Am I Getting Weak Or Something Else?

I was riding my cycle to work as usual this morning. Just after going through the Limehouse overpass, the cyclist behind me called "Stop! Stop!". I stopped and looked at him with suspecion, who parked just after me.

"Your rear tire is flat, it is going to damage the rim". He pulled out the air pump and fixed the rear tire and then the front one. I don't know what to say, but kept saying thank you and thank you. We split and wished each other a marry Xmas.

Amazingly, the bike becomes so light that I can shift gear easily. I thought I was getting weak because going uphill or faster has been difficult to me recently. It turns out it is only because my tires are flat!

A Cow Riding a Motorcycle

Party in Mai's house. I ate too much food and got on the wrong-direction train twice on my way home.
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I am not able to shake off the cold since Sunday night. Maybe getting on the wrong train twice tramatised my immune system. There is one Chinese saying goes "Sickness comes like a mountain crumbles, it goes away like taking the thread out of cotton ball".

I hate being sick, it is really hard to concentrate and I feel very weak.

Power Corruption

It is very curious why some politicians would make stupid and emotional remarks in front of media. I don't think their voice coach teaches them to talk that way. Some explain it is because the enormous stress to be elected or re-elected.

As an average person, I really could not understand the pressure. No one is going to die if she/he fails to keep the seat! Obviously, politicians are so mentally ill that they cannot understand what is wrong to be aggressive, nasty and ill-mannered.

Another sad story about a Taiwanese woman in power. She had 2 kids without getting married and claimed she's got the spern from a donor. However, media found out that she had this 10-year relationship with her body guard, an indigenous person, who is the father of her two children. In Taiwan, the indigenous people are usually considered less-educated and tend to be in the bottom of the social classes. They were very in love and being her body guard seems to be the only way for them to be togother. They broke up soon after the news broke.

I think she is insane. Power and fame have damaged her brain.

Is it Genetic Or Something Else?

Very puzzled....

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During the dinner on Saturday night with anthropology professors from other European countries, one Japanese post doc mentioned the strange phenomena he observed in his field study in Taiwan, Taiwanese men are extremely nice to their girl friends, they even carry their handbags in a fear it is going to burden the girls. The other post doc thinks it is because Taiwanese men are raised to pursue only financial success thus fail to develope into an all-rounded person. If you ask them "what is your hobbie?" or "what is your opinion about this", you might be frustrated. On the opposite, Taiwanese girls have less baggage and are free to grow in many other interesting aspects. It is like the A class tennis player really does not want to play with a C class player. The C class player has to try harder to be in the game. The conclusion is that men would not seek for partners who are stronger and more sophisticated than they are.

I was really upset because I think how to feel good and confident cannot be measured by how much money you bring home. I don't understand why it would be difficult for a man to have a girl friend who are stronger mentally or financially. I can understand it could be related to power balance in a relationship, but says who men should always be the bread winner and always on top? A relationship should be more in a cooperative dynamics. If earning more money and always being on top is the only way for men to feel happy and assertive about himself, I am sorry, I think he has a probelm.

Rabbit and Vegetarian

On Saturday night, we all went to a Chinese restaurant after the seminar. I think one of the speakers is a vegetarian and he had two veg dishes. One grad student said he could not stand vegetarians jokingly and mentioned how much he wants to lock up a vegetarian and a rabbit in a room.

I asked "So they can fight for the carrots?".

Yokiko

I met Kim last night in Mai's house party. She is very outspoken and cheerful person. She told us that she had a Japanese name, Yokiko. Her Japanese friend gave her that name, which means "Snowwhite".

"Is it because your complexion is very delicate?" We asked. She replied "No, he thinks my brain must resemble a field white as snow.".

The Powerful Pause

I usually spend my Saturday afternoon in National Gallery, joining the 1-hour guide tour and going through 5 or 6 paintings. The guides are volunteers and seem to take their shift at random. They look like retirees who enjoy teaching.

Getting your idea across, receiving the echo/approvals/recognition and, thus, building up the bondings between strangers is great. It might be the only quick and clean way to feel belonged to a group or even own a group. We want to fit in so much that we teach, or be taught.

My favorite tour guide looks at his late 60s. He appears confident and perfectly passionate about histry and art. However, if you look at him in his eyes you'll find that he looks beyond you when talking. He talks with very confident pause in between sentences. He is not searching for words, I think, that is his strategy to draw his audienc's attention. He pauses and stares at a painting as if he is admiring it all over again. And we are all impatiently wanting to know what he has found this time.

Ice Hockey

I was told that ice hockey team actually has a position called "enforcer". The guy does not do anything but to beat up those who try to hurt the star player. How cool is that.

Hockey Stop

My Miffy key chain scared Lukas. Miffy bad, bad!

p.s. Michael thinks it was me that scared Lukas, I think he might be right.
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It was really nice to ice skate in open air. Although the ring is small (half of the hockey field) and the rental skates are not very comfortable, I really enjoyed going around the ice. Each stroke propelled me forward a bit and I gained little speed. I cut through the crowd and cold air. I could not help but smile to the air, this reminds me of winter in Toronto so much. A clean happiness.

Yield Curve Genertion

Hello Christopher! Long time no see! How are you?

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I was getting a bit angry with Sarig this morning when we were discussing the yield curve generation. I don't know a lot about mathematical finance but I have been working with zero curves since starting to work.

Sarig came from pure engineering background, obviously has less experience about the subject than I. But he refused to take me seriously. He thinks only the proper quant on the first floor can do the math of yield curve generation. That really upset me.

I started to be nasty and attacked his every single statement, pointing out the logical errors and throwing lots of jargons such as "2-factor term structure model", "martingale measure" and so on. He felt the heat and kept arguing with me.

At the end, he asked me why I became so nasty and this conversation does not help him to learn anything at all. I felt very very embarrassed. Am I trying to prove myself by putting down others? What is to get if I win every arguement? Why am I uncomfortable when people underestimate my ability, especially those who cannot give me my pay rise? I apologised immediately.

I do appreciate Sarig brought it up right away. He is a veyr nice guy and I bought him coffee later. I think I will remember this incident for very long time.

People Talk Their Guts Out but Not Listen

Almost thought that's a KFC

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Or communication itself is a very difficult thing to do. I think communication is more than getting your idea across, it is also a process for two parties to reach an agreement on certain issues. When standing on the common ground, we feel level (literally) with the other person, perhaps, that's the time we can start shooting thoughts and not to worry they are going to miss the target.

Interestingly people are very eager to talk, not really ready to accept others' opinions. I found keeping silient and staring at the talker with an expression-less face is very powerful. At least I am secretly entertaining myself, just to think how long it takes for him/her to realise I don't understand him/her at all. I stop to smile and pretend being interested, after all, that's for those in their 20s.

