一個年紀比較大的人問一個年輕人：
你有看過金庸小說嗎？
年輕人：沒有，只有看過電視劇。
大人：那你知道金庸寫的十四部小說的書名的第一個字，
串起來會成為一首詩：「飛雪連天射白鹿，笑書神俠倚碧鴛」嗎？
年輕人：不知道。但是我有看 JK 羅琳的小說，
她寫的七本小說的書名的第一個字串起來是
葉教授大山爬完，報了平安之外，還爆料其實她差點去不了
胚在這裡轉貼：
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知道系上謝智謀老師規劃的「2008坦尚尼亞弭貧暨生態關懷計劃」有一段時間了
也知道計畫之一必須挑戰吉力馬札羅火山(Mt. Kilimanjaro)的5895m
很多人問我為什麼要去爬火山？因為我覺得我想去但也不想去
因為我只是想著貪婪著高山的美與非洲的狂野但卻不想付出的辛苦代價
然而我在找尋一個改變與離開自己comfort Zone的契機
不想再看到自己在漫無目標的不停忙碌的生活中，鬥志一天天的消耗
不想再看著自己的心靈像個使用過渡的引擎，逐漸疲憊的越來越不聽使喚
我決定嘗試生命中的不可能，我決定放手一搏
其實決定之前，我考慮了很久，我有很多的擔心，我擔心：
每天努力保養的臉會因歷盡風霜而老了五歲
沒辦法每天洗頭髮的頭會爆炸
在一個不安的地方沒辦法睡覺上廁所
籌不到15萬的旅費
學生問我說：老師你不擔心能不能登頂嗎？你不擔心高山症嗎？
奇怪的是我從來沒想過我能不能登頂或是會不會有高山症
雖然有些事情是半點不由人，只能求盡心盡力戰到最後一刻
我也相信只要我想要達成的目標，我一定會達成
雖然我學生時代是個運動健將也是個女童軍，
說實在的我當city girl的飼料雞已經很久了
為了不想當大家的拖油瓶,
從四月份開始我跟彩雲助教兩人互相勉勵
不管晴雨每天都跑校園
從只能苟延殘喘的跑一圈,到後來可以邊跑邊談笑風生的兩圈3.5km
一個月的時光裡我們達成了超越100 公里的目標
也跟冠璋老師約好從外蒙金牌體育學院Avarga學術交流回來後
他會幫我安排重訓
謝老師也很看好我們兩個，他說錢不是個問題，他可以借我
我已經沒有任何後退的理由了
似乎一切都照計畫前進的時候
就在7/9在外蒙姊妹校籃球友誼賽中
我在外蒙游牧民族的夾攻下嚴重扭傷了右腳踝
在那當下腳踝立刻長出一顆雞蛋無法行走
回到外蒙學校宿舍時我可愛的右腿已經腫的跟象腿沒兩樣
周老師在一旁說：我看你現在就要告訴謝老師你不能去非洲
當下我忍不住流淚，我不是因為腳踝的痛而流淚
而是我面臨可能必須放棄7/31出發登火山計畫的痛苦抉擇
就這樣在外蒙的五天裡，我像媽祖出巡被學生輪流抬來抬去
也生平第一次在機場享有坐輪椅快速通關的特權
回到學校可憐的學生還要將我從地下室背上四樓的宿舍
隔天借了柺杖立刻去學校家醫科報到
小腿以下呈現淤青的紫紅色
他幫我針灸的隔天我竟然可以慢慢走路了
後來去長庚骨科check骨頭沒有問題後
我每天乖乖的到學校的傷害防護中心報到做復健
此刻對於自己是體大的一員感到慶幸
不管是水療室的冷熱水療、超音波、電療、冰按摩、徒手按摩…
還有我媽媽寄來的消炎中藥跟狗皮貼布
可以讓我的腳踝康復快一點的方法我都願意嘗試
不到最後一刻我決不輕言放棄
除了施打黃熱病疫苗/A肝疫苗外
看了旅遊門診還拿了減緩高山症發生的藥
至於瘧疾醫生說高山風險小應該不需要
但是他瞄了我的腳一眼笑著說你真的要拼喔…@_@
在出發前一周骨科醫師幫我做最後的檢視
待他宣布我可去爬火山的當刻，我鬆了一口氣，
但要帶著韌帶消炎止痛藥以及隨時用彈繃固定腳踝
但我卻開始擔心我從來沒想過的問題：
我能不能登頂？我的腳踝能撐多久？我會不會拖累大家？
能走一步算一步了！
在出發前整理藥品跟裝備，就足以讓人精神分裂
裝備一切都得輕薄排汗保暖從頭到腳從裡到外從夏天到冬天的衣服
半買半借半相送的也花了我兩萬多的銀兩
為了保命多少錢也都得犧牲
我傳了關於要挑戰吉力馬札羅火山的MSN離線簡訓給幾位好友
結果reply回來的訊息是 「你MSN是不是中毒了？」要不就是掉了下巴
我只能笑著的回說「是我中毒了」…哈哈
我的改變與挑戰計畫果然很到位！
(待續）
This is art, physically, musically, and visually.
