Met a very elderly granny selling things just outside the Shaw House at ground level.  I thought she was selling tissues but she wasn't.  She was selling multiple instant coffee or cereal sachets from the large packet!  I hadn't come across that.  I didn't know how much she was charging for such a single sachet that could only gave you a cup of beverage.  Beside that, she also had ‘tang hoon' (dried uncooked fine noodles) in her arm.  I lost track what were the rest.  These were the only two imprinted in my mind.  At her feet were two red large plastic bags that contained more of them.  At such a late hour around 11pm and with not many people on the street, it was pretty weird for choosing that location at that hour.  Perhaps the waiting could be on the moviegoers coming down at the end of their movies or the people coming up from the underpass escalator.  It was hard not to miss her in her bright pink newly looking pattern blouse & trouser set.  I think I may had fallen into the stereotype thinking that she looked well-do for making a living like that.  Perhaps it had nothing to do with her background.  She could be just simply trying to earn some bucks from it.  Within my short observation, a young lady was kind enough to stop and buy a sachet from her.  For whatever reason behind for her selling, I had to give credits to her for merely standing there at such an elderly age.  She must be about in her 80s.  I couldn't help but to think of my grandmother, if it was her doing so.

P/S: I am happy to see a granny I used to shoot before.  She still recognized me and she is still as hardworking as before in the coffeeshop.  BTW it's 2 days away from Toto draw date with $10,000,000 to be won.  There were very long queues of hopefuls.

"What I used to think were beautiful, had faded away.  I thought they would wait for me somehow."  My thought wandered away.  I remembered a little voice faintly told me, "Just remember your heart.  Remember why you want to write it in the first place."

I was trying to tidy up my space and came across books I have purchased years ago.  I haven't read them.  I could almost remember the state of mind and my heart back then when I bought them.  I suddenly felt comforted, cos' they were like the secret codes that would help me to find my way home.  They felt like old friends who I recognize.  Then there was an autograph book scribbled with my notes.  Reading it felt like making contact with the past me.  I finally recovered a story title I had long forgotten that held the door to one of the stories I have wanted to make before.  I want to go home.  I really want to go home...

Putting on weight for a good reason...

Reunion Dinner's Dessert (Best Part of the Day)

CNY (Day 1) At my uncle's house (with my grandparents)

CNY (Day 3) At my Aunt's house

BTW my Aunt Family's Pet... (only left one...)

Grandpa was uneasy with my farewell hug end of the day according to grandma.  She said grandpa remarked "我搂搂抱抱..."  Guess that's the difference being in an Oriental family.  Nevertheless, it's my best expression for my love for them.  I'm comforted & grateful to have their company.

That night I was too awake with a mind of conversations of its own.  If a human heart is said to be like a door, it seemed harder and harder to see opened doors when one gets older.  Let alone open your own at times.  Or should I say, it's wiser to be more selective to whom one opens it to.  Even those who chose to open them may be showing false sceneries inside.  You know you can't blame them.  A handful of people hurt around me lately.  It's sad to feel doors shut.  Time can't heal all opened wounds.  Even a scar is a painful reminder of the pain before.  You can cry but please don't do it too long.  Cos' you can't see other beautiful things around you with tears full in your eyes.

In Jim Henson's film "Labyrinth", Hoggle said, "Even if you get to the center of the labyrinth, you'll never get back out again."  How true it was, if the trip to the labyrinth is seen as a process of growing up.  The lead character, Sarah did grow up after end of the trip in the film, after wishing the Goblin King to take away her stepbrother in the first place.

In "The Hospital"- a Taiwanese drama, a doctor said he use his ignorance to keep his innocence.  But in a reality world where power and politics ruled, you know he is most likely to become somebody's prey in game.  Yet how precious to find such a mind exists in a world where it doesn't need to take the sun away to feel its coldness at times of awakening.  I had this mixed feelings seeing this character brought to life in the story.    

I stopped myself knocking on doors.  I stopped myself waiting outside the doors.  I'm going round the garden to plant my tomatoes first.  Durian maybe a better choice with its strong fragrance but it takes at least 10 years to grow it.  That's too long to wait... Hope you come to my garden someday on your own...

In the light of the sun, is there anyone? Oh it has begun...
Oh dear you look so lost, eyes are red and tears are shed,
This world you must've crossed... you said...

You don't know me, you don't even care, oh yeah,
She said
You don't know me, and you don't wear my chains... oh yeah,

Essential yet appealed, carry all your thoughts across an open field,
When flowers gaze at you... they're not the only ones who cry
When they see you
You said...

You don't know me, you don't even care, oh yeah,
She said
You don't know me, and you don't wear my chains... oh yeah,

She said I think I'll go to Boston...
I think I'll start a new life,
I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name,
I'll get out of California, I'm tired of the weather,
I think I'll get a lover and fly em out to Spain...
I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice... oh yeah,

Boston... where no one knows my name...
Where no one knows my name...
Where no one knows my name...
Yeah Boston...
Where no one knows my name.

Wishing everybody a Healthy & Blissful Lunar New Year filled with Love, Prosperity & Peace!!!  YEAH!!!

Whenever I do subtitles on my jobs, I always thought of my mother.  Are the wordings too small?  Are they too fast to be read?  Are the sentences understandable?  I do not know when did all these started.  But she is always on my mind naturally when I overlay the subtitles.  I remember once on a job, I was requested to make the subtitles even smaller.  Instantly I protested, "But my mum won't be able to see."  The boss jokingly replied, "This program ain't made for her to see only."  I had a good laugh.  I was thinking if my mum couldn't read the subtitles at her pacing, then the other housewife about her age may have problem reading them too.  I have picked up my mum watching habit and ability without knowing.  My mum doesn't understand English, so she relies on the subtitles a lot when there are interviews reply in English in the Chinese programs.  A hell lots of time, they didn't prove any easier for her for being either too fast or simply too small to be read in time.  Perhaps for just a simple reason deep in my heart, I was hoping she would watch the programs I was working on. Hoping she would understand the reason for the long hours & efforts at work for editing a program/documentary. I wasn't sure whether she has seen any. She always appeared uninterested in them. My dad who is a taxi driver once commented to us that a customer was complaining to him for the many programs that the TV station was repeating. My mum suddenly commented to him that one of the episodes that I had worked on had taken about 3 weeks to edit and it was on the screen for only in the half an hour slot. She asked him whether he knew. Quietly, I just grinned.

Glad to see that all English & Chinese News now have subtitles that promote learning and definitely aid the hearing impaired to understand the news.    

Upon returning home from work tonight, my chaotic looking table is becoming more and more like a second hand bookstore or a garbage center.  With Chinese New Year only 2 days away, I hope I've enough time to do last minute tidying up.  I don't want to be mocked by my sister that my table is ‘gone'.

P.S:  A harmless question asked today by my colleague had destroyed my strategy of aliening myself from a situation & thought.  I couldn't find a good hideout with my face turning red & those stupid guilty smiles showing up... I really hate myself today.  My strategy has loopholes and very big ones!!! I need subtitles...

Happy Valentine's Day with Sweetness!

Kisses AL