一直很喜欢这个故事，终于有机会找了来，转载在自己的space上面。本想做些评论，后来还是放弃了。一来想到的太多，恐难一一详尽。二来一个没有评论的故事就如同一部没有结局的电影，耐人寻味。毕竟有些事情是只可意会，不可言传的，而这样的故事才是好故事。

 

     在墨西哥海岸边，有一个美国人坐在一个小渔村的码头上， 看着一个墨西哥渔夫划着一艘小船靠岸。小船上有好几尾大黄鳍鲔鱼。这个美国商人对墨西哥渔夫能抓这么高档的鱼恭维了一番，还问要多少时间才能抓这么多？　

     渔夫说，才一会儿功夫就抓到了。美国人再问，你为什么不等久一点多抓一些鱼？渔夫觉得不以为然，“这些鱼已经足够我一家人的生活所需啦！”美国人又问：“那么你天天剩下那么多时间都在干什么？”　　　

     墨西哥渔夫解释：“我呀？我每天睡到自然醒，出海抓几条鱼，回来后跟孩子们玩一玩，再跟老婆睡个午觉，黄昏时就到村子里喝点酒，跟哥儿们玩玩吉他，我的日子可过得充实又忙碌呢！”　

     美国人不以为然，帮他出主意，他说：“我是美国哈佛大学企业硕士，我倒是可以帮你忙！你应该每天多花一些时间去抓鱼，到时候你就有钱再买一个大一点的船。自然你就可以抓更多的鱼，买更多的渔船。然后你就可以拥有一个渔船队。到时候你就不必把鱼卖给鱼贩子，而是直接卖给加工厂。然后你可以开一个罐头工厂。如此你就可以控制生产、加工和销售。然后你可以离开这个小渔村，搬到墨西哥城，再搬到洛杉矶，最后到纽约。在那里经营你不断扩充的企业。”　　

     渔夫问：“这要花多少时间？”

　 “15到20年。”美国人回答。

　　渔夫问：“然后呢？”

　　美国人大笑着说：“然后你就可以在家当皇帝啦！时机一到，你就可以宣布股票上市，把你的公司股份卖给投资者，到那时候你就发啦！你可以几亿几亿地赚！”

　　渔夫问：“然后呢？”

　　美国人说：“到那个时候你就可以退休啦！你可以搬到海边的小渔村去住。每天睡到自然醒，出海随便抓几条鱼，跟孩子们玩一玩，再跟老婆睡个午觉，黄昏时，再到村子里喝点小酒，跟哥们儿玩玩吉他！”

　　渔夫回答：“可是这些我现在已经做到了。”

    

     空下来看了看以前写的文字，以前的照片，回忆起所有的点点滴滴，不禁感概，时光飞逝。看看自己现在的状态，有点已不复当年之勇的感觉。也知道自己还年轻地很，可是心态却渐渐老了。回看两三年前的文章，感觉现在的自己可能已经写不出来了；回想更年轻时的那些经历，恐怕现在的自己已经没有当年的勇气和魄力。时间真是一件奇怪的东西，它让你在不知不觉中给了你很多你想要的，又毫不留情地夺走了原本许多属于你的东西，而你却无能为力。

 

     人的一生是由许多看似不相联系的点组成的，只有当你回头看时，才会发现那些点与点之间的关联，才能明白为什么我成为了今天的我。于是，人无法去预见时间的推移，能做的只有尽全力活好现在，然后让自己在未来的某一时刻叹息时光的流逝，就像我现在做的这样。

 

     逐渐意识到，人有朝一日是要死的，还从来没有人逃脱过。于是才慢慢想开了许多事情，并不是说之前就想不开，只是终究有许多的顾虑、紧张、害怕等等。而每每想到死亡，所有的这一切就都不复存在了。所以我开始提醒自己，你还有大约50年可以活，该干嘛就赶紧去干吧。

     有时候精心准备的一件事情却会被机缘巧合完全打乱。经过无数次的挣扎，绞尽脑汁的思考之后，决定要捡起久违了的心理学，学习心理教练的课程。好不容易搜集了资料，确定了学习计划，上网并找到了悉尼大学的申请网页。可是却发现，因为我还没有拿到PR，所以仍然只能算留学生；因为是留学生，所以只能申请全日制课程（Full-time）；因为只有Full-time，所以要读只有停工。原来的计划是半工半读，这样既不防碍赚钱，也能逐渐转型。现在姑且不论要多交学费（留学生的学费比当地学生多50％左右），即便申请获得通过，也要全脱产去读，代价大了太多太多——看来只能等PR下来再申请了。