The Secretary

I think the movie, the secretary, is very well made. Edward Grey is a lawyer, always replacing his secretaries. He is the most isolated person on earth, thus, incapable of accepting or giving (perhaps the later causes the former). Lee Holloway just got out of the mental institute for her self-multilation habbits, which is her only mean to release herself from cruel reality. She became his secretary. She fell for him.

I can see why Lee fell in love with Ed (because she's narrated it at the end of the movie, quoted later). I think Edward is, on the contrary, the most mysterious character. He lives a perfectly normal live, with slight compulsory disorder symdroms. But why is he incapable of opening up? Why he is fond of Lee and responded her hunger strike? Is it sexual? Is it finding someone willing to give him the full control? Is it Lee's complete trust turning him on? The film does not answer those questions.

Quoted from the Lee Holloway: "One way or anohter I always suffer. I don't know why, I only know I am not scared of suffering now. I feel more than I ever felt. I found someone to feel with, to play with, to love. I hope he knows I know he is suffering, too."

Cycling Home

Oh, that's the party time in Sunny California.

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I cycled home on my every-day route, had my music with me, I padelled in my own slow pace. I was taking a sharp turn before the cross over near Limehouse. There was a cab dropping off passengers on the right side of the street, and car behind the cab tried to take over it, which came in my direction.

The driver slowed down and rolled down the window as we passed each other very closely. I thought he is going to ask for direction and I was ready to help. Instead, he yelled "this is one way street" and I felt so upset and angry. My first reaction was to shout to the back of the car as it drove away "IT IS NOT!".

My voice was so loud in the quiet street, I even scared myself a bit. As I biked away, I started to think if that is really an one-way street, well, I am not sure anymore.

Oh Well, Something could be Bad

My mom never gets the time zone difference right, she rang me up 5 am this morning and I have not fully recovered from all the drinking the night before.

I took a shower and found my calf was in pain. Well, it took me few minutes to investigate what it is. It turns out my calf was burned by my hot water bottle. Also found another bruise on my leg, only to remember that I tripped over my bed.

Cheer Up, Nothing can be So Bad

Very interesting face I had in this picture.
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I actually trimed my hair myself sometimes, but always denied it. Perhaps I should get my hair professionally done this time.

Piece of Cake

The old Victorian tradition, putting a piece of wedding cake under the pillow would bring good luck to the unmarried. Some genius figured out a better implementation: eat the cake and put the pillow on top of your tummy.

Animal Cruelty

I don't understand how I could sleep in this shrimp mode.

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It is possible to send your Thanksgiving turkey money to some charity so they can send the old turkeys to a farm, live until they die.

I had read an interesting story about turkey one time. Hong Kong was one of the first few places in China where western holidays are celebrated. There was a little boy always wants to try turkey. He nagged his mom for years. The mother was pictured as the typcial Hong Kong mom: loud, chobby, industrial, economical, always nagging about the importance of studying hard yet very warm, one of my favorite character in the story.

Anyhow, she happened to find a big oven on sale and finally bought the turkey in one Thanksgiving. They spent 3 days to defrost it and 6 month to finish the whole bird. (Well, a lot of you might not understand how could this be true, but I can assure you this could be very true in Chinese household. The unfinished meat is packed and frozen for future consumption). The mom made so many different dishes with the turkey meat, but the little boy could not help but felt great relief when the last piece of bond was thrown out.

A turkey's life is less than 3 months from hatched to slaughter, but the little boy had accompanied the bird more than its life span.

Hanging out with a Group of Strangers

Keny, Cathy's brother, was amazed that I've lived alone for many years. He thinks hanging out with people round our age group is the essential part of our social life. He aggressively fixed me up with his friend, Joan, who moved to London from Hong Kong only recently. Interestly, Keny and Joan have never met themselves.

My flamenco lesson was cancelled on this Friday evening because our instructor was sick. I went along the gathering. We met in China town, along with 5 other friends. Joan has an intensive network of friends in London already, I only then realised I am the only one needs help in their eyes.

This group of young Chinesse professionals eat Chinese foods, listen to Chinese pop music and carry designer watches, hangbags, outfits. I almost feel bad for the first time pulling out my not-so-in-fashion mobile phone. Living in London does not change theirHong Kong life style, I cannot help but start thinking what makes them happy? Recreating the we-are-still-in-Hong-Kong illusion is the most interesting challenge. The goal is to be more Hong-Kong than anyone lives in Hong Kong.

I understand how difficult it is to melt into this western culture, especially british main stream. Hiding behind our own kind seems reasonable yet natural. Nevertheless, something does not appear too positive.

Absolute Righteous

Giving a lecture of credit curve construction in New York. People were making fun of my scotish style wool skirt, well, it is a bit on the short side.

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Had lunch with Brian, who is my fellow Canadian and Waterloo graduate. He is the most upright person I have ever met (apart from my cousin, Jennifer). He was telling me one time he was having lunch in restaurant, and the fire alarm went off. People just packed up (some even picked up the unfinished pizza) and leave. No one seemed to have any desire to go back to the store and pay the bills. Brian felt really bad and wanted to go back and pay for his food. Only the thought that the restaurant might ask him to pay for his friend put him off the crazy plan.

I sometime wonder what can breed this righteous attitute? Being honest is of course important but I do believe our being honest is inspired by the fear of being found dishonest by others. Suppose we can get away with the petty crime for sure, I think most people would not give back the wrong change the teller gave you.

Nevertheless, I do respect this quality because I think I am somewhat crooked .

The Tin Bowl

It is interesting that I thought about a childhood friend this morning. His mom worked in my dad's small factory and he was only 4 or 5 years old then, I was 10ish and Mankit was 12. We fought all the time. We basically hated each other and never wanted to make peace. Our small dewellings was seperated into two parts, the front bit was the living room/office space and the back bit was the 3 bedrooms/factory. My parents double bed was right next to 2 or 3 machinaries.

We constantly had guests, workers roaming around our bedrooms, kitchen and hallways. To top up the chaotic situation, Mankit and I collected at least 5 or 6 stray dogs in our garage. Each dog would have to dine seperately. My poor mom fed those dogs with our leftovers in some old tin bowls. We had a new set of identical tin bowls in our kitchen. My mom once serve the hot noodle soup in one of those tin bowl but that little kid had always refused to eat from the bowl.

Good Fun?

Irene spot this-good-looking police officer and took a picture of him without his knowledge. Well, girls are too very visual sometimes.


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When I was few years younger, I thought the real good fun is related to those unexpecting, totally exciting, wild, complete out-of-boundary events or items. A vacation needs to be full of programs, there should be no time wasted. I was like a bold and blunt object, struck any possibility of having good time. I didn't find really interesting things often. Disappointments are abundant.

