作者: 深雪

內容簡介: 

14個都市奇幻怪談物語 
人世間錯失過最重要的，皆可以在這裡「尋回」，只是…… 
是詛咒，是幻覺，是傳說，是人性，是欲念﹖ 

‧只要殺一個男人，就可以煉製出好愛你的男友，你夠膽落手嗎…… 
‧上環高昇戲院雞人典故，殘酷表演，是真是假…… 
‧聽講，餵避孕藥給自己男人食可以……生活美滿（好似係） 
‧有個愛心少婦專收留可憐小孩，你想被收留嗎？條件只得一個…… 
‧如果三世書說你有宿世情緣，但要遭所愛殺死，糾纏三生，你想要嗎？ 
‧有個「巴打」，要同你每日每夜何時何地，形影相隨，是義氣是冤氣﹖ 
‧24小時Stand By的魔鬼推銷員：小姐，想買愛情？ 

讀後感:

時娬一直以來都認為深雪的異想世界非常迷人!而且裡面所要表達的也非常有深意!

這本夜嬰十四夜是深雪當時年輕時所寫的然後再加以修飾而集結成一篇篇(總共14夜)鬼魅的短篇故事。
這本書主軸應該是女人對於愛情以及自我認同為一個概念，裡面有需多為愛付出，卻得不到愛情的，也有寧願選擇事業犧牲掉愛情的~
但是，不管怎麼說，裡面的女人最終都要為自己所選擇的而付出代價!

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首先，我必須要說...

我幾乎是以沉重的心情去看完這部小書的...

如此的真實、如此的慘忍描述著這女孩所承受的凌虐...真的會想大聲罵幹!!!你們這群人渣!!全部最好全身潰爛而死!!!!

咳咳...有點激動了...不好意思...

以下可能有雷(畢竟本人一寫到激動處就容易爆走!!!囧...)

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http://hyperrate.com/thread.php?tid=28383#28383

ultrabook acer aspire s3 2011 test ok.

http://hyperrate.com/thread.php?tid=28829#28829

開機後除了設定上網
(分享器DHCP可自動取得IP)

開啟終端機介面

passwd
設密碼兩次確認

pppoe-setup
設定ADSL撥接帳密
DNS可設定8.8.8.8 及8.8.4.4 (Google提供)

pppoe-start
啟動撥接，會自行啟動防火牆iptables

pppoe-status
撥接訊息

pppoe-stop
停止撥接

dmesg
可以看到入侵者的IP訊息

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The books are finally out. A friend bought a few copies and took the photo when he got the delivery. I am very pleased to know that everything went well to this point. Hopefully, readers will enjoy this book as much as we enjoyed writing it. The book comes with a CD. I listened to some of the sound files. They are fantastic. It is definitely a big "plus" for readers who need some real life modelling from the native speakers.

Here is the link to a site where you can get the book online.

http://www.kingstone.com.tw/book/book_page.asp?kmcode=2018052518495&lid=search&actid=wise

If you have any questions, you can also follow us on Facebook: 這時候，美國人會怎麼說? 

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http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=國語精選

http://www.youmaker.com/video/index.html

巴奈
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%E5%B7%B4%E5%A5%88

網路電台http://tinyurl.com/ln3af7p

http://www.kiss.com.tw/kissradio/radio_hq.php?radio_id=1999

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=陳雷

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWIudGjCCX0&list=PLE63BE488793D5117

http://www.ptt.cc/hotboard.html
http://portable.easylife.tw/3558
8888
8844

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIpyTtldX0

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojUUBoddvOo

 鳳飛飛

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=黃乙玲

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIa5z2Yn5kA蔡健雅陌生人專輯12首

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_PgbEtlqIU陳淑樺跟你說聽你說專輯10首

 江蕙酒後的心聲專輯12首https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5jNMw0HFY

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記一段難得的友誼:

