Thoughts beyond my life & my travel - Bel

It's been a week since dad was admitted to hospital. I felt relieved when he's in 'coz I know that he will be in a good hand of the medical team. Then my family got more information from the doctor after running some examinations. Hmm... , more medical problems than we expected. Now, the doctor would like to call in a specialist to further examine him. I don't know whether it's good or bad for him to stay in bed for a week. My anxiety just grows the longer he stays in hospital. It's not easy to locate or speak to the doctor in the public system. But maybe it's time to ask for another conversation with the doctor. Dad just feels grateful to the doctor who takes care of him and he seems to be a "good kid" so far.

I went to the general outpatient clinic with parents as my dad has been complaining he's not feeling well. We walked across the street from one building to another that a regular person could make it in 10 minutes but he has to spend more than half an hour to do so. And it hurts when you saw him walking slowly and wobbly, wheezing and taking a lot of break in between. The medical consultation ended up to being picked up by an ambulance and a visit to the ER of another hospital. Though I work in a hospital, the public hospital is totally an opposite to a private one. It's a week day but the ER unit is very full.  Mom and I were happy that he received medical attention quite quickly. Each of the nurses has to probably take care of more than 10-15 patients. After an chest X-ray and ECG, he was sent to the medical ward for further investigation. It didn't seem to be a shock to him that he ended up in the hospital. I actually felt it's more assuring that the doctor mad...

After a week of research, I narrowed down to buy a camera with better zoom function. Voila, I bought a Panasonic ZS7 camera with 16X. Look how close I could zoom in! Tested the GPS function yesterday too but this function can be a bit confusing as the location remains the same even you're moving from one point to another point. Aperture priority function is useful for taking night photos. See how it looks from my apartment window.

The TV episode "House" reveiled that doctors are not a hero but they always have to say "I don't know" about a lot of strange symptoms. Love reading a book called "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" .  Whether you're a doctor, it's a good read to learn about how doctors learning to become better through open discussion of medical cases, how outcomes can be different when patients are treated by different doctors at different time. I was most impressed by a chapter outlining a story of an orthopaedic doctor who went all wrong when he saw more patients and earned more money. This sort of discussion might still be a taboo nowadays and it's not easy for a professional to admit mistakes. By reading this book, I hope we all review what we've done day after day and see how we can improve our work by admitting our shortfall.

The movie "Going the distance" caught my attention because of the theme of the movie. Though Drew Barrymore is not a beauty queen, I like her sweetness and natural acting. If "You've got mail" captured the essence of "online dating" a few years ago, "Going the distance" is a landmark movie that captures the recent trend of distance relationship. You want to know what a couple thinks when being involved in a distance relationship? The movie gives a glimpse of what they're thinking about and what they concern? You would have thought that it's a girly movie like 27 dresses or Serendipity but it's not. We might always look for love; however not everyone is willing to give up something important in life in exchange for love.

We always complaint about the air quality in Hong Kong. I walked to the waterfront near my place the other day and somehow still found the beauty of Hong Kong. Are you amazed at that view? One thing for sure, we have more and more batman building

I went to a training session at a charity organization the other day. At the end of the session, we got a chance to visit the elderly in the public housing. They all live alone in a small flat. What I remember the most was the first old woman whom I visited. She couldn't walk well and her place was stacked up with junks. When we locked on the door, we heard her keep saying "I'm coming."  Till she opened the door that we realized that she were using a stick to help her walk a small step each time. It took her 2 minutes to walk like 10 feet. It's a brief 15 minutes' visit but I'm happy that she's being well looked after by the security staff in the building and the welfare society. She very much appreciated our visit and told us that we should spend more time with our family. I was a bit touched by what she said though I didn't know her at all. Will I be living alone when I get old? That's what my friend told me that she will but she might ...

People care about their rankings in google and yahoo search engines 'coz that's the way people can find them. So I can see how companies created some mirror sites or other websites adding information in the hope to raise their web rankings. Maybe that's the reason I got a lot of junk comments on my blog. But those comment was only posted on one of my blog articles. Apart from deleting those junk comments, I tried to change the title of the article to see if I can avoid junk postings in the future.

