Reading

I hardly read storybooks when I was young, and I was only exposed to commercial writers like John Grisham, Stephen King, Jeffrey Archer, rather late. That probably explains why there is little 墨水 in me :)

As I grow older, somehow there is an awakening, perhaps also influence from friends as well, that there is so much out there in the literary world that I'm missing out. Hence I'm doing whatever I can, to catch up on what I've missed, and pick up reading as a hobby.

Recently I've also been introduced to audio books and its a whole new world out there! I'm not saying that one should switch from reading a book to listen to audio books but its a totally different experience and you may want to give it a try to see if you like it.

About a month ago, I was introduced to this author Kurt Vonnegut, who bears some resemblance in both literary style and physical appearance to the great Mark Twain. I downloaded some of Kurt's audio books but have yet to listen to it. On 11th April, he passed away at the age of 84 due to a fall.

It's sad that I only got to know about him and his works after he passed away. As I am a slow reader, I have the tendency to give up reading half way if I lose interest. I hope I will finish reading his books and write some reviews here. By writing this down, it will also serve as a reminder to myself to finish up what I've intended to do. To my friends, if you next see me, ask me if I've finished reading :)

A nice quote from my friend beaulotus (who got the quote from her teacher):
" When a task has once begun, never leave it till it's done. Be the labour great or small, do it well or not at all."

Tribute To Kurt Vonnegut

当代英文小说家群像美国怪诞鬼才小说家瓦涅格面对历史的绝望呐喊 Kurt Vonnegut

● 丘柳川 - 早报副刊

华人新年期间读了美国小说家瓦涅格的两部小说，深受吸引，4月中却听到他4月11日在纽约逝世的消息，享年84岁。

　　瓦涅格(Kurt Vonnegut Jr)，1922年11月11日出生于美国印第安纳州印第安纳波利斯市(Indianapolis)，家境富裕，父亲是建筑师，母亲出身名门；但1930年代的大萧条严重影响他的家境。

　　瓦涅格1940年进入康奈尔大学，主修化学与生物；1943年被征召入伍，在卡内基梅隆(Carnegie Mellon)大学攻读机械工程，作为军训一部分；1944年奉派出国前夕，母亲服食过量安眠药自杀身亡。

　 　1944年12月，德军在比利时垂死反攻，瓦涅格在这战役中成为战俘，被送往德瑞斯登(Dresden)，与其他战俘在一家制造维他命的工厂工作。 1945年2月13日及14日，盟军对德瑞斯登展开大轰炸，瓦涅格和一些战俘躲在屠宰场地窖得以存活，同年5月回返美国；9月，娶青梅竹马女友珍 (Jane Marie Cox)为妻，并搬到芝加哥居住。他之后在芝加哥大学攻读人类学。

　　他于1951年开始全职写作，1952年开 始出版作品；1965年至67年，在爱荷华大学作家工作室驻教两年；1968年获古根汉基金赞助，重返德瑞斯登；1969年，出版《五号屠宰场》； 1970年独自迁往纽约；1979年和妻子离婚，之后再婚，第二任妻子是摄影师Jill Krementz。

　　瓦涅格一生深受忧郁症困扰，1984年他尝试以酒精加安眠药自杀未遂，之后自我揶揄，说是自己笨手笨脚才把事情搞砸。

　 　《五号屠宰场》被誉为20世纪美国最佳20部小说之一，《时代》杂志选出的“最佳一百部小说”它也榜上有名。1997出版《时震》后不久他宣布退休，不 再写小说，只为杂志写短文，其中不乏批评布什政府的文章。他的短文在2005年结集出版，书名《没有国家的人》(A Man Without A Country)。他坚称那是他的最后一部作品，说那是人生最后一杯美酒。

《 五号屠宰场 》

(Slaughterhouse-Five)

1944 年12月中，德军为发动最后一次反攻，深入比利时东北部盟军阵地，1945年1月被击退。那便是著名的Battle of the Bulge。1944年12月19日，德裔美军瓦涅格被俘，当时22岁。他被送往德瑞斯登，经历1945年2月的大轰炸。《五号屠宰场》便是以这段惨痛经 历为背景的半自传性小说。

　　1945年2月13日晚，英美联军轰炸机在德国德瑞斯登人口稠密地区，投下了大约3000吨炸药，大部分是燃烧弹。德 瑞斯登这个古老城市几乎不设防，一夜间变成火海。14小时又10分钟的轰炸，炸死13万5000个手无寸铁的平民。年青的瓦涅格目睹这场历史浩劫，心灵造 成重创，影响至深至远。

