短篇小說：《遲暮》

米果‧第十二屆府城文學獎 短篇小說：正獎《遲暮》
Good read, enjoy.

Design Life now

Went to Cooper-Hewitt museum the other day with Hiuyan. Quite an exhibit. They currently have the National Desgin Triennial 2006. Saw a bunch of cool designs in the exhibit. Flatpak is a modern prefab house system. Ooba's baby crib has a modern look that's a rare find. Blik has kick ass wall paper alternative. Kidrobot is fun looking with an evil twist. Worth a trip.

鬆餅，莫札特，奈良美智

回到紐約ㄧ個禮拜整，
還在調適落差，
還在掛不下老爸和ㄚ弟，
看來，家人的牽絆將是一輩子的，
被血緣緊緊的繫著，
何嘗不是一種幸福。

早上跟大米哥煎了幾個味道不這麼的 pancakes 吃，
邊陪 rice nana 聽莫札特，
邊看了本奈良美智的自傳。

下午去游泳，動動吧。

12/2 and 12/3 台北

再不寫下來，恐怕就馬上忘記這兩天發生了什麼...

回台灣的第一天，老爸和阿弟早早就到機場接我們，班機延誤，讓他們等了好久。到旅館 check in 之後，直接到基隆老家，是爺爺的忌日。ㄧ家老小，坐的整個屋子都是人，加上嗓門洪亮的大姑也在，好熱鬧。到了三點，leigo and riceman 開始逗孤，回到台北為了忍著不睡，跑去吃了一籠鼎泰豐的小籠包，度小月的切仔麵，到了八點，再也撐不下去了.... 第二天，三點就睜開眼睛。

第二天到四嬸家玩，嗓門大的黃家老小又全到齊了，看了一部無裡頭的國片“國士無雙“，有ah-ken再裡面，有夠無裡頭的電影。大家聊聊天，打麻將。晚上到ㄚ媽家，沒到八點，又開始逗孤。

今天七點起來，看樣子時差快克服了。

Our new cell in Taiwan

We couldn't get the old cell phone working. Our new number in Taiwan is 0916.516.422. Ate so much today that my little tummy is about to explode. So sleepy....

阿拉斯加

在阿拉斯加停一小時，這次帶 Rice Nana 坐飛機有一點小累，居然吐了。羅文嘉也在同一班飛機，本人很矮。謝謝魏媽媽大力相助，坐了兩個特好位。好了，台北見。

Sample Sales

Kate / Jack Spade
http://www.katespade.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=2130331

11/16–11/19 Clothes for both genders are represented at Steven Alan, where Mayle, Rogues Gallery, and the house label are 30 to 75 percent off. Isabel Marant pants are now $55. 87 Franklin St., nr. Broadway (212-343-0692); Thurs. and Fri. (8:30–8); Sat. (noon–7); Sun. (noon–5).

Thanks to Chris for the info.

武昌新村

最近把部落格移到blogger beta 版本, 順便分門別類把這兩年的posts整理一下. 再看了其中幾篇關於家人和童年的文章, 聯想起童年,嘴角不經意小小得揚了起來. 童年的一大半, 是住在台北東區的四摟公寓, 很普通的那種. 一樓有個紅色帶鏽的的大門, 門的右邊是個對講機, 共六個玲, 代表有六戶人家, 公寓的外牆是灰色的小碎石, 沒電梯, 沒中央空調, 家家都有陽台, 有些人種花, 有些人會把陽台加蓋, 變成室內的一部分. 回想起來, 整體上算是蠻平民化的房子, 或入骨的說, 沒美感的的房子. 不過, 在台北小巷子裡這樣的公寓很多, 大家都是住這樣的公寓, 況且小時候, 美醜似乎不是問題. 我們住的那個社區叫武昌新村, 有一個橫行的巷, 巷子的沿路有各式各樣的小店, 和菜場, 縱行有十來個弄, 這樣子的巷弄, 型成了一個自足的小社區. 社區的小朋友都是讀同一個小學. 我們家住在四弄, 班上有一個同學叫葉x芸, 住在八弄, 是個漂亮會唸書的小女孩, 她媽媽開了一個家庭式的美容院, 社區所有的媽媽都在那裡洗頭, 八卦. 葉x芸的成績很好, 每次月考都是滿分, 她媽也超愛炫燿的, 每次老媽去洗頭都會被問, “哎喲, 偶們家葉x芸哦, 月考又考滿分, 啊你們黃蕾呢?” 如果我走狗運, 考得不錯的話, 我媽也會炫燿回去, 如果我考糟了, 老媽就會灰頭塗臉的回來興師問罪, 這樣子的routine居然可以維持好幾年, 一直到我們搬到新加坡. 那時候, 真是很不爽那一對母女. 二十年過後, 小時候的朋友還有聯絡的也只有零星的一兩個. 幾年前回台北, 到舊家看看, 發現那個美容院還在, 好奇的想知道後來葉x芸長大變成什麼樣子? 但後來我還是沒進去, 笑一笑, 繼續往前走. 祝福小時候的玩伴.

大肚婆的一二事

It's been three months since I became a broker. Lifestyle is slowly sinking in. I go to the office about 2 to 3 times a week, and show apartments also about 2 to 3 times a week. A much more flexible and relaxing schedule compared to life at the construction site. The first deal went very smooth, expecting to close in two weeks or so. Client and his family are very happy with the service; most likely we will remain to be friends. Just had the year end review with my manager, she seemed to be happy about how the progress.

Recently, also joined the Equinox gym around the corner, have been actively swimming for the past two months, except for a short hiatus due to skin rash. Most of the time, I got the whole lane to myself. It felt very relaxing. Last week, I dropped by the Chinatown office to learn calligraphy. Lin S/B is the calligraphy teacher, he is quite good. I can't recall the last time I hold a brush, must be more than 10 years ago. My dad used to make my little brother and I write calligraphy at home all the time. It felt good to be back to this old ritual. In the past few days, I have been writing at least half an hour everyday. Almost felt like meditation.

