Intimacy

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So, I eventually got an iPhone 7 after much struggle. Holding one in hand [iPhone 7 Plus in jet black :) ] eliminates all previous doubts. When Phil Schiller first announced it, I thought it’s either the new finish or the dual camera system that would appeal to me. But at the end it’s the waterproofing and the solid state home button that’s the most satisfactory. The solid state home button with a natural tactile feedback make me feel that this is the way the home button should be at the very beginning. And all modern electronics should be made waterproof, because they are made so intimate, so integrated to all parts of our lives, that they shouldn’t be excluded from wet conditions.

Yes, the iPhone is in no doubt the most intimate object in our lives. I bet for most people the first and last object they touch in a day is the iPhone. It’s part of our living, not merely an assistant for it. I became more certain about this theory every time I go on a trip. How many of you can travel without your phone?

What else are intimate?

A camera must be one when travelling. Some says “the best camera is the one you have with you” and they may be satisfied with their phone’s camera. But when you also have a proper camera with you then it becomes the best camera with you, a better camera than your phone.

My car is actually equally important. A few weeks ago the windshield broke and I couldn’t drive for two weeks. It was the most annoying period for the past few years. I just hated the feeling of wasting time on commuting. Life’s too short for traffic jam, slow computers, waiting for a table, you name it.

So, this is it. This basically sums up what I’ve experienced in September. I wish I could talk a bit more about my trip in September. Let’s see.

“Fast forward”

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I used to extract some newspaper articles I love and post them on this site. This dated article is so good I can’t help but resume this long forgotten habit. And from now on I call this act “fast forward”.

文化人 (陶傑)

怎樣才有資格做一個專業（Professional）的文化人（Cultural Man），最近社會終於形成共識（Consensus），就是在進行後殖民書寫（Post-colonial writing）的時候，一定要堅持華文和英語學術詞彙的並列（Juxtaposition）。

因為文化人的母親（Mother），在同性婚姻的後殖民性別論述（Gender statement）之中，已經不一定係女人（Woman），加上正如某標籤（labelled）為「香港第一才子」（First writing talent of Hong Kong）兼與阿叻同遊世界的文化人，時時強調的一點：中國小農社會，使用的語言詞彙，相當貧乏，未能體現西方現代文明的大量抽象學術詞彙（Abstract academic terms），加上以華文印刷的知識份子報紙（Intelligensia newspapers）長期藐視不識英文的中國農民讀者，認定不喝咖啡、不看法國電影，兼不閱讀城中知識份子報紙者，即屬隨地吐痰（Spit），縱容小朋友在商場排洩糞便（Release excrement）或小便（Urination）之自由行中國父母（Free-walking Chinese parents），所以，書寫時，一個華文名詞括號（Bracket）附加英文，不但可以增加報紙在中環的銷路（Circulation），更可令中華人民共和國香港特別行政區政府的中國小農官員加深印象（More impressed），視之為文明修養，會予以撥款。

但是，在華文傳媒打造這類世界性的文字平台，以一半的泡沫字數，搏取全數的文稿酬金，可以將中環精英（Central elites）及類知識份子（Pseudo-intellectual），當做笨蛋，但騙不到一個低俗的商人（vulgar merchant）。

這個商人名占美．黎（Jimmy Lai），又名肥佬黎（Fatty Lai）。

因為他會即刻打電話給名采的編輯，咆哮（以下為主觀想像性之虛擬對白）：「陶傑X佢老味（Fxck his old taste）啦，喺度講乜春（Talk what spring）呀？明天起，咳咗佢啦！」

9 Mar 2013 Apple Daily

In the beginning

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The was a LSC dentist dinner last Monday. I’m not particularly fond of social events but I attended anyway. It was a nice event with a few highlights.

1. Prof. Lim Cheung also attended LSC, surprisingly.

2. I met Luki and had a quality chat with him.

3. Another surprise: Martin’s dad also came and we chatted for a while too.

4. The event was held in Cordis Hotel’s Chinese restaurant. The whole dinner was sponsored by GSK; we didn’t have to pay a penny. I never realized being a dentist can be so convenient: a medical supplies company would sponsor a private event. Perhaps next time when there’s Group 5.6 re-U dinner, I should ask P&G to sponsor us.

Many dentists, old and young, were invited to give some sharing. Luckily I wasn’t one of them. But this made me wonder: what would I have said had I been invited to speak?

It should go something like this:

I finished my MFDS exams earlier this year. I’ve forgotten most of the knowledge I studied during the exams, but one thing that made an impression was about showing empathy. Our patients come to see us for a reason. Solving dental problems is one of them, but what makes them think we’re good dentists is when we stand in their shoes and perhaps say something that will somehow lessen the pain they feel. It’s a dentist’s job to offer hope, to share the notion that losing one tooth is not the end of the world, but the beginning of a (costly) journey towards oral health.

This led to the second important message: what’s my advice having practised dentistry for four years?

