Julie & Julia

Hv heard gd things about the movie and finally watched it on about a month ago. OK wor. Quite enjoyable. I personally like the Julia part better cos the Julie part is a little frustrating sometimes.

Watching the movie made my mouth watered. Wanna eat/cook some French food!

Meryl Streep’s part was a pleasant surprised. The first time I noticed that was in The Devil Wears Prada. Needless to say, that movie didn’t make me like her too much. The 2nd movie was Mama Mia. Didn’t like it too much either. Her interpretation of the character was not my cup of tea law. Felt too 做作. It might not all be her fault. It could be the problem of the director also. I watched Mama Mia for Colin Firth anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

But in Julie & Julia, Meryl Streep surprised me. I didn’t really know who Julia Child was so 詹占 found me some old clips on YouTube. Turned out that Meryl Streep did a very very gd Julia Child impersonation. The way she talked and the way she moved.

I personally didn’t care too much about Julie’s side of the story. I found Julia a lot more interesting.

Another point to note is that the guy who played Julia’s husband, Paul Child, was also in The Devil Wears Prada. I looked up his name, Stanley Tucci. In Devil, he played a SUPER gay fashion designer. I liked both of his characters in the two movies, which is funny, cos I usually dislike those SUPER gay fashion designers. I’m not homophobic but I just don’t understand how come those ppl always have to be _that_ gay. There’re lots of gay guy out there who doesn’t have those sisi gestures and attitude. Even girls do not act like that. I’m longing to see some male fashion designer who is not gay or at least does not act gay.

Anyway, off topic. The point is, somehow Stanley Tucci was able to portrait characters that I normally dislike into someone that I actually kinda like. Good job man, good job.

It’s pretty refreshing to watch a good 小品 type movie without all those special effects and crime fighting and ppl dying. More human, less magic. I like it.

Caroling

Went caroling with church on Thur night. I’ve only done it once before and it was caroling at different congregation members’ house.

It has been quite a few yrs that our church has stopped caroling. This time, we’ve decided to do it in the neighborhood, singing carols to ppl we don’t know as an outreach event. And my goodness, it was cold! Last time, we always get to go into ppl’s house and jumped into the car between houses, but this time, we can’t go into strangers houses and we were basically going door-to-door. No chance of warming up.

Really appreciated the teens who came out. I know they were really after the food but still, they are willing the face the cold and possible mean ppl who would slam the door at us. Not to mention 小賴 who was basically the singing leader. 沒有他氣運丹田既歌聲助陣，我哋呢班蚊之咁細聲既雜牌 choir 又點會成到氣候？And of course, there are the few who are 年過半百既 brothers and sisters 亦都冒著嚴寒出席，真係唔話得．

Some of the kids though… are so attention deficient… annoys me sometimes cos they would agree to do something but 10min later, they are tired of it and were totally distracted already. When are they going to grow up???

呢排口水多咗

所以 update 個 blog 多咗．

係因為我呢排太寂寞？還是太多廢話要發表？定係呢排生活太精彩，多咗嘢寫？

我諗主要原因係因為呢排返工好清閒，得閒寫兩句，得閒又寫兩句．好似依家咁，無無謂謂咁都要寫番幾句．

要好好珍惜清閒既日子，因為 I have a feeling that I’m going to pay for it later……

恭喜小鬼一號

成家立室喇！

見到你哋咁sweet，雖然我唔識個女仔，但我都實在凳你哋太高興喇！

不過好衰架，三月結，我啱啱先返過香港，咁短時間唔可以再返，唉，睇黎我又 miss 多一個 frd 既 wedding… >_< 嗚嗚... 唔制...

唔知下次返香港既時候，會唔會有ＢＢ玩呢？XD

The Definition of Cheating

Read a stupid article on msn webpage before about a survey of what kind of action do ppl consider as cheating on your partner. I don’t really agree with the results of the survey but it does show show me how bad ppl’s moral values are these days. Some ppl only consider having sex as cheating while kissing, or some other physical contact is not. Some ppl are a little more conservative and thought that kissing was the start of cheating.

But really, what if your other half goes out with another person on a date? Does it count as cheating?

I have been wondering about this issue ever since one of my frd got cheated on (in my opinion) while the cheating person claimed that whatever he/she did didn’t count as cheating. Bascially, he/she went out another person while he/she was still in the previous relationship. He/she claimed that it wasn’t cheating bcos ppl do go out with the opposite sex from time to time. Being in a relationship does not mean that you are not allowed to go out with ppl of opposite sex. He/she got a point (although I still consider that as cheating) but where is that fine line?

Suddenly, I think I know the answer.

Cheating is basically the loss of integrity. It’s not defined by a specific behavior/action that once you cross that boundary, you would be considered as a cheater. But rather, I define it as something you would not/cannot tell your partner before you do it or something that you would not do in front of your partner. Not to say that you have to tell your partner every single things but if in your heart you do indeed feel like you can tell your partner without 隠瞞 whatever you are doing, then I guess it’s not cheating.

In another word, if you can tell your partner that you are going out with this other person and you have no problem telling your partner everything that you guys have done or will do, then it’s not cheating, even if you guys are going to kiss or whatever bcos your partner do have knowledge of it so I don’t consider it cheating. But if indeed, you are or have kissed this other person and you tell your partner, even if it’s not cheating, it’s at least not respecting your partner cos you basically 親口話俾佢知你俾緊綠帽佢戴．完全既唔尊重．唔算係 cheating, 只係完全既輕視呢段情.

This is my definition of cheating. What’s yours?

Album Update

2010-09-05 Medieval Times (New)
2010 Bread Diary (Update)

Sushi Friday

Friday, other than the fact that it means end of the work week, has now an added meaning to it. In my current workplace, for whatever reason, some of the colleagues are very fond of this one sushi place nearby and they pretty much order takeout together every Friday.

For me, as my one pathetic attempt to be part of the group,  do order bento boxes with them from time to time. I don’t think that I can do it every single week. I mean, the food is not bad,but it’s not fantastic either. I don’t think I would want bento boxes every week given that the bento box choices are limited and really only has minor variations. Another reason is that stingy me don’t want to spend $10 bucks every week on lunch.

Regardless whether I order with them or not, I try to eat with them on Friday. It’s actually pretty much the only time of the week that ppl in my team and the one close neighboring team eat together. Ppl usually eat at their own desks at different time. I personally like eating on my own also cos I can be more flexible in when I want to eat and save my brain juice in either trying to engage in conversation or trying to understand other ppl’s conversation so that I can smile politely at ‘jokes’ or ‘funny comments’ at the ‘appropriate’ time.

It’s not all negative I guess. Sometimes, it’s nice to have some 人氣 around you. It’s also a gd thing to try to connect with ppl around me, especially bcos these are the ppl that I see everyday. Or at least show them that I’m friendly. And I do like sushi every once in a while. So it’s really not that bad. Sushi friday, almost something to look forward to. Almost.

Egg Tarts

Thanks to 小笨，whose frd knew where to find the 港式蛋撻模 (turned out that they were in PMall)，I finally tried to make HK style egg tarts last week.

Used this one recipe that I’ve found online. It’s 曲奇皮的. Personally, I prefer 曲奇皮 over 酥皮 (unless it’s 葡撻). I like all kinds of 酥皮 bakery goods but 唯獨係蛋撻, 就是喜歡曲奇皮. Anyway, this first time egg tart experiment was not bad. Tasted ok but I think it’s a little too sweet. I may try some other recipe next time.

娛樂圏血肉史II

等待已久既 show，星期六晚終於去咗睇．

黃子華仍然係咁正．我實在太愛你！♥

以下有 spoiler 成份，看者自負．

好高興，今次子華係用環保杯飲水，唔再係用膠樽．抵讚！

好奇怪既係，頭十分鐘，子華喺大銀幕上既面色都幾殘吓，但之後就好咗好多．係我老眼昏花丫，定係你打既 botox 開始生效，抑或係個 adaptive air brushing algorithm 開始 work？

喺香港上既時候，我睇過一兩則有關個 show 既報導（其實唔係太想睇有關既報導，好同唔好，我都唔想知得太多，免得 spoil 咗），以為會係以"wa苦" 其他藝人 or 娛樂圏既風氣為主，所以都對個 show 冇乜特別期望，只係諗住去笑一吓．唔係話笑唔好，但係取笑人其實唔難，it’s easy to make something sound stupid or riduculous. 但我個人其中一個欣賞黃子華之處，係佢除咗笑之外，仲係有ｄ野，呢個就係佢同其他棟篤人既分別．今次以為只係以取笑其他人為主題，但原來真係講佢自己既血肉史喎，雖然有幾多成真就不得而知，但係有ｄ意思．

接近最後溥儀個段有ｄ沉重，我個人覺得係一個不錯既嘗試，但其他人有幾接受，就真係唔知道．如果呢一段係子華想驗試觀眾對佢演一ｄ認真既角色既話，喺我哋嗰埸黎講，可以算係失敗，亦可以算係成功．因為條片一出，ｄ人已經無啦啦笑，唔係一個半個喎，係都幾多人吓架噃．我真係唔知佢哋笑乜．基本上，一見到黃子華，ｄ人就好似本能咁笑出黎，唔知佢哋想點．成功既係，到咗條片中段開始就無人再笑，咁可唔可以算係觀眾開始接受呢個角色？

開頭播片嗰ｄok 喎，我唔覺得係搵笨，因為所播既片都好 relevant. 反而令我覺得有ｄ笑點，真係能夠經得起時間既考驗，到咗今時今日，仲係咁好笑．

不過我唔係咁鍾意用音樂去做 transition，還是覺得子華個種轉咗話題你都唔知既 transition 正ｄ．

今次又無上兩年以黎唱咁多歌，唔係話唱歌唔好，但今次好似反樸歸真一ｄ，有服裝，但無ｄ古靈精怪既髮型，I like it!

有帶相機但到最後一刻決定一張相都唔影，個位無舊年咁正，況且要睇相既話上網大把有得睇，仲要比我影既靚好多，所以影都無謂，不如全情投入去 enjoy 個 show 好過．我覺得我既決定係絕對正確．

當子華講到佢人生第一次去紅館係去睇林子样演唱會，同埋佢坐喺山頂既時候，我自己都打咗個突．"唔係咁橋吓話？"，我人生第一次去紅館亦都係睇林子样演唱會噃（當然，同我一齊去成班既表兄弟姊妹大家都係第一次）．我哋會唔會係去咗同一個林子样演唱會呢？會唔會係同一場呢？會唔會係坐喺附近呢？？可能性當然不大，但我仍然忍唔住咁幻想，可能我哋有一刻係好接近，但就好似做戲咁樣，就咁擦身而過．我仲記得當年我哋係坐喺山頂到唔山頂既尾幾行，我諗子華唔會山頂得咁緊要卦...其實，我當時咁細個，連邊個係黃子華都未知．

題外話，小人小時候無錯是喜歡過林子样的，三歲定八十，我係由細到大都鍾情於老男人！hahahaha….

今年完 show 之後無去等子華，其實我自己都唔知道去等好，定係唔等好．上次既經歷讓人有點沮喪，我唔想再沮喪多一次，但又想再碰一碰運氣．今次由於同糖一齊去睇，所以我就以 "我怎能要求我既朋友喺零下十幾度陪我食西北風呢？" 為原因，說服自己唔好去．唔知道子華有冇發現到多人多嗰個每年都一條友單拖去等佢嗰個戇居某梨今年無出現到呢？定係覺得好高興無人煩佢？

子華，棟篤笑，還是覺得你最好．

Company-Sponsored Nap Time

It was company’s Ontario Central Region Town Hall meeting on Wed. I didn’t plan to go so I go to work as usual. So did one of my teammates. But my boss insisted the two of us to go to the meeting.

I’ve been to similar ones when I was in the old company. Given that the old company was a lot smaller than the current one, there was still almost nothing that really related to me.

So in this region-wide meeting, I doubt that there was anything that I care about. All it’s about is just the figures about how much the company is making and that how much we are expecting to grow and such. It’s not like they will give me any of those $$ anyway. I’m not even a stockholder of the company, so the company’s performance really have nothing to do with me. As long as the company’s nice and healthy and not having massive laid off, then the rest really doesn’t apply to me.

I mean, if it’s within the office building and that it serves some sort of breakfast (last time in my old company, we had eggs, sausages, bacons, danishes etc), then I would consider going. It was held offsite in the theatre on Yonge and Hwy 7 and only serves donuts and muffins and coffee.

Since we were late, there weren’t many seats left so we ended up sitting in the very front row of the theatre. They used the screen as projector for the presentation and it’s so hard to read from down there. Not that I care too much about reading it anyway. So sitting in the comfy theatre chair, with all the lights dimmed for the presentation, together with the monotone presenter, it was the perfect sleeping environment.

Naturally, I didn’t waste my opportunity to nap. After all, I got up at 6am this morning to transit to work (yes, cycling season seems to be over now). A little nap seemed like a great idea. Therefore, within half an hour into the presentation, I went to have my own personal meeting with 周公. My personal meeting pretty much ended near the end of the company meeting. Perfect.

I guess even though the meeting was a bit of waste of time, it’s still quite a sweet deal for me to be able to get some extra sleep time. Almost better than free breakfast. :D

Potato Buttermilk Roll

There were some buttermilk at home for some reason so I made this bread last month. First time making them. The 賣相 wasn’t the greatest but they tasted ok. Good for sandwiches. The texture was perfect.

呢個最靚仔, 夠哂圓.

Christmas Market

Went to the Christmas Market in Distillery District on Sunday.

http://www.torontochristmasmarket.com/information.html

Not my first time to go to the Distillery so we really went for the special market. It was surprisingly cold so we ended up going to some of the store/studio that we’ve been to before to warm up. It wasn’t actually that cold but it was the wind that killed us both. Some of the places did have new exhibit/product so it was mildly amusing.

Bought two yummy sounding savory pies. Haven’t eaten them yet. Hopefully, they will taste as gd as they sounded. Solved one Christmas present headache there also so it was quite productive.