It's the rent making almost every tenant a huge headache these days. The rent shoots up probably by 10% in less than a year and many landlords prefer not to rent out their places 'coz the property prices are so high to the extent that they want to sell their flats instead. With less supply of rental apartments, tenants almost have to "pitch" for a new flat apart from paying a very high rent. Some of my friends have bought the apartment with their family or moved back to their parents. I wish I had a choice or won a lottery ticket over night, so that I won't need to think about how to deal with the rent increase pretty soon. :)

It's day 2 on 30 June. It's cloudy and felt like winter to me. I went to Jericho Beach and Kitslano Beach with my friend and his daughter. The beaches look a lot different from ours.  It's less crowded and bigger and they put logs on the sands for people to sit and enjoy the views. There is a zone for people to play beach volleyballs. These beaches are more for people to relax, enjoy sunshine rather than swimming. The tide was low when we were there. I saw something new - that's skim surfing. The two kids were probably 5 - 7 years old and enjoyed gliding across the water surface with their skimboards. They didn't do very good but they found it fun doing it for sure. It looked much easier than surfing but I don't think I have the talent to do so. So I met my friend's daughter who is 12 years old. I didn't have any friends' whose kids are about the same age and it's definitely not my forte to speak to girls at this age but I tried to start a ...

It was a 12-hour flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver. A Chinese senior couple were sitting next to me. I was happy that the aircraft is quite new and is in a better seat setting than the one I flew with Cathay Pacific Airline. There are only 3 seats in the middle as compared to the Cathay one with 4 seats. I had an aisle seat as usual seeing people walking up and down the aisle in all those hours. It would have driven me crazy if I kept my eyes open watching people passing through me in 12 hours.  So even though I couldn't quite sleep at all, I still close my eyes to have a rest. The entertainment console is not bad in an AC plane but it's not as good as the Cathay one. You can't take the console out or it doesn't full support for all the entertainment yet, like games. The flight was overbooked. The airport staff kept trying tempting passengers fly on a different date by paying them Cdn$600. Hmmm, if that's $1,000 Cdn plus one night of free hotel, maybe I'll fl...

Here's the first item I bought from taobao website. It's around $100 HK dollars plus the postage shared with my friend. When I picked them up at the MTR station, I couldn't help put them on to see how they look. The pair are comfy but the soles are not that thick. You can just put the insoles in to make them more like a pair of ideal shoes. Can't wait to try it out at work.

"Change" has become a hot topic. A lot of people have pondered what they should do next! The husband of my friend wants to start his own business as a consultant. Another friend wants to switch the field of his business after the financial tsunami. I talked to a sales manager of a medical equipment company today. They want to introduce a new line of business that can profit a lot more.  It's a human nature that people are afraid of changes but it is evident that we do need change to a certain extent.

Can you imagine someone really raises a kitten inside a glass bottle, restrict her growth and makes her disformed? The first impression I got is simply "disgusting", "insane" and "inhumane". How can people harm a kitten in this way. So, you can imagine how shocked I was when I heard that a daughter of a celebrity ordered a bonsai kitten somewhere .  It was said that this "toy" originally came from Japan and some said that it's just a joke in which people made use of Photoshop to create it. Whether it's real or not, it is not funny at all. We should give the lovely cats some respect!

Women are into cosmetics and shopping but what do men like? I'm intrigued to see what toys that my brother bought. His recent entertainment list includes a toy helicopter and this "electric circuit puzzle". I think the toy helicopter is cool as every boy imagines he can fly one day. But I am not impressed with this puzzle at all. Why do the guys want to put these pieces together and make different squeaky noises.   I think I will give it a pass and let them play with their own toys!

The new economy has given people a lot of challenges at work, like demand for high productivity and longer commuting hours. We're like being stretched out to do 10 people work in a single day. Maybe that's why I heard more people quit their jobs or decided to retire early. Here's a night I wanted to relax by enjoying the aerobic exercises. Then I got a call from a former colleague whom I hadn't spoken for years. it didn't surprise me that she didn't like her job. We all have the right to complaint, grumble or air our opinion. Of course, I can be a happy listener. But should we admit that no job is "perfect"? I always see that there are only 2 options when you're not happy at work: 1/ to quit & try to change your job; 2/ to adjust your mindset. Either option required you to change routine and mindset a bit. She asked, "am I happy doing my job now?" I can only say that "no job is perfect" but you have to find the positiv...

Today was a pleasant day to celebrate Mother's Day with mom and my brother's family. I enjoy more and more by helping people who are in need, like checking information that my friend wants to know. I found myself helpless when meeting a skinny woman who is a friend of my friend this afternoon. She's 5'2" but weighs less than 80 pounds. She's not having eating disorders but her sickness stops her eating probably. She simply does not have the appetite or she finds it nausea when eating more. When I visited their homes today, I truly didn't know what I should say to her. I was almost speechless and could only encourage her to eat more. Maybe we want too much in life that we forget there are so people who are not as lucky as us.

I just read the headline of this news and I'm a bit sad that a hospital has to introduce a private alcove for people leaving babies there. The first impression I got was "Is that an encouragement for people to give up their babies?" I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing but it's a bit sad to hear that. That reminded me that some mothers actually gave away their babies to the foster homes in China. Maybe the drop off is not too bad? I just hope those mothers will pick their babies up after having a second thought.

