We didn’t do anything special on Christmas Eve nor on New Year’s Eve, but we went to a parade on January 1, 2008, which took place in central London. It wasn’t too bad actually, but I don’t know why there were so many cheerleaders from the states…We also saw Canadian and American flags…
Happy (belated?) New Year!!
What I did this Christmas? Well, I ate lots of junkies and watched a movie “A Good Year” with Poan. The movie turned out to be a junky as well. It’s about a man who has a successful career as a stock trader in London but faces a new dilemma as his uncle left him a vineyard in Provence after his death. He has to choose between a modern but busy life in London and a rural yet spiritual life in Provence. Which one would he choose?
Stupid movie, it’s all very predictable. But thanks to that movie, which reminds me of a book I’ve bought a long time ago–”The South of France”–a fantastic, feels-good watercolor journal by an artist. It’s sitting right there on our shelf.
All the sudden, I wanted to paint. I wanted to do something I’ve been thinking about for a long time: draw something out of that book. And it happens that we do have watercolor kits, which Poan bought in a small town ‘San Gimignano’ during our trip to Tuscany, Italy. The town looks just like the one appeared in the movie, and it feels just like what is described in the book.
So here it is, the first watercolor I have produced since I got out of what, elementary school? Oh I absolutely love the texture of it. How come I didn’t like to paint before?
第一次在耶誕感到有點冷清。家裡沒有聖誕樹, 唯一的植物是我們從超市買來的三個球根, 目前只發幾支小芽, 什麼名字我也不太清楚, 我只知道每次我養的植物都很難順利開花…
倫敦的聖誕氣氛頗重, 血拼人潮已達極限, 尤其是街上的燈飾, 比溫哥華來得耀眼許多; 各大百貨公司的櫥窗展示一家比一家猛, 華麗程度跟 Disneyland 有得拼。Christmas Fair 在這裡似乎很流行: 旋轉木馬, 小型 roller coaster, candy shop…等, 小型遊樂區就這樣在城市裡搭建起來。Hyde Park 的 Christmas Fair 還有一個小型 ice rink.
Merry Christmas my friends!
康 P 畢業了!! Right now he is known as Hubert Kang M.A.
But I know some of you don’t feel quite…right about this whole “Hubert” transition. So please, help me think of some names.
Anyways, I have to say I’m really proud of 康 P.
Opening soon! 等不及想幫康 P 的畢業展宣傳一下。
請期待開幕後的更多照片~
* Richard Gere impersonator at the lookalikes convention, Orlando, Florida.
Photo by Marcus Dawes.
歐是滴, 我又游回了失業的那一(疫?)區。交出辭呈後的一星期, 老闆大人居然問我有沒有興趣留下來, 他願意給我一個 permanent 的職位和豐厚薪水。當時我只心動了三秒, 頭還是給他搖了下去。要我回蜂窩？算了, 我好不容易已經下了決定, 要 “follow my heart”, 而不是用臉貼金屁股。
Then what’s my heart “thinking”?
我也說不上來…目前可能先找個 part time 餬口, 再來利用剩下來屬於我的時間。
在永遠都是快動作的火車站, 我終於可以以自己的步調好好享受早晨的時光; 再也不用每天花三小時和總是遲到的地鐵和火車過不去, 或是繼續忍受和陌生人零距離的接觸; 總算可以造訪每天早早關門週末又擠爆人的畫廊美術館, 用自己想要的角度看藝術……
然後在這些畫面中, 我想用相機和文字記錄下來…我已無藉口可以在這裡漫遊卻沒有留下影子和腳印。
One thing that I do everyday in my current job (actually I have only few days left there), is to send out legal documents to clients. Having done this for over 4 months now, I have found some of the most ridiculous last names people have, which I really want to share with everyone, under the circumstance in which I have no obligation to keep their “surnames” confidential.
5-Star-the-Most-Outstanding award goes to:
Drinkwater
Duckhouse
Farraway
Curry-peace
Muchmore
* Timlin (for those who knows him, would know why)
5-Star-Name-it-like-You-Describe award goes to:
Lightfoot
Goodchild
Hardcastle
Proudfoot
Whitefoot
Whitehead
Whitelamb
Waterman
Blackman
5-Star-Ok-Now-I-am-Scared award goes to:
Tough
Slaughter
Moody
Openshaw
5-Star-I-Just-Don’t-Get-it award goes to:
Office
Try
Kitchen
Nurse
Monks
Gay
Gamble
Purse
Rainbow
Fish
Bacon
Cousins
Box
Helps
Head
Fudge
I don’t mean to be mean by no means…
歐~親愛的各位, 沒有網路的生活有如與世隔絕, 我只想用這短短在 Internet Cafe 的時間探頭出來說哈囉!
好像每次旅行完回來都忙得沒時間 update…相片只是越積越多而已( 距離上次條列式又多了義大利的!!!) 又加上已經搬到新的地方住, 平均每天通勤時間由原來的 2 小時變為將近 3小時, 公車地鐵火車我通通包了! 現在想起來以前由 White Rock 搭公車到 downtown 的日子簡直只是一小片蛋糕…
來倫敦也已經 5 個月了, 剩下的三個月(?) 得好好計畫一下!
三分之二後的這時
終於又來造訪 Gordon, 而且這次很幸運地可以坐在窄小的”地窖”喝紅酒加 bread & cheese. 原本以為會超級浪漫無比, 但是坐久了才發現矮矮的天花板攀沿著不知打哪來的水 (該不會是從上面一層的馬路來的吧!!??), 還不時滴到頭髮,鼻子, 和我心愛的大衣。還好對方並不是第一次約會的情人(哈!)所以還不用裝作什麼事都ok. 除此之外, 由於空間矮小又塞滿了剛下班的上班族, 空氣間夾帶了汗水, 溼氣, 和 cheese 的味道…至於黑黑暗暗的角落有沒有吱吱叫的聲音, 我根本不敢去想.
不過這個隱密的空間不是每間 pub 都有, 有機會來倫敦的朋友絕對要去瞧瞧, 唯有歷史悠久的城市才有這樣的地方吧!? (不知道這地窖以前是做啥的…)
xxxxxx
上次來 Gordon 已經是半年前的事了, 總歸一句話: 時間過得真快, 真不敢相信自己已來倫敦8個月. 當初買機票時預定1/30的回程, 如今並沒有改變。原本以為會跟 Poan 待久一點, 但倫敦的許多醜陋面讓我想趕快離開。或許這裡只適合短期居住, 或許是我無法在這裡找到自己的一片天, 或許是我太想大家, 或許我只是想找藉口? 不管如何, 1/30 晚上我就悄悄地回溫哥華了!
Lemonni Schedule 預報:
目前狀況: 窮酸作家, 在家趕工製作 Lemonni 第一本書。這星期四交至印刷廠。
下星期一到四: Trip to Paris!!!
再來 1/30︰Farewell London! Hello Vancouver!
2/1: Application for Master in Publishing deadline.
2/5 半夜︰See you soon Vancouver! Hello Taiwan!
預計在台灣待3星期, 時差將會大亂特亂, 希望可以趁機瘦個3公斤…