你始終在我心底 You’re My Best Friend

November is Little V's birth month and the year end reunion with old friends including revival of my passion for the rock band Queen with the biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.  M stopped by San Francisco for a meeting and we splurged at Eight Tables by George Chen.  It was a heartwarming antidote to the soul crushing week at work.

Song pairing:  You're My Best Friend

"Ooh you make me live

Whatever this world can give to me…"

While Mercury's powerful vocal floors any audience, I admire how John Deacon balances tempo, beat and rhythm into one lively musicality.

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俠客遠行 Procrasti-write

Among all forms of expression, I seem to have an immediate connection with writing and drawing.  Both require the conduit of a pen/pencil/stick…  Nope, that's not the direction I am heading to.  Although from time to time I do enjoy a good debate, I abhor the dueling of narcissism.  I write to distill chaotic thoughts, to experience life twice and to be at peace with myself.

戊戌年多變, 多位人物離世… 奇才Stephen Hawking, 靈魂歌后Aretha Franklin, 廚神Joel Robuchon, 科幻作家Ursula K. Le Guin, 怪傑Anthony Bourdain… 還有我們的金庸.  眾俠客, ㄧ路好走.

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君恨我同 He Childed As I Fathered

I was very enthralled by Cambridge and wondered if my former domestic orbit would no longer be enough yet within a month upon returning, I reverted to that humanoid again.  Not even teetering between sense and sensibility, I just possess such clarity in mindset that resembles the on/off switch.

It was a dream then.  Aaah… life is but a dream.  My favorite dining spot at the Cambridge Chop House overlooking King's Parade.

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愛如焰火 We Should Do When We Would

To age or not to age - that is not my choice.   The team threw me a Shakespeare themed birthday party!  Star-crossed muffins, soliloquiches, midsummer night's drinks… my month long of celebration ended with a whimsical note.  The positive energy from my sojourn at Cambridge will be long lasting.  While juggling multiple soul-crushing meetings, I could always attain a moment of respite by wearing the Elizabethan collar my team made me, reciting:  All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand…

開某項例會, 頂頭上司突宣佈當天是我生日, 由品牌冷艷大統領帶領高唱生日快樂, LK受寵若驚倍感虛不受補…

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始終 To Find An Ending in The Beginning

Experience over possession - the birthday present to myself this year is to study Shakespeare at Cambridge, just for a week of midsummer night’s dream.

萬物逆旅, 百代過客, 人生如虛擬實境, 2011-2014連續痛殤父親小阿姨外婆和一個本來有緣為母女或母子, 不知性別的小小靈魂... 心底有個自我掙扎著默默療傷, 雖然, 命運沒特別刁難.  去年的健康風暴似乎啟動豁然機制, 今年給自己的生日禮物是重回校園讀書 :)

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協奏曲 Panacea for My Ailment

Feeling a poetic lethargy lately… could be the weather.  As I organized photos from the trip, bits and pieces of vitality slowly came together like puzzles.  At Bloom&Branch, a cafe in Aoyama where the barista was as solemn as a priestess.  I made my confession in blue ink and sketches.

四月出差上海時與童年友伴S緣慳一面, 他此次商旅紐約舊金山, 約著在Wayfare Tavern晚餐, 從他媽到我媽(不是罵粗話喲), 由亞里斯多德至黑澤明, 論千禧世代資訊核爆同理心低落, 未來人口為患的國家會否效仿老電影'楢山節考', 對耄耋強制安樂死? 

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情書 Billet-doux to Tokyo

這些時日馬不停蹄, 驚覺若不在東京, 便是在前往東京的路上... 是啥緣由, 讓LK居所的灣區如失丈夫歡心的髪妻, 良人趁空即奔赴小三懷抱?!  嚴格來說, 東京我最熟悉的活動範圍是銀座, 從虎屋菓寮, 椿屋咖啡, 蔦屋書店, 久兵衛… 漫步到丸之內是一保堂嘉木茶室.  人生至此, 喝杯好茶, 來幾貫活跳跳握壽司, 逛書店, 似乎就剩這點出息.

Reading my blog sequence, I have come to the realization that I might as well plan the move to Ginza, Tokyo.

