7月 31, 2006

Poor Taoming groupmate

So I had this weird dream yesterday afternoon...

I dreamed that one of my Taoming groupmates (call her T) was killed by my primary schoomate (call him P)!! I saw that P wrapped T in a big and thick plastic bag, and P brought T up to the penthouse of an upscale condo and dropped her down from there....

* * *

And then, I suddenly became the king of China, and I condemned P and ordered him to eat grass for the rest of his life -- eating grass without using hands....


* * *

I must confess that I didn't even try to rescue my poor groupmate T from the hands of evil P -- all I did was just peeking from behind bushes.

How about a glass of lemonade?

Yay! Because flickr was down last week, and because I was mo leiu enough to enter the coloring contest, I got one month proc account for free :-)

Oh, and they have 14 winners!

**********

I bet this is the most hilarious merge of the year :-)

7月 30, 2006

這個晚上...

交代了,聽到了,才捨得走下去。

這個晚上,盪氣迴腸。

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

Finally I watched "17歲的夏天 A side, B side, Sea side". I really like the last theme -- "It's always lonely when you're on the road of chasing your destiny".

I can already feel that loneliness :-)



悠悠長途重重山 風急鐵路冷
離愁和回憶 加起千百擔
何時何年才能夠 風中再遇你
挽手傾談吻乾偷泣的眼....

7月 27, 2006

today's fortune


today's fortune
Originally uploaded by aNNa Munandar.
How true! I remember my friend once said the same thing to me....

Argh, my FM2 isn't working too well, since the shutter stays opened from time to time... Fortunately Glalzers' is kind enough to take it back--they said even it's over their warranty period it's ok to take it back ;-)

I guess.... that's the beauty of local retailer.

My friend said that online retailing is like a sunset industry now... haha... may be it's true.

In internet time.

Oh, the FM2 is a great little camera that I love it a lot. These photos show her inner beauty...

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=fm2&s=int&z=t

I have been shooting with her 90% of the time these days for the class assignments that I almost forget how to use my other camera... and in deed, I missed half of the pics I took the other day because of the unfamiliarity....

Sassy is so looking forward to escape again whenever I open up a window :-)

Let me out !

:-)

7月 26, 2006

4 歲 都 寫 ??

So the project I am now working on is really boring... and frustrating. sigh.

While I'm stalled, I read an article in 壹號頭條 talking about the blog 潮 in HK. One of the blogger in the article is only 4 years old! And looks like blogging actually improves the relationship between the parents and 浩浩 (since 浩浩口述,爸爸代筆).

「這段親子寫blog時間,不但令浩浩樂於坐定定分享校園樂事,浩媽媽也藉 blog,教導兒子正確的人生觀。」

浩浩快樂日記

And this blogger is AWESOME! Her drawings are really good. In fact, she published a book that has all her pictures in it. And guess what? She's a 物理系畢業生,現在理工大學 員....

Take me home

其 中 一 幅 作 品 , 名 為 《 溝 通 》 。 畫 中 兩 人 正 在 談 天 說 地, 雖 然 觀 點 迥 異 , 卻 能 彼 此 接 納 對 方 看 法 。 一 名 四 十 歲 的 女 blog 友 看 過 後 , 即 時以 英 文 留 言 說 : 「 我 不 是 一 個 快 樂 的 女 人 , 但 看 過 你 的 圖 畫 , 我 感 覺 好 了 點 。 」 原來 她 獨 身 兼 失 業 , 當 時 情 緒 極 度 低 落 , Tina 意 想 不 到 一 幅 圖 畫 竟 可 幫 助 一 個 陌 生人 治 療 心 靈 。
此 幅 畫 竟 同 時 感 動 了 茶 杯 出 版 社 總 編 輯 Rebecca , 還 主 動 聯 絡 她 , 提 議 將 blog 結 集 成 一 本 畫 冊 , Rebecca 說 : 「 Tina 畫 , 對 人 情 世 事 睇 得 好 透 徹 , 難 得 佢 唔 會 傷 春 悲 秋 , 又 帶 出 積 極 訊 息 。 我 好 多 同 事 都 話 , 睇 完 個 心 會 即 刻 暖 一 暖 。 」

曾經擁有 is my favorite:
http://tine0504.mysinablog.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=171679

Sigh... my blog's traffic is only a handful of visitors per day....

Where did you spend it?

Higher spending?? Where to??

Sorry, but I can't even consider you as part of my portfolio... even though you're free....

