A firm favourite

Not sure why this came to mind suddenly, but I do wish I have such lofty aspirations as Yue Fei, to devote oneself totally to a single goal, never stopping until it is attained. Truly inspiring.

年代：宋
作者：岳飞
作品：满江红

怒发冲冠，凭栏处潇潇雨歇。
抬望眼，仰天长啸，壮怀激烈。
三十功名尘与土，
八千里路云和月。
莫等闲白了少年头，空悲切。

靖康耻，犹未雪；
臣子恨，何时灭！
驾长车踏破贺兰山缺。
壮志饥餐胡虏肉，
笑谈渴饮匈奴血。
待从头收拾旧山河，朝天阙。

How to make sushi rice without using vinegar...

Ingredients: Rice
Equipment: Rice cooker

1) Pick the best Thai jasmine rice, short grained
2) Wash two cups of rice and place in a rice cooker
3) For every one cup of rice, pour one-and-a-quarter cups of water
4) Forget about the mixture for three days
5) Finally realize it and cook it
6) Voila! After 20 minutes, an authentic sour-ish aroma of the best sushi rice fills the room.
7) Serve at company holiday potluck party :P

The existence of Santa

This article doesn't take into account the theory that Santa can have multiple threads and is indestructible.

"We now present the results of our studies concerning the existence of
Santa Claus.

1) As far as we know, there is no such species as a flying reindeer. In
this point of our research we still have 300 000 animal species to study
(most of these are insects). So there is yet a possibility that the flying
reindeer of Santa Claus could exist.

2) There lives approximately 2 billion children in the world (who are under
18) but since Santa Claus doesn't work among the Muslims, the Hindus, the
Jews or the Buddhists, he only has to visit approximately 15 % of all the
children on earth (378 million of them). Since there are on the average 3,5
children in every household, Santa Claus has to visit 108 million homes
(presuming that there is at least one good behaving child in each family).

3) Santa Claus has to do his work in 31 hours, taking into account
different time zones plus the rotary movement of earth, and presuming that
he travels logically from east to west. As a result of quick calculations
we are to notice that Santa needs to execute 967,7 visits in one second.
This means that in every house he has approximately 1/1000 seconds to park,
jump off the sleigh, hand out the presents, run back to the sleigh and
travel to the next house. Knowing, that these 108 million stops take place
around the world and that the distance between two houses is approximately
1,3 kilometers, the total length of the journey is approximately 140
million kilometers. This means that Santa's sleigh has to travel
approximately 1 040 kilometers per second, that is 12 500 times the sonic
speed. For comparison, a normal reindeer reaches the speed of 25 km/h at
best.

4) Another interesting item for research is the weight of the sleigh.
Presuming that each child receives merely a medium-sized Lego-pack (500 g),
the sleigh weights 189 000 000 kg. On top of this we have to consider that
Santa Claus is often described as highly overweighted. On land, a normal
reindeer can pull approximately 140 kilos maximum. Even with the assumption
that a flying reindeer (see #1) can pull ten times more than a normal
reindeer, we need more than eight or nine reindeers to pull the sleigh. We
need 135 000 reindeers. This adds up the total mass (not adding the weight
of the sleigh itself) up to 210 000 000 kilos.

5) The 210 000 000 kg traveling at 1 040 km/s produces substantial air
resistance which causes the reindeer to warm up in a similar manner as a
space ship returning to the atmosphere of the earth. The first pair of the
reindeer consumes 14,3 quantum million joules/second/a reindeer. In a short
period of time the first two reindeers will burst into flames, resulting in
a chain reaction leading to the explosion of all the reindeers. The entire
herd of reindeers will evaporate in 1/4260 seconds. At the same time Santa
will meet 17 500 times the gravity forces. Santa Claus - with all his 120
kilos - will be pressed at the back of the sleigh by the power of 1 959 016
kilos.