當出版社通過我的提案時，我的第一個想法是：「糟糕，我給自己惹上麻煩了。」寫英文參考書，我行嗎？這可不比在網路上提供英文協助給初學者。寫書必須不能有任何差錯，而且內容必須夠充實、夠嚴謹。我知道我的程度有限，我必須找同伴。而我所認識的幾位英文大師，他們本身都有忙碌的本業，我很懷疑他們是否願意加入，即使願意，他們抽得出時間嗎？

懷著忐忑不安的心情，我找上了Julia Wei, Tony Lu 和 Stemfax。主要是我和他/她們幾位常互動，我們可以隨時連絡得上。美妙的事情發生了，他/她們都欣然同意了，而且完全不計較稿酬。

在截稿前，是最需要投入的時刻，而不幸的也正好是他/她們本業最忙碌的時刻。可是他/她們全力配合，有時利用下班後或上班前的空檔，或是犧牲假日，結果我們如期的交稿了。

接下來卻是一段令人焦慮的等待。出版社因為手頭上還有其他的書正在處理，所以把我們的書延遲了。這一等就是幾個月，我感到很抱歉，覺得對不起團隊。但是他/她們完全不曾責怪我，我們反而還經常拿此來開玩笑。

現在，書終於要出版了，我們自信這是一本很好的英文學習書，但是不管書賣得如何，這一段過程是美好的、值得珍藏的。

Jason Lo

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One night when I went out for a walk in Bucharest, I saw a little girl no more than 6 years old out on the street after 9 o’clock at night. She was holding a picture of Jesus and sitting alone around the street corner by the hotel begging for money.

Many panhandlers we have encountered here in Toronto are homeless drifters who chose to live that way. There is government social assistance available to some extent to help those people, but many of them have decided to opt out and panhandle on the street instead. So, for some of them, it is a life style decision by choice.

For the panhandlers in Romania, it is a complicated situation because the whole country is going through the growing pain of social and economic development ever since the fall of Communism. Some older Romanians are still romanticising with the social stability and the security that the Communist government used to bring to the old country. Right now, the social security is literally non-existent.

However, to give the littler girl money is somewhat indirectly encouraging her parents to put her on the street every night to beg for the sympathy from the passerby. I somehow struggle with the thought of “selling the kid for money”. Anyway, it was very difficult for me to walk by the kids without doing anything to help them. That was a restless night afterwards. 

Is panhandling really a profession? What do you think?

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For some of you who struggle to cram through boring English textbooks, here is something really different for your learning style. This book is full of fun and practical examples that you may not be able to find in the regular textbooks. It will be an interesting read to kill your weekend! Have fun reading it.

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I was shopping for a laser measuring device a few days ago. I called around and finally found one on Home Hardware's web site. I called the local store and got hold of a sales girl. I asked her to check if the item is available at the store. She was not sure if she could do it on the computer. She asked another woman next to her and the woman answered yes. I could hear the whole conversation when the other woman was trying to instruct her how she should work on the computer. But, then she told me on the phone that she could not do it, and it would be better for me to drive to the store to check it myself. What?! I told her it would be a long drive for me just to find out that they don't have any in stock. 

I used to be in sales. I don't understand how people such as this girl can keep her job. It would be so easy for her to check her computer for their inventory. Anyway, lazy birds get nothing. She was too lazy to do it on her computer. So, I drove to another hardware store that is closer to my house, and paid a fortune for the gadget. It might not have saved me money but it did save me the long drive and all the time and bother. Big loss for her company.

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I was skeptical but didn’t disbelieve him right away. I was somewhat curious about how he got hold of my personal information while he was trying to tell me that I had a computer virus and I needed to let him solve my problem. He wanted me to verify my name, address and phone number. Well. Well. Now, this is always a funny part when I get any telemarketing phone call from who-know-where. I immediately replied, “Wait, you should know my phone number and my name because you are the one who called me! I didn’t call you! So, why should I verify my information with you? I should ask you to prove yourself and how you got hold of my personal information."  (I could be very blunt, or pretend to be comical when I played this chatting game on the phone.)

