May 17, 2007
category:Life
The Forgotten War
Stunning photo-jouranalism about a forgotton nation.
A forgotten war maybe, greed of the West for sure. It’s is still possible nowadays to buy thousands of acres of forest with a few bags of sugar and promises of building a few schools (a German firm just did it a few months’ ago) - Raping and Plundering of Africa go on and people continue to die from easily curable and preventable diseases like malaria and measles.
Posted at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2007
category:Life
My New Job
Doing odd jobs in a small restaurant isn’t too much a challenge but the left-over is good; I can stay away from my Instant Noodles for awhile.
I do occasion delivery apart from helping out in the kitchen – washing dishes, chopping onions and so on. Don’t know if the economy is that good or people are getting really rich - we do have a few customers who tip very generously. There was one who would give me around 30% tip every time I delivered food to her home and in one particular instance, she tipped me 200 for an order of about 110. I did actually say to her that it was too much (she was a little shocked when I handed her back the extra money) but she insisted that I was to keep the extra. And of course, there were some money-conscious customers who would stand at the door waiting for me to count to the last penny. There was only a few of them, fortunately.
I started another part-time job about a month’s ago working at night in a respectable local hotel. The abrupt change of my biological clock is one reason that I have not been writing as often as I like. They pay good money for an 8-hour shift from midnight to 8:00am in the morning, although I am still having a difficult time to get used to working at night and sleeping in the daytime.
The job involves helping out behind the bar, some cleaning work and setting the breakfast tables. It is a much better job than my previous one in a factory – I have the luxury to be able to move around and most importantly, having the opportunity to interact with people instead of standing on a 1 ft x 1 ft spot for 9-10 hours in front of a machine. I had never operated a beer pump and certainly not worked as a bartender before taking up this job. But it wasn’t hard to get to know my job as I used to drink a lot (too much indeed) and I don’t have any difficulties knowing all the drinks (except perhaps for some really innovative cocktails). The bar has a decent crowd, friendly and yet not too rowdy. Although most of them don’t tip a bartender, there is always a few exceptions –the best night I had was getting 50 dollars tips for each Gin Tonic I served – the gentleman must have a good day at the racecourse, he consumed about 10 Gin Tonic that night and every time, he gave me 50 dollars tips.
Posted at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2006
category:Life
WMD
12 million gallons of Agent Orange - one of the most toxic herbicides, was sprayed over central Vietnam 35 years ago. The land cannot grow rice or fruit trees for decades. Vietnamese and US officials carried out a joint survey of the land around Da Nang’s airport last year where it was used as the main storage for the chemical during the war. Results showed that the dioxin levels there was as much as 100 times above acceptable international standards.
Compensation is out of the question and they had refused to accept responsiblity. They had even resisted the moral responsiblity to help do a clean-up of the environment. Is this American value?
How many times we have been told that some people just hate the Americans for being what they are. Maybe we just have to listen to what Truc’s mother said,”The children are like this. We don’t hate the Americans (for what they did). Just help us to give these children a life”. And there are 4 million of them.
Posted at 12:02 AM | Comments (3)
December 16, 2006
category:Life
Talk
I know I can never escape from this feeling of guilt, no matter how effective time is in healing the pain.
Whether working in a factory as a lowly operator or now doing delivery for a restaurant, I have no complaint and am still trying my best to do my job as best as I can. But making ends meet is becoming increasingly difficult as income from a make-shift delivery job is anything but stable. The seems little we can do watching our meagre saving fast disappearing.
We used to dine out a lot – 500 a meal? No problem; 1,000 a meal? No problem. And who would have thought then that a bowl of plain noodle will become such a luxury now. The dream exploded suddenly in front of us. It was hard for me and certainly much harder for the children especially when their dreams were shattered into pieces overnight not because they had done any wrongs.
I am not a good parent. Although I did try to teach them to face the sudden adversity positively and to work their way out of the present misery, I gave up too easily. It is almost 6 years’ ago since the day we had to leave behind everything we had and I begin to feel that I seem to have given up all hopes.
