Walk by faith...

你 們 的 信 心 經 過 試 驗 ， 就 生 忍 耐....

After doing some research, I came up with a list of eight culinary schools...

The French Culinary Institute
Kendall College
Culinary Institute of America
California Culinary Academy
Johnson & Wales University
L'Academie de Cuisine
George Brown Chef School
AIS

So many choices... I'll expect a lot of information coming in this week.

CCA and AIS called me today, but I don't have a good impression about CCA since they sounded awkward when they knew that I'd be an international student. AIS, on the other hand, was friendly and helpful. They're not pushy too. They even suggested I should explore other big culinary schools....

Read the following verses during devotion today... very useful!

我 若 不 信 在 活 人 之 地 得 見 耶 和 華 的 恩 惠 ， 就 早 已 喪 膽 了 。
要 等 候 耶 和 華 ！ 當 壯 膽 ， 堅 固 你 的 心 ！ 我 再 說 ， 要 等 候 耶 和 華 ！
詩 篇 27:7-14

只 要 憑 著 信 心 求 ， 一 點 不 疑 惑 ； 因 為 那 疑 惑 的 人 ， 就 像 海 中 的 波 浪 ， 被 風 吹 動 翻 騰 。
這 樣 的 人 不 要 想 從 主 那 裡 得 甚 麼 。
心 懷 二 意 的 人 ， 在 他 一 切 所 行 的 路 上 都 沒 有 定 見 。
雅 各 書 1:6-8

三十而立? It's never been an easy thing...

iTunes and w800i

Yay!

Found out that there are software out there that I can use to sync up iTunes and w800i

Don't use the "iTunesMyWalkman" though since problems have been reported by w800i users.

Wow!

Google's CFO's comment "growth will slow" sent the indicies down to more than 1%.... I guess my theory of 搭沈船 is happening...

A few verses I like...

你 趁 著 年 幼 、 衰 敗 的 日 子 尚 未 來 到 ， 就 是 你 所 說 ， 我 毫 無 喜 樂 的 那 些 年 日 未 曾 臨 近 之 先 ， 當 記 念 造 你 的 主 。

Q: 人 一 切 的 勞 碌 ， 就 是 他 在 日 光 之 下 的 勞 碌 ， 有 甚 麼 益 處 呢? 傳 道 書 1:3
A: 人 莫 強 如 吃 喝 ， 且 在 勞 碌 中 享 福 ， 我 看 這 也 是 出 於 　 神 的 手。 傳 道 書 2:24
並 且 人 人 吃 喝 ， 在 他 一 切 勞 碌 中 享 福 ， 這 也 是 　 神 的 恩 賜 。傳 道 書 3:13

記住.... 看 風 的 ， 必 不 撒 種 ； 望 雲 的 ， 必 不 收 割.

In the Sunday school I've thought of my future again. I asked myself... what do I want to see when I look back my life 30 years from now?

我 見 　 神 叫 世 人 勞 苦 ， 使 他 們 在 其 中 受 經 練 。神 造 萬 物 ， 各 按 其 時 成 為 美 好 ， 又 將 永 生 （ 原 文 是 永 遠 ） 安 置 在 世 人 心 裡 。 然 而 　 神 從 始 至 終 的 作 為 ， 人 不 能 參 透 。 傳 道 書 3:10-11

當 將 你 的 糧 食 撒 在 水 面 ， 因 為 日 久 必 能 得 著。 傳 道 書 11:1

早 晨 要 撒 你 的 種 ， 晚 上 也 不 要 歇 你 的 手 ， 因 為 你 不 知 道 哪 一 樣 發 旺 ； 或 是 早 撒 的 ， 或 是 晚 撒 的 ， 或 是 兩 樣 都 好 。傳 道 書 11:6

Bally....

So I went to Bally yesterday and did some weight training.

There's nothing special to blog about on this alone, but I started to see something strange this morning....

RASH!

It's coming out from my arms :-(

Their hygienic condition starts to become my concern now....

摯信

中文名: 摯信 (真摯的相信)
人非有信便不能得神的喜悅。 希伯來書11:6
摯: 執 + 手 , 祈求上帝拖緊摯信的手, 陪同他成長。

My primary schoolmate has her baby! How lovely is it to give a name to your child.

我在乎一團泥...

Very bad day for making plates today.

How bad it is? I came to the lab at 1.30pm, but didn't get the one and only one piece done at 6pm. I tried at least 10 times throwing a plate today, and learning techniques (along with waiting luck) in a hard way. But determination led me to this piece that I like the most so far:



Marise spent half the time I needed on her piece tonight, which turned out to be really nice:



Very talented!

Oh, I found this hidden gem in BCC!!! An authentic tulip table from Knoll.... This would cost you $500+ from ebay.



