This afternoon we went to see Café Müller and the Rites of Spring\春之季 by Pina Bausch {click}. Café Müller was powerful; Rites was overpowering. Interesting: Café Müller is set in over-civilized, over-urbanized Europe, among chairs which lift people away from the floor. Rites is performed in a primitive setting on a stage covered with peat.

平常比較不看雲二，但春鬥2013的舞，第一段由黃翌編、第二段是鄭宗龍、第三段是布拉瑞揚的作品，搞定了，一定要看。
中場的驚喜：遇到Jerry Chen說卑南巨星Sangpuy也來看，當然去打招呼，慫恿他上臺唱一首，他謙虛，不肯。哈！下半場，Bulareyaung拿著麥克風請Sangpuy上臺唱一首。他拉開嗓子唱了一段Pai’lai’law(專輯第四首)，我與撒毖在觀眾席和音~~和音歌詞我們都能背：哇~~~~烏~~~~哇。唱完Bulareyaung還要他跳一段現代舞，雖然覺得應該跳卑南舞比較適合，但Sangpuy表現很棒。喜~~！

我不喜歡手上戴錶，所以我買了一只電子掛錶。用了十年左右。那天想測洗澡水的水溫，反正錶有溫度計又防水，于是乎….我忘了錶防水但不防熱水，電子掛錶掛了。

今年癸巳蛇年，蛇有個特性，會蛻：會脫皮。所以蛇年最適合除舊佈新。

從浴缸撈起我那只可憐的錶，我想，舊的不去，新的不來。可是我也想，應該趁這個蛇年好好脫皮一番。

爬山─尤其攀巖─上去慢，下來也慢，最怕下來太快。人生也是這樣：突然的變化，通常不是好事。要把身體練好，要加以時日、持之以恆、日久見工夫。但過馬路不睜眼睛，兩秒把人撞毀了，可能要好幾年才能恢復原狀。所以人不要求一下子大好：中樂透是傻瓜的夢。要大好，必須看準目標，健步向前，一步一腳印。

慢慢來。

後門邊放兩桶水，進門前可以洗腳，也給小口狗喝。昨天晚上發現鄰居來玩~~I keep a couple buckets full of water by the back door so I can wash my feet before I come in. The dogs drink out of them, too. We had a little visitor.

吃食物，不要吃食品。自己常開火、少吃買來的食品就延年益壽。In a nutshell: the less processed the food you eat, the healthier you will be.
click

I don't know who made this photo and caption,

but it just cracks me up every time I look at it.

每年這個時候特別想念雅婭醒焵。二十幾年前，她種的柚子樹，到此時開花，芬芳香馥，很感謝她。About twenty five years ago, Abus and Sinkang’s mother planted some pomelo trees around here. Every year about this time the flowers blossom, and the scent is delectable. Many thanks to her!
(a pomelo is a citrus fruit like a grapefruit.)

A group of grumpy old Taiwan Independence right-wingers have set up a tent on a busy corner across the street from Taipei train station to Save Bian. Bian, ex-president 陳水扁 Chen Shui Bian, serving time for numerous counts of corruption while he was president; the courts haven't gone back to his corruption while he was Taipei Mayor, or his fake assassination. Thousands of people pass the tent every day: pass, just keep going, don't pay them any attention. The Save Bian group is there mostly, I imagine, for the irritation value, trying to get under people's skin, but people just ignore them. It's no use trying to discuss anything with them. Their minds are closed, they are simply venting spleen, so let them get it out of their system. Ignore them. Sometimes there will be hundreds of people waiting in front of an empty stage right next to the tent, with everybody studiously ignoring the grumpy old men. The attitude reminds me of the old English proverb, "If you wrestle with a turd, win or lose, you're still covered with turd."

But! Today there were people standing around the tent! There were passersby talking at the tent!!

We should leave this major victory for the Bian forces without further comment.

Actually, what happened was that the grumpy old men were gone for the day. The tent was empty, and a farmer was selling strawberries there, so people stopped to buy some.

