Thank you, Barca

Can’t express my gratitude enough…

24th birthday

Realized that I’m too behind in my blog updates, so I took Friday off (5/22) just to catch up with my posts…ok lame. Let’s turn the clock back to 3/22, which is two months ago. On that very day, I officially turned 24, another year closer to wherever that I’m heading…This year I have decided I’m not going to whine about how old I am or how I have achieved nothing yet :P

Since 3/22 was a Sunday, I managed to go to AA to spend my time with PY and Umich friends. On Friday night, upon reaching AA, Pei Ying and I went to La Dolce to try out some of the restaurant’s finest desserts. I had the Creme Brulee, and PY had the Chocolate Melt Cake. We ordered another extra as we still have same gastric juice to use. Thanks PY for the treat!

On Saturday night, we (the Michigan gang) went out to Kai’s garden to have dinner. Dishes were okay, but not olala good. Thanks guys for the meal and card!

Short, but nevertheless an update…

 

Chocolate Melt Cake…highly recommended!

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Er…cake. Forgot its name!

La Dolce Vita

Gangs of New York/American Gangster

Up (btw this is Pixar’s upcoming film title)

When I was driving to Ann Arbor on 3/20, I spotted a hot air balloon floating nearby the interstate highway. Since my camera was just in my backpack on the passenger seat, I quickly grabbed it and took a couple of shots:

Balloon first spotted

I-69

Coming closer to view…

Weee……

It sure is a colorful one…isn’t it?

Ok I am just being wuliao…too lazy to blog about my birthday yet, so this is like a teaser?? :P

Chicago Training (3/18-3/19)

About a few weeks back (actually come to think of it it's already more than a month ago), my manager signed me up for a one and a half day software training in Chicago. Though it's not exactly a luxurious getaway, a brief "reprieve" from the office was much welcomed.

To save costs, my manager and I carpooled and departed Carmel before daybreak (so that we didn't have to spend an extra night in Chicago). When we reached downtown Chicago it was already 8+am, therefore we went straight to the training. We did not check in to our hotel until that evening.

The highlight of the training session was...well, lunch. It was my second time having deep dish pizza, and it was tasty. Much much tastier than the regular ones that I now detest. Besides the food, I got the chance to get a glimpse at the city working life too. To me, one thing stands out: the seemingly higher stress level associated with working in a faster paced environment. That again made me wonder if I could switch back to a more hectic lifestyle...

We headed back to hotel before having dinner at Rosebud. More on the hotel: it was strategically located (just beside the river, opposite to the newly constructed Trump Tower!) yet cheap (97 bucks per night!). Of course you get what you pay for: the room was oddly shaped and small. Still, it's a steal since I just needed a place to rest for one night.

Dinner at Rosebud was ok, and we (4 of us) went to America Girl Doll after the meal because one of my colleague promised to buy doll's accessories (...) for her daughter. I managed to meet up with Vivian and Shi Ting after that. We went to Noodles Co, as they just got off from work and had not had dinner yet. It was certainly great catching up with old friends!

View from the window of my room

Trump Tower (can't fit the whole thing in one shot)

Narrow room

 

Long time no see...

Chicago night view 1

Chicago night view 2

UMS 2009

Every year, the University Musical Society of the U of Michigan presents a list of world class performances with very affordable ticket prices (with student discount). This year, I still managed to enjoy the discounts thanks to Pei Ying. We went to two concerts in March:

New York Philharmonic (3/7)

· Mendelssohn : A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture (1826)
· Schumann : Symphony No. 4 in d minor, Op. 120 (1841)
· Mussorgsky : Pictures at an Exhibition, arr. Ravel (1874/ arr. 1922)
· Encore - Brahms : Hungarian Dance No. 1
· Encore - Bizet : Farandole

The Silk Road Ensemble, Yo Yo Ma (3/14)

· Kim/Umezaki/Tong : Wandering Winds
· Kayhan Kalhor, arr. Ljova : Mountains are Far Away
· Zhao Jiping : Sacred Cloud Music
· Shane Shananhan : Saidi Swing
· Rabih Abou-Khalil : Arabian Waltz
· Angel Lam : Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain
· Dmitry Yanov-Yanovsky : Paths of Parables
· Colin Jacobsen : Ascending Bird
· Encore - Wu Tong : Sheng solo
· Encore - Traditional : Ethiopian Song “Musiqawi Silt”

The New York Philharmonic was awesome; personally I like the Pictures at an Exhibition a lot. The music supposedly depicts a tour of an art collection. Although it did not summon instant images to my mind, it was an interesting exercise to try surmising the artworks depicted based on the style of the music.

