Da Vinci Code, the mood of flower

Went to see Da Vinci Code with Cherry and Ben. To me, the movie is like wathcing Indiana Jones in Discovery Channel. Although knowing the Christinality history in Europe, but I have never learnt the secret society, piory of sion. I only remember people in medieval time killed each other, not because they were hungry, which really puzzles me.

Is Jesus Chris the divine or human, doesn't seem really important to a atheist like me. But I can feel the impact this has caused in western world somehow. But during the movie, the scenes of Monty Python's holy grail kept coming up in my mind. It is kinda funny.

I also watch Wong Kai Wei's the mood of flower. Very pretty. Maggie Cheung is drop-dead beautiful. But there is nothing besides prettiness in the movie. I don't know much about the artisitc aspect of the film making but I can feel that he is showing off.

How to Learn a Foreign Language

It is so funny to learn that XiaoHo has learnt Cantonese. Between my parents, they speak in Cantonese. But they always switch channel to Madarine when talking to XiaoHo. Somehow XiaoHo interrupted them when they were engaged in a Cantonese conversation. He understands the language!

Do you remember how you pick up the language when you were a kid? How do you make the connection of objects and their names? How did you learn how to describe and express your emotion? How do we learn communicating with others?

Does it Matter?

More than one person told me about how change is calculated in some common stores in south america. The changes has to be counted in a reverse manner to make up the total amount the customer pays. During the counting process, prevent yourself from talking, otherwise the counting has to be started again. They are happy people, no one seem bothered.

In North America, most math teachers carry with them a calculator, which is strictly prohibited in Taiwan. Because we have to write 2 big entrance exams at age 15 and 18, no calcultor is allowed. How to do add, subtract, multiply and so on by heart is a crucial skill to speed up answering math questions. We had to remember the squre of number 1 to 44, the cube of number 1 to 25, the squre root of number 2 to 5, learn those tricks to do (23*34) quickly, for example.

Does this matter to how a country performs or the government functions? I guess it is not too relevant. It is more related to how to allocate capable people in the proper positions, and do it efficiently.

Taiwan President's Son-in-Law

The Taiwan President's son in law has been involved in some insider trading scandal. I have never paid much attention to how the first family members look like but this guy was on TV news almost on daily basis.

The news clips show his work environment and what he does in work. He is a physician. I was really impressed that he looks clean, earnest and very into his patients. I think we all have some unknown, unexplainable feelings toward doctors. This profession almost makes a normal human being become a superman. Any issue that is related to the upmost secrecy of your body seems so trivial to them. You also feel obliged to open up without any hesitation. For example, the doctor could ask casually that how is your sex life and you would blob your guts out although what he wants to do is to prescribe you some birth control pill so he can make money. I guess fewer people feel that way toward lawyers or computer programmers.

A developer came to ask the client, did you do anything unusual to make the application crash? The client would routinely fall into the denial mode and blames the developer for writing this piece of work.

I dreamt about queuing up to see the Taiwan President's Son-in-Law for my eczma problem but I woke up before seeing the doctor.

Misread

I am not a particularly careful reader, my misinterpretation has provided my friends quite a few entertainment.

When I was in California, I think my friend wrote me an email saying that he might get laid off in New York. I was so confused because I didn't read the "off" (it was hidden in the next line). This sentense doesn't make much sense at all! I politely replied that he will succeed if he works hard enough.

I was chatting with a friend over MSN, I think we were talking something about the cute Chinese masseur in Beijing. We then talked about life sucks and nothing is worth smiling anymore. He then said "many smile when massaging me". I was like... What the hell is this? Am I going to become a masseues to smile a lot?!?! After a few minutes of chaotic exchange of words, I finally realised he was saying "many smile when MESSAGING me!"

Rain

The thunder storm came this evening, the rain washed off the dirt in the air, I walked to the subway station breathing the fresh air. I arrived in the station where is bright enough that I found my black trousers were dotted with mud. Who would think the little rain drop has carried so much sand?

Shopping in the Traditional Market

The highlight of my weekend is to go shopping in the traditional market nearby. My challenge is to buy the best quality of fresh fruit, veggies and meat with only a 10 yuan bill. One time I had only 5 yuan and 50 jiao left, and I walked to the butcher, planning to buy some ground meat.

I picked one small piece of pork belly for gridding but the stall owner told me it costs 6 yuan. I told her how much I had left and that's what I am planning to pay. She was almost angry when she cut a small piece of the meat, not even weighting it again. I then got my 5 yuan and 5 jiao worth of ground pork.

Banana Leave

This is a vert weird restaurant. They have got a westerner as a captain, who is managing a group of hyper-active, gender-unidentifiable, sexual-orientation ambiguous philipinos. You cannot enjoy your food quietly because the wait staff would come around and grap you to dance. They sing happily, skillfully ignoring their customers' boring faces.

Interestingly, both women and men love to touch our guys. Ben and Liu Yang felt molested and annoyed.

Fish Chair

I went to this fake anti store in Beijing, it was so exciting. There are so many little things to see, much much more interesting than silk street, that only sells clothes and fake LV hang bags. I bought a small fish-shape chair so I can work on my little coffee table and watch TV at the same time. Beijing seems nicer recently.
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Neitzsche argued that human beings have only will to power. I only wish I could have the power over my plants.

Shallow and Visual

I cycled the whole day and my back was really sore. So I decided to get a mini massage. I asked for the boy massuer because I thought my back really need some heavy dose of massage. But they sent in a very cute guy.

I felt very embarrassed to let a guy rob my feet. I guess my uneasiness is contagious, the automosphere became weired. Maybe I should insist a girl massues in the future.

Mosquito

I finally found my old camera, yay! I went to the local garden center every weekend, I have got 5 plants by now. Taking care of them is a very nice thing to do.

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When I was back home last week, the weather was very warm and we got almost a dozen mosquitos in our flat. Grace, Mankit and I were jumping up and down, waving and flapping the rolled up newspapers. No one can really get those staying up in the ceiling. My mom then told us to use the transparent plastic bag, slowly approaching our target. Inevitably, the target flies down and be trapped inside the bag.

Grace's mom was really impressed. She is a devoted Buddhist and she uses the same method to catch mosqitos but releases them outdoor. But my mom indicated she usually kills them by flattening the bag.

What does Real Power Mean in China

Just read an very interesting comment, it says, the really powerful person in China is the one who does not have to take the responsibility for his/her decision.

I cannot help but think this is even cooler than the enforcer in hocky.

High School Reunion

Patricia's hudsband, Leo, actually organised this reunion for us. Leo came to New York few times when I was still in New York. He is a typical business man, thick-skinly wants to be friend with anything that moves. He also connects with the other friend, Chung-Fen, and her hudsband. Leo and Chung-Fen talks in Taiwanese, teasing each other just like all old friends do.

Pat's son is 5 years old, pure as a piece of paper. Chung-Fen has a twins, they are almost 5. Kids were running and screaming, mother's eyes were constantly following their babies. Converstaion was all about children eduation. Completely chaotic.

We all meet in a luxurious hotel suite, Sharon came last with her 7-month-old girl, along with a 5-year-old boy and her hudsband.

It is so amazing to see my school mates again, they all still look like high school girls, the same body build and the same smile. Where has the time gone?

