Signage 2

Uploaded 08/19/2005.

Signage 1

A picture is worth 1000 words, say they.


Update: Sorry, I could not upload the image.

Uploaded 08/19/2005.

Have you been missing me?

Wow. Check this out. My blogging company reminded me on December 15 -- which, coincidentally, was the first day of our 47-day Parliament recess -- that my favorite blogging tool, mail2blogger, is available again. Looks like I've got some catch-up to do.

Have you been missing me? Yeah, I know.

Change of venue, again

I am in Ottawa. On the Hill.

This week’s bread

Saturday and Sunday
Olafson’s DoubleRise, 12-Grains loaf –- Moist and chewy. Excellent choice. Added it to my list of favorite.

Monday and Tuesday
Dempster’s WholeGrains, 12-Grains loaf –- I had this one before. 12-Grains are good.

Wednesday and Thursday
Olafson’s DoubleRise, Buttermilk loaf –- I picked it up because of its name. A mistake. It did not make me feel any less hungry and its taste was a far cry from the previous DoubleRise.

Friday
Dempster’s Premium Flax bagels –- Sticking to the familiar can avoid any unpleasant surprises.


The Parliament break next week is a much needed one for my body as my weight loss has just surpassed 10 percent and I had a couple of occurrences of light-headedness.

Light-headedness

Woke up feeling a little dizzy this morning. Light-headedness is said to be one of the symptoms of prolonged fast.

I am hoping it was a one-time event.

Blog Problems

My latest blog problems could not have happened at a worse time.

As you all know, I am fasting and dependent on this blog to get the words out. If the problems were in any way non-technical, they could qualify as acts of the most inhumane kind.

Weekend treat

First Chinese meal in almost two weeks.

Week in review: my bread

Saturday, Sunday and Monday:
Some kind of buns – forgot the brand name – The last couple of them tasted awful.

Tuesday and Wednesday:
Olafson’s HealthyWay Sprouted Grain, Seed Loaf – not bad. A little dry, though.

Thursday and Friday:
Dempster’s Premium Bagels – Blueberry and my favorite.

My diet

Eight (8) slices of bread or three (3) bagels daily, either Olafson's or Dempster's, plus plenty of water. -- Essentially the same with the fasting priest whenever Parliament sits.

Change of venue

Because of money problem, I had to change venue for my hunger strike. I also decided to change my fast to a bread-and-water one, a formula of the protecting priest in front of the Centre Block.

So around 3:00PM, in the middle of a snow-and-hail storm - yeah, snow in Vancouver's October, trust me on this one too - I went to my favorite store and bought a bag of bread.

It will take me a couple of days to settle down to my new diet. At the mean time, I do not mind sharing it with you.

Heading home

Can not possibly stay at airport night after night. Sleep deprivation was worse than hunger. So I am heading home.

58

With a suitcase and a sleeping bag in tow, I was so tired from running around Wednesday that I stayed put here in the airport all day yesterday.

 

I am feeling better now after the much-needed rest, except for the hunger feeling.

16

Checked with NCC InfoCenter. I need contact individual MP first to be let in.

Difficult to access Internet. Feeling tired running around.

I guess I will just stay put in front of Centre Block.

I am on

I do not know how to fast on Parliament Hill. But here is my plan today.

 

I will take advantage of my energy level on this first day to walk around and visit as many MPs as possible.

 

My objective is to spend a couple of minutes with each MP, bring my report to their attention and answer any questions they may have.

 

I will wear a headband to show my resolve and determination.

I am in

Arrived at Ottawa this PM, with a sleeping bag and some change clothes.

First order was to check the news. Disappointed at the stiffening silence. "Oops, I need to do it again."

-- 6:30PM EST

Decided to stay at the airport tonight. -- You know I am running out of money, right?

Harvey's for dinner. Ordered an extra burger. This offically started my hunger strike in Ottawa.

Here is the deal, MPs. I will not eat until I hear you talk about my report in the House.

Alternatively, you can challenge me on any part of my report, either fatually or logically.

I am here and I am listening.

