I've decided that I'm gonna stop blogging about life and actually live it instead.  It made sense when I was miles and miles away from friends to keep updating them about life, but now that I live oh so very close, like a phone call away, it just doesn't make sense anymore to keep updating about life or anything at all.  If I wanted to update them, I'd let them know.  If I wanted to know what's up, I'd ask.  It's as simple as that!  So, dear friends, this is the end...of the beginning?  I guess that doesn't really work.  It only works this way: "this is the beginning of the end."  HAHAHA  If you want to find me, you know where to call, email, FB, whatever social utility works yea?

So...we were talking about this, and how people are probably super pissed off from hearing this song again and again and again. But, I actually haven't heard this song a lot because I don't listen to English radio stations. It was only cause someone told me it's good and the acoustic version is good that I went to youtube and dug up some stuff. Well, this is what I found.


I dedicate the following song to the friend who suggested it and also did a cover of it herself. I sincerely ask her to send me her cover so that I can make it a ringtone on my phone. :D PLS PLS PLS!!!

So...I haven't caught an episode of House M.D. for a long time--longer than I can remember, granted my memory's very short.  But...hm...what was I gonna say?  Oh yes!  Season 4 is really getting me hooked again.  I was starting to lose hope midway through season 3.  Half of the staff were leaving, either quitting or getting fired.  It was just no fun anymore seeing House win without any challenges to overcome.  Plus, it was getting redundant, nothing new, nothing fresh, same old same old.

Then, season 4 comes along and at the beginning it was alright.  When he started his game, that's when it got to be very interesting!  It's so weird and out-of-the-ordinary that it was entertaining to watch "the drama" (har har, pun not intended though).  The cases, though, weren't very entertaining, which makes me sound very masochistic, but really, the 2nd season was interesting because of those weird cases.  This season, they just kept saying "sarcoidosis" (I don't know how to spell it) or "anti-immune" or something like that.  See, even with my short term memory I can remember a couple of the terms because they repeat it so much!  So, now, House has got a new team, but his old team is still working in the hospital because Cuddy wants to have people watch over him and control him since his new team doesn't exactly have any control yet.  They are still afraid that they'll get fired if they go against House.  Midway through the season, it starts getting kinda boring.  Wilson gets a new girlfriend, which turns out to be a big thing by season finale.  Season finale is really what made this season a good one!!!  If you want to see House and Wilson cry like a man (I really don't know what that means), just watch season finale, and you'll know what I mean.  It was the most touching ending that I've ever seen on House, and you know how House just isn't sensuous, EVER!  It's nice to see how human he can be, which is something new, fresh, interesting....

I hope everyone's liking this look so far~  I personally love it!

I'm always too happy...too happy to be a poet. HA HA HA.

If you're coming to my grad ceremony, you know what flowers to bring me.... The ones that smile.

This is such a freakin cool song I had to share it with all of you!!!

Wow...it's been a month since I last wrote. Not that I don't have anything happening in life interesting enough to write about, but life has been very fulfilling. I just don't have things to vent about anymore. This journal used to be a place where I could write things because I couldn't say the same things to other people, not cause they're bad HAHAHA but cause I'm not very good with words. I write better than I speak. Don't know why, but now when I speak to people it's a more comfortable experience. I don't mind saying stupid things, or speaking my mind even though I know it might be disagreeable to some people. I don't mind sharing opinions, and I can take criticism much better than I could in the past. Talking seems easier...even though words still don't come as easily as they do when I write.

And so...and so...I don't have that same motivation to write here anymore. All the times I was frustrated and vented my frustration on here, well no frustration any more. There might be times when things annoy me, but after a while I forget about them. In a way, I feel like I've seen the bigger picture, but I really don't know how or where I've seen it. Other people's lives seem so interesting now. I can look at it and smile, because I know I've been through that too. They look at it as if it were life and death, but I see it as a small pebble on the road. I feel like I'm reading all these stories walking around me everyday, and the more I see, the more I'm enjoying it, the way it should be.