Sense of Humour

I guess not every one appreciate my sense of humour, but I can assure you that my senior high school mate, Claire, never fails to crack up whenever I am trying to tell a joke. I think she really likes me and doesn't want me to feel bad.

When we were in high school, she is the model student every teacher could ever dream of. And I was... As you have guessed, not. Somewhat we sat next to each other and we exchanged the techniques of reading novels underneath our desks.

Once I was trying to tell Claire a zen story. There were three little monks studying zen, following the most famous monk at the time. Monk A went to the old monk and asked "Master, if this then that and what?". The old monk thought about it for a while, he replied "You are right". Monk B came along and asked "Master, if this then that and why are we doing what?" The old monk paused for few minutes, and he said "You are also correct". The yongest monk was so confused and he went to old monk. He asked "Master, why do you think both of them are correct?". The monk replied after few minutes "Then you are right!"

No one laughed but Claire.

Hair Planting

We were having this conversation about men's bolding problem over dinner table one night. Kevin's theory is that the process of making men is more error-prone. Lots of genetic defects shown in men because the XY cromoson combination surfaces those dieases whereas the XX combination somewhat buries them. For example, more than half of Down syndroms and autistic patients are male. The other obvious one is you see more bolding men than women (of course, women tend to be more sensitive about their look).

Anyhow, I then contributed the scary hair reconstruction cosmetic surgery. The doctor planted the air ballon inside the hair growing region and pumped up the ballon so the hair growing region could be stretched to limit (believe me, he looked like an alien then). The hairless skin is then removed, replaced by the hairy one.

Irene said the hair planting business is very popular in Japan. Once the fine hair is planted, the clients have to come back for styling and washing on regular basis. The Japanese pursuit perfection to such an extreme, they even call you back few years later to plant some grey hair!

Back to Beijing

Just came back from Taipei this evening. I have not updated my blog for weeks and one of my blog readers thinks I am kidnapped or lost in the wood when hiking. To prove my existence, I have to write. Claire concluded my job in Beijing is very demanding because I didn't update my blog as frequently as in London. Blogging does give out a lot of information, whether you like it or not.

When queuing for taxi, a man cut in the line after me (because I skillfully stopped him from getting in front of me by pushing my cart in some weird directions). But I was still angry about this, so I turned around and told the man he should join the queue at the other end. He explained he was in a hurry, fine, every one is in a hurry, I said. The meaningless discussion lasted for few minutes. Luckily, the queue moved quite quickly. I pointed out the fact that it took me only 5 minutes to get to where I was without cutting into the line. And the man had to spend more than 5 minutes to explain me why he couldn't afford to queue like a normal human being. Absolutely ridiculous, I turned away and refused to talk to him.

He is really trying hard to persuade me that he is not doing anything wrong. I always think it would be so embarrassing if someone catch me littering or spitting, thus, I've never done so. I wonder what type of composition is it inside those people's brain?

I don't want to punish or crticising those who have done so. I don't want to be the heroin who tries to bring justice into the chaotic world, neither. Suppose that man didnt' try to cut in front of me, I might not even speak out at all. I think we should all learn how to defend ourselves. Learn marshall art if you have to. Guess we can preserve some dignity that way.

Women in Beijing

I have been very impressed to see how brave and brunt Beijing women are. They yell, push, never shy away from confrontation. The langauage they use is mostly man-like, together with the unfriendly, not-negotiable, unapologetic tone, you will come to the conclusion not to mess around with them.

I was at the traditional market once, and heard the middle age woman arguing with a stall keeper. She raised her volume, the stall keeper came back with some angry remark. I thought that is it and continued my stroll. However, behind me, it seemed that woman was so angry that she actually attacked the stall keeper. A fight started and others had to pull them apart.

The other time, I was waiting for a table in a busy restaurant. A man accidentally stepped on a girl's toe who is also waiting in the same area. Without hesitation, she hit the man with great force and gave him a very dirty look. I think you have to be very very confident in yourself to do that. Confident that, under any circumstances, you are ready to get into a physical/oral fight and win.

Of course, not all women I met are so physical, however, verbally strong is commonly seen.

Very Funny Illness

My cold gives me different symptons every day this week. I woke up with congested lung, woke up with nonstop coughing, woke up with sore muscle, woke up with clogged nose today. I am so looking forward to tomorrow morning.

Yi-Long Hunger Strike

After my dad left, Yi-Long refuses to eat anything. My mom's diagnosis is that Yi-Long is suffered from depression because of loneliness. She's proved her theory by patting Yi-Long's head before dinner and Yi-Long had his supper happily.

Unfortunately, my mom is not an animal person, I don't think Yi-Long is going to any patting from my mom again, I am so worried that he is going to die.

Shabu Shabu is originated in China?

The very very good hotpot place in Beijing. Ben kept saying the place is very local, I might not like it. But I liked it the moment I set my foot into the dwelling. Not the sophisticated type but practical type. Practical in a way that you don't see the waste bin in the dinning hall (I have seen those in a very nice and clean home-cooking Korean restaurant), however, everything you can see is needed for the business. The owner is not taking anything away trying to pretend this is a high class restaurant, yet the owner is not too lazy to getting unpleasant things out of the way.

The soup base is just water, with some green onion and sliced ginger. The high line is the meat. We have got 2 plates of different cut of a lamb. The first one is the fresh cut, it doesn't taste like lamb at all, it does not have funny lamb smell. The meat is tender and juice even if it is overcooked in the hotpot. The second plate is the frozen sliced meat. The slices are so thin, the meat is ready in 2 or 3 seconds after dipping into the hotpot. I don't like the frozen slices because you can taste the slight lamb smell. But Ben likes it better.

The dipping sauce is made of grounded seasame, seasame oil and some whole seasames, femented tofu juice, grounded green onion and some rice vinegar. Freshly cooked sliced meat with the sauce is readlly yummy. I think I overate...

Subway in Beijing

I go to work or client site via Beijing Subway every day. That is the best way to beat the horrible traffic jam in Beijing city. There are way too many cars on the road although almost all the major streets are at least 5 lanes one way.

When there is not enough resource, you can see how people thrive to make some space on his/her own. I have not learnt that skill yet, thus, I usually let go 2 or 3 trains every morning. When the train is not crowded, people are generally nice if they have not had some garlic or raw onion for breakfast. The experienced passengers would make their way to the door before his/her destination comes along. However, the passengers about to board would be so eager to proceed when the door opens. I sometimes have to fight my way out very aggressively with the laptop bag as my shield. People moan, show their complaint with grumpy face... The typical big city life.

Unlike the subway system in New York or London, the annoucement in the train is very very loud. It tells you what is the next station and when to interchange if you would like to take the other line. The volume is so high that your ear drums actually hurt.

Lucky Gold Star

The team did a project for LG in Korea last year, the anecdotes were hularious. For example, LG decided to go live on April the first and the project manager was so determined. He said, first of April, period. As if he's put his life on the line.

Another time, the LG project manager flew the freshly printed 30 page long issue list in front of our project manager. I heard, the LG guy literally threw the print out into the air. Just imagining the documents fell like huge snow flakes in the office....

In one of the meetings, LG complained that the marketing broche claims the software can do this and that... Then our project manager came back, "you said Life is Good".

Vicky

Crazy Karaoke night. Vicky is a great singer. We made the Karaoke virgin, Wesley, become addictive to singing. He was like "urm... I don't want to sing, I think I am awful" when first setting foot into the Karaoke room. But by midnight, he wouldn't let go of the microphone.