 

     已经定好了12月初回国的机票，会在上海呆到月底。本想明年2月回来过年，因为翔的婚礼，所以提前。还有不到两个月的时间，开始计划要见的人，要去的地方，要做的事。结论是：太多了。不知道这次回家又会有哪些不一样的感觉，即便是同样的人，同样的地点，物是人非，恐怕感觉也一定不同了。曾经的好友不知还能不能对酒当歌，曾经的校园是否已经面貌全非，这些都等着我去发现。期待中。。。

I watched Steve Jobs' speech on the graduation ceremony at Stanford Uni in 2005 on Youtube last night. It's one of the most encouraging speech I have ever listened to. So here it is for everyone who is viewing my blog. I hope you find it just as inspiring as I did.

 

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

 

 

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

 

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

 

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

 

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

 

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

 

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

 

 

 

I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

 

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

 

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

 

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

 

 

 

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

 

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

 

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

 

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

 

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

 

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

 

 

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notion.

 

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

 

 

Thank you all very much.

    

     看完中国男篮和约旦队的比赛，心里有点堵。虽然比赛是赢了，但是赢得相当难看。场上队员很少有象样的配合，大多靠单打，还有就是传统的站桩式的传球和投篮。幸亏对手的内线太弱，加上三分球乱投，还有裁判的帮忙，我们最后才赢了六分。对方的外援一个人就几乎把中国队的整条后卫线打暴，两人被罚下，还好篮球比赛里没有被出示红牌下场自动停赛的规定，要不然下场中国队就只能让易建联去当后卫了。我要是约旦队主教练，下次肯定多买几个外援，买两个前锋加一个后卫，肯定拿个亚洲冠军。

 

     小时候看男篮的时候还能看到很多配合，球员不断地移动，掩护，转移球，最后上篮或者投篮得分（那时候比较少扣篮），感觉风格很鲜明：快速灵巧的团队篮球。可后来因为有了几个内线的高大球员，于是开始转变战术，形成了一个人打，四个人看的新战术体系。每次我听篮球队教练接受采访说：“最近我们围绕姚明演练的战术效果不错”，我的眼球就浮现出姚明一个人拿球，被对方三个内线包夹，然后其它四个中国球员恨不得每人拿把椅子，坐在场边一边嗑瓜子，一边和拉拉队女郎聊天的情景。

 

     篮球毕竟还是要靠配合的，除非你队里有十二个科比。

 

    

     刚刚看完全运会足球决赛，上海队三球战胜广东队。一群二十岁不到的小朋友们踢得不错，可以的！根宝是只模子！广东队比较可惜，几个队员的技术不错，但是没有发挥出来，但是整体感觉比北方那种只靠身体，长传冲吊的打法要先进很多。踢球毕竟还是要靠脚底下技术的！

 

　　有几点感觉有点无聊。首先，裁判的水平实在不怎么样，本来应该是场势均力敌的决赛，因为上半场十分钟的一张红牌，变成了一边倒。即便是很严重的犯规，也没有必要这样大刑伺候。其实广东队踢得不错，只是少了一个人，又碰上雨天和这种场地，实在没有太多的办法。还有，据说这名裁判在足球圈内是以误判出名的，不知道为什么这么重要的决赛找这种人来。

 

　　其次，我看的是广东电视台的转播，主持人对于比赛的倾向性实在太过明显。反正每次广东队被判犯规，一定大骂裁判。然后从广东队被罚下一人开始，就找各种各样的理由为可能的失败开脱，到后来上海队进了第三个球，才没了声音。我看的时候就在想，假如裁判没有出示红牌，广东队两球领先，还不知道要被他们吹成什么样子。胜败乃兵家常事，何况广东在联赛中本来就赢过上海，这次输一次，没有什么可大惊小怪的，下次再争取赢回来不就行了？球赛的一边倒已经让人感到有点无聊，解说的一边倒就更倒观众胃口了，当然，可能广东人还是觉得很满意，脚底下输了，嘴巴上没输。