I was greatly immersed in the so-call street dance culture. I was a groupie for a dancing group called Popcorn. The leader Kala was the guy who attracted me everywhere they performed. Of course, there were other reasons such as another group called ELSE and one particular member of that group, but that's not what I want to talk about here.
Every time I tango, different partners have the same question for me: Do you do other kinds of dance?
No.
Well... I sort of tried Swing for two days and danced Salsa for a year before devoting myself to Tango, but the feeling, the feeling of dance 舞感, which is what the street-dancers liked to say all the time when I was there chasing their shows, had been developing before I started my career of dance.
I didn't like to move my body because everyone around me was so good. They were part of the music. When they popped, did the breaking, showed a wave, dissociated one body part from another, or just simply raised an eyebrow, I felt an unnecessary existence of me. I felt alone on a crowded dance floor.
But I never left.
I was watching and enjoying as much as I could and watching and watching. And my brain was washed. In a feeling-of-dance way.
I bet my mirror neurons were highly activated when I watched all the dancers around me. Mirror neurons were first found in monkeys. Basically when a money sees another money wave hands, the waving-hand brain area is activated in the viewer even though it does not actually wave its hand. In other words, there is a group of brain cells mimicking or mirroring movements from others.
There are other studies showing that people who imagine practicing a simple note on piano can actually do it as well as people who physically practice the same note. Imagination can serve a great rehearsal for actual bodily performance.
Therefore, my point is that I had been trained mentally (or imaginarily, pseudo-physically, everything-in-the-head-ly) how to move my body before I explicitly expressed how well I could move my body.
So I imagine I can be as strong as a gymnast and as flexible as an experienced yogi and as rhythm-sensitive as the popper in the video.
And... I imagine I could integrate all the above into my tango.
Things in my head are not necessarily eventually illusions. This is called faith.
I know I totally brag too far away from the popper video, but you know my point.
Inhale. During next exhale, move toward the final perfect posture.
It's all about the breathe.
Listen to its rhythm and
pop.
Pop like you mean it.
Pop like doing a milonga instead of a vals.
I am very proud of myself today.
My first English one-hour-long PowerPoint presentation was 6 years ago. Since then, I have done a lot of English presentations depending on PowerPoint, especially my fabulous PowerPoint. I am always proud of my PowerPoint design skill.
I am also very proud of my pale face (thank you, Mama). When I am nervous and don't know what to say, my face turns pale and my speech turns slow, which gives the audience the impression that everything is totally under my control and that any pause is just a part of my show.
Also, when I am nervous and start producing sentences without much thoughts, the audience laughs and appreciates my sense of humor. I love it when people say I'm funny because they obviously are clueless about my cluelessness. And I would just shrug and say "Let's move on."
Obviously "Let's move on" is a very useful phrase and also somehow enforces the impression of me being funny. I really do not have a clue.
A PR group came to the research center. Each lab had to push one person out of the crowd to give a presentation.
I got to give the show one day and two hours ahead of my plan, which said "You give a presentation at 1pm Wed". The plain-emotion executive secretary of the Chief Executive Officer (I really like word "executive" a lot recently) told me that actually I was scheduled 11am Tue.
I think she must have desired my panicking voice saying "OMG, really? I am not ready." Instead, I said "ok, I can do it."
She was not sure if I was sure. "Are you good to go?" she asked.
"Yes." Plain and simple and good to go.
Oh come on, I had practiced with Kim, Chris, and Paola! I got a terrific supporting system here. I don't know who you are, Esceo (short for executive secretary of CEO), and I haven't met you even after my show. Where are you hiding? Come face me and speak to me. How dare you talk to me like that?
Right. I am not happy about a call from esceo yesterday. She demanded me to cancel a reservation of a conference room. Word by word, she said "Cancel your reservation. CEO needs it."
I was like "what? who are you?" Only close friends are allowed to talk to me like that: no please, no thankyou, no would-you-mind, no nothing.
Esceo took my "What?" response as a please-repeat response. So she repeated.
"Alright." In fact, I mean "Fine!" But that would be too rude.
