A Balanced Discussion on how to Address “Too Big To Fail”

http://www.bu.edu/bucflp/2013/02/21/giants-among-us-a-balanced-discussion-on-how-to-address-to-big-to-fail/

Too bad this event coflicts with my Tuesday class. It seems to be a very hot issue to discuss! If anyone goes, please let me know the updates.

Randome thoughts on V-Day Eve

Tomorrow is the V day, a day the whole world is immersed in the honey suger sweet love. Even at Mugar library they changed the wall posts into series of lovie duvie sentences declaring the territory of love. I am a person who is totally cheer for celebrating love on such a special day. Love is such an amazing thing that can happen in a person's life, and totally changes it. However, with my loved one being thousands of miles away from me, I have to tune it down a little bit. Hey, girl,  spending V-day by yourself is the same as spending any other day by yourself.  Plus, I have got a piece of chocolate and a cup of hot chocolate for free this week already, so a normal day schedule would do good to both my incoming midterm and my dieting plan. Last V day I was with my mom, we didn't do much. I don't even remember what happened that day.

Words of today: 一份耕耘一份收获，现在的努力，一定在未来美丽绽放的。

2012的那个夏天 (4) - Rietberg Museum

If you ask me which are my favoriate places of Zurich, the first one flashed out is the Rietberg Museum. The park is one of the most idyllic part of the city. A sudden turn, you are enveloped by ocean of peace and green. The main building of the museum and its new entrance is hidden behind of a park. The sound of leaves rustling, birds singing and the pebbles under your feet"cracking" all come back to me whenever I thought of Rietberg museum. It makes me feel so calm and peaceful.

The emerald colored glass pavilion is an extension to the main building Foyer. It opened in 2007, and has two underground levels which holds permanent( Japan China, and Africa) and temporal exhibitions respectively. I was very surprised to see that Rietberg has such a big collection of Chinese arts. When I stepped inside the Emerald, the emphasis on details and designs of swiss were again being demonstrated. The background wall of the giftshop which located at the entrance hall is an art work called concrete reflection. The golden"post-it" is a collective art of people who visited the museum and left their very own reflection here. yes, we did it as well, and hided it in a very special place. When I went back this winter, looking again at our "masterpiece"was a joy. The ceiling lights of the entrance is also golden colored with a marble like texture. If you think that's it, then you will find yourself amazed by the wooden staircase leading to the underground levels. The entrance is connected to the Villa Wesendonck, which is named after its owner, a german composer Richard Wagner. The building hides in the deep of the rietberg park, so graceful.

We had ice creams in the museum cafe, and rainer cited the sentence on the ice-cream box "you scream, I scream, we all scream for icecream" next to our rietberg museum picture in our summer album. It's so silly and sweet.  After the appreciation of the great exhibitions, we would always walk, well at least for the past two times I did, to the far end of the park where you can have a glance of this beautiful lake city. Those two red benches are a symbol of our reflection that day. We sat there, quietly, but not lonely at all.

A link for many nice pictures of the museum: http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/rietbergmuseum/Interesting

2012的那个夏天(3) 苏黎世老城区

苏黎世的老城区在瑞士中立国身份的庇护下得到非常完好的保护。这次寒假去，我在完全凭记忆的情况下希望找到一个英文书书店，虽然失败，但穿梭在各个小巷间，别有一番风味。5月26日，那是我到zurich的第二天，当时看到他是那么开心。第一站我们就去了chinese garden感受了外国风味的中国园林。我就知道你是怕我想家啦。回头看我俩搞怪拍照的大堂，背后竟然挂着的一幅画西湖十景的画。现在回想，还真是巧合。那天，我们爬上了Grossmunster church 的 twin tower，穿梭在每个人都知道的苏黎世的第五大道－bahnhofstrasse.

就在我们你追我赶一阵打闹在城区的小弄穿梭时，一阵悠扬的音乐把我们带到了一个square,一场婚礼的reception正在进行中，我们在音乐中翻阅着书店在门口摆放的减价销售的书和卡片。其中一张特写了情侣亲吻时女生踮脚的一刻，于是就有了下面这组照片。我的记忆也就定格在夕阳下，他蹲在地上调整三脚架的那一个画面。Someone said we all see the world through our own tiny keyhole. This moment here through your lens was full of jasmine flavor.

The Green Billiard

Today again on my way from the water fountain and the desk at second floor Mugar, my eyes got caught by a book about Vicient Van Gogh. It's a very unique and interesting book that introduces paintings of this great colorist with his words. Sentences and paragraphs about the painting were selected from his letters. Maybe it's not that of a mystery to art students, but it's definitely fascinating to know the stories behind the drawings.