Shopping in the outlet stores may not be as comfortable as the chained or branded stores. The wholesales stores here stock a lot of outdated pants and jackets that you might think only nuts will buy those. But you just can't deny that you can treasure hunt some best buy items sometimes. My friend bought me a DKNY jacket a few years ago and yesterday I found this black Jacob top priced at HK$29 only. I plan to have another treasure hunt for my mom next time.

I don't feel like cooking when I feel unwell. Instant noodles are not my favourite food, but I still always try out some new, some that are fast to prepare and hope for better options. I know it looks like instant noodles but I persuade myself it's something different, Maybe because of the power of packaging, I bought this and tried it out. Not too bad imagine that I don't eat cooked salmon at all and I actually ate it with fish fillet, too. 

I hate to feel sick and to be sick. But the flu season hit me finally and luckily I didn't lose my voice yet but I'd better to be a good patient this time. Here's the cough syrup. That doesn't look as bad as the black one and it doesn't taste too bad, too.

Fairy tales always tell a story of a prince and a princess who will end up living happily ever after. The "Undercover Princes" TV programme depicts an interesting life of two princes - one from Sri Lanka who looks for a wife in Brighton, England, another one is Manvendra Singh Gohil who is a gay prince in India who wants some openly gay experience in the UK. So maybe the modern life of the princes are a lot different from what we imagine. The Sri Lankan prince didn't have any luck in night clubs on a Saturday night. The Indian prince seemed to be quite popular in a gay bar but he wants to find something more. This reality show is way more interesting than a model contest. I heard that Manvendra plans to adopt a child to carry out his responsiblity as a prince. I hope that it will come into a reality. There is no doubt that he's such a brave prince.

Can you become a volunteer to help with the relief work? The reflief organizations always look for * health professionals, such as doctors, surgeons, nurses, etc * engineers on water sanitarization * sometimes a cook! Say Red Cross for example, they need you to submit an application form and conduct an interview with you to let you understand more about how the relief work is like. If you're found suitable, trainings will be provided for you to learn more about how to set up those tents, medical supplies and sensitive cultural issues, etc.   International Red Cross sends out SMS to Red Cross in different countries each time they need help and co-ordinate with the replies.  Red Cross' first relief team arrived in Haiti 2 days after the incident and two volunteer doctors and some volunteers from Hong Kong arrived around 10 days later. But volunteers can't stay long. Volunteers are rotated after helping out for a month. Red Cross expects their relief work lasts fo...

I'm glad that I was able to wake up early on a Saturday morning to attend a seminar on disaster management. Hong Kong is a very safe place and the worst "disaster" ever was a big fire in a commercial building which killed around 20 people. It's still sad but technically we don't need any foreign aid and it's not a disaster according to the UN and WHO definition. But it doesn't mean that we don't prepare for it. All speakers were great but the presentation by a volunteer doctor was the most impressive. He was deployed to Haiti for a relief project. The case study, vivid pictures of the scenes and patients together with the story telling of his own experience were really intriguing and outlined how hard the "mission" was like. I was so moved that I almost cried when they played an interview video with the volunteers.It's also great to learn how organized they are to prepare logistically for those relief work. I had some reflections on...

A friend of mine asked me how I felt about Tiger Woods coming back to the games. There is no doubt that he's great player and it's good news for the audience to see a great player. Of course, he has already been labelled as promiscious and he can hardly be reborn as a good man again. I remember I watched his TV interview a long time ago. He talked about being influenced by his wife to be very competitive. Now I just wonder whether I can believe a word that he says. Nevertheless, if you look at the bright side, he started off the Masters not too bad. At least he might have practised a lot and shows that he takes the games seriously. I might admire his golf skill but not him as a person.

I tried to stick to healthier diet with regular intake of vegetables, fruits and dairy products. But as a human being, I need comfort food like a delicious cake once in a while to satisfy my palate.  This tiramisui cake was my pick in April. What about you? 

I suggested my friend to take a walk to the infamous Wing Lee Street after lunch in Soho. But we're a bit disappointed when we got there. The street has become so well-known to Hong Kong people after the film, Echos of the Rainbow , won an international award.  The building is old, may give people lots of memory but is not too special. Nevertheless, It's quite a "tourist" spot for the local people right now. Many of them enjoy taking pictures of old building, the signage, the stairs and even the laundry lines. Stop by and share how you feel next time you're around the area.

I had a little chat with my niece who told me that she didn't like the lunchbox that her father made for her. What did he make? Stir fry beef with pineapple, served with rice. Oh, the little girl doesn't like pineapple but it reminds me an interesting coversation with a friend of mine about pineapple. It's about a novel way to taste the pineapple. So I bought this pineapple at a supermarket today and challenged myself to cut it off. It's easier than I thought but there are a lot! I think it takes days for me to finish them off. But there is no doubt that it tastes better than the canned one.

