青春是一段開展未知人生的過程，充滿了激情與生命力。但若生命在此時卻意外結束，該是人間最深沉的哀傷吧…

http://i.imgur.com/yNXFwRc.jpg

這是一段很久以前的故事了。話說當年，我上大學的時候，怯怯離開南部的家，隻身展翅來到繁華的台北。住在男生宿舍裡，很快來熟識了自全台各地的異鄉人，或許台語腔調不同，但一種隱隱離家的不安，以及初闖江湖人生的雀躍，是普遍大家身上共通的語言。

男生宿舍的特色就是髒、亂、吵，翻譯成男人的話就是舒服、自在、熱鬧。白天大家到校園上課、玩社團、談戀愛，晚上回到宿舍，那就是分享戰果的時刻。宿舍生活，從半夜10點才開始，12點達到高峰，2點是準備睡覺的時間。泡麵與鹹酥雞、福利社12點過後的三級片、某些房間被窩裡的四腳獸… 這些都是日常生活，當然，期中期末考那段時間除外。

可別誤會了，這所大學也算是列全台前茅的大學了，考上後父母會以你為榮的那種。該讀書的時候，這些學生還是會偷偷躲到圖書館去念書的。想當然爾，老家的父母，必然滿心期待著他們辛苦拉拔長大的兒女，在此成龍成鳳，自此展開一段輝煌人生的。

那年我大三，經過難熬的大二，正是大學生活的黃金時期。到了我生日那天，忘記白天我是否有什麼慶祝活動了，總之晚上回到宿舍，室友知道了我生日，說是幫我慶生，弄了一小瓶高梁（烈酒也是一種成人的符碼），晚上11點，我們兩個到宿舍樓頂喝酒談天去。酒是隨興地喝，也不怎麼醉，主要是談天吧！逐漸成為大學老鳥了，出社會也不算太遠，總有說不完的話題，關於人生、理想、愛情，甚至是揶揄另一個室友的生活習慣等等…

我們聊到大概凌晨1點多接近2點，差不多就下樓回寢室睡覺了。喝酒聊天後，一夜好眠到天亮，接近中午才起床。去吃午飯時聽到周遭議論紛紛，說是出命案了。

就在同一棟宿舍（整棟4層樓也就100多間房吧，每間4人），清晨5點多被人發現宿舍1樓最遠邊的廁所有人倒地死亡，發現的時候已經死亡，身體浮腫臉部已難辨認，不知道是住宿舍的學生還是外來的人。校警通知警方，很快把命案現場圍起，但流言紛紛，人人惶恐，怕宿舍有安全問題。男生宿舍向來是人人自由進出，毫無門禁可言的。

我跟室友去吃午飯時聊起，一時覺得我們昨夜談天說地會不會差點就有危險之類的，既然沒事總是喜歡幻想危險的情境… 事發後幾天，竟然都還無法確認死者身分，警察局還持續派人到宿舍來站崗，保障一下學生安全 … 

終於… 再過幾天，消息傳出來已經確定死者，就是住在宿舍的一年級學弟（哪個系我已經忘記了），室友經過幾天沒看到人，終於向校方反映，經過一番查驗，確認是他。而警方對於命案現場的分析認定有他殺嫌疑，但該名學生交友情況似乎很單純，家屬趕到也無法理解，只能要求校方跟警方盡快破案。但，此案似乎一直遲遲沒有進展，畢竟宿舍出入人多複雜，當年也很少有地方會裝監視器，儘管懷疑是外來不良分子隨機進入後意外殺害，但總沒有任何線索 …

家屬的哀傷可想而知，青春年華，旭日初升，卻在無預警之中，一切嘎然而止，靜默，黑白，對照著殘酷的，活生生的世界仍在隆隆運轉著… 家屬的哀傷轉成了憤怒，學弟的靈堂牌位，被設在宿舍出入之處旁，很久很久，比我們以為會存在的時間還要長很多，我們從一開始的害怕、同感悲傷，到後來成為生活中逐漸看不到的景象，習慣了，偶爾才會意識到這裡還有一件，沒有結局的悲劇。

靈堂存在之久，久到成為這幾屆男生宿舍學生的共同生命經驗。但案子，一直到很後來，都沒有聽說破案。我總是想，靈堂移除那時，家屬的憤怒，大概已經成為漠然了吧？死者已逝，願他安息，生者仍在，情何以堪？但除了埋怨上帝，又有誰能夠怎麼樣呢？

