Random Thoughts by Pauline

January 16 2014, Thursday  

Grandparents

I am blessed with a five-year old grand-daughter,Hayley.OneSaturday, her parents brought her to my apartment to have dinner with me and my mother, the great grandmother.

 

While we were waiting for dinner, I took out a stack of word cards to play with her but she didn’t think that was game. She said, “When I am in your house, I will only play. I study when I am at home.” Oh, clever girl or should I say “lazy girl”!

 

Whenever I remark that Hayley is sweet or give her a bar of chocolate or a Hello Kitty wallet, my son will say, “Till you are with her every day.” This doesn’t mean that he loves her less; he is head over heels in love with Hayley. Once when he returned home from a 5-day business trip to India, he hugged her so tight as though they had been parted for years!

 

My understanding of being grandparents is to love whole-heartedly so as to give grandchildren a breathing space away from the tyranny of parents! Gene Perret, the famous comedy writer and producer, puts it succinctly, “What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change, and they give me a million dollars' worth of pleasure.”

Random Thoughts by Pauline

January 15 2014, Wednesday

                   Gastronomic satisfaction

Dining to me means differently depending on the time, the company and my mood, of course.

Breakfast on week days is simple, fruit juice, buttered toast and espresso. Lunch if not a business one is a lunch box either some leftovers from the dinner on the previous evening or one bought from a nearby fast food restaurant. I have this “unhealthy” habit of chewing my lunch boxes over the newspapers. Dinner is more an enjoyment, soup boiled for hours, steamed fish etc.

I do like to try new restaurants but I am not too adventurous. There are several restaurants that I patron more often and the good people there know me by my first name. One is a small Japanese restaurant tucked away in Kowloon City. My mother is my companion. Despite her old age, she enjoys sashimi especially salmon and peony prawn. A cup of warmed sake fits in just well. This type of gastronomic satisfaction would usually fall on a Friday and when there is no Saturday task. I would park my car home and take a taxi though I am drinking at most two small cups of sake!

Some people can go to extremes spending huge bucks to satisfy their taste buds. Others are more concerned about their health and can endure the most boring tasteless dishes. Then there are those who eat only to live! Well, as long as it is a personal choice, enjoy!

 せていただきます  

Random Thoughts by Pauline

January 14 2014, Tuesday  

Fountain pens

Have you ever tried using a fountain pen to write - not the kind with a cartridge but the kind with a tube inside for you to pump the ink from an ink bottle? I used to like the fountain pen because I liked the feel of the pen gliding smoothly across the surface of the paper. But the nib, once dropped on the floor, would spell trouble because it would scratch when I wrote again. Back then, we did not have to throw away the pen because replacement nibs were available. Those were the days when changes happened slowly. To think of it, we were more friendly to the environment!

A fountain pen especially that brand with an arrow used to be a status symbol and the best gift idea. Now it has become a kind of antique to be appreciated by nostalgic souls who can afford. And to the impatient contemporary generation, a fountain pen is not exactly user-friendly. It has for a long time been replaced by ball pens and felt pens. In fact, we are not actually writing anymore. We use stylus to touch screens.

Those born in mid-20^th century like me are lucky because we have witnessed changes in almost all aspects of our everyday life. The fountain pen is but one of those many darling objects that we have left behind. The world moves on and so do we!  

Random Thoughts by Pauline

January 13 2014, Monday  

Chinese New Year versus Christmas

 With Christmas and New Year celebrations over, Chinese New year is around the corner. How would you choose between Chinese New Year and Christmas? Which one is your favourite?

 

Honestly speaking, I used to like both when I was a little girl. The school I attended, a Catholic convent school, would be all lit-up and we were treated to snacks on Christmas Eve. As we were poor, we could not afford Christmas trees. My father would paste a big piece of black paper on the wall and then use chalk to draw a Christmas tree on it decorating it with cotton balls. I longed for Chinese New Year because only then would I have new clothes and shoes. These were all good enough reasons to anticipate the two festivals.

 

Now that I am old, I don’t feel that much longing for Christmas. I am actually quite annoyed by all the commercial activities generated in the name of Christmas. Aside from the church-goers, most people have forgotten the meaning of Christmas – the humble birth of Jesus Christ. But I must say I love listening to all the old Christmas songs.

 

It seems like I prefer Chinese New Year more because it is a time for family re-union. My brothers and sisters together with their children and grand children would be gathered in my apartment to express their good wishes to mother – the most senior in the family. And she would be laughing all the while though complaining that there is too much noise.

