挑戰 Sweet Dreams(Are Made Of This)

想到哪寫到哪, 這大半年病的心慌卻馬不停蹄, 行萬里路良藥苦口, 次次遠航受益良多.  喜歡脫隊單行, 孤獨, 是我深度旅遊唯一方式.

 2017 is the year of my favorite guys.  Ishiguro is awarded the Noble Prize in Literature and during my stopover in Tokyo, I discovered my architectural hero, Tadao Ando was having a retrospective, Endeavors, at the National Art Center an hour before the museum closed for the day(and I was leaving for HCMC next morning).
With a stroke of luck, sprinted I on the hustling street of Tokyo under the autumnal dusk.  The moment I stepped into the 1:1 replica of Church of The Light, Ando once again after decades, took my breath, my heart, my soul away with his samurai-esque tour de force in juxtaposing nature with artificiality and his tender aching for Zen.

十月底再次過境東京, 沒辦法, 久兵衛壽司下蠱, 中蠱之人豈能不回訪?  新鮮虎斑車海老送入口前微微抽搐, 我向執長刃的師傅輕輕頷首.  食, 性也. 投身餓鬼道, 追逐權力的終極又何妨?  偶然發現安藤忠雄回顧展 - 挑戰!!!  暮色蒼茫, 離閉館賸不到一小時, 向來路痴的我, 屏息靜觀地圖, 閉目三秒, 再睜開眼全速衝刺, 於華燈初上秋意深籠的中城街道奔跑起來… 真趕上了!  走進光之教堂一比一的模型, 肅穆肅然, 多年前為什麼愛上他的悸動重現, 更耽溺不可自拔… 安藤的圖稿, 簡, 拙, 驃悍, 如橫在心頭的武士刀, 砍得靈魂寸寸折斷, 待回過神來, 那傷痕提醒自己生命活著深刻的豐華絕美.

After five long years, I finally reunited with Bangkok in July.  The Mandarin Oriental was the first hotel I stayed in BKK when traveling as a child with my parents for the international medical conference that my father was attending.  It was where Mr. LK and I spent our honeymoon(technically, a honeyweek).  Through work, I also met several wonderful friends and amazing artisans in BKK that I created a limited edition of artful objects for my own brand, LK metamorphosism while I was living in Singapore.

七月初在曼谷開會, 巧遇敝公司國際分部巧立名目耗費公帑什麼什麼超級廠商高峰會的渾事, 官貨馬屁精齊聚, 成群已婚男女打情罵俏暗送秋波… 這種搔不到癢處的flirting到底是爽在哪?  帶種的何不乾脆來場翻天覆地貨真價實的桃色糾紛, 孬.  LK先生剛好於新加坡出差, 給太座驚喜飛來探班, 我公務繁忙與他起口角, 而後想真正人在福中不知福.  有他, 我的怪是風格; 少了他, 我只剩憤世嫉俗.  

當年蜜月於歷史氛圍濃郁的東方文華, 重溫舊夢, 提早半年慶祝結婚十五週年紀念:

手牽手漫步雪白長廊,
肩並肩在Bamboo Bar聽爵士女伶唱'S wonderful!  'S marvelous You should care for me. 
當然也微笑相對喝下午茶, 於Author's Lounge.  

記得前次徘徊此地為2012年的復活節, 當時的我很迷惘很想逃離婚姻, 五年來其實波瀾重重, 過關斬將.  人生如長篇小說, 故事的厚度與角色發展蛻變息息相關, 誰知道這書會怎麼寫下去?  甚至希望我倆別太濃情蜜意, 命運的黑色幽默, 往往讓恩愛夫妻不到冬, 只盼誠心誠意寫至耄耋.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I dwelled in the Author's Lounge and penned my magnum opus? My stay this time was for business, a very telling one, too when it's dissected in political terms.  Mr. LK was in Singapore for work and decided to surprise me by flying over to spend the weekend together at the Mandarin Oriental.  Thank God for hubby or I would be unwillingly engulfed by another real life Game of Thrones episode!

A little town outside BKK on our way to visit a vendor with its stalls of exotic fruits was rather charming.  I loved the refreshing shades of blues and greens.  Over the years, I found myself more drawn to working with small, budding companies that displayed lots of passion and authenticity vs. the ones who could not wait to monopolize the market gloating in the insufferable sense of entitlement.