回到前頭，得知警方的初步認定之後，我跟室友都不禁唏噓，對我尤其是衝擊很大。當時已經不再想宿舍安危問題，而是根據警方估計，死亡時間大約是凌晨2-3點，才會5點多時已經浮腫。我跟室友的樓頂聊天如果從建築物正面看的話是在最左上角，那麼也就是說，死者如果是與人發生衝突口角的話，可能就在我們聊天時的最後那段時間，但地點是在最右下角的廁所。很遺憾地，我們沒有聽到任何吵架聲音，完全沒有意識到，在對角線幾十公尺處，一個年輕生命即將結束 … 如果，如果，有那麼一點點機會，我們曾經可以挽救，可是很遺憾地，上天下了殘酷的決定 …

我們都不認識這位學弟，卻很能夠以過來人身分感同身受。尤其，他的忌日是我生日的隔天，生日的開心聊天與死亡的殘酷猛烈，在接近的時空發生，或許是那幾年之中，對我最深刻的生命教育 … 尤其是在我現在成為人父之後，想起這件陳年往事，更能體會，這裡面最悲傷的部分，想起當年我們認為可以理解家屬的悲傷，原來根本不及十分之一 … 這種痛，恐怕是得要用一輩子去消化，或許都還不夠吧？

年紀漸長之後，逐漸體認到，正視死亡其實能夠幫助我們活得更好。中國人常常忌諱談死，其實心態應該要調整，當然談死的方式可以商榷，不是去談死後世界如何如何，而是接受死亡這件事，更常想像生命的終點，從那裡回頭看，有助於我們珍惜在那來臨之前的每一天。

Live, everyday and every hour.

photo credit: pixabay

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘青春死亡紀事’

Normally I do not post on internet memes but I had done once before when PPAP was hot. Today would be my second time doing this. The reason is similar … just can’t resist the desire to share with more people! Besides, this song is about chicken and when is a better time to share this at the beginning of the Year of Chicken!?

http://i.imgur.com/zW2YCbz.png

This is a new song by Takeo Ischi, a 69 years old Japanese singer/yodeler active in Germany. You can check the wiki, but it doesn’t really matter who he is, right… okay, here is the song titled … 

!!!  Chicken Attack  !!!

It is a English song by a Japanese singer in Germany with the theme of Chicken, animal of the year for Chinese. Sounds international enough? Not only so, it has so many things in it: yodeling singing (I learn this term for the first time), environmentalism, animal rights, justice, martial arts, humor … and most important of all … it sounds great and addictive!! 

It is just so inspirational and positive that I decide to Chicken Attack you!! Now, watch out and take it !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8CIZgEppnU

If you really like it like really really like it… then here is a 10 hour version for you :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT9eI40RNoQ

[CN version]

通常我不太轉網路上的這些meme，很久以前因為PPAP而寫過一次，但這次又忍不住了。這次是聽到日本旅德的 “約德爾唱法” (yodeling)歌手，69歲的石井健雄新推出的歌曲《Chicken Attach》，實在是非常迷幻，勵志、深刻、詼諧，重點是真的好聽會上癮，在這雞年的開始，真是非常應景的一首好音樂啊！歌詞表面看也是很搞笑， 老歌手在歌曲最後的超強7段轉音也很精采，娛樂性也十足，難怪會瘋傳！

上面第一個連結是正常版本，第二個是10小時馬拉松版本，果然夠瘋！:)

http://i.imgur.com/immoayE.png

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘Chicken Attack to start the Year of Chicken 雞年伊始之雞雞攻擊’

http://i.imgur.com/WdxDaz1.jpg

Wow! It has been quite a while since I MYOT last time almost three months ago! How time flies and my son is three months older as well … LOL … Ok, without further ado, see what we made last time, a fishing set!

MYOT - Make Your Own Toys for your kids! This time it’s the Fishing Set!

Well, I have to admit that was really a good looking fishing set! How did I have so much time drawing and cutting and sticking things? Anyhow, it is still Chinese New Year period here okay? (see evidence here, your honor) So, I made a quick toy for my kid this time out of efficiency concerns (translation: laziness). This toy was not an outcome of any planned activity but an improvised move to feed my kid with new toy when I saw an empty kraft coffee bag disposed by my wife. I immediately thought of Spongebob when I saw this bag.

http://i.imgur.com/3cl2NdZ.jpg

So, these were what I did to create a Spongebob sock puppet …

1. Find Spongebob pictures from internet


2. Flip over the coffee bag and draw a Spongebob upon it using color pens if you’ve got them


3. Cut open two holes on both sides so fingers can come out from there


4. It is done!! :)

http://i.imgur.com/aqmNfH3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Pbc5qSN.jpg

