网络基本恢复正常了。除夕也到了。

一上午都在整理账单。平时一忙二懒，账单来了，在到期前交掉，完了随手一扔。不知不觉，积了一大堆。

看着看着，心里开始发毛：天哪，我怎么花这么多钱？

这是第一反应。随之而来的是第二个念头：钱挣了，就是要花的，不花干哈？

接着，第三个念头渐渐浮现：

我过日子反正要花这么多钱，不活得开心点，对不起自己的辛苦钱！

一句话点题：I've spent a fortune on my life, so why not enjoy it?

前天在百货公司买保温杯，要买几个，送人用的。在专柜区流连了40分钟有余，恐怕打破了阿季自己一人单趟购物耗用时间的纪录。

选择太多，国产的、日本的、韩国的、美国的、欧洲的、东南亚的，质地、款式、科技含量、保温效果的差别更不用说了，有的有滤茶筛，有的没有，而滤茶筛的设计有优有劣，有的“轻薄”但易变形，有的扎实但难清洗。我逐一抚摸、端详，打开盖子塞子看里面，询问售货员，再比较价格，再想象哪一种更适合接受礼物的那个人。

最后买了四个。回家再一一试验，一天后试验报告出来了：Thermos最新款轻盈型保温效果最佳，24小时后水温还有50度左右；其次是 Zojirushi有塞有盖的一款，24小时后水温有40多度，而且造型最简单却最漂亮；Thermos茶筛型适合喝茶的人，所以对保温效果要求不高，4 小时后有40多度，喝的时候略有些烫嘴（我耐热性较差），但10小时后就接近室温了；Buffalo标致型的保温效果跟第三种差不多，杯盖上有一个“子杯”，可以贮存少量的茶叶或枸杞或几片西洋参之类，外形线条很美，手感也超好。

回家折腾这些东西的时候，一个念头闪过：如果是在网上购物，怎么可能像我刚才在店里那样手眼并用，用有形的感官触角与有形世界里的有形的东西产生交集，从而获得全方位的购物体验呢？

一句话点题： The real world is, ultimately, more comforting.

台湾海域地震之后，大中华及东南亚地区的网络被孤岛化。我突然意识到，Google已成为我的大脑的延伸。没有谷歌，我恐怕要坐在一个巨型的图书馆里，有一个加强排的助手帮我查找资料，我才能勉强达到目前的翻译效率。

再想到有多少人，每天有可观的时间是在网络上度过的，为工作、为学习、为生活，探讨、寻觅、闲聊、争吵。在探讨、寻觅、闲聊、争吵的时候，参与者已经忘记自己身处虚拟空间......直到咔嚓一声，海底光缆被拉断了，直到MSN吭哧吭哧了老半天，最后还是苦着个脸败下阵来。

原来，这虚拟的底下，还垫着一块实实在在、有形的基础设施。这时，探讨、寻觅、闲聊、争吵都戛然而止，人们对光缆何时修好充满了兴趣，并积极寻找替代的方法，让QQ莫名其妙捞了一把。

皮之不存，毛将焉附？

不过，这不是点题之句。我要说的是：

当我们在精神和感情层面上忙得不亦乐乎的时候，当我们哭哭笑笑、高高低低的时候，当我们指点江山、海阔天空的时候，我们常常忘了“我们”的载体：身体，忘了我们最要感谢的，不是老板、不是客户、不是配偶、不是孩子，也不是神佛，而是我们的父母和他们赐予的身体。

我们的身体，就是埋在那海底的基础设施。

一句话点题： The only luxury that we can afford and enjoy till we die is our health.

新年健康！

（在现代都市，健康的大敌不是空气污染、噪音污染、苏丹红、孔雀石绿或生境压力，而是“心散”，这样就回归了身心一如的道理。又及）

Old stuff that I wanted to keep... Redated.

I vaguely remember that there's a friendly python at Xishuangbanna (somewhere in the tourist area). You pay the owner 10 yuan and can have the python wrapped around your neck for some photos. I did. But of all the people who did it, I was the only one that the python was scared of. As soon as I put it on my shoulders, it tried to run away. I pulled so hard at its neck that it turned out to be a tug of war between me and my serpentine pal (or foe). I don't know why. Even the owner grinned. It was like something out of a comedy show. You should try it. It's fun.

I also had an elephant massaging my stomach. But I was too tall, so when the tamer lined us up on the ground, I was misaligned. I was slightly worried, but nobody else noticed.

The elephant went from person to person, walking gingerly and hesitantly, heeding each and every signal its tamer was sending. When it was my turn, the giant paw of the elephant's right front leg landed, not on my tummy, but somewhere perilously close to one of the more delicate parts of my anatomy. Then the massage began. The audience started to giggle.

When it was over, I jumped up, ran across the court and disappeared into the crowd.

It's Boxing Day today. It was Christmas Day yesterday. I observed a "Day of Silence" yesterday, for a change.

Year in and year out, I've been asking myself this question: When non-Christians celebrate Christmas Day, do they really make a distinction between this occasion and the New Year's Day? If they do, what exactly is the distinction? If they don't, what is the point of celebrating it other than "going along" with everybody else (and this everybody else includes many more non-Christians in the same state of mind)?

In fact, the Christmas festivity points to the need for silence.
In silence, we hear nature; in silence, we see nature; in silence, we witness miracles.
It was on a Silent Night that a miracle was born.

Miracles are born more often than we think. Sages that we know of have come and gone throughout history, but many more have graced this planet and left their marks, but we are oblivious to them, because what they have left behind are neither soundbytes nor iconic images.

It takes silence to experience their presence.

The commercial machinery has exploited, and worked in collusion with, laziness of the mind and has made the occasion "noisy", noisy with high decibels that hit the eardrum and noisy with loud hues that excite our sight.

People need this noise to feel they are alive. And it's important to feel VERY alive on an occasion like this, so we need a lot more noise.

But silence is uncomfortable, and increasingly so as we delve into it. Once we've passed a threshold, however, the discomfort disappears and we feel infinitely more alive than in any other state, because we ARE alive.

Good heavens, it's been a year, plus two days, since I last updated my blog. A couple o f friends did urge me, through the year, to keep it up, but I ignored them. A wild goose chase, after something called life, and here I am again, treading on the tail of yet another year.

It hasn't been a particularly exciting year, but all is well and I've learned to appreciate every moment of my life. It comes with age, I suppose. Right now, I feel quite rough, as my body system is unwinding in the absence of adrenalin-pumping SI assignments, typical of the year-end lull. I find it hard to keep my eyes open, let alone work! So be it. All my life, I've been telling people the wonderful feeling, and the benefits, of being in tune with one's body. I shall practise what I preach now...

Saw something in David's blog space this morning. Here's the link:

http://same-difference.blogspot.com/2005/04/on-my-way.html

An apt note to end the year on...