Precious

大流行疾病 是最能讓人類謙恭的警鐘之一。不管我們是否存在- 太陽依然升起，季節依然交替，地球依然旋轉。我們不過是許許多多的存在中的一種，並不比其他存在更好或更差。我們極有可能會消失，就像其他已經滅絕的存在一樣。

所以好好的生活吧，當我們還活著的時候。

Pandemic is one of the most humbling wake up call to mankind. With or without us- sun comes up, seasons change, planet Earth revolves. We are simply one of the many many existences, no more and no less than the others. We may well extinct like one of the many that already has. 

So live, when we are alive. 

4 years ago at Phnom Penh I caught a glimpse of the post-mankind Planet Earth; unexpectedly tranquil

Together with the chips

幾年前我們買了一些手工製作的墨西哥陶板磚。上週我們終於在房子裡把它們鋪出來了。它們溫柔的起伏，意外的狗爪子印，不規則的勾縫線⋯在在都充滿了懷舊的美麗。看著它們反射著黃昏的金光甚至讓我眼眶泛淚。但是它們在鋪下的過程中又是這麼容易破碎，造成整個地面處處都散落著大大小小的缺口。

We bought some handmade Mexican terra-cotta tiles few years back. Last week we finally laid them in the house. The soft undulations, accidental paw marks, irregular grout lines... are all so nostalgically beautiful. Seeing them reflecting the sunset glow brought tears to my eyes. But they are so easily chipped in the process of laying, that all these inevitable chips scattered through the floor. 

你說：「我們必須連這些缺口在內一起愛它們。」

You said: “we need to love it even including the chips”

我懷疑，對人，我們是否有辦法像愛這些陶板磚一樣的愛他們？

I wonder, are we able to love people, like how we love the tiles? 

Coexistence of feelings

我們可以因為某事的結束而感到悲傷的同時，因為同一某事的結束而感到快樂。同樣的一件事情可以引發完全相反的感覺，而且你知道嗎？這些相反的感覺甚至不是不相容的。

We can feel happy that something is over, whilst we feel sad that the same something is over. Same occurrence can provoke completely opposite feelings, and guess what? These feelings are not exclusive of each other. 

在我們哀悼的同時居然也感覺慶幸 其實也沒有什麼不可以⋯歡迎見證奇怪複雜而美麗的 人性。

There is nothing wrong to grieve whilst cheering... welcome to the peculiarly complicated beautiful humanity. 

Culture and existence

文化是人類存在的唯一意義。

人類是這麼的不適於生存在這個星球上。我們不能夠太冷，太熱，太寂寞，有太多或太少他人的注意/ 自己的野心/ 目標/ 壓力⋯ 我們需要衣物，鞋子，房子，教育，社會結構，娛樂，還有更多更多，才能夠生存。

基本上，我們人類比地球上任何的生物都不如，如果 沒有文化。

Culture is the sole reason for mankind’s existence.

Mankind is so inadequate to survive on this planet. We can’t be too cold, too hot, too lonely, have too little or too much attention/ ambition/ purpose/ stress … in order to survive we need clothes, shoes, houses, education, social structure, entertainment, and more.

All in all, mankind is much less than any other living creatures on earth, IF without culture.

Control vs decision

瑪雅.安傑盧： “你或不能控制所有發生在你身上的事情，但你可以做出 不被它們貶低自我價值 的決定”

Maya Angelou: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”

Kindness

我最近去了庫克群島的艾圖塔基。非常非常美麗的藍色珊瑚礁，夜星似乎要溢滿出地平線⋯但是最讓我驚嘆的是人們的友善，尤其是其他的旅行者。

Recently I have been to Aitutaki of Cook Islands. Beautiful beautiful blue lagoon, night sky filled with stars to the brim of horizon... but what amazed me the most is how friendly everyone was, especially the fellow travelers. 

我想一般來說人們有種天然的慾望，想對別人好與帶給他們快樂，所以人們才能夠團結成為社會。但是當人們分別成不同立場的團體 - 無關好/壞，只是不同 - 有不同的利益與輕重順序，使得單純的「對人好」愈來愈困難，不管有沒有私心。

I think in general people have the natural urge to be nice and bring joy to others, which is how is humans bond to create society. But as people segregate into groups of different standing points - not better / worse, just different - with different interest and priority, it becomes increasingly difficult to simply “be nice”, with or without hidden agenda.

