Daily

Subway & Cab; Model & Bottle

July 30, 2011

1st subway ride. Headed out around 11 to Soho to get a haircut. Afterwards, I had dim sum with my roommate, Amelie, in Chinatown. It was decent, but I think Amelie enjoyed it more than I did, presumably because she’s French and it’s exotic to her. Of course, not all French people like Chinese food; but Amelie is rather well traveled – she interned in HK last summer in a fragrance company, which surprised me, and traveled around China as well. It always surprises me when Europeans know HK well. 2nd subway ride. We then went to Meatpacking District to meet up with Laura (Amelie’s friend) and her friends to stroll the High Line. It’s regarded as an attraction/park, but I find it rather ordinary – it’s just a long pedestrian bridge. 3rd subway ride. Tired from the walk, we traveled to Central Park to relax and lay on the grass. We wanted to row a boat on the pond, but it was too crowded and just boiling hot.

4th subway ride. I then parted to meet up with Wilson back in Soho, for an early dinner at Bari Cafe. This is the second consecutive day that I saw Wilson, and it’s strange because I haven’t seen him for two years. It was a nice meal, and quickly after eating the few of us took a cab to Brooklyn, under the Manhattan Bridge, to catch the sunset. Cab ride. How was the sunset? It was great – the view of NYC skyline was quite nice from Brooklyn.

About an hour or two later, we decided to head back, but not without some wine. 5th subway ride. We got back to Sheraton (their hotel) and chitchatted while enjoying the Riesling (forgot brand) and Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. The former was sweet and super easy to drink, while the Cloudy Bay was rather dry and had a bitter taste to me. They joked that it’s a good time to do their modeling assignments – a perfect occasion to realize the term ‘Model and Bottle’ that bankers often use. I left around 1 as I was planning to play tennis at 7am the next day.

This was one of the fun-er Saturdays I’ve had so far in Manhattan.

Dark days

July 29, 2011

Had dinner in Korean town with Wilson and Jen today. It felt strangely familiar talking with them, and suddenly it all got back to me. How privileged I was. How lucky I never truly realized I was until now. But my path has changed. Even though our paths may intertwine or cross each other, they will not overlap again. I'm an outsider looking in.

Some people can batter through storms after storms. But I'm too fragile it seems, too spoiled, too easily bruised. It's a sad, sad realization, and it makes me feel weak..

Someone will pull me out from this, right?

HB Kevin

June 29, 2011

Hi everyone, just thought I'd stop by to say hi. May I wish a happy birthday to Kevin. See? I told you it was unusual that I got to be in HK to celebrate your bday with you last year, and this year, I indeed cannot. Hope you enjoyed it.

As for me, well, let's talk about it another day.

Here

May 18, 2011

Watched 非誠勿擾 2 again today. I still find the poem recited by the little girl at her father's farewell gathering hauntingly beautiful:

見與不見 - 倉央嘉措
你見，或者不見我
我就在那裡
不悲不喜

你念，或者不念我
情就在那裡
不來不去

你愛，或者不愛我
愛就在那裡
不增不減

你跟，或者不跟我
我的手就在你手裡
不捨不棄

來我的懷裡
或者
讓我住進你的心裡
默然相愛

Atlantic City; Decision

May 14, 2011

Last weekend, the five of us went to Atlantic City, NJ for a day trip. It was about 3 hours away, so we left rather early at 8. On the way, I tried Popeyes (fast food restaurant) for the first time. It was rather disappointing.. We arrived before noon, and had a sumptuous lunch at White House Subs. Their subs are good, quite good.

After lunch, we strolled along the boardwalk, which Atlantic City is famous for, and then proceeded to an afternoon of casino games. Strange, I know, as I am not a (good) gambler. We played roulette, blackjack, texas hold'em, and pai gou poker. It was more fun than expected, and I realized I'm not as risk-loving as I thought. Tired and full from buffet, we got back around 1am. Pictures of the trip can be found on fb.

***

On Wednesday, I headed to NYC for an interview. I spoke with three persons, each for about half an hour. (Before that, I had talked with another three on the phone.) How did it go? Well, good news came on Friday night. Perhaps I'll be moving to the big apple after all?

Btw, this is a nice performance:

Heartstring

May 3, 2011

I'm so good at being alone, even I realize it.