There weren’t too many shops but not too bad considering the fact that this was the first time they have Christmas Market there. There were also quite a lot of ppl there in the cold cold weather. Lots of young children in their buggies, totally wrapped up like a mummy. :S

Was going to have dinner there but all the restaurants were packed. Even the expensive one. So we drove to Front St and had dinner at the Bier Market. I’m not a beer drinker so I focused on the food. They were yummy! And lots of interesting choices also. Boar burger, Pot of Moule, quail, fillet mignon burger, interesting sounding salads, erk etc. I picked venison. I’ve always wanted to try venison and I finally got the chance to. ^o^ We also shared a fondue. Yum yum yum! ♥

Celery Root

一種很醜陋很醜陋的根類植（食）物，

係咪好樣衰呢？成個異型怪物咁款．

我知道呢樣野既 existence 好耐架喇，亦知道係食得既，但無啦啦喺超市見到佢咁樣衰係唔會有衝動要買黎試架囉．

直到上幾個星期．

詹占個朋友阿拔有個 play farm，佢間唔中會俾ｄ蔬菜我哋，上幾個星期俾咗個 celery root 我哋，我哋一路都諗住整黎食，但拖咗兩個星期，阿拔又有收成，又俾多個 celery root 我哋．於是無可再拖，我上個星期 roast 咗一個黎食．

只係加咗 olive oil 同 rosemary，roast 咗成個半鐘．咦，原來又 ok 好味喎：煮得夠熟夠林既話個 texture 似 sweet potato, 唔夠熟既話就爽似紅蘿蔔．味道呢，似紅蘿蔔 cross 西芹．

Nutritional value 都唔差:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/CeleryRoot.htm

仲有呀，雖然係叫 celery root, 但其實唔係西芹既根呀，請注意唔好搞錯！

Followers

Just realized that I have 5 followers on my blog. Out of these 5, I doubt that any one of them are actually “following”.

I actually only know one of them. Who the heck are the other four??!?!?!

Garbage Comments

Don’t know y after I posted the 3 Kingdom card game post, I’ve received a few garbage comments in that post. They obviously are manual post or that they have computer to crack the ‘word verification’ thing in order to post comments. And these comments ar, as 小笨 had mentioned, have nothing to do with 3 kingdoms. 九唔搭八咁，唔知想點．

I suspect that those ppl/machine who left the comments got to my post through a random search on 3 kingdoms since it seems to be a hot online game in mainland these days.

In any case, I’ve already deleted those garbage. Hopefully no more will come…

鼓癮

其實，小人在幾年前時學幾堂鼓的．

係以前一位隔離教會既教友教的．嗰時，大家已經住得唔係近，但後來佢搬得仲遠咗，我又搬得仲遠咗，嗰時既我，仲未有車，於是就無繼續落去．

其實一直，我都想再學番，我覺得，年紀唔係一個問題，況且我都係學黎自娛，唔係要做 professional, 有心唔怕遲．

但實在又有好多 factors 成為阻力．

１．時間．平時真係好忙，personal 既時間都唔係太多，尤其是 summer, 我怕我真係無時間去練，變相洒＄．
２．如果真係要學，學得幾個月，除非無諗住學落去，otherwise 就梗係買返套嘢先有得練．但係一來貴，二來無位擺．貴都唔係問題其實，我唔係真係俾唔起，at least 我而家係有入息人仕，要買，都會買得起，只係肉痛．但屋企真係無乜位擺喎．呢個先係大問題．
３．同以前那位教友收我起平，有時佢老婆仲煮埋飯俾我食，相對黎講，我覺得出面ｄ學費好貴．

錢，其實唔係最大既 factor．唔係話我好有＄，但如果真係想既話，唔唔係話 afford 唔到，加上我cool 牙嗰度已經供完，每個月少咗一個開支，嗰舊＄都應該夠我交學費．但係，我係咪真係有咁既時間？

其實除咗鼓之外，我都好想再學返結他（對，其實小人亦都略懂結他）．結他，我以前都斷斷續續咁學過一兩年，當年如果唔係放羊到艱難大，應該會繼續學落去．講吓講吓，我都學過唔少樂器：鋼琴，色士風，結他，鼓（牧童笛唔計）．無樣學得長，鋼琴算最長，但為咗游水，後尾完全無時間無辦法繼續落去，每日游完水，如果仲要練琴既話，除非唔駛瞓覺，如果唔係ｄ功課就真係唔駛做；色士風其實唔係真係我話想學既，係舊時學校迫人學樂器，爸媽為咗唔駛買樂器，就鼓勵咗我去學可以同學校借九萬幾個人用過既色士風；唔係話投訴父母，我覺得佢哋咁做完全正確，我嗰時其實已經想學結他，無奈學校無呢樣揀，反正都係梗硬學，不如慳＄ｄ．

雖然我知道自己資質有限，但我一直都係幾鐘意玩樂器既，once again, 我係為咗自娛，所以資質有限都無乜所謂．

認真的考慮中！

People in the Office

I’ve got to say, it’s hard to fit with them. I’m limited to the people in my team here. Other than my direct super, the rest of the people are the kind of ppl who are really gd at small talks, really gd at chit chatting with clients, or among themselves.

Sometimes, I even found it disturbing when they talked to each other in some non work-related stuff like SNL and prolonged period of time. Even with headphones on, I find it hard to block out their conversation (especially bcos I don’t like turning on my sound volume so loud that it would damage my ears and I found that loud sound (whatever it is) distracting anyway).

My colleagues are also gd at chatting my boss up, which makes sense to an extent cos they have worked there for a few years so they better have a gd relationship with my boss. But looking back at me, I kinda feel like I’m 唔合群.

I also think that the current working place has a lot more politics than the old place. In the old place, probably bcos of its small size, all of us small potatoes were quite friendly to each other. Our one common enemy was our boss (or sometimes, our clients! haha). But now, it feels like ppl are wearing masks. They seem kinda fake sometimes. I don’t know if it’s just my misperception or what. They could be perfectly fine with boss and all joking around and laugh and stuff but then when boss is not around, they talk behind his back a little. In a way, this is understandable cos everyone do have to put on a face when facing your boss no matter how much you dislike him. (well… actually… I have been 黑面 to my old boss before and my tune of speech to him sometimes was a bit 悔氣 when I was really upset. ) But to be totally friendly buddy buddy with someone but turn around to have another face, I really can’t do it. The best I can do is to be polite to the person I don’t like.

They are also quite gossip-y, I found. They like to talk about ppl in the other team or in the other office. This and that and this and that. Drives me crazy. Not only the females, the males are also always gossiping, too. 好似一班八公八婆咁. I mean, maybe it’s a gd thing to know all these 人事關係既嘢. Maybe it’s a very important business skill to have to be able exchange info, but I am really not that interested. Sometimes, I found them very unproductive cos they can stand around and talk about stuff like that for what feels like a long time to me. There was this one time when this guy talked to my boss about this situation. What I think should take about 2min took them 15-30 min. What a waste of time, especially bcos they seem to like to go around and around and around in circles about the same thing over and over again. 長氣又chum氣.

I also dislike the way some ppl talk. Say person A and B. A expresses his point of view and B basically agrees what A said but instead of saying
“I agree. Let’s do it this way.”
B would say,
“Ya, I totally agree with you, especially bcos blah blah blah and considering the fact that la la la la… (5min later) So ya, what you said makes perfect sense to me and I cannot agree more on this issue.”
你 agree 就 agree 囉，反正大家都 agree, 咁就唔駛講哂所有既 pros and cons出黎啦，仲要有時ｄ論點都好無謂吓．明明兩秒就可以傾掂既嘢，係都要拖到咁長，好煩啊大佬．

The bottom line is, they all seem to be nice ppl, really. But just not the kind of ppl whom I can 傾得埋．Especially ppl who gossip. I really want to just keep to my ignorant own little world and don’t want to know about other ppl’s business. All I want to do is good work. I’m not HR. I don’t care about all these other stuff. But maybe bcos of this exact attitude and the lack of 交際手腕，I’ll forever be doing whatever I’m doing right now instead of easing my way up to the better position. Oh well… if it is, then let it be. If that kind of skills is required for higher position, then even if u let me do it, I probably won’t do a gd job anyway. Might as well let the one who has that kind of ‘ability’ to do it. My belief is that 老細俾錢我返黎係做嘢架，唔係返黎吹水，我收咗錢，就要有ｄ好貨交出黎先得，如果唔係, 我會覺得自己好似厄錢咁．一日到黑又話自己忙，但又成日喺度傾偈嗰ｄ人，唔知想點．要傾偈請麻煩行遠ｄ，唔好嘈住我做嘢得唔得？

三國殺

返香港既時候，去queen家聚會，玩咗一個叫矮人礦工既紙牌遊戲，很好玩耶．她們說有另一個遊戲叫三國殺，更好玩的說，但由於要看中文字，礙於詹占在場既關係，我哋無玩到．

喺香港臨走前，去咗二樓書店，打算找矮人礦工（因為佢哋話有時二樓書店有得買），但遍尋不獲，反而被我找到三國殺，雖然明知詹占玩唔到，但都有理無理買咗先算．

回加後，本來都冇打算玩，因為本說明書係簡體字，睇得好辛苦，但詹占話想試玩，於是就黎咗一鋪 open hands, 其實真係試玩囉，因為個 game 本身 at least ４個人玩，我哋兩條友，一人玩兩副．但都ｏｋ喎，我覺得ｏｋ好玩，尤其是因為我本身係有少少情迷三國，個 game reminds me of my old old primary school days.

當然，unless 我 translate 成個 game ｄ字，整一張 lookup list or something, 詹占係玩唔到呢個遊戲，再加上我哋得兩個人，真係玩唔到．但我又心癢癢的，美其名係試吓多ｄ人玩，先真正咁玩到個 game 係咪真係好玩，但其實我就係自己想玩，於是就上網玩 online version. 結果又真係幾好玩喎，上幾個星期都很沉迷耶，今個星期好咗ｄ．有機會去試玩一下吧，免費的！

我最鐘意個 game 係佢真係 incorporate 到ｄ三國人物同佢哋做過既嘢 or 佢哋個性格落去，而唔係九唔搭八咁塞ｄ人物落去有名無實咁，不過，我覺得最可惜既係ｄ人物角色入面無姜維，連郭嘉都有，點解無姜維？可能，對好多人黎講，孔明死咗之後既故事已經無咁精彩，我某程度上都同意，孔明死後既蜀只係一直衰落，所以無人記得起姜維一個智勇雙全既英雄，可惜，可惜．

Online version 用的牌是 original version, 我買的是 cute 版，cute 牌的是真的很可愛喲！

Online Version
http://www.sanguosha.com/web2/index.asp

Q 版
http://q.yokagames.com/

大家姐和小鬼

我實在係愛死你兩個．雖然我哋喺埋一齊既時間真係唔長，只係短短既一個暑假，但啱 key 就係啱 key，一拍即合！哈．

其實我哋幾個每人既性格喜好都有好大既差別，但就係好好傾，好好玩，同你哋一齊既感覺好舒服，如果你哋都喺艱難大就好咯，我哋可以多ｄ見面．不過，就算你哋到艱難大，應該都不會到多人多吧，多數都是會去西岸，那一來，我哋見面既雞會可能仲少，所以除非你哋黎多人多啦，否則還是留喺香港，等我多ｄ藉口返去好過．嘻嘻．

（這一篇真是夠無聊的）

人情

Heard that there are a lot of weddings recently, especially my frds in HK. To the point that they were saying that 潮流興結婚. I agreed that there seems to be exceedingly lots of weddings these days but I think that it’s mostly bcos we have reached the right age so that the ppl around us are getting married so it feels like it has become the trend.

Luckily, I myself don’t really have lots of weddings to go to. Only one this year. Well… it should have been three but I couldn’t go to two of them in HK. And there was also this one that happened during my time in HK but I didn’t really get invited and it happened on my dad’s bd so I didn’t go. I actually wanted to attend these weddings but anyways. My frds are also complaining how expensive it is to go to all these weddings since they have to do 人情.

It reminds me of my conversation with 小笨's parents a few months ago. They told me the current 公價 of 人情. I was surprised by it. First, I didn’t know that there’s actually a 公價. I just thought that there’s general range of amount that ppl give out but I didn’t know that there’s an _official_ 公價. Second, I think that this 公價 is surprisingly high. No wonder my frds complained about the number of weddings they have to go to. And I’m also embarrassed a bit by some of the 人情 that I’ve given out previously. Apparently, I was below 公價.

No wonder I heard from some of my 八卦 frds that so and so “made money” from their wedding and such and such, as if wedding has become a way to earn money. Weird. But really, why is there a 公價? I just think that you should be able to give out whatever you feel like giving depending on either your current financial situation or your relationship with the bride/groom.

I actually like receiving wedding gifts. Of course, there’s always something that you don’t quite like among the gifts. But that’s why there’s wedding registry to help. But it seems more personal this way rather than business-like. Wedding really is just about inviting your family and frds to witness and celebrate your happiness, the start of your new life with the other person. Why attach a monetary value to it?

Album Update

萬眾期待(其實無人期待) mexico之旅最後一個 album 既相終於都 post 咗喇！（其實 post 黎都唔知係俾邊個睇既...）

Mexico 2010 -> 2010-07-31 Wedding Day ->

Ceremony

Banquet

Party

Mexico 2010 -> 2010-08-31 Aguas

回去了，又回來了

從香港回來了，放假的日子是寫意的，是悠閒的．

重遇到很多多年沒見的面孔，有些是上次回港時見過的，有的是中學畢業後便沒見過的，有的是小學畢業後便沒有見過的．這些年來，大家不多不少都有點變了，有些變得沒話題了；有些卻是不用去找，話題還是源源不絕．可幸的是，後者居多．

差不多每晚都有飯局，有時什至午餐都是飯局，不用說老媽有很輕微很輕微的微言，連我自己都食到有點怕了．味精 overloaded.

