I Can't Wait To Leave Barcelona

Ok, now on to the second part of my travel last week (yup, I also went to Barcelona. Surely you all didn't think I just stayed in Berlin? Anyway, I had uploaded all the photos I took in my photo album) .

Initially, I thought of giving this post the title "I dreamt of Barcelona", but immediately decided on the present title even before I leave the airport upon arrival and has never changed my mind since.

Maybe it's because I just came from charming Berlin and can't help comparing the two cities, or bad planning on my side got myself into a hotel that was at the outskirt of the city requiring me to travel 30 min by train into the city every day (the hotel was actually quite nice though, so is the location), but the very touristy feel and the hustle and bustle of the city did much more to form my opinion of Barcelona. The not-so-friendly locals also contributed to my view of the city too.

In Barcelona, you can't find a single tourist trap; the whole city is a tourist trap. They could just might as well put a big box in the airport with a sign writing "Welcome to Barcelona. Please kindly empty your wallet into the box. Have a nice day". When you walk along La Rambla (the iconic pedestrian mall) and see stalls after stalls selling stuffs like postcards, pictorial books, maps and all other things that the local won't buy, you know this is a tourist city; and when you see the works of Gaudi (the city's most beloved architect) being shamelessly over-exploited, once again by shops after shops far and near his masterpieces (like those shops around Park Güell), selling things like the miniature model of the multicolored mosaic dragon fountain he designed, you know this city is selling out to tourists.

There is nothing much authentic about the city - ok, so the bullet holes by machine guns on the walls of the castle left behind during Franco's invasion was real, but what about everything else?
The Arc de Triomf and the park nearby was built for the 1908 World Fair (in other words, for tourists). The Olympic stadium was rebuilt for the 1992 Olympic, so is some other surrounding buildings, and they are all tourist attractions now (picture above is taken at Montjuïc, where the stadium is built). Then the Barceloneta, the beautiful beach area of the city. This is where the athletes stayed during the Olympics, and it's also during that time, the city decided to import sand from countries like Morocoo to fill up the coastal area there to turn it into a beachfront. Yes, the whole stretch of the beach on Barceloneta is man-made; it's beautiful, it's nice, it's not there 15 years ago. All these have a big "made for tourists" feel for it. Locals, of course, also frequent these places. How else would the business surivive when the tourists are not here?

Barcelona has a long history, but it's not shown. There's no much on the street to show it's identity, culture or history. Nothing much to show the Barcelona or Catalonia identity. Instead what you see are modern buildings and structure that are so indistinguishable from what you will see in any other modern city. The tree-lined pedestrian walkway of La Rambla; the crowd of locals and tourist streaming through the streets; the looks and appearances of the daily commuters in the subway; these all come together to give me a very familiar feeling. I really don't like it.

The locals also didn't give a good impression. I don't know, maybe this is typical of any big, modern city, but the people of Barcelona seems to be too busy to be bothered by anything else and even their service personals have this unfriendly "couldn't be bothered" attitude; there is no smile, no "hello", "goodbye" and they all seems like wanting you to get out of their face ASAP. Here's a couple of examples. At the airport, I asked the person at hotel information counter how to get to my hotel, and the person just flatly replied "take a taxi, it's outside Barcelona" and immediately looked away in another direction. Then, on another day, I approached a subway officer in the station, hoping to ask him something. I said "hello?" and the officer, instead of replying, looked at this schedule card on his hand, apparently hoping I would just disappear. When I didn't, he replied, uninterested, "sí?" (yes in Spanish) . When I asked him did he speak English, he replied "no" (same meaning as in English) and returned to looking at his schedule. This time I disappear.

Then there were these other shady characters I encountered: one of them approached me ("one minute, one minute") for no apparent reason and spewed a series of vulgarities when I continued to walk away (I don't need to know Catalan/Spanish to know it was vulgar language he was letting out), while the other was a rouge tour guide ("Too hot. Had you seen Sagrada Família? One person too hot, maybe two person not so hot.") whom I bumped into outside the Nou Camp stadium, perhaps thinking he could bring me around and bleed me dry.

Yes, I was at the Nou Camp stadium, the biggest football stadium in Europe and home to FC Barcelona. It was something that initially I kinda wanted to brag about, even if it's to good old friends like CY, WL and YY. However, I scrapped that idea. The stadium tour wasn't fantastic. It was just another stadium, only that it's bigger. The away team changing room was interesting, so was the tunnel (there's a little chapel at the side) and the team benches. Other than that, there's not much else. They do have a nice museum (most visited in Barcelona, but of course) which did a pretty good job in presenting the club's history and it's role and relation with the Barcelona society. Sadly, most of the visitors were not so interested.

I did of course had some happy moments. The bike tour I took around the city on the second day had the best tour group among the three that I was in during my tour in both Berlin and Barcelona. It also had a very funny tour guide. We started the tour at 7pm, then towards the end chilled out at this beachfront cafe, talked and joked for more than an hour till 11pm before we returned the bicycles. The group then went on a pub crawl, which I sadly had to miss as I need to catch a last train back to my hotel (damn my poor planning!).