Random Thoughts by Pauline

January 12 2014, Sunday

Coffee

I have been drinking coffee since childhood. Though my family was not rich, we were brought up eating bread and butter for breakfast. My parents would be drinking instant coffee and I as the eldest would have the privilege of enjoying a cup every now and then.

Now every morning, I would have a single espresso and a piece of buttered toast. Throughout the day, I don’t have any coffee unless I am socializing over afternoon tea or it is a Sunday afternoon. I am not addicted to coffee. I don’t drink stale coffee or oxidized coffee. If I am not sure of the quality served , I would opt for tea. My impression of the taste and aroma of coffee is not to be blasphemed.

I am careful about the amount of coffee I am consuming, unlike some Americans who drink nothing but coffee all day long because I am wary of the detrimental health effects of coffee. Research findings are quite confusing. One report says that too much coffee can cause tremors and sleeping problems. But another study finds out that there is no direct relationship between coffee consumption and increased risk of death from any cause.

I drink black coffee and so there is no worry that I consume too much sugar and milk or cream because then the coffee becomes a high-calorie beverage. But I don’t drink decaffeinated coffee which to me is not coffee.

Happy sipping! Maybe I should have one now!

Random Thoughts by Pauline

January 11 2014, Saturday  

Dolphins

I hate to see animals perform whether it is a cute puppy or a huge dolphin. I used to like circuses because that would be almost the only opportunity to see so many different animals. I would be very excited whenever a circus was in town.

That’s not me now. When I watched the dolphins perform in Churaumi Acquarium, Okinawa, I felt ever so guilty. I am the reason why the dolphins have to jump four storeys high! Think of all the training behind such a spectacular performance.

Owners of pets also like to show off the little tricks their pets can do. But I am not at all for this. Pets are to be kept as companions and not as performers.

When I expressed these views to Vincent, my son, he had a thought-provoking reply for me. “It is this kind of performance that has aroused our interest in protecting dolphins.” I could not disagree!  

In Praise of Slow - How a Worldwide Movement is challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore

Recommended by Pauline Chow

People who know me say that I am a passionately fast person. A friend wrote to me saying “I hope you are not working too hard. You know the expression 'burning the candle at both ends'. I think you may be burning it at all points in between as well!”

That is why when I saw this book in the bookstore, I was attracted by both the title and the illustration on the cover – a turtle and a rabbit. I bought it just to see how the writer argues his case.
   

Busy people like me are always on the run for more time but God is fair. We all have only 24 hours. To make the best of time, we rush and multi-task and feel proud of ourselves for being efficient. We are fervent worshippers of the Cult of Speed. But every now and then as things become quieter, there is deep down from the bottom of my heart a fear, fear that I am stretching myself too far, fear that I am burning the candle at both ends and the ultimate fear that I would at any minute drop dead. Is that what life is all be? There are so many places I would love to visit, grandchildren I would love to see as they grow up and the list does not end here. I have to slow down. This book has given me all the good reasons to take life easy.

The writer, Carl Honore, emphasizes right at the beginning that his book is not a declaration against speed since we owe so much to speed which “has helped to remake our world in ways that are wonderful and liberating.” He says that all he wants is for us to stop and remember that “some things cannot, should not, be sped up.” When we force speed, “there is a price to pay.” In fact, there is a Chinese idiom epitomizing the same message: the desire to speed things up ends in not achieving anything at all.

When we examine our own life, this does bring an echo.  Many times in the morning when we boot our computer, we are so impatient and keep clicking the mouse that we ask if the computer is down. How often do we get choked because we are swallowing too fast? Have you ever slipped because you are rushing?  These are but “cheap” prices we are paying for being fast. Think of the higher costs we might have to pay because of the fast life we live. Drivers cut lanes and tail the car in the front in order to arrive faster. Such road manner is the cause of most traffic accidents. Instead of enjoying our food at the table, we gobble our lunch washing it down with a coke. All these are absolutely “dehumanizing” but we are still behaving like this for we feel a sense of guilt when we wind down and are at a loss when we have time in hand to kill.

The book points out in greater details how the Cult of Speed is bringing devastating repercussions on the environment. When farmers do not have the patience to see their chickens or corn grow naturally, they start feeding them with pills and herbicides. We desire to look physically fit and yet feel annoyed to work out for it. We only want a quick fix and so take slimming pills or undergo plastic surgery and we suffer fatal effects.

The book makes us think but there is no urgency to finish it. Just savour one or two chapters when you have time. Take it slowly. After all, that is what the book is about.