3+1 "好友?"

還記得大半年前, 無論是自己還是其他教會, 差不多同步地查考聖經內的一卷書"約伯記". 即使我沒有爬 YouTube 的習慣, 但手機內每週也會收到朋友傳發給我, 由不同牧者用約伯記講道的訊息. 甚至連 IG 也有朋友以此為題材分享, 何為困苦? 尤其是發生在約伯身上, 似乎沒法子解釋的苦難, 應該如何解讀及面對?

在短短差不多一年的時間內, 我參加了自己教會, 由牧師特別安排的連續幾個短期查經班, 約伯記是其中一課. 今次, 牧師帶我們探索的主角, 並非約伯, 而是他身邊那些"好朋友"; 在理解神的創造秩序之餘, 更再次提醒著我們在現實生活中, 應該如何陪伴正在面對困局/受苦的人.

陪伴、聆聽、同理心、不代替神説話、從困苦中尋找上主的恩言…一步一步的全是可行又合理不過. 至少, 學習不要用自己的"大道理"去第二次傷害受苦中的人~ 就是在不知不覺中, 用我們有限的智慧去強行解釋現况. 

曾幾何時當我們對着一個剛喪親的人説："不要多想, 慢慢會忘記悲痛…"

又或者對着一個長期患病的人説："不要停止治療, 總會有痊癒的一天…"

又或者對一個身處政局動盪的國家, 連下一秒也不知死活的人説："我為你禱告，願你平安..."

又或者對着一個因車禍而要截肢的人説："不用喪掉生命, 已經很幸運, 快來感恩…"

還有無數無數你我也聽過甚至經歷過的例子, 難道這一切都是錯嗎? 

都不是該給予的安慰說話嗎?

事實上很多安慰的説話也確是出於好意, 只是我們不得不承認, 世上有不少苦難, 並非三言兩語便可"打發", 甚至乎仍要待在漫長的黑夜中… 直至該完結的時間來到. 而在這段時間裏, 與其勉強回應, 還是靜靜聆聽來得更好.

盡管有時, 我們以為自己曾經有相同經歷, 於是便對受苦者提供千萬個可以"即時解困"的方法… 説真的, 不盡相同; 反而當我們可以謙卑地明白自己的無助和有限時, 神自有其工作; 此刻，可不靜靜的陪伴、聆聽和等待…也許這才是好朋友應該做的事, 互勉之！

Shore Wonderland

 

Palette October is the title of this book, so what should I draw for the center page? A full palette of what I have seen in this season? or, hmm...how about a more precise definition to the title: a journey towards for a better future?!

Scenery above the water of Seine was marvelous and how about underneath, would it be something like this? an entrance to a secret place for the "broken hearts" to build their perfect world? Nobody knows, as I've said, we always have a choice to pursue of happiness, even though we know we need to take the risks that might come along...still worth a try, or at least to dream of!

Drawing has it's magic code that photography cannot achieve, even in writing; Infinite Space of what you can imagine, you can express visually, there is no boundary except sometimes, I shall confess my drawing technique is the only limitation. That's why I am using all of these three elements to create my book, which have their individual "magic code", hopefully you like them all. 

Autumn Breeze Sale - Jardins Secret

Hi, Hi!

There is always a lot to learn besides writing, but why not?! writer can't write 24/7, we need some rest and space to clear our mind, otherwise it got stuck, for sure :P

A newsletter or at least a Sale/New release notice is what I always wanted, so I spend some time recently to design one for my Final Autumn Sale before entering Winter. This is only a static notice, ha ha! because a lot more technical issue has to be prepared, so, hopefully you don't mind to go to the Oiseau Distrait Page with the bookshops link if you would like to get a discount copy.

Promise, a real subscription page for my books' newsletter will be completed before I forget :D 

Btw, it's time to return my writing desk. Happy reading !

 

Color of the Pebble"s"

Walking on the street in the Autumn of Paris, especially for the first time, I was truly impressed by the richness of color wherever I go.  

I’ve remembered some of my friends said, reasons for they didn't like Paris...yes, didn’t...were because of the old & deteriorated surroundings in some arrondissement; pebble roads that were difficult to walk on, some alleys are "dirty", people are "not friendly" with a sense of "pride", not safe after dark, pick pockets around, Paris is small...., etc, etc. (don‘t shout to me if you are an instant Paris lover, like myself :D)

Even though it‘s part of the truth except with reasons behind: history, cultural, multi-racial, interaction, mindset...they are the elements to form this city, bit by bit for us to explore.

By walking almost 90% within these 12 days, my feet did overloaded. I can take bus or train, of course but walking on pebble pave, to me, is enjoyable (without my luggage :P), one of my favorite activity here; they are extra beautiful after the touch of shower - Nostalgia romance I would say. 

