去旅行啦

去旅行啦～～～！

過去兩年半第一次出國，有緊張喎。

一家大細三口旅行都執番o黎，
已經準備好喇！

但係，我哋都冇乜特徵，
有怕巨大機場好難搵。

所以我向我老婆大人建議，
上貼好核突圖案，
怕醜到冇人會走...


於是，建議三個上貼
梁進『魚肉燒賣』圖案。
魚肉燒賣叔叔FAN屎我仔好開心，
但被夫人嬲....

我星期六夜晚先返香港，
所以呢個網誌都休息一個星期。

The Most Annoying One?

I often felt annoyed about the people who dared to do what I would not do.

But actually what they did were very tiny things. They simply set off the moral alert inside me that "Why do they dare to do while I am enduring the pain?"

However, the only reason why I endured the pain was my moral pride. I just wanted to feel "I am better than they." We try to keep our pride to feel good but this pride often betrays us by making us furious.

I am less annoyed by anyone these days. By allowing me to do the little mischief I did not dare to do before, I feel much freer and it is much easier for me to understand my former offenders.

I only kept moral pride so that I could cover up the war that was going within me. I do not need such pride anymore after signing a truce with myself. Then it is a lot easier to behave as I want without being naughty...

Actually, the most annoying one to me was myself...

-------------------------------------
I will be away from my PC for a week from tomorrow. I'll be on a vacation in the Golden Triangle, northern Thailand...

Judge Not

A judgment hardens anyone's heart.
It will hardly calms down an angry heart.
It will hardly make a lazy one diligent.
It'll give you neither a good student nor a good colleague.

When you feel like judging someone,
just invite her for a cup of tea or coffee
and just have a friendly chat.

I know what she wants is not another criticism
but a friend who is willing to listen to her heart,
with which even she herself is out of touch...

Misbehaviour is usually a cry for help, not a curse.
Before it turns into a real curse, be a friend with her.

Yes! Magazine

晚上去執垃圾，每次見到Yes! Magazine（香港一本teen雜誌）就執番黎，不知不覺已經有幾本喇。我唔怕人哋在我房搵到幾本鹹書，但卻怕被人知我 （一個卅幾歲叔叔）隱藏幾本Yes! Magazine…

而封面女郎全部都係Fiona薛凱琪… -_-; 連我自己都唔知過我咁鍾易佢。

發覺到自己鍾意Fiona，少少驚，因為我覺得鍾意佢就可能代表，我係個隱性金魚佬… 所以我諗～諗～諗～Fiona乜咁吸引…

答案係好簡單。就係佢眼睛。雖然佢好似係個乖乖、聽話玉女，但佢眼睛好有力量，而好似好貪玩。咁樣女仔好似係貓貓咁好難以控制。

呢幅相Fiona少少似日本AV女郎...

已家我知道呢件事，好放心喇。

我冇想過控制個女仔。容易受到控制女仔好悶，令我發癲…

不過，唔鍾意容易控制到女仔，係唔係我唔係金魚佬證明呢？

Where Am I?

But stepping back just a bit, I can see an entirely different picture...

懶人成功術

少時老人常言「以勤補拙」，「成功靠99%努力和1% 天份」，等這些話言在耳邊起繭後，仍然沒有絲毫勤勞的跡象。算了，天生我才必有用，懶人也有懶人的處世方式，不過仍然對「成功」兩個字有無限的憧憬，一看「懶人成功術」，禁不住四眼發光，鼓起那股勤勁「刨」起來。

作者開宗明義地說道：人應當「聰明的工作而不是努力的工作」，那些「懶惰的成功者」才真正會工作、會生活的人，也才是真正意義上的成功者。

甚麼才是「懶惰的成功者」呢？首先得從如何界定「成功」談起。作者指出，現在社會所定義的「成功」，都是以「名望和財富」作為標準的，而這種成功往往需要人們在身心健康、家庭、社會生活以及個人自由方面付出遠遠高於你想要付出的代價。當你登上自以為成功的巔峰回過頭一看，常人輕易就能夠享受的那種豐富、輕鬆、快樂和富有創造活力的生活，自己卻幾乎一無所有。這究竟是成功還是失敗呢？要成為「懶惰的成功者」，作者的貼士是：

1. 不該懶惰的時候不能懶，該懶的時候則要懶，張弛有度，一切以效率為轉移。懶人成功的核心秘訣只有一條，那就是高效率的工作，用4小時完成別人14小時才能完成的任務。

2. 選擇做自己擅長的事情，為自己喜歡的事情工作而不是單單為了追求一份高收入。只要熱愛自己所從事的職業才可能有高效率的動力，也才能體會真正的滿足與快樂。

3. 具備創造性思維。一個人的思維愈具有創造性，就愈不用完全依靠努力工作來取得成功，創造性是懶人成功的基本要素。

4. 認清金錢的真相，不要把賺錢當作人生的唯一目標。金錢只是幫助自己成功的一種工具，而不是目的，擺脫金錢的束縛可以解放人的創造活力。與單純為了錢才從事某種職業的人相比，從長遠觀點看，享受自己所從事的工作的人最終能賺到更多錢。