-- 9:30PM EST

This Internet station cost 2 bucks for 10 minutes. I hope my blog is worth the money.

-- 12:55 AM EST

Vancouver --> Ottawa

Booked an Air Canada ticket to Ottawa for tomorrow.

Don't know where to stay. Maybe I will bring a sleeping bag so that I can hit the ground running.

Open Letter to MPs

Burnaby, BC
October 18, 2004


This coming Wednesday, October 20, 2004, will be the one-year anniversary of Cecilia Zhang's abduction and murder.

Although an arrest had been made in her case, the police have yet to provide a motive for this hideous crime perpetrated against such an innocent little girl.

Today, I would like to respectfully call your attention to my report entitled "A JOBLESS IMMIGRANT WITHOUT PRIVACY: A Case for Hunger Strike".

I allege that Cecilia Zhang murder has a connection - through my legal case against certain private individuals as detailed in my report - to the highest level of federal government and the ruling Liberal Party.

I am fully aware of the seriousness of my allegation and its potential impact on Parliament. I have asked myself countless times: how likely is my allegation to be true? And each time when I take a hard look at the facts in my case, I only become more confident in my reasoning.

And I am prepared to go to Ottawa and to do whatever is necessary to bring the public's attention to my report and my allegation.

We live in a free and democratic society. Freedom and democracy call for openness and transparency. Secrecy, on the other hand, breeds corruption, oppression and tyranny. With absolute secrecy, criminals can get away with murder.

No government should cover up individual wrong-doings. And no political party should bend the rules and laws for its friends.

Don't let the devil triumph.


Jingdong (Jim) Yu
A Jobless Immigrant without Privacy
Report: www.sfu.ca/~jyu1
Blog: www.jyu1.blogspot.com

Post-fast

Two surprises after I came home last night:

1. I did not eat as much as I thought I could;
2. I drank a surprisingly large quantity of water.

I guess I was a little dehydrated. Next time in Ottawa, I will know better.

SFU Folks, you may go to the Townhall (Item 186) web conference at caucus.sfu.ca to discuss my report.

 

47

Have been watching clock for the last hour.

Finanlly I did it. It's time to go home, cook, eat and rest.

Maybe I'll see you on the other side, mon.

44

Just noticed heart beats faster and mouth becomes drier. I guess that means I am still human.

Four hours to go.

Destroying liberalism for a generation

Amid all those theatres and dramas of Liberal politicking, I actually found, on page 289, a couple of obscure references to the single most important issue facing Liberal Party today: Where is the soul of the party?

On the soul that was infected, nobody articulated it better than Akaash Maharaj: "The party itself, in our elected wing and in our civil wing, must exercise meaningful political leadership to quash what I feel has been a disease galloping through our ranks for the better part of a political generation - and that is a fundamentally illiberal impulse to equate dissent with disloyalty. I believe ... meaningful dissent is not merely the right of every person; it is the responsibility of every thinking person to expect that. A system that does not recognize that truth is simply today a system which will inevitably and rightfully collapse in on itself. Our loyalty as Liberals is to one another, but our loyalty as Liberals is first and foremost to the ideals that we represent."

On the need to fix the soul, Tom Axworthy was more blunt: "Liberalism in Canada is at such a divide today: the philosophy still has resonance but its application to today's problems and opportunities needs a fundamental rethinking."

Those assessments were made in September 2002 when Chretien was the king and Martin was the king-apparent. -- I guess it would be up to the next generation of Liberals to embark on the journey of soul-searching.

No wonder the Conservatives have so much room to grow.

41

Raining pretty hard outside.

Wearing extra sweater. Staying inside the library. Still not feeling warm enough.

Noticed people eating in library. The sight and aroma of food stirred up my yearning.

Seven hours to go.

Juggernaut (2003)

I am reading this excellent book on Liberal politicking by Susan Delacourt -- one of the top journalists in Canada and a frequent guest on CBC Politics program.

I borrowed a copy from SFU library on Monday, together with a couple of books on racism. -- Just want to be fair to those of you who do not already know.

36

Still want food.

