Today is Chinese day

最近可说是无辣不欢啊。 也不知道是为什么，就是偏爱重口味的食物，尤其是辣。 而要辣，就要辣得痛快，辣得彻底。 所以，到外头用餐，一定要点些麻辣汤头之类的食物， 或是配上大口大口的鲜红小辣椒一起进食。在家中用餐时，也不忘加些胡椒，青辣椒，或小辣椒等，只要是咸的食物，都一定会让辣椒朋友们通通出场。 吃的一脸通红，头皮麻麻的，又汗流浃背，真是够爽！也不知道是何时何日开始这么爱吃辣，也这么能吃辣。可能是最近寻工进展的不顺利，心情有点低落，也或是工作枯燥乏味，人需要一点味蕾上的刺激，来调解心情，为生活带来些短暂的快感。不过，吃辣吃的多，味觉好像是越来越麻木，必须越吃越辣。就不知自己也会对周围的事物一样越来越麻木呢？还有什么可以刺激到我的呢？

Scars

I used to stare at people with scars on their bodies and wonder (or imagine) how they got them in the first place. It's not that I am laughing at them or thinking they should have taken better care of their skin; I was simply curious. It is pretty common to spot people, usually ladies because they wear shorts/skirts that reveal much, with dark spots on their legs. I know for a fact that these spots are sometimes a result of mosquito bites, which leave scars if one scratched the bitten spot too vehemently. Then there are scars that were left behind when wounds failed to heal properly, sometimes resulting in keloids. Maybe I am too superstitious, but I do think that the scars that I have accumulated are a result of me staring too hard at those of others in the past. My scars were not left by mosquitoes, because those fade quite quickly, but usually from accidents. I recently got a, in my opinion, huge scab on my right foot as a result of a fall. The location of the wound was inexplicably bizzare; it was right at the top of the joint joining my foot to my leg, which also makes it difficult to heal because of the frequent movements of my foot stretching the skin when I walk. There is this cavity on my wound now which is taking a long time to heal. I guess a lot of flesh has to grow to fill up that cavity. And the pus is still coming out after more than a week, which I think is slowing down the healing process. This is going to be a damn big scar that would take heavy exfoliation daily and ages to fade away. Sigh, now my legs look kind of spotty too, not as bad as those of patches of mosquito bite scars, but well bad enough. I really think I should not have stared that hard at those poor souls with similar if not worse afflictions in the past. Now, I am being duly punished.

Muse and Life

A friend brought back a local magazine from Hong Kong today - Muse [瞄]. It's thinner than I expected and the English is a lot better than I imagined. Heh. Content-wise, there was this interesting article about people who aschew full-time, permanent and stable employment and instead, choose to freelance or simply temp around, much like the freeters in Japan some years back. Anyway, though the topic was rather dated, it was quite thought-provoking. The article interviewed a whole bunch of people who decided to give up their jobs to "pursue their dreams", like writing, producing music and these two guys who set up an organic farm. The interviewees claimed that their happiness quotient increased dramatically when they were able to structure their lives as they wish, unlike slogs who have to report to work at 7 and stay cooped up for 9 hrs min. for 5 days a week. But then if the lives of waking up as and when they feel like, having breakfast by the window watching eagles swoop and soar and shopping at noon are that great, why do all of them say that they do not see themselves living like this for long and would like to go back to leading more stable lives, i.e., rejoin the ranks of the slogs? Ahh.. the lure of the commercial world. Who could resist right? Heh. Not trying to be sarcastic or cynical here, but this' a tough world man. Ultimately, it's a clash of value systems here. And in a world whose set of values are becoming increasingly all pervasive with the help of non-stop bombardment made possible by efficient media technologies, it's a struggle to resist these values and let ours rule our lives.

Another day just slipped by.........

Cannot believe I just spent another day sitting at my desk, staring at the computer screen and stoning. In between moments of stoning, managed to finish The Road to Wigan Pier. It was an excellent book, but only the first part. I sort of spaced out after ploughing halfway through the second part before deciding to give up. Not really interested in all that socialism yada yada. The first part, however, was well-written. Orwell was extremely perceptive and thought-provoking. The image of the miners working the mines as described in the book reminded me somewhat of the brick kiln slaves in Shanxi. Only that the Wigan miners were not forced labour. But the destituteness, the mindless drudgery and the sense of helplessness are equally striking in both instances.

仁波切 - 四见地

一切皆无常 ：凡事都会变化。

一切情绪皆痛苦 ：情绪是一切痛苦的根源， 而情绪是由无明而造成的。

一切事物皆无自性 ：和合物是相互依赖的，也都是不稳定的。一切是空。

涅磐超越概念 ：大乐胜于快乐。 超越业报。