911十週年

美國這時還是九月十一日，紐西蘭已是九月十二日的早晨。原來就這樣過了十年。十年前的恐怖，到今天還在人們的心裡；或者時間使之略為變淡，但回想起來，聯想當時的人所面對的困境、生與死的沖擊和選擇、無奈和絕望，還是帶出相當的恐怖。

不單如此，記得看電視時也有影到歡呼的人們，那是另類恐怖，在我心中久久不下，無法遺忘。人們眼中的到底是大廈的摧毀，還是生命和關係的破滅？

RWC 2011 so far...

Third day of RWC, so far:

NZL - TGA: expected, nothing exciting here. ABs obviously only aimed to get the bonus point, not anything dramatic.

SCO - ROM: expectedly Scotland won but an unexpectedly tight game!

FJI - NAM: I nearly fell asleep when it was playing on Maori TV, maybe because I knew the score already.

FRA - JPN: totally expected result yet France must had sweated quite a bit when Japan made the point gap so close! I could see that on the face on the French coach. XD

ARG - ENG: For the performance and effort sake Argentina should have won! Lucky English, and ROFL @ Johnny Wilkinson! England defence coach insisted Wilkinson is still the man with the magic boot and he said he'd bet his mortgage on his next kick (that's how much they trust him, he said). Hope he is not going to lose his house.

AUS - ITA: looked at the score, not even interested in watching the highlights.

IRE - USA: not interested in USA.

RSA - WAL: Wales started off sloppy but played better and better over the 80 mins especially the second half! I think they deserved to win over SA! However when the last kick was missed I know they have no luck and the game will end with SA winning by 1 single stupid point. Sad.

Oh by the way, I think the opening celebrations and ceremony were great! Maybe just me being bias. And as usual, Auckland traffic was crap and unreliable. Just the way our city is.

RWC 2011 is here today!

Rugby World Cup 2011 is starting today! Although we are all saying that we may choke again and do not expect too much and don’t get too excited because it’s going to be disappointing blah blah blah, come on, it’s here! No matter we will win or not it’s a cool event. Especially this is happening in New Zealand this year – you know, there’s not many big events in New Zealand.

This is today’s Google doodle. Yeah yeah yeah~ Go the All Blacks~

Caelum will come in between the RWC. I just hope the traffic will be okay on the day I have to rush to the hospital. I have looked at the schedule, the last pool game is on the 2nd October but last pool game in Eden Park is on the 1st October 8:30pm. Then Quarter-final starts on the 8th October 8:30pm. So if Caelum comes on his EDD, id est 7th October, then maybe the traffic is fine… a few days early maybe better. Otherwise he will have to wait till after the 9th because 10th to 14th have no game too.

Let’s see whether he can come to this world in those date ranges.

A light in the darkness

自衞隊隊員在石卷市救出一名四個月大嬰兒，不禁面露笑容。 (美聯社圖片)

Deaths

"When you have such a large death toll it is easy to think of them as a number. But each one of these numbers is a person with a family who loved them, and each person must be treated with the utmost respect and dignity"

- Russell Gibson

This guy said this on Christchurch's earthquake. Now it's the Japan's earthquake, which estimated to end up with over ten thousand deaths. Some only concern about the death toll number, some only concern their money, some only concern their trips and shopping overseas... I am not sure what I should have felt and how I felt. However to be honest, I feel sad and ashamed that myself actually felt less sad in this than in Christchurch earthquake. It's not because they keep killing whales, I thought to myself.

Maybe because it's far, and it's not on the TV all day, less impact, less empathy. I feel sad that I don't feel sad enough. Those are human lives.

Two minutes

Across the country at 12:51pm we nationally had observed two minutes’ silence in respect of the victims of Christchurch earthquake. We gathered in our lunch room, turned on the TV and was watching TV1, follow the nation for these two minutes.

I could feel the unity of the nation, and the sadness in everyone’s heart – everyone in the office, and everyone out there joining these two minutes.

154 confirmed dead, 240 still missing.