 

　　

 

     很久没写了，上来汇报一下自己的近况。

 

     继续卖车，只是从新车转到了旧车部，工作稍微轻松了一些，也学到了点不一样的东西，很有锻炼价值。要买旧车的朋友给我打电话。

 

     继续等签证，还是了无音讯，看来等上一年是起码的了。网上查查，朋友问问，好像大家都在等，真不知道究竟是哪些人拿到了。

 

     继续享受寂寞，向往着拿到PR以后的生活，决定要回国看看，想念所有远在上海的朋友们。

 

     最后，悼念死去的Michael Jackson。The King of Pop, may you rest in peace...

When i look back at what i have done in last couple of years, i realized i had made a mistake. I have never focused on the real life. Instead, i have spent too much time regretting the errors i made before, refreshing the success in the past, and anticipating the unpredictable future. By doing that, i have neglected most of the things happening NOW.

 

If you want to do something, do it now. Don't put it off until one day you find yourself unable to do it any more. I have done exactly the opposite in the last few years. I have been waiting so long for every answer in my life: career, migration, even relationship. I need to stop it.

 

It is time to go back to reality... 

     生命的意义究竟是什么，我一直还在领悟当中，是为了事业的成功，亲人的快乐，还是别的什么？

 

     舅妈的父亲晚上睡觉时突然脑梗塞，至今仍然昏迷不醒。据说老爷子虽然已经年近九旬，但身体一直很硬朗，谁也没有料都有这一下。舅妈下周就要赶回去，只是不知道老爷子还能不能缓过来再和女儿说两句话。。。

 

     每每此时我都不禁重新审视自己对于人生的认识。看看周围的人，大多都在忙碌地为了金钱、名誉、地位打拼，不由地要问，这一些是否真的值得？是不是因为别人在做这些事，于是我们也必须这么去做？那些真正有了钱，有了地位和身份的人，也许他们当中的许多人也许更喜欢平静和惬意的生活，而不是每天忙碌于写字楼，谈判桌之间，只是他们已经进去了，便很难再退出来。而周围围观的人只知其然，于是拼命想往里面冲，如此周而复始。

 

     或许我们根本就没有问过自己，我的人生究竟想怎么过，或者问过，却还没找到答案。人生苦短，就这几十年，除去20岁之前接受教育，60岁退休以后的时间，也不过就三四十年吧。当你躺在病床上，无法再次睁开双眼看看这个世界时，你是否能在冥冥之中告诉自己，我这辈子还活得不错？

 

     现在就考虑这个问题也许太早，但当我发觉自己已经走完了人生的三分之一，却还没有寻找到那个属于我的答案的时候，我还是有点紧张。当我的那天到来时，我又会对自己的一生作出怎样的评价？

 

     愿老爷子尽快醒来。。。

Couple of things i have learned since selling cars:

 

1. All buyers are liars, no matter how honest they look or talk like.

When someone tells you "I will come back after lunch", what he really means is that he will come back to buy the same car from another dealership after finishing the meal. Or if someone says to you on the phone "I think I have to put off my purchase plan for couple of months", you should realize he has already bought a car somewhere else. In a word, don't trust any buyer until he signs the deal.

 

2. Don't get upset with the dickheads you have met. Always move on and focus on the next one.

This is not a perfect world, which means there are plenty of weirdos and dickheads on this planet. If you are bothered by everyone of them, you won't survive at all. So you have to focus on the good part and try to calm yourself down before the next customer (or dick) comes in. After all, your job is only part of your life. So don't get too stressed and forget to enjoy the good times with your friends and family. If necessary, you should just ask him (or sometimes her) to f*** off!

 

3. Don't follow whatever your supervisor tells you to do. Always think before act.

Generally, managers are more experienced and smarter (not always) than you. However, after all they are just human beings like you and me who will make mistakes. You may have closed nine out of ten deals successfully by using their approach, but it doesn't mean you would have lost the deal if you didn't. Since every customer is different, technically you should use different methods to deal with them. So if you think you should handle the deal in a way different from your supervisor's, just do it and make sure you have disguised it well. Just in case.

