show of “Inception” would start.
As I was walking into the theater, I was thinking to myself, “this is the first time in my life that I am going to see a movie in the theater by myself.” Perhaps because I would know no one at the theater, I was wearing completely mismatched clothes and shoes, and my hair must have been sticking out from my hasty combing in the morning. In the old days, if I were to get together with friends, I would at least try not to look too bad!
Well, maybe that’s the advantage of seeing a movie alone in the theater – I can be as dishevelled as I like. The movie itself is quite an exciting experience. Considering how I am a fanatical fan of “The Matrix” but absolutely did not like either of the two sequels, I genuinely hope that there will not be a sequel to this movie, despite the fact that the ending seemed a bit enigmatic. Sometimes it is better to have an enigma than a revelation. As a scientist-turned businesswoman, I am the ultimate proponent of clarity and pragmatism. But I think there is a place for everything. I would not want the allures of enigmas in my daily life or relationships, irrespective of how we as human beings are naturally attracted to such things. Yet on the other hand, I would not want to seek clarity or logic in fictions or fantasy, as that would either lead to disappointment in our own pedestrian life for its lack of excitement or spice, as fervent readers of romance literature are disillusioned by the lack of perfection in their own love lives; or it would lead to disappointment in an otherwise perfectly fascinating story, which could only have stayed perfect if we left it unresearched further.
That was my feeling regarding “The Matrix” trilogy, and it is my feeling with “Inception”. I am not certain that I know exactly what happened in the end, but that was just fine. I am sure that when my friend comes to visit Bay Area later this month, we could have an interesting discussion on our respective takes, reading much more into each gesture of Leonardo Dicaprioo than necessary – I should mention that I remain a fan of his. I know that “Titanic” is a silly movie for teenage girls, but I loved it nonetheless. While he seems to like working with Martin Scorsesee, I don’t like any of those movies he made with Scorsesee. I liked “Catch me if you can” and “Blood Diamond”. And I just really like him!
Enough of this stream-of-consciousness writing about movie-watching experience....
But there is something about going to a movie theater that makes the movie-watching experience special. I can’t really describe it accurately. The difference between watching a film at home and seeing it in the theater is akin to the difference btween eating a great dinner at home and eating in a fancy restaurant. It’s got that extra edge of excitement – like I am going to do something fun. That sense of anticipation combined with the sense of sharing this experience with many other people I don’t know and will never know makes it not only special, but also somewhat exotic.
Therefore, when a friend recommended the movie “Inception”, I decided to see it in the theater. After all, I still live (as of today) 10 minutes away from a movie theater. Michael took his whole lab out for a hiking trip yesterday. My mom is still around and so is the new nanny. After I put Winston down for his nap, it turned out that it was right before the next show of “Inception” would start.
As I was walking into the theater, I was thinking to myself, “this is the first time in my life that I am going to see a movie in the theater by myself.” Perhaps because I would know no one at the theater, I was wearing completely mismatched clothes and shoes, and my hair must have been sticking out from my hasty combing in the morning. In the old days, if I were to get together with friends, I would at least try not to look too bad!
Well, maybe that’s the advantage of seeing a movie alone in the theater – I can be as dishevelled as I like. The movie itself is quite an exciting experience. Considering how I am a fanatical fan of “The Matrix” but absolutely did not like either of the two sequels, I genuinely hope that there will not be a sequel to this movie, despite the fact that the ending seemed a bit enigmatic. Sometimes it is better to have an enigma than a revelation. As a scientist-turned businesswoman, I am the ultimate proponent of clarity and pragmatism. But I think there is a place for everything. I would not want the allures of enigmas in my daily life or relationships, irrespective of how we as human beings are naturally attracted to such things. Yet on the other hand, I would not want to seek clarity or logic in fictions or fantasy, as that would either lead to disappointment in our own pedestrian life for its lack of excitement or spice, as fervent readers of romance literature are disillusioned by the lack of perfection in their own love lives; or it would lead to disappointment in an otherwise perfectly fascinating story, which could only have stayed perfect if we left it unresearched further.
That was my feeling regarding “The Matrix” trilogy, and it is my feeling with “Inception”. I am not certain that I know exactly what happened in the end, but that was just fine. I am sure that when my friend comes to visit Bay Area later this month, we could have an interesting discussion on our respective takes, reading much more into each gesture of Leonardo Dicaprioo than necessary – I should mention that I remain a fan of his. I know that “Titanic” is a silly movie for teenage girls, but I loved it nonetheless. While he seems to like working with Martin Scorsesee, I don’t like any of those movies he made with Scorsesee. I liked “Catch me if you can” and “Blood Diamond”. And I just really like him!
Enough of this stream-of-consciousness writing about movie-watching experience....
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Upcoming Move
For the upcoming move to our new house near Stanford campus, I started looking for a moving company.
ACE Relocation handled my moves from Boston to San Diego as well as from San Diego to Bay Area. The first time it was great – we got up in the morning and packed up a suitcase for ourselves for a week, but did absolutely no packing. The movers showed up and packaged up the entire apartment in a matter of a couple of hours. Things showed up in San Diego in nice condition. The only downside was that I had to unpack so many boxes due to their excessive padding.
