Adieu, Kartu L'Agenda

I have a fond memory of Kartu L'Agenda, the only French bookstore in Malaysia.

I still remember the days when I was in university, sometimes I would drop by this obscure little bookstore located near the Titiwangsa LRT station. At that time, the Monorail was still under construction.

Located in the second floor of a quiet business center, the bookstore actually belongs to the same organization that produced the Red Kebaya. During my university years, I found a haven in this small, elegant bookstore, browsing through the works of Voltaire or Prévert, or even the Dragonball comic books translated in French.

I bought my copy of Christian Jacq's Le petit Champollion illustré, a beginner's guide to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and a French translation of Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and other French books. Though not a frequent visitor, the bookstore is a part of my university years, I really can't imagine those years without it. The atmosphere has the homely feel, with those old Malay antiques and some dusty books on the shelves.

French books were and still are hard to come by in Malaysia, although Borders and Kinokuniya do carry a very small number of them, L'Agenda remains the only French bookstore here.

But Malaysians seldom read, even if they do, their reading materials are limited to school reference books or magazines like Mangga or Gempak. If the more serious books in English, Chinese or Malay are largely neglected, then who would bother to read French books. And, how many people can really read French here in Malaysia?

It is not surprising to hear L'Agenda is about to closedown soon. From 1st of July until 31st of August, L'Agenda is having stock clearance, and there is a 50% discount on all the books.

Yesterday after attending a workshop, I went to the bookstore with a colleague. The first thing we noticed when we reached the entrance of the bookstore is the "Promotion Spéciale" and "Clearance Sale- 50% for books- 30% for gallery items" signs.

Climbing the staircase to the bookstore is like a nostalgic trip back to the good old university days, where I would stay there for the whole afternoon on a Saturday, but this saturday would probably be the last time that I would step inside this building.

It is always a sad thing to hear that a bookstore is closing down, especially when the bookstore is the only one of its kind in this region.

I spent RM124 to buy several books there, here's the complete list of the books I bought:

Christiane Alberti et Marie-Jean Sauret, La psychanalyse

Henri Fauconnier, Malaisie

Herbert Wild, Dans les replis du dragon

Laurent Deshayes, Histoire du Tibet

Maurice Rat, Aide-Mémoire de Latin

Pierre Loti, Un pèlerin d'Angkor

I probably could not finish reading all of them, at least in the near future, but this would be the last time that I bought something from this little bookstore.

Merci pour tout, L'Agenda.

Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum

While browsing through the French version of Wkipedia today, I found the digitalized version of Alexandre de Rhodes' monumental work Dictionarium annamiticum seu tunquinense lusitanum et latinum on the website of Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal.

Based on the works of Gaspar de Amaral and Antonio Barbósa, the jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes' Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin dictionary is one of the first important works that uses the quốc ngữ writing system.

Học chữ nôm 學 喃

Chữ nôm resources are hard to come by on the internet, 學㗂越𠫾 is few of the websites that offer lessons on this ancient vietnamese writing system.

Although the website does not assume the reader knows Vietnamese or Chinese writing system, it is clear that anyone with the knowledge of both will definitely able to master chữ nôm in a relatively short period compares with those who do not.

It is a pity that this excellent website only offers upto 7 lessons, and the information on the advance level is still wanting.

The Write Chữ nôm Online is a useful tool for those who want to write the characters, just enter usual word in Vietnamese and you will have chữ nôm display for you.

This is indeed a good website, but I am not sure why the webmaster discontinues to update it. Since chữ nôm resources online is rather scarce, this website will still be an excellent learning material for learners.

Word of the day - kA

kA is an Egyptian word for bull, and should not be confused with the word kA , the "double spirit" that remains on earth.

As in many ancient Near Eastern cultures, bull in ancient Egyptian was the symbol of vigour and power, Horapollo in his Ιερογλυφικά (Hieroglyphica) stated that "To denote manliness combined with temperance, they (i.e. the Egyptians) delineate a BULL that has a vigorous constitution."

Since bull was the symbol of strength, the pharaohs were often refered to as kA nxt, or the fuller version , "victorious bull", "strong bull". Examples of Egyptian kings with the kA nxt element are Amenhotep II, Tutankhamen, Ramses II and other pharaohs.

An email from the History Channel

I received this email from A & E television Network:

“Hello from The History Channel! I came across your site and really love the content. http://migdalbavel.blogspot.com/2006/11/devils-trap.html is a great resource on the Solomon Key and the Da Vinci Code.

I wanted to let you know about an exciting event that you and your visitors might be interested in.

From now through August 29th, anyone who buys The Mystery of The Solomon Key DVD set from The History Channel will get Beyond The Da Vinci Code, FREE!”

Then, the person who sent me the email went on to ask me to purchase a copy of the DVD join their affiliate program.

Well, should I really join their affiliate program?

