W_L

Freedom in its older sense, dating back to the late Enlightenment, meant an ideal that every person should be allowed equal standards of treatment without racial, ethnic, beliefs, national, or sexual divisions being predicate values that would alter their treatment. Free Association, Speech, and Religion came from this original concept of freedom. Today's concept in the US is very different than what the original concepts were: to the Left political spectrum, freedom means equal rights to property and wealth. To the Right political spectrum, Freedom means removal of standards set by outside powers like a Federal government except under special conditions like national security. I stand in the middle, I believe in standards, but I do not believe in overreach. In essence, I believe that there is a natural "fair" in standards that should not be crossed or abused by either or both sides, which polarization has done to the US over time. We've become a society that has placed the value of security above equal standards. The Chinese have an old saying about that: "When all agree that a deer is a horse, then your kingdom has no laws left for its horses." @Zombie: Don't think the UK is that far behind the US. Freedom has its limits, but the UK is testing its limits faster and earlier than the US.

Something in the air is just making me very political (There's not even a soapbox anymore, but I just feel a surge of energy). I know, I will behave and not post politics in chat or forum areas, but only in my blogs I was just reflecting on American sensibilities over the last 40 years. I think if Watergate were to happen today under the Obama administration, few would bat an eye lash or the US senate attempt to push for impeachment. Woodward and Bernstein would probably be summarily detained and sent off to Gitmo for questioning instead of being heralded as heroes or lauded with awards. In a world full of terror, we have no room for debate or principles. I was talking to a co-worker today, an African American woman who does collections for my company. We were talking about our respective vacations, I mentioned how life is different now with all these travel restrictions and stuff after 9/11.She nodded and said "It's probably better now". I didn't understand what she meant, so I pressed and she answered, "We won't ever have to worry about something big like 9/11." I pointed out that it won't stop crazy people like those two brothers in the Spring and she said, "That took like 12 years, and if we didn't have this stuff now, we'd be in a worse spot." I agreed, but still said, "Well, I wish things could go back to how it used to be in the 90's". She signed "Everyone does, but we are safer now. I'd rather live without worrying about my kids dying in a bombing or having to worry about my own safety. Sometimes the government just has to do certain things" I asked, "Even spying on us?" She answered quickly, "Yes, if you have done nothing wrong, you got nothing to hide. You and me just do our jobs and go on trips, we got nothing to worry about" In her early 50's, she's several decades older than me and had seen the race battles in Boston. I can understand her perspective. Back in her day the bomber wasn't an Arab man or woman looking for glory or virgins in heaven, it was an angry black or white kid, who just wanted fairness in their treatment (Black kids were bus to white dominant school and white kids bus to black schools in Boston as part of a social engineer project for "integration"). The government didn't step on the "security" and "intelligence" side as it does now and race riots kept on happening up into the late 70's. That conversation bugged me for some reason. I kept thinking it over and over in my mind and finally came to a strange conclusion. Many Americans and maybe many other peoples around the world, no longer value older concepts of freedom anymore. We're grinding out our work, going home to watch our favorite TV shows, and go on trips to exotic places, but we have stopped really thinking about principles behind what we do, seeking meaning in life, and just apathetically drag our asses through our days. Sure, you still have people like the Tea Party and Occupy crowd, who believe in "Freedom" in the US, but that's not the kind of freedom that mattered to the average American 40 years ago. While I am a conservative and a hardliner in terms of security and intelligence, I am also a man of principles and know why I am fighting for certain things. If we were in the 1970's, I probably would have been part of the old core of the Republican Party, who might have disliked the scoop by the Washington Post, but would have stood by ideals and vote to impeach Nixon just the same. Today, I challenge any Democrat to do the same and I doubt I'd find many takers, nor would there be much traction in a monolithic aging Republican Party, unless it's against a Democratic African American President. My type of "ruthless idealism" is dead, all that's left is the "ruthless". I was born in 1987, but I still like the old school of principles before actions, honor before deceit. Now, with the recent string of news in the US and UK, I think I was right when I declared to Zombie in the Soapbox a year ago that there are limits to freedoms. I would go further now and say that concepts like freedom are dead and part of a bygone era. From those that lived through the cold war and racial tensions, it must seem like paradise, when you no longer fear anything due to a protective from someone above you, but without anything to fear it is fear itself that scares you most.