早上不用上街，待在家裡的時光是美好的．落樓到我最喜愛的公園跑步或閒逛更是我人生最愛做的事之一．喜歡到的一個程度，是如果你說從此以後，我只可以到這裡跑步，我唔會覺得有任何問題．

台灣之旅，是一咋人第一次真正的乘飛機的家庭旅行，．由於是一咋人一起，旅行的活動跟自己去旅行的活動有點不一樣，但還是蠻好玩的，也因為一群人在一起，熱熱鬧鬧，多了不少笑料．就只是苦了小妹，一大早就要為旅程張羅，沒人幫忙孤軍作戰似的，大家都當了她是導遊耶，一路上壓力太大了吧．But really, job well done la and I hope that you had fun also. 其實我在艱難大帶你們去玩，我也常常迷路喇，不過我沒說，你們不知道吧了，而且就算迷路，也是坐在私家車上，所以才沒那麼大怨氣啦．

今次的回去，其實不算做了很多的東西，時間亦不是很多，但就是愛殺了那在家的感覺耶．也都愛殺了我的朋友，不是在多人多沒朋友，但兒時認識的朋友，是特別的，是能讓人心頭暖暖的．當然，不用上班也是一個重要的原因．:P

我希望不用再等三年才再回去！當然，也不可以回得那麼密嘛，一來沒假，二來沒錢，三來我也怕朋友會厭倦我．其實，是真的真的很有衝動要留下來，所以嘛，我近日都對詹占說，若不是你這個死鬼頭，我可能已經放棄了那回程的機票．

香港，自我上次回去以後，不知不覺的改變了很多，不少的地方，似曾相識，但其實不太認識，那熟悉又陌生的感覺，有趣的同時，又有點無奈．感覺是，我，似乎已經不太再屬於香港這地方；但同一時間，雖然已離開多年，但在心深處，我仍是不能否定，我是在這裡成長的，我最最最原本的根，仍在這裡．

擺渡的歲月

在操場內　玩耍中比賽　　在試場內　挑戰著未來
在世途上　但願飛出天際　在旅途上　偏偏盼望回來
在鐘樓下　伴著知己感慨　在教堂外　多麼渴望戀愛

誰人在說　誰人在笑　曾在喧嘩嬉戲中惹禍是誰
誰人在叫　誰人在跳　誰讓光輝的記憶放在這裡
渡海輪上　萬家燈火裡　多少個的你或我　曾為這光景陶醉

路已難辨　舊居都改建　但那懷念　開枝散葉蔓延
物會磨滅　事不可改變　逝去年代　清晰往事可見

決定離去　決定回去　不改變的往事永不會道別誰
哪日離去　哪日回去　一生最好歲月也深種在這裡
什麼時候萬家燈火裡　多少個的你或我　仍為這光景陶醉

Albums Update

2010-07-27 Aguas

2010-07-28 Cavillo

2010-07-29 Guadalajara + Tequila

2010-07-30 Aguas

I can't believe that these pictures have been sitting around, waiting to be uploaded for almost three months already. Not that I think there're many ppl looking at them but I thought I would like to upload them. I've been trying hard to get them all up before I leave for HK cos I know that there'll be a lot more pictures after I come back from HK. Two more days of Mexico pictures and I'll be done. I wonder if I can actually finish it before I leave tonight considering the fact that I haven't finished packing yet...

發夢

又見到子華喇，但係．．．個夢本來都幾開心架，但子華 ended up fall for 咖喱姐喎，有冇搞錯呀！咖喱姐跟本就唔係鐘意子華架嘛，做乜要同我爭，嗚嗚，好慘．

咖喱姐就係咁無啦啦做咗我情敵，唔制呀～～～

咖喱姐，你明明已經嫁咗人架啦嘛，唔好同我爭仔啦！
（你自己還不是都結了婚嘛，無恥呀！）
（詹占你少管我，我有我發夢的自由！）

Album Update

2010-07-25-26 Aguas

House Party

After moving in for over a year, JJ and I finally decided to invite frds over. Not that the house is all fixed and all tidies up, but we know that it’s simply not going to happen any time soon so we might as well have a party now cos otherwise, it’s just not going to happen.

Most of the ppl were my frds. There’s no way to fit both JJ and my frds together in one party with our little place. I was the one who wanted to have a party anyway so naturally, my frds got invited. haha…

There were a couple last minute cancellations and also a couple no shows. It was too bad for the ones who were sick but for the no show ones, I have to say that I didn’t miss them much. I am quite confident to say that it was them who missed out on the good food and company, especially bcos I don’t intend to hold parties too often. It may be a few years after this before I feel like hosting parties again. Well… at least for my group of frds anyway. Maybe JJ will invite his frds over some day.

For food, we roasted a whole pig. It was a lot of work for us cos we basically have to start the day at 6 in the morning to go get the pig, have other food ready, setting up tables and chairs, cleaning the house some more and other preparations. But since we started so early, we were actually in pretty gd shape by 3pm so that we have two hours of break (of course, during the break, we still have to go ‘take care’ of the pig every 15min or so) before ppl start showing up.

Picture courtesy to Rachel.

We’ve decided to do a pig bcos it’s something fun and different, at least for me Chinese anyway. Most of the Chinese gathering I’ve been to are either HK style BBQ or pot luck, or even hamburger/hot dog kind of BBQ. JJ and I have never cooked a whole pig b4 and we were glad that the pig turned out to be quite good. Nice and tender. It’s certainly worth the effort.

We also had salads and buns and snacks. Since a few of the guests asked if they need to bring anything, I told them to bring dessert/fruits if they really felt _compelled_ to bring food. I didn’t want everyone showing up with desserts and fruits cos then there’d be like 10 desserts/fruits dishes. And as I was betting on, some ppl did bring fruits/dessert and it was just perfect. =)

Overall, I think that the party was pretty gd. There were a couple of ppl who didn’t seem to enjoy themselves but they were the odd balls. They are simply not engaged. Even when I tried to talk to them, they didn’t have much response. If they didn’t want to enjoy themselves, there was nothing that I can do and it wasn’t my fault if they didn’t have a good time.

The only problem was that it wasn’t exactly cheap to do a roast pig, especially bcos we have to rent the equipment. And JJ and I had to buy quite a few minor things (other than food) to ensure that we won’t get rained out, or when the sun sets too early or if there were too many bugs. That’s probably part of the reason we won’t do this every often. haha… But then, those extra things are reusable so next time we do it, it won’t hurt our banks that much. In any case, it’s worth it if everyone enjoyed themselves. Now that I’ve opened my house once for party, I’ve fulfilled my job and ppl can’t ask me all the when I’m going to invite them to my house anymore! wahahhahahaa…

Headphones

公司d老細成日都開住門咁同ｄ客傾電話，再唔係呢就係喺我後面既 conference room 開會，但係又唔閂門架喎，我隔離 cubicle 既占少又係多嘢講之人，同親ｄ人講電話就好耐都收唔到聲，，死咁大聲．我呢排既工作好多時候都係睇文件，佢哋咁嘈真係好大既騷擾，我星期二終於忍唔住，去咗未來商鋪買咗對至 cheap 至 cheap 既 headphone, 咁我喺公司就可以聽音樂，唔駛俾嘈音騷擾．

其實屋企唔係冇舊 headphone 架喎，但就係以前嗰ｄ舊嘢，左邊短右邊長，但個左面短到由個 laptop 到我個頭都唔夠長，有兩對舊 headphones 都係咁，激死．未來商鋪至 cheap 至 cheap 既 headphone 都要十二蚊加稅，有ｄ肉痛．

不過都買咗，喺公司試咗一輪，都 ok ，所以都算，但前兩日去艱難太大買嘢，發現原來佢哋有 headphone 賣，仲只係賣幾蚊，雖然無未來商鋪嗰ｄ個樣咁醒目，但我都係喺公司用之嘛，靚唔靚係無乜關係，而且係 JVC, 雖然唔係最 high class最受歡迎既牌子，但都算係牌子，質量應該都ｏｋ．

所以呢，就係覺得好唔抵，去錯地方買嘢．．．

追月

中秋咁快就過咗．其實呢幾年以來都係無做ｄ乜去慶祝．基本上，我都差唔多唔知幾時係中秋，係因為詹占個鬼佬同事話佢知佢同個中國女婆＆仔女慶中秋我先醒起．

尋日係追月，我同詹占一朝早大都未光就去咗跑步，見到好光既月亮，我就同詹占講話我哋依家就真係慶中秋嘞，向住個月亮跑，真係超應境喎，名乎其實既追月！

Medieval Times

Thanks to JJ's mum, who wanted to go to Medieval Times for her birthday. So I finally got to go a few weeks ago (of course I have to pay).

I did look forward to it but at the same time I was a little worried. I have a very sensitive nose for animal smell. I am the kind of person who would throw up when I got to the zoo. So I was worried that I can't stand the smell of the horses, especially bcos it was indoor so that all the smell got trapped.

But surprisingly, it's not too bad. I mean, the arena still had a funny smell but it was totally tolerable. I mean, it would be better if there's no smell but it wasn't so bad that I had to leave right the way.

The food wasn't bad, either, especially considering the fact that the food was pretty much mass production. It was fun to be entitled to eat with my hands. The problem with eating with hands was that I wanted to take pictures also but my hands were too greasy.

The show wasn't bad. The story itself was quite simple but it was expected. Some of the tricks of the horses were quite impressive. My knight disappointed me cos he didn't win. haha... I did still enjoy yelling and cheering for my knight.

Overall, I did quite enjoy the show, to the point that I would like to take my family there when they come visit me. The show should be simple enough that I think my parents could still follow even though they won't understand the dialogue. The problem is that it would be too expensive for the whole family to go. Oh well... if everybody's happy, it'd probably be worth it. And it's not like they are planning to come visit me any time soon anyway.

Album Update

2010-07-24 Aguascalientes

Settling In

Worked here for 3 weeks already. Not bad so far. Still don't know what I'm doing.

I knew from my interview that this job would involve report writing but what I didn't expect was that I had to do report for the first project that I'm involved in already. And even before that, I helped this other guy with some calculations and ended up having to write two paragraphs for his report. So I guess Bo Bo Lo wasn't exaggerating when he told me that there'd be a A LOT of report writing during the interview.

I personally don't mind writing but the problem is that I doubt I can do a gd job on it. I don't mind doing it doesn't mean that I _can_ do it. Part of the reason to do engineering in the first place was that I don't think that I can write well and that I want to avoid writing essays. But I guess that's my destiny. I can hide but it finds me eventually.

But other than the worry of unable to do my job well, things seem pretty gd so far. I finally took the laptop home one day and installed msn on it. And Chrome. wahahahhaa... Well... not that I'm going to go online on msn during working hours anymore cos my desk is totally open to anyone who walks by. I'm actually appearing offline almost everyday now. I don't know why I'm doing that cos it's not like I'm chatting with anyone that way. I guess it's just a habit to have it on all the time.

Gd thing is that this office doesn't block fb! Well... gd and bad la. Gd thing is that I can reply any fb msg in a timely manner but the bad thing is that I really have to discipline myself. XD

Still haven't installed Chinese input into the computer yet. Maybe I'll do it this weekend.

I have to say, it's pretty sweet to be able to bring the laptop home and use it as my own computer but the problem is that it means that I have to drive for two consecutive days in order to do that. It reduces that amount of cycling days if I want to bring the laptop home. So I'm not doing it very often. Other ppl, though, bring it home everyday. Somehow, I think that it makes me look bad.

Album Update

Changed the setting of my online album http://mainprize.ca/oily-gallery so that user can add and view comments.

新工上任

A week already. Survived so far. Haven't got fired yet.

跟從前的真的有點不同，頭幾日基本上都係做埋d orientation 呀，health and safety training 之類既 admin 嘢，波波佬亦都無乜主動咁俾嘢我做。相對之前第一日返 fica 既時候，第一日已經要做真正既工作，好唔同。

坐個位唔係太好啦，雖然都係 cubicle farm 入面既其中一個，但我個位背住個走廊，即係個個行過都見到我做緊乜。不過算啦，基本上因為大公司既原故，佢哋個 IT 將d嘢都 block 得好緊要，我連 chrome 都 download 唔到，迫住用 IE，MSN FB 更加唔駛諗啦，有點想投河自盡既感覺。而每個人都係有一部 laptop instead of desktop，有好有唔好啦，個 mon 無咁大，好在佢都有俾真正既 keyboard 我，如果我要用 laptop 個 keyboard，就真係想死。好彩既係仍然有雙 mon，我慣咗雙 mon，如果無咗，我會好慘架！

波波佬成日笑笑口咁話俾 laptop 你，方便你拎埋番屋企做，都唔知係講真定講笑。不過又係真既，laptop 可以攞番屋企當自己電腦用都仲得。呢個亦係我突破佢既 IT 封鎖既雞會，可以試拎番屋企 download software，可能可以唔駛用 IE，FB就唔駛旨意架嘞，不過MSN都仲有雞會。不過呢個奸計唔知行唔行通，要睇佢個 security 係 set 咗喺公司個 network 度吖，定係 embedded 咗喺個腦度，如果係 embedded 咗，我可能都係 install 唔到。But I'm still going to try. wakakaka...

The guys and girls distribution was quite even in the old place but now my area is mostly dudes. That actually feel quite weird. But we seem to get along ok. I'll have to wait and see if how's it going to work out. Apparently, my "buddy" (they have a buddy program there) is going to be this girl who was on vacation last week. 波波佬 kept saying that we'll be gd frds cos she also came from HK. 吹脹，係香港人我就同佢 frd 架咩，我其實好多時都唔鐘意d chinese 架喎。But again, I'll see. I'll get to meet her this week. Maybe I'll get along well with her. Maybe...

Another interesting thing was that since I had been in the old place for so long, there were certain things that I don't get to do anymore but my 'helper' or other junior staff like coop students will those things. In this place, I'm the most junior person in my team and I ended up being a mail boy and delivered a document to a client's office. That was weird... I did anticipate that I won't be a senior over here but I didn't expect to be the "most" junior one...

But the good thing is that the projects seem quite interesting, very different from what I used to do. I actually got a little overwhelmed near the end of the week cos I started to get involved in some "real" work but I have no idea how to do the job!! Hopefully, I can pick up soon enough and can pass my probation...

