From Out the Cave

For Libra Today

It has been a long time since the last time I write something in English! I just don't want to do it, really. Maybe there's still an excuse for being busy.

Not in good mood.

Then I happened to open my google calendar today and find something for Libra as follows.

Familiar territory gives way to unfamiliar ground as the Winged Messenger leaves your sign. You may have been developing an idea over these past weeks, and although it still seems possible, your attitude is starting to shift. As you become more passionate about your life, you may need to set aside an unrealistic goal. If it's truly important, it will return when the time is right.

We Are All Freshmen

Another semester is beginning, full of classes, materials for study, and happiness, anxiety, lost, success and failure. It’s difficult to forecast what will happen this semester, what will be found and what will be lost. Even before the first day in class, I can smell the smoke of a coming war.

I want to be an exchange, to Hong Kong or to Singapore. But in front of me, there’s still a long way, tough with detours and curves. Here the guys are really competitive in the school of business. I don’t have much confidence at the thought of being at war with the top students in the college. But when I turn to my resume, I can still see lights ahead of me. Anyway, I am one of the top students in the college, too.

Lot’s things need to be done in a week. The problem is not that they are too much for me, but that I don’t clearly know how to prepare. What should be done? Paperwork can be done in a short time, but many things behind that need carefully taken into consideration. But I believe things will be better if I communicate with the exchanges last year. They are nice. Their suggestions would be very useful.

Freshmen have rolled in for several days. They look at the campus in a special way, just as we did two years ago. What do they see? Things change a lot during the last two years. We change a lot. All of us try seeking something important in our lives. Maybe it is here, or there out of the campus. Anyway, we strive to become happy, or successful, to become the kind of person what we want to be. We are all motivated and learn hard. We are all freshmen.

If you feel yourself getting older and have no desire to change, then you are really old. Follow the freshmen, change ourselves and learn hard. If you dare to take your time, change a bit and learn just like we need to be  filled as a empty bottle., you are  freshmen.

we are all freshmen, in the long term of study.

snippet

Things are getting right. I am learning from others. All I want and all I need will be there, waiting for me.

Friendship vs Time

Friendship vs Time

What shall we be five years later? And what will all the things about us look like in 15 years?

I could felt the sharpness of time from the faces of the graduates who left the campus 15 years ago, in the party of old-classmate getting together yesterday. I just put some fruit and listened on the scene. Somewhat like an ordinary workman. These guys, after 15 years, had surfed in the waves of business and finally became an entrepreneur, a high-level accountant, an official in the government office or a manager. Long time passed, the campus remained tranquil but the owners had changed for many times.

The hottest word that talked about was friendship. I still remembered that one of them said, nowadays people measured the friendship by the business they made. The bigger deal, the more friendship. But the friendship between classmates was totally deferent, which involved nothing about benefit. And that was the true friendship. If you asked help, they would help against all the odds.

And one of them even talked to us, fellow students, when we were leaving. He said, in the college, there were three key words. First, of course, the study, the job we must accomplish successfully. Second, EQ, learning how to be involved in the society and control yourself. Third, friendship, these friends are friends indeed. They are of the most helpful and usable resources in your life.

I did see a lot in them. Maybe something more can be found and worth learning. But the time for us chatting was not enough. And I found myself not good at communicating with the ones who are 15 years older than me.

Just imagine what will happen after 15 years. We are getting mature day by day, the things are changing day by day, the links between people are transforming day by day, something will be lost and something will be attained. Our minds will be different or just totally the opposite, but what about our heart?

Can friendship last that long? Non-believers say it is just an imagination. And I will say some will be still on the priority of my life, some will fade, and some will be forgotten without any notice. That’s just life. We are travelers in the earth, and partner of the others. Some partners of us stay for seconds, some stay longer, while some stay for a whole life.

A Whole New Day

Tired and sleepy tonight, so jsut forword a spatacular article here.

P.S. Something new on the right sidebar below, have you noctice that?

From: http://www.successful-blog.com/1/a-whole-new-day/

  

What Are You Waiting for?

It’s a whole new day.
Look at the sky.
We’ve never seen that exact sky before, nope, not that one. It’s brand new today.
What will you do to celebrate it?

What whole new thought will you bring to the whole new you that woke up this whole new morning? Will you take a whole new minute to savor an idea?

Will you have a whole new cup of coffee or your favorite tea, while you while away some time just looking out the window on a whole new day that’s just beginning?

Might you plan a whole new way of doing something? Take a whole new walk around a whole new block outside your building. Say a “hello” to a whole new someone you might like to meet.

Will you take a chance at finding a whole new side to someone who you’ve known for what seems like forever? Could you start a whole new habit of smiling for no good reason?

You have a whole new day to think of something.

It’s your life and the coolest part is tomorrow will be a whole new day all over again.

Holy cow! Can you believe a blue, blue sky like that? It’s a whole new way of seeing.

