hub cap

What can you do with a hub cap?
Toss it around as a Frisbee? Cover your head from the rain? Sale it on eBay?


One of Bungbung’s hub caps was gone early last year because of the terrible road condition. I replaced it with $75. In five minutes after leaving the body shop, the cap popped out and vanished again because the terrible road condition. Therefore, I decided never to replace it until I can afford a brand new steel wheel rim to prevent this happening so often.
Front wheels tend to hit potholes more frequently then back wheels, and I had actually replaced front hub caps at least five times since I bought Bungbung.
Anyway, Bungbung wore three shoes since last year. I like to refer my car and its parts with humanized terms.

Early this morning, it rained very hard. With the sound of rain, I dreamed that the windshield wipers were broken, and that I had to call the day off because driving without clear vision was very dangerous. I woke up immediately and felt relieved that it was just a dream.
It was still raining when I walked to Bungbung. He looked different than usual, I found. Oh damn! All the remaining three caps were gone. The rims were fine, indicating that I did not lose them last evening when driving back home on the notoriously pothole-scattering routes, NJ-7 and NJ-139. Apparently, the thief manually took them off without using any tool to damage the rims. Which actually has been a problem: hub caps are very easy to take off. But still, one must not take them off without my permission.

What the …? If you’ve seen people this morning in Hoboken working on a VW Beetle, or if you’ve seen people covering their head with hub caps from the rain this morning, or if you see people toss a VW hub cap as a Frisbee, please oh please yell “SHAME ON YOU!” at them. And please contact me.

Naureen suggested me file a claim to my insurance company. No way. My insurance rate has soared so high after the incidence in December 2007. Any claim will lead to my bankruptcy due to an unaffordable automobile insurance.
For now, I won’t even buy new caps for Bungbung. I will wait until I can afford a parking space in a garage. Why should I provide more hub caps for thieves to sale on eBay while I don’t get any compensation? Ha, guess who is selling used hub caps?

Shame on you, thief!

President Ma

Mama told me that there are lots of voices asking President Ma to resign because of the natural disaster on the Father's Day. She said that even CNN has reported greatly on this issue. She felt shameful that Taiwan's President is making a joke internationally.

First of all, CNN does not represent international news. It is sad that Taiwan takes CNN as the main source of international news. It simply represents a voice from America. It is also sad that CNN's coverage seems to have greater effects than any local news channels in Taiwan. With more than five news channels running repeated news 24/7, viewers believe if CNN covers something, the something must be what CNN tells you what something should be. It is very sad that people believe what a news channel wants them to believe.

Second of all, I doubt if there is more than 30% of Americans watching news at all. Of these people, probably 30% of them watch CNN. Kimberly watches CNN every day, but she did not know anything about Taiwan's debate on President Ma until I told her over today's dinner. Therefore, I do not believe that a few pieces of foreign coverages on Taiwan by CNN have made Taiwan an international joke. As Kim put it honestly, Americans are very self-absorbed and they have many many issues in their own countries these days. No one would care about Taiwan or whether President Ma should resign. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, President Bush, who did a little more than nothing, still held his position until last year. Katrina caused countless people lost their home, and was one of the deadliest natural disaster in American history. But no one asked the stupid Bush to get out of his office. Therefore, a poll conducted by CNN saying President Ma should leave is simply a media-biased viewer-catching technique. Americans do not care who is the President of a country other than their own, Kim said.

Third, I felt worried that Mama allows the TV on and watches news more than once every day. It is so not necessary. Taiwan is such a small place, and much news "shown" on TV is not worth a viewer's time. It just makes people think that Taiwan is a trouble-making island, and everything is out of order, and one should live in fear.

President Ma and officers related to rescue and recovery for the Typhoon did need to take responsibilities. They should apologize to the people, which they did. They should start to learn how to speak politically encouraging as if they are experts in public relation, which they have great space for improvement. They should understand that they are dealing with people who have rights to vote, and psychology is a much useful subject to master than bureaucracy. Making people happy and providing a sense of security to people will earn more trust than governing the country silently with little communication (or advertisement).

So You Wanna See TOUGH?

Oh my... idiots...
so so so funny

partner assessment

Superstar likes to say “the world does not exist once I die.” For him, the world is entirely dependent on his mind; the truth is what he perceives; the action is all in his head. Or put it the other way: the world is mind-dependent.

First, I find it personally disturbing. It is upsetting information that he believes that I do not exist when all his sensory and memory systems get turned off. Let me hope that I am in his mind, so that I will exist again when he thinks of me. While he does not think of me, I will dissolve into the nothingness.

