和而不同

Once in a while, people get stuck at situations where they don’t know what to do, or even how they could make themselves feel better. Often they will just keep like that, hanging around not knowing what they should do, or trying to ask friends for advice on a problem in which they understand the best. Going on and on like that isn’t fun, I can tell. They know the choices on their hands, but there aren’t many. No choices seem fit, shall we say? Each choice seems to lead them further deep into the cave, instead of helping them out of it.

Neither do I know what can be done to get out of a difficult situation, but I do know what can be done to help me feel better (at least, for a brief moment). Maybe after a moment or two, the sun shines and the light comes into the cave to lead the confused out.

I think I need to do something, anything, for a change.

住五高的日子很方便，Lab 與宿可謂近在咫尺，曾經由 Lab 回到宿舍、沖涼、再回到 Lab，祇花二十分鐘。住應林的日子，每晚獨自乘二期的升降機，經過又長又暗的小徑，走幾級深黑的樓梯……無論每天有幾精彩，到晚上都要一個人去走這條路，不知道還可以忍受多久。

現在每天的模式大致是去 122、食飯、上課（如有的話）、食飯、122……朱熙和 Net 鼠要趕 11:25 的校巴，所以每天都會先離去，接著走的是陳香港，留下魚皮和我一起到十二時後。

最近與魚皮接觸多了，他很努力去做他的功課，眼看自己花在這份功課的時間一定比他更少。

魚皮，當你渡過起步時的困難，前景一定會更明朗，在這個範疇裏，你知道的一定比我更多。

I created an online photo album. It is available at,

https://premiere.homeip.net/~patrick/gallery2/
(note the https, not http)

which is served by my Mac Mini at home, connected to the Internet through a Netvigator Broadband connection. I am test driving it and the only album available is "Terry’s Dark Coffee". Please take a look! The album is password protected. Please ask me or those who knows me for a password.

By the way, thank you JHKChan and Sprite for helping me out on compilation of Apache 2 and PHP 5 and giving me advice on what solutions can be used.

雖然已屆入秋時份，但仍感天氣悶熱，每晚回到應林必定冷氣開放，蓋一塊彼頗厚的被子睡覺。每天出入底於 25.5 度的冷氣房間，終於患了傷風。星期六是大學的預科生輔導日，原本應承了 y05 的同學去幫手，為免傳染那些中學生以致下年沒有人選 CS，因些沒有去，留在家裏休息。

睡了差不多整個上午，去廚房找東西吃的時候，不小心弄掉了冰箱裏的調味料架，把兩三瓶醬油倒到地上去，滿地都是醬油和破碎的玻璃。只好忍住肚餓和頭痛，一張紙巾抹地板一張紙巾抹鼻水，好倒楣。辛苦半個小時換來了冰箱裏幾塊過年留下來的巧克力和一片幸福傷風素。

星期日舒服多了，傍晚還可以出旺角「暗啡」。九龍所需的一輪轉小巴轉鐵路，每次轉車都錯過了班次，一共使我呆等三十分鐘。

在旺角的 Pixel Cafe，一碟特色香蒜意粉（即是 Pizza Hut 的 Spaghetti Americana ）賣 48 港元。Justin 很型地點了一件鴨胸，賣 50+ 港元，可惜份量與價錢和他的胃口成反比。

幾個人拿了一副香港版大富翁玩，過了幾個回合之後大家瓜分了圖版上的街道。Justin 對此遊戲十分熟悉，他與紀紀這個生意人向我精神轟炸，要我售出手上物業。Mini 最先建議將她的山頂和我的淺水灣合併，然後一起建屋，收到的租金平均分配。此後大家跟著這種模式營運。gap 玩一段時間之後，大家再沒有心情去玩這個玩不完的遊戲，最後大家不歡而散。我的拍檔很興奮、很投入去玩這個遊戲，是我從未見過的投入，或許這就是我很少見到的另一面。

十分感謝 Mini 的安排，很開心哦！Terry 我一定唔會掛住你，你大可以放心。

跑到地鐵月台，往美乎的列車剛剛關門，那是最後一班可以趕得及西鐵尾班的列車。

… and I just couldn’t help thinking if I have just caught that bloody train, it would never have happened.
– Helen Quilley, The Sliding Doors

我過了一個倒楣的周末。

地鐵車廂內，一個小孩向母親說：「下一個站係迪士尼呀！」當時列車在觀塘綫往太子的隧道之中。

只從六七月迪士尼快要完工開幕之際，香港一下子出現迪士尼的熱潮，到處的公路路牌都印有米老鼠的標誌，而地鐵也用了過量的指示去強調迪士尼的存在，人人都在談論開幕後何時去迪士尼。其他人在談迪士尼的時候，就好像要說有迪士尼香港就有希望，旅遊業飲食業各行各業起死回生。

