種瓜得瓜

種瓜得瓜，種果得果。但你又點知道手上既種子係冬瓜子定南瓜子? 幾小心都好，種種下比蟲鉒爛，或者比人偷左又可以點?

有D野都係由得個天作主罷啦。

The Romantic Husband

Another joke from http://rootsgpk.blogspot.com


Husband and wife in bed together.
She feels his hand rubbing her shoulder.
She: "Oh, that feels good."
His hand moves to her breast.
She: "Gee, honey, that feels wonderful."
His hand moves to her leg.
She: "Oh, honey, don't stop."
But he stops.
She: "Why did you stop?"
He: "I found the remote."

梅菜扣肉

都係自己蠢，做埋D野攪到佢唔開心，自己仲更加唔開心。想搵陳大文出o黎發洩下，佢又唔得閒。結果一個人係火車站出面坐o左一個鐘。已經係第二次一個人食風。上次係舊年6月12號，我轉登搵陳大文出o黎傾，但條死仔食完飯就急急腳要返屋企。我就自己一個人漫無目的咁開車，最後去左Charles River邊吹左一個鐘頭風。

睇住D人放工/放學行入火車站都幾得意，有D人一班人哈哈笑咁行，有D一雙一對拖住手，最多既係一個人急急腳走入去。但無論點樣行，佢地最後都係返去家人或愛人身邊。我又未到無家可歸o既地步，不過我想要多少少野o者。有要求先有進步嘛。

尋日同個朋友食tea，佢話有好多入o左政府做o既同學到依家都冇變，個心態重好似讀書個陣咁細個。姐姐，我都唔想攪到依家咁樣o架。你估經歷得多真係好好玩呀? 思想簡單既人係最幸福o架。

頭先睇電視介紹水溪鎮既傳統扣肉，突然好想食梅菜扣肉。

小喇叭

小喇叭! 都冇人黑仔得過我! @#$%@#@?!@#$

Pan's Labyrinth

I saw Pan's Labyrinth last Sunday. I was not aware of it until my friend recommended it to me. It is a Spanish movie, and the story is set in 1944 when Spain entered an era of fascism after the Second World War. A 12-year old girl is told by a fairy that she is the Princess of the Underworld, and she needs to complete 3 tasks to return to her world. The story is a interplay of the conflict between a military group to the authoritarian government and the adventure of the little girl.

Film critic A.O. Scott of the New York Times gives Pan's Labyrinth a B+ and describes it "a political fable in the guise of a fairy tale. Or maybe it’s the other way around." The story is intuitive and crude the same time. It is about the quest for goodness through the eyes of a kid, and the quest for freedom through the blood of the grown-ups.

It is surely a good movie that makes you think. But maybe I am getting too complicated, I don't feel as overwhelmed as before over a good movie.

Distractions

Being stranded here makes me feel lost. I don't know what I can do, and what I should do. Do nothing and live through it? Or do something aggressively and get something out of it?

I was planning for the latter, and I was almost derailed by all the distractions. Good that I have this blog to write and think it over. I have just decided that I should really do something when I was writing this post.

I read a manga today. In one of the scenes, the main character says that you life is not shaped by your ability, but your decision and determination to make things happen. It is very true.

Dopamin

I should keep some chocolate at home. I am running very low in dopamin at night these days.

I have waited for 4 years for Hoyee to get the visa. I have decided long time ago where to bring her to see and eat. Now she got the visa, and she is going to Boston, but I will not be there, and we have broken up. How stupid.

飛機師

Eddie條死仔，已經放o左我兩次飛機，約o左聽晚食飯，頭先又打黎話唔得。再約? 我話：「有緣就見啦。」仲等我今日一早趕返黎做份Freelance。

冇果樣恨果樣

Patrick不嬲都恨仔，但係佢老婆話佢已經收左工。尋日Patrick同佢老婆都有去探Christine。佢睇BB相睇到成個烚熟狗頭咁，前前後後係咁裝D相，好似睇極都唔夠喉咁。

佢遞張相過黎，話：「喂，康少，整番件ar。」我話：「買叉燒呀依家? 我斬兩磅，你斬一磅，仲可以留番三磅比Christine。」

人人都係冇果樣恨果樣。Ice有兩個仔，個大仔今年都入大學，佢到依家都仲恨女。上次同袁隆平食飯，見到人地個孫女BB，即刻走去抱（佢真係跑過去），抱左成五分鐘，到BB喊先肯比番人地阿媽。

