Life: A pile of books

Unfinished business has somewhat disturbing, nagging effect. One of "loose ends" of this year is the pile of books I bought and meant to read but I have not.


This Winter break is a great time to take care of the "loose ends" of this year. Here is a few notes from books I recently finished reading.

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A Japanese book about how Chinese immigrants-small business people start up their business ("Chinese immigrants' Notebook for entrepreneurship"). 

When they start up a (small) business, they focus on profit. They divide three main business functions to three different persons; "One who thinks (plans)", "one who works (on daily activities)", and "one who provides money". And the "thinker" should leave his schedule open. Calculate return of investment even for education.  ....some of the advice were based on logic that were somewhat counter-intuitive. But the book claims the advice work.

Scientific research labs in academic settings are like small businesses. Intentionally or not, traditional lab startup is structured in just like the Chinese business people's way. The PI thinks, the lab tech/post-doc/student works, and the institute or the granting agency provides money. I found the parallel interesting.

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Another Japanese book about Alfred Adler's individual psychology, titled "Courage to be disliked". It was a best seller in Japan, sold over 1.4 million copies since 2013.

The book is written in a form of dialog between a young "seeker" character and an older philosopher who explains Adler's psychology and philosophy. There are unique viewpoints in the philosophy that may be different from common views. 

"People forge emotions such as anger of fear to justify themselves"
"Anger is like a tool that you can turn on and off"
"Trauma from the past does not exist"
"All the problems are interpersonal issues"
"Desire for acceptance takes away your freedom"
"Sense of community and contribution to the community are the key to your happiness"
"Live like dancing, with spotlight on the moment"
 etc. etc.

While reading the book, the ideas were aligned in context and looked more convincing, but after a few days I am not so sure if I understood them correctly. I read similar ideas in a book on Buddhism, so they may not be entirely unique, but likely based on a functional viewpoint as a whole. 

Probably it would take a few more reading to fully comprehend the notions.


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There are still many books in the pile, including "Age of Propaganda", "Impossible to ignore",  and a classic "Business Adventures". (they are English books).

["Age of propaganda" book cover. Bought before the election]

Adding to the pile, I ordered some more Japanese books from Japanese Amazon on contemporary politics and capitalism. They should provide viewpoints that are different from analyses in the US media. I was compelled to read some books on the subjects to navigate upcoming "post truth" (aka Trumpism) era and act accordingly, at the beginning of 2017. 


Like it or not, changes will be coming. Some will sink, some will swim. I'd rather swim (or stay on the boat comfortably).

Life/Science: Year end 2016

Yesterday we had another good holiday party. Tomorrow (12/22) is the last working day before the Winter break. It is about time to look back 2016, and schedule and plan for 2017.

Overall, 2016 was a good year.


I got two original research papers and two review articles published.

A new research initiative has been taken. Some research "seeds" were planted and growing.

Thanks to exercising and dieting, I lost 15 lbs in May-September. That helped. Throughout the year, I stayed in good health. My cat stayed in good health, too.

I traveled to Japan, meeting my family.

A few new projects were initiated in 2016, including book writing and participating in a Tango formation choreography. I should see the results in 2017.

  etc.etc.


I've written up most of the plans for 2017. 

Since "Trump risk" remains high and uncertainty will rise, I want to make more detailed plans than usual (plans A, B, and C) for four key life subjects. That makes the planning more complicated, but it should be worth doing (and actually is fun). I'll finish the planning during the Winter break.


Things are usually easier if we start visualizing things from the goal, list the tasks, and just do them in a timely manner. The planning is for that. Don't just hope. Do things necessary and make the goals real.


In January 2017, I'll be working on research plans, writing grants, and preparing for a symposium talk. We got to send out the review manuscript, too. The month should go quickly.

[12/16/2016 "Secret Santa" gift exchange in the lab]

Dance: movie "Our last Tango"

At the end of Thanksgiving off, I watched a movie "our last tango". 

 ['Our Last Tango" Trailer (English)]

I saw the trailer on Facebook some time ago, and sort of remembered the movie's name. Then the movie came up in a chat after a Tango class.

"OK, enough cues. I'll watch it."


Commercial full length (< 90 minutes) Tango movies pop up every now and then, but not very often. "The Tango lesson (1997)", "Tango (1998)",  and, ........ well, it's been quite a while.

The movie was a documentary about the lives of a famous Argentine Tango couple, Maria Nieves and Juan Carlos Copes. They contributed "evangelizing" Argentine Tango by reinventing Stage Tango and traveling the world showing it. 

The life story unfolded chronologically. They met young, danced Tango together for 40 years with ups and downs. Their career was that of professional tango dancers who tour the world. But they finally broke up as a dance couple as well as in real life.

