How are you? Are you doing well?

On my side, things have been in the up - down - up situation. Temporarily, instead of painting as I wished, I am working on updating my web site since Jan 14 while adjusting my work plan and goals in the new year.

Do you know why?

Since 2016, I have not had a stable technology support, so that just for editing the volume II of my second cross-cultural and comprehensive art series Together With Me, Learn Chinese Culture and Language by Enjoying and Practicing Paintings, Music and Portry, I had to ask help from 3 UI designers and 4 software engineers respectively in Feb, April, July and Nov, 2017. During the time, my web site was closed for 1 month because there was no any necessary connections with some technology department which was appointed by the government... and now, it is Jan, 2018, some of the important information on my web site is still in 2016... although it was fixed many times repeatedly by the last engineer but it could not be stood there for over 48 hours...

I knew these problems clearly, but I am still a student and candidate for my Master degree of Fine Arts at Chinese National Academy of Arts, under the heavy pressure from the assignments and papers from my supervisor and the school, I have no much time to work on both of them yet. Therefore, I wished to hire a software engineer to be my technology supporter from now until I graduate from the school in July, 2019. Then to update the web site.

However, the failure of the plan stopped me to ask help from individual, but to hire a professional networks company.

Then I did and it started to work with me on Jan 14, 2018.

Since then until 4:00 am, Jan 20, 2018, I had worked for more than 100 hours and finished the requirement report on updating my web site, and then I adjusted my work plan and goals in 2018.

The networks company and a technology expert are checking my requirement report and will let me know their feedback soon.

Many friends worry about my health and advised me to slow done my steps and some others concern my art study. However, I must resolve the technology problems and update the web site once before the Chinese New Year’s Vacation because my publication will enter the market in the end of March, 2018.

The most important is that if I could not remove the blocks on my road in time, the day I get my master degree and graduate from the school would be the moment that my cross-cultural and comprehensive art and its project which is based on the web site would be dead. Then, all of my efforts on the publications with the university publishing house since 2000, the travels in America & Australia since 2008 and the costly art study in Beijing since 2010 would be nothing and lose their meanings. Just think, if I had no the web site which is my work flat roof, what could I do?

So, I must find a professional company instead of an individual to rescue and protect my web site with a more ensured style.

To be honest, at the first days, I didn’t feel well, but now, a big smile has come back to my face. Because I have realized: on the surface, it is a bad thing; essentially, it is a good thing indeed. Why?

Because, this job has forced me to think of how to transform the web site from a little individual blog to be a business one ahead for 1.5 years. It reduces my time on the art studying but saves my work flat roof which has outdate on some aspects. Since to learn art is a job for whole of my life, and to save my work flat roof is just a phased work, in the long run, it is worth to do it before the web site dying.

So, with so much appreciations, I adjusted my work plan in 2018 according to the new change.

In 2018, I will till focus on making preparations to transform my little cross-cultural and comprehensive art and its project to be a business from an individual interesting someday, after I graduate from the school in 2019 or later..

Mainly I will work on 4 aspects:

1. Continue to work on the business proposal while updating my web site twice.

2. Continue to work on the teaching jobs in 3 private schools, 1 or 2 public schools in the USA and make sure about starting a new course with my own publications as the textbooks according to our plan in a college someday in 2019 or later.

3. Continue to work on improving myself:
1) Artistically, my dissertation should be written until 10,000 Chinese characters (the final characters should be at least 30,000 before May, 2019) and pass the inspection from my supervisor and 5 professors in the mid-October, 2018 while painting at least 100 Chinese paintings until Dec 31, 2018.

2) linguistically, based on the vocabulary with 10,650 English words I had in 2017, I am going to recite another 5,000 new words via reading 20,000 example sentences and answer 30,000 questions, while reading not less than1,000 articles of VOA in a voice. Now I have done 1,300 new words and 80 articles already.

My goal in 2018 and in the future : become a unique and excellent teacher /instructor and artist who can teach Chinese culture and language with paintings, music and poetry in standard and fluent American English.

4. Continue to think of :
1) Where should I go after I graduate from the school?
-- Should I continue to perform my original plan to travel in the USA and to create a business model there and then to extend it to Australia and Europe?
-- Should I settle down in Australia directly?
-- Should I continue to stay in China?

2) When should I retreat from the Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Project, to work on something I truly love: Writing, painting and music (still I want to learn piano and to sing) at home, as a simply shareholder of an economic entity which I have delivered my little project to it which will be run by the people from the investors or someone who had annexed it.
I mean:
-- Should I retreat from the project as soon as it has gotten some investment, or be in merger?
-- Should I retreat from it in another 3 or 5 years after more people join it?
-- Should I prepare to study English writting, American or Australian History or Western Arts in a western university, such as the American University I had gotten my MBA or the Australian National University While working on my own project in some local college and K-12 schools? And continue to prepare for the second purpose and the second step of my Cross-cultural & Comprehensive Art project – to deliver American / Australian cultures to China (the first purpose of the project is to create some new style to deliver some the best part of the Chinese cultures to America and then Australia, as I am doing now)?

Anyway, no matter what will happen to me in 2018, my cross-cultural & comprehensive art and its project which was started from designing, organizing ( 5 American friends and 1 Canadian friend worked together) and translating the first cross-cultural and comprehensive art series on American Music, Movies and Language with 0.93 million words in English and Chinese and 4 books and 4 CDs Together With Me, Learn True American English (which were published in 2002 by Jinan University Press) since 2000, my journey of dreaming seeking has entered into the 18th year and it is still alive.

With an appreciated heart to the God and so many kind people who have helped / are helping and will help me past, now and in the future, I would really like to work harder with a more positive, optimistic, healthier psychological and physical styles, to devote my limited life into the unlimited career for creating a unique, beautiful and helpful cross-cultural and comprehensive art and its project for helping the progress of the human civilization.

How do you think of my new goals in 2018? Do you think it is realizable? If you were me, what choices would you make?

How about you? What is your goal in 2018? Do you have anything special to share?

I am just a student on Arts of Painting, Music, English and Management,and work on the web site in my free time. I would really like to do something with what I have learned, to make this little web site to be a little Electronic Bridge of Cross -cultural and Comprehensive Art Study and Chinese Language Learning, to help the others while to improve myself.

I would like to appreciate you for your good understanding, directions, supports and help.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or leave your message on Message Board.

Shirley Yiping Zhang

Jan 21, 2018 (Beijing Time)