Twittering

I have jumped through a few web hoops to update my blog through Twitter by sending SMS messages to a Chinese website that can be fed by yet another website to Twitter and can then be displayed on my blog. If I had figured out on my own, I'd feel like a genius, but since I found the method described on someone else's webpage, I can't take much credit for figuring out the complexity of the system. I can, however, take pride in the fact that the Chinese website on no English to guide me and that I could figure out how to sign up for an account without looking to a Chinese-English dictionary even once. I'm beaming with pride.

Anyhow, that is all to explain why you will randomly see updates in all capital letters (I have no control that I know of over the format) to the right.

Today, I had fun playing with nature during my Mandarin lesson (the first this semester). Below are the fun pics I took (or pics I took while having fun -- sometimes the fun does not come through the visual artifacts I retain).
If you are wondering why the slug in these photos is upside down... I, umm... exercised the right of scientific curiosity. If I can edit it down to size, I will post the video if this guy righting himself at what would be breakneck speed for a slug if he showed any signs of having a breakable neck.

I also got to meet (in the loosest sense of the word) my new neighbor. Mom would have had a fabulous time guessing her age. She looks too skinny to be a real toddler, but much too short to be anything but. She can speak in cute sentences, and is highly interactive. She walks around on her own and accepts being fed from a bowl with a spoon by her wonderfully doting grandfather. I was actually taking a picture of the red sun beyond when I got this picture, but her grandfather seemed to want to have her pose for a picture, so I figured that they would not mind my taking and posting this photo of her. (This is one of the reasons I have always figured I'd never make a passable author: I am very afraid of offending someone by including them in my writings, so I avoid writing most anything that involves people who may care how they are portrayed by me. It leaves a lot unsaid, as you may guess.)

I was also inspired to take pictures of the view from one of the benches outside the canteen, both for the sake of my own memory and just to share. The line of benches you see below are often filled with some of the more daring campus couples (I will have to reserve another post for a discussion about modesty and romance in China) or studious singles.
And, yeah, the water is really that green.

If anyone had trouble finding what was interesting in that mess of leaves photographed above, the photo below may help:
It's a lizard. (蜥蜴， I think)