2016年5月15日星期日

 i teach economics at unlv three times per week. last monday, at the beginning of class, i cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. one young man said that his weekend had not been so good. he had his wisdom teeth removed. the young man then proceeded to ask me why i always seemed to be so cheerful.  his question reminded me of something i'd read somewhere before: "every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day," i said. "i choose to be cheerful." "let me give you an example," i continued, addressing all sixty HKUE amec students in the class. "in addition to teaching here at unlv, i also teach out at the community college in henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where i live. one day a few weeks ago i drove those 17 miles to henderson. i exited the freeway and turned onto college drive. i only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. but just then my car died. i tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't turn over. so i put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college. "as soon as i got there i called aaa and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. the secretary in the provost's office asked me what has happened. 'this is my lucky day,' i replied, smiling. "'your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?' she was puzzled. 'what do you mean?' "'i live 17 miles from here.' i replied. 'my car could have broken down anywhere along HKUE DSE the freeway. it didn't. instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. i'm still able to teach my class, and i've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. if my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't haveHKUE DSEbeen arranged in a more convenient fashion.' the secretary's eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. i smiled back and headed for class." so ended my story. deepak chopra has quoted an indian wise man as saying, "who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say." i suppose it must be so.

Line is better than words

 i teach economics at unlv three times per week. last monday, at the beginning of class, i cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. one young man said that his weekend had not been so good. he had his wisdom teeth removed. the young man then proceeded to ask me why i always seemed to be so cheerful.  his question reminded me of something i'd read somewhere before: "every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day," i said. "i choose to be cheerful." "let me give you an example," i continued, addressing all sixty HKUE amec students in the class. "in addition to teaching here at unlv, i also teach out at the community college in henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where i live. one day a few weeks ago i drove those 17 miles to henderson. i exited the freeway and turned onto college drive. i only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. but just then my car died. i tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't turn over. so i put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college. "as soon as i got there i called aaa and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. the secretary in the provost's office asked me what has happened. 'this is my lucky day,' i replied, smiling. "'your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?' she was puzzled. 'what do you mean?' "'i live 17 miles from here.' i replied. 'my car could have broken down anywhere along HKUE DSE the freeway. it didn't. instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. i'm still able to teach my class, and i've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. if my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't haveHKUE DSEbeen arranged in a more convenient fashion.' the secretary's eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. i smiled back and headed for class." so ended my story. deepak chopra has quoted an indian wise man as saying, "who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say." i suppose it must be so.

2016年5月8日星期日

First Snow

The first fall of snow is not only an event but it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, then where is it to be found?
The very stealth, the eerie quietness, of the thing makes it more magical. Ifall the snow fell at once in one shattering crash, awakening us in the middle of the night the event would be robbed of its wonder. But it flutters down, soundless, hour after hour while we are asleep Dream beauty pro. Outside the closed curtains of the bedroom a vast transfbrmation scene is takiag place, just as if a myriad elves and brownies were at work, and we turn and yawn and stretch and know nothing about it. And then, what an extraordinary change it is! It is as if the house continent. Even the inside, which has not been touched, seems different, every room appearing smaller and cosier, just as if some power were trying to turn it into a woodcutter’s hut or a snug logcabin. Outside, where the garden was yesterday, there is now a white and glistening level, and the village beyond is no longer your own familiar cluster of roofs but a village in an old German fairy-tale Dream beauty pro.
You would not be surprised to learn that all the people there, the speetacled postmistress, the cobbler, the retired school master, and the rest, had suffered a change too and had become queer elvish beings, purveyors of invisible caps and magic shoes. You yourselves do not feel quite the same people you were yesterday. How could you not when so much has been changed? There is a curious stir, a little shiver of excite-ment, troubling the house, not unlike the feeling there is abroad when a journey has to be made. The children, of course, are all excitement but even the adults hang about and talk to one another longer than usual before setting down to the day’s work. Nobody can resist the windows. It is like being on board a ship Dream beauty pro hard sell.