More movies...

I wanted to see Spiderman 3 when it came out while I was in HK/Japan and I finally got to see it tonight. Contrary to what my former classmate friend said, this one is AWESOME! Even though personally I think the visuals and graphics are not as stunning as the previous one (esp. visuals like the train sequence from the last one), I love the plot of this triquel. It touched on things like friendship, relationship, family, personal choice, forgiveness, love/hate, ego/pride, etc. I love the idea of the evil extraterrestial parasite turning into evil if a person allows its symbiosis to grow. What does this black power mean? At the end the movie almost sounds like a church movie that Peter Parker goes, "Whatever comes our way, whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice. My friend Harry taught me that. He chose to be the best of himself. It's the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what's right."
I forgot to mention another movie I watched that I really like during my trip -- Blood Diamond. I just love movies that make you think but entertaining at the same time.

Tap dance number

I'm taking hip hop tap again this summer, yay! And this is one of the coolest tap numbers I've seen...

Readjustments...

I don't know if I messed up my computer yesterday or the computer is messing me up now. I was in a panic mode this morning that my computer died. I actually had a bad vibe yesterday that I should have all my files backed up as the machine was showing signs of retirement. Last time when my thumb drive storage device died I was lucky enough to follow my gut feelings to back up my files the day before and otherwise the YA supertitles that I had been working on would have been gone. This time I barely lucked out again that after a half day of "resuscitation" I finally got my computer going and now I face the formidable project of backing up ALL my files before I get a new computer of my own. Not too long ago I was asked "What is your biggest fear?" (in the context of relationships though, I will leave that for later in the future) and I can honestly say my biggest fear at this point is the day my computer dies without backing up any of my files. Now my question is if I should get a new PC laptop (most compatible), a desktop (the cheapest), or a Mac Powerbook (most stable)?

Anyways, on Thursday I had guest #2 come visit Monterey and I showed Wan and her family around a bit.With Wan at 17-mile Drive

Friday was Language Day for our school and I was responsible for part of the cultural display. I liked the festive atmosphere at school. And it was fun to talk to little kids about our culture. Hidden inside a gold piece toy were regular chocolates and those little girls said "Chinese candy is so delicious!" and I had to refrain from laughing out loud. What I actually enjoyed the most was the Indonesian display as I told them about my Indonesian heritage the Indonesian instructors treated me like family! They are some of the nicest people I met.
With the Indonesian teachers in front of the Bali display

This Captain "Tian" totally impressed me with his fluent Chinese, Indonesian, and Japanese!

This has nothing to do with Language Day. I just made Pad Thai on my own tonight and it's been a long while since I last cooked a real meal! Not bad, huh?

Back!

It's been three days since I got back. It's always a little hard to leave home and head straight back to work. It's good I get busy right away and my depression period is shortened to it's minimum. It's so rad that my students all clapped when I stepped into the classroom as a gesture of welcoming back! So touched! Sniff... :)

This is the list of "accomplishments" of my trip back to HK/China/Japan:
~Had a 5-day trip to Japan and totally enjoyed the food, shopping, rides at Universal Studio, and even the culturally shocking Japanese hot springs with my family;
~Helped the YAs with their supertitles and visit to my high school and loved their performances;
~Got my new HKID and US visa;
~Visited with my elementary/high school friends, with a couple of them seen the first time in over a decade!
~received traditional Chinese medical treatment: super bitter soup, acupuncture (over 40 needles in 3 weeks, oooooouch!), and cupping, and it's working!
~watched about 10 movies (DVDS, and movies-in-flight) with Dreamgirls, Freedom Writers, and Little Miss Sunshine being my favorites;
~read the book "The Mormon Way of Doing Business" which was a great read;
~visited HKIE and Bishop/Dr. Alan Cheung;
~visited Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum formerly known as Kom Tong Hall, Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Shatin, Lantau Island with the new cable car and attractions, Lamma with the YAs, and Southern China with the family;
~ate lots of lots of real, great, and authentic(!) food: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, local HK style, Taiwanese, Thai...
~acquired lots of Chinese teaching related materials, etc., etc

What a trip!!!

Hidden Treasures

Less than 20 hours to go... sigh...