     照理说自己是卖德国车的，不应该曝光德国车的问题，但是最近接二连三的质量问题不得不让我承认，德国车在质量上的确和日本车存在差距。舅舅的Passat已经修了不止一次，首先是Glove Box出问题，然后是Parking Sensor，现在是E-brake，更不要提时好时坏的Gearbox了。还好车比较新，还有Warranty，要不光修修这些就要两三千，还不知道有什么零部件会接着打烊，要是波箱有一天down了，那就正式high到了。车行的新车delivery也好不到哪里去，上周deliver的几辆车，没有一辆是不用回来的。一辆开出去没有五分钟，Navigation坏了；另一辆钥匙插槽不工作；还有一辆Passenger这边的Airbag标签居然也会掉下来——头痛。。。

 

     曾几何时，德国车，特别是奔驰，被誉为世界上质量最可靠的汽车，特别是S-class，可谓金刚铁骨。可是现在看看主要的三大德国品牌，奔驰、宝马、奥迪，没有一家能在质量上超过日本车。作为日本车的代表，凌志（不知道为什么要把中译名改成雷克萨斯，SB！）长期占领质量排行榜第一把交椅，其旗下所有车型都在前十名以内，LS更是霸占冠军宝座长达10年之久。即便是日本的二线品牌，本田、丰田（凌志是丰田旗下，但不是一家厂做的）、甚至尼桑和马自达，总的质量水平还是要比大多数德国车要高。

 

     我一直想不明白，为什么会发生这样的变化。一种解释是德国厂商把大量零部件外包给其他国家生产，仅在德国境内进行组装，有些车型甚至根本就不是德国原产，比如宝马320就产于南非。而日本车的零部件还大多由本国企业生产，所以质量比较容易监控。另一种说法是，德国车在新科技的运用上走在日本之前，但是新的技术总没有老技术成熟，总需要不断地改进，所以稳定性就相对较差。日本车运用新技术比德国车要晚，所以比较可靠。

 

     我觉得这两种说法都有牵强的地方。如果说外包零部件是为了降低成本，牺牲质量，与日本车竞争，我可以理解，可是德国车再怎么降低成本，价格还是要比日本车高，而人家的质量还比你好。至于关于技术更新的说法就更莫名了，不成熟为什么还要运用到辆产上？不会学学日本人等成熟了再投入生产吗？就我看，关键还是态度的问题，舅舅以前是卖凌志的，曾经去过日本的凌志总部参观，按照他的说法，人家的工人天天是跑着上班的，你的眼睛都跟不上他们组装的速度，而每一道工序都有严格的质量把关。在凌志，光车身上漆就要经过十一道工序，这是所有其他车厂无法相比的。凌志的口号是The endless pursuit of perfection，他们的确就是这样做的，每次他说到这段经历，都会感叹日本产业工人的敬业精神。这也许才是凌志质量遥遥领先于其他品牌的秘密。

 

     我没有去过德国，不知道德国的产业工人有没有同样的敬业精神，但是从他们工会规定每天中午工厂必须提供工人一扎啤酒来看，我很难想象他们的工作质量能超过日本人，这可能才是质量问题的关键。当你把一件事情当成自己生命中很重要的事来做，再难你也会想方设法去做好，这可能也是丰田能在近十年内迅速崛起，成为世界汽车制造工业销量和利润第一的最主要原因吧。但是你知道吗？当第一批丰田汽车出口到美国的时候，它们甚至都不能通过当地的质量检测。只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针，绝对有道理。

 

     那么还要不要买德国车呢？个人认为，仅作日常驾驶之用，还是选日本车吧，毕竟每几个月去车行报道一次不是什么愉快的经历。真的要下血本买车了（十万澳元以上），高性能的德国车还是可以考虑的，如RS4，M3等，毕竟在车辆的操控性上，德国车还是有不可争辩的优势的。不过千万买新车，或者有Warranty的，just in case 。。。

     新年过到现在感觉不怎么样。车行的生意不算差，可是别人都已经接近或者超过十了，自己还只有五，这个月的指标是十二，最后两周可能会有所突破，但是完成指标看来够呛。生活依然比较枯燥，没有什么变化，重复地上下班，重复地做着同样的事情，没有任何激情，这也在一定程度上影响了工作的积极性。几乎没有什么好消息，移民依然遥遥无期，自己也依然没有想明白今后的方向，看来想是想不明白了。