These little fingers belong to my son … okay, I admit, the position of the holes could be better … so Spongebob wouldn’t have hands grown on his face :( … But it is funny this way too! :)

[CN Version]

大家好，去年我寫過幾次自製玩具的文章，都沒寫中文的，今年伊始，中文文章也來寫寫輕鬆的。上次寫的自製玩具是做了個釣魚組，自己覺得挺漂亮的，也很好玩的（連結在前面）。現在還在過年，所以，簡單省事為主，其實孩子們的玩具主要是好不好玩，他們並不十分講究美不美的。像是這次過年期間，老婆剛好買了幾包咖啡粉，用完的空袋子扔在一旁，剛好孩子跟我要新玩具，我就靈光乍現，拿起袋子一琢磨，心想這就是個海綿寶寶嘛！

於是上網找圖，準備好彩色畫筆，把咖啡袋翻過來，三五分鐘就畫好了！在兩旁各剪開一個洞，可以伸手指頭出來。袋子口太小我的手還放不進去，對小孩倒是剛剛好。他拿到之後，玩了一個晚上，真是太划算了！哈哈！大家家裡有孩子的，有空可以多動動腦，自己動手作，甚至帶著孩子一起作，其實玩具不太需要花錢的！垃圾都可以變成玩具，又很環保啊！

Stay tuned until next MYOT!!  下次再一起玩吧！

http://i.imgur.com/immoayE.png

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘MYOT - Make Your Own Toys for your kids! A coffee bag becomes Spongebob!! 自製玩具 - 咖啡袋變海綿寶寶’

There was a news report from CoinTelegraph by Alicia Naumoff on Jan 31 which contains interviews with Dan and Ned. Although this article begins with how blockchain technology can reshape the mainstream media but it quickly focuses on Steem as an example and goes on to introduce Steem/Steemit and the ecosystem around them. It even covers part of our 2017 Roadmap! I think it is quite informational and worth reading, but as I tried to search inside Steemit, I cannot find any post about it. So I decide to post it here so more can see it. You may check the original story here:

Steemit Founder: Bitcoin Mining Model is Fountain of Youth for Mainstream Media

http://i.imgur.com/8SWkifY.jpg

[photo credit: from the above news source]

The only information new to me in this article is probably that Steemit Inc. now only has a staff of 15 people (including Dan and Ned) and they are expanding this year. Wow! only 15 people … look what they have accomplished already!! and imagine what they can do if they expand!!  :)

 http://i.imgur.com/immoayE.png 

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘News - “Steemit Founder: Bitcoin Mining Model is Fountain of Youth for Mainstream Media” from CoinTelegraph by Alicia Naumoff’

Currently, it is still New Year Period now in Taiwan … see my last post on this:

A tale of two new years and a happy lunar new year of rooster to all of you! 

http://i.imgur.com/yuLp7FY.jpg

But I have returned to Taipei from the south and can’t wait to come up here and say hi! Many cn friends have shared so many interesting experiences already. So I think it would be nice to share something that is a little bit different (but probably quite close to some southern Chinese provinces as Taiwan’s tradition comes from these regions) - yeah, the Taiwanese’ Lunar New Year Tempo!! Well, at least that was the tempo of ancient Taiwanese and part of it still hold true at modern time. It is so neatly preserved by a Taiwanese folk song that states what people (should) do during the first 15 days of the new year! Let me explain them one by one … and along my explanation are some photos I took when I went home inside a very beautiful pastry store in Taichung whose cheese cake is very famous nation-wide. 

朋友們好啊！我回來了，回到台北了，休假還有兩天，可以開始過自己的新年了，所以上來說兩句，：）。今天跟大家說說台灣農曆新年的過年節奏，從民間歌謠來的，很多可能是舊慣了，但有些還適用的。看看你們的年跟我們的年有木有傻子差別吧！民謠是閩南語的，我會解釋一下。

The song is in Taiwanese (dialect) so not even Mandarin users can fully understand. Ok, here it goes like this: 【初一早，初二早，初三睏甲飽，初四接神，初五隔開，初六舀肥，初七七元，初八完全，初九天公生，初十有食食，十一請囝婿，十二請查某子返來食泔糜配芥菜，十三關老爺生，十四搭燈棚，十五是上元暝。】 You can say that it is like the compact version of the complete idiot’s guides to spend the Lunar New Year. Let me explain all 15 days one by one …

http://i.imgur.com/TUtzQJL.jpg

• The 1st day (初一早) - Get up early!! First thing of the year is to worship the gods and ancestors and by getting up early shows a good positive attitude towards the coming new year!! 早起拜神明拜祖先，這應該很多地方都這樣的，不過我家是除夕那天就去拜拜了。


