Posted on 30 November 2006 @ 12:33 in Travels
Although the main purpose of my recent trip was to visit both panda families at the San Diego Zoo and the National Zoo in Washington, DC, I made time to visit a very special wall when I was in the American capital during the second half of my trip.
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Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Friday, 17 November 2006 |
This was not my first visit to the Wall. I was last there 16 years ago during my month-long trip around the States before returning home.
Both times (1990 and 2006), I was there around Veterans’ Day (11 November), and both times, there were lots of wreaths in front of the Wall and on the ground nearby. This time, there were even single flowers pushed into the wall joints as near as possible to the names the flowers were dedicated to.
This time, as before, I had problems finding the site. The first time, I’d never been and needed directions, while the recent visit happened 16 years later so my memory of its location has faded. In fact, I never thought I would get to visit the Wall again.
Washington, DC, is a city full of monuments, and the Wall is probably the most understated of the monuments there. Located to the left of the Lincoln Memorial, it is built very close to the ground and doesn’t stand out at all and therefore cannot be seen from a distance until you come very close and are almost upon it. Then, when it finally shows itself, what stands out most is its stretch of black granite carved with the names of soldiers who had died, or are still missing, fighting in the Vietnam War, and the mirror-like surface reflecting the images of the surrounding trees, lawns, monuments, and visitors.
This time, as the first time, I was once again touched by the stark but powerful design of the Wall.
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Posted on 24 November 2006 @ 22:09 in Stress Busters
With Bai Yun during my 2001 visit:
With Hua Mei, 2001:
With Su Lin, 2006:
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Posted on 22 November 2006 @ 17:26 in Stress Busters
Some pictures from my recent trip.
San Diego Zoo
3-year-old Mei Sheng (what a gorgeous back he has!):
Related Video:
Mei Sheng pacing the off-exhibit area
15-month-old Su Lin:
Washington Zoo, Washington, DC
17-month-old Tai Shan and his mother Mei Xiang, outdoors:
17-month-old Tai Shan and his mother Mei Xiang, indoors, no flash:
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Posted on 20 November 2006 @ 23:28 in Janis Ian, Personal, Stress Busters
I’ve been away, but I’m back now.
This is where I went:
That’s the inside of the Panda House at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, on Thursday, 16 November 2006. Thanks to panda.monia for putting the three of us - catbelly and hubby, and I (me?) - on camera, and to alAl for the animation.
Yes, I’ve been away visiting the National Zoo pandas (Tai Shan and his parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian), and before that, the San Diego Zoo pandas (Bai Yun, Gao Gao, Mei Sheng and Su Lin). It was the trip of a lifetime to celebrate my birthday.
I also surprised Janis Ian at her show in San Diego, which turned out to be the last show of her FINB 2006 tour.
And now I’m back, and horrendously behind on my 2006 NaNovel. I thought I would have the time to write each evening after returning from my day at the Zoo, but I thought wrong.
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Posted on 7 November 2006 @ 23:08 in Being Silly
I drove home in a blinding downpour this evening, and encountered flash floods in a couple of roads I was on. When I got home, I saw that the car’s front number plate had gone missing. Aiks! When did this happen? Did it go swimming off in the flooded roads? I don’t remember it being missing when I went to my sister’s for dinner. Of course, I didn’t look but just assumed it was there. But back home, while walking away from the parked car, I turned for one more look at the car and saw an empty space where the number plate used to be.
Can I drive to work with no number plate on the front of the car? I better not chance it. I’ll have to go into the mechanic’s first thing tomorrow morning to order a new plate and see about getting a temporary one meanwhile.
Can I work this little adventure into my current NaNovel?
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Posted on 5 November 2006 @ 14:11 in Personal, Writing
Over at the NaNoWriMo site, each participant can upload their word count on a regular basis during the month and this is shown beneath their names when they post on the forums.
At the end of the first day, out of curiosity, I checked the word count for Malaysian participants and was surprised to find someone with a word count of more than 60,000 words. And when I did a general search, I found that there were other participants around the world who have “completed” their 2006 NaNovels. In fact, the highest word count submitted so far is 200,000 words.
8O 8O
Maybe these participants think the word count feature is for putting the number of words they plan to write towards?
Or maybe they’re not taking it seriously and just think it’s all for a laugh?
Well, I actually had a friend tell me I can just write the word “ho” and repeat it 50,000 times and I would have met the word count requirement for NaNoWriMo.
No. That’s not how NaNoWriMo works.
I don’t know about other participants, but I take NaNoWriMo seriously. It’s a contract with myself that I plan to honour and fulfill with plain simple hard work and honesty. Well, and a bit of word padding occasionally, but it definitely won’t be merely repeating a word or a phrase until I hit the 50,000-word mark.
I don’t have the discipline the rest of the year to sit down and write (fiction, altho I write for a living), but come November, I do it without fail every day. It’s my one big writing project each year, and a habit successfully cultivated over the past three years. I think about it the rest of the year, even make notes - story possibilities, characters, etc. - and by November, I’m ready to sit down and write everyday to get it written.
Let’s see, I’ve successfully completed NaNoWriMo for the past three years (2003, 2004 and 2005). Which means I have three very rough manuscripts that I can work on and improve.
For the past two years, I’ve been telling myself to look at NaNoEdMo and get some editing done on one of my three completed NaNovels. But in true Chet behaviour, I haven’t got round to it yet. Maybe I wasn’t ready the last two years. But I feel ready now.
Come March 2007, I will be participating in NaNoEdMo.
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