Care or Selfishness?

In the movie Red, Valentine hit a dog accidentally. She picked her up, sent her to the hospital, and took her back to the owner. The owner asked Valentine if she did all that because she really cared about the dog, or simply because if she did not do anything, she would feel bad about herself, so whatever she had done was simply for her own good.

I'm sitting in the kitchen. Turning my head and looking out, I can see Calgary tower in the distance, gleaming in the darkness at 6am. I know the sun is not coming out until 8, and it's mostly likely to be a snowy day. It is my 8th day in Calgary. Fred was up earlier from stomach pain, but decided to go back and sleep in. I brewed some coffee, had a big breakfast, and browsed the internet.

Fred planned to come to Taiwan for a visit. It took him a while to make sure everything is fine, but then he booked the ticket, paid for it online on a Tuesday morning, then in the very afternoon, he had a heart attack and was sent to the hospital right away.

From my end, I did not anything about it. Friday morning, I was still chatting with M online, complaining about Fred being out of touch for some days, and just half an hour after we finished the chat, my cell phone rang. I picked up the phone, looked at the number. The number started with 02, so was a land line number of Taipei, and thus not from a telemarketer. I answered it. The voice from the other side said 'Sean? This is Chris, Fred's son....' And I thought Fred had died.

In the book, or movie He's just not that into you, there is a clip when the woman said the guy never called, and her girlfriend comforted her by saying 'maybe he is just out of town, or had a car accident, or just lost your number', etc. But the truth is he's just not that into you. I laughed about it and thought it was so cute, and never realized things like that could actually happened, when someone I cared could possibly leave, and I would be left in the dark, without knowing what could possibly have happened, because we do not have mutual friends, or I would not be in the contact list.

One of the arteries was 100% blocked. The doctor put 2 stents in in few hours, so Fred came to that evening, then called Chris. Chris took a bus and had a long bus ride from Vancouver (15 hours plus few hours waiting for traffic to clear up in the Canadian Rockies). He got here close to noon time on Thursday, met with Fred, then came back to the condo to make the calls, me included.

Bypass surgery is necessary. It is mostly likely scheduled in late January, after medication is probably taken care of. Fred will need to stay in the hospital for another 5 days after the surgery. I feel the need to be here, to be well informed, for whatever may come.

The dog, Rita, was found pregnant at the hospital, and later gave birth to several puppies at the end of the movie. It was a very nice warm scene when the owner put collar on each dog, hence a happy ending for her. The actor and actress found each other in 'He's just not that into you'. Every movie is almost guaranteed a happy ending. I expect a good ending as well, for the surgery and the recovery, and hence a good sailing season for him.

But am I doing all this and wishing all this for my own good because I care, or simply because I'm selfish and want to be well informed and feel good?

As for Chris' call, I only want to get such a call once in my life time.

Vitas

Last night before I went to bed, I read a little bit, tried to sleep but couldn't fall asleep, so got up and watched a few videos on youtube. One of the featured video is this Opera 2 of Vitas. I was tired, so did not really think much, so went on with another video and another after another.

Then this afternoon, Kroro, the girl I knew from plurk, sent me the message about the premiere of the upcoming movie Sherlock Holmes. She is going because she has a thing for Jude Law, and bought the whole collection of Sherlock Holmes for 2 free tickets to the premiere. We talked about Jude Law, his moustache as Watson in the movie, googled some of his photos, and while I browse through the photos, I remember I saw his movie, I wiki'ed, and figured that movie I watched is 'the Holiday'. Well, I was not so impressed with him in 'the Holiday', as he appeared to be just a single horny bachelor. That's about it. That's when the video of Vitas' came to my mind.

I did not remember the title, nor the name of the singer, but was able to find out by using a few keywords like 'russian'. So I countered Kroro by suggesting Vitas is actually quite cute and has a great voice. I went on, while still chatting on MSN, with a few other video clips of Vitas, then 'Kiss as long as eternity' blew me away. Nice song, nice lyrics, nice voice, and he is so so handsome. Wow. He is tall, slim, with face features just like scultures, and at the same time, very masculine. I especially love the clip when he put the hourglass upside down, and touch the machine (what is that?) gently. And such a handsome man plays the piano. Wow. That's all I can say.

Christmas Tree

Where is tree? You may ask. It is sitting right on top of the television. The last time I talked about this paper tree my niece and nephew sent me 2 years ago, then I decided to take a photo of it. When I upload the photo from the camera to the computer, I found it funny to see myself in the flection on the screen. This is a lovely gift.

Greetings from Australia

I received this postcard a while ago, but was too busy (yeah, right) to blog it. I started to use Plurk some months ago, and talked to a few people. Pey is one of the few ones I really enjoy chatting with. It's funny that on Q&A of Plurk's website, the intention of the plurk creator is to create a space for close friends and relatives to share information, but it turned out many friends on my plurk are total strangers.

Many people on plurk live in a completely different world from mine. I think they talk in Greek when they mention places they go, and how they have fun. Pey is one of the exceptions. I admire her courage in pursuing her life and passion, her determination to do what is right for her. We talked on plurk and on MSN, and had a really good time. Few weeks ago, she asked me for my address, and promised to send a postcard, and she did. Since internet became popular, I had not received cards for quite a while. The last one is probably from my nephew and niece. They wrote a card and attached a small foldable paper Christmas tree. The tree is so cute and adorable that I put it on top of my TV. Now I need to find a good place for this card, for this unexpected friendship, from Australia.

Lament for the Raid Leader

Snow has been our raid leader since World of Warcraft released the new patch last year. It is not easy to be organize a group of people online, especially everyone has his own schedule for the day. Some work during the day; some have to take night shift; some are students and disappear before the exams; some are engineers and have to work overtime without warning in advance. Sometimes we do not have enough people before the set time, then the raid leader just has to figure out a way to make it happen, either to recruit some strangers, or other sort. It is a very tedious work.

I went to Canada to travel, thus was absent for a whole month. After I returned, I only saw Snow once, and he simply disappeared. I know he is a nurse and works at different shifts. Maybe he has to be busy with his baby and spend more time with the family, or maybe he just needs to have a rest, and leaves the computer for a while.

