What a Wrap! [Warning : ONLY for people who have a sense of humour]

"Take it for Granted" - It Runs in the Family

Sis-in-law is one of the boss of my husband's family business. Her son reached 2 years and held a birthday party in ... the office! Well, I assume her son doesn't have any baby-friends. The mother doesn't have any mommy-friends. So they have to f-o-r-c-e the employees to celebrate this poor baby's birthday. A 2-year-old king!

My dad-in-law's brother's wife (let's call her 'the wife') will be soooooo unhappy if "I" don't attend her son's wedding dinner party in Shantou (4 hours one way road trip). Said my mum-in-law.That comes to two questions: Who does she think I am? And, who does she think she is?I thought it was a Wednesday (30th September) which would cost me HKD750 skipping the classes. It is actually on Thursday -- a no-harbour-crossing-$800 day. And, usually the students do better on a no-school day.My mum, dad, and grandma just came from Toronto. Much worthwhile to give them the $800 without the 8 hours travel than to make 'the wife' happy. Not that I hate her but I've never liked her.Anyway, either mum-in-law is giving me the pressure to go (apparently not working) or she's just merely predicting (which wasn't well presented in such).I dunno. Who cares?

Mum-in-law and I are thinking to live together in a bigger house. Sis-in-law (yes, again) wanted to move her little sister's piano to o-u-r new house because she wants her 2-year-old to learn to play piano. But to my observation, her baby is much more interested in sports. In fact, she has already had her baby 'raised' in her mum's house. I said, "I don't want the piano in my house." She, "Why?"
"I don't play the piano. Your mum doesn't play it either. Whoever wants the piano will take it away with them or just sell it to the music instruments store."
"Oh, yes. It should be moved to o-u-r new house."Nice try, sis!

Right now, I am quite content living in this tiny house. I move because I want to live in a better place. Basically I don't want to live in:
1.  a nursery
2.  Tom Lee
3.  a warehouseNo, thanks!

Reusing Rubbish

Greed verses Selfishness

Recently, whenever I put beef into my mouth, my husband keeps saying "don't eat beef". He believes that it causes global warming. I reply I'm not giving up eating beef. How many cows does it take to create significant effect? I don't know. But I know there are people who would only wear geniune leathers; brand name bags; men wants to buy the new Ferrari with 2 Mercedes sitting in the garage; eat a lot of meat despite that (s)he has diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, whatever; want another kid because the parents think their spoiled child is bored. I live in a little city with 3 companies of buses. There is a time of day when buses chain up like train. People want more, that's greed. But it's selfishness that makes it a whole lot worse. Having beef once or twice a week is not asking too much. Besides, beef is expensive. I am not obsess with it. It is said that one dairy cow produces almost 10kg of gas every year. Compare to what is it soooooo bad? How contaminated can one human being be in a year? The greed to have more luxury, fame, wealth, power, sex ... Perhaps, it would be more effective to cut down the number of beefaholic people or people who would produce more dumps than a cow could produce gas.

I recycle plastic, tins, glass and paper. I don't have a kid. I don't eat shark fins. I try my best to produce less garbage. I reuse those plastic bags that wrap magazines. I reuse those glass bottles. I reuse those magazines paper. I use natural deodorant. I use natural insect repellents or insecticides. I use rechargeable batteries. I use energy-saving light bulbs. I never turn my air-conditioner lower than 26 degree celcius.

Don't tell me not to eat beef. Make smokers quit smoking!

(ref. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/Story?id=2723201
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/Story?id=2723201 )

Giant Piano

In An Hui, China

The violin contains an elevator to take you up the piano!

中山1.5日遊

中山真係無乜嘢玩咋。一日到黑記情响食同住到啫。

好好老公借架車，細佬做司機。團友分別重有 Mr. $ and Mrs. $。星期五 (April 10) 10a.m. 出發，到黃崗關口第 $s。「万分」多人。等咗大嘅 45+ 分鐘。再加上 60+ 分鐘車程，one, two, three 就去咗 check-in 先啦！咁多人去旅遊，系咪？

唔駛 RMB200 住到無黑邊廁所嘅大陸酒店。我決定中山人係 super clean 嘅！其實睇吓街就知中山幾乾淨！

攪完一大輪已經系 tea time 嘞！哪哪聲去 steakhouse。

跟著去到中山紀念乜乜同中山乜乜，全部都已經 closed －－ 5:20 p.m. 啦！不過第二日去，裡面啲嘢都系九唔搭八嘅 pottery 呀，禁毒呀 ......

於是乎又去食。

Day 2 後補嘅行程 －－

然後去咗呢間嘢，2:30 先搵到佢，但 closed，5 點先再開 ...... 唉 ......

上海 3 日 2 夜

我知，又係上海吖嘛。

東湖路 . 龍門陳

SOHO

Lost Heaven

豫園

小籠包

M on the Bund

houses

It's amazing how one body can show you the impression of 'a movie'. Enjoy!

逃避

聖誕後嗰個星期日去完西環間爛鬼 Panash 食晏 (唔關食物事，係服務實在低能。) 就逛逛粒豆咁細嘅三聯書店 (無文具...)。撞到老世 (agent) ，佢揾學/教英文啲書。我就搵 --

睇到一篇「死後才嗟怨」。話說 89 歲老伯伯 (曾是一名紀律部隊人員) 的子女探望他時都表現出一副不耐煩的樣子。老伯伯死後，子女收拾他的遺物時才後悔。作者認為應珍惜當下，過後才嗟怨是沒有用的。

人都很擅長逃避。Procrastination (延遲) 、吸煙、酗酒、吸毒、嗜賭、迷信...... 一律都是逃避的一種。可能「懶得面對」，事情複雜至「唔想理」，無法面對自已是一個很無聊的人亦可。面對死亡，甚麼怪反應也可能有。只是死亡不能再來一次。

English Spelling - 1 Where do the Words Come from?

看到這本書 『The Usborne Book of English Spelling』 想與大家分享。從此以後，英文生字不再那麼像外星語了！

Why English Spelling is Difficult

很久很久以前，不列顛島曾被許多族裔者入侵過。而他們打下子英語的基礎。

Celtic 凱爾特
Romans	introduced alphabet
Jutes, Saxons, Angles	basis of English
Viking	introduced Scandinavian words
Norman Conquest	introduced French

後來與他國有貿易往來而混入了些外語。復興時期，學者用 Latin (拉丁) 及 Greek (希臘)。印度曾經作為英國植民地有二百多年，所以英文亦有浸入印度語。現在當然不少得美國電影與文化的影嚮啦！
研究詞的衍生叫 etymology* (詞源) 。想了很多字源的細節需要一個特殊的詞源字典 etymological dictionary 。

*suffix 字尾 '-ology' = study of something e.g. biology (bio = life) = study of life 生物學