While having a couple cups of warm water before bed last night, I could feel that my teeth were loosing up - I must have been gritting them all day yesterday - and my stomach expanding. Slept above average, though.

Safety first

In the current climate, however, I'd better avoid going along in the mountain.

Reflection on my summer

I do not know about you. Overall, I have enjoyed mine.

My favorite activity this summer was climbing the Burnaby Mountain to get to SFU. I started it on July 17 or 18.

When you fail to drive others crazy, you can always try to get physical with yourself. -- Try it when you are depressed, my friend.

Still, the memorable thing about climbing was when I shouted out into the vast mountain, most of what I heard was some bone-headed, moronic and deliberately obtuse echo.

Wasn't that cool?

23

Still feeling hungry.

Didn't they say that feeling would go away after a while? -- Maybe not too soon, I guess.

At the mean time, read and think.

17

It's been 17 hours since I had my last meal.

Yes, I can still hear my stomach crying, albeit not as loud as a couple of hours ago. -- It's a good thing that I had a big dinner last night.

48-hour Fast at SFU

I am on a hunger strike to bring awareness of my report to SFU community during these two days of convocation.

Comments are welcome.

Raining in Vancouver

That's a sure sign Fall is coming. Isn't it?

The Report

Wow, I almost slipped into a daze again, after the integrated attack (police bullying + Internet problems) prior to the much-hyped secretive health conference.

Anyway, I am releasing my report today.

Now, if screaming headline is what you have been expecting, go directly to Chapter 7. It's titled The Emperor Has No Clothes, thanks to a cue by Jim Travers.

But please do not call me a revolutionary, or any other label that would purposefully incite fear or hatred. I am simply summoning every drop of my strength and courage to do the right thing.

"The people are always right." Sure they are, but only when they are not fooled.

In the end, I have this much confidence: Sooner or later, everybody knows the truth. And sooner or later, the vast majority will do the right thing.

"If I get elected, I promise I will make you sick."

David Letterman, September 6, 2004.

Chretien in Ottawa vs. Martin in Ottawa

1.      Chretien in Ottawa: In the evening of October 28, 2003, I went to SFU and checked out Air Canada website for information on ticket to Ottawa around 11:30PM. -- I had taken the special trip in the hope that SFU, as a public institution, would respect my privacy on the Internet. -- The next day, the then Prime Minister Jean Chretien reportedly hinted, for the first time, of earlier retirement at Liberal caucus meeting.

 

2.      Martin in Ottawa: During an interview with a Chinese reporter from Fairchild TV soon after he successfully succeeded Chretien into the PMO, Paul Martin urged people not to come to Ottawa.

 

Coincidence or conspiracy?

T-test

test only.

Where is Jim Travers?

Is he at One Yonge or on vacation?

I refuse to be intimidated

Ever since I got on the Internet in mid-July, I have found that the best way to deal with fear is to grab the fear-monger by the horn.

For previous police bullying incidents, please visit my home page.

Coincidence or Conspiracy?

Three police "sightings" within 24 hours. Anybody has my luck over the long weekend? (You have to take into the account of my problem with this blog by Google, though.)

1. Around 10:35PM on Sunday September 5, 2004, I just got off the SkyTrain at Lougheed Station. While walking south on Government Rd, a police cruiser came from behind me and turned right on Cardston - which was my intended direction. Soon after I turned right to Cardston, I saw the police vehicle coming toward me and headed out of Cardston.
2. The next day at around 3:30PM, I exited my apartment building via the west-side door to go to my car. While driving south along Bell Ave, I noticed a police vehicle parked on Hunter Street, directly facing west- side of my apartment building. I stopped at the red light at the intersection of Bell and Lougheed Hwy. Just when I was about to turn left on green light, the police car came out to the intersection and turned right. I tried to take a note of its ID but failed.
3. About three hours later (around 6:25PM), at the same location and under similar circumstances - except that I existed the building via front door - another (or the same) police vehicle came to the intersection after I did, turned right while I turned left on Lougheed. This time I was able to note the marker ("1B4") at the top left corner from the back of the police vehicle. (I assume it belongs to Burnaby RCMP.)