Well, went to check up on Rice Nana this morning with Mama Rice. Everything is fine. I started to feel her moving around, in fact, quite often. Have gained around 10 lbs since pregnancy, start to show a little. Roger and over.

He lied, but won't step down.

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Nov. 5 — President Chen Shui-bian admitted Sunday that he submitted false receipts for reimbursement from public funds and lied to prosecutors about how he spent the money, but said he had done so in the interest of national security. [continue reading on NY Times]

鞠躬也太晚了吧, 想當初不A就好了.

歹誌大條了

"Taiwanese prosecutors said today that they had enough evidence to bring corruption charges against President Ah-Bian, a development likely to increase pressure on him to resign....." 聽到這則新聞很驚訝, 沒想到台灣的司法居然是獨立的, 本來以為國務機要費一案, 一定會被政治壓力蓋住. 真相大白, 大塊人心. 該是下台三鞠躬的時間了吧!
NY Times Article
聯合報文章

是個好動的小女生!!!!

We went to Lenox Hill today. Nano is a little girlie! (80% accurate) Little girlies are cute, smart, and most importantly they don't play basketball. They play soccer instead! Yeah.... Leigo is happy. Grandma still thinks it's a boy, despite what the ultrasound says . Riceman... hm... he said he is happy.... I wonder if that's the true feeling.... wuhahah..... Anyway, the baby moves like crazy again when we see her through the ultrasound. This will be a very active baby. Luv it!

草莓的紅拂夜奔

This post is written by Just Crystal. The content is a little rated R, but it is such a funny read.
紅拂夜奔〈上〉
紅拂夜奔〈下〉

好康到相報

Leigo and Riceman plan to visit Taiwan and Singapore around end of Nov and to mid Dec. Every time we were in Taiwan, we did very little exploring. Maybe because we felt too much at home. This time, Leigo hopes to do some planning ahead of time and perhaps explore a bit than usual.

Any good suggestion? Food, destination, shop, quaint bed and breakfast, boutique hotel, club.....???

7 for all mankind.... REALLY!

其實偶也不是很敗家啦. 除了對牛仔褲比較挑之外, 對其他的要求不會太嚴格啦. 有了這樣的開場, 接下去會比較好敘訴...... 今天米媽來曼哈頓陪我們看醫生, 之後小米想去買一條孕婦穿的牛仔褲, 現在的幾件實在是有點緊. 其實, 對買孕婦裝這件事一點都不期待, 想像不出來會有什麼好貨. 逛啊逛的, 居然發現7 for all mankind有出大肚款, 這個新大陸實在太震奮人心. 試穿了幾件不同牌子, 連勤儉持家的米媽都覺得7比較下真的好看, 有米媽的endoresement之下, 小米閉上眼, 狠心的把卡刷下去. 啊.............. 雖然物質不是一切, 但所帶來短暫的快樂, 還是很爽啦!

小女生還是小男生?

明天媽米要帶小Nano看醫生, 應該就可以知道Nano是個小女生還是小男生. 米奶奶很好奇, 也要來參加明天的謎底揭曉. 米奶奶猜是小男生. 台灣的酷公公也猜是男生. 媽米和把鼻猜是小女生. 下注請快, 買定離手!

嘴巴帶著身體走的一天

嘴饞的大肚婆今天讓嘴巴牽著身體走了一天.
下午上了一個無聊的課,
下課後先到東村的日本麵包店解嚵,
麵包還沒吃完, 又想到唐人街的潮州粿條,
殺到唐人街, 買了粿條,
又想到昨天在wholefood沒買成的當季的石柳,
找了好幾家水果店才看到滿意的石柳.
鳥為食亡, 人為食忙........

More pics of Rice Nano

Week 6

Week 9

Crane accident

Few days ago, a four-ton steel section of a crane's rigging snapped loose and fell onto a taxicab at 110 Third Ave, East Village. Luckily, no one was dead in this near miss accident. Back then when I was working in the construction field, things often fell down from the sites, some will get caught by the horizontal nets, and some will not. On a winday day, if we see a construction site ahead of us, we often take a detour. Urge you guys to do the same. [Curbed Link]

可愛的洋蔥頭

前幾天跟老弟網上聊天, 抓下好多可愛的洋蔥頭...



http://blog.yam.com/onion_club/archives/cat_109038.html

The Jewish Way

最近分別讀了兩篇關於猶太人教養小孩的哲學, 頗有共鳴.
猶太人真有他一套的!
1. So the Torah Is a Parenting Guide?　- NY Times
2. 以色列教育孩子的方式值得學習 via email from San San S/G

The toughest critics are also the smallest

There is an article in the Sunday NY Times real estate section - about real estate and kids in Manhattan. Very interesting read. As we are about to bring a new life into this world, I wonder what should we tell s/he about wealth and the way to look at wealth.... [Link to article]

母親像月亮一樣?

我必須承認,老娘不是一個很有女人味的女生, 也不是哪種充滿母性光輝"照耀我家窗前"的準媽咪. 目前身體的變化還不大, 除了腰圍寬了點, 咪咪大了點之外, 實在感覺不到北鼻的存在. 所以三步五時常常會忘記自己是個孕婦, 偶而想到自己已經懷孕了, 再想到以後生活的不便, 還會覺得很X! 目前比較確定的是, 我不想自然生產, 痛的老半天, 還要埃一刀, 想到就雞皮疙瘩掉滿地. 天啊... 再繼續講下去我真的覺得自己是一個差勁自私的媽咪.... 糟糕...