一地都係

今日超勁潮濕，加上成日落毛毛雨，我諗濕度可能接近99%。今朝spot sample上MS plate，要spot 189個sample，每個spot 3次，再spot多次matrix，總共要spot 4x189=756個spots。Spot完一次，放o係desicator入便成個鐘都唔乾。後來o係G50度做先乾到，因為阿Yeo開行抽濕機，服侍台價值五百萬大元o既MS/MS 4700。買到一層豪宅架。

探完Christine之後返到屋企，除鞋，嘩，個地濕o既?

劉華Fans

今日得閒走上414搵Judy吹水，仲以為識o既人已經離開晒414，去到除左Judy原來仲有阿Don同Calvin，咁o岩Patrick，Amanda同阿Sue都o係度做聚o野。

行去Judy個位，見到佢釘左幾張劉德華既靚仔相o係佢張檯前面個Board度，先知原來佢咁lum劉華 (陳大文，呢樣你輸比Judy o刺)。其中有一張相被張紙遮住o左一半，淨係睇到劉德華企o係一個人側邊，另一個人被張紙遮住o左。Judy o係另一邊，我好興奮咁大聲問佢：「喂，企o係劉華側邊o個個係咪你?」跟住我撥開張紙，原來企o係劉華側邊o既係一隻馬... 哈哈哈哈哈哈... 笑到我標眼水!

Calvin個衰仔仲加多句，話我好有喜劇感... 哈哈哈... Judy，我真係以為你咁叨同劉華一齊映o左張相o架... 哈哈哈哈...

A new life begins

Christine gave birth to her first son last Saturday. I visited her at the hospital with the others today after work. She was quite surprised to see me because she didn't know I was in HK.

Both the mother and the son were fine, although the baby came out a week earlier, and they needed to open the womb to take the baby out. She was very careful and nervous for this pregnancy, because she had an infection in the amniotic fluid a few years ago for her first pregnancy and lost the baby. I am really happy for her and her husband. She is not young to have baby after all.

I didn't see the baby, but the father showed us the boy's pictures taken right after birth. The boy looks exactly like Christine.

The hard work has just started. Be a good mom, Christine.

生日快樂

VANS

著得我好舒服0既絕版啡皮VANS Tony III 比我踩爆0左個氣墊，行路行到0即0即聲，好低能。搵番對Rebok出o黎，著o左兩日，著到腳痛。佢個鞋底個形完全唔對路，個arch位頂住個ball位。o個陣買佢都係貪佢靚仔，原來靚仔真係冇本心，攪到我腳痛。

頭先趁有時間去o左旺角諗住買番對波鞋。睇完成條街都冇對睇得入眼。著住對Rebok又好腳痛，最後買o左對好醜樣o既Columbia行山鞋，至少可以番到去同Shamik行山用。最後仲要C等番我15分鐘。哈哈，要我等你2個鐘ar la。

In the Confessional

Another laughter from rootsgpk.blogspot.com

An elderly man walks into a confessional. The following conversation ensues:
Man: "I am 92 years old, have a wonderful wife of 70 years, many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Yesterday, I picked up two college girls, hitchhiking. We went to a motel, where I had sex with each of them three times."
Priest: "Are you sorry for your sins?"
Man: "What sins?"
Priest: "What kind of a Catholic are you?"
Man: "I'm not Catholic. I'm Jewish."
Priest: "Then why are you telling me all this?"
Man: "I'm 92 years old. I'm telling everybody."

Kill time

今晚又M到。唯有彈下結他，學BB King話齋，心情唔靚o個陣彈下結他，聽下D funny sound。雖然唔係好識彈，但至少可以kill time。

男人背後的女人

原本約o左C食lunch，個死婆話要訓多兩個鐘，改食Tea。攪到我要臨時搵人sip時間。好在有劉師兄，幫我消磨o左兩個鐘。

識o左C幾年。o個時個傻妹因為比男朋友飛，割脈自殺，好在比人發現得早。後來同返個男仔一排之後都係要分手。佢打比我，話又想自殺。我都唔記得同佢講o左乜，總之佢冇再做傻事。之後佢成日出去浦，浦左成年，乜都玩過，直到識到依家個男朋友。

