Flowers

I am in Tainan now. Yesterday morning when I left parents' place, I notice the flowers are blooming. Very beautiful purple color. The Mistress does not take photos as well as before. Still, it looks like a professional digital camera is better than a built-in one.

Recent...

It's that time of the year when I think I should be with my own family. Strange feeling. It's supposed to be cold, and furnace is supposed to be burning, apple cider with cinnamon served, eggnog kept somewhere in the refrigerator.

I don't like photos that much, but did have a few in my collections. Thanks for the digital photography technologies, those photos look as new as 5 or 6 years ago. With the photos, I get to see the angel in the bathroom. The painting of Standford I received for my birthday. These 2 souvenirs are long gone. The sofa, blank wall, humble bedroom, and the tiny computer desk I got to love much, and that just hides in the corner without taking much space at all, the soup bowels that I keep until now.

Stability seems like a dream, with all those happening right now. When I feel I can at last take a breath, after these few years, and feel relaxed, but then more things are waiting to pop up and stir up my life again.

It's not bad. I feel more alive this way. With all the frustration with work, and the helpless feelings for the others, it is then nice to hide at home, finally emotionally, the whole day on weekends. It is nice to search in the refrigerator, cook something, do some cleanup, and sit by the round table to eat and read my novel.

Not sure how long it is going to last. But browsing at home, I realize that it's not time to get lot of things. If things happen, then all the stuff on the bookshelf could be gone. I'm tired of bringing those with me. Actually there are alternatives for that. Music is already digital. Movies can be tossed. It's time to investigate digital books.

Things I Hate to Do in WoW

This task is to find some microfilms. However in order to find it, I need to throw baits to the wolves. The wolves will run over to me, eat the bait, and then... they poop! I then have to pick up the poop to find the microfilm inside. It's not the first time that I need to pick up such a thing in the game. I was told later in the game, I may have to eat... Not I have to do that in person, but my character having to do that is already nauseating.

The Gift of the Magi

I was told of the story when I was little, and of course it started with "Once upon a time", and ended with a happy ending. Names were not mentioned. So the story was like this:

Once upon a time, there was a poor couple. It was Christmas time, but they could not afford to buy any gift. The wife decided to have her hair cut and sold to buy a watch chain for her husband. The husband decided to sell his watch to get her wife a comb. They exchanged gifts and surprised at what the other had sacrificed, and knew how much they loved each other.

Not until today when I read a magazine in a 7-11 after lunch did I know the name of the story: The Gift of the Magi. Now I know the husband is called Jim (yeah, right), and the wife is called Della. The book was published in 1906, and the full story can be found here.

Now when I read the story, I can tell why both Jim and Della sold their valuable belongings to buy gifts. They are probably still too young. Jim is 22, and Della is supposed to be younger, judging the way she was happy to get the gift. It is nice to have a life when love is above anything. It is.

Pretty Meeting Room

I went to this headhunter for interview. Pretty famous company for its accounting function. Gorgeous office on high floor of a good office building. I was on 27th floor waiting for the recruiter to come in. Can't help looking around the meeting room and out at the street. It's one of the best I've ever seen.

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts

This is a documentary, not really a movie. If I had not liked the music from 'the Hours' very much, I would not have known his name, Philip Glass, and gone to the movie.

We went to the matinee show, just as usual. The movie runs for 2 hours, kind of long for me to sit in the movie theater for a documentary, however, it was not boring and I was able to concentrate the whole time. It gracefully tells the life, the philosophy of Philip Glass in twelve chapters. We learned about his childhood, how he decided to study music, life in Julliard, in France, his composing life, how he thinks of music, how he persuades his spiritual life. In the end, we saw the opening of symphony 8 and Waiting for Barbarians.

But honestly, what impresses me is that he makes pizza for the family (obviously from scratch), and he takes barbage bag to the outside to toss. And he looks just like a regular man.

First Dinner Alone

Well, not really the first dinner along, but there is more food on the table, so it was like a lot of cooking. But you can tell, just simple food. Apple is from few days ago, romaine is also from few days ago when F was here, and we made Caesar salad. I almost finished them all. I had a good time.

Horse?

Things have not been going quite well at work. There are all kinds of issues, product-wise and management-wise. Last week I had to go to the factory to see some of the issues. I had to run out to get some fresh air, and that is when I saw this thing. I had passed it many many times, but just never really paid attention to what it says. Fire Horse? That gave me some laugh.

Shopping at IKEA

More shopping at IKEA. This time, it is kitchenware. F and I went there. We looked around, and saw a lot of interesting things that are cheap and good. We did not start wanting to get everything in one trip, but ended up getting everything I need to get me started to use the kitchen.

It is hard to imagine how cheap things can be there. We got plates and bowls, and it is 25NTD per piece. One set of pots and glass lids, and it costs only 3XX NTD. We also decided to get knives, steamer, patulas, cutlery, and the total is only 15XX NTD, which is less than 50 USD.

And the funny thing is that later we went to grocery store, and got some rice, oil, veggie, and a bottle of wine, and the cost of the grocery is more than the kitchenware.

So we cooked some dinner, and this morning I made my own breakfast. It is totally nice.

A Look

Almost everything was delivered today, funiture from IKEA, washer, and refrigerator. I had the bed frame assembled. It is a double bed, and I do not think I could handle the whole assembly by myself. Landlord was there also tonight, trying to fix some of the lights. Most are ok, but 2 transformers broke, so he will come back tomorrow evening with replacements. I put together the coffee table and the sofa. Sofa did not turn out the way I thought it should be. Although I sat on the same model at IKEA; however, this new one still feels very hard, and deep for me. It is probably good for someone who is 6 feet tall. I wondered why I did not see this at the store. I think I could get some soft pillows, for decoration, and also to make it more comfortable. Tomorrow I'll need to go get some sheets, and maybe put together the tv stand and the computer desk and chair.

Should I Flush Or Not?

This morning I went to IKEA to buy some furniture with the big help from MM. After that we went to a nice Thai restaurant. In their men's restroom, I saw this sign. I read and read, and could not decide if I should flush or not after I use it.

Minor Change

Though the space of the living looks big, it is not really easy to utilize the space. What should I put in the space between the living room and the kitchen? A dining table? Not really in this oddly shape of space. So I decided to move the bookshelf in the room th divide the space. Actually I like this better. And believe it or not, I don't think I have enough books or whatever to fill in this bookshelf; however, I still have something to put up there, at least I do not have to see the bathroom from the entrance.

The second photo shows another angle to see the bathroom and another 2 closets. These 2 closets were designed for shoes. The landlord put them at the entrance. I have 2 issues. First of all, I have only 4 pairs of shoes, including my sandles. Secondly, I really do not like to raise my shoes that high. So I decided to move them to this corner, and coincidentally, their widths fit that part of wall perfectly. I'll have to mop them really clean. One will be used for towels, detergent, etc; the other will be used as pantry. Now both open from the left. I'll flip one door, so I can open both from the center (aka, one from the left, the other from the right).

Now I can really move some books and DVD's over as the first step.

Funny Video

It is so funny. I have to keep it here for my own collection. :-)

New Life

So I signed the lease this evening, and will stay here for at least a year, unless I get lucky and win the lottery. This marks the beginning of my life, no matter if it turns out good or bad. Too many moves, too many things happened, too much procrastination, too much consideration. Now that I signed the lease, and I feel more certain of who I am.