First Deal 好爽

祖上積德! 小女昨天成交了生平第一筆生意, 雖然說跟賣方仲介對分, 再跟公司對分, 再分紅給介紹人的情況下, 所剩不多, 但精神上卻特滿足的. 這筆帳付我們年底回台北的機票應該是足足有餘, 搞不好還可以買升等卷. 爽斃了! 小米今年在家當米蟲好一段時間, 終於生產報國了.

Great penmanship

Introducing Rice nano

1000 dreams. Impossibly small. Coming spring 2007.

A great movie - Ikura

We saw a great movie today - Ikura. Directed by my all time favorite Akira Kurosawa in 1952. A black and white movie with no stunning effect nor femme fatal. It's a movie about a simple man facing death, his emotional conflict, revelation, and transformation. Quite moving. The way Kurosawa shot this film reminds me of Citizen Kane, yet another classic.

Lei and Corcoran

My new professional photo is up.... Sent out the annoucement today. Some of you will get emails, or post cards. Anyway, got mixed comments about the photo. Some said it was nice, and some said it was too much make up. My cousin hated it, and asked me to change it immdiately. He is the nicest and honest guy existing in this planet. Hm.. But... What's done is done. Corcoran hired a professional makeup artist and photogrpher to do this. Too late to change it now... I think the photo is OK lah.
www.corcoran.com/lhuang

怪夢

昨天沒睡好, 胃不舒服, 翻來覆去的, 老做一些怪夢.
今天起來, 打杯水果奶昔喝喝, 又是好漢一條.
下午去趟辦公室吧....

Restaurant review - Cafe Gray

Cafe Gray is one of the restaurant collections at the Time Warner Center. Riceman and Leigo went there this weekend to celebrate an anniversary and a birthday. The restaurant has a gigantic open kitchen near the windows. We requested a table near the kitchen, and watching the chefs at work is a spectacular event by itself. For first courses, we ordered the VEGETABLE RATATOUILLE (coulis of two tomatoes and pine nuts) and RISOTTO with mushroom fricass?e. The ratatoulle is a cool summer dish with two vibrant colors that Riceman totally enjoyed. Leigo felt that the Risotto was nicely presented but a little heavy for summer and it tasted a little too salty. For second course, we had SHORT RIB OF BEEF with soft grits and meaux mustard, and wild see bass on top of a sea of chopped heirloom tomato. The short rib dish was their signature dish, for the first few bites, it tasted great, but it became too heavy after that. The sea bass was good, but not dropping jaw awesome. For dessert, we had CHOCOLATE - PASSION FRUIT SOUFFL? with pineapple gratin. It’s very nicely done with a crispy outside and melting hot inside. The passion fruit syrup was a great compliment with the rich dark chocolate. The dessert was the best compared to other dishes.

In short, we find the food OK, the service SUPERB, decoration GREAT. In Zagat rating system, this is what we would have given Caf? Gray: Food 21 / Service 28 / D?cor 24. One suggestion, when making the reservation, got to request a seat near the kitchen.

施主席的轟趴 - 笑死了

台灣之子 - 依沒藥醫


流浪228

One year later after Katrina

One year after Katrina, only 1/2 of the pupolation came back to New Orleans. The population before the storm is 485K, and now 217K. Of those who came back, mostly white. After one year, only 29% of the schools are up and running. The numbers are quite shocking. See more numbers on NPR's report: New Orleans by the Numbers

Shop till we drop

This Sunday, we went to Woodburry Common with the Hsu family. What a day! These are what we bought:

Rice:
1 pair of jeans from Diesel
1 pair of dress shoes from Barneys
3 t-shirts
4 socks from Banana

Leigo:
1 wind coat from Barneys
1 sweater from Barneys
1 shorts from Puma
1 shirt from Lacoste
2 long sleeve shirts from Jcrew

Chien Chien
1 suit from Hugo Boss!
1 khakis from Jcrew
1 sweater from Jcrew

Didi
1 jacket from Barneys
2 wallets from Jcrew
1 pair of shoes from Puma

Mei Mei
1 sweater from Polo

Joy of shopping, priceless. For everything else, you have master card!

倒扁?挺扁?

An article by 龍應台:

我怎麼上「陳水扁」這一課 一個「甘犯眾怒」的微小聲音

我承認我一直在上課，像個小學生一樣在上公民課。這一課的題目就叫「陳水扁」。課文特別令人「拍案驚奇」，但是附在課文後面的測驗題，艱難的程度，超過我的預期。

http://news.chinatimes.com/Chinatimes/Moment/newfocus-index/0,3687,9508240061+0+0+171204+0,00.html

八卦

李亞鵬在博文寫了一篇關於小女兒兔唇的文章．一個爸爸的心聲，蠻令人感動的！
[link to article]
[Wiki Cleft]

久違了

好久沒有在部落寫東西，最近實在是忙到不行。七月初開始在corcoran受訓，假日的節目也排得滿滿的。
七月的第一個禮拜 － 大米到莊嚴寺講課， IC & LL 結婚
七月的第二個禮拜 － 頒發慈濟的獎學金，小米策劃，大米主詞
七月的第三個禮拜 － 法鼓山夏令營
終於有個喘口氣的機會，今天在家死睡了ㄧ天！

Bad Pirates

Let’s start with a few numbers. At Rottentomatoes.com, a Web site that quantifies movie reviews on a 100-point scale, the aggregate score for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” stands at a sodden 54. Metacritic.com, a similar site, crunches the critical prose of the nation’s reviewers and comes up with a numerical grade of 52 out of 100. Even in an era of rampant grade inflation, that’s a solid F. [From NY Times]

Mad funny monkey

forwarded by Magpie

改板換面

把部落換了個招牌
願自己的人生
像花
認真的綻放盛開
黃蕾願綻

Corcoran

After one week worth of interviews.... I have landed 5 job offers. I guess it's kind of easy to get into the real estate market. The challenge is yet to come! I took a job with Corcoran's west side office, and will be starting in a few days! As I was typing this, just realized that Lincoln Center's mid summer night swing is officially here! From the loud speaker, I can hear a Spanish gay voice shouting out "five, six, seven, eight". Riceman and Leigo love going to those things, but we never pay to get into the sardine packed dance floor.

