Thoughts beyond my life & my travel - Bel

You can really feel the autumn now and it's time to embrace the nature! I couldn't help ask a reporter friend to join me to have lunch at the Peak, feeling the breeze blowing into our face. She is a cheerful and pleasant girl that light me up a bit and say all the good things.  You can't really feel bad when positive energy is around you. "If you need an entertainer, ask me!", she told our midwife. I truly agree with what she said. It's all girl's talk in a relaxed, lovely afternoon and I wish the autumn will be a good start for my life, meeting new people. Rarely we see golden leaves in autumn here. Maybe I should go for an autumn break. Will Nagoya, Kuala Lumpur or Tasmania be a better choice? I should do some study over the weekend!

I was a funny day despite the rain. My friend found her new toy, a spy camera wrist watch. I couldn't believe there were so many spy cameras or recorders in the shops. They are shaped from watches , a Coca Cola can, sunglasses to a USB or a badge. I played with a hidden camera pen that my friend got before. I'm sure this wrist watch should be a lot more fun! But I can't help thinking, "am I being watched or listened without my knowledge?"

It was a rainy day and I didn't have the luck to bring an umbrella. I would have felt regret if I just left the place without buying this lovely music angel. You can simply plug in your iPhone and enjoy 3 hours of music anywhere and anytime. If I bought the one in pink, it might look more like an angel. Maybe I should bring this with me next time I lie on the grass in the park. It can be a picnic companion.

Look at this! This is the first coin purse that I made in a leather workshop tonight. It looks complicated but it's easily made if you follow a few steps given by the instructor and have the right tools. My instructor helped me to make some alternation as I cut the leather a bit short. It is a truly lovely gift for the mother's day!

I read the front page news about inmates right after I wrote about the p hysiotherapy treatment for inmates . So there are actually quite many suicides in the prisons as inmates felt they lost the sense of freedom. 90 inmates committed suicides last year in Hong Kong, 4 out of which were dead. Could you imagine that they actually used the bedsheets to hang themselves with the "window"? Now you can't really say that it is a waste of resources for treating the inmates as the jury calls for more psychological support apart from closer monitoring and trainings for staff.

It almost came to the end of my physiotherapy sessions. I got to know more about my physiotherapist who sometimes told me interesting stories. "I once treated a few inmates when working in a public hospital. There was a man who really looked "evil" and stared at me in a way making me feel uncomfortable when I was giving him therapy every time," she said. "Well, the government treat our inmates good. There are a long waiting list for physiotherapy treatment." I asked, finding this subject of conversation intriguing. "That man killed his wife in a brutal way. He then cut his ligaments in the wrist." "Why did he do that?" "No one dared to ask. We just did the job." "Isn't it a waste of resources? The guards drove him to the hospital for treatment?" "Yeah. Three men accompanied with him, doing nothing while he's having treatment." I realized that quite many inmates are having self-destru...

Angry birds jumped out from its box to become a "movie star" and a job-seeker's mascot .  I thought its influence is mainly for the young people and some adults but its popularity spread beyond what I can imagine. My 7-year-old niece showed me her skill on Angry birds game. We window shopped a few shops and found angry bird's key chains, the pig's paper clipper stands and more. A kid might know more games and cantoon characters than us but she eventually taught her grand mom how to play the Angry birds game. That is the day I've learnt how one game can influence a whole family with different generations.

Many moms love to see their baby's pictures printed on a magazine. No wonder the parenting magazines love to print them. These moms will surely buy a few copies to show it off to their friends and relatives, and say, "this is my daughter, see how cute she is." A reporter called this evening to confirm a photoshooting session for the magazine cover. What? It's tomorrow? I didn't think she's aware that she didn't make the calls to speak to the moms at all. I finally managed to find her a mom for the photoshoot and I can feel the joy of the mom who has a chance to make her daughter "a cover girl".   I'm sure I will be ecstatic if her daughter can be the cover girl!

What I remember the most about this movie was "imagine you are protecting your family", that's what Sandra Bullock tried to teach Michael Oher how to play American football. Everyone does protect their family in one way or another, say spending more time with his wife when she is feeling unwell, or giving up a job for taking care of his mom. In some points of our lives, we are facing dilemmas and have to make some decisions. The opportunity cost might be high but you can always justify the costs when it's all for whom you care in the family. They are all amazing and brave but we might not understand what their stories are about.

More galleries have found Sheung Wan a new home since a few years ago. It's an old area with a mix of traditional shops run by elderly. Now there is an emerging growth of avant garde or trendy shops or service apartments making the place more hip but expensive in some ways. Maybe it will become HK "new Manhattan" one day. See a very nice service apartment just crossed the street from my building. It's a facelift of an old building from head to toe, and is now worth a fortune!

I felt horrible when I turned 30. Then I started to hate being asked how old I am as I couldn't tell people that I was twenty something anymore. But then you will get used to it, find your comfort zone, and happy to be 30 something and enjoy your life till your body reminds you getting older and older. So what about when I'm 40, 50 or 64? Try the response by kd lang at a TV interview . "50 is the new 16" - I love that! Whether this answer cames from her originally, I don't know but it's definitely a light-hearted way to face with your age.

