I am tired and exhausted as I am writing this. My 2 week trip to Hong Kong is almost over. Tomorrow I will head back to the US. On my flight home, I will try my best to recall and write down as best as I could what happened during my stay. A few unexpected things ... otherwise a good trip ... I realize I do miss Hong Kong. Not so much the city itself, but my friends and family and my childhood memories.
~~~~
Human beings are mysterious animals. Their behaviors defy simple logic. If we look at people's actions and reactions as simply mysterious behaviors and try not to find explanations for them, then life will simply be a mystery. Better leave the mystery alone and not be hurt by the mystery.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friday, January 12, 2007
kaleidoscope rebuttal
really
twisting kaleidoscope
so cliché
who says life is always colorful?
unexpected for sure
but not always colorful
twisting kaleidoscope
so cliché
who says life is always colorful?
unexpected for sure
but not always colorful
Thursday, January 11, 2007
On Manipulation
Mind be controlled
He says one plus one equals three
And you dare not disagree
Truth be told
No manipulator shall exist
If you choose to resist
~~~~~~~~~
Ha ha ha... but resistance is futile. You shall be assimilated.
He says one plus one equals three
And you dare not disagree
Truth be told
No manipulator shall exist
If you choose to resist
~~~~~~~~~
Ha ha ha... but resistance is futile. You shall be assimilated.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
phone calls
My sister called twice; left a message on my cell phone and my home phone asking me to call her back. I still can't get a hold of her. Hope she's alright.
Update: Finally got my sister on the phone. She's alright. Just a few things about her wedding and my mom.
Update: Finally got my sister on the phone. She's alright. Just a few things about her wedding and my mom.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Lingering Christmas Cold
Just thought that I had just recovered from my Christmas cold. Well... not quite. I was late to work today. Headache and cough this morning. The headache got worse in the afternoon. Now I am ok. Still have this cough. Maybe I should see a doctor tomorrow?
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Friday, January 05, 2007
kaleidoscope
LIFE is like a twisting kaleidoscope
with ever changing shapes and colors
squares, diamonds, and triangles
ruby red and turquoise green
together, pictures painted and awe inspired
tidbits of everyday moments
flash before our eyes
as if a kaleidoscope never stops turning
tears, despair, and hatred
laughters and amazement
our life formed and we EXPERIENCE
with ever changing shapes and colors
squares, diamonds, and triangles
ruby red and turquoise green
together, pictures painted and awe inspired
tidbits of everyday moments
flash before our eyes
as if a kaleidoscope never stops turning
tears, despair, and hatred
laughters and amazement
our life formed and we EXPERIENCE
A delightful/funny lunch
My day didn't start all that well. I woke up this morning and the alarm clock read 8:40 am. After muttering a few curses, I rushed to brush my teeth. Then I realized that I had someone to come in at 9 for a job interview. My rush became a mad dash. To my own amazement, I made it to my office before 9 o'clock with a minute to spare.
The guy was already in the conference room, yet my boss was no where in sight. I called him up and he said he was still a good half hour away and asked that I would handle the interview. Arrghhh. The interview went well for me and for our new hire. And yes, we ended up hiring him on a trial basis. The rest of the morning I was training him on a few things. My boss kept emphasizing that I should not spoon-feed him so that we can gauge his skill sets. Ok... we'll see how that go. I am glad that we finally found someone to help out with projects. I've been supporting everyone by preparing nice graphs and cad drawings. It's time that I can move on to bigger and better things. Career-wise, I need to branch out and maybe get involved with different types of projects. Not that I don't enjoy doing flood studies (they are challenging at times), but it'll be nice to venture into some groundwater stuff and maybe some wastewater side of things so that I can apply what I picked up over the years in school.
Hmm... I am supposed to write about a delightful lunch. Yes... So the story goes... My coworker went out to lunch and promised to bring me back something from a new Filipino restaurant in town. She got back an hour later empty-handed. She said... "2 good news and 1 bad news." The first good news was that the food was really really good. The bad news was that you couldn't order carry-out without a 2 hour notice in advance. Huh? Another piece of good news was that she got cans of tuna stacked away in the kitchen cabinet and that I could help myself to those for lunch.
