到太古城的第一天 [冷]

公司開始啟動世貿緊急應變措施，未來兩星期都會到太古城的後勤中心上班。第一天要做測試，早上八時要報到，卻遇上氣溫急降，冷冰冰的，慘無人道 ~~>_<~~

最可惡的，是當大家都準時到步之際，負責持匙的 IT 人竟然忘了帶鑰匙，豈有此理!!! 大家在呆等，到了八時一刻後才有人來打開房門。我們一邊咒罵，一邊趕著完成測試，因為要在八時三十分完成並報告給身在中環的老細。

幸好除了「無匙事件」外，也沒有其他大問題。小問題嘛，則多不勝數，別提好了。

晚上八時才離開。同事曾說到中環以外的後勤中心工作很悠閒，完全不是那回事 >_<

在德福的星期天 [轉冷]

今日沒有離開過本區，我把別人都騙到德福花園去 >,< 其實也不算騙，因為他們想要的東西都能在那裡找到 ... 嘿嘿

蘇海明：他想買 Columbia 褸，德福有「馬拉松」又有「Columbia」店，完全配合。

梁善儀：她已經到 APM 去會晤呂白霞了，再陪呂白霞到德福來準備參加 C-club 的聚會也不太遠嘞 ... 嘿嘿 ... 而且她到德福來也有三大收穫 --- 取得化妝品、 認識了岑燕茵和誤中「紅色炸彈」... 哈哈 =P

白色吊帶連身裙

跑了數家店，結果買了一條有點冬日氣氛的白色吊帶連身裙。要不是兩星期後要當「姐妹」，我想我絕不會買這麼女性化的裙子。極大犧牲。 Sales 很熱情，盛情難卻，買了一條「可以罷」的閃閃腰帶 (可惜回到家裡再看的時候已經不太喜歡) 。 Sales 還想推銷毛毛披肩，但我快受不了，匆匆逃亡。

回家，試穿裙子，因為如果不合意可以在七日內換色、換款。對著鏡子，總覺得怪怪的。裙子和我，是很難扯上關係的了。

爸媽的評語是：「冬天喎，穿吊帶不冷嗎? 多穿一件衣服嘞!」

弟弟的評語是：「Oh! Gorgeous!」別以為弟弟是在讚賞，他只是學著「粉紅救兵」裡頭那些人說話的語氣罷了 ~,~

BB 女 [涼快]

早起到青衣，和蘇海明一起去探望他姐姐及 BB 女。因為時間的錯誤安排，我在青衣城流連了一小時。雖然很睏，卻還是跑到三聯書店去，拿著一本《99件死前要做的事》慢慢看。數一數，我也做了 99 件事的其中三分之一，算是不錯了嘞 =P

中午，終於見到 BB 女 *,* 是個約兩個星期大的女嬰，個子小小的，手指卻很長；她的中指，有我的尾指那麼長，好厲害 >,< 蘇海明抱著她，不敢動，很有趣 =P 我不懂抱 BB ，還是別抱好了，只用手指逗她胖胖的臉 =)

儘管蘇海明的姐姐不停地說 BB 女很煩，可母愛之情仍是滿溢一臉。天下父母都是這樣的嘞 ...

班長和性感的生日會 [涼快]

今晚要到跑馬地燒鳥亭出席班長沈明君和性感莊靜賢的生日會。隆重其事(其實是自己突然心血來潮想穿 =P )，穿了媽媽在我十歲時就購買、我卻在廿三歲才開始穿的棕紅色格子裙，和新買的寸半高根鞋。此舉固然又引起同事們的關注，今天的問題是 --- 「點解好日都唔著裙，一著就連續兩日都著嘅?」

等待經理簽妥所有文件，收拾好下星期一要帶到太古城去的東西，離開中環的時候已經是八時三刻了，匆匆趕到跑馬地。大部分人都已經到達了，大家佔據了一張長桌子，各人說著不同的話題，很吵吖 ... 哈哈 >,<

靴子．裙子 [轉冷]

適逢天氣轉冷，新買的一雙靴子終於可以出場嘞 *,* 為了要襯托靴子，所以今天穿裙子上班，怎知這竟引來一眾同事的關注，不下五個同事專兆邅韱栁覟槭颤N穿裙子 -_-" 解釋得我也悶了，最後索性說因為我喜歡十二月，因此要穿裙子 =P

上星期扎髮髻上班，之前又試過穿 suit 的上衣做外套，均吸引不少同事的注目，今次他們終於按捺不住了 ... 哈哈，我想大家的生活一定很無聊嘞，不然不會為這些事雀躍一番 =P

謙記

又到每週一次的 PwC lunch ，今天還有陳家邦、潘肥肥和 Damien 出席，於是到雅麗閣去飲茶。對潘肥肥和 Damien 的感覺依舊；至於陳家邦，好像變了，怎樣看也不像以前的陳家邦 ...

晚上和蘇海明、歐陽嘉敏、金佩思、很久沒有見面的陳榮芹和很久才出現的林詠欣到銅鑼灣「謙記」吃火鍋。如果沒有經歐陽嘉敏介紹，絕對找不到這家火鍋店。食物真的挺不錯，以後可以再來吃嘞 *,*

熱

已經是十一月尾快十二月了，天氣還這麼熱嘞 @_@ 今天索性穿短袖衣服上班。

工作派山倒海，原本以為要很晚才可以離開；結果因為太專注，八時一刻便完成所有工作。真好，那麼明天可以早點下班了 =)

蛇王芬

昨夜晚歸，今天很累 @_@ 偏偏遇上月尾，有很多額外的非日常工作要做，好可憐 =(

蘇海明放假到中環來一起吃午餐，我們到了他久別的「蛇王芬」吃叉燒/ 燒鵝溂。也只有他會建議到「蛇王芬」吃午飯，如果他再不回到中環來，那麼我又要好一段時間才會重回「蛇王芬」嘞 ...

香港廸士尼

蘇海明得到兩張免費的廸士尼門票，於是我們今天到香港廸士尼去。

雖然誠如大家所說，香港廸士尼真的及不上東京那一個，不過還是挺好玩嘞，尤其是煙花及激光表演，很吸引 *,*

《When You Wish Upon a Star》
歌手：莫文蔚 作曲：Leigh Harline
填詞：Ned Washington 編曲：Ronald Fu

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desire will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star as dreamers do

* Fate is kind, she brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true *

Repeat *

When you wish upon a star, they do come true

Working Saturday

Woke up even earlier than weekdays for the Connectivity Testing. Bad, bad, bad, I was so SLEEPY >_< and the drill was not well set at all. Those IT people didn't get the LN ID installed upon arrival at 9am! Other than that, there's no fatal problem for my part, all they missed for my team was Bloomberg terminal and Calypso EOD Trigger Application; but there seemed to have great troubles with other teams in SDG --- no Summit, Murex and some other main programmes were installed in their workstations at all! In short, it's a mess. Guess those IT people would have a busy week to go.

Went to shop around at Mongkok alone after the drill. Bought 3 pairs of shoes and a new set of scarf in cardigan style. Crazy, I'd better go back home earlier so as to stop myself from over-spending, though I've been spending too much already ...

Kathy's b-day party @ Rice Paper

Went out with PwC girls to celebrate Kathy's birthday at TST. Indeed, Kathy's b-day was on 22 Nov, but Friday and weekends were usually the preferred choice for our gathering, and Kathy would leave for Australia for a 2-week trip starting tomorrow. That's why we gotta have it tonight.

They wanna have dinner at "Habitu the Pier"; anyway, the restaurant was fully booked. They picked "Rice Paper" instead, and requested to have balcony seats with sea view upon making the reservation. We've a special guest tonight --- Mr Y! Haha .. party because of Florence and partly because of my "warm invitation" =P I'd better not to use Florence's cell phone to call him again ... hehe

The restaurant was named "Rice Paper" because of its famous dishes --- rice paper rolls. Each of us tried out hard to make rolls with rice paper ourselves; but it turned out that none of us could make a perfect one! =P

After our gift presentation to Kathy, Scarlett started to deliver her "red bombs". Her wedding banquet would be on New Year Eve. I would like to join, since Scarlett would leave for the UK with Kenny Chan right after the wedding, and won't be returning HK in the coming 2 years. However, I was wondering whether to have a short trip during the New Year Eve public holidays, which I've longed for ages ... What should I do? Why I have to face dilemma all the time *_*

ICQ 2002a 之死

用了數載的 ICQ 2002a 突然死亡，怎麼也救不回。

雖然已經不太經常使用 ICQ ，但心中仍感戚戚然嘞 ...