5. 善於分配和利用時間，遵循「80-20法則」（即一切工作的效率的前80%來源於工作者時間和精力的前20%），尋找最有效的成功途徑。

書名：The Lazy Person’s Guide to Success: How to Get What You Want Without Killing Yourself for It

作者：Ernie Zelinski

出版社：Ten Speed Press

撰文：劉奇明

來自於香港經濟日報(2005年4月27日)

Me, Tomorrow (I Hope)

An Avant-garde Japanese Poem

Even though it is the hottest time here in Hong Kong, my creativity is sleeping like this very short poem...

I hope this black dot start moving soon like a bear coming out of hibernation and grow into my own words...

Me, now...

A Tough Time with Miss Universe

I tried hard to figure out what was particularly beautiful about the new Miss Universe and other contestants. But I failed.

Looking at a picture of these tall ladies unformly with heavy makeups and unnaturally large mouths, I wondered if I had a twisted sense of beauty. Because I found none of them particularly beautiful.

The word I came up with those ladies was plastic. They simply looked so unnatural.

Well, I feel the same way whenever I see the pictures of party celebs on a newspaper or a magazine. They look so unreal and intimidating.

I am sure someone would tell me that I am not normal because I cannot find beauty in whom or what many people find beautiful.

But the sense of beauty is highly subjective. I feel that conforming such a basic sense to the mass or so-called authorities may be the beginning of loss of my freedom...

Ten Years

I settled in Hong Kong today ten years ago (23 June 1996). Well, I am not surprised that I have been in this former British colony for ten years as I fell in love with her when I visited her for the first time in 1995.

My first visa to Hong Kong issued by British Embassy, Tokyo ten years ago.
I came to Hong Kong just a year before its handover from the U.K. to China.

But I am surprised by how distant my former home has become. I have not been back in Japan already for five years so far. Although I recently planned to go back there for a short visit, I decided not to go because I could feel any familiarity to the country anymore. It is already not a country where I can go back but more like a foreign country...

Well, I felt I was back when my plane landed on Hong Kong International Airport after my last visit to Japan in the summer of 2001. It was two years before I beame the citizen of this city.

Tears well up in my eyes whenever I look back my past ten years in Hong Kong.

I covered the entrance of the People's Liberation Army to the last British colony in Asia few hours before her handover to China (at 9:00 p.m. on 30 June 1997) as a reporter.

Then I got an opportunity to support Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government midst of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998 again as a reporter. Writing about the SAR's ability and determination to maintain Hong Kong dollar's stability, I felt as if I had been a war correspondent. I started to identify as a Hong Konger-to-be that time.

But nothing makes me cry more than the memories from the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis of 2003. The epidemic of this mystery disease depressed the entire city. But the courage of heroic medical workers and kindness of Hong Kong people under the crisis made me love this city even more...

I was granted the permanent residency, the quasi-citizenship, of SAR after the worst crisis she had ever experienced after her liberation from the Japanese occupation in 1945.

So now I feel Hong Kong is the only place for me to go back, if I go out of it. Well, then I should have written this in Chinese, though...

Midori's Gravity

Thank you Marley and Anna for commenting to my post about Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.

I always see both Naoko and Midori (the wild girl) equally as persons but of extremely different roles. As I was in a situation extremely similar to this novel's more than a decade ago, I cannot reduce a real person to just an experience.

I see Naoko (that means a honest or straightforward girl) as a symbol of a closed and self-completed world. It is beautiful but when boys and girls become men and women, this world is almost destined to collapse, at least in the modern society.

But Kizuki, Naoko's first boyfriend could not bear this transition and killed himself at 17. And Naoko followed his suit a few years later. Both failed in the modern initiation that is much, much subtler than that of traditional society. Maybe they would not have had to leave this world prematurely if they had been born in a pre-modern society as preservation of how the way things are have a greater significance than the establishment of self there.

As Kizuki was his only friend, Watanabe had a longing (perhaps unconsciously) of this beautiful closed world. So he tried to take care of Naoko. But he was a much more modern, independent person than his two friends. As a result, Naoko left this world but he stayed.

Midori (that means green and represents life) is also a very independent person. Her parents died before she graduated from university and she had to take responsibility in discharging her dead father's bookstore business. She found her ideal boyfriend in Watanabe (quite unconsciously) and tried to pull him out from the closed world of the past (again, unconsciously).

I guess her strong sexual drive is a symbol of life. She is a representation of Eros that is life-energy, while Naoko is of Thanatos, the death-energy. (Talks about the contrast between these two energies were so popular among Japanese intellectuals in the 1980s when Japan experienced the last economic boom after 1945.)

