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Exams are coming soon, and I look forward to the several parties held afterwards. In the blink of an eye it all comes too quickly to the end of semester. I have drifted into politics, starting to understand how philosophers advocate theories to resolve conflicts. I have discussed world affairs with wise seniors, preparing myself to turn their wisdoms into my assets. I have also encountered new buddies, sharing thoughts and secrets in the mind. Keeping myself preoccupied is the best way to be laid-back and forget. The world has changed beyond all recognition. When I look back the last two years, the past happenings sound to be terrible but nostalgic. However much the good and the bad, they will all be a vital part of my story as a new chapter begins.
I enjoy every bit of moment being alone at City University. That is a unique calm excitement you cannot find elsewhere. City University is a place of disco-light colours if you try to jostle in the full of crowds and look at the apparently fancy familiar faces in front of you. Even so close to the canvas, I can still be curious that people there are suspiciously twin brothers and sisters of the same "global village", and I think that should be applicable to the whole of Hong Kong: the identical Gucci wallets, Burberry perfumes, Coach shoes; all uniform fascinations scramble in legions of the showing-off merry-go-round. There are flamboyant dressing-ups, exaggerating appearances, ready to show you that university is really somewhere to broaden your perspectives and vision.
Several electoral groups of committee-to-be are doing their propaganda at the main entrance to spoil the view of an august construction behind them. I attempt to listen to their slogans but unfortunately the alongside "beware of wet floor" signs have captured my attention. The candidates do their best to talk to any passers-by but not to me, as if I were a decent professor having no right to vote for the ballot box. Known as the Time Tunnel, the walkway to the university is always flooded with students to and fro Festival Walk like a busy ant line. The middle door is cursed that no one should pass it through unless he or she deserves a GPA less than three.
Getting into the classroom, I puff away a completely office-like breath of air. I have long waited to know somebody as there is only one required tutorial for each course in alternative weeks. It is very usual to make friends by asking others' interests and pastimes at the first time to meet. Sometimes I find it ridiculous to talk with those Hong Kong boys and girls because they are either insufferable vases or know-it-alls. The fact is that even so they still pretend themselves to be intellectuals with heart and soul. For me, come off it -- it is a bit much. I am sorry that my surrounding is a noble castle, and the respectable ladies I get along with have good titles from duchess to baroness.
But most of the time I treasure the slices of joyous times sharing with old friends, teaching pupils English in Shek Kip Mei or in Tsuen Wan, working in the library until its closure at midnight. The twinkling is the home away from home. Karry is the person who is my foul-weather friend and whom I can meet so often. She said to me that I have cared too much about others' feelings, concerned too much about loss. With all these concentrations I should now say goodbye to the things I cannot change and the rude friends I cannot put up with; I should rest my head in the clouds and think of a brave new life. For now, I have more in sorrow than in anger. I believe that there will be sunshine after rain indeed, although thunders and storms are regular meteorology.
Already decided to focus on "international relations" and "the modern China" next year, I have met some scholars of goodwill in my programme, including experienced officials in the United Nations. I hope that one day I can become a member of the team to help enhance peace and push ahead international cooperation in the insecure twenty-first century. For fun, I have consulted a fortune teller in Temple Street. What she has told me was that I am most suitable for some governmental work, representing the state and the like. That has always been my answer for the long-winded question "What do you want to be?" since my primary school years. It reminds me of Aditi Dubey's words when I was in depression, "Gary, you are meant to achieve great things -- just hang in there." |