This evening, he signed on, and told us this shocking news. Conversation is as followed:

Me: Snow~
Me: Please use your handsomeness to save us~~ (this is his slogan when we defeated each boss in the game for the very first time: OMG, I use my handsomeness to save the world again.)
Snow: @@
Me: Touched? :D
Snow: I may not be able to play game again
Me: @.@?
Snow: my fingers are so stiff.
Me: What happened?
Dog: I thought you are having rehab?
Snow: More problems with the tendom and scar (Can't translate those medical terms)
Snow: It's like 2 or 3 tendons tangle together
Dog: Was the operation not done well?
Snow: It's hard to have full recovery. Improvement at most.

Then Snow explains more about his condition, how much pain he had when he took us to Ulduar, how he decided to go to the doctor, after he could not grip the equipment at work any longer. It is just a sad moment for me to realize, maybe our raid team will be gone. If no one stands out to re-organize, we may just have to see if any other team has any vacancy for us, and try to fit into another group. It is sad, however, especially for Snow. We all know how passionate he is in gaming.

Posters

I always like posters. I would go watch a movie simply because I like the design of the posters. Visiting poster shops was also one of my favorite things to do. While I was in Tainan to visit my folks, I organized my belongings a little bit again (aka. toss), and happened to see some movie magazines, and some old posters.

I got the first one when I was probably a sophomore in the university. The movie had just been released. Interesting movie in the way that it is lovely, funny, but also dark. I put this poster on the door of my closet in the dormitory for few years. A public display in such a tiny space in the dormitory room, that's why much I liked this one. Now it's hard to imagine having to cram in that room room with 3 other roommates. I believe I only had, like, 20 square feet of living space.

I was still too little when the second episode of Indiana Jones was released. I love the whole series (exclusive of the latest one simply because Harrison Ford has certainly not aged quite well), so when the movie magazine had a sale of their poster inventory, I decided to order this one. Harrison Ford was definitely very handsome.

I don't know why I even have a poster of Bruce Willis, and it is definitely a mystery why I even have kept it for so long when I don't even like him to begin with. How can it survive after so many rounds of moving and tossing? It is so funny to see him with hair. Having said that, he looks quite good in the poster of his very recent movie, Surrogate.

Adium vs MSN Live

The last few weeks, things with F have bothered me quite a bit, especially after the MSN event. On top of that, I've heard of lots of complaints about the latest MSN Live, so I decided to play with it a little bit.

Setup: latest Adium (1.3.7) on Snow Leopard, Live Messenger (10.4.8089.726) running on XP

Scenario 1: Account on Adium does not have account on Live as friend. Account on Live does not have account on Adium as friend.

• I used Live to add Adium as friend. Adium did not receive any request from Live at all. Adium remained offline the whole time on Live.
• Then I used Adium to add Live as friend. Live did not receive any request from Adium either. Live appeared online to Adium, but Adium remained offline to Live.
• I logged off Adium and logged back on. Both appeared online to each other.

Scenario 2: Account on Adium does not have account on Live as friend. Account on Live does not have account on Adium as friend.

• I used Adium to add Live as friend. Live did not receive any request from Adium, but showed as online immediately.
• Then I used Live to add Adium as friend, but Adium still appears offline to MSN.
• I then logged off Adium and then logged back on. This time Adium is online on Live.

On Adium, I right clicked on Live account, and chose "Get info", a window popped up as shown in the first screenshot here. The value of 'has you' is No, although in reality Live does have Adium as friend.

I then used Meebo and log on Adium account, and found that the value of 'Has You' is also 'No', as shown in the second screenshot here.

Microsoft must have changed something so other IM programs no longer get the same old information they used to get. And because I know how to check this, and this caused me so much anxiety. If you use Adium to add any friend to MSN, it would be a good idea to send a message to confirm if they add you and can see you online.

Julie & Julia

Ed and I went for lunch together, and we had a long chat afterwards. I was ready to kick him out at 4, but he kept talking and talking, so before I came to my senses again, it was 5:30. He wanted to watch a movie, so we decided to run to Miramal to grab a quick dinner first. Julie & Julia has a showtime at 7, perfect for us.

I did not know Julia Child before the movie, and so was not aware of her high pitched voice. But half way through the movie, I was really uncomfortable about the voice of Meryl Streep. After I returned home, I digged out some of the cooking shows of Julia Child on youtube, and concluded that Meryl did a good job at the voice, but she overdid it a bit. I am not sure where she got the accent, but she certainly gave me an impression that Julia Child is an immigrant of the first generation.

Plain stories are told in the movie. There are no big ups and downs. Although the movie talks about food, but food never plays an important part, instead, it is the process of the preparation that counts, like husband and wife watching the cooking show together, shopping for ingredients, boiling the lobsters. Some may feel that it is a shame that food plays an important role, but we never get to see how delicious the food looks like, but I think it is a great idea not to show the food. We are quite lucky to live in an era without wars, and people can afford to eat out, and there are so many restaurants to choose from if we decide to, and most of them are quite affordable. We've seen food, and how well food can be presented. There is no need to purchase the movie ticket to see that in the theater, but it is good to see the loving relationship between the 2 couples, and their loving way to maintain it.


Type rest of the post here

Better Than Score

A friend post the second video on his plurk. Very cool design to make stairs like a piano. I was joking that it would be fun to play with few friends, and play Fuer Elise out of it, and then, for some reason, I started to look for Fuer Elise on Youtube.

The first result took me to this guy's youtube account. He downloads music, and use a midi program to create the video to present the score. Of course we cannot really play any instrument from the video, but for a person who cannot read score like myself, it really depicts the music better. I know exactly what I'll expect to hear, and it looks fun. This guy also plays piano. When he does, he also includes his playing in the video, so we could actually see the music animation, score, and his playing. The recording is also very good, far superior to those live recording. I just have to subscibe to his youtube.

He also includes in the desciption of his youtube where he gets the music, where to get the midi software, where to find additional information of the background of the music. It is very informative. I enjoy it.

Liev Schreiber

Some people have their fairy-tale kind of romance to meet their love of the lifetime at the first sight. Some people may just be so ugly and annoying that you just have to pay attention to them when they are around, to see if they are still the same A. And for me, some actors are just so impressive that I can always spot them no matter what they look like in the movies.

He is Liev Schreiber. I happened to see 3 of his movies lately, all 3 with different setting and characters, within just few days.

The first movie is Taking Woodstock, directed by Ang Lee. It was August 28. I went to watch the movie the Fred, the day before I left Vancouver. Liev plays Vilma, a transvestite with nice chest (or boobs?) without any makeup, apparently. He appears to be a confident woman who knows what she wants, and is not afraid to pursue. Her pink outfit really stands out among the crowd, and I turned around, after her 2nd take or 3rd take in the movie, and told Fred that I like her.