個傻妹話成日同男友吵交，話佢掛住做野一個星期都陪唔到佢一次。但佢又鍾意人，人地又鐘意佢。早兩年個男仔生意有D問題，C幫佢周圍同人借錢，自已上身。總算個男仔對佢好，同佢講，佢陪佢渡過o左最艱難o既時期，以後有成果一定要同佢分享。

C話唔明點解平時只係同佢傾D無聊野，但佢都會好開心，話見過佢之後，成個人會舒服晒。我話，男人唔同女人，唔會同朋友講自已D煩惱。就算對住自己女友/老婆都唔一定講。但係只要見到個女仔，同佢傾下計，個心都會定好多。我話，好多女仔都唔知自己o係男朋友既心裡面係咁重要。如果個男人係好男人，你陪佢同支持佢渡過難關，佢一世都會記住。就算個女仔事實上幫唔到D乜，只要個男人唔開心既時候陪下佢，已經好足夠。

我仲話，即使個男人o係人地面前幾強，對住自己鍾意既女仔，就算表面唔係，心裡面都鬆懈晒。如果個女仔唔了解個男仔，又冇見過佢工作o個陣個樣，可能仲以為個男人真係咁軟弱。其實佢只會對住你先會表現出佢軟弱o個面。

佢話：「我都唔知原來男人生理上需要女人之外，心理上都咁需要。」妖！死妹釘！

其實我都係呢兩個月先領悟出呢D野.... 總之祝你地幸福啦。

又食又拎

今朝心情好差，以為申請visa D野又有麻煩。拉o左Yeo去Medic食早餐飲咖啡。好在個lawyer個assistant夠勤力，複o左我朝早八點（東岸時間夜晚八點）sent過去既e-mail，話我知有其他辦法，個人先輕鬆D。

跟住o係走廊撞到Judy，住一大袋龍眼。佢問我龍眼o岩唔o岩食，佢要用好多龍眼做實驗，但淨係要皮同核，要搵人幫手食。我話好，佢話陣間袋比我，點知等o左成日都唔見人。落山時撞到佢由MMW出黎，佢話唔記得左我。死婆！佢o岩o岩o係Patrick度番一大袋龍眼皮同核。我問佢究竟佢有幾多龍眼，佢話100 kg。嘩！我最鍾意幫朋友。我左佢電話號碼，聽日一定要去派街坊。

做呢D實驗真係好玩，又有得做，又有得食。其實上兩個月我已經食o左好多新鮮捉既海蝦，因為Priscilla要好多蝦蛋做實驗。Sophie好似要用海膽既蛋做實驗。唔知佢買o個種海膽食唔食得?

Letters from Iwo Jima

I watched Letters from Iwo Jima today. I was a bit disappointed because it was not as good as I expected. I expected a more coherent storyline about the battle and more expression of personal feeling from the Japanese commanders and soldiers. I think the praises from the US film critics are inflated by their emotional attachment to the cruelty of the battle on Iwo Jima.

The movie ends with a shoot where a bunch of archaeologists (seems like amateurs) digging out the bag of letters written by the Japanese soldiers in a cave on Iwa Jima. Those "archaeologists" open the bag and dump the content (the letters the name of the movie refers to) onto the ground from chest high, and the letters fall onto the ground like snow flakes. That looks like dramatic, but it was very troubling to me. It looks like you empty a bag of recycled paper into a recycling bin. Would any sensible archaeologist (no matter how amateur they are) would dump such important historical artifact onto the sandy floor of a cave? At least they should show some respect to the dead, I suppose?

That shoot ruins my mood a lot. The end of a movie is very important to the overall feeling of the audience. In the few minutes we walked out of the cinema, we would rethink the movie. The memory and feeling perceived at the end of the movie is the strongest during those few minutes.

Clint Eastwood also directed Flag of our Fathers which tells the stories of the soldiers who erected the American Flag on Iwo Jima after the intense battle ended. I have not watched it, and it may help to understand the big picture Eastwood wants to tell. But I suppose each of the two movies is a stand-alone complete movie to watch and understand.

An old waggery

Talking about jokes, I saw this a couple of years ago. It is the real front page of Daily Mirror of the UK on Nov 4, 2004, right after the re-election of George W. Bush. It is still my favorite political waggery. If you don't remember, George W. Bush got 59,054,087 popular votes in 2004.

