my 3rd birthday wish

I had a wonderful birthday on 4/23 with 3 cakes, greetings from friends and coworkers, and lovely birthday songs from two little cute nieces.

As convention in birthday parties, I was asked to make three wishes, speaking out the first two and keeping the third one for myself.

My third wish... this picture tells it all...

煩

忙到透不過氣來的感覺很糟 偏偏今年來老是覺得如此
換到新部門快一年 卻在最近幾個月被工作壓到喘不過氣來
一方面是組織大調整 新老板們還在摸索部門方向
一方面是業務量增加卻仍人手不足
我這個半新不舊的PM除了既定的工作量 還得接下去年部門欲拒還迎的專案
問題是我的 learning curve 還沒走完呢

Learning from doing is quite a nice idea if having a reasonable workload. Yet, having the heavier workload while crawling in the learning curve makes me feel frustrated and step into my down time. Start worrying about my quality at work. The feeling of running after workload and trying to catch up with those seniors is just so sucks!

Moreover, I have had a totally different view towards life since last Christmas.
我越來越清楚想要的生活
I want to be free, free from work.
想要多一些時間給自己 給我喜歡的人
開始面對自己　開始想打理自己的生活　經營與喜歡的人的未來
Yet, how can I reach this?
Keep saying this but haven't found a good way yet...
aarrhhh...
煩...

mom's niuroumian

Mom doesn't eat beaf for her religeon. Yet, she knows her kids love it (yup, yup... though we are already decades away from being a kid, we are still kids to her). She bought this cooked beaf from a shop by her friend's recommendation and added this new dish in her menu.

Tasty niuroumian indeed... ^_^

Taiwan earthquake

What the earthquake happened on Dec 26, 2006 brothers me the most is that, I lost the international SMSs function to communicate with my dear friends in France and annoyingly have to wait a few weeks for its recovery!

However, a bit amazed to read the news that this earthquake has resulted in a loss of 10,000 Internet Domains in China. Also, a column is written under the title, The world is down, saying that this earthquake also affects the banking, telecommunicating and internet in Asia, etc. As a trivial global citizen, I feel a bit "竊喜" (sorry, I shouldn't!) to read these news that, okay, the world finally gets some awareness of the importance of my island... ^_*

And just while I was pleased for these news, another news grabbed my attention that...
A new guide co-produced by France's Tourism Ministry advises businesspeople not to mention Tibet, Taiwan and the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators when negotiating with the Chinese.

Ha, this reminds me of a Taiwanese saying, "西瓜偎大邊" (xi quei wei dua bing), referring as Climb onto the bandwagon...

Paris to Bangkok

The 10 hours of flying from Paris to Bangkok...

-- Local time at original 13:40
The plane started slowly running; My mind was flying back to him;
Was he on the way home? Was he having a good time with Mr. Battery in a cozy bar somewhere?

-- Local time at original 15:34
The first meal was served; I was thinking of him;
Has he had something to eat? Would he remember heating the rice noodles?

-- Local time at original 17:18
The light in the plane was dimmed; I was thinking of him;
Did he take a nap to catch some sleep?

-- Local time at original 18:52
The movie The Devil wears Prada was on;
Gosh, Neigel's attitude towards to Andy in the beginning was so like his!

-- Local time at original 20:03
The movie was still playing and les Champs-Élysées was suddenly shown in the screen;
My chest ached and tears sprang...
We just walked in this avenue 2 days ago after visiting Le musée du Petit Palais...
I missed him...

-- Local time at original 21:18
Reading the book "Girls in Pants" with an absent mind;
Was he having a nice time in the party?
Would he forget me soon?
My childish and selfish me was laughing at me...

-- Local time at original 22:18 / Local time at destiny 04:18
The plane was dark and most of the passengers were sleeping; My mind was again sneaking;
Would the sheet be warm enough for him?
I missed his sheets...