(haha, eventually I got a positive feedback from the flickr community! Looks like my w800i isn't that bad =)

I picked up some take out from the new Veggie House in Kirkland tonight. The owner was really nice to me that she gave me deep fried spring rolls and 齋滷味! The restaurant is located next to Santosa.



Good: No MSG! You must try their 腐皮卷. Also VERY inexpensive, much better than the Teapot in Redmond.
Not so good: Some dishes (especially the entree) are using more or less the same ingredients...
Note: If you buy take out, consider bringing your own container. You'll help saving the polluted world, and will get a 10% off!



Watched Bruce Almighty after the dinner.



I didn't have a good impression about Jim Carrey. However I liked this one very much. ... it let me rethink what a true prayer should be, and what love really means.

你 這 個 人 哪 ， 你 是 誰 ， 竟 敢 向 神 強 嘴 呢 ？ 受 造 之 物 豈 能 對 造 他 的 說 ： 你 為 甚 麼 這 樣 造 我 呢 ？

窯 匠 難 道 沒 有 權 柄 從 一 團 泥 裡 拿 一 塊 做 成 貴 重 的 器 皿 ， 又 拿 一 塊 做 成 卑 賤 的 器 皿 麼 ？

倘 若 神 要 顯 明 他 的 忿 怒 ， 彰 顯 他 的 權 能 ， 就 多 多 忍 耐 寬 容 那 可 怒 預 備 遭 毀 滅 的 器 皿 ，

又 要 將 他 豐 盛 的 榮 耀 彰 顯 在 那 蒙 憐 憫 早 預 備 得 榮 耀 的 器 皿 上 。

(羅 馬 書 9)

忍 耐 寬 容 我!

一團泥? 神在乎!

Am I Depressed? Not yet...

Aiya, I thought I was depressed but the counselor (aka C) said I'm not.... since

1. I'm exercising regularly,
2. I'm still having regular (and good =) diet, and
3. I'm sleeping very well...

Too bad, I thought I'd be a good candidate for someone to research.

Having that said, C gave very good pointers to where I should go about figuring out my life. There's some homework I need to do. So I'll spend some time next week doing research.

I'm glad that I took the initiative to see C, since C has some very important contacts that may help me out in my career.

Interestingly, C shared the same view point towards my nice company.... haha... since conincidently my unknown coworker is/was C's client.

Good that my passion of life is coming back, and come back at an earilier stage of my early middle age :)

Rumors....

Rumors are saying that Top Gun is going to open a restaurant on the top floor of the Columbia Tower! That means they would be replacing the Columbia Club currently occupying the arena that offers the best bird-eye view of Seattle and its surrounding area.

A more reliable source says that it's true--50%. Top Gun is opening up a restaurant close to the Columbia Tower, but it's in another office building. Since the contract has yet to be signed, so I knew nothing more :)

Finally there is an authentic Chinese restaurant in the downtown area!

So Danny came over for lunch today. We went to Benihana. The experience was pretty good, except the food. I ordered a steak and it's quite an effort to chew. Fortunately we didn't their fried rice. It costs $3 more and its nothing more than adding an egg into it.

On the table I saw a couple that looks really familiar...



But I couldn't recall who they were :)

I'll have my first appointment tomorrow at 8am! Need to catch some sleep now.

Tonight is Kelly's last meeting with the fellowship as a counselor. Thanks for all the efforts!! You'll be missed!

death note...

I started to read the death note. It's a very interesting and attention catching comic book... so attractive that I almost missed my bus stop on my way to work.



Had dinner at the newer udon restaurant inside the Korean supermarket in Lake Hills. We ordered a rainbow row and a dragon roll. They look good, but some of the sashimi on the rainbow row was not defrosted completely ;)



I spent the whole class glazing my piece. I can't wait to see it... I'm going to the lab this Saturday and it should be ready by then.

After the glaze I wandered around the classroom gathering "insights", and found out this ceramic heart. Very interesting:



I think I have some idea on what I'm going to do next. Hopefully things will turn out OK.

Sorry ar Mar-le-see, I didn't know that pot I pictured wasn't yours.... no wonder it's not as good as your second piece :)



Ho gor is going to have TOEFL tomorrow. Good luck!

聽君一席話...

There are a lot of things I have yet to learn!

- deliver
- pray
- not distancing from God
- parents' blessings
- understanding His will (thanks for the DVD)
- relationships vs. framework
- Christian
- serving together
- seek His affirmation
- do a good job for God!
- venture life and take risks!

