me: Do you think Bush went to Iraq for oil?

Diana:Oil?......Maybe......I think he went there for power!

me:Power?!He risked Americans' lives for power?

(Actually I wanted to say he murdered so many innocent people just for power?)

Diana:Exactly.

And this reminded me the pictures taken by Tina at an exhibition in KL,Malaysia, and her comments,

"It might be hard to judge who is right.But I think no one has the right to take others' lives."

      I know quite a large number of Americans don't feel proud of Bush. It was still surprising, and somewhat delighting, to hear Diana yelling at me,"He's a dumb guy!"

      I agree wholeheartedly, but I didn't say so. With a neutral smile on my face, I asked her why. "He's ignorant." I was not very surprised by her response, I mean, similar comments are everywhere, newspapers, magazines, televisions. By raising my eyebrows, I gave her a sign to continue."You know what stem cell research is? I'm sure you know. Guess what his wife said,'Oh,we're not going to put money in this,'cause we're not very sure about it.'" I burst out laughing,both at her words and the expression on her face.

     "That statement was made by your First Lady,not your President."

     She shrugged,"Well I think it's always a good reflection.What an irony! Of course we're not sure about it. That is the very reason for research."

     I was looking at her. She's confident, and articulate. After all, she's from the Faculty of Political Science. Due to this very fact, I had placed high expectations on her. So when I heard her generalising comments about Bush's supporters, I felt a bit disappointed.

    She said almost all Bush's supporters are from the central states, where you can't find good universities. "Lack of bright minds," pointing to her own head, she added,"they just can't think.Otherwise they wouldn't vote for this conservative dumbbell. He can't even accept gay marriage!" I saw elitism, which I had abandoned long ago.

    "These people fight so hard just to form  families. Why can't they? They're good citizens, they pay taxes, they're eager to adopt children." I would like to say it may have negative impact on the child's psyche.I would like to say it will produce a lot of social problems. But I didn't. I was afraid to be labelled "conservative dumbbell". I've learnt to zip my mouth. Later, she talked about freedom. Like most Americans, she thinks that freedom should be given the primacy.

一直期盼唱这样的歌曲，以这样的声线。

想起《Le Loup Mongol》。那匹蒙古苍狼，成吉思汗。

           跟她约在Esplanade的Thai Express,算是离别的晚餐。这几天有点冷，特别是在海边。想起Tina说穿过每一条街道时她都会想，赤道会不会就从这里穿过。我认真地点头说你一定是踩过赤道的。朗声大笑，以她一贯的方式。我递给她礼物，一个紫红色装饰用的瓶子，一条从Langkawi带回来的有着浓浓热带风情的披巾。本来想送橙色的那一条，要她把热带热情的阳光带回白雪皑皑的韩国。不过想想她还是喜欢紫色。今天又是深紫一色的T-shirt,配黑色碎石项链。

          她学Architecture,在DP实习。（Esplanade就是DP设计的）说实习的日子很好。他们这些interns也就只是帮忙绘绘图。但已让她觉得激动兴奋不已。"It will come true some day!This thought,and just this thought alone,makes me feel exalted!" 她又说也有一些很mundane的会议，好像讨论某个shopping mall的停车场该多大。我喝着浓稠鲜美的Thai green curry,笑着看她说得神采飞扬。

         聊了很多。关于这个城市，这个城市里的人。她说Singapore is a wonderful place.我说Nothing is perfect.她说Er,just too organised,secure,and.....boring.哈哈哈，唤我大笑。我们都觉得Singaporeans are nice.只是我觉得"Such niceness is a facet of character when times are good."

       我告诉她她的房间现在住了个ABC,from University of California.第一天在George's Mart买了个插头转换器，居然问我是不是voltage converter.我忍住笑严肃地说"It doesn't look like one,I mean,it's too small."她的朋友在旁边更严肃地说"It makes sense."当天晚上她到我房里，好奇地摸着fan controller问我那是什么。我终于忍不住大惊。她耸耸肩说"As you know,I'm not an engineer." Tina 早就东倒西歪，说，"There's no need to take an engineer to realise that it's a controller."我说你反美情绪高涨哦，她说没有没有，只是美国人自然而然地有着居高临下的气势。我说其实Diana也蛮nice的。高兴的时候会跟我share好多好看的照片，塞给我一大堆CD。R&B,hip hop.认识没几天就可以盘腿坐在我床上，跟我讲她一天的所见所闻。事无巨细一一汇报。我觉得这样也挺好。Life is all about sharing.