In our studies, we came into the conclusion that if Santa Claus did in fact
distribute the presents last Christmas - he is now dead. Another
possibility is that Santa Claus is a fake, which theory is very unlikely
since there are so many witnesses in the world who claim to have seen Santa
regularly at least once a year. We shall continue the research.
With regrets, merry Christmas and a better new year despite this all.

(This text has been adopted from the Department of Research of the
University of Technology.)"
ismo from Finland (home country of Santa Claus)

Ominous signs

Since arriving back in San Francisco, I've had a series of unpleasant incidents that makes me wonder if I've outstayed my welcome in the bay area...

First, a silly episode at the customs counter.
Characters:
1) Balding, grumpy-looking official
2) Me

(Official stamps a visa expiration date that is 10 days after my visa expires)
I was curious why and didn't want to get him/me into trouble, so I asked why.

[Me]: Why's the expiration date 10 days after the date on the visa?
(He is silent for 5 seconds and gives me a scathing glance)
[Official]: Good question

(At this time, I still hadn't realised that he was mad and being sarcastic, but I thought something was wrong)

[Me]: *silently berates self for asking the wrong question at the wrong time*
[Official]: (frosty tone) What is your occupation?
[Me]: *relieved, thinking this is normal question* Um... I'm an electrical engineer.
[Official]: Do people question your ability as an engineer?
[Me]: *finds the question strange and tries to analyze it, but still unaware of his true intent* Errr... not really.

(It dawned upon me that he felt threatened by my question! *oops*)

[Official]: (curtly) No? Then you should not question other people's ability as well. These extra 10 days are for you to pack up and go home.
[Me]: *not going to fight this one* Sorry...
[Me]: *not pleased* Well I was worried I would get into trouble...

(Anyway, I decided it was pointless, and I took my documents and left, not wanting to give him any excuse to put me on the terrorist watchlist or something.)

Ass. Maybe he wasn't happy about working on Sunday or something. Maybe he felt insecure or something. Anyway, it bothers me and I can't get his sarcastic tone out of my head. Ass.

The other thing that happened was a large pebble flying out in a nice little arc (like those in high school physics) and dealing a sharp blow to my windshield as I was entering the freeway, leaving 2 nice spidery cracks. How random can it get?!!

I wonder if this is a sign...

Some thoughts after

Hmm... just came back from the second interview at company S and am having mixed feelings. First of all, they seem pretty disorganized--my schedule was changed without me being notified, besides my HR contact, I only talked to the HR director and an engineering manager (no fellow engineers?). It was all very different from what an American company would do, and very reminiscent of a Japanese Sony.

The only test I took was an SAT-like paper-and-pencil test consisting of a verbal and a math
section! No programming questions at all, compared to company N. Perhaps S really does recruiting Japanese-style--they don't care what your major/specialty is, they just want someone who can be molded into whatever role they have in mind.

I flunked the math section, I think, having not calculated percentages, permutations, etc. for the past 5 years : ) oops, there goes my chances : ) but it was an interesting experience and I was really happy that my Japanese stood the test of a job interview! Hopefully they won't think I am a waste of money. It's hard, from an American perspective, to figure out what SAT math questions have to do with software engineering. Guess the basics matter : ) It was a learning experience nevertheless.

Company N's interview process was much better in terms of being relevant to the things I do. I had a thoroughly interesting technical discussion with 5 engineers (who would be my teammates if I join) and yes, it wasn't smooth-sailing but I enjoyed it a lot more than today's seemingly unrelated sessions.

Company S's area was a lot more fashionable tho' : )

Snippets

Little triumphs:
- walking into a restaurant by myself
- enquiring about the food (Tsuke men) and ordering it
- understanding the replies
- getting the hang of the Japanese keyboard
- finding my way to 1st company from the train station without asking anyone

Gaffes:
- completely stumped by this girl's rapidfire speech at an Internet cafe
i mean, lousy as i am, i couldn't understand a _single_ word
the other cashier must have been thoroughly entertained
- not knowing the word for "plastic bag" and having to ask the cashier what on earth he was talking about
poor guy, he must have thought i was nuts or something

Beijing, part 2

After two days of feasting, I must say that Beijing food is not so bad after all :) Although one of the three restaurants I went to was a Sichuan restaurant (Qiao4 Jiang1nan2--they have branches in Shanghai too), the other two were Something-Fang3 Shan4 and Da4 Dong3 (roast duck!).

