Thoughts beyond my life & my travel - Bel

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.