So Midori dragged Watanabe out to the world. Because he had to face the open and unfamiliar world in order to go on living...

I love Midori better than Naoko because I want to see my world going unfolded. But Naoko seems to be more popular among the Japanese readers. (Is it due to Japanese glorification of death? Or is it because of nostalgia about the pre-modern society, which enabled Japan's economic growth into the 1980s?) It seems to be the same in Taiwan. (Maybe it's the same in the westen world as the girls on the English versions' covers should definitely meant to be Naoko.)

However, in the mainland China, readers love Midori much more. She represents hope and future. In a country whose economy grows more than 10% a year, Midori is definitely more real than the ghastly Naoko...

-------------------------------------------
P.S.
I am still working after Friday midnight... It's almost the fate of a freelance writer/translator. I feel a bit nostalgic about my employed past when I had to do thing but enjoy in the Friday/Saturday nights...

香港SOHO工作的隱形重大問題！

雖然SOHO是一個很舒適的工作方式，但我一直到昨天想不起香港在家工作之一個隱形的重大問題！

香港人太喜歡裝修，常常在同一棟樓內，最少在一間房做裝修，換牆、換地板、換馬桶，好鬼噪呀！連女友不停說也忍不住話的劉浩龍一定會發癲…

昨天我間房上面開始拆牆和地板，噪到連我腦中思考的聲音也聽不到，不記得自己要寫甚麼，打了「轟轟轟」三個字…唉，有排捱…慘！

Challenging Naoko

I have been blankly pondering about a part from Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Woods these days. I do not remember which chapter.

I just remember the dialogue between Watanabe, the main character of the novel and Naoko, his quasi-girl friend who is in a mental asylum.

He tells Naoko that she can solve her problem -not getting moist despite her desire to make love - by relaxing.

But Naoko says that she is afraid that she would be disintegrated and blown by wind if she quit the efforts to keep her integrity.

Watanabe tells her that her that problem is mental so she can overcome it.

She angrily replies to him that all her problems are mental.

Well, she has a belief that she'd lose her integrity if she relaxed. And this seems to be the major cause of her sufferings. She is to hang herself later...

No one knows what happens if she can relax. She just keeps the fear without any ground. Too bad that nobody around her knows how to challenge her limiting thoughts.

Too bad that Watanabe or anyone close to her does not ask her "Who said that?" "What exactly does 'disintegrate' mean?" or "How will you disintegrate and be blown away by the wind? Will you really turn into dust just by relaxing?"

She has just confused a metaphor and what would really happen. We tend to equate two things that would not form an equation without a lot crooked thoughts. I guess if Watanabe knew this, she would not have to end her own life...

I have no idea why I have been pondering this. Perhaps someone is in need of this kind of help now...

I wonder why this publisher uses the advertisement pictures from the 1930s Shanghai for the works of the modern Japanese novelist... It is very very weird.

Delirium Continues!

This one has been inspired by the signs (Noshi) printed on many Japanese gift wrappers.

我想有個窩

　我今天偶然遇到這首很令人感動的歌。
偏愛貓的我，不知不覺落淚了。
我衷心希望世界的小貓和
其他寵物都有溫暖的窩...