Couldn't find a bubble tea store near Tiananmen Sq. but we visited the Forbidden Palace yesterday. After so many novels and movies and documentaries, finally seeing the inside and outside of this magnificent place, and listening to the official guide (nice girl from Hebei) tell stories about each palace is unbelievable. I feel proud to be Chinese and also sad at what happened to the country since the late Qing dynasty. The pollution is sad! I feel bad for the locals. My throat burns and my skin is so dry after just 3 days. Someone should do a study into the lungs of the average Beijing native.

Watching the people is very interesting. Equally rude and polite at very unexpected times. I have so much fun talking to cab drivers. Nothing is obviously black or white--there are always exceptions. Labour is so cheap, I see people whose jobs are just to stand outside restaurants and say hi to passersby. Everyone knows what rules to obey (never do anything stupid near Tiananmen Sq. or the Forbidden Palace) and what rules to ignore (almost any rule outside of these politically sensitive places :) ) Bring a formidable, brazen Beijinger to one of these places and he/she becomes a kitty cat.

Beijing, part 1

Got into Beijing last night, tired but happy. First time in china and I must say, it's quite amazing, from the long lines at the cab stand outside the airport, where it's free for all and everyone for him/herself. Luckily I had a surly elderly gent in front of me who would loudly drive off people who jump the queue.

Hailed a tiny hatchback cab. No fastening of seatbelts, like what bb advised. The driver was nice enough, locked up in his metal cage and listening to English oldies on the radio. Got to the vicinity of bb's apartment but we just can't find it! Unbeknownst to me, the spot where the driver dropped me off was actually the very gate that bb uses, but anyway, after asking the friendly security guards (friendly=flat, matter-of-fact tone) where the public phones were, I lugged my luggage across the street to call her. Makeshift roadside stalls had sprung up at night, selling mutton satay. But I was too desperate to see bb to care. Couldn't find the damn phone until finally another passerby snarled at me and pointed to a shack a few meters away. "There! Can't you see it?!"

They were normal phones, but the owner of the shack charges for their usage... Nice piece of entrepreneurship I guess.

My joy at seeing bb walk towards me was indescribable. Her apartment--nice and new. Her couch--very steady. This is bb, in Beijing.

5000 years of history and culture and a current economic boom lay upon this country and its 1.4 billion inhabitants. It's good to go back to my roots.

Mr. Fu's wedding

The wedding itself was a full day.

In the morning, I dragged myself up, strapped myself into the tux and drove down to H's place. I was one of the drivers for the wedding party, yes, in my little red car. Gave her a "The works' wash" at the gas station but the dryer wasn't working and I ended up with little droplets all over! That was one day when I couldn't afford to argue with the attendant, so I had no choice but to hope that the wind dries the car up along the way.

Reached H's place only to find his sister. Everyone else, including the groom had gone for breakfast. He himself had gone to the bride's place to get some stuff. So much for not seeing the bride before the wedding :) J (best man) arrived shortly. I backed the car into a bush, nearly scratching the body and startling a nice old lady who happened to be walking by. We dressed the cars up with little oriental ribbons, harried the groom into getting changed and went to the hotel to fetch his betrothed. In their nonchalant way, H and his family didn't show much excitement at all. It was hard to actually discern how they felt. Kind of a surprise actually. My family, hardly considered emotional, at least emitted an air of anticipation during weddings. H's parents were like, "Oh, our only son is getting married today. Cool. Whee. Very nice wor."

I'm sure they were ecstatic inside.

