Bank holiday

Bank holiday is quite a good idea. It gives everybody a rest at the right time of the year, and it was sunny.

What I did during the long weekend:
- Drank again on Friday night, went home only after the Super Cup match.
- Went to Jack's home to play PS2.. It's so much more fun playing with human, rather than just computer.. Then went to dinner near Strand with SL + HY.. It is a quite special restaurant, called Fire & Stone (or something similar). Book table in Top-table before you go.
- Got up late and went to buy a football for Hyde Park sunbathing. Relaxing and yet tiring. Went to CC's flat for Mahjong.. Oh well, her place isn't that great, but it's split-level flat in Queen's Gate.. And her family owns it.. So..............
- Driving lesson in Monday afternoon.. After 3 weeks, I could still drive, quite nicely.. Hopefully I can pass it this time..
- Went to DC's place to play more PS2.. He's moving away from Borough this week.. Sigh..

I may start playing in another band soon.. We are thinking of playing something soft first to start with.. Hopefully we'll get something done..

Bobo, please go and buy a mic, and ask somebody to install the web-cam for you. Really want to see you..

Happy Birthday~~~

to me.. Yes, today is my birthday (23/8)..

Thank you everyone which wished me a happy birthday, it was quite happy. My bobo was the first one, she rang when it was still 22/8 5pm UK time, because she said "you were born in Hong Kong". Then my brother, who was worried about me being alone on my birthday, and asked if he needed to come to London and be with me. Thank you brother, that was sweet. (both before 23/8)

Rang my parents just after 0:00am 23/8 UK time. It's morning in HK. They said they were planning to ring me when I finish work on 23/8, but I rang first. Anyways, it was good to talk to them before I went to bed..

Then, friends and family sent the greetings through SMS and emails today. Thank you all, it was really lovely, and I am feeling guilty of not knowing when your birhtdays are. And today I've learnt.

Also got a long-distant call from Ken. Hope to see you next week man!!

Had a wonderful dinner with Jack, Stephen and Heidi in Angel. A comfortable restaurant, two bottle of wines and a two-course meal.. Thank you very much you three, I felt warmth because of the song, and the cake, and you time.

I know I am a quite selfish person, and I don't treat my friends really good.. I don't deserve this much. I'll try doing what I haven't done in the past, and will not forget all your love.

Thought of the day:
In my previous birthdays, I thought people celebrating with me is a must, and would always happen. No, it's simply not true. This year I thought I would be alone on my birthday, since my bobo, best friends, parents are not here.

As I said before, if you want to be happy, you need to go out and find it. I was still very tired this afternoon, but then the dinner with my good friends gave me a lot of energy.

I am not alone.

Appreciate with all the love you have from your friends and family, and give them the same.

Tiring but yet enjoyable

Another week has gone.. Development everyday..

But I think I have achieved something not normal this weekend.
Friday:
Went to the Larrik (pub next to the office in Edgware Rd), because two senior members of staff are leaving, and they've held a private party there. Nice chat with colleagues, who I haven't seen for a few weeks. Had 4 pints, but I think because I am not particular happy, I got quite drunk.. I got on the tube to head back home, missed the station again!! (2 actually, only found out when I got to Canada Water) Threw up when I got home and went to bed straight away.

Saturday:
(morning)
On Friday night, Philip asked me to go to paintballing with them in the next morning. I said yes because I was drunk. So I had to wake up early, go out without any breakfast, and still got a lot of alcohol in my blood. First time I play paintballing, it means a lot of adrenaline, which is not good when you are in my condition. After 5 or 6 games, they said my face was getting GREEN!!! A pack of McCoy's Cheese and Onion crisps saved my life. I carried on playing for 2 or 3 more and then I was totally knackered.. It's also so not good with that bloody mask on your face.

(afternoon)
After the exhausting games, we went to dim sum in Royal China in Canary Wharf. Dim sum by the Thames is quite a good thing to do.. We (7 people) finished about 20 dim sums in 30 mins.
Then we headed to Waterloo by boat (the ones I mentioned in my previous blog). Watched a Hong Kong movie (Feel 100%) in my friend's home, and then went home after.

(evening)
A friend's birthday is on Monday and decided to play on this evening. So I went out again at 10:45pm.. Then we played, and played, and played. Drank a lot of beer, and sang. Then the birthday boy treated us a brief meal, and got home at 5am!!

So I woke up today at 3pm, with my right arm so soar (because of paintballing), and my throat so dry and pain (because of beer and shouting). Need to take a good rest today.

PSP

Another Sunday, another football game, another defeat after scoring the first goal.. sigh... Our team finished the league at the bottom of the table..

Met SL and HY in China Town after football.. Had dim sum and then off to their place to spend the rest of the day. But SL didn't feel well, so just played a few Winning (fresh download) with him.

Watched a Hong Kong TV programme in their place, saying that HK is currently lacking of IT people. It says that because Hong Kong young people no longer has hopes with the IT industry, after the bubble burst few years ago. More IT related subject graduates prefer doing IT in banks, rather than actual software development or research. Well, does it mean that it will be easy for me to find a job?

It also says that number of people applying for IT related courses in universities has been dropping for the last three years. I think it shows how short-sighted these students are, and possibly the ones who gave them advice.

Just heard that a coursemate of mine has found a IT job in HongKong, doing swipe cards security and hardware. A local firm, but good enough to do all swipe card machines and swipe cards for HongKong Disney. How bad can IT in HK be if a local firm can get a deal like that?

These have encouraged me more to go ahead with my current plan.



