Marie Antoinette

I went to a Ballet show today with my friend --- Marie Antoinette. Marie was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France. She was married to King Louis XVI at the age of 14 and gave birth to four children in her life.

The ballet show depicted mainly two scenes: The first scene was the marriage of Marie and Louis XVI. She was ripped off her Austrian clothes, and put on French clothes on the wedding day. The little girl then started a "glamorous" new life in a foreign country that nobody really cared about her... Initially charmed by her personality and beauty, the French people generally came to dislike her, accusing "the Austrian" of being profligate and promiscuous.

The second scene was French Revolution. Louis XVI was deposed and the monarchy abolished; the royal family was subsequently imprisoned at the Prison. Nine months after her husband's execution, Marie Antoinette was herself tried, convicted of treason, and executed. Her boys were executed as well, leaving only her daughter back to the Austria and raised by her uncle.

It is the first Ballet show for me. In Madonna's vogue video, there are several ballet dancing scenes which showed incredible performance. It motivated me to see this real ballet show. My friend felt funny: "Madonna drove you to Ballet...." I said:"Right, she was in Ballet major in college.:)" I really like the dancing mixed with background orchestra. It has the striking influence to the heart. The story was ok, not stunning. It's more of a real-life description of Marie, to see her as a human, as a woman. At one moment, life can be glamorous, at the other moment, it can be taken away with no reason. So does power. All are fragile. Why bother to take those too seriously?

New Member of the Family

I was walking on the street from the apartment gym to my apartment. The cat was on a tree "talking" to me while I was passing. I stopped and went down. He ran to me immediately as if we knew each other. The weather was cold and I was wearing shorts. He hid beneath me enjoying the heat of my legs. I caressed him and he made happy sounds. I stood up and kept walking, he just followed me all the way... I stopped, he stopped. I walked, he followed. A guy passing by asked:"Are you walking your cat? I have never seen people walking their cat before." I laughed: "It's not my cat, but he is following me." It reminded me of my old cat "Xiaoya", who always followed me anywhere, like a dog. Finally I got home, and the cat was still with me, jumping and running around. Seems no invitation was needed, he became a guest of my home. We served him some fresh Salmon and beef, and he ate them all up. He was a smart cat because most of Amecian cats don't eat fish or beef, but only cat food. After dinner, we opened the door to see if he needed to go back to nature. But he was comfortably lying on the floor, with no intention of leaving.

This little cat shared a lot in common with "Xiaoya", similar face, similar voice, similar shape. And he appeared just at the time when I missed and felt deeply sorry for my old cat. It touched my sorrow of leaving "Xiaoya" without saying anything. If she is still alive, she would probably wonder why I left her. She had been always loyal to me like a dog, although she was too naughty to mess things up, but I left her for my own future. Now this cat is here, waiting for me to give him a warm home. Is it a destiny?

Running Status Update

I have been running for two months, six days a week (one day off each week to rest my knees). I finished 3.4km (9.5 racetrack rounds) in 18'40'' today. It is the best record so far.

1. It seems 3.4km is not long enough for the current energy level. I don't sweat much or breath heavily for such length. To keep up with the energy level, I will start running 5km (14 racetrack rounds) from tomorrow. The first goal is to finish in 30'00'', then 29'00'', ultimately 28'00''.

2. My friend suggested Yoga which was good for body flexibility and wouldn't build up muscles. I knew it was a good way of exercising, but it was too "quiet" for me. I love sweating and hearing the heavy heart beat in running, as a confirmation of being alive. :) Maybe I should try Yoga after running as a relaxation and flexibility training method.

3. Regarding muscles, both Madonna and Gaga have muscles. So I don't care about growing muscles now. But I should probably shape the muscles especially the upper body muscles. Yoga is a good way to shape muscles, but still it is too "quiet" for me so I probably can't keep doing it for long. Dancing would be another way to shape muscles, but it requires time, space, techniques, a couple of dancing friends, which are difficult to handle. I will find a solution or alternative ways.

Black Swan --- Obsession

Black Swan has successfully revealed many dark sides of life, like the nature of fear, the truth of perfection. But one inspiring issue was obsession --- Nina's unlimited desire for success, the extreme pursuit of perfection, and her mad practicing for precision, all of which were to some extent sick, in the meanwhile beautiful and inspiring in my view. Although she was badly injured in the end, her public show turned out to be a great success. The beauty was beyond human life, as if any instance of the human body was no longer important. I can't help but wondering: does any great piece of work require such sick pursuit of perfection?

It is probably true. Madonna worked 20 hours per day for her music video "4 Minutes". She mentioned in one of her interviews that she was a workaholic and didn't know how to relax. Gaga didn't sleep for eight days while on tour. She said in one of her concerts: "You know, when people say 'Lady Gaga is really tired, she needs to take a break', I just think about all those times when I sang in bars when nobody was singing my lyrics. I'll sleep when I'm dead." Life is short. It is too easy to let it go away without achieving anything. Taking a look at the wikipedia of Madonna, it is full of stories and achievements. And click on the hyperlinks of the models that she dated, half screen content on wikipedia as if they never existed. Everybody is living in the world, happy or unhappy, healthy or unhealthy. How to make one distinguishable from other people? Through achievements! They could be big, or small, positive or negative, all of which are dependent on one's heart and will. To make oneself distinguishable in a positive way, one definitely needs the obsession for work. I don't know why people like to criticize on Madonna's personal life, but her achievements have demonstrated she was a work orientated person who had positive and healthy attitudes towards life. With her beautiful artwork, the instance of her body becomes unimportant.