-- Local time at original 00:15 / Local time at destiny 06:15
Arrived the airport and... *sigh*
I missed him...

a memory of my youth

My first encounter with English songs was from a musical movie "秋霞, Chelsia My Love (1976)" by Chelsea Chan (陳秋霞),

After seeing that movie, I became a big fan of Chelsia Chan and Kenny Bee, the vocal of The Wynners (溫拿五虎).

Remember Dad just bought a set of hi-fi stereo the same year. To test this new stereo, he bought lots of albums, including a set of English oldies but goodeis (50s-70s), discos (I remember Donna Summer the most), Taiwanese pop singers (尤雅 and 鳳飛飛). He also sent me a whole collection of Chelsia Chan and the Wynners which he could find in Taiwan. Listening to Chelsia Chan and The Wynners became the first thing I did after school. My sister Shengwen and bother Lucien had to bear with my listening to my favorite bands every day (ha, this also made them familar with some English songs, accordingly to them...)

Just find some music vedio clips which bring me back to this memory of my youth:
One Summer Night
Graduations Tears
These 2 clips may be taken from the movie, "Chelsia My Love". Just feel interesting that the subtitles are shown in Korean.

偶然 (ou3 ran2)
The lyric is from a famous Chinese modern poet, 徐志摩 (Xu, Zhimo) and music by Chelsia Chan herself. This clip is from a Hong Kong musical ceremory in 2005. The song is in Chinese but people speaking in Contanese in that event. hmm... I still prefer the original version she sang though...

For me, the following songs are some of my favorite but heard first time from The Wynners:

LOVE by The Wynners
Windflowers by Seals and Crofts
New Kid in Town by The Eagles.

gosh... time really flies...

professeur de français dans la métro

To kill time, I now use to review my French language course note in MRT (Metro in Taipei). Today, on the way home, I was as usual digging myself in the notes, murmuring "je parle, tu parles, je prends, tu prends, il prend..."

Suddenly, I heard a male voice floating over my head and reading my note word by word aloud,
"je parles français, bien sûr, et aussi espangnd et un peu allemand..."

I raised my head, looking surprised and confused. An European man smiled at me and pointed at my note, reading the above sentence to me word by word again.

"Tu es français?" (totally forgot using "vous"... je ne suis pas polit :-p)
"Non, je suis Hollande."
"Quelle langue est-ce que tu parle?" ("tu" again... not polite... I know...)
"Je parle français, hollande, anglais, et allemand." (wow... so many languages)
"Tu parle chinois?"
"muei hiang" (gosh!)
"Tu parle taiwanese!
...

He then told me all the way in French and sometimes using body language (due to my current poor French, bien sur) that he and his Taiwanese wife have been living in BanQiao, Taipei for 7 years. His wife also speaks French so they usually communciate in mixed French and English... I felt amazed about his language talents and happy to find my making progress in French language listening... We talked and talked and when I realised, I had missed the stop, Taipei Train Station, I should get off... :-p

merci beaucoup, mon prefesseur de français dans la métro!

Jane Austen

Just finish reading this book, The Jane Austen Book Club

Some reviews in English and in Chinese

Really have to change this habbit... I did nothing today but only read thru this book from cover to cover in one day...

frog leap

frog leap

The first time I played this game was using the coins though...

Interview with Harry Potter's aunt

Just find an old piece of work which I wrote in 2001 for my Children Literature assignment. This class was for those passing the certificate exam of English Teacher of Elementary School in 2000 to gain the education credits. In this assignment, I pictured myself as two roles, one the journalist YY and one Harry Potter's aunt Petunia Dursley, and wrote from Petunia's view seeing her relationship with her sister, Harry's mother Lily Potter.

Ironically, after completing all the necessary classes and some evalutions, I choosed another career path in IT project management. Posting this article as a memory for my being a student again...

ps. sorry, it's in Chinese only.

