短篇故事:一把電鑽 (中) An Electrical Drill – Part 2


https://storage.googleapis.com/steemimgimgs/2016/10/20/drill-mde1144.png


綠色Kitty機輕輕滑過藍色的海洋,而我忙著應付一場機上電影與飛機餐,很快地就降落在神州大地,浦東機場的航道上…


國際大都會的機場航站巨大而寬敞,人潮熙來攘往,與悠閒小巧的台北松山機場形成強烈對比。多次到訪,我已經很習慣於轉換心態與場景,切換到上海頻率,反而有種我又回來了的感覺。於是,一如往常,拿了行李,過了海關,重獲自由,幾天的上海生活等著我展開。


照往例,還是去搭磁(懸)浮列車到市區的龍陽路站去換乘地鐵。方便、快速而且價錢不重要反正可以報帳。7分鐘就可以到,我每次都計時,出發、加速、到最高速好像是每小時430公里,然後大概就開始減速,減速,然後就到了。我人生在地球表面移動的最高速度,應該就是在這兒創下的。所以,每次都會盡量搭磁(懸)浮,人生難得幾回快。


這次,走到買票櫃台前,突然意識到,我身上的錢要謹慎使用啊,單程50塊的票價,比起去搭地鐵,還是貴了不少,可是不搭的話,又浪費了公家帳讓我免費搭磁(懸)浮的好處。我沒有掙扎太久,不吃眼前虧,何況50塊錢也真的不是太大筆的支出,那就照搭吧。


預訂的酒店在上海市區的西南角,地鐵4號環線上,去浦東機場跟虹橋機場都很方便,我已經很習慣上海出差就是住這間酒店。酒店地點在一個居民小區內,非常幽靜,因此不太好找。不過,也正因為這樣,附近特別有種家的感覺,沒有專門給觀光客消費的高檔餐廳,沒什麼特別的觀光景點,但日常生活所需的一切,都在走路範圍內可以充分滿足。


拖著行李,我從最近的地鐵口,再次來到這間酒店。事物一切依舊。


登記入住時,要押金300塊,我那時才想到,住宿錢是早付清了,但押金,我倒忘了有這筆需求。不過,我沒有要求用信用卡來支付押金,身上的錢都還沒用,剛好讓旅館替我保管,三天後我到杭州去,押金到時反正要退給我,就當作我到杭州時預存的花費吧。


進了房間,這間房一個晚上大概是250-300塊左右,感覺上比平價連鎖酒店等級高一些,但價格我感覺是很合理的。進了房間,梳洗安頓,打開窗戶有些綠蔭,對面可以看到大樓民居,院子裡還有貓躺著睡覺。「上海鄰居們,你們好啊!」我在心裡喊著。


打開電視,就像很多大陸旅館一樣,電視是網絡提供的,內容對我來講總是五花八門,MOD隨選節目的概念在這裡根本就是日常生活,來出差辦事的空檔或是晚上回酒店,我總是會挑好一檔電視劇,盡量在出差期間把它看完,否則回台灣就不能看了。尤其偏好看農村、國共、當代小市民生活等這類主題,對於這塊土地過去六十年所發生的種種,我總是充滿好奇。


挑好一部劇,先不看。該先去吃午餐,順道買買這幾天生活所需的礦泉水、水果與一些存糧等。這次可不能隨心所欲,得好好精打細算,把錢用在刀口上才行。我向來不太計較出差時的花費,但這次不一樣,為生存而戰。對,難得人生有戲劇化的機會,就這麼想吧。


輕裝出了門,目的地是附近的一個購物商場,附近我很熟的。到商場之前的路上有一片商業小區,馬路兩旁充滿各式小店家,各種特色小餐館、房屋仲介、花店、服飾店等等不一而足,早晨的時候還會有不少賣早點的攤子。


餐館是最多的,選擇很多,從黃燜雞米飯、蘭州牛肉麵、韓國石鍋飯、雲南米線、沙縣小吃等應有盡有,價錢從10到20多塊左右一餐,都是家庭式小店。我最愛的是黃燜雞米飯跟蘭州牛肉麵。飯,通常是買回旅館就著電視劇吃(得趕進度啊),麵就在店裡吃。蘭州牛肉麵我每次都來吃,那一家人我都感覺像認識了的。回族人真的很純樸,年輕的老闆夫妻跟兒子,總是靦腆而親切。那10塊錢的蘭州拉麵實在太好吃,沒有牛肉(貴一點的有),卻讓我每次來都要吃上一碗才行。


