Tab Completion for Python 3
9 years ago
Friday, February 24, 2006
A Tone (调调)
As it is Friday, I left the office a little bit earlier than usual; surprisingly, instead of darkness, the last streak of light was still cast over the beautiful city. Looking down Broadway gave me a picturesque silhouette over the dim sky. Really love the bustling city, even only as a passer-by.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Senseless Ramble
Wife always says if it wasn't for her, how would I ever find a wife in this life. I highly suspect the validity of that statement, but at least it hits one point, I am not a magnet to girls. Whether I am OK with that fact does not really matter, although I really don't mind much.
When a child, I did play with girls from time to time; while mostly boys stay with boys. There were quite some wild activites that were not for the faint-hearted parents. Most memorable ones include crawfish fishing, setting wild fire in open grasslands in winters, building floating devices and running it in pits left in construction sites, playing and being bitten by snakes ... I bet even if we tried to invite girls to join us, few would have taken the risk; besides, my playmates were usually the lowest ranked ones in the class that every parent would urge their child to avoid. By the way, I really hated when people call them bad students just because they weren't good in getting high scores, they were otherwise perfectly fine and fun playmates; they were the ones who first set their feet on a turf that was outside schools. As I happened to be able to get high scores in archaic tests, I was first warmly welcomed by the parents of my playmates, only to be later recognized as a helpless boy that only cared about having fun.
Staying with such a group really gave me a different perspective about our limited life at that time. I didn't really participate in any questionable activities of those "gangs", yet I got famous enough to be recognized by quite some stranger gangsters by face. And rumor was spread that I was a good hand in kungfu. The most impressive kungfu in that regard that I can remember would be crushing pencil boxes with my head, tens of them, of different materials. (There was a period that people got so excited about this that they handed any pencil boxes they could put their hands on under my forehead, and you could hardly find a single one made of tin sheet still in regular shape throughout the classroom.) Spreading such a rumor might be a way to protect me by one of my playmates, but I never got to know who did that and whehter that was really the intention. If it was really for my protection, it surely worked ---- years after I lost contact with them, someone I didn't know stopped me on the way requesting money, but suddenly recognized me and politely let me go. In all those years I kept hanging out with them, seeing them gang-talk, bragging about the bloody fights they picked up, money they "collected", or girls they "played". However, I experienced none myself. The only sort of "criminal" thing I did was smoking with them in the restroom in school, which was subsequently caught by a teacher with solid evidence.
That life ended in early middle-school years. The middle school was a key school in the district, so it was hard to find any gangster-ish guys in the class; at the same time I slowly lost contact with those old frieds. I still made friends with those "low-rank" students in the class, but they were not the brutal trouble maker kind any more; however, the damage power still exists, those were the years when we played wild fires every day in winters.
High school was a completely different chapter, which deserves another post by itself. One thing I would mention is, it was since then did I experience the impetus towards an opposite sex. Although we also fruitlessly drooled over beautiful girls in elementary school and middle school, that was quite kiddish when I examine it today. In high school, things were different. After all, puberty is not only about the body. However, due to my magnetlessness if not repellence towards girls, it was as fruitless as ever. Neverthless, those were the most beautiful 3 years of my life, and I keep regurgitate the sweet and bitter of it till today.
One day when I was in college, I suddenly received a Christmas card or New Year's card from a girl. On that, it said "Let the incandescence of love shine upon us in the new year, shall we?" As that was a question mark, I replied no. At that time I was really enjoying my single life, and didn't give a thought as to starting a relationship. To be frank, I passed a note to that girl years before, and got rejected for no obvious reason. But my replying no was nothing of a revenge or guarding my self esteem; I just felt like setting myself free, really free, sky-is-the-limit free, and getting a girl friend surely wasn't the right thing for the course. It was then when I started practising classical guitar. (I am such a bad student that even after more than 10 years, I still can't play a nice piece.) That mentality lasted for several years, and then I fell in love and got married.
I wouldn't say those lonely years were irresistably enjoyable, but surely they were cherishable. It was in those years the admiration towards Robert Kincaid, the old man Santiago, and Richard Feynman was planted in my mind; I started to understand the weird mixture of wisdom, tenacity and imploding passion of a real man; I started to taste solitude by licking myself like a resting lion (or cat, I don't care); I was getting ready to take full charge of my future years.