Since she was raving about the food so much, my boss and I decided to go try it ourselves. It was a buffet lunch. Got curry chicken, roast pork, sweet and sour tilapia, crispy rolls made with pork (I think), beef, fried rice, and stir-fried rice noodles. The food was surprisingly good, kinda have a home-made feel to it. Not greasy at all. If you want to order any dishes on the menu, you need to call in in advance, since according to the chef--in his exact word--he prepares everything from "raw," meaning from scratch.
The best part of the whole lunch was that after we were done eating, the chef came out and sat down and started yakking away. We talked about the Philippines, how beautiful it is, the early history of its settlement. We touched on global warming, bad food/bad customers, his business philosophy, .... the list goes on.
He is such a colorful person with a good sense of humor. We were talking about ignorance and intolerance of people and about America being a melting pot. Then he commented that unless your name is Racing Bull or Sitting Duck, you are really just a foreigner in this country. [That really cracked me up.]
He continued... "The blacks came here on the Amistad; the whites came here on the May Flower; I flew here on Northwest!" [Man, he should be on Comedy Central!]
Then he said that people told him that he came to the US and took the job away from the Americans. He would reply, "Are you a cook? Are you a nurse (he was a nurse by profession, but he loves to cook and therefore the restaurant)?... No... So I didn't take the job away from you." [I thought to myself--good argument!]
One thing he said which made my boss a little uneasy afterwards was that he has a theory about our immune system. If we aren't expose to the germs, we won't be immune from them. People use soap and wash their hands all the time... and the theory goes washing hands all the time is not necessary. [Ok he didn't say that in those exact words, but we thought he really meant it. He was a nurse for goodness sake.]
It's great that we have a little nice ethnic restaurant in an otherwise very vanilla (my boss' word, not mine) town. To me, it's always interesting to meet people from different culture and with different experience. In essence, this is what Life is meant to be lived. You live to experience the people, the nature, and all the things around you. [And don't forget God, if you believe He is among us and in us.]
So for once, my WORK infected soul seemed to be cured miraculously. I didn't really do any work today. After lunch, I was just talking to another coworker about the project we were supposed to be working on. All talk, no work. And before we knew it, it was 4:30. Time to go home.
The guy was already in the conference room, yet my boss was no where in sight. I called him up and he said he was still a good half hour away and asked that I would handle the interview. Arrghhh. The interview went well for me and for our new hire. And yes, we ended up hiring him on a trial basis. The rest of the morning I was training him on a few things. My boss kept emphasizing that I should not spoon-feed him so that we can gauge his skill sets. Ok... we'll see how that go. I am glad that we finally found someone to help out with projects. I've been supporting everyone by preparing nice graphs and cad drawings. It's time that I can move on to bigger and better things. Career-wise, I need to branch out and maybe get involved with different types of projects. Not that I don't enjoy doing flood studies (they are challenging at times), but it'll be nice to venture into some groundwater stuff and maybe some wastewater side of things so that I can apply what I picked up over the years in school.
Hmm... I am supposed to write about a delightful lunch. Yes... So the story goes... My coworker went out to lunch and promised to bring me back something from a new Filipino restaurant in town. She got back an hour later empty-handed. She said... "2 good news and 1 bad news." The first good news was that the food was really really good. The bad news was that you couldn't order carry-out without a 2 hour notice in advance. Huh? Another piece of good news was that she got cans of tuna stacked away in the kitchen cabinet and that I could help myself to those for lunch.
Since she was raving about the food so much, my boss and I decided to go try it ourselves. It was a buffet lunch. Got curry chicken, roast pork, sweet and sour tilapia, crispy rolls made with pork (I think), beef, fried rice, and stir-fried rice noodles. The food was surprisingly good, kinda have a home-made feel to it. Not greasy at all. If you want to order any dishes on the menu, you need to call in in advance, since according to the chef--in his exact word--he prepares everything from "raw," meaning from scratch.
The best part of the whole lunch was that after we were done eating, the chef came out and sat down and started yakking away. We talked about the Philippines, how beautiful it is, the early history of its settlement. We touched on global warming, bad food/bad customers, his business philosophy, .... the list goes on.
He is such a colorful person with a good sense of humor. We were talking about ignorance and intolerance of people and about America being a melting pot. Then he commented that unless your name is Racing Bull or Sitting Duck, you are really just a foreigner in this country. [That really cracked me up.]