一點鼓勵,一點堅持

Thanks for the encouragement! You made me feel that I still stay attractive :-) Haha, too bad Seattle doesn't have much supply....

And your idea of having a second career is good, but too bad I'm not allowed to do any work other than sitting on my company's chair seeing it plunging quarter after quarters...

Having that said, it's always good to do some practice once in a while... http://www.bebbblog.blogspot.com/ is pretty good!

7月 24, 2006

Can't stand the heat

I've been sleeping on my curved couch in basement for three nights because of the heat. Argh, I'm so looking forward to the cooler wheather, which is supposed to come later this week!



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

I'm asking my friend to join a photography camp going to the Hoh Rainforest and the Olympic Coast area. Looks like it's really beautiful out there, especially the Shi Shi Beach!



So as you can tell, photography is becoming my new obsession now... hopefully one day I may be able to travel around the globe taking photos for National Geographic, like Chris Rainier :-)

7月 22, 2006

Lemons Never Tasted So Sweet

Remember the flickr downtime? A lot of people responsed and they have picked a set of interesting submission.

http://blog.flickr.com/flickrblog/2006/07/lemons_never_ta.html

A lot of them are really great! Hum, will she get a one year pro account for free :-)



While I was reading the FT today, there was an article talking about DIY marketing -- companies like Walmart that recently launched a website The Hub (School Your Way) which bascially is a contest asking people to put together contents using video, music, blog, etc to do internet branding-- i.e. consumer generated advertising.

And flickr did it in a more creative way since it uses it's downtime and turned something that was supposed to be bad to help buidling up its brand.

Hum... marketing...

7月 21, 2006

Opportunities

So my friend mentioned that there are a lot of opportunities in Hong Kong... but I'm just scared of the heat and pollution....

Sigh, life's like that. No pin has two sharp points.

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

For those Indian food lovers, here's a great site you can't miss: http://indianfoodrocks.blogspot.com/

7月 20, 2006

毛 骨 悚 然

This evening's darkroom printing wasn't that successful. It was quite difficult for me to concentrate... I don't know why but I did the same mistake several times that I had to throw away a lot of paper.

After coming back home I started having dinner. And while I was eating, I read this news... and I was like... I want to throw up.

難 民 向 美 國 告 發 小 孩 遭 屠 殺
北 韓 飯 店 賣 童 肉 餐

極權 共 產 北 韓 ( North Korea ) 本 月 初 耗 資 至 少 1.17 億 港 元 試 射 七 枚 導 彈 , 但 國 內人 民 飢 腸 轆 轆 , 早 前 逃 到 美 國 的 難 民 向 國 會 告 發 , 北 韓 有 餐 廳 東 主 曾 經 在 一 天 內 誘騙 13 名 拾 荒 小 孩 , 將 他 們 宰 殺 , 炮 製 童 肉 餐 供 應 食 客 。

31 歲 的 Joseph ( 化 名 ) 是 首 批 獲 美 國 給 予 庇 護 的 六 名 北 韓 難 民 之 一 。 他 前 天 和 另 外五 名 同 胞 , 在 爭 取 關 注 北 韓 人 權 問 題 的 美 國 參 議 員 布 朗 巴 克 ( Sam Brownback ) 安排 下 出 席 記 者 會 , 抖 出 北 韓 種 種 暴 行 , 最 令 人 毛 骨 悚 然 的 , 是 在 他 曾 居 住 的 一 個 小鎮 , 有 餐 廳 賣 童 肉 。
那 間 餐 廳 在 鎮 中 赫 赫 有 名 , 一 天 , 店 主 看 見 13 名 小 孩 ,像 無 數 的 北 韓 小 孩 那 樣 , 在 街 上 拾 荒 、 找 尋 食 物 , 於 是 誘 騙 他 們 到 店 內 , 裝 好 心 說讓 他 們 洗 個 澡 。 孩 子 滿 心 歡 喜 , 以 為 遇 上 好 人 , 怎 料 洗 澡 後 即 被 店 主 勒 死 。 Joseph 說 , 「 那 些 人 將 他 們 ( 孩 子 ) 洗 乾 淨 , 再 屠 宰 斬 碎 , 煮 成 韓 國 美 食 , 更 聲稱 是 『 用 豬 肉 製 成 』 」 , 客 人 在 不 知 情 下 進 食 了 「 童 肉 佳 餚 」 。

