After waiting for almost half a year, I finially received the title of professional engineer. (P.Eng.) I thought I would recieve a welcome letter and the registration package to inform my credential is approved, instead it is the invoice of the registration fee notify me my application is approved. I will receive a certificate and my engineer seal too, but would take a few weeks for the association to prepare. P.Eng is relatively easy to get. All you need is a engineering degree and 4 years of work experience. You have to take a law and ethics seminar and write an exam, but that is a piece of cake. After that, it is lots of paper work, you have to fill in the application forms and prepare a 10 pages work summary. The trickiest part is to hurt down four P.Eng who has supervised your work as your reference. After the paper is completed, you just have to wait a few months for the association to review your application, then one day you will reiceve the invoice for the registration fee. The good thing is this title follows me for life, as long as I pay the membership due every year. Now I can proundly say that I am an engineer. The bad thing is that this title is absoluately useless to me as an computer engineer, except I can sign the passport photos of my friends. I have spent almost $1000 in total to get the title of P.Eng, on average $200 per character.
香港三部曲 – 陳冠中
我在網上書店郵賺陳冠中的「我這一代香港人」 時﹐發現很多讀者也同時訂購了他的另一部小說「香港三部曲」。在網上好像也看過這小說的介紹﹐說寫得不錯﹐反正要賺物滿一定限額才可以免郵費﹐想不到購買什麼其他書的情況下﹐便順手買了這本小說。原本以為小說名稱叫三部曲﹐一定會是本長篇小說﹐寄到後才發現全書不足二百頁﹐只不過是三篇沒有關連的短篇小說的結集﹐有點被騙錢的感覺。陳冠中擅長寫香港文化﹐「我這一代香港人」的性質半散文半論文比較嚴肅﹐「香港三部曲」則以輕鬆的手法﹐從側面去描寫香港文化的轉變。書中的三個故事分別發生在崇洋風氣漸起的七十年代﹐經濟起飛的八十年代﹐以及回歸後老懵董的年代。三個故事的主角都不屬於香港社會的主流文化﹐從某程度上他們是主流眼中的失敗者。然而作者借用他們三人的眼睛﹐從他們的另類價值觀出發﹐與主流意識作一個對照﹐讓讀者從字裏行間中反思自己的價值取向。
第一篇小說「太陽膏的夢」描寫七十年代的社會面貌﹐主角是從外國回來不務正業的二世祖﹐每天到淺水灣游水曬太陽。整篇小說描述他終日無所事事時﹐在腦中漂過的那些想法。整體上談算不上有什麼故事﹐全篇只是東講一點西講一點﹐給讀者一個很凌亂的感覺。第二篇小說「什麼都沒有發生」佔的篇幅較長﹐描寫主角在臨死前回憶一生﹐講述他小時候從大陸走難到香港﹐長大後行船放洋工作北上搞生意﹐在經濟起飛的年代賺大錢的經歷。主角以不願責任的生活態度為人生哲學﹐扮到好像看通世情不理瑣碎俗事﹐卻又是個要追求生活品味的享樂主義者。這篇小說從主角自鳴清高﹐常對身邊庸俗的眾人冷諷熱嘲﹐讀者環顧現實中相同特性的親友時﹐會為陳冠中一矢中的的幽默批判發出會心微笑。第三篇小說「金都茶餐廳」從一個茶餐廳的救亡運動開始﹐見證回歸過後經濟泡沫爆破的後遺症。
這本書收錄的三篇小說故事性不強﹐每一篇都是無頭無尾沒有高潮沒有結局﹐像日常生活中抽一段出來寫般平淡。不過陳冠中以輕鬆吸引的文筆與豐富學識彌補故事上的不足﹐雖然沒有起承轉合的主線﹐但閱讀起來也毫不沉悶。這本小說讓我認識香港非主流的另一面歷史﹐驚覺原來除了視之為理所當然的主流思想外﹐還有其他與主流不相容的另類想法。而從這些角度為出發點﹐去批判主流思想也不完全沒有道理。作家也斯為這本小說寫序﹐企圖分析三篇小說的主旨﹐我認為有點兒劃蛇添足。讀者看了會有先入為主的觀念﹐反而影響親身感受作者想表達的想法。若還未看此書的朋友﹐我建議先跳過序言不讀﹐待看過全書咀嚼品味字裏行間的味道後﹐才回頭看是否認同也斯的觀點。
Lock Picking
A couple of weeks ago, Pat carelessly locked herself outside her home. She have to call the lock smith to open the door. It is about 5 minutes of work from the lock smith and he charged a ridiculous price $50. It doesn’t look that hard and I think I can do it myself. Then last week I read from the news that in HK, people can get lock picking tools and learn to open locks in a few hours. The HK government is talking about outlaw the buying and selling of lock picking tools to unlicensed locksmiths. This two events combined get me really interested in learning lock picking. First I can save money in the future, second I am geniunely interested in anything is on the legal gray area. In Canada, it is very convinient to order lock picking tools from the internet. I got a set of 14 pieces lock picking tools, come with a cut away practice lock showing the cylinders and a CD-ROM on lock picking basics. Lock picking will be the next odd skill I am going to learn by myself, adding to the list of juggling, simple magic, baloon twisting, etc.
Bluetooth Headset
My new Treo 680 has built-in bluetooth connection, which is pretty much a standard feature of all new cell phones. To get the most out of my new phone, I set out to buy a bluetooth headset so that I can talk wirelessly. I browsed alot bluetooth headsets and eventually decidded to get the Plantronics 510, which is PC Magazine editor’s choice. The 510 looks quite stylish, unlike other bluetooth headset with a big chunky module clip to the ear, the hardware module of the 510 is very light, compact and hidden nicely behind the ear. Just like any other bluetooth headset, the 510 is very easy to use, just fully charge it, turn it on, pair it up with the phone and you are ready to go. The voice quality is very clear and it has a good range. I can walk around my apartment without losing connection. Using the wireless headset is more natural than holding the phone or with a wired headset. It feel like talking face to face instead of on the phone. I can even have noodle soup and talk at the same time without feeling awkward. You will never go back to the old way once you had experienced a wireless headset.
Orz
Maybe I am a bit out of date about the internet culture of this generation. I have seen the word “Orz” used here and there, I sort of know it express the feeling of frustration and depression. Today, I finally know its true meaning when I come across the wiki page dedicate to this word. To be exact, “Orz” is a pictograph representing someone down on his knee, defeated, feeling life is totally miserable, and probably yelling “why, why, why me?” sadly. The O is the head, the r forms the upper torse and the arm and the z is the knee on ground. To give a better illustration, to “Orz” is making a pose like the guy in the picture belove. This word can be used as a noun, verb, adjective or even replace a whole sentence. Emoitioncon is really an efficient way to communicate. It only use 3 characters to express the complex feeling otherwise would require a few paragraph to describe.