They say the past defines us. What if it constricts us? There are certainly things we want to change from the past. Things we wish we did, things we wish we didn't. And because of this, it's difficult to let go, unless we face it and accept that nothing we do now will change the past, but only allow it to torment ourselves.

Yes, I know I should let go. But it's so damn hard not to remind yourself of the past sometimes. Perhaps my spirit is just too weak now.

I need some new excitement in my life.

Flu

April 24, 2011

Sometimes we keep asking and asking, and forget how to give.

Visited the tulip garden with Edwin on saturday. It was a nice break, though the garden was rather muddy after a few days of rain.
Meanwhile I've caught the flu. Let's hope it goes away soon.

HB ♥

April 21, 2011

Happy birthday, Grandma.
Add this complication to yesterday's post - that person doesn't even know I exist. Great?

That feeling

April 20, 2011

I'm having that weird feeling. You know, that feeling you get when you see the person you love but cannot be with. It's not sadness, but a small pain, and it makes you feel weak in the stomach. Broken, and empty.

Spring fair

April 16, 2011

Spring fair started yesterday. This year, there are no roller coasters behind Krieger, as the expansion of the library is underway. In fact, I suspect there will no longer be roller coasters in future spring fairs, as 1) not many people ride them, 2) they look way too precarious, 3) no space to place them. Of course, they could be placed in the new quad, such as the Decker quad next to Clark, but they didn't do it this year, and that space is reserved for other events too.

As for today, it's rained It always rains during spring fair weekend.

Obsessed

April 14, 2011

I'm obsessed with MM.
I feel lonely.

Meanwhile, it's spring fair again. I've never mentioned it in the previous years, which is strange.

23 April 10, 2011

Yikes. I'm 23, and I feel old.

Thanks to Edwin, Renee, Sunny, Angela, Alex and Kahei for a wonderful birthday dinner last evening at Cheesecake Factory. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.

Being the non-alcoholic I am, I decided to buy one (just one) bottle of wine to celebrate. I was hoping to try Layer Cake, but I couldn't find it, so I got a dessert wine called Moscato. It tasted extremely sweet.

Let's toast, to new beginnings.

180°

April 7, 2011

I've been listening to Stephanie's new album these few days, and I quite like it. Here's one song from the album for you to enjoy:

My new SSD setup is working great. After the announcement of the macbook pro updates in March, I was fed up, because I know I should wait for a revamped design. So, what can I do to keep my 4-year old mbp current? Not a lot, except upgrading the HD to SSD. But that would mean I lose valuable HD space, unless I spend a fortune on a 256gb SSD, which is still small. Then, I discovered I could leave my old HD as storage and replace my optical drive with an adequately sized SSD. In the end, I have 120gb of SSD that holds my mac partition, and the rest (photos, music) are held in my 320gb HD.

Are there drawbacks? Certainly so. The guide I posted yesterday mentions some. For one, having 2 drives draws more power, so it affects battery life. Bootcamp users will have to move the partition to the non-SSD drive too (use this), as it could hurt the SSD drive's performance if you place it there. And lastly, it takes some time to move everything, such as your itune's library (just follow this).

"Why not just wait for the next generate of macbooks? They may likely have SSD base configurations." Well, I couldn't wait..

Back

April 3, 2011

Well hello. After exactly three months of hiatus, I'm back here. Why now, you ask. No reason necessary, as this is where I come and go. *roll eyes* But I felt that I should try to record my daily life, otherwise I won't be able to recall them in the future.

These three months have been really tough on me. And most of this is due to the freedom I have, and it is eating me away. I feel that life has become dull and unexciting when everyday I have to plan my schedule, and have nothing to put in. I know there's a task I have to finish, but until I finish it, life will simply not be as colorful. I need to fulfill this missing goal.

Anyways, I'm back, and I hope I will be back for a good while.

***

Btw, a week ago I decided to replace my HD with and SSD drive, and I did. My mac is now full of life again. The upgrade was not that difficult, as I did not have to remove my old HD, but only had to replace the optical drive with the new SSD. For a useful guide, visit here.

Disney; New year

January 3, 2011

Greetings. It's our first time meeting each other in 2011. A late happy new year; it's only January 3rd but it feels more like 6th/7th already, doesn't it? Time sure flies..

