Daily // January 2008


 

January 31, 2008

Classes has started for four days already, and it somehow doesn't seem like it. Anyway, my classes are going fine. Microeconomics is boring at best, while macrotheory is okay. Probstat is also okay..though Fishkind's style of speech is simply unfathomable judging by his appearance. The way he speaks and how he looks are just out of sync. But the worst is my computing and math modeling class, whose instructor is a total bore.

Well, there are also some better things that happened. For one, Lili seems to have improved his cooking - his fried rice tasted quite good this afternoon. Hopefully he'll cook more in the future.

January 27, 2008

Hello everybody, long time no see. Well, as you may know, for the past twenty-so days I had been in HK. If you ask me to sum up my trip with one sentence, I'd say it was very fulfilling. I did many things I longed to do and thought of doing when I was away from HK. I finally visited the dentist (who said my teeth is okay and that my three wisdom teeth need not be removed) and the optometrist (my left eye remains the same while my right eye got more near-sighted). I met with my old schoolmates and visited Lasalle. I was loved and taken care of unconditionally by my grandparents at home, who spent so much effort making things like rice dumplings and indonesian cakes and turnip cake.

Now I'm going to try recall all the things that I'd done during this trip. It's a difficult thing to do, looking back at the good things that happened and knowing that you won't be able to do them again soon. So, here I go.


Honeymoon Period - when all is fresh and exciting..

Friday 4th - Arrived in HKG around 6:30pm, had dinner at home

Saturday 5th - Headed out early to visit my optometrist. He still recognized me having not seen me for two year. Haircut immediately afterwards, lunch at 香港仔麵館, then went to MK to shop. Had dinner in wanchai with Hopkins alumni plus a few current students. Left quite late that night.

Sunday 6th - Because of jetlag, I woke up quite early (in fact this happened for the first week, and I was able to watch 香港早晨 everyday). Had breakfast outside then headed to the library for their internet. Went out to Jordan after that and had late lunch at 翠華 with aunt. Then went back to YL for dinner at 大榮華 with another aunt.

Monday 7th - Gone through a long process of renewing HKID and 回鄉證 in the morning, then had dimsum with grandma. Had K dinner with Amy, Ben, Vivian, Sunny and Justin that night. Justin did not sing once.

Tuesday 8th - Tried to visit Wetland Park in the morning, but realized that it's closed on Tuesday. Instead went to get some soup ingredients. After lunch, traveled to HKU to see Kevin and hand him his new toy. Martin later joined us for dinner in TST as well as dessert at 糖朝 afterwards. Their rennovation looks quite nice.

Wednesday 9th - Visited the dentist, then had dimsum in Tsuen Wan. Also bought some snacks there. Grandma and I then visited Wetland Park. It was quite surprisingly big and nice to walk around. Had dinner outside afterwards.

Thursday 10th - Morning dimsum with aunt in YL, then went to Causeway Bay to meet with Steven. We wanted to watch a movie at first, but never found a movie to watch. So instead we walked around in CB, including 皇室堡, and bumped into Renee right in the busiest street in CB. In the evening, the five of us, Thomas, Michael, Kevin, Martin and I, was actually able to gather together at the same time for dinner. We walked around in Harbor City then had dinner at a sushi place. We visited 糖朝 for dessert again.

Friday 11th - Got new phone with Martin in MK. Then went to Central for dinner with Steven and Andrew. We then went to LKF hotel for a drink, later joined by Vanessa. I also met Janice, though I think she forgot who I am. LKF hotel's orange juice vodka costs $90 per glass..

Saturday 12th - Woke up early to help someone do something. Then went to MK with aunt and bumped into Kevin, who was looking for a router. Being him, he ignored all shopkeepers advice and bought netgear. We then parted and I went to SE's service center to get my brother's phone fixed/unbent while Kevin went to get an ic card for his iphone. The wait was over an hour. So my aunt and I went for some bubble tea at 仙跡岩. For dinner, the two of us had taiwanese food and I finally tried the famous 豬腳飯. It tasted okay.. I'm not particularly fond of pig legs. (But of course it's better than durian as you will later read about..)

Sunday 13th - Ocean Park with my two cousins and grandma. It was very fun. If you can recall, that sunday turned cooler unlike the day before, which was very hot. The park is also under heavy reconstruction, and I heard that three hotels will be built near it. This is great, isn't it? Had dinner outside near home at 新北江 mall.



Anti-climatic period - when you start to get used to things..

Monday 14th - Memories keeps us going forward. Because of this, today I visited Mei Foo, where I spent much of my childhood in. The place has changed alot throughout the years, but many things still stay the same. For example, the lovely 多多餅店 is still here, so I bought a pound of butter cookies from them. Tasted just like before. I also printed some photos taken in Ocean Park. Oh, before heading to Mei Foo, grandma and I had dimsum in a restaurant in YL westrail station. It's quite good, especially their 杞子糕. For dinner, I headed to my aunts place and had dinner with them.

Tuesday 15th - Went to Elements with Martin. Actually we met first in MK and went to 潮特, where I got a totoro cushion. We expected the folks from HKU to come out for dinner, but they were too busy. Martin also got a card reader in 旺電. For dinner, Martin and I tried the 夏麵館 in Elements. The food was quite yummy. Martin also recited the story of Carol Ip and 'cable car', taxi and matilda leung, which had me literally laughing out loud.

Wednesday 16th - Strangely I have no memory as to what I did this day.

Thursday 17th - Went to TST alone and bought a pair of 523 in Levi's. Dinner at 禦前 sushi with aunt and my two cousins.