Devastation

Earthquake in Christchurch yesterday and it’s so much devastation. The whole country is now in distress. I have been watching TV for hours yesterday afternoon, watching the helpless situation. 38 confirmed dead at the moment, but fears 300. Things were destroyed in a minute, people lives were taken both quickly and slowly. Aftershocks keep coming. Nowhere seems to be a safe place. It’s heart breaking. The rescuing work is pretty tough too. Polices, St. Johns,  Navies, Armies, Air Forces… from all over the country have been deployed to Christchurch, and also people from other countries offering us help are arriving. No one knows exactly how many injuries are there, and how many lives we have lost. Some people are still not contactable. Cabinet are considering whether to declare a national state of emergency or not. Christchurch is a ruin at the moment.

God defend New Zealand.

Pike River mine blast

Latest News

Our thoughts are with the families of the 29 men.

「與哭泣的一同哭泣」

直到今天，這已經不是「新」聞。

人們與哭泣的人同哭泣。有看著電視直播當時的情形的人們，感觸一定更大。

等了那麼長的時間，生命竟是這樣在迅雷不及掩耳之下便失去。

然而仇視全菲律賓的人，甚至在港的菲律賓人，甚至家中的菲傭，那卻是不合理的。

記得我的yaya很好很好，不知她現在好不好呢？

OMG a GG Draw 1-1 NZ - Slovakia

!!!!!

Good job All Whites!!! Good last minute goal!!!

毋忘陸肆

Killing in Cumbria

Good that I saw this guy’s email this morning. I have this feeling in particularly after looking at the Cumbria’s killing news. I know UK is a big place, but who knows where this guy is at the moment, for he the free soul runs around with no boundaries. I do know where my other friends are in UK though.

It’s such a sad news. So many people died or injured. I honestly have no idea why people would go out and shoot others, whom they don’t know. Why on their way to hell they have to drag people along to grave as well? And leave endless pain for their families and friends? This reminds me about three years ago, April 16, 2007, massacre in Virginia Tech in US; and the school killing incidents happened in China last several months.

It’s very sad, and terrifying.

Deus nobiscum omnibus.

看罷黃凌鋒五千字網文

其實我對「思覺失調」這個名詞很陌生，還好世上有Wikipedia，給我一個大概。

與其談他的網文說些甚麼，我更想說人們的回應。有人因此針對教師和學校大造文章，有人替這為黃同學覺得不值，有人質疑黃同學思覺失調的嚴重程度，有人說根本不值得可憐，有人認為這是必然的生物淘汰，也有人純粹借勢買廣告。祝福的人有，落井下石的人有，畢竟網絡就是不太需要負責任的平台。

對黃同學的觀點，部份實在難以理解；然而對一眾無論是激進支持還是明顯唱反調的回應，背後寫出這些的人的心情，也很難明白。死者已矣，而這些還在這世界上生存的人，可能還在上學，可能已投身社會；或者是明日的社會棟樑，或者是今日的經濟支柱；這些這些，倒是叫我心底有點寒意。

正常的定義，在我看來總是那樣的模糊。

不是贊成自殺，我只是想說，其實一點也不是意外的行為。也不要以為只是他不珍惜生命，所以該死。可以愛自己，愛生命的話，誰不希望這樣做呢？如果閣下從來沒有質疑過自己的價值、生命的貴重性、愛與被愛的可能、接納與排斥、世界的好與壞、人和人之間的關係、孤獨與合群。。。那大概閣下是幸福的，或者想自殺的人在閣下眼中真的是該被淘汰的一類。

不，我沒有實際想過要自殺，因為我怕痛，也要漂亮。

不過，現在腦裡完全沒有任何自我傷害的圖片的我，甚至刻意想也覺得有點勉強的我，倒是對自己有點不習慣。就是空泛的感覺。當然，對一向熱愛生命的人而言，這大概是「犯賤」的心態，理該被淘汰。哈哈。

