如果我愛上阿嘉

如果海會說話，如果風愛上砂，如果我生活無憂，不需要擔心失業會捱餓會睡到街上去，失戀時可以用往後所有的時間當作悠長假期，但仍然付得起屋租水電雜費，我會愛上電影《海角七號》裏的阿嘉，甚至窮一生去找這樣的一個男人來談戀愛。阿嘉那戀慕的神情，熱熾得教人灰飛煙滅也沒所謂。明明知道這人性格飄忽毫不可靠，當他唱着「妳會不會把妳曾帶走的愛，在告別前用微笑全歸還」時，可以看到他眼內的深情，但同時感覺到他的殘忍。總有一天，他會辜負那個本來很愛很愛的女人，原因就是忽然不愛了。


然而，現實是失戀過後，我只曾放過一整個夏天的長假。某天，在回首時終於懂得，假若幸福的標準，是世俗認定的一夫一妻生兒育女白頭偕老，那麼，阿嘉不必也千萬不要擁有這樣的下場。愛上如此的一個人，不要奢望改變得了他。結局往往是，數年後，一個尋常日子，外出後回家，卻發現雙人床屬於自己那半的位置，躺着另一個女人，哭着狠狠掌摑他，二人拉扯爭吵，將家中的一切東西亂擲，從此不相往來。又或是，回到家中，他不見了，心中有數他不會回來的了，沒再見沒解釋，從此生離。有些愛情，必須暴烈必須有着恨意，才會莫失莫忘。愛上一個壞人，注定要傷心，但感激用心愛過。他既能賜你快樂，明知終會遍體鱗傷也甘心。

Our Poor Are Rich

We should help the poor because we're rich and they aren't but then after we've helped them, it seems to me we have the right to ask a lot of people of the world, who resent the success of our civilization, who they haven’t done more to help themselves.

Men and women from the poorest, most underdeveloped countries make their way to the United States and prosper in our society. Professional and business people from economically retarded countries come here and frequently distinguish themselves. Individuals are not responsible for national failures. So who is?

Almost all of Europe, South America, Russia, China and Japan have working economies, stable governments, police forces, a judicial system, rods and public services like water and electricity. At the same time, dozens of countries in other parts of the world do not have the amenities of civilization. The United Nations has estimated that half the people on earth love in poverty.

If it weren’t for television, which occasionally shows it to us, we wouldn’t understand poverty at all. Poverty to us means a handful of dysfunctional homeless people in our town. Few are in danger of starving or freezing to death. Real poverty means whole countries whose people not only don't have jobs they don’t have an organized society, houses, food clean water, places to go to the bathroom. Forget bedrooms, two-car garages, swimming pools, refrigerators, central hearing and air conditioning. They don’t have houses.

Poverty anywhere in the world is a concern to us because we ‘re nice guys and we’re pained to see hungry and unhappy humans anywhere. We are also concerned because it’s only human of the world’s poor to resent our prosperity, and we don’t like being hated.

You look for reasons why so many countries are what we euphemistically call”backward”. Many of the most depressed countries are under the heel of some oppressive potentate who keeps himself rich and the people poor. However, it isn’t easy to determine whether a dictator in a poor country is a cause or a result of nation’s problems.

It’s a mystery why the people living in the warmest parts of the earth are often the worst off. You’d think that not having to expend money, energy or resources staying warm would be an advantage but that doesn’t seem to be so. Africa is the warmest continent but it has many of the least successful societies.

Warm weather should give the people of Africa and the Arab countries a head start on prosperity. Even in the United States, for no discernible reason, the South was for years the poorest and most backward part of the country. In the past 50 years, the South has developed into one of the most prosperous parts of our country. Maybe it’s coincidence, but the change seems to have been concomitant with the development of air conditioning. Maybe we ought to raise the money to air condition the earth. It would be cheaper than war.

While I’m not comfortable using the term “Arab” because the definition of the word is vague, many Arab countries are not among the world’s most successful. If it were not for oil, they’d probably be destitute because they haven’t created any kind of economy for themselves independent of that natural resource.

There was a time in history when the Arab would led all others in the knowledge of geometry, astronomy, chemistry and medicine. Europeans in the Middle Ages learned Ages learned a lot of what they knew of science from the Arabs. They world has not learned much from Arab countries in recent centuries.

I don’t know how it can be done, but it’s important that we find out why the people of some parts of the world prosper while others live lives desperately devoid of pleasure or the basic necessities of the good life. You wonder why the poor cling to life as tenaciously as do those of us who have a life so clearly worth clinging to.

weird building

Street Fashion

"All my clothes are from Wunder except the jeans vest and the shoes. The KTZ trousers are handy because they have ready-made holes.

My style stip for the summer: 10 cm heels. Men can make sandals out of their old leather shoes."

Thought for the day

Thought for the Day: "Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." ~William Jennings Bryan

畫皮

《聊齋誌異》其中一個短篇故事──《畫皮》，內容講述一位書生被女鬼的美色所迷，道士勸阻不果，最終發現女鬼原是披畫人皮化成極色，但為時已晚，書生被女鬼挖心已亡，幸得妻子相救，方能死而復生。多年來，《畫皮》常被改編成電影或電視劇集，可見其寓意跨越古今歷久不衰，女色即禍，家散人亡。不過，我所理解的故事寓意是，女鬼尚且要夜夜努力畫皮才能迷惑眾生，何況是活生生的女人？果真是「呢個世界唔化妝，邊有 selling point」。


早前在網上論壇看到一則轉載自台灣《蘋果日報》「單眼皮變大眼妹/美妝撇步公開/網友驚艷根本是易容術」的生活新聞，芳齡十八的台灣妹妹，不滿意自己的單眼皮，五年前就開始化妝，誓要變大眼美眉。她將自己的化妝流程 step by step拍下來放上網，從素顏到完妝無一遺漏，出來的效果美艷得讓我禁不住講粗口。用上全套才港幣三、四百的化妝品，每天花上三小時化妝，就能由醜婦變辣妹，好像是像化算的事。但童叟無欺是三小時喎，一個尋常學生如她大抵要天天雞啼那樣早起床畫皮，認真的，我佩服她的恆心。

是日金句

Me: "without dating, life is boring."

Mr.Mahtani : "without health, you are lifeless."