ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

I finally got some time to work on this chapter. If you are interested in reading the previous chapters, this is the link. http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/33846179

A Fictional Story – A Glimpse of the Past (Continued)

Written by Elisa English, all rights reserved

I finally got some time to work on this chapter.   If you are interested in reading the previous chapters, this is the link.  http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/33846179  

A Fictional Story – A Glimpse of the Past (Continued)

Written by Elisa English, all rights reserved

Short Stories by Elisa English

(2) A Fictional Story: A Glimpse of the Past

Are you happy?  -  A poem by Elisa English

Are you happy? 

My Gratitude - A poem by Elisa English

So many to thank for

My two little silly geese - A poem by Elisa English

Written by Elisa English, 版權所有

On 3/23/2011 in Minneapolis

Rather then reposting the revision of what I wrote previously, I have decided to make this article sticky for a few days. I made the revision in April but didn't get the time to post it. ** Please see highlighted for the revision made on 4/18/2011.

I have also written the fourth chapter on 4/18/2011 but didn't post it because I was not pleased with what I wrote. However, I didn't have time to tweak it, so I might post what I wrote so far when I have time.

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About my fictional story

I want to talk about why I picked the sensitive and controversial topics for my recent fictional story.  I have worked at my current company for almost fifteen years.    Our company is a fortune 300 company with employees of more than 5,000 people in Minneapolis alone, excluding advisors.  All these years that I worked there, half of the colleagues whom I currently work with or have worked with in the past are either gays or lesbians.  What I felt working with them is that they are pretty sensitive and sometimes more considerate of others.  I actually have become good friends with some of them.  I especially like the gay boss whom I used to work for.  He is always so gentle and considerate of his subordinates.  I was sad when he moved on to another department.  I like to choose whom I work for.  Since he left the department, I decided to leave too.  Later, I accepted a position at another department but the manager who hired me got a promotion, so I had a new boss again.  The reason that I like to choose whom I work for is to avoid working for a bad boss.  This unexpected change turned out to be the worst experience that I had.  I had the worst boss I ever had, someone who lacks empathy and integrity.  I was fortunate enough to get out of the situation in two weeks by stating that the nature of my job has changed significantly from what I originally signed up for, so I should not be bound to the time restriction of posting for another position.          

This is to continue where I left off.  Since I didn’t revise what I wrote previously, I decided to just post the new plots.  This way, you won’t feel bogged down by my tedious article.  In case you couldn’t recall what I wrote earlier or if you haven’t read it before, this is the link to it.  http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/26929750

Beware!  Some of the contents in this article contain sensitive and controversial topics which some readers might find objectionable.  This is just a fictional story which might portray some reality in life but not in its entirety.     

The installation this weekend went pretty smoothly, so I didn’t have much down time to pass nor think about the plots let alone the conclusion.  I am sorry to have to disappoint you.  I still don’t know where I am heading and how to end the story.  By the way, since this is work in progress, I constantly reread what I wrote and revise it.  So if you have read what I wrote previously, you might want to reread it again.  I have reposted what I wrote earlier with additional plot.  If you are tired of reading what you have already read, you can start with the part highlighted which contains the new plot.  Please bear with me while I try to put an end to this story.  By the way, I have come up with a title for the story but might rename it later, depending on where the plots lead.        

Written by Elisa English, all rights reserved

I have survived another weekend installation. This is what I wrote to pass my down time while stranded at home with work.  I tweaked a little bit of what I wrote previously the weekend before, so you might find it familiar if you have already read what I wrote earlier. 

The tone of my story is somewhat gloomy. My husband said that I should write something more cheerful. Like I said before, I lack creativity and don't know how to write fiction. It is all just to pass my down time for the weekends since I was and will be again stranded at home with work. I don’t know where the story is heading. It might not even have an ending. Anyway, I still have another weekend to write and think about the conclusion.     