The world's most hilarious blog

I came across this blog one day when I was terrible bored. It is probably the most hilarious blog in the world. This guy has a few sources of funny stories/jokes and he adds new laughters everyday. Now whenever I am gloomy, I look at it and have a few laugh, I will always feel better.

As I have said, in addition to my talent on counseling, I can always find a way to sooth myself somehow.

This is one recent laughter:

Hmmm ... Do They Come Long-stemmed?

Captured at 115th & Allisonville Road in Fishers, Indianapolis. The sign is real & was up for about 2 hours before someone stopped & told them how to spell peonies.

Exhausted

I played squash with 2 old teammates today after work. The game was good, and I kept beating them since I came back this time. It really takes a lot more to play in such a humid condition. But it is not the cause of the exhaustion. I am exhausted inside out. I only want to go to bed early tonight, but I need to stay up late to wait for email from the US.

Sigh.. Maybe it is the troubling visa application procedures. Maybe I am tired of taking all the responsibility on my own all the time. Maybe I don't have a person who is willing to listen to me. Maybe it is simply the M period.


Marilyn Batte is an oil painter based in Ontario, Canada.

Talks

I gave a talk and listened to another one today at CU. Ice hosted my talk in the Dept. of Biology, and for some reason it made up one of the seminar series the graduate students needed to attend. Just like the talk I gave last year, there were only 2 faculties attended my talk (One is Ice, the other one is Dr. Shaw). At least ~ 10 students whom I am familiar with and a few Biology students came by.

The talk I listened to was given by a patent lawyer who practiced in Canada. The talk was announced only a few days ago, but there were only 3 faculties attended the talk, including Mary who hosted the talk. There were only 5 more students there. If it was not me who asked 3 questions at the end of the talk, and the speaker herself had a couple of question to ask, it would be really embarrassing. Mary should thank me for that.

Sigh.. Hong Kong.

BBQ

尋日Dr. Shaw個Lab D師弟妹黎BBQ。我之前一日係百佳買Drinks, wines and beer + 其他野，其他人就係上水買野食。一早講好要燒海鮮，結果佢地真係買左好多海鮮：幾隻花蟹，兩隻怪蟹，兩斤賴尿蝦，一斤大蝦，咖喱尤魚，一條生尤魚，1打帶子，好多肉丸，仲有我特別要求既白膳，加上我之前一日買既兩磅雞翼，兩包羊肉，我後來買既鴨胸都冇出黎，D野食已經多到可以燒多次。

已經唔係第一次，人地叫我買Coke Light Lemon我又試買左Regular Coke Lemon。Haha... 算啦，飲得可樂就唔好飲Light啦，個after taste好苦架。

燒到一半（其實我已經飽），開檯！打完四圈剛剛到12:00，佢地仲趕到尾班車走。喂，你地唔記得飲我阿媽煲既五花茶呀，好好味架。

今朝同細佬一齊煮麵食，加了食剩的肉丸同菇，先發現我尋日冇食到大蝦，好在有一隻燒好左，可以黎麵。

D賴尿蝦好細隻，冇乜肉。今日叫阿爸煮左D食剩既野，佢話賴尿蝦要活生生煮先有肉，死左既賴尿蝦D肉會化哂水喎。唔怪得啦。我見到燒蟹覺得好殘忍... 睇住隻蟹活活被燒死... 仲心諗好在D賴尿蝦已經死左，哂使受火刑添... 都係留番比D專業人士煮呢D「雕鑽」野，自己印印腳等食好。

p.s. 點解依家D帶子咁平，十蚊有三大隻？？

The Driver Rules

I like listening to Jazz, and Shamik likes Rocks. When he sits in my car, he always complains about the music. He said, "Fuck... How can you listen to such miserable songs??" I said Jazz was not sad; that was Blues. He said, "Fuck... I am depressed listening to this."

I have made this little strip and plan to stick it outside the glove box of my car.

A Useful Cantonese Phase

Alice was born in Hong Kong and brought up in France. She met her boyfriend Jacopo in the US. Jacopo is from Italy, a small town near Venice. He said that before the new water management works in Venice were done, his town was flooded every time the dams were opened to ease the flood in Venice. He speaks French, Greek, English, Italian and Spanish.