心痛

心痛。四維
最近的台灣政壇實在是亂，弊案，罷免，澄清，倒閣...
種種新聞聽了都... 讓人很煩，心痛,
我們怎麼會把自己的家搞成這樣？
我是姚師伯的忠實讀者，我想他也是有感而發。

All I have to do is dream

http://www.elliman.com/Listing.aspx?ListingID=783073

Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream
When I want you in my arms
When I want you and all your charms
Whenever I want you, all I have to do is
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream

ah... dream house!

Real Estate

Real estate has been good to Leigo and Riceman in the past few years.... With all the buying and selling, it seems natural that Leigo should get a real estate license... well, so she did. (Why am I speaking on a third person's tone? Hmm... ) Anyway, I took the 45 hour course at Hunter (what a pain), and passed the state test recently. Just had an interview with Bellmarc and Elliman today. And will be seeing Corcoran Downtown, Corcoran Westside and Citihabitat later this week. Bellmarc has an attractive training program. Elliman is very close to home. Corcoran has good name. Hm... choice, choice, choice. Anyway, so I will be starting very soon.... if you guys need help in buying, selling, renting, or you have friends or co-workers who need help. Let me know, I am really good at this!

News clippings

Read this story today in New York Magazine. Next time, when I go to East Broadway and see the Fujianeses on street, I think I will feel differently about them.

Branding and education.... HBS?! Got to admit, I have a complex of wanting to be an Ivy League. Not for the pursuit of knowledge but for the shallow reason of branding. Oh.. well... maybe next lifetime.

這幾天.....

好快，禪十回來有ㄧ個禮拜！本來打算要寫一篇禪十感言，但隨著ㄧ些體會越飄越遠，文章開了頭，可是怎麼也接不下去了。“老師說：打鐵要趁熱！有沒有聽.....? 沒有嗎！.... 要趁熱！要趁熱！要趁熱！“

前幾天，和姍姍師姑到一個中文學校三年級的小朋友家關懷，台灣家庭，在美國待了數十年，沒身分，沒保險，爸爸身體不舒服，檢查後居然是癌症末期，醫生也不開刀也不化療，樂觀的可也說是採用自然療法，事實上也可以說是醫生束手無策。幾次和師姑看個案的心情都很無助，面對無常，人真的很渺小。

禮拜五，和大米哥去吃馬來菜，點了印度麵包，想起以前在新加坡的學校(TKGS)，餐廳有個印度老爹，整天在空中甩大餅，中午一到，一群群穿著綠制服的小女生嘰嘰咂咂的排隊買大餅，哇，想起來那時後好幸福。言歸正傳，離開餐廳之後，突然下了場大雨，大米小米沒傘，拼了命的跑，之後看了Da Vinci Code，但娛樂效果還沒在雨中跑步來的快樂!

禮拜六中午去了米爸米媽家，姊姊和小鬼也在。米媽神通廣大，不知道去哪裡弄來了八十年代悲到不行的八點檔“星星知我心“，就是講那個身重病的媽媽把五個小孩送走的故事，大米在旁邊睡到不醒人世，米媽和小米是哭到不能自拔。晚上到小朋友家跟慈濟幫的眾兄弟姊妹們鬼混。

今天去找 B&C 和他們家的豆豆玩，豆豆是一個很可愛很可愛的一歲小男孩，不哭不鬧，眼睛又大又亮，超可愛的（到底要講幾次可愛！不過實在是太可愛了。）本來以為可以看到 G&M 和小小（另一個北鼻），可惜不巧的他們ㄧ家老小都在發燒生病。這兩個年輕的家庭都住在 New Port，是個很適合小孩很 sterile 的高級住宅區（又想起新加坡）。之後大米到 Chinatown 找他那個萬能的理髮師父，街道整潔的對比還真強烈，但，解釋不出來，對太整齊, overly designed 的地方會有點不習慣，覺得沒人味（難道是習慣髒亂嗎？有可能！）。如果有選擇，如果經濟不是問題，如果有ㄧ天.... if we started a family one day, I hope we can continue to be Manhattanites. 還有，下午在 City Hall 前，看到電影公司勞師動眾的在拍 Spiderman II. They used three cranes, had a rigid cable hanging from the top of an adjacent building, and have a surveyer making marks around the site. All these hassels so that they can insert the animation in the right angle, matching precisely with the site. Hm... very high tech.

好，報告完畢，就醬！

謝天謝地！

康康安全迫降，
好險沒事。

轉貼

Ah-Moon 是大學時代的好朋友，
開了個新鋪，寫了篇有點關於大小米的文章。
名筆出手，轉貼一下，分享閱讀。
[Click Me!]

這幾天會失蹤一陣子，打禪十。

OK Bong

Forwarded by Papa Huang. Thanks!

