Dec 28, 2005

Belated Christmas Blog

"This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger."

I had my Christmas thought of the year, sitting in my American Airlines economy class seat on the way from San Jose to Narita. I suspect the lady sitting in front of me (although it could have been the guy on my left) was lactose intolerant, given the fact that she kept ordering milk when refreshments came along, and the continuous farting whenever she was sleeping. And by continuous, I actually mean regular, like every minute or so.

At one point I gave up trying to hold my breath and hung out at the back of the plane with Heller's Catch-22, and considered how the manger must have smelled, and how far off it was from the lights and glitz of today's commercial Christmas.

Christmas is interesting in Hong Kong, because despite the rampant consumerism, it's still a visibly religious holiday. The political correctness here doesn't prevent people from writing "Merry Christmas" on big signs, or playing Christmas hymns in shopping malls. In contrast, Christmas in the States is highly secularized. Our company pushed hard to remind employees of the Spirit of Christmas, which mostly involved giving or family. Christmas themed stories, such as the book "The Giving Chest" and "Polar Express" also push a secularized Christmas morality. While it's certainly "better" than "buy buy buy", it's ironic how all these tales of the meaning of Christmas miss the true meaning of Christmas.

Dec 11, 2005

Whiners make for entertaining blogs.
It's true. The most entertaining blogs tend to be people who complain and whine a lot, especially if they do it with a flair. It doesn't have to be about anything significant, or even intelligent. It could be the most inane drivel, but I'll probably still read it for its entertainment value.

Frankly, I just haven't had much to complain about in the last while. I can recall one thing. It involved going to the mall in search of some costume for Halloween (I ended up spending a couple bucks on acrylic paint and brushes and making a papier mache mask, yes, my inert creativity was busting out). One of the stores (speaking of busting out, the very brand had a fashion show on TV recently) was playing Christmas music, at Halloween.

It doesn't really "feel" like Christmas right now here, given it's California, and either sunny or rainy. It certainly didn't feel like Christmas a month and a half ago, when every other store was decorated with pumpkins and skeletons. Corporate marketting does, in fact, amaze me every so often.

I haven't updated much lately, which most likely reflects the fact that I haven't been doing much reading, and thus haven't felt creative enough to write anything. I certainly don't have flair; when I'm lucky I can bite the style of some Pulitzer Prize winner that I have been reading. Hopefully, if you're interested, the photos on my Flickr (see the left sidebar) have been sufficiently entertaining. I can think of three updates worth mentioning.

First, I celebrated my birthday by being treated to the "best" restaurant in the United States, The French Laundry. Once upon a time, I was easily wow'd with food. In retrospect, it had a lot to do with novelty. The first time you experience a new food or preparation, you're blown away. It might still be good, but it certainly loses its ability to blow you away when you get accustomed to it. I still order foie gras and duck confit, and although it's often good at whatever new restaurant I try, it rarely has a wow to it.

French Laundry wow'd me at least four times. The cauliflower pasta was very good. Not "very good for cauliflower". Just very good. Wow. I think part of the trick here is, none of the portions are large enough for you to be satisfied. You want more of every dish that comes to you. This is a prime example. They did something to the apple served in one of the cheese courses. It was a brand new flavour, and that's not something I get often. Wow. The elements of the blue cheese course combined to form something entirely new. If you put the cheese in your mouth along with the watercress, candied walnuts, and grape jelly at in your mouth at the same time, it is a profoundly different experience than just savouring the cheese. Not something I had expected. Wow. Finally, I've had plenty of dried fruit, but I've never had compressed fruit. That's like, pineapple flavoured paper. Wait, it's real pineapple? Cool. Wow. The rest of the photos are here, if you haven't seen them already.

Speaking of which, at 27 you feel old. I think 25 sounds like you're still on the line. At 26, I was in denial. This year, I had to face the fact. I'm a quarter of a century old. Actually older than that. Can you imagine? Btw, thanks for all the birthday pics.

