生日快樂，Dear Sis-ter.

三十多年前，妳來到這個世界，擁有全家上上下下兩代人的關注和寵愛。

二十多年前，妳的關注和寵愛先是被分了一半，最後剩下三分之一。開始有人和妳搶芭比娃娃，分你的床，開始有人和妳吵架打架，開始因為妳的裝死嚇得大哭然後害妳被罵，開始有人和妳搶媽媽的懷抱，爸爸的手，爺爺的稱讚，奶奶的問候，阿公的麥克風，阿嬤的醬油粥。

十多年前，離開家才兩年，國外自由空氣都還沒吸夠的妳，又必須得在課業繁忙之餘負起煮飯和家務責任，甚至為了一個因為語言障礙快自閉的小孩擔心。同一個屋簷下，進入叛逆期的小孩愛搞神祕不懂關心，盡做些讓妳為難的事情，讓二十出頭的妳無故又多出好多白髮。

這幾年，出了社會後的妳，雖然空中飛人似地來來去去，勞累和壓力卻沒影響妳從不間斷對家人的關心和用心。不知道妳為何總是這麼有活力，有衝勁，有精力計畫每次家人相聚的時光，不知道妳總是微笑的臉背後隱藏了多少努力堅毅和勇氣，我只知道，能夠當妳的妹妹，真的好幸福。

給我最愛的姊姊，生日快樂，天天快樂，不論在哪裡都要記得那個害妳辛苦的叛逆的小孩總是會支持妳，做妳最好的朋友。

 

To my dearest sister Alison, Happy Birthday and Every Day… :)

Happy Birthday, “A la Pizza”!

срећан рођендан, my crazy beautiful lovely Slavica! (And my Taiwanese parents would also like to wish “A la Pizza” a Happy Birthday!) May your every day be filled with love and happiness, and may your adventurous soul take you wherever you want to go.

If it weren’t for you, I would not have the courage to travel by myself, I would not have stories to write, I would not have photos to share, and I certainly would not be the same contended person I am today.  Thank you for being who you are, and thank you for always letting me be who I am when I am with you.  You know how much you mean to me and I am sure you know that I will always be there for you too, birthday or the end of the world, sun or storm, rich or poor, wine or no wine :)

One of your favorite authors Rabindranath Tagore once said, “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”  For a timid person like me, it really would be forever standing and staring – until you showed up and swam in front of me, and with me.

P.S. I know words are not enough for you. I owe you a big bottle of wine and some more crazy stories.

Happy Birthday, Richard Parker.

A quote for this special day: (I will try my best to translate this quote from Nietzsche, but still there is risk of losing its meaning in translation and more translation since it was translated from German to Japanese and then to Chinese and now going to be in English..)

愛對方的真實 <<節錄自 “超譯，尼采”>>

愛不是占有年輕貌美之人，也不是想盡辦法將優秀之人納為己用，進而操控、影響對方。

愛也不是尋找、分辨和自己相似的人，更不是全然接納喜歡自己的人。

愛是喜歡和自己完全不同的人，喜歡對方的真實狀況。即便對方的感受與自己完全不同，也能喜歡對方的那份感性。

愛不是用來填補兩人之間的差異，也不是強迫其中一方委曲求全，能夠喜歡彼此的差異，才是真正的愛。

Love the True Self of the Others  (from [ Choyaku Nietzsche no Kotoba ] by Haruhiko Shiratori)

Love is not to possess the youthful beautiful people, and it is not to try every means to keep the talented for our own in order to manipulate and influence these talented.

Love is not to find or distinguish those who are like ourselves, and it is not to completely accept those who like us.

Love is the sensibility to continue to like those who are totally different from ourselves, loving the true self of the others, even though the others may feel completely different about us.

Love is not used to fill the gap or difference between each other, and it is not to force the other to comprise; the real love is to be able to like and embrace the differences of each other.

Haruki Murakami: 村上先生誕生日快樂！

Happy 64th Birthday, Mr. Haruki Murakami.  You are a great inspiration – although I may never become as good of a writer as you are, knowing that you started your first novel at the age of 29 just pushed me that much more to start this blog. 

“It’s as if when you’re in the forest, you become a seamless part of it. When you’re in the rain, you’re a part of the rain. When you’re in the morning, you’re a seamless part of the morning. When you’re with me, you become a part of me.” – Haruki Murakami << Kafka on the Shore>>

給親愛的村上春樹先生：生日快樂！感謝您的作品給我帶來了許多寫作靈感。也許我永遠也無法成為像您一樣的偉大作家，但知道您從29歲這個尷尬的年紀才開始了您人生的第一本著作著實給了我很大的勇氣開始這個project 29。

“彷彿你也存在那片森林裡，你成為了森林的一部份。當你在雨裡，你也成為了那場雨的一部份。當你迎接早晨，你也成為了那早晨的一部份。而所以，當你和我在一起，你也成為了我的一部份。” 

村上春樹 <<海邊的卡夫卡>>