命運

星期五，截稿日，碰巧也是作者權益關注小組的會議日期。

由於是次會議議題關係到下星期跟ＳＣＭＰ對話的「談判」內容，如解約問題及版權問題等，無論如何不想錯過。可惜ｅ已離職，貓又沒２個腦４對手，獨木難支，只好把未完成的工作「打包」回家繼續努力，先出席會議再說。

再次多得劉慧卿議員及其助手Wilson 幫忙，小組會議才得以在立法局２０１室順利進行。

會後跟Bonnie、Harry、伍諾韻、吳穎琳、李廣豐、楊穎、劉浩良、藍秀朗等作者到翠華餐廳晚飯晚飯，天南地北無所不談(圍繞靈異事件居多)，席間藍秀朗笑言他乃命運主義者，相信博益事件同是命運安排。

貓不信奉命運，但假如真箇是命運安排，那麼命運總算待貓不薄 -- 雖然失去了一家好的出版社，卻因此而認識了一群本來很可能老死不相往來的作者。由於大家來自不同寫作範疇，集思廣益，加上曾拜讀部分作者的著作或專欄，跟他們聚頭，有時難免會夾雜一點點小讀者心態，既興奮又緊張(￣∇￣+)

未來，仍有許多不明朗因素；唯一肯定的，是「命運」和「占卜結果」無損貓繼續創作的決心o(^-^)o

探監@情人節

今年的情人節，貓＆貓男決定來個特備節目 -- 探監。

其實都是貓的主意，貓男原打算逛山頂的，不過碰巧「香港'深圳城市/建築雙城雙年展」假舊中環警署+域多利監獄舉辦，期間限定，錯過了，未必再有機會參觀中環警署＆域多利監獄，一窺內裡乾坤。

難得可入內參觀中環警署＆域多利監獄，當然要帶久未露面的Sana 同往

是偏好吧，總覺得殖民地時期的建築較富文化色彩

這綠油油的燈光教貓不期然想起警署鬼故

一直覺得搭棚技術不可思議 -- 把竹竿紮起來便成，平地築起，沒有任何支撐，卻又穩如泰山；前人的智慧，自有其可貴和值得學習之處。

囍帖街在哪 ?_?

雀籠那樣經典的香港文化，自然能當上展品之一

錯過了上次的域多利監獄開放日，幸而還有雙城雙年展

老式門鎖配剝落油漆，很有點【The 4400】那段片頭的古老味道

相對架上的展出照片，貓更有興趣知道主辦單位自哪裡找來這隻生鏽得只剩三隻腳的鐵架！

監房一遊，感覺是狹小和令人窒息的壓迫感

據聞這輛"Mobile home for the homeless"是得獎作品，事實上設計亦創意與實用價值兼備，不過露宿者是否願意掏三千大洋出來購置如此「豪華」的流動家居則頗有保留

"Mobile home for the homeless"的「室內設計」簡約舒適，更附設天窗可供觀星，或以天然光線閱讀

貓男則對架上的杯麵最感興趣(￣∇￣+)

還裝有車牌呢！型！

監獄fashion show？不過那隻居高臨下的模特兒公仔感覺像死神多一點（￣ｗ￣； ）

離開域多利監獄，特地帶貓男到鴨巴甸街亡命斜上的波記，一嚐傳統炭爐烤多士

甘香鬆脆的奶醬多堪稱人間極品！

情人節特典：甜品大集匯 sweet sweet o(^-^o)(o^-^)o

>> Go to my Valentine's Day '08 Photo Album <<

雌雄大盜？

記者會的抽獎項目向來與貓無綠，沒想到今年與貓男一同出席 AMD 春茗，竟先後中獎：先由貓男抽得二獎 wii 一台(貓男倒頗常中獎)，繼而在ｍｃ宣讀頭獎得主時，唸出的竟是貓的名字！

頭獎：Acer 手提電腦一部

可是貓不久前才購入了 Fujitsu U1010，況且 Acer 嘛(yahoo拍賣的成交能力 = 0)......不過正好貓男打算換 laptop，於是便順理成章地擄掠了貓的獎品，拿他抽到的 wii 來交換 (￣ｗ￣+)