Here is one: "the night cafe"

This is the interior of the cafe terrace night, which is more known by the commonwealth. The first time i saw this picture, again the spinning touch of the lemon yellow lamps gave me feeling of unease. The people dining in the cafe seemed drowsy. You can peek through the raised curtain of the door in the far end-where seemed to be source of most light in the cafe. Van Gogh said the night cafe is " a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit crime. " Some people say it's a version of hell.

All I can think of is that my honey wants to buy a billiard for his new apartment. Hope he will not turn his living room hell. Surly, it will be hell of a lot of fun. Today I had a big argument with him. I was so irrationally angry at him. Wave~wave~wave~lets go to the beach...

我的2012

2012年就这么过去了。这一年时光飞逝，如果要想几个关键词的话，我想：爱情，毕业，读博，分离占据了很大的部分。这一年，我在很多地方留下了足迹：波士顿，达拉斯，华盛顿，纽约，迈阿密，苏黎世，波恩，巴黎，罗马，北京，上海，常山，如此奔波的一年，转眼间就过去了。

最近越来越觉得生活艰难，觉得心里有时候有一种特别苦的感觉，觉得亏欠父母，觉得生活漂浮不定，觉得自己这忙忙碌碌到底是为了那般。亲人，爱人，友人都不在身边，为何我一直就生活在别处呢？特别珍惜今年上半年的那段日子，妈妈在身边，rainer在身边，我亲爱的好朋友们都在身边。为什么我的花儿都散落在天涯，然后就越飘越远？在rainer家过圣诞觉得很开心，能在他身边越觉得很幸福，可是看到他一家人团聚，我心中不免有些失落。妈妈每每聊天都问我好不好，一再表达对我在外一人的不安很担心，让我越发感到亏欠父母，远离家人的不孝。R总给我吃定心丸，说明年就好了，明年无论如何你都能独立了，所以要好好学习。而且千万不要这么灰心，你要是出事了我怎么办呀？看着他，我就坚强了。

的确，生活总有难处，家家都有一本难念的经，我总和自己说，要珍惜已有的，感恩所得的，凡事强求不得，可是我有是一个牛脾气，觉得只要有一线希望的，没有试试就放弃就不甘心。然而人生的抉择已然不是苹果还是香蕉，觉得一个决定就可以改变轨迹。

引用一句乔布斯的话

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Poem of the Autumn

Poema Otoño de José Hierro

Otoño de manos de oro.
Ceniza de oro tus manos dejaron caer al camino.
Ya vuelves a andar por los viejos paisajes desiertos.
Ceñido tu cuerpo por todos los vientos de todos los siglos.
Otoño, de manos de oro:
con el canto del mar retumbando en tu pecho infinito,
sin espigas ni espinas que puedan herir la mañana,
con el alba que moja su cielo en las flores del vino,
para dar alegria al que sabe que vive
de nuevo has venido.
Con el humo y el viento y el canto y la ola temblando,
en tu gran corazón encendido.

De “Quinta del 42″ 1952

2012的那个夏天（2）

5月28日 我们去了R grandparents以前的住处Appenzel， 这是一个美丽的小城，有着陶渊明采菊东南下的感觉。我的apls初体验也就从这个美丽小镇开始了。记得那天车里的cd放着Wir sind Helden的歌，记得那天他告诉我他小时候在这玩滑梯，把自己的舌头咬了。经过一段艰难的
雪山hiking，我们在海拔1924米的Ebenalp吃到了美味的土豆丝饼，也不知是因为山顶寒冷还是的确新鲜手工制作，R 说这土豆丝饼比他记忆中最美味的外婆手做的还好吃。我觉得他就是觉得和我在一起很幸福罢了，哈哈。下山时，我在草地里瞎跑，他给我拍照，说我太傻了。结果回到停车场，看到扁了一个轮胎的车子时，我才是真的傻了呢。还好一个电话，客服就很快来帮忙换了备用胎，我俩大眼瞪小眼，真心觉得运气真好，这漏气没有在来的路上发生。真是乐观的2个家伙。

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

R: If your heart is not there, don't worry. Mine is always with you.

R, you know, in chinese, there's a saying, wherever my heart rests, wherever is my home. (此心安处是吾乡). You are my home.

