十月份时我们一起去看 Alex 和 Tommy 一起登 Fitz 的纪录片 A Line Across The Sky，我这位著名的风控狂人朋友说，「电影是个好电影，但是他们也太不小心了，每一步都是关乎生死的大事，他们还有心情开玩笑？」 我告诉他说，我读过Alex的传记，里面说了很多那些看似疯狂的计划背后的故事，对与这些专业运动员来讲，一旦上了墙，剩下来的就只有execution，而更多的工作，已经在上去之前就完成了。就像那些最伟大的画家一样，看似用最随意的线条创作出随意的效果，但实际上每一笔都是非常认真的。
“All the soloing I had done during the previous several years had taught me the value of preparation. But I’d never prepared for a free solo as diligently as I did for Moonlight. Rehearsing the moves on toprope for two days until I had every sequence lodged in my memory was crucial, but so were those days of just sitting and thinking. Imagining every placement of each hand and foot all the way up the huge route. Visualizing everything that could happen. . . . In a real sense, I performed the hard work of that free solo during the days leading up to it. Once I was on the climb, it was just a matter of executing.” ― from “Alone on the Wall“
After Christmas last year, I spent a couple of days in the small town of Jiaoxie (角斜), close to Nantong (南通), three hours west of Shanghai.
Nantong is an important river port located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River whose prosperity was catalyzed by a local industrialist, Zhang Jian (张謇), who founded Nantong’s first cotton mills in 1899. Nantong has remained an important center for the textile industry.
The main street in Jiaoxie is a hive of activity with small shops and restaurants spilling welcomingly out onto the pavements. Run by Mr. Wu and his extended family, one such establishment is Wang Wang Breakfast (旺旺早点), where tasty buns, wonton noodles and flatbread are the order of the day all year round.
Everything is made by hand and, while the tools might be basic, the skills and techniques required have been honed over years of experience. Watching Mr. Wu form each lump of dough into a precisely formed bun is almost hypnotic!
Nian gao (年糕), a type of rice cake, is made by mixing rice with glutinous rice and then steaming to cook.
年糕，一种大米做的糕点，是用大米和糯米混合蒸成。
It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during Chinese New Year, because “nian gao” is a homonym for “higher year” (年年高升).
在新年吃年糕寓意吉祥，因为”年糕“与”年年高升“谐音。
A wooden grid is used to form the rice powder into squares before placing on a damp cloth to steam. Sometimes they’re filled with sweet red bean paste.
In the popular Chinese fantasy novel Journey to the West, the Monkey King is stationed as the Protector of the Peaches and ends up stealing one in order to prolong his own life leading to much mischief!
– 港铁钻石山 C2出口，乘坐 92路双层巴士到终点站西贡镇。 MTR Diamond Hill Station, Exit C2, take bus 92 to Sai Kung Peninsula.
– 从西贡镇汽车站乘坐94路双层巴士，开往黄石码头方向，在北潭涌下车。 From Sai Kung town catch bus 94 towards Wong Shek pier and alight at Pak Tam Chung Station.
– 从北潭涌车站沿着大网仔路走大约五分钟，到达麦理浩径起点。 From Pak Tam Chung Station, walk along Tai Mong Tsai Road for approximately five minutes until you reach the start of the trail.
– 沿着西贡万宜路绕过万宜水库南边，经过水库的西坝和东坝，最后到达浪茄沙滩。 Pak Tam Chung → Long Ke
– 由西贡郊野公园的北半部，沿着郊野公园的边界而行，跨国西湾山，下吹筒坳、西湾、经咸田湾到达大浪湾。 Long Ke → Tai Long Wan
– 从大浪湾出发，经赤径1抵北潭凹为终点。此地有巴士返回西贡镇。 Tai Long Wan → Pak Tam Au → Sai Kung town
赤经中段会经过蚺蛇尖并路过一个很小的赤径码头，旁边那座山叫做狐狸叫(Wu Lei Kiu)。从狐狸叫乘船至黄石码头后，可乘96R路巴士直接返回钻石山 ↩
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs.Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you’ve had quite enough
Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
That’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the ‘milky way’
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars
It’s a hundred thousand light years side to side
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick
But out by us, it’s just three thousand light years wide
We’re thirty thousand light years from galactic central point
We go ’round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, the speed of light, you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that’s the fastest speed there is
So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space
‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth
After nearly four weeks of trip for business and holiday for leisure, the great break finally cools down. This week I’ve been thinking a lot of the year 2013 and belated new year resolution. And today I realised I had a perfect list of things to do for 2013 but I failed on almost all.
So nothing is more important than making it short and just kicking off doing it.
2014 Resolution
Move to another city
Dining out <= 3/7 (aggressive but still possible, dining out before today or during holiday are not taken into count)
Run >= 60KM/month and try half-marathon at least once
Take care of my plants
Enroll and complete at least 4 courses on Coursera
Complete a personal photo project
Keep tracking on all of the above goals on a regular basis
In my 2013 resolution, I listed all the places I planned to go for holiday. I did go on trips in Guangzhou, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Japan and UK. However, we must not become hostages to tourism and eye catching holidays. In October, I spend the entire golden week holiday at my cozy apartment. This is the first time since college I was staying home instead of going out for “explore”. Travel is fun and so does travel in books.
Stay curious on what to explore and where I live is going to be my life-long resolution.
猫妈提到 Victoria & Albert 博物馆最近从中国和世界各地的博物馆借了几十幅画借了不少非常著名的画作在伦敦展出。当即去看了展讯网页，沉醉不知归路。 虽然我很怀疑不懂中文或者没研究过中国书画史的欧洲人是不是真的能感受到这些书画作品所表达的美感，但前期的宣传（包括BBC的关于中国绘画史的culture show），同期的讲座，主页上讯息的展示，都令人刮目相看。
If I have to go will you remember me
will you find someone else while I’m away
there’s nothing for me in this world full of strangers
it’s all someone else’s idea
I don’t belong here and you can’t go with me
you’ll only slow me down
until I send for you don’t wear your hair that way
if you cannot be true I’ll understand
tell all the others you’ll hold in your arms
that I said I’d come back for you
I’ll leave my jacket to keep you warm
that’s all that I can do
if I have to go will you remember me
will you find someone else while I’m away
すみません – Su mi ma sen – 不好意思、麻烦
ごめんなさい – Go men na sai – 对不起
道に迷っています – Mi chi ni ma yo tte i ma su – 我迷路了
…はどこですか – …Wa do ko de su ka – …在哪里
ちょっと待って – Cho tto ma tte – 稍等一下
分かりません – Wa ka ri ma sen – 我不懂
いくらですか – I ku ra de su ka – 多少钱？
お願いします – O ne ga i shi ma su – 拜托了
大丈夫 – Da i jō bu – 不要紧、没关系
危ない – A bu na i – 危险、当心
もう一度 – Mō i chi do – 再一次
病気です – Byō ki de su – 我病了 どこ – Do ko – 哪里
助けて！ – Ta su ke te！ – 救命！ はい – Ha i – 是、好
さようなら – Sa ō na ra – 再见 いいえ – I i e – 不是
ありがとう – A ri ga tō – 谢谢 そうです – Sō de su – 是的
