What a day - surprising, interesting, beautiful.

8am on train to Guangzhou, China.  There was SUNSHINE!

What's this all about... TWO wine fairs... 

I need to calm down and chill out - after a  LONGGGGGG  & InterestinGGGGGGGG day!!!  [Read on..]

Foreword: I'm going to write this in English - so I can share with my business partner (and friend/ travelmate) who shared the super interesting day with me.  :)

What a day!?

Story began... 2-hour sleep last night, then I was there at Hunghom Station by 6.48am.  Got my Starbucks (there is only Starbucks where I could get the coffee... ) Caramel Macchiato + Cheese Croissant, I was ready to board the Kowloon-Guangzhou Through Train!

7.03am - I met my travelmate at tne gate of the train.  "I'm jealous!" She saw my Starbucks carrybag.  SORRY that I assumed she would have had breakfast with family in the early morning at home - so I didn't call her up and asked if she would like something from Starbucks.

7.05am - WE were at Starbucks.  "Hey - I got a RAT at home this morning!  Hahaha... " (I was like @_@")  

"RAT!!!!!!???????"

7.06am - "Yeah - a rat!  We live in rural area!  I was freaked out - I'm a city girl!" (I was like -_-")

7.25am - We were on the train... Chat chat chat chat...

9.35am @Guangzhou East Station.  "We are getting off," I said.  "Oh - we are HERE!?"

10.12am - we were at our 'destination', the fairground.  

bla bla bla... bla bla bla... bleh bleh bleh... ehhh... ehhhhh....

3.15pm - "We have time before the train at 16.56, let's go shopping!"  I said.

3.32pm - We were at a 'plaza'.  There was JUSCO supermarket, H&M, and Pacific Coffee.

3.40pm @Jusco supermarket.  "Hey - this is the GALLO olive oil from Portugal!"  I said.

3.42pm - We were in front of the WINE & SPIRITS section.  "Hey - look at that!  You can do instalment payment for the cognac, the Hennessy.. and all these!"

3.46pm - "Oh... Can I... go there..." - "I didn't have time to buy the special shampoo for my new hair style [my red juicy tomato]... let me get that here!" - so I bought my shampoo!

4pm - We ended up, "Let's go Pacific Coffee."

4.15pm - Oups.. I found a little creature FLOATING ON TOP OF MY CARAMEL LATTE!!  "@_@"

4.20pm - I got my NEW cup of caramel latte.  "Let's go!  It's time."  I said.

4.23pm @Metro station (3 stops away from Guangzhou East station).  "We have to walk a little bit faster..., " I said.

4.46pm @Entrance to the customs, then the train flatform.  It was CLOSED!!  "Turn over the ticket, it says you have to be here 10 minutes before!!.. bla bla bla bla bla...."

4.56pm @Ticket office, with four others who missed the train too.

4.56pm @Ticket office.  "Shall we take the train to Shenzhen, then back to Hong Kong?"  I asked.  "Let's go!"

5pm @(another) Ticket office.  "Earliest, 1-class, departs at 5.50pm," the ticket officer said.

"OK...," I said and paid.

Tickets then were in my hand - 17.40 departs, written there.  "Wasn't that the officer said departure at 5.50!?" - I thought.

5.07pm @Entrance to the train flatform.  "Hi, you are here too!" - my friend said to a lady we met at the 'first' ticket office, who missed the train.

"Yes, here I am too!"  the lady said.  "Oh hey... " - she saw the other two people who (kind of) missed the train right in front of her.  They are first-time visitor to Hong Kong/ China from Australia!

Here, four of us were there again, waiting for another train, but only to Shenzhen.

5.15pm @Waiting area.  My travelmate + myself + Ms. lady were sitting together and started chatting.... bla bla bla bla bla.. hahahahaha... 

"Oh, so you two are selling WINES!"

"Oh, so you are an architect from Hong Kong!"

"Oh, your last name as LUKE, but the Chinese is same as me!"  I told the lady - Ms. LUKE the Architect.

5.38pm - Travelmate + myself + Ms. Luke the Architect + the Australian couple @train to Shenzhen.

6.59pm - Train arrived at Shenzhen.

7.xxpm - "Where are the two Australian tourists?  Hope they didn't get lose." - Ms. Luke the Architect got off the train with my travelmate and myself.  We walked and chatted on the way.

7.xxpm - "Oh, here you are again," Ms. Luke the Architect spoke to the Australian tourists.  

7.xxpm - We walked altogether to the customs.  Then due to different identity documents each of us held, we went through separate counters.  Then we were finally at the ticket office at HONG KONG SIDE!!

I went to washroom.