Recently tried out this new application, and thought I'd share it with everyone, but actually...I'm not that considerate, the only reason I'm sharing this is because I want you to listen to this:



I just finished watching a jdrama called Iryu (aka Team Medical Dragon). It's sort of like House or Grey's Anatomy, that is...it's also a medical drama. The main Dr. Usada acts like House, same "I don't care what you think" attitude, but less sarcastic, and has less things to say. The most amazing thing about this drama though is that the operations they perform (because it's about a bunch of surgeons) aren't any less interesting than the diagnoses that House makes. All of the operations that Dr. Usada and team perform are tricky, and even the "Dr. old geezers" watching upstairs are surprised that Usada has such technique. Basically, he's a genius. Anyways, every time that they have these touchy-feely scenes, this song gets played. The song itself isn't arranged very well, but the way it's arranged within the drama is just PERFECT. It really makes the scene much more powerful, and with such a beautiful melody and angelic voice of Uchida Akari, they got the Best Musical Arrangement award in the 49th Japan TV Academy Award.

I was watching this video, and I just got so confused! Here, watch it and you'll understand:


Can anyone recognize the individual faces of all 9 girls?  I mean, I'm Asian, so I have an advantage, but I still can't recognize them.  Also, it's really weird to see cute Asian girls dancing and singing hip hop because the moves just look so agressive, especially that kick...you definitely wouldn't want to be standing there.  Somehow, cute Asian girl just can't be agressive.  Wait...I take that back, they could be agressive!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Anyone remember doing Calculus homework and showing all your steps in the answer?  It was kinda annoying that each answer was worth 5 marks or something like that because you had to show how you got to the answer.  Turns out the process is more important than the answer itself.  Sometimes a step could be omitted, which is what I don't get.  If you could omit a few unimportant steps, why do people still go through them in the first place?  I'm not talking about Calculus anymore, I'm talking about other stuff like talking or doing things.  It's really annoying when people have to make something extremely simple into something extremely complicated.

That day my sis and dad were talking about how HK if you use your credit card to buy stuff they give you 10-15% discount, but if you use anything else then there isn't a discount.  Also, it has to be the specified card like VISA or MasterCard from a specific bank.  So she said two words: "boost sales."  My dad for argument sake said something like this: "No, not to boost sales, but to make people buy more stuff using credit cards you know?"  Well, she knows, but she was just simplifying it to two words, and those two words are true.  Talking with people is sometimes extremely frustrating!  We seem to be lacking vocab, otherwise why would we need to use short words to replace one word that's longer?  It just doesn't make sense.  The most frustrating part isn't getting confused by the conversation, but being corrected when you're not wrong in the first place!  I don't even WANT to speak anymore because I know that no matter what I say it won't matter.  I'd just be rephrased by less elegant words.

The pictures developed from my semi-automatic Nikon are speaking to me in wondrous colours and clear details.  It says, "Please use me more often from now on."  I want to transform my room to a black room, which only requires some dark curtains on the window and a red light, and when I develop them I just take the solutions out and watch these moments in time appear.  It would be so cool to know how to do all that, but for now I guess I'll just bring them to somewhere else.

For now, here's one of my favourite photographs of something I never noticed before.

The final menu for June 25th is finally out!!!  It took me so long to just decide, it's kinda ridiculous but the process has been fun so far.  I could seriously do this for a living, just planning menus and cooking and opening my own restaurant in some kinda rural village where there's great fresh materials.  HAHAHAHA  I'm just joking, I'll leave that up to Ni, this is only a hobby for me.  Well, here's the menu, really, the actual menu.
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Appetizers
Tomato & Mushroom on Bread (depending on what I think is most suitable in the store)
Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Terrine
Main Course
Fried Rice in Tomato
HK style BBQ ribs
Dessert
Tofu Cheesecake (just the perfect light snack after dinner)

There's two things that I'll have to prepare ahead of time, but the rest is very very easy.  I'm just afraid I don't have enough stove tops!  Geez, a professional kitchen would be handy right now....  So, everyone, please prepare your stomachs.  I'm going to try and make small portions so that you could taste a bit of everything.  I think though that there might not be time for after-meal entertainment because serving all these things would take so long.  Anyways, I'll have the movie picked and you could decide whether you wanna watch it or not!