Since Apple introduced the Mac, and later the iPhone and iPad, the brand has been a global leader in the market. I later realised how influential Steve Jobs was on Pixar when visiting the Pixar exhibition in Hong Kong. It surprised me that Steve Jobs was actually involved in Pixar's success story and sold the company to Disney in 2006. My friend told me their company hired a senior executive whose annual salary is HK$400 million. She considered that salary high, and not reasonable. I disagreed. If that executive does a brilliant job like those global leaders who moved the brand to the next level, why not pay them a handsome amount of money? They deserve it! I also grasped the concept of "continuous improvement" in the Pixar exhibition. Take an in-depth look at the stretches of how "Woody" looked at Toy Story or how "Kevin" looked in the movie Up! You would lose excitement if they really looked like that! Fortunately, those are the only st...

  It's been a while that I didn't buy a new watch. I still love my agnes b and nafnaf watches. Today I bought myself a HK manufactured chronograph because of the closure sale. I believe the watch business here isn't that good anymore that forces the shop to close. At a new year party, I met a British old man who has been doing watch manufacturing business in HK for decades. He complaint about how bad the business has become and he had to sell his BMW for a cheaper Japanese car.   Although I don't know about the brand of this watch, I love the red and the design. I hope it's as durable as my agnes b watch.

The radiation leaks has imposed a food horror, threatening the business of many Japanese restaurants. I heard a few colleagues rushed to have Japanese cuisine right after the news as they believed those food were yet to be contaminated. It's only 2 weeks after the incident that I found myself dying for sushi. I went to Bento Express as usual and realized that it's closed. Was that impact of the incident so big? My friend and I went to a Japanese supermarket yesterday. The crowd were still there but the Japanese beef, though having 50% off, was not in good sales. Many sales promotion of Japanese wines and food are still going on but you can see their effort is wasted! Some customers seriously checked the manufacturing date to ensure the food was exported before the incident. I couldn't resist but bought sushi twice no matter where they came from. I assume they're safe to be consumed under the surveillance by the government. It is said that we should be more cautio...

Can you imagine life can be interesting in the way that your life and her life is interwined in some ways or another? I happened to visit natalie's blog 'coz her tweet was re-tweeted by a kd lang's fan. I didn't know her but somehow found her blog quite a good read and realised she lives in Hong Kong. It didn't hit me till I picked up pieces of memory that I did meet someone who called Natalie for the operating theatre video project. That's her! She's the one who told me that she worked in Sky TV in Australia before. Now I learnt the reason why she gave up everything and came to Hong Kong. She simpily gave up her career to follow her boyfriend .  Wow! That's pretty sweet about that boyfriend b. It almost sounds like another "sex and a city" story but time time, it's more like "love and a city".

The Chinese jacket I bought was proved to be a bit too "glamorous". I'm sure it looks good on me but my colleagues thought that I dressed up for a wedding or an important party. It's meant to be a "work jacket" when I bought it but never mind. House was one of my favourite TV episodes. I stayed up late to watch one of the new season episodes. House was "forced" to attend his "dad's" funeral while helping out a case of a Chinese young girl who collapsed after holding a Buddhist statue for praying that she would find her "biological parents". It turned out this case was not complicated at all if you know about the one child policy in China. Her "biological parents" denied she's their daughter 'coz they tried to "kill" her by putting needles in her head when she's a baby. I could recall I read news like this in the newspaper, isn't it sad? There was news report saying that China might ch...

Saturday was a day of shopping! I didn't buy so many things in a day for long. It's all started with a get-together with my friend and her family. They're a friend of wholesales shop. So, my first buy of the day was a pair of silver shoes that they recommended in a wholesales shop close to my home. They seemed to be looking for more, so we got on the bus to go to the next wholesales shop where they bought a bag of clothes including belts, a jacket and many bags. We hopped into another shop nearby where my friend treasure hunt a few more things and I just picked up a basic top that is good for spring. Just when I thought I did well from all those temptation. I know I should have gone back home straight after the mandarin class. I didn't and I chose to have a walk, then checking out a Chinese clothing store . That's not a regular shop that I will check out any items but I did have a look anyway since they've got quite good discounts. I finalized picked up o...

Pray for my thumb for getting well soon! It's a bit frustrating when you have to call for help to carry some heavy stuff for you. And I hate that it hurts when opening the lid or trying to twist a towel hard. Look forward to the acupuncture next! In the mean time, let it rest, let it rest! And I freeze it like seafood

After a "long" wait, my dad could finally see a specialist in urology. His wait was brief as compared to many others as the queue for the government's urology clinic is about 3 - 4 years in Hong Kong. But for an old man, even a month's wait was long enough. The government clinic has never been friendly. First, you can see only 1 chair for the patient. They never place another chair for the patient's friends and families. Second, the consultation is meant to be brief. Neither an GP or a specialist gives you detailed explanations of what's going on. They don't encourage questions. Third, they do not want any challenge from the patient's families. I remember the doctors asked if I was a nurse or physician when I asked if my dad has BPH. The way he asked me did not sound very friendly. After all, we are still pleased that the consultation could be scheduled 2 months earlier as we were told. But he still has to wait for another rounds of consultation as...

I was annoyed by the constantly cold weather. My cold lasted for 10 days. When it seemed to get better, the bug hit me again and I knew there would be another outbreak when my throat felt sore. The other thing that stopped me write my blog was the crazy spam that I received. I didn't feel google is always the best now because of receiving many of the "junk" comments, all are anonymous. They were either posted by escort services, casinos or porn sites. Despite the new option set up, you still have to go online to filter those comments one by one. I wish there will be a smarter solution like "gmail". Remember those days you got tons of work emails together with the junk mails, and you struggle to swim through those mails to a final destination. The world has changed. We're just bombarded by too many things in lives and I decided not to jump into the water for a whle. Forget about swimming in the ocean in a cold weather. But health is the best thing in th...