Looks like I need to blow the whistle on one of our most trusted institutions first.

At the mean time, would somebody please ask the Prime Minister what other federal department/agency had bullied me and if there really is nothing on my file.

"Integrity is so perishable in the summer months of success."

From Bloomberg website, July 17, 1997

"Coincidence or Conspiracy?"

Here is the introducing paragraph of the last alumni newsletter (for Summer 2002) I received from the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University.

"It is just 15 months since our Department was established; we had 15 students graduate [sic] with a Major in Statistics or Actuarial Science in June 2002; we have 15 graduate students registered in the 2002-2 term (full time, not co-op). Coincidence or Conspiracy?"

Very interesting coincidence indeed, I thought to myself.

Then I noticed the newsletter was mailed out exactly two years -- which coincidentally is the normal statute of limitations period -- after I lost my last job because of an online robbery on October 20-24, 2000.

Curious, I called the friendly secretary Ms. Sylvia Holmes and thus knew which important person did the mailing.

Scary stuff. Definitely no kid stuff.

Martin vs. Nixon

I am constantly amazed by the insights coming from journalist circles, such as this one on June 1. - Imagine all the good works we can do with them!

But please, check the hatred at the door.

Deliveryman vs. me

I was a little irked by the deliveryman for Global Chinese Press lately.

For example, two weeks ago, it took me three trips to pick up the newspaper because the delivery at our location was made so late that it looked like the deliveryman was playing hide-and-find game with me.

Was there anything on your newspaper you wanted everybody else to read, except me?

But haven't your newspaper been sending me messages for a couple of years already?

Letterman vs. Leno

I used to watch David Letterman. Now I watch Jay Leno. - That's another reason I am eager to see the Olympic over, exciting as it is.

The last time I flipped through Letterman's show, four people were having an orgy. Puke! (They used to show a famous threesome a few months before, though.)

"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"

From Bloomberg website, March 5, 1998

"It's better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating."

From Bloomberg website, March 2, 1998

Moron vs. Mormon

Four years ago, in the clumsiness of summer, I got a call from a classmate of mine, whom I had not heard from for more than ten years. Just like most of my other classmates, he had a kid already although he's not that much older.

Two things he said came to my mind recently:

1. After telling me that a friend of his had just bought a house worth 500,000, he asked me: "Isn't that shocking?!"
2. He told me of one of his friends who was "also very smart, very nice and very handsome", and who was a Mormon.

For a moment, I thought he said moron. He clarified that he meant Mormon the religion.

After the conversation, I realized that there were huge differences between the two and he was thus quite possibly not a moron.

Be safe, Mom

Personally, the biggest news is about my mother, who is 73 years old and lives in a bug-infested shack in my hometown in China.

She was diagnosed with another illness this week.

I heard the diagnosis in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

And if you have not heard our daily boring dialect before, here is a typical one, roughly translated into English.

Mom: So, is everything all right with you?

Me: Yes, mom. Everything is fine.

Mom: Is it really fine?

Me: Of course, mom.

Mom: You never tell me the bad news.

Me: Really, mom, everything is fine. Don't worry.

Mom: When can you come back?

Me: Soon, mom. Soon.

Mom: Come back sooner, Okay?

Me: Sure, mom. Sooner.

At the end of March, my sister told her that I had trouble here in Canada, despite my repeated warning and pledge not to. Naturally, this caused her sleepless nights and deteriorating health. Only many calling cards later, was I able to fill her in what was minimally necessary to alleviate her worries. Still, ever since then, our conversation would sometimes touch on my situation.

Mom: When can you solve the problem?

Me: I don't know, mom. Should be soon.

Mom: You should have a plan and act quickly.

Me: Yes, mom. But you know I can't talk about it on the phone.

Mom: Ah, I can't even have a heart-to-heart talk with my own son. I don't understand those people ...

Me (interrupting): Mom, how is your blood pressure these days?

.......

I hope I won't have to fast. And if I do, let's all hope she will never know.