貓男的同事自路邊社收到消息後，即時指著貓男怪叫：你們兩個雌雄大盜！

好一句雌雄大盜 (￣∇￣+)

情人節大作戰

選情人節禮物可說是十分極度頭痛的事情 -- 因實在想不到有甚麼是貓男需要／喜歡，而自己還沒送過的 (￣∇￣+)

問男網友意見，都說想收到女友親手造的禮物。

想起貓男不久前才沾沾自喜地在denzel跟前炫耀貓給他織的頸巾，男生果然是嘴上說沒所謂，其實內心很在乎。

好吧，已有一段日子沒動手弄過小禮物了，做甚麼好呢？離情人節只有兩天耶，時間那麼短，來得及準備嗎？

網友提議弄古古力，說是快捷方便又精美。第一，手製古力其實並不「方便」，熔古力再倒模的過程還是蠻費時的，而且又得小心倒模時底部不能留有小氣泡，不過相比其他手製禮物算是比較快完成的吧。

可是情人節怎能送吃的？吃掉不能留的東東沒有紀念價值嘛 -- 古力極其量只能算頭盤(．．。)

饒是如此，還是到 citysuper 跑了一趟。古力材料模具不便宜，但仍堆滿了排隊等付款的人，情人節的威力真驚人 o(＞＜)o

熔古力的小鋼具、心心古力模、用來盛完成品的禮物盒，還有煮古力用的原料買了一大堆，花費跟買高級古力無異，難怪 IFC 的 godiva 猶如清倉大減價般擠滿人（￣□￣； ）!!!!

完成了(左下方)！可惜買不到粉藍色的禮盒，情人節嘛，粉紅一點也沒關係吧o(^-^o)(o^-^)o

手製古力不合乎經濟效益又費時，不過看到對方喜出望外的樣子，一切都是值得的。

p.s. 誰叫自己有簡單的手作仔不選，偏要選繡花精品呢？自討苦吃中 o(＞＜)o

Surprise! Surprise!

作為女生，本應偏幫女生，可是理智告訴我，自己種的因，自己承受的後果，整件事裡並不存在「受害者」。

誰跟誰發生關係，是怎麼樣的關係，那是他們的私生活，與外人並不相干。況且男歡女愛，在你情我願的情況下，並沒有所謂的對與錯。親熱／裸照被廣泛傳閱，實屬不幸；但既是她們自己的選擇，就不能擺出受害者姿態，為自己的行為申辯 -- 根本沒必要向公眾交代私生活嘛。

很天真很傻？真正天真的，是那些篤信藝人形象即其真實個性的粉絲吧。

大概每個人的尺度與標準有別，自問比較理性和自我保護，明白世事原沒永恆，當一段關係結束之時，如何保證對方不會變臉？一封信或一通短訊尚有可能成為對方用以威脅自己的把柄，何況是裸照？況且黑客猖獗，放在電腦上的數碼照片外洩，半點也不稀奇。

女生總會為自己所愛的人做許許多多傻事，然而有些值得有些不；凡事宜先作最壞打算，因為一切可能發生的惡果，日後都必須由自己一力承擔。

Surprise! Surprise!情人節頭盤：agnes b DELICES 出品一盒四圓罐果仁古古力(心心眼)

古古力味道不俗，不過叫貓愛不釋手的還是那些精緻的小圓罐

很期待‧情人節主菜(.☆▽☆)ﾟ♪ﾟ

Current books on the nightstand

終於可以稍事休息，躲在貓窩看看日劇讀讀小說，悠閒過一天 o(^-^o)(o^-^)o

先整理一下 reading list，把小說 blog 的閱讀報告搬過來，就不必再受清單字數限制 о(ж＞▽＜)ｙ

Current books on the nightstand (2007)

Book title: Streams of Silver
Author: R.A. Salvatore
Status: In progress
Review:
Better than the 1st book, way to go Drizzt!

Book title: The Crystal Shard
Author: R.A. Salvatore
Status: Finished
Review:
Reading this right after "The Dark Elf Trilogy", one could definitely see that Salvatore has come a long way. Can't wait to read more about Drizzt's adventures after coming to the surface world.

Book title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J. K. Rowling
Status: Finished
Review:
Much better than the 2 preceding books, yet I still think that many casualties were pointless, but a good read anyway.

