Lamb Leg

I found lamb in Costco, so I got one~ They are not expensive, weighs 3-4 pounds, but definitely juicy, fresh and delicious! Here is a recipe I found~

First cut the lamb leg but keep it connected on the fat side, like the following:

Then marinate it with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, salt, ground cumin seeds, chopped garlic for 5 hours or more. (Overnight if possible)

----------------------clock ticks----------------------

Find a container/ aluminum tray big enough, and put chopped vegetables inside with oil, black pepper, salt. I put potatoes, carrots and sweet onions.

Then put into oven at 450 F for 110 minutes. Take it out every 20 mins or so and brush some honey on the surface of the lamb.

Pretty good~


(Followed exactly as described in http://blog.renren.com/blog/227627623/904737782 )

what leads to what?

butterfly effect, chem reactions, essays.

i have been watching butterfly effect, mugging chem, and writing essays. these three things have a link: you never know what's gonna happen.

well. americans are smart. they ask me submit one essay, and they know that the seemingly easy task would make me really headache.

coz that's the only chance i have.

so i stay up late in the night again, trying to get something out.

trying to change my future.

trying to tell myself, that life is still uncertain. i used to believe that essay usually makes AO change his mind. now, i still believe so, because i have to.

well, i kinda like the life now. i have to pay for the time i wasted, and people who worked harder get better results. so it's fair.

but i am willing to pay. it's never too late to change. i hope my essay will get me somewhere.

fingers crossed.

what's so special

i ve just been to a US university talk. mr kevin sim seems to be an interesting person. he is frank, humourous and stylish.

in the talk, he highly accentuated the fact that we are more or less the same. we all go for CCAs, SYFs, CIPs, we all hold postitions in various places. and all these make us homogeneous. AO dont like duplicates. so the matter is, how to be special.

this question got me.

in retrospect, i had spent my first 14 years in a little town in China. then, i came to Singapore and spent another 4 years here. that's not fascinating.

i play the flute and i love playing it. i took part in the flute competition last year and i screwed it up. it was really embarassing, but i still love playing the flute. maybe i can have some ideas out of this. but too many people play the flute. i need something unique out of me.

i am not good at my studies and i do not have any olympiad gold medals. i dont have medals, not even interclass soccer.

i have a very good relationship with my parents. they would like to listen to me and i still ask for their guidance. i believe my family has shaped my mind in an interesting way, but mr sim says two points. one, dont write about relationships. two, dont use your first idea.

i thought it would be a good idea to write about how my parents and their behaviours shaped my personalities in a way they themselves cannot understand. maybe i have a better one. i do hope so.

in fact, i am still living a routine life. i go to school, sleep in classes, do my tutorials, struggle through my exams. in rj, where you have vast but limited number of choices, every permutation and combination is tried by people around me. i am always in the middle. in the middle of nowhere.

nevertheless, the talk inspired me a little. it makes me believe that i have something special. something different from every other human on earth. i doubted its existence, but mr sim denied the doubt. he kicked me out of depair and now, i find myself in an unknown place, looking for things i dont really know. the only hint i got was one word: inspiration.

mr sim said happily, "inspiration can come from any where!"    oops. time to collect sparks.

the blog

i spent one hour to notice the link enabled me to retrieve my passoword.

i dont believe in the fun brought by technology, so i cant really enjoy it.

it has been a long time since my last entry. i am now in J2, the year of mugging juxtaposed with emotional turbulence. now, i am seeing a more prominent conflict between meritocracy and the urge of having a more peaceful life. the conflict will stay, but the time will not. the clock is still ticking and i am geting nearer and nearer to A level and death. i should care about the former more.

my uncled told me that life is long. to use a trite metaphor, it's like marathon. so i pick up this blog once i used to have for my english homework. i hope i can doodle the sparks of my mind on the blog.

i dont expect myself to write blog everyday, even every week. but i think i will find something worthy to put in here.

china' ME generation

this afternoon, i read a commentary on the TIME magazine today: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1647228,00.html
and the titile was: China's Me Generation

the article revealed one reality: some young people(elder than me, twentysomething) in china are apolitical. they don't care about democracy and they would like to work hard and play harder.

i believe this phenomena is quite common in modern china, especially in metropolis. i think all crucial leaders in the party or government are beyond 40 or more. of course, they are experienced, tactful, sometimes dogmatic. young people are not very reliable, but they are vital and innovative. at present, these old men are regulating the party. maybe they believe that the new generation will mess up the party if they let them in too early. i think that's why the passage mentioned an opinion: young people barely have opportunities to participate in politics. is this aftermath their fault? a part of it is. if they really keen about politics, the party is not that blind and dictaory, right?