唱唱歌吧

【慈濟-讓愛傳出去】
愛是看不見的語言
愛是摸不到的感覺
愛是我們小小的心願
希望你平安快樂永遠
愛是仰著頭的喜稅
愛是說不出的感謝
愛是每天多付出一點點
雙手合十 不在乎考驗
讓愛傳出去它像陽光溫暖我和你
不管有多遙遠
總有到的那一天
讓愛傳出去那怕前方漫漫人生路
有你的祝福沒有過不去的苦

[MUSIC 歌手版]
[MUSIC 兒童版]
[MUSIC 歌手兒童版]
[MUSIC 飛越地平線∼唱上癮了]
記得ㄛ，有你的祝福沒有過不去的苦∼

選擇

最近迷上了，一個在香港鳳凰台，叫“鏘鏘三人行“的節目。主持人竇文濤是大陸同胞，加上兩位來賓，通常是一台一港，話題呢，都很有意思。前天，他們討論了關於人生的選擇。上一代的人，也許沒太多的選擇，但一切的錯過，都怪於時代，不見的可憐。這一代的人，有太多選擇，但不見的是一種幸福。有時間聽聽看，對於現在在抉擇間徘徊的幾位小朋友，也許可以有小小的啟發！Click Here

Do not use ReNu MoistureLoc

Bausch & Lomb said yesterday that it was halting worldwide sales of its ReNu With MoistureLoc cleaner for soft contact lenses because tests showed that its misuse could leave consumers at risk for a potentially blinding fungal infection.... [MORE].

Mother's Day

禮拜天早上，在慈濟，做浴佛典禮的司儀。
典禮結束後，雅菲師姑笑嘻嘻的蹦了過來，
“Lei, 今天母親節要怎麼慶祝？“
“我們中午要到Jimmy馬麻家吃飯！“
“那，你有沒有打電話回台灣跟你自己的馬麻說說話啊？“
我，停頓了一會兒，不知道該不該解釋，
結果很尷尬的吐出了幾個自己也聽起來很陌生的字，
“師姑... 我母親不在了。“
“喔.... 對不起“
空氣僵住了幾秒鐘，
那時我們是排排站，面對來浴佛的會眾，
轉頭看了師姑一眼，
發現師姑的眼框紅腫，大顆大顆的眼淚奪框而出。
也許是有感而發，也許是想到師姑自己的母親，
有些時候人與人之間是不需要太多的語言，
安靜的把手搭在他的肩膀上，
自己的眼框也慢慢開始積水。

猛一想，老媽離開我們盡然有十五年了，
那年，老媽三十九歲，我十五，康康十二。
早些年，會很刻意的不去思念母親，
把那份感情冷凍，密封，藏在角落，
畢竟對把拔，康，和自己，都是一段太痛苦的回憶。
過了這麼多年，才比較能坦然的思念，釋放，甚至開開玩笑。

媽媽有個美麗的名字，凌芙蓉。
是一個說一口台灣國語，煮一手江浙好菜的，平凡媽媽。
老媽笑聲大，朋友多，動作快，個性直爽，愛唱歌，愛跳舞，
走到哪裡，笑聲就跟到哪裡，大而化之，但偶而會有點脫線。
（可惜她走的早，要不然很適合做慈濟）
馬麻彈一手好鋼琴的，我們小的時候，有收過幾個學生貼補家用，
可惜“好竹出歹筍“，康康和我都彈了一手的屎琴。
在還沒嫁給老爸前，老媽是個幼稚園老師，
結婚後，好像有做過一陣子的代課老師，有了小孩後，就沒上過班。
雖然是家庭主婦，老媽的生活過的比大家都多姿多采，有勁。
早上招呼我們上學後，就去公園跳土風舞，
中午送便當到學校（因為我們不喜歡吃蒸過的便當），
下午到學校做輔導媽媽，晚上和三姑六婆講電話，
我媽講電話的工夫可是一流的，我呢，最喜歡趴在他的大腿上偷聽。
週末呢，會集合幾個社區的媽媽，帶我們爬紗帽山，洗溫泉，吃山菜。
大致上是一個精力旺盛，沖滿喜感，喜歡熱鬧的媽媽。

前幾天才開玩笑的說，如果能打電話給往生的人該有多好，
如果老媽知道老爸交大碩士班順利畢業，康康考上華航的機師，
不難想像老媽高興，蹦蹦跳跳，到處炫耀，誇張卻天真的樣子。

Tzu Chi performance music

Mother's hand (instrumental)
Let me take your hand

工商時間

Both Citibank and HSBC now offer e-saving accounts that have 4.5% APY. Attractive rate , huh?! Almost as good as the US Treasury Bond.

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert reporting from the white house, Bush bashing with George W. Bush just a few feet away. The president did not seemed impressed, the audience barely laughed, but I find it very funny. Good job! NY Times Article.

Stphen Colbert on Youtube

林肯中心的怪ㄎㄚ

今天林肯中心的廣場出了個怪ㄎㄚ，一個叫David Blaine的魔術師要在水族箱住上八天七夜。沒錯！？水族箱就停在林肯中心。一種米養百種人！大家可以去看看，我比較好奇的是他要怎麼便便？

前幾天聽到的一句話："Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " 頗有同感。

Weekend

This weekend, we finally took the bikes out from the basement and brought them to central park for a ride. Did three small loops only. Too lazy to go uphills in the big loop. Quite a scary realization that the bike tour is just a few days away.... we are so not in shape.

Leigo went to an open house this weekend, to observe the working style of a broker. It's a $2.7m apartment, 3 bedrooms, uppwer west side, wwned by an asian hedge fund manager, a pianist, and their little boy. Observation of the day: Manhattan is full of super rich peopole, it's pretty crazy! Lot's of all-cash buyers floating around. Where do they get their money from, I wonder?

吉祥三寶

介紹一首可愛的歌，叫吉祥三寶，是來自蒙古大草原的聲音。音量有點大，要先把喇叭調小。

【專輯名稱】：天邊
【歌曲名稱】：吉祥三寶
【歌手】：布 仁巴雅爾

爸爸 哎!
太陽出來月亮回家了嗎? 對拉!
星星出來太陽去哪啦? 在天上!
我怎麼找也找不到它? 它回家啦!
太陽星星月亮就是吉祥的一家!

媽媽 哎!
葉子綠了什麼時候開花? 等夏天來了!
花兒紅了果實能去摘嗎? 等秋天到啦!
果實種在土壤能發芽嗎? 她會長大的!
花兒葉子果實就是吉祥的一家!