Some of my friends think I am not aggressive enough to expend my social circle. I am really lazy in that aspect. But I would rather conserve my energy on some good books than try to make friend with a stranger. Being pursued, pursuing and playing the dating game well means good fun? What type of society breeds this type of feeling good factor is beyond me.

I don't like to spend on luxurious goods or gadgets (just read somewhere a London single female celeberity claims she does not like to pay discounted price). It is a very hard concept for me to understand why a few hundred pound hangbag could make someone really happy (I would rather see those money grow in a high-yield saving account).

Good fun is in every day life, a good cup of tea is great fun (only before 3pm), a nice TV program (did you see the BBC documentary life in undergrowth, I was holding my breath for almost the whole hour) or a great piece of scone. Good fun is hanging out with your mates, good fun is meeting a long lost friend on a strange street in another country. Good fun is being nagged by your parents why you are not dating anyone.

Secret Weapon

I love cooking, oh, rather, I love foods.

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In the cold, windy Friday night, our group were about to leave for the pub near the office. I put on my peruvian hat and joked this is my secret weapon against the cold. David M. immediately replied that he too has a secret weapon then produced a chapstick, lavishly applied it to his lips. "That's so gay!" I cried. He threatened he is going to bring this to HR and I was laughing.

Later as we walked toward the pub, my line manager asked me what David was complaining about, before I finished the story, he too fished out the chapstick, applied to his lips and asked "then what?"

Sam died of age 14

The world's ugliest dog passed away on the 15th November. I am really sad and showed it to my colleagues. Sarig looked at Sam's picture and asked "Is this picture taken after Sam died?"

Running into a Table

I think the really cool stuff working in a bank is that they usually have quite well-maintained canteens. For instance, Nordea Canteen has the most wonderful breads (fresh baked) and tens of different types of salads. Featuring cured herrings, pate, all kinds of cold cuts and fresh leaves. It is very typical Nordic, the ingredients are top quality and not much non-sense about processing.

There is a canteen in my building, serving foods around the clock. In the morning, you can get yourself fried/porched/scrambled eggs, sausage and hash browns. At lunch, there are several stations serving pasta, roasted chicken or freshly made sandwiches.

I decided to indulge myself with the greasy fried egg. Dressing in skirt and heels prevented me from looking too keen and ethusastic about foods. I waited impatiently for the cook to fish the egg out of oil sea. "Just let the oil drip a bit more" I instructed the cook, "Well, don't worry about the plate, just put it on top of my bread". Very confident and in control I was.

I then turned away from the egg station briskly only ran into the ledge of the adjacent station. I cried "OUCH" because it really hurt, but luckily my egg and bread were still intact. It must appear painful because some of those queueing for eggs gave their condolence with giggles.

I Love Alcohol

Coming back from Tahoe, it was a one day trip (set off at 4am and headed back from the slope around 5pm, by the time we got back to bay area, it was usually 11ish). Taking a break in a small town before Sacremento. The picture was taken almost 5 years ago. There have been so many changes...

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There is a type of Chinese rice wine, its name means "Daughter Scarlet". When a girl was born, the family would make the wine, store it in big pottery jars and barry them under ground. The wine would be dug out and served on the girl's wedding day.

If the girl couldn't live up to the age of getting married, the wine would still be dug out and sold for money (I don't know if this is true, I just make it up. It is only logical that Chinese would not waste anything). The wine is then named differently, it means "Flower Fade". I always think the name is so tragic yet beautiful.

Because unmarried girls would not have a proper position in a family worship practices (in other words, her existence could not be acknowleged, thus, she would not be remembered), wealthy families usually pay a man to marry a piece of wood with her name engraved on. Many spine-chill ghost stories sterned from this practice.

Toilets Stories

The distance from China to high tea might be long...
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If you have spoken to Irene, you would immediately understand she is very "Green". In Taiwanese political terms, Green means those who do not want to see unification and who do not like Mainland-related things.

As the super salewoman and manager to her father's garment business, she worked in Mainland China and managed the factory with few hundreds workers. The first thing she did when going on board was to install partitions in toilets and insisted in seperating female and male ones. I have never been to those areas, it is very hard for me to imagine why. She then explained to me, in her factory, there were hundreds of people coming from rural inland provinces, where education and information were not accessible. Doing the business in open space is so convenient yet no one thinks inapropriate. What surprised both Irene and me is the fact that women did not feel the need to hide themselves.

My mom went to my father's home town in late 80s. It was still very conservative and communism-geared. Government officials praised non-stop my mom's beauty because she is chobby. Anyhow, she couldn't use the open-air toilet (which is a hole on the floor), she then unfolded her umbrella but this act attracted more people to watch.

Irene was travelling to the medium size city near ShangHai in early 90s, the queue to a single toilet was consisted of people of both genders. They all dressed nicely but there was one woman, still waiting in the line, but had her skirt pulled up and panty-hose down. I guess it does save some time if you are really in a hurry.

I don't understand what could make a woman losing her sense of being a woman. Is it the great culture revolution? Or is it the hardship all Chinese went though from beginning of this centry until recent?

Allergic Induced Eczema

Never used facial cleanser or toner at my graduation

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The breakout was unbearable on Friday. It is funny the skin condition is only bad during weekdays. On Friday, during the lunch break, I was determined to find a cure in Boots. I tried to explore the stair well in our building, finding the entrance to the stairwell was a no brainer, I just followed a guy, but he then walked out to the first floor, which I have no access to. The only exit to the ground was alarmed, I cannot risk my reputation on that. I finally gave up and went back up to my floor and then took the lift... 10 minutes gone.

I ran to Boots, spoke to the pharmist and showed her my face. I can see her sympathy welling up in her eyes "how did you do to your face"... Yeah, it was really bad. She recommended some allergy drugs and it worked!

Interesting thing is we only get to know our body when something really bad has happened (we then realise we need to find the source of the problems). Also, it could be age-related.

I find myself keep looking at people's face sometimes, thinking, how nice it would be to have skin like that. Inevitably, I turned to some more immediate cure this Saturday. I bought myself the first pack of concealer! The powder is so magical that my face start to glow under sevearl blush strokes. Cosmetic industry is like a dream factory. Wow!!

Names Are Very Important...

Chinese parents have lots of imagination and creativity when coming to find a good name for their child. Unlike western parents, who has only limit set of name to search from, Chinese parents are free to roam around the hundreds thousands of Chinese characters, putting together any 2 characters (the combinations are limitless). There is never any restriction or custom how a name should be. You can create the most interesting yet unique name ever... What an exciting thing just to think about it!

Some of my friends have very good names. For example, Irene's name, Yuang-Ying, means "a delicate and graceful study" + "sparkling with wisdom just like jade". Claire Hsiao's name is "I-hon". "I" means one in number, also it is the start of any form of life or lifeless objects. It can be the smallest but has the limitless implication. "hon" means broad, usually used to describe a person's mind.

