清明。。。Chingming Festival...

清明时节雨纷纷，
路上行人欲断魂；
借问酒家何处有，
牧童遥指杏花村。
(唐代杜牧名句)

回乡扫墓的一早，老天爷非常应景的下起了大雨。虽然没能在预定的时间内出发(下雨天特别好睡嘛~)，叔叔的超驾驶技术填补了时间上的差距，让我们在9时许抵达家乡。爸妈及几位叔叔、嫂嫂也已等候多时，在把所有扫墓工具、祭拜祖先的祭品‘搬’上车子后，大家就往几公里外的坟地出发。

去年因为在外工干而没能回乡扫墓，相隔了两年的时间，坟地的改变让我无法在第一时间内找着婆婆的安葬的地方。不过，再怎么困难，大伙很快地就找到婆婆的墓碑将工具、祭品都摆放到坟边。经由当地社团的打理下，这块坟地已明显被清理过，杂草都没有了，只有干枯的野草、坟边多余的泥土等待处理。这让我们的扫墓工作变得较为轻松，相对的也更有多时间闲聊。

祭拜过程也因时代的转变，越来越现代化了。咱们的祭品都是自家人爱吃的食物、水果，而我呢，也特地从国外买了大伙爱吃的巧可力，与婆婆‘分享’ – 好东西应该一块分享嘛！从以往冥间大楼、衣服、车子，到现在较为简单的冥间银票、过路钱等，我们已大量地减少对空气的污染，同时也不全失传统特色及对祖先的尊敬，而且还简化了燃烧的过程和等待的时间。

也不知道曾几何时，祭拜后的另一‘重要’项目就是‘野餐’时间。本以为带来的巧可力会大受欢迎，可是经过太阳的曝晒下，块状的巧可力已被溶化成水状，想吃也没法吃，只得带回家冻结后再品尝。妈妈煮的红豆甜品最受爱戴，在炎热的天气喝上一口确实有点滋润解渴的功效。饱尝了妈妈还有婶婶的手艺后，大伙才收拾一切踏上归途，而爸爸及叔叔们（还有我）则准备前往另一块坟地，祭拜往生的二姑。

清明节的意义从单纯的祭拜祖先、孝敬及缅怀过世的亲人，到今天的游子回乡，亲友相聚的日子，其含义并没有因为时代的差异而褪色，反而为传统文化增添了另一摩登的色彩。其实，就算祭拜过程有多隆重多复杂，都不该是重点；最重要的是珍惜身边健在的亲友，避免[树欲静而风不止，子欲养而亲不在]的遗憾。

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清明节(资源：中国古玩网 www.lzcc.com.cn )
中国汉族的节日，又是汉族立法中的二十四个节气之一。节期在阳历4月5日前后（夏历则在三月内）。民间习惯在这一天扫墓。清明前一天（或两天）为"寒食"，两个节令相距甚近，古人常将它们连结在一起，甚至不加以区分。宋代以后，扫墓成为清明节的主要活动。多数人家借出城扫墓的机会郊游，称为"踏青"。不少地区的男女老幼还在清明节或栽插柳树、或折新柳枝佩戴、或"斗百草"、"打秋千"、或放风筝。
现在的清明节已淡化了迷信色彩，升华成了一种精神范畴的文化。祭扫烈士英灵，缅怀故去的亲人，传承中华民族重亲情、讲孝道的传统美德。海外游子回归故里，寻根问祖，祭奠祖先，清明节已成为了维系民族感情的纽带。

我的MP3播放器。。。My MP3 Players...

Music has been part of my life ever since my early age where I was put under the spotlight to 'entertain' the audience with my voice. The training stages that I have gone through with singing competition lining up one after another, organized by various association, society or schools, had further cultivate my interest towards music. Which then I had requested to go through the proper music training - not vocal, but the instrument named electone or better known as 'organ'. It was only last for a short period of time which I had stopped due to the formal/ compulsory examination set by government for all Form 3 students, and had never continued since then :P

My passion towards music had never stop even my time had been occupied with studies, community services, co-curricular activities, and now job-related work and project. Have given the opportunity to learn about music composing, production when I was in university which exposed me to the process of producing a song. However, had never thought of getting a job that could continue my journey with music - have opted to be a spectator than a participant ^_^

With the advancement of technology, I could now enjoy music with no boundary - with the introduction of walkman, CD player, MD player, to MP3 players which one could carry few thousands songs conveniently anytime, anywhere. Working in a Telco company that exposed me to various types of handphones, had further ‘revealed’ me to the use of mobile phones as MP3 player.

My first 'MP3 player' was Nokia 6230 which served as my mobile and camera in the same time. Have fully utilized it with various function that it supported - my favorite one, which had proven its worth of value. Until, it quietly slipped out of my pocket and bid me a BIG goodbye :C

My next mobile - Nokia 6630 had replaced my lost 6230 with all its functionality - added with its 3G-compatible specs, until I left the Telco company to China which had discontinued me from using its 3G services. Compromising with its battery life and storage capacity (which I later found out its 'limited' compatability to external memory card in the market), I had 'survived' with its quality as a player for another few months before going for a 'real' MP3 player.

My first MP3 player - Creative MuVo V200 with its 1GB storage capacity had allowed me to carry more songs while I'm mobile. Also, serving as 'thumbdrive' that enabled me to transfer files from one machine to another - which had further 'damaged' it. Leave with no choice, I had to send it back for repair. While waiting for the 'returning' of MuVo, I had got myself the 5GB Creative Zen Neeon to accompany me through the sleepless nights.

With the new MP3 player that could store more songs (in fact much, much more ^_^), I was so excited till I forgot the lesson learnt - I had again used it as thumbdrive which resulting into the same dilemma. It was sent for the necessary 'fixing'!! :( Surviving without any music for many nights, I had finally settled to its core function and try to 'minimize' the unnecessary usage, if possible :P - have been wondering, did I really learn from the lesson? ^_<

My business trip to US with my 'resourceful' colleague had finally brought my eyes to the famous US product - Apple Ipod, which I was once amazed by its branded-with-price advertisement when I was a marketer. After playing around with it, I had decided to bring the white one home - couldn't resist with its stylish outlook, not mentioning about its bigger capacity :) With 30GB in storage, I have no idea how to make FULL use of it, despite the fact that I could use it for music storage, photo storage, and video storage - not sure about using it as thumbdrive, yet, well, won't explore that usage till I am sick with the rest of the function :P, i guess (at least for this moment in time ^_<)

我病了。。。Falling Sick

今早起身后，发觉头重重地，全身疼痛，双脚踩在地上却感觉到轻飘飘地，在万般无奈下，我只好接受一个事实-- 我的健康围墙在过去几个星期的折腾下，终于瓦解了-- 我生病了！

过往的经验告诉我，在紧张忙碌的生活节奏逝去的那一刹那，只要我有稍微的放松，我的健康状况都会亮红灯。人家说这是天生命贱，没有多少机会享受悠闲的生活，因为在休息的当儿，也不管我愿不愿意，病菌都将拿我开刀。

算算看，也好久没病成这个样子了，过去的一年里，除了一两次的伤风咳嗽外，也没试过这般的不适。或许前阵子的劳累，都在潜意识中慢慢地累积，只是我都坚强地‘挡’过了吧。好不容易挨过了，身心疲惫的迹象却在今早一一显露。是年龄的问题（打死我都不愿意承认）？还是是时候病了？老天爷或许知道，再过几个星期，我的生活节奏又将进入另一个颠覆状况。或许我该乖乖听话，好好地休息，为下一个沙场做另一个冲刺。