Strolling around the “deteriorating” alleys with ancient buildings, stories behind, the color of memories...whether it’s sad or cheerful, it’s a mark, always. A mark of people who live or died, who gave or took, stay or left...and that’s how I wrote Palette October.

Coffee break today

 

Hong Kong is still hoisted in typhoon Signal 8 right now, a whole day long which is not a good time to stay outdoor, so I spend my time to polish my blog. 

 

I always want to install back the widget links of those blogs I loved to follow before, so I try to find them one by one through my previous Coffee Break blog links, a total 17 of them but only two are still valid. 

 

Most of them did start blogging early before in 2009 (also my first year of blogging), and most of them were using Blogger template in those years, they are simple and beautiful, like the one I had chosen. So, it was pretty easy to start writing blog in a good mood, I treasure those memorable days.

 

I am not sure whether I did tell you before, in the very beginning, Blogger didn't offer a custom domain like of what we are having cocoadesign.net, meaning, the only choice was something like coffeebreakbyprotowork.blogspot.com; I was a newbie and misspell "blogspot" to another word (better not say :P), so when I tried to introduce my blog in an e-platform, it was directed to a shopping site, resulting in not only embarrassment but  a really bad feeling to the group. The problem was, I couldn't find out where went wrong until Mr. Wasaweb (a top contributor of the official Google+ help community) pointed out my silly mistake, which was then solved.

 

I shall never forget that night when I was stuck into the mess, and luckily got the help of someone I hadn't met before but save my blog, this is one of the reason that I keep writing today.

 

It's been awhile I was disconnected to wasaweb's blog due to his transformation of the blog structure; but I am so happy that the re-connection is resume today, so I've decided reinstall my link list in this blog, even though I have to restart all over again, it's still worth to rebuild because one of my habit while writing for a new post, a "coffee break" beforehand, to read my favorite blogs. 

 

Feel free to click for a look,  you may like them, too. 

Happy Blogging :D

"Multi-color" link in October

I had no idea I will write my ebook when I was in Paris, so the photos I took did not had specific intention besides the “beauty” that attracted me.

Usually we may have an idea of rotten dull or deteriorated shade that reflects in Autumn. When I‘ve returned home to review my photos, a much wider range of colorway were discovered, some are bright & refreshing which reminded my feeling when I was there... plein air (open air/ outdoor in French) and words flow into my head: nature beauty, God‘s creation, freedom, belief, hope, bonding, life cycle, decade & transform....

Due to geographic & culture difference, huge blossom tree/ greenery together with low rise buildings are easily found everywhere in Paris, plein air in another word. Hong Kong is quite the opposite, but what is the major core issue that is bounding us, the citizen who live in the city?!

Sometimes, I wonder for those frequent travelers or guru, as we say; after their millions & millions of travelling around the world, will they still prefer to live & stay in their homeland of where they were born at the very end? Even though it may be imperfect, cos’ there is always an invisible link, I guess...

Turning to another country to look for a better or more stable living could be a simple and reasonable act compare with staying to face the reality. But I‘m sure for most of the emigrants, they love their homeland so much & so deep that they just can’t tolerance the unexpected changes, that “hurt” to bleed, the only way out for them is not to face it. 

I've once told myself to leave behind of everything in Hong Kong in these 12 days, no whatsapp, no email, no phone calls, etc...I tried, it‘s difficult because the “link” never breaks no matter where I am ...and where you are!

May God‘s blessing be with you wherever you are!

Bird Food 雀粟

 

自從離開校園(遠古時代:p)=離開教科書，反而開始喜歡閲讀，原因離不開是工作需要；設計書藉，月刊，工具書等。由於在專注修讀室內設計之前，花了兩年多的時間初探不同的設計類別，例如:平面設計、服裝設計、攝影、珠寶、舞台、產品、書法、篆刻…等等; 所以也同時會看相關的設計/美術書。在未有電子書的當年，可想而知我花了不少資源在當中，也是每一個設計人都要付出的；所以相對現今可以從不同電子媒體定期接收最新設計資訊，甚至遊走於世界博物館的藏品資料庫中，真是幸福啊！

漸漸地，亦受到 ricketeer 的影響，看不少散文以至後期的小説，fiction  & non-fiction ，而且越看越厚。我想，在消閒之餘，也能得着相當的知識；久而久之便享受到箇中樂趣及完成每一本書的滿足感了。

慢慢閲讀更成為一種＂糧食＂，真的，某些日子因忙碌而沒法看書，心中便有種莫名的飢餓感。當可以重拾書本並完成的一刻，真的彷似飽餐一頓，十分滿足。能夠同時閲讀中英文，這也是作為香港人的幸福，如果可以再學會多一兩國的文字便好了，這樣便能夠看原作，必定更有味道。

一直也很想為看過的書本拍張全家福(至2021年九月)，今天在一個閲讀平台內總算整合到一部份(約1/4)，看着這些美麗的書面，又＂飽餐一頓＂。希望在往後的日子，可以有一天完成整幅＂虛擬書架＂是自己定下的一個長遠目標 ~ 超級大滿足!