I wish Esceo were in the audience and I wanted to see how much she would have liked me after my impressive down-to-earth presentation.
It is difficult to make a presentation for laymen. Can't use jargons. Can't take the audience as if they are grade students. It is pure teaching to a group of people with zero background.
The PRs were hungry students. They came to learn. They were motivated because they were paid for it.
They listened very carefully. They did not hesitate to ask questions. They nodded when they truly understood (at least for the messages that I successfully delivered). They took notes. Lots of notes.
They asked questions from the first slide to the last one. Questions after questions. CEO had to stop them from asking questions so that I was not eating up too much time from the next presenter. The cool part is that the fact of questions-after-questions is because I could come up with answers after answers.
They loved it. CEO was happy that he could understand every word I said. For this, I am proud of my small vocabulary bank.
I never use sentences like "that's a very good question" or "that's a very interesting point" to buy myself time to come up with answers. It's just not in my answering system. If I don't know, I would say "I don't know."
I gave a presentation in one of the regular "CogPsych" brownbag meetings. Michael the professor, who was famous for "talking like writing a science paper", asked me a question full of "in that sense" "which indicates" "therefore". The question was pretty long and hard to process even for Toby. I bet everyone was happy that he/she was not me. I tried my best to understand Michael's question and answered "I don't know the answer." He did not press me and simply nodded. So I asked the audience "Any other questions?"
The PRs were participating and engaged in my performance.
It is rewarding to see people understand my work. Their smile means a lot for me.
Esceo was participating and engaged in bugging me by bugging the previous Chief Postdoc and our lab secretary. Hey, Esceo, stop telling people to tell me to cancel the reservation after I have canceled the reservation. You know I have done it. I am trying to fight the urge of being me. Please cooperate and understand that I am busy too. You are a nice person, and I am too. Let's work together.
I participated in an acting group after graduating from university. I always liked to go to pre-rehearsal meetings because I knew an elegant woman would be there. She was one of the founders of the group. A perfect goddess-like glow came from every breath of cells of her. I just liked to stare at her and to be bathed in that illusionary female perfection. Even her voice was perfect. Comfortable was how I felt when I was in the same space as she.
One day, she said Fxxx Your Mxxxxx in local Taiwanese. I was shocked, and a question instantly escaped out of me, which was "When did you change and become like this?"
"This is the real her. She became elegant since starting the daytime job in xxxx." Her best friend replied. The illusive goddess then sighed and said "Such is life" in the perfectly elegant way.
Even though I had learned performing before I was aware of it, I definitely learned something that day: public relations.
It is an art. For example, appearance is not everything but can decide a lot of things. Performing this art well is the key to get to the right path leading to the goal.
Ideally, a mask is not necessary. Sometimes one needs a mask to play a nice person in certain situations.
I did a good job today (patting my own shoulder) without a mask. Perhaps the PR group would like to even offer me a job.
I also gave a good performance dealing with Esceo, with a mask. Usually taking a deep breath is enough of a rehearsal for this kind of performance called "suck it up".
Well, such is life.
Mrs. RS sat in front of me, complaining about her husband, and refused to cooperate with me.
Fix me. I don't want to do the work.
Well, she didn't say so, but I definitely felt it.
So I was not surprised when she stood me up today.
It was her husband who left the message on my machine. I wonder whether it was her or her husband made the withdrawal decision. He had constantly asked me to figure out what was wrong with his beloved wife's eyes.
Let me tell you. There is nothing wrong with her eyes.
There is nothing wrong with Mr. IL's eyes either. Mr. IL was another patient participating in my study. He was way much more cooperative than Mrs. RS. When I visited him again for debriefing, his wife asked me about his eyes.
No, the problem is not caused by the eyes. It's the brain. Remember, he had a stroke, which is also called "brain attack".
Both patients are impaired in spatial organization. They are not able to report locations of items immediately (less than one minute) after they have drawn the items.
Both of them and their caring spouses asked for my suggestion on how to improve.
My answer was "You have to use your brain hard."
Mrs. RS's husband did not like it. He loves his wife so much that he doesn't want her to tire herself out in any way. He considered my suggestion nonsense and useless.
Mr. IL's wife did not have comments. Mr. IL hated the idea of doing mental gymnastics, but he agreed with me. Oh, I like sensible people.
Why is it so difficult to understand?
The brain controls your body. So when the brain is damaged, your body parts will be affected.
The brain also controls your thinking, memory, perception, emotion, and almost everything. So when the brain is damaged, some of your cognitive or affective functions will of course be affected.
Some mis-informative website says that emotional changes are side-effects after stroke. No, it's not a side effect. It is an effect!