I came back, "Where are the Architect and the couple?"

"I don't know - I thought they are here at the ticket kiosk..."

"Let's see on the order side at the counter.  Perhaps they don't have the currency!?"

So we went to the other side, we found the couple and the lady!  The couple didn't have enough change, so they had to go to the counter and get the ticket!

7.45pm - we were all on the train at HONG KONG side, sat down and ready to go back to the city!  

"We are back to the civilized," the lady said.

7.50pm - I was on a phone call, "Sorry, I missed the train, and I don't think I can make it to arrive there at 8.30.  Please don't wait, and kindly pass my message to...."

I missed the event, which i thought was important, and I really wanted to go.  I was supposed to be there to meet someone who just retired and is going back to his home.  I wanted to try best to make it, because either I meet him this eve, or we never know if we will ever meet.  And, I want to send my warm THANK-YOU to him, for his support during his time here.

He will leave Hong Kong next Monday.  But, I missed it to meet him before he leaves.

8.03pm - my travelmate got off, as she lives closer to the New Territories.

8.30pm - Ms. Architect and myself were on the taxi, going to Lan Kwai Fong.

"Bye there, we'll meet again."

8.42pm - I was walking along Wyndham Street.  Party animals around.  I felt like going somewhere for food & wine.  I was starving and tired.

8.48pm - Well... no... nothing interesting.  Let me go back home, cook and get my FULL bottle of Blanquette de Limoux by myself!

9.15pm @Supermarket nearby home.  I picked one thing I wanna get for my 'dinner'.... then I thought.. ok... save time - let me do all my shopping for the weekend/ next week.

9.22pm - [Whatsapp] "I couldn't find the booth number for these two exhibitors...."

9.24pm - I 'parked' my shopping cart aside.  With my new 'smartphone' - I was working there... finding the 'answers'... DONE!

9.35pm @HOME sweet home.  "Oh - my lotus flowers... what's happened?  Seems you are all so tired... like dying... oh no, please!"  

10.01pm - Salad + Spaghetti w/ Carbonara sauce + Blanquette de Limoux in glass @dining table!!!!  

10.38pm - FINALLY.  I'm back here, home.  Interesting day!

I missed the chance to meet someone I might never meet again in life.  

I met someone new friend, same last name (in Chinese character) as me, shared the similar experience - got stopped at the gate while the train was there at the flatform underground... then we met again at the station... all the way back to Central, Hong Kong.

It's the TGIF (Thanks God It is Friday).

I wanted to do something I wanted - not as I wanted at the end; I was not expecting something I probably would not want - but all a sudden, it happened.  

Never mind - life is full of surprises.  Nothing good or bad, nothing true or false, nothing matters as the end of the day (or life).

Apart from wines: Paleography (Part II)

(Continued)

So, who wants to know when some words were written? What is the use of doing that? To answer that, I first want to share a story - actually an experience of myself.

Some years ago, I was involved in a project at work. I was sent to Utah in the United States by my boss. Why me? Two reasons: I practice western calligraphy, and I type fast. I guaranteed you, in Hong Kong, if you tell someone you are a calligrapher, that sounds like you are an artist and you will then be linked to the idea that 'you don't earn much'. If you tell someone you type fast, that sounds like you are a typist and (again) you will then be linked to the idea that 'you don't earn much'. So neither one of them would be considered as having some valuable skills.

Well - but with both of the skill sets, I was sent far away to the middle of US on a business trip. Plus, there was basically no one else in the company who could take over that. No one got such skill sets combined! So, those skills which were almost of 'no use' were turned into opportunities and my valuable assets!!

So, what I had to do there? And what was the project about?

There were two objectives: first, I got to do a typing test there and see how fast I could type (I couldn't do it online because no one knew the effect of the transmission rate of data via the internet line. So I had to be physically there to type with the system there.); second, I got to learn reading those so-called 'ancient writing'. As someone who knew calligraphy, it is easier for me to learn the basics about 'ancient writing'. So, that was my first encounter of the term 'Paleography'.

If not because of such experience, I bet I would never have thought there were people who really study the ancient writing, and what was the reason behind the study.

The reason of study was to trace our family lineage, and know our family story, plus history. Those doing these studies are the genealogists. They are the one who study genealogy, which is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. And Salt Lake City in Utah is more like the centre of such study in the world.

To trace the lineage, there were thousands of ancient records which the genealogists would refer to. Examples of records are census reports, birth records, death records, passenger list on board sailing to other places. Since these records are all hand-written, and there were abbreviations to understand and decipher. So there came the use of 'Paleography' - first analysing the writing, then understanding the words written there. Hence, with further analysis of the words identified, the family lineage could be traced.

