With the Games less than ten days to go, red round lanterns and flags of Fuwa are being put up along high streets. The National Stadium staged a full dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony last night. Subway passengers are required to go through a hand luggage screening checkpoint. Reconnaissance aircrafts are hovering above our heads. The "Yanjing Beer"(and "China Mobile")-logoed volunteer T-shirt is ubiquitous.

"Journey to the East", BBC sport's marketing video for their Olympics coverage——
Is that a compliment or mockery?
http://2008.163.com/08/0728/10/4HUASSFU00742QL2.html
The image of 沙僧 is really horrifying. When I first saw it I thought it was 白骨精.

I received a call from C press this afternoon.
This year they will publish my Chinese translation of the RDM series book.
First proof has just arrived. Hee hee.
It's the happiest proofreading work I've ever done.

Three weeks ago I went to an interview with Zhang and Caicai, President and Vice-President of Xianliao Fan Club. The interview consisted of watching Kungfu Panda and happy chit chat time over lunch. (I've skipped what could have been a long introduction to the whole story so if you don't know what I'm talking about, just ignore it.)
But I won't forget to introduce these two great leaders haha:

Zhang, an algorithmist specialized in automatic translation research. His work may one day lead to revolutionary changes in the translation industry. Translators Beware!  :D:D
Caicai, an architect turned education consultant who speaks several foreign languages and mentors students in study abroad programs. Bubbly, personable and sweet, this gril practically oozes charisma and magnetic appeal. :D:D:D:D

Last but not least!
Yang, a former journalist at one of the most popular evening newspapers in the capital but incidentally became my coworker three months ago.
Hi Dear,
I think I'd better address you as "you" instead of "she":)
You are one of the most fantastic people I've ever met.
Your radiant smile and your warm, lilting greeting "Hi, xinxin!" every weekday morning lighted up my life. I was grateful and happy with you sitting right opposite me in this office. We talked, laughed and shared stories, and though three months are short, we both grew and changed.
When you have "settled down" (ha ha!), give me a call.
 
Miss ya.
xinxin

I was born and grew up in the Tiyuguan Rd. neighborhood. I do not live there now, but it's still one of my favorite hangout places.

My family's old home is at No.7, Fahuasi St., only one block away from Beijing Stadium and State Administration of Sports headquarters building. Ever since I was a little child I'd been used to seeing really big, athletic, long guys in and around the Stadium complex.

But these athletes rarely appeared in crowed, public places. The SAS complex always looked so quiet and secluded that sometimes we just forgot its existence, and there was never a buzz about Guo’an Team training on the stadium turf court every weekend, nor was anyone aware of the fact that a couple of nationally renowned sports physicians were residing in that small, unassuming Sports Hospital building near their home.

My mom once told me she saw Liu Xiang outside a consulting room at Sports Hospital. It was last October when she was recovering from her ankle injury. She had an appointment with a reputable physician there but had to wait at the door for more than half an hour. She was wondering why it took so long to finish up with the previous patient when the door opened and she ended up in a daze with this big, athletic, long guy towering over her (my mom has a small frame). When I arrived at the hospital to take her home, that 'patient' was gone. My star-shocked mom told me about this encounter and I was like "Wow, wow, wow!!" I'm a big fan of Liu ha.

But why was the Shanghai-based hurdler seeing a doctor at this small hospital in Beijing anyway?
Then one day when I watched sports news on TV with mom I was gobsmacked to find out that she actually couldn't tell Liu Xiang from Yao Ming. OMG!!!
Who she saw that day could be anyone above 6.2 ft. with an athletic build.

Last Wednesday I saw Yi Jianlian very up close. Yi was driving through the front gate of SAS Training Bureau, just about to turn right onto the main street. I was walking towards the same direction—a pedestrain traffic light in the middle of the street, several yards away from the front gate. I was picking up the pace because the light had turned green. Then I heard a horn, I stopped and turned to see a large glitzy SUV right beside me. Its young rider—the big boy Yi—looked much more mature than his age (18?), and much more handsome off the screen haha.

I got caught in the big downpour last night.

I stood waiting at a bus shelter with some other unlucky pedestrians and together we watched a dramatic thunderstorm show. An hour later, after a long (normally a ten minutes' walk) tough journey crossing two rivers several inches deep, I arrived home with my skirt dripping like a leaky tap.

What was expected to be another sauna-like sultry summer has actually begun with an uncharacteristically cool, rainy month. That eerily corresponds to an uncharacteristically ill-fated sequence of events in the first half of 2008 (a number the Chinese traditionally associate with luck).