Monday 10 August 2020

家谱与部落格贴文

我昨午 (09/08/2020) 被二弟的两个子女(即侄子和侄女)气炸了!

 

旅居伦敦的侄子近日通过Ancestry.com网站搞了一个刘氏家谱(Lau Family Tree),其中一半列出了他母亲(二弟前妻)Ooi氏的一大堆家族亲戚,最上一代与我祖母平行;而且又把他即将出世、还未取名的孩子列入第5代人。

 

我起初经过二弟游说,也兴致勃勃上载了我家人的基本资料(即姓名、出生年份及照片),同时添加了母亲在中国的3个弟弟与弟妇(即我舅父与舅母)的基本资料。我曾赴广东四会探访过他们,拍照及拥有一些资料。此外,我将家谱截图贴在面簿上,旨在分享喜悦,而非炫耀。

 

我告知二弟,侄子不应提早将未出世的孩子列入家谱,同时家谱应以一个姓氏祖先为主,不宜大量开支散叶。目前这个家谱有两个家族,即 Lau & Ooi Family Tree。

 

侄子显然不悦。他反对我在面簿分享家谱截图,说是私人事务,但也删掉了未出世的一代。他是家谱的Editor,坚持两个家族同在一框,还封锁了管理权,让我不能参与建构。

 

与此同时,在墨尔本的最小侄女也发难,突然向我二弟投诉,指我在2013年上传部落格有关1992年我与毌亲前往澳洲探望他们一家的贴文中,有她婴儿时候照片,侵犯了她的隐私 (privacy),被她朋友看了讪笑,要求我下架或不能公开。

 

若要在该贴文中删掉一切有关她的照片,等于删掉我母亲和我本人当年在澳洲的一些留影!

 

我的脾气一向来都蛮大,人敬我一尺,我敬人一丈;人踢我一脚,我还人十拳。但既然有人投诉,我也只好把那篇贴文收归为draft (部落格贴文的一项功能),不予刊出,从此只有我一人可浏览这篇贴文。

 

至于家谱,我马上将自己、太太、孩子和媳妇的照片悉数删除,只留下名字和出生年份。我的理由是,我不曾征求过他们的同意就上载了照片,现在要讲究和尊重隐私权了。这个不伦不类的 Lau Family Tree,我从此不予理会。

 

过后,我向二弟道歉,解释了我与他儿女有代沟和不同价值观,希望他别生气。至于他儿女如何看待我,I don't give a damn!

 

他知道我气在心头,表示我们年纪都大了,此事不提也罢,谈别的话题好了。

 

我至今还是有点愤慨,觉得不吐不快,于是行文纪录,到此为止。

 

Monday 13 July 2020

Karen Carpenter

It was raining this morning on Monday, July 13, 2020.  This suddenly reminded me of a very beautiful and yet melancholy song “Rainy Days And Mondays” sung by Carpenters released in 1971 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFoQxjgbrs ).Carpenters - Christmas With The Carpenters (1992, CD) | Discogs

Karen Carpenter is my all-time most favorite English song singer and I have listened to almost all her songs.  She had indeed “a voice of an angel on Earth”.  Her songs always bring back fond memories of my younger days as high school / university boy.

The story of Carpenters can be found in the Wikipedia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFoQxjgbrs


今天星期一(Monday, July 13),一早外面就下着雨,令我突然想起Carpenters(木匠兄妹合唱团)的一首情歌“Rainy Days And Mondays”(“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down…”)

 

Karen Carpenter是我平生最欣赏的英文歌曲歌手,几乎听过和喜欢她唱的每一首歌!

 

在这兄妹合唱团里,哥哥Richard是键盘手, 妹妹Karen是主唱。这个组合在1970年代和1980年代初期风靡一时。Karen的歌声被喻为“ voice of an angel on Earth",不啻是天籁之音!

 

Karen1980831日与房地产开发商Thomas James Burris结婚,后者比Karen9岁,离过婚且有一名18岁大的男孩。

 

这段对Karen绝对是灾难性的婚姻原本是可以被阻止的,因为Karen在婚礼前夕发现Thomas在遇见她以前做了输精管结紮术,Karen难过不已,並且告诉她的母亲,但是被母亲拒绝,认为一切都已安排好了,而且媒体也都知道这项消息了,如果取消婚约对于Carpenter家族是不利的。

 

另一方面,Thomas不是什么地产大亨,却是一个不折不扣的穷光蛋,是一个连结婚戒指都无法支付的人。1980-1981年间他们结婚之际,他甚至无法支付房子与车子的钱。據Karen友人指出,他只要沒钱都会跟Karen50,000美元,直到Karen什么都沒有,甚至还要跟她离婚。

 