While everything is now being digitalized, and with the development of search engine - all records got to be turned into TYPED ones. So, my typing speed has become the benchmark of the data centre doing typing jobs. As someone who learnt some basics of paleography, I got to teach the typists how to read the ancient words after I came back to Hong Kong. I also had to do a training manual on Paleography.

So that was it.

Today, I still remembered when I was in Utah, I was taken to the archive centre to see those original copies of records. I was really amazed to see thousands of real records from ages ago. Some records were turned into microfilms for archive, because the originals were too fragile. I have been reading all those calligraphic hands in books, but then all a sudden, those real ones were in front of me!

Apart from the surprise seeing all those, it was amazing that the 'unwanted' skills (calligraphy & typing) have brought me to learn something about the extraordinary subjects: 'Paleography' and 'Genealogy'.

(End)

P.S. To view the 'digitalized database' of family lineage, please click HERE for link to the UK site, or HERE to the US site.

Also, click HERE to read the profile of Abraham Lincoln and the related record images, so then you will have better idea about 'Paleography' and 'Genealogy'.

Apart from wines: Paleography (Part I)

Quite a lot of times, we say wines are a mix of arts and science. Probably that is why it is not that easy to 'thoroughly' understand wines. It's not easy - you got to be an artist to appreciate the beauty of wines and the culture behind; on the other hand, you got to be a scientist to understand winemaking as it is indeed a chemical process (the alcoholic fermentation) involving some microorganism (the yeast).

Grown up in Hong Kong, and being educated all through my primary school and secondary school years, it seemed to me arts and science are rivalry. They were separated into two 'streams' in the school - I could only choose either Arts or Science. Arts subjects include History, Geography, Chinese History, etc., whereas Science subjects include Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc. Since then, my world was split into two.

Until I started working in the wine industry, and being told that wines are a mix of arts and science - I realized that my world has become one again.

Although I chose the Science stream, but I have never given up Arts. I practice western calligraphy, I could stay at museum and just be there staring at an artpiece from different angles for half an hour. So, I am really glad to be immersed in the 'One World' again now - wine is like a glue that put Arts and Science together.

Tonight, I was reading some books about letters. Then I came across a word that reminded me of another subject which I was interested in some years ago. Apart from wines, that is a subject that puts Arts and Science together. It is called 'Paleography'.

It is a study of ancient writing. Somehow, it is a scientific study of an artform. It requires analytical skills and a strong sense of ordering in order to decipher and recognize the words, hence identify when the words were written.

One who is reading here may ask, who would want to know when the words were written, and why there is the need to do that. I will answer that in next piece of writing.

(To be continued)

P.S. If you want to play a little game and get a touch of what 'Paleography' is about, please visit check out the website HERE.

What Life is All About? (Part II)

[continued]

I doubt suddenly because I felt quite some heartbreaking moments these days,
despite the happiness and wonderful moments shared with good friends & very special person around.

On 24th - I spent the time making the tiramisu for my friends;
25th - I had lunch with my family, then party with friends at night til late;
26th - rest after whole night drinking wines + shots (tequila, vodka, moutai) + beer with vodka;
27th - originally thought of working, but then I gave up. Instead, I went shopping for food, and did some cooking for my dear (though for sure my cooking skills need to be improved...). Plus I watched 'A Beautiful Mind' again.

28th - I am back to crazy work. All my holiday mood was completely gone. Found so many emails jammed in my mailbox after the few days of holiday - kept replying, kept thinking, kept doing work.

That's why I got the question in mind,
all the ups and downs, all the happiness and sadness, all the holiday & work led me to the question:
'What Life is All About?' -- 'What Living is All About?'

Keep working, keep loving, keep repeating,
keep seeing people come and go,
keep experiencing life and death,
keep smiling, keep crying,
keep jumping, keep yelling,
keep reading, keep writing
keep drinking, keep getting drunk,
keep exercising, keep eating.

No clue - simply no clue, no answer.
Or a mix of the above is actually the 'answer'?

Right, so...
'(Why bother) What Life is All About?' -- '(Who cares) What Living is All About?'

Just keep going - work well with passion, love well with heart, live well with our souls. Then no matter what life is all about, no bother.

What Life is All About? (Part I)

I doubt. Suddenly I was in doubt - what life is all about?
Or, should I rephrase it as 'what living is all about?'

There are people spending millions or billions of dollars for the super expensive hobbies,
there are people on the street, begging for just a few dollars to survive.

There are people starving somewhere out there in the world,
there are people wasting the food out there just because the food doesn't taste 'good'.

There are people fighting for life in hospital,
there are people killing themselves for not being happy.