Then there was this very enjoyable dinner on the third day that I had in this restaurant recommended to me by the guide (always ask the locals where to eat. Or at least someone who had stayed at the place long enough). The restaurant was called La Fonda. When you see locals starting to queue up outside a restaurant in a small side alley 30 minutes before they open for business, you know it's good. According to the locals, this is a daily occurrence so much so that the restaurant don't take reservation. One surprising thing about the restaurant was that most of the waiters and waitresses were Chinese. I spoke to the waitress serving me in Mandarin (sounds Taiwanese), and perhaps because of that, I received good service from her ("washroom at the second floor is more convenient", "be careful, it's hot", all said in a friendly manner). Then of course, there was the food: the fish cream soup was rich and tasty and the paella, which was why I was there for, was absolutely delicious. I washed it all down with half a litre of Sangría, which I am beginning to find it to be a very interesting drink; somehow fruits in red wine makes sense.

Then there was this Travel Bar with a friendly waiter (apparently an expat himself also) and seats outside in the courtyard which was kinda like a peaceful quiet area away from the hustle and bustle of the main street.

Overall, Barcelona is a beautiful city, but I don't have a good experience there. Even though the city has a long history, it doesn't show it. Instead, what is shown is a modern city that is exploiting everything it has and doing everything for the tourists and visitors. The whole city has this artificial feel to it that I don't like; it also has a familiar feeling that I don't like. Barcelona is a beautiful city, just that it's not for me.

Berlin, Berlin

OK, before I roll out the next part of my revenge epic, let me take some time to tell you guys a bit about my travel last week. Oh, so you guys thought that all this while I had been sitting in front of my laptop all night after work typing away, working on my revenge epic? Well, then you are not exactly wrong. I was doing that the week before, so that I had enough chapters to slowly post it out when I was traveling. Anyway, let's start talking about my travel.

Yes, I was in Berlin for 4 days of last week. What can I say about it? Well, I really like it. I like it a lot. This is a city full of character. Very few, if any, other cities had been through all three system of governance of imperialism, dictatorship and communism (and I can't think of another city that was being split into half). Each of these big eras left marks on the city; whether it's a statue, a building, or a fallen wall, and the Berliners are proud to show them all. Historical structures are all over the city, reminding everyone - locals and tourists - of what the city had gone through, and how rich in history the city is. Especially when you see the structure of one era being placed alongside that of another - like part of the Berlin wall on top of a basement of a Gestapo HQ; or when view from certain angle, the Fernsehturm is just beside the St. Marienkirche, you can see how all these histories come together to form a character, an experience, that is so unique to Berlin.

OK, so much for being romantic and all, now let's get on to what I did. I only had 4 days in Berlin, so of course I wanted to see as much as I could, so on the first day, after I checked in to the hotel (came strongly recommended by colleague Mike) which is on the east side, I went for a free bike tour (yes, it's completely free; they work on tips-only system, in it's full, non-obligatory sense). Guided by a lively, energetic guide, the group toured around the Mitte area, where all the main attractions are and learned a bit about the city's history, which had quite a few sad part, like the burning of books at the Humboldt Universität. Needless to say, I enjoyed the tour very much and tipped the guide quite well. Or so I thought.

The next day, I decided to go to nearby Potsdam, where the Sanssouci Park and it's beautiful palace is (also strongly recommended by colleague Mike). I took another bike tour (this time paid) and this time, it's less enjoyable. The distance was longer and the area covered larger, maybe half of Potsdam. We saw villas where Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill used to stay during the Potsdam conference, and the place where the conference was actually held. We also saw the Russian colony, which was an area built to house some Russia army choir during the imperial age, and some others of such with difference influences. All these are interesting, but I wanted to see Sanssouci park; I wanted to see the palace. When we were finally there, I don't think we spent enough time there; not even enough for me to go up the palace and pay my respect at the grave of Frederick the Great (I will talk a bit about him in the next paragraph). When the tour ended, there wasn't enough time for me to go back to Sanssouci park, and the worse news happened later when I found out that the park was closed the next day (dammit!). The guide, was only so-so and made me felt like I grossly under-tipped the previous guide. In fact, I had this moment of impulse to go back, look for that guide, and tip her again.

