中環分子的香港觀

"Hong Kong people party too much!"

新加坡友人笑嘆說。她住過紐約多年，後來回國了，一年­­­飛到香港出差兩次，愛上了香港的國際摩登，決心要搬來，只是未找到機緣。

"They dress up, and party all the time."

不過香港工作時間很長，我說。她眼睛又亮起來，對！香港的人工作瘋狂，玩也瘋狂，星期三便開始party了。連紐約的上班族也是星期四才開始玩。

她說，新加坡太熱（「像個全年無休的桑拿」）、台北有點破舊、上海還不錯、紐約節奏太快，香港也快，但是好玩。

我笑問她形容的是蘭桂坊吧，我們並不是每個每晚都玩得這樣癲，而且，各區有各區不同的風味。

「對對。我去過九龍。去過旺角，人真的多，我出來不知有沒有兩分鐘就掉頭了。」

「我也去過深玔」，她說，「Mission Hills，打哥爾夫。」

最近不少第四代人對香港心灰意懶，想搬走；同時，香港是對不少外來的人來說是理想城市。只是，他們接觸到的是中環的香港吧？中區不合比例的大，核心是ifc，旁邊有太古置地銅鑼灣等購物聖地，對面岸是「空間較大」的九龍。一切尖端、新鮮、瘋狂。

以此為家的話一切也不一樣了。這可能也是她亟想搬離新加坡的原因？

美麗好笑悲哀真實的故事

喜歡看王雅雋在明報的《星期日談情》；喜歡她其中一個副題：〈戀愛中的香港人〉——彷佛我們也有精力時間戀愛，彷佛我們也戀愛得起。在一個年輕相愛的醫生律師奮力合作也買不起居所的城市，不在香港長大的雅雋告訴我們，香港人也會戀愛，雖然有時拘謹躊躇、有時殘缺不全。

最近看了一部短篇小說集 The Girl's Guide to Fishing & Hunting。裡面的短篇大都以同一女子的角度，敍述她成長戀愛工作的故事，讀起來更像一部長篇。也就是一個雕通眼眉、能言善辯的女孩，在閱讀世界、在學習成長。愛上了作者 Melissa Bank 簡潔深刻而又幽默感人的文筆，請容我抄一下書：

“[Her elder brother] turned to me and said, "Do you know your IQ goes up and down about fifty points in every conversation?"

I didn't know if this was a compliment or an insult, but I didn't like how he was looking at me-- as though from the great distance of his new life. I said, "No one likes being talked about to their face." Then I felt bad. "Anyway," I said, "E=MC₂."

小說一直處於這種半昧不明、抽離與投入之間的狀態。這裡主角 Janie 雖然只有十四歲，已知道：『沒有人喜歡別人在她面前議論她。』卻不能度量與將轉變成男人的哥哥的距離。換了是別的小說中的聰明女子舌戰贏了就只有在沉默中悲哀；Janie 可愛之處是她針鋒相對後隨即又過意不去，於是用幽默拉近她和哥哥的距離。

這樣的例子比比皆是。和中學好友的對話：

“She said, "You still get flashbacks?"

"I think I always will," I said.

"Remember," she said, "never say 'always.'"

"I really appreciate your support," I said.

She said, "It helps me stay strong."

I said, "Every days is a gift."

與嫲嫲的對話：

“What do you think was so good about the good old days?" I asked, in exasperation. But I heard how harsh my voice was and didn't like it. I said, "what do you miss, I mean?"

While she thought, I waited to make my point: that everything was much better now than it used to be; I'd cite the civil rights and woman's movements.

"The boy who lit the street lamps in the evening," she said, finally, "He carried a stool with him."

I understood then-- it was like missing Nantucket-- and I put my hand on top of hers. It occurred to me that everything was more complicated than I thought.