Persistence

There’s always a bottleneck for every learner in the long path of achieving success. For me in English, now I have to say, I feel it difficult to progress on. When I read English article, I can get the main idea, but if you ask me to explain that in English, I will say it is really tough. When I watch the videos I can understand what I can understand a week before, but I can’t catch the words and ideas which I can’t a week before.

 

That’s the problem named bottleneck.

 

I absorb new words and information like sponge everyday. I desire more and more. I just feel I am full in the morning while last night I was full. I do learn a lot, but that’s just not enough. Sometimes such situation reminds me: wow, low little I am achieving. I begin to be loose with the things going on, wandering the net while doing something less valuable. Or just search transitory excitement, after which I just feel more boring.

 

So I have to say to myself, persistence, persistence, persistence!

 

Be patient. Nothing changes overnight, unless it has accumulated for a long long time. I just do what I like and it’s also helpful for me. Maybe progress doesn’t show off in a month. It doesn’t matter. It’s just a part of my life, and part of my enjoyment. Don’t let other things unnecessary ruin you. Keep your lifestyle simple. The simpler, the better.

 

It’s easier to say that you stick to a simple life. So much temptation will attract you and give you the illusion that your life will be colorful and fantastic. But the reality isn’t always so. You drop off the things you are handling. Many people dreams big dream at the very beginning, but after so many visits to other parts of the wonderful and awful world, they lost their way and forget the initial dream, while the silly guys who continue the boring path to that goal are far ahead.

 

Persistence, a simple word, to say is one thing, to do is another thing. Hope us just hold on for longer.

Vacation 2.0

 Nowadays we are talking about Web 2.0. But what about Vacation 2.0?

Here's an article about Vacation2.0.Maybe we will get more from it, while the brilliant  summer vacation it going to end.

 Vacation 2.0

Link: http://freelanceswitch.com/working/vacation-20/

So you’re at the beach, in the mountains, in the country - it’s peaceful. You feel relaxed. The wind in your hair, the sun in your face, the overall boredom. Boring. It’s all nice of course, but you can’t seem to shake the feeling that you have better things to do. The project you left at the office does seem somewhat more interesting… The sun, the sweat, the overall frustrations of a creative workaholic. For me, it was this article. Okay, not this exact one, but one I have promised Cyan I’d write. Well - I screwed up. There, I said it. I promised something and didn’t do it. The shame.

Let’s analyze the “issue”, lets analyze vacations. Widget, widget, widget, vacation. Most people would say it’s a time when they unwind, take the time to be with friends and family, basically - have fun. That’s ok. Worker 2.0 doesn’t work that way. He may crank virtual widgets, be it in a text, code or pixel manner, but the concept of a vacation doesn’t work for him anymore.

We can call ourselves geeks, web workers… It truly doesn’t matter. What matters is that we have serious issues. Vacations are one of them. We get bored, we want to check e-mail, we want to surf the Net. Laptops and mobiles don’t stay at home, but in our pockets. The problem with the concept of a classic vacation is that for a lot of us - they are boring after some time. We need a challenge. Tim Ferris calls for the death of vacations and outlines a concept of mini-retirements. The idea is not to wait for retirement to explore the world, but to do that in six month chunks. What Tim says makes sense, and yes, sometimes we just need to disconnect to connect once again. Unfortunately, most of us won’t end up changing our lifestyle in that way, but the idea of taking time off on a recurring basis is something we all need to do.

Work is not a Dirty Word
The concept I call Vacation 2.0 is basically a vacation survival kit for the creative geek. Yes, you in the back. The designer, the programmer, the writer. You know that after a week or two you just want to get something done. Well, David Allen can’t help you now. It doesn’t have to be six months, it can be six days, but do it regularly. Sometimes though, we end up wanting to do work on vacation. That’s ok. As long as it isn’t business. Forget billable hours and forget working for clients. Deadlines won’t work in your favor while you’re trying to relax. Believe me, it didn’t work for me. The problem we face when taking work to the “beach” is that we do want to work on something, but we don’t want the stress of doing it. It won’t make you happy, and it sure won’t make your clients, editors or partners happy.
While all the fuss then? Why don’t I just forget everything? Well - boredom. I’m a writer, a designer. I need to keep my hands, or in this case, my fingers - busy. In order to keep your creative sanity you need to work on your…

Skills and Passions
Read a book, learn something new. If you’re a coder, why not whip up some little application that you don’t need, but want to make. Writer? Write a novel, a short story. Designer? Try a new technique, and by that, I mean analog. Sketch, plan, dream. You know you always whine about not having enough time to try a new programming language or design a wallpaper. Well guess what - take a little time and try. Actually, it will make you happy. We all rest both our mind and body in different ways. You don’t need to eliminate what you love to do (writing, design,…), just eliminate the stress associated with it.