The name I heard the most throughout my stay in Berlin was Frederick the Great, instead of Adolf Hitler (which some ppl might had thought). I guessed it makes sense: a city (or country) doesn't want to talk too much about its most evil character, no matter how famous (or infamous) he is (and there is this little issue of neo-nazi.....). Instead, a city wants to talk about it's most glorious character, it's founder, someone who the city they can be proud of. So for the case of Berlin, it's Frederick the Great. I heard enough about him during this trip to get me interested to want to know more about him. The photo above is of the Neue Palais (New Palace) in Sanssouci Park, and the palace has a story about Frederick the Great that is my favourite among all that I heard about him during the trip. The palace was built after the Seven Year's War, where Prussia triumphed over France, Austria and Russia. The statue on top of the building is three nude ladies holding up the Prussian crown. The three nude ladies represented: Empress Elizabeth of Russia, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria and Madame de Pompadour (mistress of King Louis XV of France). This is really in-your-face on a grand scale. Furthermore, as the story goes, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria then complained to Fredrick the Great about why was her nude statue holding the Prussian crown. To that, Fredrick the Great replied along the line of "oh, I'm sorry, but we had spent all our money building the palace, there is no more left to clothe the statue."

Anyway, back to my travel. So on the third day I decide to do a "museum crawl", starting from the Museumsinsel, then the Deutsche Museum and finishing with The Story of Berlin, which is kinda like Berlin museum and is located in a shopping mall in the west side. The crawl didn't go according to plan, as I spent almost all my time in the three museums (opened on that day) on the Museumsinsel. The ancient Egyptian collection in the Altes Museum was impressive, and most of all, I can't believe I was looking at the bust of Nefertiti. I had seen it so many times on Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel, but never had I thought I will be seeing the actual bust (and dammit I didn't bring my camera into the exhibition hall). All the collections are here today because of the pioneering work of the early German archaeologists, so the collection is as much about the history of ancient Egypt as it is about the achievements of these German archaeologists. The Egyptians are right about wanting the their ancient artifacts back in Egypt, but the Germans are also right to keep the collection in their museum cause these are also the symbol of their achievement. Moving on, I visited the Pergamon Museum which was all about reconstruction of ancient structures and I was awed by the reconstruction of the entrance to the ancient temple of Pergamon inside the main hall of the museum. Then there was the reconstruction of the frieze which told the ancient Greek myth of the battle between the gods and the giants from thousands of broken pieces. Just imagine the time and effort spent to reconstruct this frieze alone. And there are so much history in all the reconstructions and collections that you really can spend the whole day learning about them. And the more you learn, the more you want to learn. However I was on a crawl, so I headed to the Bode Museum, which the only thing I really like about it is the building. It has a lot of art collections, but really, I am not really a big art fan, so it's kinda not so interesting to me.

But still, I spent quite some time in the Bode Museum, and that caused me to miss the Deutsche Museum (closed by the time I came out) and the Story of Berlin (just missed the time of last admission when I arrived). So in the end, I ended up in the west side and decided to just walk around. The modern streets with big shopping malls, office towers and fast moving crowds gave me a very familiar feeling. I don't like it, so after just a while I went back to the east side where I am more comfortable with the more cultural atmosphere there.

So, overall, Berlin is a very nice place, very interesting place. I will surely want to visit again, even if it is just to visit the Sanssouci Park, or to see the full Egyptian collection when the restoration of Neues Museum is complete. It is still a city undergoing changes and I really wonder what it will be like when I visit it the next time.

怨恨三部曲之拾不回的贝壳：第六章

在这一切发生的同时，善良的男孩已经冲向大建筑，找足球男孩去了。才刚到建筑外，他就看到足球男孩已不再建筑里，而是跑向沙滩的另一端去了。虽然连番战斗，再加上余毒发作，让他感到有点精疲力尽，他依然精神不死，不多想地马上拼命的追上去。终于，他在沙滩追上了足球男孩。

足球男孩停步转身，看到善良的男孩只离他一个短距离，于是立刻起脚对着善良的男孩大力的踢向地上的沙，喊道：“老鹰射门！”被踢起的沙形成一个球状，飞向善良的男孩。善良的男孩举刀劈下，沙球“砰”的一声爆散。接着另一个沙球飞了过来，也被他一刀爆散。他边接球边进步；而足球男孩边射球便退步。终于，除了跳海，足球男孩已无路可退了。

在爆散了最后一个沙球后，善良的男孩已经在足球男孩的面前。这时的他已是非常的累。可是，他还是使尽所有剩余的力气，把刀高高的举起。正想劈下时，足球男孩突然跳进海里。善良的男孩当然也跟着跳进海里，因为他知道，不擅水性的足球男孩，在水里，一点攻击力也没有。

可是他也想到，不擅水性的足球男孩，是不可能就这样直接跳进水里。毕竟，留在沙滩上应战，胜算较大。想到这里，他突然间明白，他中记了！

水位并非很深，大概只稍微高过腰间。善良的男孩立刻站起露出水面，看见比他先露出水面的足球男孩就站在面前。他还来不及反应，忽然有一个身影从他背后迅速地露出水面，将他熊抱，然后喊着一声“slam!” 将他摔回水里。

善良的男孩认得那声音。他又露出水面，正想看清楚那把声音的主人时，足球男孩从他后面，将他熊抱，喊了一声“slam!” 又将他摔回水里。就这样，接下来每当他露出水面，足球男孩和神秘人就轮流把他摔回水里！

“Slam!”

“Slam!”