2 Day Hybernating

I felt ill on Friday morning. But I managed to go out having dinner and then Karaokeing with the office gang. We went to the No. 4 kitchen, the foods were not as good as last time we came. But alright, since I was sick and weak, anything is tasteless. After the 3-hour dinner, we all went to the CashBox Karaoke.

Cashbox has many chain stores, originated from Taiwan. When we were high school kids in Taipei, we went Karaokeing pretty frequently. That brings back a lot of nice memories. The same operating pattern and deco, Chinese pop songs from my time (I don't really know much about the Chinese pop songs anymore after going to Canada), I was so thrilled to see all of those again.

Vicky and I joked around and did the back-up dancing. We sang "Barbie Girl", which cracked up the whole crowd whenever the phrase "undress me everywhere" came around. Hao-Ling commented that you don't look like you are sick at all. Singing in a joking manner is funnier, I think I have lost the heart to sing seriously, we get more and more self-conscious when we get old.

When midnight approaching, I was getting slowed down, my face turned pale and the eczma got really bad. My eyes were red and I had to sleep for 2 solid days to recover from the cold.

Chinese Doctor

I went to the most reputable Chinese herb medicine store in Beijing, taking the prescription Dr. Lin wrote me 2 years ago, thinking I finally am able to get my eczma and allergy problem fixed. Ecstatic...

I never tried to read the prescription, it was really 10 or 12 different names of some herbs, I didn't even notice that the units were scribbled in some characters I don't recognise at all. I thought those are the common language for people in Chinese medicine industry. However, the pharmacists in TongRenTang couldn't recognise the unit because Beijing has modernised almost all measurments. Dr. Lin's unit was the ancient Chinese weighting unit.

I have to see a Chinese doctor so he can translate this unit to gram. The doc is an old man in his 60s and has a cigeratte butt in a ashtray. Before he could speak, he's coughing so severely that I thought he is about to chock. I asked if he is alright but he seemed to be out of breath for a while.

I escaped the room to see another doctor next door. The doc is even older, he is probably 80 something. He cannot read some of the names of those medicine in my prescription because Dr. Lin wrote in traditional Chinese. I also wonder if he should have a new pair of glasses. But he's done his job, translating the ancient Chinese weighting unit "chien" to grams.

He insisted to measure my pulse but his diagnosis is totally different from Dr. Lin. He thinks I am having a cold. I asked him how long he thinks I have been sick, he said, it is a long long time. I then got interested and asking for more information. He said, it must be at least 3 months. I tossed his prescription to the gabbage bin as soon as he is out of my sight.

Very nice Peking duck restaurant

I finally visited a nice Peking duck place last night. Very contented...

We had 5 cold dishes. One of them was the sliced duck liver, very tender and delicate, tasted like high quality pate but better. I like the tofu salad as well, the tofu was mixed with some local herbs, finely chopped.

The duck is very young and not too fatty. The meat is very tender and the skin is crispy. It is surprisingly nice to eat the skin with some suger, rather than the dark sweet flour paste, which is the traditional sauce goes with the duck skin. My stomach still cannot handle raw green onion (heartburn follows raw onion), it is a torture to see others chewing the green onion with duck meat.

Don't remember whatelse we had. The duck was too impressive.

Police Station Excusion

I need to file the police report for the stolen wallet and camera to satisfy the insurance company. I guess it is part of their idea to make sure the pickpocket did happen, if the claimant does go through all the trouble to make a case with the police.

I first went to the station which taxi driver thought should take care of the area. Unfortunately, it was not. I then jumped into another cab to the other police station. Which is the third police station I visted this week. I had been to the other station few days ago in my neighbourhood to register my residency.

After telling one of the on-duty officers my story, he then led me to the dirty and dark interrogation room, filled with smoke. He told me to sit down and started to record our converstaion.

I cannot help but think this room was used for other purpose. The police officer was not friendly, his tone was almost intimidating and threatening. I think, he is so used to talk that way. I cannot help but staring at his badge and sleeves, which are filthy. But I tried to be as formal and polite as I can. I feel I can get beaten up for no reason if I don't do so.

As I was waiting in the lobby, while the intimidating officer was finalising the report. The other three on-duty officers started to chat me up. I told them I am Chinese Canadian who just came to Beijing a month ago, and I have never been to such a big city (which is true, Beijing's population is almost 15 million, way ahead of New York and London). They sympathised my naiveness and were all eager to give me tips to fight off petty crimes. They invited me to go back sometime to have tea by the time I left.

Paradox of being Modern

I used to make fun of Irene's Japanese friend, who was so scared when he spent a week in Taipei. His face turned paper white when we took him out on a motercycle ride in Taipei city and he brought a suitcase of medicines with him everywhere he went. He didn't want to eat anything unheard of. I cannot believe a man could be so anal and it almost irriated the hell out of me.

We are so used to the way of life in Taiwan and couldn't understand the poor Japanese guy's fear. I guess I have become the un-understandable in Beijing. I am afraid of the counterfeit soy sauce, I keep away from dried fruits and nuts. I get extremely annoyed when people push me aside in the subway. I am worried when my fellow pedestrains fail to respond to the cars driving/honking toward them (I run away immediately most of the time).

While I was frightened and worried, with my face turned paper white, the people around me behave calmly and normally. They must think I am weird.

English Translated

I think the government official in Beijing, who is in charge of making English version of the warnings, road signs or instruction in public space, has done his/her homework better than his/her Taipei or ShangHai counterparts.

I remember I have seen the sign in ShangHai subway station, "do not jump off the track". The equivalent in Beijing says "stay clear of the track". The English signs in Taipei are awful as well. Many of them are almost the direct translation of the Mandarin equivalent. I really have no idea it is because no one in the civil office has ever traveled abroad or they think no one is going to pay attention to the signs, so it is fine to let a 10 years old write it.

I think it would be a big business if someone can convince Taipei or ShangHai civil offices to redesign and remake all the English signs.

Taxi in Beijing

The very interesting thing I observed in Beijing is that it is very rarely to see skillful taxi drivers. In Taipei, the taxi drivers are almost qualified in Formula 1 racing. They weave, speed, go through narrow street with ease. I heard a story that a Taipei taxi driver claimed he can drive over a coin with any tire of his car, after tossing out the coin from the window at the driver side. No one believed him, placing bets he cannot do it but he's won all the bets. Front left, front right, rear left and rear right.... I don't know how much time he spent in practicing.

But the fact is, driving in Taipei is rather safe. Because most people who share the road with you are very well-prepared, most can accurately estimate the space and time. As long as you are moving, chances that you are run over by a car are slim.

But in Beijing, taxi drivers are extremely anal, almost painfully careful. They would not bend the rule and never know if there is a short cut (or they would rather not knowing it) to save time. Perhaps there is no need to hurry for them... When two cars passing each other in a narrow street, they would almost hold the car still for minutes to calculate the space although there is plenty of room.

On the contrary, there is virtually no space between cars, motorcycles and pedestrains. But they all live happily together. My father, the motorbike lover, once had his toe run over by the taxi in Taipei while stopping in front of the red light and sticked out his left foot to hold the motorbike. Well... this indeed proves my theory that you are safe in Taipei as long as you are moving along with the traffice.