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浮生若夢 Would I choose to be brave or be blind?

"My ultimate responsibility, is not to you, not to the president or the CEO but the customer who decides to purchase our design."_____  A statement that I said it in multiple forms, be it BBQ, sauteed or flambe.  Truth is something no one needs to lie about.  I said it with a solemn heart.  I do realize my blog has become an existential soliloquy… so be it.  As I strolled along the street of Ginza after my recent work trip to Asia, I wondered if it's a revelation or a lobotomy.  Matcha and mochi wrapped in oak leaves I ordered at Toraya - nothing a warm cup of tea and wagashi couldn't solve.

雖行色匆匆, 走到哪都有份隨意, 久違的新德里, 時差便早起靜待日出; 上海近年常去, 竟也巧遇安藤忠雄'挑戰'的姊妹展'引領'.  再赴胡志明市, 當然又砸兩百萬盾在Maison Marou Saigon囤黑巧克力; 返回灣區前東京渡週末, 吃到了春天的久兵衛和有趣的陌生食客聊人生聊美食聊我的畫. 

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我有好多話跟你講 Ulysses

My father passed on in May 2011.  Being an atheist his whole life, I am not sure if he is with God or Dionysus in the after life… I miss you, dad.  He was also a literati.  So perhaps reading Ulysses, I might summon if not the friendly spirit I long to be reunited, then at least my deeply buried inner peace.

As my schizophrenic norm, the images document the culinary odyssey at Dominique Bouchet Tokyo where Mr. LK and I celebrated our Crystal anniversary, along with Little V.

那天在Wholefoods買菜, 旁聽華裔小女孩摟著父親的頸項, 嬌聲嬌氣對揹著自己的父親說:  爸爸, 我有好多話跟你講!  那位身型瘦小的父親滿臉憐惜, 甜得要晃出蜜, 直回說:  慢慢講, 爸爸聽.  ㄧ時間, 我杵在蔬果並列的購物架前發癡, 心頭小小的裂縫愈撕愈大…

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懺悔 As***** Rating Self Exam

自我辯護缺乏學習價值, 不如認栽, 從錯誤檢討.  有好陣子忙似汗馬, 呆若木雞, 深覺超然, 工作歸工作, 生活還生活, 政治絕緣… 結果仍是逃避.  靈性的自己漸行漸遠, 實在懷念柔情洶湧千思萬緒的她.  現下的我, 理智如電腦, 唯一的糾結是為什麼無感糾結, 是否已失去屬於人類的情感?

The Blue Bottle craze at Minamiaoyama, Tokyo.

I was half way there, a certified arse… dismal prospect coming out from the assessment.  What made me so angry, cynical, and disillusioned?  Have I gazed long into the abyss and now it's becoming a part of me?!

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亞當的前妻 Quality of The Heart

I admit, the only number I am interested in the entire Winter Olympic is figure skating, especially the men's program.  Such display of agility and muscular beauty, who wouldn't be?  After all, it's Valentine so why can't I shoot hearts to the screen?!  As fate would have it, recently I have had several opportunities examining matters of the heart, everyone else's except my own.

Vide cor meum?

Vide cor tuum?

In the loveless modern era, having a heart is agonizing luxury.  I heart embosser, ruler, paper weight, protractor… any tool for a writing desk or the drafting table.  Is it any wonder I am a designer?

女性主義先驅魅惑狂野的Lilith, 和從亞當肋骨變出來的溫馴後妻夏娃截然不同, 但兩者某程度都背叛曾經是她們的男人, 這…

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聽雨, 風骨 Esquire: Manners Maketh Man

Caught merlot handed(that pairs with my sin in palatable harmony) spending over two million… VND on chocolates?!  We will get to that later, I promise.

2018首度商旅無可推卸, 新年次日便整裝飛行, 上海, 深圳, 香港, 河內, 臺北… 待月中歸返, 灣區冬雨連綿, 高速公路大塞車, 忍不住播放Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, 磅礡交錯滂沱, 陣天價響的寬慰, 即使由文青活至耄耋, 某種情懷常在.  我, 終究是讀書人, 當無邊落木蕭蕭而盡, 淡定處世, 從容待己.

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