3. 笑聲不斷 Laughing All The Way

日子: 2005 年 12 月 17 號 / 晚上

"雪花隨風飄
花鹿在奔跑
聖誕老公公
駕著美麗雪橇......"

耶誕節攻擊!!! 耶誕節令人討厭的事之一就是一直不斷聽到這些歌. 昨天 Kihei 跟我說其實是 "悅愛節快樂", 不是"耶誕節快樂", 因為老美在耶誕夜買的保險套數量僅次於情人節. 但若你以為老美用上床來慶祝耶穌生日, 那你就完全錯了. 耶誕節對老美而言還是比較家人和朋友的.

和朋友一起笑著是很不錯的事. 那晚他們不停的笑著.

Date: Dec. 17, 2005 / Evening

"Dashing through the snow
On a one-horse open sleigh,
Over the fields we go,
Laughing all the way......"

X'MAS attack!!! One of the annoying things about X'MAS is that you hear these songs over and over and over again. Yesterday Kihei told me it's "Merry Sex-mas", not Merry X'MAS, coz the total number of condoms purchased by Americans on X'MAS Eve is next to the number on Valentine's Day. But if you thought Americans celebrate Jesus Christ's birthday by making love with someone, you are totally wrong. It's still the time about families and friends.

It's nice to laugh with firneds. They kept laughing that night.

2. 手拉手 Hand In Hand

日子: 2005 年 12 月 17 號 / 晚上

周六晚上有很人在 Panera 出雙入對. 今天晚上我至少看到五對.

這一對大概是七點到的. 很典型的一對: 兩杯飲料外加一些糕餅點心. 戀愛真好, 兩人對看旁若無人, 充滿笑聲, 而且最重要的是: 講話時會手拉著手.

上一次你拉著手對某人講話是什麼時後?

當男孩去拿他點的德國巧克力餅時, 女孩看到我對著程式皺眉頭.

"書總是很難念", 她說.
"對啊!" 我回給她一個微笑.

周六晚上處理多執行緒程式, 我還真可悲 :)

Date: Dec. 17, 2005 / Evening

There are a lot of couples coming here on Saturday night. I saw at least five couples tonight.

They came around 7 pm. A typical couple: two drinks plus some pasteries. Isn't it great to fall in love? Looking at each other like no one else in the room, laughing all the time, and most importantly: holding hands while talking to each other.

When is your last time holding someone's hand while talking to him/her?

When the guy went to get his German Chocolate Pastery, the girl saw me frowning at my java codes.

"It's always hard", she said.
"Yeah!" I smiled back.

Saturday night I am dealing with multi-threaded codes. I am so pathetic :)

1. 窗口的老奶奶 The Grannie Near The Window

日子: 2005 年 12 月 14 號 / 晚上

老奶奶坐在那大約一小時. 飲料沒喝多少, 而且一直看著窗外. 我以為她在等人, 但後來才發現她是來喝飲料的......也許不是來喝飲料, 畢竟室外華氏 16 度的時後冷飲似乎不是個好選擇.

你可能猜我下一句要講的是: 她看起來有點悲傷. 但其實沒有, 她看起來還不錯. 我希望我老的時後也記得到咖啡店來杯熱茶.

Date: Dec. 14, 2005 / Evening

The grannie sat there for about an hour. She didn't drink too much and kept looking outside the window. I thought she was waiting for someone, but it turned out that she was just there for her drink......maybe not for a drink, after all a cold beverage doesn't seem a good choice for outdoor temperature like 16F.

You might guess the next thing I ganna say is: she looked sad. But she didn't. She looked fine. I hope when I am old I remember to go to the coffee shop for a cup of hot tea.

@ 前言 Prelude

最近我大部份時間都在 Panera.

Panera 是靠近學校的咖啡店. 當天氣已經冷到不適合待圖書館時, 我就會把學術活動搬到 Panera: 通常是每年的十一月初.

今年天氣比較溫暖, 感恩節之後我才開始 Panera 的日子. 而且今年我開始觀察 Panera 裡的人. 沒有了按時交東西的壓力(明天早上你能把這個程式弄好嗎?), 我可以輕鬆坐著邊閱讀卡夫卡邊看人. 好吧, 是有點誇張, 我還是有'正事'要做, 但是壓力絕對比前幾年好多了.

已經接近耶誕節了, 跟國家比基尼日(你知道的, 就是那些夏天節日)比起來沒什麼幻想空間, 但是這時後到 Panera 的人似乎比其它時間來的人還要生動一點. 我猜是下雪的關係吧.

Recently I spend most of my time in Panera.

Panera is the coffee shop near the campus. When it gets too cold to stay in the library, I start to shift my academic activities to Panera: for each year it's about the beginning of November.

This year it's warmer. I start my Panera Day after Thanksgiving. Also this year I start to observe people in Panera. Without the pressure to deliver something on time (Can you get this built by tomorrow morning?) , I can sit back and watch people while reading Kafka. Ok, that's a little exaggeratory, I still have something 'serious' to do. But the pressure is definitely lighter than the previous years.

It's close to X'MAS, nothing fancy compared to the national bikini day (you know, those holidays in the summer). However most people coming to Panera in this season are somehow more vivid than those coming in the rest of the year. I guess it's the snow.