蘇海明在布吉

蘇海明就好嘞，可以去布吉四日三夜 ... 我幾時先有得去旅行吖 =(

R2D2 的魅力

早上一回到公司，經理就走過來告訴我這個星期六要到太古城去做 WTO drill 的 Connectivity Testing 。臨轉身走回自己的座位，他突然看到 R2D2 ，不單拿來觀看，還說了聲：「好靚吖~」

中午， Eugene 說要介紹他在 CMB 工作的大學同學給我們認識，於是大家到了「天與地」。 Cecilia 、新朋友 Janice 和秘書 Viola 見到 R2D2 ，不約而同地說：「好得意吖!」

IFC 的 Canteen

很久沒有和 Cecilia 一起吃午餐，她不想「見光」，所以到 IFC 的 Canteen 去。那是在 IFC 最便宜卻又有海景觀看的食市。

她依然對去留問題感到疑惑；我何嘗不是嘞 --- 現在才想起些客觀因素，真笨，早早就該想起來嘛，弄得現在處於兩難狀態。

雖然常常叫陳普建別當雷炳森二世，但現在也得學雷先生嘆一聲：

唉 ~

「發記」和文具店

打算買公文袋，於是獨自吃午餐。走著走著，走到「發記」來，便進去了。

「發記」是我剛出身工作時，常常和舊同事去吃午餐的地方，因為那裡有售價十元卻大大碗的鯪魚球麵。食物依舊，但我想富有的 external auditors 已經鮮再踏足「發記」。

想了很久，才記起那裡有文具店。在中環區中心找文具店很難，因為寸金尺土；要找標價「平民化」一點的，更難。

幸好還有士丹利街這一家。

腰酸背痛

昨天兩小時羽毛球運動換來的後果，就是腰酸背痛 @_@!! 先是右手手臂，因為昨日揮拍太用力了；然後是背部、伸延至大腿 ... 坐在電腦不動前，伸出左手到 In-tray 取文件也痛得要命 ...

莫非真的老了?

想當年在排球隊，每星期要練球兩至三天；踫上學界比賽，星期六、日也要打球。有時候平日要鍛鍊體能，練球過後還要跑山 ...

究竟那時候是怎樣過的嘞? 真的是青春無敵嗎?

《The Sound of Music》

下午，和蘇海明一起參加他的中學同學在九鐵員工宿舍的聚會。很久沒有打羽毛球，久得要用「年」來做計算單位 @_@ ；現在一打卻打了兩句鐘!

到阿寶的家看了壽星狗 Ruby (對，只有看，沒踫牠，牠也千萬別踫我吖 >_<)，隨意吃了些雞翼和肉丸，我們便離開大隊趕到灣仔，因為要看《The Sound of Music》 =) 在灣仔 7-11 吃了魚肉燒賣和魚蛋後，開始走到演藝學院。 由於有員工優惠，花了四百元就坐上六百元的座位，離舞台很近，好興奮 *,* 音樂劇很好看，但我們肚子很餓 @_@ 趁著廿分鐘的中場休息時間，我們狂奔到駱克道的麥當奴，然後又跑回演藝；到步的時候，蘇海明已經吃完他的芝士漢堡，我也把牛油粟米吃清光 ... 哈哈 =P 繼續欣賞音樂劇。樂團沒有錯過任何原曲，還加入了兩首新歌；可仍是覺得原曲比較好聽 =P 今晚是《The Sound of Music》在香港公演第六十九場，亦是尾場，大會有一點點特別安排。坐得近舞台，感覺很不同；今晚，非常開心 >,< !!

《Something Good》Maria & the Captain

(Maria)
Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
Perhaps I had a miserable youth
But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past
There must have been a moment of truth
For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good
Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

(Captain von Trapp)
For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should

(Maria)
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

(Maria and the Captain)
Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could

(Maria)
So somewhere in my youth

(Captain)
Or childhood

(Maria)
I must have done something

(Maria and the Captain)
Something good

Janice's b-day party @ Magic Sugar

七時半到銅鑼灣，今晚為剛自東歐旅行回來的朱文恩補祝生日。昨天生日的她，整天都在客機上渡過，今天下午二時才踏出機艙回到香港。很羨慕 ... 我的旅行呢? >_< 到了一家名為「Magic Sugar」的樓上 café ，就在 Sogo 後面，很方便。店內有一座古典味濃的鞦韆，我們輪流拍照，坐在上面盪著盪著 ...

晚餐吃完了、手信和禮物分好了，即將步入今晚的高潮。其實那也是生日禮物的一部分 --- 我們請了塔羅師替壽星女用塔羅牌占卜。第一次親眼看整個占卜過程，很興奮；占卜的準誠度之高，實在有點出乎意料。為了測試其真確度，沈明君班長也玩了；結果又是好可靠的模樣。於是馮金又蠢蠢欲動，問了兩題；準確程度仍是未知之數，且看半年以後的發展就會揭曉 ...

紅豆物語

下午，又和蘇海明到了尖沙咀。那裡的聖誕裝飾已經完成；很明顯今年佈置的主色是紫色，連聖誕樹也是紫色的 *,*

我們在碼頭旁新開張的 Haagen-Dazs 耗上好一會。用「耗」來形容，因為我們真的像兩條大懶蟲一樣攤坐在沙發上，甚麼也不做，只是聊天和看街景。它們正在推廣紅豆雪糕，我們點了「紅豆物語」。很好吃吖! 除了紅豆雪糕，還有小蛋糕、窩夫和草莓；最不可思異的，是竟然有金箔，真豪華! 原來金箔是沒有味道的。蘇海明說我笨，早該知道金箔是沒有味道，枉我唸了四年化學還不懂 ... 是嗎? 我笨嗎?

然後跑回海港城內，透過大窗戶拍日落照。有個「自由行」看到我們伏在窗邊，以為有甚麼好東西，也跟著伏過來；可惜他不懂欣賞，悻悻然離開 ... 哈哈哈 =P

黃昏，尖沙咀之旅到達尾聲，我們以 CitySuper 的北海道薯片作結。很貴的薯片，但美味非常。可不要吃上癮吖，不然就一定要宣告破產 @_@

Cha Cha

Went to APM with Emily to pick up cosmetics and hair products, mainly ordered by FK and Clara, from Monitress Shum. Two big bags of purchases, so many @_@!!

We three had dinner at "Cha Cha". It's the first time for me and Emily to go there. Monitress Shum highly recommended this restaurant, and kept describing how delicious those dishes served last time when ex-PwC girls had gathering over there. I remembered Janice and Florence mentioned about that as well. We've ordered a lot. Foods weren't bad, and were quite special indeed; but what's more attractive were their seats --- it's really an ideal place for sharing secrets among a small group of 3 or 4 =P

There's a toy shop nearby, and we tried out our luck on some of those toy-selling machines over there. So lucky that I've got all I wanted in two trials only --- an "egg" with a small Woodstock-printed shirt and another with a flying Doraemon *,* Yeah~

Internal Auditor

傍晚，因為要回答 internal auditor 的提問，我要 standby ; auditor 隨便問了 Trevor 一個簡單問題，我就要在十五分鐘內找出及印出近十封 e-mails @_@

結果，八時才離開。原來，internal auditor 真的會耽擱 auditee 的放工時間吖!

Start of the 8th

Ming came to Central to enjoy a cup of coffee at Starbucks Alexandra House after work while I was still working. We took ferry from Central to TST, and arrived sharply at 8pm for our anniversary dinner at "Habitu the Pier". Ming made the reservation 2 days in advance, that's why we could take one of those three balcony seats which were supposed to be for groups of 6 people.

The view was just perfect. All the way from the Clock Tower to IFC II came in front of you when you sat there and looked straight forward. What a beautiful night scene and harbour view, just loved it so much. You'd never feel bored even you gotta look at it everyday. Never.

Ordered 2 main courses for our dinner only, Australian steak and Angel Hair with Tuna; plus a basket of breads of various types coming free of charge. All were very delicious. We're still wondering whether we gotta order more due to the apparently small portions, but it turned out we could hardly finish them all. Still feeling full when we had a walk after our dinner.

A simple and happy night, and that marked a good start of our 8th year. Thanks be to god.

《給最開心的人 To the Happiest One (給被遺忘了的人)》

《給最開心的人 To the Happiest One (給被遺忘了的人)》 林一峰

窮途末路之時　我急需的是你聲音
每當天色昏沉　你就像太陽為我暖身
對於朋友　你的細心　已足夠花去半數時間
尚有精神娛樂大家　從沒離群

情路段段不幸　你用辦法沒有上心
還要利用經驗　叫身邊的人勇敢
對於情感　你很有心
卻未曾聽過你埋怨
為了打救旁人幸福　沒時間傷心

＊感激你 最開心的人　陪伴著我 每個無眠夜深
用你笑聲　修補我不幸　過濾失落重獲信心

只不過　誰為你認真　習慣了悲哀中救傷的你
沒法放開　開心的責任
抱著心事無人問 壯烈犧牲＊

每當落淚之前　你可想找誰人說話
每當熱鬧之後　你最想誰為你留下
記得有天　你失了蹤
我頓時驚覺我未能夠
像你一半有耐性為旁人粗心

Repeat＊

多得你　最開心的人　陪伴著我每個難熬夜深
用你笑聲　粉飾了天地
告別失望　重穫信心　只不過　誰為你著緊
習慣了悲哀中救傷的你
沒法放開開心的責任
抱著心事無人問 壯烈犧牲

若你想哭 即管放心吧
我不會過問
你可盡情在我肩膊哭泣
做個凡人

沒遺忘

他沒有忘記嘞，是我想得太多 =P

Hurray~

Finally figured out an alternative way for accomplishing the daily bond price reporting without wasting much time on waiting, felt so great about it! I couldn't believe that it's only 7.05pm when I got everything completed!!! I was so happy that I laughed loudly, yelled to manager "I'm leaving, yeah~" just before I stepped out office.

See, I'm such a simple person who could be cheered up by such simple stuffs =P

日出而息，日入而作

病入膏肓。起牀，吃了早午餐，服藥，繼續睡覺。傍晚六時，不得不起來，因為要赴同房派結婚請帖之約 @_@ 為免精神委靡，索性不吃藥 ...