市 場 出 售 「 特 別 的 肉 」
殺 童 烹 肉 很 恐 怖 , 說 明 貧 窮 北 韓 已 淪 落 為 人 食 人 社 會 。 除了 Joseph , 一 個 又 一 個 從 北 韓 逃 了 出 來 、 瘦 骨 嶙 峋 的 難 民 , 以 前 都 曾 說 過 一 個 又一 個 食 人 故 事 。
三 年 前 援 助 組 織 「 北 韓 難 民 援 助 基 金 」 的 調 查 報 告 指 , 北 韓 人 正 餓 肚 子 , 但 政 府 寧 要 核 子 , 之 後 北 韓 人 變 成 食 人 族 , 把 活 生 生 的 孩 子 如 牛 如 豬 般 宰 殺吃 掉 , 又 有 市 場 出 售 「 特 別 的 肉 」 , 有 難 民 說 : 「 人 人 都 知 那 些 肉 從 哪 來 , 但 沒 人 說 出 口 。 」
90 年 代 中 後 期 , 北 韓 連 年 饑 荒 , 估 計 高 達 250 萬 人 餓 死 。 一 名 曾 在 平 壤 政 府 工 作 的 李姓 女 子 說 : 「 一 個 人 餓 極 了 可 能 會 發 瘋 , 我 家 鄉 有 女 人 殺 掉 她 的 七 個 月 大 嬰 兒 , 然後 和 另 一 個 女 人 分 甘 同 味 。 」 她 又 曾 聽 過 食 完 人 的 女 人 說 : 「 好 味 道 。 」 媽 媽 對 親生 子 女 都 飢 不 擇 食 , 有 難 民 說 集 中 營 常 有 兒 童 失 蹤 。
即 使 不 被 人 吃 掉 , 生 於 北 韓 的 孩 子 仍 很 慘 。 聯 合 國 估 計 近 70,000 名 北 韓 兒 童 營 養 不 良 。 家 缺 糧 , 孩 子 惟 有 拾 荒 撿 吃 , 有 的 吃 得 拉 肚 子 , 有 的 吃 得 中 毒 賠 上 小 生 命 。
孩子 苦 , 金 正 日 政 權 卻 自 欺 欺 人 。 日 本 出 版 的 《 朝 鮮 新 報 》 去 年 報 道 , 北 韓 糧 荒 嚴 重, 當 局 推 出 一 種 聲 稱 吃 了 會 令 孩 子 快 高 長 大 和 益 智 的 糖 果 , 希 望 用 海 藻 、 豆 類 、 芝麻 製 成 的 糖 果 , 給 孩 子 營 養 補 給 。
除 了 兒 童 , 大 人 們 也 受 盡 皮 肉 之 苦 。 Joseph 和 另 外 一 男 四 女 的 難 民 , 在 記 者 會 均 戴 鴨 舌 帽 和 墨 鏡 。 不 敢 以 真 面 目 、 真名 字 示 人 , 是 因 為 怕 曝 了 光 會 禍 及 在 北 韓 的 親 人 , 另 一 方 面 也 反 映 他 們 在 長 期 苦 難中 , 心 靈 受 巨 創 。

女 子 被 賣 當 性 奴 兩 年

Joseph 曾 被 關 進 「 如 納 粹 式 集 中 營 」 的 監 獄 長 達 18 個 月 , 經 常 受 酷 刑 對 待 , 如 用 鉗 子 夾斷 手 指 、 以 皮 鞭 鞭 打 , 他 說 這 些 都 是 「 家 常 便 飯 」 。 20 歲 的 Chanmi 一 年 內 三 次 被賣 掉 、 被 迫 結 婚 、 多 次 被 強 姦 ; 24 歲 的 Deborah 被 賣 給 有 婦 之 夫 , 關 在 房 子 當 性奴 兩 年 ; 36 歲 的 Hannah 被 迫 嫁 給 中 國 男 子 , 慘 被 虐 打 , 曾 被 打 至 胸 骨 碎 裂 。
以六 名 難 民 作 人 證 , 美 國 參 議 員 布 朗 巴 克 說 : 「 如 果 我 們 只 集 中 在 平 壤 的 武 器 計 劃 ,就 不 能 解 決 問 題 的 根 源 。 」 他 將 提 出 草 案 推 動 立 法 , 迫 使 美 國 談 判 員 多 關 注 北 韓 人權 。
法 新 社 / 美 聯 社 / 英 國 廣 播 公 司
美 國 《 華 盛 頓 郵 報 》


