Love Love Hot Cake??

Can somebody tell me how does this get on Bloomberg?


"Love Love Hot Cake" Fantasies in Japan Fuel Concern










Should have gone to a maid cafe when I was still in Tokyo!!! >_<

Question from a US friend

Got an email from a US friend. He asked a very interesting question.

"Just wondering, Japanese people tend to not be able to go back after spending time in America (cuz their culture is so rigid). Obviously, HKs not like that at all, but, how is it for you? It must be weird being back...."


And here is my reply...

"Do I have any problems moving back to HK? Hmm.... dun think so.... HK, in a lot of ways, is very similar to the States, very western. On the other hand, I think I might have some difficulties adjusting back to the US lifestyle when we are done living in HK. (yea, sadly, that day will come)

For one, I will definitely miss the convenience to go anywhere w/out driving, to get food, etc., the safety here (I can go out alone at 2, 3am by myself w/out worrying being mugged or captured), the cheapness of everything, clothes, food, and transportation, the niceness of people here in general, always smiling, willing to give a helping hand...

Though we like HK a lot, I don't think we'll settle here though. Main reason being that it feels "small", not diverse enough. Also, Mike is scared to death with all the "made in China" poison food shit and H5N1 (yea, he is dead serious believing that H5N1 will break out in China). I am totally useless under the unbearable 33+ degree Celsius weather here in Summer (stay in most of the time during those 2 hottest months). And, last but not least, we both want to be closer to our family. Flying 15+ hours to the other side of the planet twice a year is a bit too much (time-wise, strength-wise, and money-wise...) =(

In conclusion, we are still searching for the ideal place to settle... Candidates still on the list are: London, Vancouver, NY, and (of coz) Bay Area... "


p.s. "Mr. Sky", I know you won't mind that I "disclosed" some of our email content, right? ;)

Ganbatte

If you happen to "swing by" West Virginia, and happen to know where Morgantown is (yea, seriously, who knows?), and happen to like milk tea (well actually, it's okay, whether you like milk tea or not), come check out Bubble@Sikaku!!!!!

(See, what a GREAT friend I am, free advertisement for your shop!!!)
Hohohohoho.... =DDDDDD
(and u know what to do la --> about my honey green milk tea!!)

Ganbatte ne!!! (^_^)/

p.s. When do I get to see you? Almost forgetting how you look la..... You know how forgetful I am ma~ ;)

For everyone who also suffers from sleeping disorder...

• Get up at approximately the same time every day, even on holidays and weekends.
• Get as much natural light as possible during the day, and limit light when you want to sleep.
• Go to bed only when you think you can fall asleep. If you haven't dozed off within 20 to 30 minutes, get out of bed and do something else until you feel drowsy. Limiting the amount of time you spend in bed when you're not actually sleeping increases your desire to sleep.
• Avoid napping during the day.
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, especially late in the day.
• Get regular exercise. Whether exercise close to bedtime disturbs sleep remains unclear and may vary from person to person.
• Start winding down an hour or two before bedtime. Turn down the lights. Stop watching television and using the computer. Take a warm bath.

also:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insomnia/DS00187/DSECTION=8

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insomnia/DS00187/DSECTION=3

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insomnia/DS00187

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insomnia-treatment/SL00013


p.s. Thanks!!! (^_^)/

Happy A. Day!!!

Most people who understand me will know that I am not a very romantic person. How many times I forgot important people's birthday, important dates..etc. Hmm... too many that I couldn't even count all of them~ ;)

Lucky for me, my birthday was somehow a big "hint" for me to memorize Mike's birthday, so... hehe.... got that one for free!!

And since we both hate the overly-commercialized V. Day, refuse to give in to the corporations and buy their over-priced "V. day specials", refuse to celebrate a meaningless day as the society tells us to --

So... the remaining important day (for me to really need to remember) is our A. Day. (And please don't ask me how many times I have forgotten the actual date of this....)

Lucky for Mike, this year I actually remembered ^_^

Since we left Japan Mike refused to eat any Japanese food here in HK. The biggest reason being that he hates Japan so much that he doesn't really wanta eat anything that will remind him of Japan. Second reason, which I can empathize with, is that the Japanese food here (sushi, ramen, soba, doburi, udon, etc) is really no comparison to that in Japan. So it's actually a bit idiotic to pay such high prices for low satisfication (sometimes even big disappointment)! Third reason is Mike's distrust of HK's capability of having fish as clean and fresh as that in Japan.

But today, I got special privilege to have him surrender his normal stubbornness on the "No Japanese food in HK" rule. We went to a supposedly very good Japanese sushi place. Disappointed, quality of the food was actually only mediocre, despite all the recommendations from my friends and from the web. I guess we did get spoiled in Japan with all those easily-reachable yummy Japanese food. Oh well...

Dessert, though (at a different place), was very yummy.



Haha... I am such a geek!!



p.s. Mom, sorry, I stayed up till too late and thus didn't have energy to talk to you this morning (Though, seriously, it's 8:30am on a Saturday morning!!!). I'll call you back sometime soon, ok?

"Fxck, it kept saying my orders are pending cancelled!!"