After a long day of meetings and an even longer car ride back to the city, my obvious dinner choice was a mocktail at the Bamboo Bar while embalmed in the sultry vocal of this beautiful songstress.  She chanted quite a bit of Antonio Carlos Jobim, who, of course, was another of my favorite guys.  Her rendition of Insensatez had a touch of levity… rightfully so, what can one do is to take it easy when a love affair is over :P 

再赴胡志明, 找到我的情人 - Marou黑巧克力.  每位浪漫且富自我奉獻情操的女子都該有她的Mr. Rochester - dark, rich, and bitter sweet.  ㄧ齊出差的同事都笑:  LK言語風流, 為人處事嚴謹.  街邊按摩院站店女郎穿得不知多辣, 慫恿同行的老薑先生去按腳, 看付同個價錢他和我得到的服務是否有差別, 東南亞國際分部型男VP聽聞似笑非笑, 對LK說願付錢額外服務肯定有, 我回咱們CEO大概不樂意越洋保LK出獄吧? 型男VP苦笑:  醜聞哪能上達天聽, 是在地分公司幾個倒楣鬼得善LK闖的禍. 瞧, 戲謔間不又ㄧ場政治角力.

HCMC revisited - I found my LOVER, chocolat de Marou.  Every girl needs her Mr. Rochester, dark, rich and bitter sweet.  Why not?  After I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, above 70% dark chocolate in moderation became my ultimate sweet tooth salvation.  When the occasion calls for it, I would even go all the way to 100%(that's probably Heathcliff?).  It's a brave new world out there, much to experiment and much to savor.

週末卡深圳至尷尬, 幾位小姐禮拜六買完假包禮拜天相約大早去香港遊玩, LK前ㄧ天才紅眼班機到埠, 頑疾在身豈可玩命?  搖手婉拒決意留在四季飯店補眠運動查電郵.  孰不知敝人高效率, 午后三時所有項目皆大功告成, 歪在軟榻上欣賞自己隨身攜帶的素描本, 翻到某頁竟是2014年同月份所描繪的Bread Street Kitchen&Bar晚餐, 當時亦是商旅途中, 剛好Time Out雜誌讀到Gordon Ramsay香港新開餐廳, 便孤身搭車從Intercontinental到蘭桂坊試菜, 在鬧聲鼎沸的吧檯佔了最後單位.  往事歷歷在目… 法國領班慇勤, 細細解說每道招牌菜, 甜點Eton Mess尤其美味, 還猜對我是設計師, 問哪裏露餡, 他濃濃喉音答LK戴的方框眼鏡和筆… 瞧著自己舊畫, 愈瞧愈餓, 你若讀到這兒, 想必已估到之後LK幹些什麼好事?  沒錯, 再度起而行!  向禮賓部問清楚地鐵路線海關程序, 拿好護照錢包素描本, 便朝人山人海的福田口岸前進… 轉了四趟車, 終於在兩個半小時後氣喘虛虛爬上蘭桂坊石坡… 至於Eton Mess encore滋味銷魂與否?  'ㄧ代宗師'上身, 世間所有的久別重逢, 都是相見爭如不見.

I have many pathological needs.  Challenging authority being the first, breaking rules next and impromptu the third.  A sunday afternoon in the super industrial yet bland one's way to the yawn-ville Shenzhen foreboded I was off to no good when I checked off very task(catching up on zzz, exercises, e-mails) on my to-do list before 3PM.  I decided to head to Lan Kwai Fong after I spotted my old sketch done in 2014 depicting a dinner at the Bread Street Kitchen&Bar by Gordon Ramsay(it was talk of the town, hot, new establishment back then) just so I could be enraptured by the heavenly Eton Mess again.  After a treacherous journey of transferring subway four times, long lines leaving Chinese custom/entering HK custom and muttering to myself repeatedly 'It better be AWESOME' for 2.5 hours, I made it to the hilltop, devoured a block of crispy pork belly… the Eton Mess?!  The restaurant totally cheapened out on this classic in just three years!  It went from a perfect concerto of crunchy meringue, melting at the tip of your tongue chantilly cream and zesty strawberries to one sappy ballad of a syrupy berry compote serenading Who Moved My Meringue.  I am so going to write to Chef Ramsay a long complaint peppered generously with F***.