大概要做一個正常人，也不容易。

報紙說。。。

看Citizen Kane中，其實只是剛開始，因為停在這個frame上：

先說我幹嗎看Citizen Kane，那是因為我永遠也出席不了星期五下午的screening，當然是要回去上班了，所以唯有自己在家看。

為甚麼我一看後倒過去再播這個frame，因為這是中央日報，惟大字標題竟是日文。正常人大概會笑「鬼佬唔識中文日文」就算了。無奈我是比較奇怪並多餘的人，以我這深信外星人與妖精的性格，當然是立刻想想有沒有可能真的有這樣的事情發生。 隨即一想，一九四一年，是抗戰期間嗎？須知我的中史奇差，尤其對年份和先後次序，簡直是沒有任何希望的了。我又不是中史倒轉也會背的小霖。。。哎，題外話，打完「小霖」才想到，我大概不該叫lele做小霖，小巒啦不如？好像不是這個巒吧。。。對，我又不是lele，當然是不記得了。

於是，我就造訪了我的好朋友Wikipedia，它說：

抗日戰爭結束於1945年8月15日，但對於其開始的時間存在爭議。比較普遍的觀點認為，全面的抗日戰爭起於1937年7月7日的盧溝橋事變，到1945年8月15日日本無條件投降時結束，歷時九十七月又八天，共為八年，八年抗戰名稱因此而來。另外一種觀點認為這場戰爭可追溯到1931年9月18日的九一八事變，這是中國與日本政府私下主導的局部抗戰的開始，因此又有十四年或十五年抗戰之說。也有觀點認為，1941年12月9日在珍珠港事件爆發後兩天，中國政府才公開宣布正式同日本宣戰，如果這樣算，抗日戰爭歷時不到4年。在這段時間裡，戰爭擴大到整個太平洋地區，中國和美國、英國等同盟國共同抗擊日本，而中國的抗戰也成為第二次世界大戰太平洋戰爭的一部分。最後，日本節節敗退，戰爭以包括中華民國在內的同盟國勝利而結束。

無論如何，中國是一九四一年十二月九日採正式向日本帝國宣戰的（寫到這裡，我走到書架去拿了本衛斯理的「鬼子」出來，很快的翻了兩翻，有點懷念。）而Citizen Kane五月一日已在美國上演，並且，據我的好朋友說它是四零年六月廿九日至十月廿三日拍的。看來當時中央日報有日文大字的機會真的少之有少（我還無知地幻想會不會是給日本人搶了報社一兩天嘛）。

也好，借機補一補習我那些殘缺不堪的歷史知識。

Umbrella incident

抗戰二十年

這個有可能是最近最多人用的網誌標題。

難得蔣小姐冒著網誌將在國內不見天日的危險，貼出素材給我寫兩寫，我這個根本不用擔心的人，怎樣都要寫多幾句吧。

記得蔣小姐好些日子前說過，中國像自己的孩子，自己罵就可以，人家罵就不行。我大概沒有這樣的感覺，因為在我以言，她先背棄了我們，又不認錯，我們才那麼的不高興。我這個人哪，一被背叛了，就不會回頭的。她不正視，休想我有好臉色對待她。

對，你他媽的說對了一件事：好些「聞渾分止」今天也不見得很好。但那不影響事情的對錯，那不能否定「國家的政府用國家的軍隊屠殺國家的人民」。

還是強調我零陸年陸月肆日所寫的：「叫日本正視歷史之前，先正視中國的血從中國的手流出吧。」

陸肆貳拾年（二）

回家途中，我在想，那個譬喻還是不完全，因為還有下半部未說。

下半部該是這樣的：事發後，廿年來都是國家黨執政，政府就是說：「死咗好多人？無呀，喺混亂間死咗幾個嗟！」；又有人說：「肉餅？車，你楂車落Rotorua條路都車死唔少Possum啦，無理由見到啲肉餅就話係人啦！」；仲有人話：「哩咁多年嚟毛利人都有好多拎咗唔少救濟啦，仲有電臺電視臺添！我相信佢地可以作出一個客觀嘅判決嘅，我可以代表佢地咁講呀。」