Thank you for the fellowship

Thank you for the dinner and your sharing! Very encouraging! I just love this fellowship :)

Favorite love songs

In the Valentine's day fondue party, each one of us chose some love songs we like the most. Take a guess who like these songs :)

我找到了
有個人
每天愛你多一些
愛的故事
想愛你
老婆
愛上未來的你
Try to remember
Sometimes when we touch
I left my heart in San Francisco
The Twelve of Never
More than words

Life continues + 三十會

陳奕迅出了新碟 :)

1. 低調（曲：Eric Kwok；詞：黃偉文）
2. 人車誌（曲：Jerald "Inspired by Incognito - Everyday"；詞：黃偉文）
3. 最佳損友（曲：Eric Kwok；詞：黃偉文）*推薦
4. 暴殄天物（曲：Jerald "Inspired by Lenny Kravitz - Always"；詞：黃偉文）
5. 落花流水（曲：Eric Kwok/陳奕迅；詞：黃偉文）
6. 大得太快（曲詞：陳奕迅）
7. Bonus Track 想聽（曲：雷頌德；詞：青介）

Heard that there is a 三十會 in HK... and they've recently published a book called 《三十而立》

《論語．為政》
子曰：「吾十有五而志於學；三十而立；四十而不惑；五十而知天命；六十而耳順；七十而從心所欲；不逾矩。」

三十出頭... it's a good time to think how I can contribute back to the society :)


《三十而立》目錄：

序

「三十會」序
田北俊序
李永?序
曾鈺成序

三十反思 —─既要發聲，也要承擔

陳智思 引言
三十立場

誰說中產不參與社會事務？( 李律仁)
從基層走向中產 (蔡懿德)
中產究竟是什麼？( 李律仁)
中產黨：不為也？不能也？ (王兼揚)
二零二四年 ── 民主與中央不再對立 (張亮)
一位市民對香港的期盼 (普宇)
七一：公民教育日 (鄧亮瀅)

政改──魔鬼就在細節中

張炳良引言
三十立場

我想當議員，可是…… (王兼揚)
你的一票重要嗎？ (蔡懿德)
引人入「政」 (王兼揚 )
從美國大選到香港立法會選舉 ( 龔耀輝)
民主制度的代表性和制衡精神 (李律仁)
香港需要政出多途 (莫宜端)
發展民主由公民社會充權開始 (莫宜端)
前「功」盡廢抑或「功」不可沒 (王兼揚)
特首的特別挑戰 (李律仁)
相信民主 打破僵局 (張亮、李律仁)
中產論壇──什麼葫蘆賣什麼藥？ (王兼揚)
培訓治港人才（一）：改革諮詢及法定組織 (莫宜端)
培訓治港人才（二）：從政素質固本培元 (莫宜端)
政治人才斷層的謬論 (莫宜端)
建立不做壞事的政府 (何民傑)

經濟──市場問題，由市場解決

林在山引言
三十立場

財政預算應 量出為入 (張正樑、王兼揚)
公帑應「使」得其所 (蔡懿德、張正樑)
解決財赤三道板斧 (張正樑、李律仁)
為 紅灣半島算算賬 (尹世民)
設隧道管理局取回話事權 (何民傑)
「監躉」想出來的高地價政策 (李律仁)
炒地產炒了兩百年 (李律仁)
公平競爭法 （一）： 中聽但未必中用 (李律仁)
公平競爭法 （二）：違反 公平競爭七宗罪 (李律仁)
公平競爭法 （三）： 別期望太高 (李律仁)
保障公平競爭（一）：認 真檢討政策 (李律仁)
保障公平競爭（二）：善用行政手段 (李律仁)

社會── 「人口陀螺」影響深遠

謝淩潔貞引言
三十立場

社會資源（一）： 人口推算左右政策大局 (李律仁)
社會資源（二）：住宅及學額過剩之連體對策 (李律仁)
「 人口陀螺 」可變「人口酒桶」？ (蔡懿德)
社福政策論點騷不著癢處 (莫宜端)
房屋規劃 束 縛 貧窮 (何民傑、李旖旎)
公屋政策的不歸路 (何民傑)
青年貧窮，窮在哪裡？ (龔耀輝)
當一天的旺角記者 (莫宜端)
生育政策勿 眼高手低 (何民傑、何佩玲)
醫療改革，撥亂反正 ( 莊綺雯、蔡懿德_
按判決定 訴訟收費 ，是福是禍？ (劉培榮 )

教育── 揚棄「大家長」和「大學校」魔咒

余若薇引言
三十立場

數字港 (鄭志明)
讀四年書，所為何事？ (王兼揚)
中學為體 (王兼揚)
點至夠英？( 王兼揚)
幼兒教育的迷思：新校 vs名校 (李君傑)
讀得書多大晒？ (慧中、李律仁)

文化‧視野──張看世界明白香港

梁文道引言
三十立場

與其爭拗零七，不如公投西九！ (王兼揚)
文化地標／地標文化？ (王兼揚)
文藝復興 (王兼揚)
中區警署招標急誰所急？ (莫宜端)
誰來看守中區警署？ (張正樑)
旺角不黑夜 (李律仁)
不重好客之道，怎當旅遊之都？(王兼揚)
香港工運 如何 逃出文化困局？ (李君傑)
當權者應忍辱負重？ (李律仁)
民粹主義比軍國主義更可怕 (何民傑)
小馬哥，你魅力沒法擋！ (李律仁)

眼看大路行盡 絕處偏偏碰見吊橋

連同昨天所輸的　一起找到了
哭泣夠了　我以後要笑
這一個是我的　碰上即刻知道　不必揭曉
連最想得到的　我都找到了
穿梭人潮　引誘幾多　不再動搖
從未像這樣確定　一伸手抱你　已經抱到最實了

Reposted from ho gor's blog... thought that it's a very good song. How come it's not in the CD?