My name is "Kun-Er". "Kun" means "ying", everything opposite to "yang". Suppose the sun is "yang", then the moon is "ying". If the sky is yang, then the earth is ying. "Er" sometimes means nothing at all, this word is used by northerner a lot but rarely by southerners. It is a helper to finish a single noun, to make it sound richer. But sometimes it can mean offsprings. I guess my name can be interpreted as "offspring of the earth".

Just Like What They Do in Discovery Channel

I heard this song when I was in California, it went like "let's do what they do in Discovery Channel". But I guess the song writer might want to think twice if he/she has read the book "How Animals Have Sex".

I was giggling like an idiot in Borders. For example, a sort of rain forest frogs need to mate for 6 months, which might have inspired tantric sex. After the male bee mates with the queen, his genital would be stucked inside her. Yeah, he can be seperated but his gential would be pull out of his body with his guts spilling all over. It is said to stop mating with another bee taking place. The most amusing one is the octopus. The male octopus is too shy to touch his girl friend, he has this detachable sperm-explosive penis. He cuts it off and shovels it to her through her nastral, he would then die soon after.

The book also briefs about female chimps' promiscuity. It claims, by sleeping around, the female chimp could confuse her partner at the time so that he would not knock out her offsprings from other males.

North and South

Happy birthday to Miffy!
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It is very tricky for southerns in China to make decent bread. Southerners are so used to rice, to them, noodles and bread are like imported goods from another country. Interestingly, in Taiwan, there are large population need to have the bread fix in the morning.

That is because when KMT moved to Taiwan in the 50s, they have brought with them lots of northerners. They all cramped in a small island and some of them started small business selling breads and soy milk in the morning. I was drawn to it in my early teens.

I love the pure, no nonsense nature of their bread. The making is usually very simple, no fermentation but patience. You can taste the simple, ample nature of the browned wheat and seaseme. There was one of those breakfast store near my house in Taipei. The bread master is obviously the down symdrom sufferer. His name is "Yu-Hu", "yu" means to have, and "hu" is the nickname of ShangHai. From his name, I could almost guss his parents must be from Shang Hai, thinking one day they will be going back to ShangHai one day (however, the plan was delayed indefinitely).

The fluffyness of the bread is not from the gas genreated by fermentation, it is really from the mixture of water-based dough and oil-base dough. It needs lots of patience and endless kneading.

Taiwanese Girls

Very interesting door knots, aren't they?

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I always want to write about Taiwanese girls. I think they are the most care-free, adorable and silly spices among all Hong Kong, Mainland and oversea Chinese.

My aunt in Toronto is a typical Taiwanese girl, even though she is in her mid 50s. She enjoys life so much that nothing can stop her from having fun. She went to high school, learn painting and pottery for years, making all her classmates call her auntie. She begged her teacher to flunk her so she could take the same course again.

She loves to travel and never afriad to look a bit silly to make us laugh. I was thinking abou the argument of the prosperous economic environment in the 80s bred the new generation of feminism, but failed to continue when I thought about her. She married to my uncle, Tomas, and moved to Hong Kong in the 80s and then Toronto. Very difficult transition to get into a complete different culture, but she thrives and never minds what people think (yeah, she took me and my cousins to the water world theme park, she made us change to bathing suits under the big towel in a queue so we won't miss our turn to go on the water slide. I was 19 years old, old enough to feel embarrassed).

She always trying very hard to have as much fun as she could afford. Expense is not the concern although not rich. Getting the experience is worth buying the front row tickets to any show is her motto.

Thinking about this, I can quite easily observe these quantities among a lot of my friends. For example, Irene, keeps encouraging her boy friends to quit his demanding job but offers to work as a waitress. Well, in her mind, being with her love is far more crucial to her life than having lots of money. They are usually super optimistic about financial future and believe life could go on one way or another. They are cool in making silly of themselves, none the less, they are very determined about how to get what they want. There is no compromise nor middle ground, exceptions are open for love.

They might be outgoing, fun to be with but never let go the chance to be pretty. There is not need to be boyish to go camping, cannoning. Presentation is still important. I enjoy my girly lessons with my aunt, Irene and other friends. We experimented different types of toner, got my ear pierced and went for night gown hunting.

I also observe quite a few career-oriented women, they tend to exercise their feminine advantage when battle is necessary. Very different comparing to women from Hong Kong or Mainland China.

I think I would love to have a Taiwanese girl friend if I were a guy.

Academia Research and General Opinion

Only god knows why Sungard Ditcot office did this to its employees.
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I went to the first Taiwanese Study seminar this year, the topic was the "Taiwanese nationalism and identity developement in post martial law regime and pre matured democracy area under the millitary threat of Mainland China before 2008 Beijing Olympic plus potential bird flu virus spread and ... " Just kidding. The topic wasn't this long.

The visiting professor did a great job to let my attention drift. He is really not a good lecturer, too many "um...", "I think", "you know"... As one of the audience, I can feel the utmost uncertainties in his voice. Just like he is afraid of making any solid statements or he is afriad of those statements would backfire at him later. I almost want to scream "Stop reporting the politcal dynamics between China and Taiwan! Tell me something I don't know! Tell me what you think".

I came to realise why people tend to be opinionate and emotional when discussing politics, it is much more fun than rigid, conservative, logical and mundane academia research. Although it is the right way to go.

Thank You For Those Who Were Nice to My Dad

My father kept sending money to his hometown in mainland China. According to my mother, even when they were just starting their business and life was so tough that my parents could only afford bread for many months, my father kept supporting his friends, relatives in the rural country side near east of Cantone province. My mom and I have been troubled by this act for many years.

My father went through very difficult childhood after communist party took over China in 1950 because the familty possessed lands and my grand-grand father was a judge in KMT's court room. My grand-grand father committed suicide before the police arrest him, my grand mother and her four children were deprived of the right to live like a normal human beings. My grand father was in Indonisia, married to one of his students and didn't want to go home.

In my father's stories, the Liao's family were like carrying some sort of disease that no one in the village would dare to get in touch with, or talk to. There was no income and no help, my father, as the first son of the family, age of 13, went to the forest to chop woods and sold for money. My grand mother could not find any job but to sell her blood to feed her young kids (she could not bear the hardship and drown herself in a pond later).

My father told me, he still remembers all those people who were nice to him during that tough period. Some old lady accidentally dropped a banana leaf wrapped rice ball in front of him. Some person sat down behind my father, back against my father's back, for a while without talking to each other. Some hid my father in the attic when police were searching for him. And many many other stories.

I started to understand how much it means for my father to send money home...

Hot Water Bottle

Had a scissor-biten finger on my left hand and sushi knife on the right, plus a grumpy face.

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I bought a hot water bottle last weekend and it does ease my backpain very effectively. I grow attachment to it day after day, the first thing I do after I come home is now boil some water to feed my dark blue water bottle. I would then hold it, carry it, laptop it, foot it around the living room, kitchen, dinning table, computer area and then my bed.