Language problems after left hemisphere stroke are not side-effects of stroke. They are the effects!
Spatial problems after right hemisphere stroke are not side-effects of stroke. They are the effects!
How can you recover?
How do your paralyzed arm recover? You work on it via physical therapies. You work hard on it.
How do you speak again? How do you understand written words again? How do you perceive the lost half of the world again? How do you react normally to social scenes again? You work on it via cognitive therapies (although they are sooooooo under-developed currently, which is why I'm employed). You have to work hard on it.
I wish I can say it more. You have to work hard on it for stimulating your neural fibers. Otherwise, no one can help you get better. Don't be lazy. Don't veggie out in bed or couch. Use your brain.
I do not totally agree on every word in The Brain That Changes Itself, authored by Norman Doidge. However, the gist of the book is of great importance: Use it or lose it.
One more time with the vision:
We can't see without our eyes, but we don't "see" with our eyes.
The eyes transform photons to neural signals, and nerves transfer neural signals to the brain.
We "see" with our brain, people! Do not ask me to fix your eyes! Why don't you believe me, or neurologists, or ophthalmologists?
"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with his eyes?" Mrs. IL asked.
"I am sure."
"But he bumped into things at home."
"He can see. He is not blind. It is his visual attention in trouble." I said.
"Oh." Mrs. IL had no more questions. Mr. IL was silently listening to us. He was upset that he actually understood what I was saying.
It is more difficult to take in terms of feelings when one understands one's own disability than when one refuses or is not capable to understand.
Anger feels better than depression.
Laughters will definitely feel better than anger or depression, so try John Kawie's column Life At the Curb.
Eleven years ago, he had a right-hemisphere stroke on his honeymoon. He has recovered and resumed his career as a stand-up comedian. His column is as funny as David Sedaris's books.
I wish Kawie could provide some jokes on functional vision problems, but he may have not been aware of those problems himself. Not being aware of one's functional vision problems is very common, but still disabling. Perhaps living in the visually crowded Manhattan helps him regain visuospatial ability by over-stimulation.
That's right. Another good reason to live in a big city.
Use it or lose it.
I am trying to share the golden moments of Chinese gymnastics
I was curious about the name of Yang Wei. I hoped his name did not actually sound the way as the English-speakers call his name. Good. It does not. Please practice the four tones of Chinese language, reporters. His name is Yang2 Wei1, instead of Yang2 Wei3.
Li Xiaopeng flying on the parallel bars was the most breathtaking moment for me.
Also, below the NBC widget is the video showing that the awesome golden men gracefully expressed the beauty of human body and strength. Seeing some lean yogi do the same kind of the postures is totally different than this particular performance, which is unbelievably powerful to the heart and unexpectedly peaceful.
And I feel better after this crazily long restless day. I should wake up in 6 hours and start a new crazily long restless day again. Let's go to bed and in my head rewind today's Diving competition -- women's synchronized platform -- where the Chinese girls were not like a seamless pair but they were simply one. The ultimately romantic perfect one.
Tired of fake news? (If it's reported by Colbert, the answer is no.)
Try a fake love game. Or a love game in truthiness (the famous word created in this very Colbert Report and added into dictionaries as the word of the year). Fake or truthiness is all relative.
Why did Colbert pick her instead of the other two?
Because she was on a blue chair :)
See his face prior to announcing the choice? Oh... how annoying and what a great comedian.