 

     于是开始审视自己对于生活，对于工作的态度。其实两者本不应该区分得这么开，工作本来就是生活的一部分，没有了工作的生活一定会更加枯燥。但是大多数的人都不能做自己想做的工作，或者说想做的事情大多都不能成为工作，这才形成了工作归工作，生活归生活的概念。一直以为最幸福的事情就是能做自己喜欢做的事情，并以此作为自己的职业，每天都能干劲十足地做下去。可现在的感觉是，几乎每样工作做长了都会变得枯燥，无一例外。人的适应性太强，以至于再有趣的工作做久了都不再显得趣味十足。从这一点来说，人应该不断地接受新的事物，做新的事情，找新的恋人（只是推断，不是个人喜好）。

 

     再有就是越来越觉得生活是没有办法被计划的。想好的计划总会由于这样或者那样的原因被打破，于是又必须从头来过。就像上周的一个客人，本来都说好了第二天来试驾A3，结果第二天早上莫名其妙去买了辆Land Rover，两辆车之间没有任何相似性，所作出的决定完全没有逻辑可循，可是人家就是买了油耗超过20，开起来像拖拉机的Land Rover，而经济，省油，高效的A3连试都没试。妈的~~~Sorry。所以真的就像以前一位前辈说的那样，大方向不要错，多学，多看，多想，机会来了的时候抓住也就行了。宽且我的定力本身就不怎么样，又不清楚今后的确切方向，也只能如此了。

 

     另：感谢ZY的鞋子，还有许多朋友的关心，给大家拜个早年，祝大家新春愉快！今年我就不回来过年了，要请我吃饭的把钱存着等我回来，要booking的现在就可以开始预订，哈哈！！！

     转眼又是一年。昨天是2008年的最后一天，有幸有做成了一笔买卖，购车的是一名不满22岁的中国留学生，在这里一边读书，一边做生意。这样的年纪就能买6万的豪华车，即便是贷款，也让人有点后生可畏的感觉。

 

     不知不觉中又大了一岁，到了25，就往30去了。时光以不可思议的速度向前行驶，我不得不时刻提醒自己，不要总沉浸在回忆之中，而忘记了现实的残酷。该是改变一下的时候了。

 

     还在等待移民局的审批，还在等待看清方向的那一刻，还在等待生活中不同寻常，转瞬即逝的精彩。。。与其说是等待，还不如说是希望，当然，这也要靠自己的努力。新的一年要加油了！

 

     向各位亲朋好友道一声新年好！各位在过去的一年里都不容易，祝愿大家在新的一年里平平安安，生活幸福！

    

     连续几夜都做梦，一个接着一个，梦中从前的朋友，恋人一次次地出现，情节时而荒诞，时而又勾起无尽的回忆。睁开眼睛，才明白过来，那只是梦，而我活在了现在。

 

     看来人真的不前进就会倒退。要么忙着往前走，要么回忆就会把你一次又一次带回从前，让你不想举步向前。醒来的感觉非常复杂，很想再比上眼睛，回到从前，即便梦里的故事再千奇百怪，却也总能看到故乡的朋友们，和他们说说话。可却又无法摆脱现实的束缚，现实是我在这里，把所有的回忆留在了海的那头。

 

     早就知道，世界上不存在完美，生命中得到一些，就必定会失去一些，永远也不可能拥有一切，可总还是不死心，脑中不断寻求解决的办法，于是便有了梦中的朋友们和醒来时的惆怅。

 

     我想，我是开始想念故乡的朋友们了。。。

     看车已经有了一段时间，不同的车型，价位，不断地调整预算。在过去两个月里，几乎每天都要花上点时间在网上搜索不同的车型，心理也随着这辆车的卖出，或者新车的涌现而起起伏伏。从最先的MINI，到后来的RX-8，再到差一点就买成的350GT，最终现在又回到了最初设想的IS200，回想起来，还真有些跌宕。要买MINI的时候，妈妈说，这个车样子不好，买大一点的；后来找RX-8的时候，同事说不要买，因为以前他开过同样的转制发动机，油耗很大；之后想去看350GT，舅舅又说这个车是私人进口的，万一有问题没办法修，以后也很难卖出去，所以转了一圈还是什么也没有买。