結果有兩個人「放飛機」，七人出席飯局。氣氛算是不錯，還真得感謝余寶雯多個「估你唔到」的舉動，惹來陣陣笑聲。不竟座上某些人是在畢業後從沒相見過，單是說大家現在的職業，也可以說上超過廿分鐘。

晚飯八時便完結了，非常早，害得我和歐陽嘉敏很不習慣，回到九龍灣繼續「下場」。找來金佩思，到了信譽極不佳的仙跡岩淘大分店坐坐。從來沒有在仙跡岩喝熱飲，為了快點病癒，唯有犧牲一次嘞 *_*

忘了

我想，他忘了 ...

陳嘉文的婚禮

星期六早起，因為要出席陳嘉文的婚禮。婚禮在觀塘瑪利諾旁邊的耶穌復活堂舉行，是一家很小的聖堂，可感覺還挺不錯。看到很多 SPS 的人，全是陳嘉文的同學，不知怎的每個人也認得我，還可以叫出我的名字；我卻不行了，因為她們都是比我小一屆的，除了排球隊的人，我都喚不出她們是誰，唯有以笑遮羞 =P 陳嘉文的妹妹當她的伴娘，想當年我是她的「 Paulinian Leader 」，她與那時沒兩樣，還是很「活潑」和「頑皮」吖 =P Miss Chu 也去觀禮，很八卦，看到專誠從美國回來參加陳嘉文婚禮的 Miriam 和 Peggy 帶著男朋友前來，急急上前去打聽一番。

婚禮有很多有趣的地方，倒還算順利。陳嘉文說 BB 整天都很乖，不像平日一樣一起牀就亂踢，可能因為他知道今天是媽媽的大日子嘞 =) 婚禮對她來說是頗操勞的，可她仍然洋溢著幸福的表情。

至一時多才離開婚禮，到德福看醫生。醫生說我的病情不算嚴重，卻給了我五種藥。吃下去，昏昏暈暈的，睡著了；起來時，還是反應遲緩。似乎吃了藥比沒吃藥要來得差 @_@

晚上，去喝喜酒，在混沌狀態中度過。

Another Friday

A very relaxing day, so free that I could attend 2 online training courses in the afternoon for my CPD hours!

Yet, that didn't mean I could leave early. Kept waiting, waiting and waiting, finally another team got IDR bond prices updated by 7.45pm. I showed my desire to leave so obviously that I put the pile of printouts on my teammate's desk right in front of his monitor without saying a word, and then returned to my seat started clearing up my trays. Completed my reporting by pressing "Send" button in LN upon receiving signed copies by 7.50pm, which was supposed to be done at 6.45pm. 1 hour has been wasted. Sometimes, I just wondered how many more hours would have to be wasted on such non-value added tasks if I stay. Gosh.

Went singing K with Emily, Florence and Carrie. Yup, we intentionally made it a "small" gathering, so that each of us could sing as much as we could =P Anyway, other than Florence, none of us could catch up those new songs ... yeah, we kept on singing golden oldies ... haha *,*

My sore throat worsened and I kept on sneezing ...

Panic

Around this time every year, I'd start to feel panic.

Would he remember?

Running smooth

Took ferry to leave Central after work in the late evening. Felt so amused of being able to enjoy the harbour view and breezes.

Everything went smooth today. It'd be so fascinating if every weekday could go like this *,*

Agent

Booked discounted tickets for the musical "The Sound of Music" ... yeah *,*

Dealed with wedding invitation card distribution stuffs for my roommate. Called some people whom I (and my roommate) didn't meet for 7 years after graduation to arrange for dinner on Sunday. Felt a bit strange. Sometimes I just wondered if you didn't ever think of keeping in touch with a person for more than 7 years, why you would still like to invite him to your wedding, not to mention that you were not actually familiar with him 7 years ago? Entirely no update on each other's lives, it'd be so hard for that person to share your happiness genuinely. It would be like saying 'Oh' and then feeling nothing else after listening to the news. Weird.

Anyway, being an agent of my roommate, I would go ahead to complete this project *.*

Accident

You know what "accident" stands for? "Ac-hoc incident" it means!

When everybody in my team was packing our belongings, saying that it was such a smooth day and preparing to leave office before 7.30pm, suddenly the trader crushed our dreams by inputting 2 deals after cut-off time which was set to be 6.30pm >_< All sorts of IT problems appeared again: accounting feed failure, incomplete end of day data, incompatible reports ... and the trouble creator left dealing floor once finishing input ... Gosh @_@

Hope that there'd be no more "accident" defering my off time; and we've decided not to mention about "having smooth day" in future before we actually stepped out from office physically!!!

《Tim Burton's Corpse Bride》

Went watching 《Corpse Bride》after having "afternoon tea" with father at a Chinese restaurant. It's as what I've expected, and I liked the movie though it's short. Maybe I was poisoned by the dream team of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp =P

Cover design

I was uploading photos for the Pak Nai trip when I accidentally discovered those files in the computer. That's a cover design which I drew more than one year ago. Seemed it has been ages from then till now.

白泥之旅

和蘇海明到白泥去行山。與其說是行山，倒不如說是去「探險」更貼切吖 *,* 沒有地圖，只知道那是在香港西北面的一個地方，近邊境、對岸是蛇口，可以看到紅樹林和鹹淡水交界，間歇性地接收不到電話，變成 "China Mobile" 狀態 ... 哈哈，聽起來像是到了一個不正常的地方。不過還真喜歡這次旅程：小巴司機駕駛技術「太好」，在迂迴曲折的山徑上行走隨時要準備車急停；為了拍攝美麗的池塘，要抵住乾曬「米田共」的臭味；走在石灘上，要小心保持平衡；偷偷走進人家的後院和菜田，被精靈的大狗發現；走捷徑，被乾草抓破了皮 ...

聽說這裡的「蛋黃」日落美極了，不過沙灘正有工程進行中，無緣見面了。四時多打道回府，給「眼明」的蘇海明看到元朗十八鄉火災冒出的濃煙；我嘛，甚麼都看不見 ... 在哪裡? 在哪裡? @_@

"Busy" Friday

t meet Sum for long, I and Emily dated him out for lunch today. We had family-style dishes at "Man Kee", both Emily and Sum appreciated foods there. Sum's just like what he used to be, and we had an enjoyable lunch.

Back to office with a little pack of candies as Cecilia's birthday gift, she was so surprised and thankful! Anyway, she had an even bigger surprise later during tea time --- her boyfriend bought her half dozen of egg tarts and a big bunch of flowers, jumped into the building and appeared at the entrance of the floor for personal delivery! I could see that she was so happy, nearly got tears running out from her expressive eyes. This would really be a memorable day for her; for me, I got free egg tarts as desserts for tea =P

Tim released his wedding invitation and photos publicly through office e-mail in the afternoon, though most of us have already known about the news. So glad that he only planned to invite we new comers to his wedding registration ceremony only, or else it'd be one of the 6 weddings which I'd have to attend in the coming 2 months!

Got stunk by 4-way novation deal by evening, finally it was being passed to me for handling after nearly a month. Discussed among the team for a while, plus completing my Joyce's work for her half-day annual leave, it was nearly 9pm when I left office; I was late for PwC gathering >_< Be honest, I didn't like this feeling of instability indeed ... Gosh ... Today's dinner was for farewell of Joyce Cheuk. When I arrived at El Cid Harbour City, they've completed their many rounds of orders but still not feeling full. Wanna go to another restaurant like Dan Ryan or café, but it's full everywhere. Finally we got ourselves settled at McDonald ... haha ... We enjoyed so much of our stay there, moved around tables and chairs inside Mc Café ourselves as if we're arriving home. Noisy noisy noisy, chatting and eating. Spent only $7 for my dinner and had a very good time; what's more, got a free lift from Samantha Wong --- all people living on Kowloon East jumped into the taxi with her, with the bill charged to Samantha's client! Haha ... that's the benefit of going out with external auditors. If you're clients of Big 4, do check details of your debit note clearly before you pay your bill! =P

飲茶

今日，一班新人一起到「皇上皇」飲茶。因為是同期一起進入公司的同事，所以比較熟絡，說話也較投契；而且其中一人是秘書，可以收到很多「小道消息」嘞 =P

大家在討論前途問題，我亦不諱言告訴大家昨天有 agent 打電話給我，說有幾個 Bank IA 的 openings ，市場應該挺不錯。

快四個月了，又到要動腦筋的時候 *_*

Resume to normal

Everything was back to normal as if nothing has happened. Nobody talked about the incident on Monday anymore. Resumed daily work, another typical day.

Had lunch with Florence and Emily at Deli and Wine, I shared with them my experience on Monday. They got similar feedbacks as what Ming and Alvis said. Emily even told that she has done something wrong last night, which caused her and two of her colleagues stayed over 10pm to check for remedial action with IT. As what her colleague said, 'You would never learn something unless you've made a mistake.'

Seemed that people all around have learnt the art to take things easy much earlier before me. Was I too demanding for my performance? I was really too green even with 4 years working experience. Still not too late to start?