2012的那个夏天（1）

转眼入秋，夏天的美好时光还是历历在目。没想到就这么去了欧洲，去了巴黎，去了罗马，和我心爱的人一起。这个夏天，阳光格外灿烂。

有时会想，为什么有的人可以把3天的时光写成一本小说。想来必是因为每一分每一秒都那么让人珍惜，尤其是那是你仅有的一段回忆。记得ICA,Boston的doris salcedo的展览中有这么一句话“ when a person disappears, everything becomes impregnated with that person's presence. every single object as well as every space is a reminder of that person's absence, as if absence were stronger than presence." 我并不完全赞同他的话，能在身边一起历经日出日落，花开花谢才是真正的生活。可细细想来，这是要有多深的情感才能一直保存这这份对absence的强烈感触。也就是因为在一起的时光那么有限，而把每一分每一秒都放大了在慢镜头下回味，想念。其实，说来觉得感伤，其实也就是这回味让你更明白这份感情的真实和重要。

如果让我写本书，把我们的点点滴滴都虚拟化了，我想这故事还是从波士顿开始，但我想念的他在苏黎世，我也就从我飞机落地的那一刻开始回忆吧。

5月25日中午11点左右，我顺利抵达了苏黎世机场，待收集了行李，走出海关，就看到那张熟悉的笑脸。他穿着那件红色的super dry t恤，给了我一个大大的拥抱。出了机场，这个城市就开始慢慢地向我讲述着它的故事。第一印象，仿佛到了一个童话世界，不是因为有蓝天白云，不是因为有绿草雪山，而是因为交通标志都设计十分别致，似乎都缩小了一号，和苏黎世小小的街道还有干练现代的tram一起给了我十分美好的第一印象。

--------------

R: I am not in a hurry to see you, because i know our relationship is strong enough. I am not afraid of being apart for several years, because i know once we meet again, we will never be apart for good decades. 

I love you, R. I know our love is the best, because it is the kind of love that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. I love you.

欧洲之行第一站－瑞士签证

几经周折定下来要开始漫长的博士生涯，想着这开始受苦受难前也好好犒劳犒劳自己一把，所以也就厚着脸皮和妈妈申请了旅游经费。而且在Rainer的盛情邀请下，我的欧洲之行也就拉开了帷幕。

第一步自然就是准备签证了。经过一番调查研究，我在东西也没准备完全的情况下，就奔去纽黑文找我亲爱的kelly同学了。呆了3天后，以前准备就绪，就坐着早班火车来到了纽约的瑞士consulate。好吧。。说得有点乱。我先把准备的材料清单给贴一个。除了必要的材料外，我还准备了一个cover letter 解释了下自己的身份情况。opt期间，虽然也是f-1，但还是需要好好解释一下。

Original and copy of passport
 Visa Application Form
 Two recent passport photos
Copy of F-1 Visa , copies of Three I-20  and photocopy of EAD card. 
Copy of my flight reservation （我是email 法航，然后直接给我除了reservation letter，非常给力）
 Bank statements from last 3 months （打印的就可以了）
 Letter from xx University, copy of Ph.D. admission letter, Proof of enrollment of my Master program and a letter from my landlady.
Letter from my insurance company。
当然了，也别忘了让邀请人在你去之前就把invitation letter fax 到consulate。


准备好东西，第二天从grand central 出来，走了5分钟就到了目的地 633 3ave. （open time: 8：30－12：00). 在使馆对面39街的拐角处，就有一个fedex，可以去那里办一个self-addressed envelope, 很方便。然后我就屁颠屁颠地走进了633。


进门接待处有2个大叔，你报上名说要去swiss consulate,然后他就指导你打电话上去。似乎记得是先拨1，然后再拨2。。不管了。。就让大叔帮你拨号。然后你报一下你的名字给电话里的前台小姐。出示身份证件后，就拿到一个门禁卡了。。非常没有必要的一个环节。（如图）

电梯上到30楼，左手边就是瑞士使馆，室内设计还满简洁大方的，竟然还陈列了freitag的包包。我拿了70号，然后就乖乖坐着等了。人超少，就等了一个号。

就在图中左边的窗口，我给签证官解释了下我出行的目的，我的身份情况。然后跟着他一起过了一遍我的材料。然后刷卡交钱，就all set 了～~我问：过了吗？他对我眨眨眼，一笑，说恩，没问题。10点15进的大楼，10点45分就顺利签证出来了。

2天后我就收到了护照，竟然非常慷慨地给了我3个月～～～撒花。

一直没有搜到非常详细的美国f-1,opt 期间欧洲申根签证的帖子，希望自己的经验能给兄弟姐妹们一点帮助。

现在我就成了每天泡穷游看攻略的小蚂蚁了，stay tuned..