The usual malarky happened at the hotel. Photographers recording and choreographing every step, the groom and his men marched up to the bride's room and attempted to bash the door down, demanding, imploring, beseeching, cajoling in various tries to enter and "grab" the bride. The bridesmaids, of course, prepared their usual array of soy sauce and vinegar cocktails, extortions, wasabi-laced cookies and various obstacles to allow the groom to prove his sincerity. After several push-ups and gastronomical adventures, the bride finally looked at her watch and said, alright, it's time to go :P

J (best man) was the main casualty, turning green after downing a whole cup of cooking vinegar for us. He was to puke throughout the day, poor guy. The bride and her party, of course, were unrepentant. :P

This is tiring, all this typing. But I have to go on before I forget.... let's see, the church was next. First time for me, experiencing the western church wedding, where the groom and his retinue gathered in a back room with the priest while guests gathered in the church.
Father David was very nice; he must have experienced trillions of weddings and yet he was very patient, guiding us along whenever needed. The organ sounded absolutely out of this world. The wedding vows were elaborate in the Catholic way, very classic. I remember thinking to myself how funny it was that a lot of the people in the church were from another country, another culture. California is an amazing place.

It was over in a flash. Suddenly, we were outside, taking pictures and making way for the next couple to arrive. Standing there, snapping away at H's relatives, I suddenly remembered how many times H & I biked past the church in the past, making fun of newly-weds who were having their pictures taken. Today, it's H's turn.

The Kit Kat Club

Continuing the story started in the previous post, so we arrived at this quiet strip club smack in the middle of silicon valley. Surprisingly, there were quite a few cars outside. A few shady-looking guys smoking near the entrance, and a few ladies dressed in quite out-of-place clothing also taking a break outside. I thought they were patrons at first and didn't really pay attention, but I guess they worked there.

Anyway, admission was $20, the guy didn't ask us for IDs or anything. We went in, those of us who haven't been in one before had quizzical, anticipatory expressions, wondering what's it's like. Well, didn't take long to find out.

The entire place was maybe 3/4 the size of a basketball court. It was dark, and a conference table-type platform with three poles on it was the focus of attention. On it, a stripper took centerstage, sashaying to the music while slowly undressing. Men ranging from their early 20s to late 50s sat around the platform, most of whom were silent, eyes raptly staring at the dancer. There were additional tables around the stage, and the people sitting there were more relaxed and seemed to be talking. It was... an eye-opener. I mean, I didn't know strippers took everything off (duh).

Whoever sat at the table would put dollar bills in front of him for the dancer to come closer and give him some special attention (nothing sketchy, no touching, just more suggestive movements in thanks for the tip). A voice emanating from surrounding speakers introduced the current stripper by name, describing her experience in the field, eliciting applause from the audience. A couple of them were pretty good, (I know what you're thinking) and in a non-sketchy way if one can believe my opinion. I mean, one has to be pretty athletic to gracefully hang upside down on a metal pole.

To the ladies, I guess it was just a job. They walked around, talking to guests and chatting as if it was the most natural thing in the world, strolling around in scanty lingerie, chatting and laughing with the people there. There might have been one or two lady customers, too.

Lonely male engineers, mostly, I'd imagine, with nowhere to go on a Friday night. There were some weird characters, too. There was an empty seat at the stage beside a gentleman in his 50s, so I sat there after getting booted from an unused section (there was another stage in an adjacent section but that was unoccupied. Guess the Kit Kat club had seen better days). Anyway, he immediately gave me a disgusted look and walked away. I wondered if I'd violated some unspoken rule.

Anyway, the long and short of it was, we approached the two most fetching ladies and asked them if they could give H a lapdance each. Of course they agreed ($60 per person) and H had a blast. I could hear him chatting and laughing with the two ladies from across the room. Apparently they congratulated him on getting married and teased him about going to the club. Nice people, not sleazy at all.

Mr. Fu's getting married!