No new car, however. Plan has changed over the past 2 weeks. Not knowing of the economy, not knowing how difficult it may become, it is just unwise of me to invest on a new car, especially when cars are expensive, and when I only live on monthly paycheck. I feel lucky to find this place. It has 2 rooms (small however), and a dining area, and a spacious living room. Spacious in my own standard when I currently have nothing to fill in. 2 rooms, so I can have space to walk around, and also the luxury to invite a friend to stay overnight. Bathroom is small, without bathtub. That's the bad thing. The dream of having beauty bubble bath in the cold cold winter night busts, but then I could get a nice dining table for 4. No matter what, because I'm not buying a new car, so I feel even more certain that I could get a few pieces of furniture without worrying too much.

Anyway, I'm happy.

Jiaoxi Hotspring

After our freeway no.5 was open, Ilan is much more accessible from Taipei than before. I have been busy lately, worked all weekend the week before last, felt really tired. It was a good thing to get away for a bit. MM was complaining about the same thing, so we decided to run away from Taipei for a bit.

We decided to go to Jiaoxi. It takes only 50 minutes by bus. We strolled along the hotspring strip, and saw this public place. Although it is public, it is still divided into men's area and women's, and people are all naked in the pool. Cheap, at only 80NTD, but the place is beautiful. Attached photo is a look at the men's pool. The 'tower' is like 3 floors high, so I felt really comfortable inside it.

After that we found a nice local Vietnamese restaurant, and had the most wonderful spring rolls I've ever had. Also cheap. 4 big rolls for only 50NTD. Need to go back again.

It was raining, so we decided to go back to Taipei after lunch. It is only 1pm when we returned to Taipei. It was a very short trip, and I had fun. Sunday night when I was getting ready for the next week, I felt rested, and not as anxious as I normally felt. This is a nice weekend.

Lady Sylvanas

This is a song sung by Lady Sylvanas in World of Warcraft. I finished this task, and listened to her sing in person. The song is so sad, but so beautiful.

I don't remember too much about the task. I was a low level blood elf, and accidentally picked up an artifact. The task manager asked me to meet with Sylvanas. She was a high elf and lived in the same area where I picked up the artifact before she was killed and brought back to life as an undead. This artifact was hers. She lost it when she was guarding her country. Now she is the leader of the Forsaken, an undead, with her belongings when she was still alive...

Why I thought of this song all of a sudden? Because this evening I saw another video of hers. This time she did the killing. She slaughtered the whole Scarlet Sanctuary.

Disappointing Product Release

The first thing that I checked this morning when I got up is to see what Apple announced for their new products. Not exactly what I expected.

• No netbook. I understand Apple might not want to let netbooks take away part of the more lucrative NB business, but I have an iMac at home already. If Apple comes up with something lighter and cheaper, I might want to get one. Now the new macbook still starts at 1299USD, and 13" of screen. These 2 specs are really turn-off.
• I watched the video on the website, and also part of the keynote, and just can't help yawning when they elaborate the machining process of the new aluminum case. That is boring detail, and is so aggravating, and it is really not that much lighter than the previous generation, and is not appealing at all.

I may finish the keynote when I have time, but it is really not urgent for some reason. Even the graphics chip upgrade sounds so irrelevant to me. It is ok to say the 3D performance of the integrated graphics chip is 5x better than ever, but showing how well it performs when it runs WoW is more appealing to me.

Photos of Tel Aviv

The good thing about traveling for business is that one could say he has traveled to so many cities and countries. The bad things is that sometimes there is really not that much time to look around.

Although we asked the taxi to pick us up every evening at 6pm. By the time we went back to the hotel, rested for 5 minutes, went out to find a place for dinner (normally this is the hard part), and finished dinner, it would be around 8:30pm. There will be not that much to look around anyway, so we just stayed in the hotel.

But I did go somewhere. I was taken to an Israeli restaurant where English menu is not available. That was a lot of fun. Although some waiters assumed I was Japanese when we left, and I was not so happy about it, but I could laugh about it. I went to Jaffa to walk around and chat with people one evening. From Jaffa, people could get a very beautiful view of Tel Aviv. I loved it very much, but forgot to bring my camera. I did take some photos with Mistress, but they did not turn out very well. One night, I went to a bar/pub, also in Jaffa, when it was open at midnight. Israelis do not start their night life until midnight. That is so amazing to me when I am ready to hit the pillow at 11. By 2 when I left, So many people still were walking in that area. On the other side, it is good that people feel safe to walk at that late of the night. I also walked around the residential area right across the street from the hotel, and took some photos.

Generally, I like it there. Some of the food there is very addicting. After I returned to Taiwan, I asked my boss one day if those food is available in Taipei. Well, some yes, but some, no. So there is another bad thing about traveling. I don't know when I can have that food again.

Photos are here

Right and Wrong

MM said he looks queeny and scary, and I agree with her. This cover does not look anything like the David Cook that I liked so much over the American Idol season. The song is a nice choice for him though. David Cook is back. I am looking forward to his new album release in November.

Jerusalem

This is a lame note of my trip to Jerusalem, as it happend almost a month ago, and that is a long time based on the deteriorating condition of my brain.

Photos are available in my photo album.

It was a very nice day. The company was very nice to arrange this trip to Jerusalem for both of us. The tour guide picked us up at 9am. We went back to the hotel at around 4. If we exclude 45 minutes to drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, we spent around 5.5 hours in Jerusalem. Not long enough, as we did not have time for museum at all, and I believe the archaeology museum in Jerusalem will be such a nice place to visit, considering the whole old city is like a giant museum.

We started with Mount of Olive, where the best view of old city can be obtained. Don't trust the photos. From the photos, all the color is yellow, and nothing special, however, it looks quite splendid in real. Then we went to see the tomb of Virgin Maria, and the first church of Crusaders. Too bad I had a good impression while I was there, but one months later I can remember that much.

One thing that I do remember is that, the tour guide said the relationships among Muslim, Jewish, and Catholic. They share a lot, and the main different is who the last prophecy is, and that is reason why Jerusalem is holy to them all. Of course this may be his side of the story, but it is nice to understand some of it, and be in Jerusalem myself.

Because we are not religious and do not know the Bible at all, otherwise we would have a nice trip to all the churches to know in which church did Jesus say this, in which church did Jesus say that, and on which desert did Jesus spend most of his life.

It is good to have a chance to go there. However, if I have a chance to go again, I'll need to do some homework first. It is nice to explore and know better, than listen to the tour guide only, nodding with my mouth wide open.

Extra Precaution

Attached is photo of my regular computer backpack and a white box that I got from Israeli custom. Now free guess. What is in the white box?

I was told of the tedious security check at the Israeli airport, so I went there early to make sure I had plenty of time. The airport was not busy at all, but not well marked. I knew there would be people checking my luggage all over, however, standing there, I was not sure where to start. I hope they could provide a 123 guide. Step 1, wait in the line here, step 2, open you luggage, step 3, blah blah blah.

I decided to ask for help.

The lady was very nice. Instead of pointing the direction I should go, she took me in person to where I should start. However, either it was still not marked very well or she did not really know the airport well herself, I followed her direction, and found myself cutting in another line. I was quite embarrassed. Fortunately, it was a very short line, so someone could take me very quickly.