Everyone has a great camera these days and you can see people taking pictures with their phones or cameras everywhere. My friend's 3-year-old daughter wanted to take pictures of us. That's her artistic shot!  It's me and her parents in front of a herbal jelly shop. Maybe she can be a better photographer next time.

"The lives of others" is the most amazing movie I've seen recently. You should have thought the movie is about how innocent people were being watched and scrutinized in East Europe but actually it outlines how a dedicated socialist has become a good man protecting a playwright who partnered with some friends to release suicide figures to West Germany. What a great man who risks his lives and his career simply just to save the others' lives. It will really be a joke if Nicholas Cage is gonna re-make the movie in English and make himself the key role. It's probably hard for us to relate him as a good man like HGW. The Lives of Others [Blu-ray]

The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a popular book and I thought about reading it but I know I couldn't do it as the story should be so sad. Till today I watched the movie version on HBO. I didn't expect the daughter has Down Syndrome and there are some twists in the story. My memory was quite wrong as I thought the story was about a daughter who had leukemia and died the otherwise. I also got the impression that it's based on a real life story but it's not. I will be more touching if it's a real life story and one of the characters wrote the novel herself.

Try this out and you will find yourself speakers Cantonese like native speakers. I found those "pronounciation guide" pretty accurate and maybe some of the phrases are useful to you when you travel or meet some new friends.

That's the moment of winning! It was also the moment when almost everyone in the stadium cheered out loud! Despite that it's a shield championship only, I'm still happy that Hong Kong could beat the big guys in the Russian team.

Experts say that one of the reasons that people love facebook is that many young people use facebook to seek their own identity. Whether it's true or not, that reminds me those "intruders" at HK Sevens. Their goal was just being in the playing field for a couple of minutes before they're caught by the security guards. Do they want to find their own identity or they just want to "beat" the security guys? But audience seem to enjoy seeing these intruders rather than the Lion hip hop dance, the official performance.

What do you expect to see at 10 something at night time in the heart of Central? Drunken men? I walked past the business and shopping district tonight and found many couples posing for wedding photos so late in the streets. Then I found more young girls posing for photos. Are there more and more people who want to experiment with their new cameras? Or just more and more people who love to be photoed with the backdrop of the night time?

While I was still pondering whether I made a right decision today, I received a call from a friend of mine whose aunt is very sick staying in a hospital. My friend is worried that her aunt will not be well taken care of after she's discharged as she lives alone. I made a call to a friend of mine to get some information about the Home of the Aged, to enquire about the application of government subsidies and the options that she can choose from. I feel great that I can make use of my connection to help her and give her peace of mind. Somehow I'm really glad that my friend called me and gave me an opportunity to help the old people. That reminds me that I should have one more useful contact who is a hospital social worker. Though we may not be working in a charity organization, we can always enjoy the happy moments by helping the others.

There are always times you found yourself standing in an intersection where you want to change but somehow might not want to change. I read a story today about a man who reached to the top management when working in a hotel in Beijing. One day he gave up everything and decided to take care of his mother back to Hong Kong. He lost his high-paying job, ended up in a divoice and some years later, he lost his mother. He was hopeless and had a thought of committing suicide. But he was being trained and "reborn" again for living a more meaningful life. He was now very successful in providing care service to the aged. Maybe I can retrain myself to do a meaningful job that benefits the elderly but I hope that the future elderly care service can give senior people more respect and dignity. After all, we will all get old and who wants to be taken care of and live without privacy and dignity?

This was my first time to see the HK Sevens. I didn't quite know the rugby games but sure I enjoyed watching the games a lot especially that Hong Kong has taken the title of the Shield Champion and Canada beat Wales in the Bowl final . The ambience was great, it's good for families and friends having fun the whole day. Now, I'm thinking, maybe it's better than seeing football live as the 14-minutes rugby games are in full action all the time!

I read this book because I do like Freakonomics a lot. I still enjoy reading it but this book is not that "Super" as compared to the previous one. I know that one of the authors comes to Hong Kong for doing some research. I do hope to find some interesting podcast on his blog .

I was walking back home after a hair cut. The streets were calm and not that interesting until I saw a man carrying a big fridge with his back walking down from an old building. I'm sure he did that as the building does not have a lift. To see how people can lift something so heavy is amazing. His back might be hurt but that's what many people did before the elevator or the lift was invented. I just wonder, "Will there be some invention that can help people moving heavy objects downstairs?"

My friend wanna enrol in a social media course, so I signed in the course with her. Here's the first assignment for the course - open a business group / interest group and try to attract as many people to sign up as possible. I came up with the idea of a Shopping at Taobao tips as this website is a hit overnight in China. More and more people shop there and ship items over to Hong Kong. Some even stock items and resell them in ebay. But it seems like a similar group was set up in Facebook already. What I should do next? Any ideas?