Throughout our phone conversation, I kept pressing for how his company got hold of my personal information without my permission, and I would like to talk to his supervisor regarding the invasion of privacy. I was more annoyed with that than anything else. However, every time when I asked him questions, he would try to come back to my computer problem. It was like he was reading off a script, and he did not like to be steered away from his script. This went on for a long time. I finally had enough and told him that I knew very little about computer technical problems (a computer dummy), and I would have my family call him later. First, I asked him if his last name is Williams or William. He could not understand what I was trying to ask. That is strange, isn’t it? Haha…. Then, I asked for his phone number and address so I could call him back later. At first, he did not want to give me his phone number. He gave me a 6-digit phone number, which did not make sense at all, because our number has 7 digits. I told him that his phone number does not make sense and asked what his area code was. He had no idea what I meant about area code. I knew then this guy with an accent, very likely East Indian accent, had no idea about his area code. In fact, he didn’t know his own last name. Hahara…..

Anyway, after I hung up, I dial *69 to locate him and got hold of the source of a phone number. I then called that number back. A recording message from the federal government explained that the number I was trying to dial was a phishing scam. The government beat me to it and the big brother was watching them already! Splendid!

The fact is Microsoft would never call us for our personal computer problem. These scammers are just trying to gain access to our computer, so they could get our personal information. Shame on them!

This afternoon while I was almost snoozing on the couch (what a luxury for me), the phone rang. A voice introduced himself as Thomas William, a representative from Window Call Centre. He asked me if I had experienced problems with my computer. Here you go again! Why would they pick the same last name? Anyway, I was more annoyed that he interrupted my once-in-a-blue-moon “beauty sleep” in the afternoon. I went on the same routine phishing about how he got hold of my personal information and where he was located.  This went on for a while and going nowhere. At the end, I just screamed at him and told him that he (Thomas William), Michael Williams, or whatever Williams they want to call themselves should stop this scam. I have talked to the official and they are watching their move. Get lost, scammers! 

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記得，這是發生在我小學四年級的事…

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記得，這是發生在我小學四年級的事…

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二Ｏ一Ｏ年的秋天，黑心樂團在吉他手小隆離開後，失去了一塊心之破片。

也許我們永遠不會完整了，又也許，即使不完整，我們也還是有發光發熱的可能。

完整，是一種心靈上的感受，感覺有這群夥伴在身邊，自己就是無敵的。

但挑戰還在人生的道路上等著我們，即使失去了無敵的保證，
我們也沒打算放棄繼續冒險的旅程。

二Ｏ一一年的年初，經由主唱小摳與天秤座的孽緣份，我們認識了吉他手安濯。

而三月十三號，正是我們重新出發的第一站，覺響音樂‧經典搖滾演唱會。

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I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. However, the old energetic granny (Let’s call her Grammy H.)  who was sharing the hospital room with me had a severe hearing problem. People literally had to scream to her ears all the time to communicate with her. I was forced to watch the whole charade in the room. Grammy H could not remember her nurse’s name, either. In fact, she had repeatedly asked the same nurse about her name and where she lived whenever she came in to check on her. I finally had a chuckle and exchanged the look with the nurse. Oh, my my!

Grammy H had her whole family come in and out of the hospital room to visit her everyday. They all spoke so loud that I was forced to take in whatever they discussed in the room. Heck, I had no choice but to listen to her whole family drama during my four-day stay at the hospital. What can we say? When you share a room with a patient like Grammy H, you really have no choice but live with it. So, I might as well write it down for my blog, and this is how it happened.

Grammy H came into the hospital because she had an earache and an accidental fall at home. Grammy H was almost 91 years old and living with one of her grandsons, Junior. Junior apparently was the main caretaker for her because he was living with her due to his job location in town. In fact, from all the conversations I’ve heard, I believe he was the only one, of all people, who truly cared about Grammy H. I got to talk to him and his father when they came in to visit her. The way Junior talked to Grammy H is so genuine and no condition attached, which is very different from the other family members of hers.