“Slam!”

“Slam!”

“Slam!”

善良的男孩被摔了七，八次。每一次他都尝试反抗。可是他实在是使不出力了，而且每被摔一次，他的力量就被减少一次。最后，他完全筋疲力尽，连站起的力也没有，只是躺在水里握住刀，任凭水的浮力将他浮出水面。足球男孩和神秘人看到这情况，也停了手。而在这时，善良的男孩终于看到了神秘人的面目，果然是他所猜想的一样。

“看，我说的对不对。他比我们大只，所以把他引进水里面，我们就可以利用水的浮力轻易的摔他了。”“三鼠侠”中的另一成员，除妖男孩说道。

“对。幸好我看到你的小白船，叫住你，要不然我一个人，也不知道怎么应付。”足球男孩应道。

“算你幸运。刚好今天我在附近捕鱼带回去活埋，你才会看到我。”除妖男孩道。

善良的男孩只是无力地浮在水面上，听着他们二人说话。这时，足球男孩转向他，道：“好啦，不要闹了啦。这样晚了，去冲凉睡觉啦，明天还有一整天的船要划。我去叫爱晨和杜格拉斯来扶你回去。阿姨有那个毒的解药啦。一个贝壳而已，你等一下冲凉睡觉以后，就当作什么事情都没发生过啦。”

接着，足球男孩转向除妖男孩，道：“你咧？”

“我看我先喂饱我抓到的食人鱼，然后才回家。”除妖男孩指着那一段因激战而遍地血红的沙滩道。

“好，那等这个不可思议的大冒险完了以后再见。”

“OK, 拜拜。” 除妖男孩才说完，就朝他的小白船去。而足球男孩则朝大建筑而去。

善良的男孩只是呆呆的浮在水面上。他隐约注意到爱晨和杜格拉斯从建筑的方向朝他走来，可是他不作任何反应。因为现在他的脑海里闪现一句话，占据了他整个思路：

“放眼天下，处处尽无良！”

---完---

怨恨三部曲之拾不回的贝壳：第五章

镜头传回沙滩上，此时辩论队只剩下大眼妹。善良的男孩正要拿起刀来解决大眼妹时，三年快甲班的其他同学终于出现。其中，清高女联盟还带了一大票被她们勾引的男校生。善良的男孩被众人包围，无处可逃。“杀！”大眼妹一声令下，善良的男孩又再度惨遭群殴！

善良的男孩侧躺萎缩在沙滩上；拳脚如雨下，尽数落在他的身上。在混乱中，他看到了他的刀。刀离他有一段距离，他伸手想拿，但毕竟还是离得太远。这时，一双脚出现在他面前，他往上一看，原来是其中一个清高女，冷冷地瞪着他说道：“Some people are like lemon – they deserve to be squash.” 然后一脚踩在他伸出的手上。他叫了一声，清高女大笑起来。他再度将精神集中在刀上，被踩住的手五指齐伸向刀的方向；此时刀开始“嗡嗡”作动。他看到刀有反应，于是加强集中力看住刀；刀立刻“咻”的一声直飞回他手里！

有如镰刀过蔗田，刀飞过之处，挡住它的去路的人都被它割伤了脚倒向左右两侧，开出一条血路。踩住善良的男孩手的清高女转头看见刀快速飞来，及时向旁踏开，躲开了刀。那一刻，刀已回到善良的男孩刚恢复自由的手。善良的男孩马上往清高女的双脚砍去，只听得清高女惊吓至痛地大声“啊”了一声，顿时矮了一截，倒地蠕动，血不断从断脚喷出。善良的男孩在原地转动挥舞着刀，见脚便砍，见拳便劈，不少手脚与身体分了家。其余众人惊觉此况，停止群殴，往后退步。善良的男孩趁机站起来。杀意鼎盛，怒气冲天的他，喘着气，转头看着将他重重围住的众人。众人看着他没动静，开始围上，展开第二轮的围攻！

善良的男孩咆哮一声，马上举刀迎击。他锁定一个正面冲来得男校生，然后一刀劈下，这个男校生立刻惨叫倒地。他转身看到清高女联盟的其余三成员正想从他背后偷袭，于是半蹲弯背避开三女的攻击，同时一刀掠过她们的膝盖部位。就这么一掠，三双小腿不再属于它们原属的身体。而清高女联盟也就此不复存在。

虽然众敌将善良的男孩重重包围，却无法将他制伏。无数得着攻击是有落在善良的男孩身上，可是丝毫对他无效。善良的男孩心中只有怒火，恨意，和杀意，其他什么也感觉不到。一心只想战斗和复仇的他出招奇猛，奇快。在他大开大合的劈砍刺削中，只见众敌四肢横飞，脑溢肠流。打斗生渐渐被惨叫声代替；空气中血腥味越来越重，沙滩也变得越来越血红。转眼间，众敌只剩下大眼妹和十来个男校生还在站着。他们看着躺着满地的同伴，有的满身刀伤一动也不动；有的四肢不全地在惨叫蠕动，开始感到害怕而呆住了。

