recovering from time off...

So having time off isn't that fun afterall. I've been walking around the city under the bright sunlight for the entier day... not to mention I'm carrying a SLR, two heavy lenses, a Hasselblad, a laptop, and lot of other stuffs like films and photo paper!

Thanks my friend who got off from work early and walked with the whole day helping me to carry some stuffs.

逃之夭夭

Yay, finally the vacation is here! Ironically, I have been working 12 hours every day just because I need to make sure I can take the time off....

歲月無聲
曲：黃家駒．詞：劉卓輝

千杯酒已喝下去　都不醉　何況秋風秋雨
幾多不對說在你口裡　但也不感觸一句

淚眼已吹乾　無力再回望
山不再崎嶇　但背影伴你疲累相對
沙不怕風吹　在某天定會凝聚
若我可再留下來

逼不得已唱下去的歌裡　還有多少心碎
可否不要往後再倒退　讓我不唏噓一句

白髮已滄桑　無夢再期望
山不再崎嶇　但背影伴你疲累相對
沙不怕風吹　在某天定會凝聚
若我可再留下來

死去活來

工作一浪接一浪....

********

垂手可得

I like Specialty's sandwiches, but then the one in the foodcourt of my office building isn't doing a good job! The quality of their sandwitches is just not consistent. For example, whenever I order my favorite Tomato Mozzarella they often use fresh tomato (instead of roasted Roma), and they sometimes forget the basil--which I think is the spirit of the entire thing.

So I decided to file a complaint, and guess what, they removed the charge of my sadwitch :-) Oh well, my gain is someone's loss...

*********

跟隨主行?

Last night I got my second Pike Place basket. However someone took away mine that is bigger in size. So I complain again :-) And this time I get a free boquete of flower next week! Hee.... may be I should keep complaining.

Anyway, what I want to say is that I took the ride back home at 9.30 last night. And while I was waiting the bus to arrive, I saw a homeless walking by me. He then searched the trash bin, and took out a fast food cup.... and you know what? He drank whatever stuff was left inside it. And then he took out a bag of opened chips and start eating it.

And then, he walked by me, and stared at me.. actually my basket.

Urgh, that guilty feeling hit me. Shouldn't I give him some snow peas.... sigh. May be next time.

***************

夢 . 備忘

Have you ever woke up from a dream and found out you're crying? I did it recently!! Yeah, the tears are still dropping when I woke up.

I wrote down what happened in the dream just after I woke up. But when I read it again now, I just have no idea what it was all about..

But one thing I do remember... you were in that dream.

***************

工作一浪接一浪....

(No, I really mean that :)

sooo hot!

Haha, did a quick survey over IM trying to see what friends think about the melting hot weather:

係la~就黎熱死我la~
Yes, it is way too hot.
i know..you should go down in your basement
always hot here
i know.. ha ha..
i know, it's crazy
stay in the office!
oh hai ar (responded 2.5 hours later :)
(busy/away)

************

So tonight is the first photography class. Yay! My friend joined with me (although I think he already has the skills). Anyway, the first class is kind of not that interesting: the instructor briefly went through the history of photography, and then introduced the darkroom. Here's a synopsis of the history:

1. Joseph Nicephore Niepce took the first photograph in the world in 1826, in which the exposure took 8 hours to finish (you can see sunlight on both pillars).




2. The theory of pin hole camera was discovered a long time ago, however it took 900 years to find a way to capture the image and fix it.

3. And then 11 years later, Louis Jacques Mande Dagurre did something great, which he did the exposure on mercury papers! The exposure time was dramatically shorten to just several minutes. The result was much crisp and sharp:



4. And then this guy William Henry Fox Talbot presented some papers to the royal academy or something like that, and people started to call him the father of photography (by this time... my head started swimming...)

5. The last name I heard in the class was George Eastman, and my notes said that he brought handheld camera to the world. The shutter speed of the camera can go up to 1/25 seconds!