Still uneasy

Still feeling very bad in the morning, especially when I heard managements discussing about accounting feed failure last night. Joyce kept on saying that it's no big deal at all, and I shouldn't feel regretted. She was so confident that I must still be green at work, or else I won't be feeling so bad; if it happened to her (and indeed it has happened to her before), she wouldn't waste any time got disturbed by it at all. Yaqub said I shouldn't feel ashamed for it as well, and joked that if the system was so vulnerable to my "attack", then it wouldn't be qualified to support so-called sophisticated operations. Even Simon said I should let it go, as long as I ensured that it won't be occurring again in future on month-end closing date.

All these responses loosened my strained nerves a bit, but I was still feeling uneasy. I thought I looked very terrifying, since everybody from mother to the workmate from another team sitting opposite to me asked if I was okay. For all these years I could hardly think of a mistake which I've made that was so influential. It's really the first time I got involved in any "wrong-doing", though others didn't agree.

Without good appetite, I went to walk around on the platform of City Hall. It's windy and temperature fell, but I didn't really notice. Looking at the sea and listening to breezes, I stood there pondering for some moments before going to City Hall library for day-dreaming.

If you ask me to name something which I've learnt from the new job, this would definitely be the one --- to learn from mistake.

Sigh.

BAD

Felt very bad. Very very bad. So bad that I couldn't describe ...

Day in bed

Slept until very late in the afternoon, laid on bed to read book. Got out of my bed by evening, started to fix the computer by then --- it's automatically disconnected from internet from time to time for consecutive days >_<

Finally had the problem solved by late evening, when I bought a new LAN wire from the computer equipment store at Amoy Garden to replace the one of i-Cable. Done with no further exception noted.

Ocean Park Halloween Bash

Had BBQ at Olympic before going to Ocean Park, I was full while Ming ate nearly nothing since he was suffered from cold and soar throat. Met many people whom I didn't know, most of them are friends/ colleagues of Ted, Ming's cousin.

It's the first time for me to participate in the Ocean Park Halloween Bash, though Ocean Park had this around Halloween for several years. Guess I won't be joining that this year as well if Ted didn't organize a group visit.

Got 5 theme ghost houses there, we finished them all before midnight. Not really that scary indeed, what terrified me most were reactions of some girls within the group --- they kept on screaming and leaned back, we're being pushed backwards before we could saw any "terrifying ghosts", and we could locate where they were before they popped ... haha

R2D2 and Smiley bun

R2D2 and Smiley bun have landed Hong Kong safely!!! Thank you very much *,*

Anyway, I'm a bit hesitated in whether to use R2D2 or not ... I'm afraid that it would have the same fate as Uncle Salty-wet from Hokkaido --- worn out due to my poor usage @_@

No Haagen-Dazs =(

Felt so glad that I could leave office early to join ex-PwCers dinner tonight *,* Arrived at TST Relaxing Tea House sharp at 8pm, I was the first one reaching there. Monitress Shum and Florence joined some minutes later, and Emily was there after she finished with her shopping at Harbour City. Carrie came just in the time to enjoy the first course served. Foods are fine especially for the baked potato smashes in cheese with broccoli, it's so delicious that we ordered one more portion before we left >,< We went to Haagen-Dazs afterwards, and ordered the ice-cream fondue. Stated on the menu this dish required 20 minutes for serving. We waited for 20 minutes but nothing was being served, so we asked a staff to follow up our order. Another 20 minutes passed, nothing came still and we asked the staff again. This time, the staff told us that no order has been placed yet ... the second weird event of the day >_< We left the shop without consuming any ice-cream finally ...

Thank You Lunch

Had "Thank you lunch" today. Per Joyce, it's organized every 3 or 4 months in which the department head, Fungyee, would pay for lunch with foods ordered from several restaurants, to express her thanks to staff's efforts during past few months.

To me, it's like a party. People had foods, walked and chatted around. Fungyee's secretary approached me and kept calling me "small kid". I replied that I'm old enough to be disqualified from being named kid -_- She told us a little "secret" related to me in front of all new staffs; actually, it's not a secret at all, she's just trying to make it sounded mysterious. It's just the reason why Trevor arranged me to sit in my current seat. So weird *_*

HKICS

Went to HKICS, a so-called "professional" company secretarial association which never provides its members with value-added services, with Emily to settle the annual subscription of HKD1,700 ... so expensive, very poor =(

Hong Kong Park

Walked all the way uphill, passing through Citibank Tower and ICBC Tower, heading to Hong Kong Park to have casual lunch with Florence there. Met a lot of ICBCA people on my way, many of which were my ex-auditees. Stopped to say hello for several times, some are keen to learn about my new life. Felt so great to meet all of them.

We had a delightful lunch in the park, choosing seats facing the waterfall which brought cool breezes under warm sunshine through shadows of leaves. With sandwiches from Pert a Manger and juices/ yoghurt, we kept chatting and watching tourists taking photos inside the park. A pity that we're not able to see any bride there, guess it's not a good day for wedding.

Some photographers were taking snapshots of natural scenery inside the park. Wouldn't that be too fantastic if I also possess some sorts of talents, so that I could leave office work and involved myself in artistic jobs?

Maxim Restaurant

Today's b-day of Sister Cat, that's why my company mailbox was flooded with tones of e-mails discussing where to go for celebration lunch. I was away for meeting and didn't read all those e-mails (really too many!! >_<), so could only catch what was being mentioned in the last e-mail from Christina --- "Booked a table of 5 at City Hall Maxim Restaurant, 12.35pm".

That's where the problem came --- I intrinsically took that as "Mei Sum Tai Chow Lau" , and even showed off to Alvis last night that I would be going to have big delicious shrimp dumplings there. The fact is we are going to "Mei Sum Sai Chan Ting"!!! When I arrived at "Tai Chow Lau" on 3/F and asked for the table reserved by Christina, the reception told me proudly, “Madam, we never accept advance booking, guess you've made a mistake?" There're many people queuing for seats, and some people stared at me ... Haha, they probably thought that I was just trying out my luck to take some privileges ... I didn't mean that, really *_*

Finally I caught others at "Sai Chan Ting" on 2/F. Sister Cat told precisely what's her b-day wish, we took immediate action (actually I was forced to by Sister Cat =P) by calling Clara, asking her to urge Siu Kam bringing people to our Nov BBQ ... haha

Told Ming and Alvis about Sister Cat's rules for BBQ, they both gave the same responses ... it's really poor if all boys thought that way @_@

Agoraphobia vs Claustrophobia

Agoraphobia - a morbid fear of open spaces (as fear of being caught alone in some public place)

Claustrophobia - a morbid fear of being closed in a confined space

Usually, there'd be a character in each of most TV drama series (umm ... to be more exactly, should be those very limited ones which I watched) who got claustophobia.

In reality, I feel like I'd be getting agoraphobia. Don't wanna stay in crowd. Would rather keep silent for the day.

I'm dry. So poor.

Servant I am

It's difficult to serve 2 bosses who had different styles and points of foci simultaneously. Don't ask me why you check this but not that, the truth was that the other boss higher in rank said I only had to check this but not that. Simple, right? but that hurt you. Anyway, you were boss as well, if you didn't like his way, the only thing I could do is to adjust for meeting your requirements.

Indeed I didn't like to serve anybody. I didn't like to be a servant. Maybe I'm not suitable for working routine duties at all. Maybe.

有動有靜

近三個月沒有行山，今天是郭婉汶的生日，所以我、郭婉汶和朱文恩又到「老地方」去走走，順道慶祝她生日快樂。吖，還有為表誠意而前來的 Y 先生。

路一點也不難走，不過我們仍然是比以前走得慢。實在太久沒有行山，退步了。下次要走快一點。郭婉汶說，下一回要跑山； Y 先生和議。

到鯉景灣吃了個愉快午餐，卻又給問了那個已經有無數人問過的問題。難道沒有別的想問嗎? @_@

到尖東 CEO 出席同房伉儷辦的「兄弟/姊妹團」認識活動。至今還是一個兄弟也認不到，因為沒有一個是靚仔，在街上再見面也辨認不出。至於姊妹，除了來自教會的兩個女子，其他五個都是中學/ 大學的同學，早就認識了。

其實很想唱歌，但又不想唱，因為男的是在叫歌，我的耳膜快穿了 >_< 除了取得一份簡單 Notes ，和給武先生番舊帳供出我、 Karen 及 Fiona 當年有份協助他的追求行動，今天沒有甚麼特別的成果。 Iris 實在太熱心於這個婚禮，整個會場佈置、設計，以至花車的裝飾，甚至教堂內用來簽名記名的是普通筆抑是羽毛筆她都上網查了，好像是自己的婚禮，熟悉程度可以讓她轉行成為專業婚禮 event holder 。究竟是她過份熱絡，抑是我過於冷淡?

《一生何求》

終於看了《小企鵝．大長征》。影片在電影院已經落畫，蘇海明唯有在網上找，尋得一齣法文+普通話版本。我覺得這輯紀錄片很好看吖，還明白了企鵝為什麼叫企鵝 =P

大徒兒生日，說了生日快樂，她問了一個已經有無數人想過/問過的問題。其實大家問得愈多，我就愈麻目嘞。我真的沒有想過。

為什麼拍拖久了就一定要想結婚呢? 近來常常聽拍了拖六至十年的人分手的故事，有些更是正在參加婚前輔導課、準備結婚的人。為什麼?

當一切變成習慣，大家已經忘記當初的簡簡單單，當初的夢想，當初的承諾，當初的平凡快樂，當初的 ... 然後珍寶的星星化成殞石，墮落、墮落 ...