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課程： 兒童文學
教師： 黃儀冠
班級： 國小英語師資週三班
學生： 楊裕文（92505346）


期 末 報 告
書名：哈利波特 – 神秘的魔法石 (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone)
出版社：皇冠
作者：J. K. Rowling 作；彭倩文 譯

1. 具象化：哈利波特
記者 YY 剛結束長達半年於喜馬拉雅山的隨隊採訪，才一下飛機，就被老編派到英國去訪問目前最熱門的少年新偶像：哈利波特。從未見過哈利波特，也搞不懂這個小男孩究竟有什麼魔力，讓全球各地為之瘋狂！難道他有如李奧那多般俊美清秀的臉龐？還是瑞奇馬丁那如電動馬達般的性感小臀？或者是他額上那道閃電型疤痕？不曉得跟包青天額頭上的月芽比起來，那個比較酷？不管了，先找到水蠟樹街四號德思禮家再說！

水蠟樹街還真難找！早知道就該事先跟這家人約好，實在不該跟老編硬掰，說是這樣才能出奇制勝，取得獨家新聞！好不容易才找到 4 號這棟房子，結果按了半天的門鈴，就是沒人出來應門，要真是沒人在家，那可就糗大了！ㄟ…迎面走來一位中年婦人，頂著一頭金色的中長捲髮，臉長得像馬，蒼白的膚色，水淋淋卻無神的藍眼睛，遠遠望去，還以為是七夜怪譚貞子的外國親戚呢！她的脖子有一般人的兩倍長，瘦得前胸貼後背，一手抱著沈甸甸裝滿食物的超大購物袋，另一手抓著五根粉紅色的…鑫鑫腸！奇怪，YY雖然近視，但怎麼會…喔，原來是一隻粉紅色的胖手，五根手指短短肥肥的像極了香腸！兩個人長得很像，一看就知道是對母子，好像胖男孩將中年婦人身上所有的養分都給吸收到自己身上一樣。只見那婦人不斷低頭好聲好氣地對身旁那頭粉紅豬，不，那個胖男孩說話：「小甜心，要不要再吃一支棒棒糖？」「乖寶貝！你真是太可愛了！」關愛的心情溢於言表。而那個胖男孩卻仍自顧自地把玩手上那隻玩具槍，嘴裡還呼嚕呼嚕地，滿滿地塞了一堆甜點。
聽老編說，哈利波特在霍格華茲魔法學校放暑假時，都會回到姨媽佩妮及姨丈威農德思禮家住。佩妮姨媽是哈利媽媽的姊姊，兩姊妹的感情好像不是很好；事實上，在收養哈利之前，佩妮根本就沒有也不想與妹妹家有所來往。聽說收養哈利這件事，也是在不得已的情形下才勉強答應的。她與丈夫威農德思禮最擔心的就是被人發現她與妹妹家有瓜葛。每當哈利問到有關他媽媽的事時，佩妮姨媽總是好像喝了世上超苦的感冒糖漿似的，臉色難看，很不高興地不准他再問下去，並馬上要他回房間去。還聽說，佩妮姨媽很會作菜，家裡擺滿了食譜，常做許多豐盛的菜餚及甜點給她最疼愛的心肝寶貝胖兒子達力吃。奇怪！老編怎麼儘知道這些八卦消息咧？看來，這對母子應住在這附近，還是先向他們打聽打聽德思禮家的是吧！