Driving in Beijing

Unfortunately, my camera was lifted together with my wallet this Saturday. There will be no pictures in my blog until beginning of May when I go back to Taipei. I was devastated because I really miss my nice yellow wallet.

All my RMB were gone and I virtually got only 5 RMB in my pocket. It is Saturday and there seemed no place for me to get any help. Fortunately, I have filled my fridge on Friday (that's quite important). I went home by bus, svery sad.

I kept dreaming about being lifted again in crowded places and didn't want to go out at all for a day or two. And my eczma acted up and I think I really need to get some facial treatment done but I have no money to buy the facial mask.

Life sucks when you lose your wallet.

The Wedding

I am the bride's maid in peggy's wedding. The make up artist is really amazing. She put tons of liquid make-up on my face, reshaped my eye brows, used some stripe tapes to create the double eyelids and then again, more powder and colour. Some of my friends didn't recognize me.

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This is my first time to be the bride's maid. I accompanied Peggy for the whole day and realised getting married in Chinese way does put you and your partner through the toughest tests. I was so exhausted by the end of the day but I didn't do much at all.

Not a High School Kid Anymore

I looked very scary in the picture. It was taken in Kiyoshi's Karaoke bar in Osaka. Kiyoshi came to the hotel to pick me up with his motorcycle. He rode very fast, weaving among all other cars on the street. The traffice light was only for his reference.

He is 50 years old but look like 30. What's the secret of his young look? I wonder....

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I have been asked by a colleague in Sydney office that how many kids I have. And another colleague in Beijing just asked me where is my husband. I guess I don't look like a high school kid anymore.

To be fair, I think, in general, people look very young in Asia.

How to Produce Satisfying Customers

I thought I was the happiest girl in the world when seeing this seafood plater in the fish market in Sydney. I ate one oyster and finished all the shrimps, yum! Before starting to attack the lobster, I thought one of my oysters is moving. Gee, that's really fresh. I then looked into it closely, IT WAS A SMALL WORM!?!?

Nothing is what it seems.

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I am in the fruit craving mode these days. I crave for ripe, delicious, sweet, cruchy and watery fruits all the time. But it is really hard to find them in Beijing. I guess people don't care too much about the quality of fruits in all the northern territories around the world.

Anyhow, I ordered a fruit blended drink in a stall in the shopping mall. The girl poured some artifitial coloured water, ice and some cream into the blender. I started to have the bad feeling already. To my surprise, she didn't even blended it for 5 seconds, she poured the mixture out in a great hurry although I seemed to be the only customer. She said to me mechanically "thank you, your drink is ready".

But the drink had ice and coloured water on top and the ice cream at the bottom. It is too sweet to my taste. And there is no fruit!! I wonder if the girl knows what type of drink she just made. Would she like to pay for a drink like that?

I bet she is a northerner and never likes fruits. And she's never tasted her own work and she doesn't know how to appreciate nice fruit blended drink. There is no passion and understanding, therefore, which produces lousy execution and products.

Flying

I think the fish are never afraid of flying. They would never think about the possibility of being pulled by the gravity and fall to the ground from 30,000 feet height.

I took the picture in the aquarium in Sydney, fighting my way through 5 years old to see the sharks. It was really fun.

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I start to understand a bit why people have fly-phobia. I am now in a plane and the turbulence comes about. Of course the flight shakes up a bit. Some horrifying scenes like flight crashing start playing in my mind. My heart skids thinking about the images of people screaming and my laptop computer flying up to the ceiling (I am strapped in my seat) when the aircraft dives down the sea.

I am holding tight to my laptop.

My Cousin

I was not very confident with my new hair style, I have had my short fringe for very long time... I think how you see yourself in the mirrow is not exactly how other people see you. I figure, via digital camera, I should be able to fairely assess my new hair style.


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My cousin works very hard toward her master degree in biochemistry in Toronto. She has not had any serious relationship so far. I think that is because she is too comfortable about what she has. In her eyes, boys seem amusing rather than attractive.

How to do your Marketing in China

This is the new trend in Beijing, every dish has a label, which indicating who prepared the dish. You can ask your favorite chef to prepare another dish for you. Interesting...

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The marketing guru in China, Doctoroff, thinks most Chinese do not know the link between human right and economic advancement. I don’t know that either, so I am a qualified Chinese.

He also claimed that Chinese would like to spend money so to make them look good. For example, Haggen Doz sells very well in those individual ice cream but not the 2-liter package. But I will not spend too much money to decorate my appearance, so I don't sound too Chinese in that aspect.

Interesting Company Right Across the Street

The second floor of the office building right across my hotel seems very busy every evening. I got back from work around 7 and saw all the meeting rooms were full. I came back from my lonely dinner around 9 pm and they were still around.

I cannot help but go to the porter and asked him if he knows what company it is, they seem working overtime all the time.

The cheerful porter told me that's a language school. He has been observing them for 4 months and he can even tell me which room has what class. The Japanese group was not in today, but they will start on Thursday... Very observant he is.

Table For One, Please!

Restaurants hate single diner. They always give you the worse table in the room. I had been seated in the corner many times, sometimes facing the wall, sometimes my back faces the door to the toilets and people kept coming in and out behind me. Restaurants push single dinner around to make room for any party, as long as they have got more than 1 person.

I can understand single dinner might bring less revenue to the table and we might seem miserable or somehow weird. But we also want to enjoy foods and wish to be pampered and taken care of. Nevertheless, it has rarely happened to my single dining experience. Eating your meal alone in a restaurant is like a torture, no matter how excellent the food is. Because you really feel self-conscious about every movement you make. Did I make too much noise when I eat the noodles? Reading seems to be a very good way to get away with the self-consciousness, but there never is a good location to put the book or to keep the pages steady while you eat.

I have been thinking about this problem for a while. If there are plenty of magazines or any sort of entertainments available in the dining room, the food is rarely classic or good. You can not imagine in the upscaled french restaurant that the waiter bring you the wine list and a deck of comic books at the same time.

Does that mean single diner can only eat in the Chinese noodle shops, Kebab houses, Curry stalls and hotel room (if the room service is available)?

I am afraid so.

Friendly Australians

I was almost not able to fly out of Beijing because I didn't have a proper VISA to Australia. Both Vicky (the admin girl) and I thought Canadian should be able to get into another Commonwealth country. We finally sorted it out via internet in the airport. But the immigration officer in Melbourne was very skeptical about my visit.

I had to explain him why I am in Melbourne and why I only got my VISA yesterday. I didn't like his tone, plus, after 26 hours of traveling from Beijing to Melbourne, I was hungry (to make it worse) and grumpy. I think I appreared very angry and loud. They finally let me through but the worse was waiting ahead of me.

The officer sent me to the highly suspectable queue for custom check. My luggages and backpack were searched very carefully while others simply went through the X-Ray machine. Although the custom officer was nice and chatty, my mood was really ruined.

I must look like a terrorist in Australian standard.

Strong Osaka Girls

Sorry dear readers, I still have no pictures to share with you.

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I arrived in Osaka in the afternoon, it was raining slightly. The hotel is right next to the Osaka Castle so I decided to take a walk. The castle is surrounded by water on its 3 sides and there is a cherry blossom park right in front of the castle. It was very quiet and peaceful, a large bird glid over the water, I can only hear the rain sizzling.

I breathed deeply, I was all by myself as far as I can see. Beijing is actually quite stressful. People are very very unrested, always very eager to do something or to go somewhere. The castle park was really nice although my shoes were all wet and my fingers were immoblised because of the coldness.

