Ella's Notebook

Yesterday Sandy and I went to Vivien’s house to have dinner and see her little chocolate – a red poodle. We gossiped like housewives, even though Vivien was the only real housewife. The ambiance was so relaxed and eased the pressure that I’ve been feeling lately. Don’t know why both my job and my private life are difficult to tolerate these two days. I wanted to write some things related to art, but I was too mentally tired, I think. I wanna go out, to see trees, mountains, rivers or something like that. I wanna go…

Two cats in the backyard of the art gallery:

Our gallery is under construction these days. So am I. I am now studying 4 courses:

1.Contemporary art  2.English  3.Jazz dance   4.Relationships

All of them are not that easy for me. Guess which one I will be really good at in the end? Could be none of them. Keep learning!

This is Jimmy's first music album 'Sound of Colors - Music for Jimmy's Subway Music'. I bought it a long time ago. Today I still love it. Some lyrics inside are beautiful:

在這個城市裡, 我不斷地迷路. 你問我回家的路, 我張皇失措.
難道你看不出我跟別人不同嗎?
In this city, I kept lost.
You asked me the way back home, I got panic.
Can't you see I am different from others?

昨日的悲傷, 我已遺忘. 可以遺忘的, 都不再重要.
I've forgotten the sorrow of yesterday.
Whatever forgettable are no more important.

其實, 我哪裡也不想去. 然而, 會有人在地下鐵的出口等我嗎?
他會為我撐傘, 緊握我的手, 告訴我星星的方向,陪我走一段路.
我總是忘記跟你說聲謝謝! 謝謝你一直陪伴我.
In truth, I wanna go nowhere. However,
will there be someone waiting for me at the subway exit?
A man who will hold the umbrella for me, grasp my hand,
tell me the direction to stars, and walk with me for this section.
I always forget to say 'thank you'.
Thank you for the company all the time.

Thank you for accompanying me.
Even time is transient, just like our lives.

I wanna take a deep deep deep breath.
Forget everything that I should forget.

Yesterday when my boss passed by our desks, he said
‘Guys. Keep going! I believe in our artists. They are really good!’
You know…this truly speaks to our hearts. As time went by, I felt myself more and more fond of this gallery, our two bosses and the artwork. I think I’ve made a good decision to join them. Yes, we have to keep going – move forward.

One of our artists is Lee Ming-Tse. His painting ‘Mr. Lee’ made me laugh loudly. His works usually borrow the language from comic books and reflect a specific Taiwanese life philosophy. Wondering who bought it. I envy the guys who collect his works.

* Tons of work are now piled up:
1.  Plans to join the art fair which will be held in China next year
   (Budgeting, Artwork data organization, Delivery arrangements, 
    Plans for publicity)
2.  Apply for artists’ subsidies provided by some institutions
3.  Contracts with new artists
4.  Prepare for the next exhibition

5.  Website development
6.  Sales kits design 

...繼續閱讀

I wanna write some things about Ramon who is now more like my friend than my English teacher, so I asked him for some photos a few days ago. See what he gave me:

.

Ramon and Joyce

Hey, Ramon. I was talking about the photo with a real stud on the bicycle!!! I will write more about Ramon once he gives me the picture indicated, you will see how charming he really is.

The thing is that - Ramon said that I should listen to English everyday, to make sure my English doesn’t go worse. So I stirred round my drawer for my mp3 player in the morning, but I ended up finding this:

The stub of the ticket of "Mamma Mia"
– one of my favorite musicals.

 I went to see "Mamma Mia" alone when I was in London earlier this year. At the time I felt quite lonely so I picked up a very good front seat on the 2^nd row. I got a great view and was so much impressed by the show. It was a great performance by the strong cast. The grand stage and the wonderful music of ABBA are really unforgettable!

Here is one of the songs that reminds me of a man whom I once liked a lot. (um…sorry…I am not talking about Ramon) Now I just can’t stop humming it:

"Mamma Mia"
I've been cheated by you since I don't know when
So I made up my mind, it must come to an end
Look at me now, will I ever learn?
I don't know how but I suddenly lose control
There's a fire within my soul
Just one look and I can hear a bell ring
One more look and I forget everything, w-o-o-o-oh
Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again?
My my, just how much I've missed you
Yes, I've been brokenhearted
Blue since the day we parted
Why, why did I ever let you go?
Mamma mia, now I really know,
My my, I could never let you go

                                  That’s it! Got to stop!

This afternoon I dyed my hair back to black, which made me look like a college girl again. I got the feeling that I resemble myself today more than yesterday. Weird but true.

Lin asked me out but I didn't go. Since curling myself up into the sofa and watching a DVD seemed a better idea for tonight.
This is what I watched: http://www.crashfilm.com/

Usually I don't like to relate to serious subjects, but this time, the humanistic touch of the film 'Crash' did move me quite a lot. It approaches sociological questions like prejudice and racism philosophically. If you pay attention to the soundtrack and the graceful frozen frames, you will understand what I mean. Extremely poetic.

I like the catchword: 'Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other.' Isn't that so right? We do crash into each other sometimes in our lives. On some ocassions, we truly need an invisible angel to protect us from a big shock.
Having fun in reading others' reviews. Just quote some as below:

-  People are insulting other people without knowing him/her. We see small glimpses of each character but every character is complex, filled and personally I felt related to them all.

-  No one character was free from prejudice (except perhaps the child) and that no one incident could be fully understood in isolation.

-  Whether we realize it or not, that we take part in each day, and that, despite our weaknesses, we are capable of amazing acts of courage, and, despite our goodness, we are capable of much evil, any of which transcends color, country of origin, religious belief, or economic status.

If only most of us can take things with such insightful and sympathetic awareness displayed in this movie. Lucky enough that there is still a host of people who have view the world through their tender loving hearts. =)

I've kind of reached my limits dealing with so many dinner engagements these days. From now on I'll try to stay away from some of them, especially the wine and the high-priced foods. That's what I could think about when I was finding it difficult to leave my bed smoothly in the morning.

Last night I got together with my wine tasting classmates. I love to meet them, but hope what we have between each other won't be just the fair-weather freindship. I've spent too much time on things like that.

When we tried our second run party to a night club, there happened to be a police raid going on. In the end we didn't get into it. There were more than 20 policemen entering the club. Never saw such a big troop! It's fun.