很聰明的女孩子，但她不止聰明，她明白人生有些事比逞聰明重要，例如友誼，例如親情，例如自省，和同理心：

“
I tried to understand what Henry had told me. But I worried about that, too. Other people might not try as hard as I did to understand him. I was always on his side, no matter what. My parents were, too. All he really had to do with us was show up. More had been expected of him as Julia's boyfriend and at that party. More would be expected of him everywhere. I didn't know what had happened between him and Julia. It scared me to think that my brother had failed at loving someone, I had no idea myself how to do it.

個人覺得全書最感人的是 Janie 與後來患病的爸爸的交流。她爸爸堅強、樂觀，而且不吝於表達對女兒的感情：

“Over the weekend, my father told me he was concerned about my missing work; when was I going back?

"I am taking a leave of absence," I said, deciding then. "I'm malingering vicariously through you."

He said,"I'm glad."

Then he looked right at me, and said, "It means a great deal to me that you're here."

後來她工作和感情上遇到難題，想起一些她爸爸常常告誡她的話。看的時候我想，做父母能做到這樣已是最大能力。因為他不避惡的告訴她人生的真相：

“Life is unfair, my love

讓她做自己生命的主人：

“I can't make the decision for you.

然後提醒她不要躲避自己的人生：

“Don't take the easy way out, Janie

縱然是伶俐的女子，同樣和我們平凡女子一般有工作的軟弱和煩惱，這也是我覺得小說很親近的原因。

不過這本被 Wikipedia 稱做女生文學 "Chick Lit"的代表作、與 Bridget Jone's Diary 齊名的作品，寫的篇幅最多仍是感情：

“My mother hardly ever gave me advice about men, and I only remember asking her once, in fifth grade... I asked how you got a boy your liked to like you back. She said, "Just be yourself," as though I had any idea who that might be.

事實上，這本書之所以叫《女子漁獵手冊》，是 Janie 經過多次戀愛失敗以後，決定根據一本自助式的戀愛攻略書來「釣」男人。過程（很好笑）不講了，只想引用最後她遇到的一個畫漫畫的男生想畫的漫畫，來形容這本書：美麗好笑悲哀真實的故事。

“We go to Mere Mortals, a collection of one acts by David Ives. The one I love the most is about two mayflies on a date; they watch a nature documentary about themselves and discover their life span is only one day long-- after mating, they'll die.

Leaving the theater, Robert and I are both dazzled and exuberant, talking at once and laughing, and we spontaneously kiss.

He says, "I want to mate with you and die."

We have a drink at one of those old-fashioned restaurants in the theater district. Robert says the mayflies play is what every cartoon he draws aspires to be-- beautiful and funny and sad and true.

書裡的其他金句：

“I'm thirty-five" she says. "You try to plan your life, but that's not how it works."

“I see Laurel's shoulders rise and fall in a sigh.

“He was in a VIP suite, which had wall-to-wall carpeting, a mini-refrigerator, and velvety wallpaper. "This is a brothel," I said

He said, "Don't tell Mom."

“The way she spoke reminded me more of humming than thinking.

“It occurred to me that the quiet in the suburbs had nothing to do with peace.

“At Tortilla Flats, Jamie introduced his current girlfriend, a waitress named Petal. She had a little daisy tattoo on her ankle and seemed light and sweet and sure of herself in the particular way a very young woman can.

...

I looked around me. It was Thursday, a party night, and I could feel that bar-generated electricity-- the buzz and spark of sex-to-be.

“This is how I'd felt finding out about my father; it was like getting the subtitles after the movie.

“Saturday morning. I felt the way I had as a child, waking up in the summer and sensing what I could expect that day in the suburbs: the dry cleaner at the back door to drop off my father's suits; the damp smell of the changing room at the public pool; the dusty shade in the garage.

“"It's [being an editor's] all about judging," I said. "I'm not sure I'm the judge type. I might be more of the criminal type."

"Judgment is power," he said.

...

But I told me I didn't think I wanted power. " I think I want freedom."

He said, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

“[Being close to death] But you also find that you're stronger than you've ever been. You're clear. Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception. Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience. Now, it's instantaneous.