善良的男孩站在战场中央，怒视正在因害怕而开始围在一起的大眼妹和男校生们，喊道：“还有谁！”

“你们干什么，快上呀！”大眼妹逞强地对着男校生们喊道。

害怕万分的男校生们没有反应，只是全部望着大眼妹。大眼妹又逞强号令到：“快上呀！等什么！上呀！！”然后将一个男校生推向善良的男孩。

被推得男校生这时崩溃了；他转过身，“啊！”的一声用他手上的船桨打向大眼妹。其他的男校生看到了，也开始崩溃而围上群欧大眼妹！

大眼妹被打得倒地。惊吓过度的她，被拳打脚踢和船桨与木棍戳打得无法还击。只听得她发出一连尖叫声后，就不再有任何动静。尽管如此，男校生们还是继续疯狂地围欧。其中一个男校生的木棍意外地打着另一个男校生。被打着的男校生已经绷得很紧，所以被打着后，吓了一跳，开始攻击打他的男校生。其他的男校生在看到这一幕后，不再狂欧已是血肉模糊大眼妹，而加入这个新战围；有的跟被打着的男校生一起攻击他的目标，而其余的则帮目标反抗。就这样，男校生们开始自相残杀！

怨恨三部曲之拾不回的贝壳：第四章

Yogi的同学 听到她的嘶喊声纷纷赶至现场。第一个到达的是无腰女孩。她赶到时，刀正从Yogi的背部穿出。她急忙冲向Yogi。此时善良的男孩将刀抽出，而Yogi便往后倒向无腰女孩。

无腰女孩接住了Yogi：“Yogi! 振作一点！”

“灭鼠行动。。。就靠你了。。。我不行了。。。”Yogi咳出一摊血后，用着她所剩的气力道：“为我报仇！”

接着，Yogi再也说不出话了。

在Yogi 留下遗训时，三年快甲班的辩论队已经干到。辩论队由两男两女组成。两男乃是与足球男孩同名的黑无常，和不鸣则已的白无常；两女乃是大眼妹和鸭子女。他们个个手持船桨，在无腰女孩将Yogi的双眼合上之后，便向善良的男孩冲去，展开攻击！

虽然是以一敌四，善良的男孩也管不了这么多。他一心只想找足球男孩算账。黑白无常迎面而来；大眼妹和鸭子女则左右夹攻。善良的男孩这边接招，那边闪避，没注意到背门大空。无腰女孩趁此良机，从Yogi身上拿了两只铅笔，一手一只，飞扑而上，朝善良的男孩的背部刺去。可是，善良的男孩刚好在那时候将黑无常的船桨削成两半，使得黑无常暂退不攻。其他三人因无法及时补上，辩论队的攻势此时出现了一个停顿，而让善良的男孩察觉到无腰女孩的偷袭。他于是转身向无腰女孩横劈一刀过去。无腰女孩来不及闪避，刀光割其腹部而过。

无腰女孩从此不用再担心她有没有腰了。

大眼妹趁善良的男孩还来不及收招，用船桨大力拍善良的男孩的右手。善良的男孩手一松，刀离了手。大眼妹又再出招，用船桨击打善良的男孩的膝盖；善良的男孩顿时倒地。辩论队其余三人此时冲上助拳，与大眼妹一起围殴善良的男孩。

“哼，辩论被我们痛宰，打架也被我们痛宰。”大眼妹边用船桨戳向善良的男孩边说道。

“三年快丁班尽是出这种废物。”黑无常接着道。他手拿着被削成两半的船桨，大力的踢着被打得萎缩在沙滩上的善良的男孩。

皮肉之苦能忍受，侮辱是不能忍的。善良的男孩听了这番话后，怒气转向辩论队。他双手一伸，抓住了黑无常的脚。再一扯，把黑无常拉得倒地。其余三人立刻停止围殴，退了一步。黑无常倒地之际，善良的男孩发现被他逼出来的铅笔就在他身旁，于是将它拿起，刺入黑无常的太阳穴。然后，他从不会再动的黑无常手中拿过两半船桨，一手一半，断端向内，桨拍向外。他跳起，白无常从他右边出击，但他反应较快，握在右手的一半船桨已穿入白无常的喉咙。看到此时迎面攻来的鸭子女，他马上拔出白无常喉咙的一半船桨，双手往前一戳，将两半船桨插入鸭子女的两肋。接着，他通过两半船桨，将痛苦万分得鸭子女抬起，然后大力一甩，把鸭子女与船桨抛向冒险团队落脚的大建筑。

足球男孩站在建筑外观战。在他旁边式他的三位同学：杜格拉斯，爱晨，和小马车。鸭子女不偏不倚地落在足球男孩的跟前，“呱呱”两声后，就再也没有反应了。杜格拉斯看后，高兴对着鸭子女道：“哈哈，我再也不用把你藏在衣柜里。我自由了！”

