Now I am letting you in to a secret, a small one, and it is this. When I arrive home from work in the evening, it is late, almost time for bed; but before going there I like to relax with a mug of tea and a trip around my space; for I am always curious to know who, if anyone, in my absence has been there. And when that particular need has been satisfied, I venture in to the uncertain world of "Updated spaces.” I say “uncertain”, because more often than not, at that late hour, the experience brings on feelings of fatigue and regret; the more so, when I realise that in going there I have defeated the whole point of my sitting down in the first place.
This however, is not a story about fatigue, or disappointment, but about the unexpected and the inspirational, about blogging at its very best.
A few days before Christmas, I found two appreciative comments on my space. The first was from Chris, who, with her husband and two teenage children, lives near Paris. The second came from “ZJ”, who goes by the lovely musical name of “zuo/jing/ying.” Curious, I retraced their steps, (which is just another way of saying that I visited their respective websites,) only to discover that while Chris lives near Paris and ZJ lives in Shanghai, they are neighbours, because Chris came originally from Singapore. But the similarity between them was more impressive than that. Both women are multilingual, love music and clearly enjoy reading and compiling quotations. But there are differences also, to which I must hurriedly add, that to discuss them here, would be to spoil the effect. So instead, let me begin with "a birds-eye view" of their respective websites.
Both have equally thought provoking opening statements. For Chris it is this: “It’s now or never, tomorrow will be too late, . . . “ while for ZJ, who has a similar preoccupation with time, it is the metaphorical statement that "ZJ Learns to fly... " to which she adds provocatively, the words: “Against time . . .”
Aged seventeen, ZJ has a passion for life, for knowledge and understanding, and though her great love is for physics, the breadth of her interests are considerable. A linguist, she writes in the additional languages of: English, German, Italian and Spanish and she invites constructive criticism of her English compositions. Her love of science is reflected in her blogs and impressively in her selection of quotes from Albert Einstein, quotes such as this:
“I have no special talents I am only passionately curious.”
It is there also in her reflections on Stephen Hawking, as it is in her compilation of an impressive range of science websites: Those of the European Space Administration, (ESA), and NASA, one of which, takes you to an interactive map on the space earth crew. And if that isn’t sufficient, you can link in to the “Cosmology Message Board”, or to the “space and nature page on the BBC”, or to the University of Oxford page on “Theoretical Astrophysics”. And “for good measure,” as we say, she has an aside on numbers as understood by Ethiopian tribesmen.
When she first appeared on my space, ZJ mentioned how much she enjoys reading and that too is reflected in her space: In her link to the Literature Network, and in her various references to “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.” In a blog, she recalls a school project on Switzerland, which in turn, prompted a discussion between herself and Pole Vault; (a young athlete living in London) who goes by the blog name of “bendthatpole.” They are discussing: “Angels and Demons”, by Dan Brown (author of the “Da Vinci Code”.) And ZJs idealism and strong moral sense, are apparent in her blog: “Love Always” and in her link to “Three Days To See;” a moving piece on the gift of sight, by the legendary Helen Keller. As for music, here, ZJ takes us on a journey from: Westlife and New Age, through to her excitement at the discovery of Jazz, and on to the great classical composers, men such as: Chopin, Liszt, Grieg and Elgar. And like all teenagers, she has her pinups, David Beckham among them, and of course, some cute animation.
Chris, on the other hand, takes us on an altogether different journey; and all mother’s, (and fathers, perhaps,) must surely empathize with this: “Why teens are lousy at chores . . .” or this: “Loose weight and get rid of your headaches, . . .”or this, taken from her July blogs: “Why French Women don’t get fat, . . .” But though Chris is interested in the subjects of depression, breast cancer and heart attacks, it would be wrong to give the impression that she is a self obsessed hypochondriac. With children, a garden, socializing, job hunting, and a husband who seems to be something of a maverick when it comes to “DIY”, she hasn't time for that. In August she is in the garden reading, because she doesn't feel like doing anything else and she is faced with a dilemma; how to get the kids away from the computer. She manages it, taking them to the cinema instead. That brought a wry smile, because you could of course argue, (if you wanted to be mischievous,) that what she did, was exchange one computer screen for another. But when she is gardening Chris is happy and by the end of August she is planting blackberry bushes.
