Unbalanced Vision

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Other than my mum's lips turning into the size of a duck bill in Hawaii (infection from snorkeling) and getting lost in Vegas, the New World is a pretty fun place.

Weekly Friday Five quiz--
You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first?
HY. A) Because he's the closest human being I know in London. B) Because HY loves free money.
2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?
A simple girl with simple desires, and practical as well--the best ever tumble dryer.
3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?
Anything my mum, dad and Ali wants the most + a Porsche 911 for HY.
4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?
To my mum and dad. I'm thinking if I should put down charity to prove I've got a kind heart, hum...
5. Do you invest any? If so, how?
Definitely. Real estate and 基金.

Picture taken by D in Euston

If you happen to be trekking through the city jungle of London without a brolly on a normal Wednesday afternoon, chances are you're gonna get caught in the snow. As I stepped out of Mango ready to head home, drops of water came falling down from the sky, then it turned to snow, and got bigger and BIGGER, then to add a dose excitement, lightening struck. It was such a long and wearisome trek, and the wind was blowing in my face--with a stick and some gray long hair, I thought I could be Gandalf. But do turn back and admire the scene, it is truely beautiful; for my tutor used to say last year, 'I'm in heaven!'

As the new and the old cannot share the same bed, this means that we will not be seeing most of the traditional Routemaster buses running in summer. This also most importantly means that:
1) Conductors may be losing their jobs.
2) Passengers will have more direct contact with poker face bus drivers.
3) Tragic bad news for cheapskates who plan to get free rides with Oyster cards.

Our tub has been quite yucky, nay very revolting these past few days. I don't want to go into details of the bathroom's tiny oasis for it might ruin your appetite, but anyways, the drain is seriously clogged up. Hence S bought Mr. Muscle to the rescue, and this liquid is truely magical! On other magical liquids, Rola left us a bottle of Dettol which has this distinct, comforting hospital smell you can sometimes, but not often, put in your laundry. I am particularly fond of that odour.
Household maintenance tips especially brought to you by R.

Your Heart is Red


What Color is Your Heart?
brought to you by Quizilla

A nice and relaxing Sunday, but it's already dark outside--pooh.

This week's homework for Photo Friday: Man. J, L and three others surfing in the southern beaches of TWN--looks like a gorgeous sunny day.

Inspired by a friend, a successful one night stand better involve a next day plane flight. Imagine: the James Bondness of rolling over a bed of messy sheets and screamy orgasm, just to tell him, 'Would love to stay, but got a plane to catch?' It's not how you say 'hi' but how you say 'bye'.

F has been telling me about her dilemma in using English names or Chinese ones in the States. She finds that amongst the Asians, it is us Taiwanese who tend to drop our native names by choosing Anglicized names, whereas people from Japan, China or Korea keep theirs. I used to find canto soaps somewhat bizarre for the actors address each other, 'Andy', 'Tracy' or 'Sammy' etc. when they are authentic Chinks. So is it suggesting that we are losing our identity, swallowed up in the swamp of westernisation? Yet I realised that I have no qualms in using 'R' here. 'HN' contains no meaning compared to 浩寧, for Chinese characters are like pictures that only represent something when they are written in Chinese, hence I prefer to use 'R'. On another hand, noticing that 'R' does not appear in any of my cards and documents, methinks I can travel incognito.

My friend Dinosaur lives in a pretty groovy flat quite close to my neighbourhood. The entrance is like a hotel lobby with a 'concierge' standing by 24/7, though I heard he's reluctant to let people use the ground floor restrooms. Dino has a bathroom, kitchen and living room all to himself, and my favourite is the wide mirror hanging across the wall which makes the room look larger. I've heard HY telling me that architects like to don black outfits, and so there was Dino all in black ready to leave. He looked cool and sophisticated until he wrapped himself up in a black coat that had fur sewn on around the rim of the hood. Men in furry hoods is a definite no-no.

Though it's two days before the year of the monkey, can't wait to say to you: Happy Chinese New Year! As the Chinese are quite concerned about making fortunes $$$, I shall wish you have all the mental and physical wealth in the coming new year.

If we give meanings to our actions, such as things like putting a comma or crossing out a sentence, we may end up feeling grand and glorious.

'If editing is about grief, it is so because scholarship in general is about loss... in the face of overwhelming loss, one starts to catalogue what one has, to search for origins, to remember and value antecendents... Grief is the process of coming to terms with absence, and this process has several stages. In its earliest stages it involves denial and idealisation: the mourner urges the dead not to be dead; the mourner invents rather than recalls, the mourner creates the person mourned, the mourner remembers. Recovery is signalled by paradox: grieving and celebrating, looking back while planning foward, remembering and forgetting. The task in recovery is not to reduce these oppositions to singularity as did Heminge and Condell, ..., but to enable them to co-exist. Editing is, it seems, a matter of life and death'.
--Laurie E. Maguire on Shakespeare's First Folio (1623)

According to the Big Smoker Steven Spielberg is planning to make a Tin Tin trilogy, yeah! Being a Tin Tin fan, I sure hope that the production does not exclude any of these funny characters, such as my favourite--the opera singer Bianca Castafiore. However, Spielberg sometimes tends to screw up other masters' works, A.I. being a case in point. Whether they will be as good as the comics is still doubtful.

