Of Boomerangs & Personal Finance

还记得中学念德文时，老师告诉我们，德国的年轻人，16岁就回被父母”赶“出家门，要他们开始自力更生。在我国，一般的年轻人则只会在婚后离家，所以我一直都不明白西方为人父母者为何那么忍心。

今天有朋友就电邮以下这样一篇东西给我：
Boomerang is an American slang term that refers to an adult who has moved back in with his or her parents (who are part of the baby boomer generation) instead of living independently. The phrase, when applied to an individual, makes reference to the fact that the person lived independently for a period, but subsequently returned home due to the financial costs associated with maintaining a separate household.

While boomer parents may be pleased emotionally to have their boomerangs back in the household, boomerangs can often pose a significant financial burden on their parents. This can result in a reduction in retirement savings for the boomerang's parents, leaving them with the decision to either postpone their own retirement or have their children help out with the household expenses.

Other countries have adopted similar slang to represent this domestic phenomenon. In Italy, the term "mammon", or "mama's boys"is used, while the Japanese refer to them as "parasaito shinguru", or "parasite singles". In the U.K., children boomeranging back home has given rise to the acronym KIPPERS (or kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings).

变成负担就算是吸血害虫，现在清楚理由其实很简单：父母和孩子之间谈钱也是会伤感情。

LA pix

Most of my LA photos & the rest of my Japan photos r up on flickr...ran out of space yet again... will post the rest soon somehow...

Thanks incognito bane for recommending fotopic but I found it a pain to use... my mac stalls after 16 pictures each time so I gave up....any more suggestions?

好久不见了...

　　好久没有真正写blog了...大家还好吗？
　　过了那么久，不知道还有没有人想看我最后几天的LA游记。如果没有request，我想我就不去update那则blog了，反正去的地方都是一些standard的旅游景点，唯一“有趣”的是我竟然在最后一天“有幸”地连续遇上车祸、被LAPD录口供、见证示威游行等。
　　两个星期的逍遥时光，因为没有租车，一部分的时间又是跟着旅行团，大部分的时间都花在巴士上。庆幸有这个空档，让我终于有机会独处冷静地反思过去9个月的点点滴滴。

（想了一个晚上，我决定把这个部分delete掉。敬请原谅。我会尽早再写个完整的blog。）