There are people getting drunk everyday, simply to 'escape from reality',
there are people working hard to fight on and keep themselves going in reality.

There are people asking 'why the bad things always happen on me?',
there are people asking 'why I have to recall the bad things all the time? No worries, be happy!'.

There are always different thoughts about life, and about living.
Some people may have never thought of that, because they simply live the life,
yet, there are some people (perhaps like me) always thinking the meaning behind
almost everything including life & living.

I didn't mean to have myself trapped in there and keep thinking,
bet I learnt the way out already.
I also didn't mean to be just thinking, not acting, and not living my life at the fullest.
Yet, thinking sometimes could help us redefine our goal in life, who we are, and
where we are heading to.
Without thinking from deep inside, I felt like I am just a machine, a gadget,
not a human being with heart and soul.

Once there was program failure, or not enough battery,
the machine, the gadget would simply be DEAD, relying on someone to help.
Only if we are one with heart and soul, and dare to spend time thinking,
not playing around on the internet without talking to anyone at all,
then we are ALIVE!

So here comes the question of the day at this late hour,
'What life is all about?' -- 'What living is all about?'

[to be continued]

Beauty of the Nature

Praise.
Appreicate.
Love.

***
Never felt myself a 'professional photographer'.
Just happened I would like to capture the moment,
and what I saw through my eyes, heard with my heart...

I felt that I saw 'beauty' through my eyes, and
I heard the voice from deep inside all things around.

Believe it or not,
the Nature is alive - just like us.
It speaks,
it sleeps and wakes up,
it breathes,
it needs energy...

Energy. Where does it come from?
I think it comes from praise, appreciation,
and most important of all - love.

Love the Nature, treasure the Nature.
If you have not yet noticed the Beauty of Nature,
take a slower pace at life today, and
spend a few minutes every day to have a look around.

Or, just close your eyes, listen to the sound from the Nature.
You'll hear the whisper from the Nature,
and the chit-chat among all the different ones alive.

Sooner or later,
you'll learn to appreciate and treasure the Nature.
Eventually, that also means you'll learn how to
live well with your love for the Nature.

Per Caritatem Ad Veritatem/ Through Charity to Truth

EXCERPT FROM THE SPEECH BY SCHOOLMISTRESS AT THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MY SECONDARY SCHOOL:

"We do not acquire our strengths without effort and example. Rosian [that is how students at my school were called] strengths are formed by daily good habits fostered early in life during our formative years at school and consolidated by our teachers.

Yet, to some extent, the school epoch has been influenced by the rapid changes in our universe. This is inevitable. People have become more self-centred, less appreciative of what they have, taking life for granted and working only for material betterment. Therefore, we Rosians have a duty to make our Rosian strengths better known in order to counteract the current trend which is so detrimental to our future.

Notwithstanding our strengths, I find there are two characteristics that we need to work harder to achieve. The first is that we need to be more outward bound. Let me explain. As I have mentioned, Rosians are hard-working. However, as hard workers we seem to look only at the work at hand and often lack the spur of dynamism of forward thrust which is one of the main characteristics of the modern age. We need to widen our perspective and become more 'aggressive' in life, as a Rosian once said to me. Personally, I prefer to use the word 'progressive' in our approach to life.

In life, we need to make progress, to look forward and to be ready to assume responsibilities, without waiting for people to tell us. In simple words, we need to be leaders. Among Rosians who are still studying, we need to take an aggressive approach to boost our knowledge. In school, we should not wait for our teachers to spoonfeed us. Instead, we should look for knowledge and for ways to make progress in our studies. IN life, we need to look for ways to serve the society and for ways to learn how to do things."



***
That was what guided me through my childhood years... well... Looking back now, seems that my 'values about life' indeed came from the above. Perhaps that's the power of education in childhood years... take care all the kids around you - they are the future!

Dare to make a difference?

Looking there at the sky in front of me,
I was stunned.

Seeing the clouds move, and then move away, disappear.
All made me feel interesting.
Of course, all everything could be explained in a scientific way -
how clouds are formed, how they move, what that means for the weather.
Yet, why is there on earth something called 'cloud'? I am really curious to know.

In local Chinese, there is saying that if you are like a cloud,
that means you don't know what you want somehow.
You are basically in the mystery - not knowing what to do.

However, I see it in different way.

I have seen quite different shapes of clouds.
They all mean something indeed.
And if you see some clouds in grey or almost turning to black,
that means thunderstorm is coming!

Clouds are there to tell something.
And they are never the same as other clouds.
Every single one is unique.