The second movie is Wolvrine. He plays Victor. I watched that movie on the flight from Vancouver to Korea, so that was just one day after Taking Woodstock. I know the lead actor is Hugh Jackman, and Hugh is definitely an attractive person, but Liev got most of my attention for the whole time I was watching it.

The third movie was Kate & Leopold. Not sure if it was even a popular movie or not. I was browsing PPS (am using heavily for entertainment now), and decided to pick this movie for no obvious reason other than to kill time. The lead actor happens to be Hugh Jackman still. There is just something wrong with Hugh in this movie too. He is, again, a very handsome man, but I just cannot concentrate on his role, and his acting is mostly dull. Liev's acting is, on the other hand, interesting, and his looks very very fascinating. He looks more like the third attachments here in the movie.

Since I was on the computer watching Kate & Leopold, so I just easily open a browser, and found out Liev Schreiber plays the role of Stuart, and, he is also the person I paied attention to in Taking Woodstock and Wolvrine.

Scooter

My parents tried their best to be fair to their kids. When my brother was in college, he asked a scooter. Well, he had a lot of activities to do, and, of course, he had a girl friend. I never asked for one, but my dad still bought one, in my name, after I graduated and started to work. I never took it, so my dad uses it in Tainan. The new one is better for him, because it is larger, and more suitable when he has to take mom for a ride.

This past weekend, I went back to Tainan for Moon Festival, and asked dad if he uses both scooters. He had a shockingly quick response and asked me if I wanted to keep one. Yes, I've been without any vehicle since late 2003, I've walked a lot, and it's time to get some mobility, and thus, add some spice to my dull life. I am not ready to get a new one, however, looking at what I'd like to do and where I'd like to be one year from now. A used one would be a better bet.

I asked for the older one, and had it shipped to Taipei. Just went over to pick it up. The registration card says it was registered in March 1992, so it is 17 years old, quite an old scooter for a 50cc. This is the 3rd time that I own a scooter. All 3 are hand-me-downs. It's good though. I don't have to worry if it could be stolen.

What It Means to Travel

I found this song amazing, and had to listen to it repeatedly.

Lyrics:

You've seen many beautiful places.
You've seen many beautiful girls.
You are lost in every brief moment of time on the map.

You've enjoyed the nights in Paris.
You've strolled through snow in Beijing.
You memorize every line of your favorite in the book.

But you cannot tell me why you love me.
But you cannot tell me what is your favorite look of mine.
But you cannot tell me in which occasion I rocked your heart.
You cannot tell me why you leave.

You've accumulated a lot of travel.
You carefully picked souvernirs.
You've collected every nice and sunny weather on the map.

You embraced passionate islands.
You buried some memories in Turkey.
You are obsessed with those beautiful but unrealistic scenes in the movies.

But you cannot tell me why you love me.
But you cannot tell me what look of mine attracts you the most.
But you cannot tell me when and where I rocked your heart.
You cannot tell me what it means to travel.

You cannot tell me why you love me, with hesitation.
But you cannot tell me what look of mine attracts you the most.
But you cannot tell me in which occasion I distracted you.
You cannot tell me why you leave.

You told me, with hesitation, every single letter you sent me is the reason you left.
Your leaving me is what it means to travel.

Sand Art

This clip blew me away. It is absolutely romantic.

My Type of Travel

I went to Tim Horton's for breakfast again today. Ham'n Swiss sandwich, large coffee, and a maple dip donut. One bite of donut, then sandwich and a sip of coffee, I was so content. On the way back I stopped at Longsdale Quay Market to get emails and read some plurks, then I left at a different exit. I knew exactly where I was going. I may not know some of the must-see's in Vancouver. I may not know where to get the best souvenirs. I am, however, completely happy just to have a glance of the skyline of downtown Vancouver whenever I want, feel the rocking of the boat, see the height of the poles of the dock and realize that the tide is so high and I can actually touch the top of the pole. It is so important for me to feel comfortable and content in the trip. Trying to visit few countries in 10 days is just not my cup of tea. 

We expected it to be a long ride coming back to Vancouver from Pender Harbour, but still, it was longer than I expected. 

It was a gusty day. We ran the motor the whole day with headwind against us at 25 knots. Waves were high. The boat ran up and down, breaking waves quite often. Having a rough night the night before, I tried to take a break in the cabin, but the boat was just rocking so much that I started to feel sick, and that I ended up staying in the cockpit for the whole day. 

I was a bit nervous at first. Fred asked me to calm down, relax, and try to enjoy it. I hid in a well covered corner in the cockpit, was fine and actually had some fun watching the boat bang the wave. But when he had to go to the can and asked me to take over the boat, everything changed.

I stood behind the wheel, he went down the stairs, the boat banged a few big waves, then auto pilot stopped working. The boat started to swing, auto poilot screeching loud.  It was time to cancel auto pilot, so I did that and took control of the boat, tried to steer the boat to the right direction. It was not the right time to count on electronic device, I guess, as the refresh rate is slow and with such strong wind and wave, the number does not stay at a fixed number. So as I was struggling to watch the device to figure the angle, the boat was heading to the shore.

Fred ran back to the wheel and put the boat to the right path. I asked him to stayed for few more minutes, just to be sure I could take care of it. I then grabbed the handle with one hand, the wheel with the other, firmly. It just took some time to get used to the force from the nature. It was fun to see people do it, but so different to do it myself. 

After few hours, I asked Fred to check marine weather. I was thinking of calling it a day earlier and maybe stopping at Gibson's Landing for the night. After a while I heard the broadcast say something like putting on the life jacket. I was not sure what was going on. Fred said it is a mayday. A boat was sinking. There were 2 adults and 2 kids on the boat. The broadcast asked them to wear life jackets and asked if any boat happened to be there to rescue. That just made me really uncomfortable with where I was and what I was doing, especially it would be any more hours ahead of us I'd we'd like to make it back to Vancouver. I kept thinking about them. Gladly, they were rescued.

It was dark when we finally arrived at Vancouver. I could have enjoyed the view of the harbour, but running a boat is so different than running a car. There is no head light on the boat, and NO BREAK! when I tried to look ahead, it was so dark. I knew we were close to the marina, but the marina was not well lit in the dark. Later Fred said that was his first trial in the dark. I guess I would be so freaked out if I have to do it myself, and may end up running around the harbour till dawn. 

The world is so different when I look at it in other's perspective. 

