沒錯，我的中文從大學時代就開始走下坡。但『爛船還有三分釘』，我的功力始終是『有返咁上下』。過去幾個月，我寫了幾篇稿，寄去中文報社。一些被淘汰，其他的被刊登了。以下是其中三篇：
《傳統茶室須變革》 – 刊於星洲日報，2011年1月26日
《一個馬拉西亞，一種聲音》 – 刊於東方日報，2011年2月16 日
《股神也有頭痛時》– 刊於東方日報，2011年2月25 日
第一篇《傳統茶室須變革》基本上是翻譯自我的英文貼子Kopitiam - a question of Cost & Price，只是更加詳盡。谷歌翻譯（Google Translate）成了我的最佳伴侶。
說老實話，若非我『熱愛英語』，也未必能寫出這些稿。因為我參考的質料，就是以英文書和英文網頁為主。別怪我喲…
I am a sleeping member of a Buddhist society. Each year, during Chinese New Year season, the society members pay visit to selected devotees. They would perform “chanting of blessing”, and the hosts would, in return, contribute some money to the society. I have been taking part in such activities for a number of years. Due to my busy schedule, however, I could only join on perhaps alternate days. This year, I visited a total of 17 houses
One benefactor deserves special mentioning. Her mansion was located near Thien Hou Temple. We arrived at her house at 9pm, and were greeted by the hostess. She was about 30, dressed in cheongsam (旗袍), which highlighted her curvy figure; her brown (dyed) hair was secured in bun, which gave her an elegant look. The lady lived with her mother and three maids. We saw several portraits of her mother hanging on the wall. Also present was a Chinese calligraphy which expounded filial piety. I was told that the lady invited us to her house because she wanted her mother to “benefit” from it.
We performed the routine chanting. At the end of the session the hostess made her contribution. She also gave each of the visitors – about ten of us – a red packet. How much money was inside the ang pau? For privacy reason, I am not disclosing the number. But, considering that we hardly knew each other, I must say that she was very generous.
As a poor man, I couldn’t make a big monetary donation. But at least I was giving my time. That’s another form of generosity. I look forward to next year’s program…
This is an “out-of-focus” shot. I focused at the far-away lanterns. The nearer ones are rendered out-of-focus…
In this shot, I focused on the statue inside the temple hall…
This is yet another out-of-focus shot. Manual focusing was used to achieve such effect…
As I browsed through the items listed on eBay, I found some interesting stuffs. Here are two…
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Cherry Blossoms for Natural Pink (Nipples & Lips) 粉紅嫩
According to the seller, this is cherry blossom extract which restores alluring sheer pink lips and lightens darkened nipples. Further, there is a description in Chinese which goes like this:
胸前的黑乳頭就像兩粒“黑鈕扣”，讓它變得粉嫩，妳的另一半更加愛妳。。。
My translation: The black nipples on the chest are like two “black buttons”. Turn them pink, and your other half will love you more…
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Sole Cleaner Massage 礦石腳底清潔穴道按摩舒緩墊
This unique foot massager features both soft and hard flexible bristles that clean and massage your feet whilst circulating blood stimulation. The sole cleaner is ideal for people for limited movement and makes cleaning your feet in the shower hassle free! This means no more bending down in shower to wash those dirty soles.
If your potbelly prevents you from bending down, you’ll find the sole cleaner useful!
On Feb 13, 2011, my extended family celebrated my grandma’s birthday cum Chinese New Year gathering. We had a meal in a Chinese restaurant.
A cousin of mine had just purchased a Samsung Galaxy Tab. She was busy snapping pictures with her over-sized camera during the lunch. (pic)
The wife of my other cousin took pictures of every dish and uploaded them to Facebook. We had to wait for her to finish before lifting our chopsticks.
The Chinese restaurant was equipped with karaoke system. Still another cousin, in an attempt to select a song, pressed her finger on the TV screen. Unfortunately, the TV screen was not touch-sensitive like her phone.
Such was a modern day, high tech gathering…
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OK, I know Chinese New Year is not officially over yet, but I would like to share my thoughts here…
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This year, Chinese New Year fell on Feb 3. I returned to my hometown for the celebration on Feb 1, and returned to Selangor on Feb 7. As Feb 7 was Monday, I expected the traffic to be smooth, but I was wrong. There was gridlock on many stretches of the highway.
On Feb 5 (Saturday), my cousin traveled from Taiping to Kuala Kangsar. The trip took 2 hours, toll-to-toll. On normal days, it should take no more than 20 minutes.
It looks like Malaysian roads are getting more congested every year…
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I have been thinking: what can be done to tackle traffic gridlock during festive seasons?
The obvious way is to widen the North-South Highway. But given its environmental impacts, and the fact that oil price is rising, I would favor shift of focus to public transportation. The good news is that the government is planning to build high speed rail (HSR) linking the major cities on the West coast of Peninsula Malaysia.
Still, we need a car to visit our relatives and friends during festive seasons. So if we take HSR from say, Kuala Lumpur to Penang, we will want to rent a car on the island. Now I hope car rental agencies such as Hertz would seize on this opportunity to provide the service.
