Shopaholic!

Recently, I’ve been reading a book talking about shopaholic. Reading it makes me think of one of my friends, because that is exactly what she is: a completely shopaholic.

She was my senior high school friend. Back at that time, when we were only seventeen, eighteen years old and didn’t have a part-time job to earn money, so everything we spend was our pocket money given by parents. Generally speaking, parents wouldn’t give too much money in case of making children spend money lavishly. A shopaholic certainly should have lots of money to spend. So what my friend did, she figured out some ways to “earn” more pocket money. She would go school without having breakfast, and what’s more, she didn’t order the lunch, for the sake of saving 800 dollars a month. I remember once she told me that these costs on food are unnecessary for her; only those famous brand clothes, shoes, and bags are something really matters to her. Well, even though she said it’s “unnecessary” to eat, it still cannot change the fact that human beings do need food to maintain life and growth. My classmates and I were all worried about her. We were afraid that she might faint in rest room without being noticed or somewhere dangerous in any minutes. As the matter of fact, she did pass out several times on our school’s flag-raising ceremony. No matter what we said, we couldn’t persuade her out of this insane saving-money business. Day after day, she looked paler and paler, but she wouldn’t give up. She told me even though there were many times that she just couldn’t bear it any longer and wanted to quit all these stupid actions of making more pocket money. However, when she saw those pretty bags or shoes are all waving at her in the department store, she became strong-minded again and tried harder in order to get the thing that she wanted as soon as possible. I’m not being exaggerated. When she finally obtained her very “necessaries” and showed them to us, I had a weird feeling that she had come alive after the long suffering of malnutrition. It was like these products gave her the “fuel” that she needed.

I don’t know whether she still make her every effort to buy things or not. I just hope that she won’t do anything illegal or improper to get the money to purchase these high-class merchandises in the future. There are many things more valuable than those luxuries in our life, and we should consider what the most important thing is.

Good Film!

On Sunday, I went to see the movie “Lust,Caution” with my friends. I had read the original novel a couple of months ago, so I was eager to see how Ang Lee will present this renowned work of Eileen Chang. I’ve heard a lot from the media before I watched it, and inevitably the focuses were these steamy sex scenes. Actually, many friends of mine who have seen it also discuss that stuff more than other messages that the director wants to give. It confused me, because I remember in the book there’s only one sentence mentioning about sex. Then I saw an interview of Ang Lee, and he explained how he interpreted this simple sentence in the book version. He considered that by showing these three scenes can the audiences feel the great tension and love between two characters. At first, I doubted that these sex scenes were necessary. I think Ang Lee was just trying to make the film more controversial so that it can get people’s attentions. Well, it proved that I was totally wrong. Like many reviews and Ang Lee himself have said, three sex scenes make us, the audiences, uncover the masks of the characters and see their inner hearts. Those scenes didn’t have any amorous factors in; all I can feel was their agony in their relationship. And this agony was so strong that you almost felt like you were them at that time. When I walked out of the theatre, I cannot say anything to my friends. I was still in the movie and couldn’t let go of those emotions shown in the film. Couldn’t help but admiring Ang Lee’s talented skill at making excellent films. I also wanted to give applause for the hard-working actors. Without their courage, we audiences might not have the chance to fully feel what it was like in that situation. I’m glad that I have also read the book. I think whether book or the movie, they’re all excellent works for us to feast on.

Lies are lies

Sometimes it is hard not to lie; I mean people will have to make white lies in order not to hurt others' feelings if needed. But is it really the best policy to do such things? A white lie it's usually out from good intentions, and it’s not supposed to do any harm; well, at least, that's what we think. For example, when one totally hates his or her friend’s new haircut, but when being asked “What do you think of my hair?” they would say “It looks terrific!” obviously, they don’t want to let friends down. This situation is quite common around people; we hardly tell how we feel exactly. So what is the consequence? You become sort of a hypocrite.

I used to make white lies for the sake of making everybody happy, but by doing this more and more, I was kind of afraid to say anything. For one thing, I really want to speak from my heart instead of saying things that I don’t mean. Although I didn’t hurt any of my friends, I hurt myself in the whole acting scenes. Many people would say that telling a white lie is not that serious; after all, it is with good intentions. Well, I don’t feel as they do. White lies are still lies, aren’t they? I don’t think there is any difference between “lies” and “white lies” these days. Because once you lied it, you’ll have to make more lies and keep on lying. So what is the difference? You may think you’re not hurting anybody’s feelings, but day by day, you’ll find out you’re harming both your friends and you.

Now I try my best to say what I really want to say, though others may think sometime it’s inappropriate to be that honest. However, I’d say, honesty is always the best policy.

End Up Like This

What is marriage? Perhaps I am too young to answer this question; yet I think most of us have heard the marriage vows in several movies. Haven’t those happily newlyweds always said this on their wedding day? “To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part.” I thought that most of the couples do keep this promise until death tears them apart, but it seems that some people tend to break this vow easily. It is sad to see this news on TV-a man “abandons” his wife because she has been a vegetable for three years after she had a serious disease. We, the audiences and strangers, probably don’t know the actual facts of their divorce. But it seems that this husband have a love affair, and wants to marry that mistress. The only way he can remarry is to divorce with his ill wife. What a good reason to end up a marriage in this way! The neighbours live around this couple said that the wife does an excellent job when she was still healthy; she acted like a typical nice wife. So after many years of dedication, what did she get? A divorce certificate is the only thing she’s got. Oh, and plus a million dollars to support her in future years. I highly doubted that a million can really take good care of her. Just think about all the expenses that she is going to spend for her treatment, a million dollars definitely cannot do much help. How can this husband think that this is good enough for his wife? I feel so sorry for this poor woman, dedicating probably almost half of her lifetime to her family, and now she’s got really bad health, but no one is there by her side to give her support. Aren’t there always miracles of vegetables come to life again? I totally couldn’t understand why her husband gave up on her so soon, she has been a vegetable for only three years, it’s like he had already announced her death. We are not this husband, so we can’t realize that why he would do this. Maybe he really has some private reasons for this behaviour; the thing is: he puts me into a deep thought of marriage. No one wants to be treated in this way, I’m sure of it. So we all have to think twice before we said “I do.” We should ask ourselves, “Can I really love and cherish my better half no matter what happens in the future?”