Type rest of the post here

Itinerary

Aug 11 Vancouver to Plummer's Cove
Aug 12 Plummer's Cove to Gibson's Landing
Aug 13 stayed at Gibson's because of rain
Aug 14 Gibson's to Pender Harbour
Aug 15 stayed at Pender Harbour, loved it there
Aug 16 Pender Harbour to Egmont
Aug 17 Egmont to Princess Louisa Inlet
Aug 18 stayed at PIncess Louisa Inlet

Aug 19 Princess Louisa Inlet to Deserted Bay
Aug 20 Deserted Bay to Pender Harbour
Aug 21 Pender Harbour to Vanvouver
Aug 22 Vancouver
Aug 23 Vanvouver
Aug 24 Vancouver

Passion

2:40pm now as I'm tapping on the iPod. Fred is taking a nap. I just open all the curtain, so it is nice and bright in the room. I'm sitting on the carpet, iPod plugged to recharge the battery.

Been out a few times, walking along beach and marina and all that. Fred kept talking about sailing, like the places he had visited, parts that he purchased and the troubles he had gone through to get them, he could sit on the bench all day watching the boats go by. It is nice to have such passions to do things that one really likes. He also keeps saying 'life is good'. These are things that I should learn from him.

Fred will get the boat back from his brother tomorrow, so we'll check out of hotel tomorrow morning and move to the boat. Weather will be bad on Monday, so will help get the boat ready. Monday will bea good day to clean the outside of the boat. The TV news this morning said that there will be meteor rain in mid august, so maybe we'll sail north to watch it if the weather is nice. It must be nice to watch it when the sky is completely dark when we dock out.

Almost There

Ticket, check.
Traveler's checks, check.
Tripot, check.
Birthday present and card, check.
Camera and accessories, check.
Clothes, packed. Just need the final check and dump bathroom stuff in. Will pack iPod and its charger in the backpack, and also one or 2 books. Will bring my computer to my brother's place, so the tragedy that happened in May won't happen again. Also will bring leftover food in the fridge over. Don't want the food to go bad and rot in the fridge for a month. One more day to wait, and then out for different experience. More excited and anxious than ever.

Daughtry

I happened to know this new album simply 2 days after it was released. I liked Daughtry's first album. It was a good one, however after I had followed up with American Idol for few months for David Cook's performance, I thought David has good potential, and really expected David to have better career than Daughtry.

After hearing this album, I realized I was wrong. It simply blew me away, and it is exactly the kind of songs that I had hoped David to have. Good lyrics, good music, and great vocal, everything I can expect is there. I tried to be critical to this album, but still had to give 5 starts to 5 songs out of 12.

13 years

I met Joseph last night. We started to hang out when I was in graduate school. That summer, five of us went to Shifen waterfall together. Few precious photos were takent that day. Attached is one of them, me holding the turtle. I never quite like my own photos taken when I was in college. In retrospect, I was just way too thin at that time, so thin that I think I was sick. This is one of the rare expections.

Joseph helped a lot when I started to work in Taipei in September 1996, had to work and looked for a place of my own. I stayed with him for about 2 months until I found my own place and moved out. We contacted less after I moved to Taoyuan to work for Acer, as I spent most of my weekends in Keelung. And after I moved to US in late 99, I lost his contact information completely, until recently when he called my old ID on Plurk, and we started to connect again.

Joseph still works for his first employer. He said he could retire from the company 8 years later. Quite a difference, when I'm still looking for the first year from the new employer. Life is so fun.

This photo was taken on August 6, 1996. I was 100% happy.

Public Enemies

If the name is public enemies, then I expect an elaboration when the name comes from? Why are they public enemies? If it is simply because they robs banks or they escape from the jail, then I guess any story of bad guys can be called public enemies. There is no public opinions about this event. Yes, there are some clips when people in the government cannot do much about them because of the regulation, so maybe it is better to be 'governmet enemies'.

There are too many scenes of chasing and gunshots. The director could have saved some gun scenes and tried to develop some stories. Why did Billie end up loving John Dillinger? There is no story. At the end of the movie, John walks into the police station, to the office of the team that tries to catch him. He askes some guys that are still in the office what the baseball score is, but then that's the end of the story. Nothing developed further. This is a purely waste of time. And then after this, we see that last scene at the theater, when an army of police surround the theater, and all it takes is bang bang, 2 shots. John does not even have a chance to fight back. This simply shows me how poorly the screenplay is written, and because of that, there is not much room to show acting either. Johnny Depp only had to stay cool, wear his poker face, bang bang, people bleed and die, the audience see blood and they are happy.

Bitan

2 movies last Sunday. First one with MM at 12, and then the second one with J at 6. I had a few hours to kill between 2 movies. Went to Gongguan first, trying to look for travel book, but was not able to find the one for British Columbia by Lonely Planet. I did not bring my own bottle of water, so stopped at an ice shop, and had some shaved ice. It was not very good, compared with the one I love at Shilin night market. Would probably not go back anymore. After that I decided to go to Bitan.

This is just my second visit to Bitan. My first impression for this place is from a novel I read when I was 10 years old. The main female character was heart broken, ran to this place in the rain, without a raincoat or an umbrella, of course. She got sick in the rain, and her boy friend came to rescue her, of course, and they made up, of course. It was funny when I was there thinking of this story again. When I was 10, the characters in the novel were already 23 or 24. I thought they were so mature, and wondered what it's like to be in love. Now I am 38, but they are still 23 or 24, and I realize that kind of love only exists in the romantic fictions.

It was nice and cool, some sprinkles of rain sometimes, a perfect day to visit Bitan. Hard to imagine what a scorching hell it could have been if the temperature had hit 35, and there had been no shed there. I walked up and down the suspension bridge, looked out at the river watching people playing with the peddle boats, sat on the steps watching college students playing group games, and strolled down the food court trying to find out if there was anything interesting. It turned out to be a wonderful 2-hour trip, alone.

Then I went back to the MRT, our mass transmit system, took the train, and realized it was still to early. I sat on the bench, took out the newspaper I had not read yet, and started to read in the subway station. It was nice and cool. Train came by every 5 minutes, so it was so easy to measure time. I was out for 12 hours and felt completely relaxed when I returned.

