Swordsmanship

Have you guys seen the movie Hero? You know the scene where the emperor looks at the character painted by the best fighter of them all and goes, “Where’s the swordsmanship in that?” And then later he looks at it and finally gets it? You remember that scene? It's so plain, the character. So plain. Looks like it was made by someone with no skill at all. The artist has mastered the sword, the brush, so flawlessly that he unwilling to use it. He has reached a stage of such utter perfection that he is beyond compare entirely. A state so profound that he realizes its purposelessness. Why?

You know, life is a *lot* like this. A lot. I'm not trying to be really deep or anything, I'm just pointing out that things really work like this. Think about it.

Chinese Girl Texts Me (In English): "Is 2012 The End Of The World?"

I swear I'm not making this up. I suppose I should feel honored to be asked such a deep question; to them, I am the all-knowing god, the colossus standing proudly astride their provincial little world, etc. (Sort of like this awesome dude and his non-existent Korean skills.) Anyway, without further ado:

april: Is 2012 the end of the world? [she usually asks in chinese; english means it's an Extra Important™ question]
me: 哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈 [hahaha]
april:你是笑我傻吗？我宿舍的人一直在说这个事，我本来不信，但现在觉得好恐怖啊！ [are you laughing 'cuz i'm stupid? the people in my dorm keep talking about it, i didn't believe them at first, but now i'm getting really freaked out]
me: 对不起，回答是否定的，但需要一个解释，到我们见面时再说吧 [sorry, the answer is no, but this requires an explanation, we'll talk when we meet next]
april: 那一定给我好的解释。 [then you better give me a good explanation!]
me: 别着急，这个我很有研究 [don't worry, i have a lot of experience in this area]
april: 那好啊！幸亏你有研究，我都快被我们宿舍的人弄疯了。[that's good, thankfully you know about it, i’m being driven crazy by my roommates]

Oh, and in case you don't know what she's referring to, have a look at this.