　　创作小说《五号屠宰场》成为瓦涅格的疗伤的方法。

穿越时空打破主观经验

这部独特小 说孕育过程异常痛苦，一般平铺直叙不可能把如此重大历史事件重建再造。作者采用非常独特又前卫的手法，塑造一个穿梭于过去及未来的人物来 当主角，从不同时间点检视历史。作者要引介新人物登场时，原来的主角会像灵魂出窍一样，站在另一个制高点观察事物。这个近乎“精神分裂”的主人公，时常会 发表荒诞怪异，甚至近乎无厘头的意见。

　　所以我说这是一部荒诞怪异幽默搞笑但议题严肃的反战小说。小说由很多短小，看似独立却又相互关连 的故事组成，像一部接力混合曲。唯独主人公比利(Billy Pilgrim)有时因为“黐线”而“不太合作”。这不但没有影响比利在“精神分裂”状态下的跳动思维，反而成为小说的特质。

　　小说主人公比利生于1922年（和作者同年），他预知自己将在1976年2月13日被人杀害。2月13日也是德瑞斯登大轰炸的“忌日”。

　　作为德裔美国人，这特殊身份给瓦涅格很大优势，可以毫无偏袒地表达自己。他说：

　　我曾在鸡尾酒会上告诉一位芝加哥大学教授，我亲身目睹（德瑞斯登）大轰炸，以及我要写的这本书。他是一个称为‘社会思潮委员会’的成员。他告诉我有关集中营，有关德国人以肥胖犹太人的脂肪制造肥皂与蜡烛的故事。

　　我只能说：“我知道，我知道，我知道。”

又如小说主角比利在飞机失事后受伤入医院，和一个哈佛大学历史教授同一病房，教授当时在编写二战的美国空军部队历史。这个蓝孚德教授和比利有这么一段对话：

　　“那是不可避免的，”蓝孚德告诉比利，他说的是德瑞斯登大轰炸。

　　“我明白，”比利说。

　　“那是战争。”

　　“我知道。我并没有抱怨。”

　　“那肯定是人间地狱。”

　　“的确，”比利说。

　　“可怜那些奉命行事的人。”

　　“我也是这么想。”

　　“那时候，你在现场肯定是百感交集吧。”

还好，”比利说。

　 　这两段故事说明，对过去事件的每种说法都受制于当事人的价值观与需求。蓝孚德教授进一步让比利认识更多有关德瑞斯登大轰炸的历 史事实，还把杜鲁门总统针对在广岛投下原子弹所发表的声明书念给比利听。杜鲁门的声明宣示美方有权对日军的战争行为采取严厉报复。瓦涅格对这种权力的傲慢 颇不以为然。

　　由于主角比利近乎精神分裂，思维跳动异常，所以小说中一些情节像电影镜头，有急速切入，有淡出，也有蒙太奇。作者还引用科 幻小说穿越时空手法，打破主观经验，也打破客观衡量时间的观念，将不同情节区隔，这让作者达到3个目的：以自己的观点重建历史事件，以区隔官方的历史观； 以主观意识为某一历史特定问题定调；以今天的潜在问题，推断明日所可能发生的事。

　　可以说，《五号屠宰场》通过战争探索时间与死亡的本质。比利的神经质，有如在时间中痉挛。他身为验光师，又企图以眼镜片来纠正人世间心灵的视线。不幸的是，当人们面对历史时，总是感觉无助。这小说正是人们面对历史的无助而发出近乎绝望的呐喊。

《 时震 》 (TimeQuake)

2001 年2月13日下午2时27分，这世界发生一场“时震”，把时间震回到10年前——1991年2月17日，然后人们一分一秒一日一月重复生 活，一切依照10年来的情况重复发展，丝毫没有变更余地。如此这般过了10年，在10年后的2月13日（也是盟军对德瑞斯登大轰炸的“忌日”），时震突然 消失时，人类面临一场前所未有的信心危机：过去10年的重复生活，人们不再须要用脑思考，因此，当恢复自由意志时阵脚大乱，不知所措。

　　 像另一位美国知名作家罗斯(Philip Roth)一样，瓦涅格的作品中也有一个自我分身(alter ego)，他便是科幻作家特芬特(Kilgore Trout)。他在《时震》中举足轻重，他的很多“故事”是小说的重要组成部分。瓦湼格便是以这方式，对不同问题提出不同看法。现举数例：

