Tuesday 23 November 2010

Promise to Self



... To break the mammoth task into little furry pieces.

At the end of the day, I would not want to say to myself, 'I am done with it';
I want to be saying, proudly,
'I have done it'.


Sunday 21 November 2010

Proust Questionnaire, Fall 2010



A snapshot of me, this moment in time.


  • Your most marked characteristic? Optimism.
  • The quality you most like in a man? Gentleness.
  • The quality you most like in a woman? Kindness and openness.
  • What do you most value in your friends? When we complement each other in thoughts and spirits.
  • What is your principle defect? Overly easy-going.
  • What is your favorite occupation? Photography.
  • What is your dream of happiness? White, clean bedsheets. With people I love. Drenched in natural light.
  • What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes? Being complacent and inauthentic.
  • What would you like to be? Doctor/Writer/Mother.
  • In what country would you like to live? Basque country.
  • What is your favorite color? Red.
  • What is your favorite flower? Peonies.
  • What is your favorite bird? Big, white pelicans.
  • Who are your favorite prose writers? Virginia Woolf, Oliver Sacks, Albert Camus, ?Kierkegaard
  • Who are your favorite poets? Plath, Keats, e e cummings,
  • Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Sisyphus.
  • Who are your favorite heroines of fiction? Mrs Dalloway.
  • Who are your favorite composers? Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Ravel.
  • Who are your favorite painters? Monet, Van Gogh, Miro, Matisse.
  • Who are your heroes in real life? My mum!
  • Who are your favorite heroines of history? Marie Antoinette (I believe she has been misjudged)
  • What are your favorite names? Sofia, Fleur, Emerald.
  • What is it you most dislike? Wickedness.
  • What historical figures do you most despise? The silly Chinese kings throughout the dynasties.
  • What event in military history do you most admire? I need to know more on this...
  • What reform do you most admire? NHS (60 years ago)
  • What natural gift would you most like to possess? Being able to do jazz improvisation, and suture perfectly.
  • How would you like to die? Quietly.
  • What is your present state of mind? Excited, a bit nervous, restless - for the weeks to come.
  • To what faults do you feel most indulgent? Frivolity - the love for the most trivial things.
  • What is your motto? 'Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.' Sylvia Plath

Saturday 20 November 2010

Dangerously Epicurean



突然發現身邊床前出現大大小小的紙袋

切記
努力讀書
盡情購物

>:(




Tuesday 16 November 2010

The Definitive Shots




最近拍得最用神的照片. . . 記錄了這奢侈而幸福的一瞬間。
項鍊的名字、剛好是我們奇怪的暱稱。:)


Lesson from Doisneau (ii)



讓我倆以後每天都滿載溫柔,猶如最初。


Lesson from Doisneau (i)



願每天都能專注地做一件事,守護着信念;縱然天陰有雨、仍然堅持。


Wednesday 10 November 2010

What I adore... From A-Z (ii)

H

Hannah & Landon - 必看的網誌。Hannah Kristina Metz 今年二十四歲,和丈夫住在紐約Brooklyn。她在American Apparel做買手、閒時畫畫、買賣舊衣裳。拍的照片、一頭紅髮,美得out of this world。



I

Ice-cream - 最愛Ben & Jerry's Chucky Monkey、富豪軟雪糕和綠茶口味的frozen yogurt... 其他的、很少吃。

J

Jazz ♥

K

Kierkegaard - 祈克果、丹麥哲學家。他是少數同時思考哲學和宗教的哲學家 (大部分都全盤否定神的存在、宗教的意義只在於為凡人提供寄託和撫慰) ,時常給我思辯、反思和謙卑的力量。

"Do not interrupt the flight of your soul; do not distress what is best in you; do not enfeeble your spirit with half wishes and half thoughts.
Ask yourself and keep on asking until you find the answer, for one may have known something
many times, acknowledged it; one may have willed something many times, attempted it--and yet, only the deep inner motion, only the heart's indescribable emotion, only that will convince you that what you have acknowledged belongs to you, that no power can take it from you--for only the truth that builds up is truth for you."

Either/Or, Part 2. Kierkegaard’s Writings 4. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1987. (Enten/Eller I-II, ed. Victor Eremita, 1843.)


L

London - 我愛逛Portobello Road Market、到National Gallery或V&A看畫、在Fortunam & Mason喝茶。


M

Monet, Claude - 莫奈的睡蓮;他的夢裝飾了我們的年代。



Mum - 謝妳對我有時嚴厲但時常寬容 :)

N


What I adore... from A-Z (i)

A

Anna Karina - 高達 (Jean-Luc Godard the director, not Gundam!) 的繆斯,我最喜愛女演員



B

Books - 中英或淨圖片都愛看!不過讀書量跟年齡成反比 :(

Breakfast - 我最鐘意食早餐! 自己煮: 炒蛋 + 窩夫或蕃茄蛋通粉; 出街食: Blueberry & maple syrup pancakes at Giraffe


C

Camus, Albert - 卡繆的作品 (L'estranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus) 言簡意賅,充滿荒謬的隱喻、也充滿前瞻性。他不願被稱為存在主義的創造人、但人人都奉他為首. . . 更重要是,他極有型


Chet Baker - the Jazz trumpeter, 但我更喜歡他輕盈如煙的歌聲。


D

E

e e cummings - 用打字機滴滴答答寫作的美國詩人。他堅持寫他的名字時要用小草。



F

fridays - 星期五不用上課,可以慢慢煮、吃早餐,讀書、游泳、散步。

film cameras - 仍舊沈迷菲林的質感、和沖曬時才發現的驚喜。現在多數用canon av-1 (aperture priority), 不用擔心快門速度、可專心構圖。




G

giraffes - 你知道嗎?長頸鹿和我們一樣,只有七節頸椎!牠的睫毛很長,看起來很溫柔。



Sunday 7 November 2010

Autumn Leaves



今天是立冬。
我獨自散步,陽光和落葉遍灑一地。這年頭我終於懂得欣賞深秋的斑爛、她沈靜自若的美。現在我提著男伴的數碼相機,套上古董鏡頭,從viewfinder看見的景色,又騫然不同了。


Thursday 4 November 2010

Beauty, or Aesthetics



美不一定是刻意的、完美的。
有時她只是一剎那柔和的光線、忽然的覺醒、心靈的感應。

就如一覺醒來睡眼惺忪,然後就看見你尋常而朦朧的美麗。


Wednesday 3 November 2010

Publish, or perish



開始了趕essay、寫論文的生活,筆記爬滿了一張張白紙,混亂荒唐好似互有關聯但其實天馬行空古靈精怪的想法散落一地、如深秋的紅葉。

Somewhat it feels like threading the odd pieces onto an invisible string.

維根斯坦說過,'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.'
有時不願寫作,也不過如此。