吃完麵,到購物商場採買。光鮮亮麗的地方,總有各種要你掏錢的誘惑。抱歉,這次我可不能過度贊助你上海內需,哥們自身難保啊!我到超市,買了該買的民生用品。其實都不貴,只要你能抗拒貴的東西對你的召喚。畢竟在大陸,基本民生用品是不可能貴的,貴的話,那可是事關穩定的大事,對吧。像是超市裡的白酒,有那種大桶裝的,還便宜到比水貴不了多少,我當時還不敢相信。


採買完成後,看到2樓有間新開的韓國咖啡館。聽說,韓國咖啡廳是新竄起的咖啡新勢力,台商早就已經一邊涼快去,人家的對手可是星巴克。我知道這裡的咖啡不便宜(要付錢請大牌歐巴代言),大概就是30塊錢左右,是我剛剛午餐的三倍啊!


我沒掙扎太久,還是決定進去。點杯咖啡,在這裡用電腦上網兩小時,準備一下明天的拜訪工作,之後再順道買晚餐回旅館吃,就不用再出門了。如果你曾經有過這類經驗,你就會知道,整天待在酒店房間內是會發瘋的,這30塊錢買的是可上網的座位,咖啡就算是附送的。至於預算,算了吧,該花就花,要省也等到之後不夠了再來省。上網的時間總是很快過去,順道估算了未來幾天的各種花費,還被迫聽了鄰桌幾個台商太太們的八卦。


時間差不多了,於是我離開購物中心,天邊已是昏黃晚霞,華燈初上,走在熟悉的那條商店街上,剛下班正高談闊論的上班族們,忙碌張羅準備的餐館老闆,坐在藤椅上看盡人生的老人,門前彼此追逐的孩子們,還有一個從異鄉來的短暫過客,「街坊鄰居們,晚上好啊!」我在心裡面問候著。


繼續信步走著,經過一間賣工具材料的店鋪,老闆在桌子前打著瞌睡。店裡不亂,但是擺了滿滿的各式五金材料與工具。就在正中間,擺著一把印象中應該是黃色的,電鑽。對,一把不是很大的電鑽,看起來就是可以擺在家裡用的電鑽。


我的腳步停了下來,盯著那把電鑽,腦中浮現了一個想法。


一個瘋狂的想法。




[未完待續…]


 


首篇: 短篇故事:一把電鑽 (上) An Electrical Drill – Part 1


次篇: 短篇故事:一把電鑽 (中) An Electrical Drill – Part 2


末篇: 短篇故事:一把電鑽 (下) [完結篇] An Electrical Drill – Part 3 (Final Episode)




Note.

1. 此短篇故事根據我的真實經歷略改寫。電鑽,對,雖然晚了點,畢竟出現了不是嗎?:-)

2. My first Chinese-only short story. Actually my first ever story on Steemit. I am sorry that you cannot read Chinese, because it is a great story. Maybe I will write an English version.

3. Image credit: pixabay.



This page is synchronized from the post: ‘短篇故事:一把電鑽 (中) An Electrical Drill – Part 2’

短篇故事:一把電鑽 (上) An Electrical Drill – Part 1


https://storage.googleapis.com/steemimgimgs/2016/10/20/drill-mde1144.png


幾年前,因為工作的緣故,比較常到大陸出差。地點常常總是北京,首都與歷史名城,總有最多的資源與精采,但人總會有感覺疲乏的時候,後來,在可能安排的範圍內,我開始把出差地點更常改到上海。但可別搞錯啊!老北京那些胡同與涮羊肉火鍋,我可是愛得很,幾年沒吃,十分思念啊。


上海對於台灣人來說,比北京舒服且熟悉。或許是骨子裡總殘留著對洋文化高看的劣性,十里洋場的洋味總是看著舒服。另外一點是上海有太多台灣人熟悉的商業模式與消費符碼,外國的、台灣的,剛離開星巴克,又一間石二鍋,轉角再逢MoMo牧場,有點像在台灣,卻又不像,既熟悉,又陌生。


說遠了,電鑽,對,電鑽。請稍安勿躁。


話說那次,我還是飛上海,中間會到杭州過一晚,再從上海返台。再熟悉不過的旅程,我連準備行李都是在前一天半夜才弄。預計由台北松山機場起飛,從家裡到機場也不到1小時,飛到上海也只是2小時,看場飛機上的電影剛剛好,一切都盡在掌握之中,彷彿世界的運轉都臣服於你的意志。


