Sears Tower, the top building of North America, is 108-storey, or 442 meters high. It was completed in 1973 and kept the title Roof of the World until 1997.

It took about 1 minute to get to floor 103, the sight seeing platform. The sun had just set, left afterglow alone. The view in front of my eyes was breathtaking. It was so magnificent that horizon drew a beautiful curve at the joint of sky and earth. All other skyscrapers were underneath me, emmitting charming and glowing light that shone upon the night sky of Chicago.

My anecdote of visiting Sears Tower began here. When I took out my tripod, a shitting black guy came across and said that I could not use tripod anyway. Here is his word: You cannot use tripod, but you can use camera. What a bullshit, without a tripod, hand-held shooting at night will lead pictures to a lot of shits.

Regardless of his warning, I took some pictures via tripod. But he gave me second warning, threatening to kick me out of Sears Tower. Then he went to doze off... An idiot...

As a response to Xueniang's strongly recommendation, I posted this log.

Before I get to Chicago., I already heard of Mexican supermarcket, foods in which are cheap and good. But when I first made visit to Pete's, it was my third month in Chicago. Indeed, Pete's located at a quiet corner, it took me about 40 minutes to get there.

People are telling the truth. Pete's have the foods that are the cheapest I have ever seen in Chicago. It was a huge super market, fruits, vegetables, meats and other groceries were piled like small hills. As a Mexican supermarket, Pete's was filled with exotic atmosphere. Mexicans eat CACTUS and lots of unseen plants!

I swept foods of two-week's storage and went home.

This log records my recent stories in Chicago.

Chinatown

Aug. 30, Shao, my roommate, and me, went to Chinatown to buy some Chinese food stuff. We named American foods that contain full of fat and calories, tasteless, half-raw FOOD FOR PIGS and, we wanted to get rid of them.

It was long, Chinese characters and familiar but strange Cantonese. I jogged in Huabu Square, surounded were series of traditional Cantonese buildings, typical oriental faces and Cantonese. We entered one Canton restaurant, astonishingly, I saw Chinese BBQ duck on rice(烧鸭饭) wriiten on the menu. Without thinking, I ordered one. Although it tasted not as good as BBQ duck in Guangzhou, I found some feeling of being home.

Downtown

Aug. 31, I visted Chicago downtown, it was my first visit. Like Chinese big cites, Chicago downtown was crowded as well, but much more ordered and tidier. I went to downtown to watch a movie - Dark Knight. No subtitle, pure English, fast and unclear... I just can hardly understand what was going on. At least I can distinguish the good and the evil...

After the movie, I strolled on Michigan Ave., Chicago commercial pedestrians' street. Astonished again, American clothes were good and cheap! Levi's, about $20.00, you could buy a nice jean, RMB 140!!! So as texwood, much cheaper than that in China!!! More over, I heard that on festivals like Thanksgiving or Christmas, there would be a great sale, great discount!! Bingo!!!

一年中最热的一个月, 结束了.

2008的07月, 能分为三个阶段:
1. 毕业综合症阶段
2. 回老家养猪阶段
3. 收拾行囊阶段

01号, 四年的大学生涯在中山大学的永芳堂前落下帷幕. 照完最后一张集体相之后, 大家各自散去, 连再见都来不及说. 之后的一两个星期, 大家都患上了"毕业综合症". 在各种各样的空间, qq群, qq邮件上诉说自己对大家的怀念, 对大学生涯的怀念. 我也一样, 在自己的qq空间和msn空间上狂灌一通.

18号, 坐上了回老家的大巴. 在之后的一个星期里面, 天天吃了睡, 睡了吃, 极少走动, 过着养猪的生活. 有时候真的很佩服一些同学的, 在学校都能"养猪"; 他们因为相反的原因, 也很佩服我: 我在老家过着田园生活, 仍然能够保持骨头身材, 也该算作一绝了吧.

27号, 养猪失败之后. 我回到家, 开始准备出国物品清单. 有个问题还真是头疼啊, 托运的箱子规定不能超过46斤, 而我买的箱子, 空的, 就13斤了... 还有物品也是, 就像丁一室友说的一样, 怎么都准备不完似的. 今天想起一点, 又加上一点; 明天想起了, 又加上, 好像没完没了了.

不管怎么说, 在中国的时间真的不多了. 下个月的月结, 该要在大洋的彼岸完成了. 现在我最想什么? 嗯...想在新大陆养猪成功!!!

从小就喜欢看星星.

家离北江中学很近, 所以北江中学科学馆上面那个巨大的圆顶, 就是我小时候最想去的地方. 小学的时候, 家人问我想考什么学校, 我说北中, 家人乐得不得了. 如果他们知道, 我想考北中并不是因为它是韶关最好的中学, 而是因为那个天文台的话, 不知道他们还乐不乐得出来.

后来如愿上了北江中学, 也如愿上了那个圆顶. 在圆顶上看的星星不多, 倒是被漏电的望远镜电了几次. 不过, 关于星星的故事, 我在圆顶下面的课室里, 倒学了不少.

生活在城市里的人, 是几乎没有机会能够领略到星空的壮美的, 因为星光都淹没在璀璨的灯光里了. 第一次感受到星空的壮美, 是在一年寒假, 回老家过年的时候. 冬日虽然很冷, 但冬日的星空是其它季节无法比拟的. 只可惜当时没有好的相机, 没能把星空留住. 这次回去, 终于弥补了当年的遗憾.

这次拍下的是梅县西阳镇上空的夏季星空. 拍下了三个天区, 天蝎座附近, 夏季大三角(就是著名的牛郎织女和鹊桥), 还有夏天的北斗七星. 下面就是照片. 看过照片的所有朋友都惊讶得和我说: 怎么星星还有不同颜色!! 是的, 星星就是五颜六色的, 并不是只有一种颜色.

上面是天蝎座附近的天区. 位于中部偏右的就是大名鼎鼎的天蝎座了. 可能很多人还没有见过真正的天蝎座是什么样的吧. 天蝎座的标志就是中间的那颗橙红色的亮星, 那是天蝎的"心脏". 中国古代叫它"大火", 天蝎座的左边是人马座, 人马的"脚上", 是最银河最明亮的部分, 照片上那一点点的光晕, 就是银河了. 下面是连了线的照片, 方便大家观看.

我们继续看. 上面这张就是著名的"牛郎-织女-鹊桥"的故事所在的天区了. 一眼看去, 大家可能会一头雾水. 左上的亮星是织女, 而右边唯一的亮星, 就是牛郎了, 旁边有两颗小星, 就是牛郎的扁担. 左下和中部的四颗亮星, 则组成了鹊桥的形状, 横跨银河. 突然想起杜牧《秋夕》中的诗句: 天阶夜色凉如水, 坐看牵牛织女星. 西阳镇的夜晚, 晚风徐徐拂过脸颊, 仰望牛郎织女, 似乎能够追寻杜牧当年的心境.

这是最后一张了. 北斗七星. 大家都应该看得出来吧. 左下角的亮光是梅州城区的灯光. 可惜的是, 照片上没有拍到北极星. 值得一提的是, 北斗七星中的第六颗(开阳)星的伴星(辅星), 在古代曾经被用作衡量视力的好坏, 在照片中也呈现出来了. 在现代的被污染的天空中, 恐怕视力正常的人, 也再不能用肉眼看到它了吧.