11-7-8!!!!

Wow, it's almost impossible for me to play this.

You need to practice.. until the finger hurt and then not hurt anymore!

No pain no gain +)

Hopefully one day I'm able to lead the group to sing lar...

I think ho gor's songs are really depressing... that's one of the reasons.

Talking about songs, I'm compiling a CD as legal as possible.

Met a couple of new hires at today's lunch... suddenly I feel I'm really old, when someone asked: "七幾呀呀呀呀呀呀??"

Looks like sassy loves my guitar case...

Am I Depressed?

I feel like losing inerests in a lot of things now... am I depressed?

I went to do this depression questionnaire. It had 16 questions.

When I finished them all, I thought there must be a button to submit the questionnaire and be graded.

Unfortunately... NONE! They just asked me to see my doctor and bring the results with me.

Sigh... that makes me more depressed....

Fortunately I saw this ad on my bus... If you live in the Seattle area, call 206-292-CARE and you'll have an opportunity to participate in a research on depression.

And it's FREE.

Dr. Shen...

Scheduled a consultation with Dr. Shen today. Her CV has a lot of big names =) so hopefully her high price tag pays off.

"Do a good job for the Lord." 對 得 起 主...

We do not want the non-believers to think this is poorly run. I would like to do a good job for the Lord, you know.

Thanks for this reminder!

Finally I talked to the conselors about my thoughts on future involvement in the fellowship ministries. I have a strong conviction that this is a correct decision!

I need to give my best to God. Not my spare time, my spare energy, but my best.

Since I can't, it'll be better to just step down. I think that's what I got from pastor Ho's message and after listening to some casual talks of others in tonight's dinner. And also from this month's verse: 願 你 們 在 一 切 屬 靈 的 智 慧 悟 性 上 ， 滿 心 知 道 神 的 旨 意 ；好 叫 你 們 行 事 為 人 對 得 起 主...

I don't have much gift in caring too. But being a Christian is all about caring and loving others. If I can't take care the people around me (and allow them to take care of me), I can hardly imagine my faith is 100% true. So I guess I'll stay in the group leader's ministry. Hopefully that will force me to keep learning in this area.

By offering the best part, you'll avoid guilt, you won't desecrate the holy offerings of the People of Israel, and you won't die.

Thank you for the gift!!! VERY meaningful. I wish that comes true one day.

I'm slowly adding the pictures of the sunrise shots.

看風望雲的日子...

看 風 的 ， 必 不 撒 種 ； 望 雲 的 ， 必 不 收 割 。
He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
Ecclesiastes 11:4

I like the metaphore of kniting a robe--the robe gets stronger if you combine two strings: One is the "good times", and the other one, the "bad times"....

After the dinner, 有點忐忑, 有點 亂... I think I have used up all my chocolate quota for the entire year!

Thanks Andy's sharing yesterday. There are a lot of channels to express oneself (towards God). Sometimes it's 無聲勝有聲... !

無聲勝有聲.... it's more powerful than thousands words.

PS1. Part of my 忐忑 is that ho gor may not be able to pass his very special non-academic "final exam" (although I whole heartedly wish that he can pass =)
PS2. The other part is that I may never have a chance to write my own....

History

Recently... I installed a new photo software.

When I imported the images, they just kept flashing on the screen...

It's like rewinding my life...



W and D kept reminding my love stories tonight... but they kept their own to themselves...

D asked a few times whether we'll get a non-Chinese girlfriend.... don't know why he kept asking that. In fact, after I knew him for a few days he started to ask me the same question already...

Speechless

 

So I woke up at 6 today and went to the Queen Anne Hill to catch the sunrise reflection from the cascades. The weather was really chilly--the lowest tempertaure for today was 24F.

The view was awesome!

諸 天 述 說 神 的 榮 耀 ； 穹 蒼 傳 揚 他 的 手 段 。

I'll try to catch the sunset from the Bank of America tower later this afternoon... But I'm too tired now. Let's see if I can wake up on time...

(well, ended up I got too tired and didn't get a chance to get there....)

Sunrise in Seattle II -- best spots in town

After asking around, there are a few spots in the Seattle area where you can get good shots of sunrise:

1. If you want the sun in it, try out the small park at 15th and Olin Pl in Capitol Hill.

2. The west side of Queen Anne (10th and 11th Ave) have amazing views of the cascades. Looking west towards the cascades (they glow).

