Summer Workout

For the past month and a half, I have been mowing the lawn for James.

I started mowing lawns for people ever since I was in high school. One of my classmate’s family would pay me $10 per hour to mow their lawn. It was really nice of them to pay me that much, however, they have a huge lawn, too. I didn’t enjoy it that much back then because I hated bugs and their lawn (more like a little hill) wasn’t kept that well, I felt like cutting grass in the wilderness.

I started mowing the lawn for James when I was in college, for quite a while, it was a nice extra income and something to kill the time. James has a really nice lawn, and it became an enjoyment to look at it after I got done. It was very beautiful, and I felt good about doing it. Then class got busy and I got an internship, I had to quit. He then found someone else to mow it for him. But this summer, that student went home for vacation, I offered to mow the lawn for him again. He offered to pay me, but it just doesn’t feel right to take his money for doing something that I enjoy.

Also it’s more like a workout for me, a good opportunity to burn some fat and lose some weight. And I haven’t lost the touch, after each time, the lawn looked just gorgeous.

Anyway, I always wanted to take some pictures after I got done each time, today I took some with my phone, the quality isn’t the best, but you can get the idea. (click on the picture to get a bigger version)

Clean up day

About 3 days ago, after I came back home from work, I noticed there was a medium size cockroach on my living room floor!

People that know me, know that I hate bugs. When I was still in college, I lived in this old apartment complex, I am not gonna name it. For some reason, my kitchen caught on roaches. It’s the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. You probably don’t believe me when I say this, but I have never seen a cockroach in my life, until I came to the US. Every night when I went to the kitchen and turn on the light, those little things would just crawl away as fast as they could. I think I developed a phobia on those bugs, I always have this image in my head that when I am sleeping, the bugs will crawl into my mouth and lay eggs there, and next morning when I wake up, I will have a mouth full of bugs and their eggs! So you can imagine how scary that is!

So I moved out that apartment as soon as I could, and lived a bug-free life ever since, till recently…

I mean my apartment is pretty clean, I usually clean it every week, maybe sometimes once two weeks. But now the weather is getting hot, and the bugs are coming out, don’t even mention my apartment building is built in the 1960s, bugs love old buildings!

So this weekend, I decided to do some more cleaning, and after a day of hard work, I felt kinda good, so I went to Lowes and got 3 more plants for my apartment. I had 3 plants, Aya helped me to pick them out when I first move in here, but they just don’t seem enough anymore. I love plants, maybe because I worked in the Department of Plant Pathology for 3 years. When I was working there, I always enjoyed going to the Horticulture greenhouse to see what kinda of new plants they’ve got. At one time I even thought about taking some classes on Horticulture, so in the future when I have a house, I can do my own gardening (A garden with no bugs that is!).

I took some pictures after all these to show you guys. (click on the picture to get a bigger version)

My bed with clean sheets, looks quite comfy.

I have this shelf in my living room, I got from IKEA, never knew what to put on it, so today I kinda organized it and put some books and magazines, along with the plants, some pictures as well. You can see I have a rice cooker on the bottom, coz I haven’t eaten rice for a while, and I don’t have a place to put that rice cooker.

Plant #1, called the Money Tree, supposed to bring good fortune to you. Don’t get me wrong, I am not superstitious on this kinda things, this is a plant that requires low light, so it’s perfect for indoor.

Plant #2, called Fittonia Red Vein, also requires low light, and it’s actually quite unique looking – the vein on the leaves is actually pink color, very nice.

Plant #3, called Dieffenbachia Triumph. Don’t ask me what that means, I don’t know either. All I know is that it needs medium light and I love the color of the leaves.

Some of my books and magazines.