        我们沿着岸走，遇见一只英武非凡的西伯利亚犬。我们忙热情洋溢地挥手say hi.不理。Tina用韩语重复，我用中文重复，那只狗还是雄赳赳气昂昂地从我们面前走过去。我们干笑几声说我们该用俄语。

        找了个长椅坐下，天南海北地聊。理想，梦想，空想，还有girls' talk.她觉得我总有自己的strong opinions,"which I think it's good."一开始不怎么明白她所指的strong是什么，经解释后明白。"But guys usually don't llike girls who have strong opinions." "Who cares?!"就是这样一个女孩，让我觉得她的ideas都很特别。就像我指着远处的鱼尾狮说那是新加坡的象征呢。居然答，I think it's stupid.从没听过这样的形容，用在一个国家的象征上，特别是她并不讨厌而是喜欢这个国家。反应过来后看鱼尾狮，觉得它好像在委屈地哭。生平第一次觉得它可爱，在它被骂stupid后。

         原来她也去了马来西亚。我跟她讲清清蓝蓝的海水，她跟我说jungle tracking 和她在途中遇见的形形色色的人。一个在街头专心作画的画家。终其一生地画着他所认为的快乐他所认为的美。她在他的Guess book上签下了名。布满皱纹的脸笑了，骄傲地告诉她近来有个二十年前看过他的画的朋友回来找他。我想起了什么，就跟她讲君子不器的故事。还有一个在丛林里遇见的年轻的摄影师。他对她说有一天他会开世界级的影展。很多知名杂志，像National Geography都将选用他的作品。"ambitious",她的全部评论。

       直到发现人影已经所剩无几，一看表，一点整。就这样迎来了04年的最后一天。

回到住地太阳已经下山了，只看见最后一抹晚霞。较之夜晚托着一轮明月，严肃而又寂寞地呜咽着的大海，我偏爱黄昏里张开双臂拥抱她的孩子们的大海。在止不住的笑声里，涛声都显得温柔。

我问为什么选这个角度，他说看见正中那个男人了么，旁人都是正面或是背面站着，只有他是侧面，还一脸严肃虔诚的模样。

山脚的小屋。其实是商店。东西有点贵（穷学生看什么都贵）。不过饱饱眼福倒是不错的。

Yeah! It's me! 无甚美感可言。不过自己觉得飞起来的感觉真棒！外加一点点刺激！

我有轻微的惧高症，但看见这样的景色，我觉得值了。

就一片青翠与蔚蓝。他们说江山如此多娇，我却不知要如何形容。

这样的秀丽，会让人忘了那其实是深不可测甚至可以波涛汹涌的大海。

晚霞里静静地寂寞着的小船。

晨曦中刚刚苏醒的小船。

高唱着 "we are so young now,we are so young so young now" 出航。

看见了吗？那可爱的小白点是一艘小帆船呢。

以下四幅乃小女子手笔。把拙作拿出来见人是需要相当大的勇气的。

从没见过这么清新的蓝......

这个老外很可爱，时不时地探出脚来，点一点海水，再缩回去，再点一点。没发现我在旁为了拍照时不至手抖，忍笑忍得痛苦无比。

清得竟像秋天的小溪。

小女子三寸金莲所留。恐不深刻，竭尽全力踩了几脚，结果。。。

        2004年圣诞前几天，我们去了Langkawwi，然后是Penang。我们不懂摄影，但仍笨拙地想留下点什么。执相机的大都不是我，我只负责嚷：“这么拍一定不错这么拍一定不错！”

槟城的China Town。同伴说槟城整个就是马来西亚的China Town。其实我比较想照那种老旧得像要塌掉的房子。在经过Little India的时候看见过挺多。可惜相机不是我的。。。那房子的墙斑斑驳驳的，窗倒大大方方地大着，敞着。没有窗帘之类任何的遮蔽物，可仍旧黑漆漆的望不见里头。就越让人去联想那里面会发生怎样的故事，或已经发生了哪些故事。其实那时应该还没到黄昏，只是下了雨，天有点阴沉沉的。

本来是要等一只和平鸽停在上面的，构想中。觉得那会是一种讽刺。不过却等来了一只乌鸦。唉，人总要学着退而求其次的。
奇怪的是照不出一点历史苍茫的味道，不管哪个角度。比起在鼓浪屿看见的，我觉得这些有点像道具。

St. George's Church
他拍出来以后，我惊喜地发现我很喜欢这张。教堂不大，但拍出了庄严。想起在一个摄影展里看到的伦敦大笨钟的照片，是透过一个小窗户拍的，给人一种全新的视觉感受。



发现了吗？槟城小房子特别多。所以我觉得她像小镇般亲切。我们那时在60层高的云中阁俯瞰整座城市。照片是透过茶色玻璃拍的，不很清晰，像染了咖啡渍。于是我把它命名为染了咖啡渍的城市。

         初中时开始学美声，老师和她的画家丈夫酷爱旅游。上完课后就常在她装潢奇怪的家中边喝茶边翻看她珍藏的照片。对旅游的憧憬好像就是从那时候开始的。
         后来看了些杂七杂八的书就开始天马行空地瞎想。想无牵无挂背包走天涯啊，想踏遍名山大川吃遍各地美食啊之类之类。觉得一生如果就这样碌碌无为地过也挺惬意，君子不器。
        可真正背着个包沿着槟城一条街一条街地走时，却有狠狠把包扔在地上再踩三脚的冲动，而且特别怀念像个火柴盒的PGP。没办法，俗人哪。