Make no mistake. The bough of one's life tree is to work and learn. It's not to get rich and then do nothing except the so-called "investing".

San Jose, California wants a rollback of pensions of its policemen and so on. It's a drama.

See http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_19484394 .

When our toddler daughter cried "mommy" instead of "mama", I had a strange feeling that I, as a Chinese myself, have an outlander daughter.

Yes, my wife and I, a Chinese couple, bore a Westerner daughter.

The U.S.' perennial meddling in the Middle East seems to be largely caused by a crucial fact -- the oil produced by the Mideast is a critical energy source/input for the U.S. and its economy.

I might be too simplistic and naive over the particular issue though, because I've never studied the academic subject matters of History and Political Science.

Child stars often have big problems in their later life.

For example, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. She was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. She had a long struggle with alcohol and drug use during most of her career, dying of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland

And see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Rooney#Personal_life .