Chocolat (2000)

The leading news of the week, aside from the Olympic, suggests PMO is gearing up for a major battle.

If I could, I wish to send every hard-working PMO staffer, incoming or departing, a copy of the above movie.

You cannot rid of chocolate with a knife. Nobody can.

This is to despair

While on Star, we can also read another excellent report on the plight of recent immigrants.

The way I see it, our current immigration system is so full of Liberal hypocrisy, it is almost conspiratorial.

Right on the money

I always enjoy a good read by Jim Travers. And the latest one, too.

Update 20061208:

See part of his "latest" column (August 19, 2004) here.

I hope it's not a real thing

I can't believe my last post made its way onto the web, despite a short delay.

Competing headlines

Granted, it's not easy to be a news producer, especially when there are competing headlines on the same day.

 

Of course, moving the date to compete is another matter.

 

I'm not trying to be self-important, but I will do my part to promote the Olympic Spirit.

Bourque headline

Here is yesterday's headline, accompanied by a Prime Ministerial close-up, from Bourque Newswatch before the opening of Athens 2004.

I though the fearful election had been over a long time before and we had since fortunately rolled over to the exciting Olympic. Maybe not?

A Re-post

With some of the clumsiness removed, here is a finer version of an earlier post Week in Review: Political Media (or, Media Politics?).

*****

Most people would choose Cabinet making as the top story of the week. Taking a back-door approach following the Prime Minister, I ended up with quite different picks.

Sunday, 07/18/2004
Some ignoramus blunders "stolen election"

Monday, 07/19/2004
Something irks Kinsella

Tuesday, 07/20/2004
Liberals attempt making-up

Wednesday, 07/21/2004
Bourque features Alcock re-appointment

Thursday, 07/22/2004
Motive unknown: suspect arrested in Cecilia Zhang murder

Friday, 07/23/2004
Motive still unknown in Cecilia Zhang murder

Saturday, 07/24/2004
With lots of waiting, some journalists take a vacation

*****

PM out of reach

Our Prime Minister is visiting far North, out of reach of the press.

 

Although I am not a journalist, I also wish I could reach the Prime Minister so that I could ask him if there is nothing on my file.

 

Obviously, this blog was getting a little hot since last Tuesday.

 

Mr. Prime Minister, are you still working around my file?

Recent Strange Calls

I have been on the Internet for about three weeks, and generally feeling much better, except for a few strange phone calls.

Sunday, July 25, 2004 - A woman left a wrong-number message in our answering machine, about paying up some personal debt.

In the late afternoon or early evening, I went to Wal-Mart.

Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - Somebody called my cell phone about half an hour after I came home. -- I do not carry my cell phone these days because almost all the calls I get are intrusive or harassing ones. -- Although no message was left, I do not regard it as a hang-up call.

Wednesday, August 4, 2004 - At around 8:15AM, somebody called my home to look for Jim. After I came to the phone and said Hello, she hung up. (Yeah, that qualifies as a hang-up call.) When I called back, she claimed to have called the wrong number.

Copies of Vancouver Sun were put in our lobby in the afternoon.

A Strange Phone Call

The following is another excerpt from Chapter 6, with some editing. This call was detailed in my report primarily because it was the first of a string of strange or harassing phone calls I received in fall 2003.

*****

Between the start of the Iraq War and the end of summer, I received virtually no intrusive or harassing phone calls. The only exception was the one on April 12, 2003, which I believe was related to my becoming acquainted with their agent TP (full name withheld at this time).

At the end of summer of 2003, however, strange calls started coming in. The first such one was on Saturday August 23, 2003, at 4:15PM and it was clearly of a harassing nature.

When I took the call, the male caller spoke in a foreign language – if I had to guess, I would say Vietnamese, which happens to be agent TP's first language – for about ten seconds and then hang up. I used *69 and got the number 604-xxx-xxxx (number withheld). I subsequently chose option No. 1 to automatically return the call, but was told that the line was busy and that I would be notified when the line became free. When the phone rang, indicating the line was free, I immediately picked up the phone. Again, I heard a busy tone and a system message saying that the line had just become busy again.

