Gloria's Blog

Last week, I was in a friend’s home. Someone raised a question: "What is the opposite of love?" I had an answer. I didn’t say it. Someone else said, “Fear.” I couldn’t fully understand it at the time. But now I understand. *** Have you loved someone deeply but eventually have to end that relationship? What made you give up on the love? Is it out of fear? Fear of failure, fear of losing, fear of uncertain future, fear of the abundance of obstacles. You are fearful of a soul crashing breakup sometime in the future so much that you’d rather have it, right now. When my mother was in her last stage of illness. One day, at breakfast table, my dad said, “Be prepared. That day can come any time this months.” It is one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. – you are going to lose someone that you can’t live without, soon, but you don’t know when, any second is possible. Fear is indeed the opposite of love, in this case. ***  Do you have this kind of experiences:...

The other day, a friend asked me: "Do you write novel?" Me: "What scene?" Him: "Love. Doubt. Courage." Me: "Any other constraints?" Him: "100 words. Exact." So here you go. This novel is dedicated to the people who are unsure about love, or people who are unsure whether their personal passion can turn into a career.  ********* Will This Work You ask me Will this work You think a lot Nine years apart Well my mom is ninety, healthy Genetically My life’ll be lengthy You’ve young kids to take care Well you have three side projects Holding your heart tight Keeping you up at night You don’t speak Chinese You’ll never speak to my heart Well you sure Ma Chi Fan Le Ma Ni Ai Wo Ma Oh God You are a lot Well if I am not You are already bored So Will this work If you want it to Same to everything That you’re putting your heart into ********* Dear friend, thank you for your attent...

I have written a series of six blogs related to the happenings in Christmas 2017. This is the first one. *** Christmas is a holiday meant to be spent with loved ones. It can be hard for people who are not surrounded by them, and didn't plan the travel in advance. On Christmas Eve, I didn't go to my friends' place to eat and hangout. I don't like being with people for the sake of being with people. I learned to say no. Recently I am reading the book Originals by Adam Grant. I was thinking, how to spend Christmas in an *original* way. Christmas has been a sad holiday for me. Six years ago, my mom passed away shortly before Christmas. I lived in Shanghai. At the time, the most painful things were the joyfully festive decorations and cheerful faces on the streets, when I was feeling absolutely lonely and lost. So I went to Yunnan, a remote area by myself. I realized all the emotions are following me and from inside, and it's probably better idea to be s...

Last week, I went to the Microsoft Redmond campus for the annual AI and Machine Learning Conference. It was a fantastic conference! But in the afternoon, I had a serious information overflow. I can't intake and process any more info. So I hopped on a Lyft. Driver's name is Jeff. When I was on the car, Jeff started talking to me. We started by chatting about random things. For example, he said, "Well, Wednesday is usually slow. But you sometimes get a lot of riders. It's either a hit or a miss." - I was passively listening and said "hum interesting.", and thinking, well, you said a lot but you said nothing. Then Jeff started to talk about the new airport pick-up service that Uber just introduced. I got a bit more interested. I asked him some more details about how the service work. He couldn't really explain. And he is aware of that. - Then I was politely passively listening again, about to plug in my earphones for some music. After Jeff fi...

I got to know Ed Sheeran when I was in a friend's car. He was playing Ed Sheeran's radio. The song I heard at the time was "How would you feel". I didn't know. I asked Siri. I am not sure if it’s the especially good audio in his car, or it's the song. It just stuck with me. After I came back home, I searched him online, and realized so many songs I like are by him. I listened to more of his songs. And then, I came across a particular one. It's called "Perfect". I watched the MV on YouTube . I don't know how to perfectly describe the feeling. I am addicted and overwhelmed, by it and all the things it brought to me. (Yes it is a love song. But no I am not thinking about my love stories) And, this is what happened when I listen to a song for over 30 times in a single night. I mean, do nothing but just staring at the screen and listen. 1 The first thing I was wondering was, what has this guy been through to be able to write a song li...