Book title: The Dark Elf Trilogy Part 3 -- Sojourn
Author: R. A. Salvatore
Status: Finished
Review:
Drizzt got the best mentor and companion one could ever ask for, though it left him more miserable when the blind ranger was no more, but it's for Montolio that Drizzt decided to set out and find his own place in the world -- The Icewind Dale.

Book title: The Dark Elf Trilogy Part 2 -- Exile
Author: R.A. Salvatore
Status: Finished
Review:
In Part 2, we get a closer look at Drizzt's darker side, his conflicting emotions and his unbearable loneliness. It's such a relief that he made friends with Belwar and Clacker, though he's forced to exile to the surface world alone in the end.

Book title: The Dark Elf Trilogy Part 1 -- Homeland
Author: R.A. Salvatore
Status: Finished
Review:
This book gave me a brand new idea of elf's dark skin kin, drow, and of the Underdark. One couldn't help but feel for Drizzt's tragic fate (I suspect there're more implicit analogies between drow's way and capitalism though, no doubt the author is for communism).

Book title: The Reporter Who Made Himself King
Author: Davis, Richard Harding
Status: Finished
Review:
Interesting to begin with, but the ending? Just don't expect too much.

Book title: Eragon
Author: Christopher Paolini
Status: Finished
Review:
Paolini's "adaptation" approach could be irritating sometimes. How could he shamelessly "adapt" Le Guin's magic system (magic=ancient language) to his own book?!(he needs a writer's bootcamp!) Nonetheless, I like the story, Eragon and Saphira.

Book title: Eldest
Author: Christopher Paolini
Status: Finished
Review:
Paolini really needs to polish his writing skills, the lengthened paragraphs get so boring that I have to keep skipping them (without missing anything important!), and I could totally tell what would happen next, which is a bad thing for a fantasy writer.

Book title: ひとりぐらしも5年め
Author: 高木直子
Status: In progress
Review:
LOL

Book title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Author: Mitch Albom
Status: Finished
Review:
Innovative idea, but not as inspiring as "Tuesdays with Morrie", still, what can I say? Albom is one of my fave authors.

Book title: Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps
Author: Allan Pease, Barbara Pease
Status: Finished
Review:
Intriguing studies

Book title: 1リットルの涙
Author: 木藤亜也
Status: In progress
Review:
A tough task for my limited Japanese (．．。)

Book title: Left Behind Book12 -- Glorious Appearing
Author: Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
Status: Finished
Review:
It doesn't matter if you're Christian or not, it's inspiring in a way that you'd never look at the world and future in the same way. One of my fav fiction series.

Book title: The Last Battle
Author: C. S. Lewis
Status: e-read for the 15th time
Review:
How could I be so blind that I failed to see the reminiscences of the Bible between lines?? For the first time, I read this book from a total different point of view, and it opened to me a brand new horizon.

Book title: The Silver Chair
Author: C. S. Lewis
Status: re-read for the 15th time
Review:
Going to re-read it for the 16th time next year, definitely.

Book title: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Author: C. S. Lewis
Status: re-read for the 15th time
Review:
Still find it fascinating after reading it for the 15th time! Lewis' imagination has no limits!

Book title: Unstolen
Author: Wendy Jean
Status: In progress
Review:
Fascinating in a sad way.

美食精華遊

betty仔回來了！

最要好最要好的朋友在分別多年之後終於回來，往後可以一起聊天吃飯逛街，那種興奮難捺的心情，可以想像嗎？

新年美食第一擊：想找個地方吃吃喝喝好好話舊，於是跟 betty仔和她的男友 Harry到尖沙咀的King Ludwig Beerhall 吃德國下午茶自助餐 о(ж＞▽＜)ｙ

極力推薦 King Ludwig Beerhall 的德國鹹豬手：皮脆肉嫩而且不算肥膩(心心眼)。

畢竟是德國菜嘛，甜品款式不算多，但尚算精緻

倒是食店裝修饒富特色，就連 Betty＆Harry 也盛讚氣氛不俗，是個三五知己把酒談天的好地方，加上有多款德國啤酒供應，就連不好啤酒的貓也忍不住來一杯 wheat beer