I then saw a man mumbling to himself, he looked like a homeless. I decided not to show that I was scared. I walked passed him instead of detouring, at the same time, I shot him this very dirty look. I then ran very quickly to the deeper site of the park (I thought I was walking out then) in a fear that he might be following me.

Anyhow, I got back to the hotel alright. Later my friend told me it is not safe to go to the castle at night because of many homeless. But this is Japan!! I protested, I will be on the newspaper if I really get mobbed.

Another thing I observed in Osaka is that all the moving lagguage business in a hotel was handled by some tiny, nylon-wearing girls. While waiting in the airport lounge, I also found it was all women who load the laggages to the airplains. Is it because Osaka girls are very strong?

Quick Look of Forbidden City

It is still very sad there is no picture available at the moment, I promise to put on more pics when I get hold of a better laptop.

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I set out to take a good look of Tiananmen square this morning. As I approached the gigantic Mao's picture, I grew very timid and felt a bit scared. This state machine can basically take away anything you own, kick you out of your dwellings, make you spell your guts out by all means at any time they feel like. If it is for the account of state security or the party.

I was squeezed between so many tourists from every corner of China. I started to wonder what make them feel secured and what keep them get up every morning? There is no individual, state outweights all of us.

Forbidden city disappointed me a bit. The wooden details of the doors, arches, roofs are battered by weather, the restored part were painted by amatuers, I believe, because I don't believe the Chinese royal had such bad taste. The restoration project is a bloody disaster to the cultural heritage of all human beings!

I believe it would be implemented nicely if the projected is managed by anyone other than state own enterprise. Forbidden city is more grand, more delicated and more graceful in my imagination.

The Subtle Dynamics between XiaoHo and My Dad

My dad is suffering from the inferiority complex after he closed down his business. We all tried to help at one point of time but he keeps whinning. He is so afraid that he has to explain to us again and again that he is too old to do anything. At the same time, he feels very insecured. Thus he constantly reminds us of how well respected he is in his hometown in mainland (due to on-going donation) and how health he is at his age.

We all try to help him at a point of time but we are all numbed by his nonstop whinning (do not blame us, it has been like this for years). He could not understand that all we want from him is to see him live positively and happily, rather than making lots of money (he never did anyways).

The subtle power shift has taken place, perhaps, few years ago. My mom became the silent but powerful leader. She doesn't talk much but is taken seriously when speaking. Of course, she is still camaflaged by her innocent house-wife/grandmom look.

It is very interesting how XiaoHo has comprehended this whole situation. XiaoHo knows exactly who dominates the household, who he should please in order to get the biggest return despite the fact that my father loves him dearly.

Do You Like to Take a Nap?

Very sady, the labtop I use now does not support the picture loading functionality on blogspot. No picture!!! Very sad...

Anyhow, I remember I was very surprised to know that Spanish take their nap between 2 and 7 pm when I was little. I envied this so much that I decided to think them as a group of lazy butts.

Speaking of the napping habbit, Chinese are also notorious. When I was in high school, we were forced to take a 30 minute nap after lunch. Of course, there is no bed. 50 of us had to sit and sleep at our desks. Speaking or reading is strictly prohibited. If you are not sleepy? Sorry, you just have to rest your head on the desk and close your eyes. I think I got used to it and can always sleep very well. I always woke up with saliva all over my desk (secretly wiped clean out of embarrassment).

I was told, if you visit some government beaura after lunch hours in Taiwan, you will find peoeple sleeping every where. In the hot and humid summer days, the server rooms are crowded with male engineers. The girls also sleep in the same fashion as in high schools. This is amazing....

How to Open the Door?

The firefighter's wife is such a character. She walks into any fire station and tell them her hudsband's name, and the officer on duty would back out the fire truck to make space for her car.

We were meeting in a very nice bar. I was standing right in front of the door but couldn't figure out how to open it. I pushed, it does not move. I try to pull but there is no handle. So, I guess it must goes sideways. But it does not move, either. I guess the waitress was getting impatient to wait for me to walk in so she could greet me. She finall pulled open the door... I was really embarrassed.

But the firefighter's wife told me, one time, she waved , jumped up and down, tried to activate the non-exist sensor of a glassy door. She didn't find her way in until some one pull open it.

Dress Fitting

It is almost as tall as me....

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I went dress fitting with Peggy because I will be the bride's maid. It took me like 3 minutes to decide what to wear but it took Peggy almost 3 hours but we still couldn't find the proper dress for her wedding banquet.

The bride's maid dress is doomed to be white, only the bride can be colourful enough to draw everyone's attention. I also found out the secret of my cousin's handsome blossom, all dresses are fitted with heavy paddings.

But I am a bit disppointed with those dresses, they are not really soft and nice as I thought. They are very low quality and not very clean. They can only be used for photo taking. I do understand every girl wants to be the most beautiful girl in the world at the night, but I think those business men are just taking advantage of naive youngsters by commercializing the whole photo-taking and dress-renting package. After all, not many people would come back for more.

Yi-Long's Advanture

Yi-Long is a very interesting dog. He knows how to open the screen door.
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Well, Yi-Long did something very silly again today. He was let loose and met with another let-loose German Shepar, who is twice of his size. Those two got into a fight almost immediately, they tangled, growled, pretended to bite.

My dad and the owner of the German Shepar came to pull them away. The owner of the German Shepar commented that it is hard to believe such a small dog would be brave enough to fight with a such a big dog. That was not all, Yi-Long also fought with 3 strayed dogs without hesitation one time. I think he is mad.

However, my dad took Yi-Long out for a walk in the central garden, two small white cats jumped out of the bushes and attacked Yi-Long. One bit one side of his belly and the other bit his neck. Yi-Long was so shocked that he lay flat on the ground and begging them to stop. All the kids around were cracking up, some one even said "Oh, the cats killed your dog".

FengShui in a Casino

Strictly speaking, FengShui is not a proper phrase to use when talking about decorating your living space. Feng means the wind and Shui the water. FengShui is used when trying to find the best location to bury the ancesters so that the descendants could enjoy the good fortune. When talking about the same concept for living people, it should be "DiLi", which means the logic of the earth.

Anyhow, Casinos in Chinese culture are the most superstitious spaces Chinese could ever design. For example, in the biggest Casino in Macau, the building was made to be the shape of a bird cage. So no one can escape. There is a picture of 12 cannons hung on the entrance, no matter which direction you look, they all point directly at you. That's the Casino's attempt to keep you in and rip you off, spiritually.

There are ways to deflect the evil spells. You have got to walk in side way, to avoid the cannon pointing. You have got to go between 11am and 1pm, which is the time the evil spirit is the weakest. When being dealt the card, you should shout "black jack" to scare off the money ripper. Other things such as wearing scarlet undies could also be heard.

Do they work? I really don't know. Just imagining a group of Casino visitors all walk in the door side way like crabs is quite entertaining.

Oh, I was still very very stressed back then. I think I scared a lot of people. 

You can only see this orange garilla loving a rabbit scene in Taipei 

I was really delighted to see XiaoHo's ear-holdig posture...  

Crazy Plug-in Team in Barclays Capital, London 

Visiting My Grand Mother

Perhaps it is hard for westerners to understand why Chinese are so into visiting ancesters' tomb or so keen to be buried in the family burial ground (meaning, having your name engraved in a piece of wood, which is the ancestral tablet and is displayed in the family temple).