朋友的朋友編的曲，屬於朗朗上口型的 K 歌。簡單的快樂與幸福，世界上有多少個庸才會真正享受?

《一生何求》 古巨基

若有你 若有我 還有十塊
這樣我 便可以 約你去街
只有十塊 什麼信物平便買
甜蜜蜜吃些燒賣
沒老友 沒女友 如何愉快
生命要 用把尺 透徹了解
得到 沒有 或者當做還舊債
事業完美得不解
大概天 要我 兩者挑選
* 跟你兩個 寧願缺少了人緣
對我 你偏疪護縱寵 事業仍為我捐

若要的 統統也沒有 然而仍可手挽手
剩下溫柔 問我一生復何求
庸才 仍可得到你問候
無限知柔 慢慢細想星宿
沒有錢不要走 到了有錢通處走
落在心頭 問我一生復何求 *
庸才 難得找到你願受
情在心靈 在身外 任一切 沒有

命數轉了又轉 其實始終不自願
Repeat *
庸才 能與你一起墮後 落魄溫柔
那溫柔 將火化 萬有
情在心靈 你生存 任一切 沒有

神秘平台

今天終於到神秘平台一遊 *,* 其實那裡一點也不神秘，只要你/ 你有朋友曾經在大會堂婚姻註冊署行禮，你必定會懂得到平台的路。

天朗氣清，所有石椅都給人佔了，連毫無遮蓋、受陽光直射的都不例外。儘管滿座，平台還是寧靜的。找了個靠牆的角落站著，我在聊電話。如果不是穿著西褲，倒想坐在地上，看著那晴朗的藍天，伴著海風，悠悠地做個白日夢嘞 ...

今天的天氣，真好。

紅色炸彈一號

Jeffrey 請我們一 team 人到「鏞記」三樓吃午飯，以答謝大家在他以前接管 credit derivatives 時替他工作 (亦暗喻以後有關事務別再煩他，從此一刀兩斷 ...)。要不是有人請，也不會到三樓這麼貴的地方吃午餐，地下最「便宜」那一層的乳豬飯已經夠好了。

今天出奇地七時多便離開公司，真好運! 不過今晚沒有回家吃飯，因為要到尖沙咀去接陳嘉文的紅色炸彈。先和葉翠妍會合。她電了一頭長曲髮，怎樣看也不像當年在排球隊時的那個鄰家小女孩 @_@

到了加拿芬廣場的 Pizza Hut ，陳嘉文早看到我們了，不停向我們揮手。看到很多排球隊的人。雖然現在大家職業不同，學歷、背景有異，倒還是談得挺投緣；不竟，大家都是在同一球隊一起長大的。

陳嘉文懷了四個半月的 BB ，已經「見肚」了。想當年她的志願是不管結婚如否，都要在廿三歲生 BB ；儘管遲了兩年，她還是達成夢想，而且也實踐了她先同居後結婚的理念。基本上由中學開始，她就決定同居有了孩子以後才結婚。她從來都是個勇敢的女孩。

雖然由此至終我沒有反對她的理念 --- 每個人都有自己的想法 --- 可不表示我贊成。我想結婚不該只是一個儀式，也該有其代表性嘞 ... 而且讓 BB 知道媽媽和爸爸是因為他才結婚， BB 會很傷心的，好像他強迫了人家做了一件事 ... 別問我為什麼這樣想，我就是有這種感覺嘛 =P 或許我是懦弱的、我是保守的 ...

不過，還是衷心祝福陳嘉文幸福快樂 =) 半年後又有 BB 玩了，嘿嘿 *,*

Flash of old image

I was really annoyed with my colleague R this morning.

If you don't believe in me, don't ask me. If you ask me, please be more sincere. If you don't agree, please go asking 'senior management' directly. Don't try to force me to follow what you used to do, they might not be correct. I'm not dummy, I won't follow what I don't agree with. Don't think that you got one more month experience working here over me and you can rule, I don't bind this. One more thing, check before you say anything, don't make non-sense 'assumptions' which never exist. I don't want to waste my time doing non-value added explanation anymore. The worse was, you won't believe in what I say, and probably you would curse me at my back.

The image of Derek Cheng suddenly flashed over my mind when I observed reactions of my colleague. So scary. Other than the time dealing with that stupid Derek Cheng, I've never got such feeling towards my workmates before. Was it the sign that I'd be leaving soon?

The happiest hour today was my lunch with Florence and Emily. At Bravo this time. Really feel enjoyable though it's short.

Left by 8 something tonight. Should be even earlier if my colleague could return my report to me sooner, rather than wasting his time (and my time) to dig into something for fulfilling his own interests only. Another colleague K also complained, he didn't wanna keep waiting for nothing. Anyway, it's still an improvement to leave at 8.15pm since I was leaving half hour earlier than yesterday again. I would have a little bit of time to think about my future career then.

The flash really alerted me.

希望

上星期積存下來的工作已經完成得七七八八，今天又比昨天早了一個小時離開。希望明天會更好。

一個人的中午

只有自己一個人吃午飯，突然想去吹吹風，於是走到碼頭。看到大海，很開心。

在美心買了兩個蛋撻，然後到大會堂，一邊看各大節目的傳單、一邊咀嚼著可口的蛋撻。雖然吃得很匆忙，又要站著吃，但是心情卻很愉悅。

忽然想看書，所以轉到大會堂圖書館去。一大書架的旅遊書，真叫人興奮。逗留了半小時，結果帶走了 Lonely Planet 出版的 East Africa ，滿心歡喜 *,*

成人圖書館的出口在三樓，於是決定跑樓梯到地下去。無意間望向窗外，突然發現有人坐在大會堂公園圍牆上的平台 --- 真是一個好地方! 在那裡坐著，看的是超級無敵大海景，拂面的是颼颼海風；可以遠離地上的行人，又不至於與人群離開得太遠；有石椅，可以坐在那裡吃東西、看書、聽音樂，甚至睡覺 >,< 不過快到兩時了，沒有時間去探索走上那平台的路 ... 下次一定要找到嘞! 好不期待 ...

又要開始走回辦公室，好心情瞬即褪去了一大半 @_@

想不起來 ...

我的腦袋，一向載滿無聊的東西，記多久也忘不掉。可是，今天媽媽說的兩件事，我怎麼也想不起來 @_@

1. 中文問英文答
弟：家姐細個嗰陣好勤力，而家懶到極 ...
我：無 d 咁嘅事 ~,~
母：(向弟說) 阿堅細個都唔知幾勤力，阿媽唔識英文，係將 d 問題翻譯晒做中文叫阿媽問，然後佢用英文答，我都唔知佢講答 d 咩嘢 ... 哈哈
弟：嚟樣嘢我都記得。
母：(向弟說) 你嗰陣仲問：「點解家姐咁樣讀書，我又係咁樣讀，家姐會識晒 d 嘢，我就一 d 都唔識 ...」哈哈 ...
我：你哋係咪作嘢吖，咁無聊嘅嘢，點解我一 d 都唔記得?!
母/ 弟：真係咁喎!
我：我嗰陣幾大吖?
母：小學三、四年級咁上吓喇 ~

2. 小說
母：你日日對住電腦，係咪打小說?
我：邊有咁無聊吖，你唔好成日妄想啦 -_-"
母：唔係喎，你以前成日寫文章、寫小說喎，仲投稿添 ...
我：我幾時有吖?! 我咩嘢都唔記得喎?!
母：(向弟說) 喂，細佬，家姐細個嗰陣係咪成日寫嘢吖 ~
弟：(在洗手間大叫) 吓? 你講咩嘢話???

Red bomb attacks

Got red bombs today, both from SPS volleyball team --- one from Carmen Chan, one from Joyce Leung. Would have to go to at least 4 wedding banquets for the coming 2 months *_* Didn't know if there'd be any more coming ...

Btw, it's fine for you people to drop me red bombs, but please don't expect to have satisfactory answer for your question "When would be your turn". It's 4.25pm right now, and I've answered 3 times today already that "Don't tease me, it's your wedding, don't count me in".

《Kizuna》

《Kizuna》 Orange Range
Translated by Alvis Chan

いま何してるかな　君も見ているかな
What are you doing now? Maybe you're looking at it too?
オレンジ色に染まる空を　朝日に変わる夕陽を
Looking at the orange sky, Looking at the rising sun turns to be setting sun
ナミダこぼし合って泣いた夜も　くだらない話で朝まで笑った日々も
At nights wept in spilling tears and days with endless talks till morning
忘れない今のボクをささえる宝物だから　離れていても感じるあなたの優しさ
All these are unforgettable treasures which support me now
Even we are apart, I can feel your kindness
だからどこにいたってもう一人じゃない　どんな事あってもくじけない
Therefore, no matter till when, I am not alone; no matter what, I am undaunted
空と海が重なった　あの島のような
Like that island, where sky and sea come together
離れても同じ色に優しく混ざり合う
Even they are apart, they gently blended into the same color
ほら寄り添うキズナ
See, it's the knot nestled

何々を知ったり　何々を知らなかったり
Knowing something, or knowing nothing
止まったり　前に進んだり　後ろに下がったり
Stop, proceed, or step back
自らコロガル時もあれば　手を借りてコロガル時もある
Sometimes we may fall by ourselves, or fall because we give a hand
カラン　コロン　また広がる　カラン　コロン　またコロガル
Dilate again, fall again
そっと胸に手をあてて　眠れない夜は　
Tenderly touch your heart with your hand at the sleepless night
夢の中でまた会える聞こえる子守唄
We can meet again in dream, we can hear the lullaby
背中を押すキズナ
The knot that pressed into our backs
ほら寄り添うキズナ
See, it's the knot nestled

友の声が胸に響いた　涙で滲みんじゃ道は見えないんだ
Friend's voice is echoing in my heart, tears soak and I can't see the road
今GET UP！見上げんだ　ほら同じ空　決して孤独じゃねえんだ
Now, Get Up! Look up! Under the same sky I'd never be alone
全て背負い込むことはないさいーか皆居んだ　今信じるんだキズナ
There's nothing to be born by oneself, as we are here! The knot that we believe in
潰れない　消えないさ　これだけは　さぁ行くんだ！
It won't be crushed, It won't disappeared; only with this, go!