「請問，您認識德思禮家的人嗎？」
「我們就是德思禮家的人啊？你是誰？」中年金髮瘦皮婦，不，佩妮阿姨問，並停下正在清理達力胸前那灘巧克力污漬的動作。
「太好了！請問哈利波特放假回家了嗎？我想找他一下。」
「嗯…唔…嗯…他…嗯…他現在不在家。你…你找他有什麼事？為什麼要訪問他？他…他又闖了什麼禍嗎？我就知道！我就知道！當初真不該收容他的！老是給我找麻煩！一下子引來貓頭鷹飛來飛去，嗚嗚叫吵得不得了！要是讓鄰居們抗議起來怎麼辦？一下子又引來一些奇裝異服的人在我們家附近探頭探腦！害得威農好生氣，我還被他數落了好幾頓！」佩妮的眼神突然從驚惶變得憤怒，重重放下手上的紙袋，自顧自地支支吾吾起來，並蹲下來開始清理達力衣服上的污漬。
「我那個該遭天譴的妹妹就是這樣！怪胎一個！每次放假回家的時候，總會給家裡帶來麻煩！我的父母親卻覺得光榮得不得了！真不公平！老天爺還真是瞎了眼睛…」
「唉喲！媽…你在幹嘛啦！好痛喔！」達力被媽媽越來越粗暴的擦拭動作弄痛的大叫了起來。
「乖寶貝！小甜心！對不起哦！對不起哦！」
「不是啦！我是 XX 週刊的記者，想跟他作個訪問。」
「哦…原來是這樣啊！早說嘛！他今天不在，明天也不會在啦！這樣吧！看看這個可愛的小天使，我們達力可是比哈利優秀多了！他在學校可是領導人物喔！他的籃球可是打得一級棒唷….」佩妮邊說邊把達力推到記者 YY面前。
「ㄟ…這樣啊…對了！我還要趕截稿！既然哈利不在，那我就不打擾了！謝啦！再見！」

2. 這本書的意識型態是什麼？
本書的意識型態主要是告訴青少年要謙虛、要有勇氣；即使身處逆境，也不要放棄對自己的信念。要堅持信念，才不會被邪惡的力量所侵蝕。並且強調同儕合作的精神。

3. 人物訪談：佩妮姨媽
1) 看來妳真是不喜歡哈利波特，為什麼？
哈利波特是我那個怪胎妹妹的小孩。一定也是跟他媽媽一樣是個怪胎！還有，給他衣服穿，給他東西吃，供他房子住，已經是仁至義盡了！雖然他還算有禮貌，卻總是覺得跟我有隔閡！從來不告訴我他心裡真正的想法！真不知道他心裡到底在想什麼？我可不希望我們家達力變得跟他一樣！

2) 當初為什麼決定要收容哈利呢？
我妹妹雖是怪胎，但再怎麼說，他都是我妹妹的骨肉啊！當然要收容他囉！只是，不知道這個孩子怎麼這麼難養！老是給我惹麻煩！

3) 妳希望達力也像哈利一樣，能上霍格華茲魔法學校嗎？
我們家達力不必上那個什麼鬼魔法學校，就已經非常有魅力而且優秀了！你不覺得嗎？當然，如果我們達力去唸那個學校，在魁地奇比賽中奪取到金探子的，一定是我們達力囉！乖寶貝，來唱首歌給這位記者阿姨聽！沒關係！沒關係！我們時間多的很！妳一定要聽聽他的聲音，他們學校老師可是讚賞得不得了，說是難得一見的超重音呢？呵呵呵…
（訪問到此中斷了一個鐘頭…）

4) 妳希望能自己也是個巫師，擁有魔法嗎？
才不呢！每天跟蟾蜍、蜥蜴、蜘蛛混在一起，多可怕啊！（沈默了幾秒鐘…）老實說，當個巫師，擁有魔法有時是蠻方便啦！最起碼，當我作蛋糕忘記買奶油時，唸唸咒語就可以變出奶油來，也不錯！這樣或許爸媽能多注意我一些也不一定！（佩妮阿姨的眼眶突然泛紅，聲音越來越小…）

5) 要是時光能回到從前，妳希望如何跟妹妹相處？
跟那個怪胎有什麼好相處的！不過要是時光真能回到從前，我是很想在她放假回家時，跟她一起做做蛋糕，或是全家一起去郊遊啦！還有，要是她肯跟我說說那個魔法學校裡發生的事，我也是願意跟她講講我跟德思禮先生交往的情形囉！

6) 請問一個較私人的問題，為什麼妳會嫁給德思禮先生？
沒為什麼！我們從中學就認識啦！當時他可是學校校隊呢！學校畢業後，就決定要結婚啦！不嫁他要嫁誰？
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