Same Old

Got another sad story about immigration from Facebook. It is so sad that people cannot even take the jobs that only pay minimum wage, just to help pay the bills, because they are so well educated, and they are supposed to take jobs that no Americans are qualified for. Not sure if structural engineer is one of the professionals that Canada needs from immigrants. After all, Canada has already tightened their immigration requirements. If it isn't, then it is too late for them to think of Canada as a viable option, and they just end up paying the laywer a lot for nothing. No one should go through such turmoil.

the Reader

I finished this book a while ago, was thinking of writing something about the book versus the movie. The movie leaves something to be desired, especially about the motive to read for Hanna. However, few weeks later, I don't remember too much about the motive, the verdict, or, even the guilt. I just remember what comes to Michael's mind when he thinks of Hanna and the smell.

Hanna bending over to wear her socks, Hanna's skirt flying in the air when biking, Hanna's fingers flowing through books in Michael's father's study, and the smell of Hanna.

Photos may do a very good job taking a snapshot of life, but if you close your eyes, and try to think the ones you loved, what do you see in them, how do they appear in your memory? It is shocking for me to realize the images are still so vivid, something it flows just like a movie.

Smell is also an important part in a relationship, and that is written pretty well in the book, from when Hanna was a mid-aged woman, to when she became an old lady.

Plurk Captures

We just had an earthquake, and when it happened, I heard a lot of dings on Plurk. Many people start to write message about it on plurk, and I am one of them. It's funny to see people writing the same thing at the same time, and the timestamp is so clear on Plurk, 2:05am.

Keyboard Layout Not Right

I remember when Steve Jobs released iPhone, he rediculed in his keynote smart phones with physical keyboards, and claimed iPhone had been well designed with software keyboard when keyboard can be customized. My question is, so can you customize the keyboard to be 2 rows? or even 4 rows?

Apple just released iPhone OS 3.0. One of the much anticipated features from me is new way to input Chinese characters, either Phonetics, or Changjei, or something else, and it did. However, when I activated it (Settings->General->International->Keyboards->Chinese (Traditional)->Zhuyin) and tried, I just could not believe my eyes. The keyboard layout is completely wrong. The second photo attached here shows the keyboard of my mac. The layout of our Zhuyin keyboard is from top to bottom and then left to right, instead of left to right and then top to bottom, as shown in the first photo, and we use 4 rows of keys. So I am not sure if Apple is only able to customize the keyboard in 3 rows, or they can do 4 rows but did not want to bother with the format that local people are used to. I don't know. Apple has been so careful in the details, but this time they are lousy. If they had had any keyboard from Taiwan, or asked any of their Taiwanese employee, they should not have made this outrageous mistake.

Photos

Complaints, complaints, complaints, and complaints work.

I know I have not been doing quite well updating the blog, and the main reason is not that I'm lazy, but just that I've been using plurk, and plurk has been fun as a fast way to share quick and short information, and receive feedback from friends. Having used it for about 3 months, I'm not surprised to read an article some time ago, which says that plurk and twitter may likely replace blog soon as the dominant way to share information online.

So I chose some photos few days ago and had them developed. This morning after M complained about lack of update on my blog, I decided to put photos in. 3 frames are old ones. 6 are new ones from IKEA. I bought them for very low price. It was like 3 for around 3USD, so I thought I would give them a try, maybe I can even add some colors to them if I'd like. Well, not very good decision. When I tried to put photos on, I could tell immediately the plastic color is so much cloudier than the glass of other photo frames, and the triangle marks for the plastic are just driving me nuts. How would anyone want to have those annoying triangles in front of the photos of their best selections? IKEA is just a total idiot to things like this, and I was a total idiot to even buy them.

So they would be for temporary use only. I would use them to get a feeling of what I like and where I'd like to put them, and once things have improved on my side, I'm going to get some nicer to replace them. I have not decided how to arrange them yet. Maybe 3 in a set, 3 of the 5x7, then 3 of the scenic photos, and the rest of the 3. I'll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomrrow is another day.

Ex-In-Law

My apartment is very empty. Been thinking of doing something about it. I've got a dreamcatcher, a painting of an Indian chief. Both are my beloved souvenirs from my first trip to US. I also have one silk knitting from China. 3 are not enough to make this apartment homely, and I'm afraid that 3 completely different style of collections do not go well with one another on the same wall.

It may be a good idea to use some photos. I found these 3 while I did the cleaning few weeks ago, took them out, and put them on the bookshelf, and could not decide what to do with them. For some reason I do not feel like tossing them in the trash bin, but do not feel like keeping them anymore either. Now this does not sound like a major tosser like myself, but that is still part of me.

Having said that, I'll definitely re-use the photo frames for my decoration.

Da Endorphine

About 3 years ago, I went to Bangkok alone. I think the was the second trip, in May or June, when it was so hot and sweaty, not not rainy season yet. I took the subway for transportation, and the overhang TV kept playing songs of a female singer. Very nice song, so I wanted to get a CD for my souvenir.

I went to the shopping mall, found a music store, but did not know how to explain to the guy there. Tried to explain the song was played extensively at the subway station, but I guess they did not take subway. I just had to hum the music, and the guy did not have a clue what I was singing. I said, ok, so could you recommend any good CD? He recommended Da Endorphine. I took it. It is a souvenir anyway.

Of course the music was put in MP3 format once I came back. I listened to it few times, and was never quite into it, as I did not understand the lyrics. Not until few weeks when I had to take a bus often, and I tried to listen to this CD again did I realize the music is so great, and quality of the voice is so fascinating.

I feel lucky to find the MV from youtube, and this particular person has added English subtitles to a lot of Thai songs. The first one is the fourth song of the album I have. Looooove this song.

This second song is the 3rd song in the album I have. I also like the rythm very much, without even understanding the lyrics. There is something in the pronunciation that really intrigues me.

This song is from an album last year. The lyrics is very good, and so sad at the same time. I am so determined to get this album. I'm just a huge fan of Da Endorphine.

Bow River

Fred and I went biking. He had bought a bicycle and had a lend of another one from his friend. We brougt some water, fruit, cheese, grenola bars with us, so we could stop on the way and relax. There was no set destination or schedule, so it was easy ride along the bow river. It is still early spring here, cold and sunny. I had to put on the gloves, and it was very cold on the way back that my fingers were freezing even with the gloves on.

Most of the trees are still bare, and some trees have started to grow leaves. The combination of different colors from the branches, sprouts, leaves was really nice. It reminded me of the paintings from the impressionists. They wre good at capturing colors and light, and I felt like walking into one of their paitings while we stopped for lunch.

I do not know how far we biked, but we started at 10:30, and did not return until 3:30. I even had some cramp on the thighs when I tried to go up the last ramp to get on the bridge. That was really the exercise for the whole day. We had planned to go to a bar, but decided we would rather pass and maybe go next Wednesday.

