The summer swimming class I have been taking has two more weeks to go.

 

Six weeks ago when the class began, I could not believe that I could learn to swim. "I will drop this class whenever I want," I said to myself.

 

Four weeks ago when I still could not do the flutter kicking well, I was almost sure that I would never get this done. "I will try another week, and if I still couldn't do this, I will drop the class." I said to myself.

 

Three weeks ago I managed the skills of flutter kicking. It was really encouraging. I kept doing this back and forth in the pool, and it was so fun to feel the water pushing you moving forward, quickly and powerfully. But soon, I found myself left behind again - I needed to learn how to exhale in the water and then turn my head while pulling the arm behind to inhale with my mouth.

 

Another two weeks passed by, I felt better with the front crawl style. But by then the teacher had began to teach about breast stroke.

 

Here is where I am now:

--- comfortable with backstroke with flutter kicking;

--- can swim with front crawl, but still feel kind of tired after 25 meters. Still need more practice;

--- the kicking for breast stroke is not powerful enough, and it affects my speed of breast stroke a lot;

--- just began to learn about side stroke, and I have to get it done next week. The teacher said that it was his favourite style, as it was the most relaxing style. You can swim with side stroke after hours in the water.

 

One pleasant thing: the day before yesterday when I was practicing front crawl in the pool, a girl came to talk to me: "Hey, how are you". I didn't recognize her (I have a bad memory for faces). She told me that we met a month ago in the pool; and at that time, I was trying to float on the water. "But now you can swim!" She said to me, "I learned from you that I need to be more patient! You can now swim and you didn't know how to float last time!" I remembered that she told me that she took a swimming class last summer but did not learn to swim by the end of the class. We both laughed.

 

Hey, it is time to go swimming!

Have been staying in Boston for 6 days to attend the SIAM meeting. By the time I booked hotel, all rooms in the hotel at the conference site had been sold out. I therefore selected a hotel 7 miles away from the conference site. It was located in a nearby city called Quincy. Fortunately the subway system in Boston is considerably convenient, so I took subway everyday to and from the conference. It took about 40 mins each way.

 

Boston is known for its history and scene. There is a nice park very close to the conference site, and north to the park is the charles river, which separates City of Cambridge from City of Boston. MIT and Harvard are both located there. I took a walk in Harvard campus one afternoon. Met H. J and Y. W at MIT and had a dinner at a Tanwan Restaurant.

We may fear loving others because we are afraid the love will do nothing but hurt ourselves. It is true that love can hurt deeply, when it is not rewarded as you expected. However, love is the only way that you can extend your life to a wider range. Only with love you can share the feelings of others. We often hear parents say that it is extremely interesting to stay with their kids, because they feel like being kids themselves. The reason this happens is because of love - they love their children so much that they feel what their kids feel. One year ago my younger sister was going to apply for a university. I was so excited about this; I went on the internet to find out what was a good major for her, asked friends for their opinions, and discussed with her over phone what she should do with her application form, etc. And after she went to the university she wanted, we talked about her feelings and experience... It seemed that I myself was going back to my first year of undergraduate study and was facing a completely new world. It was a strange feeling, but it felt very good.

 

Love was the most effective solution to many negative feelings. It is the opposite of envy. You feel bad when the one you envy feels good, but you feel good when the one you love feels good. Moreover, when you both feel good in the same way, it is really full of fun - you make jokes, play games, and laugh. Nothing is more pleasant than enjoying a happy time together with the one you love.

 

Love is not easy. It can disappear in a single moment, when mistreated or hurted. It can even transform to the opposite feeling of disgusting or hate. I have never experienced the latter, but I have experienced the former feeling for several times. You may argue that the feeling that disappears so quickly is not love. But I think it is. Even the deepest true love can disappear in a single moment. And once it disappears, it is hard to recover. So we must be very cautious about this. Sometimes you may hurt others' feeling with an unpurpused word. Sometimes you may feel that you are too busy with your own affairs,and have to put all other things aside - this is dangerous and you may lose many important things as a result.

 

But love should also mean forgiveness. It is well known that everyone makes all kinds of mistakes, including mistakes regarding love. If some one hurts you, try to forgive him and try to fix your love. Why? Because both of you need it. Don't do it if it means more and more hurting in the future.

今天晚上9点半到10点10分，坐在memorial union的湖边，看湖对岸的焰火表演。

 

记不清第一次看焰火是什么时候了，大概是小学，也许是初中；忘了是什么缘由，是县里举办漂流节的活动之一呢，还是爸妈工作的学校恰好购买了一批焰火；也搞不清到底是在什么地方放的。只记得我是和一群伙伴一起在学校某栋家属楼顶层看的，只记得当那大朵大朵的烟花从天空中滑下、对着我们迎面扑来的时候，我们都毫无例外的张开双臂大声尖叫。

 

读研期间赶上学校90周年校庆，在西操举行了一个隆重的典礼，学生按班级排列在操场上就坐。众多节目之后，在操场南侧的表演台边放起了焰火。这已经是5年以前的事情了，可是我似乎还能回想起那满天绚丽的色彩和响彻西操的欢呼声。

 

来美国后记忆最深的焰火表演当属04年1月初和老公去弗罗里达州迪斯尼公园magic kingdom所看到的了。我们站在湖中的一座桥上，湖对岸是迪斯尼公园的主建筑，在夜色中不断变幻着光和色，与一朵朵在天空中绽放的烟花交相辉映。那晚，烟花入怀，乐声盈耳，真有天上人间之感。

 

这一回，焰火燃放地点是在大约6公里之外的湖对岸，隔着宽阔的湖面，看那对岸的土地就像是一个花盆，燃起的焰火像是盆中的花卉。在对岸点点灯火的背景中，烟花一支支升起，又一朵朵绽开，重叠，分离，闪烁，散落，就像是盆中的鲜花在不断的盛开又不断的凋谢。音响中传出的音乐，和脚下湖水拍打岸边岩石的声音合在一起。这种感觉，虽然不是从头到脚的震撼，却仍然是享受、是美，或者，少了一种惊喜，多了一点伤感。似乎焰火这个词让人联想到热闹和灿烂，而烟花这个词却让人联想到落寞和虚无。也许从前看到的是焰火，而今夜看到的是烟花。然而，焰火和烟花本来就是一回事，热闹后总有落寞，灿烂的另一面或许就是虚无。我们常常喜欢热闹，喜欢追求璀璨的景色，可是谁说寂寞平淡之中就没有乐趣，所谓的“虚空“之中就没有真实的意义呢。所谓，色即是空，我们看到的五颜六色其实只是一些光束产生的感觉；又所谓，空即是色，在无边无际的天空中，阳光和水汽的相互作用便能生成彩虹。

 

越说越远了......该回家了，观看焰火表演的交通拥挤早已消散了。