What if your ex-subordinate works in another department and tries to "betray" you? You might think that it's a storyline in a movie but it happens all the time especially when someone is young and ambitious. When you hire someone, you probably hire the person who can impress you over the other candidates. But those who do well in the interview may not be loyal to you and do their jobs well. So you might fall into the chance that picking up the wrong candidate who might betray you one day. I know it's hurting to face such situation but somehow we can't deny human beings can turn bad when their souls are rotten. I might be too honest but I definitely hope that less such stories happen!

One of the things that caught my attention in my China trip is that there were quite many sweet couples. My friend and I sat on the right hand side on the tour bus and there was a couple sitting on the left next to us. I told my friend, "look, they're holding hands all the time, even they're resting on the bus." My friend said, "yes, there are many sweet couples in our tour." We then had a conversation about whether our parents are still holding hands. Of course not, we didn't see them doing so. Maybe these couples we met are younger than our parents and their concepts on love are different. But it's still uncommon to see married couples in their 50s holding hands in public in Hong Kong. That's why I'm a bit surprised but feel happy about how sweet they are.

Have you looted your friend's happy farm in facebook? These farms are probably guarded by a dog but they still find a way to get some veggies from your friend's farm. I visited a few farms in this China trip and joked about playing the real time happy farm. But I found the dogs in these farm are very faithful and stay alert all the time. They will simply bark at you when you get any closer to their owners' farms. Watch out!

I planned to pack light for the trip as we were advised Hailuogou should be 0 C only. It was until the tour guide told us that it should be 0 to -15C. So I digged out the ski pants I had never worn and brought the tights and all the wool long socks along. I know my ski pants are a bit too sharp in colour but they kept me warm even under -11C with tights and socks inside. Of course, the boots I rent did the job well. You can rent them for a day for $10 yuan or buy a new pair for $40 - 60 yuan. But it will be way more expensive if you buy them up the snow mountain.

In this trip, I expected to wake up early in the morning to see the sunrise in Hailuogou in Sichuan as its sunrise is very famous. When the sunlight hits the snow mountains, it turns the mountains into golden shining colour. Some adventurers even travelled more than one time in a year in order to witness such beauty. I couldn't see this special sunrise this time as it's been snowing heavily but you can still see this spectacular view online . Try thi s out, too.

Face changing show is famous in Chengdu but I didn't know that they have an artist who is good at hand shadow performance. Enjoy this marvellous show . See the delicate hand movement, brillant transition and every detail that he captured.

I'm never a fleece jacket fan. I know it's warm but somehow I don't like the feel of the material. I once got a fleece pullover. I didn't wear it much till I got rid of it. But I don't want to be freezed to death in this trip to the glaciers in Sichuan Province, especially when you're told that there will not be any heat in the hotel in that area. Though it's still around 0 degree Celcius, I just wonder it might feel colder as it should be. So, to be safe, I knew I needed to look for a fleece jacket plus bringing my down jacket as well. I like the brand, lafuma but I didn't seem to find anything that I liked. Eventually I picked up a jacket from this brand - Pjall Raven jacket in an outlet shop. And it's HK$159 only. I'm sure that it costs a lot more in the US and the quality looks good. Next will be doing a "on-the-spot trial" to see whether it's a good winter jacket or not.

When you joined a tour and realised that the tour guide didn't pick you up in the airport, what would you do? A group of Phillippines tourists arrived in Hong Kong and encountered such situation. Luckily, the Hong Kong government quickly found them a place and located sponsors from a hotel, a ferry operator and Disney. They simply need to pay HK$550 for a hotel's stay, a trip to Disneyland and Ocean Park as well as going to Macau. They went to the Peak for sightseeing yesterday that got a lot of media attention. Guess what? Every HK citizen wants to pay the same price for such a trip. The Disneyland ticket simply costs almost $400 and the round trip ferry tickets cost almost $400. See how generous Hong Kong taxpayers to tourists. Do you want to travel? Come to Hong Kong!

I never booked and paid for air tickets so early. Traditionally, the special offer for tickets in May won't be available till March but many airlines launched their offers as early as late January/early February and surprisingly, many seats in June were booked up already. So that left me no option but to buy my tickets by the end of February despite that there might be a lot of unknown till the departure date. Maybe, people are so hungery for long haul flight after the swine flu pandemic.

When I planned for my coming trip to see the glaciers in Sichuan, I know the place is cold, its altitude is high and the air will be thin. But I didn't expect the place is so remote that no mobile phone is accessible except the local one. So, it will be quite a challenge to have no mobile phone access for four days once I cross the tunnel to the mountains. I didn't usually use the phone overseas but I still like the feeling of having mobile access that connects you to the modern world. So check out this place called Hailuogou Glacier Park to see if you find it worth having days without phones.