Whenever people asked me what are the must-sees in Hong Kong before, I was never quite sure how to respond. Now I have a better idea, especially if you are genuinely into what the real Hong Kong culture is...

There are more than one SoHo areas that have popped up in Hong Kong. The one in Central is filled with international restaurants and pubs.

Krispy Kreme is here too! I realized they have more flavors here and they are not bad at all. There are already three stores in HK now.

Close to the escalator area of course is Kom Tong, now known as Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum. It's a great museum for learning more about modern history of China.

The portrait of Jesus Christ at the entrance is now replaced by a statue of Dr. Sun.
It means most to me of course because this is where I grew up in the Church, served my mission, had my first car accident...
...and I was baptized in this very place!!!

Another nice place to visit is the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Shatin. I learned a great deal myself through my first visit. And the huge museum was close to empty on a Friday afternoon when I visited!

The Three Matters of Life

Read this article the other day and liked it.

人生的三件事 The Three Matters of Life

人世間的事情看起來很紛雜，沒頭緒。 但是， 如果我們細細的把它分門別類，其實人生只有三件事：「自己的事」、 「別人的事」、 「老天爺的事」。
Things in this world seem to be complicated and have no solution. However, if we carefully categorize them, there are in fact only three matters in life: "your own business", "other's business", and "God's business".

「自己的事」當然是指跟自己生活息息相關的任何一件事，如：上班、吃飯、睡覺、心情等，自己所能安排的事；「別人的事」是指與自己不相干的事，如：老王愛自誇、老張愛打牌等，操之在別人，屬於他人管轄的事；「老天爺的事」是指天災、人禍、地震、海嘯、命運等，操之在天，屬於老天爺管轄的事。
"Your own business" of course refers to anything that relates to your life, such as work, food, sleep, feelings, etc. which are things that one controls; "other's business" means things irrelevant to you, like "Will loves to brag", "Jack loves poker", etc. which are maneuvered by others; "God's business" are natural disasters, tragedy of man, earthquakes, tsunami, fate, and so on. They are governed by heavens and God.

然而，人煩惱的根源往往是「忘了自己的事」、「愛管別人的事」、「擔心老天爺的事」。打個比喻：忘記反省自己、忘記自己的本分；愛說別人的閒話、愛管別人的閒事；工作怕發生危險，出門怕發生意外等不可預測的事。
Nevertheless, the roots of trouble of man often are "forgetting your own business", "enjoying other's business", "worrying about God's business". Here are some examples: forgetting to evaluate yourself and your responsibility; enjoying gossiping about others and overstepping into others' lives; and worrying about the unpredictables like the danger at work and the possibility of accidents when one travels.

人生的這三件事往往是我們煩惱的根源，如何平衡好這三件事在我們生活中所起的作用是非常重要的。
These three matters of life are often the root of our troubles, so it is crucial for us how to balance these three acts in our lives.

我覺得應該做到「打理好自己的事」，「不多管別人的閒事」（非指遇到殺人放火的事不管），「操之在天的事要樂天知命，順應隨緣」。
I think we should "manage our own business", "ignore others' business" (not meaning ignoring crimes like murder and arsenal), and "things governed by the heavens should be taken as they are".

煩惱經常是自找的，如果你不給自己煩惱，別人永遠不可能給你煩惱，放不下心中的事，才是煩惱的原因。當自己為了甚麼事情煩惱的時候，先釐清是「自己的事」、「別人的事」、還是「老天爺的事」，就知道怎麼處理了，也就能很快的把憂鬱的心情，調適過來了。
Troubles are often self fulfilled. If you do not give yourself troubles, others cannot force them upon you. The real cause of troubles is that you cannot let go. Whenever you are troubled, you need to first distinguish if it is "your own business", "other's business", or "God's business". Once you know how to handle it, then you can easily and promptly readjust from your blues.

文／晨晨 Written by Chenchen and translated by Raymond Pai

More adventure...