一歩一歩　ただ前へ　一歩一歩　歩幅合わせ
Step by step, just forward; step by step, match our steps
転びそうなら　そう　手をつかめ　Say Wo! Wo! 皆で歌え
If we're going to fall, hold our hands, say Wo! Wo! Let's sing

いま何してるかな　君も見ているかな
What are you doing now? Maybe you are looking at it too?
雨は止みそらに架かるアーチ 虹でつながる君とボク
By the rainbow arched over after rain, you and I are connected

尖沙咀郵局

按著給旅客的指示，在尖沙咀尋覓郵局的所在地。

走了一大圈，最終找到了，卻發現郵局原來近在眼前。

真可惡，指示弄得那麼差，被戲弄了吖 -_-"

Crossroads

Everybody in my team looked tired, and it became everybody's wish to leave before 8pm tonight. Should be able to accomplish it IF there's NO BOND PRICE REPORTING again!!! >_< Really found it disgusting to have something bothering my off time every night!!!

Simon suddenly asked me to go for a chat when I've packed all my stuffs and was about to leave. Thought it's just a leisure one, that's why I was quite surprised when he said we had to talk about that in conference room. He said Trevor and him considered I got the ability to take up duties on top of credit derivatives, and asked if I'm interested to spare some of my time to learn about work of the Regional team, especially at this moment when they still couldn't get a suitable new recruits to handle that.

Arha, every time when I was about to think of the direction of my career path, something would pop up. Though I've agreed to take that up (indeed, they did expect me to do so) and though I've declared in advance that they shouldn't blame me if I couldn't handle both sides well in future, I guess it's really the time I gotta think seriously what I wanna do in future. Anyway, not for tonight, since I gotta rush for dinner with my dear ex-PwCers at the Germany Restaurant at TST Holiday Inn; not for tonight, since my brain wasn't functioning anymore.

Conference meeting

Managed to complete all stuffs by 8.30pm and headed to L16 meeting room with others for the conference meeting. They are still dealing with the set-up by the time we arrived, the HK IT guy kept talking to the IT guy in US, telling him to move the screen a bit left, then right, left again and right, but it never fitted in the proper position. The meeting was delayed to 8.50pm something due to the stupid set-up work.

The part discussing about TRS could still be described as "fine", but then it turned into an irrational argument among IT arrangements. To be honest, it's NONE OF MY BUSINESS!!! Why I had to forgo my rest time for such non-sense quarrel >_< It's 10.15pm already. Seemed that Simon and Yaqub also notified that the fore-coming topics would be totally irrelevant to us, so they made a sign that we could leave. I, Reynold and Kelvin rushed out of the room at once.

A waste of time! That's what I hate most!

Deli and Wine with Florence

Yesterday was Florence's first day of work, so we deferred our weekly lunch to today, at the middle point of our offices --- the City Hall. It's the first time for Florence to visit Deli and Wine, seemed that she liked the Spaghettis Carbonara served there =)

Talked a bit of our work. Florence suggested that I might start looking up for another before the end of the probation. Maybe ... I gotta think about it ...

Busy as 'usual'

Another busy day. Had extra tasks on calculating MTM values of some TRS, but was able to complete Joyce's work by early evening. Anyway, Wed used to be my peak day of the week for chasing up confirmations from counterparties; so it turned out that I gotta leave by 10 something, again after sending out tones of e-mails. So poor =(

Got a bad news, a very bad news. HK will have to participate in a conference meeting with New York and London tomorrow night, starting from NY Time 8.30am / HK Time 8.30pm. Crazy! Gotta leave late again tomorrow night >_<

The Interview with God

I've actually watched this presentation --- "The Interview with God" --- for more than once previously. Anyway, did feel impressed every time seeing it again.

Pending for trips

Let's go to eastern Africa together next year! Before that, could we pay a visit to Mount Kinabalu near the end of the year? *o*

星期一，新開始

同事 Joyce 放假回來了，自今天起可以重過「正常」生活。有三件開心的事：

1. 比上星期遲了一個小時起牀，「大搖大擺」地在九時半踏入辦公室。
2. 突然發現辦公桌上的傳統螢光幕變成十七吋的 LCD monitor 。
3. 比上星期早了一個小時下班，興奮莫明。

在一個星期前，我絕不會為這些而雀躍；只因經過了上星期的「刻苦」生活，一切忽然變得珍貴。

其實我是一個很容易滿足的人吖 ...

Extremely busy

I've said that, all sorts of sophisticated stuffs would pop up once I backed up Joyce's function when she's on leave. It's being validated again! Delayed confirmations of payments. Numerous held-over trades backed from London and New York. Traders input 7 deals by the last minute before cut-off. Got something named as 4-way novation transaction, I, Reynold, Yaqub and Simon discussed about it for quite a period of time. London helped nothing at all and only kept pushing all complicated work to Hong Kong, though they should be handling this indeed. Kept dealing with traders, legal adviser and counterparties. Very busy @_@ Could only spare some time to work on my own duties by late evening. Left by 10.20pm, the third last on the floor to leave. Gosh, and it's just Monday, start of the week! >_<" So lucky that it'd be public holiday tomorrow; but still, I had no doubt that I couldn't survive through this week *_*

Tea Buffet

和何曉珊及梁善儀到 Excelsior 吃 Tea buffet ，吃得很飽吖 *,*

終於知道了，那家在 IFC 吃 High tea 的餐廳叫 Harlan's ... 不過看了食評，好像那家餐廳服務生的態度不太好 ... @_@

《童夢奇緣》

和蘇海明看了《童夢奇緣》。比想象中好嘞，比《阿嫂》好得多，起碼故事有教育意義。

太想去旅行，到旅行社跑了一圈。或許，可以來一個三天的元旦小旅行?

Umbrella from Japan

Number of trades bloomed all of a sudden again --- 29 trades! How could it be?! Joyce used to leave office by 6.30pm, but gotta work until 8.30pm to complete all her jobs. So crazy!

Joyce would be on leave next week, I'd be taking up all her work on top of my daily duties. Please please please, please have as few trades as possible next week, or I would be certified death for sure X_X

Had dinner with ex-PwC girls at TST SushiTei, I could only arrive by 9 something >_< We're crazily noisy ... haha =P Got my souvenir from Monitress Shum and Kathy, it's a super light umbrella, thank you so much *,* They said that they chose it with Alvis, who picked a bloody red one and thus being ignored ... haha

I wanna go travelling so much ...

幻聽? @_@

照常上班，如常九時半坐進自己的座位，接著開電腦，開始看 e-mails 。忽然聽到老細的聲音 --- 不會罷，他該還在放假，怎會在公司嘞? 一定是幻聽。

然後，老細拿著水杯在我身旁的通過走過 --- 他真的回來了?! 他應該星期一才回來上班，怎麼突然出現?!

為了證實我沒有「見鬼」，我向坐在旁邊的同事 Joyce 求證。「係吖，今朝返工見到 Trevor 番左嚟都嚇左一跳。不過算嘞，佢就算响屋企，咪又係遙遠控制睇實公司 d 嘢，同返工無咩分別 ...」

是麼? 好像很慘吖 ...

LN training

Suddenly being nominated as the representative of the Credit Derivatives team to attend the LN training. Didn't learn much from the training indeed, since all those being mentioned were basic functions which I've known for long already; it's good to have some trainings anyway, for CPD hours.

Training started by 1pm sharp, so I, Cecilia and Rick went up to L28 for buffet lunch before the training started. Jeffrey came joining us, but he's late. He didn't show any sign of leaving when it approached 1 pm, and so I left by myself, claiming that I was representing my team and so couldn't be late. Cecilia went with me finally but Rick stayed, telling us secretly that Jeffrey the manager was with him, it shouldn't have great problem going late. "Stupid!" that's what popped on my mind at once. Yup, Jeffrey was the manager, but you're not. People talked of his bad behaviour on his back, though seemed to respect him apparently simply becuase he's a manager. There's no way for a freshman of non-manager grade just merely following what manager did, or at least, I won't bind that, not to mention whether the manger was doing the right thing. Well, it's a personal choice after all. Just wonder if Rick would see this point in future.

The outcome was that Jeffrey and Rick was late for 20 minutes and joined in mid of the session. Another manager teased Jeffrey.