I had one of the worst Chinese food in my entire life. The dishes only come in two colours--flamingo pink and brown. Pink is the colour of the artificial sweet and sour sauce they usually stir with pork. Last night they used it on some tofu look-alike, which I must add, is the most disgusting and soggy tofu one might have ever tried. Brown is the colour of soy sauce + oyster sauce put on any Chinese dish. However, I guess having bad food is better than having bad company. MC was funny as usual, and the friendly restaurant owner asked me to come again.

SD passed the information about Germaine Greer's lecture on Shakespeare and boys at Senate House tonight. Now forgive me for being a philistine but who is this Greer woman? Hence checked up on the Internet and apparently she's the goddess of feminism, who according to some sites, advocated rampant sexual freedom for women and trashed family and marriage values, etc. Click here for a few GG quotes. Hum, looking forward to it, esp. going to see SD and N again.

Have just found out that Camden Ripper, serial killer doc Shipman and Father Christmas all look a little bit alike--ahhhhhhhhhhh! Makes us very suspicious of the man in the red suit.

Woman 旦

A picture for Photo Friday. Now this is what you call a blast from the past--taken in the autumn of 1997, my first taste of Chinese opera. Tons of makeup and headwear... sometimes it's difficult to be a woman.

If S does not stop singing/humming/whistling the worst tune in the world, she will get nothing for her birthday.

The End of the World

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world
'Cause you don't love me anymore?

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended when I lost your love

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why ev'rything is the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does!

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine crying?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye

Don't they know It's the end of the world?
It endend when you said goodbye

It's quite odd that they are selling hardback Dickens at local convenience stores, and only for 2.99 pounds as well. The novels are nicely printed and laid out, claiming to have the same drawings as the ones first published in 18 something something. Literature is very accessible these days. S is annoyed with Dickens, she once said, so maybe I should get a copy for the birthday girl?

S is watching The Hunt for the Camden Ripper on Channel 4 and it is sooooo disturbing--ahhhhhhhhhhh--and he lives in the same area as us!! You can recognise the familiar stores and flats near our neighbourhood. Dunno if I'll be able to go to sleep tonight. Totally forgot about this horrible news which happened last last Christmas when I was here alone--ahhhhhhhhhhh! Have double locked the door and decide to keep a safe distance from the television.

Have just been listening to a BBC radio call-in show which happens to be discussing about loyalty cards of all sorts. Funny, cos I've recently become a holder of the sodding Nectar card, not to mention my lasting chastity to Boots. Is it the question, 'have you got a Nectar card?' at Sainsbury's becoming too irritating, or the need for the modern inhabitant to belong to any supermarket/drug store just to prove their urban existence? Not so sure. But according to numbers, by spending 5K pounds at Sainsbury's, customers only get a £50 discount. However, some lucky dude has spent his Christmas holidays in Spain for the courtesy of Tesco, and another guy has had the Nectar card covering his family Christmas shopping expenses. It does not sound too bad afterall.

It was a 'bling bling' afternoon at South Ken. First B and I went to see the sparkly Swarovski crystal Christmas tree at V&A, which took only like five seconds. Then we walked to the nearby Harrods for the famous saccharine loaded Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Now these round buns I believe may have been quite common for the Yanks, yet Harrods tends to make a big deal out of it as expressed in their prices. Anyways, these doughnuts have a soft and crispy texture which is quite remarkable, yet sooooo sweet that I suggest to try only once in a lifetime. (I prefer the original sugar glazed flavour) It's funny how human beings give so much credit to one area over another, and that something with the value of 10p in one place may be 1.10 in the other. Someday may we see a value swap between, say, South Ken and Brixton?

On New Year Resolutions--
102. Expression of vanity: attend a school with a name + scholarship.
103. Breathing human being: exercise regularly + eat healthily.

Always buy two, don't get three

If you are an even number
You always have a pair
So if you look around
Your buddy will always be there.

It is as if we've never left.
31 days later, we found ourselves packing luggage ready for the big L town. Mine was around 32kg including the 11kg Brompton, whereas HY was loaded with 41kg. In the end I got fined 450NT, while HY used some rubbish excuse and passed without having to pay a penny. He always manages to get his way in things like that. The flight was fairly smooth, not to mention the enjoyable in-flight entertainment dish. I watched You've Got Mail for the fiftieth billion time. Be it one of those romantic comedies, it has the elements of a lifestyle that Rachel likes--piazza bookstores killing tiny bookstores, metropolitan outdoor markets, and people involved in the book industry, etc. Then Graham Norton was on, and it must have been one of the funniest show ever. Jackpot--the guests were Cybill Shepherd, Cilla Black and ORLANDO BLOOM, though Bloom looks pretty dorky without his blonde hair and bow and arrow. In this episode, you shall see Cybill consuming a toy Legolas with her boobs, Cilla Black hunting dates for some granny and a lady's baby belly button--awesome! As long as V Graham Norton is there, London is not far away.