I was away in mainland for another couple days. Before that I attended the Young Ambassadors' fireside at Homantin. It was like a mini-reunion! In addition to the YAs, Chad and Sue (Boothe) were there which was a pleasant surprise!
Their singing was phenomenal and I personally think they did way better than we did 2 years ago. My singing was ok that year but what went behind the scene was a nightmare... Anyways, it was all like yesterday and sometimes I even imagined if I could relive that experience all over again. It was even a bit difficult bidding farewell again and I have no clue when if I even get to see any of them ever again...
I was gonna get all the YAs from 05 for a snapshot but after the fireside the hall was as chaotic as most firesides at HMT afterwards as usual that the closest thing I got was this: a shot with Chloe with the Boothe's and the Barrington's in the background. Ha! :)

On Monday, I was a bit nervous to reapply for my US work visa but it went a lot easier and smoother than I expected. What's funny was there were 2 singers/movie stars right in front and beside of me in line. Charlie Yeung (楊采妮) was right in the front and Rebecca Pan (潘迪華) was a few more spots ahead but next to me often because of the winding line. Charlie was really pretty without heavy makeup unlike what I saw in Japan that many girls were so "artificial" almost to the point of scary. People in line were "forced" to eavesdrop about their exchanging complains about the hassle of applying for a visa. They are superstars but still had to suffer waiting in line as everybody else. Charlie was turned away once because of her wrong photo size and incomplete address. The staff even pronounced her address out loud over the speaker! As for my case, the consulate was nice enough to chat with me about my job and even asked me to teach him mandarin. I guess my case was approved right away.

The Road Home/Abroad...

It's already been two weeks since I came home, time does fly! Here's a brief picture recap of the events and more to come...

~This is the first time we traveled as a family again in about 15 years. Japan is such a literally neat place and a nice change from living in the always hustling and bustling Hong Kong. I wasn't too into the "cute" culture of Japan before that I always thought people were always living in their dreams as I learned as a minor in Japanese Studies as an undergrad. It's not too bad of a thing after all. People strife to maintain order and natural beauty in all places. Things are way cheaper than I expected because of the economy downfall earlier. The trip included Nagoya, Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, and Wakayama which is the southern suburb of Honshu.

This is actually one of my favorite pictures. It's not me and the Buddhist monk at the Kiyomizudera (Clear Water) Temple was chanting the whole time as he asked for donations.

I was thrilled to visit Universal Studio in Osaka and I'm a ride fanatic. We hopped in the Spiderman rider the day Spiderman 3 came out! It's the best ride of all time! And I think I'm as ugly in the picture as that big lizard from Jurassic Park on my head...

My fam in Japanese robes after visiting the hot spring at the hotel. The hot spring experience was such a cultural shock for me and I'm still recovering from it... It did feel good afterwards though...

I think "bidet" (toilet seat equipped with "seat warmer", "washer", and even "dryer" is one of the greatest Japanese inventions. But this is my first time seeing and using one with a sink on top which you can wash your hand right after you flush using whatever water it comes out on top!

I revisited my alma mater high school for the Young Ambassadors' visit. After all the corresponding and arrangements I'm so glad things turned out fantastic. It's surreal to see the YA's perform on that tiny stage in the school hall of my high school. As Principal Liliana put it, "it's a dream come true!" I wish I had something like this when I attended SGSS over a decade ago.

Randy's giving a presentation on singing at one of the workshops afterwards. The other two workshops are on dancing and acting. The students and teachers totally enjoyed it and I heard nothing but great things from them. Some of them said they had never experenced something like this in their lives.

I hanged out a bit with the cast with a trip to Lamma Island. Here it is me and Meredith (one of the Chinese speakers in the cast who is a Taiwanese RM), Sterling (we auditioned the same year singing the same song and his brother was my mission companion!), Stacia (we were in the same tap class), Peter (a 3-year YA veteran), and Chloe (YA in my year) at an Indian restaurant. It's both awkward but fun to reunite with all the YA friends. Fond memories. Good times...

I also just saw the new BYUTV documentary on our YA Chinese tour 2 years ago and I'm in it again! You can check it out here (look for the program titled "Children of the Dragon" -- by the way, I handpicked that song!) It will be rebroadcast at the following times:
# Sunday, May 13, at 3am
# Monday, May 14, at 7 & 10pm
# Wednesday, May 16, at 3pm
# Thursday, May 31, at 6 & 9pm