You’ve probably heard me complaining of spending my weekends working on project implementation.  Starting this weekend, I have to go through three weekends’ of project implementation and that does not sound fun at all.  I am basically stranded at home, having conferences after conferences to ensure that installation is carried out successfully without any issue.  I have just ended all of the conferences today.  Luckily, I don’t have any more conference tomorrow.  Everything went pretty smoothly.  Between the conferences, there really wasn’t that much downtime to pass, other than writing a fictional story.  All my family members were out having fun.  My son went skiing at Trollhaugen.  My daughter went skating and then swimming with her dad.  It might seem strange to write fiction to pass one’s downtime between conferences.  I am not fond of writing fiction as I lack creativity.  So, why even try writing one to pass the downtime?  Don’t laugh at me!  Since I lack of creativity, I couldn’t think of anything else to do.   I have two more installations for the following weekends.  Maybe I will complete this story then.  I haven’t thought of the title yet.      

Written by Elisa English, all rights reserved

So far, we have had four snowfalls this winter.  I thought that maybe it is time to write a snow poem.

This is a fictional story, initially inspired by a recent event that occurred right after Halloween.  I am bad at writing a fictional story.  I am not a creative person.  It is hard for me to invent something out of the blue.  I didn’t have a plot outline when I started writing this story.  However, like most people, I hate a story started without an ending.  Hopefully, my desire to bring a closure to the story did not make it an abrupt ending.  By the way, I have not proof-read the story, so you might see more edits, revisions and corrections to the story when I get to it.           

Gone with the Wind - A poem 

Written by Elisa English, 版權所有

On 11/3/2010 in Minneapolis

It has been three days.  I still struggle to put all the pieces together.  I don’t know what to think, what to say or what to write.  I thought of the incident that happened roughly five years ago.  At that time, my hormone was extremely high due to pregnancy.  I simply broke down while hearing the confirmation of the death of another coworker.  I had known him for about ten months before he developed into a full blown heart attack at work while altercating with a Medco representative on the phone over the delay of his medication.  It was too late to resurrect him.  They believed that he had died on the spot.  Five years later, when you didn’t show up for work and when nobody could reach you, they decided to call your brother to check on you at home.  It was out of your character not to notify anyone of your whereabouts and not to report to work for any reason since work was your entire life.  We were shocked to learn that you were dead.    

I heard speculations of your death from some of your close friends.  Your death makes us realize how fragile life is and what our priority should be.  It is too late to say anything at this point.  However, I still want to say that there is always a way out.  I have known you for over 10 years.  Though I was not close to you nor had I worked with you, things just don’t seem the same without you.  It is somewhat hard for me to go to the funeral.  I hate the sad scene.  I am still pondering if I should go.  If you don’t see me there, here is what I have written for you.  It might be hard for you to read because I don’t understand my own mumbling either.

When I translated the poem “如夢令” written by 李清照, someone asked if I would also translate the poem “如夢令” written by 向滈.  I didn’t respond at that time because I was somewhat busy and have gotten a little bit tired of writing.  Since I will be working 20 h0urs this week, I have some leisure time to look into this. 

Are you wondering why I only have to work 20 hours this week?  If you know me, you would know that I don’t like stress.  Raising two overly active kids and having a full time job is pretty stressful.  So, when my husband has to go on a business trip, our entire family would usually tag along.  However, we did not this time due to the extreme humidity and the intolerably high weather temperature in Austin, Texas this week.  Since I am stuck with our two kids, I have decided to take some time off from work.  In addition, I do not have an alternative daycare for my daughter whose daycare will be off tomorrow and Friday.  With the reduced work hours this week, I can have a better control of my day.  I can also take my son to the doctor’s to get his cast off.  Maybe for tomorrow after the conference call, I will take my daughter to the mall for lunch.  We can also take a walk at the park after I pick up my son.  As for Friday, I plan to bring my daughter to the State Fair and attend my department’s outing event in the afternoon. 

This is another poem that I was asked to translate, also by 李清照.  The poem is 如夢令.  As I said earlier and as always, it is extremely difficult to translate her poems or any of the Chinese poems.  It is never easy to capture the essence of the poem and to portray the beauty of the original poem through translation.  My translation is based on the interpretation from the link below. 

http://tw.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/question?qid=1009090407383

Memories live on  

A poem dedicated to my father-in-law and to those who lost their love ones

Written by Elisa English