The cooliest invention of the world.

Haircut Scissors

Um... I think we do have the jokerness blood in our family.


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I went to Susie's for dinner on Saturday night. And I brought with me a pair of thining hair scissors. Susie has mentioned that she didn't have time to visit a hair dresser and it would be great if I can trim her hair a bit. I am usually more than happy to style other's hair. I think I am pretty deft and I quite enjoy seeing how my friends' appearance differ before and after the cut.

I guess the mistake rooted in too much alcohol in my blood stream. After dinner, Peter volunteered to clean the dishes. I said to Susie if she would care to get the cut now. She agreed and fumbled for old newspapers. I suggested she could take off her top and sit at the bath tub rim with me standing in it. No fuss and efficient.

The small toe nail scissors were just not up for the job (they are great with my eyebrows trimming). So I switched to the mid-size thining scissors. I was holding Susie's hair with my middle and ring fingers like the professional but somehow the scissors cut into my ring finger and I continued squeezing, wanted to finish the cut.

The blood came out like small stream but I decided not to make a sound of it (otherwise she would not let me cut the hair). Oh well, it finially finished and I made the casual remark on my wound. Susie was astonished and wanted to put the antisceptic on the wound. I tried to stay calmed and wanted to clean up the hair and blood in the bath tub first. I switched on the tab only to cause cold water coming out of the shower head while I was bending over to pick up the mess in the tub.

My first reaction was to scream bloody murder, Susie was laughing her head off and Peter came in to the bath room to find one half-naked chick, blood stain over the tub and soaking wet joey. He cried "I only left for 5 minutes!".

The Connection Between Eyelashes and the Nose

I think the most uncanning connection I have discovered recently is that between eyelashes and nose. After applying the thick, black stuff on my short eyelashes, the last thing you want to happen is to sneeze. I guess when sneezing, our facial muscles contract in a way that we do shut our eyes tight. The sticky and hard-to-clean mascara ends up in the area below my eyes.

However, my nose does itch after the putting on the mascara and before it dries out. Life is full of unexpected connection.

Needle Fear

My back is like this now.

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My backpain was unbearable again on Saturday when I walked on the street. And I saw this acupuncture clinic.

This was the first-time ever acupunture treatment in my life. The needles the doctor used are as fine as hair and 2 inch long. There were almost 20 needles on my back, bum and legs for 30 minutes. They went in about 1 and half inch deep.

The doctor then used the vaccume cups to pull in the skin over those needles, the force was so strong that it created many circle bruises over my back. Very fun.

The Seven Items to Sort Out

Chinese talk about the seven essential items to get when starting a family/living independently. They are burning woods, rice, cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. They are all food related! Nothing about the comfortable bed or hot water bath. Life could be very nice with abundant supply of those essential seven.

Very naive.

I am afraid of teenagers and 20 something people

I think they are fearless, and you don't know how much they know. They are energetic to do anything and while I am so old and tired all the time. They are catching up so fast. I think only aging people would brew this type of feelings against young people.

The other day I phoned home, my dad was again bragging about how cute XiaoHo is. He said "When I was in the super market, many 30 something old women came around me and played with XiaoHo". I was so shocked. I am always my dad's little girl and I just heard my dad addressing females around my age "women".

"But Dad, I am also 30 something". He was also terrified but tried to cover his embarrassment. "You are not the same".

I guess perhaps the only way to preserve little diginity of getting old is to pretend that we know a lot and have experience that you cannot get from reading books. If that fails to arm ourselves, we smoke, drink, eat excessively, we completely give up the fight and lose in self-indulgence.

Hair Style and Chinese Men

I remember my mom's dress.


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I think it is genetic, our hair is usually hard and strong as wire. To make it worse, it is often thick. Westerners' hair is light and etheral as the breeze blowing at summer night, our hair is thick and heavy like the good old winter wool jacket. Ok, perhaps I am biased, I never make peace with my hair. It is unruly, stubborn and it has mind on its own.

Chinese men are not particularly paying much attention to their hair style. I guess that's true for male animals. However, due to the tenacious nature of Chinese hair gene, a lot of my friends always look like they just got out of the bed 10 minutes ago.

My father is an interesting exception. On Sunday morning, he spent long time in our small bathroom, brushing his teeth, washing his face with hot water (he needed to boil water in a cattle for that in the morning, no one else can be bothered to do that in the cold winter morning. We all washed our faces in cold water until I left home for Canada where hot water is abundant). He would then apply the funny-smelled hair wax, carefully part his hair at the side with the 3:7 ratio. The resulting hair style is those you can see in the old movie when men still wore hats and open car doors for ladies. He has kept this style as far as I can remember.

I Like Old People

We got free Champagne again in Granada!

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I went to Miyazaki's animation last weekend, Howl's moving castle. Well, it is not as good as Spirited away (In Spirited away, there are quite a few interesting ideas, such as name is very important to one person, the evil spirit would do anything to make you forget your name and thus, your identity. Such as we all need to learn how to deal with desire, the faceless ghost has lost himself after devouring anything in sight to cure his hunger and emptiness). But in Howl's moving castle, apart from the "love could do anything" stuff, I think one thing struck me very much is how Selvi dealt with getting old.

Selvi was under the spell of the evil witch, she turned into a 60 something old lady. She was not panicking about getting ugly (she was not pretty type but she is very head strong), instead, she learnt to cope with it, even enjoy it. Being an old lady, she is free of many subjective judgements. She seemed satisfied with sitting in the chair staring at the nice scenary for hours.

I like seeing middle-age to old ladies or men. Of course, those happy, nicely dressed ones. If they care how they present themselves in front of others, they must be happy and confident and wise. There is nothing more beautiful then that. I love to see old ladies especially, put on their best dress and go shopping with family or friends, laughing. I think, it takes decades of hard work to age gracefully. They should be those who know how to enjoy life, what is more important to life. Hey, what does really matter if you have been through so much and still happy?

I wish I could steal their wisdom.

Bed Time Struggle

Hello Kitty tortured!

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I never went to bed before midnight when I was a kid. Most of my colleagues and friends enforce the 8 pm bedtime for their youngsters, which really puzzles me.

I think the time between dinner and midnight was the most wonderful time I spent with my family before I went to high school. After cleaning up the dishes, I was free to roam around the street with my friends or my dogs, came home all sweaty and stinky around 9pm. My mom would force me to take a shower. And we all sat together, or lay around the living room to watch TV non stop until 11ish. My brother would usually made some snacks such as boiled pre-cooked dumplings and we all started eating again around 10pm. Definitely no discipline. But I remember the great time laying on my mom's lap and begging her to clean my ears.