One evening in a pub, he told me that Alice always said "lain-hoi" in the dream, and asked me what that meant. I gave it a thought for a second, and said, "Fuck off." He giggled wickedly and said, "I like that... kakaka.."

Now "lain-hoi" is Jacopo's favorite greeting to say when he sees me.

Cramped leg

Now I can feel how big local environment affects the performance of athletes.

I played a league game today. I was down 2 games to 0, then I got 1 game back. In the forth game, my left calf got cramped!! Damn it! I have never got cramped even in 2 hours' straight game with Remus and then Paul back in Beverly! I knew it is freaking wet here even inside the squash court. I have never sweat so badly back in Beverly. The wet air just keeps the sweats on my skin and stops me from cooling down. Well.. the players are more competitive here also. I have to play harder too.

Really. I need to play more to get use to the humidity.

青哥旋風腿

頭先搭火車，撞到Medic Canteen既Amy姐、青哥同阿威，大家都搭羅湖方向。
講開我住村屋，原來青哥都住村屋，重係大埔林村（許願樹果度）。佢話佢以前養左八隻狗，依家得返五隻。
阿威問佢：「食哂呀？」
青哥伸左佢一腳。
講講下，青哥話佢D狗都老啦...
阿威話：「呵... 所以唔食。」
青哥伸多佢一腳。

原來青哥除左有招牌奶茶之外仲有招牌旋風腿。

Airplane Sex Guide

I have just come across this Airplane Sex Guide on the web. It is so hilarious but practical I want to share with you all. The most funny part is it takes the form of the safety instruction card that is inserted into the front pockets. The instructions go quite into practical details and consideration of other passengers as well as the pleasure of the people engaging the act. Which airline provides this Guide on their planes?

傾佛計

頭先食完飯，同Simon Lee一齊行。佢問我依家有冇好D。我話：「有D野係整定，種瓜得瓜，種果得果。」
「菩提本無樹 明鏡亦非台 本來無一物 何處惹塵埃」呢句係我自己心諗既... [出自禪宗六祖慧能]

腹肌和腩肉的互換關係

死... 返黎三個星期，坐低覺得個肚有D頂住條褲既感覺。唔通個肚腩咁快就長大？？要搵人打多D波先得... 今晚有兩檔約會：同幾個老朋友食飯，或者去打波。我去左食飯... 好在佢貴夾唔飽，兼且有人請。
[我又用呢副相... 呢個蛋糕個做型實在太正]

秦始皇兵馬俑博物館

看了秦始皇兵馬俑博物館的網頁，見到兵馬俑和銅車馬造型準確，形象逼真，禦手俑和馬匹的解剖比例準確。比起歐洲文藝復興時代Michelangelo的當然有所不及，兵馬俑畢竟是比文藝復興早一千年的作品。

人常言中國的藝術不求準確，只求意境。我想這只是一個籍口。看看二千多年前的秦俑，它們的表情多仔細，解剖比例多準確？

究竟是誰主管秦俑的藝術工藝？為什麼秦俑之後便沒有了類似的作品？在秦的專政帝制之下，這樣有才華的天才連正式的名字也沒有留下來，更何況他們的命子？如果秦沒有「一統天下」，像製造秦俑這些天才還可以逃到別國，保住命子和把工藝留傳後世。歷史不是漸進，而是由個別的人突然創造出來的。專政帝制畢竟容不下個人的天份。

我建議各位，到不了西安秦始皇兵馬俑博物館，也要到它的網頁看看。看完之後，你會明白中國的文化和藝術比歐洲起步早幾百甚至上千年，為甚麼後來卻給人家趕上。

p.s. 我常說，有了互聯網和Wikipedia，無知已經變成罪。

睇英女皇寫硫磺島戰書

唉，想搵個人陪我睇戲都咁難。點解D人冇興趣睇英女皇同硫磺島戰書？好戲黎架！

清明上河圖與兵馬俑

今日報紙報導，北京故宮博物院可能會借出北宋的《清明上河圖》到香港展覽，慶祝香港回歸十周年。

我對回歸幾多周年沒有興趣，《清明上河圖》卻很想看看。我在Wikipedia查到，原來自從北宋的《清明上河圖》之後，歷代都有畫家臨摹或用相同的技巧繪畫類似的風景。其中最有名的是《清院本清明上河圖》，乾隆元年（1736）由清宮畫院的五位畫家陳枚、孫祜、金昆、戴洪、程志道合作畫成，現由台灣的故宮博物館收藏。


