talk 761

Do it again (來多一次)

It has been sometime since I have submitted anything to the Lighter's website. One reason is I have retired; there are no goals, objectives and time schedules. Tomorrow will be as good as today. Anything that can be done tomorrow will do it tomorrow and some time I cannot tell the difference between today and tomorrow. Another reason is possibly my caution of venturing into unknowns. Suddenly, the mission in life is to smell the roses. Warned against “老年入花叢,” I hesitated doing anything. However, once told procrastination and inactivity may be signs of depression, I immediately sat down to write for Lighters’ website. OK, ok, one is garden rose the other is Tokyo rose. But there are few garden roses in HK.

It is truly amazing about Peter Tong’s (F4) memory. He did not graduate with the Lighters. By merely reading about the graduation program, he remembered somebody he never met for half a century. Frankly I have forgotten the awards or ranking in the class totally. At the Toronto reunion, Peter said he was trying to correlate between a good student and their success in life. Was about to ask him what is his definition or measure of success. I believe if a person is happy with himself, his life; he also makes everybody happier with his presence, then he is a success. Do not know if that has a strong correlation with how well one did in school.

Recently several Lighters had dinner in HK with Christine, Peter’s fiancée. We were all impressed or charmed by her youthful vivacity, bubbling enthusiasm, optimistic outlooks, and cheerful persona. From the little I know about both of them, she is a merrier person than Peter. She must have had an army of admirers, a long list of candidates asking for her hands, and a swarm of socialites wishing to be her friends. We are all very happy for Peter. I truly hope Christine will remake Peter as happy go lucky as she is. I am sure they would be happy to have each other and will live happily ever after. Peter is destined to be a part of success story by the definition above. Regarding to Peter’s correlation research, I have no idea about Peter, graduating from the most elite, exclusive 一女中 in Taipei, Christine has to be a good student.

Alec D.S. Chan (A17) and Shirley, his significant other, came also. In contrast, as a college professor in HK, Shirley is respectfully reserved, said few words unless asked. Asked (Something I need to avoid doing) if she has visited Toronto, “Six times!” she broke her quiet demeanor, and then started to reminisce the “honeymoon trips” (using her words) all over the places. You can almost hear the wind whistling through the pine needles, footsteps through the autumn forests, waves crashing over the shores, and see the full moon above your head and sunset over the Pacific, except possibly feel the rockets going off and earth trembling. You could sense the love oozing out of her as she held her hands together in front of her and gazed at the ceiling in a trance enumerating the trips. “When?” I blurted out inadvertently, and that brought her back down to earth. “Twenty pounds!” But then Alec talked about his 5-year plan to reduce 20 lbs, and etc. at the table. Come on, Alec, between classmates, you can lose that in a month or two.

Christine is a Shanghainese, and Shirley, a Cantonese, is often mistaken as one as she told us. Wonder if Peter and Alec know how to, or are learning to cook as the men cook in Shanghai and perform the routine house chores. For reference, Lighters all know about how I enforce the rules in my household. “She is always right,” and tell her “She is the most beautiful in the world twice a day,” then in time she will become always right and bloom to be the most beautiful.

George King (A15) and Sandy, another Shanghainese couple, were there also. For most of the Lighters, it has been almost half a century since they have last seen George. Most of the Lighters there said he has changed little and looked almost exactly the same as then—the best compliment one can get these days. George still harbors a strong feeling towards communists, has not stepped into China, and has no plan to do so since he left there in late 50’s, while I told him how my Shanghai visits have brought me many happy memories. However, both of us wished Dr. Larry Wan could have been here with us.

Josh Hung (A2) from Washington, DC was on his way to China to give talks about the future of air traffic controls. Understand they sold tickets for his talks. He must be famous in China as people only would pay to listen to Clinton, Greenspan or Steve Jobs the like. We enjoyed him immensely (may be immersing-ly?) as he brought a magnum bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon with him along with another bottle of white Riesling. With that many Shanghainese there (explained next time), we polished off that in no time flat. Suddenly everything and everybody including our better halves looked more beautiful. While the financial crisis was ravaging across HK, you could only feel the love tsunami flooded the room that night. How true is the old Chinese saying of, "Not envious of the angles in heaven, but wish to be love birds on earth.” We must have sent out the emotional message telepathically so that Wu Ying (F27) in Australian said he is contemplating to do it again. Anyway, we are happy to witness the two Lighter couples plan to do it again. If accept my definition of success, then we should be looking at two more successes. Please allow me to offer my congratulations to both couples, and wish them live happily ever after.