888GB iPads

iPads in our world offer a maximum of 64GB, but in funeral stores these days, we can easily find iPads offering the auspiciously huge 888GB, which I bet Steve Job doesn't even know it existed!

The days of burning standard items such as fake money and clothing to honour our ancestors have just been overtaken by Steve Job's empire. iPads made of paper were burned on graves as people truly believe that our ancestors can enjoy the use of these items we deem so indispensable. 

2 questions I have though:

1. If an ancestor receives the iPad after it is burned, will they know how to use it?
2. Even if they do find them user-friendly, what sort of data plan do they get?

Intriguing.

The Art Of War

I was actually aiming for some travel books in the travels section of the bookstore and not sure what happened there, I wandered off and found myself landed in the self-help section! 

I am never a great fan of the "Chicken soup for the soul" thing, in fact, I can't help but feel rather sad whenever I step anywhere close to those shelves, an area I usually avoid.   

"What am I doing here", I asked myself.  Then I saw someone waving at me.

You can't believe it. He was Sun Tzu!  

He must have got lost just like me - how did the wise man land his feet in the self-help section I don't know but at the end, it was me who rescued this great philosopher from the pathetic land.  I bought and brought him home with me.  


“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.”

No wonder he waved at me - I possess neither. Who is the real rescuer we are talking about here?  


One man's trash, has just become another's treasure.  

Last Night

 
Went for an interesting choice of movie "Last Night".  The plot is all about depicting the tension of wanting to cheat, managing that desire and all consequences associating with that. 

The movie is saying that it is fine to have little secrets we chose to keep to ourselves.  Those are quite harmless.  


There could in times, be fantasies that we so wish to act on when all reasoning seems to escape you and, the occasional thought of a lover unforgotten is not entirely unforgivable. 
The important thing is - we haven't acted on any of those because we know in all action there's a reaction and for every spoken word there's a corresponding thought.  


We are solely our own responsibility, no excuses ever since the day we declared adulthood.  


Right...and how long ago was that?


   

Gone Is Another Ferry Route Or Two

I love ferry rides.  Tell me who doesn't.

It's such a nostalgic thing to do, immersing the sea breeze while absorbing the harbour scene of Hong Kong.  I honestly think it ought to be one of the best-loved gems in the city. 

Sadly the government seems to think otherwise.  Threatened by operating losses and lack of interest in the business, two more Star Ferry routes will cease to exist by the end of this month.  The services between Hunghom and Central, Hunghom and Wan Chai will have their last day on 31 March, 2011.  

They are by far the most affordable means of cross-harbour transport in the city and, all I can see is that ferry routes are being phased out one after another.

Bad news for penny-pinchers like me who, pretty soon, might need to swim to get across to the other side of the harbour!

Mango-Mania

In my observation, mango is by far, the best-loved fruit ingredient in desserts amongst the Hong Kongers.  Most of the puddings, ice cream, frozen yogurt, drinks and even concoctions you find in this town contain mango in some form.

A mango lover will not have difficulty in finding his or her mango pudding, mango pomelo sago dessert, sago in mango juice or mango juice with real mango and extra mango in Hong Kong.  Certainly the best place to be consuming them raw and fresh would be within the border of the Philippines or Thailand - that is - only if you eat them in its entirety.  If it is style and creativeness you are after, there is no place a sweet tooth (who loves mangoes) would rather be.

I just know for certain that if the government somehow decides to stop importing mangoes into this country, it will pose serious trouble to the majority of the dessert houses in Hong Kong.  They will either run out of dessert ideas or they will simply go out of business!

(What's The Story) Morning Glory?

If the title of this blog post strikes you to think more along the line of an album of Oasis and less on the current movie "Morning Glory", I can totally understand.

My defence: if you have loved the wittiness in The Diary of Bridget Jones, pleasantly pleased with Notting Hill and adored The Devil Wears Prada, chances are you could find this movie an incredibly amusing one to watch too.  