There is really no concept of religion in Chinese culture. The Chinese characters of religion was borrowed from Japanese in 19th century. It means "ancester" and "doctrine". I don't want to do too deep on the definition of Chinese way of religion comprehension, I
think it could as well be a doctorial paper in anthropology.

Chinese babies were born with a very big selfhood. A new born has to take its ancestral history, land, custom, expectation and unfinished dreams. It is also expected to continue the family line forever. This is dying donw as Chinese societies modernise but it roots deeply in our bloodstream. Religions are not such an important part of Chinese' every-day life because ancestral worship practice sort of fulfills the spiritual needs. To my father, the meaning of life is to glorify the family, it is not surprising that we don't communicate with each other very well because I like to make money more. Ha ha ha...

We picked up uncle Thomas and auntie Feng first and then drove to the mountain. I guess my grand mom would be the last generation of our family to be buried (I secretly planned things for my parents and myself already).

Her final resting place is so big and well-maintained. But don't be mistaken, it's definitely not like the cemetaries in the church yard in the west. Chinese cemetaries are spine-chilling. They are
usually located in mountain with very good view (essentials of good Feng-Shui). Just imagine the whole mountain has no living things but well-groomed trees and us. The sky was grey and cloud is heavy.

We walked into the tomb area as if we are about to enter her residence. It has a small temple for the local god. We have to offer him some food, incense and paper money. And then to my grand mom. The tea is poured over the ground as if she is drinking it. The burning of paper money is my favorite part, the only legal time for kids to play matches apart from Chinese New Year's fireworks.

We had to report to her what we are doing and all the gossips among relatives as if she could hear us well. I think that's the way for shy Chinese to communicate among family members.

We stubornly think our ancesters would watch over us if we treat them right. I guess I will continue doing so and pass it along with no logical explanations, I just think it is the right thing to do.

The Next Few Days

I understand if I don't update my blog for a long while, I might lose all my readers. I have to continue writing.

Taipei is getting cold and humid because of the cold front, the drizzles didn't stop for 3 days in a row. I was waken by my mom because we were about to visit my grand mom's tomb. My grand mother passed away in Taiwan almost 10 years ago, her final resting place is in a mountain, few hundred miles away from Hong Kong, with great view of port of Taipei city.

Just before we were ready to go out, we found my dad had gone walking the dog and forgot his access card key back to our building.

We called his mobile and replied his anxious voice, Yi-Long is missing!! Yi-Long was loosen after passing the gate, he ran down the hill (probably he is after some girl dogs nearby) and my dad was waiting for around half an hour in the rain. My dad was almost saying we should consider buying another dog.

I had to drive around to look for Yi-Long... And I found him, he looked very scared and worried. He didn't recognise me first and turned ecstatic when realising I have come to his resecue.

Because of the tight schedule, I had to go out visiting my grand mom with my uncle and auntie without bras, make-ups. I am wearing the funny-looking socks with my mom's colourful sandals.

It is alright, this is Taiwan.

First Day

I think I am not feeling very good about leaving London.

When queuing for the security, the idiot behind me stood too close to me, so I bent over to tie my shoe laces (although my boots have none) and my bagpack swang across his tummy by accident and I heard he grumble. That made me feel better for 2 second.

I think the fact that I have left London for good didn't really hit me until I was on the plane. I am actually leaving behind a lot of friends and connections.

Yeah, I guess I was really bored sometimes and I don't really hang out with anyone during weekends in London. Because I think I just dont fit in anywhere. But, after all, I am so used to it.

After 3 years in London, most of my relations and connections are mature or really close to, it is truely the time I should enjoy the fruital results. Just imagine the effort and time to rebuild all of those again.

Ironically, I miss London at my first night in Taipei and think, um
uh, why I pull myself away from an environment I am so used to? Did I make the right decision? What doesit mean by settling down? Would I feel happier if I have a more stable and clear vision?

Liquid Hand Soap Does Mix with Hair

As expected, I forgot to buy shampoo last night. I was thinking very hard about what type of alternatives I could have. Laundry detergent? Dish wash liquid?

Liquid hand soap is far better choice and it does work.

Bar Soap and Hair Does Not Really Mix

I was almost wanting to scream when I found out both shampoo bottles were empty this morning. I had no other choice but to wash my hair with the SOAP. It was a really strange feeling, it is really hard to apply the soap evenly on my hair. It took me several minutes to bubble up my whole head, since I am using the body soap for my hair, I might as well do the body bit.

Things went OK and I didn't smell too bad. When I tried to rinse off the soap on my hair, all the bubbles were gone, I swear it was all smooth and good-smell few minutes ago!! Nightmarishly, my hair was hard and dried as rocks and tangled as bird nest.

Need to remember to buy a bottle of shampoo today.

Anglee Joey

I was a bit stressed because of the move and I basically abuse those I spoke over the phone. Those poor people are from telephone company, TV license company, shipping company, concil tax office, utility company. The typical conversation goes like this

me: "Why is the application form/my deposit/cancellation order not here yet?"

poor customer service representitive (abbr. PCSR): "They are processed in order... "

me: "But I have notified you few weeks ago!" in high volume

PCSR: "We are trying our best.."

me: "Look, you are getting paid to explain this to me while I am using my time to get to the bottom of the issue, it is ridiculous!. I seem to get different answers every time I speak to different people, that is the way you conduct your business? " in higher voice, I deep breath and continued "If I don't get what I want, I am not paying for the last bill".

PCSR: "It is up to you, you will still not get what you want..."

me: "GREAT SERVICE!!" I finally screamed and wish I have learned how to swear.

Of course, it didn't get me anywhere, either. I am still waiting for the form/deposit/cancellation order. But I finally realise that I could be nasty and bitchy.

Too Much Drinking

Crazy Women Show Room - we started our marathon drinking session around 6. We drank through the very last trains, I have to keep all my guests. We then pulled out the leftover roast and started to munch on it around midnight. No one wanted to sleep yet, fine, let's open another bottle of Madira. Finally too tired to do anything when the short hand turned 4.
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Foul-Mouthed Pikachu

Having dinner with Oleg, Marta, Eugene and hyperactive Norwagien guy. I was not feeling too good after the Indian foods, proabably it's because of too much wine...
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Eugene was talking about how swearning words in your native tongue has more emotional impact than the foreign launguages. For me, I think they are equally bad. Interestingly my brother and I never ever swear in Cantonese, Mandarin or English. It could be because our parents swear quite often (especially my father), we make very good effort not to use any bad words.

Perhaps one day we will explode and vomit out all the indecent words.

Monsters on Buses

There was only one bus goes from my neighbourhood to my high school when I was in Taipei. The bus was inevitably crowded since it went through several high school in the west side of Taipei. That was quite an experience because I had never gone out of my neighbourhood without adults' company as a 14 year old.

Many classmates complaind about some indecent acts happening to them on a crowded buses, and how they dare not to take any action against those monster. I was picturing what I should do if it really happens to me, and so ready to either hit the monster with my bag or give him a good kick to the shine.

But it never happened throughout my 3-year commute. All my planings had gone in vain.

Sailor Moon

I got this parcel on valentie's day last year. It was sent to SunGard London office from some person inTokyo, whose name was completely unknown to me. I was so curious that I ripped open the package, revealing this school uniform set in the office. My colleagues were all laughing their heads off.