Yup, that's what Mike had been yelling for 10 whole minutes desperately trying to sell a stock online tonight (US market time). Apparently, the client app that he was using was a bit of a turd (pardon my French!)

Long story made short - Bush said something last week, market is going to sky rock for sure this week, just not sure by how much and when. "Somebody" had been waiting to sell the whole day. BOOM -- the sky rocking part finally happened. The stock price raised like crazy. "Somebody" placed some limit orders. The crappy application didn't response. In order to catch the possibly-disappearing opportunity, somebody desperately tried to switch the limit orders to market orders, and .... you know what happened...

"Fxck, it kept saying my orders are pending canceled!!"'

Well... the app finally reported back that his orders had been processed after something like a 5 minute delay. Somebody was happy (Very happy!!!). End of story.

The whole moral of the story is - he totally reminded me of all those desperate traders I had worked with in Goldman Sachs Japan.

Gosh, I am soooo glad I am no longer in finance IT nor working with/for any traders.

Hate to be sick...

Got a bad cold . . . . . . sucking out all my energy. . .

What's worse is that Mike is even sicker than I am . . .

Parents' Visit - Dimsum with Miss Chow's family

Miss Chow my mom's best friend and also my piano teacher since I was 4. She has watched me grew up and treated me like a daughter. My mom and I are very close to her.

One of the activities that we couldn't miss when my parents were here, of coz, was to go to dimsum with her and her family. It was a nice, sunny Sunday noon. Mike and I insisted to eat at our favorite dimsum restaurant at Whompo. We fell in love with that dimsum restaurant since the first time Miss Chow brought us there when we just arrived HK. Since the dim sum restaurant is usually too far for us to go very often, so it was a very good opportunity to go today, since Miss Chow lives right near there. (haha... strategy, strategy, strategy!!!) ;)

It was very crowded (as expected)!! Miss Chow went early and had been waiting for an hour already. We were like "Oh my gosh..." (Much much thx to Miss Chow)!

We got our table at last. Mom and Miss Chow couldn't stop chatting since we sat down!!


I wish when I am at their age, I can still have good old buddies like them~~




Dim sum was awesome as usual~ (Hell yeah!!!)



Even my dad was satisfied, haha~!!



My favorite was the good plain-old steamed rice noodles. Look, I was pouring yummy soy sauce onto it!! Yum yum...



Somebody loves the food!!~ You can totally sense the full tummy from the cheerful smile!!~

After Mike got full, he started pulling out his new camera and played with it!~ I was his first "victim"...

Hey, you!!



Girls are always so eager to find out how they look in the pictures~


"One-two-three-Snap!!"
"Wait, but I was not ready yet!"
(Guess who said which~)



Friends Forever!!!!


After dimsum, we went back to Causeway Bay. There was some kind of bronze sculpture display outside of Times Square, attracting lots of people. (Not that Times Square normally is not busy enough!~)


All the sculptures are very interesting. My personal favorite is this piggy little thing...

Why?
Because it reminded me of Jackie, my little piggy bro~ !!!!
^________________^

Jackie, Best of luck for your first important PhD exam !!

Parents' Visit - The Peak

It's a little recap post of my parents visit a few weeks ago.

I missed them so much so I was really happy to see them visiting. They stayed in HK and China for about a month. As much as I was glad to see them, I had to say that they totally chose the wrong season to be back. It was 30+ degree Celsius everyday during the days that they were here. I heard from that that it was even more unbearable when they were in China.

It was hot as hell, but it would be wrong to waste the sunny weather when my folks were here, right? So we brought them to the Peak. I haven't been there for a long time myself.


To see the most gorgeous view of Hong Kong, where else can beat the Peak??!


Yo, this is my city, my town, my beloved Hong Kong!!!


It's funny watching my mom and dad taking pictures (and even fought for the camera) like little kids ;)


See the expensive-looking houses on the mountain? I know they are supposed to be rich and high standard and all. But seriuosly, if I have to live at a place that I'll need to drive (I guess you'll have someone drive for you if you are living in one of those houses, huh?) even to a super market?! Gosh, I'd sell it and cash out immediately ^_^ haHAha....


Hehe... using Mike as a shadow against the bright sun!! And guess what, the main character of this picture was actually my MOM. Look how happy and "shiny" she was!!!

It's nice to be out!!

Up on the Peak, of coz, it's the Peak tower. (Or what I called, the watermelon tower)


Guess what I was staring at so intently at that time? (Answer is: the last Harry Potter book on the display window!! The book just came out that week~) Ahhh... I miss Potter!!!


Say cheezeeeeeezzzzzz..... (Mike, don't fall asleep on the escalator!)

Strolling on the Peak was very enjoyable!! You can see extraordinary view of the Victoria Harbor.

With some rich people's "Astro Turf" as a bonus~ (I only learned the word Astro Turf from Mike, which accordingly to him, means "Space Ground" literally.) Yea, you know, one of those rich people's toys, fake green lawn on their mansion's roof!!!~ Fancy, huh? ;)


We took the tram back to Central. Tourists of different nationality were waiting at the station.