Album Update

Mexico 2010 -> 2010-07-23 Zecatecas

人情冷暖

喺舊公司自從話咗要走之後，我無好似八婆咁響公司主動四圍話俾人知，主要同咗兩位老細講之後，就係同好多時一齊做嘢既荷大姐同阿麗莎講，但公司入面係好多人好八既，消息好快就傳開，跟住就大月d平時唔太熟既人走過黎同我傾偈。

我喺公司坐嗰個角落，係好死角吓既，唔係突登既話係唔會去到我個位度既，咁呢d人即係突登走過黎架啦。咁係呢d突登走過黎既人之中，分開兩類：第一，係真係見你走嘞，過黎同你講兩句既人，I don't mind this type of person；第二，係聽聞到我要走去大公司，突然間同你好似好熟既人，呢d人過黎既原因係攞 connection, 其中兩個人好明顯咁暗示話自已其實都想過檔，如果第日我喺嗰邊有好路數記住單聲佢。對住呢d人我真係唔想哂口水同佢吹水，平時又唔見同我傾偈，而家就想過黎搵著數，睬你都 sap 戇喎，至憎呢d人。

呢d第二類既人之中呢，我發現佢哋同你懶熟既語句係，"Between you and me, ...", 懶係同你講秘密咁，呢個 phrase, 我喺上兩個星期聽咗唔少，喺公司咁耐以黎，除咗荷大姐同阿麗莎會同我講d between us 既嘢之外（通常都係投訴上司既嘢），一直都無人同我講秘密。唔好話係秘密，連 gossip 都無人會同我講，可能因為我聽 gossip 通常都無乜太大反應，而我又無第二d gossip 同人分享，所以同我講 gossip 其實係幾無癮吓，anyway, 咁依家要走，就突然間有d人走過黎同我盡訴心中情，我真係受寵若驚喎。

一時之間，我突然覺得自已好受歡迎，真係體驗到人情冷暖。你有著數既時候，d人真係會黏埋黎，小小既離去，我都未走，已經上到人生既一課。一直都覺得自已好 blessed, 因為公司既架構好簡單，所以同事之間都無乜衝突，而家去大公司，可能更多辨公室政治，看來還有更多人生經驗去體會喲，希望不會搞到我就好喇，I don't want to be part of it.

買哂

終於都買哂今次返香港同去台灣既雞票，仲有成兩個幾月先出發但已經好興奮咯！

本來舊年都已經要返香港架嘞，但由於突然破產既關係，最後都返唔成。今次又係一早就話要返，但講咗好耐，我都未買雞票，雖然一早已經同舊老細請咗假，但一日未買雞票，一日都未落實。後尾仲話要轉工添，更加覺得個 plan 可能要泡湯。

但一早 interview 嗰時已經話明我十月要請三個星期返香港，波波佬（我個未來老細）話唔係問題，到佢哋真係話要請我既時候，我都不嫌氣咁再問波波佬一次係咪真係十月請三個星期假ok（我願意請無薪假期），波波佬都好爽快咁話ok，所以我接份工都接得安心，亦都即刻開始搵雞票，因為詹占要早返艱難大，所以 book 嘢都好煩。再加上去台嗰一程我哋係用飛行里數去換，又驚會換唔到，不過一切都順利，全部雞票都 book 好 lu.

好想快d出發喲，好掛住香港既朋友仔呀，好掛住我d表弟表妹呀！

PS.小笨實在太了解我喇，好邪！ XD

去玩囉

上個Weekend 去咗 camping，好開心，已經兩年無去過 camping, 去 Peru 嗰時都尚算係 camping 既，話哂都係瞓 tent,但又唔係好算．

今次得我同詹占條友去，唔係唔 welcome 其他人，但真係搵唔到人，以前好似好容易咁，次次都一群人去，但人越大（其實係越老），就越係難約人，所以今次我約咗兩約，ｄ人都冇乜聲氣咁，我都費鬼事睬佢，我 camp site 乜都 book 埋，ｄ人都係冇厘反應咁，難道要我求你不成？睬你都戇，兩條友去仲好，食嘢同活動既安排都 flexible 好多，唔駛吓吓顧住大圍咁麻煩．

Thank God that it hardly rained the whole weekend. I heard that it POURED in Toronto. The temperature was nice. Since it's so late in the season, the number of bugs were quite minimum. I mean, I still got some bites but it could be way worse.

個 campsite 比我想像中差，太 open, 完全同隔離打大對面，我哋前後左右再加四個角落都被狗同 BB 包圍，慘．幸好就係咁多隻狗之中淨係得一隻唔生性，成日吠，好彩夜晚唔吠，否則將它吃掉看你怎麼吠．

去既地方係 Pinery, ｄ設施都好完善，連有個 store 等你可以買嘢，係 wild camping 黎講，真係方便到不得了，如果係一家大細或者一大班想去 camping 但又唔想離開 civilization 太遠既就啱哂。

由於係 car camping, 個 park 又好多人，當然無上次我哋去 backcountry camping 見到咁多動物，但都見到d雀仔啦，龜仔啦，魚仔啦，chipmunk仔啦咁，都算唔錯喇；但如果鐘意睇野生動物既朋友，car camping 就拍馬都追唔上 backcountry 嘞。

希望下年可以再去 camping 啦！

忽然不捨

Tomorrow 就係 last day lu, 其實今個星期都忙到抽筋，又要預備好哂手頭上既 project, 等接我手嗰個人唔駛咁慘；又要將我多年以來做一直 develop 同 admin 緊既 website 同一大堆 accumulate 埋既 knowledge pass on 被個 coop student；跟住有個本身唔係好關我事既 project 出咗問題，又拉埋我落水；要去 client 到 delivery 個 software, 點知個 coop 個 program 有 bug, 本來只係要去 client 度一次，仲要係一個鐘應該搞得掂，點知第一次去咗成四個鐘，之後仲要去多兩次；又要係走之前 migrate 好個 server。總之d嘢無啦啦排山倒海咁黎，Murphy's Law 真係冇錯。

一直都忙忙忙，都唔係好覺得自已就黎要走，直到尋日將某樣我負責咗成三年既嘢放手俾咗 coop, 嗰一刻，我要離去既感覺突然好實在。我由 interview 嗰時已經知道，新工係唔會再有 programming, 唔會再有 hardware, 呢個亦係我要走既其中一個原因，我唔係唔鐘意寫 program, in fact, 我其實幾 enjoy, 但我唔想到咗四廿歲都仲要同d後生一齊追 technology。但到咗真係知道 this is it, 以後都唔會再喺 professional 個層面上寫 program，要寫都會只係玩玩吓，亦唔會再掂 hardware，嗰一刻突然間好唔捨得，突然間㚥失落。

我知道我呢個 move, 主要都係為將來作打算，我真係唔係 major geek, 我唔可能成世寫 program, 我會被淘汱，但又真係有d唔捨得，亦都有d唔捨得某幾個一齊工作咗幾年，大家互相排放對上司不滿既怨氣既同事。

某程度上，我知道我既不捨某部份係由於要離開一個熟悉既環境走入未知之數，所以有d不安，但都決定咗咯，都要繼續行落去。而且我又唔係真係知道新既無依家咁好，只不過，要我放低我一直放咗好多心機同時間去 develop 既 system, 我以後都唔會再用，以後都唔會再掂嗰堆我熟到真係就黎爛既 code, 有點惘然。

有個同事同我講話我走咗，個 system 會 collapse, 又話佢哋信唔過個 coop 咁話，哈哈，多謝你咁睇得起我，要個 coop 同我比，係唔公平既比較，我喺度浸咗咁多年，我梗係好過佢啦，個 system 唔會有事既，你哋會平穏過渡既。

淡淡惘然既感覺持續...

是時候了

上回挖腳講到見咗一次，等緊消息．佢明明話我去墨西哥之前會覆我，但到我走佢都未有反應，我 follow up，佢話我反黎既時候佢哋就會有個答案俾我，咁我返到黎再 follow up, 佢都只係話同高層傾緊ｄ細節，雖然聽落好似係想請我咁，但跟住之後又無咗回音．

然後終於喺一個星期後打電話黎話 offer 我，於是又同我攞 reference 同其他資料，同星期既星期五終於收到正式既聘請信同其他文件．

其實佢開既條件唔係真係咁好，只好 marginally 咁多咗少少人工．其他的福利有ｄ好有ｄ又無依家咁好，所以 it comes down to 工作性質同份工穩唔穩定．Anyway, after much consideration and talking to various frds and family members, 我決定走出去．

星期一返工司，諗住叫我上司同大粒一齊，咁我一齊通知佢哋兩個，唔㚥話我大細超，又唔駛我講兩次咁麻煩。點知大粒嗰日唔返，咁唯有剩係同上司講啦，佢聽到都好鎮定，問我走既原因係乜，我同佢講話我想試新嘢，佢就話其實想試可以喺同一間公司試，唔一定要走。Anyway, 佢話唔好彩大粒唔喺度，我唔可以親口同佢講，跟住佢話要打電話俾大粒，咁就放咗我出去。

我之後就同我同事講話我要走（無人知我要走，我諗第一個同上司﹠大粒講，對佢哋尊重d），我同事都有d surprised, 咁我同緊我同事講既時候，上司就走出黎，叫我入佢房再傾一傾。原來佢打咗就大粒，佢哋想出＄＄留我，我一早就估到佢哋會 counter, 但佢哋提出既數目真係令我好好好驚訝，好一個算好大既數目，我真係估唔到佢哋會出到咁高價，高到係新工完全比唔上咁高。由於個數目真係好吸引，我諗上司都見到我既動搖，佢 insisted 我唔好咁快下決定，諗吓留唔留低。

返埋位坐唔夠兩分鐘，大粒親自打電話黎，問我點解要走，又話佢要首先向我道歉，因為我之前話佢知被人挖腳既時候，佢係應該做d嘢，但係佢自己轉個頭又唔記得咗；我聽到佢話要道歉嚇死我，我即刻話上次只係咁啱開會既時候提起d公司名先至會講起，我唔係突登去講埋d咁既嘢去摶加人工。（d咁攻心計既嘢我真係做唔出，如果要做，早一兩年前幾個同事都叫我用辭職為要夾黎加人工，但我都無咁做）又話如果係＄＄既話可以商量，又話如果想轉崗位既話又得，跟住重話不如一齊出去食 lunch, 佢請咁話。真係嚇一大跳喎，我勁唔好意思啦，大粒嗰日明明話唔返工架嘛，我知道佢揸車返公係成九個寫架，唔係要佢咁特登出黎同我食 lunch 吓話，所以我即刻推咗佢，我同佢講話佢唔駛特登出黎，佢哋開既條件我會認真考慮。

嗰一刻，一來＄＄好吸引（尤其是我依家要供樓，份人工真係唔係好見洗），二來大粒真係超有誠意，加上去另一間公司有好多未知之數，新老細未必能夠好似大粒咁嘗識我，咁 value 我既存在，我真係十分之十五十六。

後來話咗俾詹占聽，佢話我鐘意點都會 support 我，the worse thing that would happen 係我去到嗰邊之後俾人炒囉，但佢話我哋兩人食一份人工同唔會死。我再諗諗吓，雖然個價錢真係好好吸引，但我想轉既原因本身就係因為想試其他野，想試新環境，我依家有機會轉，有能力轉，去試吓都好既，再老d想轉都轉唔到。

所以最後既決定就係懶清高，要人生經驗唔要＄＄。雖然喺好多人眼中，咁大舊錢唔要仲要走去一個完全唔熟既環境，仲要放棄 management 機會由低再做過可能好一件好蠢好蠢既事，連我自己都覺得有d蠢，但其實我一直都祈禱想要新工，我一直都搵緊政府工，但就一直乜都冇，而呢份工係佢自己搵上門，我唔知係咪神為我預備既一條路，但既然呢一扉門已經為我打開，我就走進去啦。

其實大粒真係唔話得，佢到咗我決定要走之後都叫我記住，如果我想返去佢都會歡迎我。我一直都話，雖然大粒唔算得係好好既 manager, 但佢個人真係唔錯。

是好是壞，要走進去才知道吧。祈求一切安好。

Album Update

Mexico Trip

2010-07-22 Travelling & Arriving

Mexico Take 2

If it wasn't for the wedding, I doubt that I would go back to Mexico. At least not this soon.

This time I went to central Mexico. According to Mr.S, it's as far away from a beach as you can within Mexico. So no lazing around the beach, doing nothing and getting sunburn. The city we went to is called "Aguascalientes", which means hot water. So we did went to try to hot spring there. The spring wasn't too hot. It was more like warm water. Regardless, it was still very relaxing to just lying around in the warmth. My first hot spring experience.

I also had my first tequila in my life in this trip. Way to go. If you are having tequila, you better start in where tequila first started, right? ^o^

What I've done in the trip will be described by my photo album (when I have time to upload my pictures) so I am not going to repeat here.

The wedding though, was the funnest wedding I've ever been to. Not that I've been to a whole lot of weddings but this one was definitely the best one so far. The food was awful, in my opinion anyway, cos almost all the food are super spicy. I cannot eat spicy food. So even though the food itself was quite tasty but I just can't taste it. The only flavour that I could taste was the spiciness.

But the fun part was the dance. Oh man, almost everyone went out to dance. It was great. The locals all knows the songs. And the band has all kinds of props and toys. They brought out a boxing ring for the bride and groom and the in laws, with capes and masks for them to wear. And they all got really into and pretending to be fighting and stuff and that made it really fun. Everyone else were cheering from the side and dancing with the music.

There were also these necklaces. They put them on ppl randomly and it turned out that whoever got it have to do a dance with the pole in the middle of the circle. And nobody who has received the necklace refused to play along. And it's all just fun and stuff, not low class at all. Then they brought out this huge caterpillar thing and there were tons of balloons hiding inside so when they open the caterpillar, so everyone were playing with balloons. I know it sounds very stupid but trust me, it was fun. I was even in this jumpsuit at one point with a few other girls to pretend to be some sort of Mexican boy band and jumping around like an idiot. haha... I wouldn't say that I got forced into it but more like "encouraged" to do so.

There were more little toys like huge balloons and stuff and it was all very very fun. There wasn't any bride and groom games that I usually hate but was all little group stuff like the balloons that anyone can participate.