The Hong Kong government has been promoting a number of geoparks in Hong Kong. 7 of them are now qualified as National Geoparks of China. Among them, the High Island one is the biggest with massive hexagonal rock columns. They are truly amazing as the columns are believed to be one of the highest in the world. Hopefully the park will become one of the World's Geopark. Then someone showed me the other version of Geopark - somewhere in Vancouver. The look of the rocks resemble the ones in the High Island Geopark here but were being put at the back of a building in downtown Vancouver. See if you can find it out if you're in Vancouver.

Every time the government announces its annual budget, people hope for tax rebates, waive of government rates and many other subsidies. If you are really rich, you might not benefit from any government measures but you should be happy that you don't need to hope for any subsidies from the government. Yes, maybe we should be content with what we have in life. At least, we are not worried about not having a shelter, enough food or clothes.

I copied some of the backup discs back to my computer during the Chinese New Year and found a few interesting pictures. Everyone says young people have dream and ambition. It's probably because they've got nothing to lose if they take a risk. Look at this picture and I really feel that I was fearless at the time. Work sounded more fun rather than routine, too!

Appearance plays an important role in the job market, especially for artists. A documentary did a great job on an "acid attacks" report. There were a few incidents in which plastic bottles filled with corrosive liquid were thrown onto the shoppers in busy streets. Innocent people were left with burnts and marks that will stay with them the whole life. Hardly any of the victims were willing to be interviewed to recall what had happened. But a singer hurt by corrosive liquid many years ago told her story. She underwent 20 reconstructive surgery, a great deal of pain and a life with this unforgettable memory. She looks fine right now but the incident ruined her career and more importantly hurt her self esteem dramatically. It's powerful accusation from a person like her. Yes, they've got no ideas on how much pain they caused to those innocent people. Sadly, the incidents were reported on Asian newspapers and made Hong Kong sound like an uncivilized third country.

I read Mitch Albom's latest book. There is a line saying that we always talk about work when meeting acquaintances and it's like work connects people together. I love the new movie, "Up in the Air" a lot but it's definitely not a Chinese New Year movie. I don't know since when jobs have become an important part of our life. Our mortgage rely on it, the child's education depend on it. We can't pay our groceries without working. If we lose our jobs, what will we do? We might feel like we lost our identity. Why do we feel this way? Maybe we care about money too much? Maybe we care about what other people have and we just spend too much on houses, pets, clothes and everything. We just can't live a simple life again.

My friend is in her 50s. She once told me that the biggest challenge for her at work was the introduction of a computer. She did the traditional typesetting work and all in a sudden, no one used that old machine again and she had to learn all these new skills in her 30s and is now doing the publishing work with her PC. To generations like me, the biggest challenge is probably the social media buzz. I didn't think internet was a challenge at all as I first tried out BBS and emailing when I was a student. It's just a fun play for me at the time. So, you thought you learnt all the skills at work and then the world has changed and here's the new world. It's not a scary thing at all but I just felt I should hurry up to catch this train for it's more like a speed train heading for the moon. So, what's the next challenge for the generations Y?

Someone noticed that I got quite many pairs of shoes. Well, I didn't have 99 pairs of shoes like those shoesaholics. I'm not collecting high heels and want to look glmourous with those fancy shoes. I definitely won't cut my feet to fit into Jimmy Choo's shoes. I just look for affordable comfortable weekend shoes. However, most of the comfortable shoes are either unatttractive, expensive or outdated while beautiful shoes are always killing your feet. I got high heels that are comfortable but I don't want to wear them for walking over hours. Then I got sneakers that are super comfy but it's a bit too casual sometimes and you don't want to wear it when you want your feet to be more relaxed over the weekend. I'm almost desperate to find the next lovely footglove, so I bought this today. Crocs had never been my shoe option, but maybe I was disappointed a few times, so I gave it a try. I just want a pair that I could just slip on and go quickly, especially in ...

I spent hours watching realty TV shows every week. All in the sudden, I realize that many of these shows have a simple formula to success, that is, the problem solving approach. So, we found a problem in our lives no matter it's a financial one, house improvement exercise or taming a naughty kid, then an expert will show up, discuss with the people about their problems and what are the feasible solutions. These shows made those designers, nannies, handy men or chefs a saviour that can change people's lives. Maybe we hope for a saviour to solve our own problems no matter it's big or small. That's why we're drawn to these kinds of programme. So, do we have extremely high expectation on our lives that we assume that we can be happier if it's problem free?

