Years of Poems and Spirits

Went to Max and Stephanie’s wedding in Quincy, WA.

Here is what I said on my album log:

Two beautiful people I know got married. Max and Stephanie finally tied the knot on 2008.9.13. It was a lovely day, the ceremony was held in a romantic setting–in a vineyard overlooking the Columbia. Seeing the two being together for three years now, I was nevertheless very moved when they read their wedding vows. For a moment, I regretted any cynism I had in social rituals.

Quincy is a pretty place: the color, the solitude and the scale always remind me of autumn, my favorite season of a year. Song and I both love the place.

The Sunserra resort, however, is a different story: underwhelming buildings, excess grassy lawns and stringent behavioral codes: you shall not curse or you will be fined.

Also, met some interesting people there. One couple from Luxemburg: Maria is German, Jeff Welsh. The lady works at European Commission’s nuclear regulatory advisory agency at Brussel. We chatted a lot about European affairs, e.g. Belgium, Germany’s coal and steel regions.

The conversation led to the topic of legislative process in EU. I was surprised to learn that the binding EU laws were drafted by Ministers from member countries, something I thought would be a big no-no in the States. Maria also asked, “so what’s the legislative process in China?”

The conversation was cut short but I left wonder about the difference between the two unions: EU and China. It is my speculation that the two are quite opposite of each other in one regard at least:

EU is a bunch of sovereign polities with a strong desire to “act together”. China is a bunch of legally unified politiies with a constant tendence to “act different”.

Is this correct?

1. Just watched the movie “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels“. Pretty funny, particularly towards the end. Very witty. Everyone performed wonderfully.

2. Still haven’t figured out whether the Riviera town we visited was Villefranche-Sur-Mer or not?

3. A new word learned: MacGuffin. According to Wiki:

a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but the details of which are of little or no importance otherwise.

Don’t I wish many things in life are MacGuffins!

The Federal government has taken over AIG:

… the Fed will lend up to $85 billion to AIG, and the U.S. government will effectively get a 79.9% equity stake in the insurer in the form of warrants called equity participation notes. The two-year loan will carry an interest rate of Libor plus 8.5 percentage points.

If AIG proves to be the firewall that stopped the crisis from spreading, then Messrs Bernanke and Paulson would likely be mentioned in the same breath as J. P. Morgan and Benjamin Strong in 1907.

The fact that we are repeating a panic happened one hundred year ago is a sad reminder that Leninism isn’t dead after all. There is something fundamentally wicked about Capitalism, namely, how to restrain Greed so that it doesn’t devour the system.

In the short run, if there is indeed a solid market rebound, I am sure Joe Sixpacks somewhere in Ohio will forget about all the scare and vote for their “conscience” again …

Update on 9.17: 狗日的，Dow dropped 450 points. WaMu is being auctioned off. Just pulled out of money market altogether. Ready to open other bank accounts. Is it that bad?!