I was depressed and it must have been over 3 years since we spent any quality time together as a family. Even as a family, we have found ourselves difficult to communicate with each others. We just choose to shut ourselves off altogether – the easy option, I guess.
Winter festival is coming up next Friday. I had a thought. Maybe I should try to talk to my children; I should try to push them back onto a right track. I had thought of talking to them; I knew I should have done so earlier. I am not sure if it’s my depression or my selfishness, I didn’t seem to be able to muster enough courage to do so. I didn’t know what to talk.
I have not written this to seek any sympathy. I have been trying hard to separate my personal life from a blog which I would love to concentrate on my thought about current affairs and some web stuff which interest me. I know damn well that when a man decides to climb over the parapet, he doesn’t have too much sympathy from the onlookers – most of them will just wonder what will happen next while some will simply be amused by the man’s stupidity. In life, misfortune doesn’t generate much sympathy. It only produces some curiosity – short-lived curiosity.
I hope when I talk to my children next Friday, I will have some meaningful things to say.
Posted at 02:53 PM | Comments (1)
September 13, 2006
category:Life
Scary
I have found it rather scary to watch the Earth breathe - a simulation based on real data.
Posted at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2006
category:Life
Any Takers?
Life in Shanghai isn’t cheap but at RMB110,000 per square meter for an apartment, it’s a record.
As Shanghaiist pointed out, he used to live in an apartment in Jing’an district that cost RMB1,000 a month and now a flat in 汤臣一品 (Tomson Riviera) would translate to over three thousand years’ rent.
A crash in the property market is a good thing and I do hope it happens soon. Copying the high land price policy which apparently worked magic in Hongkong simply will not work in China. They will learn.
Posted at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2006
category:Life
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Posted at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)
May 17, 2006
category:Life
Two Brothers & A Sister
This was then. Now we are living in 3 separate continents. We have never been close but I wouldn’t say we were not good brother and sister - we never had to fight over things. Maybe that was the problem, I was the one who never had to fight for anything.
Sorry.
Posted at 12:58 PM | Comments (1)
April 28, 2006
category:Life
Living With The War
Lennon is dead and there isn’t anyone who is capable of writing songs such as “Imagine” or “Give Peace a Chance”.
Bob Marley is dead too and there is no more “Get up, Stand up”
Dylan is old and mellow and songs like “Master of Wars”, “Blowing in the Wind” and “The Time They are A-Changin” will probably never come out of him again.
Madonna has gone back to the dance floor after she censored herself in “American Life”.
We have to rely on some punk bands like Green Day or Bad Religion or some girls from Texas (or “French Hens” as the Rev. Jerry Falwell called them) to help us regain our conscience in a Bush nightmare.
Compared to the ‘60s, the music world is surprisingly quiet at a time when we are living with the war. “Where have the riots gone?”. The lack of musical reaction to the chaos is disturbing – the materialistic world has finally conquered the mindset of our younger generation. As they always say, “Who cares?”.
I don’t know whether Young’s upcoming album “Living with the War” or Springsteen’s tribute to Pete Seeger in “We Shall Overcome: the Seeger Sessions” is able to make a difference. Let’s hope they do. After all, there is only so much an old rocker can do.
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And if “Where have the riots gone?” doesn’t strike a chord, “Where have all the flowers gone?” might just do.
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
words and music by Pete Seeger
Posted at 08:29 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 20, 2006
category:Life
YUK!
The long wait is over, Cruise may finally have a delicious dish of placenta. There is quite of number of Placenta Recipes to choose from - just bear in mind that we, Chinese, don’t like to eat it raw and don’t spoil it with garlic and butter. Placenta Stew? Well, probably not.
In the West, the practise by men of Placentophagy (eating the placenta) is generally considered unclean and unacceptable although the growing influence of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) may slowly change the general perception of such a practice.
In China, placenta has long been a valuable substance in preparing medical drugs for thousands of years. In additon to Tiger bones, rhino horns, bear bile and Manchurian ginseng, placenta is one of the tradmarks of TCM.
Posted at 08:39 AM | Comments (3)