The World of WeChat （微信） -- Continued...

Weekend has been very quiet -- living in social isolation sometimes can be a wonderful thing!!!

I survived the entire weekend without WeChat.  My friend and I went to the city to visit another friend, then Rudi and I went out to dinner with my brother's family.  We actually called my bother to settle on a place to eat -- everything went back to low-tech communication channels... It felt great.

To give you a clue of my reflections on life with or without WeChat, I bought the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau.  This is considered by many to be the masterpiece of reflective simple living.

Looking forward to reading the book!

In the meantime, the first thing I did this morning was to go to IT to get my old phone back.  Came home tonight and found out that my WeChat is still in my hands -- everything I wrote, everything I have saved, everything I meant to delete, and... everything to be read and responded.... they are ALL BACK -- how frightening!  Wow, for the first time in 2 years, I have the opportunity to choose my relationship with WeChat -- what would I choose to do???

Stay tuned, and trust that I will do the right thing!!

The World of WeChat （微信）

I should title this email as "The World without WeChat"

It is hard to believe that it's been almost 2 years since I got dragged into "The World of WeChat."  Even though I passionately resisted it at the very beginning (as evidenced by the email below), over the past few years, WeChat has become a significant way of life for many people including myself -- very unfortunate, but also irreversible. 

So, the sad story for today is -- my company decided to take away my perfectly beautiful iPhone 5s and give me a brand new iPhone 6s.  Why???  Because somehow they believed it would be GOOD for me.

It took IT all day to set up my new phone.  For the entire day, I failed to function at my full capacity because everything I needed was on my phone... When my lovely new phone finally arrived at my desk, I shockingly discovered that my WeChat was GONE!!  As painful as it seemed at the moment, after a few hours of digesting the reality, I've gained a whole new perspective:  when you know the VERY FEW important things in life, you can easily let go of everything else -- it's just that simple...   

I feel totally liberated now!

---

From: Pei Tang <tang_pei@yahoo.com>
To: Pei Tang <tang_pei@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 10:58 PM
Subject: The world of WeChat （微信） 

I feel the need to make a record on my history book about a significant event in my life -- I have finally entered the World of WeChat.  After 48 hours of testing the water, I have confirmed that yes, it is indeed a world of chaos -- it sucks your brain and consumes your life like you would not believe...

The truth is, many of my good friends kindly recommended WeChat to me a LONG time ago.  I declined only because I knew it would undoubtedly interfere with my Zen world.  But after my trip to Mongolia, it occurred to me that this would be an effective way for me to be in touch with my friends in China.  So, before opening the WeChat account, I decided to only add 2 of my friends from China.

Well, as we all know, life rarely happens according to plans...  What I learned over the past 48 hours was -- if you get into a group that you don't want to be in, suck it up -- you're on your own!  Yeah, life sucks, isn't it???

So, for those long-term 微信 lovers, this is for you:

国 庆大典上，走来第57个民族。主持人这样解说：现在走过来的是微信方阵。他们身穿睡衣，肩扛枕头，左手手机，右手充电宝，身后背着一锅心灵鸡汤，胸前挂着 佛经和养生秘方，个个转发着正能量，自吟着立志经典和闷骚段子，目光呆滞，神情麻木，个别的还在跳大神。主席：“同志们辛苦了！” 微信方阵响亮回答：“主席，天安门 WiFi 密码是多少？”

Less stuff, more happniess...

I was driving Rudi to the airport yesterday morning when we listened to Graham Hill's Life Edited on NPR. 

Graham was only 28 when he sold his start-up company and became a multi-millionaire.  He immediately bought a lot of STUFF, then realized that all the STUFF he bought did not make him happier than before. So, he started traveling the world to tell stories of sustainability and minimalism.  I am a true believer of minimalism.  I totally agree that less stuff in life will give us more freedom, and simplicity in life will give us more time -- freedom and time is what allows us to be fully present to enjoy what's around us and be happy!!

Here is the TED talk he gave back in 2011.

https://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hill_less_stuff_more_happiness?language=en

Acadia: October 2015

It's been exactly four years since I visited Acadia National Park with Michelle.  Still remember that Friday night in 2011 when we drove from Boston to Acadia -- heavy rain came down really hard and the narrow roads in the dark were pretty challenging to drive... 

I was in Boston for work last week so we spent a long weekend at Acadia -- to smell the ocean, listen to the waves, watch the nightly sky, and most of all, enjoy the fall colors.  It was a very sweet, nice and quiet weekend.  Brought all my camera gears, but only took 3 pictures with it -- literally 3 pictures of the same frame -- that's it!!  iPhone is taking over my photography career -- thank goodness to Steve Jobs, haha!

Picture 1 = Michelle and I in October 2011 at Acadia

Picture 2 = Michelle and I in October 2015 at Acadia (almost the same spot)

Picture 3 = Nightly Sky - Acadia: 10/10/2015

My version of the 2015 Supermoon Lunar Eclipse

It was Chinese Moon Festival today, and we also had a supermoon lunar eclipse. It was 1982 when this combination happened last time, and it won't happen again until 2033. Wow!!

As always, a full moon makes me restless simply because I love it. When it comes to photographing a perfect full moon, the challenge is horrendous, as we are at the mercy of Mother Nature! After many ups and downs throughout the day today, the thick clouds finally broke out right before the eclipse, so here are the two shots reflecting my never-ending fascination with the full moon...

Naperville, IL 
September 27, 2015

 

27 years...

It just occurred to me that I have been in this country for exactly 27 years!!  I came to Chicago 27 years ago today, 9/19/1988 -- still remember the chilly air hitting me when I first came out of O'Hare airport... It was the first wake-up call for me in the foreign land.

Wow, 27 long years -- much longer than the time I ever spent in China.  So many ups and downs and memories in this piece of land that no longer seems so foreign to me...  Regardless of all the craziness and shortfalls, I am convinced that we've created a much better life for Michelle -- for her to live freely, happily, and do what she absolutely loves to do!

As for me, too much is going through my head right now, don't even know where to start.  So, please allow me to quote a few lines for myself to live by for the next 27 years -:))

--  Life is too short to be small.

--  Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

--  Anyone who live within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.

 

Dreams from Countryside...

Chong Li (崇礼) is a small rural village about 3 hours drive from Beijing. It is so "original" that I couldn't help to fall in love with the sweetness of this untouched piece of land.

As the host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Chong Li will undoubtedly lose its originality and serenity... It will be touched, deeply, and modified significantly...

Chong Li (崇礼), China
September 7, 2015