Second, as a scientific theorist, I do not buy his theoretical belief. For me, the world is independent from my mind. My mind simply represents the world. When I die, the earth will keep revolving around the sun, but I can no longer know about it because the representational system – mind – has stopped functioning. That is, his existence has nothing to do with my existence. While I do not think of him, he will not dissolve into the nothingness, but it means that I simply have no currently active representation of him.

See the huge obstacle in our relationship? We are cognitive psychologists holding very different theories of mind. He is a self-absorbed carefree player, and I am an individualizing observant enthusiast.

He does not care about issues that have bothered me for the greater good of our planet and the human race, both of which will disappear once he dies anyway. He uses energy saving appliances and re-uses all kinds of materials because he is by nature a Hakka. He keeps glass bottles and cans for his collection of wine bottles and coke cans. He eats junk food because he can never get fat and is very convinced that he’s perfectly healthy.

However, everyone loves Superstar. The compliments I have received about him from my friends include adjectives such as loving, caring, warm, sensitive, sensible, and down-to-earth. People are telling me that he is a great find and definitely a keeper as if I myself had done a wonderful job involving him in my life. Is it true that I am the only person in the world could actually feel his aloofness?
His aloofness is all about his happiness. He has no worries at present. He has no shadows from the past. He has no anxiety about the future.
He is, in a word, abnormal.

Nat once asked me why I never dated someone normal. I would like to ask her the same question.
Perhaps Superstar is indeed as normal as a boy his age/his background can be, but I believe he is not, so that I can perfectly convince myself to be with him as often as I want to.
I am, too, abnormal.
For him, perhaps I am as normal as a girl my age/my background can be, and he believe I am, so that he can perfectly convince himself to be with me as often as he wants to.

See another obstacle between him and I? I believe he is abnormal so I think I would never quite understand him, which is totally fine with me. All I want is to be happy with him and to make him happy with me. Love is simple.
However, he believes I am normal so he thinks he should be able to understand or has already understood me, which if not successful, would be totally a disaster for him. All he wants is to be happy with me and to make me happy with him. Love is simply complicated.
As a result, I appear light-headed and detached, and he appears understanding and loving.

I would now conclude with a shrug. He would want much more clarified arguments on his assessment. But this is my blog. I have the final say or shrug. He doesn't care things not existing in his head, and he is abnormal. Fine, he is loving, caring, warm, sensitive, sensible, and down-to-earth. Whatever. End of discussion.

續，雨裡

下班前，Naureen沒趕回辦公室，她出車禍了。人沒事，打個電話來報平安。
她出車禍的路段就是我昨天提到的地方，而這路段今天可是誇張的大塞車，雙向都有車禍之外，從進紐約的兩個隧道 口回堵十幾英哩，天氣又灰灰陰陰悶悶燥燥的，人就是很難爽快。不開冷氣的話，四周廢氣的熱弄得窗外起霧，開冷氣的話，我的手又容易冰冷。停比走的時間多，我就狂抹乳液護手。

塞了一個多小時慢慢的過了最擁擠的幾個路段之後，天早已經陰的不耐煩了，四周突然整個變白，像是下過大風雪一般，我除了只看到正前方的車燈外，就是慘白的背景，建築物和路樹都不見了，橫在我和慘白背景之間的是水幕，這回可以是我第一次使用雨刷的最高速，卻也刷不盡雨水，敢不上洩洪般的雨量，從未在雨天開車這麼害怕過，像是在下大雪的夜裡開車一樣神經緊繃，所有車都放慢速度，都不敢切換車道，有秩序到了極點。真的是超車誠可貴，車險價更高。出一次車禍的代價就是三年的昂貴汽車保險。

快到家的時候就是接近哈德遜河的時候，風速之急，雨注全是橫向的打，路樹街燈搖搖晃晃不說，停在我正前方的等紅燈的休旅車也被水平打擊的雨撞得搖搖晃晃，我踩緊煞車握緊方向盤，希望寄託在幫幫厚重的底盤。
然後連續看到兩條閃電垂直落進河的方向，我身子不由自主的往心裡縮，立刻回想起一年多前恐怖的愛荷華之旅，同樣也是雷電交加的大雨，而經驗不代表不會被雷聲嚇到，不代表會喜歡在風雨裡開車，我總是覺得我就是會這麼不幸的遇到許多不幸。然後我就要很理性的告訴我自己：要理性啊！

我家有兩處天花板可以直直望到天空，我抬著頭確定沒有再繼續落雨，決定去河邊散步，空氣很清，曼哈頓看來更亮眼。
這就是我一直在追尋的日子啊，可以想出門散步的時候就出門，出門散步的時候可以看到最美的夜景，尤其是在看完 Revolutionary Road之後，我很開心的說我正在過著我要的生活，框框還是有，但是框架並不輕易碰到我。