The story of my life It’s kind of hard to outline the pattern of my life since I have been continuously trying to be a better me and shaping a brand new pattern . However, I’m pretty glad to make a summary of the previous story of my life. When I was young, I thought normal life is boring. Looking at the people around me, I couldn’t understand why people would like to do the same work from dawn to dusk, year after year. I asked, “What’s the sense of normal life? Are we born just to survive?” And I didn’t want to be one of those normal ones. Get it? I was simple and naive. I refused to gossip with others and talk about the so-called “reality”. I yearned for life with the brightness of blue sky and salty smell of deep ocean. And I was proud of myself for dreaming to be uncommon. I made those rosy dreams and did romantic things for my own happiness. When I was coming of age, I realized how foolish I was. Those “norm” life I enjoyed was at the cost of the endeavors of people who loved me. What you see is not what you get. Books teach me politician just say what they should say. So before I judge what the government does, I would consider why they made the decisions. Biological lessons teach me human are born to survive and flourish. So the idea of good marriages and big houses are our natural desire and requirement. Economics teach me things are worthy what they cost. Cheap things and free services cost unseen yet precious price of yours. Now I don’t look down on the wishes of stable lives any more. Normal life is not boring. As one of those common people living common life, I’m not ashamed. But I want more beyond that. I strive to do what other people can’t do. The hairless ape inside me drives me to be adapted to the society and make me live well. The “Sophie” inside my mind reminds me of my ability to be a better person. In a nutshell, my daily routine is to take challenges and embrace a better me. Writing essays every day is one of them.

A houseplant is dying. Tell it why it should live. Dear Mint: Do you feel a little bit better now? I’m so sorry for what just happened to you. It was all my fault. I’m a fool! I should have come home earlier. But, trust me! you will get it over. You are a mint. Mints are born to be extremely resistant to harsh environment. Remember the day you were delivered to me? You were tired after a long journey and looked shriveled just like you are now. And I placed you in the soft bed and fed you some clear water. After resting for a night, you recovered. I felt surprised at your strong stem and juicy leaves. Every vein and hair you own was shining. We were friends since then. Every dusk I come to the balcony to see if you are thirsty or not. And every dawn I come to see if the sunshine satisfy you. You know what? I love your smell. That special fragrance is better than any perfume on earth. Please persist My dear friend,. Remember your dream of having a baby? It’ll come true soon for autumn is coming. You will have tiny and cute flowers. And I will collect your baby seeds and plant them around you. You will be a fantastic mom! Aren’t you excited now? Please keep up. Drink the water slowly and have asweet dream tonight. I’m just here. I’ll always be here. Yours, Irene

Rent a house and live your life This summer, I finally moved out from the school dormitory. That's really a dream that comes true. I have lived in boarding schools since 12 at middle school. It was good times; it was bad times. There are memories of staying up late with roomates chatting and laughing, horsing around the farmland adjacent to the school. There also exist bad memories of the undercooked rice and terrible food. I have been paying attention to the home interior design information and picturing the house I would live in. A balcony is a must-have so that I can drink tea and read books surrounded by roses and ivy. A cheval mirror should be next to the door so I can see the best of me every morning. And lastly but most importantly, the house should have a refrigerator in it so I can stock tons of delicious food there. What's going on with the dream house now? Well, it's not so big.Thanks to IKEA, I got cheap but elegant TÄRNÖ and KNIPPE. And I add more plants to the little balcony now. The house is changing day by day. Now, it's time to go home and make myself a cup of barfait.

One day without WiFi What does people do to entertain themselves without the Internet？That's what I was pondering after living a day without WiFi. Whoops! I did connect to some wifi for 1 or 2 hours in the Starbucks. And my answer is that I feel like an ape who just falls to the earth without knowing what's going on and what people are laughing at. However, I somehow felt glad to concentrate on making my favorite potato salad. Looking at those plants I plant in the balcony, I felt excited that a baby leaf was coming out. Besides, reading a book which I always wanted to finish makes me feel deeper in thought. So maybe I should rearrange my time schedule. In addition to peppering my life with social network and fun youtube videos, I could also make myself busy with things that have physical entities like a book or nice food.

Who is the most lovely man in the world? The courier. On entering my office this morning, I got a text on my cell phone. So I checked it and guess what? It's from some courier. He was going to carry me the beautiful cushion that I ordered yesterday on Taobao. Evertime I take packages from a courier's hand, I feel that he is the Santa Claus carrying the present for me. Of course, I'm the one who pay for it. Yet, it's still exciting and makes you feel grateful to get your favored things without going somewhere hundreds of miles away. Thanks to Jack Ma and his cofounded e-commerce platform Taobao, we Chinese consumers can enjoy the fun of shopping online. The Taobao is something like Amazon founded by Jeff Bazos. Taobao's success has a lot to do with the logistics companies .And the lovely couriers I mentioned are from logistics companies like Shengtong Express. The Chinese are becoming more and more dependant on shopping on the Internet. Accordingly, on Singles' Day 2015, 467 million packages were generated on Alibaba's websites including Taobao, Tianmao and so on. To deliver all those goods, more than 1.7 million couriers were required.That's brilliant! It's those couriers who make shopping easier and cheaper. The work of delivering goods consists of shuffling back and forth under the scording sun or in the heavy rain. It's hard and laborious. That's also the reason why most of the couriers in China are men. What are the women doing while men are delivering? Well, they formed the major army of shopping force.

Our umbrellas, ourselves Today I'd like to share with you one interesting phenomena in China. It's summer now. And whenever you walk on the street, people are holding their umbrella( ~stay under my umbrella, ella, ella~). We do love umbrellas. In rainy days, it's no doubt that umbrella is a must-have. But when it's full of sunshine, it doesn't make sense to carry an umbrella. Does the weather change too soon that we have to make preparations for a sudden storm. Well, no. It's for the sunshine. The umbrella provides a piece of shadow for us. Why not put on sunscreen lotion or sunglasses? Because holding an umbrella is cheap and easy! For women, it's better to arm to the teeth-sunscreen, sunglasses plus umbrella. Are we Chinese vampires and sensitive to the sunshine? No. White is many Chinese girls‘ favorite skin color. And the sun is the enemy of white tone. So umbrella has become good friends of women in China. What about men, then? Nowadays, men also started to hold unbrellas under the scorching sun. Maybe they also started to enjoy the coolness brought by the piece of cloth. One of my foreign friend summerised: Chinese is afraid of two things-rain and sun. Ha~ha~ha!