I only know Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and the fact that the old man is in a comedy really had my head scratched.   But then there really was enough chemistry brewing between him and the more comical Diane Keaton.  I have liked her since The First Wives Club and she is just hilarious.  Ford, I can take or leave, but he does have some pretty funny lines in this movie. 

All in all, if you are like me, looking for a fluffy love story without glitz and glam and something to kill time with, then this movie is a no brainer which won't disappoint.  

Vocab Genii

Someone asked me recently to blog about how I learn English at young age.  Emmm...I am thinking my experience would have been pretty much like everybody else, swallowed a few Charles Dickens novels, ate a bit Jane Austen in supper, tried to appreciate the great William Shakespeare whenever time can be spared and flipped a dictionary to cure insomnia. 

Doesn't ring any bell?  Right, I was only joking.  I didn't go there. 

I can't in any way, claimed to be an expert in any perceivable way, but this is what I really think.  Whether you want to learn a new word, a new English monarch, or a small bit of trivia, it is not just enough to read.

If you want to retain vocabularies, you will need to put them to use. Try setting a personal goal for your daily tidbit, say, use your word of the day twice with two different people during the course of the day.  


When it comes to learning a language, every bit of vocabulary and grammar is dependent on what you already knew.  Read passages and articles aloud to yourself, recording and playing back certainly helps cure any mumbling.


And while you are at it, you can always inject a little fun by trying one of the challenging vocabulary games such as Vocab Genii (handily found in Facebook too).  Incredibly smashing!


Enough said, it all boils down to practice.  What's that good old saying again?  Practice makes perfect.  

Who Invented Mammogram?

This machine was created by a man,

Of this, I have no doubt.

Would like his balls stuck in this "Manogram",

And see how they turn out.

That's Cheating BTW

Some point in life, we have all wanted to cheat.  It's like human nature. 


Ask any overweight person trying to resist that gorgeous piece of fudge chocolate cake.   Offer a fag to a smoker who is trying to quit.   


Just say no, right?  Easier said than done.  Now try to be a hundred percent honest with yourself, isn't temptation just everywhere you go?   


I do not agree that everything in life is cut and dry, black or white, right or wrong.  Having said that, I do believe for every word there is a corresponding thought, for every action there is a reaction.  


Everything we do (and cheating included), we wouldn't do it for no reason.   Think before you leap.

Panic Without iPhone

  

I have heard people can be rather lost without their iPhones but I can't believe I was frantically panicking when my iPhone 4 hanged on me last Sunday.   


In the old days, I would pull out the battery, take out the SIM, reinsert everything and that would by and large do the trick.  When you have something so seamless like an iPhone 4, I have absolutely no idea what I can do but to take it to the service centre and have it examined. 



4 hours without feeling the weight of it in my pocket nor in my palm.  If I can't say it was a liberation, then I know for sure I am royally screwed.  And I am. 


   

The Voodoo Effect?

I just read something interesting and got me to think. 

Cooking as a way to de-stress?  Is there a logic behind this?  I mean how can it be possible when after a long day of work in the office, all you want is to sit down and enjoy a delectable meal.  Let alone all the cutting and chopping. 

There might just be some ground for that as I have heard it more than once.  For instance, in the words of Julie Powell in the film “Julie and Julia”,

“Chocolate cream pie! You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when NOTHING is sure and when I say nothing, I mean NOTHING, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That’s such a comfort.”

Very logical indeed - can't fault that at all.    



I also have a friend who told me whenever she has a quarrel with her husband, she will crease papers into ball shape and throw them into the bin.  Sheer joy derived just by imagining her own husband being tossed and trashed.  That works for her every time in driving her anger away.    

So this is what the stress relief is about - Voodoo Effect it is then.  In which perhaps some cutting and chopping food can really help?   

The next time you have a terrible day in the office, try reasserting your dominance at the top of the food chain by chopping some veggies and butchering some chickens at home!  


Just make sure you focus on food chopping, not your fingers!  

And if that can't take the edges off you, at least you can cook and eat the remains, can't you?    

A Realisation of Communication Etiquette

Once upon a time, only a maid or the butler get to answer phone calls at a residence. 