I am no way a scientist,
so I don't bother to understand how clouds are formed
and why they are in different shapes.
But I do like looking at the clouds,
and seeing the different shapes.
I somehow imagine there is 'flexibility' among the moisture making up the clouds.

So, how about our lives?
Can we really live our lives like a cloud?

I could remember when I was a child,
my teacher scolded at me, saying that I was like a cloud.
Just there not doing anything, not thinking, not understanding the teaching,
not hearing her words, etc... put it simple, i now interpret as 'you are so stupid'.

Now, thinking back - well, does it really matter?
It's probably just a way of different interpretation.
I now see the cloud as 'flexible', 'able to change', 'could tell something',
or even 'could predict the weather coming up'.
What if I put all these into our lives? That sounds good indeed!

What I wanna say at the end,
I think there are always two ways to see one single thing.
No matter it's a person, it's a place, it's a debate...
Of course, there are 'norms', or some 'rules of games',
but at the end, there are always 'left' and 'right', 'positive' and 'negative'.

I don't believe that if 9 out of 10 agreed to something,
all 9 of them are really 'correct'.
In fact, if the ONE speaks up,
perhaps the scene will be 4 agreed as originally confirmed,
but 6 will turn out going against that.

That's why at the end,
I guess what matters is whether someone will come out and speak up.
Plus, dare to make a difference.

I was so much into reading speech before.
I like reading all kinds of speech from the protest ones, the speech by the American President,
the Queen, the Prime Minister...
Sometimes, I would find the video clip and watch it over, how they deliver the speech.

All I see, I read, I hear - is their determination to make a difference.
I am not saying that just by shouting out, things will change.
Making the change requires hard work, and solid foundation in realizing the 'change'.
Yet, to make it, the first thing is the battle inside one's mind.

For sure, making the change, making the difference,
also requires some sort of sacrifice -
maybe giving up something today, in order to gain something in the future,
yet something not 'guaranteed'.

Is it like gambling, or investment?
You name it in your way.

Memories are back to where they're from.

Life has not changed, here I am.
Back to the living which I have been used to,
and the place where I should feel so close to.

Walking on the street this week, I looked around.
Perhaps subconsciously, I wanted to look for something I am familliar with.
However, I saw the new buildings, new restaurants, faces I didn't know...
Everything so new indeed.

Chance that when I walked pass some buildings or bars,
I wanted to recall if I was there before.
Not meant to be a test of my brainpower,
but simply hoped to know what I remembered.

Nothing - nothing I could remember,
as if all memories about this place were gone.

Today, a week after I came back from Australia.
I still remembered some of the days I've gone through.
Will I ever remember all of my days, or the moments?
Does it matter if I remember or not?

I used to think that memories would not fade away, because I 'remembered'.

Suddenly today,
I realized that memories will eventually go back to where they are from.
We cannot keep the memories.
All we 'remembered' were actually the feelings and the touch that the memories left behind.

I believe the feelings and the touch are eternal.
In contrast to memories, they will not go away.
They will live with us forever, even until after we pass away...

Do you hear me?

Thanks for my 'devilly angel' friend's call for drink in the afternoon.
Although I was kind of sick this morning,
I was so tempted to have a glass of wine tonight.
Perhaps some wine could help me feel better...

There, I was in Central for a drink!

My friends were not there with me finally - for no matter reason.
So, I was having my glass of wine, with the magazines I grabbed from the 'FREE' tray.
It was all emtpy there indeed, no one was there, except me & the bartender.
I didn't talk to him at all, instead - I was there reading, and thinking.

Sometimes, I could see the 'phantom' around - because there was a staircase,
with the glass door, having the spotlight shining over it.
When people walked down the staircase,
their shadow was like phantom passing by...

I spent almost like an hour and a half there,
reading and thinking.
Then I saw the two chairs there, nearby the window, looking over the street.
The seats looked really familar to me,
yes - really familiar.

I guess it was not because of the seats AT THAT PARTICULAR BAR,
but the distance between the chairs, and also the distance from me to the chairs.

I recalled at the occasion, when I was sitting next to another so close,
with the distance between that two chairs I've seen.
We were chatting, laughing, having fun, toasting, drinking.
Sometimes, there were simply silence, because none of us bothered to talk.
Why not just continue with people-watching, and enjoying our own thinking,
while sitting beside each other?

There was another occasion,
where we were at such long distance like that between me and the chairs -
nothing we could talk,
but we could only show some signals to each other.

Sending signals without words could be interesting sometimes.
It was as if telling something with your body language, or just a raise of your eyebrow,
and then shout without any noise 'Do you hear me?'.

So, do you hear me?

Here we are.

The first weekend after I came back was gone.