Grammy’s other family members came in to visit her as well, and they all wanted something from her. The daughter kept pressuring Grammy to sign a paper to state that she would not wish to move out of her home after her discharge from the hospital. She also brought her children in to pressure Grammy to sign the paper. Their reason was that they did not want Grammy to move out of the house. Apparently, Grammy lived in a big house with Junior, and she loved her house and garden. They told Grammy that if she did not sign the paper, they would put her in a nursing home or take her away to a farm. Grammy wanted to stay in her house, but she also knew that her daughter’s reason to get her signature was different from hers. From what I have heard, Grammy H just wanted to go home with Junior, her beloved grandson from her son’s side. She believed that Junior would take care of her because he was the only one who cared about her.

Grammy’s son, Junior’s father, who lived out of town on a farm, was the power of attorney. He was in charge of making decisions for her placement. There was a chance that the hospital could not send Grammy home but to find a home for her because she kept falling off the bed. In fact, it happened twice while she was in the room with me.

 Grammy H’s son and daughter did not get along at all. If Grammy moved out of her house to live with her son, the daughter wouldn’t have any easy access to her and her big house anymore. One day, I actually witnessed the siblings, brother and sister, had a big argument in the hallway outside the guest waiting room. Grammy’s daughter kept yelling at the son and saying that she would hire a lawyer to fight to keep her in town.

Grammy H’s daughter also pressured her about her estate. Grammy H was quite lively and seemed to be quite sharp whenever the daughter was asking about her house and her will. Grammy H would tell her that her lawyer would take care of it, and she would like to leave something to Junior, who truly takes good care of her. From the conversations Grammy H had with her frequent visitors, I sensed that her daughter was a “wild one” at one time. Anyway, as an outsider and unwilling witness, I was simply annoyed that people had the nerve to fight over their “inheritance” in public while the loved one was still alive and kicking.

It is interesting that greed can turn family against each other. Sometimes, poor decision made in the will could bring the deceased from the grave to manipulate the family. On the last day of my hospital stay, Grammy H found out she had a tumor in her brain. I felt very sorry for her and Junior. I saw Junior secretly shed his tears when he heard of the news. I personally think he is a nice man, a kind and gentle man. (I don't think he is interested in women though. Hehehe....) I wish both Junior and Grammy H the best of luck.

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我最討厭放假前生病，因為我的整個假期就泡湯了！大部份的放假時間我都在養病。即使已經痊癒了，我還是得 “閉關自守”，小心再次著涼。我已經不會傳染給別人了，但是身體還是很虛弱。這次的流行性感冒在學校傳染了好一陣子，好多人都受到感染。我算是最後的受害者之一。

今年的聖誕節我就獨自在家中過，連家庭聚餐我也沒去。因為我不想讓去年的歷史重演。去年家中九十二高齡的老姨媽剛搬到養老院裹，一整個院裹的老人流傳嚴重的流行性腸胃炎，上吐下瀉，而她也被感染。我們要她好好休養，但是她堅持要參加家庭聚餐。結果，除了我以外，全家都在餐後中標。所以今年我主動堅持要在家養病，不想當家庭罪人，但是整日實在是無聊之極。

生病的日子是非常痛苦的！

Untitled

I hate being sick right before the holidays, because I spent most of my vacation time recuperating from the sickness. Even though I am feeling much better, I still have to take it easy and avoid catching the cold again. I am not contagious to other people, but my body is still very weak. This flu has been passed around at school for quite a while, many people were infected. I was one of the latest victims.

This Christmas I decided to stay home alone and did not go to the family dinner. I did not want to repeat what happened last year. Last year, our ninety-two year old aunt just moved to a retirement home. The Norwalk virus was spreading around at the retirement home before Christmas. The aunt was infected with severe gastroenteritis and diarrhea. We wanted her to take rest at home, but she insisted on attending the family dinner. The whole family got sick afterwards except me. So, this year I took the initiative and volunteered to stay home for recuperation. I did not want to be the guilty one, but the day alone at home was really boring.