Really, the Mexicans know how to do weddings. Ten thumbs up!!

The sucky thing was, JJ got sick after the wedding and I got sick the day after. The red eye flight back to Toronto was delayed for 2 hours. And we weren't able to sleep on the plane. I usually can get at least an hour or two but no no no, not this time. So the whole end of the vacation was just very very painful and we were really glad when I got home.

But still, it's a nice vacation. Not one of those deadly vacation where we go hiking and cycling and all those crazy activities but nice and relaxing. Looking forward to the next vacation.

Two Books

The Lost Symbol

Very disappointing. I liked Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code too much. It wasn't like I had a super high expectation about The Lost Symbol anyway cos I've heard bad things about Dan Brown's other books after A&D and DVC. But I wasn't expecting such a bad book. I mean, there're bits and pieces about it that are quite neat.

However, he breaks the story but either flashing back into the past or by long-winded explanations about some ancient history or history of brotherhood. I mean, it's not a bad thing to do flashbacks and explanations but it's just way too much. It means the story goes too slowly. I found myself getting very frustrated by these breaking of the main storyline and was wishing that the story would pick up its pace and be more exciting.

Not only did those flashbacks/explanations breaks the storyline, they are also annoyingly repetitive. I seriously wonder if Dan Brown was getting paid by the number of pages/words that he wrotes so that he just fill the book with repetitive junk to make it a big book. Basically, the whole book is around this one thing and one organization that he just kept going on and on and on about it. I mean, yes, A&D and DVC are also about one main concept and one organization but it also involves a lot of other things like paintings and architectures and the whole theory was so convincing, so believable.

And there was the suspense of who the bad guy was in A&D and DVC. In LS, the bad guy was obvious from the beginning, even though there was a bit of a twist at the end but the whole story simply wasn't as grasping as A&D and DVC. I also found the "connections" or "evidence" that supports the hypothesis in LS a little bit of a stretch. I wasn't very convinced at all. The book also not as well-written to the point that I want to know what happen next or that I care about the characters at all. Part of it probably goes back to the problem of the storyline getting broken all the time so it's just hard to really get into the story.

If you really liked A&D and DVC, do not read LS... u will probably be disappointed. But if you do read it, please let me know what you think. I want to know if the book actually sucks as bad as I think or that I had too much of an expectation of it to causes my harsh criticism.

The Kite Runner

This one on the other hand, my friend, is a good book. Borrowed this book a little while ago. Has been sitting on my coffee table for a while before I finally decided to pick it up. I really didn't plan to read it but someone, someone insisted that I borrowed it so I under the circumstances of 盛情難卻底下借了回家的。

I don't usually read the preface of books but this time I did. I had to agree with the authur, "Who wants to read a book about two Afghan boys anyway?" (or something along similar lines) But 我盆住反正都借咗，睇吓都好，唔好睇至多咪唔睇既心態下，I started reading. Quite easy to read. A bit sad and depressing at points. It reminds me a little bit of Slumdog but at the same time, it's very different from Slumdog.

Well-written book. I found a lot of books, famous or not, using legthy paragraphs to describes the environment and yet I don't really 'see' it. The way the author describes the surroundings are just恰到好處, not too 長氣兼沉氣，but enough to give you a vivid picture in your head.

And I did really immersed in the story, especially at the sad points. Gd book but only read it when you are prepared for it. It's not a light story.

Album Update

2010-06-26 Triathlon - Welland

2010-06-05 Family Picnic

Finally

Time for vacation.

My last vacation was over a year ago in last May. It's time now. Part of the reason to go is for a wedding, a gd motivation to force me take a vacation.

Mexico this time. But no, not all inclusive Cancun, but in the middle of nowhere little city in central Mexico. It's gonna be HOT. If it wasn't for the wedding, I don't think that I would go to Mexico again, at least not so soon since the last time. Last time I went to Mexico during Christmas time to Yucatan, I nearly had a heat stroke. I can't imagine what is going to happen this time. Well.. if I never ever update this blog again, you know that I had died in Mexico...

This is also the most unorganized vacation I've had. Other than having the plane tickets and hotels booked, we have hardly plan what we are going to do there. We haven't even got the local currency yet. I tried to go to the bank to get some Mexican Peso but guess what? I tried two banks and called another one and none of them carry Peso in their branch. I was supposed to order it a week in advance. Argh... I guess I can only get them at the airport, even though the rate is going to be worse. But I don't have any choice. That's the price I have to pay for being unorganized. >_< We are going to be there for about 10 days in this little city. We might end up being super bored. Well... hopefully not...

Even though it's all unorganized and all that, I'm still very looking forward to the trip. I'm really really looking forward to have a break from real life and relax both my body and my mind.

As I was telling 小笨，work and church are both trying to fill my schedule to the fullest possible and to make sure that I will have everythng done before I leave. I still haven't started packing yet and I'm betting on packing all night on Wed cos I'm leaving on Thur early morning. This probably means that I'll forget this and that and this and that in my luggage. Just hope that $$ can solve my problems, whatever problem I'm going to have. Hopefully, I won't forget anything. Fingers cross.

Have a nice trip! (to myself. ha!)

挖腳 Take 2

上年被人挖咗一吓，最後還是不了了之。

今年又被另一間公司挖，今次的仲要係國際級既大公司。

其實我現在既工作也算得上是過得去的，自從公司上年合併了以後，機會真的多了點點。加上唔洗再點做大粒既野，工作環境是有改進的。所以呢，都好興幸舊年的那間公司最後都決定不要我。

今年呢間公司既獵頭前三個星期前打黎我公司搵我，跟住我以為約左電話面試，但原來係真人面試，跟住再 email reschedule, 但係整整吓又無咗回音，咁我就算數啦，反正我都唔係真係好有轉工既意欲，不過佢打到黎，我諗住去睇吓有乜好路數啫，佢唔緊，我又唔緊，咁咪算囉。

咁我兩個星期前同大粒開會，大粒講講吓又講到離哂題，跟住講話而家我哋既兩大 competitors 就係公司A同公司B，聽到我個心定咗一吓，A就係舊年挖我嗰個，B就係今年挖嗰個，唔係咁橋吓話？

跟住lunch time 喺廚房見到大粒，我懶係想知多d市場情況咁問大粒，咁除咗A同B之外，我哋既competitor 仲有邊個，大粒話，我哋個department, 就主要係呢兩間，無乜其他，其他既唔係太細就係太渣，唔駛理佢哋。跟住大粒就好奇怪我無啦啦問d咁既嘢，由於講大話係唔啱既加上我臨場講大話既能力唔太高，咁我就話公司 A 挖過我，大粒聽到好似好 surprise 咁，又問係幾時既事，又問我有無見過佢哋，又問我我見過邊個．我都一一老實答咗，我係有見過面，但我真係唔記得我見過果兩個人叫乜．大粒然後又問咁仲有冇其他公司搵過我，我咪話有囉，佢當然又問係邊間，咁我咪答佢公司 B 囉，佢又問係幾時既事同有冇見過果度ｄ人，我就話係近排既事同冇，我冇見過果邊ｄ人，我只係同獵頭人聯絡過．

大粒聽完，話多謝我既 sharing．佢轉個頭一定係話咗俾我個 super 知，因為佢同一日就同我講話我哋係時候睇一睇我既事業發展方向．雖知道我個 super, 佢一直都唔理你既事業發展方向，就算公司合併咗之後年尾有個叫做事業發展計劃既 program, 基本上係上司同下屬坐埋一齊填個問卷，然後 discuss 一下未來一年既計劃，depending on 下屬既目標係乜，上司就會幫助你一步一步向目標進發．個 progrom 係 mandatory 既，咁我 super 做咗ｄ乜呢？咪就係同我填個問卷，disucss 咗一下，然後不了了之，一ｄ follow up都無．咁佢突然間咁積極，就一定係大粒同佢講過嘢．

我同大粒既對話大約係兩個星期前既事，當時真係一句大話都無講過．但如果佢今日再問我，我既答案就會唔同咗，因為我今個星期去咗 in．之前話公司 B 又無咗回音，以為佢 bye bye 我啦，但佢上個星期又搵我，終於今個星期見咗．佢哋好似好有誠意咁，anyway，誠意呢家嘢可以係扮架啫，加上我真係唔覺得我係佢哋想搵嗰類人，佢哋都未必要我．But as I was mentioning to 小笨，如果佢哋真係要我，我都唔知究竟去唔去好，我而家喺現在既公司都 ok 喎，我 super 係衰ｄ，但其他既都好好喎．我又 kinda of 去緊我想去既方向（當場完全係我自己爭取既成果，如果等我 super 幫我可以去死），如果我去到果邊，做既野可以話係完全唔同，即係要由頭 train 過，又要挨一輪先可以上番而家咁 independent 既位置．

But again, 可能人家不要我啦，還是不要太早發夢才好．

挖腳行動 take ２報導暫時告一段落，有新消息再算．

Album Update

2010 Oshawa Highland Game

瘦咗?

明明就唔係，但個個都話係．唔明喎，真係無瘦到喎．但又唔只一個，唔知兩個，係差唔多個個都係咁講，連人家既老豆都話瘦咗，奇～
唔通我喺大家既心目中真係咁肥？

然後有人話（唔記得邊個），係個頭瘦咗，urm…即係想點，淨係個頭瘦，個身就一樣咁大舊，好樣衰啫！一係就係以前個頭大過個身，唔 proportional；一係就係而家個身大過個頭，一樣既唔 proportional…

跟住有人（又唔記得邊個）話係條頸瘦咗，仲奇！因為第一，剛剛既 weekend 小妹先話我條頸好似瘦咗；第二，阿哥，我真係唔知原來你咁留意我條頸架噃，咁得意既你！

超怪喎，無啦啦條頸點會瘦咗呀？

Albums Update

2010 Bread Diary

2010-06-05 Backyard

Post Race Report

I've made it.

750m swim - 30 km bike - 7.5 km run

in 1 hr 59 min 30 s

I was quite happy that I finished in less than 2 hours.

It was a pretty small race bcos it was in a city in the middle of nowhere called Welland. So basically, anyone who was in the race are either living in the Welland-Niagara area, or they are the hardcore athletes who do multiple races in the series. So odd balls like me n JJ, who for our own reasons wanted to do this particular race, were quite rare.

I overheard a girl in my age group talking to another guy saying that she's going to do this, this and that race this summer and is going to go to nationals (and of course the guy was also doing multiple races). JJ overheard another person in his area saying the he's going to do the time trial to go racing in China. We were like "what the hell". Racing alongside these hardcore ppl. So I got 7 out of 15 in my age group. Probably means that I'm pretty gd, right? Right? (making excuse for myself)

I was telling JJ that in the race in Toronto that I was in a couple of years ago, there were always those slightly non-fit ppl (we jokingly called them "fatties" doing the race so there's no worries. We shouldn't try to follow the fast ppl cos we would run out of gas too soon and won't b able to finish the race this way. But as we actually got to the venue, we realized that _we were the fatties_ in this race. Orz.. great...

In hindsight, I think that I could have swum faster but I was too worried that I would run of of energy that I went really easy on the swimming part. Wasn't even out of breathe when I came out of the water. But I hv to say though, the running part was hard for me but I am pleased that I didn't walk at all. The funny part was that during the run, I passed these 17, 19 and 20 year old girls and maybe one or two guys that were in that age group while I was in turn being passed by those 40, 37, 45 or even 53 years old. Felt so proud of myself when I passed these young ones while feeling totally ashame when I was passed by the oldies!

During the award ceremony, the announcer announced the winner of the age group 50-55 (or something like that) and the time was 2 hours something. I was totally happy and turned to JJ and said to him "hey, I beat this person!" JJ looked at me and said, "but she's fifty something years old". and I said, "o...right....." I was so dumb, probably bcos there was no more oxygen in my brain at that point. I wish I could still do a triathlon when I'm in my fifties.

There goes the self challenge of the year. Without this motivation, it's going to be hard to stop eating ice cream and other junk food....

PS. we've taken some pictures. Will upload them when I have time (which is like never! ha).

Album Update

2010 Tulips

It's actually not a photo album but a video album. Unfortunately, you need quicktime plugin in order to view the videos.

Haven't updated any pictures for a while. It's not bcos I haven't taken any but bcos I haven't got time to download the pictures from my camera and then upload them. And the duration of this tulip album actually took a long time cos it records the growth process of the tulips that we've planted in our frontyard. Sometime, I would forgot to take any pictures for a few days though. So it isn't perfect. I could have registered my photos also so that they will line up in the video but I was too lazy. Oh well... it's good enough. ;)

好久不見

星期四約咗朋友食飯，諗一諗，嘩，成四年無見。

因為朋友未食過 Greek food, 我又住喺 Greek Town，咁就腳都唔去食 Greek food 真係說不過去。所以就帶咗朋友去 Mr. Greek，諗住 chain restaurant, 唔會太太好，但品質都保值 average, 唔會太 risky, 好可惜，that was a bad choice. I found that food way too salty,d肉又乾. 希望朋友唔好就此討厭 Greek food啦。

朋友仲喺香港帶咗手信俾我，哈！香港既手信，好似好真係老外咁！都叫咗佢唔洗架啦，返正我今年都會返去，要既話我自己買咪得囉，但人家真係好客氣。哈哈，客氣得我覺得自己真係好似「大人」咁！ :P

Short but pleasant 既一聚，希望我今年返去有機會再見面見面，I don't want to have to wait for another 4 years!

Super Baby!

City of Silver

Ever since I've got a library card a couple of months ago, there has been at least one library in my house. It's great cos with the little house that I have, I really don't think that buying and collecting books is a good idea. I don't usually read my own more than once anyway. Not that I won't buy books anymore but I will probably only buy books that I really really like. Sorta like the way I buy DVDs now. I basically won't buy any DVD until I've seen the movie.

The problem with library books is that I always have this feeling that library books are dirty. So, I don't like touching my face and always have this urge to wash my hands after touching those books. And I usually like to read before going to bed. But oh well, I will just have to suck it up and get used to it.