This Saturday, there is a craft show and I'll be selling the notebook that I showed not too long ago.  I'm going to make a few more books, maybe smaller hardcover fit-in-your-purse kinda things.  Hopefully I'd earn a couple of bucks in the process.  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Canada Day, might be off to a cottage in Tobermory for the weekend.  I love Tobermory.  It's got Caribbean-like lakes with its sunken ships and fish port and really good fish and chips.  I'll be SO CLOSE to Owen Sound!  *sigh*  Owen Sound will never sound the same again.

I really don't understand my dad.  Do any of you feel like that too?  Why is it that they must never admit they are wrong?  Why is it that they must always complain in a negative tone of voice?  Why is it that no matter what you do it would never be good enough?  WHY WHY WHY?!  Is it a dad VS daughter thing?  I bet sons don't get the same treatment.

I just wish that everyone once in a while he'd have the patience to understand.  Perhaps men just aren't patient?  I wish that just once he wouldn't criticize without having supporting evidence.  I wish that he wouldn't impulsively arrive at conclusions without thinking through the matter.  I just wish that he'd understand how ugly it is to use ducktape to put things back together.  I just wish that for once he'd pay attention to what I was saying instead of not paying attention and then when he actually wants to listen he'd ask me what I was saying.

Yes, I am fed-up and frustrated.  My only solution: silence.

There's herbal tea, and then there's real Chinese herbal tea.  I'm not talking about the kind that you find in coffee shops or Western tea shops where they sell Chinese tea beside Earl Grey (although there's Chinese Earl Grey too).  I am talking about the kind that you find at real herbal tea shops, which is usually a Chinese thing indeed.

A Chinese herbal tea shop has no Western equivalent.  It isn't really a pharmacy because you can't get your prescription there, but they definitely use Chinese herbs with medicinal qualities, so it isn't a tea shop either.  It's like a half and half; a place that sells over-the-counter drugs in bowls of herbal tea.

涼茶 (leung cha, literally 'cool tea')
In order to understand the tradition of Chinese herbal tea, we need to understand a bit about China's climate and its medicine.  I probably don't need to say that Chinese medicine has a very long tradition completely based on trial and error when the practice first started (and we don't really know for sure when it really started).  We relied on nature to provide solutions to all our problems.  People would find their ingredients in the forest, on mountains, hanging off the cliff face, or just growing in their farm; these ingredients are leaves, stalks, or roots of plants.  The ingredients are cooked together in a big pot of water.  This pot of medicine, then, is cooked under a special procedure depending on the formula, precisely adding ingredients in order, boiling until the large vat becomes a small bowl of water.  This bowl of blackish looking water is medicine.

In Chinese medicine, there are many conditions that can be used to describe someone.  It's like there's external and internal injuries, which branch off into injuries of different parts of the body or different organs or different illnesses.  In the same way, different descriptions are used together to describe a certain illness.  One of them relates to temperature which can be divided into hot and cold, but also further divided into warm, cool, and neutral.  (Now, I am not a doctor, so don't take me seriously.)  If someone ate too many Spring Rolls, then we say they are hot, or if they ate too much watermelon, then they are cold.  So if someone ate too much hot stuff, and they get sick from the hot stuff, then they should drink some cool stuff.  In the same way, hot and humid weather goes well with a cup of cool herbal tea.

