Daily // March 2006
March 29, 2006
Tomorrow is judgement day, with college decisions rolling out. At this time tmr I'd know where I'll be in the next six months. So, good luck to all.
Maybe I'm amazed.
March 28, 2006
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First day of school was alrite. For English, we're reading The Tortilla Curtain, about a rich, wealthy couple living in an affluent neighborhood in LA with things well under control, and a deprived, illegal Mexican couple barely staying on track of the American dream and how the two couples cross roads.
Received a new collection of Muji pens and stuff today, thanks to Wilson. Maybe he'll become a supplier or importer for the hk-ish things that I wish to obtain. Just kidding..
March 27, 2006
So, I'm back at Taft after a short flight. Several breaking news has already knocked in. Most shockingly, two people withdrew from school and will not return again. I guess this is the time when you realize how much they mean to you when they are no longer here. Just know that me and your friends are always here, and that the door is always open for you.
School resumes tmr. It's been an amazing vacation, really. For once, I'm actually not upset that I did nothing. Finally it's been a holiday without obligations, tasks, or things in my to-do list. Oh actually, there is - infinix! Well, not much have developed in spring break, and by not much I mean nothing. Hopefully I'll pick up from where I left it soon.. Good nite for now.
March 23, 2006 Orange Sky
I'm sorry that I've disappeared for forever. Well, I'm now in Tampa, Florida, and I miss my brother's accompany. This song's for you. Stay well.
March 19, 2006 Indian Wells & Pacific Life Open
We headed out early yesterday to Indian Wells, in hope of watching the ladies final in Pacific Life Open Championships. This city is located in southern california, just a few minutes away from the renowned Palm Springs (we planned to stay there at night, but our last minute preparation forced us to drive back home..); it is also in the middle of a desert, so many call it the oasis. The weather was beautiful all day and on the way we saw these huge, wind power turbines.
Quite luckily, we got four tickets for the desired match, plus the men's semi finals (Blake vs Nadal). Sharapova played well in the windy conditions and crushed Deementieva with a 6-1, 6-2 victory. Similarly, with the support from the American crowd, Blake edged out Nadal in two straight sets: 7-5, 6-3.
As for today, we went out around 10 for some Taiwanese snacks/breakfast before visiting the farmer's market. Farmer's market is really similar to a flea market, except that they don't flee..they come back every sunday. In the afternoon we stayed at home and watched Home Alone 2 on tv. It was a fun weekend.
Geriatric (adj) - pertaining to elderly people.
March 17, 2006 ¥ªÃä - ·¨¥àµY
So, it almost seems like I were drunk in last night's entry.. Well, I wasn't, probably just tired. Anyway, my family has decided to go to Palm Springs tmr, hoping for some fun and relaxation. Isn't it fun and relaxing enough to do nothing in your apartment?
Looking at the past week, I'd say I've been rather sloppy and inactive. There are things I could have done, like going to that mall or watch that movie or dine outside. It feels like I'm trapped inside this invisible bubble, unable to do things I thought of doing before spring break started. I always say that holidays are times for all purposes, but when you're in a holiday, you get into a holiday mood, and you want to do nothing. I need something to awaken my appetite for life.
March 16, 2006
Played tennis in a park nearby in both yesterday and today morning.
Watched Taxi and loved the car chase scenes.
Doesn't my website look more and more like a xanga or myspace? I hope not.. But I promise to bring something hot and spicy better tmr.
March 14, 2006
These days have been so boring that I need to contemplate for something to write about. Is my life becoming plainer and plainer? I hope not.. Some thoughts going through my mind now:
Hingis won 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 against Davenport today in Indian Wells. Kudos to her! Oh, I also watched The Pink Panther, and it was hilarious! "I would like to buy a 'hamburger'!"
Last year at this precise time, I was walking in the streets of Assissi, Italy. If you can't recall, I was in Italy with Collegium last spring break. Check back my dailys in March 05 for details and pictures.
One last thing: I have forgotten to bring my glasses back from Taft. That means that, if I wish to see, I need my contacts on, which also suggests 14 hrs of contacts-wearing per day. That's really tiring for the eyes..
Bedlam (n) - uproar, confusion.
March 13, 2006
"Nobody trains for second."
Received an email from Mooney today which basically said that my team, varsity A, got the second place in our devision in JETS. It is great news, really, but we're probably very close to winning it. Hopefully the team will do even better next year.
Life is rather monotomous when you stay at home all day. Oh, I've decided to reload windows on my laptop, since it's getting slower and slower these days. We'll see how it goes.
Tinge (n) - shade, color.
March 12, 2006
Today's actually my first time to attend Sunday church. Though I cannot be described as outright pagan, I have never been a religious person. Should I consider embracing religion? Anyway, after the gathering, we had lunch at Bacalli, a rather authentic hk cuisine place. We then went to my aunts home and spent the afternoon washing our car, which has not been cleaned for a month. Well, it's always nice to get a task done.
P.S. Enjoy Rebecca Blaylock's Someone There For Me.
Deposition (n) - dismissal, removal.
March 11, 2006
Ten Thousand Milestone
Actually, it was yesterday that this milestone was reached. Well, first and foremost, thank you for your support. Without you spending that few minutes on my site everyday, I couldn't have continued doing this. Part of it that makes this such a great experience is because of you - knowing that somebody out shares the same insights and enjoys reading my writing delights me and fuels my appetite for life; so that I can, in return, share it with you.
Speaking of "appetite for life", I find that I lack it lately. Maybe it's because of the holidays - spring break puts almost everything beyond my mind, making me spacy and dreamy all day. That's not neccessarily a bad thing because it's a state of mind we wish to obtain during classes, right?
