Auntie Liao was such a nice person. When I first arrived, she asked whether I had dinner yet. I had a chocolate bar and that was it. She fried an egg and some beans and spread them over a bowl of porridge. That was a nice midnight snack. And I had a room overseeing the tall skyscrapers. Of course the bed was so cosy that no sooner I fell asleep.
Auntie Liao was an extremely intelligent person. She mastered Chinese, English, Italian, Russian and French. She had a natural talent in learning languages, in which she learned the seven Italian tenses in five days; once she was quarreling in the marketplace in Romania using Romanian in three days. My jaws dropped wide open when she told me all these crazy stories.
She had a wide range of tastes as seen from her massive bookshelves packed with books. Not to mention the origins of her furniture and how she painted the walls herself. I had a lot of pleasure listening to how she studied in France, and her relationship with family and brothers and sisters. She truly cares about her family and opens herself to friends. (Obviously, being so nice to a stranger like me)
The weekend has been very inspiring, as I learnt more about the importance of passion and family relationship, and quite a lot about cooking and table manners. When I was about to gulp up the rest of the apple cider bottle, she told me to pour it in a cap, sit down and drink it. And I could never forget the beautifully done full-course meal consisting of mozzarella cheese, Kosher chicken, potatoes, wine, grapes.
“I am sitting in the coach and I just finished the two sandwiches and apples she gave me. She has even cared for my meal towards home. How much am I indebted to her kindness.”
This was what I wrote when I was riding back. Now that I think of it, it reminds me of a story. A young girl had a quarrel with her mother and she ran away from home. She didn’t even bring a dime with her, so she felt hungry afterwards. She passed by a porridge restaurant and the owner was standing outside. Her eyes met his, showing a hint of hunger and desperation. The kind owner sensed it and fetched a bowl of porridge for her. “Take it,” he said, “Theres gonna be much leftover anyways.” When the girl received the bowl with both hands, she broke into tears. She said, “How can I repay back your kindness?” The owner said, “I just gave you a bowl of porridge, and you are already in tears. What about the person who cooked countless meals for you in your whole life?”
One day when I’m back home, I’d prepare a decent meal for my parents.
I read about how most Internet content – found on
blogs, journals, online communities, personal websites, video-sharing
sites – is terrible to mediocre at best.
Indeed, many things I type here are can be a waste of pixels. However, I do put some effort in getting every line down. I treat this as a writing exercise, which I get to express some of my thoughts in English. Also, I write as if I am talking; I'm just opening up a dialogue with friends that I don't have time to talk about in MSN. I find MSN a tiresome social process, because in all times the first few minutes will be wasted on "hi," "watsup," "how are doing" and waiting for a generic response. Only then a topic could be brought forward, and there will be countless minutes spent on waiting, and there would only be enough time for a shallow conversation until the other person will suddenly go offline or abruptly cut the conversation and say "gtg," or "bye."
So, lets keep the conversation going, but do send me emails or call me.
A week before classes were over, I went to NY. I wanted to see LPCers Cynthia, Gladys, Stephanie, and to check out the rowing event. Also I might want too see MOMA, the Mecca of art and design.
Just parted with Joe in the airport; thanks to him, I was able to stay at his aunt’s place in NY. I felt very grateful to be able to see him in Boston. I always see him as a great influence in my design, art and many other things because he is simply cool ¬¬¬--- I just think he is one of the most charismatic person I’ve ever met among my peers. Many things I did was “inspired” by him, such as making computer art, using the squash court for the final exhibition. Obviously his design is way much better than mine.
I haven’t really got in touch with him after LPC, probably because I haven’t talked to him a lot towards the end of the term; he seemed to be very confined to himself and he was busy dating as well.
But then when he first hung out in Boston, we spent from 10:30 to 3ish walking along the freedom trail and talking about things. I actually jotted some notes about our conversations because I found it really inspiring. It seems that only Joe would bring out these topics.
For a few weekends, we’d cook and talk about design. After examining my portfolio carefully, he told me a lot of problems that I’ve never bothered about. I decided to create a new portfolio (At the end of the summer I redesigned my portfolio 2 times.)
I must have learned so much design in those nights than a semester. For every single idea or detail I proposed, he challenged me, “why?” If I was unable to provide a valid reason, he simply told me to think again. I’d always thought design was a simple, low-end job, but not anymore. Luckily he was patient enough to wait until 3 a.m. and critique my designs again until I come up with something acceptable. Afterwards, we’d play a little bit of guitar until 5 a.m. That was probably the latest I’d ever slept this year.
It seems we’ve a lot to talk about, probably I’ve grown enough mature to get on his level of understanding. But mostly, he’d become a nicer person; he seems to be less egoistic and more compassionate about people. I can sense his genuineness in helping out my designs, and how he speaks to Joyce and Melissa. He often mentions of changing the world and to do something about people’s influence against each other. I think it is because he has changed his religious view from an atheist to a non-believer. He sees that while people are sinful in nature, many are good and fighting to change the world into a better place. In my opinion, it is hard for a designer not to acknowledge the presence of God, the complexity of every minute detail could only be created by intelligence.
He commented that the addition of a “God” in his world will be a little more interesting. Then we ended up in the same argument I had with Adrian half a year ago. “Then can you prove that the God other religions claim are not true?” I tried to use Jesus’ “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” in John 14:6, and explained that Jesus has the power of salvation over sin and brings us eternal life, but he wasn’t convinced. I hope he would take some time soak in this knowledge.
It was a very “Joe” thing to do an architecture program here and then painting and documentary film-making course in Cambridge. While I think he will be a great designer, I do hope he will become an educator as well, which he could inspire others as he did to me.
Sanjay and Jeffrey came last week. Sanjay was pretty much the same except for being slightly thinner. His Cantonese accent, his warm character, and his Fijian descent was as lovable as he was in LPC. As usual, Joyce and I did some home-cooking for them, and we had some fun hearing Jeffrey make fun of Sanjay, and his gossips about relationships.
Joe really kept his promise. He said he would call me at 11ish after getting stuff done. He did call me at 12 when I was planning to go to bed. We stayed up until 5. (And I went to church the day afterwards) This week we watched Gandhi, just being serious. It was long but many scenes and lines were touching, especially "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" being a central motif of the movie and Gandhi's fight for peace. There were many subtle elements that just showed Gandhi as a seemingly ordinary yet intelligent and virtuous hero.
Then Joe critiqued on my designs and gave me many valuable advices on design thinking. Those few hours was probably more fruitful than any design class I took; he simply asked me tonnes of questions that I never seriously thought about and eventually guided me to come up with the idea. That was a painstakingly long process as I lacked inspirations; but only with some pains can some exciting works be produced.
Attachments have never been stronger than being in LPC. I haven't seriously talked to Joe for two years since graduation, but once we met, we resumed the LPC friendship in a 2nd year vs 1st year way, which I have long missed. It feels comfortable to have some intelligent person to talk to and let him / her advise you from his/her experience. 2nd years (3rd, 4th years or higher are applicable as well) are extremely valuable mentors for us. Even though we might not be as close as co-years, we had once shared the same classrooms, lay under the same roofs, and lived in a place we once affectionately called "home."