38

I turned 38 today. Today is so absolute. No matter if we talk about lunar calendar or solar calendar. I was born today, 38 years ago.

Few things to note. I left the company 2 days ago. Nothing lies ahead. Had lunch with J yesteday, and I really do not want to make it into an annual thing, even though it is really hard to say no when he still remembers my birthday, after so many years. He mentioned he may want to adopt a kid, and there is a age limit to do that, and the limit is 40 years ago. Nothing I could say about it. It is ironic that he still considers it anyway.

I started to use plurk back in March. Today I re-connected with Joseph, who let me stay with him when I started to work in Taipei 10+ years ago. He mentioned he still thinks of me and J sometimes. I'll try to get together with him after I return from Canada.

Going to the airport soon for the Canada trip. I have not done too much homework on the trip. Was completely lazy. Whatever comes up will be nice.

Type rest of the post here

Cat

This is so cute. I wish I could have a cat, but just can't provide a stable life that cats need.

The Man Who Cried

This may be the first time I do not use poster for the movie, simply because its name does not make much sense to me, and the Chinese name is so much worse. I probably would not wanna go watch the movie at all if the name is the only information I have, and, I am not a fan of Johnny Depp.

Why do I put the video from youtube then? Cause this song is played throughout the movie, and it is just great. I had to search in youtube, and find my favorite version. The song is called "Je crois entendre encore", written by Bizet. Domingo's version is good too, but his voice is just way to powerful. He is still a better fit to be a soldier that kills.

What about the movie? I don't really care.

This is a good version, too.

Alberta Travel Guide

I was trying to get some travel information regarding Alberta online, but could hardly get anything. Most sites focused on the whole Canada, or the major places like Vancouver. I decided to read some information regarding Alberta, or Calgary, and that is when wikipedia took me to this site

I think it is official website for Alberta tourism. I was able to register and request travel guide. Well, the books came in yesterday. I was so surprised to find it in my mail box, and it actually came from Edmonton, capital of Alberta. The information is pretty much similar, if not the same, as the website. However, it is better to have the print version anyway. I'll need to read it and do my homework from there. The book also shows the website of the major attractions, so it serves as a very good start.

It looks like I'm very interested in 3 things. The first is the dinosaur park. From the photos in the travel guide, it does look like dinosaur would fly through those rocks. The second is the Banff National Park. F said that the mountains there are snow capped all year round. That would be interested. The last would be Brokeback mountain trip. The towns where the movie was shot are right south of Calgary. It would be interesting to see that par of Rocky mountain.

Salmon

My mom sent some food over. Spring rolls were the most important, as it is seasonal food for tomb festival. She also sent some Salmon. I cooked one fillet some days ago, and it turned out good, so I cooked the second one last night.

Of course I sprayed some salt the night before, and only used some oil when I pan fried it. The mashed potato was so so good. I did not have any ingredients to make the gravy, so decided to open a canned peanuts, and used the watery sauce instead. It turned out to be a perfect combination, and there is really no reason to figure out how to make gravy at all. Soft peanuts also go with the mashed potato very well.

I was hungry when I got home, so while potato was simmering on the stove, I got myself some tomato, and make myself a big glass of iced tea. I read the travel guide, having a sip of the iced tea, and then some tomatoes. By the time the potatoes were done, all the tomatoes had been finished, and half a glass of iced tea gone. It turned out to be a very enjoyable experience, to be alone, and to have a good time.

Tree

I saw the trees on the way to work. The flowers look much more attractive in real than on the photo. Not sure if I took similar photo at the same location last year, but when I look at this photo, I have a feeling of deja-vu. It's hard to belive how those few little flowers can do, but they really make the neighborhood much more attractive.

the Reader

This movie was not very appealing at first. I was not really interested in Kate Winslet. What intrigued me to watch it is because of few things: MM said the book is very good; I read the description, and realize that this story shares a different perspective of how the post-war generation in Germany looked at what happened to the war; the story does not have a happy ending.

MM said that there was not enough music in the movie, and honestly , the only time I paid attention to the music consciously was when Michael walked to the meeting room to see Hanna in jail. So I guess the director filled the movie quite well, or the music just played in the background so well that I hardly noticed it. The director did a very good job, and to my surprise, he also directed the Hours, which is one of my favorite movies.

At the end of the story, Michael and Hanna met again. It must be hard for both persons, after so many years of separation; however, the moment when they meet again, is also when all his illusion, obsession, and dreams go busted. The love in the mind has suddenly become distant friend that Michael had to take care of. That is probably why he chose not to write at all. What about Hanna? She reached out her hand, but then what?

I would really recommend this movie.

Luffa Noodles

I cooked myself some dinner over the weekend. I've done it a few times, and the recipe is getting close to what I'd like it to be.

Loofa porridge:

• 2 pieces of noodles
• half a luffa, cut into slices
• 2 cups of water
• some shredded pork or ground pork
• shredded ginger

Cook the luffa in the water until it boils, then simmer for 5 minutes. Add noodles, ginger, and pork in it, and cook another 3 minutes or when the noodles are done.

I used to pan fry the luffa in the pan first, but then I could not control the heat very well, so the luffa burned. I decided to cook it in the water directly and it turned out to be ok.

Grandmother

I always wanted to write something about my grandmother, but always started with one paragraph, and then ran out of things to say, which is an indication that we were not close. That is true, and for many years I tried to avoid her as much as I could. Maybe in my mind I think I’m supposed to hate her.

But Frankly speaking, life must have been hard for her in her generation. My grandfather was one of those Taiwanese who fought for Japan in World War II, and died in Manila, leaving her and two sons behind. She must have left somehow, so my dad and uncle had to be with their grandmom. It was probably the worst time of my dad’s life, having to rely on the grandmom and work for the uncles just for shelter and food. She remarried and had another 2 daughters. I guess her second husband also died, and she then re-married another man, who fled from China with Chiang Kai-shek, who is the grandpa that I know.

The first impression of her was the dark grocery store that she and the grandpa owned. It was on Tung-feng Road. We used to walk over. I was still little when the railroad system went under a major upgrade with electricity. There were lots of high voltage poles set up along the street, buzzing when we walked by. My mother warned me not to touch those poles. If I did, the pole would set me on fire, and I would never see her again. That did the trick, and I have always been so scare of them.