So, today we went to Marukai (a Japanese supermarket) for shopping and I found the said-to-be-superb-by-Kevin curry cup noodles. He was partly correct - the soup base was good but the noodles were just okay. At night we went to a friend's home for bbq. Oh btw, ETS notified me that I'm one of the 0.8% October SAT takers who has wrong scores reported. This evil testing serpent is really up to no good. I hope it dies of leukemia soon.
March 9, 2006
Office 2007 UI
It seems like Office 2007's UI is set, and I have to say, it isn't captivating enough for love at first sight (unlike its Beta 1 interface, which could be reviewed on November 21, 2005). The design is rather influenced by Vista's interface - chrome, glass like menus and the large, circular start button. Well, the button's actually not only for aesthetics but also for functionality: if you press it, you'll see:
Moreover, for the first time in history, you'll be able to change the UI's color, say, to black. It will then look like this:
If you are interested, I encourage you to visit here for more details on the new UI. There will undoubtedly be complaints from those who claim that such radical changes will require new training (and thus money), or those who resists to upgrade because they're content with the current version of Office. But honestly, Office's interface has merely been tweaked by tiny bit over the years. We need something new and exciting. Hopefully, Office 2007 will continue to improve before its final release in Q4 this year.
March 8, 2006
Left school around 4 after getting some good and bad news in the morning. My flight was quite delightful, actually. Firstly, I discovered two accompanies (Josh and his sister) were on my flight! Secondly, so few people were on board that almost everyone got three seats for himself/herself. So naturally, I layed down and slept. The only blemish of the flight was that there were no meals served at all..
Well, time here is 3 hours slower than in east coast, which means my body clock shows 3:19am. I promise to write more tmr; good nite for now.
March 7, 2006
Since I have no collegium rehearsal this afternoon, I napped for more than an hour. This is probably the third afternoon nap I've taken since January, but it actually feels quite invigorating. Well, the side effect is that I have no intention to sleep now..
P.S. Flight departs tmr at 6:30pm.
Proposition (n) - plan; theorem.
March 6, 2006
It is so easy to get into an awkward situation at Taft. You might be doing laundry on Saturday evening, and as you descend the last few stairs, you see a girl straddling her legs over a guy. At that moment, nothing beats the desire of becoming transparent. You could only walked pass them quickly, dry or get your clothes, and disappear. Or, you might be looking for your lab partner during study hall. As you enter his room, you see nobody; then instinctively, you look at the bed or the couch, and voilà, you see him and a girl cuddled together, semi-clothed. You realize whats going on, mumble something unintelligible (something like sorry) and leave, feeling embarrassed by them and yourself.
As you might guess, I bumped into such situation tonight. Well, life's like this, right? It'd be awfully boring without these small incidents.
Requiem (n) - Catholic mass for the tranquility of souls of the passed-away.
March 5, 2006
For some reason, the only feeling I have now is hunger. Perhaps I just don't eat enough these days.. Well, tmr I'll have chem and math test, so I should sleep soon. It's only 3 days till spring break - I can do it.
Elation (n) - high spirits, feeling of pride.
March 4, 2006 infinix Layout Prototype
Today was just full of tennis. Had tryouts from 2-5 and then quite unexpected, my new boy asked me to play with him in the gym, at night! Well, I showered and just finished dinner that time, but I accepted the invitation anyway. We were the only people there actually, and since there was no ventilation, it was extremely quiet - so quiet that you can hear the opposite player's footsteps. We left at 9.30. My body is totally exhausted now.
As I promised, I'm showing you a prototype of the forthcoming new layout, codename infinix. I've moved on from this design, and am currently working on the new one. But it's still quite interesting, right?
Cantaloupe (n) - a type of melon («¢»e¥Ê).
March 3, 2006 JETS
I must admit it feels on top of the air to be one of the varsity A team members competing in JETS. You naturally feel like you have the ability to tackle any problem in your way. Ya, so we did fine, I guess. My ice-cream production problem was actually quite hard towards the end, but thankfully Lily helped. The most memorable part of the trip is certainly the stop-by at Wendy's afterwards, and I believe the bill to be around $150 for all of us. Anyway, it was an enjoyable day of escape from classes.
Well, the counter is not displaying correctly (again). Don't worry - I'll get this fixed tmr. For now, let's read about the basses, which is my section. It captures our mindset very well.
A Young Person's Guide to the Chorus - 4Basses |
Latitude (n) - angular distance (not to be confused with altitude, which means vertical distance).
March 1, 2006
Start of the Month Exclusive
As I usually do on the first day of the month, I'd like to give an overview. Well, March is a month of love. Why? Because Spring Break is around the corner and senior year is quickly ending; suddenly we have this big slot of free time to care about things we never did in the past three industrious years. March signifies the re-ignition of this passion. It is the time for every purpose.
Meanwhile, I have some "fun and exiciting" news to announce. You mean iPod Hi-Fi? Of course not (I would not let Apple infiltrate every bit of my musical sanctity.) February's total visits cut is from 9425-9845 - a total of 420 visitors, averaging 15 visits per day, a 12% increase from January's count. Thank you for your support. I assure you that March's dailys will be equally enthralling (if not more) - details of the currently-under-development layout codename infinix shall be unveiled. Check back in a few days for a sneak peak. For now, let's take a look at its logo again:
* * *
Let's continue on with our reading about the tenors, shall we?
A Young Person's Guide to the Chorus - 3Tenors |