My trial shift I took my first trial shift at XXX for a dog show. It was wise of me to start the trip all the way to the west of the city. Also, I did not realize that it would take me so long and so much trouble to find the right site where I should be working. The location might seem rather clear and simple in Google map, but it was not until I actually arrived at the XXX when I found that the “center” was in fact a huge area with several halls sitting here and there, large lawns with recreational vehicles scattered around, and many confusing paths. And the inside layout of the halls was even more perplexing, and I had to turn to different people in charge there. One of the improvements I should make is that I should be more efficient and cheerful in conversation with guests. I was too stiff and nervous. Before asking “May I take your order?” perhaps I can greet my guests whether they have been enjoying the show. It might not be about merely doing the work but doing it in a way that makes my guests relaxed instead of letting my inexperience draw too much attention. Another point is that I should always ask people what they need before I take actions or just assume what the situation is in my own mind. For example, I thought one gentleman was still waiting for his fish & chips, so I took a plate of it to him, only finding that he had already gotten his. But the food in the plate could not be put back to the large tray so we had to throw it away. It made me feel bad to waste food.

My experience as a student rep As soon as I obtained the collective email address of all Asian Studies PhD students’ addresses, I revised my email draft and sent it to everyone in time. However, I had not heard from any of them since then. I double-checked the email address in the bcc box even junk mail, and everything seemed normal because I followed the instruction provided by school staff. I believed students had received my email and just did not want to bother to have a close look due to its much length. So I did not give it a deeper thought. But recently, as the staff-student meeting got nearer, my non-replied email got me more disconcerted. I started to think whether I could make the email more concise and direct to my receivers to attract more attention. I redrafted the email and resent it. This time, the pebble created some splashes. I got three replies and at least one of them made a very critical point. I was glad that I redid the whole thing and achieved some effect. Although students had not reacted much actively towards student reps’ inquiries about opinions or suggestions about our department, I had collected some valuable feedback regarding research funding reservation and distribution, academic career development, and peer students gathering.

Admirable skaters Had I a chance to start my life over, I would choose to put myself into the shoes of one of the Russian figure skaters such as Alina or Alexandra. These girls have an overall celebrated talent for jumping, spinning, and dancing on the ice, and most importantly, "exploiting" themselves in trainings yet without being pulverized by physical or mental pressure. Both of them are trained by the coach named Eteri who believes that only 200% of quotidian hard training can guarantee a 100% bringing-into-play of an athlete's ability in competitions. I simply cannot imagine what it would be like to accept such degree of trainings day after day, which explains why I am keen on getting a flavor of it. Neither of Alina and Alexandra have arresting beauty, but it never keeps everybody riveting their eyes on them. But both are skaters who will mesmerize the audience by performances and impress them with an evident sense of strength. Other skaters in the same competition have to mentally self-prepare for being "slayed" by the two Russian competitors ---- Alina and Alexandra do not usually show how they are fully pumped up with aggression before competitions start, but one can definitely sense their ambition and desire for the gold from their rocketing/roaring (?) scores leaving other skaters' way behind.

The city I live in The city has given me some new flavors of itself. Having spent longer time here, I begin to have the chance to see and experience "the other side of the moon" apart from the touristy and the quaint. I saw a man who seemed on drugs and shout nonsense on the street in a working-day morning; in a supermarket queue, a stranger standing before me tried hitting on me in a Saturday evening; I once walked pass by a fresh murder scene on a busy street; sometimes, weird people whom I did not know tried giving me a fright but what they usually got was merely my confused face; there was more than once when I turned to the same supermarket keeper for help over the self-checkout machines, he talked me out of the trouble I was stuck in in a really slow pace as if I were three; I even found myself in a situation where I had to do with food short supply in a snowstorm. But these nasty little memories did not make me love the city less. I somehow feel a little bit proud of myself because I no longer feel like a tourist; I have become a true inhabitant of the city.

An email draft This is an email that I am going to send to my fellow students. Could you please check its tone and expressions? Thank you. Dear all, I hope this email finds you well. My name is XXX, and I serve as a student rep representing all the PhD students in Asian Studies this semester. My duty is to collect feedbacks concerning your experiences studying and developing at our school and our university. Later, I will advance your opinions to university staff, negotiate with them, and help tackle problems to benefit you more. Therefore, if you feel like sharing ideas or bringing up questions about academic support, learning and research, pastoral support, facilities and community, or more, please contact me. Facebook contact (XXX), dropping me emails, or meeting in person, whichever suits you will be great! Thank you for reading and good luck with your semester! Best wishes, XXX

Diary on an Internet game I'm having a crush on an anime/Internet game character. When I listen to the song of this character, I was so carried away by my obsession with him. Inspirational, crushed and then melting, I could not help feeling all these overwhelming emotions at the same time, which is not strange at all - who would not marvel at and fall for a perfect combination of strength and utter beauty? The character along with roughly a hundred of others are all designed for a popular Japanese Internet game Touken Ranbu. The game has its drawbacks. For example, the purpose of fighting - to "protect the past history" - does not make much sense to me. This purpose seems to exist in the abstract and calls for much concrete, additional explanation. Perhaps the game just intends to make players feel the excitement where their blood pumped into their heads every time they see those exquisitely designed characters draw their swords. Indeed, for many players drooling over their favorite game characters, what matters the most is nothing more than the aesthetic enjoyment brought out by the game, which breeds rich fantasies.

Those figure skaters I know how hard it is to keep making greater achievements in life and career. In my university, some students got the National Scholarship because they ranked very high in their majors for the first year. But very few managed to keep their honourable places up there and get the scholarship four years in a row. Some of my friends set up fabulous and promising long-term plans covering the whole university period, but few kept to the plans. Most of us got boosted at first by our huge and bright visions but later tossed our decisions aside silently. So we kept pacing around within our little circles of the boring and even bleak present. How come we never noticed that? But there are many figure skaters who give me a sense of their inspiring lifestyles through their performances in competitions. They are the kind of people who would achieve what they promise. They are like magical in a real sense because they make wishes and the wishes come true. To put it in a more direct way, I watched a skater compete and reaped a gold medal, I thought she was going to win the next game just as well, and it turned out exactly the way I expected. We audience see the skaters win once, and we think it natural for them to win the following games as if they were born champions. But they can never be like that. Eteri once said in an interview that people could never imagine how hardworking Zhenya had been in order to keep her own sky-high records in figure skating. A person becoming better and better in anyway should not be taken for granted, because it must have cost the person much energy and time. In this sense, it is no less than a miracle for a skater to break his or her records again and again, especially when s/he was already a gold-medalist in the debut, leaving everybody else far behind. How can there be anything more impelling than this incessant self-transcendence? I cannot help marvelling at those skaters' perseverance, firmness and iron will.