至於原來的《清明上河圖》現在只能推測是宋徽宗朝任朝翰林畫院畫史張擇端所繪畫，經過一千年的轉折現在被北京故宮博物院收藏。《清明上河圖》的特色是用全長528公分，高24.8公分的長卷，採用散點透視法「描繪了清明時節，北宋（960年－1127年）京城汴梁及汴河两岸的繁華和熱鬧的景象和優美的自然風光」。宋徽宗酷愛此畫，用“瘦金體”親筆在圖上題寫「清明上河圖」五字。


另一方面，大英博物館從秦始皇兵馬俑博物館借得120具兵馬俑（Terracotta） ，由今年9月13至明年4月6日展出。 大英博物館館長指出，「 重點不僅在兵馬俑上，而是秦始皇 。 」

這是刊登在大英博物館的網頁的介紹：

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition will explore one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century and provide an insight into China’s First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, and his legacy. Objects featured in the exhibition will include a number of the world-famous terracotta warriors from Xi'an, China, which were buried alongside the First Emperor in readiness for the afterlife, as well as some of the most striking recent discoveries made on the site. In introducing the idea of a unified state and effectively creating China in 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin created what is today the oldest surviving political entity in the world. How that state has survived, developed and is viewed today will be explored through events, lectures and debates around the exhibition.

Spirited Away

I was reading a paper written by a friend of mine. She is studying counseling and writing up a paper for her research.

Her theme is the way to happiness: "People who regularly feel grateful to others might be more likely to feel loved by others," and generally feel happier. Research has shown that "gratitude is negatively related to depression, anxiety and envy."

That's very true. Hoyee is such a wonderful girl to me because she used to be grateful to everything. After a few years staying outside alone, she had forgot what she truly is, and became very unhappy, depressed and anxious at some point.

The theme of Miyazaki's Spirited Away: you lose yourself when you forget your name.

Beer

The first German word that I can manage and still manage is "Prost", German for "cheers" for the drink. I enjoy chattering with friends over a glass of beer a lot.

I learned to drink beer in Boston. Well, you know after you have tried a lot of them. Hefeweizen is my favorite. It is a style of German beer in which the yeast is not filtered out and stay in the bottom of the bottle. In Bavaria, the wheat beer is called weissbier, which is brewed with a special strain of top-fermenting yeast that gives the beer the distinctive flavor. The proper way to drink hefeweizen is to pour 90% of the beer into a glass, swirl the bottle and then top the glass with the yeast.

In Massachusetts, you will get 50 cents for returning a beer bottle. We don't drink a lot of beer at home. But from the few parties we hosted, we have kept $12 worth of beer bottles (240 bottles) in 6 months.

I use to rinse the bottles with water before keeping them for return. At the end of the farewell party for Remus, I was rinsing the beer bottles at the sink. Remus saw me and told me that he never did that at home. I said to him, "I don't do this at your home either."

From Wikipedia: Franziskaner (aka Franzi) is a Munich brewery that makes wheat beer. It got its name from being next to a Franciscan monastery. It is now owned by Spaten Brewery, having been bought by Joseph Sedlmayr and merged with his brother Gabriel Sedlmayr's Spaten Brewery.

師兄

一位師兄由英國返香港工作，佢係一個好好好好人，我初初讀Graduate School的時候，佢教o左我好多做lab的techniques。近來我久不久會搵佢傾計同食lunch。有一日一班人食飯，佢突然o係成班人前問我：「十年前開始問你同唔同我返church問到依家，你到底幾時同我去呀？」我心諗，我唔係唔信，不過我可唔可以o係自己心裡面private practice?