《我想有個窩》
K娃
（建議用新視窗開啟這個Flash連結）

我想要有個窩
一個能吃頓飽飯的地方
可是每天的饑餓總糾纏我美麗的夢

我想要有個窩
一個能睡個好覺的地方
那樣寒冬來臨的時候 我就不用害怕

我想要有個窩
可輪也不會輪到我
因為我只是一隻流浪的小貓

這個城市太繁華
我只渴望有個家
這樣的要求算不算太高

雖然我沒有高貴的爸媽
但是我一樣慢慢地長大
滿街飛旋的車輪，多麼的可怕
我們不知道，明天會發生什麼

雖然被危險緊緊地包圍
但是我學會勇敢地面對
但願世界充滿愛，人們會關懷
相同的生命，不同的命運

讓我擁有一個窩
我想要有個窩
一個能吃到東西的地方
那裏一定不會像垃圾桶裏那麼的髒

我想要有個窩
一個能找到溫暖的地方
可以不用睡在汽車下面那危險的床

我想要有個窩
可何時才能找到它
或許我真的沒有那種命吧

這個城市那麼大
小小我卻容不下
我只能認真面對我的一生

我們的生命是那麼渺小
我們的命運也微不足道
面對無情的追打，殘忍的虐殺
我們不知道究竟做錯了什麼

在萬戶千家團圓的夜晚
你可曾聽見我們的呼喊
但願世界充滿愛，人們會關懷
相同的生命，不同的命運
讓我擁有一個窩

冬天就要過去了
春天馬上就來了
我想我也會有個窩的……

世上只有

今天參加我兒子的幼稚園畢業禮。其主題歌之一，容祖兒的「世上只有」真好聽。我愛上廣東話世界到移民來香港，其一原因就是甜美的廣東歌。

想不到幼稚園的畢業禮是這麼隆重的...連自己兒子的面也看不到

這個月，我遷居香港剛剛十年了。我兒子也這個月畢業本地幼稚園，快將入讀本地中文小學。看著畢業禮、聽著這首甜美而表達深情的歌，覺得香港已經是我第一個家…

世上只有
作曲：陳光榮
填詞：黃偉文

望著你講　也許更易　濃於水的三個字
從我降世　一開始　到永遠　不休止
你亦是我支柱　動力和意義

You make me cry, make me smile,
Make me feel the love is true
謝謝你的關顧　與及無償的愛護
年月漫漫　多艱苦　你也永遠優先擔心我喜惡
唯恐我並未得到　最貼身保護 Oh I love you!

但是我知　你都有夢　仍將一生給我用
全個世界　幾多種　愛與愛　在互動
也未及這種愛　能完全獻奉

Yes I do, I always do

Make me cry, make me smile,
Make me feel the love is true

謝謝你的看顧　與歷年來的愛護
年月漫漫　多艱苦　我再重也不肯拋低我不顧
從不會立下私心　怕會給辜負 Oh I love you!

Yes I love you, I always to...

今天另一首主題歌也很好。羅文的「獅子山下」。雖然「東方之珠」好像有「非正式香港區歌」的地位，其在香港的地位遠遠比不上「獅子山下」。（普通話嘛！）我覺得「獅子山下」就是事實上的「香港區歌」。

Cha Siu Bao & Siu Mai

I tried to express myself in a very different way today...

Focus on the Light

Focus.
And you'll see what you want to see.

Tune in.
And you'll hear what you want to hear.

Ask specifically.
And you'll get what you want.

A strong hope to forget will only
Make you focus on what you don't want.

A strong hope to avoid will only
Bring you closer to what you don't want.

So just focus on what you want.

So just focus on the Light.
Then horrible demons would change into
Resourceful daemons who show you the way
Or playful pokémons that entertain you.

So just focus on the True Light!

A Pride in Pure Luck?

Maybe the achievements of my efforts are merely like a herd of penguins dancing on a gigantic iceberg of luck...

A rather strange thought came up to my mind yesterday. Am I better than a beggar I saw recently near the railway station in my neighbourhood?

This slim man covered by filth kowtowed furiously to attract passers-by’s attention. He had no leg. I guess he was a migrant beggar from the mainland China, probably taken to Hong Kong by the mafia. Although I felt pity, I passed by without dropping a penny.

I am sure I am better off than this guy without legs. I have a family, a home, skills to earn decent income and quite a good educational background. My agents and clients are happy with my work. I am more needed. But this does not mean I am better.

The very foundation of my being is just a bewilderingly long chain of chances. I was just lucky enough to be born to a decent couple in a relatively affluent country at a peacetime.

I only happened to get these conditions. I might have been born to an illiterate couple in a very poor mountain minority village in Guizhou province, China. That I was not born there was just by pure luck.

Well, I have made a lot of efforts to make myself marketable in labour market and attractive to the opposite sex. But these efforts are merely a herd little penguins dancing on a gigantic iceberg of luck...

Taking all these things into consideration, I simply cannot think that I am better than anyone. Anyway, a pride in luck is an extremely unenlightened thing.

I had a difficulty in understanding what A Course In Miracles means with the word specialness until yesterday. But I know it now. This kind of pride is the foundation of the belief in separation and is the source of our suffering…

Grapefruit

Among all the fruits, my most favourite is a grapefruit.

When I peel it, I can enjoy its excellent fragrance that clears my mind.

Its sourness refreshes me. Its sweetness gives me energy. And its bitterness clears up my ever-dizzy. I love its zest that straightens me up.

But because of this zest, I could not eat a grapefruit for many years until recently. I used to have a very serious disease and my body simply could not accept any zesty food.

So what I could do was just to scratch the grapefruit peel, enjoy the smell for a while and then give it to someone else.

Now I can eat a grapefruit without worrying any horrible pain. And this big zesty fruit always reminds me how precious the health is...

Although loss of privilege would not hurt me a lot, loss of simple things that has been taken granted does. Being able to eat a grapefruit was definitely one of these things for me.

And eating a grapefruit always reminds me of the avatar of my moon goddess... Her pure and smiling eyes helped me a lot heal the horrible long-time disease.

Thank you, my sweet goddess!

(photo by Peter Yokoyama)

For everything there is a season...

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.(Ecclesiastes 3:1, NRSV)

I strongly feel this verse is true especially when I read a book. My mind seems to know the right time when a particular book should be read.