There are 2 floors in that store. They used the first floor as the store. The only memory of me going upstairs was when I was 8. That is vivid memory. I was in my summer vacation, ready to become a third grader in that upcoming September. My first aunt (grandmom first daughter) was getting married. I was sitting on the second floor watching her get ready. Second aunt came over and asked me how I was doing. She taught in the same school I went to, and told me she would teach fourth grader, and I was so happy that she would not have a chance to teach me. Not sure why, but that was exactly how I felt. At grandmom’s funeral, I saw first aunt’s kids. They are already grown-ups, and I did not even know their names. They are relatives from my dad’s family. Are we not supposed to be close relatives?

Second memory was always the jars of candies. I was so attracted to the red big candies, but never asked for any unless she would volunteer to treat me one or two. Then at some point, not sure when already, grandmom moved in with us, with those jars of candies. She gave us all, and I still remember the joy the candies brought me. But then because she owned a room, all of us 3 kids had to cram in that little room together, with beds, desks, and all that. It must have been hard for my sister, who was already a teenager. I was still too little to feel anything bad.

Kids really do not know too much about the conflicts among adults. Few years later, she moved out, and stayed with aunts, and then she moved out to live along. I do now know who took care of her. Dad visited her once in a while, and for all those 10+ years, or even 20 years, I visited her once twice or three times.

So she passed away one year ago. I went back for the funeral. My uncle’s family were there too. And it was amazing to realize that I had not met some of the cousins for 20+ years. My impression of the little one was always the little girl, who liked to add salt in the soda to see to bubbles come up, and ended up adding too much salt for the fun of it. She was probably 5, but she is now an office lady. Are we not supposed to be close?

We read something from the Buddha. I guess that was meant to be something good for the dead, and we are willing to believe so, just to make ourselves feel better because we are doing it. Her body was cremated, and with my brother’s absence, I had to presume to be the oldest grandson to push to button for the cremation, and pick up the ashes. In fact, for all those years I’ve lived on the planet, this was the first time when I was so close to death.

No pain though. I just started to realize I am getting older, and the older generation will leave. This morning when I was getting ready to go to work, I noticed a lot of grey hair. It seemed to take forever to grow from kids to 18. Oh those difficult years. But from 18 to 37, it seemed to be just a snap.

Picks Tooth

E and I went met for breakfast on Saturday morning. We were at the train station area, and for some reason, I just do not know that area well enough to know where to go. Then I though of this Royal Host on the first floor of YMCA. It would be nice to sit down to be served. So we went there. Breakfast was ok. For 140NT, it was really nice to sit there chatting, with free refill of coffee.

When I finished my breakfast and reached for toothpicks, oops, picks tooth? Oh my G. This is a good one.

Meebo, Right or Left?

I like Meebo. It provides a very good way to log on different instant messaging services without having to install the individual programs, as you can see from the screen shot. But this morning something happened. I tried to login but always failed. I tried and tried, and finally I realized that I was trying to login to yahoo account. I swear the window to log into meebo used to be on the right hand side, and this morning, it was on the left hand side. So when I tried to log in without reading carefully, I moved the cursor to the right, and click on yahoo login, when I thought I was trying to log in meebo.

What is the point of moving the login windows around? I just don’t get it.

Foxmarks

I have used Foxmarks for a long time, and use it on a daily basis, but hardly notice it is there. It is perfect for people who have multiple computers, but have some of their bookmarks on this computer, and some on the other. Foxmarks can keep all the bookmarks at a centralized location, so users only have to set it once, and then forget about it.

What it does for me:

• I can access the same bookmarks from different computers after I install Foxmarks.
• Both Google and Yahoo released their toolbar programs to do the same thing, but they try to do too much, and integrate search engine, and all the other features together. Google toolbar and Yahoo toolbar both require an additional space on the browser, and in my opinion,it is just a waste of space on the screen, and makes the browser look so complicated. On the other hand, Foxmarks integrates right into the browser (I use Firefox), so there is no additional toolbar. as shown in the attached screenshot
• Because the bookmarks are stored in their server, so if I change/add bookmarks on one computer, I can also see the same changes on another computer.
• If I am away and use someone else’s computer, I can still log on to my account on Foxmarks, and access my bookmarks there. I have never used this option, but am glad to know I have a backup plan.
• We may have some very personal bookmarks at home, and we definitely do not want to click on those bookmarks at work accidentally and embarrass ourselves in front of the colleagues. Don't worry. You don't have to sync up every bookmark. Just log on to your Foxmarks account online, and set up the sync preference for different computers.

Foxmarks now also have IE version and Safari version, but I have not tried them yet. Firefox works well for me, and I do not have any desire to change it.

Ice Tea

My refrigerator has a pretty good ice maker. Unlike traditional ice maker when people have to pour water into the molds, wait for the water to freeze and then make some more, all I have to do is the pour water into a container, which holds around 2 cups of water. The refrigerator then makes ice and put the ice into a dedicated container in the freezer automatically.

I bought the refrigerator last November. The weather was cool already, so I only cleaned the container, made some ice as per the manual, just to ensure it worked properly. Yesterday the temperature was so hot, I bought some pot stickers to go for dinner, and was thinking what drinks to have to go with it. I had about 3 minutes to think while I walked from the pot sticker place to the drink shop, and then decided to make my own iced tea.

It is so easy to make my own iced tea. I boiled some water, put 2 tea bags in the mug, and pour hot water in. After 3 minutes, I got a big glass and filled it with ice cubes, then pour hot iced tea into the glass, and stir. After the tea cooled down, it was ready to serve. It tasted wonderful. I don’t like my iced tea sweetened, and I can make it the way I want it at home.

The only concern I have is that my glass is actually plastic, so I am not sure if the temperature is bad for the material. There is not warning marked on the glass.

Quality from IKEA

I bought this small stand (or a dresser?) for my TV. It fit perfectly in that small corner in my previous room. It is from IKEA, and, after I put it together, I never touched it again until last November when I had to move in to my new apartment. So this is what happend when I tried to touch it in the old place. The beautiful 'face' fell off in many areas, and plywood exposed.

This is just another confirmation that quality from IKEA is really sub bar. I still bought few furniture from them for new apartment, simple because they are cheaper, and it is a one-stop shop. But I really got what I paid for. People who are looking for some quality should really take IKEA off their list. The little bear? It is my Christmas present from J back in 2002.

Same Flight?

I tried to see what flights are available to go to Calgary. There seems to be 2 choices. One is to transfer at Vancouver, the other at San Francisco. Since I may want to stop at San Francisco to visit few friends, booking a round-trip flight to San Francisco directly, and another separate round-trip flight from San Francisco to Calgary might be an option, since I won't be in a hurry.

