Jan's Talkshow Encore Always On

Although it has only been 3 months ago since the last show and having known most of the stuff will be a repeat, I still look forward terribly to this one with great anticipation as I know - Jan won't let his audience down.



He performed more naturally last night, carried a bit more flare than the last and physically much fitter, pumped up his volume with a noticeable "6-pack".

I had slight complaints about the last show. How about this time? Well...


Souvenir: A bit better (at least wearable) - thanks to McDonalds.
Songs: Still too long
Show: Far too short, never enough I guess.

Pop Concerts Brimming In Hong Kong

Hong Kong has fast become a popular venue for International entertainers and as a citizen, I am very proud of all the happenings here in town.


The music scene in the past year or so has been brimming over with pop concerts offering fans of every stripe of precious musical moments.

I have jotted down all the International stars that have graced the stage in Hong Kong from the beginning of 2008 and took note of the upcoming ones I am aware of. How I wish I could attend all of them!

January

• My Chemical Romance The Black Parade Tour Live in Hong Kong 2008

February

• Björk The Volta Tour Live in Hong Kong 2008
• Backstreet Boys Live in Hong Kong

March

• The World's Greatest Tenor Plácido Domingo Live in Hong Kong 2008
• SANTANA - Live Your Light 2008 Tour
• INCUBUS Live in Hong Kong - Light Grenades Tour 2008
• Maroon 5 "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" Tour - Live in Hong Kong

April

• Duran Duran Live In Hong Kong

May

• Kenny G "Rhythm and Romance" Live in Hong Kong
• James Blunt Live in Hong Kong 2008
• We will Rock You
• Elton John Rocket Man Tour - Live in Hong Kong
• The Click Five - Modern Minds & Pastimes World Tour 2008, Hong Kong

June

• ABBA ARRIVAL - The MAMMA MIA Concert

July

• Alicia Keys As I am Hong Kong 2008

The Maths Anxiety I Have

Maths. Does mention of the word make you run the other way or raise your hairs at the back of your neck?

It has always been the case for me and the fear is more severe as I get older. Let me site an example:

There are 3 kinds of people in this world: Those that can count, and those that can't.


I began to learn there is a so called "Maths Anxiety Syndrome". How do you know if you are a sufferer?

Well, if you go out of your way to avoid anything to do with calculations or solving problems with numbers, then those are probably enough to constitute maths anxiety symptoms.

The good news is, I know I am not alone as fear of maths is more widespread than I thought, at least Google returns over 463,000 hits for "maths anxiety". That's a comfort to know.

The bad news is - I realised Maths has become a true divider in our society. In the past it was gender and class-based segregation. However, recent international renowned reports show that students from higher socio-economic backgrounds still have a distinct advantage in maths.

So hating maths is not so clever and definitely not a sound strategy at parties nowadays to say 'Oh, I was never any good at maths'. No one should go buy that T-shirt that has "I failed Maths" printed at the back.

Let’s stop maths bashing - This is for my own good.

The Good & The Bad of The Cybershot

Scanning back My Cell Phone Chronicle, life expectancies of my handsets are dropping drastically. An indication of its QC or simply due to a higher tendency to switch?

Anyhow, my previous camera phone decided to retire early, so here comes its new replacement.

The Good
My new luminous green Sony Ericsson K850i Cybershot has everything to become a true camera phone just as its predecessor K810i, only this time perfected with a higher resolution digital camera, 5 megapixels, automatic lens cover, Auto focus plus a xenon flash - enabling optimal satisfaction to lure serious camera phone user and impress picture snapper like me.

The Not So Bad
Though the nevigation and key pad designs aren't up to par, its Auto Rotate feature is making iPhone's less unique. I can simply move the handset vertically & horizontally and the image on the screen will toggle between portrait & landscape mode.

The Bad
It has the most bizzard accessory on offer - a magnetic adhesive add-on wide-angle lens! Now that's a nuisance cuz firstly, you won't bother putting that on when you do snapshots. Secondly, you would not want to spoil the stylish design with that lens sticking out from the glassy finishing, or would you?

Don't You Just Love & Hate Ronaldo?

The UEFA Cup Final never lack a moment of excitement, from the 26th minute Man Utd went ahead with Cristiano Ronaldo's superb header, to the deadly penalty shootout capped with thrills.


Many fans, like me, share a love-hate relationship with the 22-year old Ronaldo. Last night I placed bet on him as first goaler, loved him for his precision but hated him for how he missed his penalty wide and put the whole team at risk.

Didn't regret staying up all night for the Champions League Final and be able to witness how my all time favourite club snapped home the trophy for their 3rd time in UEFA Cup history.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

English Heavyweights Out To Make History

Who will take this cup back home tonight?

Man Utd seeking their third triumph while Chelsea has never made it this far before.

10 days since the Premier League campaign closed, Chelsea and Man Utd cannot wait to resume a rivalry that has outgrown their domestic game.

The European title is at stake for the 2 teams who have been English champions twice apiece in the last four years.

My placed bets:
1) Ronaldo to score the first goal
2) 2 goals in 90-mins

This is the only reason I am still up at this hour, anxiously waiting for the UEFA Finals in Moscow to kick-off in about 45 minutes time, played in front of 69,500 fans inside the stadium and a television audience of millions including myself.

A Collective Cry of Grief

This afternoon at 2:28pm, exactly one week after the magnitude 8.0 earthquake destroyed so many lives and communities, China asked its 1.2 billion people to observe three minutes of silence before sounding their car, truck, train, ship and air-raid horns in a collective cry of grief.