　　＊B-36姐妹

　　话说有三姐妹，两个可爱，一个丑怪，她们居住在一个叫“步步”(Booboo)的星球上。这星球实行母系制。

　 　两个可爱的姐姐，一个从事绘画，一个写作；丑怪的妹妹是科学家，只懂得热力学。“步步”人自小被输入某种程序，无论是看画或读文章都根据“电路”作出反 应。就地球人来说，这种反应称之为“想象”。就这样，丑怪的妹妹(Nim Nim B-36)发明了电视。从此之后，“步步”人不再需要想像了，只有老一辈人还懂得欣赏绘画与文学。两个可爱的姐姐越来越感到厌烦。后来，妹妹又发明了地 雷、刺铁丝网、机关枪、喷火器、电脑、自动化等。之后“步步”人开始自相残杀。他们毫无感觉地嗜杀，因为他们已无法想象，不再像老一辈人那样会为了一本感 人小说而悲戚，他们已毫无人性。

这故事写尽美国街头无时在发生的青少年杀人事件。瓦涅格强调德育，强调文学艺术培育人们的想象力，这些才是重要的精神本质。作者强烈批判电视对青少年的不良影响，也对人们无法通过吸取科学知识来增进人文素养感到悲观。

　　＊原子弹风波

　 　话说二战结束前，美军在日本广岛和长崎各投一枚原子弹后，原本打算在横滨再投一枚，但奉命投弹的机员却决定不服从命令，飞返基地。这些机员因为违抗军令 在军事法庭受审。审讯过程中，太平洋突然发生地壳分裂，把机员、法庭、战机，甚至基地所在的小岛全部吸入地心。这段故事颇为幽默，但在幽默背后却透露强烈 的反战意识。

　　＊狗儿的早餐

名叫弗利昂(Dr Fleon Sunoco)的科学家，认为人脑像是狗儿的早餐，是一团带血的海绵，因此质疑人脑是否真的推动人类的各项重大进展。

　 　在一次研究中，他在一个极度聪明的人脑中发现像微型收音机般的粉红色接收器，于是着手书写有关这重大发现的论文，而且非常有把握会因此获得诺贝尔奖。他 振笔疾书，下笔行云流水，这是前所未有的经验。后来他停笔自问，这滔滔文思从何而来？甚至质疑他的这项重大发现从何而来？肯定是来自他脑中的粉红色接受器 呀！这一惊非同小可，惊恐中他从窗口跃下。讽刺的是，根据他的研究，他无法确定他的自杀究竟是否自己的主意。

　　现代社会制造众多迷思，让人们自我迷失、自我否定，也自食其果。

　　《时震》中有很多这类幽默，充满睿智但发人深思的文字。瓦涅格以看似紊乱的情节来摇撼从来不受质疑的世界。

瓦涅格语录：

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

我们就是我们假装成为的那种人，所以我们必须对想假装成为怎样的人多加小心。

Dinner at Il Lido

Last month, due to some additional work we have done, our boss give us each USD$100 to spend, USD exchange rate is about 1.6 and declining, I was joking with my colleague the other day if only boss gave us Euro 100 to spend instead. After some discussion, wife and I decided to go to Il Lido for a fine dining experience.













When I made the reservation few days ago, I chose the indoor seating cos weather has been quite hot lately. However having seen the nice view when we reached there, we tried to request if we can change it to outdoor seating but was told the restaurant was fully booked for the night.

The restaurant is located at Sentosa, just next to the Sentosa Golf Club. It overlooks the sea and with the sun setting, the view is really beautiful.










Indoor seating













Outdoor seating













After settling down, we ordered the classic menu which costs $90 each. Too costly to order wine, and no ice water so no choice, ordered a bottle of sparkling mineral water, $8 ah.

They serve us bread chips, not like in Prego where they serve nice soft bread with vinegar and olive oil leh but the bowl looks very pretty










1st dish - pan roasted goose liver with green apple, honey & hazelnut sauce. Eat already, can feel the cholestrol going up, haha, its not as tough as pork liver, very soft but dunno how to appreciate, luckily got the green apple to mask the taste.










2nd dish - home made tagliolini with live spiny lobster and green asparagus tips. To a HDB boy like me, its like mee kai, haha but as this is a set menu, so the portion is quite little, not enough for my usual carbo intake. I am those sort who cant go without rice or noodles in my meal hehe.