This is the best VIP experience I have ever had. 5 people waited on me. One opened up backpack, one checked my luggage, one worked on my computer, and while she could not figure out my computer, she called another coworker, and then they called the third person, obviously their manager, for help. My computer is a Dell Latitude XT. This computer has a hinge attached to the screen, so I could flip the screen 180 degrees, and put it back down, with the screen facing outside, and use it as a tablet PC. Obviously they have a major concern on the hinge structure. I just stood there, seeing the manager talking and pointing at the screen (obviously x-ray photo) and the hinge part of my computer, back and forth. I refrained from the desire to come up and show my expertise as a mechanical engineer, professional and proud, to explain the mechanical structure. They are cute girls, but look so serious and soldiers like. It’s a good idea to keep my mouth shut.

And they did check all the details. Everything in the backpack was put on the table. Some of my clothes were put on the counter. They use some kind of cotton to wipe the outside and inside of the whole thing. Then I was asked to go through the metal door for personal security checkup. This is the time when I remember, never leave my luggage un-attended. I was not very comfortable at this point when even my passport was out of my sight.

When I went back, they asked me to turn on the computer, and run a program. I guess they just want to make sure this is a working computer, not something they will worry about. And then a lady told me that for security purpose, I am not allowed to put both my laptop computer and the adaptor in the carry-on luggage. I normally do that, just in case if for some reason, the luggage is lost or delayed, I still have my computer to conduct business. So this lady took out a big white box, put some packaging material in, and threw my adaptor in. I was then asked to sign my name on the box, nice and big, and this box became my second check-in luggage.

Well, it turns out, though I thought it’s ridiculous to put just one tiny adaptor in this large box, however, when I came back to Taipei and waited at the carousel, this box is still small compared with other luggage, but quite visible.

The whole checkup at the airport is very tedious and messy. However, the coworker I traveled with lost his computer. He was not allowed to carry on his laptop even. His adaptor was put in one such white box, and computer in another. And at the Taipei airport, neither of the boxes showed up. He did not get any receipts for the boxes, so now the airlines cannot do any tracking at all. And, this is not the first laptop lost at the Israeli airport from our office.

Thought of You, All at Once

Nurse friend, SH, sent me this message, and for some time I did not know how to respond. The message says, “Thought of you, all at once”.

I’ve known her since I was 15. We were quite close, in a way, at one point. That was pre-email era, and we exchanged a lot of mails when I was in senior high school, and she was in nurses’ vocational school. The funny thing is that both schools are on the same street, but we had so much fun writing.

We did not meet that much until later when we were both in Taipei. She had finished advanced vocational training, and was working for a hospital in Linkou area, and I was still in college. She came to town once in a while. She bought me dinners sometimes. I was a poor student. A milk shake from McDonald’s was a nice treat for me, but she took me to some nice restaurants where the flat rate for one person could be as high as 300 or 400 NTD.

We were never a couple though, and we did not realize it until later that all my family assumed she was my girlfriend, all her family assumed I was her boyfriend, and her current husband thought we were a lovely couple so he did not dare to pursue her. She, her husband, and I went to the same school, same year. Her husband’s classroom was next to mine. This is a small world.

I postponed calling her until later when I was in Tainan on business. I was waiting for my colleague to get ready to leave and call it a day. She answered the phone, and upon hearing my voice, she started to laugh. She knew I was responding to her text message.

The environment around my parents’ house has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. Many houses were torn out, streets widened, new community built. Her parents’ house was torn down too, but then they got a condo in the community as compensation. Now whenever she goes back to visit her parents, she drives through my parents’ neighborhood, however she does not know exactly where my parents live, and I wonder if she ever visited. She thought of me and sent me that text message.

That’s an old friend, happily married, living in the area she grew up in, 2 kids, the older being a forth grader already. Hard to imagine that time flies this fast. It is hard to get together with her again. After all she has the family to take care of.

She got married early, in June when I was extremely busy getting ready to graduate and thus not able to attend her wedding. We did not meet again for the next 10 years, until about 2 years ago, she came to Taipei for some professional training, and we met for dinner. It was my turn to buy her dinner. After all these years, that was my contribution. She had not aged a bit, like a wizard. When we were 20, she was working and was like an older sister, and now I’ve changed so much that she looks like a little girl, and I just can’t picture her a mother of 2 sons.

We did not talk much. Time has separated us in a way, however, for me, she is always there, and will always be there. I still have a collection of her photos, physical photos, you know, that was pre-digital camera era, and the letters, numbered, in bundles, something I’ll never toss.

Cape No. 7

M has complained, twice, that I am not writing any new posts. The justification I can come up with is that I’ve been so busy at work, and the boss has become so demanding after I returned from Israel, but the truth is, I do not have any excuse, but have been just lazy, although I do have something to share. I took photos of something, uploaded them to the Blogger, wrote something, but never completed it.

Ok, let’s talk about movie for now. 2 weeks ago I went back to Tainan to visit my folks. I was not able to get tickets to return for Moon Festival, and luckily one typhoon hit Taiwan right over that weekend, so it turned out to be good for me to not return. So I promised my mother to go back the next week, and I did.

I wanted to do something together.

I am used to going back and just stay with them the whole time without going out at all. If I am familiar with shopping environment (though I cannot afford it) in Taipei 101 area, how would I want to run to those department stores in Tainan anyway? And I really did not keep contact with friends well enough, so really did not feel like calling anyone.

Cape No. 7 is the in movie in Taiwan. It started out slow in just a handful of theaters, however, it received great reviews from the audience, and the interesting thing is that the audience highly recommends their friends and relatives to go, and it starts to get more and more attentions from more and more people, and then it airs in more and more theaters. Many people actually go watch this movie more than once.

The nice thing about this movie is that it tells a simple story and it uses the language we are used to. It does not intend to give us a cinema lesson, nor does it try to show us movie is really a form of art. It is not even a romantic love story, although the 7 letters from 60 years ago are gently read. Writing this, I do not know how to proceed with the story. 

Anyway, I decided to take my parents to the movie. I was on the train going back to Tainan that Friday night. When was the last time I went to the movie with my parents? I really could not recall. I had only 2 impressions. One is when I was probably in the kindergarten. My parents took all 3 kids to watch a movie. The title of the movie is something like “Cute animals” in Chinese. Maybe just animals did some funny things on the movie, similar to the programs we may see on Discovery Channel now. I had fun, and I was very little. The second impression is that my dad took me only to a theater. I think I still barely remember where the movie theater was located, and know that at one point it became a porn movie theater when I was a high school student. I was probably a second grader only. Not sure why my dad took only me, or was it a Sunday. Maybe my dad felt like some entertainment, and knew I would not tell my mother. Well, the movie theater was very busy, and because the seats were first come first served, and we went in late, so my dad and I stood there watching the movie. I was really too little, so standing in the crowd, I remember I saw more asses than the movie.

Those probably happened 30 years ago.

Later I asked my parents about it. They also could not remember. They said the last time they ever went to the movie theater was like more than 20 years ago. I don’t remember my parents ever took us to dine out, how could we possibly afford to go to the movies?