3. West seattle (there's a dock right at Salty's where you can see a nice view of downtown.

4. On a Bremerton ferry.

Looks like #2 is more accessible and more promising =)

Watched this movie in the small group gathering



A beautiful yet distressing story about the great theologist.

Found a few quotes from Bonheffer....

When God calls a man, he bids him come and die.

(Am I willing to die for Him?? Die for him! I can't even keep up my promises to him...)

Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal — it is a status, an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man. As you gave the ring to one another and have now received it a second time from the hand of the pastor, so love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God. As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

(Very different view of marriage... "it's not my love that sustains the marriage, but the marriage that sustains my love"...

And marriage is from God.)

Marriage is more than your love for each other. It has a higher power, for it is God's holy ordinance, through which He wills to perpetuate the human race until the end of time. In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away to His glory, and calls into His kingdom. In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and all mankind.

(Am I ready to take up this responsibility that inherits from the marriage?

Love among the two can be easy, marriage is not....)

"Don't stir up love..... until you're ready" (Song of Songs 2:7)

Some quotes are from this site

sunrise in Seattle

I'm going for a few shoots of the Seattle sunrise on a Bremerton ferry tomorrow morning.

The sunrise starts at 7:10am.

Let's see how it turns out =)

A few things I learnt today...

The throwing class was a bit odd tonight since it's super quiet. People started heading off while there was almost an hour left.

Marise made a couple of unexpected pieces :)

My huge plate was, sadly, damaged by someone. But I guess it's ok, since it wasn't perfect anyway.

I spent my entire night trimming the plate. Whenever you work behind the wheel make sure you started with a good centering, or else the piece will never become symmetrical.

Good centering!

Well, I guess life's like that too :)

After the class I went to the gym, and watched the Olympics at the same time.

Wescott & Zidek's competition was really exciting.



I like what Wescott said... You need to have confidence and patience.

Patience!

Then I watched Yevgney Plushenko's figure skating.

The story of Yevgney's upbringing was very touching...

Determination was what I've learnt from him...

Received this elephant from my ex-boss after his India trip. Colorful 'precious' stones are engraved on it!

Work's getting up to speed

Work either come all at once or they won't come at all... and I think the honeymoon of the year has eventually past and work's started to pile up!

The yearly review is underway... Got a few to write and they all due Monday, which I have yet to start.

More pictures from last night's. ho gor's hands are really shaky, but it looks good with this small size :)

The weather was really nice! A lot of space is just wasted on the 50th floor--they should have moved me up there facing the big window :)


(taken by ho gor... with his shaky hands!)

Don't stir...

Don't excite love, don't stir it up,

until the time is ripe--and you're ready.

I guess that's exactly what happened to the chocolate fondue last night.

I bought this machine for last night's event



I was too 心急 so even though the user menu said I should preheat the bowl for 5 minutes, I just waited for 1 minute and then I poured in the melted chocolate...

The result? There wasn't any fountain at all! The chocolate got too sticky and stucked in the pump.

So we added a lot of soy milk and we kept stirring....

But that didn't help.... sigh... Eventually I turned off the motor and just kept the heater on, and we started fonduing without the flowing chocolate...

After a while, auntie discovered that there was steam coming up from the chocolate. So I turned on the pump again--and BINGO! The fountain started flowing nicely!

I guess I've to stick with the user menu next time, especially MY menu :) and don't stir up love but wait for the right time!

我唔可以再掩飾....

唔掩飾... 可以點?

(updates:

haha the above post was added when three men were sitting and chatting in front of the fire drinking scotch after the fondue party...

掩飾 what?

tiredness!)

Lasik... and Jesus' pets!

It's the time to set aside money for the FSA, and Lasik is on my list of 22 things... so I've scheduled an eye exam with my doctor to see if I'm OK to go ahead with the surgery.

I've heard bad things about Lasik like over/under correction, completely losing vision (which is really rare), seeing halo at night, etc....

But I'm just tired of wearing glasses, not to mention that it's foggy all the time.

Plus I'm going to adapt a more active lifestyle :) so getting rid of the glasses will be a great help!

Oh, talking about my 22 things, I'm doing _pretty_ good on achieving the goals... one thing I don't like though is that the Bible reading is kind of boring, so I changed to follow a blended scheme.

Hopefully that helps.

Oh, ambiv has a funny post recently!

Sassy... you'll just end up going back to the Humane society if I were lifted to the better place :) and hopefully you can find a better home too--without me paying for it heee....

Four seasons in a day!

Today has the weirdest weather... sunny and kind of warm in the morning, then it started to rain in the afternoon, and after I got out of the gym it's snowing/light hailing!

I like the snow though... it makes the Valenine's day even more romantic.

When I got back home the street was so quiet and the road was covered by a thin layer of snow.... and looking back, it was quite interesting to see my footsteps--sitting on the road, all alone.