now, the economical power is increasing in china tremendously, the young generation are becoming more and more dicty. on the other hand, they focus a lot more on their personal issues. meanwhile, the political life seems boring to them and the future of participating politics seems hopeless. i don't know why. money comes first?!

under the strike from U.S. and western countries, the young generation are becoming aficionado of these trendy stuff. since they are quite wealthy, they can afford those expensive brands and delicacy. china is opened to the west, but this does not mean that she is becoming colony of the western world again, in industry nor spirit. i believe this is not a "culture revolurion". she should use others' experience as reference, but not be a slavish follower.

i am a chinese and i am proud of my country. i am glad to see that my country is developing, i feel sorrow when i see the environment destructed caused by industrialization, poverty and famine. i am happy to see the new generation in china are affluent, i feel pity when they say they don't wanna concern about politics. i think the government should do something to evoke the young people. they are the successor of the nation after all.

the dragon is still yawning in some ways....

p.s. from the help from dictionary and memory, i tried to add in some words which i never used before. if some of them are inappropriate, i hope you can pardon me for that.

american ambassador came!!!

this afternoon, american ambassor Mrs Herbold came to our school.

it was a success, of course. in my opinion, the ambassador was quite smart. she always tried to avoid the acute questions. but, in a sense, she would like to talk more about the america's democracy and all are good points.

i like this one much better than the japanese ambassador's talk. i don't mean that i dislike japan. japan is really a good country, developed and clean. but at that day, the ambassador made me quite disappointed. he also avoided the questions, but his way was more awkward. he didn't answer the question at all. from that time, i had an impression on him: if there is a problem he cannot solve, just avoid it and never care. or ambiguous

american ambassador was a kind old lady. she often tried to make the atomsphere realaxing(the japanese old man make us tense and sleepy). i really can understand that she could not talk about events like china and taiwan; neclus help to india; iraqi war etc. she always tried to talk nicely in order to make us feel better to america's policies. i think that's correct and that's what an ambassador should do in response.

diplomatism is sleek. diplomats can always find a way to uphold their countries. this makes me think of our great diplomat, zhou enlai. it was he who solved a lot of diplomatic problems when the PRC was initially founded. there are many stories on him about how he get rid of the embrassment. i adore him.

will i become a diplomat someday? maybe... nevertheless, i believe i can get great improvement in my englilsh studying. anyway, i must always believe in myself

killer? oh, no...

US university shooting kills 33
The campus has now been closed and students evacuated
Scene of shootings
A US shooting rampage at the Virginia Tech university has left 33 people, including a suspected gunman, dead.
There were two incidents two hours apart, at a student dorm where two were killed and at an engineering building where 30 and the gunman died.
Officers said they were working to link the attacks and had a preliminary ID of the gunman but would not release it.
After the deadliest shooting rampage in US history, President George W Bush said the US was "shocked and saddened".
"Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community," he said.
The state university in the town of Blacksburg is home to 26,000 students.


Adapted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6560685.stm


I was shocked after reading this news. I thought about it and found that how complicated it was to educate one man.

From the news details I knew that his parents don’t care him much. They seldom concern about their child.
This makes me think if another case happened in my hometown: a student’s parents are always busy with their work and always concern about money. Once, after their child was injured, they asked doctors if the fee was free for charge. They didn’t concern much about their child much and eventually one day, the poor child suicide.

This case can actually reflect some of the reasons lead to the failure of education: parents. Parents are models of children. If parents don’t care about their children, children will possibly become shy. Time after time, they will be apathetic to the world.
Although education in school is important, students spend most of their time with their family, mother and father. So, it’d parents’ duty to take care of children and lead them to the right way.

According to what the news said, Cho Seung-hui hated his wealthy classmates and the rich. This relates to the common problem in every society: the differences between the rich and the poor. The rich is absolutely the prior group among people. In this case, it’s nature for ordinary people to envy them. But, if the level of just envy ascends to the level of hate, it is a kind of serious psychological problem. In my opinion, there are different kinds of people in the society. We don’t need to concern much about other people. We are all human; we have no difference between each other. We live in the same planet. We should be united and face the difficulties together. But not having faction with each other.

Also, I want to make some comments about guns. I know it is legal for a qualified citizen to own guns, but I think the process should be more precise. Cho Seung-hui bought the gun and bullets from a legal shop. The shop assistant didn’t even look at his certificates carefully. Like the news mentioned, they took only one minute to accede him to buy the gun and bullets. I think this is terrible. Guns are not only for defending, but also for attacking. The shop didn’t think of the consequence carefully and allow an unqualified man to buy a gun and some bullets. America is a country of freedom as Americans said, but no limitation or restriction means no freedom. In my opinion, freedom is based on restriction. Freedom is given only if you can control yourself. How to achieve self-control? Through limitation, of course. In this way, people can live a happier life with restriction and freedom.

At last, I wish that this kind of tragedy will not happen again.