Life in Shell

Laurie Lipton,"Facing up to Reality"

The woman is involving in a fantastic world she creates, where is full of happiness and grace. She images she is a princess living in the castle. Standing in the balcony in the afternoon, looking outside, and enjoying sunshine, she expects her life is simple and happy without any annoying things. In the last two years, she spent almost all time sitting in front of the painting and imaging she was the main character of the tale. It is the way for her to escape from pain and reality.

The painting is like a wall, which separates the woman from the real world, but it just is an illusion. The painting is like a door, which resists all problems, but it doesn’t mean those problems don’t exist. The painting is like a shell where she thought it was her belonging, but unfortunately she is not a pearl. She is used to living in this world, which makes her feel safe, but if she addicts on it, it will become a jail, she will probably never go out.

It is the time for her to pick up courage, leave the chair, get up, and look around even though the world in painting is better than that in reality. When she leaves the chair, she will realize the difference between imagine and reality, taste pain and bitter again, and miss the life in shell. However, it is the real world, including sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and pain. If she has courage to taste it, she is able to understand what is sweet after experiencing bitter.

Haiku City

Familiar city

meanwhile strange city too

cradle of growth

street in European style

compare to chaos city

tranquil and peaceful

beautiful sunshine

make shadow by myself

vague, who I am

lush tree standing

supporting humans' life

bring oxygen

the Huangpu River 

merge into endless sea

flow continually

street, sun, tree, water

represent city partially

witness its change

LUCK

What is luck? Win lottery? Your father is a president? You did not mistake ginger for mushroom? You become NO.1 because the NO.1 student was absent in the test? You took the last flight leaving before earthquake?

Yes. Definitely it is luck, but not everybody can confront in their whole lives. However, there is a kind of luck that everybody can get. That is content what you own. When understand how happy the present life is, it is luck. Everyone has their own life. Others’ life is probably not fit you. If the totally expense for a person is 1 million dollars in his/her life, and the person has 1 million dollars. Is that meaningful to this person to get more money? Get privilege because of rich when meet god? When your life is not private anymore because you have relationship with a celebrity, whether it is luck? Make mistake ginger for mushroom. So what? It is not bad to tasting different “Mushroom”.  What’s the matter to be a NO.2? NO.2 still means excellent and is worthy to respectable. The higher you climb, the more painful you fall down. It is so lucky to take the last flight before nature disaster, but at the same time, the person loses a chance to become a hero. Lucky person or a hero, which one do you prefer?

Luck is not hard to get. It is always around everyone. The point is how to recognize and get it. Everyone owns lucky stars in their hands even though they define LUCK in different way.

Colour

Black & Yellow

Green

Blue 

Orange - sun set

red - heart

Water's Dream

There was an old tree standing beside a brook. In one morning, like any else common morning, a drop of dew formed on a piece of leaf. Unlike other dews, she was reluctant to evaporate immediately. Being curious about this world, she wanted to know more about this unknown world. Therefore, she dripped from the leaf, involves into the brook and started her magical journey.

Becoming one of brook, she appreciated the beautiful landscape along the brook. She passed mountains, rainforest, farm, etc., which she had never seen before. In the daytime, she enjoyed the sunshine and breeze, played with fishes and other species, and enjoyed her simple life. At night, she regarded sky as her blanket and treated twitter as lullaby.

            After several days, the dew saw the lake, which was bigger than brook. She had more space to do what she wanted. The landscape in the lake was different from the brook. It was the first time for her to see a boat that made her feel fresh. In addition, the lake was so long that she could not see the end.

            A month later, the dew swam at the end of the lake and went into the sea. Facing the endless sea, she could not use language to express how happy she was. However, several days later, when she confronted the first storm, she knew how dangerous the sea was.  In the sea, the dew fought with bad weather more than hundreds of times, but she could not stop because she believed she would arrive the shore soon.

            Through this journey, the dew increases her courage, enriches her experiences, and enlarges her sight, but at the same time, she understands how precious the simple life is.

The Process of A Girl Who Jumped to the Ground

I am jumping from the 11^th floor. What I see is as follows:

A new couple who lives on the 10^th floor is fighting….

Sturdy Nana, who lives on the 9^th floor, is crying secretly….

Yamei, who lives on the 8^th floor, is finding her fiancé sleeping with her best friend…

Xiaodan, who lives on the 7^th floor, is taking an anti-depression pill….

Unemployed Adan, who lives on the 6^th floor, is still hunting for a job in the newspaper….

Respectable professor Wang, who lives on the 5^th floor, is wearing her wife’s bra secretly….

Long, who lives on the 4^th floor, is breaking up with his boyfriend….

The old man who lives on the 3^rd floor expects someone to visit him everyday….

Lily, who lives on the 2^nd floor, is still looking at the picture of her husband who disappeared after they were married for only half a year….

I felt I was the unhappiest person in the world before I jumped….

But now, I know everyone has some hard situations that other people don’t know about….

I really feel my life is not that bad after I’ve seen their lives….

All the people I just saw are looking at me now….

I think they will feel their lives are fine after they have seen me.

                                                                                           -------  Deyong Zhu

Scenes from the Day

Bedroom

Even though enveloped by the darkness, the light still can penetrate the wall, illuminate the path, and provide hope until it goes into our hearts.

Fridge

These sources make same food own different taste: sweet, spicy, salt and sour. Only experiencing all of these tastes, you know which taste is your favorite—like life.

Shoes

There are many joys in our normal life. What we need to do is find and develop them. Make small joys become big joys. Joys are in everywhere, even from the most common shoes.

Activity: Enjoying sunshine

Everyone has a space that they are favorite. The place I prefer is close to nature. Compare with great nature, I become smaller, just like a particle in the universal. At that time, I feel problem is not a problem; difficulty is not that hard any more. Everything becomes smaller. Enjoying and precious this moment are what I should do at present.

Object in the hand

Many things lose easily and never come back, like water. Yes, I can get another bottle of water, but it is still not the original one.

Desktop of computer

Computer is the most important tool for me in the USA. It is the way I connect with my family, acquire information about outside, and entertain.

The view from my window

Every morning, when I open the window, fresh air goes into my body and green leaves occupy my whole sights.  That signify the beginning of the day.

Words

At the end of winter, trees grow new leaves. – It is not far from spring.