Cape No. 7 is a Taiwanese movie. Conversation is mostly in Taiwanese and Mandarin, some in Japanese. So it is easier for them to understand. There has been such a hype of this movie on the newspaper, television programs, etc. Even my mom knows about it. So it is a nice thing to go to the movies together.

So, my parents, niece and nephew (they happened to spend the weekend there too, as my sister had to study for the weekend), and I went. This time, kids got popcorn and coke, my mom was satisfied with a cup of hot tea, my dad and I got a nice size of Starbucks coffee. Hard to believe that we watched the 1pm show, and it was all full. By saying that, we sat at the very last row, and we could tell easily, even the first row was all full.

This movie is still creating miracle in terms of attention and revenue, and it is almost certain that it will become one of the top 10 Taiwanese movies in the history. What do I like the best in the movie? Courage. The hug in the poster looks like eternity, but it only lasts for like 2 seconds in the movie. The main actor, Aga, delivers the 7 letters to the address Cape No. 7 and goes back to the beach, hugs the actress, and quickly says, either I go with you to Japan, or you stay, and he hurries to the stage and start performing in the concert.

Of course they barely know each other, however, Aga knows if he does not say or do something he will lose her forever. That hug is so short, but is stronger in emotion than hot kiss and hot sex.

How much do my parents like the movie? Well, I don’t know. My mom had to pee one hour after the movie starts, and the movie runs 2 hours and 40 minutes. I know my dad would be happy if I bought him a cup of coffee latte from the Starbucks, no matter what we do. I had a good time, however, taking care of things and watching the movie.

Oversleep

Those who know me in person know more or less that I have sleep problem. I would go to bed at midnight and wake up at 6. If I sleep later, like play wow until 2am, then I would still wake up at 6 or 6:30, then could not go back to sleep. That does not mean I am not tired, but just can’t sleep again, and then probably would feel miserable for the whole day. “Why don’t you try to go to bed earlier then, like 10pm”, you may ask. Thanks very much. That is a good idea. I’ve tried that, but woke up at 3 or 4. I can’t even sleep in on Sunday.

So yesterday when the wind blew (typhoon will hit Taiwan this weekend, damn it) through the window, and let the sunlight come in through the curtain, I opened my eyes, stretched, yawned, automatically assumed it was 6. I got up, went to the living room, and my bro was gone. I was wondering, why did he have to go to work so early? I stepped into the restroom and finished my morning ritual, awoke my computer (I was lazy and put it in sleep mode only).

It was 9:40.

I could not believe my eyes, and checked the time on Mistress, still 9:40. Oh, my, G. Not sure why that happened. The alarm on Mistress is set to go off at 7am, Monday through Friday. If I want to sleep in, and ignore it, it goes off every 9 minutes (don’t ask me why 9, not 10), and I did not hear anything.

Panicked, of course, it was the perfect time to scream and cry for help. Unfortunately no one was home to see me perform. I tried to think what I had to do, and remembered I had an interview at 10am (please, check your calendar for the next day before you call it a day). I tried to stay calm, said something out loud until I did not sound sleepy, then called our HR/secretary/reception (this is a small office) to inform her I was running late, and would get there by 10:15.

I hastened to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, put on whatever is available from my closet, put the shoes on, picked up my backpack, hurried downstairs, waved the first taxi that came down the street and is available, and at 10am, I walked into the office, gracefully, smiling, pretending nothing was wrong, and everything was going as planned.

Later in the evening, sis-in-law asked me if I took time off to sleep in or not. She said so many things happened in the morning. The kid puked over her in the morning, so she had to wash her, changed diaper, run around the house making a lot of noise to cook and all that, but I did not move my finger at all, so she assumed I took half a day off and just tried to ignore her.

Honestly I do not know what happened and swear I did not hear anything. All I know was I went to bed and 12:30 and got up at 9:40, and was dead asleep. 9 hours’ sleep? That is the first in recent years, and you know what? I kind of miss the satisfaction I had when I stretched to greet the sunshine yesterday morning. Things like this do not happen very often.

the Hours

It turns out my best time to read is while traveling, otherwise there is just too much distraction in my regular life, the largest threat being WoW, and the endless mindless clicking when I am tired but still refuse to go to bed. And the thing is when it takes too long to fly, reading is really the best way to kill time.

Flying from GMT+8 to GMT+3 does not seem like a long flight, however, on the way back from Tel Aviv, it is an 11-hour flight, 3-hour transition at the Bangkok airport, then another 4-hour flight back to Taipei. So my flight left Tel Aviv at 11pm, and it was past midnight when I finally went home. It is a full-day flight.

Finally I finished the Hours on the flight. I have its DVD version, and have watched all the special features on the disc. The producer has done a terrific job putting all the features together, including interview with Virginia Wolf’s nephews talking about Virginia, and interview with the screenplay writer. It is so much better than just simple interviews with the actors to know how they feel about the movie and the interaction among them (ok, this is included too). There is so much more.

I love the movie. No doubt about it. However, I am not absolutely clear what ‘the hours’ means in the movie. The screenplay writer also talks about it a lot in the interview, saying that we live in the hours, which still does not explain what the author is trying to tell us, especially when it is used as the title of book (or the original title of Mrs. Dalloway, written by Virginia Wolf). Chinese translation of the title is even more confusing, which can be translated as “all the times” (What am I doing? Translation of translation?)

After having finished the book, I realized he is talking about we live at the present time, aka at the present hour, and there is more time, aka more hours, ahead of us. For Virginia, there are hours of darkness, voices, and hours of self awareness, of being herself, hours of desire to escape from the country and live in London haunting the streets. For Laura, those are hours of staying in the hotel just to read in the room, away from her son, her house, hours to be home to be the housewife and mother, hours in her later life witting in Clarissa’s house waiting for the time when she can be alone and go to bed. We all have hours to live in, like it or not, hours to come. Some strive to find a way out; some are content of what they have and what they do, the blessed of all.

There are many differences between the movie and the novel. Novel is a good way to express emotions, what we feel about a funeral of a thrush, buried with a circle of rose, being temporarily beautiful and peaceful but possibly dug out by shovel the next morning when the garden is attended the next morning, to show Virginia’s thinking process and how and why she feels the desire to flee to London, even just for few hours, at the risk of her husband’s anger, how she decides to go home with her husband, when she has already had a ticket in London in her pocket, but decides to keep it secret. In the movie, on the contrary, a major conflict of Virginia and her husband at the station is designed, in which she claims she is dying in this town, even the slightest being has its own right to say what is good for itself, while her husband was angry and worried that she had a history of hearing voices and committing suicide, but ended up agreeing to move back to London. This is probably my favorite scene of the Hours, and even of Nicole Kidman. She is so delicate and beautiful in the way that she looks approachable and human, not just a pretty blond, who looks cold and faraway.

Kiss is also a major thing in the movie. Mrs. Dalloway loves a woman in her early years, with whom she shares a kiss that she would never forget. Virginia has a kiss with her sister, Vanessa, an un-innocent one, as Virginia calls it. Laura has a kiss with Kitty, which leads to her discontent with her cake and runaway from home. They just happen, and happen only once, and maybe because of that, they set an important milestone in their lives. Mrs. Dalloway will never forget the kiss. Laura may not realize what the kiss means to her, but it actually leads to her decision to abandon the family, the kids, and affect Clarissa, and maybe more.