Partner dancers as a couple develop two-layered symbiotic relationship, in the art of dance and in the real life. When the partnership is over, their art as a couple, and whole efforts they made to develop their art, are over as well. That doubles the pain.


At the time of filming, they were 83 (Juan) and 80 (Maria). They narrated their own lives, with the director and other Tango dancers  who reenact their lives (two couples for two stages of their lives, earlier and later. One of them is Pablo Velon who played the lead in "The Tango Lesson").

The reenactments symbolically presented events in their lives, of course with Tango dancing. Their own dance footage were inserted here and there. In a sense, the movie was a dance movie with many tango scenes.



In spite of many Tango scenes,  the feeling I had after watching the movie was sadness. It was not pensive or pity-kind of sadness. Rather, it was a transparent sadness that we feel when we are reminded of the inevitable; all people, good or not, eventually age, lose what they used to have, fade and disappear. Life is ephemeral.



It was similar kind of sadness that you feel when you look up the clear blue sky and see your life from other perspective, or listen to a certain type of music (some of works by Mozart come to mind).


I recommend the movie.

Dance: Bonnie and Jerome Subey party, a thought on "naturals" in dancing

On 12/3/2016 (Sat), Bonnie and Jerome Subey were visiting OKC swing dance club, gave workshops, and dancing in the party.

Bonnie is our alumni, so to speak. She started West Coast Swing in the OKC swing dance club in her junior high-high school years. After high school graduation, she moved to Philadelphia, met her now-husband Jerome, and they have been actively dancing in national WCS circuit.

Quoting the workshop notice;

"Bonnie and Jerome met on the dance floor in 2012 and have been inseparable ever since. Jerome is originally from Montpellier, France, and Bonnie is from Oklahoma City, OK, USA. They now travel full-time: teaching, judging, and performing West Coast Swing all over the US and the world, competing in the champions division.

Between the two of them, they have over 25 years of partner dance experience, and pull from multiple and varied movement disciplines including hip hop, bellydance, acrobatics, and modern dance to create their unique style. Jerome's technique and discipline from his background as a karate teacher complements Bonnie's artistry, versatility, and perceptiveness to form a remarkable partnership."


This year (2016) they competed in the US open showcase division. They are developing a unique style (as most WCS couples do), incorporating elements of partner gymnastics and some Lindy hop, to WCS. I hope their continuing success in coming years.

[YouTube, US open showcase 2016, Bonnie and Jerome Subey]

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In the party, on the big TV screen in the club, they were playing entire US open showcase division. It was interesting, because it showed moving trend in WCS.


I have liked WCS dancers with quiet frames, which can allow more deliberate, stylized, and dramatic moves. For male dancers, the examples are Jordan Frisbee and Kyle Redd, both are known as great champions.

In 2016, some dancers are using body roles and shoulder shimmy more prominently, almost to the point that can be shunned as 'overactive frame' (using a term in ballroom dance circuit). I don't know if the preferred look is shifting, but it may be a part of trend, I guess.


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In the party, I danced a fast song with Bonnie. She was as good as ever, very smooth, fast, and fluid. It was a fun dance.


I just used an expression "as good as ever". Because, the feel was very similar to what I remember form her junior years. 

I am not saying she made little progress over years. On the contrary, she can do a lot fancier stuff as a professional and has much more in her arsenal now compared with her earlier years. I am pointing out that there are some people whose bodies have a particular feel while dancing, even from the beginning.

As a social dancer, I've danced with hundreds of partners in many different kind of partner dances. National champions and performer-level dancers included. Every body comes with unique feel. Some have that characteristic, "natural" feel. Many of them with the feel are (or later became) fantastic or even great dancers.

The dance last night made me wonder, again, where the "natural" feel comes from. 


In fact, I have given thoughts on the question for a long time. I do have a hypothetical answer.

Since "natural" is a very broad and misused term (that strongly implies genetics that you cannot change), in recent writing, I am using a term "preparedness" instead. "Preparedness" is something that you can assess from your age, past experience, knowledge, willingness, condition (including health status), and some genetics. It is true that some people have better overall "preparedness" for partner dancing than others, which is often referred by most people as "talented" or "natural". 

Dance instructors develop their own standards for assessing their students, and use the standards in private lessons. "Preparedness" is one of the concepts I use, and the term is more measurable than the blanket word "talented" or 'natural". And, scientists (me) and engineers, as well as good business people, like to break things down to something measurable, thus workable.

You can ask yourself about your own "preparedness", how well-prepared you are.


Partner dancing is an art that has been around for ages. But the art may not be accessible or shared well, beyond imitation, anecdotal teaching, or discussions in crowd forum for which many less-qualified can participate. I want to collect the best knowledge on the art, format, and present the art in a more communicative manner to a broader audience/readers. That is my hope as an author of dance articles/books.