I feel it now with a book about Chinese history and the Chinese translation of Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Although both have very simple structures, I once found these books awfully tough to read on. So they stayed on a bookshelf at near mint condition for more than a year until recently. Their time had not come yet…

However, I now find both extremely easy to read and quite hard to put down. And I wrote a story about the totalitarian Qin Dynasty and the Taoism of the early Han Dynasty to help a depressed friend of mine. So I think I picked up this history book again at a right time.

Although I still do not know how Kundera's book will help me, I am sure I am reading it at the right time. The novel will help me solve my own or my friend's problems somehow, sometime later.

I am very curious how it is so. But I will simply go on reading these books now because I know they are relevant to me now.

Chinese would say there is yuanfen 緣份 between me and these books. Even though the word can be translated into fate or destiny, I feel it is much gentler and softer bond brought by the forces of nature. I guess it is very close to Carl G. Jung's Synchronicity.

I don't know how it works but I know it is here always connecting me to the things and people who can lead me to enlightenment...

I Love Pretending to Be a Fool

I love pretending to be a fool.
With my mouth agape and my eyes looking 45 degrees upward,
Relaxing my shoulders, hips and knees like a chimp,
I know I would not look cool at all
But it’s relaxing and comfortable, anyway!

Pretending to be handsome, I need money and time. Moreover I will have to care about what others would think about me. Not very easy.
But pretending to be a fool, I don’t have to wear suits, don’t have spend money. Actually it’s very economical and might be even very ecological!

Pretending to be smart, I have to worry because I am supposed to know anything including what I have absolutely no idea about.
But pretending to be a fool, I don’t have to worry about complicated question because no one would ask me.

Pretending to be smart, I’ll be in a big trouble if my productivity is low. I have to make efforts all the time. It’s very tiring.
But pretending to be a fool, I can create a miracle with average productivity. And I don’t have to worry much about my productivity is low.

Pretending to be smart, it’s not easy to express any emotions. Pressure would build up so easily that I would soon go mad.
But pretending to be a fool, I can laugh or cry anytime anywhere I like. I can release negative emotions so easily.

Pretending to be smart, I impose on my self the limitations from traditions, common sense or rules. I am not very free.
But pretending to be a fool, I can think free-style. I would be able to come up with a breakthrough so easily!

Pretending to be smart, accepting bondage, I would look like a Confucian or a Protestant. I could be so modern that I am utterly outdated.
But pretending to be a fool, I can wander around freely and would look like a Taoist. I am so post-modern and so avant-garde!

Actually, pretending to be a fool might be very cool!

Pretending to be smart, I will always hear Ego’s criticisms and have to think what others would think about me.
But pretending to be a fool, I can easily hear my True Self’s blessings so I would be always very happy.

But Ego tells me pretending to be a fool is very indecent so it’s actually not very easy.
I really hope that I can more easily be a fool.
Actually, pretending to be a fool needs some practice…

(Translation from Cantonese version)

我鍾意扮傻

我鍾意扮傻。
開住口仔，眼仔睇住四十五度上邊，
好似猩猩仔放鬆膊頭、腰同腳，
雖然確實一都唔有型，
但最緊要好輕鬆、好舒服！

扮靚要花錢、花時間，而且要理人地諗乜，其實好麻煩。
但扮傻，唔駛著西裝，唔駛使錢，其實好慳錢，而且可能好環保！

扮聰明，要扮自己完全唔明都知道，成日要怕。
但扮傻，唔駛怕複雜問題，因為根本冇人會問我。

扮聰明，工作效率低，會被大家討厭，成日要努力，會好。
但扮傻，工作效率一般，已經係奇蹟，差少少都唔駛怕。

扮聰明，咩情緒都冇咁容易表出，好容易蓄積壓力，會發癲。
但扮傻，隨時隨地可以笑，可以喊，可容易釋放負面情緒。

扮聰明，成日都要受到傳統、常識、規矩限制，好唔自由。
但扮傻，做到諗乜都得自由型游泳思考，好容易得到突破！

扮聰明，甘受束縛，好似儒家、基督徒，好現代、好落後。
但扮傻，飄來飄去好自由，好似道家，好後現代、好先進！

其實，扮傻幾有型！

扮聰明，成日都要聽小我批評、要諗人地點樣諗。
但扮傻，好容易聽到真我祝福，會成日都好開心！

但係，小我大聲話扮傻好怕醜，冇咁容易扮傻。
我希望，我更加容易扮傻到。
其實，扮傻都要修煉…

BAKING A DREAM

WHEN YOU BAKE BREAD WHAT DO YOU DO AFTER KNEADING THE DOUGH AND ADDING YEAST TO IT AND COVERING THE DOUGH WITH A MOIST TOWEL? DO YOU LIFT THE TOWEL ONCE EVERY MINUTE POKE THE DOUGH TO URGE IT TO RISE FASTER? IF YOU DO SUCH A THING YOU MAY GET UNLEAVENED BREAD WITH YEAST.