Anyway, off topic. One of the books that I've read recently was called "City of Silver". I borrowed that book bcos of the setting of the story. It was set in Peru so I thought that it could be interesting. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I didn't like it at all. The story was slowwwwwwwww. One of those books that have very long but boring description of the scene, ppl's clothes and all kinds of unnecessary detail. And those descriptions weren't any good either. It failed to paint a vivid image of what's happening or what the scenary's supposed to be. So the descriptions was just a total waste of time.

I hate that kind of books. Feels like the author was 厄稿費, just going on and on about the unrelated information. Even the supposedly exciting part wasn't really that exciting, either. All in all, a very disappointing book.

The twilight series was so much better. Even though the attended audience is teens, I still quite enjoyed the series. Not saying that it's a fantastic series, but it's a pretty good series for leisure reading. I mean, not all four books are all good. New Moon was kinda annoying cos she spent way too much time being miserable. I think that Eclipse is the best one.

Anyway, what I tried to say is that DO NOT read City of Silver. You might as well read the Twilight series instead.

點解我要俾＄＄你？

星期五係某女子的 last day。

我哋公司分為好幾個 business units, 我個 units 入面又分為幾條 line, 我條 line 入面又分為三個 departments, 我係屬於細 department。而呢個學生係屬於大department，我同佢根本上就係從來都無講過野。

而家佢要走嘞，honestly, I couldn't care less (tell u y below). 但係佢個department買咗張 gift card 俾佢，仲周圍叫人夾＄＄ chip in, 我無可能話我唔想夾，根本上就係俾佢屈＄＄。十蚊，我唔係俾唔起，但我唔係發咗達大把要周圍派，無情情要俾十蚊佢，我真係唔想喎。

仲有，佢星期五因為係 last day, 買咗d東甩曲奇咁孝敬吓d同事，但係淨係請佢個 department 食架咋喎，其他人無架喎。不過咁都算嘞，佢都唔知人哋買咗 gift card 俾佢既。但係佢個 department 一眾去食 lunch同佢餞行，無邀請我架喎，咁算點呀？Not that I really want to go spend any more $$, 但令我覺得好不快喎，佢個 department 跟本無當過我係 part of the gang, 出去食飯 social 唔預我，夾錢就計埋我嗰份，當我咩呀？水魚牙？唔係我 cheap, 但俾著係你，你都會覺得俾人搵笨啦，係咪？

另一個原因係令我最不甘心既原因，就係我哋無乜交流都唔緊要，因為如果嗰個department既其他人要走，我都會半樂意夾錢，問題係呢個人本身對我一直都唔友善，平日見到我同佢打招呼佢完全係口黑面黑唔蘇我架囉。星期五我喺公司門口見到佢同另一個女同事一齊行，嗰位女同事轉頭見到我，我同佢揮手，佢又同我揮手，咁呢個離職女轉頭睇吓，我當然又同佢揮手啦，但係佢望咗我一眼，又係口黑面黑咁，跟住拎番轉頭同女同事繼續行，完全無 acknowledge 我既存在。我真係好唔明囉，我幾時踩親佢條尾呀？我個樣係咪真係咁乞佢憎呀？唔係因為我同佢唔係同一個 department 架噃，因為同佢一齊行嗰個直情完全唔係我哋條 business line佢都同人有講有笑，就掙係對我咁衰架啫。我唔覺得我有問題丫，公事其他 business line 既人對我都好友善吓架喎，就遺獨係佢咁討厭我，真係好唔明。基本上，我同佢既關係，比陌生人更差，似我係佢仇人多d。

That's y I said that I couldn't care less if she's gone.

佢對我唔好都算嘞，反正我唔係同佢一齊做野，我都費鬼事理佢，但係而家我要俾錢佢？！我條氣真係勁勁勁唔順喎，雖然十蚊唔係多，但我做乜要俾佢？我捐去做善事好過，起碼係我自願既，而家咁明屈，我真係覺得唔抵囉。

I really wanted to be total ruthless and said that I didn't want to be part of it and that I didn't care if she knew that I wasn't part of it. That's the problem of trying to be civilized.

Ride for Heart

Did the 50km on Sunday. It was quite miserable cos it was rainy and windy so it was quite cold. But it’s still fun to ride on the highway. The road is smooth and pretty much free of pot holes and no need to avoid catchbasins all the time. It was quite a sweet ride in spite of the rain and wind. Feet got totally socked though within 10 minutes and I couldn’t feel them after only about 10-15 km. Luckily, they didn’t fall off.

In the very beginning of the ride, I saw that there’s this guy lying on the ground with someone performing CPR on him. I didn’t stop to look cos it would only cause more congestion of the traffic and hence hindering the arrival of the ambulance. Not long after I passed, I heard the sound of ambulance already. I didn’t hear anything about it on the news or radio so I hope that he did make it.

Even though I was on my own the whole time during the ride, I actually joined as a part of a corporate group cos my company has managed to put together a team. It was quite nice cos they have an area for corporate and VIP participants and there were tables and food and more importantly, shelter during the rain. We also get to go to the front of the startup line instead of having to wait in line to start in the rain. I mean it doesn’t matter too too much since I got totally soaked anyway but it’s just nice not to have to stand around in the cold and get moving right the way.

Will I do it again? Hrm… maybe… Will probably do it if the company get a team again. Probably not as an individual.

討厭的孩子

上次講完一個年青人，今次講吓一個小朋友，係得幾歲既小朋友，真的很討厭他．

懶高竇的一個孩子，你同佢講嘢呢，佢唔會睬你，扮哂嘢當聽唔到咁；你唔同佢講嘢呢，佢悶得滯就會撩你講嘢．

你同佢玩呢，如果你嬴佢，佢一係就即刻又變同完形，唔同你玩不突只，仲要完全唔 so 你，seriously 想大把大把咁星死佢．再唔係呢，佢就會 cheat 去嬴，佢 cheat 呢又cheat得毫無技巧架喎，白痴既都睇得見佢 cheat，仲要嬴咗之後仲要懶醒咁話嬴咗，又話我渣呀之類咁既嘢，咁我就會好唔抵得咁話佢 cheat, 然後佢就死唔認，如果你繼續話佢呢，佢又發爛，又會粒聲唔出，pat 低ｄ嘢就走咗去．

好低Ｂ，你唔玩咪唔好玩囉，我都唔係好想同你玩，但唔該你執番好ｄ嘢先好走囉，我同你玩，根本上就係 babysit, 家下我係你工人牙？同你玩完仲要幫你執嘢，你去食蕉蕉啦！反正ｄ玩具都係佢帶黎既，下次我就一於唔同你執，咁你又咪唔好執囉，唔執你咪拎唔番返屋企囉，到時睇吓係你執定我執？

佢屋企係傳統家庭，重男輕女，仔就得佢一個，喺屋企仲唔係霸王咩！至鬼憎ｄ寵壞哂既細路，我就係要好似Dor Dor大家姐咁鋤吓佢ｄ銳氣先得！muhahahahaha…

All The Way

Nice day today. Decided to cycle all the way from home to work (I usually take the bus to Steeles and then cycle the rest). But instead of going on D Mills, I just went straight along V Park for a shorter distance and less hilly ride. It worked out quite well. There was little wind and the road was not busy yet since I was quite early.

Arrived in the office at 7:45, which is just about the same time if I take the bus and then cycle. It honestly surprised me big time. I was suspecting I would arrive at like 8:30. I seriously don’t know how I can possibly be about the same speed as taking the bus. I mean, my route is shorter but only by about 4km. But it’s good. Now I’m tempted to save even that one token per day and just cycle all the way up north. But the sacrifice would be my beauty sleep on the bus. I think I can handle that. And I may wuss out if the wind is too strong and when it starts to get too cold in the fall.

This is awesome, really. It’s better to cycle all the way rather than what I’ve been doing: cycle to the bus stop and then sleep on the bus and then get off the bus and cycle the rest. By the time I get off the bus, my muscles were all tensed and I actually find it harder to cycle after that. And V Park is nice and flat and quiet in the morning, unlike the afternoon rush.

Come Come

Frd in HK is going to come to Toronto for a few days in June. We can meet up and catch up. She’s coming for her sibling’s graduation. Last time I saw her was in Toronto and she was also here for her other sibling’s graduation. She’s not one of my closest frd when we were in high school but she’s the one who visits me the most often for sure. 當然, 佢有家人喺度梗係多d motivation 過黎啦，而且佢都係順便探我啫，唔係特登飛過黎．但我都好 appreciate wor… 起碼佢會話我知同會抽空約我出黎吖，佢淨係黎幾日咋，基本上係連適應時差既時間都冇，但都約我，我真係覺得好榮幸喎．

I’m looking forward to our re-U, babe~~~

Summer Schedule?

Apparently, the managers of my department are trying to decide if they want to work out some sort of summer work schedule for us so that we work longer hours per day but in return, will be able to take every other Friday off or half a day off or something similar.

That's would be awesome. I stay in the office long-ish anyway. And saving one return trip of commuting is always welcome. Every once in a while having a long weekend will be SWEEEEEEEEEEEET!!

But I got this news over two weeks ago and have heard nothing else about it since so I don't even know if it's actually going to go ahead. 所以暫時都不要開心得太早, 可能個計劃已經胎死腹中了．

Thank God For Friendship

近一兩年來，跟小賴都各有各忙，見面是差不多每個星期都見一兩次，但很多時候都在相談教會的事務，或是查經崇拜中．不是不好，朋友能在相一間教會中崇拜同事奉，是很好的事，但就是缺少了一點點相交的時間．雖然仍是好朋友，但卻不太清楚大家的近況．

今個星期五完了團契，一眾去了食甜品，後來散水後，我跟小賴兩人竟然站在停車場內傾咗個幾鐘偈，由近況談到電影到書籍到什麼也談到，很順快！雖然天氣有點冷，又已經係深夜（我返到屋企已經成一點鐘），但 it was good time．

So glad that even though we don't have this kind of talk all the time but we are able to just pick it up like that. Friendship forever man! ^_^

一位年青人

認識了一位年青人，是年青到連考車牌既歲數都未夠．為人很不長進，三分鐘熱度，叫佢做Ａ，佢做唔夠半個鐘，就話好悶，唔再做，自己唔做都不突只，你唔做，你坐埋一邊，我都費事理你，但佢仲要騷擾其他人．好嘞，跟住夠鐘要走嘞，佢又話想留底繼續做．你話火唔火滾？

佢平時乜都唔做，興趣是掛網追明星，鐘意挨挨崩崩，黏身黏勢（hrm… 講講吓，呢個人有ｄ似年輕版既小妹）．咁由於佢乜都無做過，咁人哋同佢傾偈，問佢呢排搞乜咁佢就話完全入唔到題，再唔係呢就講其他人既是非．

又鐘意怨呢怨路喎，羨慕其他同年齡既朋友做呢樣做嗰樣，咁我諗住鼓勵吓佢都搵吓ｄ興趣同理想，為咗自己既將來都努力一下，但佢一係就話做嗰ｄ嘢賺唔到錢，一係就話佢阿媽唔會俾佢做；一係就話佢而家先咁大個先開始，比同齡既爱細細個就開始太遲起步，所以開始都無用；再唔係呢就話，就算佢阿媽俾佢做佢都唔要受佢既恩惠．咁你即係想點？冇機會你又話冇機會，有機會你又唔會去把握去珍惜，咁你就唔好怨天怨地話自己無用，難道你真係認為咁樣怨阿怨阿．乜都唔做，個天會無啦啦跌ｄ正嘢落黎俾你？

成日講埋 or 做埋ｄ低俗當有趣既野，我唔知佢真係覺得好有趣定係只係想吸引人既注意．鐘意既野除咗明星之外，就係錢，唉，錢係重要，但有好多其他嘢更重要嘛，咁細個就咁 materialized, 幾時先得到大？其實唔只係佢，好多同佢年紀差唔多甚至比佢細既小朋友都好貪錢，好想不勞而鑊，所以都好埋哂ｄ炒股票啦，賭馬賭波，買 lottery之類既活動．

當然，in this consumerism society, 鼓吹既都係物質既擁有，好難完全怪哂ｄ小朋友．而且佢家長唔好好教育佢不突只，仲直情做埋不良榜樣：講粗口，貪小便宜，鼓勵孩子放棄理想，專攻搵錢既課目．

不勞而鑊，honestly 邊個唔想？我都好想，但我仍然會腳踏實地咁去做牛仔．

做家長既，生咗出黎唔教，咁你就唔好生啦！簡直係危害社會！

唔講家長唔講年輕人，同我咁上下既，有ｄ搵緊男友，有ｄ摶緊命搵錢．摶緊命搵錢既唔洗講啦，搵緊男友嗰ｄ，有好幾個既首要條件係個男既要有錢，要養得起佢，無錢﹠無前途的一概不考慮。又認識一對夫婦，一家分離兩地，男的不是在艱難大找不到工架喎，但就是放棄唔到香港的高薪厚職，結果又是苦了孩子，缺乏照顧，要是將來真的學壞了（現在還算不壞，但就是羣埋的不太良好既青年，真的令人擔心），怪得誰？不過當然，可能那人根本就不關心孩子壞還是好... 唉，那些兩口子一起挨的情操都去了那𥚃？大人都係咁，第日教出黎d細路又點會好呢？

離了題，講返本來嗰位年青人，我都想幫佢，但有時真係好令人火滾，我本身就不是有耐性有愛心嗰種人，我想幫佢但都要佢想幫自己先得架，我最多都是能夠鼓勵一下佢，難道要我監佢讀書不成？佢話大唔大，話細唔細，基本上已經到咗佢唔 likey 你，可以當你發 up 風既地步，我除咗好言相勸，真係唔知仲可以做d乜。

其實係上帝要我幫呢個人，定係上帝想藉著呢個人去挑戰我既耐心同愛心呢？我諗，兩樣都有d卦！？

重看

前排電視重播我喜愛的電影 Before Sunset, 發現原來呢部戲很短．不過我並不在乎一部電影的長短，是好的話，短也可以很精彩；相反，是不好的話，很長的拖著只會令人更難受．

我喜歡跟你一起看電影，但今次重看 Before Sunset, 發現，有些電影，還是一個人看才有 feel.