Then came your adolescence days where the key rite of passage was getting a phone line in the comfort of your own bedroom, so you could be the first to answer when the phone rang and spend literally hours just chit chatting despite the aching neck and burning ears. 

Those were the days.  

The evolution went on, where you suddenly come to terms where we have a bunch of people who forever seem so reluctant to return your calls, even after you left them numerous voice mails begging them to respond.  


Sadly, I am beginning to see that trend evading in emails too.  Some people just love to make you feel as if your emails have been sent to the black hole or to the dear void.     



Here comes the era when hardly anybody calls you.  Even if they do, they probably would have sms or emailed you first and ask, "Is it OK if I call you now?", as if it is intruding to to do so in the first place. 

I strongly suggest phone companies look into replacing air time with data package.  We'd all be better off.  

A Prodigy of Sand Art

Most kids love to play with sand, love to play with water, and love combining the two even more! 

This particularly girl must have enjoyed playing with sand more than anybody else.  And she did it exceptionally well too.

I sincerely invite you to watch this 8-min video showing an astonishing piece of art called Sand Animation.  It has got to be one of the most soothing yet dramatic piece of work to be marvelled at.   It's just magnificent. 

Pass The Salt Will Ya?

Shame.  Shame.  Shame. 

I can't believe my ears when I heard from the news that people stripped stores for table salt - a blind move to shell oneself from radioactive chemicals!

 

Such shameful behaviour wasn't the first time in town if you recall.   It happaned during SARS outbreak in 2003 when locals swept large quantities of vinegar to ward off the disease.

What can I say about the salt frenzy?  I can't.  I am simply speechless even I am a fan of salt and vinegar crisps for that matter.    


 

Tokyo Without Lights

Many buildings in Tokyo have turned off lights as part of electricity saving efforts to avoid widespread power outages.

Japan is still the third-largest economy in the world and one just can't quite take the pain and imagine Tokyo's bright lights go dark.  It will certainly take a while before we can see this sort of bloom and bright in a city that we all adore.  

May our thoughts be with those in need. 

Lonely Planet

Perhaps there is something to do with the book publisher picking "LONELY PLANET" as the name of the series of their travel books, I always have this perception that travelling alone is a sad thing to do.  I don't have the gut to but I totally admire those who can. 

A friend of mine is a fine example.  She has set foot in the world's most exotic as well as the most admirable corners of the globe.  A seasoned traveller whose travel companion has mostly been no one but herself.

On the contrary, I am more of a modern slave, a supporter to civilisation than a fond backpacker in the most secluded spot in the wilderness. 

When I saw the excitement in her eyes as she told me how she couldn't wait to be in Peru for 2 weeks - alone, I was thinking for a second, may be one day I might decide to be brave and take the plunge and try travelling solo.  Who knows, I may become a convert! 

Not sure if you agree though, sometimes it is better to be alone than to wish you WERE alone.

Wide Is Wonderful?

It hasn't really been that long since you get rid of the aspect ratio of 4:3 and get really accustomed to 16:9. 

And here we are, right in front of us comes the no mercy 21:9.

While I totally admire PHILIPS' bravery in trying to lead a new TV category, and I am sure movie buffs will embrace the 21:9 concept to death, I can't help but wonder if the world at large really is ready for what the Cinema 21:9 is trying to do. 

To tell you the truth, I still have a 4:3 CRT married to a VHS at home somewhere.  They just refuse to retire.  The least I could do, is to mercifully offer them a shelter, for them to age gracefully!

How Does It Feel To be Inside A Hangbag?

One of the most sought-after handbags of recent years has to be Hermès' Kelly bag, a timeless piece made famous and iconic by Grace Kelly in the 50s.

Something hardly comes to my imagination - I mean me - dangling with one, but have you ever wonder how it feels to be tossed around inside a handbag? 

Now you can step inside a giant Kellydoscope and watch a film of its owner's journey and feel the motion of the bag as it moves.  

Life inside a Kelly bag...what can I say but goodness gracious!   

Check this out. 

To be Or Not To Be

The more flexible the web and the more fluid communication becomes on the social media front, the easier it is to express what we think.

