发牢骚

谈到理想我就想起在《Singapore Dreaming》里，一个做陪酒女郎的中国妹说的一席话：中国人来新加坡赚钱是为了实现理想，而新加坡人则为了钱放弃理想。

我觉得这句话很经典。

因为自己是个很实际的人，所以比较喜欢每个月有固定收入的人生（最好是高收入）。成功对我而言就是能够让身边的亲人不必为维持生活觉得困扰。理想这种东西因该是留给那些幸运的人，非常自我的人还有勇者去实现吧。而我这种小人物自有小人物的心声。

最近我常常在电视上看到DOVE成立基金的广告。广告的内容大概是一些有自然卷发，单眼皮还是觉得自己又胖又丑的女生学习如何欣赏自己独特美。不太清楚为什么要成立这样的基金。我不明白为什么要特地成立一个基金来帮助女生欣赏自己的美。通常女生都是在成长过程中慢慢建立自己的自信，找出自己比较出色的地方然后就避短扬长。我相信男生也是如此。

当然那些天生丽质的人就比较幸运，长相没那么出众的人也无需过度自卑，毕竟世界上还有一个东西叫内在美，叫相从心生。内心美丽的人自然会散发出他们的光彩。而且世界上有魅力的人未必都是俊男美女。要不然就谈个恋爱吧，听说在恋爱中的人都神奇般地变美丽。

有时俊男会与丑女走在一起，美女也偶尔会与丑男结合。（当你下次看到很帅气的跑车时，不如就偷看一下坐在车里的人吧。）

又听说过这句话：世上没有丑女人，只有懒女人。

更重要是，如果只把信心建立在外在美上，那这样的人心灵是很脆弱的。

往好的方面想吧！有钱的人怕配偶跟他在一起是为了他的钱。美丽的人怕爱人选择她就因为她的美丽。等有一天他不再有钱，她不再美丽，伴侣会不会舍弃自己呢？丑的人就不会有这种烦恼了。尤其是又没钱又丑的人。

I don't contribute to the fund so i don't care how the money is used. i'm just not comfortable that this can also constitute a substantive reason to set up a fund. Upbringing of children is supposed to be a family issue. however, why is family issue is being settled on a social / national /even international level?

有听说过正心，修身，齐家，治国，平天下吗？ 似乎现在连“正心”都很难达成。哪教育事业是在干什么？

education is not science, not maths. science and maths are materialistic. I feel education should be partly about imparting thinking skills and more about developing a healthy mindset and the strength of character. One of the ways to develop is through learning a language. Language is not just the syntax or the vocab, it's more like the culture through learning why certain ideas are expressed in different manners in different languages, why scholars created certain kinds of philosophy, why certain myths and legends originated from certain languages? the very art of living lies in these concepts.

i'm not against materialism. i'm a materialistic student and that's part of the reasons why i pursue accountancy and demand satisfactory grades. materialism for practical reasons. My younger brother says this, my tuitee says this, my younger cousins also say this: study is not everything. Apparently, they find dissatisfaction if they simply study the textbooks. sometimes i just wonder, do they even know what study entails? there's so much more to it but they can only see class tests, term tests and examinations. if they just persevere, i believe they'll slowly gain something more from their studies. often, they don't give their best and the benefits of their half-hearted studies are incomplete.

有时候我在想人是不是一代不如一代？ 我觉得爸爸妈妈那一辈的人心灵比我坚强很多倍。是不是物质上越丰裕，心灵上越空虚？

可能现在的人活得比较茫然，缺乏生活重心。时间多了，钱多了，对生活基本要求满足了，欲望也就变多了。

有时我在想是不是现在的人看的电视节目多了，脑就用的少了。变笨就很容易被电视节目传达的信息洗脑。

变笨是真的。有一次我用整个月的学校假期什么都不做就只看电视节目，日本动画等等，开学后我发现自变笨了，根本很难思考，很难连贯知识。脑是越用越灵活的。如果只是今天用，明天用是看不到效果的。要持之以恒，就好像滴水穿石，慢慢就会看到效果的。（我跟弟弟说过读书就跟滴水穿石，幼苗变大树一样，慢慢才会看到显著的效果。他就是不听。不知道是代沟还是根本的思想分歧。）

不是有进化论吗？ 怎么我感觉上好像有心灵的退化？

Anyway, these few days i've been craving for the wanton mee in my school. the more i eat, the more i crave. I became a repeat customer at the stall partly because the wanton mee guy called me 美女 the first time i buy from him。 then slowly, i come to appreciate the Q-ness of its noodle. At first i thought its because the noodle is specially produced by the stall but on further observation, i realised the Q-ness could be due to way noodle is cooked. The wanton mee guy will first cook the noodle in hot water, then cold water, then hot water again. it's so easy but the Q-ness of the noodle is so special. a lot of stalls tend not to cook their noodle this way. as far as i know, the noodle for mushroom minced meat noodle is usually not cooked that way.

last week i ate the wanton mee in school again. The wanton mee guy gave me chaw siew that has a great combination of fats, burnt parts and juicy chaw siew sauce! it's so nice that i ended up concentrating on my tongue power rather than ear power in class, so 回味无穷 that i didn't even hear the question prof posted to me after i just finished the noodle in class.