On Friday, I was there having a glass of white wine in the early afternoon,
reading the book I bought from Australia - titled 'The Good Life'.
That's the one about the Post-911 lives of a few New Yorkers.

Saturday evening, I went to the Annual Dinner at a club,
where there were heaps of Portuguese mood and smell.
I couldn't get away from the feeling of being in Portugal that whole night.
Sitting there, looking at the map up on the wall -
red lines connecting all spots around the world were starting from THAT single point.
Then the glass of red wine was from Portugal too,
with the unfamiliar grape names like 'Trincadeira',
but the smell and the taste was so close to me... so close to my heart.

Sunday, I finally got to meet my nephew after all the weeks apart.
He looks different - he could now sit straight up, he could turn his body,
and for sure he felt like crawling, yet still lack the strength to do so.
Yet, he's still my Nephew the King, with the family bond which I am always aware of,
and will last forever in my life and his life.



Today is ANOTHER MONDAY - meaning another week has begun.
May 2010 is here.
My trip to Australia has ended, my dream is over.
I am back in Hong Kong, I had my last weekend here, and a new start of week is ahead of me.

It seems as if life has changed after I came back -
I was out there away with the luxurious wine & dine experience;
I got the time enjoying wines under the blue sky;
I happened to experience the moved moments on the ANZAC Day;
I met a lady in hostel, who both the reception lady & I thought she presumably has got some mental problem indeed, and she talked to me for quite some time about her life.

Just everything I experienced has made me feel like life has changed.
'Has it really changed though?', I was asking myself today after I finished reading 'The Good Life'.

Life hasn't changed.
Here we are still who we are.
I am still a girl from Hong Kong,
hoping to go out from time to time,
drinking wines over the dinner,
going to the dinners and gatherings which I am supposed to be at,
playing with me nephew and seeing him grow up.

I found it really easy to assume that life has changed,
and once it is changed, we could not possibly go back.
In fact, life has always been the same. Nothing has changed.

What might have changed is our own selves.
We acquired new experiences, memories emerged, time elapsed...
we might choose to live the life we want or might not have lived before.
Possibly, we might choose to go with the flow, and live the life however it is.

Here we are - life has not changed, and probably it will never change.

Life is a lonely journey？

Read my friend's line on facebook, translated into English 'Life is a lonely journey'. It then made me think why people living in a cosmopolitan city would have such kind of feeling. We have all the wonderful life with laughter, fun time with friends, and all the nosie around us. Quite ironic indeed.

Everyone has their own emotions from time to time. People have different walk of life, different experience - all different. So, chances are there that no one else could understand the feeling deep inside one's heart. True - I think I had that kind of emotions some time upon in my life. No idea how it happened, and no idea how long it lasted. Just happened, yet I know it's gone by now.
We sometimes look back, and think about the past. What we've done, what we've missed, what we've lost. Then we felt upset and disappointed. Sometimes, we felt lonely because of that. Time would not take us back - we are now at present. If we still spend time thinking about the past, but not trying to take a step to welcome happiness back to our lives, we might be living in those lonely days forever.

So, is life really a lonely journey?

I have been travelling around, going out, coming back. I just don't feel like staying at one place for long. I also like going alone. All the experience has made me realize it's the fact that I actually built the wall to keep myself inside my own territory. That's why I would feel lonely at that time. Yet, once I got all my courage & energy to breakthrough, I never feel lonely again. Travel alone isn't a lonely trip, life is also not a lonely journey.

I am sure there is a lot of time when we have to go on by our own self. That's life. Only oneself can make decision for one's life, he/she takes full responsibilities of his/her life. However, if we can see others around, who else is not like that? Everyone is like that. So, if you can see others, life is never a lonely journey.

If you see, do say HI to those around. Keep going together!

Thanks S****a for the script .. for my F-party toasting~~

"Jennifer *sobs* LOVED wine *sobs*. Let's get drunk for her! *sobs* *hiccups*"thank you *bows*---------------------------------No worry, I will definitely put you on the guest list! Hahaha... Will start working on my wine collection... and get ready the food pairing.. menu... later.. hahahahahhahaa... Good good... guess I have plenty of time to plan for such! Hohooo...

[ Written 2008.06.04 ]

What does 'perfect' mean?

All a sudden, I came up this question in mind while I was reading the description about the book that I was about to buy today. I really wanted to buy that book - but it was sealed, completely sealed. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to buy that, plus, I got quite a few books at home I haven't finished yet. So, I did all my effort to give a hold, then I came back home and checked online what that book is all about. (Now, I decided, I should buy!)