Deli and Wine

Didn't go to City Hall for lunch for long, since the fire over there early this year. FK proposed to go there for lunch today. It's a brand new experience for Emily and Christina; they even mixed the restaurant up with 'Maxim Express' ... haha =P

So surprised to get the e-mail from Trevor this afternoon. Shouldn't he be on leave right now? Why he still took such a close look at progress of work during holidays? Didn't he need to take rest?

Still very busy to catch up with back-logs. Left by 9 something again, but all stuffs cleared. Wish for a better tomorrow *_*

Terrible day

Heard a bad news once upon arriving office --- Joyce took sick leave for the day! That meant I'd have to take up her duties as well. It won't be a problem at all if trade volume stayed as usual; but the worst happened ... 22 trades for the day excluding held-over trades >_< that doubled the normal trading volume!

Finally left by 9.30pm, with some of my daily work deferred to tomorrow. What's wrong today @_@

《青蔥小札》Paulinian Anthology 2005

回到家，如常地開電腦，計畫先 check e-mail 後睡覺。不過，看了余寶雯的 e-mail attachment，精神立即為之一振，睡意全消!

(一) 麥少敏同學點解未經全班同意，就 send 了一封 「1998年度理科班同學 BBQ 邀請函」給各大老師? 而且老師名單不齊全，被人刊登全校，沒提名的老師可真傷心嘞 ...
(二) 吳建港老師的回應真不可思異 ... 似「爆料」...
(三) 沒有「班內派系鬥爭」那麼厲害嘛 ...
(四) 突然很想知道是誰說了「與其由『她們』做本班代表而得勝，寧願選他人做代表 --- 即使結果是輸」這麼駭人的言論，「她們」又是誰?
(五) 很好奇那些「鐵証」是甚麼呢?
(六) 那次 BBQ 我早就說不去了，我的名字也沒出現在「出席名單」之內，怎麼又會在回應中提到我嘞 @_@
(七) 「嬌小但卻熱衷於排球運動」，皆因全班只有我一人是排球校隊，何奇?
(八) 可不可以解釋一下甚麼是「以短攻長的精神」~,~
(九) 去長洲宿營都叫「非法赴會」?!
(十) 點解吳老師會遇上趙藹殷執行海關掃蕩翻版的行動? 莫非 ... 他正要去買翻版? =P

一事無成的周日下午

沒有去「遊船河」，於是可以遲起牀 =P 膊頭和右手食指很痛，痛得讓我胡思亂想，想我會就此死去嗎 ... (睬睬睬!)

打算去員工會所做運動，到達後才知道要另外登記和上 training 學用器械 (好不認真吖!) ，所以無功而退。想想不如隨便去跑個步算了，怎料又遇上天下大雨 @_@

運動做不成，結果跑到書店去。很久沒有看書、沒有逛書店了，更沒試過在德福這家新書店駐足過。看到張愛玲的《傾城之戀》，很想看，可突然受睡魔來襲，不得不把書放下。走到另一個書架，隨手拿來一本開始看，可惜十分鐘後又發覺睡意打不消，只好把書放下，回家去 ...

國慶煙花

要試用蘇海明的新相機，於是我們去看國慶煙花。很多人擁到海濱旁，我們站的卻是碼頭和半島酒店前這些非最佳位置，所以也不算可太擠嘞。

今次的煙花加入了新圖案，卻不是特別吸引。可能是看多了的緣故罷。

便服日

難得等到一年一度的便服日，我當然要穿上至愛的 T-shirt 、短褲 + 涼鞋上班嘞! 同事 M 說我一身沙灘裝，應該請假去沙灘，不要上班嘛；同事 S 直接問我今天的魚賣一斤幾錢，說我和魚販有幾分相似 ... 嘿嘿 =P

今天伙同 Ceci ，和 Eugene 及 秘書 Viola 一起到「碗屋」吃半價午餐。秘書的年紀應該比我輕，但她竟然說我「很可愛」?!?!?! @_@

下班，與 Kathy 、 Ivy 和 Carrie 一起去唱 K 。看到 MTV 中的「草蜢」，現在的造型一個像「師奶」、一個像「公雞」、一個真的像「草蜢」 ... 你們真的要「看」他們的演唱會嗎? 還是用「聽」的好了吖 ...

CIA exam CD-rom

My ex-manager in ICBCA was so eager to get the CIA exam CD-rom from Carrie that she contacted me through various means nearly everyday since mid September. Felt a bit suffocated. She has never rushed me for work during my 1 year and 10 months working life in ICBCA, but I experienced that after I was leaving the company. So ironic.

Dated Carrie to have lunch at "Wong Chi Kee" to get the CD-rom and accompanied her to choose the cake for Uncle Sam. Phoned my ex-manager and arranged to meet at the ground floor of the building when she's off (I won't be able to off by that time of course!). Finally got the whole business settled, yeah ~

Mid of week, busy day

Another busy day. Other than daily work and legal issues, had to handle some financial calculations as well. So lucky that there's nobody "disturbing" me today =P

Didn't "yam cha" for ages, had Chinese teas with ex-PwCers at "Nga Lai Kok" during lunch. Chatted a lot, and we teased on Kathy who has slept for 10 hours last night but really didn't look like so at all! Haha >,<

Got rashed

A very busy day. Had to deal with some legal issues on top of daily work, kept sending lengthy e-mails. Off time was delayed again; among which, half hour was caused by my colleague who couldn't stop asking stupid questions and not convinced by my answers, even I repeated that triple times! I couldn't help him at all, since he held the thinking that he's always correct and just gave in to others to complete the work. Help!

Off at 9.20pm, feeling a bit angry. ARrrrrrr ............ >_< !!

Happy Birthday in arrear, Sum

Sum's b-day was on last Friday, but he was at PRC that day. That's why we postponed his b-day dinner to tonight.

Got everything done by 7pm something, just pending my colleague's work to complete the last step again. Waiting, waiting and waiting, really hated that. Still had no response by 8pm, I couldn't sit there further and so headed to my colleague's seat. He hasn't even started working on the task at all! I was so annoyed, told him that I gotta went out for dinner and asked him to complete the work immediately. He was unwilling but was forced to do so, since I was standing besides him "monitoring" his progress. I hated that.

Finally arrived at CWB at nearly 9pm. I was the last one to join, they had started the dinner soon before I came. Dined at a Japanese restaurant, but I've forgotten its name already. Everybody looked tired; no wonder, it's Monday night, the start of the tiring working week! =P

Happy Birthday Elaine

Woke up at 3.30pm, but still feeling tired. Finished my brunch and joined Darians' gathering at Telford K308. Today's Elaine's birthday day. They're playing mah-john, and I flipped through Catherine's photo albums for her trip to Spain in July. So beautiful, seemed to be a nice place for trip. Trip, trip, trip ... @_@

Winnie updated us with the news of Alice and "Harperless". To be honest, it's scary >_< was it like that? So passionate ...

When we walked towards "Moon Uk" at Telford Plaza for dinner, Alice popped up suddenly right in front of M&S *_* Winnie was so shocked that she didn't know how to react even Alice was just asking her a simple question ... Gosh, so that proved the old Chinese sayings --- "Don't talk on ones' back during daytime, and not for ghosts at night"!

Digital camera

Typhoon signal no. 3 was on, but Damrey's destruction was comparable to that of signal no. 8 as shown on TV news. Would be better to stay indoor.

Did some shopping. Ming got a new digital camera, he's fairly excited; I was excited as well, since I'd take his old DC then ... haha >,<

Let me take some "mo liu" pictures at home later on =P

Typhoon Damrey

It's unusual to have typhoon in late September but not in summer; anyway, here it came --- Typhoon Damrey ... very windy!!!

Again, it'd be another rainy weekend >_<

Started trying to use my left hand instead of my right to control the mouse in office. Seemed not very smooth; but, for the sake of health of my right hand fingers, I'd keep on doing that. See if there's any improvement later on.

Another busy day

Enjoyed early lunch with Cecilia at IFC Spaghetti House before peak hours. We loved the discounted set lunch so much! Must go and try it again =P

Got additional ad-hoc tasks. Once off but ad-hoc. Not difficult indeed, especially with my accounting backgrounds; but really got too many cases to work on within limited timeframe. Turned out that I had to leave office by 9.15pm @_@

Started doubting whether my other teammates actually know how to work out similar calculation, it seemed to me that they had no idea about it. Guessed it'd be better to teach them the way of calculation, so that they could pick it up easier when I am on leave. Gosh ... still long time to go before I could take leaves, but I kept dreaming about that ~~>_<~~

Boss's AL

Started to realize that Trevor's annual leaves didn't necessarily equivalent to my holidays @_@ Simon and others couldn't make quick and precise decisions as Trevor usually did, and gotta refer some cases to Trevor since we couldn't come to a conclusion. Took up something which I guessed would be more appropriate to be initiated by management; so lucky that the recipient still reply to me, a small potato ...

