Elementary School

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Face Book is really amazing, my elementary schoolmates are united (600+ kids in our grade).

Microwave Miracle

I am always too lazy to figure out the electronic appliance (still don't know how to adjust the clock on my rice cooker 3 years after acquaring it), I only know to push the "start" button.

The microwave is smart enough to do 1 minute for small object, and 2 or 3 minutes if I put in a huge bow with left over pasta. Although I only press the same button all the time.

Nightmare for Control Freak

I rarely have nightmares featuring discusting images (corps, monsters, etc), as I turn old, the nightmares are often I was put in a stressful situation. Thank god it is not work related. My dreamt about going to a trip, staying in a hotel, and hanging out with friends. We were having too much a good time and I forgot that I have to catch a plane. I went back to the hotel trying to check out, but it is way past noon, and I don't remember which room I was in. Ok, I will pay for the late check out fee but it takes time to pack. I finally found my room and felt another wave of stress, my room is a complete mess! I quickly calculated how long it is going to take for pack, I am definitely going to miss the flight. Another terrible discovery is that I cannot find my laptop. I frantically searched inside my backpack, found a laptop but it is not mine.

Something about Toes and Toes Nails

I have met some really pretty girls with not-so-well-maintained toe nails, which are shown from the sandals with chipped coating and dried cuticles. I am trying my best to maintain a healthy looking toes and nails, at least they have to be ready anytime for inspection, proving that they are taken care of.

Diet Log May 18 2011

Um, I think I am so used to the light and veggie diet, I had a lot of sukiyaki last Friday evening and greasy food suddenly made my tummy very unwell. My weight is down to 55Kg<, perhaps this diet is pretty good I think I will continue doing it...

What a Quake would Do to You (9)

It was raining hard the next day, completely ruined my plan to go running. I decided to visit the aquarium with my friend. Though I was really exhausted after returning home at 3am again... My friend was experienced that it takes long time to queue so he brought along with him some fresh made mochi and 2 cans of tea, we were standing in the queue under umbrella, eating. That was really considerate of him, perhaps most Japanese are educated that way?

We navigated through the crow to see fishes, different type and shapes, very soothing though I think most of them have gone insane. My friend explained me Osaka people have very acute sense of humor, for example, the little girl in front of us looking at a quiet fish laying in the bottom of the seabed, exclaimed "That's papa!" and pointing to an agressive fish swimming around fast "That's mama!". Ha ha ha, is that joker characteristic came from the gene? I wonder what has bred this Hereditary tread, would this increase the chance of survival? Making hard life much easier to bear, for sure.

The next day I was supposed to report to the bank's Osaka branch, but instead, I packed up and return to Tokyo before noon. The party is over, all friends either return to Kobe or flew out to London, the hotel room seemed very unwelcoming, I missed my coffee and yoga session. Radiation threat? I don't think too much of it. Any clear mind would be able to understand it is physically impossible to get any harm from the nuclear plant that's 250Km away from Tokyo. People are just over-reacting (many thanks to the MIT nuclear blog, http://mitnse.com/2011/03/13/modified-version-of-original-post, the more you read and understand the event, the calmer you become). This is the end of my refugee trip, life is back to normal in Tokyo.

What a Quake would Do to You (8)

Summer is coming to Tokyo...
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Waking up in the hotel in Nagoya, it is still early to meet with Irene for lunch, I put on my running gear and set out to explore the city. I ran straight to Nagoya castle, it is sunny and dry, perfect for jogging. Got back , showered, lunched and left for Osaka. Irene warned me that people in Osaka are very different from Tokyo. What she said was "Osaka people are somewhere between the self-controled Tokyo and rude China, um, they are very Taiwanese. They talk in Kansaiban which is different from Tokyo accent Japanese (um, I can understand a bit of Japanese by now, such as the public anouncement in train station or placing order in restaurants), that worries me a bit - what if I cannot order beer to the table?

Arriving in Osaka station, setting out to find my hotel for the next week, it was not too far out from the station but it took me a while to find (this is the time I regret to have the cheapest plan for my phone, otherwise I could have googlemapped my way around). Anyhow, checked into the artificially made mediterranean theme hotel Monteray, I went out again to find food and drink...

Some Tokyo friends are also in Osaka this weekend, fleeing from the radiation thread or waiting for the planes to leave for London or Hong Kong, we met up for partying through the night. A group of 12 plowing through bars and pubs in Namba area,I think we made a cross of shinsaibashi (心斎橋) about 100 times. Around 3am in the morning, I went home by taxi and my local Osaka friend even negotiate the fare with the taxi driver, cool, this is so Taiwanese.

My local Osaka friend is going to join me for the jog around Osaka castle the next morning, I was so tired (cannot function properly without 8 hour sleep) and couldn't sleep in. We jogged around the castle, and my friedn is so proud to be Osaka-er, very eager to show me around the town. We bid each other farewell then meet up again with the crow for dinner in the famous Kanidoraku - famout crab restaurant for dinner. More party and pub crawling ahead... Fleeing away from danger? I think I am walking into party over doze danger.

What a Quake would Do to You (7)

Um, I forgot that I haven't finished my refugee story after the earthquake. This is the picture of the Royal Chinese DimSum restuarant in London, I guess it is the one in Bayswater.
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I spent the first night in Nagoya, the packing is really terribly hard. I had to put in all my toys, rollerblades (in case I get bored and didn't want to take the public transportation), running gears (um, need to exercise on daily basis), Yoga mat (what else can you do in the hotel room if it rains), french press coffee cup, a can of Lavazza, books to entertain myself and heels to go to work. My 40 liter suitcase soon filled up without space, I had really hard time to get to Tokyo station since most of the elevators are not running to save electicity.