But it is in the month of September that she wins me over. In my notes I have this:
“A star, series of blogs, beginning with sadness at the death of a friend and moving on through a visit to the Malaysian embassy, and future job prospect, to an hilarious story about an edict from the Pope requiring that all Chinese must leave Italy, and how the problem was resolved.” To which I add, that there are: “quotes that I could warm to and an account of the local annual garage sale. Then there is the stress of daily family life, of getting the children to school, of a day that begins at 6:50 and ends at 11 pm.”
By October she is quoting Socrates, in particular his saying that: “living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.” To which she adds this footnote:
But she does have her own special moments.
In November she is Christmas shopping with a friend in Canterbury in England, and later, with Christmas less than a fortnight away, she is writing about an international women’s lunch. There were 110 of them, all in the same room and “a jolly and slim” Mother Christmas distributing gifts. And there is this; an observation that only a woman could make:
“To make it more festive everyone was asked to come dressed in either red or green or both!”
To which she adds with menace:
“ 95% of us were nicely decked out.”
Well now girls. wouldn't you just love to have been a "fly on the wall,” to hear about the other 5 per cent?
Now when visiting a web space, trekking through “Comments” is every bit as important as reading the Blogs, because this is usually where discussion takes place. In ZJ’s case, “bendthatpole” is a regular contributor and at first I wasn’t sure about him, becaus e his writings seemed curiously detached and he seemed tired, stressed, and in need of sleep. But then in August, when discussing “Angels and Demons”, he came alive, and I discovered a man with a thoughtful and generous outlook. As mentioned earlier, this book prompted a discussion on religion with ZJ, and he had this to say:
“I enjoyed “Angels and Demons”, especially the conversations people had on God + Science. I think people like us, young aspiring physicists, seek to find truth just like the rest of the human race – divine truth and a meaning to life - as Vittoria said . . .
“Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate towards the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. That life has meaning. That we are grateful for the power that created us.”
And if you carry on to “Blog in space (No. 2)” the discussion is serious, but funny. Here bendthatpole and SamuelZhuYu are, (to use an appropriate metaphor,) having a discussion in ZJ’s living room. Having previously declared that he is not a scientist, SamuelZhuYu takes issue with bendthatpole, for what was a (passing reference,) to Einstein as a scientist. “Einstein” he writes, “is not a scientist. He is a great scientist.”
Now the truth is, that there are simply too many interesting things on ZJ’s space to write about them all. (And here I am thinking only about things in English.) And though I accept, that telling you everything about ZJ’s space would be self-defeating, I haven't finished, for I still have a few points that I would like to make.
The first is to thank ZJ for inspiring me to want to know more about Einstein the man and that, despite the fact that I have an ever-increasing pile of books that I have yet to read. And secondly and altogether more importantly; I want to end, (as a compliment to ZJ,) with that point in her bloging where she ceases to be an academic, (or if you like a consumer of knowledge and understandings) and lets her feelings go. So here in full and in her own words, is her blog of 16/08/05. It gives us a brief glimpse into her private moments and more importantly into her thoughts, about the complex and perhaps, frightening world, in which she is growing up:
"Outside & Inside"
"These days I did some clean-up and searched drawers for the BBC learning tools-- some nice DVDs including "Stephen Hawking's Universe", "The Planets" ...Spending some time watching them, I was deeply inspired by all these splendid celestial phenomena, scientists' concepts of universe, experts' explanations . . . now I realise what I need to do right now is have the meditation/deep muse. . .
"Besides I've just read through some notes and found this piece, which I took it down from some magazine at the school library perhaps years ago.
