Mid Autumn Madness

Let's see. What happened in the last 3 weeks? What did I accomplish? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I was basically ill during the entire time and I am still trying to fully recover from this gross and mysterious unknown that plagued me.

So first I started getting fevers, not serious ones, but serious enough to make me feel dizzy and almost faint going down the stairs to the skytrain at Commercial Drive. I took the right pills and felt better after a day or two. Then it comes back. Then it goes away again. And comes back. And goes away. Okay, it came back and I went to see the doctor and it was magically gone. He checked me for strep throat (whatever that is) but it turned out to be not so.

The weird fever roller coaster did continue and I managed to go down to Richmond to see the Chinese herbal doctor who gave me the black stuff to drink which got rid of my fever...but a horrible sore throat came out of nowhere to haunt me. It was one of the most horrible symptoms ever, I didn't even want to drink water! So I saw the doctor again, who tested me for strep throat and sent me for a monospot (another whatever that is) blood test. I started antibiotics and the fever came back...ohhh what a horrible life. I had to see the doctor again, now he told me to stop the antibiotics because he concluded that it was a viral infection but not mono and enough rest and water (plus time) should do.

Oh, and the nastiest part of all this. I was told to have white patches in my throat area or something. So I stood in front of the mirror at home and pointed a flash light into my mouth saying ahhhhh and saw patches of white stuff stuck on my tonsils or something. It looked so gross...although it could have just been old gum or marshmallows stuck there. Or maybe even mushrooms growing hahahaha!

A better experience at POSH

One month after the horrific wait for sukiyaki at POSH (Richmond), I had a better experience at the Broadway POSH last night for a "Shanghai" reunion. None of us are actually from Shanghai except we went to Shanghai as a group together a few summers ago. It was going to be our friend's birthday too (oops I think we forgot to say some important words) and we haven't met up in such a long time. Too bad we could not have everybody here but there's always next time! (And we did make a reservation this time and we did eat a lot again to get our money's worth.)

Now I am just waiting for that picture of the pot of oily soup after the meal was over.

Don't starve yourself before this all-you-can-eat dinner

Doesn't everyone starve themselves before all-you-can-eats? Well, I did it again before I headed into Posh for sukiyaki in Richmond and I regretted it. From 6:30pm, a 45-minute wait turned out to be a 1.5 hour wait all because of a large birthday group that took up most of the seats in the restaurant. To make matters even worse, they decided to split the bill and lined up to separately at the front counter. There must have been nearly 30 of them. It took them forever to settle the bill and they held up the tables that people were desperately and hungrily waiting for.

Another large group was paying together but it took them almost 20 minutes to gather enough money to pay the bill. Don't they feel a bit ashamed when 15 Taiwanese (sorry no offense) are standing up and yelling at each other things like "Hey, have you paid your part yet?" or "Hey, we are still short a hundred bucks." My tall and broad-shouldered friend was about to give them a good beating and boot them out of Posh had he not been starving for not eating since 10am. I could barely stand when I had to use the toilet about 1 hour into the wait...

Stefanie is just a very simple name, but you really had to be there at the scene to appreciate the joy and delight when this name (under which the table was reserved) was called, finally. At last, we could eat.

The point of this story is, if you still haven't caught it, to not take so long when settling the bill. Seriously, 20 minutes in-and-out of the restaurant running about looking for your friends who have left the table but haven't paid the bill is just damn stupid. Not one of them could take out a credit card first. Use some common sense when you eat out next time please.

Oh and by the way, a special recognition to the waitresses at Posh for keeping the brightest smile throughout this chaos. I really admire their professionalism even with a bunch of dumbass customers they have to deal with =)

help i am lost

i am lost.

Me the geography major that hasn't even gotten lost once travelling through India is so worried about where I will end up after I grad (hopefully) before X'mas 2009.

What should I do with my major and possibly Spanish minor...go to graduate school? Which school should I go into? Apply to UBC for MA or school of community and regional planning? Or should I try to get into some research masters programme in Singapore where I'd love to go back to...? Or try to get into the masters programme for planning in HKU? Or is there some other place that I could still go to...? Someone tell me...

I could also try some crazy things like teach English as a teaching assistant in Japan or Spain or some other Spanish-speaking country...I just don't know what's good for me. Maybe I should just start work in some sector but I don't feel I have the stuff to really take on a good career. Maybe I should be a photographer...who knows if I can earn a living off of that?

Oh if someone out there is reading this please help me...(or add to the problem even more by offering more choices haha...)

Life Update Summer 2008 =)

Wow...it's been such a long time since my last post.

I think it's been about 2 months since I left that Kent Ridge campus in Singapore, the good food, the eternal weather, all the friends I met...(and all that exam stress). Returning to Hong Kong this summer feels different. It doesn't quite seem like all the previous summers that I've been back from Vancouver. I think life for me is different now. Having experienced so much, good and bad, in the past year in Singapore and during my travels. I have learned to treasure as best as I could everything that I have and will have in the future, with family and friends at the very top.

Anyway, cousin's wedding is over, mom and bro went back, leaving me behind for an intern posting which is already half complete. I feel so lucky to have a chance to work in a place related to my interest and studies. And by the way, it's my first time that I met friends that are from Hong Kong (not overseas) through this internship. I hope the friendship will last a long time with my four new Hong Kong friends and 3 other intern friends!