It is painful to be sick!

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When you have a lot of free time with nothing to do other than groaning and moaning in bed with the fever and cough, you would have no choice but to do lot of thinking. I did it, anyway, in and out of sleep. In fact, for a few days, I was so drugged out that I had hallucinations. Now, I am able to walk around a bit and stay awake for a longer period of time. It is about time for me to kill some time here.

 Anyway, these are my grumpy thoughts from the sick bed. Please bear with me.

 What is the spirit of Christmas?

The Spirit of Helping

Every year I take on the organization of a Christmas food drive for our school community. This year, instead of donating all the food to the food bank or Salvation Army, we packed them for some of our school families first. I am pretty sure that most of the food went to help the needy every year. Do the people who are at the receiving end feel happy about the baskets they have received? I don’t know the answer. I usually choose to be the collector of food, instead of the packer and deliverer of the baskets. I don’t know if I can handle the delivering to people I know. I know I would definitely cry when I get to the food bank or talk to the people there. I think I would rather remain anonymous.

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I am a ghost from the past. I love Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, and Charles Dickens. The characters in Dickens’ books all seemed to live in a dark and dingy time period, in need of a big scrub in the tub. I wish I could fly back in time to see the past though. That was a romantic thought. However, the presence is really the past for those children of presence in the future. Does that sentence make any sense to you at all? Well, bear with me; I am sick, you know. I just mumbled. Anyway, talking about children, some children could make me nosebleed.

 The Spirit of Giving

My friend Jo is really depressed about Christmas because he does not have enough money to buy Christmas presents for his children. Jo has been separated from his wife for a few years. His wife left him with their kids and moved to another city. He loves his children, so you can imagine that it almost killed him when he first found out that his family left him. His wife, however, refuses to divorce him. In fact, she still constantly asks him if they could get back together. However, after three marriages and two divorces with the same woman, Jo is disheartened in getting back together with her. So, technically, they are still married, and it has been like this for years.

Jo has a good job. He has a decent income but he does not see much of his money. More than half of his income comes straight out of his pay cheque before he even sees it. A few months ago, he had a crisis with his children. One of his children asked for a car for her birthday/graduation present. What? A Car! Ok, I can see the need for the adult children to have a car. Plus, it is not that expensive to get a used car anyway. But, NO, NO! She wanted a NEW sports car for the birthday present since daddy works for a car company. They all demanded a new car for their graduation present because their eldest sister had a car for her university graduation years ago. Now the second child wanted the same present.

Jo was really stressed over it because years ago it was a different situation- the family was together. They were two high income earners (Jo’s wife is also a top executive) living together in the same household supporting the same number of children. The wife cleaned out the joint bank account and bought a new home when she moved out with the kids. Jo was left with the mortgage on the family home. His lone income could not afford to support the family and kept the old house going. He had to walk away from the house.

Now he has to pay most of his income to his wife and children who are living in a different city. The leftover income has to go pay for his small condo mortgage. (He was cheated by his good friend on the purchase of the condo, but that was another story.) He drives over to visit his children whenever he can on the weekend. It costs a lot of money to travel back and forth between two cities. With six kids, he has to make sure that he is “a good daddy” whenever he visits. Often time, poor Jo is left with nothing for himself to live on. When we go out, we would never ask Jo to pay for anything. This is a guy with pride and a father who wants to please his kids. But, do the kids really understand how much their father is going through, or at least, appreciate the difficulty of their father’s life?  No, I don’t think so.