Easier not only to have an opinion, but equally so in gathering reams of information around that opinion - to collect and impart knowledge.   All of which empowers us to feel that we have hundreds of important things to contribute at any given time.

You can choose to share that knowledge and have it absorbed by others, knowing that we have “made a difference”.  Alternatively, you can use that same medium to express resentful hatred of your dealings of the world, spreading it contagiously to people around you. 

It's entirely up to us and what would your call be? 

Stop Fighting

Change sucks. 

Especially so when you are not the one making the changes.  When some outside forces call the shots in your life and you are left with the struggle of accepting the brutal fact that you actually are not a super hero.

It is an awful feeling.  The kind that sneaks up on you and demands that you change your attitude, your train of thoughts, no matter how ill prepared you are.

Suffering the loss of someone dear, losing your job, or losing a home in a natural disaster.   They all completely muck up your sense of normality and stability, forcing you to move on without a how-to handbook.

Stop fighting with the one next to you over silly trivial matters.  How about looking into making up with someone you haven't talked to for years?

What triggered that thought?  

I am looking at how the Japanese are helping each other in difficult times like this.  Strangers, tourists, even the triads and mobs surface up from the dark side to offer help to those in need.

They live to believe in one thing - LOVE - the one thing we often took for granted.  That's what triggered this. 

Hats Off To A Nation's Cultural Roots

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake just struck Japan, triggered a 23-foot tsunami that charged inland and sparked possible explosion of nuclear power plants.

Reports are coming in from the NHK regarding the climbing dead toll, it is also, showing how their people are coping in the aftermath.

You don't hear no one exploit the chaos, in fact, we have been witnessing nothing but an orderly and calm fashion everywhere.

A social order and discipline that are so enforced in ordinary times just becomes natural for the Japanese to kind of continue in the manner that they are accustomed to, even under an emergency like this.

When people are united, this is when you see strength of a nation - just something we often lack in our quest to withstand mother earth's anger.  Hat's off to them.

@Mentions in Facebook

Previously, Facebook users could only use @ Mentions on contents they created from scratch, such as on wall posts and status updates.  That invention was useful, we liked it and obviously they have heard.

From now on, users can type the @ symbol when writing a comment to get the drop-down menu for @ Mentions.  Naturally, when a user is tagged, they receive a notification stating that a friend “mentioned you in a comment". 

They sure know how to lure visits and engagements on their website, but I am shocked it took Facebook this long to figure this one out.

CSI: Impressed Or Amused?

If you watch enough TV dramas such as CSI or Without A Trace, you understand the importance for suspects to have an alibi, you learn of all that psychological profiling tricks and the unimaginable ways to peel back the layers of the victims' lives since birth.  

They have made it look so easy and effortless and at a certain point, you feel as if you are almost equipped with the knowledge to join the FBI.

Thumbs up.  Impressed. 

There is just this one little technical glitch that I am not that impressed and curious to find out if you have ever wondered the same:

We don't need to be graphical pros to know when we enlarge a bunch of pixels, we can only get a bunch of REALLY BIG pixels!  Yet the FBIs don't get it. 

They always have this "image enhancer" that is capable of transforming unintelligible smeared images into crystal-clear and fault-proof evidence!

Rolleyes.  Amused.

Starbuck's 40th Birthday Today

Not that I care, but Starbucks decided to have a face lift and rolled out a new logo. 

Pretty raw to me, don't you think?

They certainly have the cash to afford that re-branding, as all I can see is their joints are expanding at an alarming rate, occupying nearly every corner in town. 

It's like they woke up in the middle of the night and decided to drop all the words "Starbucks Coffee", enlarge the mermaid and call it a new look.

I hope they are still going to sell coffee after that, so anyone who has technically no decision-making ability whatsoever, can still make 6 decisions at one time to get a cup of coffee.  Sounds familiar? 

The Daylight Saving Time Chore

This exercise of "springing forward, falling back" comes back to haunt us every year and we were told the whole purpose of observing DST is simply making better use of daylight in the evenings.  Whether or not it actually saves energy and induces productivity can form an instant debate here naturally.