"As far as the challenge is concerned, he (Hawking) believes that mankind will be able to produce a special space drive system which will enable spacecraft to travel as speed which approach or exceed that of light, so as to escape the confinement of the solar system before the sun explodes, 7.5 billion years hence." Some details are missing, such as what is this challenge refer to, but still I can grasp the meaning, I guess.
"Here's something sensational (appropriate?) said by Hawking.
"Human race will become extinct due to a virus, rather than a nuclear war, before the year 3000."
"Yes we are facing the world much more crucial than any other point of the long history when the first human existed on earth. As the time we are exploring the universe, setting our spacecraft outside the earth and even planning to establish some space stations, etc, etc, let's look at our own planet first.
"What's been caught in your eye?--What a mess! Are we facing the runaway warming is going to push the planet into another ice age, our "starry" neon lights blocking the light of stars from outside, or we are seeing other species living with us on the same planet doomed to extinction ...??? Very likely, the "virus" mentioned is ourselves! Before or during the 19th century, we used to be suffered from enginery war, while in the 20th century, nuclear weapons are showing themselves up. What's next, in the 21st century? Biochemist weapons? ! (Directly transmitted according to what I learned) They are extremely powerful, dead against all species by destroying the cells of living things. Undeniably that's a more clever way to adopt in invading another piece of brother land. But if we aren't clever enough to foresee the future, how can we apply those extreme technologies to practice, so thoughtlessly and carelessly? Every coins has two sides, And ashamly, it's clear that we weren't able to avoid many disasters rooted from hi-Tec by mistake, simply by looking back history. So let's always have a second thought, (or even a third, a fourth...maybe still not enough) before "imposing" something "nice" to reality. Even like times when we speak out something, we should take responsible for ourselves, for others. Oh I can't finish this blog right now, because I need time to have a deeper insight."
__________
For Chris, with all her uncertainties, and the fact that she has just turned 50, survival is the name of the game, which helps to account for that strong strand of humour that is running through her space. Some of it is intended and some is accidental, as here, when in August she set up a Guest Book and wrote this as an enticement:
“Don’t be shy. Please leave your thoughts and comments. Don’t forget to leave your name and tell me a little bit of yourself and where you come from. Chris.”
“Good day. I am a chimney from the city of Geldof and my occupation is a lightbulb.”
Which was quickly followed by an apology for the repetition:
“I do apologies for posting that twice but I was being poked by a spoon.”
But what made me laugh to the point where a tear was running down my cheek, was this, a story that is as profound, - as it is funny:
“About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Chinese had to leave Italy. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Chinese community. So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Chinese community. If the Chinese win they could stay. If the Pope wins, the Chinese would leave. The Chinese realized that they had no other choice. So they picked a middle-aged man named Ah Peh to represent them. Ah Peh asked for one condition to be added to the debate. “To make it more interesting”, he said, “neither side would be allowed to talk”. The Pope agreed.
"The day of the great debate came. Ah Peh and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute. Then the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Ah Peh looked back at him and raised one finger. The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Ah Peh pointed to the ground at where he sat. The Pope pulled out a loaf and a glass of wine. Ah Peh pulled out an apple. The pope stood up and said, “I give up. This man is too good. The Chinese can stay.”
"An hour later, the Cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened? The Pope said, “first I held up three fingers to represent the holy trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and loaf to show that God absolves all sin. He showed me an apple to remind us of the original sin. He had an answer for everything. What can I do?”
"Meanwhile the Chinese community had crowded around Ah Peh. “What happened?” they asked. “Well,” said Ah Peh, “first he indicated that all Chinese had 3 days to get out of here. I replied to him f… off and not one of us was leaving. Then he pointed that this whole city would be cleared of Chinese. I showed him that we were staying right here.” “Yes, and then?” asked the crowd. “I don’t know said Ah Peh. “He took out his lunch I and I took out mine !!!”
© Cormac McCloskey
Note: This blog, "Blogging At Its Very Best", was first published on Windows Live Spaces, by me, on 14th January 2006
Jy can be found here Chris's website, sadly. has disappeared
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