Happy Valentine's day, singleton! Cheer up!



I went to the Seattle Pottery Supply over the weekend with a friend. The directions from Google wasn't quite right since it should be a left instead of a right at the last turn... But then a train was sitting on the railway blocking all cars so I couldn't make a left anyway.

We've circled around the street a couple of times trying to find the store... but couldn't. It was quite frustrated since I forgot to bring the phone number of the store.

Eventually my friend was smart enough to call 411 and was then directed to the store.

As soon as the line was connected, the train started moving... and what appeared in front of us? THE STORE!!!!

HAHA... so hilarious. Life's like that, isn't it?

We've been looking for things around and around... but didn't realize they were already there--just being blocked by something.

That makes me think of this song...

仰慕者
又再大一歲　你說你已灰心
大概幸福再等都不會再走近
男孩們孤身的一吻　誰人還肯送贈
情感懸空很久了　提起都灰暗

遊牧四顧仍無發現　就說好姻緣仍很遠
像太專心在望遠鏡前　卻疏忽誰在腳尖

其實仰慕者經已出現
你機會就在你身邊
太操心的你卻在怨　世上無人可戀
其實仰慕者交替不斷
你周圍靜待你挑選
我跟他刻意轉又轉　每天都經過你身邊
噓寒問暖

別再在嗟怨　哪裡有救生圈
愈訴愈苦救兵總趕到也不見
寧無人喜歡怎麼算　何妨來許個願
或者上天聽不見　但願他聽得見


遊牧四顧仍無發現　就說好姻緣仍很遠
像太專心在望遠鏡前　卻疏忽誰在腳尖


誰暗戀已差點揭穿

其實仰慕者早已出現
你所願近在你指尖
眼色早打過百萬遍
只望你隨時留心點
其實仰慕者一向不斷
似天使侍候你身邊
我跟他刻意轉又轉　每天都經過你身邊
噓寒問暖

Oh, by the way, to my surprise, my housemates got some flowers.... in response to my evite!

Thank you for your support!!!

My last and only... chance!

凡 你 手 所 當 做 的 事 要 盡 力 去 做 ； 因 為 在 你 所 必 去 的 陰 間 沒 有 工 作 ， 沒 有 謀 算 ， 沒 有 知 識 ， 也 沒 有 智 慧 。

我 又 轉 念 ： 見 日 光 之 下 ， 快 跑 的 未 必 能 贏 ； 力 戰 的 未 必 得 勝 ； 智 慧 的 未 必 得 糧 食 ；明 哲 的 未 必 得 資 財 ； 靈 巧 的 未 必 得 喜 悅 。 所 臨 到 眾 人 的 是 在 乎 當 時 的 機 會 。

Very good reminders from Ecclesiastes when Pastor Ho went through it during the Sunday school. Every day is a precious gift from God, and the last and only chance to do things I needed to do.

Also, since we can't determine our fate we shouldn't concentrate too much on things that we don't have right now, but instead we should treasure things God has given to us... God takes pleasure in your pleasure!

Seize Life!

唔夠訓... 有幻覺... 早抖!

PS1. King Kong rocks! I love the first part of the movie, very exciting! The last hour was kind of boring since things were well expected. I love the scence when Ann and King Kong were sliding on the ice... so romantic :)

百思不得其解....

Whenever I swallow I feel headache! I slept for an hour in the afternoon but that didn't help too much.

I talked to ho gor and he said if I don't touch it it'll be ok... *sigh*

Another thing that keeps me stretching my head is the comment about this previous post that I just realized yesterday....

How did it relate to Tai Chi??

Talking about reader's comments, I've got a spam recently so word verification is needed from now on...

The moon looks awesome tonight!

去年元宵時，花市燈如晝。月上柳梢頭，人約黃昏後...



Too good I need to do my weekly clean up now... and need to eat a cold rotisserie chicken I got from Costco together with my two housemates :) Fortunately I had 湯圓 a couple days ago, 應應節!

I'm looking forward to the 2/14 chocolate fondue night... I got all things I need but the chocolate... heee.. I'm going to get it from the Pacific Food Importers in downtown Seattle. I've heard that they've got Callebaut and Guittard in the 5 kilo blocks for way cheaper than anywhere else local.

肋 骨...

耶 和 華 神 就 用 那 人 身 上 所 取 的 肋 骨 造 成 一 個 女 人 ， 領 他 到 那 人 跟 前 。

I'm sure He will one day bring me back my rib....if He didn't forget to take it away from me the first place... :)

You won't forget this important step, will you God?

我 的 敵 人 何 其 加 增...

But you, GOD, shield me on all sides;

You ground my feet, you lift my head high

I don't have many enemies right now (at least I'm not aware of), but I have this enemy that I feel like I can't escape from him... it's going to be a life long process, and I've been defeated by him for a lot of times....

