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2009 sucked big time, for me. For most part anyway. At the lowest points, I thought to myself: There.is.no.God. The words flashed before my eyes in ticker tape fashion, stark red dotty lettering against a bleak black background, repeating itself over and over again.
So go away already, 2009, and let me get my life back.
No resolutions this year, I just want to move on.
旅行的时候, 我经常会不自觉地进入"摄影半吊子"的状态. 比如, 为了赶路, 没有太多的时间让我琢磨构图. 或者, 因为想完完全全享受美丽的灯火,所以摘下了厚厚的 "黑眼镜" (相机也), 让美景尽收眼帘. 我, 是个贪玩的旅客, 所以任性地舍弃了摄影的精神, 成了不折不扣的 "摄影半吊子".
多希望有一天, 眼睛不只会说话, 还能直接拍下相片, 让我抛开沉重的单眼, 好好利用上天所赐的双眼!
Season's greetings to all, we are back from Tokyo!
The vacation was a mixed bag of hits and misses, Hated the congested city centre (Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza), enjoyed the areas further from town (Tsukiji, Asakusa, Odaiba), and absolutely loved Kamakura/Enoshima. Our preference for the rural/suburban and the scenic seems pretty clear - point to note for our next trip. ;)
We were chasing the tail of autumn on this trip. By the time we touched down in Tokyo, most of the autumn foliage had either lost their colour or surrendered themselves to the cold winter wind. But a few persistent trees were stoically hanging on to their red and yellow coats, and that gave us the chance to catch a glimpse of autumn before winter begins its reign proper.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we visited Roppongi and Odaiba. Both evenings, quite by accident, we wandered our way into what the Japanese call "illumination events", which are basically thematic light shows with dramatic music and sometimes a fancy storyline - I am assuming the storyline is fancy because the locals were ooohing and aaahing - we, the "blur tourists", understood zilch.
Here are two photos to share. They were taken handheld because we were not prepared and did not bring a tripod along...oops.
Here's wishing everyone a great year ahead. :)
We are headed for Tokyo next weekend, and I can't wait! This time round, the mister has most admirably done all the planning, so I get to be a lemming and just follow his directions. Here's the lemming routemap, at a glance:
Day 1 - Hello Japan! Lemming HQ at Shinjuku.
Day 2 - Enoshima Island, Kamakura
Day 3 - Kawagoe
Day 4 - Tsukiji, Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara
Day 5 - Ginza, Tokyo, Odaiba
Day 6 - Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya
Day 7 - The lemmings return to Singapore
I hope next week flies by! :D
身边有很多朋友的生活都在改变，也不知道是环境变了，所以生活理念也跟着变了， 或者是因为顺应生活理念上的改变，所以转换了跑道。总而言之，就是。。。变了。
一个一向很 “不食人间烟火”的老同学， 昨天对我说了， “钱不一定能买到幸福。不过，有钱可以带来更多选择， 有更多的选择，就可能找到快乐。No choice, 很辛苦。” 我虽然明白她想说的 （因为别的朋友也说过类似的话）， 但是从她的口里听到这番话，还是满震撼的。 我开始怀念从前那个纯朴的她。
是我长不大吗？不切实际？开始觉得自己有点象个苦行僧， 在人人在找捷径让日子好过一点的世界里， 我还在坚持 "苦中作乐“ 。 为了什么，我也不是很清楚， 只隐隐约约知道，害怕在花花世界迷失了自己。
*思*
Out of the blue, our nephew Brandon asked me today, "婶婶 (Aunt), what is your Chinese name?"
The question took me by surprise. This means that the four-year old is now aware that the adults, like his classmates at the childcare centre, too come individually packed with their own names - with Chinese, English and dialect variations to boot.
I hesitated with my answer. For all our pally good times, the nephews have never known my name. For a moment there, I had a vision of an Internet chatroom pal suddenly demanding to know my real identity. Was I going to tell?
Nope, I chickened out. "My Chinese name is 婶婶,", I told the boy.
;)
"独", 很深
让三点半的午后, 比午夜更寂静
未成型的思绪
或随呼吸蒸发去, 或象冰块化不去
不是缥缈, 就是哽咽
"惜独"
难道也是一种病
让人渐渐步向"声"亡?
前两天带爸爸去看医生.他看着医生们在医院里忙着, 又说了, 如果你和妹妹当年是读医科的,那有多好.
已经不是第一次听他这么说了.
又和妈妈谈到阿姨. 她说, 年轻时的阿姨也算是专业人士, 后来为了能照顾孩子,放弃了工作,当起家庭主妇. 她的牺牲, 造就了三个孩子的成功, 培育了三个前途光明的人才. 我暗自庆幸, 还好我不是阿姨的女儿, 要不然她一定后悔死 - 牺牲了, 培育出的仍是一个庸人.
我忍不住,还是和妈妈说了, 孩子是孩子, 自己是自己, 可不可以不要把两件事扯在一起? 把自己的成就感, 建立在儿女的成功与否, 是不是对儿女的压力太大了? 是否剥夺了儿女日后选择的权利?某某妈妈为了照顾年幼的女儿放弃了自己的事业, 日后女儿长大有了自己的孩子后, 是否还有权力也选择放弃事业, 在家当全职妈妈? 还是会有种无形的压力, 要努力地让上一代的牺牲与"投资", 得到最大的效应, 获得最大的回报, 所以非得"越成功越好?"
拼命地往前跑, 压力固然很大, 但坚持平淡,普通, 压力也不小.
满足于 "丰衣足食", "够吃够用" 的小幸福, 维持得很吃力.
你忘了。
我笑了。
放下了。
可以了。
...to say hi to those who missed me. I'm sorry I haven't been blogging - I'm not sure what's gotten into me but I have been in a perpetual state of blankness of late. I don't want to think very much, and what naturally follows is that I don't write very much either.
But here's just a quick update on what's going on in my life right now. We celebrated my birthday yesterday, in our usual quiet way. The mister took a day off work and we set off for a dimsum lunch and then scrambled back home again to lay our hands on the Nintendo Wii he got me. I'm nursing an aching arm now from all the cyber-tennis. ;)
Thoughts on turning a year older...well, usually I'm not one to be afraid of growing older, but this time I resent the reminder that my biological clock is ticking away. It's unsettling. Maybe we will never get there and I should just ignore the ticking of the clock since it's probably irrelevant, but the noise is...infinitely irritating. So for now, I say, somebody kill that alarm clock please.
Other than that annoying bit, life's generally fine, life goes on.