Just came back from a night out with H and friends, celebrating the night before his wedding. Yes, the same H who used to complain that he had trouble finding a girlfriend. Little more than a year and a half ago, he showed up for lunch with J, and the rest..... is history. Still can't believe that the carefree, flippant friend I know from school is going to be a mariied man and *gasp* possibly a father in a couple' year's time!

Anyway, the evening began with the rehearsal at MemChu, with both sets of parents, groomsmen, bridemaids, church coordinator, etc. H's parents were the same as always, not saying much, not revealing much in the way of facial expressions. In contrast, J's side of the family were much like her, more outspoken, behaving in a way that's typical of well-to-do Taiwanese, whatever that means :) There I also met the girl I was supposed to dance with at the banquet--J's cousin, who looked (and behaved) like a spoilt 14-year old but who is supposedly attending college. The priest was very patient, putting us through our paces twice. I was expecting a longer wedding given the usual Catholic ceremonies, but this was relatively smooth. Besides me, the other two groomsmen were J, H's college buddy whom I met a coupla' times before, and T, another college buddy of H's who was still on a plane at that time.

Went for dinner at Joy Luck in Cupertino afterwards with H's relatives. Nice people, all from HK, going out of their way to speak to me in Chinese instead of continuing in their rapid-fire Cantonese all the time.

After dinner, H gathered more buddies and we headed out to Santana Row for drinks. The Straits Cafe was too noisy so we went to a nearby pizza place for beer and wine. (Yes, quite pathetic). At that point, I wasn't sure if I should stay 'cos H and his friends were obviously more comfortable speaking in Cantonese to one another--I might spoil their fun. But well, it was H's night and I was determined to stay with him 'til the end (of his single days).

He's funny. Originally, J told me (in front of him) to bring him to a strip club for his bachelor's party, so I did some research and all (check out www.stripclubmap.com), but the dude himself didn't show too much interest. So there we were, sitting around with beers and a bottle of cabernet savignon until midnight, when someone mentioned "strip club..." and "come on H, this is your last chance" and H agreed in his usual nonchalant way. saying some fai cai stuff like "OK lah, we can go tomorrow night also mah." : )

Yeah right. Go to a strip club after your wedding banquet. J's gonna be real happy :P

The aftermath

In some ways, the feeling of separation from a loved one or even from a friend whom I saw everyday is acutely felt. Like coming home to an unlit house. Like smelling only my own food in the kitchen. Like turning down the volume of my speakers so as not to disturb my housemates, only to realise that they aren't here anymore. Empty, gnawing feeling in the stomach? Perhaps, but more importantly, it gives me room to pause and reflect on the important things in life. "No man is an island" ("but one can be a peninsula," said a cheesy high school pal) Whoever said that is pretty darn right.

However, there are good things about solitude too. Suddenly I found myself withdrawing into a shell, able to focus very keenly on certain things such as my studies and interviewing. I made a list of things to do, just to distract myself from useless self-pitying thoughts. Recycling, selling stuff, trashing old things, etc. things that I still have control over. Feels good, in a way.

Surreal job hunting

Recently I attended a career fair where Japanese companies and Japan-based companies came to recruit Jap-Eng bilingual college grads or experienced people. Held in
the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel smack in the middle of downtown Hollywood, it was weird that the moment I approached the event hall, every conversation started to be conducted in Japanese. That came as a shock, all of a sudden, entering a hotel in Los Angeles and seemingly stepping into another dimension. It took me at least 15 minutes after registration, sitting down at a common rest area, pretending to read some promotion material before I composed myself. Everyone looked Japanese, with the exception of 4-5 caucasians and a few people of mixed heritages. Everyone was dressed in black suits and white shirts with ties. The ladies had a little variation and all
looked very dao.

This was Friday. I had an interview with company A on Saturday, and Friday was supposed to be a day for warming up and talking to other companies. So I wandered around the hall, absorbing all the Japanese and talking to a few English-speaking people at first, Then I decided to practise my Japanese for company A's interview. I walked into company B's booth, talked to them as best as I could and showed them my Japanese resume that I frantically composed a couple of days before. To my complete surprise, after a few minutes of chatting (in my broken Japanese), they asked me to come back at 3pm for a formal interview (in another room).