 

     我开始慢慢意识到，假如把所有人的意见都考虑进去，我应该买一辆既美观又实用，既省油又有动力，既可靠又维修费便宜的车，而这车还得要在2万预算以内。如果真有一辆这样的车，估计是轮不到我买的。想想世界上那些著名的车型，也都无法兼顾所有这些，那又何款普通的民用车呢？其实完美的车是不存在的，开得快，油耗就必然会大；科技含量高，质量就必定会打折扣，所有的这些都是相对的，就如同盲人通常听力都很好一样。而我在寻找的实际上是一辆不存在的车。

 

     我卖车的时候，许多客人都会问我一个同样的问题：What's your best price？每次我都会这么去回答：Mr customer, there is no such thing called "best price". There is always a better price out there if you are willing to wait. If you can buy a car for the price you want, i reckon that is the best deal for you, isn't it? 看来说给别人听总比自己去做要容易，等到自己要买车的时候，却是瞻前顾后，徘徊不定。

 

     还是我九岁的表妹说得好。那天她问我，为什么不买MINI了，我说，大家都不喜欢，都说这车不好。她问我，那你觉得呢？ 我说，我觉得还不错，样子很漂亮，操控又好。她不解地看着我说，那不就行了？既然你喜欢，就买咯，本来就是你买车嘛，又不是他们，说不定他们错了呢？我支持你。她蹦蹦跳跳地走开了，我的耳边却一直回响着她的话。是啊，有时候事情真的是被我们自己搞复杂了，一个九岁小孩子都懂的道理，换作大人的我却忘记了。

 

     在汽车销售界里流行着一句话：Always love the one you are with now. 意思是永远关注你现在的客人，不要吃着碗里的，想着锅里的，到头来很有可能一辆车也卖不掉。生活中人们总在等下一个，总觉得下一次会更好些：购物、投资、甚至爱情。可是我们也许在不知不觉中已经走过了整片森林，回过头来才发现自己错过了那棵最高的树。幸好我还在树林里，所以要抓紧了。

      妈妈上周末回国了，她来澳洲的这段时间，自己也混得比较厉害，所谓借东风也就指的是这个吧。从上个月到现在，整个经济形势急转直下，市场萧条，再加上政府很“及时”地提高了豪华车裞，买车的人少之又少，这个月已经过去一半了，整个车行才卖掉不到十辆新车，实在是惨淡。随着车市的低落，整个人都感觉提不起精神来，每天混混沌沌的，不知所为。

 

     还是没有想明白究竟应该干什么，是再去读点书，还是找business的机会，还需要时间去梳理，可耳边妈妈催促的声音已经不绝于耳。老人家总是比较唠叨，自己也可以理解，再加上被共产党教育了一辈子了，说点大道理也是正常的。有好处也有坏处：好处就是有个人提醒一下总归是件好事，迫使自己不断地去想，去做；当然坏处就是一个“烦”字。

 

     生活的其他方面也要跟进，不愿意就这么工作、休息、吃饭、睡觉，于是时间就慢慢过去了，心想总得干点什么。生活当中少了点激情，少了点意外，太多的常规，太多的按部就班。该是要改变一下的时候了，要不然就快早衰了。

    

     W12 加长版在车行里面放了有两年半，上个周末居然被我这个新手给卖掉了，为此老板特地奖励了$3000佣金。今天客人顺利把车提走了，一切告一段落，还有些悬着的心也落了下来。

 

     买车的是一位将近七十的老人，自己就开A8 4.2加长版，一直喜欢大车，一进车行就看中了展厅里这辆最大的W12。他是一家制造一次性纸杯和包装纸公司的老总，已经退休五年了，他对我说，我之所以在你这里买了这辆车，一方面是因为车好，另一方面是因为你不像其他的销售人员，一进门就“热情”介绍，给了我一定的空间，给我时间考虑，我觉得跟你买车很舒服。的确，我给了他充分的时间去考虑，而且并没有一个劲地打电话催问，这是能促成这笔生意最大的因素。

 