我看短期之內都不會有前往迪士尼的衝動，因為這實在太流行了，流行這兩個字令我卻步。從往事的總結可以看出我對流行的事物不會抱太大的興趣，例如我不能正確認得一些明星、不喜歡新出的 PlayStation Portable。相反不流行的卻引起我的興趣，例如蘋果電腦，如果數年後用蘋果電腦的人更多，可能會再用別的。迪士尼本身相信只是一個戲樂場吧，暫時無法給我「讓奇妙飛翔」的感覺，為甚麼要去呢？

香港的學童近視深，可能是因為社會較為短視吧！如果說迪士尼是香港的希望，迪士尼開幕後，究竟香港還有甚麼希望？這是我很怕去想的問題之一，因為看來香港好像沒有甚麼希望似的！

小朋友，迪士尼已過了，你還想去哪裡呢？

A big portion of the day was spent in the final year project, with Justin, of course.

When I entered the laboratory, there was no one, which was expected. It’s still a bit early in the morning. But maybe he has forgotten about the Saturday meet? That’s okay for me too, as I can catch some sleep I owe to my body : ).

I didn’t do any real work on my part, I know.

By the way, McDoanld’s just added a while-stock-last item in their menu, the Potato Wedges. That’s a sensational food item and it tastes delicious! I very much love that indeed! And of course, with this new food item, I risk my throat sore again.

I ordered a Decaf short Cappuccino. With decaf, the coffee would not keep me awake. In other words, it makes coffee less coffee. However, I never have tried that before and I doubted if decaf can really remove the full-on effect. Now I have the answer: During the bus trip back home, I fall asleep!

Justin said, and I quote,

"I big your pardon."

It is often inadvisable to give out passwords. When I was given one, I often feel being trusted, which is kind of rewarding for me. I usually do the reverse as well, to show the person whom I trust. Though, I rarely, if ever, give out passwords to my computer systems, including my laptop, my servers, my workstations… I can’t make myself comfortable allowing people access to my directory. There are so much information and secrets that others can’t see. They are not government top secret, of course, but they are a great deal for me.

However, I do give out retired passwords, and it is sort of a convention for me to do so. For several months, this was my password to my computer systems:

Znm2ofj!93fn

and was preceded by:

!cg54pehk7mi

Certainly a new password is already in effect.

To answer your question: No, I’m not a freak.

Justin and I didn’t do a lot on the job itself, but we have done a lot to prepare. He installed Debian with the help of sprite. I installed FreeBSD in my laptop, on my own. Although it’s only the second week of the semester, I am starting to stress out. Nevertheless, it feels good to be working, and it feels good to be on track. I bet Justin learnt a lot about Debian. Even I have learnt a lot from his installation too… but it is unlikely to install Debian for me… I found it more "in control" using a BSD-variant.

I just realised that, at one moment, there was FreeBSD, Mac OS (which I consider a BSD-variant), Debian (which is Linux) and Windows machines in the lab.

再次擠進巴士之中，車程之中看完中大學生報迎新特刊的兩篇文章，分別是關於轉系和上莊，然後就沒有興趣再看其他的，或許許久許久之後沒有事做會再拿出來看，又或者永遠埋藏在床下。

最近正考慮是否退修「香港政府」，這科是我有興趣的科目之一，而且有蔡子強吹水，打算上過幾堂後才決定，可惜記錯時間表，課堂結束後才發現，一定是 Alvin 令我記錯……

在 Elisa 的高級軟件工程課之中，齊集了三組 FYP 的同學，唯獨欠缺我的 partner。這兩個星期見面的時間少，FYP 一點點也沒有做。時間不多，要努力啦，而且我好想暫時放鬆一下。

與別人傾談，雖然會越說越興奮，但可能會忽略對方是否喜歡「談」。就算兩個愛吹水的人，可能都會有吹到沉悶的時候，我怕不懂得適可而止，令人覺得煩厭。

不習慣在宿舍的感覺，睡醒就離開宿舍，去咖啡角食早餐，然後回到 122 繼續睡，某程度上 122 比起宿舍更舒服。

今天沒有心情寫網誌，是日頹廢一天。

數天前與田代逛 CD 鋪，看到電影 Love Actually 的 VCD。問過幾位朋友都給予好評，決定看一看（當然，要看不一定要買……你明白我的意思吧！）。有機會的話或許會買 DVD（這裡的意思是：看完後覺得好看，或許會買一套留下來。）

上學期過了一個星期，今天終於正式「入宿」，最近這個星期都未算「入宿」是因為未曾在應林留宿一晚。

今年住應林堂 115，從應林堂門外可以直接看到我的房間，房間不算得殘舊。（開始發現我沒有寫描寫文的手腕。）

……最奇怪的事情發生了，我竟找不到廚房在哪。