WHAT DO YOU DO AFTER PUTTING THE DOUGH IN AN OVEN? DO YOU OPEN THE OVEN COVER ONCE EVERY MINUTE AND MOVE THE DOUGH AROUND TO URGE IT TO BE BAKED FASTER? IF YOU DO SUCH A THING THE OVEN MAY COOL DOWN AND SPOIL YOUR BREAD.

WHAT YOU CAN DO IS TO KNEAD THE DOUGH AND ADD YEAST. LEAVENING THE DOUGH IS NOT YOUR BUT THE YEAST’S JOB SO YOU CAN LEAVE THE DOUGH ALONE. I BELIEVE THE YEAST WANTS TO TELL YOU TO LEAVE IT ALONE.

WHAT YOU CAN DO AFTER THE DOUGH RISES IS NOT TO BAKE IT BUT PUT IT INTO AN OVEN. BAKING IT IS NOT YOUR BUT THE OVEN’S JOB SO YOU CAN LEAVE THE OVEN ALONE AFTER PUTTING THE DOUGH INTO IT. I BELIEVE THE OVEN WANTS TO TELL YOU TO LEAVE IT ALONE.

YOU CAN MAKE YOUR DREAM COME TRUE IN ALMOST THE SAME WAY. AFTER DECIDING THE DIRECTION OF YOUR DREAM LET THE YEAST OF YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND TO LEAVEN IT. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ELSE UNTIL THE DOUGH OF YOUR DREAM RISES. AFTER YOUR DREAM RISES LET THE OVEN OF YOUR UNCONSCISOUS MIND TO BAKE IT. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MOVE THE DREAM AROUND OR POKE IT WHILE BAKING. AFTER YOU HAVE PREPARED WELL JUST LEAVE THE DREAM ALONE. IT IS A SHORTCUT TO MAKE YOUR DREAM COME TRUE. LEAVE THE DOUGH OF YOUR DREAM ALONE WITH YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND.

JUST TRUST YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND...

烤夢想的麵包

想烤麵包捏麵團加入酵母蓋了濕毛巾之後妳做甚麼呢？妳會不會每一分鐘揭開毛巾用手指捅麵團以催促它快點上起來？如果妳這樣做妳得到的可能是有酵母的薄餅而不是麵包。

將麵團入烤箱之後妳做甚麼呢？妳會不會每一分鐘打開烤箱門將麵團轉來轉去以催促它快點完成？如果妳這樣做麵包會烤不成。

妳可以做的是捏麵團加入酵母。使麵團上起來的並非妳的工作而是酵母的所以妳由得麵團自己上起來。我覺得酵母也想告訴妳說不要理我。

麵團上起來了之後妳可以做的不是烤它而將它入烤箱。烤它並非妳的工作而是烤箱的所以妳由得烤箱自己烤麵包。我覺得烤箱也想告訴妳說不要理我。

實現夢想也跟烤麵包差不多一樣。決定了妳夢想的方向讓妳無意識的酵母使麵團上起來吧。夢想上起來之前妳可以做其他事。夢想上起來之後妳可以讓無意識的烤箱烤它吧。妳根本不用將麵團轉來轉去還是用手指捅。做好了準備之後妳不用理妳的夢想因為它可以照顧自己。這就是實現夢想的捷徑。付託妳夢想的麵團給妳無意識吧。

信任妳無意識吧…

English version
日本語版

Ha ha, I still cannot handle the Chinese language very well... Thank you very much for my horrible writing! If you have any suggestion or find any mistakes in my Chinese posts, please feel free to tell me! Thank you! (But irregular punctuation is intentional.)

ゆめのぱんがま

ぱんをやくときにこなをこねてからいーすとをいれてぬれたぬのをうえにかぶせてからどうする？いっぷんおきにぬのをまくってふくらめふくらめといってつつきまわせばはやくふくらむ？そんなことしてたらしぼんじゃうかもね。

おーぶんにいれてからはどうする？いっぷんおきにおーぶんのふたをあけてはやくやけろはやくやけろっていってうごかしまわせばはやくやける？そんなことしてたらおーぶんのねつがにげてまともにやけなくなっちゃうかもね。

あなたにできるのはぱんきじをこねていーすとをいれること。ふくらますのはあなたのしごとじゃなくていーすとのしごとだからほうっておこう。いーすともほうっておいてくれっていってるよ、きっと。

ふくらんでからあなたにできるのはやくことじゃなくてきじをおーぶんにいれること。やくのはおーぶんのしごとだからおーぶんにひをいれてぱんきじをいれたらほおっておこう。おーぶんもほうっておいてくれっていってるよ、きっと。

ゆめもにたようなもの。ゆめのほうこうをきめたらむいしきのいーすとにそれをふくらませてもらおう。そのあいだあなたはほかのことをしてればいいの。ゆめがふくらんでかたちができたらむいしきのおーぶんにやいてもらおう。そのあいだもあなたはゆめをいじりまわしたりつつきまわしたりするひつようはないの。じゅんびがすんだらあとはほうっておこう。それがゆめへのちかみちだったりする。むいしきにまかせてほうっておこう。

We All Don't Like Homework...