However, if such information exists, it was acquired from the US, not the UK at least directly. Threats of exigent terrorist attacks, which are highly improbable based on circumstance, do not mean information or intellectual property of Mr. Miranda/his partner can be infringed. By pursuing such aims the UK would have violated several core principles of international law. Furthermore, the UK terror law does not extend itself towards the violation of EU transit (Mr. Miranda traveled from Berlin), its exceptions under the EU charter do not cover this. All this assumes there was information and the UK home security office had not willfully detained without merit. As this "information" has been deemed "dangerous" we may never know the truth. While I am in the camp that would have assassinated Snowden prior to data release, I will hand my hats off to him and the reporters afterward. I would rather have a black eye than create martyrs with I cause that even I am starting to sympathize with. I find the UK overreach far too disturbing and its methods akin to a host of Totalitarian states in history and fiction, "V for Vendetta" is coming to my mind.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/19/world/europe/greenwald-partner-detained/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 I've been standing on the sidelines for a while, not wanting to weigh in on the NSA secret intelligence operations and other issues, but the detainment of an innocent family member of a Press reporter just stepped over all the lines of this Conservative. Even I have a line in the sand, when it comes to security arrangements and investigations. We have real issues in this world, real threats from ideological and theological extremists, but why are the gun barrels being redirected backwards. It's not just that it was the reporter's gay partner that was detained, of course that makes my blood boil a bit more intensely, it is the audacity that any governments that prides itself as "Free and Open" can claim extensive rights to pursue intelligence beyond normal operational protocols. While this incident occurred in the UK, the US government was told beforehand about it. So let me ask a question, even if gay rights can be obtained under the laws, what does it matter if Civil Rights and Civil Liberties are distorted to the point of irrelevance? Even if you can marry your partner, does it matter if he is also guilty by association? While, I agree that enhanced security measures are needed in times of war and unrest; there's a limit to what any government can do before it becomes a police state. Under the US Constitution, our 1st Amendment under the Bill of Rights guarantees Free Speech and Free Association. Even if your partner might be guilty of releasing sensitive information, you are not guilty by association just due to being one part of a union of two people. Under the UN Declaration of Human Rights, article 19: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." This is a fundamental concept to every nation and to humanity as a whole. This is quite simply wrong on every level. Just had to let out that rant

No, I thank you for reading. I hoped it would have been a better ending. Maybe, I am meant to be alone

Thank you for reading

Thank you

I really do enjoy writing realism into stories; I know it's not pure fiction and there's something interesting about reflecting on your life in a story. You guys can probably pick up various reasons why I am not a great boyfriend from reading my story, I freely admit it, too. I failed to read deeper into the romantic nature of my own relationship; perhaps, I don't know if it was a real relationship or a friendship that could never get launched. Perhaps, I was right in the beginning of it all; the differences were far too great to bridge between us, not even technology can unite a gulf of emotions, backgrounds, and languages. My last micro-chapter, "Don't Believe in Fairy Tales" started off with a fictional italics texts of what I'd love to have happened. Two guys meeting up on the riverbanks in Toronto expressing their deep love for one another, then culiminating in deep steamy sex. I know it doesn't happen in real life, so do many of GA authors even the most diehard romantics. It's a fairy tale that you shouldn't believe in, but you can't escape from. On the plus side, I have actually completed my first well-reviewed story that is non-anthology based. I also wrote in a realistic modern short style that few authors attempt (probably fewer readers enjoy as well). Conceptually, it is based on communications and modern technology, shrinking our daily lives and details down to the tiniest pieces of information imaginable like a line of text. So what are my future plans: Big Squeeze needs a chapter 3, so it will be coming back soon. My most detailed fiction story after my briefest fiction. After that comes out, I have been toying with some concepts about eastern religion. My thought process came up during my exploration and explanation of Chinese Holidays and rituals. I am a fusion religious practitioner, maintaining Taoist traditional concepts and Christian principles, but I prefer philosophically Taoist ideals of natural equilibrium versus Christian hierarchy. Chinese Taoism has influenced other religions in the Far East like Shinto, Zen Buddhism, and Tengrism, a religion that I recently read up on and enjoyed as a divergent viewpoint. Eastern Religion is not completely dogmatic in nature; although, Buddhism has a few notable dogmatic traditions and concepts. Strip away all the fancy rituals, holy texts, and wise masters, you will end up with several facets of Eastern philosophy. 1. There are distinct religions based on concepts about human behavior and our actions: Buddhism beneah the sutras and texts is a religion that is deeply psychological and emotional, seeking to rise above mankind's own basic faults. Desire leads to sufferring is a basic concept within Buddhism that I think everyone can understand, but within "desires" comes a myriad of psychological demons within human beings. 2. There are distinct religions based on concepts about natural processes and evolution (Yes, Evolution as a religious concept can be easy to swallow): Taoism and Tengrism are nature based religions. Early adherents of Taoism were chemists, engineers, and astronomers/astrologers, who gathered readings of the changes in nature and reflected on their meaning and applications. Common people thought it was magic, but the educated gentry understood it was "science" or the "way" nature worked. From them came, compasses, paper, gunpowder, and automated machines. Tengrism holds the development of people and nature over time as part of the natural order, plus it accepts different interpretations of their "one God" concept. You don't need to be part of the Judeo-Christian family of religions to be monotheistic, but there are distinct differences outside of the Bible, Torah, and Qur'an in terms of views on the nature of God. The eastern religions will serve as a backdrop for the plot that develops. I have an idea in my mind for this new story based around Police Officers or Special Federal Agents with a mixture of science fiction, horror, and fantasy elements along with CSI Styled forensics and Criminal Minds Styled profiling. Well that's my plans for now, it might change.