I don't feel like it. Except for my memory. Incidentally, I've had the word "biter" at the tip of my tongue all day, and it's just clicked minutes ago.

The second item is that I've realized I'm perfectly happy writing computer code for 80hrs a week. Really. However, tell me I'm in charge of people and my job is to go to meetings with higher ups and set schedules; I'm leaving work at 6 each day. Go figure.

Lastly, I've learned the joys of shooting my photos in RAW. You can recover a heck of a lot from a poorly exposed shot. It just takes a lot of time. I had a great time going to Death Valley over Thanksgiving. My highlight was definitely taking photos of the crazy landscape. The weekend up to this point has mostly been spent postprocessing and uploading the pics. There's definitely more there than you'd be interested to see.

Post-lastly, congrats to Toby and Clara, but you knew that already.

Oct 4, 2005

I was about to have breakfast this morning (yes, you read it right, me and breakfast in the same sentence) when I was about to say grace, as I often do when I remember. Now instead of the usual "rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub" (although, since I was standing in front of the sink, it dawned on me that it was in the condition where it could use a good rub and scrub), I actually thought a moment about the whole act.

Now the popular belief is that religious people (ie Christians) say grace, whereas non-religious people are exempt. In reality, the 11th commandment, which says "Thou shalt say grace before thine meall; hors d'ouvres, coffee, tea, scones, desserts and alchohlic beverages are exempt when not accompanying an entree" does not exist. It is not recorded in the Bible. Believe it.

The whole point of saying grace is to express thankfulness and appreciation for the things we have (ie, food). It then occurred to me that this is something I haven't been doing much of lately. Perhaps it's fitting that it's the month for Thanksgiving. That's right, Thanksgiving is in October, when we can be thankful of the crops that are harvested. Although the Americans might have a point for putting it at the end of November, where there's a chance you can say "Thanks for the whistling snowstorm outside, and that we may go snowboarding on the morrow".

So as I tossed my curried turnover into the microwave, I was thankful for Miss CoolBeans, for picking it up for me with her spare change at the chinese plaza while some crazy lady was having her way with my hair (my attempts to grow it long never seem to work out). I was thankful that I'm living in a place where such asian delicacies are readily available. And I was thankful that God made the mystery meat thats stuffed into those turnovers. It then occurred to me that all those anti-Creationists are taking their cows for granted. What the heck.

Sep 15, 2005

The summer's flown by. If this were high school i'd be quite disappointed by the way it's disappeared so suddenly. Haven't blogged much, but there's an assortment of photos from the summer on my flickr.

It's ironic that I'm on vacation and I haven't been this sleepy in ages. It's mostly because I haven't been able to fall asleep at a decent hour, and I've been waking up earlier than I do for work.

So far, aside from the fact that it's 30 degrees in September when I'm expecting it to be 15, Toronto's been great. I've enjoyed the familiarity of church here. I've missed the way everything's so accessible by subway and walking, the whole sense of bustling metropolitan liveliness.

On Sunday morning, I went to church service, then I went to a second service up the street, mainly to see some friends. After that I rushed and barely made it to my goddaughter's baptism. I wonder about the significance that Matt 22 appeared in both the sermons at the morning service and at the baptism.

I caught my first ever Toronto International Film Fest flick on Sunday night. "Mary", by Abel Ferrara was a thought provoking film, ultimately asking about the significance Of Jesus. The movie depicts Matthew Modine as an egomaniacal bad boy director who hopes the controversy generated by his movie of a gnostic Jesus would capitulate him to fame and fortune. Forrest Whittaker plays a TV talk show host with a series investigating the views of Jesus from people of various beliefs, and whose own beliefs, or lack thereof are challenged in the course of the film.

I enjoyed the way this movie presented a myriad of perspectives on Jesus. It's certainly not a Christian film, as it presents some very non Catholic views of what is commonly called the "historical Jesus" in some scenes. On the other hand, I also would not consider it an anti-Christian film; it argues strongly on the behalf of faith. The weakest part of the film was that it seemed to see Jesus as a significant figure, but could not recognize why.