The second time, however, was not that great. We lost some items but they refused to pay for them even though we paid for extra insurance. The movers were not as efficient as the ones in Boston.
As this upcoming move is a local move, I thought that I would check out some cheap Chinese moving companies. Sure enough, they are a lot cheaper than others. But will they show up? - I asked on the phone a Chinese moving company referred to me by a friend, “what if you don’t show up on Saturday August 28? Should we sign some paperwork first?” he said, “Why would we not want to show up? We are running a business here. In fact, we don't have time to sign any paperwork." Then another friend told me that one of her former roommates did encounter that problem – the chinese moving company did not show up on the scheduled day. So I guess I will have to pay the extra money for an American moving company still.
Then of course the question is “what do we want to get rid of before moving?” Since Michael is the picky one with respect to furniture, I gave him a list of furniture stores recommended by other friends. Our current couch is the same one that we had when we were both graduate students in Boston area. I remember that it cost us only $60 to buy that used couch, sometime around 1997. Now for the 13 years since, we did look for couches but never could find anything that satisfies Michael. The fabric is tearing up so badly that I am sure that anyone who visits wonders why we are so cheap. My mom is a thrifty person, but even she mentioned several times that she did not see why we would still keep that old couch.
While the new house has all the appliances ready, it does not come with any window treatment. I went to Home Depot one day, hoping to decide on a kind of blinds. It had been a long time since I last went into a Home Depot store, as I am perhaps the extreme opposite of the “do-it-yourself” mentality. I know nothing about home improvement or gardening. It was overwhelming – I was shocked to see what one could buy in Home Depot. Literally one could build a house with stuff from Home Depot!
Needless to say, I was confused by the many varieties of blinds and shutters, and decided after a few minutes of browsing that perhaps this job should be left to Michael as well, in case he thinks that my taste is blinds is as bad as my taste in furniture.
I have to say that I really admire people who either have the courage to go through any home improvement projects or those who would even go through building up extensions of a house or a new house. After owning a house in San Diego for many years, I have remained as hopeless as ever about such things.
The weather in South San Francisco for the past few weeks has been atrocious – it’s so cold, windy and cloudy all the time that our heater still has to be turned on, in the middle of summer! For most people who work outside of this area, perhaps it’s okay to return to a house in this area after a whole day of seeing sunshine. However, since I have been working at home, it really has been dreadful. I can’t wait until we move to Palo Alto!
ACE Relocation handled my moves from Boston to San Diego as well as from San Diego to Bay Area. The first time it was great – we got up in the morning and packed up a suitcase for ourselves for a week, but did absolutely no packing. The movers showed up and packaged up the entire apartment in a matter of a couple of hours. Things showed up in San Diego in nice condition. The only downside was that I had to unpack so many boxes due to their excessive padding.
The second time, however, was not that great. We lost some items but they refused to pay for them even though we paid for extra insurance. The movers were not as efficient as the ones in Boston.
As this upcoming move is a local move, I thought that I would check out some cheap Chinese moving companies. Sure enough, they are a lot cheaper than others. But will they show up? - I asked on the phone a Chinese moving company referred to me by a friend, “what if you don’t show up on Saturday August 28? Should we sign some paperwork first?” he said, “Why would we not want to show up? We are running a business here. In fact, we don't have time to sign any paperwork." Then another friend told me that one of her former roommates did encounter that problem – the chinese moving company did not show up on the scheduled day. So I guess I will have to pay the extra money for an American moving company still.
Then of course the question is “what do we want to get rid of before moving?” Since Michael is the picky one with respect to furniture, I gave him a list of furniture stores recommended by other friends. Our current couch is the same one that we had when we were both graduate students in Boston area. I remember that it cost us only $60 to buy that used couch, sometime around 1997. Now for the 13 years since, we did look for couches but never could find anything that satisfies Michael. The fabric is tearing up so badly that I am sure that anyone who visits wonders why we are so cheap. My mom is a thrifty person, but even she mentioned several times that she did not see why we would still keep that old couch.
While the new house has all the appliances ready, it does not come with any window treatment. I went to Home Depot one day, hoping to decide on a kind of blinds. It had been a long time since I last went into a Home Depot store, as I am perhaps the extreme opposite of the “do-it-yourself” mentality. I know nothing about home improvement or gardening. It was overwhelming – I was shocked to see what one could buy in Home Depot. Literally one could build a house with stuff from Home Depot!
Needless to say, I was confused by the many varieties of blinds and shutters, and decided after a few minutes of browsing that perhaps this job should be left to Michael as well, in case he thinks that my taste is blinds is as bad as my taste in furniture.
I have to say that I really admire people who either have the courage to go through any home improvement projects or those who would even go through building up extensions of a house or a new house. After owning a house in San Diego for many years, I have remained as hopeless as ever about such things.
The weather in South San Francisco for the past few weeks has been atrocious – it’s so cold, windy and cloudy all the time that our heater still has to be turned on, in the middle of summer! For most people who work outside of this area, perhaps it’s okay to return to a house in this area after a whole day of seeing sunshine. However, since I have been working at home, it really has been dreadful. I can’t wait until we move to Palo Alto!
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