寶貝 啊?
爸爸像太陽照著媽媽! 那媽媽呢?
媽媽像綠葉托著紅花! 我呢?
你像種子一樣正在發芽! 我們三個就是吉祥如意的一家!
花兒葉子果實就是吉祥的一家!

生命的轉彎

"生命會在一天天地過活下轉彎" ~ Chien Chien

第一次接觸佛法應該是在高二吧，從在紐約法拉盛的老戴記拿到一本經書開始。之後，和老爸一起嘗試過好多各式各樣的道場：妙法輪佛學社，妙蓮老和尚的佛七，藏傳，廣論，甚至法輪功，後來我們在東初禪寺一起皈依學打坐，之後老爸回台北，我輾轉在慈濟落了腳。總結的說，老爸可以算是在菩堤道上的一個很重要的夥伴。

昨天打電話跟老爸聊天，發現老爸現在是基督徒了？！

每個禮拜去兩次教堂，已經快連續兩個月，聽口氣似乎要繼續。說真的，非常震驚，感覺上好像是被戰友半途拋棄.... 但老爸聽上去充滿著喜悅，其實只要能開心安心，不管是教堂還是禪堂，都很是替他隨喜。算是一個生命的轉彎吧！

一切榮耀歸於主！阿彌陀佛！祝福老爸爸∼

Open House - Leigo

The rice lounge will be open tomorrow from 7:30 PM onwards. Come, and we will order take out together, and follow by a movie later.

石沈大海

作生意真的沒有想像中的容易，上個禮拜送的計畫像石沈大海一樣，撲咚，沒消沒息。幾次打電話想知道對方的回應，對方都沒接，不是離開辦公室，就是電話中，或是假裝電話中....who knows?! 以前在上班的時候也常常不接電話，算是因緣果報吧。今天約了第二個客戶在Bar Masa吃飯，發現談正經事情吃飯，好吃的東西都變得食之無味，浪費了美食和廚師的心意。客戶趕時間先離開，結果付錢時，居然發現沒帶錢包，尷尬死了！好險bar masa的服務生還算態度友善，讓我回家拿錢包。付了錢後，想想生意下一步要怎麼走，太陽晒在身上暖暖的，春天到了，Central Park的花花草草開的放肆極了，跟mr. softie買了一個ice cream cone, 邊舔邊回家，沒想到幸福可以那麼近。

老店新裝潢

After spending hours fixing the new blog look, here it is finally. Boy, do I waste a lot of time today!? The fun part about this new look is that I get to change the header pictures. Earlier this afternoon, I took a few pictures on my way to the post office. Sometime, it's easy to take New York for granted, and forget that it has so much to offer.

Another trivial fact... A few days ago, I went on a scale, and surprisingly found out that I am at my all time LOW in terms of weight. Two digits!!! I have passed the two digits threshhold in collage, and since then, it was a one way ticket. Very very surprised about the dramatic weight loss, especially when I am not as busy as before! Hm... I guess the tap dancing classes do help to burn some serious calorie???!!!

10,000 hits

Looks like in a matter of hours, this blog will reach its 10,000th hit. Thanks everyone for visiting and leaving messages. Your feedbacks have been making this process fun.

Besides from that, Leigo has just signed up for a real estate license class at Hunter Collage. The class is one week long and will begin next week. Working from home can get very isolated, and honestly doesn't keep me busy enough (YET!). Real estate has always been a hobby, if it can also generate some income, wouldn't that be nice?! I usually have bad impression of typical real estate brokers, hopefully I won't become one of them.

Third, and yet another totally irrelevent event: Earlier today, Leigo and Riceman went to the business library on 34th St to play around with a Bloomberg machine. This was the first time for both of us. The machine can be quite intimidating to look at and to use. After playing around for a solid half an hour, we were totally convinced that we had no idea on what we were doing. Ended up running away as far as we can from the machine..... and decided that... stocks are just way too complicated for us to comprehend, not our cup of tea.

Today's finding

For the first time after coming back from China, Leigo spent a good amount of today browsing through the NY Times Real Estate listings. Very surprised to find out the amount of manhattan apartments available under $300K. This was not the case a year ago. Hm... i guess the market did sink a little bit. Good time to buy?

不是忘記......只是想不起來

最近身邊碰到的一個有趣的小紛爭，讓我想起小時候的自己。小時候的自己很像奈良美智筆下的小女生，額頭大大的，看起來好像很可愛，但其實不是手裡拿了一把小鐮刀，就是露出一顆猙獰還帶血的小虎牙。有概念了嗎？小學六年，一直都在當班長，最大的樂趣就是帶頭欺負同學，男女不拘，胖瘦不拘，高矮不拘，只要是不順眼，就修理。有時候找不到人欺負，就叫姊妹掏到講台前半蹲，這個姊妹掏居然不計前嫌，到現在都一直保持連絡，大人大量ㄚ。老師也不管的，讓我胡作非為好幾年，直到有一天下午，同學集體罷免，第二天，老師居然宣佈班長還是繼續讓我當，沒天理啊，不過還有點懷念過去極權統戰的日子！想起來算是一個恐怖的小孩，不知慛殘了多少幼小的心靈，長大後居然有人願意娶，祖上積德，祖上積德！
注：姊妹掏最近新婚，是個很美麗的新娘，祝她美滿幸福。

Riceman and Leigo's Wedding Clip

A good friend of ours directed this video for our wedding, and recently uploaded to youtube. Time flies, can't believe it that we have been married for over three years now. My grandparents traveled all the way from Taiwan to attend our wedding. Now they are both gone, making me a little sad when I see them on the footage. Other than that, it was a retarded, but nonetheless fun fun fun wedding.

Over Youtube

This Christmas light installation is pretty spectacular. Lots of youtube posts recently, huh?!

