家中蘭

今年爸媽選的蘭花, 據說相當容易打理. 蘭花是在過年前約一兩星期在花墟買的, 其實那天相當晚了, 只有少量行人及翏翏數間的花店還在營業. 那晚天氣很不錯, 我還想把月亮拍下, 可惜沒有相機, 而手提電話的照相功能在月黑風高的情況下就如被廢了武功. 若你有到過人聲鼎沸花葉遍地的花墟, 想必愛上那晚的境致, 截然不同是多麼的安寧, 別有味道.

另, 當時見有記者在場, 還以為是為了準備什麼過年的專題, 翌日才知道原來是有新聞發生了 - 那有關食環署檢控花墟店鋪"阻街"的吵鬧.

話說回來, 媽的名字也是"蘭".

Voyage

This is a nice piece of decor at home that I like - I appreciate the adventurous, daring and team spirit that it symbolizes -

The parts are (not in any order, and definitely not corresponding to their positions...) -
Single Block, Pail, Long Round Fender, Fore Rackle, Oars, Runner & Rackle, Buoy, Stick Fender, Deadeye Block, Hook, Bitt, Barrel, Serving Mallet, Boatswain Cluster, Steering Wheel, Belaying Pin, Pilot Ladder, Mallet, Anchor Hall, Axe

Recharge

Felt pretty energetic this morning when woke up. Not until I found many of the necessities or gadgets that I wanted were in their low battery and dull mode that depressed me a little bit. Too bad that I do not have enough USB port to plug all of them, or the picture would be interesting -

iPod Mini, camera, cell phone, bluetooth handsfree, and of course the ThinkPad itself needs recharging...

Those power outlets have kind of voltage limits that you cannot plug too many appliances, then how about the USBs on the machine?

年初一後記5及年初二

續年初一後記5: 6年前的年初一, 大佬"炒車" total loss 但幸運地人安好無損, 只是自此對駕駛有心理障礙. 現在大佬有至愛做柴可夫, 可喜可賀. 回想起來, 那晚的情境還瀝瀝在目, 膽戰心驚...

看了The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, 蠻感動的... 有空思考一下後可多談一點.

是晚舍下如常"大排延席", 大人們國粹耍樂, 叫來盆菜素菜臘味翅湯, 轟籌交錯, 拳來腳往... 終於耗19人之力都不能完成的大餐, 只好實行配給, 各家打包回家不得浪費.

年初一

爸爸是大哥(其實是老二, 但伯父早逝), 每年大年初一總得帶着我們, 代表爺爺嫲嫲到長輩家中拜年 - 西至龍珠島南至香港仔, 從早到晚巡迴演出沒7場都有6場. 大人對着我們這些小孩子, 總是哄哄騙騙說着什麼長高了長胖了愈大愈漂亮了(!!)好叻女(你又知?雖然係)... 總覺得要堆起笑容隨時接招相當無奈, 況且大部分的賀年食品都乏善足陳, 只記掛着家中十分出色的全盒...

隨着長輩移民的移民, 離去的離去, 近年已不復當年勇, 巡迴演出只減不加. 這兩年更已不用再出巡, 反而覺得有點若有所失, 更不用說損失的利是收入. 或者正如爸媽所說, 一年一次碰頭問好又有幾何? 對於欣賞的明星歌星, 你都會每年捧場, 何況是一場親朋?

後記: N年前的年初一, 車頭的三角星失竊, 也記不起是在龍珠島還是香港仔了...
後記2: 有點不在狀態, 媽給我開p檸檬沖劑, 味道像檸檬汽水走汽加熱... 蠻可怕的
後記3: 成功感動了一位老老友讀Harry Potter. 繼上星期她留言說"Un-putdownable"之後, 今天她又"往前"完成了Azkaban, 並十分喜歡Sirius這角色
後記4: 今天沒有全身全新衣裳, 反而穿上因長胖了而5年沒能穿的藍褲子, 再度合身, 可歌可泣...

吉

總體來說, 昨天過得相當高興, 可算是上吉之日-

早上跟AP的Call還可以, 詳情不在此贅. 可說的是第一步實現(驗?)了my dear boss chen的一句話: 有時候不一定執意要action才算成功, 讓其他人明白你的困難所在也是很重要的.

Call後去剪髮. 心情是十五十六的, 因頂上煩惱絲的問題還未有好轉的跡象, 但額前跟頸後的又已經長得相當礙手礙腳, 實在想徐之而後快. 還是決定豁出去, 大不了帶帽子就是了. 於是從僅有的裝備中選了多功能漁夫帽(hehe, 就是我在yahoo相中的那一頂)以備不時之需.