四月中接手玩具部, 起初萬般不情願, 暗恨老闆拋個爛攤子給我.  太極生兩儀, 千奇百怪的新任務接踵而至, 想通兵來將擋, 就當深造再教育.  奉命到東莞勘察某獨步嬰兒車製造業的大廠, 果然ㄧ新耳目:  滿倉滿牆高聳的鋼模鋁框焊槍, 分工之精細, 儀器之精準, 生產之高效, 連員工餐廳的肉包子皆機器一線生產, 每小時5000個肉包(!)  參觀摹擬車速撞擊測試現場, 某個房間俗稱人偶ER, 排排坐零歲到十二歲照真人比例體重打造的測試用人偶(全世界祇一家公司製造), 按耐不住好奇, 我伸手抱了抱一個不足兩歲大的人偶, 沈甸, 冰涼, 欠缺五官面目… 突然寒顫心痛, 彷彿溫德斯慾望之翼讓後工業文明的荒蕪緩慢吞噬反芻.  公司創辦者K君是另一則傳奇, 白手起家的臺灣男子, 經濟起飛年代娶了來自美國中部外商公司共事的美國女孩, 夫婦鶼鰈情深, 胼手胝足創業.  一雙千金, 姊姊失聰, 慈愛的父母不移餘力資助慈善特教; 妹妹活躍精明繼承家業為執行董事.  扼腕是夫人十年前患乳癌去逝, 思念亡妻的K君, 在偌大工廠遼闊的草地上立有數座極簡風石雕, 雕的是母親懷抱女嬰的溫柔… 這是位懂感情的君子.  夫人生前想必喜歡演奏鋼琴, 公司大廳也好, 招待外賓的五星級旅館式套房也好, 都擺著三角Steinway, K君自己是吉它發燒友, 收藏古董Taylor, 據說最愛和好友(皆任公司要職, 此次接待我等的兩位VP, 哼哈二將一對寶)自彈自唱Take Me Home, Country Roads, 希望下次有機會認識這位傳奇人物. 

I always look on the bright side of business travel - meeting new people and learning new things.  Touring the amazing factory of our new strategic partner, we were in awe witnessing the pork bun production and assembly line for the worker's cafeteria - 5000 bun/hour!

今年已赴上海商旅三次, 曾覺此城活色生香千嬌百媚(怎麼說都有文青祖師張愛玲坐鎮!!!), 冒著被甩巴掌之險也欲親芳澤… 近幾次卻深感言語乏味銅臭薰天思維交流欠奉, 想開口求她行行好分手快樂, 唉, 原來我的愛, 深知荷爾蒙在情長在, 化學作用過期, 就… 悵望江頭江水聲囉!  並非全無可取處, 小籠包, 蔥油拌麵, 酒釀湯圓惹味依然, 舊友重逢亦欣喜, 怪要怪敝公司國際分部眼界修養江河日下, 與某要廠開會開場揮舞原料上漲報表旗幟, 所有數字皆不利我方, 弔詭是議價之前已協商落定… 我平時言笑晏晏, 開會時縝慎直接, 堂堂在地部門總監竟與廠商主事竊切耳語, 議論LK是不是吞火藥(突然明白孫武練兵斬闔閭姬妃的心情, 伍子胥早該想開點... 此是後話), 今天如果我是六尺三吋高的央格魯薩克遜白種男, 這些人會不會稍息立正洗耳恭聽?!  和我搭檔的老薑先生正是六尺三吋高的央格魯薩克遜白種男, 在總部也好, 在外地也好, 他出名的多一事不如少一事; 明眼人皆知LK乃熱血將領, 為團隊和珍視的企劃案, 我絕對不計仕途據理力爭, 諷刺不?!  開這種沒頭沒腦的會無疑對四面泥灰牆說話, 進行不到三分之一我已元神出竅, 得靠猛啃Mr. Rochester提氣, 又或許我不如自己想像的公正, 同一天早晨的會議由我頗看好的新秀, 隸屬深圳分部的Z主持, 廠商是向來惺惺相惜的N, N團隊從老闆到各司其職的團員氣質甚佳, 男女皆正派自信, 讓人一看就想親近, 幾個痴心人潑膽漢, 對新產品新設計懷抱莫大熱情, 討論項目雖繁瑣, 腦力激盪妙語如珠笑聲連連, 數小時晃眼即過.  Z的屬下Y首度參加會議, 這斯文心直的小哥說怎麼開會如斯好玩, 都不想離開了, 逗得我們哈哈大笑.  對革命同志, 我的確有所偏愛.

My feelings for Shanghai have taken quite a turn since beginning of the year.  If absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder, the opposite must be true, too.  The psychiatric transition I am experiencing right now is an odd blend of the morning after remorse plus a twisted humor for 'he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon'.  The former calls for distance emotionally and the later, a physical quarantine please.  I blamed it all on politics or my ineptitude for navigating them.  The vendor dinner at the Michelin three starred Tang Court was quintessential Camus.  All four classifications presented and absurdity examined from the seducer, to the actor, then the conqueror and therefore the artist(moi, yours truly).  My mind had the cynical propensity of detaching itself from physical reality and morphs into a completely different persona as camouflage.  When the dessert was served, eight little flaky pastry swans stuffed with milk and yolk custard, I nearly choked from laughter.  There my volatile little grey cells went again, verged on dirty, identified these as spermatozoa.  Nevertheless, I finished my share, in Hannibal style :)

人生講白quid pro quo.  同樣的月光, 照著蘇東坡, 一代文豪會把酒問青天千里共嬋娟; 照到狼群, 等著齊聲嚎吠, 掩耳逃命吧!