二十世紀中文小說一百強

"由亞洲週刊編輯部與來自全球各地的文學名家聯合評選的「二十世紀中文小說一百強」六月揭曉，魯迅的《吶喊》奪得百年小說冠軍。緊接著是沈從文的《邊城》，老舍的《駱駝祥子》，張愛玲的《傳奇》，錢鍾書的《圍城》，茅盾的《子夜》，白先勇的《台北人》，巴金的《家》，蕭紅的《呼蘭河傳》及劉鶚的《老殘遊記》。王力雄的《黃禍》（明鏡出版社）入榜，名列第四十一位。其它如賈平凹的《浮躁》列五十七名，戴厚英的《人啊﹐人﹗》七十六名，古華的《芙蓉鎮》六十八名，張煒的《古船》七十一名，張賢亮的《男人的一半是女人》九十二名，當前在中國紅極一時的《雍正皇帝》也成為一百強中的壓軸作品（一百名)."

This list came out a few years ago, while we were still in collage. I remember going though the list with YY at 2K and making marks on those books that we have read so far, and said that we should read all of them one of these days.

二十世紀中文小說一百強

敗家時間到了!

敗家時間到了！謝謝帥哥"課裡師"，好康到相報。

Kate/Jack Spade Sample Sales
3pm - 7pm, monday, april 3
9am - 7pm, tuesday, april 4
9am - 7pm, wednesday, april 5
At the metropolitan pavilion
125 west 18th street (between 6th and 7th)

沒有工作， 那我是誰？

紐約時間凌晨十二點，
獨自坐在桌上，望著還沒熄燈的林肯中心，
大米哥早已不省人事，鼾聲大呼。
又跟上海的工廠溝通了將近兩小時，
從來不曾覺得溝通是一件累人的事，
但現在全身的每個細胞都在喊累...
不就是為了幾片不鏽鋼的材質和表面處裡，
瑣碎的細節啊...
想起大學時代有個教授的口頭禪：
trivial, trivial, trivial.

離開了朝九晚五的工作後，
突然生活少了什麼，
滿足不了膨脹不得了的自我，
想短時間闖出自己的路，
想證明和炫耀自己的存在。

但，難道人生只是工作，只是賺錢嗎？
沒有工作，那我是誰？
“拖著死屍的是誰？“

輕鬆ㄧ下 聽聽音樂

I was browsing thru youtube, and found that there is a big following of these two chinese boys. They crack me up. Very funny.


The other day, we heard 明天會更好 in Chien Chien's car. It felt very warm and nolstalgic. This is a simialr song done two/three years ago by many famous Taiwanese singers aginst SARS. 聽聽這些感人大合唱，會覺得很有元氣！


Marvellous tap dancing by Fred Astaire with Eleanor Powel. The music, the set and the tapping shoes can rewind the clock back to the gilded age of 1940. 如果...如果... 有一天..我的腳能那麼聽話... 該有多美..

Frustrated...

Just finished a long conversation with the factory in China. Very frustrated. Have been waiting for them to submit an estimate, but looks like they have not even started looking at the drawings.... sigh....

味王贈

在台北的時候，家裡有個鐵調羹，鐵調羹上有“味王贈“三個字，是我媽買味素的贈品。調羹實在是普通的可以，沒特別好，也沒特別精緻，只是比其他的調羹多了三個字。每天吃晚飯前，我和我弟就會為了那隻調羹開始吵，好像沒有用“味王贈“吃飯會死人似的。後來我媽受不了，就再去買一包味王味素，可是已經沒送贈品了。最後就規定星期一，三，五我弟可以用“味王贈“，二，四，六我用，禮拜天呢，誰都別想用。過了幾年，我們搬到新加坡，那隻調羹也不知道去了哪裡。今天是康康生日，突然想到這件事，在這裡祝康康生日快樂。從小到大，沒看過我弟那麼認真努力過，看樣子他很在乎這個工作，打心底替他高興，也希望訓練一切順利平安。

痛 痛 痛 痛 痛痛痛痛

Yes, we had a fun day yesterday. We were playing non-stop from 9AM to midnight, starting off with yummy potato pancakes, to badminton, martial art, good food, movie, bs with friends, and come home to bs more with more friends. We haven't indulge ourselves like this for a long time. It felt good. When I wake up today, my whole body ache really bad from the exercise. Got to exertcise more often. 姊妹們，加油ㄚ！

慈濟會員

Today I went to visit a case with San San S/G. A high school senior, also a student at the Chinese school. He was run over by a car wile walking on the sidewalk. Can you believe that?! The car driver was a Taiwanese, and so is this boy. One of his leg was amputated, it's pretty hard to look at him in the face. San San S/G did most of the talking, I don't know what positive thing to say at all.... I can't imagine if this happen to people close to us.

BTW, if any of you are interested in knowing more about Tzu Chi 慈濟，or would like to be a member or volunteer, please let me know.

小雞啊？你在哪裡？？？

要運動

好久好久沒運動，全身軟趴趴的。
每次看大米哥打完籃球，一副很爽的樣子，實在羨慕。
本來是想找一個gym，但每次參加的結果都是只付錢不去，所以作罷。
後來決定去學跳舞，想有老師鞭策應該會比較勤勞。
去了附近的 Broadway Dance Center，
發現裡面跳舞的人都超專業的，
從世界各地來的舞者，
有跳jazz, hiphop, ballet, tap....
選了最基本的踢踏舞課，
別人跳呢，手是手，腳是腳，
我呢，手不是手，腳不是腳，超不協調的，
還被老師叫到旁邊個別指導。
不過流了滿身大汗，而音樂還蠻好聽的，
雖然第一堂課很糗，但運動完後的心情...好開心ㄛ！

blog, 你爺爺我來了: owl

blog, 你爺爺我來了: owl

老態龍鍾

今天分會舉行喬遷典禮，Leigo當司儀，第一次穿上慈濟師姑裝，
真老態.... 老.... 老死了！

So... This is Architrade

Finally, my little 7'x 2.5' office is set up. One solid core door sitting on top of two British red file cabinets. Even managed to negoticate 7' x 1' of air space from the heater. The space is pretty minimal but functional. It overlooked Lincoln Center. I worked the whole day today in the space, and absolutely loved it.

