4 posts tagged with "Philosophy"

I developed a cough, a sticky, persistent kind of cough that just wouldn't let go. It wasn't anything serious, just the kind where you're about to make a witty remark, and it jumps in with a "cough, cough," making the atmosphere feel like the minute before a memorial service; or in the dead of night, just as a spark of insight about the origin of the universe flashes in your mind, it lets out a couple of "hacks," shattering that spark like a clumsy waiter dropping a platter of fine food. In short, it wasn't fatal, but it thoroughly spoiled the fun of life.

I went to see a doctor, a middle-aged man wearing thick glasses, his expression as solemn as if he had just presided over a failed philosophical debate. He listened to my lungs, looked at my throat, then said in a tone that permitted no doubt: "You need to smoke."

That sidewalk, it's kind of interesting. Right on that old street near my place, next to an old wall covered in greasy ivy. At first, nobody paid it any mind. People just hugged the wall or walked on the curb, tiptoeing around bikes. Later, some busybody measured it and announced, "Hey, this thing's only ten centimeters wide." Ten centimeters, comrades, what does that even mean? It means my size 42 worn-out leather shoes, the ones I've worn for years until the soles are almost gone, couldn't even fit sideways. Placed vertically, you'd have to twist your ankle at a bizarre angle.

Captain Li is dead. His body was not found, only the endless, rolling, gray sea remains.

This is the 173rd day of the ocean-going fishing vessel "Asmodeus" at sea. According to the original route, in another half month, they should have returned, back to the solid labyrinth built of reinforced concrete and neon lights. But now, everything is unknown. Or rather, everything points to another, deeper, colder, labyrinth with no exit.

I woke up one morning and realized that breakfast was disappearing.

It's not that the refrigerator was empty, or that the cafes were closed. Rather, people's concept of "breakfast" is becoming increasingly indifferent. Or, increasingly "liquid."