For main course, we have a choice between fish and beef. Wife chose fish which is a pan-roasted atlantic cod, served with wilted baby spinach and red wine sauce










I am more of a seafood and fish person, seldom take steak or beef but since this is an atas restaurant, I decided to order the beef. Its a usda prime beef tenderloin, served with white asparagus, anchovy & garlic sauce.

I usually play it very safe when ordering beef, have it well done, like beef patty haha but I know those who enjoyed beef like to have it medium rare so I gave it a try and ordered mine cooked medium rare as well. The meat turns out to be very tender and juicy, you can see abit of the blood but doesnt have that raw bloody taste. Nice!

From the picture, you might think that the beef seats on top some french fries, thats what I thought so when the dish was served in front of me but its actually aspargus lah, haha.










Desert - molten lava dark chocolate cake, white chocolate & coffee gelato. Totally sinful but yummy. Wife felt too sinful to finish hers so I had additional servings of the lava chocolate cake, hehe.










Total bill comes up to about $220 after taxes, so have to cough up extra $60. Worth the experience though!

Bilthe Spirit

Went to watch the play Blithe Spirits last night at the National Library. It stars husband and wife team Neo Swee Lin, Lim Kay Siu and others like Tan Kheng Hwa, Selena Tan, Pam Oei.

Didn't know it's an angmo-adapted play till you hear the powderful English dialogue by the actors, only peppered with occassional Singlish by Selena Tan :) Checked the source and found out that it's actually a comic play originally written by Noel Coward way back in 1941 and this Singapore adaptation was first done in 2001.

Still entertaining nevertheless, especially Neo Swee Lin, who in my opinion, shone above the rest of the cast.

Oh and by the way, Dim Sum Dollies will be back in July! This will be the 4th installment of the hit play by the comical trio. Quick go get your tickets now!

$ savvy

I received a sms from my friend today saying that he made an obscene profit from the stock market during the crash last month. He ploughed in about 90k last month and sold this month and made about 33k!

So envious what he has acheived. Makes it looks so easy but this friend has always been very savvy about investment, he knows his risks, did his homework, buy the relevant stocks and seems to hit the bull eyes most of the time.

Abit sad when I reflect on myself. Ok maybe I shouldn't compare to my friends cos 人比人气死人 and have to manage my own expectations. But I guess I have to blame on my lazyness, or little interest in investment. I used to invest years ago but suffered paper loss and most still kena stucked so have not ventured any further since. Perhaps I'm a risk-aversed person, yes I admit that, I don't dare to try for fear of losing so I just have to be contended with my low risk savings deposits for the time being.

I have to tell myself, don't envy people, go read up and do something about it!

STFU

Are you sick of reading about the Minister Pay issue?

If I rememeber correctly, the issue was raised before I leave for my 1 week Sydney business trip and plus my 10 days holidays thereafter, it has been coming to 3 weeks and it is still being discussed in the papers. When the news was first announced, I just shook my head, what's new anyway? Now that I'm back, I see different ministers coming up to substantiate why the raise is needed blah blah blah, not that I took any interest in reading all these, I don't, I just read the headlines and it's enough to get me irritated.

Want to share with you what I read from another blog, actually from the creator of the Elite girl comic strip, Insanepoly. I think he sums up very well what we peasants are feeling, here's an extract of his rant (warning: vulgar language used):

I don’t want to hear anymore about your justifications and rationalisations. Obviously you guys have no intention of listening to any of the people, so why should we the people listen to you. As someone once said, this has ceased to be a conversation. You tell us what you want and you go ahead and do it whether we the people like it or not. So what’s there to say. So shut the f**k up and enjoy your riches. Just don’t tell me you are doing this for my own good or for the good of the country.

For the past 2 friggin days, the ST has daily devoted 5-8 pages to the MIWs justifications for the minsterial pay hikes. Enough of that already.

Shut the f**k up.

You’ve got your money, but must you also have the last word as well. Take your f**king money and go f**king choke on it. Just shut the f**k up and get out of my face. I am sick of your bullshit.

Sayonara

After two days of hotspring, we went back to Tokyo and continue our shopping and sightseeing.

There are no lack of places to go, we practically leave hotel by 10am and will only back by 9pm. I find Tokyo very vibrant, lots to see, shop and eat.

14th Apr we have to bid farewell and fly back home. Will definitely come back to Japan for another visit, maybe will go Hokkiado next.

Sayonara!

