some small updates

1. I quit playing World of Warcraft temporarily and jumped to Warcraft III. Now I played 36 matches on battle.net on US East server, 18 wins and 18 losts. Gaming is not totally a waste of time, instead the competition in it can tune myself. Also when I lost a game I think why. Life is all about going forward or going back, which is the same as gaming. My goal is to reach level 30 on battle.net.

2. Still looking for a job. Got one phone call altogether. :(

3. My research is going pretty well. The productivity now exceeded that of past four years.

4. I will go back to China at Jan. 18th 2007 for wedding.

ps. for those who are still using Internet Explorer 4 or 5 (most likely 6), you can go to Microsoft IE7 to upgrade your internet browser to the 7th version, which is more stable and malware free.

in a year

I started to look for a job, trying to post resumes online first, since many companies started to hire for the next year. Where am I gonna be next year? I don't know. During the past four years, I made so many friends in Minneapolis, many of whom I lost contact with, but still dreaming of at night occasionally. Among them, I missed the international church group the most. July 2003, we went to a Thai restaraunt to celebrate the pastor's 52nd birthday. The pastor didn't have child, and we told him we were his children forever, from God. I recently got an email picture from him, which is me in 2003. That made me sad and warm at the same time, for everybody moves on and keeps good memory.

Bethany is also my friend, who I met way back to 2003 but just reconnected recently through chinese language group. She told me that she wanted to go to YunNan in China for a year and teach English. I told her back that good choice and that place is famous for crime and drugs. But since it's part of her graduate study and she can get scholarship, so I wish the best for her. Where are you gonna be next year? I wish the best for me and also the best for you.

quote from a book

I am reading the book "Get Hired Fast!" by Brian Graham. The following quote reminded me of "Batman Begins" which Karl gave a talk on.

"There are many ways to be a hero in life, and not all of them involve saving people from floods or burning buildings. Sometimes being a hero means quietly putting your ego and fears aside and doing what it takes to protect your future and that of your loved ones."

yeah, they are both on conquering fear..

2 faces

Everything has 2 faces: one positive and one negative. I did have a little difficulty with my fiance, but if looked from a different perspective the difficulty can serve as a chance for us to know each other better, or worse, totally depending on how we react.

I'm poor now, but that does not mean I'll be poor for ever. I pray that God please provide with me humbleness and prosperity at the same time.

Shamed

Fiance and I talked for a long time, and she and her parents talked, and they and my parents talked. There was only one topic oriented: my problem.

From the talk, I found myself so selfish, immature and insecure, and not any more the excellent dude I think I was. It's time to change myself, head to toe. It's unbelievable that I didn't realize the problem, or I realized it but just didn't want to face it.

Peace, modest and trust