That was already very unexpected, so I was pretty ecstatic and went downstairs to attend another company's seminar and spent some time in Starbucks drinking coffee and practising some notes--technical/business terms in Japanese that I prepared with the
help of a Japanese friend.

At 3pm, I went to the interview room. There were two people, one from HR and one engineer. Both tooks turns to talk to me. I was seriously amazed that somehow I could understand what they said. Not word for word, but somehow the meaning of the entire sentence got through. Guess watching all the anime/movies helped. The HR guy asked me stuff, then the engineer asked me to describe my current job. And near the
end, the big surprise came. The HR guy said, "We would like to invite you to our head office in Japan to meet the rest of our team."

!!!!!!! At that point, I remember thinking, "Shit, did I really understand him correctly?"

So I guess I will be taking a trip to Tokyo soon. hahaha I still can't believe it. Now I have to work harder to prepare for it. Maybe I'll fail, maybe it'll go alright, I'm both looking forward to and dreading it. Don't want to let them down either.

On Saturday, the interview with A didn't go as well as the one with B, in my opinion. company A was more formal and they asked questions from a large company's point of view. Kind of expected, I guess, but still interesting. I don't think I impressed them at all, but I will find out in two weeks' time.

Finally a hectic few weeks of preparation for the career fair is over. Somehow, I came through the interviews unscathed. Looking back, I realised that I made many grammatical mistakes in my verbal conversation but hopefully I got my message across and left a good impression. Should have approached more companies too but I was too
intimidated. Next round, I will try my best to do better. There's still much work to be done : ) At this point I have not gotten anything and maybe all this talk is for naught. But somehow or another, I hope to leave by March 2007.

Isn't it ironic? When life becomes routine, it is kind of boring but one can also be content. When life is approaching a change, everything becomes hectic, many important decisions have to be made, anxiety, blood pressure, excitement pile up, and somehow that makes it so much more interesting! Of course moments of rest and relaxation are good too, so I guess it is important to strike a balance.

OK, thanks for listening to my long-winded story.

Don't mean to be a prude but...

Some people should really learn some bloody EQ...
So I was discussing a problem with a co-worker, looking at some output on his monitor in his cube, when this other engineer walked up, waltzed in right beside me (in an 8x8 cube that can be rather intrusive), and started talking to him as if I wasn't there, and what's more, bloody well proceeded to open some file on the very same bloody monitor that we've been looking at!
I mean, what the heck is this?!
After opening his dang file, he suddenly turned back to me and asked, "Ohhhh did I interrupt something?" in a heavy accent.
"Of course you bloody moron--are your eyes on your arse?" I wanted to say.
But I restrained myself, gave him a cold stare and walked off calmly without reply.

Many people have commented that the onus lies on the owner of the cubicle to set things right.

The birds and the bees

There's a tree right outside the window near my cubicle, and right now it's in full bloom with small, yellow flowers on every branch and twig. Whenever I need a break from staring at the monitor, I'll walk to the window and admire the trees gently swaying in the breeze. Because of all the flowers, I see birds and bees busily harvesting nectar or scrunching for food. They're so wondrous to look at, especially the bees. The tree is really close to the window so I experience the fortune of being able to study the bees' activity closeup, almost like watching a live Discovery Channel documentary. Admiring the little yellow-and-black bundles of boundless energy zooming around, stopping now and then to gather a mouthful of nectar, then flying off again, is really most relaxing. Wish I can do this more often...
Isn't it sad that nature isn't a part of most people's lives nowadays? I mean, even comparing what I saw to a TV program is sad!

