Faith in the future outta the now

週末終於快要來啦~~~ 真HAPPY~~~  ^_^

在炎炎夏日，總是熱到不太想動，可是不動又會沒體力，

dear 們，

暑假已經過了兩天半，不知道過得如何呢  ^_^

剛才我寫的那一大篇去哪裡了..... 泣...

------ 打起精神，再來一次... --------

Bleu II  -- by Joan Miro

星期六來了趟氣質知性之旅，

  Tsunami strikes Ao Nang, Thailand, 2004[1]

For me, today is both the last day (of this term?) in Lttc and the first day of this semester in the school I work at.  From 9:00 to 11:00, I was a student, but after 12:00, I went back to my previous position as a teacher.  Like a Cinderella?  

"Pop! Goes My Heart"

    When I get back home, the first thing I do is turn on the computer - if it hasn’t been turned on yet - to manage my blogs.  In addition to that, I have plenty of things to do online, such as doing research for my papers, listening to the radio on National Public Radio’s website, reading news articles on CNN and TIME, watching music clips on YouTube, searching for data on movies and joining discussions on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes, and buying books and DVDs on Amazon.com/jp.  In other words, I’ve found that it has become difficult for me to imagine a life without the Internet.  Moreover, it is apparent that I am not alone.  Based on long-term observations, persistent "field study" and my personal experience of being an Internet addict, it has dawned on me that there are three main reasons why people become heavily dependent on the Internet: the convenience, the resourcefulness, and the entertainment that the Internet provides.

To begin with, the Internet has developed into such a ripe stage that it now makes people’s lives extremely convenient.  For example, people now don’t have to run their errands to pay their bills at different places; instead, with a few quick clicks of the mouse, they can pay all kinds of bills online, such as phone bills, credit card bills, electricity fees, and even taxes.  As for shopping, e-commerce provides an easier and more efficient alternative to physical stores.  Online stores take pride in their huge variety of merchandise for customers to choose from; furthermore, owing to cost savings in administration and management, they are also able to offer special discounts to make their goods more desirable.  When the products in demand are rare or cannot be purchased locally, online stores are always the best choice.  With its reasonable prices, secure payment, and speedy international shipment, once having experienced online shopping, one finds it hard to resist the temptation to stick to it.    The Internet also brings many conveniences when it comes to arranging travel.  Before the trip, one can easily check the schedule of transportation facilities online and make flight, train, liner, restaurant, and hotel reservations without troublesome procedures.

Today I went back to my alma mater to take GEPT Advanced Level Test.  As the effect of the fact that this test is only held annually, the examinees were over 200.  I even saw some foreigners taking this test, who seemed to come from the U.S. or Europe. (I'm always bad at guessing people's nationalities.)  Well, to tell the truth, the test was more difficult than I had expected.   It was even harder than the CBT!  After the test, I overheard several examinees claim that they fell asleep during the test because they couldn't comprehend the long, long articles in reading section and couldn't keep up with the speed of speech in listening section.   As for me, I found it rather surprising that it seemed I did better in listening  than reading.  If only the time had been more sufficient for reading section!!  Besides, owing to the side effect of the extraction of tooth, I felt like vomiting all through the test time...    Hope the results can be acceptable!

Very happy to have lunch with all these fabulous ladies & gentlemen......though at that time I worried about the exatraction of my darlin' wisdom tooth so much that I ate little 'n' talked little.    Hope we can have another happy get-together soon.   

After having lunch with my classmates & teacher in LTTC, I went for the appointemnet with the dentist.  And, and.......I had my wisom tooth extracted.  Though my superb dentist did it quite quickly and smoothly, after the anaesthesia medicine gradually lost its effect, I've felt a little bit dizzy, especially my dear computer has got virus AGAIN, and I had to try to fix it myself.

(1) Languages are a means of communication.
(2) Foreingers can never speak like native speakers.

These days, I've been quite annoyed with my hair, the fringe in particular.  I've been thinking of going to the hair salon to have my hair trimmed.  Yet, this afternoon, I got so irritated with it that I  grabbed the scissors which were nearest to me to cut it short myself.

     The new landmark of Taipei--Taipei 101[1]