Had a reporter friend I used to go drinking with a lot when I lived in North Dakota (Well, there wasn't much else to do in North :-). He loved to cook, so sometimes he had a few of us over for dinner at his home. We got along pretty well.

After I moved away, we kept in touch. We would talk on the phone every couple of months, yapping about work, life and everything else.

A couple of days after my cancer diagnosis, he called me, not knowing what had happened. I really wasn't in the mood to pick up. Plus I was busy with preparation for treatment and stuff. ... He left a message, cracking jokes, including a line "Pick up. Are you still alive?" I know he didn't know, so I didn't blame him, and just erased the message.

Soon after that, my friends and former colleagues in other states learned about my illness. Cards and gifts started coming in. I thought he would call. But I didn't hear from him.

A month went by. Two.

I was starting to be disappointed: I considered him a good friend and he couldn't even call when something this big happened to me? Finally, after what seemed to be a century later, I got a package from him. In it was a card, explaining the whole matter -- he said he really regretted his nasty phone message after hearing about my illness and felt horrible and didn't know what to do to make things better. That's why he hasn't been in touch for so long. He used up all the blank space on the card, and I could picture his guilty look.

Along with the package, he sent me a CD he burned for me with some old songs like "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul. He wrote on the CD "Hang On."

Later that year, he drove nine hours round-trip to Minneapolis to see me a couple of times. Usually just to take me out for some dim sum and to catch up. ... But for some reason, I never listened to the CD he gave me (guess that makes me a pretty bad friend, too).

Until recently.

And now it's something I listen to a lot on my way in to work. I was never big on Oldies, but these songs are really lovely, and funny, and cute. It really lifts my mood for some reason.

So, thank you, my friend, for your CD.

And just like what's burned onto the CD, friends who've been in your life somehow stay in your heart -- even if you don't get to hang out, talk on the phone, or even email.

最近买了james hilton的《消失的地平线》，因为上个月去了香格里拉，觉得是时候该读这本听说了很久的书了。

欢快的节奏足以在上班的路上唤醒我。呵呵。

时光

歌手:许巍 

在阳光温暖的春天／走在这城市的人群中／在不知不觉的一瞬间／又想起你／你是记忆中最美的春天／是我难以再回去的昨天／你像鲜花那样地绽放／让我心动

在阳光温暖的春天／走在这城市的人群中／在不知不觉的一瞬间／又想起你／也许就在这一瞬间／你的笑容依然如晚霞般／在川流不息的时光中 神采飞扬