This repeated for about half a dozen times until I finally got through at 4:24PM. Another male, who was clearly a minor, answered my call. I asked him if anybody had just called me. He replied: “I don’t know. I just came home. My name is Robert Robinson. I don’t know if somebody called you because I just came home.” I tried to ask him additional questions, but he hung up on me. His reply did not sound like what people would normally say on the phone. In fact, he sounded like reading from a script.

I called again at 4:27PM but the line was busy. I called two more time, at 4:38PM and 5:31PM. In both instances I was able to get through but nobody took my call at the other end.

*****

Update 05/29/2005:

This part of the report is here.

My Impression of Mr. Svend Robinson

Actually, I do not have much of an impression of my former MP because I did not have enough material to form one.

1. I met Mr. Robinson at a public event on December 6, 2002. I told him that I had a problem and I needed his help. He asked me to see his assistant.
2. On April 24, 2003, I went to his office and talked to his assistant Jane Pepper.
3. On January 9, 2004, I went to his office again and showed him the first two chapters of my report.

I never called him or his office. So, as you can see, I don't know if I had contributed to his fall from grace.

But who knows? Even the judge had reportedly said that Mr. Robinson would go to his grave as the only person who would ever know if his crime was calculated, or a freak impulse and lapse in judgement by an unstable man.

"You've got a lot of battle at hand."

Svend Robinson, January 9, 2004

I'm sorry if my seeking your help caused you any pressure.

plu·toc·ra·cy

Whenever I have a word problem, I use www.dictionary.com.

1. Government by the wealthy.
2. A wealthy class that controls a government.
3. A government or state in which the wealthy rule.

Nasty!

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of my report of the same title. It showed somebody's Internet was quite sensitive to the word "nasty".

*************************************
On or around March 12, 2001, I received an acknowledgement letter from CIC dated 03/01/2001 and postmarked 03/05/2001 to my Privacy Request. The letter was signed by Ms. Nora Saikaley, A/Manager of Operations, Public Rights Administration.

I had suspected that my Internet and trading activities were monitored somehow and told my suspicion to some of my friends in an email on March 12, 2001. In that evening, I found out that the word "nasty" in my email was substituted by 5 blank spaces. See Appendix (to be posted).

I had written the email beforehand and saved it as a draft in my email account. There was no problem there. However, when I tested the email by sending a copy to myself, the same substitution occurred. It was as if somebody was able to "filter out" the word somewhere on the Internet.

Puzzled, I went to www.dictionary.com and put in the word "nasty". However, it returned the word "nothing" and its definition. I tried several other words. They all returned the same page, i.e., the definition of the word "nothing". It looked like somebody was able to switch any input words to the word "nothing" just before I submitted it.

I tried another website www.webster.com. No matter what word I put in, this one always returned the web page where there was nothing in the input cell, together with the following error message: "Invalid input. No entries found". It looked like somebody was able to delete my words before I submitted it.

Later, I realized that the keyword here was nothing. And the message was that there is nothing on my immigration file, as I came to know from Ms. Saikaley three days later. It's just one of the many incidents where CIC and these individuals had collaborated to bully me.

These Internet incidents occurred while I was using public computers.

On March 15, 2001, a month had passed since CIC received my initial letter. So I called Ms. Nora Saikaley to seek the status of my Privacy Request. She put me on hold, presumably checked her computer, came back telling me, in a puzzled tone, that "there is nothing on your file". She then asked me a couple of factual questions, exclaimed "Oh, boy", and told me that she would get back to me either later that day or the next day.

(More in report.)


*****

Links added April 19, 2005:

My dealings with CIC re my Privacy Request: http://www.sfu.ca/~jyu1/Report/6.htm#_Toc88974360

Complete report: http://www.sfu.ca/~jyu1/Report/TOC.htm

My other website: http://www.sfu.ca/~jyu1

Sometimes I do wish I had a girlfriend

Believe me, I tried. Here was a potential one.