折金磚

解釋一下，這是家人在幫奶奶摺金磚，紙錢的一種，很難折的。要先把長條做成六個三角形，三角形再拼成立體正方形，然後放七個小元寶在裡面。大家努力了好幾天，才折了兩箱。燒紙錢的時候，五分鐘就燒掉了。其實紙錢蠻不環保，也不和因果相應，一個心意吧....

Ang Lee in Oscar

Couldn't get the first sentence he said. Anyone? I like the way he said thank you in Chinese and address to people in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. 格局大啊！

要加持ㄚ

今天要去談第一筆生意，加持一下啊！
突然讓我想起霹靂貓（還是He-Man）常會說：
“請萬能的神給我神奇的力量。“

Office Furniture

這幾天很積極的在找個適合的辦公桌，左看右看上看下看，the dream office space will be a silver glass top desk with orange metal file cabinets from USM ($5500), and an Aeron Chair from Herman Miller ($900). After all, a dream is a dream. 夢想和現實通常都有一點距離，明天要去IKEA買桌子。椅子呢，可能先用餐桌椅。

Architrade 趕快賺錢啊，這樣子，我就可以去買漂漂的桌椅！

blogs

Few weeks ago, NY magazine has a featured article about bloggers. The article lists out the top 50 blogs around the globe, judged by number of hits. Some are good, and some makes me wonder how the hell did they get on the list. You guys can take a look at it and be the judges yourselves. While browsing, another article in NY mag caught my attention - 10 points escape plan to Taipei.

Well, what I really want to recommend is a blog called 黃小黛. Her writing style is very enjoyable - clean, down to earth, and yet touching. Especially love her collections on families and friends. Real emotions, real people, and really good reads.

OK, time for some cough syrup....

iWeb

Aiyaya... I have been unethically trying to BT iWeb, which is part of iLife 06. First attempt took about 4 days to complete download, but the installation failed. Second time took about 2 days, installation failed again. Maybe it’s a sign that I should actually buy the real version.

慘

回來有兩個禮拜了吧！
好不容易狠心離開了工作八年的崗位，
興致勃勃的準備為自己的第二春出發。

沒想到，週末帶小朋友去滑雪，
....回來..又生了場大病，
慘啊！發燒了好幾天，喉嚨痛到沒聲音，咳嗽咳到睡不著...

This explians why I am blogging at the middle of the night.
病趕快好啊！！！！

我的奶奶－陳彗娟女士

我的奶奶說一口字正腔圓的國語，愛乾淨，愛打扮，愛看書，是個有氣質的老太太。奶奶生於民國十年，祖籍浙江寧波，（雖然一輩子都沒在寧波生活過）。奶奶應該是在上海出生的，奶奶的爸爸開一家上海式的西裝店，為了逃難，少女時代的奶奶是在漢口求學，也是在漢口遇到了當時是軍人的爺爺，他們在奶奶高二時結了婚，高三時生了第一個小孩，大姑。雖然奶奶高中沒畢業，但在那個年代，女孩子能讀到高中已經是非常了不得。後來中日戰爭，舉家搬到了大後方重慶，我的爸爸（老三）就是在重慶出生的。那時爺爺在遠方，奶奶帶著三個小孩躲警報，賣鹽，賣米，賣年糕過日子。打完日本人後，又開始打老共，不久爺爺的部隊就撤退到了台灣，也把全家搬到台灣。

在台灣，奶奶又生了四個小孩，總共七個。那時被分配到基隆的一個海軍眷村，一排排的紅磚房子，矮籬笆，村子的中間有個大池塘，家裡沒廁所，如廁要到村子山坡上的公廁。印象最深刻的是，家家的門永遠是開著，到後來眷村改建，奶奶爺爺還是會習慣把家裡的大門打開。奶奶的前半生是在戰爭和拉拔七個小孩中渡過的，我想她ㄧ生中最驕傲的也是這七個小孩吧，雖然沒人大富大貴，但至少每個人都有大學學歷，規規矩矩的過日子。第三代更是青出於藍，有哈佛，台大，清大....等等（古柏？要說嗎？也沒人知道啦！）奶奶的後半生相較下就安逸許多：打麻將，唱卡拉OK，周遊列國。

奶奶很聰明，就是因為聰明，所以不管是對自己，或對別人的要求高。最近幾年，我有覺得奶奶有在改變，比較懂得善待別人和自己，但感覺上她還可以活的更快樂，更長壽。每一個時代都會造就屬於那個時代的人物。我最近在想，如果奶奶是生在我們這個時代，以她的聰明才智，她的人生又會著麼樣？奶奶走的很有福報，雖然有許多不捨，但很為她高興。這次回台灣，陪伴奶奶走完她人生的最後一段路，其實也是陪伴這個飄洋過海的大家庭走到一個段落。奶奶爺爺，這兩年相繼往生，以後的年夜飯大家還會在ㄧ起吃嗎？基隆的老家會變成什麼樣？想想...都會蠻難過的。


Grandma Slideshow

It's official

I just resigned. It's official.

Name card design

Leigo spend yesterday designing her new company's logo and name card. Here is the first draft. Designers and metro-chic ppl out there, please feel free to critique and comment. Be straight forward, I can take it.

Looking for glasses....

Leigo is looking for a pair of new glasses. Thinking about getting a pair of 2.5. Comment, suggustion, anyone?

阿扁都不知 大陸的競爭力有多驚人...

峨嵋山上的猴子