In the book, Laura stays at Clarissa’s place for a night, and Clarissa is happy that the monster that Richard describes in his book is just an ordinary old woman. Laura does not say too much, but puts a soft closure to the whole story. While in the movie, Laura asks Clarissa what it means to regret when there is no option but you think you are going to die. Same concepts in the book and in the movie, but are displayed in different ways.

Overall, love this book. Although I was thinking of finishing this book, and then remove it from my bookshelf for good, I can’t. I love the story, the wording, and it stays.

Beef Up

Oh no, not dear. I am still your lovely little sunshine boy who greets you a broad smile in the morning, who listens to your complaints when you are in trouble and nods agreeably to what you believe is right, who, like a next-door big brother, gives you every support to shout against the bitch (or witch?) who picks on you in the school.

No, I am not beefed up. It is the computer. Then why am I writing the first paragraph? Of course, everything has to do with myself. Wahaha.

Not sure from the perspective of business, if the trip to Israel is a successful one or not, but at least I got my computer beefed up. And it is really hard to say if this process is an upgrade or a downgrade. The reality is, I had our IT downgrade my windows system to XP and install Office 2003 instead of latest 2007, and my system has a huge boost of performance, which I would describe as an upgrade.

Enough is enough. That’s what I said to myself when the last straw on the camel’s back happened. I had tolerated with slow system performance of Vista ever since I was on board with this company. I found myself losing my patience waiting for the system to respond in the office while I was just trying to do a few clicks. Few days ago, in the Tel Aviv hotel, I was talking to M via Skype, the whole system crashed on me after few minutes.

Is it ok to have the conversation interrupted? A few cell phone carriers provide some promotion packages for users to sign up. If they sign up a more expensive monthly package, then they can have free call to people within the same mobile network for the first 5 minutes, less expensive package then for the first 3 minutes. So what happens is many couple would sign up and take advantage of the first 5 free minutes, then before the 5 minutes are up, hang up and then dial again.

Of course I am not sure how lovely they are, and how their conversation goes, however, I think phone conversation is just like making love. When it is good, you really don’t want to hear the phone ring, not sure if that would be an emergency call, so pick up the phone only to hear voice recording from the other end “this is xxx. I am running for the position of whatsoever and need your support blah blah blah”. You furiously hang up the phone, and find the passion gone, and it’s too late anyway, there is an urgent meeting early tomorrow morning. Ok, go back to the phone conversation. When the conversation is interesting and good (mostly sharing deep darkest stories), I don’t want interruption. So when Skype lagged, and the system crashed, I was so pissed, and was so determined to have the system changed to XP.

IT said he does not have any problem do that for me. It took a while, although he has a ghost image of XP (wanna hear my successful story of how my new iMac recovers all the files and programs I installed in my old iMac within an hour?). Well, there was some problems when I got the computer back and ran it at night in the hotel. There was no sound, and whenever the system popped up a window to remind me of something and there was supposed to be sound to accompany the message, I heard loud loud loud alarm from the mono speaker. What? I have not heard such bad mono sound since the age of windows 98! And the loud noise did get a lot of attention the next time at the office where I had to use other coworker’s office.

Anyway, I went back to the IT. He spent almost 3 hours trying to update anything he could think of, and finally solve the problem at the very last hours of my staying in the Israeli office. While we were chatting over the overall horrible experience we have for Vista, he asked me, out of nowhere, if I have the extra cell of battery. I did not have that. My computer is a very plain one, without anything additional. Normally such extra batteries are very expensive. I could not make a case to our manager to ask for one, and I really do not think he has one, although he has to travel much more extensively than I do.

Well, then the magic happens. IT said he has one extra such battery, and no one is using it. If I want it, I can have it. My eyes were open wide, if not popping, moist if not weeping, I can’t such luck (er, that would be another story) was happening to me, like a prince waiting to kiss Snow White and live happily ever after, I said “Yes, I do” (er? That would be a strange occasion when the IT is not even cute.). He pulled out the extra battery, and put my laptop on top. SNAP! That is the sound I heard, and it sounds better than the wedding march.

However, I want more than that. Greedy, huh? Yes, that is what I was, anxious for more and more. I asked IT if he could possibly have an extra Bluetooth module? Ok, here comes another complaint. How can an expensive model (2000+ USD) like this Lattitude XT does not have built-in Bluetooth? I cannot imagine how smart those marketing people are, but I know they really make me angry. So IT said, he does not have one, but another FA guy might have it, since we have received many samples of the products, and he may have salvaged some.

Dang dang dang, that’s another wedding march, and more. I hurried to that guy’s office, got one, and hurried back to IT, and IT installed it in no time! It was 6:05pm when everything was done, and the taxi driver was supposed to pick us up to run back to the hotel at 6pm.

So the original battery could run as long as 2 hours (I doubt if it could be this long), and the add-on battery is good to sustain another 5 hours. As I am writing this post in Bangkok airport waiting for my transit plane to Taipei, the battery has become as low as 55%, but it is still good for another 2 hours and a half.

I know I won’t live happily ever after with this ugly black thing, however I know I can live with it and happier than before. It was really a nice beef-up experience, and I love every bit of it.

Blue Sunday

How can Sunday be blue? Because I am currently in Israel, and Israeli people work from Sunday to Thursday. So I am right now sitting in this meeting room, for my blue Sunday to unfold in front of me. First meeting is coming up in an hour. Darn

New ICash Card

Our 7-11 came up with the idea of iCash card, with which people could store cash value in it, and use it as cash, so they could be spared of the need to bring or get a lot of coins. I love the idea and I go to 7-11 quite often, so MM gave me one card with graphics of World of Warcraft. However, the card broke few weeks ago, last week I received a replacement card as shown on the photo here. A girl with long curly hair and long neck. I am really not crazy for it. I think I'll just use up the cash value in the card, and remove it from my wallet. One less card, simpler life. I am such a minimalist.

Good Morning, Tel Aviv.

I finally arrived at the hotel way past midnight yesterday, after a short flight to Hong Kong, 3-hour layover, and then another 11-hour flight to Tel Aviv. The flight was bumpy sometimes, but uneventful. Food on the plane was tasty. I supposed it is Israeli food, and glad that I do not know anything about it, so had nothing to compare. I finished all the food, including the roll of bread.

Few coworkers told us to be careful of the security check, and always remember the visa is issued from Bangkok, not from Taipei. Some people were asked of this question, and were taken to small rooms for interrogation just because they were not careful and gave the wrong answer. In fact when we were at the airport, we did not see those small rooms.

When we checked in at Tao-yuan airport, we did not get boarding pass for the second leg, so had to go to the counter of Israel Airlines at the Hong Airport for the boarding pass. There are 2 procedures to get it. One is to go for a short interview first, and then stand in line before the counter for check-in. The lady who interviewed me went through my passport page by page, and seemed to serious concerns that I had been to Malaysia before. She specifically asked me why I went to Malaysia, what I did, if I still kept contact with anyone in Malaysia. Of course at this point, even the stupid person would shake his head and say no. Any could be adventurous and say yes, but if the purpose of this trip is for business, of course he cannot be denied entry just because he gives a stupid answer to the custom. If the trip is just for personal vacation, of course he would not say yes and risk the chance of being rejected and the vacation ruined. So her questions really do not make any sense of all. Of course sometimes we do things just to make ourselves feel better...