Back in 2000, I used email and cell phone to communicate affectionately with a lady in France whom I had met earlier in Vancouver. Among the things we talked about in our private communications was her plan to immigrate to Quebec. Oddly, friends and acquaintances alike all started asking me when I planned to move to Montreal.

Of course, I never ended up moving there because it never worked out between me and her. Although the real reason was a mystery to me, I do know this fact: During the period of time when we exchanged frequent emails, she also received a lot of anonymous emails with porno links.

Nasty, right?

Well, I do not even want to let you listen to some of the messages I got in my answering machine.

"Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers."

From Bloomberg website, July 10, 1997

Buying computers takes money. Buying Internet? That takes real dough.

A Cute Lyrical Message

Here is a cute lyrical message my friends sent me via Internet circa 2001, after I was robbed online and lost my last job as a trader. -- I had wanted to share it with you over the long weekend, but did not want to be accused of being insensitive.

“A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk, I have a workstation.
What more can I say…”

In any case, there is no need to get sentimental now as workstations are so common that people can and do work even away from their desks.

Thanks to Internet, of course.

"The most important failure was one of imagination."

Never underestimate the imagination of successful criminals.

"He knows so little yet knows so fluently."

From Bloomberg website, September 10, 1997.

"Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory"

Many years ago, Bloomberg website was the primary information source for the type of jobs I was seeking. As I visited it often, I noticed its daily quote. Indeed, its web pages were later arranged in such a way that, anybody who wanted to reach the employment page had to see the quote first. It looked like somebody was trying to teach us job seekers some lessons, or, gradually as I became aware, let me personally know I was under their watch because a lot of the quotes were selected to cater to my specific and personal situation. The above quote was from October 3, 1997.

The feeling of being watched was not a pleasant one. But lessons I did learn a few. One was that some politicians do have short memories. Say, a few weeks?

About this Blog

The following was supposed to be just under my blog title. But it kept disappearing from there every time I added a new post. (Does anybody have similar problem?)

************

On May 21, 2004, I stumbled on this blogosphere and immediately grabbed a spot. Intuitively, blogging seemed to be a helpful tool for what I was about to do.

However, I was still "in a daze" from years of being stalked, harassed, intruded and threatened. And Internet has been a huge part of that dreadful experience. That's why I haven't blogged a single word so far.

Anyway, I used to call myself Internet-challenged. Now, I want to change that, and everything in between, come hell or high water.

Just read me. 07/25/2004

Week in Review: Political Media (or, Media Politics?)

Most people would choose Cabinet making as the top story of the week. Taking a back-door approach following the Prime Minister, I ended up with quite different picks.

Monday, 07/19/2004
Something irks Kinsella

Tuesday, 07/20/2004
Liberals attempt making-up

Wednesday, 07/21/2004
Bourque features Alcock re-appointment

Thursday, 07/22/2004
Motive unknown: suspect arrested in Cecilia Zhang murder

Friday, 07/23/2004
Motive still unknown in Cecilia Zhang murder

Weekend, 07/24-25/2004
With lots of waiting, some journalists take a vacation

I Thought About My Father

As I pondered the many possibilities of my first blogpost, I thought about my father, who passed away on February 19, 1994 because of cancer. He was 70.

My father had taught me many and influenced me much. As a former high-school principal in a small town in central China, he is still remembered by many people as a decent, upright man.

Was he a successful man? Well, successfulness is a hot topic nowadays. What I heard about my father was that he had passed up many promotion opportunities in the school system in his dozens of years as principal. I never got the chance to ask him why. But I knew he was not the type who seeks power or wealth at any cost. Fundamentally, I guess he was content with his life and enjoyed his work enormously, even though it was a demanding one. In the end, what mattered to him was that he had the respect of his family, his colleague and his students.

I feel very fortunate to have been under his upbringing and influence. I would not be the person I am today without him.

I remember one of the last pieces of advice my father gave me was to stay away from politics. At this moment in time though, it looks like I won't be able to do that.

Sorry, dad. You know I would never disappoint you. But I do need to take back control of my life first so that I can live the way you always wanted me to live.