Anyway - so I was reading the description about the book that I wanted to buy. The author of this book passed away in 1977, and this book is indeed an incomplete one. He told his wife to burn all his writing - but she didn't do that. After his wife died, their son decided to publish this book after over 30 years of private debate on whether to follow the will of the author or not.

Finally, the author's will was not respected. The book was incomplete, the life of the author was not made 'perfect' as his wish didn't come true. His piece went public at the end.

***
In fact, I guess we never know what means by 'perfect', or if ever 'perfect' would be there in our lives. Probably that's because wants are unlimited, and no one can predict what's gonna happen next in our lives. Also, sometimes, no matter how 'perfect' we want to be (or how great we could do in order to make it 'perfect'), there are others around who might turn around the situation.

Life is like that - unpredictable, full of surprises, and changing every moment.

Now, I still want to strive for the best for everything I do, and avoid any 'unexpected' as far as I can (especially at work). Yet, if anything happened not the way I wanted - I'll just tell myself "'Let it be. See if any other way to sort it out. Sure there will be the way out if there is the will. Nothing gonna be perfect anyway."

***
I decided to buy the book:
The Original of Laura, by Vladimir Nabokov.
http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141191157,00.html

***
The first book I read, written by Vladimir Nabokov, was 'Lolita'. I read that when I was studying F.5. It was a hard time reading the book indeed, simply too difficult for me. Soon I started writing here, I turned to my bookshelf and grabbed the book 'Lolita'. Then I found this piece of paper folded, hidden there for more than 10years!! All written there were vocabularies that I didn't understand, which I looked up from the dictionary one by one in order to understand the story...

A Beautiful Lie

Not sure where comes that line 'A Beautiful Life', but the meaning in that made me think.

In childhood years, our teachers and seniors told us to be honest, not to tell lies;
when we grow older, we realized there are many lies around in the world,
there might be ones even at home;
we then entered into the 'University of Society', although not to the extent that we have to tell lies,
but we got to know how to hide our true feelings or emotions sometimes.
For those who can hide them well, people said they have a 'high EQ (Emotional Intelligence), which is good.
How about relationship? There could be lies in there too.
There are always reasons behind - such as 'don't wanna him/her think too much'.

Whatever, it doesn't matter when and where the lie comes up,
it is a beautiful lie, because it's just that the liar wants a 'happy ending'.

However, just like there are always two sides for a coin,
who knows the 'happy ending' in my eyes is acutally a tragedy in others' eyes?
Who knows whether the 'happy ending' in someone's mind would be indeed a heart-breaking one for me?

No matter rationally or emotionally,
I couldn't tell if lies are really that beautiful,
or that saying is simply there masking the sin behind.

I bet no one can really tell what means by 'truth' & 'heartfelt words'.
What ground do we have for saying that is just a plot or those are lies?
After all, it's our heart which make the final decision.

If so, what we see & feel from heart is the most important,
that IS the truth.
It's all up to you whether you believe in that or not.

***
@Poland (2008)

Sense of Life

Thanks for everyone teaching me so much, and through all learning, I discovered quite some sense of life. I bet what I called 'sense of life' is indeed some sort of opinions I have in mind based on my experience and thoughts.

Not sure if it is good or bad to have such sense of life at this stage of life. Yet, it is here already, so just take it easy and live with that all through my journey of life.

However, I believe it is not easy to go through my journey if i keep walking like how I do now. Might be just don't walk, fly or speed drive to get it through...

[Remarks]
What I have learnt is not something philosophical. The most inspiring ones are:
1) PhD = poor, hungry and desperate
2) Everyone got an A: A shoulder!
3) Something gonna be out of your control. It doesn't matter if you want to do that or not, you still have to do that.
4) Ask yourself what you have done first.
5) Something not your business, you can just ignore; something your business, you can still ignore.
6) Language is the biggest barrier of communications.

After 10 Years (II)

(continued)

Chance. A chance has brought me into the wine industry.

Since my childhood, I have been quite ‘picky’ about food & beverage stuff. If ever I don’t like some taste, or some texture in the food ingredients or dish, I would rather not eating at all. I also found myself loving wines. Although I didn’t start my education in wines long ago, I thought I did have some sort of ‘talent’ in terms of food & wine. Therefore, I had a dream – I hope I could become a food critic one day!

Leaving the company which has brought me lots of business travel opportunities, I started asking myself again and again, what I like, and what kind of job I want. After some thinking, I believed that I liked Italy really so much that I wanted to find a job in an Italian company. Then eventually, perhaps I can migrate to Italy one day. So, when I was still jobless at that time, I started looking for a job in an Italian company. Yet, finally, I couldn’t make it for that. Instead, I got a job in a wine company.

With this chance, I started my new career and new life.