Boring stuffs, wasn't it :P

唔問就唔知

一句講晒!

Beinn Ime

Beinn Ime
Originally uploaded by Fack to Bront.

Wow look at this!! Hopefully I can shoot like this using the same 12-24mm Nikon lens in the backpacking :-)

Workwise, the project is now under code freeze, but you never know...

Running through strings

Running through strings
Originally uploaded by louiskim.

So flickr has a group that each week they have a winner chosen to be added to the group that has 200 view or more. I really like this week's!

Hum... when will my pictures be viewd 200+ times :-)

******

The work is getting close to an end... but then after this I still have two small projects before I can take off next Friday!

******

I met another Nikonian today! Didn't know that he is so into photography as well. I really wish I can bring along my camera with me to the backpacking.

******

I was searching on flickr today, and I came across with this set: Bhutan. This country has been on my top list for a long time now. May be I should give it a try some time next year!

Dreams

I had that same horrific dream again, that someone is breaking into my house in my presence, and I try my best to safeguard the house--the entrance, to be specific. I woke up in the middle of the night, and couldn't go back to sleep for a while.

I started to realize that dreams really tell something about your inner world... Hum, I'm going to do more research on this! Talking about things related to psychology, I picked up the book blink today. Looks like a pretty fun book!



And then talking about book, I need to purchase a text book for my photography class. It's a shining $100 big book... Sigh... Fortunately I have $50 gift certificate but still, a big expense!



**********

Looks like 663 is the cafeteria for a lot of people now. I go there at least twice a week, and every time I go there, I will for sure run into several people I know of. Just like today (it's my third time eating there this week BTW), I met four friends already. Sigh.. Is Seattle so lack of choices?

There is one new Thai/Viet restaurant called "Made in Kitchen" opened up last week in ID. I tried it and the interior design is awesome!! I can say that it's the BEST in Chinatown. The food? I think they're not quite ready yet so they only have a mere of 20 something choices (excluding the drinks, desserts, etc). The quality of the food is just OK though.

************

Argh, so much work to do! So looking forward to the 5-day long weekend next week! I'm going backpacking :-)

Time: 7/1 to 7/3
Destination: Esmerelda Basin (http://www.wta.org/~wta/cgi-bin/wtaweb.pl?3+tg+fetch+english+1035)
Hiking Distance: 15 miles (Loop trip)
Elevation Gain: 3000 ft.
High Point: 6850 ft.

************

Yay!!! The wedding pictures are allowed to go public now!

got my pike place basket!

So I decided to try out the Pike Place Market basket, where you'll get a basket of veggies and fruits every week for 20 weeks. They claimed that over 85% of the products are certified organic... The cost is $30/week. The quantity is quite enough for a 3-4 ppl family.

The good thing about joining the program is that you can get a variety of veggies. For example, this week I get:

• Asparagus - Magnana Farms
• Arugula* - Frog’s Song
• Mint - Sua Yang
• Red chard - Full Circle and Willie Greens
• Oregano - Stoney Plains
• White Salad Onions - Alvarez and Magana Farms
• Snap peas - Alvarez
• Snow peas - Alvarez and Magana Farm
• Radishes - Full Circle and Frog’s Song
• Rhubarb - Stoney Plains
• Salad mix - Full Circle and Willie Greens
• Strawberries - Frog’s Song, Stoney Plains and Willie Greens

*********

That IRS thingy is so annoying!!

從未收過一封信會驚到想哭!!
這次真的受到教訓 !! 唯有交下學費 ...

*********

I have been asked a lot of times about the first wedding pics I took the other day... looks like the best I can do is just showing the thumbnails :-)



*********

fd's Flickr Toys is pretty cool! Try it out...

This is what I got after using their "Hockenyizer":

"dont' lie to IRS"....

I didn't!

Sigh... they said I owe them a five-figure sum including tax, interests, and penalty. Apparently I haven't put down all the securities transactions...

So close, so far

The last day of SIFF didn't go smoothly.