跟stylist已認識了10年, 雖然我間中會到其他salon剪髮, 但久不久都會回去讓她照顧一下我的頭髮. 我對她是很放心的, 雖然無甚"花臣", 但穩穩當當也很難得. 最最最重要的是她不多言, 很斯文的不會語出驚人, 讓我可安安靜靜地理髮. 這天她健談了很多, 說着她的新婚生活, 她的姪兒, 她的顧客... 其實我很感謝她, 能感覺到她的好意, 是想讓我輕鬆一點, 離開時也不忘叫我放鬆一點. 而我的髮型嗎... 若看見我便知道 - 至少暫時用不着漁夫帽, 她實在has made my new year =D

午餐於我家飯堂, 燒鴨皮真真真美味, 可惜楊枝甘露有點不合時.

然後到久違了的K載歌載舞, 發現流行曲的取材及表達方式進化得相當有趣, 譬如: 充滿感情地歌頌... 魚蛋.

晚餐到OB, 一行4.5人點了豬, 牛, 鷄, 魚, 菜, 飲品等(詳情請訪閱http://shallwetalk.blogspot.com), 味道在同類型餐館中算是不俗. a試圖給我們說個dot matrix的笑話, 但未講先笑, 足足NG了3次才成功. 其實我們見他笑得閞懷眼泛淚光, 笑話未出場都已跟他哈哈大笑起來. 結賬時發生了一段小插曲, 驚動了一點腦細胞, 為這晚平添了一點智慧的色彩, 實在是意外收穫可喜可賀(同上, 詳情請訪閱http://shallwetalk.blogspot.com).

Which is First?

Just found that my new manager's title is on Operations, Marketing and Strategy

which 'deviates' from my forever-dear-boss's previous one for Strategy, Marketing and Sales Operations

it's revealing... isn't it?

Hidden Goggles

Reading BBC News (25 Jan) - Google is setting up a new site for the motherland that will censor itself to 'sensitive' subjects.

"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information is more inconsistent with our mission" ~ Google's statement in response

I just looked up the company mission from its website -
"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Seems that the act of "organize" is doing the whim here...

雪中送湯

公司附近某食店的"優惠" -

氣溫11-15度, 惠顧露天雅座8折優惠;
氣溫<11度, 惠顧露天雅座8折優惠+送湯...!!

不知道若果下雨, 打雷, 落礡, 曝曬, 人疊人, 自攜餐具, 自攜桌椅, 自備笑話... 等, 又有沒有"優惠"呢...

Big Sale

One of my most visited shops is having final sale. Couldn't have benefited as I already got what I wanted before the bigbig sale. So I asked Dad to take a look 'cos he may want something.

m: extra 5% off if pick 3 pcs; extra 10% off if pick 4 pcs...
d: oh well... then don't have to pay if I hunt down the whole store...?

Conscious Incompetence?

Managed to go to BJ at last, pretty rushly... well, indeed not pretty.

Not a satisfactory trip, though kind of expected, still can't help feeling exhausted and inadequate.

Time to resume scratching head for my assignments... and how to position myself in the mess...

*sigh

Direction or Focus

a (smile): 若果可以選的話, 你寧願錯direction, 還是錯focus...?
m: ...!!

此消彼不長

醫問: 是脫髪呢...
答道: 脫髪是正常不過的身陳代謝吧... 我的只是長不出來...

Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter alkaloid C8H10N4O2, which is used medicinally as a stimulant and diuretic.

The longer coffee gets into contact with water, the more caffeine could be extracted.

Thus, dripping coffee probably produces more caffeine than hot shot espresso. So next time if you need some stimulant, it's more effective to get a daily brew rather than a cappucino.

藝伎回憶錄

看罷藝伎回憶錄, 不甚了了. 若非三位女角, 似乎無甚話題.

鞏俐演得出色(姑勿論她像不像日本人, 下同), 怨氣沖天卻惹人同情.
楊紫瓊高貴淡定剛強, 令人難以想像她是臉孔塗得蒼白, 以歌舞茶道詩樂臣服衆人的藝伎.
章子怡表情始終如一, 似乎以為木無表情等如倔強, 兩眼直看不眨眼就是堅毅. 有說她舞藝不俗, 可惜(居然!)沒有表現機會.
渡邊謙沒有什麼戲份, 難比他在 The Last Samurai 的氣焰風度, 角色更矇混得令人有點牙癢癢.

