Musings of Annoymouse

Plenty, it seems. For starters, Christians point out that it should be Christmas, not X'mas. The world is taking Christ out of the day we use to celebrate His birth. Then some other Christians would say that in other countries, like Britain, there are groups wanting to change the name of this holiday to "wintervale" or something like that. It is an anti-Christian conspiracy, some would tell you.

First things first, a little research turns out the 'X' in X'mas is not 'X'. It's actually the Greek letter Χ (chi). It is actually used to represent Χριστός (Christós), which literally means the Anointed One, that is, Jesus Christ. The word was originally used to translate the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (Mašíaḥ), that is Messiah.

But enough of that. So what's wrong with X'mas? Nothing. What's wrong is us, Christians. We have majored on the minors and minored in the majors. Christ does not go into '-mas', He should be in our hearts. His attributes should manifest in the lives of Christians. But as it is, how many of us can claim that others can see Jesus in our lives?

Forget about putting Christ in Christmas. We should put Christ in our hearts and lives. In this way, everyday will be Christmas. Everyday, we'll be able to bring the message of hope, love and peace, that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the world.

前些阵子老板对我们说过：“你们不了解中国人。”

7月15日。CB Face 的生日。他邀请了两位他视为朋友的同事吃晚饭，庆祝生日。我们本来就跟公司的同事关系不怎么好，不过还有两位同事还跟我们蛮合得来的，所以CB Face 就邀请他们一同庆生。

7月15日的前一天。我们刚上完课，正准备收拾东西回家。丁姐把我们叫了过来。“来来来！明天是你的生日，我们买了一个生日蛋糕为你庆祝生日。”我们点了蜡烛、唱了生日歌。他吹了蜡烛、切了蛋糕、把蛋糕分给大家。我们吃了蛋糕，谢了同事们便回家了。

7月15日。陈姐说她不能来了，说是有事得到广州一趟。CB Face 说也没关系，有事要紧就先去办。不过 Sandy 和她的女儿还能来，只是她的先生下班晚了，不能一起吃晚饭。也不打紧，都姐一家人都到齐了。晚饭还吃得蛮开心的，有说有笑。哈哈！我看这还是CB Face 第一次请那么多人吃饭呢！

7月15日过了。晚上，我们出去买些东西，Mrs Lam 留在家。我们回来时，老板来了，正和 Mrs Lam 说话。聊了一会儿，老板回去了。这时Mrs Lam 的脸色变了。

"Do you know why he came?"

"Why"

"He came to tell me, that the office people called him and asked him what to do to celebrate your birthday."

"We were wondering how did they know it was my birthday!"

"陈姐 and Sandy told him. 陈姐called him four times to ask him whether she should go for the dinner. And Sandy also asked him whether she should go or not. And Sandy told him the reason she was invited was probably because she had been helping him do telegraphic transfers. 陈姐 in the end decided not to go and so she cooked up a story about having to go to 广州. So when Sandy asked if she should go, Steven told her to go, since 陈姐 had already decided not to go, it would not be nice that both of them were not going."

"Oh really? Oh...!"

我看我们完全不了解中国人。老板说过我们喜欢简单复杂化。难道那两名同事这么做就是复杂简单化吗？CB Face 都说过是以朋友的身份邀请她们一同吃晚饭的，又何必向老板汇报呢？

CB Face 觉得被她们出卖了。我不完全认同。她们只是照着她们认为是正确的方法去做。真正被出卖的人是她们，而出卖她们的正是她们所崇拜敬仰的老板。她们尊敬老板，所以找他商量，可是老板没有帮她们保密，反而拿这件事来向我们示威，利用这件事对我们炫耀。他是老板，他的员工都很遵从他。

我们真的很不了解中国人。把你们当朋友，你们却把我们当同事；私事当跟公事处理。中国人都是这样的吗？

经过这件事，我们觉得我们在深圳是待不久的。我们不是中国人，中国并不是我们能继续待着得地方。也该适可而止了。

We were supposed to go to Hong Kong today for lessons. But this morning, due to the typhoon, there was a heavy downpour and the first floor of the apartment we are staying in, was flooded. The roads were flooded up to the knees of the unfortunate pedestrians. Traffic came to a halt.

"Thank God for poor drainage systems."