11:00am "We shall overcome" @ Pacific Place
Didn't go at all. My car was blocked at church so I had to stay for the Sunday school. Well I guess it's better to attend it though since today is the first day of a thee-week series of a condensed versio of his "prayerful life" class. Today we talked about the "essence of prayer"--which is an "intetion" of being with God. If you're in love with someone, it's just like you want to lean your body to your another half... and this can be difficult, especially when you are in love for ages!

2.15pm "Starfish Hotel" @ Harvard Exit Theater
This movie wasn't the type I like. So dark. So mysterious.
If you happen to see a movie at the Harvard Exit, make sure you don't go to the men's room on the thrid floor. I almost passed out because of the smell... the toilet is a huge one that everyone got to share the same bowl... and they don't have water flush with it so you can imagine how badly the smell can be. To be honest I felt my heart bumping very very fast suddenly and then I felt like falling down... how embarrsed that could be :-)

9.00pm "So close, so far" @ Broadway Performance Hall
Yay! After 10+ phone calls and SMS I found So Gor who was available and was kind enough to pick up my housemate :-) so that I can go watch this movie. It turned out that this was another gem from Iran!
"So close, so far" is a thought-provoking awesome Iranian movie. This movie won the best picture of the 9th Iran Cinema Celebration Awards. It's very very heavy though.

Director Seyed Reza Mirkarimi (Under the Moonlight) is known for his subtle integration of a timeless spirituality into his contemporary Iranian dramas, and in his newest feature he focuses on a lost soul forced to confront his core values in the face of personal tragedy. Mahmoud Alem, a highly successful but self-absorbed neurologist, is shocked to discover that the 18-year-old son he has long neglected is terminally ill. Setting off to locate and reconcile with his child, who has left on an astronomy project in the desert, Alem's travels soon become a journey of self-discovery as he encounters along the way a number of seemingly ordinary people who challenge his very limited view of the world. A rare gem of a film, So Close, So Far is a compelling new vision of Iranian society, with exquisite cinematography that reveals the desert's sweeping grandeur as you have never seen it before.—K. Clement

The father almost died in his car burried by a sand storm... hum, may be I should reconsider whether I should go to Sahara... all alone!

SIFF Movies

SIFF Movies
Originally uploaded by euqus.

So I redeemed the vouchers I got from volunteering SIFF. The picture's showing three movies I am going to see. Among them, the "Stairfish Hotel" is the one I am most interested in! This movie was almost sold out, and in fact they didn't have any volunteer tickets left (since for each movie they only have a small percentage of seat reserved for volunteers). But fortunately the producer-looking girl at the box office made some tricks so that I can get a seat! Actually she is working on film development too... so I decided to donate some to the whatever film making foundation.

The "So Close, So far" is my another need-to-watch film. Hopefully someone is kind enough to pick up my housemate from the airport tomorrow night so that I can go watch the movie :-)

I have eventually signed up a B&W class offered by the Photographic Center Northwest, and have gotten a second hand 35mm Nikon FM2. Ouch! Another big money given away..... But as counselor C said, this is going to be an investment!

If you happen to buy equipments from Glazers', make sure you ask for a bargain. They usually mark up prices at least 1/3 above the reasonable online price. For example, their list price for a Nikon 50mm f1.4 was $380, whereas on Amazon it was listed for $278. Finally I was able to lower the price to $300, plus getting a free UV filter they listed $45 :-) Their second hand eqipment has pretty good price though. The FM2 costs $225 with 10% off, which is about the same price on ebay. Also I got a Hasselblad 50mm filter for only $15.

Ho gor asked me to give him tuition fee... I didn't realized it's goig to be $2000+ until now.

My bank account is going to be dried out soon.....

Morocco trip... possible?

So I asked around and seems like Morocco is pretty safe going solo:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/moroccan/discuss/72157594145096228/

Also the flight ticket from Seattle to Casablanca is only $1300 in December, which is not bad!

Should I go, or not?

想去摩洛哥...

