Judge

"Don't judge a book by its cover." To extend that, I would say: "Don't judge a culture by one book."

Jack just finished reading one of the four great ancient Chinese novels, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." It's a historic novel about the Three Kingdoms in the Chinese history, around AD 220 - 280. The book was a novel written based on historical characters and some legendary stories.

I knew the story since childhood from our noon time storytelling on the radio. The four great novels are, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," "The Dream of the Red Chamber," "Journey to the West," and "Water Margin."

According to Jack, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was poorly translated (which is really a shame), and the characters' names were too hard to remember, which make reading and enjoying it difficult. Think "War and Peace," with people's names directly translated from Chinese, which totally don't make sense in English, for example: Cao, Cao. This is the book that's like Lord of the Rings for fantasy novels in English literature.

From time to time, I like to ask Jack what he thought of the book out of curiosity. Here are some of his other impressions:

• There are lots of detail descriptions of weapons.
• People were very superstitious, for example, if there was a fallen tree close to camp, it would be a bad omen for battle.
• The book was all about battles, men and strategies. There was no female characters in the story, so no romance. I guess, it's kind of a book about "bromance." 
• Now he knows the legendary Chinese characters such as Guan Yu, the exemplar Chinese warrior, who is also treated like a God of protection in Chinese culture (sort of like Captain America). Kong Ming, who is the exemplar and the best war strategist ever (in history, present time and in the future, that is).  Both of them worked for the Kingdom of Wei, for the Liu camp.
• Some punishments were very cruel. If the king was angry with someone who worked for him, he would not only kill that person, but also his family and perhaps extended family. Arhhh!
• At war if they killed a warrior that they admired, they would give him an honorable burial to show respect.

Sounds kind of barbaric doesn't it? Well, think 2000 years ago, the world is probably a pretty inhumane place, and hard to fathom.

This week Jack started reading "The Dream of the Red Chamber," which was written by a different author in a different era, but was translated by the same person. I asked what he thought of the book so far, and he said: "It's so totally different from the other book, this one is very sensual, and it's all about feelings and emotions." That's so true, there is so much beauty and romance in this book, and it will certainly provide a different dimension to the Chinese literature and culture. 

Well, we all know it's not good to judge, but none-judging is also very hard to do. So I would say, let judging happens, be conscious of it, and then let it go. Grow from each and every (judging) experience.

Packing list

Jack and I just came back from a long road trip with the dogs, from San Francisco Bay Area, to Denver Colorado. I've never driven in the winter, snowy conditions, so I've been concerned about the safety of the trip.

There were not much planning could be done in terms of where to stay, and which route to take, because all of that really depended on how the weather would be around the time. A couple of days before the trip, I tried to do more planning, so I pulled out my packing list -

1. Snacks
2. Blankets

Practice, practice, practice

"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice, practice, practice."

I used to only think of "practice" in the context of playing musical instruments, because of this quote. From practice, you are able to master the skills in playing the musical instrument, so that you are good enough to perform in such prestigious places as the Carnegie Hall.

Recently I realized that "practice makes perfect" is not only limit to playing musical instruments. It can be applied to anything you do, sports, drawing, and any of your skilled crafts, such as programming, writing or design. Whatever it is, the more you do it - practice - you get better at doing it.

Not everyone is born with certain talent like Mozart. The rest of us are not totally hopeless, we just have to put our heart into what we are doing, and keep practicing to get better at our craft. Just don't give up, and keep trying.

With that said, I remember in my earlier years, I used to think the sky was the limit. I thought I could do anything and be successful in everything I tried. Nowadays the sky is getting lower and lower, maybe because I am able to understand and accept my own limitations.

Playlists

Sometimes I marvel how many gadgets the iPhone has single handedly replaced. GPS, camera, MP3 player, notepad, calendar, alarm clock, and the list goes on and on with the apps on the App Store. In addition to that, we can now play our music or watch videos, how cool is that?

Today I played one of my playlists while making dinner, and I realized how much I enjoyed it. For any given album, I only have 2 or 3 favorite songs, so the ability to create my own playlist with all my favorite songs and play them back to back is just awesome. Especially with the shuffling option, I never know what's going to come next, and am always pleasantly surprised.

In this playlist, I have a big variety of songs. Don McClean, Billy Joel, Lady Gaga, Dido, Train, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Michael Bublé ...

Dinner was delicious, we had Brussels sprouts with black bean garlic sauce and fried rice.

Humorous headlines

I found these funny headlines and thought I share them.

Red wine could help slow dementia onset (but you'd have to drink 1,000 bottles a day)

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/red-wine-could-help-slow-dementia-onset-but-youd-have-to-drink-1000-bottles-a-day-10498719.html

Universal urination duration wins Ig Nobel prize 

http://nation.com.pk/snippets/20-Sep-2015/universal-urination-duration-wins-ig-nobel-prize

Sun Zse's top strategy

Jack told me he had been reading Sun Zse's Art of War during his commute, and "so far, it's pretty boring."

I said: "Well, I haven't read the Art of War, but I know Sun Zse had thirty six strategies. Do you know what was his top strategy?"

Jack: "No."

I laughed and said: "Run away!"

What we do for good health

Honestly, how many of us like lemon water, whole wheat bread, kale or brown rice? I heard lemon water is great for detox and digestive system; whole wheat bread and brown rice are healthier than white bread and white rice. Kale, high in fiber and vitamins, is a healthy food, (though I was told by a Safeway cashier kalr is out, water crest is in now). Most super foods are not tasty, but for the sake of health, we alter eating habits and compromise the tastes.

We also spend the little spare time we have to exercise, or sometime starve ourselves so we could keep our weights down. We drink lots of water because it's Important to stay hydrated, despite the annoyance of frequent bathroom visits. 

Living a healthy lifestyle is such a pain sometimes.