是說藝伎嗎? 很慚愧, 看畢也談不上對藝伎的一知半解. 真神秘.
是說回憶嗎? 那麼帶給"現代"什麼啟示嗎? 又給那時代釐清了什麼?
是說愛情嗎? 沒有盪氣迴腸的激動; 也沒有細膩有韻味的感動. 團圓結局也相當草草.
是說二次大戰嗎? 算了吧...

總覺得 Blogging 可以淡如水無甚作為, 做電影公諸於世總不能只做新聞不作貢獻吧...

天機不可涉露

九鐵主席田北辰話 -
以他目前掌握的資料, 幾肯定九鐵內無人蓄意隱瞞, 但九鐵內部很多長期從事鐵路工作的人都有 "理想主義文化", 要解決事件後, 有詳細數據才上報...

(不)解讀 -
1. "目前掌握" - he doesn't know what he doesn't know
2. "幾肯定" - 等同"幾不肯定"
3. "九鐵內" - 可能涉及九鐵外...?
4. "蓄意隱瞞" - 原來"隱瞞"可以不是蓄意的
5. "長期從事鐵路工作的人" - 不包括短路的管理層...
6. "解決事件後...才上報" - 如果事件沒有解決, 就不上報
N. 總論 - "理想主義文化"相當不理想. Change Management 真的很重要.


九鐵員工話 -
人人知道鐵路意外要幾項錯誤同時出現才會發生, 所以各人都有"犯一項錯誤無甚所謂"的心態

(不)解讀 -
無話可說. 連"意外"都在意料之內. 不得不相信真的無人隱瞞, 只是 -- "天機不可涉露"

Harry's Magic

67 - Average number of children between the ages of 7 and 15 who visit British emergency rooms each weekend with broken bones

55% - Percentage the average dropped on weekends after the two most recent Harry Potter books were released

~ TIME Magazine, 9 January 2006

孖襟

突然清減了, 西裝外套過寬不合身, 又不想浪費扔掉怎麼辦?

多開幾個鈕門, 或多釘幾枚鈕扣, 把外套變身成孖襟...

有謂不在乎客觀分析, 只在乎主觀演譯...

Choose your attitude, be there to play and make everybody's day
- verdict borrowed from FISH! Philosophy

WEAVID-MACE

Being inspired by some sort of ecosystem... Tiger and myself spent most of yesterday trying out our new approach for next week's cross-border, 5 locations simultaneous workshops -

WEAVID-MACE (Web Enabled Audio Visual Improvised Decision-Making and Collaboration Ecosystem)

a.k.a. Web Conferencing

Market Leader

今天 ashes, 瘦虎和m的一個對話片段 -

m: Influ--cer E--system 好重要!
瘦: 你知不知道什麼是 BPIE
a (微笑地): 是很重要的... 跟BP有關...
a (明知故問): 我們(?!)是否還是用敝公司才明白的 acronym 去跟客戶打交道?
[瘦和m但笑不語]

a (有機可乘): 其實用敝公司的 acronym 也沒問題... 如果敝公司是 market leader 的話...
[瘦和m笑得更燦爛]

a (透露玄機似的): ...但關於這個 market leader的問題, 要留意的是... 必須要有 market follower 才成事...
[瘦和m晃然大悟!!]

歌者

豆剛買了林夕的精選碟, 讓我突然很懷念一些事一些情一些人, 更想念一些好歌. 少時學習正規西洋古典樂, 組織的是樂團合唱團, 爺爺更是教中樂及製樂器的, 自然較少接觸流行樂 (除了爸媽的愛好如 Dire Straits, Carol King, 更不消提beatles, bee-gees, eagles, tom jones, paul anka... and ALL folk songs...). 在成長過程中漸漸大開耳界, 談情說愛的更以為知心莫過於此, 鼻酸淚眼平常事, 現在回想也不禁失笑.