Four words: 毋忘初衷. I guess this is something like SJ’s “stay hungry, stay foolish.” When I just started, I wanted to get everything done perfectly. Every cavity should be filled precisely; every root canal should be negotiated down to the correct working length; every crown margin should have exactly 1mm smooth chamfer. But very often we just performed inferiorly, feeling 力不從心. After four years our clinical skills should have improved, and we work more quickly. It’s easy to fall into this trap: speed is everything; quality is secondary. No, that shouldn’t be the case. As our skills improve we should endeavour to perform every procedures precisely. We shouldn’t forget what we strived for in the beginning.

Well luckily I wasn’t invited to speak. Otherwise everyone’d think I’m a fool.

PS When I was chairman of Western Culture Club I organized a “western lunch gathering” and invited Brother Thomas to the event too. There was a quiz towards the end of the lunch, and Peter Ball asked this question: what are the first three words in the Holy Bible. No one was aware of that, not even BT. The answer? “IN THE BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth.”

Something old, something new

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So, I’m back from Sweden (Stockholm, Malmo, and CPH Denmark to be exact.) This is my second trip to the Nordic countries, so it was a déjà vu walking around the cities. Yet contrary to my last winter visit it was the beginning of summer in this trip. So everything was different nonetheless.

I enjoyed the weather immensely. During the day the temperature reached 15-20 °C, and when the sun set it dropped to around 10 °C. But having over 18 hours of daylight it means it never gets too cold when you go out.

My shifted focus also contributed to the difference. That for sure points to my love for photography and soft-brewed coffee. The Nordic countries are known for their excellence in coffee, and in this trip I was lucky to have visited a number of nice cafes.

As always I tried my utmost efforts to avoid doing touristy stuff. My previous trip in 2012 gave me a fantastic opportunity to figure out what were the places I liked most and worth revisiting. The rise of social media on the other hand opened the door for attraction and gourmet discovery. Following a city’s official Instagram account a few months in advance and you’ll know where you’d like to visit next. Likewise Yelp was handy in finding food, both fine-dining and eating down to earth.

There was one glitch in this trip. I thought I’d get the local currencies through UnionPay on arrival. Unfortunately the local ATMs did not support Union Pay. But both Sweden and Denmark were cashless countries. As a matter of fact in most locations they preferred credit card to cash. We therefore survived a whole week without cash.

The cities of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Malmo were small. And they changed less rapidly than Hong Kong. Many restaurants and shops remained unchanged from my last stay. Perhaps the new encounters were sparked by my shifted attention. Therefore a city is never boring, unless you are.

Back in reality

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One usually says he’s back to reality after he’s been on a fantastic trip and has to go back to work. That’s not the case in this circumstance, though. I’m on my flight back from KL, having finished my exam, anxious about the results which isn’t due for one month. The thing is, I didn’t really enjoy KL, and I’m glad I’m going back to my beloved civilized city of Hong Kong.

The way I left reality was manifold. At the superficial level, KL was hell, so HK is a desirable reality. Little fascinated me in KL. My hotel room could be the single most attractive point of interest. The affordable prices in KL mean I could do luxury things in abundance: staying in Hilton, ordering room service, taking taxi/Uber when I travel, … On room service my friend @Johnson put it in a precise way: 你真係叫雞, when commenting on me ordering Hainannese chicken rice. Other than what’s mentioned, I didn’t really have other fascinating experience in this city. 

Another way I left reality, and in fact I’ve been doing this for the past couple of months, was how I prepared for exams.

There were eight candidates from HK in total. Our attitudes were quite different. Some having a busy clinical career just treated exam as another chore, spending little time on revision, and cared less about the outcome. Going to work and making money is on a much higher priority in their list. But for me and a few others, failure is not an option. I mean, I haven’t failed a single exam in my life, not even any key skill assessment, nor my driver’s license exam. This MFDS Part 2 couldn’t be an exception. And although some knowledge and skills tested in this exam were trivial, they were still of clinical relevance. So I spent a whole lot of efforts preparing for this exam since November, and in March I even took one-third of my time off for preparation/travelling to KL.

But this, I understand, is immature. I mean, I’m not in my late teens or early 20s. I’m in my late 20s, and I should be busy developing my career, working to form a family or something. Yet I spent so much time doing exams that won’t guarantee more money. This, alone, is unrealistic. 

What should I do then? Well, I’m going to enjoy life when I get back to HK. I’ll endeavour to make some money in April and May, then I’ll go to Sweden/Denmark in June. No, money is still not on the top of my list; life is. I know I’m going to hell, and I’ll regret that in my 40s. If my site survives another 15 years, I’ll read this, and I can’t wait to see how I feel about myself. 

Brief update

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It’s March 2016. I haven’t written anything since this year began, not even on its anniversary, and I feel shame. The thing is, I’m preparing for an exam, and hopefully it’ll be the last exam in my life… I don’t want to be put to tests anymore. However, while academic exams are totally avoidable, challenges in life aren’t. The stress in life, and the uncertainties ahead are killing me. I hate every compromise I make clinically, and I hate what’s happening in Hong Kong. News every day is just sickening. What’s next?