最苦的工作

小时候经常听爸爸妈妈说现在的孩子都是从蜜罐里长大的，从来没吃过苦，被家长娇生惯养的都不成样子。以前一直也没把这句话当一回事，也就是听听而已。 因为那时在国内，大家都是一个样，都是独生子女，都是小皇帝小公主，衣来伸手饭来张口。即便有时开开主题班会，批判一下这样的作风，也不过是乌鸦笑猪黑。

直到来了美国，才感觉到自己真不如人，不但什么都不懂，而且什么都不会做。社会知识极其缺乏，独立意识极其差。不过还是很庆幸我能有机会来到美国，能有机会把自己好好劳动改造一下。

记得上高中时，所有的同学都有工作。有的在快餐店打工，有的在公司打工，只有我什么都不干，放学就回家。看到同学们都有自己的收入，我觉得自己就是个孩子。可是我当时只是学生签证，没有办法在外面打工，就只好托朋友找了一个私人的临时工，帮一位阿姨一起打扫银行。当时刚听说这份工作的时候心里很犯嘀咕，心想我堂堂一个留学生怎么能去给人家当清洁工，实在是没面子，让人家看见怎么能抬起头来。可是听说她付我一小时7美元，我也就顾不了那么多了。就这样，高三那年，在上课，复习SAT,ACT和TOEFL之间，我每天晚上打扫5家银行，从下午5点半一直干到晚上10点半。工作的任务就是擦桌子，吸地板，擦地板和倒垃圾。一星期还要擦一次玻璃。在这期间，我经常能遇到晚上加班的银行老总们，他们总是很和善，从来没因为我是清洁工就瞧不起我。这使我想起了在国内我初中毕业那年暑假，我一夏天没事干，就想找个临时工打打工挣点钱。于是想到去妈妈的宾馆当清洁工。可是当时就被人家拒绝，说是总经理的儿子怎么能去当清洁工，没有人敢雇用我。从那时我就开始觉得清洁工是低人一等的工作。

到了大学，也是一直在找工作，可是运气就没有那么好，直到大一下半年才通过梅燕（我的一个马来西亚的大姐）找到了一份在植物病理学院的工作。当时一直以为是在实验室里的工作，后来才听老板说夏天的收割季节要到外面收割小麦。我当时也没当回事，觉得收割小麦有什么了不起，我能打扫银行就不能收割小麦么？

可是真正到了试验田里，才知道收割小麦是什么滋味。 在三十八九度的烈日下，一点儿风都没有。我手里拿着镰刀，面对那一望无际的麦田，扑面而来的虫子，真是不知所措。我记得我当时心里想，我估计我爸当年下乡也和这个差不多吧！可是越想心里越不痛快，毕竟我也是个大学生啊，将来是要做电脑工程师的，怎么能干这个呢！可是既然拿了这份工，我也别无选择，只好低着头慢慢割。当汗珠流进眼里，也分不清究竟是太阳晒得眼睛睁不开，还是盐水杀的眼睛睁不开。这才真正体会到了农民的不易，以前在课本里读到的全都是白扯。记得我第一次去割麦子，一点经验都没有，怕热就穿了短裤。结果小腿被麦茬割得全是口子，汗水出来流进伤口里，疼！

这样下去一干就是3年半，直到我大学毕业读研。春天播种，夏天秋天收割，冬天在实验室里打种，主要就是和小麦，黄豆打交道。大学毕业后，心中顿生对父辈的敬意，这才真正体会到他们那时上山下乡有多苦。

我17岁来美国读书，本是想逃脱父母的管制，结果被美国给劳动改造了一番，既当了清洁工，又当了农民。如果我能重新选择，我还会选择这一条路。

我现在的女朋友慧萍，也和我在一起割过麦子，很简单的一件事，让我看到了她的与众不同。

我今天翻到了这张照片，是我大学时和梅燕，Peter 一起收割麦子的情景，让我一下子想起了这么多。（后面那个机器是把麦粒从麦穗上打下来）

在这之后我还做过饭馆服务生，教授的助理，公司的实习生。现在终于做成了电脑工程师，想想看已经是自己的第六个工作了。

你做过得最苦的工作是什么呢？