Anything else? Might As Well...

Too many things happening at the same time. Overloading.

上星期頭先 broke the bank 裝冷氣，weekend 洗衫時地庫水浸，嘗試自己解決不果，又要花費加攞假請人整，結果 replace 咗兩條 pipes. 兩張 credit cards 都 max out 哂．

前一日媽入醫院，小妹工作又出了問題．今日媽仍未出院．

一日流咗三次鼻血．

公司人事將要變動，要開始執起本來唔係我做既嘢，但喺暑假前都唔會有 summer student 黎執起我做開既野，即係我本來已經夠多野做架啦，而家仲要雪上加霜，但公司整咗條例，話加班要預先批咗先準加，一日唔加多過三四粒鐘又唔準當加班，要自己食咗ｄ時間佢(this is a whole different story)，ｄ野有 deadline 唔可以再拖，總之對我黎講，就係變相減我人工．我唔理佢咁多，如果真係因為ｄ野多到痴了線而要我加班的話，就算只係兩個鐘我都硬要報，唔俾錢唔做．

教會少年團契又要 prep 又要湊仔咁揍，networking training, council meeting, VBS 要趕宣傳，reno completion celebration, 星期日 bible study training.

要的起心肝，搞入籍，唔可以再懶懶閒．

Triathlon 既 training 要加多兩錢肉緊．

真的不知道時間死了那裡去，呢兩個星期裡每天都睡眠不足，之前仲話想學番一樣樂器，以我現在的 schedule 同 bank account 看來，還是暫時擱置，上網找網頁自學吧．（自學其實即係唔駛學啦，無老師逼住，我又邊會抽到時間出黎搵 material 同練習丫...）

七月要去的 wedding, the easiest way to go is to go thru the States, which means that I'll have to look into 申請旅行簽證．

今個星期兩次嘗試去游水，去咗兩個泳池都分別暫停開放，白行兩趟．吹脹！

~_~

勁揪眼瞓．

成個 weekend 都爆忙，差唔多可以話係冇時停，又唔夠瞓，尋晚瞓落床唔夠一五分鐘已經瞓著咗，今朝起身既感覺係好似啱啱瞓落床唔夠十分鐘咁，跟住喺巴士度瞓到差ｄ口水都流埋出黎咁滯，勁唔願意落車，好想繼續瞓繼續瞓．

對眼望住部電腦，好想合埋．我諗我需要搵幾支牙籤撐住對眼先可以挨得過今日．

As Promised

說過會 post 相的，現在就 post 喇。

一家三日的 cardinals.

See that the front of my birdfeeder was flipping out?? It is not supposed to be like that but bcos a stupid squirrel tried to climb on it to eat the food there and the squirrel was too heavy and ended up busting my feeder. I totally witnessed the whole process as I was watching the cardinals.

Welcome

有看我相簿的都知道，我以前租屋的後園常常有 cardinal 出沒，現在搬了，就是很掛念美麗火紅的 cardinal 喇．而且我不是只愛 cardinal 的，其他如 finch 之類的我也愛．

於是在搬了屋之後一直都想買個 bird feeder, 但由於破了產的原故，遲遲未買，終於詹占喺我生日既時候送咗個bird feeder，一大包bird seeds 同一本雀仔書俾我．咁就將個feeder掛咗喺屋前既樹上，但可能cardinal屬害羞的鳥類，屋前又成日有人同車經過，所以只係吸引到ｄ麻雀仔．講起ｄ麻雀，佢哋好變態，由俾佢哋發現到我個bird feeder到ｄ野俾佢哋食哂前後唔夠兩日，仲俾我見到有隻食到超肥，好似就黎爆肚一樣．Anyway, 就係因為呢ｄ麻雀既狂食，我哋買咗一包專為cardinal而設的 seed. 但成個冬天都沒有cardinal．>_<

上個星期去 Home 地鋪為後園買 gardening 既嘢，咁我順便買左一碌杆，杆上有兩個釣，平時喺俾人放喺後園掛花的，我同詹占一直都話要買番一碌放喺後園掛bird feeder（因為我哋後園冇樹），咁就唔怕cardinal怕羞唔敢出黎；但又係因為＄＄既原故，一直都未買．今次反正去Home 地鋪都係大出血，咁就唔爭在買埋．

放咗幾日都水靜河飛，但今朝俾我見到喇！！

今朝喺房望出去，見到有少少紅紅啡啡的東西在bird feeder底下，但因為下大雨天色勁暗既關係，我都唔知嗰舊嘢是cardinal還是枯葉，就叫詹占也看看，佢起初都不肯定是不是cardinal，但後尾佢郁喇！在吃跌了在地上的 seeds，跟住我哋再仔細看看，原來仲有其他的雀在吃吃吃吃吃，我超興奮耶，cardinal終於都浦頭喇！

今朝下大兩，我又趕住返工，沒有去影相啦，下次拍了照跟大家分享吧！^o^

The Final Destination

Mentioned a while ago that my online album was migrating to a new place. I was kinda lazy and have been putting it off for a bit. Finally, I mustered up enough determination to get it going and the process wasn’t as dreadful as I imagined. It’s mostly done now and I’m very pleased about it.

Other than the fact that there weren’t too many themes to choose from, I have a lot of control over what kind of things I would like to show up on the pages. That’s great. The biggest advantage of all is that there is no image compression during upload so the picture quality is a lot better and hence the pictures look a lot better than using Picasa.

So, after years of changing my mind and after trying out quite a few different hosts, looks like this is going to be the final home of my web album.

Link to the new, and hopefully final, online album is added to the right. I haven't figured out how to get the slideshow from there to this blog yet. One of these days I'll figure it out. One of these days...

無回頭

報咗名lu，交埋報名費添lu。

說的是三項鐵人賽，今次正式的要參加 full distance 的。

四年前（wa... already four years ago...)，第一次參加鐵人賽，只是報了名 Give-it-A-Tri, 是濃縮了的短途鐵人賽。

三年前，天氣太冷，我報了名的三項鐵人慘變兩項鐵人。

前年因為炒車跌裂骨的原故，報了名也參賽不了。

舊年因為knee 有少少問題的關係，決定不報名，讓身體休息一年。

今年要再來一次，因為真的不知道自己還有多少年。雖然很多到四十幾五十歲，什至八十歲都參加得，仲要跑得快過我（慚愧），但我真係唔知我仲有多少機會。

練習機會是的不多，我既 schedule 都被其他東西排得密密的，好在天氣回暖，我經已回復單車 commute當練習。

要多多努力喲！

365/24/7

There's this couple at work. They are literally inseparable. They obviously live together. They work in the same company, the same department, and a lot of times, the same project, and sometimes, the same computer. They sit next to each other in the office. They go home to eat lunch together. Since the wife does not drive, they go to work and leave together everyday.

They are around each other so much that they don't even have to talk when they go for lunch. One person stands up and starts leaving and the other would follow.

They have three children. Two of them are twins. And they named them Emily and Emila. They wear the same clothes, have the same hair style and all that. How obsessed is that? They don't have their own identity. Maybe the kids like it that way but I feel sorry for them.

How can they do that? 365/24/7? I honestly can't. They either have A LOT of love, or they simply rely on each other to live on. I can't imagine that they have much to talk about at home. They already know everything about each other. They probably just talk to their children cos I don't think that there's anything else to talk about between themselves. Or maybe they just watch TV and don't talk at all.

It just seems so unhealthy. But what do I know. I'm just an outsider. Maybe they like it this way. At least the other half will never have a chance to cheat!

發芽了

入冬前詹占同我喺屋企個 front porch 前面埋下了鬱金香的種，再加上我哋喺翻土既時候發現到土壤入面本前既種，佢哋大月d開始發芽喇！

好興奮耶！但係佢哋分佈既情況同我哋既想像同估計都有d出入，希望佢哋能夠成功生長同開花啦！

我由細到大對植物都無什好感，第一係我種親既嘢都俾我種死；第二係香港地方太細，好阻‘訂’；第三就係以前屋企既紫羅蘭後尾搞到生蟲（可能因為香港太潮濕，我哋又將盆野放喺浴室），之後都怕怕了。

相反詹占好鬼鐘意種野，我一直都同佢講，佢種還種，唔係旨恴我幫佢淋水，any other maintenance 都唔好預我，但兩年前我哋還在租屋的時候開始咗種 herbs, 我對種野既興趣就慢慢發掘咗出黎，再加上我支持本地食物既環保意識，我哋諗住今年喺後園種d蔬菜，當然唔會成個後園當成一塊田咁用啦，我哋都想 enjoy 個後園，再加上我哋都唔會咁多時間成日去耕田，而且今年都係試一諗，所以今只會用一忽仔既地方去種野，我哋仲諗住可能會買返顆水果樹添。雖然今年都應該無乜收成（d herbs 都係啱啱過去既一年先有少許收成），但都好期待耶！

希望鬱金香可以開到花啦！

磨利刀

Some of the knives at home were kinda dead. So we finally 的起心肝 to go buy some new ones a few weeks ago.

And o my goodness! These new ones, they are not that best of the world. Just some IKEA ones but they cut so well! Without comparison, we didn't know that our knives at home had gone super dull.

We read the packaging on the new knives and it told us how to take care of them. Bascially, they should be hung up instead of being stored in a drawer with all the other knives and any metal really bcos constant banging between the blade and the metal causes the blades to go dull. And that was what exactly we were doing at home. So the next week, we bought this magnet strip that is now nailed to our wall so that we can "hang" up our knives.

We can finally cut tomato without it being smooshed everywhere! :D

Poor Little Squirrel

A tragedy!

I was driving after church today and I saw it happened... There was this little red squirrel dashing across the road but it was not fast enough for the cars. While it has only had only 1/4 more to go, it got hit by a SUV. I saw it got hit so hard that it got bumped onto another lane...

By the time I passed by the 兇案現場, little squirrel's tail was still flapping and it was still alive! It was trying move still... very sad to witness that. I am very sure that it's going to die anyway, either by that massive blow when hit by the SUV or by another car coming to grind it to mush.

This is obviously not that first time I see road kill but what I've seen before was just the aftermath. It happened right in front of my eyes this time. It was extra cruel that the SUV didn't send it to its end right the way and it was still struggling to survive. It was such a heart-breaking scene. :(

R.I.P. little one.

O私家

星期日在幹其他事的時候零零碎碎的看了一點點，但零零碎碎中都俾我見到我喜歡的明星，Colin Firth，一貫的英國 Gentleman; Robert Downy Jr, 又型又有款，當然更少不了我至愛的女星 Sandra Bullock，好靚，好 elegant 喲！

後生一輩的明星中，Zac Efron 仍然咁靚仔（其實一直都為佢擔心，驚佢可能會好似 Dicaprio 咁，由超靚仔變做ok樣．Don’t get me wrong. I think Dicaprio is a really gd actor, especially some of his early work but I am just a little disappointed that he ceased to be a beautiful person as he gets older）還有一個我新發現的女星 Anna Kendrick, 我覺得佢幾靚女喎．

Robin Williams 既笑點大月d不文，但又不覺得低俗，係一種藝術，鬼佬版黃沾（其實卑人覺得黃沾大部份時間都低俗）．

Action Packed VS Total Crash

Personal training on Wed night.

Jogging on Thur morning.

Kickboxing fundraising session Thur evening after work.

Friday didn't do much but had a really long work day. Body was completely sore. Last time I did kickboxing was about 7 years ago.

Sat morning went to the gym. Went easy on myself cos body was still sore. Did some abs and back and then stretched forever.

Sat noon time walked to the library. Finally got my first library card in TO. Only took me about 8 years.

Sat afternoon went home. Read a little. Crashed on the couch and napped for a couple hours. Got up for a little while. Wanted to sleep again. Told 詹占 to wake me up after half an hour. Guess what? Someone totally forgot and let me slept till 6pm.

Right now, Sat evening 8pm. Totally awake. I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight. >_<

求神保守

小妹剛做完手術，一切暫時都安好，感謝神．求神 continue to take care of her for her speedy recovery.

呢一兩年來，家裡的人的身體都出現小小的問題，雖然 thank God that none of them was big problem, 但都令人擔心，什至連詹占的家人的身體也出現問題. In one aspect, maybe I'm getting old and that's y ppl around me are having issues. On the other hand, 求神祝福＆保守家人及身邊的所有朋友，both physically and spiritually．

真係咁橋？

點解你成日都沖涼既？
係因為你成日都沖涼？定係一同我講嘢嘢野你就覺得自己好污穢，要去沖涼呢？哈哈，真係唔明．

Random

勁冇mood做野呀，勁眼瞓，今朝一早去咗做 gym, 今晚放工仲要去開執屎會，唉，唔到零晨都唔駛旨意有得走嗰隻，慘．真係唔方唔執屎．

上星期有幾日都喺係極度不安的情緒下渡過，有一晚更是輾轉反側，只係瞓咗四粒鐘．但經過跟娜娜子 Skype 之後，在星期六經詹占的開解，再於星期六下午找到一個非常明白既朋友後，心理上好過多了．多謝你們！I love you guys!

Another topic, 唔知做乜，呢幾日我勁愛你喲～～
你知道嗎？你是最好的．XD

終於去咗 Ontario Science Center 睇 Body Worlds 喇，ｏｋ啦，although it wasn’t a bad exhibition, 但無想像中咁震撼，好似睇標本咁之嘛．又唔係真係學到ｄ什麼新的人體學知識．It’s more suited for biology students. The next exhibition to go see is King Tut.

Winter Olympics 2010

Watched part of the opening ceremony. Dumb, as always.

It's way too long, as always. Also, even though I didn't watch the whole thing, I could not stop but thinking about how stupid the ceremony was. Prolonged program that mostly have nothing to do with sports at all. More like a artistic show of symbology and tourism promotion rather than an opening ceremony of a sports event. I'm not just complaint about this opening ceremony but most of them are like that. I actually quite like the Athens one but I didn't see the whole thing so I couldn't comment too much.