Chapter 9: “Don’t Believe in Fairy Tales” “The two lovers met up on the idyllic banks of the old Canadian city near the river. It was a perfect day without any clouds, only endless blue skies. The birds chirped with magical melodies that inflamed desires in the young and enriches the emotions in the old. The lovers looked around, hoping beyond hope to find their other half to complete this perfect day. Their eyes caught each other, filled with desire and lust. They tried to compose words as

Chapter 8: “What holiday are we celebrating anyway?” It’s that time of year again, when the Chinese holidays of summer begin to flourish in earnest. The August Moon Festival just occurred in Chinatown, where merchants, bankers, and insurance salesmen line the streets offering free key chains and account registration forms. Here’s an oddity that I recently came upon, the United States doesn’t really have many summer holidays. True, July 4th is a Holiday for Americans, even though

We can agree to that, I mean I don't disagree with the final outcome completely, but I don't like the methods involved in reaching it. It's basically international lobbying to conform with another cultures value system. For me, nations and people should be able to make decision for themselves and their future based on their own evolving culture and values, not someone else.

I will be up in Canada next week. Toronto-Montreal area. It is kind of ironic as I am going and he's coming back, but will be interesting. So as a forewarning Chapter 9-the end will be delayed in posting until next Saturday of Language of Love. As for the story: I know Chapter 7 touched on a foreign local hot button issues that most of you guys probably either don't care about or don't even realized existed. Dog meat consumption is a Chinese cultural problem; it's a complex issue, which I do not want to take sides in. Somehow, the conversation went from my dead dog to dog meat and it inspired this chapter. I don't support dog meat, but I also don't like the way it was outlawed either. Sure, animal rights groups, many of them situated and funded in the US, can pressure the Chinese government to outlaw a traditional staple food, but what about all the other groups? IF one day, Fred Phelps and his ilk become multibillionaires, instead of just nutcases, should China ban all gays just to make it more "suitable"? Ask yourself whether this is really the right way to solve the world's problems, by forcing your own values on another people, who may or may not agree to a change. This is not a positive outcome of westernization, but a forceful invasion of moral values on a traditional practice. The practice needs to change, not outlawed so Western tourists and companies will feel more at home in China. Where's self-determination?

Chapter 7: “Gau” Two weeks passed by in my life like a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. In that time my elderly dog passed away. He had been having problems for some time now, but he stopped eating and stopped drinking water. His body began fading away every day and I knew it was time. There’s a debt man has to dogs in any culture or society; once upon a time, we depended on our pets to live. They are more than companions; they are family. Among the twelve Chinese zodia

The chapter length is kind of intentional, this is my modern interpretation of a love story. I just wrote on my blog entry "Writing Minimally" about the length as well, it will help you understand why I wrote this way in comparison to others.

An observation that I need to answer on my story's word length: Yes, I know, my chapters are really short for Language of Love. It's actually intentional. In the modern world, we don't write 10,000-20,000 to describe a day on our blogs or texts, at least for the average person. We shorten and compress it down to 1,000-2,000 words. I could easily make this story longer by adding more descriptions, color, and other facets of my culture or his culture. However, that's not the essence of modern communications. We will leave things out in our life. Writing using modern communication in mind is something I stumbled upon when reflecting on life; I used to write extremely long technical stories and I feel that maybe I lose people along the way due to how much information needs to be conveyed and how many moving parts there were. While it's true, there are many readers that like that style, i.e. it's the Game of Thrones-esque, i am not criticizing other writers or authors, who put in a large amount of time and effort to write longer stories and chapters, I do the same too. What I am just saying is that in personal style, I thought shorter chapters would be more correct for this story. For the Grammar guys on GA, I know there were errors in prior chapter or weird word choices, I will fix them when the story is done. You guys have not come after me yet, thanks, but I know my failings as well. This will probably be either a Novella or Novelletta in its length. We are nearly at the halfway mark for completion.