The Yo Yo Ma concert on the other hand was a disappointment. I didn't have high expectation even before attending the concert, as I was aware that I am not a person opened to all types of music. The performances did open my eyes as I was introduced to some new instruments, but really Yo Yo Ma's name should not be put in the title. He was just a participant in the ensemble, and his name was clearly used to boost attendance. Overall it was disappointing to whoever who wants to see him showing off his extraordinary talent.

I should note that there was a decidedly odd work which included a narrator telling stories so lame that they were actually funny. I bet that part managed to wake a lot of people up :)

Great video with great music!

Music: Jurrasic Park Theme by John Williams

I want to visit this place someday!!!

Valentine's Day

Another long due post. Admittedly this year I did not put in as much thought in planning the V-Day as last year. That being said, the celebration is still a memorable one...

Since I acted late, most of the restaurants on Main Street are already fully booked. We ended up going to the Yotsuba Restaurant for dinner. I ordered a duck ramen (of course it's not the instant noodles), while Pei Ying had the Yotsuba ramen. We also ordered some sushi and desert. On top of that I got the chance to try warm sake for the first time :P

Duck ramen, which according to PY was just so-so..(of course since she tried far better ones in Japan...)

The dumpling that came with the ramen

Sushi!!

Dessert and sake (quite strong IMO)

After the heavy dinner we went to Briarwood Mall for a walk, and it was snowing when we came out from the building!! Guess it's time for another episode of Winter Sonata :P

In front of "May's"...

Since the night was still young when we got back to U-Towers, we decided to join the rest for a bubble-tea session in Bubble Island.

Yet another Bubble Island gathering...

So that's our 2nd Valentine's day. Hopefully there will be many many more to come! PYILY!!!

一位國文老師的告白

小学造句:

１。題目：一邊……一邊……

小朋友寫：他一邊脫衣服，一邊穿褲子。

老師批語：他到底是要脫還是要穿啊？

２。題目：其中

小朋友寫：我的其中一只左腳受傷了。

老師批語：你是蜈蚣嗎？

３。題目：陸陸續續

小朋友寫：下班了，爸爸陸陸續續的回家了。

老師批語：你到底有幾個爸爸呀？

４。題目：難過

小朋友寫：我家門前有條水溝很難過。

老師批語：老師更難過。

５。題目：又 又

小朋友寫：我的媽媽又矮又高又胖又瘦。

老師批語；你的媽媽是變形金鋼嗎？

６。題目：你看

小朋友寫：你看什麼看！沒看過啊

老師批語：沒看過

７。題目：欣欣向榮

小朋友寫：欣欣向榮榮告白。

老師批語：連續劇不要看太多了！

８。題目：好吃

小朋友寫：好吃個屁。

老師批語：有些東西是不能吃的。

９。題目：天真

小朋友寫：今天真熱。

老師批語：你真天真。

１０。題目：果然

小朋友寫：昨天我吃水果，然後喝涼水。

老師批語：是詞組，不能分開的。

１１。題目：先……再……，例題：先吃飯，再冼澡。

小朋友寫：先生，再見！

老師批語：想像力超過了地球人的智慧。

１２。題目：況且

小朋友寫：一列火車經過，況且況且況且況且況且況

老師批語：我死了算了 @@

Malaysia 2009: Summary

A wrap up on my trip back home:

Family: This time around it seemed that there were more little kids around. And those who used to be little kids were actually Form 4 or Form 5 now, although they still looked like primary school kids :)

A particularly memorable event was a trip to the "Fo Guang Shan" near Klang. The journey there was unexpectedly long, but worth the trouble I guess. It has been too long since we had such trips as a family (and extended family)

Entrance of "Fo Guang Shan" (mum was holding the camera)

Group photo (mum was holding the camera again...sighz)

Food: Had almost everything I missed the most when I was in the States. But of course, there is never enough time eat all you want :(

New Year Day's vegetarian dishes

Friends: Met 2 high school friends and bumped into one. Things have really changed, and now it feels like that chapter is so far behind me now...and it should be. Form 5 is like 7 years ago now!!!

The Michigan gang meeting was awesome. Prior to that had a 3-hour "paktor" with Wei Jie, which involved walking around in KLCC Suria, Berjaya Times Square, Sungai Wang Plaza, The Pavilion and back to KLCC Suria again. We met up with VS and Seremban folks (Kai Kiat and Mel) later and chatted for a while before the "reunion" dinner at Madam Kwan's. Had a pleasant surprise when Jin Ye brought her boyfriend too. Congrats congrats...