This confusion, and the lack of any particular stance was reflected in the Q&A with Abel Ferrara, Matthew Modine, and the film's editor. Their different backgrounds came together to present a film about a contraversial film about Jesus (heh), but I think "Mary" will not raise much convtroversy in it's attempt to appeal to everyone's opinion.

2.5/5

Upcoming Reviews: "You Bet Your Life", "Bubble", "Everlasting Regret", "All the Invisible Children".

Jun 16, 2005

Under the Influence
I'm trying to finish off a bottle of Graham's Six Grapes I picked up at Costco that's been idling in my fridge for some time now. I think the taste is starting to turn; it's not sour, but it doesn't seem like the original flavour. I'm not sure how long port keeps, though I suspect this is safe. Back when we lived at Burbank, my mom had a bottle of port in the fridge for what seemed like years.

Speaking of Costco, they have San Pellegrino for close to $1 a bottle. This bubbly water reminds me of family vacations in Italy. I still fondly remember the trip to Rome I took with my sister. Next thing you know, I'm sitting in my room, downing glasses of bottled water with bubbles. Yes, that's right, I'm bourgeois.

This morning, er, afternoon, I woke up at 14:00. Now normally even when I work all night, I end up waking naturally to the sun around 10:00. I have no idea how I managed to sleep until the afternoon, but it's incredibly jarring to see the clock say 2 when you expect it to say 10, maybe 11.

As a result, I actually need to get in around 9 tomorrow, and it's now 2. Hopefully Graham will help me out, because All the President's Men kept me awake.

I was originally going to blog about the recent story about a Chinese man (Chinese, as in, in China) who killed an associate over some virtual property in an MMPORG, and the launch of WoW in China.

The last generation of Chinese grew up in the dying throes of Communist China. The next generation will grow up with a partially censored Internet where North American games seep through. We're not only moving towards a global economy, but a global culture of sorts.

In the meantime, I think I will try to make it to work by 9 tomorrow. Wish me luck, I haven't done that in weeks.

Jun 12, 2005

Blue moon light
It used to be that I'd write blogs at some odd hour. In the starlit hours it was as if words would write themselves, bleeding onto the screen from my fingertips, bypassing my brain as they'd dance out of my head.

I've felt pretty drained lately. For the past two years I've been part of the intern program at my church. In the past few months, it's become somewhat of a struggle, living up to a responsibility of the past. On Friday morning I finished my last paper. On Friday night I got the PBC diploma over dinner with the other interns. It felt like a sigh of relief. For almost the past year, I've went to bed ever night with the sense that I still had something to do. It's a strange feeling, having it finished.

"Really?" you say, "studying God's Word is draining?". You bet. Is that an indication of my spiritual life? I don't know. I hope I can at least be honest about it. There are days when I am writing something so incredibily dry, just a bunch of words on the page. Scroll down some if you'd like an example. It is as if I can find a lot to write about God, but I'm not sure how much bears any relevence.

I just watched Mystic River. If you haven't seen or heard about it, it's depressing. It reminds me of Psalm 39. I don't have my head wrapped around it yet, but somehow it's so comforting.

The word cancer seems to be popping up at least once a week lately. My life is quite straightforward, but I don't know how to unravel some of the complications that I know of. Knots in lives that won't be undone. Aren't we called to minister to people where things are stuck? This is where we need to be relevent.

I will miss my breakfasts with Danny very much.

Jun 8, 2005

Today's Lowlights
- It's raining, in June, in California. This is not supposed to happen.
- The flowers are out. They should be dead by now. My allergies are killing me.
- I did not have my camera with me today.