As if the changing of the clock dance is not complicated enough, they have to make it happen on different days, in different countries!

It will be:

13th March in some of the States in the U.S.;
27th March for the whole of U.K. and,
Australia will be waving goodbye to their summer time a week after that.

Will we live to see some form of unity on the dates perhaps?

If you are a bit cranky on the Monday after the loss of an hour, blame Benjamin Franklin.  He's the man behind this.  

The Flawless Faye Wong

She is relentlessly creative yet never ever let her experimental innovations overtake the quality and cohesiveness of her songs.

I so look forward to tonight's concert - to witness the amazingly talented perform live in the arena - after god knows how many years of her on-stage absence. 

The sheer anticipation to see her juggle with the warm and friendly smiles and the cool art-house appeal during the night did nothing but caught my breath in my chest.  Then it was her sweetest voice which released it.  I came out of the concert with nerves caressed and a brain smothered with honey.

The abrupt ending put one in awe but then, it is Faye Wong we are talking about - no one else is quite capable of doing that any better.


 

Changing Attitudes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd Babies

I would like to share this terribly amusing read I found online.  I think any mother who has more than one child would be nodding their heads when they read this. 

A little survey with my peers just then confirmed there's enough truth behind this very humourous look at the way maternal attitudes change too. 

Your Clothes
1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as youconfirm your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

Preparing for the Birth
1st baby: You practise your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother because you knew breathing didn't do a thing.
3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

The Layette
1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly.
2nd baby: You check to make sure the clothes are clean & discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

Worries
1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby.
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

Diapering
1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Activities
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gym, Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gym.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaner.

Going Out
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

At Home
1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.

Pacifier
1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

Swallowing Coins
1st child: when first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.
2nd child: when second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.
3rd child: when third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance!!

 

It Is Alright to Stammer

A friend who watched "The King's Speech" commented it was an extremely great movie as he himself has been quite a stutterer and he told me how he would in his school days, called up a girl, tried to speak but not a word could come out.  He would just hang up.


"Stutterers can no longer do that nowadays with the invention of caller ID", he jokingly said.


True, but put it this way, tell me who doesn't stammer?  I think we all do. 


May be we can all take Jim Croce's advice next time we stammer, because in his song he sang:


"Every time I tried to tell you, the words just came out wrong,
So I'll have to say I love you, in a song."

The Holiday

It doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of Chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends.  You still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood, and how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were THAT happy.


Sometimes you can even convince yourself that that person will even see the light and show up at your door.


And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new and you'll meet new people who make you feel worthwhile again.


And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. All that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.


If any of the above makes any sense to you - go fetch "The Holiday" DVD!  Jude Law, needless to say, is simply - sumptuous.

 
And I tell you what's even better - nothing beats a real vacation - if that's what you need! 

Keeping Track of Things

2011 is well underway and let's face it, I am sure most people have shamefully fallen off the bandwagon when it comes to their New Year’s resolutions (myself included).

I have been keeping a diary for years and I derive absolute joy just flipping it every now and then and refer to what I did this time last year or the year before.  Which is all good.  


Today, I am thinking of start tracking things like eating habits, exercise regime, holiday patterns and painstakingly - expenses, so I can get more aware of the reality of the situation. 

With the dismal month of February now behind us, March is hopefully going to give us more hope of a Spring kind of beginning in creating lasting habits or accomplishing some short- and long-term goals.

March Already?

The New Year seemed to have breezed past us oh so fleetingly - with the blink of an eye.  A quick glance at the calendar suddenly strikes me the third month of the year is here already, whether we like it or not.  

Remember the queen of the New Year resolution - Bridget Jones?  When she talked to Mark Darcy as she first met him: “Ah! New Year’s Resolution: drink less…quit smoking… and quit talking total nonsense to strangers…actually, quit talking, full stop.”

Right, so that was her resolution jokingly put.  Nothing concerns me of course, but it's about time to revisit mine.  The next thing we know, we could be landing in fall!