I finally bought the deluxe box set of kd lang: recollection. I probably almost have all the songs except two or three but it's still a joy to get her new album, especially after watching her spectacular performance in the Winter Olympics. Tonight I watched a couple of her old music videos and her live performance at the Juno awards. It's awesome and there is no doubt she's one of the singers whom you prefer to see her live instead of just listening to her music. Her Ingenue album was a big hit but I now appreciate more of her works in the Hymns of the the 49th Parallel album. She also has a gift to deliver songs written by some great song writers such as Cole Porter and Leonard Cohen. What is missing is the song she wrote. She hasn't written any really great songs herself for a while. She said It's hard to write. Yes, it is but I hope she can collaborate with some songwriters to release some great new songs again.

So, we didn't write letters with pens and papers anymore. Rarely people really write letters these days though we still love to read. We sent sms, emailed words of feelings to each other. What else? Maybe youtube videos to express our feeling to the one we love. I'm not new to the emailing or texting era but the idea of video is a bit new to me. Today, I got a home-made video that could make me smile. It's good timing especially today is the first working day after the Chinese New Year, not a day that you want to work as hard as a dog. I heard a lot of greetings from people today but definitely this video greeting is a lot sweeter.

Do you find blue a trendy colour? My colleague told me that she thought she looked slimmer with a blue background. Then, a reporter described this operating theatre an "avator" one, so I can see the influence of Avatar and everything looks better with this blue colour.

I hadn't been to this Zoological & Botanic Park for many many years. All I could remember was the mosquitos. But I think this Botanic Park is new and I had no memory at all. Surprisingly this park has everything that HK Park has and they're a bridge apart. Can the government do a better job in urban planning? Anyway, next time you're in Central, take a walk to check out this paradise!

The new thumb drive didn't work that made all my geopark photos gone in a spilt second. Seem like my mobile is more reliable than a thumb drive. After this eating week, I really need a break to the nature and I hope the next geopark trip will be as pleasant as the last reservoir walk in Tai Tam.

Newspapers and magazines do not operate the same way as it used to be. Editorial content was considered to be a very important asset for attracting advertising. Some years ago, I saw some chief editors call corporations and PR consultants for advertising, taking up some of the roles of an account manager. In recent years, more newspapers and magazines judge on whether corporations place ads on their publications before placing any stories on them. An English newspaper here used to run editorial video stories but a recent layoff dramatically cut the resources and made its online team to do "sponsored video interviews" only. That makes the team very commercial and almost gives up their reporting work. Even I'm one of their sponsors, I feel sad. But things have never been the same. Should you quit or stay? I guess that the team might not be there some months later. On the contrary, more Chinese newspapers have been adding video news stories, 100% editorial content. Can they...

I had a chat with a friend of mine over dinner today. We touched on topics like our love, our life and our work. She's pregnant when dating somebody and now has a 1.5-month-old daughter. She quit her job to look after her daughter for almost half a year and is now thinking about finding a full time job again. I see more and more friends quitting jobs and look after their kids full time. I feel that it's a big commitment to give up your jobs and spend 24/7 on your kids. But most of them plan to devote their life to parenting their kids and seem to enjoy this lifetime job very much. "How can you make the decision to give birth your daughter knowing that you're not gonna married? And how can you have the courage to give up your job at the same time?" I asked my friend. She explained, "I learn from the law school that I should write down what it's like if I give birth the baby and what it's like if I didn't. Then I can find out which option I really ...

Many of us want to have an idea of the future just because we want to plan ahead of time on whether we should buy a stock or invest in a property or simply make a better decision. Uncertainty just bugs us all the time. What should we do? What will the world become? But what if we know too much about our future, will that be a bad thing or good thing? I recently watched a bit of the episode Flash Forward . This TV programme simply talks about how people react when they can all see glimpses of their future. Many of them feel stressed and confused about what they've seen, like a husband questioning his wife being with another man in the living room. A cop thinks that he should die soon 'coz he can't see any clue of his future at all. A child remembers a similar face in her flash forward memory but cries when she recalls what is going to happen to that boy. You might argue that there are even more uncertainties when they can only see fragments of their future but how about many...

Evaucate now! What happened? I was among hundreds of customers being asked to evacuate the supermarket today because the fire alarm was on. I wanted to buy the pears and the beef steak on special offer but I couldn't. I wonder what about those customers who were paying at the moment. But anyway, we couldn't complain but simply walk away from the supermarket and go downstairs. We could see a few smoke on the corridors and firefighters go up after a few minutes. That's the very first time I did the fire evacuation. But this experience was still better than the one my teacher told me before. He had to leave the hair salon in the middle of a hair cut because of the suspected fire. It's definitely not funny!