Anyway in the morning I got up, went to the balcony, and realized, wow, the hotel is right by very nice beach. It was 7am, and I always saw people in swimming suit walking on the beach. Too bad, the taxi would pick me up at 9:30 to the office.

Good morning, Tel Aviv!

Hiring

I am not sure how hiring managers look at my resume when I apply for jobs, but when I'm hiring, no matter if I am in well established, globally recognized company, or in this tiny little pathetic local office, I always wonder, how come the economy is so bad, but I still cannot hire anyone good and capable.

Recently the resume I received probably explained some of my questions.

Our job title is Mechanical Engineer. We are looking for someone with mechanical design and manufacturing experience. Our company name and website are also published, so it should not be a problem to find out information about our products and job description. However, the resume I received really contains little relevant information.

The first page only shows his education history, professional capability, project he has worked on (Nokia xxxx really does not tell me anything other than that he probably worked on cell phone projects before), and his thesis, which is mostly on fluid mechanics.

Education and the thesis that one spends 2 years on is important to the individual, however, it is really irrelevant to the position that we open. With 5 years' experience, I really hope this candidate can explain more about what he does on the job, the people he interacts with, and his achievements in the project. Good degree from a good school provides a good baseline of this candidate, at least, he can do research independently, but I really do not want to know his majors and the courses he has taken, unless it's absolutely related to the job.

The second page is his self introduction, or autobiography, a common requirement here for candidates. He starts with "Your job posting came to my attention while exploring opportunities in the area of engineering...". Sounds interesting. Then he, again, explain his academic study, in car dynamics, and his current job. Basically I know he works on finite element simulation. That's all. I can draw such simple conclusions from 2 long paragraphs. All I can say is, if he ever spent few minutes looking at our products or our job description, he would have come up with something else on his resume, really.

I am almost sure this is a generic resume he sends out to every company. If we have the resource to train and wait for him to come up with the speed, we may try. He has not shown any compatibility between him and our position after all. With 5 years' experience, he should be able to present himself in resume better. He may be capable, and has done a lot to analyze model, or even influence designers to change the design before it's too late, but I do not see any result from the resume, and how can I know it if he does not say so in the resume?

It is really not that hard to get my attention. The problem is most of the resumes are too generic. It seems that those candidates want to use the same resume to apply for any job by giving out as little as information as possible.

I told our HR, we can put his resume aside and review if we should get him for an interview maybe few weeks later based on his good record of schools. Reading resume and interviewing really are time-consuming process. How can they just send out resumes just like that? Well, it is really beyond my imagination.

How to Lure New Customers?

The best way for me as a customer is to offer free samples, and this is what Amazon is doing. I just recently noticed there are a lot of free music to download from Amazon. New music, new artist. I'll never want to buy their new CD's if I do not even have a chance to try their music at all, and what is the chance of me picking up their CD in the music store here in Taiwan and asking to try it? The attached photo is just one whole album of free sampler I downloaded last night from Amazon. Only listened to few, and it has been fun, something new to my collection and experience.

Drifting Flowers

A gay/lesbian movie. The environment the characters live in looks so familiar to me, which makes me feel that it is a story that could really happen any time to anyone around me. The way they talk combining Taiwanese and Mandarin may not sound exactly the same to what I know, and so it is hard to tell when the story happens. Not sure if the director even cares to show that, or deliberately blurs the time.

The major complaint I have for the previous movie "Spider Lilies" of the same director is the lack of music. So many clips in Spider Lilies were left without any voice or any kind of sound that made me wonder if the movie was ever finished before it was released. This time, so much better. Some transitions were filled with Nakashi (I cannot explain this kind of music, but guess all Taiwanese know it) style of music, some were left blank intentionally. I enjoyed that.

The whole movie is divided into 3 sections. We learned that one major character of the first section, Jugou, met Shui-lien, one major character of the second section, when they were teenagers. Shui-lien helped Jugou explore her sexuality, in a way. They went out to have fun, and it rained, and they hid in the truck (come on, this has been used a thousand times), that's when they kissed (of course). When we thought something was going to happen, and kept the eyes wide open, without blinking, fearing we could have missed anything major and important, anxiously waiting for their next move, they burst into laughters and just relaxed in the seats. Maybe they were just feeling awkward, a bit embarrassed of what they were doing, or maybe even a mutual understand, and a total acceptance of themselves.

The third sections ends with a conversation between them both. Jugou said she will leave home, find a woman she loves, and start her life. Shui-lien said she cannot leave, because she is the only kid in the family.

Then we understand in the first section, after Jugou left home, she met Jing and they ended up being a couple. They sang in Shui-lian's sham marriage, the way for Shui-lien to hide herself and have a life with her partner. We do not know how her partner died, but when the second story starts, she is an old woman already, with Alzheimer. She could not recognize her lawful husband, and thought he was her partner. She forced to dress him up like a woman, that leads to many laughters and tears. He tried to run, escape, but at the end of the second section, he wrote a note, put it in a wristband, and asked Shui-lien to wear it at all times. The note says, "I am Shui-lien. I have Alzheimer. In case of emergency, please contact Huang Guo-yen (A-hai)". Huang Guo-yen is his real name. A-hai is Shui-lien's partner's name. He knows Shui-lien will always her him A-hai. Their lives are entwined, however.

Everyone deserves a partner, has his way to look for happiness. We may think we have finally found the one and built a life, like Jugou and Jing, Shui-lien and A-hai, but we can never know what will happen next, if life will become so harsh on us.

And then in the evening, when I got home and checked my email, one new mail rested in my inbox titled "69 Reason Why It Is Good To Be A Lesbian". What a lesbian day for me! Below is the mail.

--------------------------------------
I couldn't help but thinking about you when I saw that...

here it is....


1. You don't have to worry about gagging from a "deep throat job"

2. You never have to worry about finding the toilet seat up

3. You can fix your own car and get your hair done within the same afternoon

4. Your orgasms are real. Always. And so are hers.

5. You never have to swallow.

6. You never have to worry about facial hair touching you, anywhere.

7. No one cares if you don't wear a bra.

8. You can wear a dick and use it better than most guys

9. Foreplay is an art

10. You are your own form of birth control

11. Women smell amazing

12. You don't feel like a piece of meat, when she checks you out

13. You can cuddle without feeling like you have to "put out"

14. You find a woman's intellect to be sexy

15. You watch porn for entertainment purposes

16. You feel bad for strippers

17. Orgasms are like Cornucopias – they should called the horn of plenty 18. You never have to worry about breaking a nail, because you don't have any

19. You can pretty much have sex anywhere, at anytime, while flying completely under the radar

20. Sex in public bathrooms is so much easier

21. 69ing is so much more fun (and a lot easier too) Hillbilly

22. I love the smell of a woman

23. I get to do the motor boat in my girlfriend's fabulous tits every day!

24. I love the emotional availability of a woman

25. I love the nurturing care a woman offers

26. I love watching my girlfriend get ready for a night on the town – watching her get out of the shower naked, put on her perfume, do her makeup

27. I like the feel of a soft pussy over a hard, intrusive penis

28. I love cuddling and feeling my girlfriend's soft skin

29. I love kissing a woman's soft lips (yes, both of them – cuz I know that's what you're thinking!)

30. I get to have a best friend and a partner all in one

31. I get to wear her clothes and use her make-up!!! Dubbs

32. great nicknames…like carpet muncher

33. sex on a first date…without fear of pregnancy

34. "no man's ever going to tell ME what to do!"