Later that week, I received another parcel from another unknown name, which contains the matching socks and glue stick used to keep the socks in place.

There are many speculations who might be the sender, one of everyone' s favorite is the business analyst in a Japanese bank, who I worked with in New York. He was famous for winning an award of erotic novel competition. My manager at that time was really concerned when sending me to the bank.

Obviously, that is not real school uniform but it could be used in many ways, I was told.

Blow up the Dog

My friend encouraged me to write down all the dog stories I told over several pints. Perhaps one day those stories could be made a book. Here is one of them.

We used to have couple of plant pots right near the entrance to the living room, the area is several steps higher than the garage floor. The dogs are not allowed to get crossed the line into the living room (they are not even permitted to linger near the entrance, my mom would definitely give them a hard-to-forget lesson if they do).

I think we sheltered a stray dog one time and he was very brave in challenging the authority. He loved to dig open the soil in those plant pots and chewed on the roots. Nothing seemed to stop him from doing it again and again. We could only clean up after him.

One slow Sunday afternoon, my father decided to take the action. He showed me how to sand through a little light bulb and fill in some black powders from the firework left over my brother and I collected and stored since Chinese new year. That's the basic of the ignition module. A small firework's ignition thread was inserted into the light bulb via the hole. We then wired a circuit with a AA battery. The circuit switch was weld into two seperate pieces of metal plates. We carefully installed the whole device in one of the pots and lightly spreaded some soil on top of the upper metal plate seperated from the bottom with a plastic spring.

We then went back to the living room and watched TV. Just within half an hour, the dog could not resist the temptation of an unguarded pot and dashed out of the garage screaming after a small explosion.

Translator Needed

Susie stayed with me and, I think, the woman is a terrible bed-mate. Although I am not very good myself (I turn, kick, speak and sneeze when sleeping) but Susie always lets out large amount of gas near the dawn (strange body clock). I tried not to think about the smell but it made such a big sound, the whole bed trembled I thought the earthquack is taking place in my dream.

Finally she went in the shower, I got to have the whole bed myself and tried to catch up some sleep. As I was falling into the deep and sweet darkness, she came back. I said "did you just finish your shower" in Chinese. It took me few seconds to realise I was talking Mandarin to a English speaking person. But it felt so natural the way I expressed my thought.

I was told that I sleep talk in many different languages. It would be very interesting to study how multi-linguals process information in their brains.

Betel Nut Beauties

Javed, myself and Irene... Too much foods, we spent 3 hours eating our Sunday brunch.
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There is an interesting betel nut selling culture in Taiwan. First of all, I need to brief you in about the background of betel nuts. Betel nut tree are very common in southern China and pacific islands, they look like coconut tree but thiner. Betel nut products (fresh betel nut mixed with spices and mineral lime) are used to greet guests along with cigerattes in the old time. They are chewed like toboco, also give betel nut chewers similar dizziness.

In Taiwan, betel nuts are truck or taxi drivers' favorite. It lifts up their spirit and keeps them awake. The interesting bit comes in the glassy stalls selling the betel nut, soft drink and cigerattes. There is always a young girl dresses in sexy outfit and high heel boots. In areas where competition is severe, girls dress even less.

Those girls are not poor and they are not forced to attract customers by dress sexily, they come from all different backgrounds and most of them think they will not stay in this industry for long. Some would return to school yet some become the owner of a betel nut stall.

They work very hard to draw more buyers, such as being very innovative about the outfit. You can see nurse/school uniform or pikachu immitation. The sexy outfit does not only serve the purpose of showing off their fleshes, it is also the ice breaker such that the passing by drivers can have some conversation with those young girls.

Littering

I never understood why people need to use toothpick few years back, now I know....

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There are some very strange things I observe in London, for example, Londoners don't really understand what is recycling. In Toronto, California, even Taipei (not that much of New York, though) people were obsessed with recycling. We carefully seperate the tin cans, plastic containers and glass bottles, patiently waiting for the day of the week to come and bring out the right box for recycling. In London, even pubs do not recycle. You can just imagine the amount of glass bottles thrown into landfills every day. I seem to be the only one in our apartment complex bringing out recycling materials to the collection bins 2 blocks down the road. Oh, I do meet others recycling, we chat about the difficulty to get the used batteries properly disposed, but those were mostly no-Brits.

The other strange thing is some Londoners do not really know littering is bad. Many thanks to concil cleaning service, you always see cleaning staff pushing carts on streets and blocking your way innocently. However, wouldn't it be nice to educate people that littering is wrong and install more trash bins? It was quite shocking when I told Grace and my mom about Londoners' littering habbit while we were looking for a trash bin to dump our Starbucks coffee cups and holder in Taipei. Littering becomes an unacceptable act, along with the concept of recycling in Taipei. You almost feel the pressure from the walking by or your neighbours. However, it is not yet the cleanest city because, I guess, there is no cleaning force as powerful as that in London.

Tabloid Composary Disorder

Unisex bath room sign, ha ha ha
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When I get hold of a magazine, newspaper, the first section I would throw out is the sports section. The next is the definitely the tabloid section.

I have skipped all news about celebrities since very small. I stubbornly think reading it would destroy my brain cells and make me stupid for sure. I even feel great when shaking my head while being asked "do you know who does what and when?".

I understand this is all to create the illusion to myself that I am so intellegent that I don't need to know them. But I still fail to see the importance or get entertained by it.

Drive on the Right but Train Runs on the Left

Just read an article about the train system in Taiwan and China. They run on the left, which is opposite to the side of automobiles. That is the legacy from Japanese railway system built before world war II. Very interesting...

Language Genius

I like, I like, I like cider....
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I think every one has some friends who can manipulate language so skillfully. They read faster, understand a passpage slightly differently from you, they produce more interesting essays or develop deeper meanings out of something ordinary.

That is definitely a plus for life if possessing such a skill.

Information Filtering

I was told a very interesting experiment. Babies were shown two different pictures of monkeys, in which the differences are not detectable by naked eyes. The 6-month old could tell the difference but not the 1 year old. We learn to ignore the unimportant information and concentrate on the survival-related ones. In this case, human faces are far more important to babies than monkey faces.

We only comprehand, understand, remember whatever we feel important. No wonder communication is difficult before we can synchronise our emotion with our audience.

Brokeback Mountain

Another very well-made movie, althought I can hardly understand the protagonist's talking (he has this thick mid-west accent and he mumbles all the time). The tension and love between Jake and Heath are beautifully beautifully depicted. Their emotion for each other is so intense that I have not seen in heteralsexual ones.

Heteralsexual relationship can be contemplated as a chemical reaction involved an active and an inert elements, which attract each other gradually. The negative and postive charged electrons marry and neutralised. It ends up in a harmonious and peaceful state. The gay relationship is like the explosive reaction when two active elements are forcibly locked up in one space. They fight, they compete and ignites the explosion with no boundries.

I was thinking the same analogy for lesbian love. How the chemistry happens for two inert elements?

Old Friend From Toronto

Andy was going to the same high school with my aunt, Feng. They become such a good friends with each other in despite of the huge age difference.

Andy went to the Ontario Arts and Design college and always told us shocking yet interesting stuff. One of his friends came out from the men's room, face white as paper, because he saw 4 legs in one toilet stall.