 Anyway, when Jo was so stressed about the car, we told Jo that most of his children are at the university age, and they are working and making money already. It is about time to step forward to tell the daughter the truth that their good old daddy simply can not afford to buy her a new sports car. He might be able to pull it for the oldest one many years ago because the circumstances were different then. Now, he is living with less than half of his income. Most of his money goes to support them and pay for their tuitions. On top of that, he has to pay for his mortgage. This poor old guy will never see his retirement because he had to restart his life alone.

We told Jo that he could not pretend that he is still the big fat daddy he used to be. Jo finally pulled his strength and told his daughters that he could not afford to buy her a car. Well, it didn’t go so well with the family. The daughter had a fit and claimed that he didn’t love her at all, and he was nothing but a sperm donor to her mother. It almost killed Jo when she said that. It somehow also made him realize that these children were no longer the sweet innocent children he used to live with. These are spoiled rotten children who always demand more just like what their mother would do. (The wife asked him to wire the basement because she wanted to save some money on the renovation cost. Guess what? He did! He drove there every weekend to finish the wiring because “it would be a nice entertainment room for the kids”, he said. Duh!)

Christmas is coming. I just found out last night that Jo is stressing over Christmas presents. He plans to spend 100 dollars each on his kids, but each child wants expensive presents like the laptop or a digital camera. There is no way that Jo can afford to meet their wish list. (Heck, I can’t afford to buy myself or any of my family members an expensive laptop.)

We loaned him money for so many times to help him out in the past. Jo is a nice guy but everyone knows he simply can’t afford to pay any of it back. Instead of offering to loan him money, I was trying to see what we could do to help him out. I have received tons of presents throughout the year. We were looking through some of them to see if Jo could use some “brand name” items and re-gift them to his children without them knowing. Some children will never understand how hard their parents have tried in order to make them happy. Those ungrateful little and big monster kids!  ^%&^&*^***(&  (I need my puffer.)

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  The Spirit of Appreciation

I remember my parents used to stress over money in August because it was the school registration time for four of us. It was not easy to raise four children in those days. They had to borrow money from family and tightened the household to make it work. Without scholarships for low income students as well as working part time jobs outside the school, my siblings and I wouldn’t be able to be who we are today. This is the reason why I love to help others whenever I can. I especially like to help those young people who are working to put themselves through school (not those people who make money for fancy luxuries).

We learned to appreciate what little we had in the family and how hard my parents struggled to put us through school. When I see how lucky some children are, such as Jo’s children, I often wonder if parents nowadays are just trying to buy their children love.

A couple of years ago, a young friend of mine told me that his wife went to different workshops for parenting.  She wanted to be prepared for their little girl who was just born at the time. They believed in the 人本,“child-centered approach”. Now, I don’t know what that meant because my Chinese does not seem to catch up with a lot of the new terminology/phrases in Taiwan. Basically, they wanted to have different approaches to educate their little girl.

My friend, their mother and mother-in-law, was a little hurt by that because she was the main caregiver to the new born granddaughter. She asked me if there was anything wrong with her education approaches. She had raised three grown children including the father of the baby, and they all seemed to turn out all right. Anyway, my young friend told me that they didn't want to let their baby fall behind at the starting point, which sounded like a slogan to me at the time when he said it. They wanted the best for their baby girl, so they got all these alphabet posters, Chinese posters, graphic charts and math drill charts for the toddler. “We don’t want her to fall behind at the starting point,” he said it more than once to me when I was sitting in their living room staring at all the charts. (My mother was illiterate, so I guess my siblings and I were doomed at the starting point.  What a load of nonsense! Hahahaha… .)

The young couple wanted to try out all the theories from the experts. Now, their parents are afraid to say anything in case of overstepping. I often have to reassure them that they should listen to their parents’ advice sometimes. I noticed that some young people seem to dismiss whatever their parents had experienced and want something completely different for the sake of being different. Now, I am not an expert on child rearing and I certainly don’t want to become an eye sore in that family. I only open my mouth when people ask for advice. (Most of the time, I keep my mouth shut and write about my complaints here. Hahaha…. .)