And there's the silly torch relay. I found that it's so stupid to have it carried by so many people. And near the end of it, the day of the ceremony, the radio just kept going on and on and on about the speculation of who would be the last torch bearer. I happened to have ortho appointment that day, which means that I spent extra time in the car and that the ortho office happened to be running late so that I was watching the news station on the tv there, which, _surprisingly_, also talks about who might be the last torch bearer and was boardcasting live, showing the ppl who were carrying the torch. Really, they only get to walk like 100m with the torch (I hear that they carry it longer in smaller towns and cities). So stupid. I was sick of the Olympics before it had even began.

I also heard on the radio that Vancouver was trying to make it a "green" Olympics. They were having these hydrogen fuel shuttle buses to show the rest of the world how "green" they could be. But the irony (heard from the same radio show) is that, they had to "truck" the fuel all the way from Quebec. All the way from the east end of the country to the west end. How retard is that? So, basically, it may seem "green" to the ppl who only knows the surface but it's actually the complete opposite to the "green" spirit. Whoever came up with this "green" idea should really be shot in the head.

Talking about "green". I have so much to say about it but then it probably should belong to another post and I'll procrastinate on it for now.

Not that the Olympics is all bad things. I do quite enjoy watching some of the competitions. I mean the actual action, not the interviews of the athletes and the faces of their families when they won or when they lost. I don't mind seeing the joy of the athletes themselves in the moment of victory but come on, who cares about their family? It's not like I don't care about other ppl but the Olympics should really be about the sports and the athletes. I hate it when the tv networks tries too hard to put on the "extra element" to create the "emotional" effect or whatever effect that they are trying to achieve. May work for some audience but not for me. Sorry, really not my cup of tea.

And then there's those awkward interviews of the losing athletes. I understand trying to interview the winners and asks about how they feel and stuff but interviewing the losing ones?? That's pure cruel man. I mean, ya, they are all great athletes in order to be in the Olympics and probably deserves some recognition but sometimes I found them beyond cruel. They would have the athletes sitting there (after they were all changed) and replayed the clip for them and asked them questions like "Do you know that the other athlete was right behind you?" (the "other" person eventually passed our guy and won the race). What's that? It's not an interview. It's more like mockery.

Not to mention quite a lot of stupid commercials on tv. The PC were saying how they were feeding the Canadian athletes with their "nutritional" food. My goodness. I am actually a customer of PC but I still think that the ad was so dumb. All kinds of different product are exploiting that fact that they are somehow sponsoring the Olympics and that's why their product is the best. When can the Olympics be back to the origin intent, pure sports competition and the goal to challenge human limit, without all the commercial or other "add ons" to it? (I personally don't think that it would ever happen cos the 奸商 would never stop to exploit any opportunity to make $$. So sad...)

麵包香～

星期六難得副閒在家，於是弄起麵包來．

其實之前都嘗試過幾次弄港式麵包的（如菠蘿包呀，雞尾包之類），但就是發酵的情況不太理想，一直都認為是屋子太冷，發不起酵來，於是又試過用熱水坐住呀，又試過放進微微暖的焗爐呀，但都是不行．弄出來的不是不好吃，其實味道也不錯，詹占更是愛死了雞尾包，但我就是知道個包應該是要鬆一點才對嘛．

舊年搬了屋，家中是用那舊式的 radiator instead of force air, 就以為是 perfect 啦，放在上面（當然有多一層嘢隔一隔，不要 directly放在上面），以為冇死啦，但效果仍然不理想．

聖誕節收到的其中一份禮物是細路同細嫂送的 Essential of Baking 一書，決定一試．平時都是弄港式麵包，今次就試試西人麵包吧！
弄麵包 from scratch 真的是要花很多時間的耶，我說的不是 quick bread 那些，是要依士又要搓麵粉的那些，發酵都要發 at least 兩次，我今次弄的還要做 sponge 先，然後再發兩次酵，中間又要搓呀搓，搓呀搓，發完要切開幾份，切完又要等一陣，等完要 shape 好舊粉，shape 完又要等一陣，跟住終於都可以焗．
於是呢ｄ包就由我中午一點鐘開始，到晚上六點幾七點終於食得．雖然係好麻煩咁要搞一大輪，但我其實係幾 enjoy la, 仲要呀，今次終於發酵發得好成功耶！皆因我買咗新依士，原來我之前既依士都太舊喇，死鬼哂，今次呢ｄ太勁喇！！wahahahahaha…

我整既係 baguette，好好味喲，唔係自己讚自己架，真係整到好似出街買咁正！Yeah, 超 happy 呀！自己整既，因為夠哂新鮮，再加上自己的自豪感，就更加好味，無得頂！所以雖然好煩要整成日，但都係值得既！
原來一直之黎既失敗都唔係我既錯，等我有雞會再試整港式麵包先，下次應該都會好成功！

Slumdog

Watched Slumdog Millionaire on Sunday night. I’ve heard that it’s gd and that I actually had rented the disc for a long time (from one of those places that don’t have a due date for the DVD) but I had to make sure that I was in the mood to watch that kind of movie so I have been putting it off for a while.

I thought that it’s the kind of movie that’s deep and might even be painful to watch but to my surprise, it wasn’t. I actually quite enjoyed it. I especially thought that the Indian boy who played the main character’s childhood was cute. Actually, I find those little Indian boys very cute but for some reason, most of them will turn out to be some rather non-cute adults. There’re exceptions of course. Hrm… now that I’m thinking about it, I guess it’s not just Indian that has this issue. Most kids are quite cute to start with and then most of them turned into un-cute adults eventually. I believe that it is a global issue, instead of a national one.

Color of Me

Two weeks ago 星期六花了四個多小時出席公司HR舉辦的 communication event，基本上我覺得係浪費時間，個 event 既 theme 係 “discover your color”, 有四種顏色，每一種代表不同既性格／工作 style，基本上有小小似心理測驗．

花四個幾鐘去做個心理測驗，仲要係無 paid 架喎，仲要去到無雷咁遠既 golf club 去做，仲遠過返工，洒時間之餘仲洒油錢，又唔係真係學到ｄ乜喎，如果係真真正正既 training, 我係唔會介意星期六 din ｄ時間出黎學嘢，但做ｄ無謂心理測驗就真係好廢．

其實做嗰個咁既測驗，十五分鐘就做完，但就係前前後後個講員講嘢同做埋ｄ無無聊聊既 communication/team building activity，搞到十五分鐘變四個幾鐘．I know I know, the point is that thru this exercise, we understand ourselves and others more and learn how to work with each other more smoothly and effectively. But still, I don’t think I remember much of what other ppl’s color is so that I can apply those “techniques” to deal with ppl according to their color. I understand that the ppl who organized this event was really 用心良苦，但我真係覺得唔太 practical.

Another thing is that the test is solely based on the assumption that ppl can answer the questionnaire honestly and objectively. Basically, if you “think” that you are, for example, a spontaneous person (while nobody else thinks that you are), and you answered the questionnaire based on your own knowledge about yourself, then the result is merely a reflection of what you “think” you are, but not who you “really” are.

For instance, I, unfortunately, got to sit next to this lady that I could not stand.點解我咁唔 like-y 佢 is a story on its own and I’ll leave it for another entry. (btw, I seem to get stuck with these ppl that I really don’t like during group events like this. For some reason, ppl whom I don’t like seem to like me… =_=) Anyway, she perceives herself to be a “good listener” which was sooooo not true. I believe that most ppl who have any dealing with her know that she’s definitely a talker, not a listener. What I wanted to say is that the result of the test can’t be that reliable cos you might have the wrong perception of what kind of personality you have.

Anyway, 超離題．What I really want to say is my result. 四種顏色入面，每個顏色最高可以攞廿四分，最低係六分．我既色數係 20, 18, 16, 6．All these colors are really just relative cos the questionnaire always asks you to rank the four different kinds of personality so really, even if one of my marks is low, it really only means that it’s not as strong as the others. It does not necessarily mean that I’m “weak” in that particular area. (finding excuses for myself!) I really don’t mind having a low score on certain area cos I know that it’s just relative. I actually thought that the result was quite accurate for me.

But the problem was that we all have to write down our scores on the big sheet of paper taped to the wall so everyone can see everyone’s score. =_= And what’s the area of my lowest mark? Blue, which is the personality to be sensitive, caring and that kind of interpersonal thing. And I was the only one of the whole room who had such a low score in that area.

So, I got portrait as an anti-social, insensitive person, even got picked out by the speaker and used me as an illustration. She did say that it doesn’t mean that I’m not a nice person but that when I’m working, it might seem like I don’t care too much about other ppl. But I wonder how many ppl in the room did get the point that “the result does not mean that I’m not nice”, but start to think that I’m an impersonal person, especially ppl who doesn’t really know me. Sigh. I mean, I still think that the result is accurate cos when I get to work, I would like to be left alone and do my own thing. I am not particularly social at work. All I want to do is to get my work done on time and leave on time. I don’t like sticking around and chat with other people about stuff like hockey that kind of nonsense. But then, if someone needs help on things, I usually response quite quickly, even it might mean that I have to put down what I’m doing at the time. I don’t think that I’m that impersonal, just that my time management, analytical, and other personality are too strong 而已.

Sigh, 我喺公司入面既好人 reputation 就是如此的被毀掉了….>_

TTC 上的大嬸

尋日朝搭 subway 返工，第一程無位坐，即係無得瞓，無得瞓就四圍望啦，竟然俾我見到個快要禿頭的阿嬸將睇過既報紙隨手好順手咁fing咗佢個坐後面既窗嗰度。咁我就用卑視既眼情再加皺眉n戈廟咀bear佢，佢fing完份報紙轉返身既時候見到我 bear 佢啦，咁佢又望住我，我梗係唔怕佢呢個咁既阿嬸啦，咪同佢鬧 bear 囉，咩呀，家吓係你衰格喎，我做乜要怕你？

咁我吔 bear 咗大約兩秒，佢放棄，轉頭扮訓覺，但又唔執番份報紙喎，好似冇事發生咁。

點解d人可以咁無品，咁無公德？

Fable 2

詹占 n I played Fable 1 and really enjoyed it and so we were very excited about Fable 2 even b4 it came out. And finally it came out last year but we didn’t buy it right the way cos we wanted to wait till the price drops. But the price didn’t go anywhere for like half a year, which probably means that it’s a gd game. Even though we really wanted it, we decided to wait.

Finally, boxing week. It went from $59.99 to $19.99 in War Mart. Also found Halo 3 at $19.99. Bought them right the way la. I mean, I didn’t really like Halo 2 too much cos it’s a really short game but for the sake of completeness, I got Halo 3 cos it’s so cheap anyway.

So we have been basically competing for the xbox in the past few weeks. Well... not to the point of fighting over it but we both tried to play whenever we have time. That's how much we liked the game.

Anyone who likes role play and adventure game should give it a shot. :)

And You Call Urself Christian??

Read a silly celebrity news the other day. “身為基督徒的林曉培，稱信仰令她徹頭徹尾地反醒…(something about her relying on God)” “她說﹕「唱Live就似一夜情，只得一次機會，錯過了就帶來遺憾。」”

Er… Hello?? Assuming that the quote of hers is not bent by the media, what kind of comment is that? From a Christian? You’ve got to be kidding me. What kind of Christian is it that treasures one nights stand?

So many HK celebrities claim to be Christians these days as if it's the "cool" thing to do. Are they real Christians? I know that I should not be judging people. I have any flaws myself. In a way, it’s gd to have famous ppl as Christians cos it kinda helps “promote” Christianity or at least raises the awareness of it. But if these “high profile” Christians say or do irresponsible comments/actions like that, doesn’t it become bad examples of Christians and makes other ppl think that Christians are all hypocrites? I know of quite a few ppl who disrespect or who would not even be interested in Christianity bcos of the bad examples that they have seen in the past.

Once again, I know I shouldn't be judging other ppl. I have to make sure that I see the log in my own eye rather than the speck in my brothers. But come on, I at least won't promote one night stand la. I have to admit, I'm a conservative on certain issues.

Teeth Hurts

Went to ortho on Sat. Mouth is still hurt now. 超痛耶. The past few visits didn’t result in a hurting mouth cos I was just changing elastic but this time, they changed the wire also. Woo woo woo… hurts a lot. Have to eat mushy food this whole week… woo woo woo… >_<

Has been a little better yesterday. Started to eat some 'solid' food. Hopefully, I can eat normal food next week.

Photo Migration Again?!

So, I’m getting sick of my free online album once again. Honestly, it has been not bad n quite flexible indeed but my problem with it is the image quality after compression. The quality is actually not too bad but compared to the quality of the images that reside in my computer, the image on the web album is way too grainy n I don’t like it at all.

If I increase the image quality of the files that I upload, then the free storage will get used up way too quickly and I’ll have to start paying money for it which is what I’m trying to avoid all along.

Over the Christmas break, it suddenly occurred to me that how come I don’t take advantage of 詹占’s web site? He has recently migrated from his old host to a new one and the new host has unlimited bandwidth, and storage for a fixed fee. Pretty much the same thing I had for my church website, just with a different webhost company. Since he’s paying anyway, I really should make use of it to _help_ him get his money worth. (I know. I’m so nice. I totally get out of my way to help him make gd use of his service.)

So now, I’m in the process of setting up this new album. It won’t be available for a while cos I have to upload all the old stuff there and somehow hopefully be able to import the captions also. The problem is, the captions are all in picasa but the image I want to upload is on my computer. Two different sources… And I would like to keep the comments that ppl had left me on picasa also. Have to somehow import those, too. I might end up doing it the old fashion brute force stupid way or maybe I will write some gd script to do it for me. I’m not sure how though.

I’m hoping that this move is the final move of my online album host. I don’t see why I would need to move again now that I have unlimited storage basically for free! Well… unless the webhost 執笠 la.

In terms of blog… I think I’ll keep it here for now. I like it here. But then, I can’t blog at work anymore since IT is blocking it. If I also move my blog to詹占’s web site, then I should be able to work around that problem… um… sounds like a gd idea. Oh well… one step at a time, I’ll do the album first. Maybe I’ll wait till one day 詹占心情靚再同佢要埋個 blog. Hahaha… well.. maybe I’ll start sharing the cost at that point but cheap ass like me really want to just use it for free! Hahaha… I’ll see.