Today's Highlights
- I poked fun at 4 pastors simultaneously.
- Generic Claritin costs $14.99 for 180 tablets at Costco.
- Free Haagen Dazs ice cream bar.
- Parked next to a black Ferrari 612 Scaglietti at work.
Righteousness for everyone

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word "righteous" as "acting in accord with divine or moral law". In the 1950s through 1970s, the word was slang for something that was exceedingly good. However, that usage has fallen by the wayside as the current American culture's postmodern worldview challenges the idea of a single divine or moral law. The idea that any single definitive moral law may apply to everyone is repulsive to many. It appears discriminatory and intolerant of differences between people. To claim that one has the final moral law sounds presumptions. To claim righteousness borders on arrogance. It is no wonder that churches full of righteous Christians are unpopular with the less righteous public at large.

In Romans Paul discusses righteousness in the light of the gospel. Jesus Christ changed the entire framework of relating to God. Righteousness, as the state of being acceptable before God, gained a new meaning in this shift. Early in Romans, Paul introduces this new sense of righteousness, saying "For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17). Paul elaborates on this “righteousness by faith”, which in some ways were drastically different from the common idea of righteousness at the time. Much of Paul's address is to those accustomed to the Jewish paradigm. For the Jews, the symbols of their acceptance by God lay in God's covenant with Abraham and the Law bestowed upon Moses. The covenant is described in Genesis 17, where God says "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you... And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you" (Genesis 17:7,11). The covenant of circumcision represented the acceptable relationship between the descendent of Abraham and God. Later in Exodus, God says to Moses shortly before giving him the Law, "Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:5-6). Hence the Law was the symbol of Israel's status as God's priestly nation.

In Romans 2 Paul criticizes the symbols of circumcision that was held dearly by the Jews. In Romans 2:25, Paul argues "For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision". Although a symbol of the covenant, righteousness was in fact attained by obedience to the Law. Having the symbol did not automatically include one in the righteous elite. Only someone who fulfilled the Law could be considered morally flawless and righteous.

Paul challenges these classic ideals for righteousness. He summarizes the gospel like this:
"But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:21-24).
The latter half of this passage points out the problem with the Law. It defines the requirements for moral perfection, but in the process it effectively puts righteousness beyond the reach of mortal man. The old thinking considered Jews as the righteous chosen people of God. Paul quickly shot down that line of thinking, defining righteousness by moral perfection according to the Law. This leads to the conclusion that no man is righteous. Paul’s option is the "righteousness of God" which is "apart from the Law". This is the gospel message in a nutshell, that God has offered a new reconciliation to righteousness for all those who failed via the Law. This redemption is a gift by the grace of God to all who have failed to earn it. It is available to all those who believe; it is not only the Jews who are privy to God's grace. This is a gift made possible by the death of Jesus Christ. God had paid the price to reconcile mankind to Himself. The way to righteousness by the Law and circumcision are not able to reconcile people to God.

If anyone portrays themselves as the righteous elite, then it is certainly not this righteousness of God which is offered to all. Faith in Jesus Christ comes with the confession that one is woefully insufficient on ones own, and that one is no more righteous than his fellow man. God's intention was that mankind in general could be reconciled through his chosen priesthood. However, not only did they fail at proclaiming God's righteousness to the world, but they themselves routinely fell into following other gods. Throughout Israel's history, God routinely forgave the wandering Israelites and restored them after a period of punishment. God had set a precedent for grace through the books of the Law and the Prophets.

Now the church can learn much from Israel's history. At times Israel seemed to have taken their place as God's chosen people for granted, and fallen away into sin. In Romans 6:1-2, Paul says "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?". One cannot claim to accept God's righteousness yet turn around and mindfully act contrary to it. In Romans 6:17-18, Paul uses the analogy of being "slaves of righteousness", and likewise in Romans 8:12 he says "we are under obligation, not to the flesh". We are not to be obedient to God in order to achieve righteousness. Rather it is a response to God's love, obedience follows from having been made righteous.