Back to Basics
As well as creative output, our many input channels like e-mail or RSS can sometimes seem to take all our time. Well, as with creativity, implement those lifehacks you’ve been reading about. Check e-mail once a day or once a week. Don’t watch TV, and keep the RSS, but check them sparingly. As for e-mail, setup that snazzy auto responder so people know not to bother you. Vacation 2.0 is about staying on top of your game and enjoying it. Eliminate the stress. Stay creative. Most of all, enjoy yourself.

Unlike the rest of the team, Ivan Brezak Brkan still has to balance his freelance interface design and new media writing/copywriting career with a busy university life. New media and blogs are his outlets of choice - and “new” marketing his passion. Find out more about Ivan at IvanBrezakBrkan.com.

From Out the Cave

 From Out the Cave

when you have been at war with yourself for so many years taht you have forgotten why

when you have been driving for hours and only gradually begin to realize that you have lost the way

when you have cut hastily into the fabric

when you have signed papers in distraction

when it has been centuries since you watched the sun set or the rain fall

and the clouds drifting overhead pass the flat as anything on a postcard

when,in the midst of these everyday nightmares,you understand that you cold wake up

you could turn and go back to the last thing you rember doing with your whole heart

that passionate kiss

the brilliant drop of love rolling along the tongue of a green leaf

then you wakeyou stumble from your caveb

linking in the sun

naming every shadow

as it slips

当你和自己斗争多年以致早已忘了原因的时候,

当你开车数小时逐渐发现自己迷路的时候

当你轻率地剪碎衣服的时候

当你心不在焉地签字的时候

当你仿佛已经几个世纪没有欣赏过太阳或雨点落下

以及头顶漂浮着平坦的像明信片上的白云的时候

当你明白你可以每晚从黑梦中惊醒的时候

你可以回头,回到你记忆中上一次全心全意做的那件事当中.

那热情的一吻

那晶莹的爱情水滴沿着绿叶滚动

然后你会醒来

从洞 中蹒跚而出

在阳光下眨着眼

为每个影子命名

在他溜走的时候

 The first time I listened to the poem, I was touched. Something in my heart was aroused and it leaded me to enjoy a peaceful life, after so many wars with myself. And the voice is so peaceful that it comforted me and made me be patient and peaceful with my work and myself.  

That poem is from the Crazy English YM lends me. At that time I was determined to pick up English for the days left in the summer vocation. I felt I was a kid in the crossroad and wondered where to go. The target is there but which route to take? Then I felt I should get a buddy and strive together with him/her, then I turned to YM. Her way of living inspired me something new I cant’ describe. But this poem write it down in words. It’s exactly what I want to express and kind of living way I really appreciate. 

 Then I was out of the Cave, that was built by myself. Still, I spent a lot of time in the dormitory, but my heart open for other kinds of lives. And I began to look far. A beautiful picture extended in my mind.  

The picture would be reflected by what I write, so I named my blog From Out the Cave. After I stumbled from my cave, I wanted to name every shadow slipping, but the first is to name my thought, and I named it From Out the Cave.  

Download the mp3 From Out the Cave:

http://www.isload.com.cn/store/8qniks6rtycuo/1-02 From out the Cave.mp3/downlaod 

Time

Tonight I happenned to open the file of Win In China when I finished watching The Apprentice. Contrast with The Apprentice, Win In China is more linked with local market and it’s even more successful and useful for us, Business School students in China.  

Ma Yun, a entrepreneur I admire very much, said, the men born in 1980’s are not going to compete with the ones born in 70’s, 60’s or even 50’s. They are going to compete with the future. They must be patient and treasure the time. 

Yeah…for us born in 80’s, the most powerful weapon is time! Just time!

Years ago Zhuang Zhong, a SYSU student maybe 4 or 5 years ago but now a teacher in New East English cooperation, held a speech in the Mega City here and said, “You are so miserable to live and study in such a desert city, no professions, no academic atmosphere, no elder students to guide you. But you all, as any one in his youth, have the most powerful weapon, time!” 

Time, we are always complaining that we have no time, no matter whatever we are doing. When we are browsing the website for entertainment, we say we have no time to finish the homework. When are we busy playing games, we say we just have no time to have the book read, and it remains unread until the last moment for the exam. The most we have is just what we lack. How funny! 

All the words inspire me about the importance of time. Now I feel I have enough time. I am enjoying that I don’t have to do something. I just do what I like. Something’s got to more important than I did before, say, enjoying life, and English studying. No need to rush something I have to face when I graduate, more prepared for the job hunting but missing something just can be found in the university. Have time to do something, now. 

Something is going to change in my life. I’m sure of it.

Resist the temptation

Resist the temptation!

So much temptation nowadays.Some guy is doing sth. that looks cool, while I am still here wandering. And something like that always happens.

No need to pay any attention to that.Just continue my happy life~~~Wo~~``````