     今天去他家接他。他住在Dural，自己买了块地，盖起了别墅，一看就是身价过千万以上。一路上我和他闲聊天，他告诉我他小时候没读过什么书，就是喜欢做手工艺品，于是没事就自己琢磨做点什么，后来成年了以后给别人工厂打了几年工，熟悉了业务以后自己开了自己的制作公司，越做越大，才有了今天的成功。他说：“我觉得成功要有几点：健康的身体，诚实的品格，这两点都是最基本的，而在这之上就是对于某一行业的执著和热情。一个人只有真正喜欢他做的事情，他才有可能成功，所以要发现你的兴趣在哪里，然后坚持钻研下去，一定会成功。”

 

     老人语速不快，说得也很平和，但是很认真，流露出真诚的眼神。看得出来，他已经完全信任了我，已经不再只把我看成一个卖给他车的销售人员，而是一个晚辈，一个朋友。最后他走的时候，他给了我两个词作为对我今后的建议：Integrity and Fairness。一个是对于做人，另一个是对于Business。

 

     下个月是老人的70周岁生日，我准备到时候送他一份生日礼物，感谢他给了我这个deal，也更要感谢他能给我最真诚的人生告诫，愿他一切安好。。。

     周二去参加了Audi Quattro Drive Day的活动，在Eastern Creek感受了一把赛车的感觉。之前的活动主要在于演示车辆当中各种安全系统的工作状态，如ESP，ABS和TC等等。通过不同的测试体会车辆安全系统的可靠，无论是在湿滑的路面，还是高速转向，车辆的安全系统都能有效地防止策划，自动纠正方向，所以如果出了事故，一般来说都应该是人为责任，所以哪位万一出了事情，请不要怪车的安全性不好，当今大多数车的安全性已经达到了一定的水平，足可以应付日常的驾驶，关键还是自身的驾驶技术以及安全意识。

 

     当然，当天最刺激的还是最后坐在由V8房车赛专业赛车手驾驶的RS4，巡游整个赛道。说是巡游，其实就是做单圈成绩了。以前开过RS4，也大致了解所有车况，可是直到真正坐上专业车手的车，才明白什么叫速度。所有的弯角都被精确把握，刹车点如果慢个半秒就直接上墙了。许多弯角的过弯速度就在最大弯速之下一点，油门稍大一点就可能车毁人亡。可人家就能把整个速度控制得这么精确，以最大的速度过完所有弯角，最终冲线，的确不一样。什么叫专业，什么叫速度，这就叫专业，这就叫速度。相比起专业赛车，RS4的弯中G力最多也就2G左右，可是即使那样，整个人，特别是颈部，已经感觉非常不适，可以想象专业车手坐在速度更快的专业赛车中，在赛道上开上一个半小时，身体要承受多大的负荷，看来那些F1车手拿那点薪水并不多啊。

 

     当然咯，还有一点感触就是：RS4的确是好车，在专业车手的手中，这样的车才能发挥出最大的潜力。看来以后有机会也要去上些驾驶的培训，毕竟就如同专业车手所说，70%的技术都是可以练出来的，所有的人都一样，只是你有没有时间，另外又没有钱而已。

     一眨眼的功夫，已经来澳洲两年了，不知不觉已经毕业。感觉好快啊，上次毕业还在眼前，九月份又要毕业典礼了。好在已经开始工作，不用再为找工作东奔西走。

 

     如今的毕业已经不比从前。小学，初中，高中毕业的时候都很开心，虽然升学考试有好有差，但是总归有两个多月的暑假可以享受，所有的疲倦和压力都可以甩到一边，以后的事情以后再考虑，至少有一整个夏天可以挥霍。大学毕业也玩了有一阵，看完了世界杯才来到了澳洲。可现在，当我不得不用录像机录下凌晨直播的欧锦赛，隔天晚上看新闻的时候，我才意识到，年少的时光已经离我渐渐远去，彻夜看球的生活也可能再也不会重现了，心中不免有些伤感。

 

     每次得到一些东西的同时，总会失去一些，只是用这样去换那样罢了。已经记不清有多久没有到球场去打球，记不清上次周末看球是什么时候。生活必需继续，有些曾经重要的东西会渐渐变得不重要，而另一些则会占据越来越多的时间，大家都一样。

 

     总之，我毕业了。。。各位MQ的同仁也一路走好！