In fact, no matter which industry one is working in, there is something about this job or industry, which is quite annoying. Luckily, I found ‘wine industry’ is one of the least annoying industry. To some extent, I think wine lovers would live their lives with lot of freedom. It doesn’t really matter how stressful their work has made them, or how much they care about their everyday life, they are so happy & excited when they talk about wines. Sometimes, such feeling could not be described at all.. Because of my work in the wine industry, I met a lot of good friends who love wines too. The time with them are so much enjoyable and I am so glad to have them sharing the fun time & wines together. At the end, I found my job in the wine industry lovely. My interest towards wines keep growing… growing…

At the same time, because of wines, I started trying all those types of food which I have never tried before. I got less ‘bias’ towards those which I hate the taste or texture before. The main reason doing this is to have a better understanding towards food & wine, understand better the flavors, textures, etc, so as to do a better food/ wine match.

Because of wines, I got the opportunities and passion to go around the World to search for the very original flavors. French wines, Italian white truffle, Portuguese port, Hungarian sweet wines, Spanish seafood…

I am sure I have never thought of this kind of life 10 years ago. Now, I feel like I could merge my interest and work together. Basically, integrated. Perhaps 10 years later, I could merge my another interest into work? Another interest… Arts.

P.S. Once thinking about “10 years ago”, I realized time really flies, 10 years have passed already. I could not foresee what would happen in the next 10 years, and whether I would meet some more great friends, or get another better job. No one knows. What I know today definitely, I do treasure all I possess today – including all of you reading my words here. Even though we might have never met before, but the communications here through my words is already some kind of affinity that brings people together.

After 10 Years (I)

"If I started 10 years ealier... that would probably be better..."

"10 years ago, maybe I would do that. But now, I don't think so..."

Sometimes, I heard these from friends around. All these about 'time' sounds quite depressing, with some kind of 'sadness' in that. I found such quite common among Hong Kong people.

I always think that the pace in Hong Kong is just too fast, perhaps a bit suffocating indeed. Not sure if that is because of the environment with packed housing, or because of the working atmosphere where not everyone could have the chance to really utilize their strengths. It might also because of the education of children grown up in Hong Kong. The most important is MONEY, which is the very key thing they have to look for after they graduate from school. Perhaps they never really had a chance to develop their talent and ask themselves what their interests are.

I started my career in advertising, which was the working field I had been dreaming of. However, after working there for a while, I stareted asking myself "What's next? How about 3 years later? 5 years? 10 years?" Looking from one side, perhaps I was not that 'tough' making me not that capable to stay; on the other hand, even if I were 'tough' enough, what's so special staying? Then, I decided to leave advertising. At least, I did try.

The next question I asked myself 'What do I like actually?'. There came an opportunity, which made me realize I like working away from Hong Kong. I got the chances to make some business trips to Germany, USA, the Mainland China. In a year, probably half of the time I was away. Most of the time when I got 'online', my friends would asked "Where are you?".

That definitely was an interesting job. Yet, after quite some while, I started asking myself again "Is this the life I want to live?" And then, I questioned myself, "Ok, seems I really like doing a Marketing job. But then should I choose the product I like, so I can do better in Marketing, and have more fun?"

Next, I found it. I started working in the wine industry...

(To be continued)

Once I was young

I remembered once I attended a business dinner, and I met a new friend there who said to me, "So envy you, you are so young." My instant response to that was, "You were once young too! Why envy?"

Then tonight, I chatted with my friend about the topic "Youth" as implied by having the 'fire' buring in heart. This conversation indeed made me bit upset, and reminded me that dialogue between myself & that business friend.

Everyone was once young.

"Youth" reminded us the 'fire', the 'energy'. Perhaps because young people have not experienced that many things, they are curious about almost everything around. They also possess some kind of energy, making them dare to try. However, when we become more experienced, we somehow would have lost that sort of energy. Perhaps that's because 'experience' made us see things differently from yesterday. My friend told me he is no longer young, and seems the 'fire' in heart is off. Even though the 'fire' might be still on softly, he could still recall the old days, when he was much more energetic with more fierce 'fire' in heart.
Anyway, when we are at different stage of life, we look for different things. Might be we work more carefully with more thorough thinking, which is so-called 'mature'; or we are scared by the World, we do not want to explore & try out anymore; or simply we don't care anymore because we know things would go the way they go.

To me, the 'fire' is indeed not important to me by now, as I believe the 'fire' in my heart has already gone long time ago. It is OFF, and will never come back. So, it is more important to live my life well today, plus treasure all everything & everyone in front.

I wish you all the very best.

仙境｜Paradise

"人生如浮雲"
"Life is like the floating clouds in the sky"