AX競賽紀事(三)

當我抵達那家夜的時候，裡面除了三兩個員工，幾乎是空無一人。一片空蕩冷清，和一般週日夜晚的熙攘擁擠真是天壤之別。

當時，我一個人孤寂地在冷清的酒廊旁坐着，失去了人潮的夜店，原來是如此孤寂。

不一會，另一個我熟悉的參賽者到來了，看來就只有我們兩個人孤單地在這裡。

“不如先去吃點東西吧，” 他建議說，“反正其他的參賽者也不會那麼早到吧。”

於是，我們便去附近的咖啡店吃晚餐去了。

“昨夜一整晚都沒有睡好，” 我的朋友說，怎麼所有的人都沒睡好呢﹖是太緊張了吧﹖

事實上，我兩個晚上都沒有睡好，還病了。賽事前一天還嘔吐來幾次，不過禍不單行，之後還有更令我難堪的事情。

“沒睡好，怕覺得累，所以來杯咖啡吧，” 我的朋友說。

我亦有同感，所以咖啡也是我的選擇，原本不想吃什麼，在朋友叫了碗河粉後我也飢腸轆轆了，儘管事先已經吃了點麵包，但是卻不足以果腹，因此還叫了碟糯米飯。

我們吃飽了之後回到現場，其他參賽者已經陸續到來了。

進行了最後一次彩排後，化妝師和美發師也都到來，我們魚貫進入後台，準備上妝和整髮型。

一切準備好了之後，我們各就各位，等待時間到了出場。

終於，在Enigma的音樂播放之後，是我們上場的時刻了。

我們身穿緊身上衣或背心和短褲，在臺上漫步，第一場貓步就這樣結束了。這場貓步裡我們的衣物需歸還給贊助商，然而贊助商卻很大方地贈送我們走臺步時所佩戴的飾物，而我佩戴的是寶劍形狀的項鏈。

第二場的走秀，說起來有點滑稽，我們這一組的完全不穿衣物，只身穿一件品牌內褲，頸項綁着蝴蝶領結，之前彩排的時候就有人笑說我們像兔男郎，只差沒有佩戴兔子耳朵而已。這家服飾廠商可說是馬來西亞有些名氣的內褲品牌吧，在北京和台北都設有分店。廠商贈送我們走秀用的內褲，而蝴蝶領結卻歸還給他們。

最後一場的走秀我們身穿粉紅色上衣和牛仔褲，進行最後一場臺步，之前在後臺的時候我還幾乎找不到自己的牛仔褲而顯得手忙腳亂。

到了最後宣佈成績的時候，我犯上了一個不能被寬恕的錯誤。當主持人宣佈入選的參賽者的時候，我竟然聽錯我的名字，走上臺前，而事實上我並沒有入選﹗

天，這是多麼丟人的事情，在這麼多人面前出醜是我身平第一次，那種心情也只有自己能知曉了。

賽事結束過後，我為先前的事情而憂悶不已，其他的參賽者﹑舉辦當局和贊助商代表人都紛紛來安慰我，讓我很是感動。

我想，這次比賽輸了，而且還當眾出醜，是畢生難忘的窘事，一直到現在我都還未能從這樣一件的事情康復起來。

不過，雖然我是輸了，至少能得到一個經驗，一個攙雜着酸甜苦辣的經驗。還有，因為這場賽事，也結識了一些朋友。

至少，參加這場賽事還不至於空手而歸吧。

AX競賽紀事(二)

下班後，到了眼鏡店取隱形眼鏡的時候已經過了六點了，不知道為什麼就是難以把鏡片塞在我的眼球上。如果不是店員相助，恐怕我大半天都不能戴上隱形眼鏡。

時間尚早，我在附近的餐廳吃了晚餐後，然後再去大眾書局看了一點書才乘搭巴士去指定的地點進行這個星期五的賽事彩排。

我算是早到了，不過還有三兩個參賽者卻比我更早抵達。當中有幾個熟悉的臉孔，除了當天攝影的時候結識的一些參賽者，還有的是原先就認識好幾年的朋友。陸陸續續，其餘的參賽者都到來了，儘管還有幾個缺席。

大部份的參賽者都蠻親切和健談的，和他們在一起感覺像是朋友相聚，大家互相嘻笑聊天，少了點競爭的味道，和網上那些惡毒的評語成了對比。

分派了組別之後，負責人為我們解釋賽事程序，有多少場秀﹑穿什麼服裝之類的，這個時候才發現竟然有泳裝的部份，只好亡羊補牢今晚開始杜絕宵夜。

過後，我們都練習着走貓步，可是我的步伐像是軍人操步，肩膀過於僵硬，所以在臺上也看起來很彆扭，希望我在賽事當天的儘量放鬆下來。

練習彩排了三個小時，大家都累了，準備回家然後明天才衝刺練習。

等計程車的時候，很幸運地遇到了一個蠻親切的印度大叔司機，便乘搭了他的計程車返家休息。在車上，和這個大叔胡扯了馬來西亞旅遊業的狀況，由於住家和彩排地點不會太遠，所以在十五分鐘之內就安然抵達了。

是很勞累的一天，希望明天的表現會更好，對自己說聲“加油﹗”