印象中是早上9點多的飛機吧,我不到8點就已經辦完check-in,入關,查驗行李,到達候機區域,一切如常。按照計畫,我就到那間常去的附設餐廳吃碗餛飩麵當早餐,還可以上上網,機場裡有價格合理的餐點,是進步的象徵。手續順利,早餐吃飽,機場進步,身心靈都已經準備好,即將乘著荒謬的長榮Hello Kitty機,前往彼岸那個似乎還停留在民國租界時期的城市。


霎時,一絲不祥感覺閃過。


糟糕!我忘記了。前兩天還特別得意地發現,台灣銀行有提供線上換匯,可以到機場提領,非常方便而且匯率好。我這麼做了,但卻忘記在入關前在外面領匯了,一共是兩千人民幣哪!那可是我異鄉生活的依靠啊!倏地馬上起身,背上背包,奔到候機廳的服務台去詢問,心裡知道希望不大,但只希望是不是像我這麼粗心的人其實夠多,他們已經形成了一套因應辦法。


沒有。沒辦法。人已入關,不能再出去。就這麼簡單。


候機廳裡的銀行也沒有台灣銀行,只有兆豐銀行,他們才不管同業的客人。看來沒轍了,我找個位子坐下來,開始盤點身上的錢。昨晚帶了之前出差沒用完的人民幣大概六、七百塊錢,六天的行程,上海酒店住宿費已經信用卡付過了,杭州的訂了但還沒付,不知道收不收外卡?滬杭高鐵錢、往來行動的出租車錢、每天吃飯買東西的生活費等… 真糟糕!這樣的金額似乎不行,出門在外總是會有變數,身上怎可沒錢應急?


趕緊把身上還有的兩千台幣,到裡面的銀行都換了,多了四百塊人民幣,總算心安了一點點-現在我可以容忍杭州住宿不收信用卡了。坐回座位上,開始想還有什麼弄錢的辦法,尤其是在萬一的時候… 上海沒有朋友,或是夠熟的朋友,認識的倒有,但怎麼好意思約人出來借錢,也太丟人了吧?打給信用卡,問問是否能在大陸預借現金,服務小姐說您的預借現金密碼還沒設定,所以不行。


打電話給老婆。她一聽可急了,比我還著急。因為她是那種身上一定要帶不少錢才有安全感的人,我反而是身上沒帶什麼錢都無所謂的。你如果以為這跟出身有關那就錯了,我可是窮小子而她是好人家的。這主要是跟愛不愛面子有關,買了東西沒錢付,我就不買就好,她會覺得世界都塌了。


回到機場場景,她開始幫我想起辦法來。喔,她有個表哥在上海工作,我之前上海出差還跟他吃過飯,混得很好,餐廳高級得很。她叫我去找他。我說不用了吧,我算算應該夠的。既然碰上了,就注意一下花錢的速度,真的不夠了,其實就是面子問題,去找不熟的人幫忙也不是真的不行啊。


時間就這樣過去。起飛之前,我腦中還在反覆算著這未來幾天的各種花費組合,以及這代表什麼樣的生活模式。


Hello Kitty帶著我高飛,離開台北地表。即將開始的這次旅程,帶著一分我不熟悉的風險,還有,隱隱一種冒險的感覺。




[未完待續…]


 


首篇: 短篇故事:一把電鑽 (上) An Electrical Drill – Part 1


次篇: 短篇故事:一把電鑽 (中) An Electrical Drill – Part 2


末篇: 短篇故事:一把電鑽 (下) [完結篇] An Electrical Drill – Part 3 (Final Episode)




Note.


1. 此短篇故事根據我的真實經歷略改寫。故事中的金額或許有些出入,不必深究,很可惜我當初寫的經費管控那張紙似乎找不到了。完整故事預計應該總共三篇。下次更新時間不確定。

2. 喔,電鑽,對。沒寫錯。不要急,下一篇就會出現了。還是不會?請點讚支持吧,哈哈!

3. My first Chinese-only short story. Actually my first ever story on Steemit. I am sorry that you cannot read Chinese, because it is a great story. Maybe I will write an English version.

4. Image credit: pixabay.



This page is synchronized from the post: ‘短篇故事:一把電鑽 (上) An Electrical Drill – Part 1’

Looking back, Feeling sad.


Feeling kind of depressed lately mainly due to my work. Not in a mood to post anything on Steemit, but sometimes I still visit to check the latest articles. 