Now six years into marriage, I am set alone again for the first time for months; and even more after wife's scheduled departure in March or April. No one knows what will become of the future, but surely I will nourish in a completely different life, and appreciate as always when looking back.
The following is just a small piece that I feel really nice to be written down, but doesn't seem to fit anywhere in this post. Anyway I'm still putting it here, for the record,
A lonely soul is crouching in the corner, peeking through the darkness, trying to get a glimpse of the boisterous world.
When a child, I did play with girls from time to time; while mostly boys stay with boys. There were quite some wild activites that were not for the faint-hearted parents. Most memorable ones include crawfish fishing, setting wild fire in open grasslands in winters, building floating devices and running it in pits left in construction sites, playing and being bitten by snakes ... I bet even if we tried to invite girls to join us, few would have taken the risk; besides, my playmates were usually the lowest ranked ones in the class that every parent would urge their child to avoid. By the way, I really hated when people call them bad students just because they weren't good in getting high scores, they were otherwise perfectly fine and fun playmates; they were the ones who first set their feet on a turf that was outside schools. As I happened to be able to get high scores in archaic tests, I was first warmly welcomed by the parents of my playmates, only to be later recognized as a helpless boy that only cared about having fun.
Staying with such a group really gave me a different perspective about our limited life at that time. I didn't really participate in any questionable activities of those "gangs", yet I got famous enough to be recognized by quite some stranger gangsters by face. And rumor was spread that I was a good hand in kungfu. The most impressive kungfu in that regard that I can remember would be crushing pencil boxes with my head, tens of them, of different materials. (There was a period that people got so excited about this that they handed any pencil boxes they could put their hands on under my forehead, and you could hardly find a single one made of tin sheet still in regular shape throughout the classroom.) Spreading such a rumor might be a way to protect me by one of my playmates, but I never got to know who did that and whehter that was really the intention. If it was really for my protection, it surely worked ---- years after I lost contact with them, someone I didn't know stopped me on the way requesting money, but suddenly recognized me and politely let me go. In all those years I kept hanging out with them, seeing them gang-talk, bragging about the bloody fights they picked up, money they "collected", or girls they "played". However, I experienced none myself. The only sort of "criminal" thing I did was smoking with them in the restroom in school, which was subsequently caught by a teacher with solid evidence.
That life ended in early middle-school years. The middle school was a key school in the district, so it was hard to find any gangster-ish guys in the class; at the same time I slowly lost contact with those old frieds. I still made friends with those "low-rank" students in the class, but they were not the brutal trouble maker kind any more; however, the damage power still exists, those were the years when we played wild fires every day in winters.
High school was a completely different chapter, which deserves another post by itself. One thing I would mention is, it was since then did I experience the impetus towards an opposite sex. Although we also fruitlessly drooled over beautiful girls in elementary school and middle school, that was quite kiddish when I examine it today. In high school, things were different. After all, puberty is not only about the body. However, due to my magnetlessness if not repellence towards girls, it was as fruitless as ever. Neverthless, those were the most beautiful 3 years of my life, and I keep regurgitate the sweet and bitter of it till today.
One day when I was in college, I suddenly received a Christmas card or New Year's card from a girl. On that, it said "Let the incandescence of love shine upon us in the new year, shall we?" As that was a question mark, I replied no. At that time I was really enjoying my single life, and didn't give a thought as to starting a relationship. To be frank, I passed a note to that girl years before, and got rejected for no obvious reason. But my replying no was nothing of a revenge or guarding my self esteem; I just felt like setting myself free, really free, sky-is-the-limit free, and getting a girl friend surely wasn't the right thing for the course. It was then when I started practising classical guitar. (I am such a bad student that even after more than 10 years, I still can't play a nice piece.) That mentality lasted for several years, and then I fell in love and got married.
I wouldn't say those lonely years were irresistably enjoyable, but surely they were cherishable. It was in those years the admiration towards Robert Kincaid, the old man Santiago, and Richard Feynman was planted in my mind; I started to understand the weird mixture of wisdom, tenacity and imploding passion of a real man; I started to taste solitude by licking myself like a resting lion (or cat, I don't care); I was getting ready to take full charge of my future years.