In the South, the climate is hot and humid.  Tea has medicinal qualities of alleviating heat and thirst, so it has a cooling effect.  Afterwards people want other qualities so they add medicine for better health or prettier skin or just a stronger type for the super hot.  People at home would bowl these herbal teas using common ingredients that have medicinal qualities, but aren't strong enough to be deadly (without overdosing of course).  After a while people don't have time to bowl them anymore, and so then many of these herbal tea shops were created so that people could buy a bowl of herbal tea.  In a herbal tea shop, there is usually the most common "Cool Tea," but there are also other cooling teas with different ingredients, such as " 24 tastes" and "5 flower tea."



Chinese translation: Summergrass, Western name: Self-heal fruit spike, Scientific name: Prunella Vulgaris
Chinese translation: Gold Silver Flower, Western name: Japanese Honeysuckle, Scientific name: Lonicera Japonica
These are the two types of flowers that are used to create the herbal tea underneath.  They are common plants that are used in many formulas.


A cup of Guinness compared to a cup of Herbal Tea
There's probably nothing similar about a cup of beer and a cup of herbal tea, except that when you drink either of them you're going for that cooling sensation as the stuff goes down your throat and quenches your thirst.  When you have a BBQ party, usually people pull out beer, but for a Chinese person, they might pull out the herbal tea because BBQ is considered hot stuff.  Another similar quality is that they're bitter and dark, but I'd have to say that the Guinness is much more bitter and darker.

Nowadays you don't have to travel all the way to China for a bowl of Chinese herbal tea.  Actually, wherever Chinese people go, and whenever it is hot and humid, there must be a Chinese herbal tea shop lurking around.  If there isn't one around, then you could probably find one of these cans in a Chinese supermarket.  This is Chinese herbal tea in a can, and it is one of the oldest brands around (started in 1840).

For other pictures or further information, visit these cool websites:
Traditional Tea Shop - a Chinese website, but got cool pics
TCMHK - a Chinese website with comprehensive database about all Chinese medicine things (could also search TCMHK, which is a general term for Chinese medicine TCM based in Hong Kong HK)
Hung Fook Tong - a famous brand name in Chinese herbal tea and other things Chinese

The old journal is being removed shortly.  Once the new internet is up and I could use my old computer again, that journal will be gone forever.  It's been fun rereading all the entries and then removing them one by one.  It's also been one wild ride.

There is a difference between really caring for someone and just giving someone what they needed when they needed it.  The difference is like when a mother goes to the grocery store to buy meat and vegetables for her child and then going to the cracker isle to buy his/her favourite goldfish snack.  It's like, she knows what the child needs, nutritious meals 3 times a day, but maybe just to put a smile on his/her face, she buys some cute orange fish-shaped crackers.  Isn't this what it means to care for someone, to just think about them, to make sure that they are happy?

I always think, "Is it the guy who donates the most money?  Is he someone who cares?  Is he just doing this for publicity?  Is he using money to buy good karma?"  Then, in the small things in life I have come to realize that money really isn't everything.  There's this really good Chinese phrase that goes something like this: "Money is not everything, but without money you are nothing."   Yes, everyone needs money to survive, maybe even more like getting a little something something for yourself, going for a luxurious spa, travelling to see Northern Lights, but it's not the same thing as...when someone does something so special for you that you are forever indebted to them.  It could also be very small things like remembering that she hates roses but she likes orchids and so you buy her orchids instead.  It might be doing something with/for/to someone and they're happy you helped them.  Is it really that hard to care for someone in this way?