In his performing art class, the final project presentation was hilarious. Some guy performed bleeding (although he had to leave early before the class finished), some guy performed being slapped by the electric fan, some guy walked to the instructor, rolled up his trousers, grab the handful of hair and pulled.

In math department, we only have geeks who forgot to shower for weeks in summer.

Meat Craving

We had a New Year's eve party in my brother's place. This steak was cooked so well and we had to take a picture of it.

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Interestingly I stop my meat craving recently. Well, it might be also because my cooking skill is deteriorating. Every procedure seems pointless to me. Why bother chopping garlic or fresh herbs? Why bother marinate the meat in brine (to maximise the the flavor by infusion)? Why bother thinking how to incorporate different flavors like articulating an abstract data type? But I hate artificial processed foods even more, I only work on whatever I have in the fridge (because if I don't eat them, they will turn bad). I throw a piece of frozen meat in the microwave and cook it up with high heat, eat it with soy sauce, 4 ciggaretts and 5 TV programes.

All of sudden, meat smells very bad to me. The texture was not very pleasant to my teeth and some fibre always manage to stuck in between the molars. I have no other choice but trying to be more creative with pickled, fresh veggies. But I feel hungry in shorter time interval...

Castrophobic?

My mother's innovative child care methods. During summer time, she left XiaoHo with a bucket of water in the balcony and XiaoHo would happily play with all kinds of containers (he was not bought any toys since he was born but second-hand toys or our everyday life objects, such as empty shampoo bottles and so on). Then my mom would be freed to prepare dinner for half an hour.

In winter time, XiaoHo gets to enjoy the hot water bath in the same bucket. Because he is so small, we only need to fill up the bucket half full. He would come out all warm and red-faced after 10 minutes.

He is born a happy kid, never fussy, trying hard to enjoy every aspect of life as much as he can.

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I think it is quite common for people to get aggressive, unkind and nasty when they are behind the wheel. Since a car provides a closed environment and the driver is taking full control of its direction, it consequently gives the driver a false sense of authority and power. I guess it is not unusual to see your friend become a monster when he/she is driving.

What I want to say is that you are not going to teach any one a lesson (or change the world) by driving agressively, changing lanes freqently (although your reason is to minimise the time driving on the same road with a bunch of idiots) or tailgating those who you think unfit to be on the road. You are putting the passengers and people who share the road with you in more danger when you drive like a lose canon.

Traffic in Taipei

I found a book written by a Japanese girl who lives in Taipei. She had many amazing discoveries by seeing life through a pair of Foreigner's eyes. She's found lots of things I have never noticed before. For example, she heard people farting when exercising in the park in the morning (she described it as the human trumpet). The sound is so interesting to a girl who came from a place no one dare to make such sound in public. She observed that people don't really need to pay any respect to the person who is singing in Karaoki, which is unforgivable in Japan. Etc., etc..

Some Taiwanese find it very insulting but I think it is terrific. She is very observant and sharp in asking questions. Taiwanese are extremely care-free and liberal, quick to react without thinking much about the consequence. I have to blame my quick temper on this. Japanese culture is very anal and being discreet has come to some sort of art. The contrast is huge and interesting.

She's mentioned that Taiwanese are not afraid of danger or losing our lifes, yeah, she was talking about the traffic in Taipei. There is such a strange and subtle balance on the streets. It look chaotic, messy as if all drivers on the road are just out of mad house. Nevertheless, accidents don't occur as frequent as you would imagine.

The car in front of you might change lane without signaling, the one driving on the inside lane wants to get off the motor way all of sudden, granny riding a motorcycle was going in the speed of a snail but didn't notice she's block your way? And many many many... I would never think those crazy dirvers assholes because they are bred by the culture I deeply recognise. Of course I would hope things can get more organised in the near future.

Disposable or Reusable?

Really high quality disposable underwear

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When getting home from my long vacation, I routinely took a shower and found no clean underwear because my laundry is also on vacation. I had to use my emergency measure, disposable undies! They are not the best quality but do work.

Long time ago, my mother thought it would be hygenic for me to pack several of those when I went camping. Everything worked out fine until the last day a group of 10 year olds were let loose in the beach. All of us were soaking wet by the time the teacher managed to get us back to the bus.

It was not too good because those diposables were made of paper at that time.

My Cousin's Wedding

Everyone was critising my hair style, even including my uncle who is insensitive to fashion (he was bold and had his head shaved). I was dragged to a beauty saloon in my mother's earliest convenience in order not to disgrace our family name any futher. _______________________________________________________

I ran from the airport to my uncle's place in TsinSaShui and straight to the banquet hall in MongKok. The banquet hall is in the 42th floor of a hotel building. Well, I changed in my uncle's place, managed to put on some make up and shuffle in several fresh-made raddish cakes at the same time.

The wedding banquet in Hong Kong is not very different from Taiwan, except they do like playing Mah Jang before serving the food.

The invitation would clearly states that the host would greet you at 6 and the feast starts at 9. The time between 6 and 9 is really for people to socialise. I was starving and my auntie (Jennifer and Sandy's mom, the Taiwanese bride married my Hong Kong uncle) gave me a bag of super sweet tangerines (she's got nerves to bring a bag of fruits to the wedding and, of course, I should have the nerves to eat them).

It is so nice to see my Hong Kong cousins, I have not met with them for almost 8 years. They have grown... My younger cousin dressed in a beautiful gown, I couldn't take my eyes of my my younger cousin's chest. I poked them with disbelief "are they real"? My brother was really embarrassed and swore he doesn't know me.

During the meals, the young people inevitably took charge of entertainment. They played games on the Groom and Bride. The more embarrased and silly they look, the better.

Stage 1, Nothing Really Shocking...

Stage 2, Oh My God!

Posture Overkilled

I went to the Chinese style osteopath clinic in Taipei with Irene and Peggy. My backpain was almost gone after the hot water bottle treatment but I am very curious about traditional Chinese way of sorting out muscle ache or sprang ankles. Although growing up in Taiwan, I rarely visit any Chinese doctors. Well, my brother and I have been healthy kids was also one of the reasons.

The clinic is very different from dentist practice or surgery that we know of. There is no smell of antiseptic or bleach. There are only 3 KungFu masters and 5 massage beds (2 masters were absent that night). The waiting and treating areas is only seperated by a low bookshelf filled with comic books. It is quite shocking to see how the treatment is carried out. The masters twist and stretch and pull and fold the patient's body. At the same time, the patients howl in controlled volume, I guess it really hurts.

The masters are all around their 20s. However, unlike those stereotype 20 something, they are very patient, amiable, modest and big-hearted. Perhaps the long history of KungFu training and meditation disguises their true age, but they are indeed very nice people.

After a long wait, it is finally my turn. I told the master how my back and knees hurt sometimes, he looked at me and asked "how old are you?". Well, the real reason of my back pain revealed itself when the master made me lay flat on my stomach and felt my spine. My pelvis is obviously protruded (which may explain why my bottom is sticking out). Since I don't have hunch back, which normally happens in case like this in order to balance, the muscle in my lower back contracts most of the time to obsorb the pressure.

I was folded, pulled in many directions for around 15 minutes. This is the technique widely used to loose the joins. The master then corrected my sitting and standing postures. Well, I have always forcibly straightened my back because I think it is the right thing to do, it turned out I could have straight back easily if relaxing and letting my upper body lean backward a bit.

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.