A person has to face himself, every aspect, good and bad. What happens when a whole country lives in denial?
This is disturbing: click::
When I came to Taiwan, in the early 1970s, I was appalled to find that every time it came up in conversation, every single person from the mainland I talked with had a personal memory of a Japanese atrocity in World War II. Some large, some small, but everybody had seen Japanese soldiers bayoneting neighbors, burying people alive, or shooting unarmed citizens.
(Taiwan was imperial Japan's pleasure garden, so there were not so many atrocities, but I also heard horror stories about the Japanese in Taiwan.)
for further reading: click::

At last, the TRUTH about life in the United States, courtesy of the government of North Korea. Don't try to deny it just if you live in the United States! You are being tricked! CLICK HERE! RIGHT NOW!! NO EXCUSES!
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go rustle up some snow for coffee. It's Wednesday, so I won't have a chance at any yummy birds until next Tuesday. Plus I'm a su vegetarian. Nuts.

古人的智慧很深。今天農曆二月初一，早上就有今年第一隻蟬開始起腔。

The year's first cicada started warming up this morning.

桓溫是誰，記得嗎？

桓溫出于譙國桓氏望族，是東晉將領、權臣，官做到大司馬，差點篡位自立為天子。名噪一時，呼風喚雨，到頭來，黃土一杯。

這位大官死時，有個六歲的孩子，家族沒落，父早逝，家境貧寒；後來孩子長大了，被安排去做官，小小的官吏，做了不到幾個月就決定歸去來兮，不為五斗米折腰：他是誰？

我跟人說我姓陶淵明的「陶」，馬上就知道是哪一個「陶」。你下次跟人說桓溫的「桓」，看誰知道是哪一個字。

論語為政：或謂孔子曰：「子奚不為政？」子曰：「書云：『孝乎惟孝、友于兄弟。』施於有政，是亦為政，奚其為為政？」

搞政治的那些人的把戲，不必放扗心上。且記三國演義開卷一詞：

滾滾長江東逝水，浪花淘盡英雄。

是非成敗轉頭空，青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅。

白髮漁樵江渚上，慣看秋月春風。

一壺濁酒喜相逢，古今多少事，都付笑談中。

If you can tell me who sat on the Dutch throne when Van Gogh was painting, or who held the reins of power in Tsarist Russia when Pushkin was writing, I might agree that politicians are more influential than artists.

按：詞名「江西月」，明、楊慎著。

I just finished reading Escape From Camp 14, the heartbreaking story of Shin Dong-Hyuk\申東赫. He was born a slave in a North Korean concentration camp, the son of prisoners. His father may have been imprisoned because two of his brothers (Shin's uncles) ran off to South Korea decades before Shin was born. He never found out why his mother was incarcerated. He grew up on little food, less education, and much work. His life was in jeopardy to any guard's whimsy. He was so removed from the world that he didn't even know what money is. You have to read the book to get a glimpse of just how wretched his life was. I read the book in a couple days; his life in Camp 14 continued for 23 years. He was lucky to survive, and even luckier to escape.

The founder of North Korea, Kim Il Song, ranks high on the list of history's most atrocious tyrants; his son Kim Jong Il may have been a bit better. Now power is in the hands of Kim Jong-Un, and maybe his Western education will bear fruit. He needs time, because he is in a very delicate situation. He is young, and there are a lot of entrenched powers at work who could depose him in a moment. He has to tread carefully. For the time being, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, watch for signs of reform, and look forward to a more humane North Korea.

That said, the day after I finished reading this book, some American basketball player visited North Korea and praised all three generations of Kims as "great leaders." On the one hand, it is good that North Korea is allowing foreign athletes to visit, because exchange, and knowledge of the outside world is sure to help thaw things out. On the other hand, it is immoral to promote any form of government that you would not live under as a typical citizen. Unless Mr Basketball Player would live in a typical North Korean city, subject to possibly being placed in a place like Camp 14 just like all the other people in that country, then he should keep his mouth shut. Of course we know that jocks are jocks, and professional jocks even more so, but you would think maybe this man might have learned how to think somewhere along the line. Apparently not.

Let us all spend a moment in thought for the people of North Korea, and hope their lot improves quickly. Good luck to North Korea.

If this doesn't win a Nobel Prize, it just proves that the Swedes are out of touch with the realities of life.
vastly important scientific breakthrough:: click here::