各散東西

Got an email from one of frdR that she’s going to England and had indeed already left. Well… I’ve already knew that she might leave for England for a while but the shock was that she’s already left when I got the email. Not even a chance to say goodbye.

Not really complaining cos I am sure that she was so busy making all kinds of arrangement since there was only 1 week between she got the notification and her flight. Just weird how rush the whole thing seems. I guess she probably couldn’t wait to go over there to meet up with her honey.

Ever since we graduated, this group of ppl have been spreading out slowly. First, there were GPA, W, J, M and V who decided to pursue their engineering education out of the country. Only M came back. And then there was A who pursues some other career/field of education out of the country. And then now, there’s R going away to continue with her post-doc career. And M is going away soon to pursue an different career path out of town.

What’s left is just me, C and S (S stands for Sing so as not to get confused with the other A). In this scenario, the chance of having everyone together is very very slim cos there’s no way all of them will come back to visit at the same time, especially W, who has no family here so it’s not like he would come to TO during xmas or something. In view of this, the next chance to have everybody get together would be at someone’s wedding.

W is not going to have a big wedding even if he gets married so we can count him out. I doubt that M will get married anytime soon. So that leaves R, V, S and A. Therefore, at most 4 more big gathering until maybe one of us die that we will start getting together again bcos of funerals. Hopefully, that scenario is not going to happen for at least another 40 years.

Not that I see these ppl very often even when we were all in TO but it just felt weird that we are all spread out everywhere now.

My New Toy

My 3-yr cell contract is finally going to expire in end of Sep. I hv been waiting for it for a while since my phone has been abused by me so much that it can no longer connect to the blue tooth in the car anymore which poses a big problem cos I don’t want to break the law.

Instead of waiting till the end of the contract, I decided to went to shop for a new phone last Thur. I didn’t want to wait till end of September cos I could be too busy by then.

Took forever to get a new phone tho. There was only one person working at the time and there was a customer in front of me. The saleperson was having a heck of a time to activate the phone for the other customer. She also had a hard time doing mine as well and hence forever^2.

I ended up staying with my current wireless provider., which means that I could have renewed my contract and get the new phone 6 months ago. Oh well… not really that big of a deal cos waiting till the end of the contract enabled me to shop around different providers. It wasn’t like my old phone wasn’t working anyway.

One annoying thing of staying with my current provider is that some of the deal that they offer only applies to new customers. I was like ‘what the hack’. Shouldn’t they treat returning customers nicely as well bcos we have been loyal? It reminds me of the bank commercial:

I was so not impressed by the fact that I didn’t get the phone for free even tho I signed up for another 3 years but have to pay $50 for the phone. It doesn’t seem fair to me.

So which phone did I get? The first smart phone in my life is:

Nexus S.

Yea… I didn’t want an i瘋 cos the fact that so many ppl have it and the number of ppl think that owning an i瘋 is a fashion statement annoys me.

I’m been pretty happy with my new toy so far. I don’t really care too much about those little games that one can play on a smart phone anyway. To me, it’s more important to have a keyboard so that I don’t have to press a button 3 times to type a ‘r’ in my text msg, as well as the ability to use WiFi/Data that appeals to me.

One thing tho, is that the battery doesn’t last too long (compared to my old phone) even if I am not actively using it. Have downloaded some app that apparently helps elongate the battery life. I’ll see how it goes.

Finally saying goodbye to my ‘dumb’ phone!

One little extra story. As I was waiting for the sale girl to work on the system to renew my contract, 3 little boy the age of 10 at most came into the store and one of them said, “Hey, look! That’s your phone. Nexus.” Turned out that they came into the store to look for a protective case for one of the boy’s Nexus. I was like, “Oh wow… a 10 year old has a smart phone…” Kids these days are so privileged. I’ve seen a little 1-2 year old playing with an iPad while still sitting in his/her stroller. It seems so wrong…

Album Update

2011-07 Trip to Quebec City

好想好想…

詹占 borrowed a rather nice road bike from his frd, with aero-bar and all that, for his upcoming duathlon.

I helped to move the bike (basically just pushing it around) last night and that made me really really want to ride on it. The fact that I haven’t been riding my bike the whole summer (other than riding the 5 min going to drum classes, which I just had stopped doing in the past month)  and the fact that I just realized that 笨 has been commuting with bike these days and the fact that it’s a much nicer bike than what I have, made me really really really really want to ride on it 兜番一轉．

可惜唔得．實在令人太心癢！

Album Update

2011-07-02 GPA's Wedding

Once again, congrats to the newly-wedded.