He continued... "The blacks came here on the Amistad; the whites came here on the May Flower; I flew here on Northwest!" [Man, he should be on Comedy Central!]
Then he said that people told him that he came to the US and took the job away from the Americans. He would reply, "Are you a cook? Are you a nurse (he was a nurse by profession, but he loves to cook and therefore the restaurant)?... No... So I didn't take the job away from you." [I thought to myself--good argument!]
One thing he said which made my boss a little uneasy afterwards was that he has a theory about our immune system. If we aren't expose to the germs, we won't be immune from them. People use soap and wash their hands all the time... and the theory goes washing hands all the time is not necessary. [Ok he didn't say that in those exact words, but we thought he really meant it. He was a nurse for goodness sake.]
It's great that we have a little nice ethnic restaurant in an otherwise very vanilla (my boss' word, not mine) town. To me, it's always interesting to meet people from different culture and with different experience. In essence, this is what Life is meant to be lived. You live to experience the people, the nature, and all the things around you. [And don't forget God, if you believe He is among us and in us.]
So for once, my WORK infected soul seemed to be cured miraculously. I didn't really do any work today. After lunch, I was just talking to another coworker about the project we were supposed to be working on. All talk, no work. And before we knew it, it was 4:30. Time to go home.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Virus Warning!
A dangerous new virus is being distributed electronically. It is called the Worm Overload Recreation Killer (WORK). You can get WORK from your boss or colleagues. Do not touch it. The virus will wipe out your private life.
If you come into contact with WORK, there are two antidotes. You can purchase Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) or Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). They're available at your local grocery store. Take repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated.
Forward this warning to five friends. If you don't have five friends, you're infected with WORK and it is controlling your life.
Very funny! I thought I just eradicated the virus b4 the New Year!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Camera
I have to write about this because I am really excited. My sister bought me a Nikon D80 SLR Camera and a hard-to-find 18-200mm Zoom-Nikkor Lens. (Ok, I have to pay her back....) Really have to give my sister credit for finding the lens. The lens is so popular that it is out-of-stock almost anywhere in the world. I think she went to several camera shops in Hong Kong and finally one store said that they had ONE in stock. And the only reason they had it was because a customer ordered it but thought that he had waited too long and canceled the order. Ha ha... I guess I am lucky. I am going to take a LOT of pictures while I am in Hong Kong. And to be a good brother as I always have been (my sister would totally disagree), I will try to capture every moment of my sister's wedding with my new Nikon D80. :) Thank you, my dear sister!
Monday, January 01, 2007
corruption and GDP
I was reading the January issue of The Economist. In it there was an article about corruption.
There was this graph showing the relationship between corruption and GDP. Data points are scattered but they fit an exponential decay curve fairly well. The amount (or cases?) of corruption increases exponentially as a nation's GDP decreases.
I guess it is not a surprise that corruption is related to economic wealth.
What makes me a bit uneasy is the realization that our moral or morality depends on money. Our morality has a price! We can't afford talking about morality if we can't even make our ends meet, or if we can't keep our stomach full. I might have taken this a bit out of context. But think about it. I think, to certain extent, this is true. Sad, but true.
There was this graph showing the relationship between corruption and GDP. Data points are scattered but they fit an exponential decay curve fairly well. The amount (or cases?) of corruption increases exponentially as a nation's GDP decreases.
I guess it is not a surprise that corruption is related to economic wealth.
What makes me a bit uneasy is the realization that our moral or morality depends on money. Our morality has a price! We can't afford talking about morality if we can't even make our ends meet, or if we can't keep our stomach full. I might have taken this a bit out of context. But think about it. I think, to certain extent, this is true. Sad, but true.
Happy New Year!
Today is such a gloomy day... cloudy and all, hope the new year will be brighter than the weather.
I spent New Year's Eve at a wedding. Didn't stay for the ball drop. The midnight just slipped by unnoticeably as I drove home. For some reason, I was in a depressed mood. Finally got to be alone and quiet, but I realize quiet moments are way overrated. I opened up a bottle of wine. Make a toast to myself. Happy New Year!
I spent New Year's Eve at a wedding. Didn't stay for the ball drop. The midnight just slipped by unnoticeably as I drove home. For some reason, I was in a depressed mood. Finally got to be alone and quiet, but I realize quiet moments are way overrated. I opened up a bottle of wine. Make a toast to myself. Happy New Year!
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