• The 2nd day (初二早) - Still, get up early!! It is tradition that in this day the married daughter go back with her own family to visit her parents. So it is also a big day for parents to receive their married daughters and son-in-laws!! 初二回娘家，女婿要來拜年，大家都得早起啊！


• The 3rd day (初三睏甲飽) - Sleep as late as you please! Everyone has been preparing the new year from days ahead of it and finally you can relax on this day and free yourself from chores or family duties… 從準備過年到過兩三天年，大家都累了，盡量休息睡飽吧，年還長著呢！


• The 4th day (初四接神) - Preparing for Gods returning to human world! Yeah, they need a break too and now they are back reporting for duty - taking care of all mortals!! 神明從天上回到人間了，得去幫祂們接風洗塵哪！


• The 5th day (初五隔開) - Preparing for returning to normal livelihoods!! It is still New Year time but we need to do necessary works to keep normal life going … 士農工商都開始準備開工的一天，所以是有點隔開的意味。

http://i.imgur.com/gCZCRak.jpg

• The 6th day (初六舀肥) - Time to fertilize the farmland!! After all, it was a agricultural society and growing rice is the most important thing in the word. 該是要施肥的時候了，準備開始種稻了！


• The 7th day (初七七元) - The day when human beings were born/created. Not clear what it means nowadays … 古稱此日為人誕生之日，但典故來源已不可考。


• The 8th day (初八完全) - All saved food is exhausted. Interesting how ancient people warn us by stating this in a song that you can only save food for 8 days, haha! 好像是說這一天過年儲存的食物都將耗盡，沒東西吃啦！


• The 9th day (初九天公生) - The day when the Jade Emperor（the supreme deity of taoism）was born. 玉皇大帝壽誕，祂老人家該吃的，可不准自己先吃了啊！


• The 10th day (初十有食食) - Yes! Since you have finished worshipped Jade Emperor, you may now eat the worshipped food!! Hooray!! 拜完天公，終於換人類吃了！好耶！神吃的是食物靈魂，人吃的是形體嘛！

http://i.imgur.com/zY4tGKE.jpg

• The 11th day (十一請囝婿) - Treat your son-in-law today. This is not clear now as son-in-law has already visited on day 2. 請女婿吃飯，但跟初二似乎有點衝突，不可考，也有其他說法。


• The 12th day (十二請查某子返來食泔糜配芥菜) - Feed your daughter with congee and vegetables, nothing much left again. 東西又吃完了，吃粥配芥菜，為何又是女兒，同樣不可考。總之，又吃完了啦！！


• The 13th day (十三關老爺生) - Birthday of Guan Yu - a famous god of war. 關老爺誕辰，又要拜拜啦！


• The 14th day (十四搭燈棚) - Building sheds for showing lanterns the next day! 為了明天元宵節要搭棚子了！


• The 15th day (十五是上元暝) - Lantern Festival!! the last day of this new year period. 上元節，元宵節，總之，藉由美麗的燈海，告訴大家，明年再見了！

http://i.imgur.com/tugQcjB.jpg

I hope you learn something today!! 

雞年已至，還是要祝賀一下，祝大家神雞妙算，致勝雞先啊！

雞年，我來了！：）

http://i.imgur.com/immoayE.png

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘Lunar New Year, the Taiwanese Tempo with original photos’

http://i.imgur.com/e1hkxwR.jpg

There have been some posts regarding the coming Chinese/Lunar New Year (of Rooster [雞], out of the twelve animals). Jan 27 is the New Year’s Eve (除夕) so it is really coming soon. I will leave Taipei and go south to where my parents are to spend the most of the holidays (which is 6 days long) there. So probably I won’t post anything during the coming week and it is a custom here to greet to friends at work before the holidays … So, to all Steemians … 

I wish all of you and your family a fruitful crypto new year! and all the best to Steemit and the Steem blockchain (they are different! didn’t you read the 2017 roadmap?)

http://i.imgur.com/dbzeqqr.jpg

This post does more than a greeting. 