North Korea, 1995

(北 韓 1995 年 起 勃 發 綿 延 10 年 的 大 饑 荒 , 250 萬 人 餓 死 , 黃 海 北 道 平 山 一 間 兒 童 院外 , 營 養 不 良 的 小 朋 友 瘦 得 皮 包 骨 , 如 會 走 的 骷 髏 般 可 怖 復 可 憐 。)

7月 19, 2006

驚喜的喊聲



All of a sudden learning kendo comes into my mind :-) I just checked out and looks like this Seattle Kendo Kai is a pretty good organization. Yea yea yea I know... I am too aggressive in terms of learning new things.

Well, may be some day you will hear me shouting like master Sasaki:



And give you a salute like what they do in the movies...

Offlined!



What happened today? The website I go to the least (live.com) and the website I visit several times a day (flickr.com) were both down almost at the same time!!

But flickr apologizes in a fun and creative way :-) I cheated since I "painted" the white circles using my computer... heee... They also have a very detailed explaination on what's going wrong with their systems and what's being done, while assuring customers' photos are in good hands and noting is lost etc etc.

live.com? Just a plain blank page.... Oh well, may be that's what MS usually does... (I better shut up now :-)

(Want to see how others "paint" the dots? click here:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=flickrcolourcontest&w=all)

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

Glad to hear about the veto, but how true does he really mean it when he said ""It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect."?

Posted by Picasa

7月 18, 2006

Changed behavior

After Sassy's return from her last escape she changed a lot! She wants to go outside all the time now. Sigh.

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

I was quite happy with the results I got from the B&W assignment last week, since I got lots of good comments from the instructor :p The assignment asked us to capture blurred motion at a slow shutter speed, and another stopping a motion at a fast shutter speed.

For the blurred motion I captured the Bank of America and surrounding buildings. How did I make a blurred motion? Actually I kind of cheated. I used 1/125 and then changed the zoom focal length within that time frame, capturing the "motion" as if I was riding on a bullet. Not a new idea obviously, but my instructor was surprised knowing that I did it all my handheld without using a tripod.

The second one I captured water drops from a faucet. Again, this was a very common idea, but the instructor said that it was the best water drop she has ever seen (and she said she came across this kind of picutre every quarter). Well, I guess luck was why I can feeze the water from dripping.

Isn't photography amazing? As a photographer you have the right to freeze any motion you like in the way you want!

Oh, the people in the Green Village were very nice to me the other day when I wanted to take photos of the chefs working in the kitchen. I was surprised they allowed me to do that actually. Uum... sunddenly I have a wild thought of taking pictures of every restaurant kitchen in the ID, sort of doing a documentary... I think this is going to be a fun personal project! And I can probably make some connections along the way.

Good, as well as bad, connections :-)

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

Peace be with those who lost their families because of the wars... hopefully the conflicts will be all over soon.

7月 15, 2006

match.com Dinner II

So quite a few people asked me about that dinner. No, no, no, it's not about match.com :-) It's actually a farewell dinner for a friend who is going to start a family in Toronto. But then what's interesting was that right at the beginning our topic was all about match.com, which was pretty funny! And you know what, three girls in that party actually has subscription and had dated through the site :-)

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

I was talking to my friend for a long time about the Tibet trip. Looks like I need to get a 回鄉証 in order to enter Tibet smoother. So that means I need to go back to HK just for that?!

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

Today I met C again. We talked about things that happened in the past where I still have a fresh memory of that. Guess what? We talked about that ghost story....

Yup, it was real!

And haha, there were so many fun little things happened in my childhood!

7月 14, 2006

match.com dinner

Haha the farewell dinner last night was pretty funny... it turned out to be something like a match.com dinner :-)

7月 12, 2006

夜半無人愛的宣言

Finally I found chairman butt!! I still remember I read his books over and over again when I was in the secondary school...

絕!

I was planning a mid September road trip and then when I checked my company's observed public holidays I almost jumped up from my tiny cubicle.... 7 days!!!

But then if you take a closer look... one of them is actually in 2007......

一個字,絕!

2006 Holidays:
  • New Year's Day 2006 (Monday, January 2, 2006)
  • Memorial Day (Monday, May 29)
  • Independence Day (Tuesday, July 4)
  • Labor Day (Monday, September 4)
  • Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 23)
  • Christmas (Monday, December 25)
  • New Year's Day 2007 (Monday, January 1, 2007)
Anyways, I am planning to go Bodie, CA and the national parks in Utah in the week of 9/11-17. Anyone wants to tag along :-)

********

計劃明年到“世界第三極”的青藏高原走一趟!