“这里太危险了，他很快会杀上来的，我们还是快点跑吧。”小马车指着善良的男孩对爱晨和杜格拉斯说道。

“哦。”爱晨答道。他和杜格拉斯便随着小马车离去。

足球男孩没走，反而是继续观战。可是这时他注意到海上不远处有一只小白船，忽然露出一个惊喜的表情。接着他嘴角露出一丝笑意，似乎心中有记。。。

怨恨三部曲之拾不回的贝壳：第三章

“你先带阿姨走，这里交给我。”Yogi对足球男孩说道。

“好，交给你了！”足球男孩边答便边牵着吴阿姨的手，向废置的建筑走远了。

面对着新的对手，善良的男孩举刀迎击。可是，刀突然变得很重，而且他的手臂开始发麻。他是右手拿刀，而铅笔是刺进他右肩。这时，他忽然明白！

“手很麻是吗？我在笔上放了毒，很快你的手就动不了，脚也会开始没有力。”Yogi冷冷得说着。才刚说完，只看到善良的男孩跌跪在地上！

“好，毒已经开始发作，现在我就把你解决掉。然后就不用帮你收度假屋的钱了！哈哈哈！”善良的男孩听了后，惊讶的望着Yogi。

看到善良的男孩如此表情，Yogi骂道：“什么？我去度假屋是去玩的，不是做工的。我是要享受的。我才不要收钱，我什么都不要管！你在我就要帮你收钱，你不在我就可以什么都不用做了！”

善良的男孩此时非常的愤怒，可是他现在连握住那刀也都觉吃力。这时，Yogi拿出另一只铅笔，站在他面前，然后又说了一句惊人的话：“解决你后，我就去解决足球男孩。”

看着善良的男孩又再次露出的讶异表情，Yogi接着道：“你忘了我也是‘永恒朋友’的一份子吗？现在我们的目的是要把你们这些碍眼的‘三鼠侠’和他们的朋友除掉。冒险团队里全部属于‘三鼠侠’和他们的朋友的人都是我的目标。我就先从你开始。” 说完，她便将铅笔高高的举起。

这时的善良的男孩望着地，已愤怒到顶点。他巴不得想立刻还击。他真的不甘愿就这样败了。他那被毒铅笔所消散的杀气又开始凝聚。忽然，从他握刀的手开始，他的全身肌肉开始紧绷；他肩上的毒铅笔也开始被慢慢的逼出。

“往生吧！”Yogi边说边将铅笔往下刺。可是同一时候，善良的男孩咆哮一声，立即跳起；毒血顿时随着毒铅笔从他的肩膀逼飞出来，而他紧握着刀，从右到左往上划出一个弧形。刀到之处，刀光尾随。而当刀光闪过之后，Yogi握着铅笔的手已经血淋淋的落在沙滩上。

“啊！！”Yogi极痛地，歇斯底里地大声哀嚎着，血不断地从她的断臂喷涌而出。善良的男孩此时再把刀往上一抽，然后从Yogi的左肩至右腰间又劈了一刀；接着他将刀一收，再一发，直刺进Yogi的胸口！

怨恨三部曲之拾不回的贝壳：第二章

善良的男孩呆了；美丽的贝壳就这样永远消失了。他转头望着足球男孩。足球男孩，吴阿姨和Yogi先也是被刚发生的那一幕弄得呆了一下，可是跟着便大笑起来，高高兴兴的谈着刚才的经过。

“我是要那个贝壳的！”善良的男孩气愤地说道。

“我要丢的时候你又不讲，又没有反应，不好玩的，所以我就丢咯。”足球男孩不当一回事地答道。

“哎呀，一个小贝壳而已，再捡多一个就是了咯。” Yogi接着说到。

吴阿姨也插了一嘴：“是咯。如果刚才哥哥没有丢贝壳，我们也不会看到这样好笑的东西。再丢多一个，看会不会再发生。”

话刚说完，他们三人便马上开始找贝壳来丢，完全不理会善良的男孩。善良的男孩只是静静地站在那里。虽然满滩都是贝壳，可是美丽的只有那个贝壳；就算有多一个更美丽的贝壳，也不是那个贝壳。善良地男孩就只喜欢那个贝壳，可是现在已经拾不回了；而眼前这三个随手丢掉他心爱的贝壳的人竟毫不当一回事。他满心愤怒，开始冲向已走开的足球男孩三人，不多想地一手抓住刀柄，而刀便立即随之出鞘！

刀出鞘之际，露出一阵闪烁刀光。足球男孩察觉到刀光，转头一看，看见善良的男孩举着一把厉刀，杀气腾腾朝他冲来！善良的男孩三两步到足球男孩面前，一刀狠狠劈下；足球男孩反应奇快，闪开了善良的男孩那一刀。善良的男孩见攻击落空，马上开始一连串衡劈竖砍；足球男孩毕竟身手刁钻，脚下功夫了得，每一招都被他“踏，踏”两步躲开了。