That was an update of my...life. Oh just to tell you, I've been sleeping so well with Hong Kong raining all the time without air con for over 2 weeks. But it's air con time now cuz even my shoulder bag says so. It's grown full of mold and smells so rotten now!

life is like chicken rice

When you are in Singapore, you must confront it in your everyday life. Sometimes you just have no "choice" but to eat ji fan (i.e. chicken rice):

Yi pan ji fan. Zuo 83. (1 plate of chicken rice. Table 83)

OK, sometimes I will jia cai (i.e. add veggies). But anyway, ji fan is just ji fan What's so special about it? Nothing, people would say. People always ask me why I always eat ji fan. It might be boring and repetitive, but it's simple.

Life is also repetitive and most of the time boring. The oily rice keeps you full. Veggies, tomatoes, cucumbers, bean sprouts, etc add some variety to the rice and meat. The chili spices the whole meal up. The rice is like your schooling, or your job if you've graduated. It keeps you busy but it's boring. The veggies and all are things that you do that make your life a bit more interesting. Perhaps, your hobbies, your friends (ok, i don't mean eat your friends), you weekend outings, etc. Sometimes, there might be some excitement in your life. That's the chili. Your ups and downs, in your family, friendships, and your love life. There are those who can take chili just like that, but there's those who simply can't take it.

Oh, and there's the soup for that purpose, to gulp it all down, to cry it out in tears. But for most, even after the soup runs out, the chili still stings your tongue. But what can you do? Just eat more next time and get used to it. The more chili you dip every time, the less soup you will need.

FE1001 (Fundamentals of Final Examination Frenzy)

FE1001 Module Keywords: jio, M.I.A., chope, and mug.

• Remember to jio (i.e. call) your neighbours and friends to the library during reading week.
  
  
• If you choose to go for it alone, make sure you are M.I.A. (i.e. missing in action) for at least a week.
  
  
• Don't forget to chope (i.e. secure) the best seats when the library opens.
  
  
• And of course, do mug (i.e. study) for at least 12 hours and be the ultimate mugger by staying overnight. Yes, level 6 of Central Library is now open overnight even on Sundays bringing the mugging tradition to even higher grounds.
  

The past will pass

記住，做人一定要

向前望

除了過馬路之外，不要四圍望，不要左望右望，

不要猶疑不決，原地踏步，

更加不要走回頭路。

過去會過去的。

Without Regrets

Sometimes, I wonder why the stories of elders who "sleep forever" some time in their nineties rarely make it to the printing press?

An article from this morning's Straits Times (April 23, 2008, by Judith Tan) remembers the life of a frugal 101-year old mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. A tough "iron lady" in the family she might be, ah ma insists on pulling all the laundry straight instead of ironing them. She kept meat for her family while she ate mostly vegetables herself. A widow at age 32, she raised her three children before she assisted her children by raising her grandchildren. She would carry her sick grandchildren to the hospital instead of taking the bus to save a few cents.

Her cremation gathered not only local relatives but also those from Hong Kong and from Mainland China. Moving from southern China to the "southern seas" here 50 years ago, she has only gone back to her hometown--where she used to own a provision shop even after moving to Singapore--once in 1988, as much as she wanted to go back more often. One of her grand-daughters calls this the family's "only regret".

Stories like this remind me of my own grandparents, 3 of whom are now living their afterlives. I have never met my ah yeh (i.e. Cantonese for paternal grandfather), so let's talk about my ah gong and ah por. From a collection of family gossip over the years, I've come to know that my ah gong (i.e. Cantonese for maternal grandfather) has always wanted to visit his hometown in Dongguan, a mere 2 hour journey from Hong Kong with modern transport links. Regrettably, he has never been back although my uncle now owns a factory in the vicinity, some fate in that perhaps. Neither has he had the opportunity to "enjoy his last moments of life" in his tiny flat, where he raised his 6 children since the early 1960s. My aunts and uncles have always criticised their mother for "not allowing him back into the house" during my grandfather's final days (but let's not get too deep into family debates here). Like ah ma, perhaps not being able to return home was the greatest regret for my ah gong.

As for my ah por (i.e. Cantonese for maternal grandmother), perhaps she has little regrets. Unlike my ah gong, she enjoyed every moment of her retirement years. Going on overseas trips to Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, and even visiting my family and I in Canada, she was "always on the move" and "socialised with acquaintances at every opportunity" as my relatives describe. If she did not go yum jai cha (i.e. Cantonese for having vegetarian dim sum) with her friends from the temple, she would always pick her favourite grandsons up from school and buy them after-school snacks. In December 2006, with barely any monetary savings, she left us full of memories and a draggy, albeit commanding at times, voice that lingers within our minds for years to come. Her surprising independence as an elderly still intrigues me as I remember her.

Regrets. My ah gong and my ah por lived quite distinctive lives in that respect. What the dead thinks may no longer really matter. The regrets that our elders have greater lasting effects on surviving family members more so than on the elders themselves. Perhaps helping your family members live a life free of regrets will leave you dealing with less.