What’s wrong with a guy reading love novels? Today, I helped Pat clean up what’s left over from her garage sales. When I was bored, I picked up a copy of a pop Chinese love novel from one of her boxes of old books and start reading. The novel is written by a quite famous author in Hong Kong and I have read some of her novels before. Since I couldn’t finish the whole book this afternoon, I decided to take it home. Pat laughed at me that I am reading a girl’s book. I don’t think book can be separated into male or female. Books are just books, novels is just novels. Who says guys cannot read love novels? When I was in school, I read lots of books and novels, including my mother’s collection of love novels too. However, the way how the guys read love novels is quite different from the girl’s way. Girl may feel sympathy with whatever character in the novel, try to substitute herself into the book. When girls read, they feel the book. On the other hand, when guy read a love novel, all we care about is the plot and how scenes are played out. Does the plot make sense, are the descriptions well written, does the author build up enough support for the climax. When guys read, we analyze the book. If a guy reads a love novel and cry for the characters in the book, then he is a girly guy, he is abnormal. But if a guy, like me, reads a love novel, just trying to look into the mind of girls through the eyes of the author, then he is perfectly normal.
We were talking about wedding ring and engagement ring during lunch today. My friends said that they would like their ring to be engraved. I wonder why anyone want their rings to be engraved. First of all, the engraving is not free. The letters are engraved inside the ring, so no one can see the letters. Someone engrave names on the ring. I can understand you better tag your thing if it is easy to lose or mix up with other people’s. Since most people wear their ring all the time and it is unlike to mix up the ring. If indeed the ring is lost, shouldn’t engrave your phone number or email address instead of your name, so that whoever find the ring can contact you to return the ring. Engraving your name on the ring was the best way to mark your property before each diamond come with an engraved identification number. Your purchase receipt with the diamond certification already provide enough proof for you to reclaim the ring in case it is stolen. Someone engrave the day of wedding on the ring. Well, it is useful, in case you forget the date. However, should you remember the date by heart? Lastly, someone engrave the ring for symbolic meaning. Yet, the ring itself is already a symbol of the wedding. Why would someone put an small extra symbol on more prominent symbol. The symbolic meaning of the engrave is insignificant next to the symbolic meaning of the ring itself and it will be unnoticeable in the round off error of symbolic meaning. In short, engrave the ring doesn’t make any sense.
There is a not yet confirmed news that some people from my department will be on load to another department. Our department is running out of project while the other department is short on staff. The loaning program makes very good sense as corporate strategy and it happens before. Just somehow everyone being loaned to another department hate it and swear they are not going through it again. It is not about the heavy workload. Workload itself is not necessary bad, as long as your hard work is rewarded and appreciated. In this company, all the loaners never receive above average in performance review and simply kiss their promotion goodbye while they are on-loan. The loaner’s hard work just goes down in vain.
We can’t really blame the manager for being unfair, they just behave rationally according to the system and play by the rules. In this company, we have a quota system on performance evaluation and promotion. Each manager can nominate some of his sub-ordinary to receive excellent ranking or promotion, but at the same time they have to give names to fill the low performer quota. The loaner still report to his original boss under the corporate structure, but the loaning boss will write his evaluation. Assuming most workers are equally good, so whom will receive all the good evaluation and promotion quota? Those who are likely to work with you in the next project or outsiders will disappear after one project? Let’s make an analogy, say you are a parent handing out Christmas gifts. Will you flavor your own kids or the neighbor’s kids just happen to drop by? No one wants to be a loaner, but too bad that it is not up to us, the lowly workers, to decide whether be a loaner or not. We can only pray that we will not be drafted by the managers, sent to the front line as a cannon fodder.
「超獸機神斷空我」憑著獨特的野獸合體機械人設定﹐側重角色心理描寫的劇情﹐一反統傳地故事到了差不多一半時﹐機械人才第一次合體等等﹐成為八十年代的經典超級機械人動畫。二零零七年的新動畫「超獸機攻斷空我」﹐則只是掛羊頭賣狗肉之作。除了借用舊作機械人的名字和合體結構外﹐兩者並無關連﹐更加不是續集。若果用「超獸機神」的標準去量度「超獸機攻」﹐珠玉在前地去比較﹐新作可以說是各方面也不合格。不過若果把「超獸機攻」當作一套獨立動畫來評審﹐倒也不是完全一無是處。至少這套動畫惡搞了不少熱血機械人的情節﹐知情者必定發出會心微笑﹐有些位置更讓人拍案叫絕捧腹大笑。
