CAI JING’s gallery

Today is my last work day in Manhattan, so after the classes, I went to the Hale and Hearty Soup on 64th&Lexington to have a long lunch break. I ordered 2 soups, one for me, and one for the baby. That little store was as crowded as usual, so I waited at the corner for a table. Not long after there’s a vacancy…good, I walked toward the seat… and suddenly, I didn’t know from where and how, there was a woman who quickly stepped in front of me. I looked at the woman confusedly because I didn’t expect this to happen in NYC. She simply said:” I have a pregnant friend.” then sat down. She did have a pregnant friend so my first reaction was “I’m sorry” and waited for another table… but wait… I’m pregnant, too! Why should I be sorry for? At least you should say thanks. Just because I don’t have the “American pregnant figure”, I’m not as huge as some people are, I don’t deserve the privilege?! I wanted to walk to that woman and say: you know what? I’m pregnant, too. But I don’t have a rude non-pregnant friend with me… oh well, I’m too shy a person to start any argument in public, it’s just not me.

Speaking about my belly, it’s 5 months so far and I think it’s pretty big and obvious compared to my tiny body. But still, no one ever give me a seat on the train even when it’s crowed. Sometimes I’m not happy with this, imagine after a long day of work, you take an hour train ride back home with a heavy belly, you show your belly in front of kind looking people sitting there, but she/he just stares at you belly and won’t get up… I always wondered why, because American people usually have good public manners. One day I suddenly realized when I sat on a train and looked around: most American people look pregnant …more than me!…including some men… oh well, that’s the way it is in this country.

Le beau lever de soleil

Devant une peinture moderne:
— Magnifique, ce tableau. Quelles couleurs! Ce peintre, quel talent! Vraiment, c’est un très beau lever de soleil.
— Je ne pense pas, Monsieur, je connais le peintre. Elle ne sort jamais du lit avant midi. A mon avis, c’est plutôt un coucher de soleil!

In front of a modern painting:
— Magnificent, the picture. What colors! The painter, so talented! Really, it’s a very beautiful picture of sunrise.
— I don’t think so, sir, I know the painter. She never gets up before noon. In my opinion, it’s rather a painting of sunset.

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement.

As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied… “Things aren’t always what they seem”.

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel “how could you have let this happen!? The first man had everything, yet you helped him,” she accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let their cow die.”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave her the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”

Sometimes this is exactly what happens when things don’t turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You might not know it until some time later.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?”

Hands started going up.

He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?”

Still the hands were up in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. “Now who still wants it?” Still the hands went into the air.

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special - Don’t ever forget it!

A crowded Air Canada flight was cancelled. A single agent was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travellers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket on the counter and said “I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS.”

The agent replied, “I am sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you,but,I’ve got to help these folks first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”

The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”

Without hesitating, the agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone, “May I have your attention please, ” she began, her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”

With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the Air Canada agent, gritted his teeth and swore “F*** You!”.

Without flinching, she smiled and said, “I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to get in line for that too!”

Sir, What is the secret of your success?”
“Two words”
“And, Sir, what are they?”
“Right decisions.”
“And how do you make right decisions?”
“One word.”
“And, What is that?”
“Experience.”
“And how do you get Experience?”
“Two words”
“And, Sir, what are they?”
“Wrong decisions”.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar…… and the beer.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with an unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things—your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions, things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter—like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else—the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical check-ups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked.” he said, “It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”