Cathay Pacific still offers very competitive price. Round-trip to San Francisco cost 23155 NTD, including taxes, which is around 660 USD. But wait, for the same flight CX872, same date, same cabin, on the second row, there are 4 seats left, but on the fourth row, there are 5 seats left. Are they really the same flight, or am I dreaming?

Well, there are several flights from San Francisco to Calgary every day, and the price is not bad. Both United Airlines and Canada Air offer at 277 USD. Although United Airlines offer passenger to stop at transfer city, but there is a fee for it. Pros and cons. Pros for 2 round-trip tickets are cheaper price and flexible itinerary. Cons are logistics for lodging and that I am not sure what to do if flights are delay and thus I miss the flight. Well, I’ll think about it.

A Photo Before CNY

I happened to find this photo in my cell phone when I was trying to get the photo of that ugly cow. This photo was taken at Tainan HSR station when I went back for Chinese New Year. I have been to that station numerous time, and it was mostly on business. But even when it was not for business, I could always see businessmen properly dressed in suit. That day, it was very different. No businessman, as far as I could see. Everyone was wearing casual, with lugguage and bags of presents for the family, ready for the Chinese New Year. And I just had to take a quick photo of the crowd. Not a very clear photo, but it will always reminds me of the joy for the holiday.

Interesting Ox

I went to Ximen station with E for breakfast, and saw this interesting ugly cow in from of Red Theater. It is too ugly that I had to stop and take photo. Is it really an ox? For some reason, the face looks like the iron tiger in front of Chinese temples. Why is it year of ox anyway? Not year of cow? It looks more like female, right?

New Blog

I've started another new blog. It is about writing in English. It is not that I have the whole English grammar in mind to teach anyone, or my writing is good to win a Pulitzer. It just serves the purpose of complaining. Nowadays most of my email correspondence is in English. That makes senses, when the people on the email list could be easily from many different countries; however, sometimes the English writing in the email could be so bad that I had to spend minutes trying to think in Chinese what the person tried to tell us.

I am a minimalist, and believes it is easy to write simple English to made myself understood. Most of the information in this blog will be from my corporate email, with some confidential information hidden of course. And this blog is mostly to express how frustrated I am to read those emails, and to show how easy it can be to write in English.

MM asked me how I can come by different material to write. Again, no set time, no set material, just complaints and sharing information. I do not expect to cover a lot of things, but this could be a good incentive for me to go back and study grammar book, considering how much I like languages. Since I have a dedicated label on this blog just for complaints already, and I'd like to write this new blog in Chinese anyway, I decided to open a new blog.

But the truth is, I am a major whiner.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I knew from trailer that Benjamin Button was an old man when he was born, and then as time went by, he grew younger and younger. So I was kind of curious before the movie even started if when Benjamin died, he would be a grown-up person with a baby face, smooth skin and all that. Hm… that did not happen. He still became a baby at the end. That was a bit disappointing. It would be more fun to see an old-man-baby becomes a baby-old-man. Well, now that sounds confusing, but if you watched this movie, you’d understand what I am talking about.

Story is told pretty well. I’m not sure if it is really a good way to hide to the kids who their biological parents are. I do not understand what the shock can it be to adults when they are told their parents are not their biological parent. I can easily shrug and say “I don’t give a damn”, but my real reaction is way beyond my imagination. I look too much like my dad, so that leaves really no room for any kind of imagination. However, I really like the way Caroline knew about her biological father through the diary she read to her dying mother. Also enjoy that Caroline and Benjamin had met at some point, and Caroline actually remembers that incident. Their lives actually crossed at some point. And the postcard were no longer for Daisy. They were for Caroline, the daughter he cannot love.

Everyone has his own life, and most of the time, we concentrate on who we are and what we want, where we’ll bring our families to. It is nice to look back though, to see old photos of previous generation, to know what parents have seen, to know who they were when they were young, doing crazy things and all that. Every time I asked my parents their old stories, I could see their eyes sparkle.

Kindle for iPod Touch

Amazon released their Kindle 2. Kindle 2 certainly looks sexier than the first generation. It is thinner, has more capacity, etc, but, it is rather expensive, and I am not sure if it will work in Taiwan.

I am pleased to know that Amazon released their Kindle software for iPod Touch/iPhone. Installation was a breeze. No problem at all. Download can never be simpler. I did not purchase anything, but requested a sample of the first chapter of one book. And when I ran the software on iPod again, it was downloaded. Very very simple. The bad thing is that magazines are not available on iPod Touch. Some magazines on Kindle are really affordable. Even though iPod Touch comes with built-in browser, I still find it easier to browse the books on my computer and order from there. Ordering from built-in browser is possible, but not all websites can be optimized for iPod Touch.

Wrong Number

I stayed in Tainan over the past weekend, and would really like to get together with Lawrence. I was supposed to get together with him over Chinese New Year, but did not stay in Tainan for very long. 2 days of staying home doing chores with mother before CNY, staying home on the New Year day, playing with niece and nephew the next day, and visiting grandmother and taking family to Kaohsiung for a visit, which turned out to be quite a disaster, and on Jan 4th on Lunar calendar, I came back to Taipei.

Last Saturday, I called his cell phone, but it went directly to voice mail. I tried to call his home phone, which, for some reason, I remember by heart. Now I can only remember a handful of numbers, and his home number is one of them.

An old lady answered the phone. I assume she was his mother, so I talked politely,
May I talk to Lawrence, please?
Old lady replied, "Law- what?"
"Lawrence, please."
"But he does not live here."
"Could you tell me his current home number, please?"
"I do not know where he lives."

At this point, I was not sure how I could proceed, and after I hanged up the phone, I was terrified. I knew he had moved back with his parents last year, when We met last year. He did not mentioned any conflict with his folks, nor did not he mention any financial problems, or anything. So why did he move out and even his mother does not know anything about his current status?

This question bothered me the whole weekend. I tried to call him again on Sunday, and the call still went directly to voice mail.

So I wrote him an email, and asked him if everything is ok. He responded quickly, telling me that his current home number has changed to such and such. That is when I realized I dialed the wrong number, and talked to the wrong person. So now my question is, if the old lady had told me "you've got the wrong number", or "there is no person by this name", I would have known. Her answers really gave me an impression that she knows Lawrence, but just does not know where he lives anymore.

Anyway, we got together and had a nice dinner in hot pot restaurant, chatting for hours. I did enjoy that.