然而在我旅行時，我就只是「我」，不是某項目的建築師，某某的親人，某某的伴侶。某個方面來說這是異常自在的一種，簡單的存在的狀態。或許其他的旅行者也感受到了同樣的自在狀態。

However when I travel, I am “me”, not architect of the project, family of abc, partner of xyz. In a way it is liberating, to be in the state of simple being. Maybe other fellow travelers feel the same liberation. 

你相信人性本善還是人性本惡？

我通常選擇相信前者 - 那是唯一能夠解釋當人們處於自在狀態裡，自然表露出的善意。

Do you believe humans are born kind or humans are born evil? 

I always choose to believe in the former - that’s the only explanation for when people are in their liberated state, they display such genuine kindness.

Know

 我生命中有一些朋友的另一半是他們唯一交往過的對象。

有時候我看著他們 會不由自主的好奇這會是什麼樣的感覺呢？可以不知道分手的苦澀，並且 - 理所當然的 - 認定了這麼一個人。

是因為他們不知道（任何其他人），還是因為他們知道（這個人值得他們的努力）？ 

Some people in my life have married the one only person he/ she has dated.

I sometimes look at them and can not help but wonder how it would feel, to not have known the bitterness of breakup, and to be so certain - by default - about being with this one person.

Is it because they don’t know (anyone else), or because they know (that this one is worth their effort)? 

Simple story

今天我們的Uber司機告訴了我們一個故事：

他去了他妻子出生的，位於西西里島的一個小鎮，並見了她的家人親戚。男人們圍坐餐桌閒聊著。

男人A告訴男人B: “我必須告訴你一件事。如果你聽了不高興，那也沒辦法。”A開始告訴B他對B的不滿。

語畢，B站起來，走到A面前，看進A的眼睛。其他餐桌邊的男人們都以為一場架即將爆發...

B: “這是你要告訴我的事情的全部?”

A: “是。”

B: “你告訴我以後心裡舒服了嗎?”

A: “舒服了。”

B張開雙臂, A與B互相擁抱。

我只是想分享這個簡單而美麗的故事。

Our Uber driver told us a story today:

He visited the small town his wife was born at Sicily, and met her extended family. The men were sitting around the table chatting.

Man A said to man B: “I really need to tell you something. If you are offended then so be it.” A started telling B about what he was unhappy about B.

At the end of it, B stood up, walked over to A, looked A in the eyes. Other men at the table thought a punch out was brewing.. 

B: “Is that all you have to say to me?”

A: “Yes.”

B: “Are you happy that you told me?”

A: “Yes.”

B opened his arms, A and B hugged.

I just wanted to share this simple and beautiful story.

slice of time

剛剛從最近完工的餐廳裝修現場的燈光編程會議回來。

會議從晚上10點開始，清晨1點結束。

我們共4個人 － 2x 建築師（我與Y)，電工J，程序員T。

我們圍著細小的LED筒燈，討論為什麼它們不能與Dali控制系統同步調整明暗。

當我們終於達到共識，在寬慰與疲累的一瞬我突兀的發現，我們4個人都來自不同的地方 － T 來自東加，J來自中國，Y來自日本，我來自臺灣。我們跨過了汪洋大陸同來到這個地方為了燈光明暗調節討論到凌晨。

這個一瞬間有一種異常珍貴的美好… 喔，而且我們也解決了燈光調節的問題。

Just finished a light commissioning session on site at a restaurant we recently completed.

The session started at 10pm, concluded at 1am.

There were 4 of us - 2 architects (me and Y), electrician J and programmer T.

We stood around these tiny LED downlights, discussing about why they are not dimming with the Dali lighting control system.

When we finally arrived at a point of agreement, in a moment of relief and exhaustion I strangely noticed that the 4 of us were all from different places - T from Tonga, J from China, Y from Japan, me from Taiwan. We crossed continents to be here at the same place talking about dimming downlights until the wee hours.

There is something very precious about this slice of time…. oh and we figured out the dimming too.

(left to right) Y, T, J