In the end, the actions of the righteous speak for themselves. God had called the descendants of Abraham to be his chosen people, so that his glory on earth might be seen through them. Where the covenant and the Law did not succeed in redemption, God sent his Son. to make men righteous. He did not do this so that the righteous could stand above others, but rather that God's love might be expressed in the world through them. Jesus did not come to make disciples so that they could gloat above others, "so that all the nations might believe and obey him" (Romans 16:26). God's power is not expressed by the church's dominion over the world, but rather that his people act righteously, so that all men may share in his kingdom.

Jun 5, 2005

Heard it on the radio

love's such an old fashioned word
and love dares you to care for
the people on the edge of the night
and love dares you to change our ways
of caring about ourselves

May 19, 2005

3AM Eternal
It's a little like that feeling when you don't get enough sleep. There's a fog on everything. People seem to talk too fast. Or not loud enough.

But I'm getting enough sleep, and I'm still walking around in that haze. I'm walking in it all day long. It's enough sleep if you count the hours.

They are strange hours. A few hours here, a few hours there. I'm awake at strange hours. Some hours here, some hours there.

The worst is 3AM. No one is on at 3AM. Except that girl in Thailand.

Apr 30, 2005

My Fortune Cookie
The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

Mar 10, 2005

Awash

Awash

IMG_0456, originally uploaded by dragonx.

I must admit, I've been feeling rather swamped lately. Days and weeks crawl by at work, a never ending river of tasks. I'm trying to take a break here an there, going hiking at Mt. Tamalpais, or snowboarding in Tahoe.

There are days when I wish I am a professional snowboard bum.

I feel like I'm perpetually trying to catch up. Maybe, one day, when I'm caught up with all the things I'm supposed to do, I can do something I want to do.

Some days I want to regress, absolve myself from all responsibility.

It has occurred to me, what if I don't finish the to-do list before I die? I guess theologically, that won't happen eh? At least not if you believe in divine sovereignty and all that.

Maybe I've just got the wrong list.

Feb 17, 2005

Clarity

Feb 16, 2005

poofy
I should have brought my camera today. It has been raining lately. Today the rain stopped, but huge, pillowy white clouds hang low in the sky, teasing the peaks of the hills as the slide by, the shafts of the sun streaming through their billowing mounds.

Feb 8, 2005

Dr. Amazon.com
or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Impulse Shopping
This story starts a little ways back in history, or perhaps a long ways back, depending on your perception of time. It was the year 2000, the Internet was a different place than it is now. DVDs were still somewhat novel, as was online shopping. There were scores of online DVD retailers, all selling at losses in order to ramp up volume. Amazon.com had jumped into the DVD space, selling deeply discounted movies. Once in a while, they'd make a mistake, people would find out about them, and post about it on forums where collectors and bargain hunters would congregate. One day, the The Insider was released on Amazon for the bargain basement price of $0. Being a fan of all films Michael Mann, I picked it up, for US$7.95 shipping, which worked out to just about CDN$10.

Fast forward 5 years to 2005. It's probably been 6 or 8 months since I've bought something online. I get ads in my email from sites like e*trade, buy.com and amazon.com on a semi-regular basis like lingering STDs from a one-night-stand you've long forgotten about. I normally delete them without looking, as you should. But this one said something about a new 2-disc edition of HEAT, which happens to be one of my all-time favourite movies. How did Amazon know? Because, as their email said, they've noticed that customers who bought "The Insider" also bought "HEAT", and now, I can get it at 25% off if I pre-order. YAY! I already have the DVD (I did mention it's one of my all-time favourites), but I certainly don't have the 2-disc edition). I click on the link in the email. And what do you know, the $20 (post discount) set can be had with Free Super Saver Shipping on orders of $25 or more.

You know that thing about alchoholism, where you can be clean and sober, but that one drink throws you back in the mess. Or maybe it's more like crack. You can't get away from that Free Super Saver Shipping. So you buy more. You search for that last $5 of useless stuff so you can save the $2.98 shipping. But like crack, Amazon doesn't let you off easy, they hook you with ads on the bottom of the page. So down there, striking its sexy little pose, is the 2-disc edition of "Collateral". My, isn't it easier to click on that than to hunt for some $5 item you don't want? C'mon, you know you want more Michael Mann, like you need a kick in the crotch from a talking bear.