All of a sundden I really want to visit Morocco, and if possible travel across Sahara! I am sure there's going to be BIG cultural shock, and hopefully I will come back a changed person in one piece :-) Yup... I'm thinking of going SOLO again! Well, not exactly traveling alone, since I am planning to join tours with travelers from around the world.



My friend said I am crazy considering an inexperienced small Asian guy can't probably protect himself. Hum... in the worst case I'd just dress like the locals... oh well, I don't look like a Chinese anyway...



May be I should get some experience by going Death Valley alone.

Finally I have some time to take a closer look at my Hasselblad 500C/M! It's a beautiful piece. I don't have the film with me yet and will probably take it to sevice before using it.



Hopefully I can master it soon!

It gives a strong romantic feel as soon as you take it on your hand :-) haha I look so silly under the Zeiss..

sa-kwa 2

Came across this from a blog today. Thought it's a very good conclusion of "sa-kwa""

“一段長久堅固的感情﹐絕不會完美無瑕。我想﹐他們年輕時也激情過、平淡過、吵過、哭過、甚至鬧分手過。當中曾憎恨﹐曾心痛﹐也曾原諒。經歷過這麼多的起起跌跌﹐最後忘記大家的過錯﹐仍緊緊拉著對方的手。”
-『他她牠的床』

sa-kwa

I hate this movie! It's so real--I can even find shadow of my past. It reminded me a lot of things...

"sa-kwa" in Korean has two meaning: 1. a green apple, and 2. apology.

Green apple to apology... is this what love has to be?

徒然...

一切有時。

我知道... 我知道。



《記得忘記》

主唱：林峰
作曲：林潤明
填詞：林若寧

明天過後 來揮一揮手
天高地厚 就此各自暢遊
忘記玩偶 忘不了蕩過韆鞦
縱使雙手多麼緊扣 亦要走

從此以後 誰也不回頭
一早熱透 汗水切勿倒流
忘記沒有 忘不了路過沙丘
愛到枯乾都找不到綠洲

你在我記憶旅行 每步也驚心
跟你踏過許多腳印 捨不得轉身
你贈我太多見聞 拿不走的熱吻
多努力放低 偏不會忘記 苦戀紀念品
純屬過路風箏不懂愛別人
( 忘掉昨日今天不必要熱吻 )

浮沙滿地 沉重的傳奇
沙粒極重 任它浸沒眼眉
忘記道理 忘不了亦會別離
在你掌心之中該上自己
(寧願以後只可分享半滴吻)

承諾

Didn't know that 伊莎貝拉 has a meaning of 「對上帝的承諾」。

「承諾」，也就是電影的主題。

很喜歡男主角有勇氣面對自己的錯失，重新擔起父親對女兒，對一頭家的承諾!

學習耐心等候

心急催逼, 反會把事情弄糟。還是安靜等候, 給予多些時間看看上帝的改變。

幸福？我且欣然地期待。

星星照耀長路黑夜徑, 全是恩主的導引。

久違了的興奮

The new team is awesome! Everything is so ideal: very supportive boss, good co-workers, and fun!

The workload is more, but I really enjoy what I am doing!

Well, at least for now.

********

Went to have dinner with the coworkers tonight--among us one Hindu, one Buddhist, and one Christian. Our topic was mostly around the "casts" in Hindunism, and the "state" in Buddhism. Interestingly, we didn't even talk about Christianity.

Is it because the basics of Christianity is well known already?

********
ARGH!

期望與你再會...

朋友返天家了...

「一位常面帶笑容、對神全然信靠、勇敢而堅強的好姊妹」

一幕幕隔世的回憶，常記心中。

期望與你再會!

情感與夢

laundry day
Originally uploaded by stillpug.

夢, 是抑壓情感的解脫？

昨晚, 那夢真可怕。

夢, 到底有何用？

spreadsheets

Looks pretty promising :)

****

Another friend of mine is leaving the company!

Argh.