Suddenly hope that boss would be back to office sooner *_*

Haagen-Dazs 雪糕蛋糕

老細自今天起放假三星期，我開心極了 --- 根據以往經驗，老細放假 = 自己 ... 哈哈 ... 三星期吖 ... 呵呵呵 >,< 不過今天還未嘗到「甜頭」，結果八時才走。希望明天會更好 *,* 晚上，到了「泉章居」吃健倫的牛一晚飯。大家準備了 Haagen-Dazs 的雪糕生日蛋糕，可是弄了廿多分鐘，用了牛肉刀、熱水、蠻力，怎麼也切不開 @_@ 最後要把蛋糕拿回時代廣場 Haagen-Dazs 店，又過了廿多分鐘，蛋糕終於被分成九份 ... yeah ，可以吃了 =)

遊赤柱

中秋節翌日，到了赤柱。整個夏天都沒到過海灘，今天總算去了一趟；雖然真的只是「走過」、沒躺下貼近，但總比沒去過好。

和蘇海明在尖沙咀乘搭城巴 973 ，開始我們的香港環島遊。是名副其實的環島遊吖，自西隧出口，經過西環、薄扶林、田灣、香港仔、黃竹坑、深水灣、淺水灣和舂坎角，終於到達赤柱。

放棄了赤柱廣場的食市，我們在海岸邊的 Seafront 吃個比薩午餐，幻想自己身處意大利的露天茶座，在太陽傘下享受悠悠海風。侍應生很有趣，一開始便以為我們是日本人，特別向我們介紹 Asian Menu ；後來發現我們聽得懂廣東話，是本地人，才不好意思地說外國遊客比較喜歡 Asian Menu (好像有點心餐、港式炒飯、星洲炒米等等)。蘇海明為了佩合日本遊客的形象，拿出自日本街頭免費取得的膠紙扇來撥一撥；我則繼續展露墨鏡下的微笑，想必看起來像極溫柔優雅的日本小姐 ... 呵呵呵 =P

天氣很不穩定，時晴時陰時雨，甚至在酷熱晴空下下雨。走過美利樓去探索北帝廟和千年古井，前者顯而易見，後者怎麼也找不到。倒是在一塊刻了「觀濤」的大石看海，果然看到像「東映」片頭那樣大浪拍岸的風景，真開心。海面上有很多人在玩滑浪風帆，色彩繽紛的堆在一起，好不熱鬧。

到聖士提反灣，又學著外國遊客在市集內左穿右插。路過一幢幢兩層的樓房別墅，妄想自己是豪宅的主人 ... 哈哈，真的是妄想，這裡屋子的月租是我月薪的好幾倍，更何況要買嘞 ... 要中了彩票才能移居此地 *,*

時間不早了，到正灘前的車站乘小巴回市區。太舒服，在車上睡著了。

Mid-autumn

The sky kept switching between sunny and rainy for the day. It's mid-autumn indeed, but the weather was no way reflecting autumn has arrived. Wandered around TST with Ming. Didn't aim to do shopping, but turned out that I bought some clothes under Ming's persuasion. Discovered that Muji at Silvercord has been wound up. Walking pass the seaside, we discussed why parts of the water surface was shining while other parts were not even there's no cloud above. Observed a sudden heavy shower at the pier before proceeding to Page One and CitySuper for books and foods. Made no purchase there anyway. Headed back to Telford for Ikea's metal rack, both fell asleep on MTR on the way.

Such a relaxing day, I didn't wanna have it stopped. Holidays, holidays, holidays, please don't leave me, okay?

《梁祝下世傳奇》[一號強風訊號現正懸掛]

無意間發現了《梁祝下世傳奇》這音樂劇，機緣巧合下買了門票(還是最貴的 HKD290 吖!!!) 和蘇海明一起看。

其實音樂劇只是借《梁祝》場境的延續，說的是勞斯和萊斯的故事。故事挺不錯，結局則馬虎和牽強了一點。何韻詩勝任女主角，周國賢這男主角卻有點給比了下去。配角「蝦頭」和「Tony/ Rose/ Mary/ Rosemary」很惹笑，角式很討好。

音樂劇的力量是強烈和震撼的，由下午六時多離開演藝學院至晚上十一時多回到家中，劇中的歌曲仍然在腦海中盤旋 ...

《勞斯．萊斯》 何韻詩
作曲:Edmond Tsang 填詞:黃偉文

勞斯和萊斯　都是花樣男子
勞斯　原是個校隊的優秀種子
萊斯　只喜愛讀書
偏偏他倆　早見晚見
每日著住同樣　純白襯衣
羅曼史　開場於　相鄰的桌椅
不過二人　不敢放肆

能成為密友　大概總帶著愛
但做對好兄弟　又如此相愛　旁人會說不該
忘形時搭膊　自有一面退開
暗裡很享受　卻怕講出來
兩眼即使　移開轉開
心裡面也知　這是愛

男子和男子　怎能親密如此
勞斯　難面對　卻跟她勾過手指
萊斯　偏偏那樣痴
終於一次　她撲過去
四目對望然後　除下襯衣
迷惑中　的勞斯　此時先至知
一向沒當這好手足女子

能成為密友　大概總帶著愛
但做對好兄弟　又如此相愛　旁人會說不該
純情何事會　讓這悲劇揭開
他真的很意外　想起相識以來
一起溫書逛街聽歌看海

日日也親暱如情侶　底牌終揭開

為何還害怕　若覺得這樣愛
尚在計算他又是誰　可否愛
旁人哪個　接受這種愛
明明絕配　犯眾憎　便放開
永遠的忍耐　永遠不出來
世界將依然　不變改
只會讓更多罪名埋沒愛
可要像梁祝　那樣愛

Still remember?

Listening to this melody lighted up lots of memories. Our memories. Do you still remember?

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Another piece of lengthy posting, it's actually the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on 12 June 2005 at Stanford's graduation ceremony. Meaningful and encouraging, but it's really too long to have the full text posted here ...

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says [Extract]

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Lunch with Cecilia

Finally could match the time to have lunch with Cecilia. Though we actually saw each other in office everyday, it's difficult to fix the time when both of us were free. She got a lot to tell, both on work and on her love affair. We had a long, long chat in the restaurant, and that's why we went back office late ... but nobody discovered that =P

Seemed that she caught new insights after the lunch. Hope that she'd be getting better soon.

Family dinner for Mid-autumn Festival

Father wanna had the family dinner for mid-autumn festival at Pizza Hut, so we went for it tonight. When I told Florence about my father's choice during our lunch today, she's surprised as her parents would propose going to Chinese restaurant for traditional dinner only, never interested in trying out new dishes.

I remembered that I seldom dined out before I went to higher secondary school, partly because we gotta took care of grandma's dinner and mostly because it's expensive for a family to dine out. I never deny that I was (and am) poor, and my family used to be poor. My mother got a job in the factory to help out my father's burdens when I was promoted to Primary 3, by the time I was thought to have the ability to take care of my little brother who was in Primary 1. My father lost his job when I promoted to junior secondary, but he never complained about that and kept trying hard to get a job. He used to be a forklift operator at the cargo terminal, and with nil education background it's actually difficult for him to get a good one. He has tried working at petrol station, at factory, etc, and finally he settled as a guard of an industrial building. Aged over 50, it's indeed a harsh job for him especially for the night shift. That's why my family understood that every bit of money earned was not easy, and we reduced expenses to minimum; among all, dining out was, of course, never a good option.

By the time I completed Secondary 5, my father went into hospital due to serious liver illness. I remembered I gotta bring my HKCEE result slip to the Princess Margaret Hospital, where my father stayed for several months for treatments. He was so happy that he showed the result slip to nurses, while I was embarrassed. What's on his mind that time was to get me into university for better future.

Afterwards it came the time I got admitted to university. Living in hostel far away from home, I've nearly forgotten how hard my family has worked to bring me up. Then in Year 2, my father got heart attack, while the factory where my mother worked failed to pay wages on time and went into lawsuit. My exam results were no way to be regarded as good. Seemed that all sorts of bad lucks converged. By that time my brother got the chance to be admitted to bachelor degree Programme of Accounting, maybe to year 2 directly, due to his outstanding performance in TI. However, he lapsed the opportunity as he didn't wanna add extra financial burdens to my family. Suddenly I realized that I was really the lucky one among us, but I didn't try my best in my study. It's too late by the time I learnt the truth, I got no way to work out a first honour degree from that point. Fortunately the surgery was a successful one, my father's health recovered step by step. Thanks to my part-time at McKinsey, I used my saving to subsidize the medical fee. My mother got a part-time job at KFC. My brother got a job offer soon after graduated from TI.

Time flied, I was graduated and got a job at a so-called professional firm, and subsequently at banks. Earning stable income, I started to get my family things which they didn't enjoy before. The most obvious one would be dining out for sure. My parents had never tried dishes other than Chinese and Indonesian. That's why they were so excited when I leaded them to taste Japanese foods at Watami. They're fond of pizza, even though I told them what they had were HK-style pizza instead of the original Italian ones. They're interested in some kinds of western dishes as well. Finally they had something to enjoy after their harsh early lives. Gradually it turned into a practice that we'd dine out for festival days. My parents would get excited and started pondering what to have for dinner when festival days approached. My brother insisted to share the expenses at the beginning, but I refused that since he enrolled in his part-time degree programme and set up his candies shop. Other than foods, I also tried to share my wealth with my family through monthly contribution. That's why I'm poor, no kidding =P

All these memories flashed across my mind suddenly, not only because of my family dinner for the mid-autumn festival tonight, but mainly due to a question raised by Alvis. He asked if I would usually have bad luck as what he has. When I thought back, I didn't really able to judge. All past events sharpened my intrinsic values. Rather, I would say all these challenges turned into sorts of invaluable experience for life, together with happy and sad moments, ups and downs. Be optimistic, then everything would turn out fine and far better from imagination *,* Afterall, the most important thing is to live a happy life =)