Thursday, January 22, 2009

榴梿国度


这不是一本普通的游记。这是一个寻根之旅。林悦在自序里,第一句话就说:“请不要问我爱不爱国,你不会得到爱或不爱的绝对答案。”
明明大家都是马来西亚人,却偏偏要分为土著与非土著。身份认同的迷茫,困扰着作者,驱使她决定游走马来半岛,聆听年长和年轻华人的故事,看看海峡殖民风格的古老建筑所述说的过去,从南马到北马,再跨越主干山脉,到东海岸。“纯粹的是想要自己更踏实。”
她遇到的人,有的对现实环境悲观,有的积极挖掘和记录被排除在主流历史外的早期华人生活与贡献,默默耕耘,也有的在外国呆了多年最后还是选择回来。
“。。。我们埋怨生气,我们不安焦虑,我们向往他国的民主与公正,我们批评自己的国家,但最终我们依然留下来,付出我们应该付出的;看着别人离开我们觉得那是一种解脱,但我们心里有一股不愿妥协的坚持,我们要站稳脚步,因为我们漂泊很久了,累了,所以才要正视问题的源头,而能稳住脚步和心的苗,就是历史。”只这么一句话就说进了心坎。
根,在那里,已不重要了。我们早已落叶归根,家,就在此。。。

Sunday, January 18, 2009

炎热的天气

中午起,房间里的温度就一直保持在摄氏35度,热死了。

很尽职地在奋力旋转的吊扇,还是无法降低高温。忍不住又想唱:“给我一架冷气机。。。”

幸好冰箱里还有一瓶冰冻的火龙果汁,能暂时消暑解热。

Friday, January 16, 2009

消防觀念

这是最近收到的转发电邮。读了后觉得蛮有用的,所以把要点贴了上来这里。
(一) 當火災發生時,用濕毛巾掩住口鼻, 請問毛巾弄濕了要不要擰 乾??
Ans : 當然要,不然還沒被煙嗆 死先被水嗆死, 這真的要怪政府以前宣導錯誤, 只說要將毛巾弄濕也沒說要擰乾…
(二) 如果沒有水可以弄濕毛巾, 需不需要當場灑泡尿 或吐口水弄濕毛巾??
Ans: 當然不需要,第一,那種緊急情況要灑得出尿也難, 第二,火災逃生時間是三分二十五秒, 難道要花兩分鐘在那邊 灑尿嗎?? 第三,專家說乾毛巾和濕毛巾的效果沒差多少, 第四,尿很臭。
( 三) 如果房間外都是煙和火而逃不出去的話, 這時房間內如果有馬桶, 可以把臉埋入馬桶吸取僅存的空氣 (意思就是告誡大家平常要多洗馬桶 )。如果沒有馬桶 .... 通常衣櫥因為都是關著的, 所以衣櫥內也有剩餘的空氣,可以躲在衣櫥內, 不管躲在哪裡都要用硬物敲擊牆壁或地面 讓救生員可以找到你…
(四) 火場逃生採低姿勢爬行逃出, 但如果是在公共場所遇到火災就不要再爬了, 因為可能沒被燒死先被 踩死… 當然如果可以的話, 沿著牆壁採低姿勢快速逃出最好…
(五) 在火場內要不要睜開眼睛??
Ans: 當然不要, 不要相信電視電影的火災現場 好像紅白藍綠什麼顏色都有, 其實根本是漆黑一片, 有沒有張開眼睛都沒用, 而且如果眼睛長時間 在高溫煙霧下會被灼傷而導致失明… 此時手盡量向前伸,以手代眼… …
(六) 逃生時需不需要用塑膠袋裝空氣套在頭上??
Ans: 如果只是火災初期溫度不高時可以, 如果已是火災中後期,四周溫度很高就千萬不要, 除非你想當天龍八部裡面那個鐵丑, 因為高溫會使塑膠袋溶解粘在皮膚上 導致…. 自己想像.........
(七) 愛美的女士遇到火災第一件事是什麼??
Ans: 脫掉絲襪,因為絲襪和塑膠袋的" 效果"一樣… ……
(八) 現在有一種沒有保存期限的滅火器, 而且可以多次使用, 這種滅火器所用的材料是" 海龍" (不知道是不是這樣寫), 可以噴在衣物上逃出 火場, 但不要直接噴在皮膚 上否則可能會凍傷, 或者可以噴在棉被上披著棉被逃出………
(九) 家裡的滅火器放在廚房裡??
Ans: 錯! 千萬不要放在廚房裡,因為如果廚房起火, 哪有可能還衝進去拿滅火器… 再不然就放在廚房門外。 最好是放在臥室裡, 如果發生火災可以馬上拿到, 如果沒發生火災還可以用來打小偷…
(十) 一般的公共場所會有防煙面罩, 但是材質都是玻璃紙的那種, 當然又和塑膠袋沒兩樣, 有一種比較好的防煙面罩, 不僅防煙還防火, 而且長達15 分鐘, (我們研習的時候當場有請一位老師上去示範, 帶著面罩用火直接燒都沒感覺) 最好家裡可以購置……

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A Place Called Here


I've heard of Cecelia Ahern's best-selling [PS, I love you](It has been made into a movie as well), but don't have the urge to take it off the shelves everytime I pass by it in bookshop. Perhaps i would never read any of her books in my life, only if i didn't found this pink-colored cover book lying on my desk on the first day at home. A quick glance over the cover and my eyes fixed upon a sentence :Ever wondered where the lost things go? It arouse my interest to read through the story, and I truly enjoyed reading it. The author indeed has a good imagination and amazing mind. She brings the readers into a world of missing people and missing things with a way of life that at first seems so hard to imagine but eventually you don’t want to leave.

Here's the description of [A Place Called Here] from Cecelia Ahern official site.

"Since Sandy Shortt’s childhood classmate disappeared twenty years ago, Sandy has been obsessed with missing things. Finding becomes her goal- whether it’s the sock that vanished in the washing machine, the car keys she misplaced or the graver issue of finding the people who vanish from their lives. Sandy dedicates her life to finding these missing people, offering devastated families a flicker of hope. Jack Ruttle is one of those desperate people. It’s been a year since his brother Donal vanished into thin air. Thinking Sandy Shortt could well be the answer to his prayers, he embarks on a quest to find her. But when Sandy goes missing too, she stumbles upon the place - and people - she’s been looking for all her life. A world away from her loved ones and the home she ran from for so long, Sandy soon resorts to her old habit again, searching. Though this time, she is desperately trying to find her way home…"

The story goes by two sides, one of which Sandy struggles for a way out from "Here" with flashbacks from her life before she goes missing, another carried by Jack who tries to find her in the real world. The two sides of the story run well along side each other, enable the readers to put together the small amounts of information for a larger fantastic story. I found it hard to put the book down at all until the story unfolded before my eyes and i was amazed at the way things turned out. Perhaps I shall include the infamous [PS, I love you] in my must-get book list for the next book exhibition.