Now six years into marriage, I am set alone again for the first time for months; and even more after wife's scheduled departure in March or April. No one knows what will become of the future, but surely I will nourish in a completely different life, and appreciate as always when looking back.
The following is just a small piece that I feel really nice to be written down, but doesn't seem to fit anywhere in this post. Anyway I'm still putting it here, for the record,
A lonely soul is crouching in the corner, peeking through the darkness, trying to get a glimpse of the boisterous world.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Sound of Spring
It was freezing cold last week, getting slightly better ever since.
When wife is away, I have been walking to the train station every morning. It is a 25 minute walk across apartment buildings, little league fields, various styles of houses, and a grave yard. Not too short a walk, just enjoyable in a good weather.
Yesterday morning I was partly waken up by the chirps of birds. I used to hate that. What could be better than a sweet dream, and what could be worse than that being interrupted abruptly? However, yesterday I felt different. It felt like a long lost friend, like birds had not been around for the whole winter, and suddenly came back. Maybe that was the truth, or just my imagination and ignorance to them all along. Anyhow, I started noticing the birds along my walk.
Although it was still chilly with temperature hovering below 30F in the morning, the scent of spring was already seeping through the air; the most daring signs would be the chasing birds. By zooming through the sky, flashing their glaringly-colored feathers, their chorus of love is already in full bloom. Although I couldn't see any green buds on the trees yet, but sure enough before I could notice, it will be green with life everywhere.
I used to hate the brain-dead stupid birds; they aren't capable of communicating with people at all, not like dogs, cats or horses. However, my experience with a little sparrow changed my perspective.
That was before I had a car, I was walking to and from the train station every day. As it was in late spring or early summer, the walk was pleasant. Just as I was able to see my home, a small brown ugly moving thing also entered my sight. The crisp yellow beaks told the age, that was a baby sparrow that could not fly at all. No one would know how it came out of its nest and hit the wild journey of its own. I brought it home.
Usually sparrows are not easy to tame. However as this one was so young, it got accustomed to my home pretty quickly, and started eating. Its schedule was so crazily funny; it would eat, stay calm for 5 minutes, drop everything from its small tummy, and yell loudly for another round of food. This would continue all day long, until we got exhausted and turned off the last lamp. On the next morning, at the first sight of sunlight, it would start its new quest for food. Ever since that little thing came to our home, wife mostly stayed home to take care of it, even gave up her favorite activity ---- shopping. It was endless hassle and fun. The little guy grew day by day, growing feathers, hopping around and dropping around, finally started to learn flying and picking up rice bits from the floor. (Before that it just yelled for food and food would go directly to its mouth.)
Unfortunately, a pretty bad flu hit it. It started sneezing, became listless, and stayed put all day long. On one day, it came back a little bit, chasing rice bits on the slippery floor again, only to die on the next morning.
That was a pretty sad ending, while it showed us the magic of a tiny life, be it a bird, a dog, or even a bug. We felt the joy of watching it grow, without asking for anything in return, not even a meaningful exchange of sight. I cannot explain why.
Now that the sound of spring is in the air, a new round of chasing for life has started. After 4 years of sitting in a car over this path, I am blissful to experience this all again.
When wife is away, I have been walking to the train station every morning. It is a 25 minute walk across apartment buildings, little league fields, various styles of houses, and a grave yard. Not too short a walk, just enjoyable in a good weather.
Yesterday morning I was partly waken up by the chirps of birds. I used to hate that. What could be better than a sweet dream, and what could be worse than that being interrupted abruptly? However, yesterday I felt different. It felt like a long lost friend, like birds had not been around for the whole winter, and suddenly came back. Maybe that was the truth, or just my imagination and ignorance to them all along. Anyhow, I started noticing the birds along my walk.
Although it was still chilly with temperature hovering below 30F in the morning, the scent of spring was already seeping through the air; the most daring signs would be the chasing birds. By zooming through the sky, flashing their glaringly-colored feathers, their chorus of love is already in full bloom. Although I couldn't see any green buds on the trees yet, but sure enough before I could notice, it will be green with life everywhere.
I used to hate the brain-dead stupid birds; they aren't capable of communicating with people at all, not like dogs, cats or horses. However, my experience with a little sparrow changed my perspective.
That was before I had a car, I was walking to and from the train station every day. As it was in late spring or early summer, the walk was pleasant. Just as I was able to see my home, a small brown ugly moving thing also entered my sight. The crisp yellow beaks told the age, that was a baby sparrow that could not fly at all. No one would know how it came out of its nest and hit the wild journey of its own. I brought it home.
Usually sparrows are not easy to tame. However as this one was so young, it got accustomed to my home pretty quickly, and started eating. Its schedule was so crazily funny; it would eat, stay calm for 5 minutes, drop everything from its small tummy, and yell loudly for another round of food. This would continue all day long, until we got exhausted and turned off the last lamp. On the next morning, at the first sight of sunlight, it would start its new quest for food. Ever since that little thing came to our home, wife mostly stayed home to take care of it, even gave up her favorite activity ---- shopping. It was endless hassle and fun. The little guy grew day by day, growing feathers, hopping around and dropping around, finally started to learn flying and picking up rice bits from the floor. (Before that it just yelled for food and food would go directly to its mouth.)
Unfortunately, a pretty bad flu hit it. It started sneezing, became listless, and stayed put all day long. On one day, it came back a little bit, chasing rice bits on the slippery floor again, only to die on the next morning.
That was a pretty sad ending, while it showed us the magic of a tiny life, be it a bird, a dog, or even a bug. We felt the joy of watching it grow, without asking for anything in return, not even a meaningful exchange of sight. I cannot explain why.
Now that the sound of spring is in the air, a new round of chasing for life has started. After 4 years of sitting in a car over this path, I am blissful to experience this all again.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Que sera sera . . .
With the blocker out of my mind, here comes some more stuff of our lives over the weekend. Last weekend was a relatively quiet one; we played, till not too late; we ate, fine dishes, yet not too stuffed; we cracked jokes, just to entice a trace of smile. All was so peacefully enjoyable.
Monday was also off, for President's Day. Besides handing in my tax forms to an accountant, I did a little bit shopping for food, and cooked myself another enjoyable meal. After all these years with a conjoined-twin-like wife, I will learn to live alone again.
Although it's only Tuesday today, the gang is already happily planning for the weekend event, where we have 2 birthdays to celebrate. To be honest, I'm always the one who's most indifferent to birthdays, especially after 28 of my own, natural tendency is towards ignoring any more of it. Anyway, it's still a perfectly fine excuse for a fun fun weekend with friends.
Monday was also off, for President's Day. Besides handing in my tax forms to an accountant, I did a little bit shopping for food, and cooked myself another enjoyable meal. After all these years with a conjoined-twin-like wife, I will learn to live alone again.
Although it's only Tuesday today, the gang is already happily planning for the weekend event, where we have 2 birthdays to celebrate. To be honest, I'm always the one who's most indifferent to birthdays, especially after 28 of my own, natural tendency is towards ignoring any more of it. Anyway, it's still a perfectly fine excuse for a fun fun weekend with friends.
Life as a Journey
There have been some never ending questions, why we are here, what we are seeking, where we should end up at. People give different factors to all facets of life. Not to say everyone is blocked in the view, life has such a gamut that wishing to see it all would just sound ridiculously ambitious. I, as a humble and mediocre voyager, will just happily pickup the tidbits along this journey of life.
Six Crawl, Milk Bottle, Pangza, even the seclusive Zhanna all have made their opinions heard, my greatest appreciations to them. At least half of them had their own experience of the matter to back their predictions, yet ultimately two directly oposite camps were formed. It is not remotely possible to say who is right who is wrong, it is just different takes of the greatness of life. In my understanding, life is experience; it is not limited to emotions, to love, to bond of blood or such. If I object to my wife's attempt to establish herself, she would likely regret at age 80, so would I. Maybe simply staying together for life is good enough for some people, yet I beg to differ, so does Milk Bottle, so does my wife.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I believe I am fully prepared to take the risk. That is not to say I won't be weeping, I cannot guarantee that; but even so, I will strive to wear a smile on the face, steer into other branches of life and absorb the beauty along the way. Six Crawl said we were putting a piece of fine china into a wind tunnel; I see this as the price of the experiences, and it is worth it.