Well, it is very natural for a 5 year old kid, that I simply didn't have enough sleep when getting up from bed at 7 am for school One time, when the school bus arrived, the whole family was still sleeping. The teacher had to ring the bell, only to see my mom in pajama, bring out half-sleep Joey, my shcool uniform, socks and shoes.

"Please help Joey dress up in the school bus" she said.

Drving Through Crowded Street

This picture is also my brother's brilliant idea. We were wondering around in Prado Museum in Madrid, and my brother was showing the I-am-so-bored face. This picture of a nice lady drew his attention. Oh, not because of the spectacular bloosom but the little black dot in between them. The fly happened to land there and my brother skillfully captured the moment.

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I was walking around Brick lane this Sunday, which has become my Sunday morning ritual. I love to walk through the second-hand cloth shops, not-taking-shower-for-a-while hippies and flower market. I love to observe people, stall keepers trying to make a deals, shoppers picking fruits, young couples looking for discounted lilies.... Of course, I am on the quest in search of cheap and elegant plotters to decorate my balcony.

Inevitably, some cars would try to drive through the crowded street. Pedestrians definitely have piority (we are bigger in number), I always sympathise the driver.

My mom's apartment in DuanShui locates in the end of a crowded street. Driving through it requires patience, humanity and skill, according to my mom. The street itself is very narrow and there are always cars parking on both side. Pedestrains are forced to walk on the road meant for cars. To top up the complexity, there are also numerous motorcyclist, weaving their way forward in between cars and people.

Day or night, there are old ladies or men, from neighbouring farms, carry the two little buckets filled with fresh vegetables. They set up their little stall right next to the road and start chatting with their friends. They don't really mean to make money but to have some social life. Food stalls spread their sitting area, you can always smell the deep fried fermented tofu or crispy chicken nuggets. Sometimes you see the patient from the hospital nearby walking on the street. They can be identified by their pajama, slippers and medicine bottle (on the wheeled rack, which they push around). Um..., the food in the hostpital must be bad.

I quite enjoy driving through that street for some reason.

Chinese as First Language

I think Cathy looks fabulous in this picture. We were having dinner in the nice garden in the hotel in Nerja. We don't like the city much because it is very touristy but the beach was nice.

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Apart from tones, I think the most confusing bit for westerner is that Chinese does not have the concept of tense. Present perfect, past perfect, continouse, future tenses means nothing to Chinese verbs.

Many friends were so surprised to learn that we don't have tense. The past and future are mixed into present. For example, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen "is" a great man, the text book says. There is no implication that Dr. Sun Yat-Sen has died almost a hundred years ago, as if he is still living with us, watching the same TV channel and listening to the same pop music.

Actually, this concept also applied to Chinese' ancester worshipping. We offer drinks and foods to our ancesters as if we are sharing the same time space.

To Kill or Not to Kill

That was a day of non-stop eating in Toronto. We started our day to have branch in a DimSum place in Richmond hill. We then drove to downtown and hung out in indoor path that connects all office buildings. We walked pass Mache Movenpick, that hosts the best dessert in town, I remember we had the fresh-made Belgium waffle, topped with fresh berries and whipped cream. We then walked around China town and walked pass this great ChiuChow food. The deep-fried tofu cubes has crispy skin and sily interior. We swallowed several of them. Later, we again walked pass the Vietnamese sandwich shop, whose sandwich marries French bagguette and Vietnamese tranditional sour dry cured meat (they even use soy sauce and coriander to dress it up). Too exciting to miss it, we had another treat.

Jen didn't feel so good after the sandwich.

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I remember I used to hang out with a friend in my primary school years. My parents' business made our home not very suitable for 8 years old to hand out, I spent lots of after-school time in her house.

Her grand mom is a devoted Buddhist, she would spend hours kneeing before the Budda status and reading Budda's teaching. Sometimes, she was just repeatly saying all gods' names in small voice. Those names were direct translation from Hindu (I suppose that's the language), which does not mean anything in Chinese. But they sounded very soothing.

One time she asked me to throw a bunch of live mollusk into the boiling pot because killing lives is a unforgiveable sin in her teaching (of course, she is vegetarian only was cooking for her grand children). You will be condemned to hell and not able to elevate yourself out of reincarnation cycle.

My Mom Got Scared...

My father adores children helplessly. The juicer was used to make fresh juice for me and Mankit when we were small, he still keeps it!!

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I was correct when I said that kids are scary. I just confirmed that from my mother. XiaoHo, who is only 18 months old, knows too many things. He has known how to manipulate adults. He clearly undestands his power and how to use them.

He knows adults around him encourage him to learn new things and are all very willing to help him to explore the world. Situation is in favor of him when he wants to batter the Hi-Fi, sits behind the wheels (on my dad's lap) or overturn the basket full of rice. He understands my dad would do anything for him (but not his mom or my mom). In return, he gives my dad the full attention which makes my dad so proud that he has to brag about it to every one, "Look, XiaoHo likes me so much". He dictates what he is going to play, we have no other choice but to follow his lead.

He eavesdrops my parents' conversation. When my dad told my mom that he has to go to the corner store, XiaoHo immediately turned to my father because he knew he stands a great chance to go out with my dad.

My mom starts to feel scared, she thinks she has raised a monster.

We are Lonely Animals

Lonely dog in Barcelona

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I sometime have dreams in which I am the only one who sees what's coming. But other people in my dream seem happy, even having a good time in the crisis.

One of the dreams is in an amusement park, a large pink mechanical bird with a big beak was pecking around. The huge heavy beak dropped in tremendous speed and broke the concrete surface of the ground. Obviously, it was attacking people walking around indiscriminately. What frightened me the most is that they seemed to enjoy the excitment, they even cheered when the beak had spared their heads but hit the ground instead. All I can think was trying to find a basement to hide, I was frenziedly looking for the entrance but to no avail.

I had one of those last night. There was a feast, people were preparing the meal with great excitment. But I somehow figured out the meat were very suspicious and felt great disaster is about to happen. All I could think this time was how to get out of this crazy place.

Running Around

Being a column in Palace Nazarie
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Tomorrow, 7th Oct 2005, is going to be my last day in SunGard. SunGard is my first job out of school, starting on 22nd Oct, 1999. Mike Kirkish was the hiring manager.

I have worked for three different departments, have met a lot of interesting people and have drunk tons of alcohol.

Well, there is never a party without ending.

Gold, Silver and Iron Axes

Pond can be dangerous.



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For those don't know the gold, silver and iron axe story. The real name is "True Wood Cutter". Here you go!!

TRUE WOOD CUTTER
There was a poor man named Mangal. In the day he would cut wood and in the evening he would go to the market with the wood. After selling the wood, with the money earned he could go to the grocery to purchase some things for his house. He was satisfied with his income.