35. it's like dating yourself 36. double the wardrobe, double the FUN!

37. WAY less body hair

38. no spooging in your face

39. women taste better

40. especially the vegan ones

41. one word…BOOBIES!!!

42. "we were just switching clothes, officer!"

43. No 2 clits are alike!

44. Women make sexier bedroom noises

45. Lingerie you can BOTH wear!

46. Double headed dildos

47. The ultimate in feminism

48. Chick flicks are just movies in a lesbians house

49. better kisses

50. no scratchy faces

51. you LIKE when she grabs your ass

52. if it really came down to it, you could totally find SOME dude who'd pay to watch you go down on your girlfriend

53. women don't pass out after orgasms

54. you can do her front ways, back ways, and side ways cuz the wrist moves freer than the hips

55. fingers always fit

56. never having to deal with "morning wood"

57. less farting…which I don't actually know is true but women do not take pride in it

58. you could call her your "roommate" and it's ok Paula the Surf Mom

59. premature ejaculation? what IS that?

60. Eating pussy is good for the complexion… it always makes mine pretty rosy any way.

61. The trashman never sees used condoms in your trash when he hauls it away.

62. If you work it right you and your partner never have to buy your own drinks when you go out… all you have to do it make out… the guys in the bar will just keep em coming just so you keep it going.

63. Lesbians know that you can do more with your fingers then send text messages.

64. Somebody will always has a tampon in an emergency

65. And your partner won't get all embarrassed if you send them to the store to get you some.

66. You are very popular… girls like lesbians, they all want to kiss us….guys like lesbians, they all want to watch movies about us… everybody likes lesbians.

67. Two mommies in the house are always better then one daddy on the golf course

68. You are sure somebody can cook

69. It good to have a partner who has a sense of fashion

HSBC

For a very long time, I only have one credit card from local banks in Taiwan. Part of the reason is that one credit card is really good enough for me. I always pay off the amount due, and really treat the charges I put on the credit card as cash I spend. As pretty much a minimalist, one more credit in my wallet is no good. I carry the credit cards I applied in US when I travel, just to make sure I have additional card with me just in case if for any reason, the one does not work. It will be a hassle to pay the bill from Taiwan anyway, and luckily I ended up not using them at all.

But I also like to have the convenience of an additional card from local bank just in case if anything happens when I travel, and I want to be able to pay the bill easily. So I decided on one card when the bank was running promotion. Not so sure of what the promotion is now. It had something to do with movies. It was like a large percentage off when I watched the movies at certain theaters during the week.

There were many rumors of credit card frauds flying around, so I did not fill out the form right at the theater. I asked for a business card from the bank employee, took it home, did my assessment, and decided to go ahead with the application. I filled out the form, and called the bank to make sure the person I talked to at the movie theater was actually their employee, then I sent out the application.

I waited and waited, and then waited, but received no response whatsoever. I called the customer service. The lady who answered my call was polite, but wanted me to do all I could to make sure I had filled out everything, included all the required documents, and sent it out. Of course I was annoyed, and was so sure I had done everything. I even kept the date when I sent it. I was complaining so much over the phone until the lady promised to search for my application and give me a call back once she has more information.

She called few days later and told me because the form I had filled out was out of date, so they decided not to approve my application, and my application form was shredded.

Right, they did not even bother to send me a notice for their disapproval. I was wondering if she did not find anything at all, anyway, I was so angry that I decided not to do anything with this bank anymore.

Oops, never say never. The new company I work for now uses this bank to deposit employee’s paychecks, so every employee must have their account. Their account provides very minimum services, only savings account and mutual fund. That’s all, not even CD. The good thing about this account is that I don’t have to pay transaction fee when I use ATM of other banks to withdraw cash. I can also set up 5 special accounts, so when I transfer fund to any of those 5 accounts, no transaction fee will be incurred either.

So I’m going to just keep enough for my monthly expense, so I can withdraw without paying fee, enough to pay credit bill, so I can pay online without transaction fee. Other than that, fund will be transferred out of the bank as soon as I get it, to one of the 5 accounts I set up of course, without paying transaction fee.

I still hate this bank.

PS: Attached is the freebie when I signed up for the account. It's a set of chopsticks, spoon and fork. I have 3 sets of similiar thing... They don't even give good gifts.

Skype on Cell Phone

Skype released a beta version to run Skype on regular cell phones. The website contains very extensive information, including what phones are supported, estimate cost, etc. What concerned me the most of the cost, of course. On the cost section, it says: "There’s a data charge from your operator. A person with 20 contacts, who’s online for 1 hour, IMs for 10 minutes and has a 20 minute call each day will use about 1MB of data per month. The more data you use, the higher your charges may be." I checked my date rate of my calling plan, it is 0.02NTD per 128 bytes, so if I use 1M on my cell phone, then the monthly cost just to use the data alone will be:

1024x1024/128*.02=163.84 NTD

Since the assumption is that I only use it an hour every day, and 30 days per month, so if I want to use it 24 hours per day 30 days per month, then the monthly payment will be

163.84x30=3932.16 NTD, which is around 1300 USD

3932.16 NTD is just the data rate. I also need to pay for the actual cell phone rate. The rate I got is 0.18 NTD per second, so if I call 20 minutes per day, 30 days per month, then the total cell phone rate will be

0.18x60x20x30=6080, which is around 200 USD

I am not a heavy cell phone user, and am getting pretty much the most expensive rate because I am using prepaid card (don't worry, company pays for it), so the cost to stay connected is huge. One may do better to use 3G plan in this situation, with all-you-can-use package, which runs at around 900 NTD, I think, then this whole thing will become more affordable. Of course it is always important to a cheaper calling plan. Mine is just absolutely outrageous.

Movie List

Scheduling a business trip to Israel for engineering training. Now have penciled in 2 weeks, from September 1st to September 12th. Flight will have a layover at Bangkok (omg), but don't think I'll want to stop to have a one-day tour there.

So that does not leave me a lot of time to watch all the movies I am interested in. Schedule is then necessary to analyze the risk, and plan has to be there to mitigate the risks (os: hello? business talk?)

August 16: Dark Knight. I am so determined to watch this movie at IMAX theater (10% of the determination is spent on my work, and I'll so successful), which is only 20 minutes away from where I live and I have never visited, so need to reserve the tickets this evening to make sure I don't have to stand in line anxiously before the show time.

August 23: Drifting Flowers (Chinese website): This is a Taiwanese lesbian movie. Same director as Spider Lilies. From the introduction, the story is divided into 3 sections, and all 3 sections intertwine together. Sounds interesting. The main language used in this movie will be Taiwanese (our dialect), which makes it more appealing to me. It will be released for this coming weekend, so I'll need to go watch this movie as soon as possible. I don't think it will survive in the movie theater for too long.

August 30: Mama Mia. Who does not want to be a dancing queen? Well, true, but let's focus more on Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. Meryl, loving you~ no questions asked. Pierce, I am sure he is the father. He is so cute and should spread the gene.