But the Steem price trend lately makes me feel worse. I am too old here to say that price doesn’t matter. Price does matter. It’s not like if we care about Steem prices and we are greedy or want to earn easy money. The level of Steem price actually represents much more than just price. Besides, so what if we want to earn from investing on Steem? Donating to charity doesn’t make you a forever nice guy and speculation is an inevitable and necessary part to free market. 


Over the past month, I have seen many new comers, having the same dreams that once I had, expressing the opinions that once I said, defending the current status as I once did… Honestly, I don’t know what I believe now and definitely I am not the same firm Steemit believer I was a few months, or even one month ago. I still love the concept, yeah, now I can only say concept, and that’s why I am still here, hoping to get my confidence back. 


Maybe it was my fault to be overly optimistic about everything and was my fault to get emotionally attached to this platform. I did invest some bucks, but a bad investment won’t bring you so much negative feelings. I guess it might be the real investment that I poured in - my time, my passion and my beliefs. That’s what a downward going price trend hurts the most - you were not right, this was not worth your time - that’s what that number is telling me… 


I did learn so much here and do make many new friends here - I have said this many times. So, in a way, my investment wasn’t too bad. But voices from devil in my head will tell me: you could’ve ‘learnt’ these from elsewhere and God knows how many friends you can keep if these should all go down… The bottom line is that I do not have passions at the moment. Like after I decided to write this post and saw there is an new change to payout options, the old me would get excited and go make a new post telling everyone, but now I don’t even care what it is. By the way, apology to those who followed my advice in “It is time to select 100% SP” post - I am wrong obviously. 


The final trigger to get me to write this one is… I scrolled down my own blog and tried to relive the initial moments of my experience here. I read this one, a zero payout post,


Steemit is mysterious … my one-week wrap-up


I am so toughed by me three months ago … like a kid with a new toy and keeps checking it out… nothing negative and only joys. How I wish to tell him to keep a distance with this platform - read and learn, but don’t get emotionally attached. I thought I would feel happier reading my old post and I did feel better, but one discovery made me sad again: I checked the current status of those who were relevant in this post: @johnsmith , whose post were cited in my post, gone for one month… @fiveboringgames , who commented on my post, gone for two months except one post one month ago… only @liberosist , whose also commented, is still around and active. I even checked all the 9 voters, only 2 (including @liberosist ) are still active within one month. 


This post is for documenting my feelings at the moment only. It is not my intention to argue anything, distribution, whales, beta mode, not even Steem price. It is also not my intention to make people here depressed - I am still grateful for the existence of Steemit and still admires so many great people here trying to make great things happen. 


To echo that old post …  The title for this one should actually be: 


Steemit is still mysterious and could harm your inner peace… after four months’ journey


Now I won’t say Steem on anymore. Instead I will say… Just be happy, Steemit… or not.



This page is synchronized from the post: ‘Looking back, Feeling sad.’

Alternative SBD that you don't want :) 這種SBD還是不用了吧!? :)


Everybody here knows what SBD is. So I hope this news can makes you smile on this special day - Smile Day, is it? 聽說今天是國際微笑日,希望這篇報導可以讓你微笑一下。關於SBD。


以下是台灣東森新聞轉報導大陸新聞


The following news report (in Chinese) comes from Taiwan’s online news: ettoday.net (link in the title). I will translate in the following. 


燒錢啦!人妻把萬元鈔票藏電鍋 一煮飯就焦焦脆脆了


浙江省紹興市的王姓夫妻半年前來到柯北工業園區打工,因為住在外地,家裡又經常有朋友造訪,王妻便把家裡的錢藏在電鍋下面。某天兩人在煮飯的時候,突然聞到一股燒焦味,原來鍋子下的鈔票沒有拿出來,已經燒焦了!

根據《紹興縣報》報導,王姓夫妻居住在附近村民家中的出租屋,房屋的面積不大,平常來家裏作客的人又多,擔心積蓄的錢被人摸走,於是妻子便把鈔票都才在電飯鍋下方。11日上午煮飯的時候,他們忘記把鈔票先取走,飯鍋忽然冒出黑煙和焦味,夫妻倆人才想起鍋子下面的錢。

情急之下,王妻馬上把插頭拔掉,並把鍋子拿起來,可是一整疊鈔票有的已經完全燒焦,有的則部分被燒壞。夫妻倆二事後馬上把鈔票的「殘渣」拿到銀行兌換,行員幫他們把24張受損百元人民幣鈔票(約1萬1千元新台幣)兌換出18張,並建議他們,「現在銀行的據點很多,有暫時不用的錢還是存進銀行比較保險。

The following is my own translation of the news (Aug 2016).