The new couple left early and therefore not in the group pic...and thanks Mike for taking the photo (congrats to both him and Poh Yi too :D)

Special Event: Went to Perlis and visited Pei Ying's parents and family members. Personally I think it was a good gesture, but a lot of people are making a big issue out of it. Some say it was like a "lawatan sambil meminang"....(......)

Conclusion: All in all this short trip back was a very memorable one. Quite surprisingly, I found myself getting used to everything rather quickly - the weather, the people, the culture...yes, there are so many things to complain about this country, and I did feel sad about the dismal state that the country is in, but hey, this is home after all. You keep your eyes closed to all the shitty things around you (corruption, ignorance, pollution, etc etc) and savor the delicious food first before you complain :P

Malaysia 2009: Mum's birthday

So it was my mother's birthday, and my sister came up with this brilliant idea: why not each of us cook one dish for our beloved mother? After some quick "brainstorming" we decided to prepare taro pork, sour spicy soup and vegetable mix. As you can see I'm extremely bad with dish/food names, but hey at least those are better than ridiculous and meaningless names like "Eight Stars with Great News" or "Eight Gods Crossing the Sea"...

Clockwise from top left: Sour spicy soup, Vege mix, Taro Pork, and Sour spicy soup in a bowl...

I would say that the outcome wasn't as expected. My taro pork was a bit too salty and the meat too cooked, whereas Su Khai's sour spicy soup was too sour...guess we all learned something that day.

To compensate my mum who had to tolerate our cooking, we went out to Pizza Hut for dinner that night. This is a family photo (first in quite some time) with the birthday cake before going out for dinner:

Birthday celebration with family is always good!!

CNY in Malaysia

I took 10 days off from work and went back to Malaysia for the last two weeks of January. That means I got to celebrate CNY in Malaysia for the first time in four years. No more snow and exams during CNY!!!

The journey back was a long and tiring one. Luckily Voon Seng, Teck Hua and I had the same flight (starting from Minneapolis), so I didn't have to endure the whole journey myself. Upon reaching KLIA, I waited a while and met up with my sister, who was also flying in from Australia on the same day. We then proceeded to the LCCT, which by the way is the worst airport I have seen so far, to take an Air Asia flight to Penang.

Home is good. It's been too long since five of us - my parents, my sisters and I were together. I think we haven't been under one roof since August 2004 when I left for the states. So, my mother was saying that she wasn't quite used to it when the 3 of us (siblings) were busy chatting at the back seat when we were heading back from the airport...Indeed, I felt very happy when I was around with my family. All the good memories came back effortlessly, and they felt so inviting, so familiar, yet there's this hint of sadness as we all knew the good times were fleeting. It won't be long before we had to part ways again to pursue things that we don't even know why we are pursuing in the first place...

Let me break down this Malaysia experience post into a few, or else I don't think I will ever finished blogging about this whole thing. This draft has been sitting in my Windows Live Writer for more than a week. There's too much to talk about, and so much worth posting, yet so little time! (or rather, I'm so lazy!)

 

Reaching Penang Airport...

Take 2...

More coming next post....

Updates...next time

I am supposed to study my FAP...look at the materials in addition to the online learning modules!! But can't seem to find the motivation to do so. Will update more about my recent Malaysia trip and etc.

Warren Buffet in the making (yeah right)

"...be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."

                                                         -Warren Buffet

Easier said than done I'd say. I started investing in stocks since end of November, and I should say that it has been an "interesting" experience.

I had some beginner's luck when I first opened my online trading account. I should say that buying low and selling high within days was an extremely satisfying experience. Making money suddenly seemed so easy, and I even wondered if I could sustain myself financially by just doing tradings.

Of course, as the Malaysian saying goes: "You think everyday Sunday meh??" Soon enough I was finding myself stuck when the market was going down as a whole. Seeing reds was an equally "un-satisfying" experience, and denial started to set in. "Ok one la, lose a bit now, by holiday seasons it should go up" "Nevermind one, Obama's gonna sworn in, bull ahead". BS. The unwillingness to admit that a mis-judgement has been done, combined with the insatiable greed when times were good, inevitably pushed me closer and closer to where I started. 

So, right now I think I should re-evaluate my strategies. I should be more disciplined, and be more willing to sell even if I am already losing. Well, didn't I already know all that? I guess maybe my best bet is to hire a group of monkeys and let them throw the darts...

Back to the reason I am writing this. Today is the first day that my portfolio (bombastic sounding, but really, it's just a small sum of money) turned negative, and things don't look good in the short future. How bad? I bought AAPL at 84.74, didn't sell it at 97, and now that Steve Jobs has announced that he is stepping down, the after hours trading price is hovering at 79s...serves me right man. There's nothing much I can do now except being a long investor. Wait, what about 壮士断臂?? Haha screw that...