That does not leave me any time for Made of Honor. I may need to pass cute Patrick Dempsey and move on, or, try to squeeze him in my tight schedule. Hmmmmm. it feels good to say that.

Blue Screen of Death

My laptop crashed on me twice, but I was unable to catch the screenshot in time. Now I am more experience with it, so when I clicked on an icon this morning, and the computer came to a halt, hard disk driving spinning, I knew here it comes again. Voila! Blue screen of death! It only showed for about 10 seconds. Why am I so happy to capture it? It is supposed to be sad.

Mummy 3

It is a fun movie. Don't take things serious, and just enjoy it. There are so funny things in this movie, like how easy it is to find the emperor's tomb, chasing scene in Shanghai, how easy it is for the main actor to defeat emperor when the emperor is supposed to have super power. Anyway, the overall impression is that it is trying to copy too much from Indiana Jones. Even how the Chinese general dies in the wheels reminds me of a scene in the second episode of Indiana Jones (or the first one?). However what bugs me more is the 3-headed dragon. Chinese dragon is supposed to fly without wings, and deals with mostly water elements, not flame. Seeing the dragon flying in the sky made me wonder if there is a Harry Potter chasing behind it with a flying bloom, which makes more sense to me.

But don't take me wrong. I had a good time watching it.

Uncheck Blog in Profile

I don't recall this function was there before. Anyway today when I logged in to change my Goggle profile, I was surprised to see this option if I wanted to have my blog list shown on my profile or not. Not that this is such an issue, since most blogs are open on the internet anyway, however, just good to know that I have the choice to have this information revealed or not.

He Lives in You

Found this on Youtube, one of my best friends.

Samuel E. Wright plays Mufasa in this video. He also sings Sebastian in the Little Mermaid. Cool.

Auguest 10, 2008: I compared CD and this video. Have to say that there are so many layers of music intertwined in this video that make it so much better than the CD. This is great video to keep.

Lion King

I had waited for this musical to be on the stage for a long time, well, ever since they released it would come to Taipei! Long wait. Got tickets early, well, as soon as the tickets were made available, and then another long wait for 3 months. Though there were some glitches in inviting a friend, I was there, the first show last Saturday!

Although the story is nothing new, there is a strong contrast between dark side and bright side, this is still a very good journey, to see how simple elements can be converted to such powerful stage performance. Singing was excellent. I especially liked Mufasa (who doesn't) when he sang "He lives in me". He sang well, and the music, and background singing just made it perfect. I bought CD afterwards (music download from Amazon of course), and still love this song.

My second love is at the second half of the play, again the main song is "He lives in me", however, Mufasa died earlier, this time, The monkey sang the song. Something that looks like wind swirled at the background, then Mufasa's head popped on the stage. Again, simple stage, wonderful singing, strong compelling emotion, this is such a treat from the stage. I am not able to retrieve the same emotion from the CD.

Third love is when Simba was tricked and was trapped among raging animals. Again, simple stage, but the effect is stunning.

Last, but not the least, I always enjoy the moment at the end of the show, when the performers came up to the stage. Nice moment to see them as persons, not characters, and applaud to tell them how much I enjoy the show.

Dream Busts... a little bit

I went to Daihatsu car dealer and check the interior of the car. It looks very simple. I adjusted the driver's seat, went to the back seat and still felt comfortable sitting on the back seat. Enough room for the grocery. Back seat is collapsible, however, I do not think 2 bikes can squeeze in gracefully.

The dealer I went to is Daihatsu's major office, so they have a good selection of cars over there. I checked my dream color, green, and, ouch, it does not look quite like what I was dreaming of.

The green color I like is fresh green, like sprouts coming out of the trees in the early spring, however, this looks like sprouts have weathered quite a while. It's bitter, it's sour, and it has some hideous light coming through the green masquerade to grin at me.

Red is always a good choice for me. It is simple, colorful. Black and silver are out. They are so not me. White is ok. I just don't particularly like to get my car washed every week to keep its beauty.

Sync iCal and Goggle Calendar!

Goggle has released information how to sync iCal and Goggle calendar. It's very cool. I just had to try it as soon as I heard about it. As shown in the picture, the "Home" calendar on iCal corresponds to "Home" calendar on Goggle Cal. The "Sean Cheng" calendar corresponds to "Sean Cheng" on Goggle cal". Some of the nice and bad things:

* When I run iCal, it automatically syncs with Goggle calendar.
* Whenever I create an item on iCal, iCan syncs with Goggle calendar right away.
* If I have both Goggle calendar and iCal open, and I update an item on Goggle, then I'll need to force a sync on iCal. So it makes more sense to work in iCal.
* I can sync iCal with my cell phone, so my calendar will stay sync among 3 devices.
* If I write an item in iCal in Chinese, Goggle cal gets a Chinese item without any issue, however, iCal loses the Chinese characters and shows strange code. If I write an item in Goggle cal in Chinese, and open iCal to sync with Google cal, then Chinese characters show on iCal without any issue. This is very strange.

Wall-e

I really like Wall-e. Wall-e is in love in Eva, but there is not that much conversation between them, and the audience realize what is going on. Very successful. Some thoughts:

* Eva looks like just like an Apple product.
* It's cool for the lady to be the powerful one.
* It's heart breaking to see Wall-e treat his collection as trash and compress it in cubes after Eva uses the spare parts to restore it.
* It's hilarious to hear Mac's boot sound after Wall-e absorbs enough solar energy and 'boots' up. However, I think Eva should be the one to make that sound.
* Artifical insemination should be the norm on the space ship. *sigh*
* It is good to be the robot to do space trip. No need to worry about air supply.
* I'd like to have a Wall-e toy.
* Eva looks like a perfect design for mouse.

Dream Car, Again

Same car, same location this morning. That's when I took this photo. Kind of blurry. I guess I was in a hurry. This afternoon when I walked home, again, same car, same location. I am sure someone in that neighborhood bought this new car. I looked at it feeling that it was whispering to me "buy me buy me". How can I resist you?

Dream Car

I saw this Sirion on the way to work. It is my favorite model as of now. Though my favorite color is green or red, blue color still looks nice on this model. I took the photo when the owner got into the car. Not sure if the owner heard the noisy shutter from my cell phone.

Protect Marriage

There is a stupid article (click here, in Chinese) in today's online newspaper saying that US president's marriage is in danger, divorce is imminent, and the one who steps in to the marriage is Condi Rice. Come one, Condi is lesbian (why am I so sure of that?), so my first thought is, ok, these bad lazy reporters probably took something from National Enquirer again and made a deal out of it without using their brains. So I decided to goggle if it is said in any of the major US newspapers by using keyboard "bush rice marriage'. Hmmm I did not find anything, OMG I can't believe I just proved President Bush innocent, however, there is an interesting link about how to protect the sanctity of marriage. Read it. I love it :-)

Interesting Outcome from Politics

A friend forwarded me this interesting article on same-sex marriage vs Republicans, how Governor Schwarzenegger plays a delicate role in this political dynamics.

I especially like the citation from Ward Connerly in the last paragraph: “If you really believe in freedom and limited government, to be intellectually consistent and honest you have to oppose efforts of the majority to impose their will on people.”

And of course I'll keep my fingers crossed that prop 8 will be defeated.