Sounds of the 90s

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When NASA launched the Voyager 1 & 2 in 1977, together with the scientific instruments was a golden record called “The Sounds of Earth”. The Voyager probes aimed to pass by the gas giants, investigate the Kuiper belt and eventually leave the solar system and go to the deep space. It literally travels to infinity and beyond. Should an alien civilization detect and intercept the Voyager probes, they’ll find the golden record, and listen to greetings from mankind in many languages, our greatest music, and sounds of the nature.

That golden record was a collection of sounds we’re all familiar with, sounds that tug at the heartstrings of all beings on Earth, not just humans but also all living things.

When I went to Kelly Chen’s 20th anniversary concert last night, I had this feeling that her songs belong to a hypothetical “golden record of the 90s”, bringing back endless memories of the days being young.

I don’t go to concerts very often. The last concert I attended was Faye Wong’s concert in 2011. Being a huge Faye fan, I enjoyed that show immensely. However that was mainly because being a big fan it really meant something watching your idol shine on the stage. Watching Kelly’s show was entirely different. I experienced the show from a distance. When Kelly sang her classic songs, it was like opening a time capsule with collective memories from the 90s. We don’t listen to those songs every day now, but when we do everything just sounds so familiar and so right. It was this feeling that was truly enjoyable.

Who’s next? I look forward to going to Hong Kong Coliseum again soon.

Best quotes in 2015

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Year 2015 is coming to an end, and this is another “end of year” series. Well, there’re no lack of “cool lines” I said throughout the years. Sometimes those are so cool that I’d mark that down and review that for my own leisure. This is kind of narcissistic… Anyway these are the coolest lines I’ve said this year.

The official English translation for “拉麵控” is “ramen whore”. — Aug 2015, on my crave for ramen

Display cars are like prostitutes, while second hand cars are like divorced women. — Dec 2015. Disclaimer: I drive a second hand car too.

Decaf 咖啡算唔算係咖啡？當然算，正如紮左嘅男人都射到無精子嘅精 — Dec 2015, when asked if decaffeinated coffee is considered coffee.

我一定要有D distraction 先可以專心 — Jan 2015, in the midst of my MFDS preparation.

“Federer vs Nadal” is like “Windows vs Mac” in the good old days, when the competition was so tense and fierce. “Federer vs Djokovic” is like “Apple vs Samsung” — the competition doesn’t get me as emotional. — July 2015, on Roger Federer’s Wimbledon final against Djokovic

Not all cool lines are my own quotes. Here’re some I appreciate so much:

我好努力去擺脫張志明，最後我發覺，我變左另一個張志明 — 春嬌與志明 (2012)

A picture’s worth a thousand words. Why not add a few more words in the picture, just to increase the word count? Because it looks shit. — Kai Wong, DRTV 2013

So here you are. Best quotes from 2015. Famous people like SJ and Abraham Lincoln got journalists and biographers to record their quotes. For the rest of us, we can only rely on ourselves. What’s the favourite quote of your own?

What’s on your iPhone

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It’s December, end of the year. However I’m not going to review what happened this year, not yet. I just wish to share some thoughts on how we manage our digital lives in 2015.

I don’t know about you, but I regularly review what apps are on my iPhone, delete the ones I don’t need, while rearranging my home screen to make them neat and tidy. I have a few rules. 1) My home screen has to be functional, meaning I won’t blindly keep it minimal (down to a few icons or keep everything in folders). I display what are frequently used, and keep the useful ones in folders. 2) It still has to be tidy. I just won’t keep the useless ones on P.1.

And here it is.

IMG_1042

There are a few points to highlight. 1) The Phone app isn’t in the dock anymore. I once considered putting it in the Social folder altogether. (Some kids even ask “how do I delete the Phone app?”) 2) “Calendar 5” by Readdle has officially replaced “Week Calendar” as my favourite calendar app. Apps by Readdle are always excellent, the other great app by Readdle being “PDF Expert 5”. 3) I don’t always turn to third party apps. Some made by Apple, though lacking features, are just handy enough. “Weather”, “Reminders”, “Safari” and “Mail” are fine examples. Yes, I’m using “Outlook” primary for push notification, but “Mail” remains my favourite app reading and sending emails.

Back in a few years ago, when the App Store first started, asking others “what apps are on your iPhone” became a social phenomenon. This coincided with the “what’s on your iPod” phenomenon in the early 2000s. It tells a story about who you are. When you keep your home screen neat and tidy, your life shouldn’t be in a huge mess either. On the contrary if you keep the “Game Centre” or even the “iOS tips” apps on the first page, I doubt you pay much care to your work.

Anyway perhaps that’s enough of self obsession. What I do isn’t always the best. What Apple does isn’t either. And that’s sad.