Mr and Mrs Wang in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China (mainland) left their hometown half an year ago to work in an industrial park away from home. As they often have friends visiting to the place where they rented, Mrs Wang decided to hide their hard earned money inside their rice cooker/steamer (use water steam to cook rice- my note) when there were guests in the house. One day when they were preparing for a meal… suddenly they smelled something burning and realized that they forgot to take the money out before cooking. Mrs Wang immediately pulled the plug of the steamer but a wad of hundred Chinese yuan bills had been ‘cooked’ and some were completely burnt. They brought the charred remains to a bank and the staff was able to help exchange 18 out of 24 damaged bills and recommended the couple to put their spare money in banks in the future (are you sure banks are safe? - my note). 

So, in this story, they lost 600 Chinese yuan (RMB), roughly $90 USD, or $95 SBD at the moment. And all the money actually became…


所以,根據報導,這對夫妻損失了600人民幣,大約是90塊美金,目前約95塊錢SBD。這些被電鍋(電飯寶)燒焦的錢,於是乎可以稱為…


Steam(er) Baked (Chinese) Dollars… S.B.D.  … S.B.D .… S.B.D…. 




This post is dedicated to World Smile Day… according to @solarguy , check it here: 


Happy World Smile Day!! (Win $5sd)


Also, there is no “SBD” payout for this post. Thank God it is all SPs. :)



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A Walk in Taipei's Xinyi Commercial District 台北信義計畫區建築群


These are photos I took 2 weeks ago on a sunny day in Taipei’s Xinyi commercial district. This is a newly developed area and new buildings keep coming - malls and office towers, luxurious mansions and hotels … Some are even still under construction. But do not expect to see Taipei like this if you should visit in the future, most buildings in Taipei are old, but not too old to be historical. 


不久前在台北信義計畫區拍的各建築物照片。信義計畫區是台北最新發展的區域,區域內有高檔飯店、百貨、辦公樓還有豪宅群,這裡幾乎沒有舊的建築物。現在還有好幾棟高樓正在蓋當中,照片裡也有。不過,這是台北的例外區域,大部分台北市建築物都很舊了,不過,沒有舊到具有歷史或藝術價值,該是大力推動都市更新的時候了。


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Chippy Pumpkins or Happy Pumpkins for your Japan Halloween? 日本超市的多樣南瓜


I did not know there are so many varieties of pumpkins until my cousin, who is working overseas in Japan, shared with us the following photo taken in a Japanese supermarket last week. Even just in this photo there are four different kinds of pumpkins! Judging by the skin colors, they are green-, black-, yellow- and red-skin pumpkins! Wow! 


Chippy and happy pumpkins!? Oh… that is supposed to be a joke - one that only Chinese speakers know. Let me tell you. As you know that there are many Han characters used in Japanese which is mostly understandable by Chinese. So on the product signs, the Han/Chinese characters they use to refer to ‘red-skin’ (赤皮) and ‘black-skin’ (黑皮) are pronounced very closely to ‘chippy’ and ‘happy’ respectively in Chinese (but not in Japanese). There we go… red-skin pumpkins are the chippy ones, and black-skin pumpkins are the happy ones!! And it is weird that chippy ones are almost twice the price of the happy ones (580 to 298 yens)! You know what to choose now, don’t you!? 


HAPPY Halloween in advance!! 


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前兩天,在日本工作的表妹在群組裡分享了一張她在日本超市拍的南瓜照片,我才知道原來南瓜有這麼多種類跟顏色。光看照片裡的就有4種,紅、黃、綠、黑,形狀還都差異很大,這些南瓜還真是特別啊… 或許是我孤陋寡聞,也許各地南瓜都是這麼多種類,但我印象中在台灣是沒有看過,或許是因為這是較溫帶的作物吧?


上面說的英文笑話是這樣的。照片裡有「黑皮」南瓜跟「赤皮」南瓜的漢字,剛好就是happy跟chippy(煩躁之意)的發音,挺有趣的對應,但這只有說中文的人能懂,日本人恐怕不是這麼發音的,所以這個小趣味,可是很珍貴的跨語言趣味啊… 萬聖節不到一個月了,雖然我不過這節,但還是先說聲Happy Halloween吧!



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