Palette October

click to enlarge

October in Hong Kong is already in mid Autumn, in Paris, the weather is quite cold, usually there will be a 10 degree difference within day, say 2-4 degree Celsius at night & 17-19 in the afternoon.

In addition, you may experience a shower morning, sunny afternoon, windy evening & a star night or thunderstorm mid night…wow! never boring :P

Another eye catching experience is the richness of color palette easily seen along the streets & gardens. In Hong Kong, our space is limited, so even though there are trees but rarely flourish in the heart of the districts unless, we go to a more remote areas. 

The other major problem is pollution, trees are dull and liveliness in Autumn & are not easy to have multi-color species in our neighborhood. We don’t have space for the fallen leaves to lie down to enjoy their sun bath, they will be cleared every hour or so to free up the pedestrian pavement, so you know why I was so excited when walking onto those caramel /golden/ copper pink leave land, especially after rain…the best “perfume” I’ve ever had.

“Palette October” will be one of the book in Petit Paris as scheduled, but there is some other issues that I would like to address through the cycle of this gorgeous nature phenomenon. I wish you will discover my hidden wishes from the ‘dialogue’ inside. 

May God bless us all on earth!

異鄉人 L’Étranger

 

星期二的中午，終於可以去九龍中央圖書館一趟，每次經過也想入內，但總覺得沒有足夠時間的話，還是下次再去好了。其實，什麼才是足夠時間呢？完全視乎那間圖書館內的藏書有多豐富或是否適合我的口味罷了，今次，大約逗留了兩小時。

事實上在我手機中是有一張＂要尋找的書目清單＂，因為生活空間所限，盡可能戒掉購買書籍的習慣(屢敗屢試：P)，而在不想放棄享受紙本書的原則下，還是到圖書館搜索一下，雖然我很清楚，可以在網上訂購實體書，那便不用東奔西走了。而且，我發現在香港圖書館的藏書也頗過時，要到較大的一間才勉強找到一些合用的書本，這也是我不大喜歡用圖書館的原因之一。

好了，話說回來。原本要找的四本全部落空，其中一本找到了卻只有中文翻譯版，就是卡繆 Albert Camus 的異鄉人 L’Étranger。即使是翻譯書(例如：原文是非英語)，可以選擇的話，我也會選英文而非中文翻譯，尤其台灣翻譯，看起來有點痛苦。但奈何，世事非盡如人意，每次在圖書館或書局內也只有看到這個中文版實體書，等了又等，今次決定借，即日看完，心中還是有些 50/50 的感覺。

這是一本出名的文學作品，正如你看到書面的介紹~存在主義代表作，諾貝爾文學得獎小説，二十世紀法國文學經典：不簡單的啊！

書中的主角莫梭先生(我想是有點卡繆的影子)，由故事開頭，因為住在老人院的母親逝世而要前往守夜，沒有留下半滴眼淚，只想盡快回家倒頭大睡。翌日認識了新女友，還一起看笑片，沉醉愛海；及後的日子還會去安慰失了老狗的隣居，協助一個似乎不算藉得幫忙的雷蒙教訓他那紅杏出牆的女友，以至後來捲入命案，莫梭的＂下半生＂從此不再一樣！

短短142頁的故事，叫我印象最深刻的是莫梭時常會有的想法＂這不是我的錯.…＂，他那時常遊走於現實與抽離的狀態，隨著他形容眼見與心中所想的種種。他不願意花半點氣力去解釋一些他認為沒有意義的事，甚至和自己性命猶關的事…又或者即使其他人覺得很重要的事；是刻意的自我抽離？還是荒謬的世界令他不得不抽離，只可以陶醉在自已享受的時刻，例如：吹吹海風，在夕陽下觀看區內途人的日常，和女友的快樂時光…。

無疑莫梭的故事隱含了不少可以衝擊我們思考的引子，尤其在末段，他被審訊期間的內心世界及與神父的一席話。但當晚我看完之後，就是那種一半一半的感覺，叫我返到廿一世紀的現實中，這會否也是我們這一代的心態呢？有一點無可無不可，反正我沒興趣明白你所想也沒需要要求你明白我一樣，故事就在這個狀態下終結。

我想…如果找到英文版，我會再看一次~這也是另外一個 50/ 50 的原因。

 

 

(麥田出版)譯者：張一喬 (台灣) 中文翻譯初版2009年9月 

異鄉人Copyright Editions Gallimard, Paris 1942

 

P.s. - Photo is the Chinese version from library.

         Book link is the English e-book version (The Stranger)