Friday 18th - Traveled to 東涌 around 11am to meet with Derek and his family for visiting the 大佛. Of course, we went on 昂坪360. The ride was about 30 minutes and at moments I felt like I'd die. The remaining of the trip was fun, though it was very windy when we got up to the buddah. Afterwards I went back home for dinner.

Saturday 19th - Went to MK with Derek, then lunched in FW's EXP together with Renee. We then tried to find a movie to watch. This is my second failed attempt to watch a movie in hk. Instead we just walked around in FW in places like Log-on, franc franc, and i.t. Around 4pm, we parted. I headed to my cousin's place to make blueberry cheesecake. The end product, which was ready the next morning, tasted quite good. For dinner that night, we went out to eat at a 大排檔 and had many things including 煲仔飯.

Sunday 20th - A strangely laid-back day where I stayed at home till 5pm. Met with Kevin and Martin in Times Square and after walking around, we ate at 泰簡單. Needless to say, it's thai food, quite expensive thai food too.. After dinner we continued walking around until 10pm, the time when Kevin had to see his other half. Martin and I continued walking around, and decided to meet again the next day. My grandma and grandpa also made some 粽 that day.



Reality check period - when it feels like the deadline is coming..

Monday 21st - Visited the dentist again then Martin drove and picked me up in MK. We met with Kevin and the three of us had lunch in Small Shop, my favorite lunchtime restaurant. Yes, I ordered option C and drank 凍焉鴦. Martin then literally drove us to La Salle. We met quite a few teachers, and talked to a few too, and I also joined LSCOBA. We then went to Megabox to see what's it's like. Well, we were disappointed by the stores there, so we left for APM. We had dinner in yet another japanese restaurant. After dinner, we decided to go for dessert at 滿記. No, we didn't go to the one in APM, we went to Sai Kung's. And there go my first time eating 榴蓮.. It tasted very weird..and I don't think I'll dare eat it again. Good for Martin, since he can enjoy the remaining 榴蓮 pancake. We left around 11pm.

Tuesday 22nd - Early morning dimsum with my grandma and her friend. Also obtained my HKID and 回鄉證. Went out a bit, then came home for dinner.

Wednesday 23rd - Ate late lunch at 小肥羊. Foot massage.

Thursday 24th - Happy Birthday, Martin. Long day. First I went to YL to buy 5 packs of 老婆餅, only to realize much later that I only needed 4. I always think the five of us..the five of us..so I got 5. Anyway, Martin and I met around 4pm in TST pier, ferried to Central for bus to HKU, and met Michael at HKU's starbucks. The starbucks there is truly affordable - an originally $30 grande caramel macchiatto only costs $21. Everything there is 30% off. Anyway, our plan was to have everyone meet for dinner that night, but no one was free. Michael left then, so Martin and I tram-ed to the peak and had dinner in 淩霄閣 at Bubba Gump, where we shared three-people's portion of shrimp dishes. After that Martin went back home to get his car, and together we picked up Michael from his hall for dessert. Unfortunately, Kevin was being X-ed (in his words) so he couldn't join us. We ate at 宜記. The three of us ate till 1am, and after saying goodbye to Michael, I missed my bus so when I got back home, it was almost 2:30am.

Friday 25th - Went to Wanchai late..around 1:30pm. Then headed back to FW for tea with Vivian and Renee. We tea-ed in SimpleLife, located where McDonald's once was. Bought some little things later and dined at home.

Saturday 26th - Last day in HK.. Quite busy it was. Had a chatty breakfast with aunt, then headed to TST for lunch in 小城知味 with Martin. We then traveled to Jordan and I got two books, as well as said bye to Kevin, who felt very sick that day. Martina then left and I also met briefly with Thomas. I wish I could have chatted longer, since Thomas and I didn't get chances to talk much anyway.. For dinner, I ate with my two aunts and my grandparents at 讌客. Then I went home to pack..

Sunday 27th - Despite my many concerns about my luggages' weight, they went through. I thought the weight limit was 26kg, but it is actually 32kg. I wish I stuffed more food inside. Anyway, it was hard to say bye to my grandparents, who took care of me so lovingly for 20+ days. I will miss them.


And everyone else, I will miss you too. Good luck in your endeavors.

P.S. I typed much of this during my flight to JFK but lost a lot of it when my mac suddenly died. I apologize for the tardiness. I will get it checked tmr.

January 2, 2008

Packing now, leaving in a few hours, feeling excited and elated. See you soon!

January 1, 2008   New year and new beginnings

Hello my dear readers. Well, I really apologize for my brief disappearance. Besides jumping in to say 'merry christmas!' and 'happy new year!' then jumping out, I've done nothing for my site. To be honest, I planned to roll out something new to meet the occasion of new year, but I truly failed. My disappearance was likely my way to rationalize my inability to bring a needed change.

Well, forget about it (what a phrase to start 2008 with!). Instead of a completely new layout, I'll work on improving what's already here. Please bear with me!

It's another year. Every new year brings new optimism and drive. Whether it's shortlived or not depends on how we treat each day. Even with great hopes and resolutions, it is easy to lose them and become our old selves. And if you think about it, everyday is a new day. Everyday we are given a new chance to do something differently. So why not treat each day like the first day of the year?

Meanwhile the total visits in December is 432. That's an average of 13.9/day. It's expected since I disappeared for a while. Let's do better this month!

Update: Okay, so after writing the above, I decided to work on the site and voila! A facelift for ultimax once again. I said 'again' because I made a slight facelift in June 2006. Since this is the second one, it's named ultimax++. Hopefully this will be the last addition of '+'..because '+++' does not sound too good. Anyway, below is a list of changes I made:

I hope you like it. Lastly, here's a picture of the site before the facelift.