swine flu

For several days in a row I have heard some key words again and again from the radio, "swine flu outbreak", "Mexico", "WHO raises pandemic alert level", "wash your hands often". They all bring back the memory of the period of SARS years ago, the time when you had to have your temperature taken on forehead before you enter any public institution, and if the result was negative, you got a colored dot sticker on your clothes to show that you were safe. I did not throw away the stickers, but stuck them on my motorcycle as a decoration. You can still see their traces after these years, only faded and weather-beaten. They are the proof that my motorcycle does not have a fever; truth be told, it is so cold and old that I don't ride it any more.

Flashbacks of A Fool

Thunders clapped in company of heavy rain this morning. Dark clouds gathered to make any outdoor activity dismal. I thought the appointment to see the movie, Flashbacks of A Fool, would be canceled. I went to the appointed tea shop just to be on the safe side; besides, it's in my neighborhood, 10-15 minutes of walk, which won't cost me a sweat. I was glad I was wrong. When I got there, Chien-shun, Mimi, Jelly, Morning and Roger had already been there, and then Abel came, we chatted over large cups of tea and free fried tofu.

Ellen arrived in time for the opening of the movie, and she was greeted by the scenes of a fading film star, Joe Scott, indulging himself in sex, drugs and alcohol. haha...

The adult Joe Scott, played by Daniel Craig, is very far from the role of James Bond, and I think he also did a good job, without those stunning stints. The flashbacks of his teenage years, his first encounters of love and loss, came in to explain what he was trying to run away from. They carried bitter and nostalgic feelings. I believe the music the characters grew up with played an important role for the movie. With one song you may set the right mood for the atmosphere, the age of pinball machines. But, alas, as a foreigner, I can only guess and leave it to imagination.

Finally, a word a day keeps the doctor away.
Concealer: A facial cosmetic used to cover blemished skin. 遮瑕膏

The Reader

"I like the fact that there have been so many storms this summer."

It is one of the sentences that Hanna, the female protagonist, wrote to Michael, the male protagonist, after she learned how to read and write in jail. The pages in my right hand became thinner and thinner, that is, it's near the end of the novel, The Reader. The weather outside seemed to take its cue, and began to unleash a thunderstorm, buckets of rain poring from the sky. I raised my head to observe the suddenly flooded streets, and cars splashing curtains of water as they sped by. Without an umbrella, I was stranded in a coffee shop waiting for the rain to ease up. In the company of the thunderstorm, I resumed my reading towards its tragic ending. There's a paragraph that is especially heartbreaking, when Michael visited Hanna for the first time after she had served 18 years in jail:

I saw the expectation in her face, saw it light up with joy when she recognized me, watched her eyes scan my face as I approached, saw them seek, inquire, then look uncertain and hurt, and saw the light go out of her face. When I reached her, she smiled a friendly, weary smile. "You've grown up, kid." I sat down beside her and she took my hand.

借用席慕蓉的詩來解釋：

當你走近　請你細聽

那顫抖的葉是我等待的熱情

而當你終於無視地走過

在你身後落了一地的

朋友啊　那不是花瓣

是我凋零的心

--「一棵開花的樹」