Chapter 6: “What comes after a date?…The long wait” IF this was a gay fairy tale, we should be picking our china patterns after that night. I know there is a part of me that is a diehard romantic, who wants to believe in true love and something special can happen to ordinary guys. I want to be swept away or sweep someone away into such a world, where anything is possible. However, I’m practical and this is not a fairy tale. I don’t know what “True Love” really is, but based on ex

Thank you for the sycophantic praise I didn't expect such a nice outpouring from GA readers

Who knows maybe the author is actually a closet case and by giving him more money, he will be found one day with 2 kilos of heroin and a call boy in a motel room Sometimes, it's best to let people destroy themselves rather than trying to create or avoid an outcome. The movie looks good

First, I was kind of worried that my story was too Chinese and might have been a little too "Cultural". It felt natural to write based on personal experience and things happening around me. It's a fun writing style and it allows me to write a lot faster and more naturally without worrying about technical terms or financial concepts. One reason why I am churning out a chapter a day. As for some of the more controversial topics touched on, I know I pushed the envelope a bit. In Chapter 3, I made a few criticism of American racial dynamics, but you guys knew I had pointed things to say about that even back in Chapter 1; yeah, I know I am not being PC about American racial relations. Maybe, it will add something fresh into my story, contrasting conflicting racial with conflicting cultural or I might drop it all together, depends on my next Bus trip. Remember all of this is spur of the moment stuff. As for my background and the description of Hakka, it's true. 1/4th of my lineage including my paternal grandfather, which basically identifies me in the same grouping as the Hakka. I'm just describing culture, not depicting my personal advocacy of Patriarchy or anything like that. Even with a Communist mandate of gender equality for decades, traditional concepts like male lineage principles don't die. Just like the US and UK have old boys' network, the Chinese have an even older one. Oddly enough, we all speak Cantonese at home. The Hakka based Chinese language is not one that I ever use. Now for some funny stuff: Yes, I did sing it, drunk and uninhibited. It's not a truly romantic song, more like a song of power and passion in its original context. The translation is as best as I can get it. I know I was definitely not up to par with Francis Yip, whose voice is well beyond my range: Here's the original song: In mainland China, they recently produced a remake of the old TV show "The Bund" with a Mandarin version of the song, it's a decent series, even with Cantonese dubs for people like me::

Chapter 5: “Shanghai Grand” We walked five blocks, crossed 3 intersections, and 2 parking lots filled with Toyotas. We did not speak or text the entire way, but maintained a close proximity to one another as we walked. To most observers, we could easily have been mistaken for a pair of older and younger brothers heading to Chinatown to get some dinner. I was taking him to a restaurant that was located in an alleyway facing a supermarket and a parking lot. On the outs

Thanks Cassie, Seriously, phone messaging is still the only way we can have deep conversations. It's weird medium to establish any type of relationship. If you wonder why I call this story, "Language of Love" you can see it in how we communicate. Email, texting, IM's, and every type of electronic communication without actual verbal.

Chapter 4: “Breaking awkwardness without saying a word” As I approached him, I kept an eye on the camera crew several feet away. On closer inspection, I realized the truth; they were college students. I saw the crimson logo of a well-known university. I doubt they would be interested in the romantic encounter between two Chinese boys, but probably were meeting up to do a shoot in the financial district three blocks away. My city’s Chinatown borders three main areas: the financial

Thanks, I hope it works out for my characters. They seem like nice guys, who just need to find a good combination between them. As for me, I don't know is the best answer I can give.

Chapter 3- “Pok gai !” When I returned home, I saw this email in my inbox: ----------------------------------------- Subject: Tomorrow Hello, Where should we meet tomorrow? When do you want to meet tomorrow? Huítou jian -------------------------------------------------------------- My mind was racing with thoughts, like should we meet early? Should we go directly to the restaurant? Or, how can I back out of this date? While it might seem like

Thanks Cassie for being supportive