Karen也曾想要和Thomas生孩子,但Thomas不肯,还尖酸刻薄说自己不会和她有孩子,並且说Karen一袋死人骨头(因为Karen的厌食症让她形销骨立)。

 

两人最终在198111月离婚。Karen198324日因长期严重神经性厌食症而突然去世,终年33岁。

 

Some of the Best of The Carpenters' Songs that I like:

 

1. Close to You

2. We’ve Only Just Begun

3. Sing

4. Knowing When To Leave 

5. Bless the Beasts and Children 

6. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

7. For All We Know

8. Hurting Each Other

9. I Won't Last a Day Without You

10.It's Going to Take Some Time 

11.Mr. Guder

12.End Of The World

13.Only Yesterday

14.Our Day Will Come 

15.Please Mr. Postman

16.Rainy Days and Mondays 

17.Reason to Believe

18.Solitaire

19.Superstar

20.A Kind Of Hush

21.Ticket To Ride

22.Top of the World

23.Touch Me When We're Dancing 

24.Yesterday Once More


Carpenters - Hits Medley 76

https://youtu.be/DqkEr2aowBU

 

1980 Medley (Sing/Knowing When To Leave/Make It Easy On Yourself/Someday/We've Only Just Begun)

https://youtu.be/Gu80ipPKVVY

 

Wednesday 24 October 2018

Let's Talk About Happiness

Happiness is what we all strive for, at the end of the day. Perhaps, it's the best thing we get in life, the one things really worth dreaming about. But it is not easy to have nor to keep. We must work each day at being happy, the change usually coming from within, and not from without...

Sunday 8 July 2018

9 Famous Quotes That Are Often Misused

There are many quotes that are constantly used at will by many of us, but do we actually know where they came from or what their full extent really is? Here are 9 famous quotes that are used in part, or even completely incorrectly:
1.  
The idea that money is inherently evil appears to stem from a quote that appears in the King James Bible, specifically in 1 Timothy 6:10. The thing is, however,  that the quote got misconstrued from the actual Bible verse, which says: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

 2.
This motivational quote also happens to be a misquote. It comes from a UCLA Bruins football coach known as “Red” Sanders. At a physical education workshop in 1950, he said: “Winning isn’t everything. Men, it’s the only thing!”  
 3.
This one is a complete misquote, because the actual quote says “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. In other words, you actually have to try food to determine whether it’s good to eat or not. “The proof is in the pudding” actually makes no sense at all.
 4.
A few hundred years back, “jack” was simply slang for “laborer”. This ghost word is still seen in phrases “lumberjack” and “steeplejack”. As a result, a “jack of all trades” was a laborer who was capable of doing a bit of everything. The “master of none” part of the quote is actually a modern addition, which contends that those can do a bit of everything have mastery over nothing.
 5.
An old belief from medieval times states that “fasting is a great remedy for fever”, but modern medicine begs to differ. Some believe that the notion of starving a fever actually comes from a mistranslation of “feed a cold, stave a fever”, meaning that it’s a well-nourished person with a cold has a better chance of staving off a fever than a person that is undernourished.
 6.
Greek philosopher Socrates left this one to the world. If he really did mean it in earnest, he probably would have written it down rather than killing himself by drinking hemlock. What you might not know about this famous quote is that it actually has a second part that’s often left out. In its entirety, it reads: “Great minds think a…and fools seldom differ.”
 7.
This quote is alternately attributed to Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller, although neither of them were actually confirmed to have said it. The full quote actually says: “when one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.” As a result, make sure you look forward and don’t dwell when one of life’s metaphorical doors slams shut on you.
8.
The first known version of this quote was popularized by William Shakespeare. It goes “care killed the cat”, with “care” meaning “worry” in this context. It appears that “care” made way for the word “curiosity” in the late 1800s, but while that is uncertain, people almost always forget that the quote actually has a second part. It actually reads: “curiosity killed the cat…but satisfaction brought it back,” and means although being nosy will ly get you in trouble, knowing the truth in the end is often worth the risk that you take to find it.
9.
Gandhi uttered many an inspiring phrase during his lifetime, however this has to be one of his most famous. In his original statement, the guru had said: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.”

Monday 19 March 2018

The Greatest Quotes of Lao Tzu

Lao-Tzu was a philosopher and poet of ancient China. He is best known as the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of philosophical Taoism, but he is also revered as a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. Although a legendary figure, he is usually dated to around the 6th century BC and considered to be a contemporary of Confucius. Below are 31 of his greatest quotes: 




























家谱与部落格贴文

我昨午 (09/08/2020) 被二弟的两个子女(即侄子和侄女)气炸了!   旅居伦敦的侄子近日通过 Ancestry.com网站搞了一个刘氏家谱(Lau Family Tree),其中一半列出了他母亲(二弟前妻)Ooi氏的一大堆家族亲戚,最上一代与我祖母平行;而且又把他即将出...