Garden Diary- Day 17

Still no sign of sprouting.

Garden Diary- Day Four

With the temperature spikes to above 25 centigrade,  it officially turns into Spring. My roses still haven't showed any sign of sprouting. Usually, it takes 2-8 weeks...( damn, such a huge range, no accuracy required here.)

Tomorrow, the once a year Boston Marathon will pump the entire bean town. It gonna be super hot. Can you feel the heat? ;-)

Simple Joy

细雨斜风作小寒， 
淡烟疏柳媚晴滩. 
入淮清洛渐漫漫， 
雪沫乳花浮午盏. 
蓼茸蒿笋试春盘， 
人间有味是清欢. 

- 苏轼

Garden Diary- Day One

Day One- Sowing


Under the excitement of joy and fear, I sowed these rose seeds into the trays. I named it Emma, the name I want to give to my first daughter. The universal conceptual meaning of the name EMMA will grant her and my rose everything I wanted for her, everything the universe already expanded in front of her.

To my love- Rainer

A Name-A-Rose Gift Box

Today I got a surprise gift box. It was a Name-A-Rose gift box, and it came with all those cute ideas and  sweet rose leaflets. Thank you my honey for giving me such a unique and sweet gift. I am not sure about how those rose seeds will end up...;-) lol. I can feel all the love you have for me, and it is reaaaaaaally sweet. <3

 My little garden corner 

-------------------

Rose of all the World 

by D.H.Lawrence 

I am here myself; as though this heave of effort

At starting other life, fulfilled my own;

Rose-leaves that whirl in colour round a core

Of seed-specks kindled lately and softly blown

By all the blood of the rose-bush into being -

Strange, that the urgent will in me, to set 

My mouth on hers in kisses, and so softly

To bring together two strange sparks, beget

Another life from our lives, so should send

The innermost fire of my own dim soul out-spinning

And whirling in blossom of flame and being upon me!

That my completion of manhood should be the beginning

Another life from mine! For so it looks.

The seed is purpose, blossom accident.

The seed is all in all, the blossom lent

To crown the triumph of this new descent.

Is that it, woman? Does it strike you so?

The Great Breath blowing a tiny seed of fire

Fans out your petals for excess of flame,

Till all your being smokes with fine desire?

Or are we kindled, you and I, to be

One rose of wonderment upon the tree

Of perfect life, and is our possible seed

But the residuum of the ecstasy?

How will you have it? - the rose is all in all,

Or the ripe rose-fruits of the luscious fall?

The sharp begetting, or the child begot?

Our consummation matters, or does it not?

To me it seems the seed is just left over

From the red rose-flowers' fiery transience;

Just orts and slarts; berries that smoulder in the bush

Which burnt just now with marvellous immanence.

Blossom, my darling, blossom, be a rose

Of roses unchidden and purposeless; a rose

For rosiness only, without an ulterior motive;

For me it is more than enough if the flower unclose.  

-----------------------

A morning song for you, my love

Thoughts to Ponder

- When love visits you, you hesitate, ponder, then either embrace it or simply run away. People always say it takes two to dance. When you are not on the same steps, dancing alone might be better off. But really? Should you give it more time to sync? For me, 90% chance that I will run away. Sometimes, It's like diving into the abyss, with the hope that your partner will keep you safe and won't take off when the show is not exciting enough.


- Having lunch with you is even more fun than going party in Las Vegas, cherry blossom watching in Washington, fishing in the amazon river, or lying on the Miami south beach, partly because in your red shirt you are like a beam of happy glowing sunshine ,or partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for hot chocolate, partly because of the unspoken words flowing in the tidy distance between us, partly because of the scattered arranged teeth you showed me when I was not happy. It is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as peaceful as pleasant as calm as satisfying when right in the moment in the warm Miami 7 o'clock light spread on us from the airplane window, we are leaning against each other, reading, smiling. I look at you and I know you will look back, and your smile will warm me up.

Shirley Temple

At national portait galley in D.C., I saw a picture of Shirley Temple.  The light metallic sound stomp dancing shoes made flew into my mind. Shirley is such a sweetheart. When I was little, I watched many of her shows. 10 out of 10 times, she made me holding my belly and laugh for minutes. 

Memories like the goldfish

It is a myth that goldfish have short memories. Sometimes I wish I were a goldfish. 7 seconds of memory. Turn around then forget everything.

Boston Through My Lens

BOSTON IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY IN THE WORLD, NOT ONE OF.