足球男孩躲到哪，善良的男孩便劈到哪，砍到哪。来到了一个大岩石，足球男孩飞步而上，三两下就在岩石上；善良的男孩一跃一踏也跟了上来。看到善良的男孩这一身手，足球男孩便说：“哇，你想超越我啊？”

善良的男孩没回答，继续朝足球男孩劈砍。因为是第一次用刀，所以尽管手上拿的是一把好刀，善良的男孩的招式相当笨拙，招招都被足球男孩轻易躲开。两人一个攻，一个躲，不知不觉已兜了一个圈，回到了原点。

善良的男孩毅力惊人，足球男孩知道如此耗下去不是办法，于是便利用他天生的号召力，向Yogi说：“Yogi，你出手的时间到了，快来帮忙！”

“好！”Yogi答道，然后拿出她的拿手武器——铅笔。接着，她到善良的男孩的后面，冷不防的将铅笔往善良男孩的肩膀猛刺下去！铅笔的笔心是如此锐利，而这一刺是如此地狠，铅笔深深地被轧进善良的男孩的肩膀里。善良的男孩痛的发出一声怒吼！。。。

怨恨三部曲之拾不回的贝壳：第一章

这是一个关于两个男孩与一个贝壳的故事。

故事发生在很多年前。那时善良的男孩和“三鼠侠”之一的足球男孩参加了一个不可思议的大冒险。那天，天色灰暗，冒险团队在怒海上划了一天的独木舟，终于在一个不知名的小岛上靠岸。

离沙滩不远处有几个废置的建筑，团队便选了其中最大的为落脚处。一切安顿好之后，善良的男孩满心好奇地四处探索。

在一个看似曾是铸剑坊的房子里，善良的男孩找到了一把很奇特的刀。这把刀不过半米长，虽是已断了一截，刀龄颇大，但是光亮刀身仍泛着闪闪刀光，满是有性格。善良的男孩握着那把刀，满是喜欢，于是顺手拿了一个刀鞘，将刀套入，然后便带着刀走向沙滩。

在乌云密布的阴霾天空下，涛涛波浪拍打着沙滩。善良的男孩在沙滩上走着走着，看到了一个贝壳。虽然满滩都是贝壳，这个贝壳却很特别：它毫无缺口，并有着完美的回形，而且还有雪白不染的颜色，晶莹剔透的色泽。看到如此美丽的贝壳，善良的男孩当然不需多想地把它拾起。

这贝壳，善良的男孩越看越喜欢，甚至多过那把刚得到的刀。就在他着迷手中这个宝贝的同时，善良的男孩听到一些嬉笑声。他抬头一望，看到足球男孩正朝他的方向走来。在足球男孩身旁有两个女生；一个是他的干妹妹吴阿姨，另一个是他的旧同学，三年快甲班的Yogi。在他们后面一段距离则是团队里的一些其他成员，其中包括了无腰女孩，三年快甲班的辩论队，还有同样也是三年快甲班的清高女联盟和被她们勾引的一票男校生。他们在沙滩找到一处后便开始嬉戏，而没继续往前走。

“然后他说：‘对，我是野人。我现在就要强奸你！’。。。”吴阿姨一边随着足球男孩和Yogi走向善良的男孩，一边叙述她所编写的下一部色情小说里一段情节。足球男孩看到善良的男孩手上的贝壳，便问：“那个是什么？”

“美丽的贝壳。”善良的男孩边答边将贝壳递给足球男孩。足球男孩拿过那贝壳，看了一下，忽然露出了一个顽皮的表情，接着罢出要将贝壳抛向海里的姿势。

善良的男孩心知足球男孩只是在恶作剧，目的是想看他着急的表情，并非真要丢贝壳，于是无动于衷，以为足球男孩看他不上当，便会把贝壳还给他。谁知，足球男孩在罢了两下姿势后，真的“咻”的一声将贝壳远远抛向海里！

贝壳飞得老远，正要落在水面上时，一只大鱼从水里跃出，咬住了贝壳；贝壳才刚入口里，大鱼便被从天空高速飞扑而下巨鹰掠着；巨鹰正要转向往天飞，一条鳗精跳出水面，咬住巨鹰；此时一只虎鲨扑出，咬住鳗精；接着一只杀人鲸从虎鲨底下跃出，咬住了虎鲨；杀人鲸正要投回水面时，恶蛟升天而出，将杀人鲸一口吞下，然后在半个身子露出水面飞个半天高后，便转向投回海里。恶蛟“啪”的一声巨响从投海里，投海之处引发一波大浪。大浪才刚平息，海里传出一声打嗝身声，随之一个大水泡浮出水面，然后“噗”的一声爆了。

怨恨三部曲：序

一切皆由怨恨开始。

因为有怨恨，才会要复仇。只有复仇才能抵消怨恨。

世界是残酷的；人是自私的。毁人所爱，灭人所欲，就是为了将自己的快乐建立在他人的痛苦上。 他人越是痛苦，自己越是快乐； 他人越是快乐，自己越是不快乐，因此便无所不用其极地使他人不快乐。也因此，在他人的心里载下了怨恨的根。

怨恨的根，在心中不断蔓延，只有靠复仇才能抵消。唯有复仇才能证明世界不应该是这样的； 做人不应该是这样的。

因为有怨恨，才会要复仇。

一切皆由怨恨开始。。。。。。

Cool Song

Shivaree - Goodnight moon

Just wanna share this cool song with you guys.