So now, after about 5 minutes of seeing email, I've clicked into Amazon, past the shipping and credit card pages (they've remembered my address and my credit card #s, so I wouldn't have to stop to think before entering them again... they even have the now expired credit card I used when I lived in Waterloo and bought "The Insider"), and dropped $40 on 4 DVDs that I liked but had no intention of buying 6 minutes prior. I should just go back to e*trade and buy in to Amazon.com.

Oh, for the record, I haven't given the crack or one-night-stand things a shot yet, so I'm not actually speaking from experience. You'll have to forgive me for the artistic license, but given how boring my blogs have been lately, I figured I needed some sex, drugs and rock 'n roll to keep people coming back for more. Or maybe I should just put up links for you to places you can impulse shop.

Jan 28, 2005

Things that suck
Today I wasted a good four hours trying to figure out why my debug session died all of the sudden. The 1394 connection between my debugger machine and the debugee went all wonky, and all of the sudden, it took a minute or more to execute each instruction. It turned out I accidentally yanked the cable, which in turn pulled the 1394 PCI card partway out of its socket. It was in there far enough to somewhat work, but not properly.

Every once in a while, I come home from work at some nutty hour. I stop by the 24 hour Safeway and try to pick up some prepared food that's not too unhealthy sometimes. Sometimes I try the soy protein stuff, I don't know when I'll learn my lesson. I've tried chicken nuggets, buffalo wings, and breakfast links. None are any good, although at this point, I basically treat them as something chewy to eat bbq sauce with. Yum. Yuck. I'm not sure which. On the plus side, it's only $2 for dinner.

Jan 25, 2005

Random
Yesterday, I went to the dentist. Now I've been using Onsite Dental for the past few years that I've been here. They have a Winnebago that drives to our campus twice a month. I just go there for an hour during work. My last appointment was supposed to be in August, and I didn't bother with that one, meaning that the previous appointment must have been last February, so it's been about a year. When I got there, it was a different dentist than the guy I've had for the last few years. In fact, he had also swapped with another dentist who treated me on my first visit. The story I got was that they take rotations to work for the military. It's too bad, by my third appointment with him I had figured out his name was Christian.

So I lost another dentist. But in return I got a new one. I haven't figured her name out yet, but it was the most painless cleaning ever. It crossed my mind whether she was actually cleaning my teeth, or merely scratching the surface. But it was much preferable to dentists who leave my gums in a bloody mess.

I was actually intending to blog about books and movies, but for now you'll have to be satisfied with the, er, exciting story of the new dentist.

Now, if you think this post should have been longer, you can make up for the time not spent reading it by playing Kingdom of Loathing.

Jan 17, 2005

Steamed Bun

Steamed Bun

IMG_9833, originally uploaded by dragonx.

This is a test of the flickr blogging function.

The above shows the final moments of a steamed vegetable bun in Shanghai, moments before it was devoured ravenously by the photographer.

R.I.P.

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Jan 10, 2005

Still Jet Lagged

I've been back for a week and I'm still jet lagged. Yay.
I missed church and slept in this morning. Until noon. I dragged myself out of bed, though I think I could have laid there a few hours more. Had lunch with two of the old crew. Went to work in the afternoon.

Now the reason I was working on Sunday afternoon, is that the past week has been totally unproductive, considering I've been getting into work in a daze, somewhat before noon if I was lucky. I think I landed with a flu, the first few days back sucked. Last Wednesday, the 5th, I woke up at 8am, pretty much incapacitated. I checked my email and decided to sleep in until 11. When I awoke, the sky was still dim. I checked my phone, which said 16:30. I needed to change the time zone back to PST. I checked my computer, it said 4:30 PM. I called in sick.

So the sick part is pretty much gone, except for the occasional sniffles and a lingering cough. I'm still awake at 4 AM though.