Vita Lemon Tea - Revisit

So I’ve found some of the old style packaging again in NF. What is going on? Does it mean that the one that I bought the other time was 假冒維他的假貨？

I’m genuinely confused right now. It is quite possible that the one I bought last time was boot leg product since all the other Vita drinks’ packaging remained the same (the short, wider package) .

EDIT: So I tried to look it up online and found this Vita website. So it seems like all the Vita lemon tea are genuine. The skinny ones are the special flavor I supposed. And the 3rd flavor that I couldn’t remember last time was the lime one. I think I would just stick with the chubby package since it’s the original one and I have always loved it.

Bad Lunch

基於唔想去咁遠既理由，去咗一間明知比平時買開外賣貴一點的港式茶餐廳買 lunch, 買咗午餐焗葡汁雞扒飯．

結果呢，那個所謂的葡汁除了是黃色之外，根本一ｄ葡汁味都無，基本上係乜味都無，都唔知係乜鬼汁黎架，好似係ｄ水加生粉整到佢"結結哋"然後加ｄ黃色素落去咁．又勁細碟喎，我呢排既胃口因為個胃被頂住同埋少做運動既關係，食量比之前細咗好多，一碟干炒牛河可以分兩餐食（認識我既人就知我不時食幾多嘢），但呢碟葡汁雞扒飯食完我仲好似唔係好飽咁，即係半碟干炒牛河都不如．

杯奶茶又細又無茶味．

把鬼！真正的貴夾唔飽，貴夾唔好食！

Class

Going to this preparation class for 4 weeks. Started 1st class last night. Felt like those group therapy class, with lots of discussion and “how’s everyone doing?” time. Weird.

The teacher was pretty funny tho so it was gd, so were some of the guys in the class. Didn’t learn too too much that I didn’t already know from reading the book. Hopefully that was bcos it was the first class. Big waste of money and time otherwise.

Watched a short movie at the end of the class. Featuring a rather fat husband and wife. If you don’t look at the screen and if you don’t know what it’s supposed to be, only listen to the sound caused by the pain, you would think that it was a porn movie.

And then there was the epic of the movie near the end. Way too graphic. Felt like watching a horror movie. The fact that the main characters were this chubby American couple didn’t help, either. >_<

猶有餘悸．

Assassin Creed

Has been playing Assassin Creed on my Xbox recently. I know I know, there’re already Assassin Creed 2 and Assassin Creed Brotherhood and I’m still playing Assassin Creed 1. But I don’t buy video game at their full price. I could wait for years till the price drop. I’m not one of those video game hot heads that I have to play the latest and newest game all the time.

I actually bought this game (well… 詹占 wanted to play so _we_ bought this game) over a year ago and I finally got around to start playing a few months ago after my PEO exam. It has been fun, even tho 詹占 said that the 2nd one is better (yea… we actually own the 2nd as well… I’m just too slow.)

Anyway, I like this game. The graphics is so beautiful. After playing a few RPG games that involves fantasy/monsters/magic (eg. Fable), this one is a nice change.

大雀生小雀

Earlier this year, a pair of robins decided to make a home at our 屋簷 and breed their next generation. 詹占 n I took some pictures here and there to record the process. Felt like we were one of those ppl who do animal documentaries, tracking down the progress everyday.

It was pretty cool cos I’ve never seen baby birds in real life. Have only seen them on TV before. And ya, they are quite ugly when they were all bald without any feathers. o_O

It was actually quite hard to take the pictures cos it was a bit high up and that the mum/dad would ‘cherp’ at us to threaten us. Not that we are afraid of the ‘cherping’ but we didn’t want to disturb them too much either. So the quality of the pictures aren’ t the greatest.

One time when the babies were getting big and we were trying to take picture from our door, the mum/dad hovered right in front of us. That scared me a bit cos I was worried that it would fly into the house. I like watching birds and animal from a far but I don’t like to have any type of contact with them in the fear that they might carry disease. And especially birds, you never know when they would decide to have a dump. I definitely don’t want that in my house. So I slammed the door close quickly. I guess those little ‘threats’ works.

We were also quite worried for the little birdies cos one of our neighbours (two doors down) has 2 cats and they are always hanging out in our backyard. We were worried that they will found the nest on our front porch and eat the birdies. Luckily, the birdies were safe the whole time.

More pictures can be found in my online album.

Albums Update

2011 Jan-Jun Various
2011-06-18 Hamilton Duathlon
2011-06 Robins Growing Documetary

頭號怨男

公司有個怨男，really getting to my nerve. 日日就在投訴這投訴那，spending prolonged period of time complaining about either the client or the agency or the company with the lady whose office is right behind my cubicle. And he’s loud. And they don’t close the door. And the lady is also loud. Sometimes, he’s not even complaining about work-related stuff but his neighbour.