7月 11, 2006

有選擇是萬無一失的嗎?

人生是見步行步嗎?

Mad cow again...

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/15012134.htm

7月 09, 2006

神情呆滯

近日神情呆滯,心情差勁,決定”接”埋睇意法終極戰。預計中的賽果, 意料之外的過程! 頂人個肺?!

********

I am thinking of getting a "uniform" for Taoming.... what about this :P

Taoming uniform

********

Samsung's nv7 looks pretty good! It uses Schneider 7x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 38-270mm in 35 mm format).

7月 08, 2006

Got more pics

Courtesy of Willis, I got more pics of the July 4th backpacking :-)

ee2cd13f.jpg.orig

記起・遺忘・又記起

It's been a long time since I last cook.

Busy is the best excuse, as I worked over 12 hours a day over the past month; another reason is that photography has become my new obession now I spend most of my time on it.

But then today the weather was really beautiful, and hot! The darkroom printing was done way ahead of my schedule, so I decided to fire up the stove top girll and get some grilled veggies with fish sause :-) I paired it with Trutina, a light red mixed with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and carbernet franc.

Grilling summer veggies

******

The seminar last night was informative yet overly informative. The conclusion was what hit me the most -- God is acting in spots where human conflicts can easily be found: be it in the Middle East, your country, your workplace, or your family, and I added, even within oneself.

*******

記起・遺忘・又記起....

車站

作曲:林敏怡填詞:林振強、潘源良

主唱:蘇芮、夏韶聲


望著無盡鐵路 怎會不孤單
你已踏上風沙 要轉幾多彎
站上沉默眺望 列車的消失
剩下是夜和人 和一聲聲心裡慨嘆

或是逃避咋日 積壓的重擔
或是為了他朝 誓要闖一番
倦極仍在眺望 未知的空間
路或盡是循環 仍傾出一生再去探

* 悠悠長途重重山 風急鐵路冷
離愁和回憶 加起千百擔
何時何年才能夠 風中再遇你
挽手傾談吻乾偷泣的眼

站後仍是有站 彷似很簡單
不知幾多悲歡盛滿每一班
實在人造鐵路是縮短空間
或是盡量延長 人心中的千串慨嘆

Repeat *

要再經多少個站 你方可再復還
如重逢 是否感情仍未淡
要再經多少個站 我方可以淡忘
誰人曾停留在臂彎

Repeat *

悠悠長途重重山 風急鐵路冷
離愁和回憶 加起千百擔
何時何年才能夠風中再遇你
等多幾多班 方能等到你
轉多幾多彎 方能不想你

7月 07, 2006

trespassing

trespassing

7月 06, 2006

乜都影一餐

Got a few free stuffs today :-)

A free bouquet of flower from Pike Place market! Someone took away my bigger basket so they decided to give me a free flower bouquet this week. They look really great, and smell refreshing!

Also my coworker gave away this repro work of the Eames Lounge chair. A new authentic costs over $3000! It's a very very comfortable chair, although signs of wearing shows all over the place. But hey, it's still very functional and sturdy!

乜都影一餐

7月 05, 2006

告一段落

IRS的事總算告一段落了。

According to my accountant friend, I only need to pay back less than a thousand's tax + interest. There isn't a penalty since the tax I owed was less than $5000.

7月 04, 2006

Sassy is gone (for now) (lost but found!)


Day 2: Foundation
Originally uploaded by euqus.
Sassy broke the window screen in my bedroom and went out to catch birds while I was still sleeping... sigh... she's still not back yet, but I have a feeling she will find her way home very soon. Hopefully she can keep herself safe during this little adventure.

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

Just came back from the backpacking trip yesterday. The hike was quite tiring, but the view was very rewarding. There were a lot of strange animal footprints on the way that made the trip more exciting... I have posted the photos already. Not all of them were captioned though.

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

Thanks to those who prayed for Sassy's safe return. SHE'S BACK :-)

Next time when your indoor cat went away, all you need to do is just sit at your front door and call her name repeatedly.

Thanks my friend coming over and did that :-) We almost lost our hope and we went back to the house. And then I was about to bring Sassy's food outside hoping she'd come back for the food.

And then as soon as I opened the door, I saw Sassy!!