October 22, 2005, 9:12pm

Went to McIntosh with Shara, Xiaochen and Lisa to see their festival. McIntosh is sort of an old Florida town and they have some antique shops down there.

I really have to say, when I have been to Egypt, Greece, Silk Road, well, just London would be sufficient, things back in 1890s simply wouldn't be "old." Anyways, I had a great time just going out of Gainesville. And the guy in the whistle performance is really great! He can whistle so many songs.

Hm... I still want to go to Tibet, India and Cambodia... My knees... When I think about my knees, I always think, am I limiting myself or it's really the knees that are limiting me? I don't know. Had a bit of walking in McIntosh and it's OK. It's a little bit sore but not swollen. So, it's still not too bad.

Was in the Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Center regularly, well, only three times so far. I was taught to do different exercises, all very tiring, which is supposed to be good because I simply don't use the muscles often and that's why I have this knee problem.

So, I also do the exercises every day. I'm not giving up. But I don't see any hope it's going to go away. It's getting cooler these days and I simply can't walk properly right after I wake up. It takes like 10 minutes for the joints to get ready for the day.

Anyways, tomorrow evening I'll try the indoor pool. I think I won't get drown. I suppose it's not deep. I actually made an appointment to see the Aquatic Risk Manager and she showed me all the facilities for people with disabilites. Like, the lift to help people to get into the water.

It's a chair attached to a pole. So, people in wheelchairs can sit on the chair and the staff would lower them into the water. I'm still OK. It's hard but I think I can manage the steps to get into the water. They also have the kick boards and waist belts... Hope I'll still be alive and able to report to you after my first try.

I remember several times before I left Hong Kong, I was in the pool trying to learn swimming, I saw an old lady in a wheelchair. Two young people, I suppose it's her son and daughter, would help her into the water.

It's not something easy to do to put somebody into the water, compared to using the lift. I don't know. So many times I would think, I want so much to do aging. And I still believe, aging is not just biological, it's also social (Wilson, 2000). Just like sex and gender, there's no two terms to distinguish between biological aging and social aging, though the two are inter-related.

How would I be able to just do a little change in Hong Kong, like, to introduce a lift for people with disabilities? Disabilities are just so common in old age. Well, I'm permanently disabled myself. Every time when I cross the street, I would think, if Hong Kong has these lowered curbs around, it would be nice. (I'm sure "curb" is a British term. Hey, anyone can remind me the American equivalent?)

Well, was in the Asian grocery store and the owner asked if I'm from Hong Kong. I said yes and asked how she could tell. My accent. She said it's sort of British.

Oh deary me! :DDDDD

I don't know. You see, this accent thing just comes by itself. And I don't find anyway to change it voluntarily. I'm sure I don't speak Oxford English right now though I could (mostly, Ann and Bert said I didn't have any accent on the phone and it's just a little bit face to face) when I was in London.

Well, to me, Oxford English still remains the "pure English." Just that since I learnt English, it's always this accent in the tapes. So, when I was in LSE and people actually spoke this way, it is "fantastic!" :D

It's not just the accent. It's also about the rhythm and the use of words. I still think Oxford English sounds like a song. I know I'm biased and I'm losing that already. And the use of words is simply obvious. Nobody here would say, "Lovely!" Well, it's just "cute," "great," "awesome..."

So, I don't know. I simply don't have any way to keep my Cantonese or my "British" accent. Well, there're just so many British accents...