I am sure many friends from the cn community have already or will soon explain and share what Chinese (yeah, Taiwanese is also Chinese culturally) people do during this period of time. So I won’t do that. Instead, I am going to share with you, probably many of my cn friends are also unaware of this, how lucky we, who have CNY, are to have actually two new years, one from the west and one being our own. I will try to explain it in the case of Taiwan’s CNY and I am pretty sure anywhere else (especially mainland China) that have CNY will pretty much have similar feelings.

Ok. So you have two new years, just two holidays, no big deal. Oh, no, no, no…

Instead of two new years, I would prefer the expression that we have a 40-50 days new year period in a year!!

It all begins with the Christmas, 

yeah, the holidays from the West, which we know very little about St. Nicholas but a lot about special sales by the white-bearded grandpa. It is near the end of a year where everyone is expecting to take a rest and wrap up the whole year’s hard work. Really doesn’t matter who that guy is. It might not be a real holiday in Taiwan but still everyone can feel the mood, especially the younger generations.

http://i.imgur.com/v2Kk0o3.jpg

Then the calendar New Year comes! In a way you can say it is western influence, but almost everyone on Earth now is under this calendar. So in a way it is New year for everyone and it is also official holidays in Taiwan. You can still feel a lot of new year’s feelings or actions around … like you might need to pay a new kind of tax, avoid a new kind of criminal act newly defined by new laws, spend all your accumulated bonus points from certain reward program (yeah, I spent all my ibon points in 7-11 to get like 20 black coffee vouchers)… Anyway, you have a holiday, and you need to set yourself up for a coming new 365 days. 

http://i.imgur.com/BAyxzml.jpg

But it is not really the New Year in our minds… 

The New Year (CNY) will only come roughly 30-40 days after the calendarly phony new year arrives. Viola!! now you have got yourself a New Year Period. You go to work, live your daily lives, water your garden, drink your daily beer, log in to your pathetic virtual blogging with rewards website, … yeah, life as usual. But you know it is coming soon. The one with firecrackers, red envelops (with also pathetic, the more the better, fiat money in it), feasts after feasts, gambling every night, visiting friends and relatives, go to the movies or outdoors, all you can eat alcohol and snacks and sleep as long as you please…. oh, yeah, the dreamy new year! So you probably won’t work with good efficiency, drink a little bit more beer than you should, and a little lay back here and a little new year planning with friends there… And finally it comes…

http://i.imgur.com/yuLp7FY.jpg

CNY, yeah, you know how it works so I will skip this fantastic part. Google it. 

If you think this is over when the holidays end, then you are really mistaken. Don’t ever underestimate the strong will behind the ancient Chinese farmers to take a really long rest, like really really long. We can the first day of the CNY Chu-yi (yi means first) and it goes on at least until Chu-shiwu (the 15th day) and that day is set to be the Lantern Festival (元宵節) and it is nicknamed little New Year (小過年). Hooray!! New Year all over again!!! It is also a national holiday and people carry lanterns around to celebrate. 

http://i.imgur.com/eDT77gO.jpg

If you think this is the end to the Chinese New Year…

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. How much longer do you expect!? You cannot celebrate a new year with a whole year, you know that!? So, finish anything you miss doing in this short version of CNY and call it a New Year. Enough about New Years… 

Let me enter the year!!!  :)

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大家好啊！雞年馬上要到了，周邊朋友同事都已經逐漸進入過節模式，新年氣氛越來越濃，就連這Steemit上面都開始越來越多相關照片文章！我馬上要南下回老家過年了，發這文章可能是下週唯一吧，過年總是挺忙的！在此先跟各位拜早年，前面跟大家分享的是我們常常沒有意識到，中國人/華人的新年，其實是從聖誕節就悄悄熱身了，到新曆年的元旦，放放煙火，有點氣氛，但真正的重頭戲，大家都知道還得一個月後。

這段時間，其實很有一種等待過節的氣氛，工作效率可能也不會太好，開始跟家人朋友規劃過年要去哪裡玩之類的。算一算這段時間也長達30-40天，更別說還有個元宵節小過年讓你不會錯過任何過年想做的事，中國年真是太過夢幻了！當然，我知道你們很多人卡在上有老父母下有孩子的階段，過年其實反而很辛苦的，但這是另一個話題了，過年還是挺讓人期待的啊！

照片是2011年在台灣苗栗辦的元宵燈會，順道分享給大家。明年見了！:)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO YOU AND I AM GOING HOLIDAYS NOW!!! 

祝大家新春如意、掌握仙雞、賭錢必贏、買幣必漲！

photos are original from 2011 lantern festival of Taiwan.

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘A tale of two new years and a happy lunar new year of rooster to all of you!’