超爆煩，每日如是．咁多投訴，做得咁唔開心，不如唔好做啦！

Honestly,  好多時真係想叫佢 shut up.

有一日佢喺佢自己間office 度傾電話（佢個office 隔我三個位，但佢太大聲，又唔閂門，所以我聽得好清楚），話佢架車條軚死咗，但前一晚明明ｏｋ，因為佢去咗 pump軚，但第二日條軚就已經死哂．跟住佢講完之後又同我後面既大聲婆講一次，基本上我聽咗佢既 story 兩次，跟住佢哋又懷疑係佢個 neighbour 整佢條軚．

我心諗，你咁死煩，又咁乞人憎，梗係得罪人多，俾人放軚氣都唔奇啦，同埋我覺得佢有少少抵死囉．

雖然我知我咁諗好黑心，but I couldn’t help it. 佢真係勁揪煩．我有衝動想毒啞佢．

Surprised Act

Sometimes I listen to songs in the office via u2b in the background while working. Was listening to Eason yesterday afternoon. And in the middle of the song, Eason said that here came the guest of the night. I didn’t suspect a thing. It’s common to invite guest to concerts anyway.

And then after a little while, the crowd was going nuts. I thought that was kinda odd cos I didn’t expect the fans of Eason would be so crazy about Alan Tam. So I took a look at the video itself to see what Alan was doing to arouse the audience so much. It totally wasn’t what I expected.

Watch the video urself to see what I’m talking about. Try to just listen to it first and you will see what I mean.

Lord Sunday and Hot Six

Two books that I finished recently. It’s a nice feeling that I can have time to read leisure books after I finished the citizenship test.

Lord Sunday is the last book of the series The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix. It’s a fantasy series. And it’s actually a 9-12 years old series… Yes, I’m reading children’s book… It was recommended by a much older dude though so I’m for sure not the oldest person who read this series.

I took the recommendation bcos I really liked another series by Garth Nix, The Abhorsen Trilogy. The Keys to the Kingdom wasn’t bad but The Abhorsen Trilogy was way better. If you are looking for The Abhorsen Trilogy, don’t get this boxset tho I personally think that the cover graphic sucks in this one.

This version is much better. More adult-like, at least. If you like reading fantasies, I highly recommend The Abhorsen Trilogy.Oops. I am supposed to write about The Keys to the Kingdom. Well… compared to Abhorsen, Keys is a lot childish-er. Not a bad read for leisure but definitely not as exciting as Abhorsen. The ending was also a little strange although I’ve half-suspected that something weird like that would happened since book 2 or 3. But still… I didn’t like the ending too much. Not that I could think of a better ending but simply think that it could, er, somehow, ends differently.

Hot Six, on the other hand, is another series by Janet Evanovich. It’s just a silly novel series but I find it hilarious sometimes, especially those sidekick characters. I read one book from this series from time to time. They are mostly independent so there’s no rush to finish the whole series. There’s certain amount of profanity in this series tho. Not something that I would recommend to immature readers. I personally find this series very easy and entertaining to read.

Ripple Effect

We tried to reorganize the middle room on Sat. Trying to make room in the middle room for all the stuff that keep piling up downstairs in the living room and the basement.

In order to do that, we have to move the futon from the middle to the office.

In order to have a spot to put the futon in the office, we have to move the two bookshelves to the other side.

In order to move the bookshelves to the other side, we have to move my desk to the corner.

In order to move my desk to the corner, we have to move all the random craps from the corner to some other open spaces left in the office after the reorganization.

And since we are moving stuff around, we might as well vacuum the spots that were normally covered up by various things.

And the end, we’ve only managed to have time to go as far as moving the bookselves and most of the books over. With more or less a spot for the futon and most of the random crap piled up in the middle of the office. 寸步難行.

西蘭花

如果因為平價既關係，一個星期的蔬菜 dish 有四天都是西蘭花的話，你會覺得點呢？我真係好想知道其他人對呢個 situation 會有乜野既感覺/feeling．For the sake of the discussion, let’s assume that the 西蘭花 were cooked in only two different ways for the four days.

Not Much Too Do

Haven’t got too much to do at work recently. Worrisome. Not that they can lay me off for at least another year tho cos I have some sort of protection now. But I’m just worried that I may get laid off afterwards if the situation continues.

