Rooted in Taiwan, Connected with the World

Slightly over a month after I read The Fellowship of the Ring , I also finished reading The Two Towers , the second book of the three-volume epic novel The Lord of the Rings authored by J. R. R. Tolkien. I'm very happy about the progress I've made in my self-learning journey of English literature because in the interim I also completed studying two of Shakespeare’s plays. I have to confess, though, that the genre of the novel is not my favorite.  However, with Tolkien's great talents and the wide readership it has achieved, I, as a highly motivated reader of English literature, have to read it any way, and it's better to do it sooner rather than later.   To this end, again thanks to useful and free study guides abundantly available online, I was able to quickly scan through my paperback copy, while reading the on-line study guides thoroughly to better understand the plots, themes and other literary devices of this volume. The volume consists of Book III and Book IV, eac...

I had a great meeting with my fellow Toastmasters on the morning of last Saturday, as always. It's a shame, though, that something came up and I had to excuse myself for our "second round": the lunch gathering that we, regardless of our varying age and background, all enjoy, as the like-minded people often do. Still, the meeting is another invaluable experience of mine, during which I was able to learn from others' perspectives in relation to the meeting theme: Decluttering and Minimalist Lifestyle, a favorite topic of mine. After the meeting, I continued reflecting on it and my other related experiences, and felt compelled to record it on my blog. Thanks to the ever-growing consumerism and technologies, we now live in a world of abundance, with almost unlimited access to tangible items like material goods and intangible things like information, experiences and relationships. But - there's always a but - while we have enjoyed the numerous benefits of the abundance...

I just completed studying my "Play of the Month": A Midsummer Night's Dream , one of the most performed comedies by Shakespeare. This is the 4th Shakespeare’s play I've studied, with the first three all tragedies. While I had never been exposed to Shakespeare’s plays until 3 months ago, I first heard of A Midsummer Night's Dream when I was in my junior high school more than 50 years ago. I'm thrilled that I finally explored throughout this time-tested masterpiece of Shakespeare, and was able to understand most of the texts of the play, both literally and figuratively. I have to confess, though, that the plots and stories of the play are far more complicated, dramatic and philosophical than I had imagined by its title, which just sounded romantic to me, and nothing more. To this end, I also understand now why they say Shakespeare’s plays are best appreciated through listening and watching the performance, instead of reading the texts (and explanations) alone....