Sumptuous Seafood Dinner

This is what we had at the pension and the hightlight is the crab!
The dinner spread was prepared by the owner himself and he was a chef before.













Big? Every one has its own and the claws have been nicely cut so all you have to do is just to use the tool given to dig out the meat.










Fresh prawns










I didnt eat the head, only ate the sashimi.










Scallop with cheese









A close up of what each one is having










Wasabi is a plant and this is how it looks like. You grind the wasabi plant (looks like ginger) and you will get the green paste










Don't be put off by the look of it.They catch these fishes from the river and it tastes something like the nasi lemak fish, bones can be eaten, very crispy.










Dad, being a crab lover, was full of praises with the meal and he was the first one to finish everything :)

Izu

We checked out from Hakone and went to Izu for another hotspring stay.

Izu island has many scenic viewing point to see Mount Fuji, waterfalls, shiitake farms, coastal areas etc http://www.aco.co.jp/g-river. However the weather was not our side, it was cloudy when we were there and we missed yet another chance to see fuji-san. We rented a car and with the built in GPS, we drove along the hills and coastal area, very scenic!

Izu Green River Pension, our 2nd 'japan hour' stay comes with onsen and good food. Per night per adult at 10500yen inclusive of dinner & breakfast.










This pension is something like bed and breadfast kind. During our stay, our family were their only guest so we have the whole pension to ourselves, feels like home. The room is smaller compared to the Hakone one, no wooden sliding doors, just a normal room.













They have 3 private onsens that you can enjoyed round the clock.

Hakone

After a few days of being in Tokyo, we headed to Hakone, a countryside full of hot springs. We took JR from Shinjuku to Hakone Yumoto station on the Odakyu line, the ride took about 90mins. There is a day ticket to cover all travel from Shinjuku to Hakone and then all the bus, trains, cable cars etc once you're in Hakone, but as we want to be flexible with our schedules, we did not buy the day ticket. Instead, after lunch, we took another train to Gora, and then the cable car across to Owakudani. We wanted to take the cable car to catch a view of Mount Fuji but when we reached the station, it was drizzling and with the misty weather, the ticket operator said that we will not be to have any view of Fuji-san :( so sad.

We then check-in to our guesthouse Ichinoyu HonKan, a popular hotspring guesthouse. They have quite a few guesthouses in Hakone and Izu, more information here: http://english.ichinoyu.co.jp/.

This is our 1st 'japan hour' type of onsen, and the package comes inclusive of dinner and breakfast, we paid about 11800 yen per person.













A river runs through it, all rooms overlook this picturesque river














Our room comes with its own little hotspring.













This is our room, complete with wooden sliding doors, really authetic like what you see in Japanese movies, at night we have to push the table aside to make space to lay out the tatami bed.






















Lest you think we are having dimsum for dinner :), what's actually in the dimsum basket are toufu, pork, bean sprouts, unagi, and some Japanese style kind of wanton and meatballs










Looks like chicken hor? But it is actually sweet potato with egg plant.










Think this fish is ang-gor-li or red snapper










The ladies public bath entrance, identified by the red cloth













The men public bath entrance, identified by the blue cloth













Tried both the public as well as the private ones. The onsen very shiok with the cold weather but cannot dip for too long.

Japanese fine dining

My sis, brother in law, sis's mother in law, my 1.5year old niece and my dad joined us in Tokyo today. We had dinner at a restaurant on the 53th floor at the Shinjuku Center building. It was a traditional Japanese dinner, a 8 course set including dessert. The menu doesn't come with English explanation, most of the time, dunno what I am eating but luckily my sis understand Jap and help to explain. I didnt manage to recall the exact descriptions of each item so will just share with you the pictures that I took.

Meiji Shrine

8th Apr (Sunday)













Main entrance to Meiji Shrine, Japan’s oldest shrine.


































It’s a long walk into the shrine itself, but its worth a visit in there, to pray for anything, and buy those Japanese amulets (the Love ones seem to work!) for yourselves or as souvenirs

We were also lucky to witness a wedding ceremony being held at the shrine.

























Meji Shrine is located next to Harajuku Station. A sharp contrast between the young and old cos Harajuku is known to be a teens hangout place and if you go on a Sunday (which we did), you will see the Meiji Shrine entrance crowded with Jap-punks playing dress-up.

























Oh ya, there is a Snoopy merchandise shop called Snoopy Town just opposite Harajuka station. Wife went ga-ga over it :)