!!!!!!

Done with college!!!!

Kafein

Studying at Kafein, realizing that this is my last reading week at NU. No matter how stressful this week turns out to be, I'm gonna make use of it to the fullest.

[idea] online shopping in China

最近看到一些新闻，Neiman Marcus和Macy's开始进军中国的网上购物市场。不确定还有没有别家也在做这个business,但至少也算是个trend吧。先前也还从微薄上看到过一些有海外背景的人在上海/台北等大城市开自己的boutique, 引进中国没有的中国人不熟悉的符合他们个人审美眼光及对时尚理解的品牌，貌似几家还开得挺火热。觉得这个话题很有趣，先马克下来，有空分析下。我现在主要好奇的点有：online shopping能否在中国成功；大型百货商店的进驻对那些小型boutique会带来什么影响（Neiman也是想走出一条引领时尚的路线），比如在进货渠道上、在价格上、在影响力上、在accessibility上；还有就是价格的问题，如果引进海外品牌，如何定价？先前在杭州大厦看过theory的价格，简直天价!其中大约包含高昂的关税和承销商的中介费吧。那么由类似Neiman这样的大型百货做，会不会让价格变得更为合理呢？
http://www.neimanmarcus.com/blog/womens/china
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304707604577422511831032678.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
最近好像对retail特别热情。也一直想研究peapod的模型来着。有空都做吧！

Moving Zombie

虽然很cliche但是还是要说，果真老啦，才熬了一个夜就“如题”了。真是feel like a moving zombie阿，感官好像都退化了一样。完全兴奋不起来，这赶回家一趟还真是挺折腾的！回家了还得牵挂着写paper proposal. 不过，其实想起来还是蛮开心的，第一次参加婚礼就当了伴娘，还是给从小玩到大的表姐当，很期待见证这幸福的一刻！

Economics is "tremendously sophisticated"

From readings for Behavioral Econ class:
Economics is market by a startling crudeness in the way it thinks about individuals and their motivations, yet it builds a huge structure on the basis of these simplistic foundations. Is this naive? No: it is in fact tremendously sophisticated.
- Paul Krugman
I've always found Economics an interesting and mind-stimulating subject to learn about, although lots of people (at least some of my fellow students) tend to think of Economics as useless and an easy major to tag along. After reading what Milton Friedman and Paul Krugman have to say about Economics and theories and hypotheses, I feel content. At least, I didn't study four years in college for nothing, ha.

Color of the wheat fields

黄耀明出柜，看到微博上网友quote林夕的话：其实，你喜欢一个人，就像喜欢富士山。你可以看到它，但是不能搬走它。你有什么方法可以移动一座富士山，回答是，你自己走过去。爱情也如此，逛过就已经足够。终于能完全明白《富士山下》的意思了。
谁都只得那双手 靠拥抱亦难任你拥有
要拥有必先懂失去怎接受
曾沿着雪路浪游 为何为好事泪流
谁能凭爱意要富士山私有
上周末有同学也去看了《小王子》，发感叹说人总会犯贱地爱上tame自己的人，而非被自己tame的人。很有同感，但被tame又何尝不是件好事呢，只要还记得“曾沿着雪路浪游”，还能看到麦田中的金色，又何尝不是件幸福的事呢？
很开心自己已经能完全正视过去发生的一些事了，不带怨恨地。每当found myself reminiscing时，也不再感到羞愧，因为那确确实实发生过，是美好幸福的回忆，心里明白：I don't miss him. I just miss the idea of him (quote自When Harry Met Sally). 最近也是略发春呀。。。

The Little Prince

上周六在学校看了The Little Prince, 是theater major的同学演的. 舞台效果很缤纷很梦幻, 尤其是小王子来到地球前周游各个小星球的一段, 完全不枯燥, 编排得有趣又富有想象力. 舞台布景也颇有创意, 我虽然熟知小王子的情节, 但拉幕一瞬间, 也感到眼前一亮. 在舞台中央, 是一大张中间隆起的白纸, 既模拟出沙丘的起伏, 又便于飞行员(故事叙述者)在上面画画 -- 毕竟画在故事中也是很重要的一部分, 比如在盒子里的小羊, 蟒蛇肚子里的大象等等. 剧本保留了许多原著中的话, 虽然坐在后排的小朋友有些吵闹, 但触动人心的对白时时将我牵入剧中. 整出剧的气氛算不上欢乐, 但至少是略轻快的. 编剧似乎想让观众相信小王子最终脱离了他的肉身回到他的星球与玫瑰汇合了, 但我怎么也改变不了自己先入为主的想法, 在小狐狸和小王子道别时, 在小王子仰望星空感到满足时, 我悲伤极了.

'It's your own fault,' said the little prince. 'I never wished you any harm; but you wanted me to tame you...'
'I know,' said the fox.
'And now you are going to cry!' said the little prince.
'I know,' said the fox.
'So you have gained nothing from it at all!'
'Yes, I have gained something,' said the fox, 'because of the color of the corn.'

"As for my rose…she’s the one I’ve watered, she’s the one I’ve put under the glass globe. It’s for her that I’ve killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies). I’ve listened to her  when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. She’s My Rose!"

"It is just as it is with the flower. If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers..."

"And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better, like that. My star will just be one of the stars, for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens... they will all be your friends..."

"It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh..."  

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.

加油!

1. Success doesn't come easy.
2. I am not the best.

Sloth

Ok, I suddenly became really interested in sloths. They look weird (with longer arms than legs), but cute in some sense. And! The one in Ice Age is a sloth as well! except that it is an extinct species, called Megalonyx Sloth. I wikipediaed, it lived until 11,000 years ago. Here's a nice picture/imagination of it.

If you compare it with Sid the Sloth from Ice Age, you'll find some resemblances (ignore the video game part of the picture).

But sloths of today, who live in the forests of mid/south Africa have very distinct look (well, apparently because these are different species of sloths). Here's a clip from BCC. I especially like how he pronounces sloth with a British accent :P "A slo[eu]th in a hurry!...." (trying to make the entire situation mysterious haha).

Now I do realize that I have a peculiar interest in African animals on the savanna and in the forests. That must have something to do with my father. Since I was little, we like to sit in front of the TV and watch 动物世界 or the Discovery channel together. My father likes animals. He's raised kittens and even wild sparrows when he was little. (Now I am feeling nostalgic and homesick). I have this sudden impulse: should go to the African savanna to watch animals with my dad this summer! (Let me research first and see if it is feasible.)
I will post picture of a family of meerkats on the African savanna to end this post.

Trying to jot down my thoughts

I'm getting worried again.. too much uncertainty in life. But isn't that what makes life exciting as well. Have to bear with that.
I was reading Sartre's "Nausea" today. The main character was writing about how he should keep diaries so that days and events won't just pass by and float away. Maybe I should do so as well, and try to keep record of whatever I did/saw/thought. But don't exaggerate everything.