Turned out we had a little "accident" on the tram. It stopped for about 15 mintues in the middle of climbing down (fairly quickly) the very inclined, steep hill. We were stuck and didn't know what was going on...


Before (the happy look)


After (the frightened look)
But of coz, we were okay at the end. The very experienced technician fixed something on the track. After that the tram took us back to the foot of the mountain safely and steadily. (Applaud to the technician!!)

Aftewards mom took us to this really famous congee and noodles place in Central. (forgot what it was called) Food was yummy but not as great as our favorite congee place near Times Square.



Hehehe... and we even swang by my favorite ice-cream store, XIC Gelato, for our dessert. It's very funny and amusing to see mom and dad each holding and eating an ice-cream cone!! (They each got their own, can you believe that??!!)



This was my guilty and yet excited look for sucessfully "tricking" everybody to get Gelato with me!! Haha...

Hong Kong Ani-Com 2007

These pictures were from earlier at the Hong Kong Ani-com 2007. (Yea, I know i know, I am slow~!!)

"Ani-Com is short for anime and comics combined, which means it is a conference about animes and comics, which at the beginning, I thought was kinda like the equivalence of comincon (comics conference) in the US.

I had been to a couple of comicons in the States but never in Hong Kong. So I was excited to go!!


The experience of the actual Ani-Com here, though, turned out to be quite different comparing to that in the US.
The ones in the States are very much about the US comics, its artistic quality, and sometimes its sex appeal from the comics. This Ani-com in Hong Kong, on the other hand, was mostly about the popular Japanese comic/anime trend, their cuteness, the accompanying new toys, the latest video games, etc. Very commercial, if you ask me~


Main Theme: Buy Buy Buy!!!


Look, it's Keroro!!


Toys and T-shirt. All about commercial products~ $$$$$



And of coz, we can't miss McMug and McDull, the most renown local comics stars of HK. Ain't the little piggies cute?!



Childhood Memory


Doraemo!! For those who don't know, Doraemo is a mechanical cat from the future whose front pockets carry all kinds of amazing and surprising tools that always end up brining troubles (mostly due to user-error, I'd say!) It's one of my favorite cartoon when I grew up!!


Another favorite anime of my childhood - Saint Seiya, which is about a group of mystical warriors fighting for their princess and justice~ One hell of a classics!!



A bit disappointed that we didn't get to see too much Cosplay (i.e. dressing up as anime character). Only a few girls dressed up as Japanese maid in this booth...



There were mini-concerts, coplay competitation, singing or hiphop dancing contests every night. It was some rock singing contest the night we went, which unfortunately was not very good...



The Comics

And of coz, how can one miss the comics in a comicon?!


Focus of the comics is still mostly those pocket-sized popular Japanese comics, which pages are black and white. Contrasting those with the full page colorful US comics, very different presentation!!


In addition to the cute Japanese comics, we saw a small number of some locally-produced comics that are more "manly".






We ended up buying two really cool looking comics gallery books for Brett, our comic artist friend in US.


Gundam (Gunpla) Models Display

First of all, I grew up knowing Gundam as Gundam and was a bit surprised to find out that it somehow got renamed to Gunpla. Weird.... I thought they were just making fun of the name in Keroro, but apparently, Gunpla has become its official name!!


Gundam Complex!!?

Can you tell how many Gundams are in this one?

Whoever made this really loves Gundam models, wouldn't you say?




Classic version


Delux version


Cute version


Grand version (My personal favorite)



Cross-over version




Hey look, who's that?!?


A close up!! If you don't know me, you might get tricked by this picture that I do really like Gundam!! haha...


In Addition...

Besides the comics and models, we saw some really weird, random stuff there as well!! For example,


A monster with.... another monster coming out from its head?!!


Pink booth babes who kept hiding inside the mysterious red BanDai box room!!


"The Wire Head"?!?!


Bruce Lee, female version??!


The guy, the girl, and the Panda!!


The Crowd


One thing that is the same in both US comicon and the Hong Kong ani-com though is the crowdedness.


Lines everywhere, lines to watch the latest toys, to buy comics, games, or just for the sake of going in a crowd!! It's crowded everywhere!!!

=======================================
Side story

Something very funny happened to Mike at the Ani-com. He got caught by a bunch of teenage girls who tried (very aggressively) to sell him boxes of cute plastic food models.
The girls were joking with him becoz he's pretty much one of the very few white guys in the conference. They spoke to him in very childish and cute English phrases trying to persuade him to buy their products.
"These are very cute, colorful and very cheap!! You can pick as many boxes as you like. Mix and match as you like!!! ..."

Facing the enthuastiasm of the girls, Mike didn't know how to react but looked to me for help!! (I could tell that he didn't want to buy the toys but felt bad for disappointing the little girls).
And I, haha... I was just grining evily the whole time standing next to him ;) He ended up buying one box!!

Ahh... I wished I had a video of the whole process, it was sooooooo funny!!~ It showed how HK tourist industry can do so well!!~~ Thanks to the nice foreigners who don't know how to refuse!! Hahaha...

=======================================



We stayed at the Ani-Com for about 2 hours. Overall, I'd say it's fun experience, even though not the most fresh kind!~


We were so tired when we took MTR back home!!