Since when my luggage has grown to this size? I used to travel with a carry-on size roller everywhere for 2 or 3 weeks business trip when I was in Beijing. Something terrible must have happened to me...

Arriving in Nagoya, Irene came and picked me up from the station, after checking in the hotel, it is the party time! We went to the nice local yakiniku restaurant which features in all kind of pig/cow internal organs. You grill them on the charcol stove. I love that. Noisy salary men around, smoke and smell of great food, this is the perfect meal. Though Irene commented "you don't look like you are a refugee who is trying to flee from disaster". Hur hur hur, we ate and drank, chatting silly things, nothing is better than hanging out with old friends.

Golden Week is really Golden (1)

Most of my pics are food/drink related...
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The stressful project is winding down after the board decided to postpone the go-live for a whole year. I am literally taking things easy. Going home around 8pm is really something, besides, I no longer need to do the horrible communte to Fuchu. I worked more closely with the dealers and system engineers in the trading floor near Tokyo station, which is only 10 minute bike ride away. My golden week vacation came easy, thank everyone the decision was made in mid April.

Back home is always nice, meeting my family, exercise intensively, doing Yoga and surfing with Sandy, go to the sea (Taipei is surpringly close to the beach in the north, only 30-40 minute drive), hang out with my dad (um, I still need to do 2 dinners, one with my mom and the other one with my dad), find the good books to read during the day, what else can beat this?

The Hunger Game

I fell soon after this picture was taken. The buckle of my skate in the left caught the right while I sprang out to catch the crowd (I was sitting down and adjusting my boots). I was literally flying out and fell on my tummy, flat on the ground. Ha ha ha ha
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The story is very similar to a movie I watched long time ago, Battle Royale - a group of Japanese high school kids were dispatched to a remote island to kill each other. The rational was absurd, I don't remember the details. The hunger game has a better background reasoning and the story is very engaging. Starting from page 1, I know the protagonist, a starving heroine, is going to win the game. It just has quite a few twists that her counterparty from the same region is secretly in love with her (or he is just pretending to enhance his chances of surviving). The idea is pretty interesting that all the participants need to win the crowd's heart to get support. The whole event is like the crooked trueman show, with more violence. It is a role playing game, live!

It is a ok read, no need much brain power to digest, perfect vacation kill-time reading. I suspect there will be sequal soon, and not sure how good it will be.

Suction Cup

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A couple years ago, I won a chicken doll from the arcade vedio game. The arcade game center is in the service station where we made a brief stop before heading to the southern Taiwan. The doll came was a string. The other end of the string is a suction cup, it was a popular design such that the doll can be hung up inside the car window. I quickly pressed the suction cup on XiaoHo's forehead, I think he was only 3 or 4 years old back then. The chicken doll was dangling on his face and that really made me crack up hard, XiaoHo thought it was funny also. When Grace and my mom found out about it and hurriedly took the doll off XiaoHo's face, it is all too late. A small circular bruise was formed, I laughed so hard again.

Just when we threw a tea party for my friends last Saturday (they came with kids), there were 3 toddlers (Christine's baby number 2, Emily's daughter and Grace's second kid), 1 baby (Eric Pan and Wood's Little Cherry) and 4 destructive kids ages from 3 to 6 (XiaoHo, Chistine's oldest son, Jimmy's son and daughter). Soon the situation is out of control, and I found XiaoHo is putting the Hello Kitty doll suction cup on Christine's son's forehead. The doll stayed hanging for a while, everyone cracked up. I tried to entertain the kids so I put the suction cup to my forehead and walked around with the hello kitty on my face for a while. Man, I wouldn't have thought this also created a bruise on my face!

That was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the sun was very strong and kids were playing on the balcony (I really have the urge to lock the door so that we cannot hear them) and the living room was brightly lit. Some kids were sleeping in my mom's room and most of them were trying everything possible to destroy adult's peaceful world. My dad was given the task to take all destructive and noisy boys to do some archery practice in the yard. I was really worried since I am not sure how my dad can watch over 4 jumpy and hyperactive kids. I went downstair and found that all arrows were shut to the roof. "Auntie Joey, get those down please", I had to step on my dad's shoulder, climbed up the roof to get the balls, some arrows. That was fun though. I am still quite good at climbing.

Little boy trapped inside

According to my observation, I think every grown up man does have the desire to behave like a little boy whenever chance presents itself. Whenever it is possible to do some mischievous actions (for example, practical jokes), men are like, "oh yeah, baby, show time". Or if talking about the possiblity of playing firecrackers to blow up the fish in the pond or the dog in the garden, men would participate without slightest hesitation. Another type of little-boy hobbies is to catch whatever that moves, such as fishes in the stream, birds in the trees, or dragon flies stopping on the tip of grass. (Um, stray dogs are not challenging little boys would leave them for girls to bully, angry wild hyena would be ok). Regardless the age, little boy is trapped inside every man. My dad and XiaoHo are the living proof of my theory. My dad made the bow and arrows for XiaoHo, who practises home-grown archery whenever possible. Whenever these 2 meet, the conversation is all about how to make a better arrows. Sigh...

When my mom and I went hiking, we walked past some middle age men overlooking the beautiful stream. The water was crystal clear that you can see fishes, which these men were looking at. I explained my theory that men likes to bully/catch/disturb anything that moves in an unfamiliar envrionment, my mom replied "They like to chase women more".