貓＆貓男素來鍾情恐龍展品／書籍／記錄片，自不忘跟太空館前的南美巨龍留倩影，不過從海報看來，還是 Discovery Channel 製作的恐龍特輯比較吸引

下半場：ＢＢＱ自助餐＠美孚九華徑。食物新鮮選擇也頗多，加上收費合理交通方便，難怪午夜前全場爆滿座無虛設

是日智力題：

燒烤場有２隻汪汪，一隻名阿當，一隻叫士巴嗱，燒烤場主人突然問：蠢懵鈍在哪？

問：到底蠢懵鈍是另一隻狗還是一個人(燒烤場職員)？是１個人還是３個人(蠢、懵、鈍)？

Six Degrees Could Change the World

After a power nap, I decided to "clear up" some of the long forgotten podcast videos on my iTunes, and this one caught my eyes: "Six Degrees Could Change the World: Part 1".

Six degrees? Does it have anything to do with "Lonely Planet Six Degrees" on Discovery Travel & Living Channel? Whatever, sounds cool to me.

Or maybe not.

It turns out that it has nothing to do with traveling tips, but I'm glad that I watched this show instead, believe me, it's worth your time, too.

Ok, I know global warming is taking its toll, and it's worsening with every second that passes by, literally; I just never thought that it's that bad.

One might think: oh, come on, it's just 6 degrees, how bad could it be?

Here's how bad it could be, probably by the end of this century:

At one degree of warming, the Arctic is ice-free for half the year, the South Atlantic -- typically void of hurricanes -- experiences coastal hurricanes, and in the western U.S. severe droughts are plaguing residents, causing shortages in global grain and wheat market.

At two degrees of warming, polar bears struggle to survive as glaciers increasingly melt away. Glaciers in Greenland begin to disappear, while coral reefs are vanishing. Insects migrate in strange new directions, and who the hell knows what kind of damage it would bring to the ecosystem? All we know is that massive pine beetle migration would kill the Whitebark forest and thus wiping out bears' key source of food.

At three degrees of warming, the Arctic is ice-free for ALL SUMMER! The Amazon rainforest is drying out, the ice cap of Alps melts, and El Niño's intense weather pattern becomes the norm. The Mediterranean and parts of Europe wither in searing summer heat, actully they got a taste of catastrophic heat wave back in 2003, in which thousands died across Europe.

If the world warms by four degrees, oceans could rise, taking over coastal cities, e.g. Bangladesh would be washed away, and Venice submerged. The disappearance of glaciers may deprive many of fresh water. Northern Canada's agriculture could boom and a Scandinavian beach could be the next tourism hotspot. A part of Antarctica could collapse, causing water to rise even further. So many major cities may dry up that it endangers our survival.

At five degrees of warming, uninhabitable zones could spread, snow pack and aquifers feeding big cities could dry up, and climate refugees could run in the millions. Human civilization could begin to break down with this drastic of changes to the climate. The poor would likely suffer the most.

At six degrees of warming, the oceans could be marine wastelands, the deserts could march across continents, and natural disasters could become common events. The world's great cities could be flooded and abandoned. This could be "the doomsday scenario".

This could be our world at six degrees of warming, am I exaggerating? You'd better check it out yourselves and take a really good look, National Geographic's "Six Degrees" website has an interactive world map that lets you look at the changes that could take place with each degree of global warming. The site also has six short video previews -- one per degree Celcius of global warming -- of what our world could look like in the future.

The program's based on Mark Lyman's book "Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet", looks like I've found myself a new item on my reading list.

新年‧回憶

不想每年重複一遍有多討厭拜年的虛偽，幸而長大了，不必再被押解走遍港九新界從早拜到晚，只須在團年飯期間跟父系親人團拜、年初一到貓媽媽家午飯午飯，陪她往大舅舅家跑一趟，年初二再跟婆婆一家吃飯便可告一段落。

年假沒能睡至自然醒是一大遺憾，不過意外地，今年收到的利是竟不必「上繳中央」，該算是賺到了嗎？(雖然新年多給了家用，跟婆婆一家午飯又是貓買的單，結果拿到的利是總和還不足以補貼半數額外開支)（￣□￣； ）!!!!