China also said it would order all flags to be flown at half staff and would suspend for three days the Olympic torch relay. China's missions around the world also were advised to observe the tributes and to offer condolence books for those who wished to express their sympathies. For the mourning period, the State Council, or Cabinet, also ordered all websites to remove entertainment and game sections and redirect users to pages dedicated to victim commemoration.

Yesterday, it raised the death toll to 32,476 in what has become a daily grim ritual of moving 3,000 to 4,000 from the missing column to the dead column. As health concerns intensified and aid poured in from across China and the world, the three days of mourning will commemorate the likely 50,000 deaths from this massive earthquake.

The Catastrophic Quake

A Chinese proverb has it that “heaven is high and the emperor is far away.” Beijing responded swiftly to the catastrophe to prove this saying wrong.

Premier Wen - a geologist by training, was at the scene of the earthquake in Dujiangyan, 15 miles from the epicenter, within 6 hours.

Did you know how long it took U.S. President Bush to visit the devastation of Hurricane Katrina? 4 days. Relatively impressive as it seems but...halt.

Although Wen and his military arm's swift response represented a genuine effort to rush aid to those in need, will he and local governments care to address the underlying issues of irresponsible construction and uncontrolled growth that may have indirectly led to the deaths of scores of children in Dujiangyan school, built only 10 years ago?

I read an analyst commenting the economic impact being limited, because the epicenter of the quake, Wenchuan county of Sichuan province has limited industrial and agriculture production.

For crying out loud, how about the ever-increasing death toll reported? They could have been the pillars of China's future economy!

If economic growth remains the standard by which Chinese political decisions are measured, I think the government must find itself engaged in a perpetual clean-up mission before anything else.

The Bucket List

Spooky as it seems but I felt I was being "summoned" to watch this movie on my way back from Shanghai. Morgan + Jack, can't disappoint, so I watched on.

As I did, I began thinking about my own mortality and also my best friend's, pondering wistfully about her then imminent doom and what things she might want to do before she died.

The climax of the movie has to be the moment when both terminally ill men stood at the top of Egypt’s pyramid and Morgan told the story of how the Egyptian myth goes about gaining entry into heaven. The custodians of the gate would ask two questions to decide who qualified for heaven:

“Did you find joy in your life?” and,
“Did your life bring joy to others?”

I will never regret spending any length of time with her, tried my best to bring joy to her last demise days in the ward. Indeed her last few months were my best. She changed my life and I didn’t know it then, but she knew.

She is now trying hard to show me again the river to happiness or what Morgan referred to as "Joy in life". Perhaps, I should really let faith decide, not my brain.

My present to Mom at Mothers Day

It wasn't the flight ticket for a weekend in Shanghai nor was it a dinner in a posh restaurant this year.

I came to realize nothing compares to a simple family get-together and a flash back of an appreciation in life. The warmth that these gatherings generate are priceless and can get you through the coldest winters and the toughest days.

Thinking about the earthquake that has destroyed tens of thousands of families in mainland China, reunion for them could never happen ever again.

My present to mother is just to let her know that I am grateful for her proper up-bringing which led me to become who I am today. In return, I have demonstrated trustworthiness, great independence and uphold integrity in mind throughout the years. With that, I can be off-loaded from her heavy shoulders of responsibilities so she has 1 less member of the family to worry about.

I want her to be proud of that, because I am.

Some day, not for long, I hope my sister and father can say the same to my mom too.

The Unspeakable Stress in Shanghai

I have never had a sound impression of the city of Shanghai, from my leisure 3-day get-away, or from a busy week of work-related schedules.

To me, this place always have an interesting blend with communism and capitalism; traditional and modern; classical and quirky. These stark contrasts, have constantly proved to be too much for me to handle. I was told the art of searching the right balance in these, holds the key to living there, or else one could end up having "Unspeakable Stress" and at the end, fail to survive in the metropolis.

I hereby site some examples of my own experience in my recent visit.

Unspeakable Cultural Stress
It was not difficult to find KFC, Starbucks and McDonalds throughout corners of the major streets, however, I still can't find rear seat belts in taxi or a civilized or safe pedestrian crossing anywhere.

Unspeakable Heritage Stress
Even though hundred year-old buildings have been swallowed up by multi-billion dollar architectural icons, you can still witness human powered bicycle carts carrying loads and loads of goods to market - in a city that runs a magnetic levitation train traveling at speeds that exceed 400 km/h.

Unspeakable Geographical Stress
Shanghai is growing so rapidly that each time I went, a part of the older sections of the city would be completely demolished, making way for modernization. In order to get around, my advice is not to rely on your old map used 6-months ago.

I fully support my sis's career move to Shanghai how ever much I dislike the city. I really hope it is the journey that enriches her life experience, more so than the destination itself.

Who Becomes A Torchbearer Really Matters

The Olympic torch relay is happening in Hong Kong today and it will show the rest of the world what the China's world city is like in the 11th year after its return to the motherland. The fact that Sportsmen represent only about one third of the 120 torchbearers in the first leg of the torch's trip back in China tells you something unique about Hong Kong.

There is an apparent reason for allowing the celebrities from the city's glamorous entertainment industry, businessmen, lawmakers and politicians to make up the majority of the torchbearer team here in Hong Kong as the local government is consciously trying to portray a positive image of our city.

With a result-oriented play - The city today will be guaranteed worldwide attention, non-stop broadcasts and positive images that consist of seas of crowds wearing red, and with overwhelming participation of fans and citizens waving as the torch relay unfolds today.



To the rest of the world, what they will see is nothing but support, unity, friendship, peace - that's what matters, who cares who holds the torch!