數數曾是心頭好的國, 粵流行曲, 及歌者/版本也不少 -
安靜(周杰倫) 沙灘(陶喆) 冷戰(王菲) 怕死(陳奕迅) 垃圾(陳奕迅) 約定(王菲) 追憶(彭羚, 林子祥) 流沙(陶喆) 浮誇(陳奕迅) 愛火(張國榮) 暗湧(王菲) 傷信(陳奕迅) 亂了(關淑儀) 爛泥(彭羚) 女人心(梅艷芳) 大個女(陳奕迅) 天黑黑(孫燕姿) 日與夜(林憶蓮) 半熟蛋(藍奕邦) 你愛我(伍佰) 有了你(陳奕迅) 有心人(張國榮) 多得他(王菲) 我願意(王菲) 尋開心(陳奕迅) 簡單愛(周杰倫) 人工智能(陳奕迅) 大開眼戒(陳奕迅) 不良嗜好(陳奕迅) 自知之明(藍奕邦) 我代你哭(鄭中基) 你我之間(張國榮) 快高長大(陳奕迅) 把歌談心(關淑儀) 身體健康(藍奕邦) 取消資格(彭羚) 活著多好(陳奕迅) 深夜港灣(關淑儀) 等了又等(陳潔儀) 窗內窗外(關淑儀) 黑色幽默(周杰倫) 無人駕駛(彭羚) 無形鎖扣(張國榮) 普通朋友(陶喆) 愛我別走(張震嶽) 愛很簡單(陶喆) 意猶未盡(張國榮) 說走就走(陶喆) 衝口而出(陳奕迅) 憤怒青年(藍奕邦) 熱帶雨林(陳奕迅) 只因有著你(彭羚) 至少還有你(林憶蓮) 再見二町目(黃耀明) 我不會唱歌(關淑儀) 我有我天地(彭羚) 別怕我傷心(張信哲) 沒結果之後(林憶蓮) 秋天復秋天(梅艷芳) 情人的關懷(黃耀明) 寂寞的季節(陶喆) 越吻越傷心(蘇永康, 吳國敬) 黑夜不再來(陳奕迅) 繾綣星光下(關淑儀) 一首獨唱的歌(關淑儀) 你沒有好結果(黃耀明) 我真的受傷了(王菀之) 我這麼容易愛人(黃耀明) 怪你過份美麗(張國榮) 給自己的情書(王菲) 如果你知我苦衷(黃耀明) 明天我要嫁給你(周華健) 再見以前先說再見(陶喆) 給我愛過的男孩們(彭羚)

(待續, 需時思候一下)

Secret Agents

behind the scene

大佬

日前得知大佬"終於"拍拖. 說真的, 有點超現實 - 可能是因為大佬打單得太久 (說得準確一點, 是從來都是獨善其身). 然而當看見大佬看着另一半甜蜜的様子, 說真的非常高興, 也感覺實在.

當然, 除當時人外, 其他閒人(如我)的感受在這事上完全不重要, 也沒有幫得上忙的空間. 但作為小的, 難免有點諸事多咀.

大佬對雪中的兄弟姊妹照顧有加, 送炭功成便會身退, 從不"阻住地球轉" (實情如非"必要", 要得到相當laid-back的大佬的關注垂青也頗有難度). 我有幸跟大佬有些很知心的日子, 實在很想送上祝福和鼓勵.

不要怕, 只要信. 或許你見盡別人故事中的酸苦荒謬, 但不要忘記他們也曾跟你炫耀過的萬般幸福.

努力!!

Thanksgiving

good to go to ashes's blog for AC's Thanksgiving Gathering: http://shallwetalk.blogspot.com

words so inadequate to express my very intense feeling on mee's diamond 22 and ac's thanksgiving...

one thing for sure - congratulations and best of the best wishes to them and all of you buddies

Wishful Imagination

What Bono said in an interview appeals to me pretty much -

"You know what my least favorite John Lennon song is? Imagine."
"At the root of it is some rigorous thinking about the way things could be, but people have stolen the idea and made it an anthem for wishful thinking. I'm against wishful thinking." (TIME Magazine, 26 Dec 2005)

Sometimes I feel similarly awkward whenever A Whole New World is played.

p.s. Bono, together with Bill and Melinda Gates, are TIME's 2005 Persons of the Year. I am definitely not a fan of U2 (& MS). and to me, Bono has been Edward de Bono. Given TIME has risked the controversy of naming and portraiting him (& Gates) the title 'winner', I'm convinced that he is adorable.

Maybe I'll pick up dad's U2 recordings soon.

Bring Your Own Mug

went to PC today. the lady at the next table brought with herself a coffee mug to buy coffee. what caught my attention was not the mystery of hiding the full size mug in her decent, tiny handbag, but the fact that it was an S-brand mug...

oh well, maybe that's why she came back with an empty mug and a paper cup of coffee...

Castor

My god-daughter's art piece, I like it so much :-)

Bed Time Story Part 2

"...咪係太陽伯伯囉..."

My Kids =)

The bday moms and kids


... god-son


... the most exciting gift


... moms and kids