The SWord for freedom

Alice is such an adorable little girl. Even though she’s only 7 years old, she often comes up with surprisingly childish that leave you not knowing whether to laugh or cry. I remember when I first moved into this house, everyone was quite curious about me because they all wanted to know about the current situation in China. One time, Alice asked me: "Uncle Shawn, my Chinese isn’t very good. If I go to China, will the Communist Party arrest me?" I was shocked at the time, feeling both amused and sad ---- this was coming from a 7-year-old girl. I replied, "They probably won’t. At most, people will just be curious about you." Then she said, "I hate Xi Jinping." That I couldn't calm down, I don’t want a seven-year-old to have hate in her heart. I told her, "There’s no need for that. He and the Communist Party have nothing to do with you, and they can’t control you. You just need to live happily and study well. Leave the other matters to the adults.&q

The internet went out again this afternoon. I went downstairs to ask the landlord, and it turned out the system needed an update. Yes, the optical modem's system needed an update, and it had to be taken to the service station to have the system flashed. This is quite different from my previous experiences. The landlord said she was heading out to the Spectrum service station right away and would be back in about two hours. I said I couldn't work in the meantime, so I might as well go to Costco and stock up on 10 days food. The landlord said, "Great! I need to go to Costco too, let's go together! You can also try out my new car!" ==================== The landlord usually drives a Toyota Sienna , I've seen a lot of these at Google headquarters ---- they’re work vehicles, used for transporting people or goods, with a big number in circulation. It's a standard North American MPV. The landlord just bought a new model of the Sienna, a hybrid. I have to say, thi