He was relatively happy doing his homework that day...

My five-year-old son loves calculation. He once cruised through dozens and dozens of additions and subtraction with fun. He did it as a play.

But he does not like to do math homework. It takes dozens and dozens of minutes to finish five simple problems.

He loves to write Chinese and English words. He often adds shot explanations to his drawings. When he does know how to spell what he want to write, he would ask me or check his textbooks.

But he does not like to do Chinese and English homework. It takes dozens and dozens of minutes to finish copying ten words.

He loves to draw. Even though he does not draw very well, I think he is a good designer as I love his use of colours and layout of objects.

But he does not like art homework. One day, he grudgingly drew a few stick figures for art homework and started his own drawing.

Well, I naturally have had such an experience. When I was in the middle school, I did not like Chinese history. I just did not have to remember what happened in which year, I also had to memorise all the unfamiliar Chinese names (in Chinese characters). But now without any worry about exams, Chinese history is one of most favourite topics of reading.

From our experiences, I can see obligations tend to suppress our creativity and efficiency so much while choices enhance these. And it is easier for me to understand now why some psychologists say that expressions of possibility and choice such as can, to be able to and to want can encourage us more than those of necessity such as must, should or have to…

(This post is not the translation of my newest Chinese post although these two are extremely similar.)

我們大家都不喜歡做功課

這一天，他比較願意做功課...

我五歲兒子很喜歡計數。他每天很多次問家人「十減二是多少？」那樣一些數學問題。家人都不會即刻回答他，但幫他自己計算。某一天，他玩耍時非常集中地解答幾十題加減數問題，好像津津有味了。

但是，他不太喜歡做數學功課，解答五個非常簡單的加算都會花幾十分鐘才做完。

他亦喜歡寫字。畫圖畫時，他常常想加上短短的解釋。如果他不知道怎樣寫他所想寫的字，他會問我還是會查課本。

但是，他亦不太喜歡做中英文功課，抄寫十句字都往往花幾十分鐘才做完。

他非常喜歡畫圖畫。雖然他畫得不太好，但配色和佈置都很有特色，我覺得他有設計的天份。

但是，他亦不喜歡畫圖畫的功課。有一天，我叫他做畫畫功課時，他很不願意地畫了幾個火柴人便走。

我都當然有這樣的經驗。讀中學時，我不太喜歡中國歷史。不但要記年號，亦要記複雜的中國人名，我中國歷史考試的成績不好。但是，沒有甚麼需要的現在，我對中國歷史的興趣卻增加了。

由這件事，我感覺到強制會減低我們的創意和效率，而自己的選擇提高這些。又體會到為何有些心理學家說「可以」、「願意」這些詞語給人（還是我們自己）的鼓勵大於「應該」、「須要」這些表示義務的助動詞...

Without Knowing That...

I often work like this without knowing that...

Although a lot people work until late, why am I always so tired after a little bit of work? According to my contract, I only work six days a week and my workload is not too heavy at all. This often makes me feel that I am not patient or strong enough so that I would time to time try to train and improve myself. But I would give up soon because I am too tired.

Why am I like this? I thought for a while and found out that I had forgotten a very important but very simple thing. The six hours are just the employment part of my work!

Apart from being employed by a news agency, I have some freelance translation and writing jobs. In addition, I go to work as a garbage collector every evening, seven days a week. And at least a few days a week, I work on translation assignments until midnight and then read for half an hour. Among these jobs, I have no tight deadline only in the garbage collection job. I usually battle with time while I write news articles. As clients are kings, the deadlines for translation orders are usually quite tight. Actually, a freelancer is not that free. Then it would be rather strange if I were not tired at all!

However, I always feel that my workload is not that heavy. Although I tended to think in the past that I had to handle three times as much work as others just to prove that I was not lazy or stupid and forced me to do too much job, this problem has already solved. Then why do I still underestimate my workload?

After pondering about this for a while, I had another discovery. Actually, I have been unconsciously looked down on my freelance jobs! These jobs certainly used to be just sources of quick cash, but it is now very important sources of my real income as I have reduced the employment work a lot. Then I can consider these freelance jobs as very serious jobs… Having become conscious about this, I no longer have to put myself in self-imposed training sessions because I can say that I am as diligent as the people who work until late.

But I have to learn how to say no, anyway…

(Translated by myself from Chinese)

我估錯了...