I see in every day life how people could just do a little more and everyone would be a little less pissed off and a little more relaxed.  Then again, maybe I'm thinking too much.  After all, it was Mother Teresa who said it was the little things that matter.  N'est-ce pas?  Like today, went to get groceries and the car parked too close to the next one, and unfortunately that car was completely bombarded by shopping carts.  The person who parked there, well, I feel very sad for them that people were just jerks and did such a messy job with the carts.  When that person leaves, they'll have to push all the carts away before they could get out.  I also thought about tidying up the mess that I made when I walk into a clothing store and flip open every single shirt that they have folded neatly on tables.  Then, someone would say to me, "Just leave it.  The sales people are paid to do this."  Yes, they are paid to do this, but it's just a nice thing to do to put it back the way that it was.  If there was a big sale at the store, then maybe I'd think twice cleaning it up because it's already a mess, but if it was just like any other ordinary day then I'd put things back where they came from.  I also really hate it when I see meat packs or frozen things just put aside near the checkout area.  The answer to this: don't be lazy or don't feel bad giving the thing to the cashier.  Frozen foods aren't meant to be left out by the wayside especially if you know it's going to go bad before someone gets to it.  If it was just a can of beans, then yea that is better than a box of ice cream, but I wonder if these people have any common sense.

Perhaps the thing that I dislike the most is when someone says, "You don't care about anyone, you're so selfish."  Sometimes the person who says this might have a bit of truth in their statement, but most of the time the person saying it doesn't actually realize what they are saying.  I don't believe that there is anyone in this world who isn't just a bit selfish, it's really a natural instinct to be selfish.  I'm impressed by those who can give up themselves and devote every minute of their lives to a good cause, because I cannot do that.  In a way, I think these people are kind of stupid, because with money and time you can make small investments turn into large investments and get even more people to do something for a good cause.  It's like, you have to save yourself first to save other people.  See...it's a very contradicting topic I think.  Anyways, the people who say other people are selfish aren't very selfless themselves (but that's expected because we're all a little bit selfish).  I think though that it's not about being selfless or selfish, but it's about caring for other people and putting others first.  You could definitely think about yourself, but maybe think about other people in the process?  It all comes back to one simple rule: treat others like you would treat yourself.  I think we all learned that a long time ago, and might've just forgot it in the process.  If we do take this into consideration, would the world be a better place?  Would everyone be happier?

Then, I come across a question that scares me the most: are you being a hypocrite by condemning other hypocrites?  (I like asking myself extremely complex conundrums.)  Am I also one of those selfish non-caring people?  Do I ever put others before myself?  Do I think about my actions and do the consequences hurt others?  Do I do things that make others happy?  Perhaps I ask these questions to early in the game, because I have left out the emotional aspect in my analysis.  Suddenly a gush of frustration rises from the pit of my stomach and it says to me, "I am hungry.  I am hungry for a little attention."  I'd like my hard work to be acknowledged, even if what I've done is microscopic, in the end a screw is important in making the clock work.  It might be replaceable, but then the clock isn't the same clock as it was.  It's like you're missing something after all.

I thought of a really stupid thing to say to Ni, "The cork tree is really quirky."

I finally watched Garden State, the movie that Noelle has been telling me to watch since well, since Noelle started liking Zach Braff and the movie came out.  I was pretty surprised when I saw his name in the credits, well, I shouldn't be because he's the lead so of course he's in the credits, but he's the writer and director, so that's why I was surprised.

Anyways, this is in a way an entry for Noelle, but also an entry for people in the 20s, who watched Garden State and understand what I'm talking about.

20 something is such an odd age.  You've sorta left the awkward teen stage, but you havn't really moved on to the responsible adult stage yet.  You're stuck in between, not sure how to move forward, but you can't go backward either.  I completely understand this, because I've always been stuck in limbo for more than one thing in life, always half and half, always sitting on the fence.  For me, taking a step forward is scary because I don't know where that foot will land.  It seems like every step is so important because after all I've only lived for 20 years, I've still got what? 40, 50, or 60 years of life ahead of me.  As you get older, every step seems less important, and you're not as scared anymore because you've got the experience.  It's all about the taking chances, putting your best foot / feet forward, giving everything you've got.  Well, by the time I'm 67, I could probably tell the 20-something kiddies that if you spill a glass of milk now, 40 years later it doesn't really matter.  Unless...well unless you don't clean it up and you leave the dirt accumulating for 40 years then ya...I guess it will matter.