So, I had a rather nice trip to Disney on new year's day. It was extremely crowded and I heard from a worker that 80,000 people were admitted during the day. The atmosphere was great, but it's not really a good time to visit Disney if you want to get on the rides. I mean, one of the rides had a 4-hr wait. And all fast-passes were distributed by 10:30am (while we were still driving there). Throughout the whole day, I only got on one ride. Fortunately, the best part of the day didn't require any queuing. The regular fireworks show came on around 8pm, then a new year countdown show started around 11:40pm. I thought many people would leave after the first show, but alas, many stayed for the second show.

The countdown was quite special. Fireworks appeared above the different countries (if you've been to Epcot, you'd know what I mean) in the order of their time zones. After the show, the whole park turned into a nightclub and there were people dancing and drinking everywhere. There was even a DJ on stage. We were too tired, so we squeezed through the crowd, out of the park.

2010 was certainly a memorable year. It was a year of transition. But then 2011 would be a year of even greater transition. I hope I am ready for it.

P.S. Visits in November and December totaled 1229 visits (40280-41509), averaging 20.15 per day. Do I really need to do this every month? Anyway, thanks for your support.

HNY

December 31, 2010

Happy new year.

I'll be at Disneyworld on new year's eve. See you next year.

Almost Xmas; Macarons 101

December 23, 2010

Hello all. I've returned home for a few days now, but I've been too lazy to blog. My blog has been seriously hurt by Twitter.. One of the reasons I tweet more than I blog is that the former is much easier, and faster. But I do want to leave traces of memory for myself to savor in the future instead of relying on my unreliable brain, so, here I am. Merry Xmas to you all, and thank you for your support (by still visiting my much neglected site).

Today, I took a dive into the art of French macarons. Yes, I bet you have tried them somewhere before. However, have you made them? Well, I tried to do that today, and guess what: they turned out looking rather nice (with good 'legs', explained in a moment). Perhaps it's beginner's luck? Let the pictures explain themselves.

The most difficult part is the sifting - the powdered almond is more like crushed almond than powder, so it took some time to sift. Other than that, it was not that bad. Are you tempted to try? Here's the recipe (curtesy of http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com):

Macaroon Shells
[yields approximately 50 shells]
5g dehydrated egg white powder (I skipped this)
28g granulated sugar
225g confectioners (powdered) sugar
125g almond meal/powder
100g aged egg whites
Optional: food coloring gel (I used a drop of red in this trial)

Bittersweet Ganache
9 oz bittersweet chocolate
8 oz heavy cream

That's it. Good luck if you decide to try. And lastly, once again, merry xmas to you all.

Living & Eating

November 18, 2010

Hi everyone. Fall is almost gone and Winter is arriving. You must be extremely loyal, so loyal that you still visit this site frequently and discover this post. Well, I thank you for that. The truth is, I've been really buried by school work and other stuff. Unfortunately I don't feel like blogging about that other stuff here, so most of the time you don't see me write about it. However, this could very well change as we head to the holiday season, a time I hope to feel more relaxed and care-free. There are just so many uncertainties in my life right now..

Anyway, to keep you updated, enjoy a small photoset in flickr:

It's Nov

November 1, 2010

Guys, a month has passed by very quickly, and now it's November. I have been extremely occupied, and it seems that it will continue, at least until next week, where I will have 3 exams.. God bless me.

P.S. Total visits in October is 605 (39675-40280), averaging 20.2 visits per day.

Cold; Glee

October 5, 2010

I had a rather busy past weekend, as I had two exams on monday. As a result, I didn't get to enjoy my weekend at all, and I was quite tired last night. However, I do enjoy tuesdays, as I don't have class. So, today Edwin and I went to get groceries. When we came back, we were shocked to see that our kitchen was infested with flies - there were about 8 of them. It turns out that we haven't emptied our trash often enough and.. okay, that's enough, right? My hair is standing up as I type this.

The weather here is acting quite strangely. It is unseasonably cold - 11C today. With rain and wind, it feels like 8C. Will it get warmer before it gets even colder?

Another reason I like tuesdays is Glee. Glee is just..gleeful. For those who don't know, Glee is a musical, comical drama tv series. It's really great, so consider joining me if you have time.

Btw, for those who use time machine for backup, do you ever get annoyed by the hourly backups? Well, worry no more, as you can control the interval now by this nifty app.

P.S. September recorded 587 (39088-39675) visits, averaging 19.6 visits per day. Wow, thanks.

P.P.S. Do you notice Gilman Hall in the display pix?