我常常不知不覺地這樣工作...

人家由朝早到天黑，但我合約上的工作時間僅僅是每天六個小時，工作量都沒有那麼多，我為何常常這麼累呢？我感到自己沒有甚麼耐力和體力，想鍛煉、改造自己，不過，由於太累，常常好快挫折…

為甚麼我是這樣？想著想著，發現了自己好久忘記一個很重要，但非常簡單的事實：這六個小時只是我工作的“僱用部分”而已！

除了這份寫新聞的僱用工作，我還有幾份自由翻譯／撰寫工作，而且晚上甚至當個垃圾佬。每個星期幾天，拾完垃圾、回家之後都要做翻譯到半夜，然後看半個小時的書…這些工作中，不用趕的只是拾垃圾的時候而已。寫新聞一定要趕，由於“顧客是王”，自由工作其實沒有那麼自由，又要趕，那麼我不累才奇怪…

但是，我常常覺得自己的工作量不多。以往的我覺得，做比人家三倍的工作才可以證明我不是懶／傻，所以我常常逼自己做太多工作，然而已經這個問題是解決到了。那麼，我為何仍然低估自己的工作量呢？

想一想之後，又有新發現了。其實，我還不知不覺地鄙視自由工作！以前，自由工作確實只是“外快”，但大幅減少了僱用工作的現在，這些工作都是真的收入來源，我也應該視自由工作為自己的正業吧…認識到這件事，我不再須要勉強鍛煉，因為我都算是跟人家一樣很勤力工作的。

而且，我也要學習怎樣say no。

微笑天空

琴晚工作時，執倒一個鞋盒。
蓋上有Artemis之名，
就係我月亮女神別名。

打開盒蓋，睇到一對
少少高short boots。
一點boyish呢對鞋，
一定會襯我女神短頭髮。

但可惜我唔知女神著幾多號鞋。
亦無論如何，
我絕唔可以奉獻垃圾俾
我親愛月亮女神。



琴晚工作後，睇到可好耐冇見月亮。
農曆初六月牙臂令我感覺天空微笑。
可能女神嘲笑諗奉獻垃圾俾佢我，
令我覺得一點尷尬，
但睇到月亮，特別係微笑月亮，
我無論如何覺得好幸福。

希望月亮微笑係反映女神心情，
我都向白銀月牙微笑喇。
希望有一天，再親眼見到妳...

I Love to Wash Things

I love to wash things. Dishes, a bathroom, a kitchen ventilator, clothes, except cats, I like to wash anything. So I sometimes wonder, in my past lives, I was not just a cat and a beheaded monk but also a raccoon…

I especially like to do dishes. Finishing one after another, my hands can easily feel the result of my work.

However, as our Thai maid feels that I steal her job, I cannot do dishes now.

So I wash every evening my work uniform drenched with my sweats after the garbage-collection job.

Even though I have a washing machine, I use my hands and the cheapest laundry soap from the mainland China. If I used the washing machine, I could do more meaningful things, but I spend the majority of time, from morning to evening, doing meaningful things. And these things are my duties. (Although one can choose our jobs, it is no longer his/her choice whether s/he works or not today after a job has been chosen.) However, since washing clothes at night is my choice, I am quite willing to do.

While I wash clothes, my hands works and my brain can take a rest for a while. I can free my unconscious mind from the tyranny of conscious mind. It is a good way of stress-reduction. In addition, I feel as if my heart and soul were also cleansed as dirt goes away from my clothes. Actually, a very simple work like doing dishes or laundry is a very effective meditation. It has “the usefulness of uselessness,” which Lao-tzu once said…

我幾鍾意洗

我幾鍾意洗。碗、廁所、吸油煙機、衫褲，除貓，我乜都鍾意洗。所以有時覺得，我前世可能唔但係貓同俾人殺死修士，亦係個浣熊都唔定...

我特別鍾意係洗碗。因為洗一個又一個，我雙手好容易感到我工作結果。

但係負責家務泰國姐姐覺得我搶佢工作，想洗碗都洗唔得。

所以，我而家每晚倒樓（執垃圾）工作之後，洗流汗濕晒工作制服。

我屋企有洗衣機，但用手、用中國內地製造之最平洗衣番。如果我用洗衣機，我可以做更有意義。但係有意義，我朝早到夜晚都做，而都是工作，一定要做。（我地可以選擇工作，但係一選之後，已經冇駛唔駛做選擇喇。）但係夜晚洗衫係我選擇，幾願意做。

洗衫時候，我手做，而我腦可以休息一陣。我咁樣由意識專制解放我無意識（又稱潛意識），可以減壓。而且，洗去汗同污漬，我覺得，我心都同時洗得好乾淨！其實，洗碗、洗衫咁樣好單純工作有好高冥想效果。就係「無用之用」嘛...