As I watched Garden State, it felt like the most relaxing experience ever.  It felt like chilling with your friends, except it's even more chilling than chilling with your friends.  I sorta just...understand everything that was happening except in a more exaggerated form.  It's like the classic 20-something kidult, who doesn't want to grow old just yet, but doesn't know what's the next step.  Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) is trying to figure out his messed up life, and he meets Sam (Natalie Portman) who sorta helps him figure it out by asking him questions.  Her uniqueness puts colour back into Large's life, and in the end he figures out, yes, life is like this, life is messed up, but the show must go on anyways so we might as well just live.  They are contrasted with Large's "friends," who smoke weed, get high on X, drink bottles, and are sort of unemployed.  This mob is the super lost don't know where they're headed people, but his friend Mark proves that although he's lost, he isn't "ambitionless."  He might be broke, but he will not ask people for money.  He also has useless investments on collections like trading cards, but in the end he's like Large trying to figure out life.  The most memorable part about the film was visiting the guy who guards "the infinite abyss," which literally is a large canyon that goes so deep that no one knows how deep it is, but figuratively it stands for how Large feels about life.  It might sound very depressing that your future is an infinite abyss, but I think it's a very suitable metaphor.  We really don't know what's in front of us, but we know the possibilities are infinite.

This is the new notebook that I made.  I used a Japanese 4-hole binding called Koki Toji, or Noble Binding.  These Japanese 4-hole bindings are actually very simple compared to some other ones I made like coptic stitch etc.  It is hardcover, and the inside pages are handmade somewhat thick and heavy paper and I kept the rough edges.  Also, I scored the spine of every page so they open flat.

So, went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End, remembered Kenny's directions to stay after the movie because there's more after the film, and there's probably only...10 seconds more?  It wasn't really that long of a snippet, but the credits were definitely VERY LONG.  I seriously wonder how many people look at the credits after they watch the movie, well, I only look at the music credits because if I like the music I want to know who wrote it and such, and also if there was a new hottie in town then yes, I would wait for his name to roll up and then Google him or something.  Otherwise, I don't think I ever thought of looking, and definitely the whole theatre left except for maybe 10 people, and we were only waiting for that little snippet at the end.

The movie in general was long, longer than Spiderman, but more interesting than Spiderman, so 2 hours and 45 minutes wasn't that bad.  I thought it just had too much stuff to say and not enough time to say it all, and definitely very sad that Johnny Depp / Jack Sparrow didn't get more screens because he was carrying the laughter from the first movie till the third.  So it definitely wasn't funnier than the second one, and most of the jokes are already in the commercial.  The second one was definitely the funniest, and it was better than the third.  I really disliked the ending, it pissed me off.  It's only because I'm an Orlando Bloom fan, so of course I wish good things happen to him, but no, the screenwriters HAVE to piss off Bloom fans lol.  Also, Geoffrey Rush gets a more important role compared to the first one, so I'm quite happy for him.  He is an amazing actor, and in this one he didn't disappoint me.  I felt there were just too many characters, like Chow Yun Fat wasn't necessary, he's only necessary to make Keira Knightley step up the ladder from a woman on deck to a captain and then an even higher position which I won't spoil.  I'm kind of disappointed, and I think a lot of other people were disappointed, because for the most part there was just a spray of information and no time for the audience to take a breath and process it.  By the end, most of us were like, "Huh?  I don't really understand why this and this happen."  It's not that they didn't explain it, but with their thick pirate accent most of us just couldn't muster the strength the turn on our ears to pirate frequency for 2 hr. 45 min.  Still, I'd say, "Go watch it for Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom," or "Watch it if you've already watched the first two."  If you don't fall into either category, then I suggest watching PotC 1 or 2 instead.