親愛的美麗的葉教授要去非洲挑戰5985m的非洲第一高峰吉力馬札羅火山大山，臨行前她記了一封電郵給我這久未相見的朋友，要我預祝她被非洲酋長相中。
與葉教授相見不恨晚，頻率一觸即通，果然都是大氣大方又幽默自信的摩羯座女生。如果不是葉教授同期好姐妹 Sarah 曾經詳細的比較所有她在 Penn State 認識的魔羯座，我不會去記得我的星座跟那些女人的共通性，後來又認識 Rose，不得不更加誇大的頌揚咱們魔羯座通常不為人知的率性。我玩過最瘋的派對都是有魔羯座女生在主導 (有時主導權就是我 ;p)
我在葉教授每天通宵寫博士論文的時候認識她，一個月後她離開住了七年的美國，回到台灣任職，比我早一步達成美艷教授的目標。個子小小的她，總是不輸人的跟我說：躺下來比，我比你高。
一回去就跟學生打成一片，相信是因為她的個性使然，加上突顯雄偉上圍的服裝，在男生眾多與女生多爽朗的體育大學裡立刻吃香。
可是她一回去的工作量馬上讓我打銷回台灣工作的一絲絲念頭，東方文化就是欺負菜鳥，一學期六門課，還要做研究，還要兼行政，還要有事沒事當公關只因為英文講的比其他教授好。
或許魔羯座就是固執，我們的強項就是堅持，好聽一點就是有毅力，難聽一點就是死心眼的以定立目標當作生活樂趣，以達成目標當成生存目的。她說她拿到學位的時候，第一個感覺是有點失落：那我現在要做什麼？
我拿到學位的時候，倒是沒有失落感，因為我同時正焦急的怕找不到博士後。為了避免有失落感，我定了不同階段性的目標，一個接著一個。
葉教授也熬過最難的時光，甚至很神奇的吃了一年的郵寄代餐瘦回台灣的標準。現在她要去爬大山，我一點也不意外，一定可以達成的。
外剛內柔大概就是我們的通病吧，愛定目標因為害怕不確定因素的難掌控性，卻又偶爾期盼天外撞來一筆那傳說中偉大的地久天長，於是我們就可以有一個伴讓我們就只要聽從不要思考的過日子。怪不得我喜歡跳阿根廷探戈，愛當個不思考的 follower。
如果真有個非洲酋長相中葉教授，希望他愛吃中國菜啊。葉教授是我認識 Alex 以前最會做飯的女人，但是她回台灣之後已經忙到不做飯了。
胚就是一路幸運的遇到愛餵我的好朋友，所以到現在還是把廚房當儲藏室。
下面是轉寄來的新聞，祝他們玩得開心。有一天，我也要去旅行。
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（中央社記者翁翠萍台北二十九日電）國立台灣體育大學教授謝智謀曾因心血管堵塞手術後加裝心臟支架，仍樂此不疲帶領研究生冒險攀登大山，今年即將赴非洲攀登兩大高山，參與學生也都非山友，甚至有剛控制淋巴癌病情一年餘的張雅期、二十三歲未爬過大山的賴妤甄，都因這次挑戰將為各自人生帶來轉折與啟示。
三十一日將啟程飛往非洲攀登五千八百多公尺高的吉力馬札羅山與五千一百多公尺高的肯亞山，謝智謀老神在在，研究生們則以體能鍛鍊五個月等充分的準備面對未知的未來。
四十五歲的謝智謀回憶兩年前在運動時急性心肌梗塞發作，當時心臟左動脈堵塞百分之九十八，比不久前爬山喪命的廖風德心血管堵塞百分之九十五還嚴重，但因在平地送醫急救撿回一條命，再從零開始人生的冒險旅程，但一樣的愛爬山，一年約有一百天在山上。
謝智謀告訴中央社記者，大難不死後，他感受人生或可選擇當病人或有生活品質的人，他選擇了繼續冒險，平時仍不斷鍛鍊並時時覺察身體狀況，只是更謹慎，幾十年來已經爬了台灣百岳的六十七座，去年更登上六千一百八十九公尺高的喜馬拉雅山島峰，仍覺得自己心臟還很強，也希望繼續帶領學生遠征海外學習領導力與服務精神。
二十九歲的張雅期從小到大的學業、工作順利，只爬過台北象山，兩年前決定改變人生，所以考上領隊證照、英文多益檢定、壽險證照，能考的都去考，還要學習很多，結果罹患淋巴癌，一切都中斷，診斷發現胸部都是腫瘤，乖乖的做化療，頭髮差點掉光，十二次化療後終於控制住病情，追蹤至今也都OK。
由於淋巴癌要二十年OK才算痊癒，過第一年存活率有八成五，第二年存活率達九成五，如今使張雅期信心倍增，也覺想做的事要快做，否則以後就不會做，也更珍惜親朋好友，更想讓生命更不平凡。
她說，考上研究所後，上謝智謀老師的課，覺得老師的理念很棒，就是知識不一定在課本或教室裡，大自然才是最好的教室，室內做的論文會忘記，登大山的挑戰經歷永遠難忘，這才是知識。
最年輕的團員賴妤甄才二十三歲，她是考上研究所後才知道山值得認識與珍惜，認同LNT（LEAVE NOTRADE）觀念，即在自然環境中活動應保留最原始生態，不破壞山林，不開新山路，要走前人走過的路，不要帶走任何東西，帶上山的都要帶下山。
賴妤甄期待這次爬非洲兩大山要紀錄山頂雪層的溫室效應；還要到坦尚尼亞前首都山嵐港的奇摩那小學，請小學生帶領做社區影像紀錄，幫助小學生認識自己的社區改善需求，使長大後更能關心社區，也使研究生們不虛此行。
