This man is my hero!

Taiwan 96-year-old grad student: All-nighters work
By ANNIE HUANG Associated Press Writer

Jun 11th, 2009 | TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A 96-year-old Taiwanese man who will receive his master's degree in philosophy this weekend said he was able to compete with younger students by pulling all-nighters before exams.

Chao Mu-he, better known to his classmates at Nanhua University in southern Taiwan as "Grandpa Chao," said he began graduate school after being told he was too old to continue as a volunteer at a local hospital.

"I was bored after I left the hospital," Chao said Thursday. "I don't play mahjong or have other hobbies. I felt I had to do something with my life."

In London, a spokeswoman for Guinness World Records said she could not say if Chao is the oldest recipient of a graduate degree because the company does not keep records in this category.

Chao said the most difficult part of his studies was coping with a poor memory.

"I can't remember things as well as my fellow students," he said. "So before a test I would wake up at midnight and study all night. That way, the material was still fresh in my mind when the test began."

He specialized in the works of Chuangtze, a 4th century B.C. Taoist master.

Twenty-five-year-old classmate Liang Yu-chen described Chao as a polite and modest man who got on well with fellow students and paid great respect to younger teachers -- making a deep bow before addressing them.

"Grandpa Chao is a living example of Chuangtze's teachings" Liang said. "He is always at ease, not fighting anyone."

A spokeswoman at Nanhua's graduate school, where Chao will get his degree Saturday, confirmed that he was born on July 4, 1912.

Chao, who lives alone, said he was uncertain about his future plans.

"I just want to stay healthy," he said.

oh, i can't believe i forgot!

one of the highlights (low lights?) of v.k.'s visit was our eurovision concert watching fireplace mishap.

i have a working fireplace in my apartment. v.k. and i decided to start a fire since it was a chilly evening. we ventured out first to buy snacks and a lighter. there was firewood and i had paper for kindling so we were good to go. of course, we had to open the flue. it was the most bizarre flue i'd ever seen. it sort of flicked up and out to open, or so it seemed.

v.k. opened the flue, or so we thought. she proceeded to make a fire. and it truly looked like the smoke was going up the chimney. until it smoked us in the living room! of course, only one of the windows in the living room opens, so we were sputtering and coughing for a while before it cleared out and we attempted again.

this time, the flue was properly opened and a roaring fire made. hilarious. i'm glad my upstairs neighbours were away for the weekend since the smoke was pretty potent and i'm sure they would have imagined i had burnt the house down.

can't believe i forgot to add that!

d.g. visits!

hot on the heels of v.k.'s visit, d.g. was in town. well he was in amsterdam, passing through the netherlands in the middle of his holiday to london. he was persuaded to visit me in ye olde haguee. i picked him up at den haag HS station and we wandered around town. first stop: herring. i have photographs of d.g. and his herring. i abstained, mainly because herring + early in the day = weird rumbles in my gut. actually herring + any time of day = weird rumbles. but especially so early. we wandered past historic hague monuments (most of which i don't know anything about) and walked down to denneweg for lunch. grabbed a salad and "burger" at cafe dendy. (burger was alright, but not really the burger experience i was craving).

post-lunch, we hit the escher museum. maurits cornelis (m.c.) escher was born in leeuwarden, the netherlands. d.g. revealed that, as an undergrad, he was the proud displayer of many iconic works of art by escher. seems to have been a universal undergraduate decor scheme. i forget the name of that group that would come to campus at ubc and sell posters, but they had a bunch of escher prints. the highlight of the escher museum, however, was birdman!!



ah, birdman. so creepy, so weird. so amusing.

post-museum, we ambled back to my place, stopping at bagel & beans for a coffee to-go (a rare treat in the hague: it's nigh impossible to find places that offer stuff "to-go"). d.g. had to be back in amsterdam for dinner, so we booted it back to my place and then went two doors down to "de paas" for drinks. delicious.



& then, a few specialty beers later, d.g. had to head back to amsterdam. & my whirlwind long weekend of visitors was over. boo.

a lovely day in london

took a break from my work to walk in greenwich park. 'tis such a lovely day here today. making it difficult to work. but work i must. i walked through the park to greenwich village, found a cafe there for lunch and ambled back to j.m.'s and m.r.'s lovely abode, which is spacious and bright.

anyway, back to the grind.