Who's this enemy? Me myself.

If I had to see God again today and unvealed my wrong doings I would have shamefully hid away... Sometimes I've so helplessly given ground to my bad habits, thoughts, selfishness, etc... a lot of things.

救 恩 屬 乎 耶 和 華... and he had given it to me.

PCNW!

It was exciting to know that my friend wanted to take a class at the Photographic Center Northwest, and he invited me to join a B&W workshop.

I've heard a lot of good things about PCNW, and have been thinking of taking a class from it. However their price is pretty expensive -- $600+ equipment!!

Taking a class is expensive, but having a companion going with me (plus he pledged he'll loan me his F100)?

Priceless!
(like that ad :)

So I've decided to enroll a workshop first, which costs $200 or so. The good thing about it is that I can learn how to process films in a darkroom.

Hopefully one day my pictures can be published on the B&W mag!

Oh, he's the second people in my life telling me that work is just work... interesting.

Good fellowship today! Very contributing discussion.

20 things

Didn't know that the 43 things was funded by amazon.com... anyway, I've eventually set up my list of 20!

Take a look at #8, there are almost 2000 people want to achieve that!

撥亂反正!

After instructor Ben's help, my clay was changed from a nearly thrown away trash to something like this:



撥亂反正!

I'm pretty satisfy with it this time. I'm going to put some potted ornament grass :) Hopefully they match each other.

Marise's rattle turned out pretty nice after the fire.. mine? Too bad it didn't have the effect I wanted it to have :)



Well, it doesn't look too bad under the dim light in my house though



Oh, looks like QFC's flower is fresher than Costco!



Ho gor got his EXPENSIVE guitar already! Rich student... He's already playing hardly on a song... may be that's part of his plan next week?!

mysterious seattle central library

 

Don't you think the seattle central library is a bit scary? The picture was taken a few months ago on the escalator... 

chocolate fondue... anyone?

Any plan next Tuesday :) if not... how about a chocolate fondue party?

mpire

Courtesy of Jeff Barr, mpire is a pretty cool tool: it allows you to search through millions of closed ebay auctions in which you can predict the final price of your item.

I'm thinking of selling some of my furniture :)

Love is.... a force of nature?

I slept once in a while in the movie last night... sorry, the movie was great but I was too tired :)



The goofy posts from imdb is pretty fun to read. Here's one:

Jack is chopping wood when Aguirre approaches to give news of his sick uncle. Jack places the next log on the chopping block as he turns to speak to Aguirre. After the conversation is over and Jack turns back to chopping, the log is gone and he replaces the log that was never chopped.

Love is indeed a force of nature:

耶 和 華 神 就 用 那 人 身 上 所 取 的 肋 骨 造 成 一 個 女 人 ， 領 他 到 那 人 跟 前 。那 人 說 ： 這 是 我 骨 中 的 骨 ， 肉 中 的 肉 ， 可 以 稱 他 為 女 人 ， 因 為 他 是 從 男 人 身 上 取 出 來 的 。因 此 ， 人 要 離 開 父 母 ， 與 妻 子 連 合 ， 二 人 成 為 一 體 。

當 時 夫 妻 二 人 赤 身 露 體 ， 並 不 羞 恥 。

If every one has a Garden of Eden, it needs to be the one described.

Bumpy launch?

zillow.com has launched today... but their site was down for a few hours in the morning.

I tried it out with my house, but it's not quite accurate. Here's the price trend they figured out after the last sale, which they say the last sale price is less than $340K but in fact it's a handful of 10K's more.



Besides, their data shows that my house has four bedrooms but in fact it only has three--unless they count the laundry room with a water heater installed a bedroom. (Well, technically it is a bedroom since it has window :)

Not impressive at all. No wonder my friend left the company before it launches...

interesting posts from craigslist

I'm still following the postings about fishtank after I got it a few days ago, and surprisingly there is one person complaining that the prices sellers asked for were too expensive:

Prices on craigslist for fish tanks

It amazes me the prices people ask for their old stuff on here. It would seem all the tanks and equipment are as close to new price it would pay to just go buy new. Get your heads out of the clouds come down to earth and get real.

And there were two replies beating the previous poster already. Here's one of them:

Need a 29 gallon stand? how about free? This looks about the right-size

http://seattle.craigslist.org/zip/131815997.html

Petco also lists 29 gallon stands for about $40.

Fish stuff is expensive. Figure $10-$20 per GALLON for a new acrylic tank, with nice stand, hood, lights, filters, etc. My 125 gallon has $70 worth of GRAVEL alone, about $1,600 for everything. Fish are not included in that price.

This tank is listed for less than half of new:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/for/131914498.html

and this one
http://seattle.craigslist.org/for/131814131.html

and this one
http://seattle.craigslist.org/for/131173136.html

Don't be cheap! Plenty of bargains on Craigslist.