兩張戲票

「手上有兩張戲票，另一張票還沒有主人，但距離開場只有一天，怎處理好？」

有人會索性不去，讓雙人座空著；有人選擇獨自就坐，與旁邊的空位並肩；可以的話會把戲票送人，免卻煩惱又不浪費；最後是找人相陪。

最後的處理方法最複雜，找人的話，是隨便哪個都好，還是堅持要找一個投契的人同行？

這樣的過程，很像人們對感情的態度：最好當然與喜歡的人一起去，但隨著時間過去，要求逐漸降低，最後只要有人願意同行，己管不了是否喜歡，也像溺水的人抓住水泡死抱不放，到頭來縱使發現那是一具腐臭的浮屍，再討厭也不捨得放手。

我會嘗試找別人同行，但會選自己喜歡，否則就算獨行也會去，然後把隨身物品肆意地放到空位上，輕輕鬆鬆地享受一段光影歷程。

無論旁邊是空座或是陌生人，都不及不對題同伴那麼令人不安，兩個人一起的寂寞，才算是真正的孤獨。

《一切還好: 兩張戲票》

*****
補充: 如果是你，會揀邊樣？ 儘管一個人， 我都一定去。 有幸的，或許會「天公造美」 :-)

悼...

六四記憶

17年前的往事, 仍然清晰。



*****************************

Recently I wasn't in a good mood so I decided to stroll around Seattle after meeting up with C. After cruising aimlessly for a while, I ended up finding myself in Volunteer Park Conservatory.



The plants were well taken care of, and their beauty left me in awe.



However, I found the wildflower blooming on the lawn next to the conservatory looked even prettier. Without any spoken word, they proclaimed the wonders of our heavenly father. He takes care every little creature, no matter how unimportant they seemingly are--everything happens for a purpose!!

I then went on to the Seattle Asian Art Museum. The work of Johsel Namkung was amazing! I really like the way he communicates with nature -- his eyes often find beauty among unexpected places. For example, when shooting at dawn, people usually focus on capturing the "macro beauty" like the sun, the mountains, etc. But Namkung aimed at shooting little things like the water grass (found around the shore of Picture Lake, WA) below, trying to capture their first reflection of sunlight.



Isn't life a lot more beautiful, if we are sensitive to the "micro beauty" of our surroundings? Just take a look around within 10 feet of where you are now, you will for sure find something beautiful--if you try viewing it in different perspectives.

I also like the way he decides when to press the shutter. Unlike me, who almost always take photos a multiple times and hoping for a good picture comes up by chance, he "fights" with nature and tries various perspective until he finds the perfect view. So his work was never cropped, leaving everything in great detail.

Looking at his photos, you really can tell his dialog with the nature outside -- as well as inside -- his mind.

There were a few pictures of Shi Shi Beach, WA (located in the wilderness of Olympic National Park). There's no paved road getting there so one has to walk about 5 miles on undeveloped tracks. But hey, walking 5 miles isn't a thing to find this hidden gem!

Heee, I'm planning a trip now!

In the evening we had a wonton battle: Shanghai vs. Canton :-)

Too bad our chef friend left us last week to pursue his dreams in Hong Kong... Hopefully he's already gotten use to the pace in the lively city.

Anyways, I think this 1-year old tradition of theme dinner party needs to be continued, or else life in Seattle can become dull...

很想祇是聽錯...

「癌細胞已轉移所有器官...」

很想，很想祇是聽錯。

我最衷心的盼望，盼望您少點煎熬。

為生命而戰!


『祂（基督）已經把死廢去，…將不能壞的生命彰顯出來。』提後一章十節。

3

3
Originally uploaded by cuellar.

Thanks my friend for giving me the comments!

I love this pic, so cute, good composition!

擔心...

消瘦... 因是癌症。

人能做的非常之少，願你我所信的神體恤你，看顧你。

「死亡，我會比你長命！」-- 楊牧谷牧師

Maggie's new movie Clean looks pretty good: