进程日志15: 2008 年5月13日

05/13/2008

 

没有安妮的消息。不知可不可以说“没有消息就是好消息”。

 
Earthquake in Sichuan!!! It is reasonably far away from my hometown. I called home anyway. They are OK.

 
I am afraid that I have to write this in English for … I don’t know how long. It is not that my English is so good, actually it is the other way around: my Chinese typing speed is way too low. The whole thing is taking a physical toll on me --- my hands got cramps and can only handle so much typing now. And time! I just don’t have enough time now. The irony is that 3 month ago I had a big dinner party for the Chinese New Year and spent two days preparing the food. And now I thank God for McDonalds. If I have to choose between no/little writing and writing it in English, it seems a no-brainer. At least I should TRY to keep people interested and get their attentions. My fellow Chinese readers, I have full faith in your language skills in understanding my English, Chinese style.

 
I have written letters to Dr. H. L. and Mr. W. F. Unfortunately Dr. H. L. is out of country this week. And Mr. F. is retired now, but his former secretary was so nice and promised that she would forward my letter to him.  It is really a long shot, and I have no idea what kind of help I can actually get from them. I guess that you have to try it before you know it. To prepare the letters, I pretty much ripped off my best friend W and her husband Z the precious time they had wanted to spend with their kids last weekend, them being busy working parents and all. W and Z, I AM forever grateful for your friendship. BTW, Z, you are worth every penny your boss is paying you and so much more.

 
D has been rather busy with his own work for quite a while now. He had to work at home in the weekends and was up until 2AM on Sunday. D, I knew that you could not help me much now, but your calmness is forever the anchor of my life. (Definition #1 of “calmness”: steadiness of mind under stress)

 
I have received awful lots of help from the librarians in the local public library recently. My favorite aspect of American life has always been its public libraries. To me, it means ultimate equality. Rich or poor, you have the equal opportunity to access information from both books and the librarians.  It hadn’t been like that at the beginning of this nation though. Andrew Carnegie actually played a big part in the establishment of public library system in the U.S. He himself was an avid reader and had benefited greatly from his self-improvement by learning. With his donations, over 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built, including public and university libraries. Carnegie earned the nickname Patron Saint of Libraries. The inscription on the first Canegie’s public library building in his hometown is “Let there be light” (Source: Wikipedia --- Carnegie Library)

Talked to Ms. B, the assistant to the P.I. Mr. H. She felt that my presence in Phoenix would help the search effort, because of me speaking Chinese and all. I haven’t traveled for quite a while and haven’t driven a car for a long, long time. And now I am receiving a crash course from W on how to bid on hotels, at the same time regreting being a little bit too enthusiastic in saving “green” by not having a car(hint: I won’t call myself an enviornmentlist).

The exact date of my trip to Phoneix will depend on the schedule of Detective E.C.  I have to see him and talk to him and get permission from him before I could do pretty much anything else. And it would be difficult to get an appointment with him, as the receptionist in the Police Department put it, “Five detectives work for 3 million people (the population of Phoenix)”, you go figure.

As Dr. H. L. explained in his book, “If an adult is reported … as missing, the police have a standard and time-honored way to deal with this kind of situation. Waiting and watching are part of this drill. In the vast majority of cases, the missing individual will turn up, in good health and with an explanation for the disappearnce. …” 全心希望安妮是这大多数中的一员。多希望我们做的都是无用功啊。

Life is strange indeed, I had thought that I had my life pretty much figured out. Now “yesterday seems so far away”, and I have to “let it be, let it be”.