“It started as a day job," I say. I tell him that I thought I'd write plays or novels or appliance manuals at night. But advertising made my IQ go down; every night I had to work just to get it back up to regular.

"What did you do?" he asks.

I got rid of my TV, I tell him, and read classics.

"Like which ones?"

"Middlemarch was the first," I say.

He laughs. "You say it like you're not sure I've heard of it."

We keep talking books, and when I tell him that Anna Karenina is my favorite, it seems to have the effect "I'm not wearing any underwear" has on other men.

窮忙與窮風流

在獨立媒體的這篇〈香港窮忙族〉寫了一段不短的回應。想想不要浪費，搬字過紙貼在這裏：

----

作者點出一個幾核心的問題：這一代為了維持生活要不停工作，工作不一定維持到生活，不工作則肯定不能。

這個困境牽涉到香港社會一個非常嚴重、而且越來越嚴重的問題——我們的生活質素單單維系在賺幾多錢上面（東京台北可能也一樣）。這種生活質素是薄弱、one-dimensional 的，一旦人工停滯，生活就毫無著落。

相比作者提到的台灣南部，因為生活指數不高，則有空間給人做工作以外我們少有機會做的事：休息、和家人朋友相處、陪孩子、享受生活——還有，研究窮忙的源頭，及怎樣擺脫窮忙的生活。這些都是「風光」帶來的物質所不能提供的。過去風光時無，現在中落亦無。

經濟不可無限量發展，所以掙脫這個發達才能有好生活的枷鎖，發展工作以外的生活質素，非常重要！

伸延研究: 得獎的事 2009-10-05 阿娘喂!! 滿街都是可憐窮忙族?!

人工和出路

在香港討論區看到這一則：

“

暴力通脹，物價升樓價升人工冇得升，大學生要"珍惜"$4000人工o既"所謂實習雞會...
我知抱怨改變唔到現實，一時有感都想呻下

話說尋日同屋企人食飯，我老豆同個部長傾開計，講到大家後生時做咩工...
"廿年前我做酒店，一入就7、8千喇~"
"係呀我都做過，收埋tips都幾肥~ 我後來去左做導遊，好景果陣搵成3、4萬呀! 而家邊有呢枝歌仔唱呀~ 哈哈"

廿年前人工分分鐘高過而家，但果陣食個m記十幾記蚊，而家貴左起碼5、6成... 樓價更加不在話下... 你話呢一代年青人係咪食晒蕉丫

人工咁多年無增長，甚至似乎負增長，何解？
中學讀 Macro Economics 話經濟增長同生產總值GDP有關。
一時找不到二十年的經濟數據，
不過睇政府統計處的資料，
08年秋金融風暴以來香港的GDP一直在跌：

source

連帶全香港人的生產總值也在跌：

source

以上好明顯不是增長減慢，而是負增長。
即是金融不振，我們全港的生產總值與生產力都縮水。
如果睇統計處的另一資料「香港經濟四個主要行業」，這個縮水現象的原因就變得好清楚：

香港經濟四個主要行業是『金融服務、貿易及物流、旅遊和工商業支援及專業服務』。

無一個是本地工業，香港不生產，無產業（地產是谷出來的），全是靠外來及本地的商業活動賺錢。
明顯呢個現象廿幾年前已開始，
發帖人講的老竇同部長那時都做旅遊業。
二十年後，
我哋無實際產品可發展，
既有工種職位飽和，
人才增多（大學生比以前多），
個市又唔好，
人工只有越爭越平（樓盤卻可以同時越炒越天價）。

我哋顯然需要開拓新工業新商機，
呢個唔係新論點，
講咗九萬幾年。
容許我問個頭腦簡單的問題：
點解大財團重係沉迷於投機炒賣，
中小企唔試試在本地找工業的商機，
我哋年紀亦無乜聽過人創業？

構成原因那些短期的難處和功利計算，
人人識講，
但依家唔做，以後日子更難過。

究竟係我哋社會集體處理唔到犧牲短線搏長線，
定係我哋食很太肥，缺乏搏鬥開創的勇氣？？