Honestly, I just don’t understand why people want to read all these fancy theories and books and talk like they know every single step of the education process, but the only thing they do not have for their child is the time, some quality time, which is the most important thing of all for a family! (Gosh, I just feel like giving my mom a big squeeze right now.  I miss her so much!) Maybe, it is about time for people to go back to the basics to focus on their family time, quality “interactive” family time. Don’t pay others to be the parents. Don’t use TV/computer as the sitters. Don’t rob your child’s childhood and substitute it with expensive material life. Nothing can replace the time missed for the family.

I miss those good old summer days when my grandparents and family sitting on the long bench in the front porch under the dimmed streetlights, fanning the mosquitoes, frying the leeches, and chatting with all the passerby neighbors. I am an old school, a ghost from the past. Right now, a hot pot dinner with family suddenly sounds so good!

End Note:

The above comments are pure personal reflections out of the sick bay on the west wing. The author/patient had experienced severe hallucinations during the process of her writing; however, all information appeared to be accurate at the time of posting.

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 I have a really good group of students this year. Half of the class has been with me for two years, so they know me and my expectations very well. A couple of the new additions to the class, however, might be a bit challenging at times, but don’t we all have one or two students who are sort of the “mission of the year”? Hahah… Anyway, here is what happened to one of those students last night.

 The concert started at 7:00, so most students were told to arrive at 6:40. However, I told my class to arrive at 6:30 because we were the opening act and we should be getting ready on stage at 6:55. I warned them not to be late or they would be missing the first performance. It did happen before that some students arrived really late, right after their class performances. It broke their hearts!

 All my students arrived on time and wore the appropriate attire. They looked so adorable! Anyway, all of them arrived, except one! The clock ticked and I finally had to give up waiting for her. I grabbed that student’s lights, hat and scarf and lead the class onto the stage. The curtains were drawn and a few minutes before our performance, the girl finally ran up to the stage to join the line, but with a pink and black sweater on! Goodness Gracious! What was she thinking?

 We had been through the rehearsals, and in fact, we had a dress rehearsal that afternoon. I even prepared extra white shirts for people who needed a white shirt. Now she arrived late and with a totally different outfit for the choir. I almost had a fit. I could not drag her off the stage since the show was ready to start. I quickly put the scarf and the hat on her, and send her back to the line.

 All in all, they had a fantastic performance last evening. Today, we had a little discussion in class about last night. I asked the girl why she did not follow the instructions to wear the proper attire for the choir. She said, “My mom said I should be different and be who I want to be.” (What? Can I smack that mother of hers?) Then, I asked her if she actually realized that she was NOT singing as a soloist but in a “choir” for a musical, just like the choir in the church. She said, “I don’t go to church, so I don’t know about the church choir.”  I replied, “I don’t go to church, either, but if I were singing as a member in a church choir, I would have to be singing in unison and dress the same as the others. It is called the teamwork!” Plus, we all got the same instructions as the other classes. Why should she be special? I know the little girl did not make the decision to arrive late, but she did not deliver the messages home correctly, either.

 I am so fed up with people who are so righteous about whatever they want to do and totally disregard the rest of the world. I know I should not be upset with a little girl. However, if she was not told about how her personal decision may affect the team, she would grow up to be another arrogant adult who thinks her personal “freedom of expression” is more important than the priority of the team. Can you imagine seeing a basketball player who decided to ditch the team colour and wear his own jersey instead? That would never happen in the real world. I find that children sometimes behave certain way that mirrors their parents’ attitude. This girl’s mother often comes in to talk to me. Once she had admitted that she is very disorganized herself, and no wonder that the child has difficulty getting herself organized.

 Anyway, my students had a superb performance and the concert is now over. Not only did they sing as the elves, they also worked like the elves helping me promote the holiday food drive for the community. They helped broadcast over the PA system on the daily public announcement, and they went to different classes to collect food. They are good citizens in training. It’s better to start them up when they are young. They are truly my angels of the year!

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