Family X'mas Gathering 2008

流亡海外兩年的小薯仔再次現身家族聖誕聯歡... 她更嬴了 Bingo 遊戲環節的頭奬，從五十多名出席親戚當中取得直立式蒸汽燙抖一檯... 可惜這件電器太重，不能帶到國外... :p 部分親戚一 Relatives 1 部分親戚二 Relatives 2 部分親戚三 Relatives 3 竹簽夾乒乓球遊戲 Ping-pong picking with bamboo sticks game 因為阿偉老婆只夾到兩粒，被痛駡："你冇面目見祖宗啊!!!"

Be decisive please

In my office on the Christmas Eve Today, on the Christmas eve, the job agent was supposed to come at 2pm, and then I was supposed to sign my contract, and to throw my numerous worries aside, until I obtain my work permit. BUT... I have changed my mind at 1am, because of a phone call in the evening yesterday. I have decided to put myself at some risk, and get the "courage" to tell my boss "the plan". Apparently my mind is the sole agent driving me through my zig-zag trails. If only I don't need to care about fulfilling others' expectations, I'd then be a free entity... AND at 2pm, instead of signing my contract, I have resigned my job.

Ivy's graduation

Photos from Ivy's graduation this year and... my graduation 3 years ago...

Martha Argerich - Ravel Jeux d'eau

一展身手

English almost live version: Cantonese offline version: Iraq rally for Bush shoe attacker

HK tourist series - Cantonese Opera

My dodgy analysis...

Since Wed, I have been joining the discussions of my team lead and a C++ consultant. To me, it is interesting to observe the interactions between two 40+ married British geeks, especially when I have no male acquaintance from this age-group. According to my dodgy decomposition of their conversation content, 40% is program design, 5% jokes, 5% teasing each other, 5% geek consumer stuff, 40% about their kids, and 5% miscellaneous for a catch-all purpose. In a very excited voice, my team lead narrated,

Max starts to find it funny to drop something on the floor and to watch someone grabbing it up. Later he might as well throw something away like 'Hey! Go fetch it, Daddy.'

Then, the C++ consultant took turns to narrate the story of his son. Their conversation reminded me of my Dads in the 60+ age group, with their most favorite topic being to promote the achievements of their children. An average 40+ man still has his own career or achievements to boast about, an average 60+ man only their children's. This only applies to the family type though... ;-)

Eine Freundin aus Tübingen :)

(Top to bottom, left to right) 0. Christmas lanterns at Times Square 1. Carrie Chau's exhibition 2. Us 3. Here is a lot of traffic..?! Interesting facts about Beijing: 0. Few choices on Ritter Sports: only Vollmilch & Dunkel Chokolade?! 1. Beijinger's MTR is even more crowded than HK's 2. Some language schools offer no French class - so the relationship between China and France has become real bad huh?

"heiße Mädchen"

Original article - Chinese translation: Random thoughts on this heated topic:

1. How many Germans really catch the exact content of this Chinese cover when there is no full German translation?
2. Except the keyword "heiße Mädchen", what makes this article so well-known and widely circulated?
3. The style of the "calligraphy" is a little bit "short and fat", too regular. Why would anyone think this is stylish Chinese characters in the first place?
4. Oh... and the Germans complain they don't understand English too. In fact, Germans are very self-critical

X'mas specials - snowflake making

Paper folding instructions + Pattern library:

野草苺學運...

在我家電視看到的景象，是中國海協會代表陳雲林訪台，期間一班情緒高漲的示威抗議民眾和警方發生暴力衝突。民眾的集會是理性和平嗎？我不見得。衝突之間有人受傷也在所難免吧？網上也沒有流傳其他和平集會的民眾被警方以暴力驅散的片段。有時這些學運的發起也真奇怪... 令人痛心的是這些事件總會引起部分比較政治偏激的美國老外關注，只聽了幾個台灣人的意見，便覺得爭取修憲民主的學運是理所當然，開始在扇風點火，唯恐天下不亂... 再者，這個學運的名稱也改得不好，太惹人可憐，不能反映要爭取的主題... 請包涵我的意見也過份偏激... :p

HK tourist series - The Peak (day view)

The historical Governor residence Some kind of grasses in motion Here one can find the best Pacific Coffee couches in HK

The air pollution index is extremely high...