Rouen Cathedral, Full Sunlight, by Claude Monet, 1894

算命

今日同幾個朋友o係佐敦打邊爐，講到佢o地搵一個o係廟街開檔o既相士睇開相同算時辰八字，講得好準。咁就腳，加上佢o地有「友情價」，我就走o左去睇。

呢位相士都幾好o野，曾經o係雜誌寫專欄，講下D明星o既運程。佢重有個網頁：www.wongchunfu.com

佢真係幾準，用我個時辰八字算出06年係最沖我o既一年：同一個拍拖好耐o既女仔分手，會唔見錢，同要轉工。佢話我三十一同三十二歲係最差的年份，以後先有運行。佢叫我要修眉，因為三十一同三十二歲都係行眼眉中間的運。但好消息係，06年係我一生中o既最低潮，而且晚年無憂。但我要到49歲開始先有餘錢。

佢淨係睇我o既八字已經知道我係好錫女朋友o既人。我話就係因為太錫佢先至攪到今日o既結果。我問佢會唔會同前度女友有機會，佢話：「搵過個重好啦！」

Surrender

Fuck. I have not been sick for over a year. I even survived the sub-zero temperature and my roommate's flu many times. But I got a cold the first night in HK. It was deceivingly warm, and I should have closed the windows before I went to bed.

It has been 2 weeks. I am still coughing, particularly in the morning. I suppose the smog makes things worse. I probably need to surrender to a doctor.. I am feeling pain on my neck, maybe it is the thyroid. Let me check with my friends.

Happiness Index

A friend of mine put up a Happiness Index of the past year on her blog. It is a brilliant idea, so I made one for myself.



As I have said, 2006 was really a bloody hell for couples. If you survived it, you should open a bottle of champagne for that.

Alfred Sisley

I like impressionist painting. Claude Monet is a bit experimental to me. I prefer Alfred Sisley.

Sisley is actually a friend of Monet. Unlike classical painters who sketched the scene and painted back in the studio, they started painting outdoor to capture the realistic transient effect of sunlight. This is the essence of Impressionism: paint exactly what you see. If you are as irritated and sick as Vincent van Gogh, you see a swirling world of intense coloration. If you are as well-off as Sisley, you see tranquility: sunlight caresses every surface it touches and the colors it manifests.

Impressionists had invented a brand new way to paint, but they wouldn't be able to do it without one technical breakthrough of their time: the invention of tin tubes that allow painters to bring their oil paints outdoor.

I like Impressionist painting because I can feel what the painters felt by looking at their paintings. I liked Vincent van Gogh until a couple of years ago. Now I prefer Alfred Sisley. Maybe I have passed the stage of adrenaline surge and now want some tranquility. Sisley was British after all.


Sisley - Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne. 1872 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Lucille

I bought my brother a guitar a few years back. He wanted to learn but gave up later. I always wanted to learn guitar. Now I have the time.

A friend of mine said men always want to learn guitar. Well.. like B.B. King had said, "when I go home at night, maybe I am lonely - well, not maybe, I am lonely - I pick up Lucille, and bring up the funny sound that sounds good to me, you know.."

Lucille is the electric guitar B.B. King uses. When he was young and nobody, he almost killed himself to save his guitar from a fire, which was started by a row over a girl whose name was Lucille. He named that guitar Lucille to remind himself not to do that again. Like every musician, King falls in love with his instrument. In his own words, "She's just like a woman, and that's the only one I've had that seemed I could really depend on. I've been married and each time separated from my wife, but Lucille never separates from me. She always stayed with me." He names all his guitars Lucille. Since 1982, Lucille has become the official name for Gibson ES-335, which B.B. King uses later in his career. Read on here.

Men are not good at talking things off after all. Well.. I have learned to do so, but I am still looking for someone who would listen.

I am doing quite good with guitar. I can play the easy part of Signe by Eric Clapton, although I still need to work on the bit.

p.s. Thanks to Fat Hoi who brought this classic tune to my attention: Lucille (1968).

Steps

It has been a while not writing. Life is really busy in HK. Work, meeting friends, squash, etc. You really need to manage your time so as not to waste it.

After playing squash today, my buddy and I went to another squash buddy's home to see his baby son. Both of these 2 friends have just had their first baby sons 2-3 months ago. Their topics, although they are men, are how much milk to feed every time, what kind of lotion to put on to the baby, how many clothes to put on the baby when going out, etc, etc.

Life comes in stages, and the stages are connected by steps, not slopes. Some of the steps are quite subtle. I have a few goals. Although I am not a good planner, I have achieved these goals somehow. I hope luck will stay with me.

p.s. It really takes some time and bitter encounters to learn things. Hope it is what people call wisdom.