2006/8/5

    My assistances gathered together (or grouped themselves or were grouped) into my office timidly, ‘Would you please go on a rafting trip with us two weeks from now?’ I said, ‘I am too old to have such an adventurous trip (or journey).’ They begged, ‘We will choose a big raft to smooth out the journey, please…’ I teased, ‘Who would attend a boring smooth rafting trip?’ One of them explained, ‘We mean a safe but interesting rafting trip.’ I doubt it, ‘Would it be interesting in stead of exciting?’ They hesitated and looked at each other, then another one shouted, ‘Surely will be exciting. We all love excitement!’ ‘But I am afraid of excitement,’ I said. The third assistant further stated, ‘I am in charge of this activity, let me explain. I guarantee this activity will be full of excitement and safety. However, we may not fully experience the significance of this activity without a great leader. We really want to extend the spirit and significance of this activity to our laboratory work in the future…’ I nodded, ‘Count me in.’ They hailed and dispersed.

    Although I am not really interested in this kind of activity I forced myself to enjoy these lovely and hard-working assistances. They have worked for me every week day for a long time. How could I be hardhearted and disappoint them? However, after my promise I began to worry about the soundness of the joints between my bones. It has been a long time since I had any drastic exercise. I know the rafting trip will jolt me around a lot under the blistering sunshine for more than three hours straight. I had experienced the rigor and force of rafting trip when I was young. I loved it but now I worry about it. The best way of resolving my concern is by facing it and by building up the strength of my muscles and the flexibility of my joints. I began to exercise my body for an hour every day a week ago. Yesterday I suddenly found myself became younger and more vigorous. What an amazing secondary gain!

    When I encounter a distress or loss I used to comfort myself with an old saying: Every cloud has a silver lining. Now my subjective feeling proves the philosophy again. I believe I will not only enjoy the rafting trip but also become healthier along with it.

Hong CJ

Graduate students are busy wrapping up their two-year studies (2006/7/29)

Why French people didn’t get fat (2006/7/01)