Back to my topic - PSP. SL has brought me a 1GB MemoryStick pro duo from HongKon (where it costs so much less than in London). This allows me to start playing with some games. Wahooooo!!



Thought of the day:
When a person gets lonely, or missing somebody too much, he/she can start doing something he/she has never imagined he/she would've done.

First lonely weekend

It's gonna be my first weekend without my bobo in here.

Finished work at about 7pm tonight. Colleagues were still drinking at the pub downstairs of the office, so I joined in with a pint of Stella.

After about half an hour I sat there, they started talking about wine (an British-Indian woman, a Northern-English young man, and my boss at the bank, a Frenchman). I think I am rather young to join in the topic, as all I know about alcohol is the amount of alcohol in the drink e.g. 14% or 40%. They talked about which country produces the best wine, which part of that country is the best, what procedures is involved in producing a good Champayne..... em.. shall we drink?

Then I found out that "Champayne" is not actuall just any "sparkling wine with a noicy cork". Actually, only those which are made around an area called "Champayne" in France can be called Champayne. All others are just "sparkling wine with a noicy cork". ?!?!?!?!?

According to my boss:
1. Australian wines are the best next to French;
2. Romanian wines are also not bad (all others are crap);
3. Good vodka doesn't have any alcohol taste (which I thought Vodka is pure alcohol);
4. A brand called "Great Goose" does the best Vodka (well, it's French);
5. he doesn't like any restaurant in London;
6. there are 3000 French people working in the City.

According to the Indian colleague:
1. Indian wines are crap;
2. Argentine or Chilean wines are not bad.

According to the English young man:
1. Non Londoners mostly prefer their local larger/bitter;
2. It's very difficult to get home made good bitter in London, because the supplier are very strict on the temperature the alcohol is kept.

The conversation turned into French against International, including food.

I tried to switch the topic to Eastern food, but couldn't. They quickly got it back to French against International.

But it was good to learn these things. And I feel so lonely at home, by myself, with a TV + PS2 + PSP + computer + ... a M&S Lasagne.

Quick Chinese quote:
螳螂捕蟬，黃雀在後；豈知黃雀捕螂，不知彈丸將至。

Quote from MingPao

美是自由貿易最大阻礙者:
" 窮 貧 國 家 的 農 民 每 人 每 年 靠 少 於 400 美 元 收 入 過 活 ， 但 美 國 農 民 每 人 每 年 卻 獲 得 平 均 2.1 萬 美 元 補 貼 "

Translation:
America is the largest obstacle of Free Trading:
Farmers in poor countries have US$400 annual income, while each American farmer has an average of US$21,000 of subsidies from the US Government.

Cotton exported from America is subsidised by the government, which means cottons from west African countries (not as good quality) are even more expensive.

I love this world...

Separate...

Yesterday (8/8/05):
1. I haven't felt so bad for a long time.
2. I cried, just didn't let the tears drop.
3. I am now sure that I am a selfish bastard.

Bobo flew home yesterday. After nearly 21 hours, I heard her voice again 15 mins ago. I miss her, a lot.

My studio is now larger, but also much emptier.

It's almost unavoidable:
a. If I didn't choose to work here, it means I would have already been working in Hong Kong. Then last year would be painful as Bobo still had to finish her degree.
b. I chose to work here. But any experience less than 2 years isn't much useful. That's where we are now.
c. I tried to find a Master degree to do last year. I only applied for 1 or 2 and got an offer, which I would need to pay overseas fee. Fuck it.

And last time I talked to my mum on the phone, I realised that nearly all my loved ones are not around me. My friends, family (apart from my brother) and even my bobo are now in HK.

I then immediately changed my plan. My plan was to stay here until I have a sum in my bank account. Now my plan is to finish my project here and starting looking at HongKong (or China, somewhere there). Hopefully I can get something to start in August next year.

Separate from your loved ones is hard. Why giving yourself hard time? Is there anything more important than they are?

London is crap. It was still very colourful yesterday. It's now dull. (sorry to all londoners, it's just me)

I think today's entry isn't very organized. They are just bunch of thoughts in my head at the moment.

Unhappy = Nothing makes me happy

How I define being "unhappy" is that nothing happened to me makes me happy. So it doesn't need some really bad things to happen to me to make me unhappy.

Things happened to me in the last two weeks:
1. This is the last week before bobo flies home. We'll need to wait until ~Nov when I go home to see each other again.
2. I took a driving lesson the night before the test (2/8). After the first 10 minutes, the indicators stopped working properly. They sometimes disappeared totally, and then came back on later. It was really worrying, for both my instructor (Francis) and me.
3. The indicators still didn't work properly on the next day. It made me really nervous throughout the whole test. And I failed. But the reason I failed is not directly related to the indicators. I didn't use the right hand lane when I was told to turn right in a roundabout ahead of me. I was in a three-lane 70mph dual carriageway. That was a serious fault.
Driving Test result: 1 serious and 1 minor.
Only 1 minor!!! Now I need to wait for at least another month (currently booked 6/9) and spend at least 150 pounds more on it!!
4. I put quite a big sum of money into a new ISA account. So now I am running out of money now. The bad thing is that the rent for the flat is before my pay-day. So I have been really anxious about my spending.

All the 4 things didn't make me happy. So I have been unhappy recently. Then bobo and I went out last night, played with some total strangers, in "Dan Gwai Hin" in China Town. They have a good room for karaoke and games. So that cheered me up a bit.

So my friends, when you do feel unhappy, don't just sit there and being unhappy. You need to go out and find something to cheer yourself up. Life is always "active". You can't just sit there and wait for good things to happen.