I finished Gabriel Garcia Marquez' 100 Years of Solitude on the flight to Hong Kong. I liked it a lot, I couldn't stop reading it to watch the Terminal or the Notebook, or the documentary on China that featured monkeys assaulting chinese people (at least, that's what it looked like, I didn't have the audio on). I liked it a lot last year. I like epic tragedies. This year however, I'm going to be positive, so I cannot like it so much anymore, though in the spirit of positivity, I highly recommend it.

I bought a copy of Garden State from this DVD store where the customers spoke German, French, Italian, English, and Shanghainese, hidden away at the back of a coffee shop in Shanghai. I was watching it last night, the video quality was excellent, until the third chapter from the end, where the disc was unreadable. I need to see the end of the movie before I can give it a review, but I'm pissed off at unscrupulous DVD pirates now.

I also finished Purpose Driven Life today. I'm not quite sure what all the hype was about, but I did think there were a few good chapters in there. I find most of these Christian living books rather uncompelling, in the "please, tell me something I didn't know" sense. If anything though, knowing and acting are two different things, and I often need the reminder to act what I know.

Jan 7, 2005

Vacation
So the vacation was great, so great that I'm having a hard time kicking myself back into work mode. Or it could be the jetlag and flu I picked up on the way home. My sleeping patterns have been all shot for the past week.

When I was younger, trips to Hong Kong were pretty repetitive. I'd basically follow my parents around all day, every day, except maybe for the days I stayed home and watched TV. We'd have breakfast at home, and then maybe drop my Grandma and mom off to wash her hair. My dad might go to the factory to handle some business with my uncle or Grandfather. We'd have lunch, go shopping, tea at the Kowloon Club, maybe go shop some more, have dinner, go home watch some TV, go to bed. Something like that.

The last few trips have been pretty cool though. My Grandma gave me the keys and enough "lai see" for me to get around. I got a cell phone so I could call whenever I got lost, which wasn't too often. The MTR's incredibly efficient and easy to use, and the taxi's are actually not very expensive compared to North American taxis. I got to wander around on my own and hang out with friends from Toronto.

Times like these I wish I had more time to spend with old friends.

As luxurious as it was to have a maid do the laundry, having breakfast ready in the morning, and awesome food for every meal, part of me is glad to have full control of my laundry, a warm room (man, hong kong winter nights are cold, they don't seem to believe in insulation there) and the option of not eating like a pig is rather comforting now.

I was in Shanghai when I saw the news on CNN about tsunamis hitting Indonesia. At the time they were still reporting casualties in the thousands, which already seemed like a disaster. A few days later I was having dinner with my aunt and uncle and their friends, all parents of east coast prep school and Ivy League kids, talking about their friends who precariously escaped the flooding at Phuket, saying how fortunate we were to be dining at a nice restaurant in Hong Kong and not having to deal with the aftermath.

It's sometimes disturbing to think how life can be so great for some people, yet so dismal for others. I felt guilty that entire dinner, although no one else seemed to disturbed (although some of them were concerned about the waterfront real estate in Hong Kong). But at the same time, emotional socialism seems cruel at best. Should everyone constantly be downcast and mourning? After all every day, I'm sure somebody, somewhere is having an awful day.

So I think at any time, a day of mourning for some may be a day of celebration for others. One shouldn't be jealous of the other, for God gives and takes away. My New Year's resolution is to be positive for a year. So I think it's great that the Canadian government is matching donations to the Canadian Red Cross, but only until January 11th, so hurry!

Quick summary: I left California on December 17 (arriving in HK on December 18). Stayed in Hong Kong most of the time, but took a short trip to Shanghai from December 26 through 29. Stayed in Hong Kong after that until New Year's. I left Hong Kong January 2, stayed in Tokyo for 1 day, hosted by a Canadian friend and her Japanese students, who acted as our tour guides. Left Tokyo and arrived back in San Jose on January 3rd. Here's the trip photos.