If you pay attention to the lyrics, you will realise that the song is actually about someone who is scared of (or even paranoid about) being along at night. And that makes this song more interesting. I mean, when was the last time you heard a song that is not about love or sex? Or both? When was the last time you heard someone sings about his of her paranoia?

Another thing about this song is that it was used in the closing credit of Kill Bill Vol. 2. Kill Bill (both vol. 1 and 2) is a movie I enjoyed a lot. Like I mentioned in one of my previous entry, I watched vol.1 and 2 back-to-back when GV Plaza had this "Double Bill" promotion when vol.2 premiered. My favourite scenes are the ones where The Bride fought The Crazy 88 (the black and white part looks better in colours) in vol.1 and the Pai Mei scene in vol.2. I really had fun watching this movie. I mean, when was the last time you watch a revenge flick full of references to various film genres? It was really cool, really fun.

Maybe I should write my own revenge story too.

Month In Review - June

Ok, I know it is a bit late for the review, but June passed by so quietly that I didn't even notice it. (or is it simply that I am blur and forgetful?) Anyway, here goes......

Let's start with work. The highlight is definitely reaching completing my 200th reaction at the start of the month. Other than that, it had been rather normal, doing reactions after reactions, churning products after products. I just noticed today that I am into my 245th reactions and that's quite surprising, 45 reactions in a month (must be those overnight reactions). So yah, while I am not paying attention, things move kinda fast, but I'm just glad I'm where I am.

Been watching a few movies this month. Although the ticket is kinda expensive (more than twice the price in Singapore), but not really complaining. I'm always like watching movie anyway. Then it's like, sometimes u go to the theater to watch one movie and you see this poster of another movie. You got interested in this movie, so you go back on another to watch it. Then while at the theater, you see the poster of a third movie, and it just goes on and on.... anyway it's a shame that Fantastic Four is only coming out in Aug over here, and I still have to wait a bit longer for Transformer. But Harry Potter will be premiering here next week. They have this promotion thingy where if you watch a movie over the weekend, you will get a coupon that entitle you to a discount when you watch a movie the following Tue or Wed, so I guess I'm gonna watch Die Hard 4.0 this Sat, then Harry Potter next week.

Talking about movie, after 13 years, I finally got to watch Benny and Joon!!! Yes, as a reward for myself for reaching my 200th mark in reaction, I bought the DVD of Benny and Joon from Amazon.com. Really nice movie, I like it, now all I need is to convince good old fren CY to get me the poster for x'mas instead of my b-day. Amazon.com is also an interesting website, maybe I should buy a few more things from there......

Finally, housemate SK's family came to visit him and stayed over at our place. It's been a long time since we have so many ppl staying in the apartment (in fact, we never had this many ppl staying in the apartment), so it kinda made the place more lifely. The apartment is a bit too big for 2 people anyway. Maybe I will put up some photos and show it to you guys one of these days. I dunno.

Ok, this is the part that I will usually write a preview, but we are already in July, so I guess I will just do off with that. However, if the situation at work from the past 3 days are anything to go by, it's gonna be a bit challenging this month. I just realized that Monday Blues exists for a reason: so that you dun overwork yourself on the first day of the week and be burnt out for the rest of it. (Burnt out not good, you make lots more mistakes that way.)

Inside The Pockets......

Right, so here I am showing you all what is inside the pockets of my lab coat......

What is shown in the photo are the stuff I put in my right pocket to keep them handy, and from the top left:

1) Squiggies (at least this is what I call them). They are used together with glass pipette to draw solvents. My fav is the short round one as it doesn't draw that much solvent and offer better control. The reason I kept so many in my pocket is to make it easier to reach for one....

2)Pencil and marker. They have to be ever ready, without them my world in the lab will be in chaos. The marker are used to label all glasswares I am using at any moment, and the pencil is used when recording weight, or analysising spectrums (or preventing K from drawing on my NMR chart with black in pen...)

3) Penknife. Use mostly for cutting boxes when I bring them down to thrash......

4) Clips. Available in 3 sizes. Get them all.

When I need to run MS or NMR, the MS samples will be out in my left pocket, and the NMR sample will be place in my chest pocket (like how you place a pen/pencil. It might sounds/look a little nerdy, but I dun care. I jus want to get things done, get the results, and there are all that matter (anyway, I am already in a lab coat!).

So there you are, the stuffs in my lab coat's pockets.