I think the prices were really good on cragslist. Mine is like a steal if you compare to new stuffs. Again, the fish they include cost $100 alone... if I get it from petco etc.

flickr hacks

It's on print now:



Looks like flickr is pretty powerful. Here's an excerpt from Amazon's review:

# Post photos to your blog directly from your cameraphone

# Mash up your own photos or others' public pictures into custom mosaics, collages, sliding puzzles, slideshows, or ransom notes

# Back up your Flickr library to your desktop, and save the comments too

# Set random desktop backgrounds and build your own Flickr screensaver

# Geotag your photos and map your contacts

# Download a list of photos and make a contact sheet

# Make your own Flickr-style tag cloud to visualize the frequency of common tags

# Build a color picker with a dynamic color wheel of Flickr photos

# Feed photos to your web site and subscribe to custom Flickr feeds using RSS

# Talk to the Flickr API using your web browser, Perl, or PHP; authenticate yourself and other users; and build custom API applications

尋 找...

Lately there are a few things 在尋找中... I need to pray earnesly on these things.

... 因 他 情 詞 迫 切 (shameless persistence and insistence) 的 直 求 ， 就 必 起 來 照 他 所 需 用 的 給 他 。我 又 告 訴 你 們 ， 你 們 祈 求 ， 就 給 你 們 ； 尋 找 ， 就 尋 見 ； 叩 門 ， 就 給 你 們 開 門 。因 為 ， 凡 祈 求 的 ， 就 得 著 ； 尋 找 的 ， 就 尋 見 ； 叩 門 的 ， 就 給 他 開 門

May be I'm not humble enough to ask for help. Of course, laziness is another reason.

When I was a child I used to think that God must be too busy to respond to my request. Wouldn't that be true? There were trillions ppl asking God for something at the same time, how can He be possible to repsond to mine--in MY time :)

Haha redicule me!

Prayer has powerful impact. I'm sure one day the door(s) will open for me if I keep on asking, shmelessly.

I finally got a fish tank from craigslist. It cost only $200 for the entire set, including the tank, the stand, all accessories, and the fish! Also the tank was delivered to me from 100 miles away...

At first I wanted to get the fancy goldfish so I planned to mercifully end the fish's life tonight. But then after checking out their price at petco, the fish alone worth around $100.

That was the same price I paid when I adopted Sassy :)



Fortunately they are living together peacefully!

new toy...

Yesterday I installed a motion sensor switch for the entrance light. It turned out to be a little fun toy for my friends who are engineers and like testing stuffs



I also had my first microwave lunch this weekend--



It cost $2/pack, but the portion is small and the taste is not that great. Also it doesn't have much veggie. I guess it's not impressive enough for me to try again.

Really tired now... didn't get a lot of sleep over the weekend plus I went to Vancouver to have the dinner.

I slept for half a second on the freeway driving 70mph!

More updates later....

PS1 I still need to compile the notes from the seminar.
PS2 Added a new section "guitar" in the "links" section!

ice hotel again...

Thanks for the magazine!



The idea of visiting the hotel starts tickling me again.

Their web site has changed a bit, and they support online booking now!

A lot of people are coming over on the Superbowl Sunday--how come it's always my home?

Sagging economy.... ?

Sigh...

NASDAQ dropped 1% early today...

Iraq war is costing $100,000 per minute....

America is spending 16% of its GDP on health care....

China and India are viewed as risks more than opportunities....

Continuous plunging on the dollar value....

Unstable Middle East....

sassy is opening all the drawers looking for edible stuffs....



including plastic bags.

生 命 勝 於 飲 食 ， 身 體 勝 於 衣 裳

ramblings

a new start
It's the first day of work after the vacation, and the first day I join the new team. I didn't do much though since I need to clear up my mail box, and in the afternoon I spent a lot of time seeing the photos from a coworker of my old team after his India trip.

life together
After reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together I started to view work differently. The book talks about Christian community (aka fellowship) and surprisingly fellowship relates to work as well--in fact, fellowship relates to every part of our Christian life.



「 應 感 到 羞 恥 」
封鎖中國人知的願望...

disappointed
It's been a long time company A doesn't please every one, except its customers....

If not because of my status, I'd leave this company long time ago--poor strategy, no vision, no innovation (or the innovation can't make enough money--not even build up a better brand), 眼高手低, too much pressure from pager duty!! Above all, not treating its employees well.

It's time to execute the 2nd phase of my plan :)

first time glazing
Can't wait to see the glazed heads after the fire!

面目可憎...

一日不讀書，言語無味。三日不讀書，面目可憎....

Haven't thought of His presense for a long time... Need to pick up my Bible again :)

Gates need a Mac instead of a PC??

Haha his fortune is so huge that the IRS need a Mac instead of a PC to calculate his tax!

The comments are pretty hilarious too. I like this one:

They do mine (tax) on a napkin with a red pen.

I guess that applies to me too!