One day he went to the forest to cut wood and climbed a tree at the river bank. While he was cutting the branch, his axe fell into the pond. Mangal came down from the tree and jumped into the pond to find his axe, but he did not find his axe. He was very sad and cried. He had no money to buy an other axe and it was difficult for him to feed his family without any money.

The Goddess of the forest took pity on him and went towards him and said,"Why are you crying my son?"

Mangal said, "My axe fell into the water and how shall I do my work now?"

The Goddess said, "Do not weep, I will bring your axe from the river". So the Goddess jumped into the pond and came out with a gold axe. She asked Mangal is this your axe?

Mangal said," No this is not my axe. I am a poor man so how I can have gold axe?"

The Goddess again jumped into the pond and came out with a silver axe and asked him," Is this your axe?"

But Mangal replied, "No this is not my axe." The Goddess jumped into the pond for third time and came out with an iron axe.

Now Mangal was very happy because it was his very own axe. The Goddess also became happy with Mangal truthfulness. The Goddess said," I am very happy with your honesty and because of that you can take the gold and the silver axe too. Now Mangal was not poor but rich.

Funny face collection

I think we took this picture on our way to Alhambra. I was whinning, complaining all the way through because the hill is so steep. I kept mumbling "I hate hills, I hate hills" and walked in a funny manner to keep myself entertained. But they kinda made all passing-bys smile and made Cathy feel embarrassed.

Great water engineering in Alhambra. Water symbolises purity, essential part of Moorish garden. Sorry to fly off tangent again, but I like water since small, always want to swim whenever possibility approaches. In retrospect, I think I almost drown once or twice in a river, still like open water very much. The clean stream running down the railing, countless number of fountains makes Alhambra very very cool for me.

Cathy, Adil and me. We hung out in Lotfi's sandwich shop every afternoon, I almost learnt how to make proper couscous if we didn't shop too much on the second day. I criticised Lotfi's dirty kitchen and promised to come back later to clean it up.

Came Back from Spain

Cathy had planed everything perfectly, I was just tagging along. We arrived in Barcelona, took the night train to Granada and bused to coast line and Jerez. It is like a quest to get to Jerez because we planed to fly back from Jerez.

We met quite a few interesting people every where we went. The first night, 2 guys chatted up Cathy and I in the street festival. They turned out to be strangely persistant and we agreed to had some coffee with them. Lotfi and Mousti were both Moroccans and Lotfi runs a sandwich shops. Lotfi seemed to know every restauranteurs and pub man in the neighbourhood, we had drinks for free!!

In Granada, we had to dine in a restaurant next to the Cathedral and we were really in a hurry to catch our Flamenco show. The waiter insisted that we should stay for another round of free champaign. Of course, we were late for the show but we have run into a group of Taiwanese tourists who squeeze out two seats for us.

When we were in Alhambra, 2 security guards came around to take pictures for us. One of them gestured coffee, four of us. I only replied with my limited Spanish "Cuanto Vale" and "La Cuanta" (meaning "how much" and "the bill" respectively), which cracked them up. We got rid of the two strange uncles later.

In our last night in Jerez, a guy came around to our table and chatted to us. Funny thing is that he seemed to around to answer our questions whenever we stopped to check out the map.

In Spain, the scenaries are great, the foods are fine. However, I think, what makes this trip the most interesting and memorable are those lovely people we have met over the past week.

My dad's favorite is no longer Yi-Long but XiaoHo 

The Dog that Loves Motorcycles

Yi-Long is my dad's favorite dog. My dad takes Yi-Long everywhere he goes. Before he ignites the scooter, Yi-Long would jump to the foot rest, ready to go. Yi-Long would guard the scooter when my dad goes about his business in a bank or post office.

There came the first-time ever president election a few years ago, political sensitive person like my dad went around Taipei city in detection of possible riot. Of course, Yi-Long went along. When they approached Chen Shiu-ban's campaign center, it was almost sure that Chen's re-elected and people started fireworks on the street to celebrate. Yi-Long was stampeded by the tremendous sound, jumped off the scooter and ran to find a safe place to hide(what a dog, only care about its own safety).

It was chaotic, there were too many people and fireworks, it was almost impossible to find Yi-Long. To make it worse, they were miles away from home (literally). My dad launched all his friends, all my uncles to go around Taipei city on scooters, looking for his favorite dog. However, all the effort was to no avail until midnight. My dad continued his search until 4 am, riding on the scooter and calling out "Yi-Long" in dark and quiet streets.

My dad was sad and tired the next day. As we all thought Yi-Long was gone forever, he walked in the door, completely exhausted and very thirsty. My dad was so pleased to see the dog and tried to pat him on his head, Yi-Long almost bit my dad as if he's saying "Why did you leave me behind"??

Happy Birthday, Frank!

My cousin, Jennifer, was finally old enough to get her own driver liscense on her 18th birthday.

Every one should have a T-shirt like that. 

Once Upon A Time...

There was the most skillful thief, who could go around town and took whatever he liked. He even stole the emperor's most-treasured national seal (every policy would need to have the stamp to be legitimated). The whole palace was deeply horrified, no one knew when the thief is going to take the emperor's head in his sleep. The seal was returned a few days later (maybe no one dare to buy it), nevertheless, the emperor vowed to catch the thief.

More patrol forces and more heavy locks only seem to inspire the super thief's appetite. The emperor's running out of plans and he asked for consultation from the head of his cabinet. He suggested to remove the patrol personel, unbolt the windows, unlock the safe and show the treasure in open air.

The thief was caught in his biggest bewideredness in a few days.

Pony, the Spoiled Spaniel

Our family has a long history of fostering firends' pets. My mom never denies her dislike to any small animals, but the rest of the family always outvote her to make stay whatever a mini pig, a peacock, countless stray dogs and some birds. She gives in to feed/shower/clean them but she never let go her bottom line. Animals would never have a place in human living space, she would beat up those cute little animals ruthlessly if they ever set their feet into the living room. She also has strict rules about their "table" manner. No dogs would dare to dump or put their muddy paws on feeders' lap before the foods are deligated in front of them. That only took a few harsh beatings to make the cute little animals understand "don't mess around with her".

We babysat Grace's dog occasionally, a spaniel whose name is Pony. Grace adores him. For example, she was boiling some meat one day. Kevin walked in the kitchen, only come to great disappointment that the delicious smelling meat was intended for Pony. Pony was very temperamental, he demands attention constantly. When he doesn't get what he wants, he chews on electricity cords, goes on hunger strike or pisses on the person's leg whomever Grace was talking to.

Grace was on business trip few years back and my mom babysat Pony. Pony refused to eat his food because he was angry about Grace's absence. My mom couldn't get him to eat for a day or two, she simply pushed Pony's bowl to A-Chu, who was another stray dog and was always hungry. She let Pony see how much other dogs enjoy his food and couldn't be bother to woo him to eat like Grace did. After another day, Pony gave in and finish his food as soon as the bowl was down.