基本上，我覺得我呢排都係處於準備開始放假的鬆弛狀態，唔係我唔想做嘢（講你都唔信，其實我好想多ｄ嘢做），但每次 I asked my super what I can do, he kept saying that there were lots to be done, that I don’t have to worry about not getting any work. But he doesn’t actually give me anything to do. 唉，我問又問咗佢，但仍然係無嘢做，咁我可以點？

間唔中，佢會俾ｄ執頭執尾嘢我做，但嗰ｄ嘢，通常唔駛半日就做好哂，就算我點拖都拖唔到多過一日，唔知係咪佢諗住我都就黎放假，於是費事開ｄ新嘢俾我做．

而且成日都要扮做嘢，扮得好辛苦囉．自己都覺得得閒到唔好意思白逗佢人工．

維他檸檬茶

有沒有人發現維檸檬茶的包裝改了？

由從前的肥矮包裝變成了瘦長包裝．

仲出咗三隻不同的口味．由於唔知邊隻味打邊隻味，我買咗其中兩種入camp，super icy 嗰一 pack 無飲到，拎咗返屋企，誰知 super icy 既味道係薄荷味，好難飲耶！（我個人唔喜歡薄荷味）

是薄荷味就直說嘛，叫什麼super icy唧？害得我買錯了，而家仲剩五包，都唔知要黎做乜．

下次買的時候真的要很小心，因為三隻味的包裝基本上係差唔多，驟眼望落去三隻都係一樣咁上下樣，只係打斜形容係乜味嗰度唔同，下次要小心唔好買錯！

今次買咗嗰兩 pack 既另一 pack應該係原味（唔記得咗叫乜名）， 唔知第三隻是什麼怪味呢？個味既名我都已經唔記得咗，記得好似係怪怪的，所以選了 super icy 都無選那一個．如果下次要試，我一定唔會買六包裝咁笨，買一包試試先唔好再俾佢坤．

原味咪好好哋囉，做乜咁出埋咁多古靈精怪既味啫？討厭．

Camping 去

Went camping this long weekend.

It was a little tough with my current body condition, especially getting in and out of the little two-person tent. But it wasn’t unmanageable. I was glad that I bought a relatively thick air mat this time tho cos it definitely helped the sleeping.

We went to Presqu’ile Provincial Park this time. It wasn’t a bad campsite but it was very buggy. We got eaten alive by mosquitoes.

The weather was great. Sunny everyday. Clear clear sky for star-gazing at night. No moon either. (I almost always ended up going camping on full moon by chance that it affected my star-gazing but this time we were super lucky) Can’t ask for too much more. It was just too bad that I didn’t expect myself to stay up late at night to star gaze. If I knew that I would and that the sky would be so clear, I would have brought my tripod and took some night shots… What a waste of opportunity!

We went hiking for a little bit. The first trail (marsh trail) was gd. The other two were kinda deadly, especially the Newcastle Trail. We weren’t hiking in that trail. We were running for our lives. We didn’t even finish it. Luckily there’s this spot where the trail joined the main road so we just came out of the trail and walked along the main road back to the parking lot instead.

Saw a lot of little frogs on Owen Point Trail. Too bad that there were way too many mosquitoes around. Otherwise, we could have enjoy this trail a little more. It’s also a little tough for me to hike as well cos I get tired quite quickly. I was glad that the trails weren’t too long so it was still doable.

The beach was not bad either. Water wasn’t too cold so we all ended up going into the water. Not the cleanest water tho. Pretty cloudy water. Definitely not dipping my head under. Saw a very cute baby playing with the sand and eating some of them. haha… Also saw a kid who chased and shot water at his grandfather/uncle but when the grandfather/uncle got him back, he started crying. What a suck! Hate kids who do that. 你搞人就得，人哋一搞你就喊，你唔玩得就唔好搞人，真想兜把星佢．

It also turned out that it was the history week in the campsite so there were some activities going on. Most of them were for kids tho but we did go to two of them. Not particularly exciting activities but it was kinda nice and it gave us something to do.

And K媽 brought a 毽 to 踢. And even I was playing, too. Can’t believe I still 踢毽 with my clumsy body! haha… K媽 and 賴 were pretty gd at it (gd compared to me and 詹占 anyway). It was surprisingly fun.

First time to go camping with K媽. She’s fun. And extra wonderful cos she doesn’t mind doing the dishes! haha… And 賴 pretty much took care of the cooking. I simply had to help here and there. SWEET!

This is the last summer event that I’ve planned this year, before my whole life style changes forever (just hope that the change won’t be too big and that the changes are good changes).

Hopefully, I can still go camping next year!