Newspapers are always full of gossip news while rumours are always "flying" around the office. So how rumours originate and make people believe what they're all about. Today, I heard some rumours that gave me some insights. When someone left and there will be a successor, or when there is a new position created, people start asking questions and make their own guesses. Whenever they have a chat with their mates, they will bring up the subject again and do more guesses. So after you listen to a couple of guesses while you're extremely busy and short of time to digest the new information, you sort of think maybe "their guesses are true". Eventually, the guesses have become rumours. It's funny that some of the rumours happen to be the "truth".

Change management is always a core subject in MBA courses. It's not always easy to implement changes in the company. People, basically, are reluctant to make a lot of changes after they feel settled down and adept to what they're doing. So even small changes might bother them unexpectedly. That's what happened to me today - moving my office. It bothered me that I would not see the familiar friendly faces as often as I like and I had to squeeze in my files in a smaller space. So, I managed to rearrange the cabinets and tables smartly and make the office look fine but I really miss the people I see every day, even we're just saying hello or having some small chats only. I remember a research pinpointed that why people still needed to work in an office. It's because we're human beings. To some extent, we still enjoy networking and social time with others. But I'm happy that I succeed in managing my space first, I just need to go down more often to see tho...

The impact of newspapers and magazines cannot be compared to that of many years ago. Everyone starts to talk about to social media as it's got more immediate impact and influence especially on generation Y. I couldn't deny it until I read the book "Have a Little Faith" recently. The author wrote a touching story of Henry who was a criminal, a drug addict, a typical bad guy and one day he turned to believe God and became a pastor. The church he's responsible is in Detroit and is short of fundings and resources but he kept helping the criminals, drug addicts, the poor without asking them to read the bibles or do anything. His church was broke and had a hole in the ceiling. It leaked and the gas was cut off in a cold winter. But he didn't blame God and he still believe his faith. Is it a "little faith"? Obviously not. The more and more the author got to learn about Henry, the more he was moved by what he's giving to the poor and to his religio...

I am not a Catholic, not a Christian, not a Muslim or a Buddhist but I happen to love a book called "have a little faith" which is about how people found their faith one day and how religion make people moved. It's the best book I have ever read written by Mitch Albom. I didn't like "Tuesdays with Morrie", but "the Five People You Meet in Heaven" is good. His latest book is different as it's based on true stories that can make people believe what dramatic life can be. The way the priest and the reb sacrified themselves and the way they forgave people really touch you. There are some sayings that sound corny but somehow it may you cry and make you believe that you should look at things and the world differently. I should spend some time finding the words of wisdom and read them again.

When I first moved out from parents, I moved every 1-2 years till I settle down in where I live now. Despite its small size, the apartment is centrally located and I can enjoy a quiet moment walking around the streets during the weekend. I once worked in a boutique company that required us to move a lot and one day I felt fed up and I told myself I would leave the company if I was asked to move again. And a few months later, I left. You thought that the moving story is over but it's not. I moved my office two years ago and expect another move again. Things can be easily piled up when you're working in an office for a while, just like your apartment stocking up clothes, books, documents and gifts. What a nuisance for another move especially when it's busy time. But I decided to let it be and clear up stuff much later.

I felt a great "achievement" when finished reading a novel in 3 days. I know it shouldn't be called an achievement, somehow I hadn't finish reading a book in such a short time for long. The book "Twenties Girl" might have a "ghost" character but it's more about how someone relates to her great aunt. It's fun and touching at the same time. So the next book will be "have a little faith" by Mitch Albom! Still on a long waiting list for the Superfreakonomics!

The world is never fair. We all know that but somehow we don't want to accept the truth. I just read the book called "Outliers" talking about what makes people succeed. There was a story about a man who has high IQ but he's born in a poor family. Even he got an IQ of over 180, he didn't receive special attention from two universities which simply did not make any adjustment to accommodate his request. He should be the one who are qualified as a professor or can write lots of papers for acamedic journals. But without a proper degree, he could only work in a ranch and enjoys his time reading journals and books. I might not be that intelligent like him but somehow you could see some people who are less capable than you receive more attention than you. Maybe I should find my own ranch and enjoy time reading books. If you want to read more human stories, "Outliers" is quite a good read though it can't really tell you the secret of success.

It's one of the coldest winters in Beijing at below - 16C. It never happens in Hong Kong but our weather observatory posts "cold weather signal" every time the temperature is dropped to below 13 - 15C. Does it sound a bit crazy to you? It did sound ridicuous to me even my hands are cold. We hide inside doing office work or shopping most of the time, so it's hard to imagine how difficult it is for those people who need to work outdoors. Then the temperature dropped to 10C and I can feel a glimpse of coldness. I must say that it's not too bad till the wind blows in. I find that people are really brave to work in extreme weather whether it's super hot or it's crazily cold. Their work can be compared to the hard work that the farmers had to go through in the old days. They bend their back to work over 14-hour under all kinds of weather, just to ensure they can have good harvest. May the weather be more mild and everyone has good health in this new year.