嘩，幾有道理呀。

陸肆貳拾年

己丑年己巳月庚辰日，這樣就過了貳拾年。雖然今天有很多東西要做，但我還是要先發這一帖。然而，絕對不打算說些甚麼特別的。

昨天我們向同事解釋這是甚怎麼的一回事，因為在他們看來相比起戰爭死的人實在不多。那倒是真的，斯里蘭卡一場廿五年戰役死傷無數，分分鐘有時一日下來也有這個數字。

重點是，那不是一場戰爭。

於是我用了一個譬喻去解釋，也不知合不合適，但那就是我想到的大概：就好像ANZAC Day，有一群毛利人到Museum遊行示威，然後John Key一個不高興，派坦克車輾過他們。

當然，真相比較複雜。但跟阿拉伯人解釋，不必太深究吧。

Heartbreaking

I have been reading news about the earthquake nearly everyday.

Wordless as usual, when I see tragedies like this.

Difficulties we face everyday is nothing compare to the pain they are facing now.

Parents saved their kids, teachers saved their students, children saved their parents, friends saved friends, schoolmates saved schoolmates, strangers saved strangers...though, there are still a lot unsaved.

People are brave. People who are saving others are brave, people who are waiting to be saved are brave. If I were there, I would not be able to make it. I would probably give up very early.

I have been protected too well I guess. Too weak.

Full of respect in my heart.

 

親人全遇難 女警堅持救災

2008-05-20

泥石流吞沒200交通人員
【明報專訊】四川大地震災民救援行動中，公務人員付出巨大代價，運輸部公路司長戴東昌昨透露，200多名交通人員在搶救災民時被泥石流吞沒。而彭州市女警蔣敏在北川所有10名親人遇難的巨大悲痛下，仍堅持救災。
「媽媽，我想你！」「瑞瑞乖，等你快快長大點，媽媽把你帶到彭州讀書。」這是民警蔣敏和她在北川縣的女兒的最後一次通話，時間是5月12日上午10時許，母女自此再也無法相見。
蔣敏前晚到北京參加抗震救災大型募捐活動時，回憶起地震發生時的情景仍心有餘悸，「從辦公大樓裏跑出來，我的第一反應就是打電話，給家人報平安」。然而通訊中斷，電話無法接通，蔣敏的家在北川縣城，奶奶、外婆、母親及女兒都在那裏，因為工作繁忙，女兒在5個月大時，蔣敏把她送回老家讓母親帶。在地震之前，蔣敏已有一個月沒與女兒見面了。
地震發生後，蔣敏和同事緊急出動，她按捺不住內心的牽掛，不斷打電話給北川的親人。這一夜，蔣敏沒有睡，一直在執勤。

「回去也沒用 不如做些事」
13日清晨6時許，蔣敏在北川的舅舅打電話給她：她的爺爺、奶奶、母親、女兒全部遇難。在北川的全家10口人已經確認死亡。「道路不通，通訊不通，我回去也沒有用，還不如在這裏做些事，幫幫和家人一樣的災民。」遭受重創的蔣敏此時異乎尋常地選擇了堅強。
看着蔣敏一直憔悴，上級和同事非常擔心，特意把她調到指揮中心，但一天後她又要求到前線。天彭中學安置了4000多名災民，蔣敏一整天都在那裏維持秩序，幫助送水送物資。

特別呵護孩子 抱着不願放
和蔣敏工作多年的彭州市公安局政工監督室主任張燕一直默默地關心着她，張燕說，每次遇到小孩子，蔣敏總是特別細心呵護，幫他們穿衣、蓋被、逗孩子們笑，「每當這種時候，我就特別心酸」。
16日凌晨，幾個剛被救出來的災民來到安置點，當中有一個胖胖的小男孩。蔣敏安置好大人後，緊緊地抱起這個小孩，久久不願放下，看了又看。她問張燕：「你說，這個孩子有兩歲多了吧？」「差不多吧。」張燕的心一酸，她知道，蔣敏又想起女兒了。