I am glad that Six Crawl has also written down her dream about my falling off a building; that would be a fine piece for us to consume in the many years to come. Be it a mental or physical fall, I will enjoy just the same. I value the love in life, but I admire the splendor of life more.
Everything is a god given; I am optimistic, not in the sense of praying for the best, but of happily cherishing whatever comes forward. Not that I am religious or believing in the magic hand of the almighty, my only belief is in life, a wonderful journey through the eternal time.
Six Crawl, Milk Bottle, Pangza, even the seclusive Zhanna all have made their opinions heard, my greatest appreciations to them. At least half of them had their own experience of the matter to back their predictions, yet ultimately two directly oposite camps were formed. It is not remotely possible to say who is right who is wrong, it is just different takes of the greatness of life. In my understanding, life is experience; it is not limited to emotions, to love, to bond of blood or such. If I object to my wife's attempt to establish herself, she would likely regret at age 80, so would I. Maybe simply staying together for life is good enough for some people, yet I beg to differ, so does Milk Bottle, so does my wife.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I believe I am fully prepared to take the risk. That is not to say I won't be weeping, I cannot guarantee that; but even so, I will strive to wear a smile on the face, steer into other branches of life and absorb the beauty along the way. Six Crawl said we were putting a piece of fine china into a wind tunnel; I see this as the price of the experiences, and it is worth it.
I am glad that Six Crawl has also written down her dream about my falling off a building; that would be a fine piece for us to consume in the many years to come. Be it a mental or physical fall, I will enjoy just the same. I value the love in life, but I admire the splendor of life more.
Everything is a god given; I am optimistic, not in the sense of praying for the best, but of happily cherishing whatever comes forward. Not that I am religious or believing in the magic hand of the almighty, my only belief is in life, a wonderful journey through the eternal time.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Blocker
One of my previous posts stoked quite some interest among friends, wild guesses like life-threatening stories (pregnancy/abortion) were surfacing; and the inquisitive Six Crawl again showed her persistency by trying to trick me into a 20Q game.
It seems I am going nowhere without sweeping the blocking event out of my thought. Not able to find a topic to write about after sitting for more than 30 min in front of the monitor, I will simply type it out for the interested.
Just got off the phone call with my wife, and it's almost final. After her return on Mar 18 (or maybe earlier), she will soon go to Beijing to join a new company. This opportunity emerged during her stay in China. It is not that kind of extremely high-pay job, but definitely one that could put her potentials into use, instead of staying here in the suffocating boredom. I strongly support her taking this up, with a trace of worry.
I first got this news not too much earlier than that post in question. With 2 couples among my closest friends breaking up recently due to the hardship of long-distance relationship, I have every reason to worry about the same. This is going to be hard, but Zhanna's knock-out theory does not apply to me. No matter what happens, I believe it's for good. Dearest wife has already spent her precious years in this wasteland, I believe going to the right place is worth the risk, even at the price of our relationship. Hope I am just worrying too much.
It seems I am going nowhere without sweeping the blocking event out of my thought. Not able to find a topic to write about after sitting for more than 30 min in front of the monitor, I will simply type it out for the interested.
Just got off the phone call with my wife, and it's almost final. After her return on Mar 18 (or maybe earlier), she will soon go to Beijing to join a new company. This opportunity emerged during her stay in China. It is not that kind of extremely high-pay job, but definitely one that could put her potentials into use, instead of staying here in the suffocating boredom. I strongly support her taking this up, with a trace of worry.
I first got this news not too much earlier than that post in question. With 2 couples among my closest friends breaking up recently due to the hardship of long-distance relationship, I have every reason to worry about the same. This is going to be hard, but Zhanna's knock-out theory does not apply to me. No matter what happens, I believe it's for good. Dearest wife has already spent her precious years in this wasteland, I believe going to the right place is worth the risk, even at the price of our relationship. Hope I am just worrying too much.
Yet Another Blog
Six Crawl finally started her blog, with a kid's version by her significant other half.
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