年華 The Heart of The Wise

“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of the fools is in the house of mirth.”

----------  Hebrew Bible, Ecclesiastes 7:4

Ta-da, my reading of the month was The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and as a rebound (don’t ask me why, please) I already embarked on Angela Carter’s The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman for my November read.  Wharton scaffolds the intricate New York high society and depicts the interiority of her characters with a melancholy sensibility.  The protagonist, Lily Bart, is far from likable.  Witnessing her demise, the reader is cornered and suffocated by disillusions in the end.  Edith Wharton too was the product of her society that privileges did not bestow happiness.

初讀Edith Wharton於花樣年華純真年代, 加上Scorsese的經典電影, 她的不回首與他的過門不入, 讓人惆悵.  Wharton寫內心戲真正高手, 十月選讀The House of Mirth 也曾搬上銀幕, 由Gillian Anderson主演, 可惜當年錯過現下也找不著.  浮華人生, 沒落貴族, 花瓶般的女主角Lily Bart有太多的心機, 極度缺乏勇氣, 隨波逐流凋零絕境, 寫實的凄涼.

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姒識 Code Name: Xanadu

My team asked me how was it even possible to read so much between work, family, and all.  Oh well, I spent minimal amount of energy on social media and that is how I save the time to engage in activities that truly matters to me.  Perhaps I was never memetic to begin with.  It is the blessing of being an eccentric, the one who marches to the beat of her own drum.  That being said, I am still struggling with workaholicism, parenthood and sleep deprivation.  When hypocrisy elevated to the realm of art, it is called professionalism :P 

本月書單Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, 有時想, 是書選我讀, 不是我選書.  十分玄奧, 不知何時養成的習慣, 閱讀總是雙冊並行.

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囚俘 My Prisoner And My Friend

August, an auspicious month commenced with the birthday of my dear brother, my old friend M’s in the middle and followed by mine… a pride of lions and lioness.  Technically I am a Virgo who loves roaring :)  Juggling the parallel universe of return to the office working and my summer course of creative writing, I was invigorated by the odd chemistry.

八月平行宇宙, 公司全面復工, 幾星期通勤下來, LK變身企管機器, 靈魂留給海底兩萬哩… 

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傲慢 Hubris

The Great Resignation is upon us.  Intense last two weeks of July with back to back presentations (in person attendance required) made me wonder, does teamraderie truly require face to face collaboration or the calling for return to office, merely power display of corporate USA? 

七月企業全面復工, 員工抱怨連天兼辭職潮盛.  身為團隊領導, 上下調解, 裡外不是人.  敝部門沈寂一年再度風光大賺, 總裁們和顏悅色慇懃問候, 幸好還戴口罩, 沒人得見LK冷笑… 權力的無知傲慢, 莫過於此.

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閱娛 Do As I say, Not As I Do

June has been… absurdity aplenty.  I think I am going to hang on to the mask or my smirks will be found.  This is a slow death by a thousand cuts.  The redemption?  There will be nothing for me to think of thee fondly.  The antidote to such intellectual and moral atrocity is to surround oneself with nature, delicious food and great books.  

SF解除封鎖, 復工彰顯企業文化, 全員若不到齊聽命, 如何誇耀將帥威風?

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