從大舅舅家走廊看去，原來可以看見貓中學時經常光顧的一家車仔麵檔；跟貓弟弟閒聊，才曉得他也是那家店的常客(畢竟我倆的中學就在毗鄰嘛)。這一帶多是舊式建築，不過政府那麼愛清拆重建，恐怕五年十年後，貓＆貓弟弟的少年回憶便會隨著這些舊式建築消失於香港版圖，只能在腦海一角的記憶回收筒尋覓。

So long, farewell

雖然電腦部把如何替ｅ farewell拿來當會議議題，可是連日磋商的結果不過是「不了了之」 (￣∇￣+)

編輯部沒有為此開會討論，大家只是很有共識地相約最後的午餐，就連正在放年假的貓男也來參一腳，一行四人到蘇豪區的 Fat Angelo's 午飯午飯 о(ж＞▽＜)ｙ

途經士丹利街，那家我們經常入內查看最新蘋果產品的專門店，赫然瞥見店門外貼有中英對照的澄清啟事，嚴正聲明該店與近日的裸照風波無關，被捕店員與涉案店舖是鄰近的另一家店，不禁嗤笑。


大概這則啟事煞有介事得搞笑，反而惹來不少途人圍觀細讀 (￣∇￣+)

飯後轉戰旺角，從朗豪坊逛到新世紀，飯後軟磨硬纏貓男去拍大頭貼......可憐我們始終沒搞清楚貼紙相機的運作模式，總是糊里糊塗地錯過拍照／挑選相片／塗鴉的時限，結果總有數張(甚至全部)沒能塗上背景(淚)，幸而印出來的效果還不太差。



塗鴉和剪剪貼貼的過程可說是最大的樂趣，拿著自製的「貼紙咭」，猶如小朋友分到夢幻糖果般興奮，快樂，其實可以很簡單。

晚上相約二少、Betty＆Harry 逛維園花市，結果本來無法應約的Joyce趕來了，反而Betty＆Harry被困團年飯局未能抽身赴約。不過恐怕並非損失 -- 人太擠，才逛了半條乾貨街(被擠到路中心根本甚麼也看不到嘛)便開始下雨，幸而身後的好心情侶把傘撐高，為我們遮風擋雨，我們一行四人才得以全身而退(￣∇￣+)

鼠年可說是「年三十逛維園」年度活動最失敗的一年，還好撤退時剛巧上演一幕「醉酒洋漢大(舌)戰香港警察」，今年的花市活動才勉強算得上值回票價：

話說我們一行四人撒退時，身後醉酒洋漢與一名當值軍警發生口角，洋漢上前扯高嗓門，手指指似有所動作，另一名警官即時挺護同袍，指著洋漢斥喝："I warn you......"

洋漢不甘被斥喝，目露凶光似要撲上前，幸而身旁女伴按著他勸他冷靜才不致發生暴力事件。

此時，不懾於洋漢霸氣的警官再次高聲警告："Behave yourself!"

好英勇啊(星星眼)！

鼠年第一金句：Behave yourself!

pain ,hurt and frustration

裸照風波乃本週城中熱話，無論走到哪裡，總聽見身邊有人在熱烈討論。

裸照，沒多大興趣，反而好奇當事人會如何回應(否認)事件。

是勇敢面對？還是否認到底？

因此當貓男告知無線新聞剛播出陳冠希的「道歉聲明」時，即時上 youtube 找找看。

由開始時的矢口否認、堅稱那是「惡作劇的移花接木照」，到今日的塔里班式自拍聲明，實在好奇陳冠希如何承認當日睜眼說瞎話，以及對裸照事件作了甚麼樣的回應。

"I feel pain, hurt and frustration"？未知他在發表聲明前，有否知會涉案女事主，徵求她們同意？如此一來，等同默認整批裸照並非「移花接木的惡作劇」；他的「道歉」印證了女星們多日以來矢口否認的事實 -- 真正感到痛苦、傷害和沮喪的，該是因此而丟了苦心建立的健康形象／家庭事業的她們吧？

雖然在拍那些照片的當兒，她們就該作出照片會被公開的心理準備。

還是那一句：男歡女愛你情我願，成年人須為自己的行為負責，只能後悔，不能抱怨。