This quarter, I am taking two classes (out of three) that I know little or nothing about. One class deals with religion/history/anthropology (can you say Durkheim?) and another deals with life in Imperial China and Modern China. Remembering dynastic names like Ming, Qing/Ch’ing is difficult. And my last class focuses on second year paper where the professor will effectively whip my writing into shape. This time around, I actually write a decent, publishable article-length paper and hopefully, submit it into a journal for publication.

Dude, I am scared. I am growing up reluctantly…But I am excited for new things in life. People are moving on and so am I. At least I am constantly learning new things and my brain can’t get any bigger than that…only more refined perhaps. I will try hard to keep my sanity this quarter.

In the meantime, I love listening to Vietnamese instrumental music and the music of my favorite artists Manh Quynh and Phi Nhung (i.e. tan co, cai luong). Sure, call me a traditional and old-fashioned person. But so what? I think I have an old person’s soul inside me and it demand to hear these types of music. They actually help me concentrate on reading and once in awhile, I remember what I am doing here…reading books and articles on Asia.

Here’s my favorite instrument of all time and yes, I prefer it over piano and violin. It’s called Dan Bau, this beautiful one-string instrument. It’s too bad I didn’t get the chance to learn how to play it in Saigon before I left. It is advised that parents do not let their daughters listen to this type of music (so I heard). It’s quite seductive and aims right for the heart. No wonder…I just want to sleep walk and follow that music where ever it goes. Enjoy!

Special thanks to Tony for introducing me to this blog. Because you rock.

After my trip, I love learning languages even more. Yes, I did hate studying Spanish because of all those grammatical rules (conjugacion?). My love for Spanish came to be because I finally was able to communicate in Spanish with Spanish students successfully few years at Anthill Pub. When I was in Vietnam, I encountered the same experience and sentiments. I was excited that people could understand me and my thoughts and in turn, I couldn understand them and ask them questions all the time. Though I learn that no matter how much vocabularies I know in Spanish, Vietnamese, French, or English, I still have a long way to go.

I’ve been reading articles on Chinese history for one of my grad seminars and I was bored. The content is great, but the writing style is left to be desired. The more I read, the more I want to improve my style of writing and my communication skills. I have trouble with grammar and vocabulary and I think even I bore myself with my writings. I do not want to bore my audience to death and I don’t want to repeat myself with words, words, and more words. To communicate and to persuade my audience effectively is a form of power I wish to have. So maintaining this blog help me check myself and my writing.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote “Brevity is the soul of wit.” That said, I will stop here tonight.

• A year ago, my old hearing aid suddenly died and I had to get a temporary hearing aid to tide me over while I wait for mine to be fixed. The temp aid wasn’t a digital one, but it has super volume mode on it. As a result, just for a week, I can hear a lot of things. A LOT. And in a much louder volume, too. Suddenly I can hear the fridge humming. I hear people in the apartment above us stomping. I can even hear people talking in the living room from my own room. And I definitely hear that the whooshing sound.

• Five years ago, my own hearing suddenly decreased for no reasons at all. How could this be when I had just gotten my new hearing aid, top-of-the-line digital hearing? It was then diagnosed that it was my hearing, not my hearing aid that deteriorated. I remember clearly that it was beginning of second quarter and I was settling in my freshman year, eager to hear Prof lecturing on French Revolution. But I discovered then and for the rest of the quarter I would barely hear him or anyone else and most painful of all, music. Even if I played Mozart and cranked it up to full blast, I couldn’t hear it.

They saw amputees who lost their limbs still feel their limbs moving as if they still have them. It was the same for me and in my head, all I heard was two people having conversations as if one was being interviewed in the radio. I heard Peter Jennings talking in his usual World News Tonight. Ironically when my hearing decreased, I heard the most beautiful music in the world, as if a choir of angels singing to me. And at nights, I still hear whooshing and ringing in my ears.

Long story short. Steroids failed. Acupunture visits. 6 months of Chinese herbal medicine crap. Repeated visits to spiritual dr, I guess? A whole lot of anger at the Universe, but determination to not die already. And slowly, somehow, my hearing came back.

And I appreciate my hearing more than ever. It was scariest time in my life (next to my food poisoning case in Vietnam this summer). To be honest, yeah, I still am worried about repeated scenario where my life gets disrupted because of my hearing. But I am glad technology has come a long way.

Now I wear hearings. And I am reading The Search of Modern China. Life goes on, but it sure is short or the quality of life is up to the person, however they want to make of it.

And I’ve concluded it’s a friendly ghost keeping me company while I read non-stop.

The end.