Guys' night out--Semi-pro league, Fortress America, great conversation

I find it amazing that sometimes acquaintances or even strangers can easily become friends just because they shared common, defining experiences in the past. Take, for example, guys from my country can instantly related to one another if they've been through a stint in the armed forces.
Yesterday, I met up with some college friends for dinner. One of them, R, graduated a couple of years before I did so we were not that close. Throughout dinner, R entertained us with very amusing stories about his work, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Why does the field of consulting consist of the most interesting (good and bad) characters? I could certainly learn to appreciate someone who calls me a, "conniving, sniveling bastard." :)
Anyway, then we started talking about football, the World Cup, Zidane, Argentina, Brazil, grandpa Roberto Carlos, and eventually the Semi-pro League. Yes, the Semi-pro League where we used to cheer our team on with the Kallang Roar. The Semi-pro League when heroes like Fandi Ahmad, V. Sundramoorthy, T. Pathmanathan, Abbas Saad, Alistair Edwards graced the green green grass of the National Stadium. (Not forgetting Michal Vana) Why is it that our country cannot a single player of international calibre other than Fandi Ahmad after all these years?

All those memories.... one favourite tactic for our team was to hoof the ball towards goal straight from kickoff and have someone fast and skilful, like Abbas, sprint towards goal in the hope of catching the opposition off-guard. Hahaha I wonder how many other teams do that. And that 3-2 victory over Pahang in the M'sia Cup semifinal has to be one of our most satisfying victories ever. Magical, brazilian-esque cheeky backheel from Sundram for Fandi to score. Those were the days...nowadays we can't even beat Thailand, so don't even talk about qualifying for the World Cup.
We chatted and laughed until the restaurant threw us out, and then we went to R's place and played a classic boardgame called Fortress America until the wee hours. Good job, Milton-Bradley, come up with a brilliant game and, of course, the limited edition covers (ours was the Saddam of the 1990 Gulf War edition)
Good ol' guys' night out. Yes, this is what we do when our other halves are not around...

红蜻蜓

paupau's 勇气 and 真挚 have been inspiring.
In a funny way, my memories of crushes I had in secondary and high school were evoked. When I did stupid things like waiting for her at the bus-stop to board the same bus just to have a chance to "bump into" her, even though my home was 2 hours away in the OPPOSITE direction. When I tried to find clues to how much she appreciated my affection in every word she uttered, every gesture she made. When everyone else at school down to the old lady selling fried noodles at the canteen knew and covertly laughed at me. :) Man, it must have been so awkward for her, trying to be just friends with me and yet drop negative hints that I conveniently ignored. I'm glad I was too shy to do something really stupid and embarrass her in front of the whole school. :) Eventually I got over her and had a crush on another girl of course, which also resulted in intoxicating highs of dreamy self-delusion and heart-breaking lows of cold stark reality. All history now, of course, those carefree days where clouds hovered lazily in the sky and waves rolled gently against the shore. Sorry about that girls, you had your chances :), but I'm head over heels in lalaland with this sweet, wonderful girl now. Hope you're happy, old friends, wherever you are.

Cherishing the here and now

The easiest way to cherish something is to put oneself in a situation where one is going to lost it. Why am I planning to leave the States? Not exactly sure... I tell myself and anyone who cares to ask that Asia calls, that I long for the feeling of being back in a land where everything seems so familiar and 亲切.
Am I being stupid by not listening to the advice of people so much more experienced than I am? "You have less career prospects there", "So many people want to come over here and yet you're thinking about going back?", "It's better to work a few more years so you can go back in a better position"....
Don't know.... is there ever an "ideal time" to do something? But I ramble... anyway, all these thoughts of departure from the land of good weather and tech and freedom makes me cherish the present and the here and now more. I am thankful for that.
People say I'll miss the bay area if I leave, and I'm sure I will. The great outdoors, the wide open spaces, the superlative weather, the diversity, and many more wonderful, wonderful things. Over the other side of the Pacific, there's public transportation (man check out those air-conditioned, punctual-to-the-millisecond trains), people-watching, yummy food, feeling of cultural closeness (well, relatively), and so many other things that I haven't experienced, people whom I haven't had the fortune to meet.
Money and career, oh well, the question hanging off many friends' lips. "Are you so tired of earning too much moola here that you want to take a paycut?", "So you want to become a second-class citizen in another country eh?", they joked. Fair enough, sometimes I start to wonder as well. :)

Why blog?