After a few months, my mom was visiting Grace in her flat. Before they sat down, Grace told my mom that she was trying to feed Pony the whole morning but Pony refused to eat for no reason. And then she was wondering where Pony had gone. Later, they found Pony had just finished his plate on hearing my mom's voice via the intercom.

Little Sewer Rat

On my way home few days ago, I found a small grey fur ball near the bottom of a wall. It was a small rat with tiny tail. It looked very ill indeed. If I were 10 years younger, I would definitely have taken it home. Now, my mind is stuffed with super bug, strange gems and mysterious mold that gets into your brain.

Beer drinking with my brother in San Francisco fishmen's wharf is a happy thing to do. 

What Makes You Happy?

One of my dad's friends one time tried to list the happy things to do in life. He counted, studying is the first on the list, man-passion-woman-love the second (I will elobrate on this later), and drinking the third... He was scratching his head really hard and couldn't come up with any more.

ps. man-passion-woman-love is the direct translation of a Chinese phrase. Being subtle as many other phrases do, I think it is describing the state of being in love.

This is too funny not to post to my blog... 

The Motorcycle Diary

It might seem strange to people that we ride motorcycles in Taipei everywhere. Teenagers, middle-age women or old men are all making their ways through the congested streets to schools, traditional markets or post office.

My parents are in no exception. My mom especially loves to use motorcycle for any short distance travel when we were living in Taipei city. She used to possess a second-hand, very battered motorbike. Everything in it makes noise except the horn. The needle in the speedometer wouldn't move (it can't go fast anyway). When it was idling, it tended to go forward without any human force pressing the accelerator. However, when we really needed to accelerate, the engine died from time to time.

During my annual visit, the greatest event was to go shopping with my mom in the traditional market. She always drove the bike, I sat behind her and threw my arms around her waist. In winter time, my mom shield me from the wind, which made me feel like a small girl again.

The high light is to visit the very delicious rice noodle stall. We would enjoy the hearty noodle soup and some small dishes before shooting to the market. Our theory is, you would like to buy anything when your stomach is empty, although it is not of the best quality.

My brother, Mankit, insisted to take the picture and sent it to our parents. 

What Makes You Worried?

We are constantly worried, worried about losing our jobs, worried about gaining weight, worried about being lonely. Because of these fears, we work 9-5 and try hard to entertain people around us.

Suppose one day we see and understand that we don't really need a lot to live, and, it is possible to live alone and feel OK. Would we be motivated to go to work religiously and to prove ourselves to strangers?

Joey, with no food obssession, didn't look very happy though. 

How to Read Chips

Making good French fries seems to be too much a daunting task for many people yet we got our chips from teenagers who not yet old enough to vote in fastfood chains. But anyhow, I read a very interest book about the science of French fries.

Frying is a way to dehydrate the surface of food. However, when the oil is new, it is sticky and hard to penetrate the moist surface of chips. Remember, oil and water don't mix. That's why you should be ready to throw away the first batch of fried stuff. As the frying process goes on, the oil starts to break down to free fatty acid call polymer and some substance behaves like "soap". The soap-like substance marries the oil and water, thus, the hot oil penetrates the surface and cooks the interior. The moist becomes steam. The steam is trapped inside the less-moist surface and traveling around when an uneasy balance between water and oil is achieved. That's the reason why the inside of a chip is soft and seems like being steamed. Which goes the best with the crunchy, golden brown exterior, yum!

My food obssession comes and goes. I remember I was crazy about duck noodles about 2 years ago and wanted to eat them for every meal. I traveled everywhere for the shred of possibility of good, hearty duck noodles. Strangely, obssession went away after few months. I was then obssessed with Lahore's lamb shish, I even dreamt about it, I begged to go to Lahore everytime we tried to find a place to eat. That went away, too. Same thing happened to chips as well. I really don't know what is driving those craving. If it is chemical imbalance or something else?

I think the best way to eat is to be honest with yourself. Eating is to answer your stomach/hunger/craving, not to your brain. Well, that's why I don't really know what to eat now, I have no cravings and I have to answer to my brain otherwise I have no energy to get out of the bed...

It is the bride's duty to be the most beautiful woman in the world... Peggy in her engagement banquet 

Taiwanese Wedding Banquet

One of my favorite pub talk topics, which makes many of my colleagues want to go to Taiwan because of the occasional striping show on the side of a outdoor banquet (but some show great interest in the puppet show on the other side as well).

It is really difficult to tell you whether Taiwanese are conservative or open. You know, we have woman's undies hanging out in public area, we have the stripping shows in a wedding banquest or outside of a funeral parlor. The transparent road side stalls have almost naked girls selling chewing gums to truck drivers. Strangely, they all look innocent in a way that they don't carry much sexaul implication, the way they stripe is almost comical. I guess it is still awkward to openly display a female body, the only way to less the degree of sexuality is to make fun of it.

Irene's Japanese Clients were one time attracted to wedding banquets like this near the country side, and requested to stayed a bit longer. The lady was about to strip the very important piece of her outfit and her partner came out to sell a sort of drugs as the commercial break. When everone got annoyed that the break is a bit too long and expressed the desire to see a bit more of the half-naked lady, the policemen can to stop her from striping naked. Every one got quite angry, really. Obviously the policemen just know the exact time to intervene.

Enough about the stripping show, we should talk about the foods. The foods are very Taiwanese. They are light, slightly on the sweet side. A lot of soy sauce and mayonaise and garlic... The combination sounds weird, but it is really good with fresh lobster or jelly fish. The foods are cooked at the road side, freshness guaranteed. Most guests are honoured to take the leftover home, plastic bags provided.

My brother was good looking back then... Handsome polar bear! 

Well Organised Carnapping

This is not a story, it really happened to Irene's elder sister. Living in the edge of city center, Irene's home is constantly burgled into because most people leave for work during the day.

Although Irene is very neat and well-dressed all the time, she has been not particular tidy in her own space since her teens. In one of the after-burglar evenings, the police officers went into her room and exclaimed "look what they have done to your room", Irene only kept silent and playing innocent.

Recently, they have experienced carnapping. The car theft takes the car and calls the owner asking for ransom. The amount is calculated carefully that the owner would usually wire the money to an untraceable account to get the car back instead of reporting to police or claiming insurance.

Irene's sister's car was again stolen two weeks after she ransomed her car back. She received a call from the car theft. She said "but I just got my car back two weeks ago". There was a dead silence for a few seconds, the voice asked "which account number did you wire the money to?" She told him the number and heard the keyboard typing sound. "We are really sorry we have made a mistake. You are going to have your car back tomorrow morning".

I had not come out of my 10 year long depression about food/diet when I was in New York, I guess I volunteered to take the picture because I didn't want to touch the food. Another bunch of crazy nutcases in New York...