who let the dogs out?

people born in the year of the dog possess the best traits of human nature. they have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep secrets. but dog people are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. they care little for wealth, yet somehow always seem to have money. they can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. they can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. dog people make good leaders.

happy new year, yet again, and despite the celebrations and fireworks that lit the streets and skies last new year's, four weeks ago, this evening is much more noticeably dull. in the living room, the air around me is stuffy from the hissing heater and sticky from the steamy reamnants of a recent shower still lingering about. books lay splayed before me across my desk, taunting me with their pages upon pages of maze-like text, while not far away, more books crowd a shelf, all waiting to be skimmed, hoping to be read, longing to be cited for a breath of life before returning to their silent library tomb. the television set flickers a discovery channel program on china's three gorges dam, fitting it seems, for this occasion and on this eve, although it is only serving as ambient noise. while jean and i discuss planning a lunar new year celebration, we struggle to come up with activities aside from an on-campus student group culture show which looked less-than-appealing. we decide to head to chinatown instead - a chinatown that pales in comparison to san francisco's, but at least something's gotta be going on there. student life here sucks, we both agree. thinkning back to what it was like at los angeles, we recall students who were proud to be where they were due to simple camaraderie not pretentious elitism, students who did things besides studying, students who wanted to go to athletic events and sport their blue and gold regalia, and a student newspaper promoting university community, widely read both on and off campus.

c'est la vie, it seems, woefully, and ici, especially so. reminding myself i am not here for kicks or for fun and remembering our school t-shirts advertise the fact that this is where fun comes to die, i am forced to bite the bullet, which floods my mouth with a metallic taste of lead, while keeping a nose in my books and at least an eye on the prize. on the path towards my educational goals, it seems all i can work for here is another degree and a reputation at the moment. true to personal fashion however, the television continues to flicker away.

when completed, the three gorges dam will stand as a mega-monument to chinese prowess and progress. despite generating electricity comparable to eighteen nuclear power plants, construction and modernization will come at a sad and terrible price. stretching far beyond the wallets of the chinese government, it is obvious that this alms bowl reaches as deep as the gorges themselves. in three more years time, the water held back by the damn will carry within its flood, the memory and livelihood of all those whose towns will be submerged, as well as countless millennia of history for all of china itself, thorough the loss of numerous archaeological sites. nevertheless, this drive to succeed and achieve, which forever courses through chinese history and heritage is the same i am compelled to rely on as i tackle the task of creating a master's project, due shortly. for all my life i have exchanged caprice for erudition, confident that it will pay for itself eventually, and looking back on the people i have met and the times i have had, it almost already has. at other times of course, it's a long, steep, and tiring staircase, but i'd never reach the top without taking a few steps. it is far too soon to know where i'll be in one or two years time. life has kept me on the move, bringing with it the bumps, twists, and turns of the yangtze itself, but it helps to remember that the views in these gorges have no doubt been beautiful. welcome to the year of the dog - my year.

xin nian kuai le, sae hae bok manhi baduseyo, chuc mung nam moi!
happy new year kids! woof. be lucky, be prosperous, be happy.

success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.
: wilde.