What am I using this blog for? I think it's a place to record all those thought that flit past my consciousness when I'm in a contemplative mood, when I'm showering, when I'm far away from any notepad. Seriously, whenever I want to save some thoughts for posterity (not that anyone else thinks they're worth remembering), they get lost among the other more mundane items. So I'm going to make an effort to update this blog more often. Hopefully someday I'll look back on this snapshot of life and smile fondly. Hopefully what I write will provide some entertainment to the poor soul who stumbles across this wasted corner of cyberspace...

Coupe du monde 2006!

The World Cup begins tomorrow and I can't wait! Even subscribed to the cable TV package so I can watch it everyday! Too bad most games are in the morning/afternoon so I'll miss some of them, but at least I can witness some of the best examples of the beautiful game. Can't wait!
Argentina are my favourites to win the tournament--they have a pretty strong team in all departments, plus an exciting forward line consisting of none other than the 19 year-old wunderkid--Lionel Messi.
Hopefully the US will do well too, so football's (alright, soccer's) popularity will rise over here.

To live there...

Everytime I go to Japan, I feel a sense of displacement. Even though I think it's the place where I'd like to work next, I'm still wondering if it's the right decision. I mean, am I going there just for the heck of it or what? Would I be sacrificing my career prospects by going to a place where the tech industry is not as vibrant as in the Valley?

Anyway this time there was a sense of purpose everywhere I went--Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore. I would ask myself, "How would it feel to work here?", "How does it feel to jostle for space everyday on the trains?", "Where can I buy groceries?", "Should I bring all my pots and pans?", etc. Silly questions, no doubt, but they kind of render the surroundings in a totally different light.

日本と私の国の習慣についての違い

日本と私が生まれて育ったシンガポールの習慣は似ている面もありますが、違う面もいっぱいありそうです。例えば、食事する時に日本人はたいてお箸を使うけど、シンガポール人家族によってフォーク、スポーン、お箸、ナイフ、指も用いる事があります。なぜだか分かりませんが、料理の種類はたくさんあるので、色々な形をしている食べ物を簡単に口に入れるように、一番適当な食器を選ぶ必要があるのかも知れません。でも両国の人も食事に熱心な点では似ているので、多分日本人は他の国の料理を食べたら、お箸以外の道具を使う事があると思います。



次の気が付いたのは、シンガポール人より日本人の方が季節感があると言う事です。これはどう言う意味でしょうか？日本は四季の移り変わりを楽しむ事が出来ますが、シンガポールでは気候がいつも夏のようだし、木の葉の色も一年中ほんとんど変わらないので、紅葉や桜と言う季節の変化について特別な気持ちはあまりないと思います。だけど、一年のカレンダーを見たら、シンガポールの「新春、中秋、大掃除」と言う年中行事の起源地が中国ですが、その行事の祝い方が違うようになりました。
最後に、初めて日本へ行った時東京でタバコを吸ってい人がたくさんいるのを見て驚きました。「日本人は健康を大切にするではないか」と日本人の友達に訊いたら、「そうだよ」と答えてくれましたのに、私があの時東京のどこへ行っても、たくさんの学生や会社員がタバコを吸っているのを見ました。もちろんシンガポールでは喫煙者もいますが、それの数は日本の喫煙者の数と比べて少ないらしいです。両国ともタバコを吸っている事が体に悪い事だとされていますが、シンガポール人より日本人の方が、喫煙が忙しい生活をリラックスするいい方法だと思っているのかもしれません。
国によって習慣が違います。その違いは国の歴史、文化、食生活などの違いから生じて、なかなか面白いと思います。