Yes. I am thankful. Thankful for the typhoon, the heavy rain, the flood and the bad drainage system. Don't get me wrong. I love going to Hong Kong. I love the Hong Kong students. But these few weeks we have been working so hard, I just want a good rest and not do anything.

Furthermore, two out of three of us had bouts of diarrhoea this morning. We don't want to keep looking for toilets on our way to Hong Kong and then go, "Excuse me children, teacher needs to go to the toilet. Again." during lessons.

And the CB Face puts it, "You lau sai, and it is flooded, a sure sign we should stay and not go." And not go we shall.

And so it came to be that I have time to add a new entry to my blog.

Many miss the obvious but...

• Licentiousness is not Freedom.
• Forced mediocrity is not Equality.
• Political Correctness is not Morality.
• Inability to distinguish Right from Wrong is not Tolerance.

This is an article which I have enjoyed for years. Hope you will enjoy it to!


The 80's ... it was a time when all we sang were Michael Jackson's Beat It. And Billy Jean and “We Are the World” were the best songs in the universe. Lionel Richie's Dancing on the Ceiling was the coolest MTV, and we didn't understand all the fuss about Madonna's iron tits. Cyndi Lauper and Boy George were the weirdest looking people around. London Boys' dance routines were the best and Johnny Hates Jazz's I Don't Want To Be A Hero was the song we swore by.

Freddie Mercury wasn't a singer in Queen but Flash Gordon himself. Battlestar Galactica and V were how we visualised the future, and we watched them because they looked great though we didn't understand the story. The shiny black talking car in Knight Rider was the car we wanted to own when we grew up and the helicopter in Airwolf couldn't be destroyed except for a hole the size of a bullet and the flimsy Tron plastic cups they gave away at Burger King were our most prized possession. We thought that Ultraman was cool though we could see the zippers on the back of the monsters.

King Kong was the scariest movie we saw. Missing Sesame Street and The Electric Company was a mortal sin and we would shout at the top of our voices when the Count started counting or when Big Bird started singing the alphabet. We blushed and became uncomfortable at any kiss on the TV screen. John Travolta was King on Saturday Night Fever and we knew every line in the Grease cassette tapes. All we remember of Superman was that he could fly. The boys' favourite cartoons were Mask and GI Joe and if we did not own at least a dozen of the action figures, we were incomplete persons (and our parents were evil). We memorised by heart all the verses in Visionaries and knew which robots belonged to the Autobots and which belonged to the Decepticons, not to mention knowing the names of all the robots in Transformers. We were amazed by the Rubic's Cube and prided ourselves in being able to do one side. Anyone who could complete it was god. Well, we still are amazed.

Girls' favourites were Strawberry Shortcake and Smurfs. The Carebear Countdown was their inspiration and they knew what would fly out of their bellies when they stood in a row. Gargamel was like a particular uncle they knew. They aspired to become Barbie when they grew up and thought that Ken was the hunkiest guy around. Teddy bears promised that they would stay with us forever and never run away. (For the death of us boys, we would never admit that we watch girlie cartoons as well).

The 80s was a time when books were read and reread. We've all loved Enid Blyton's books. We felt angry when Elizabeth (The Naughtiest Girl in School) was wrongly accused and we would sit in the toilet lost in The Faraway Tree on the Wishing Chair with Moonface and the Saucepan Man for hours until mum demanded we come out. We prided ourselves in having read all the books printed on the back of the bright blue hard covers. We all wished we were Charlie and wondered what the Oompa Loompas would feel like when we bashed them up. And we could not, for our lives, understand why the adults read books with no pictures in them.

Sleeping over at a friend's place was the event of the month. A cup of milk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies were a complete meal and a proper diet. A box of crayons and plain sheets of white paper were enough to build vast empires. Our imaginations were limitless: headquarters was a cave under the dining table and the kitchen sink was the enemy's hideout. Hunting for spiders (and anything else that moved) in the bushes was adventure in its own right. Your friend's friend was your friend, your friend's enemy was your enemy, your enemy's friend was your enemy, and your enemy's enemy was your friend. Friendships were made in the morning, broken in the afternoon, and remade in the evening. A time when having the same interests and hobbies qualified you as a friend. A time when most of our toys didn't have to have electricity running through them to keep us amused.

But most importantly for us 80s children, it was a magical era; where the world seemed to hang in a suspended state of transition ... a time when the people we met and the friends we made are the ones who will stay with us till kingdom comes.