The Dark Knight- Joker Interrogation Scene Spoof

I have to share this...let's not build up the expectations though...watch it for yourself!

Celine Dion

Celine Dion initially scheduled her Indianapolis concert on November 9th. Back then, I couldn't make it since I wanted to watch this with Pei Ying, and she was still in Ann Arbor. However, due to a "timely" throat infection, Celine Dion was forced to reschedule the concert. It was postponed to December 21st, an excellent time because firstly, Pei Ying would be at Indy at that time and secondly, the fact that the concert fell on the 21st made it a conveniently perfect anniversary gift :)

It was a super cold day (temperature was around -25 degree celcius after wind chill). The concert was supposed to start at 8, but some joker (literally, stand-up comedian) took the stage instead of the real main character. He did a great job entertaining the audience, and did very good impersonations of celebrities like Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Jim Carrey, Michael Jackson, George Bush and more. Too bad I don't remember (to be exact, didn't catch) his name.

Celine Dion probably figured that the Indianapolis fans didn't mind waiting for another hour after having waited for a month for this concert. She showed up at 9pm, but promptly made all the waiting worthwhile. Clad in a mini-dress, she brought out the first song of the night, I Drove All Night. She would go on and performed classic hits like Taking Chances, The Power of Love, Because You Loved Me, To Love You More, It’s All Coming Back to Me Now, All By Myself, The Prayer, and Fade Away. Of course, how would a Celine Dion concert be complete without My Heart Will Go On? We had to wait until the second encore performance for that song.

Overall, the concert was great. The stage-work was fantastic, with lots of moving parts and lights displays (erm I guess I don't know how else to describe it) Most importantly, her voice was just superb. It is usual in the Asian world that singers, especially those Taiwanese ones (ok being opinionated and based on my limited observance), perform notably worse from their recordings, and sometimes have to resort to "caused-by-being-overwhelmed-crying" to cover up their bad-karaoke-like singing. If they sing exactly like the recording, it is only because they are lip-syncing. But Celine Dion's performance was just professional. Her command of voice was perfect, and her performance moving. I was thrilled to have seen this best selling female artist of all time live.

I have been You-Tubing her All By Myself since, and it is my new favorite song now.

A few pictures:

:)

The comedian taking the stage

 

Drum roll...

Finally!!

Standing on the piano..

That's the best my 6X optical zoom can do...

Celine Dion and violinist (To Love You More, Py's favorite)

Wonder Woman cape??

My Heart Will Go On (flutist playing Titanic theme)

Just realized I've posted a tonne of pictures...well forgive me for being excited about my first concert :)

NBA - Pacers VS Warriors (Dec 17)

This was my 3rd NBA game, and I finally got to be much closer to all the action since I got courtside tickets for a good deal (company's discount). Basically nothing much to be excited anymore, except that this was my first NBA game with Pei Ying. Pacers won in the end, which makes 3 wins (home team) out of the 3 NBA games I watched.

Got to see the hawd cheerleaders up close!! Oops better behave myself...

Pacers...couldn't find a better picture to post actually. Been realizing that recently I have been taking shittily blurry pictures...why??

Final score >> 127 :: 120

Thanksgiving 2008

Wanted to name this post "Mackinaw trip", but decided against it since technically we (Siew Gee, Jason, Pei Ying and I) didn't even set foot on the island. Throughout the holidays, we stayed in Mackinaw city but didn't get the chance to visit the island due to suspended ferry service during Thanksgiving.

So where did we go? We went to Sleeping Bear Dunes (my second time) and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Upper Peninsula. It really wasn't the best time to visit those places, since it was snowing quite heavily.

I was actually excited of re-visiting the Sleeping Bear Dunes because I wanted to re-create the timeless photo taken by Chooi KK. It is my favorite photo and I have been using it for the profile picture of my facebook account. Some of my friends actually thought it was a cartoon poster rather than a real photo of me (note: no photoshop invovled):

Sadly, this time around I couldn't manage to have a profile-picture-worthy photo taken:

Ok enough of me...let's look at some other photos:

Kids running down the slope...

Lake Michigan

Of course, what's Thanksgiving without turkey?? That night, Pei Ying and I ordered Thanksgiving special for dinner, while Siew Gee and Jason each had some "fishy" stuff:

 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore reminded us of Yosemite, since we went to both places during winter times. I think the lack of blue sky ruined the views once again.

Doesn't it look like a castle?

"Castle" up close

 

Waterfalls...

Initially we decided to go Mackinaw Island on Saturday, but unfortunately there was no ferry service. So we just hang around and take a few photos:

Mackinaw bridge

And that concludes our short trip....