My colleagues' wedding

I am kind of famous in the company now, because of the lens... sometimes you do want to control whether a transition should take place... :p I have escaped 3-4 weddings in HK during my time overseas. This is in fact my first one in HK (since I've grown up)

Ehrlich gesagt - ich mag keine Brötchen

Heute wollte ich dir eigentlich eine Email schreiben, um mich bei dir zu bedanken, dass du mir ein Glas Marmelade als Weihnachtsgeschenk geschickt hast. Ich erinnere mich noch, dass ich einmal im Scherz gesagt habe, dass wir zusammen Brötchen essen*. Daher vermute ich, dass die Marmelade und die Brötchen einen Zusammenhang haben. Aber ehrlich gesagt: ich mag keine Brötchen - und deshalb brauche ich auch keine Marmelade. Auch von Marmelade wird man dick!!! Und ich will aber abnehmen!!! Außerdem ist es sehr aufwendig, wenn ich die Marmelade von deiner älteren Schwester abholen muss. Wir wohnen eineinhalb Stunden voneinander entfernt. Es kostet also viel Zeit und Fahrkosten, um dieses ein Glas Marmelade zu bekommen. Und dazu kommt noch: Deine Schwester und ich kennen uns gar nicht. Wir vermeiden es daher lieber, der anderen Seite Probleme zu verursachen. Die ganze Angelegenheit ist für uns ziemlich unangenehm. Na ja, ich verstehe schon, dass du nur das Beste willst. Aber versetz dich bitte beim nächsten Mal in die Situation von deiner Schwester und mir und denk darüber nach, was uns wirklich Freude bereitet... :P * Erklärung: "zusammen Brötchen essen" bedeutet als ein chinesisches Sinnbild "einander über Schwierigkeiten im Leben hinweghelfen." To understand the true story, read this.

An inevitable task

20.30, my drum class ended, and I headed home. While promenading along the MTR platform, I realized with a delay, that I walked pass a drum-class classmate. Feeling a lack of energy to socialize, I deliberately moved myself two screen doors ahead. The train arrived after a while. Through the transparent screen doors, I saw my university classmate and probably his girlfriend. Feeling a lack of energy to socialize, and truthfully that compartment was way too crowd, I quickly slipped into the next compartment. During my travel, I was wondering if I was going to meet yet a third acquaintance on the road. At Quarry Bay station, my secondary schoolmate stepped on board. "Hello, it's been a while", so I turned-on my small talk engine, like this was an inevitable task for today.

哎呀老豆個女結婚

哎呀老豆特別 send 咗封 email 話俾我知佢個女結婚，咁我當然要識做：花咗1/4日搜羅咗橙色聖誕卡、龍鳳咕臣袋、髪簪同埋利是。哈哈、自己覺得應該都可以收貨... :D 總算解決咗其中一條難題 ...

大閘蟹和女兒紅

約了朋友吃大閘蟹，說起了朋友的感情瓜葛。男女事主我都認識的，都市人的問題真的是過份複雜。大家喝的也有一點點昏，硬著心腸沒有陪她再到酒吧喝酒，強行把她帶了回家。睡昏了的我也沒有幫上什麼忙。 早上七時老豆把我吵醒了，發現朋友己經離家。跟老豆把事情解釋了一下，又聽他說起感情往事的老豆版 *，一談便是三小時。十時我再跳上床上休息，感到昨晚和今早的經過像是夢一場。 * 註：加上猫猫版，我是家裡唯一知道完全版的人。

Thanksgiving day....

Passenger fuel surcharge for flights

A table of Passenger Fuel Surcharge for flights in HK: http://www.cad.gov.hk/english/fuel_surcharge.htm Finally the surcharge follows the drop in oil price. :) HK$499 for CX long haul

HK Grand Prix Round Table Pedal 2008

Getting set... Go~~~!! Well done! You've made a lap using 2:08.256...!? Those who made a 1:15:989 lap The trophy goes to... ♪♪♪♪... Cathay Pacific ~* The End *~

再認識自己...

猫猫說... 我小時候...

• 從來不會主動要吃東西，即使別人把食物送到嘴邊，我只是會張大口，臉上更是一副十萬分不願意的樣子。
• 不愛別人摟，很愛自由。
• 因為很怕髒，很早便不會尿床。
• 免疫系統有問題，每次打放疫針都會生病。
• 因為常常生病，連站起來的力量也沒有，所以很晚才會走路。
• 有學習障礙，會把字的左右字根反過來寫?!
• 每當認出回家的路，必定嚷着不要回家。
• 很愛玩耍，會在路邊的欄杆打筋抖?!

這個是本來的我...

Trivia

• Exoplanets
• Heidemarie_Stefanyshyn-Piper
• Gürtelrose
• A leap second
• USB drum kit

HK tourist series - Discovery Bay

There is absolutely nothing else there besides a few bungalows. ♪♪...The swinging queen... :p

My desk@office

I begin to miss the stuff on my spacious desk, the dual LCD monitors, the Xtra on my desktop, the habour-facing office located 10-min walk from home, the jokes from a team of young colleagues, the occasionally enjoyable assignments, and what else? (This blurry picture to be replaced... :p) N.B: I have no chance to replace this blurry picture, because we are asked to remove all stuff with Reuters logo...