| The End |
[25 Apr 2006|08:17pm] |
Date created: 2002-04-16 18:05:57
Journal entries: 680
Comments: Posted: 686 - Received: 682
Date Ended: 2006-04-25 20:20:00
Farewell.
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| Life in a narrow hallway |
[23 Feb 2006|08:09pm] |
It's time for a long over dued entry. I know not more than a dozen people will come across this entry if I don't put a link on my AIM profile and that not more than handful will actualy read what I write nowadays, but that's not the point. If I want to maximize the amount of people reading, I would have abandoned Livejournal and blog on Xanga just like most people I know did. I have stated it before and I will state it again. The entries are I post are mostly for my sake and to keep a fragemented chronicle of my life.
I am aware that some aspects of my life will change in a short few months time. The most daily noticeable change will be a change of living environment. My apartmentmate/roomate/friend of 4 years will be moving out to continue his academic career. His passion for knowledge and his knowledge base is something I cannot easily measure. It will certaintly be different without him around. As a chinese saying goes, 'There is no everlasting banquet' . Times don't change. People do. For good or worse.
Google defines 'friend' as 'a person you know well and regard with affection and trust' and 'friendship' as 'a type of interpersonal relationship that is found among humans and among animals with rich intelligence'. People, by large, should have discover their circle of lifelong friends by their college years but I look back and believe I have not accomplish that. I realized that who I consider to be 'friends' were purely temporary considerations reinforced by cirumstance and convenience. Fast forward one year and contacts with the vast majority of people whom I have some regular contact with are endanger, if not extinct. One reason is that the foundation was really never firm. "Friends" who come together due to circumstance and convenience are rarely subject to last because as one person change, the convenience factor disappears and the cirumstance is gone. A good number of these 'friends' whom once I considered to be friends are becomming more like a mirage vanishing into thin air. I am not blaming anyone or myself. There is no blame. It's the order of life. As a chinese song goes, 'Nothing is never-changing except for change itself'. That's the way people are. You and I change for better or worse. People change and the end result is that times change from each person's point of view. Times don't change. People do.
I am undergoing a change myself. A more daily cycle change. Work. After 7 months at my company, I have felt I learned a lot of the essential job-related skills and there is still plenty to grasp. Computer software know-hows (Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Visual Basic, information databases, etc.) increased tremendously and I know it can only benefit me in my long battle to retirement. Work life is rigid and orderly in most cases. It's a preset routine with small deviations, on average.
As investments go, I am still in the stock market though my strategy has transition from a more speculation/risky/short term trading to value-investing/safer/long term trading. Learn from mistakes and patience are two valuable lessons that I have learned by experience. Currently I have Pfizer (held for a year already), Bank of America (6 months), Coca Cola(relatively new entry), Intel (new entry), and Captstead Mortgage (nearly 2 years, hefty unrealized loss due to interest rates going up). Besides the stock holdings, my 401K from work is invested in a Fidelity International Fund, heavily concentrated in Japanese and European companies. Time will tell where this change in investing philosphy will take me monetary.
As for personal life goes, "static" is the most suitable adjective I can think of. No new people. No new interactions. No where. No one. This is a matter of choice. Actually, it's a matter of not choosing to attempt to change the situation and by default, I retreat to "static" status. At any rate, this path will only bring constancy, but constancy is not somthing I fear or mind. Change is. And then more change which leads to more change and so forth. A chain of changes. Good or worse.
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| new year new fear |
[03 Jan 2006|07:06pm] |
2006. Whatever happened to 2005? History. The start of a new year. To start the year off, I sold off one of my tried and true stock play (Intervideo, maker of WinDVD) for a decent 15% gain after holidng on for 3 months. My goal of reallocating my funds is progressing decently. I now own some well know names in corporate america and the world. Speculative plays have not been beneficial to me and 2005 was the year I made the transition from short term to primarily longer term(5+ years). Now I just have to continue building my core position. 2006 will be a year where I build/add to my already exisitng core positions and have a little aside for some more volative plays (eg. high tech companies like Intervideo)
At work, the power went out around 2:30pm so I left work at 3:30pm. I am also getting my first traffic ticket violation. The camera went off with a big flash as I was half way through the intersection when the light turn from yellow to red. There goes a good part of the 15% gain I made from my stock transaction today, not to mention a day in traffic school. It makes me wonder how many people get caught in the same situation as me. Half way or so through the intersection the light turn red and bam, thank you that'll be $300 goodbye have a nice trip.
So it isn't exactly a great new year start. Hope better is yet to come in all aspects of life. Best luck like it really matter.
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| 2006 Predictions Part 1 |
[29 Dec 2005|07:42am] |
Time for my version of the annual predictions for the comming year. 2005 was a year without major surprises. I think the biggest surprise to me was the record shattering # of hurricanes. Natural disasters are always surprises of course, given our current technology, or lack thereof, to detect them in advance. Anyways here are some of my predictions for 2006.
LCD and Plasma TV prices continues to drop significantly
This is an easy one. LCD and plasma TV prices have drop quite a bit in 2005 from 2004 levels as units sold increase dramatically. These two technologies is poise to take over the traditional CRT TV in terms of the percentage of total TVs sold sometime in 2008. 2006 will only be a in-progress transitional year as 2005 and 2004 have been.
Nintendo and Sony to have a Japan, US, Europe launch of their new consoles
Historically, Nintendo and Sony have always launch new consoles in Japan first, then US, then Europe, each separated by at least 3 months and I don't expect any shift from their strategy. This is a strategy that have work. Not only does it ease the manufacturing pressure (eg. Microsoft's ambitious near-simulataneously launch of Xbox 360 US, Europe, Japan release strained its manufacturing capacity, causing massive shortages and key titles not having enough time to be completed for release at console's launch), it allows specific regions more time to develop games tailor to their region (Japan's taste in game surely differs than Americans and if either Sony or Nintendo launch their new console with the same set of games for their American market and Japan market, the console will experience a lackbuster launch in the market where the games weren't tailor to the people there (eg. Launch of Xbox360 with only American style games in Japan a complete disaster...)
General Motors to continue business operations
Despite all the financial woes they have facing and the competition from Japan car makers (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc.), GM will continue its business as a car maker. Whether they will still retain the world's # car maker in terms of units produce (Toyota is suppose to surpass GM in 2006 or 2007 in production) is a questionable and whether GM declares Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (GM management have publicly stated that bankruptcy is not an option they look at) is still up in the airs, GM will still operates as a car company. The effects are too great and widespread should GM close its doors and cease to exist. Many business who have business ties with GM will face a hefty loss of revenues should GM close its doors, possibly causing a widespread disruption in certain industries.
Google to cool down
2005 saw Google's stock more than double and have risen over 400% since it traded public in August of 2004. I have surely miss the roller coaster on this one. But then again, it's a roller coaster.... there's always the ride up, hit the peak, and down it goes. Growth in internet advertising, a major portion of Google's revenues, have been booming due to the improving of the economy and have driven Google's stellar revenues growth over the past year. However, should the economy hit a bump in its growth and instead reverts back to recession,however mild, we will see the downhill roar of this Google coaster. And there are signs that the economy will slide in to a recession in late 2006....
Economy slows, if not in recession, in 2nd half of 2006
After Fed chairman Alan Greenspan raise rates 0.25% 13 times straight since June of 2004, rates have currently stand at 4.25% and is expected to go up once more in Jan. '06 t 4.5%. Their reason for the rate rise is to tame inflation, inflation that is mostly cause by rising energy prices. Whenever the rates overshoot, that is, the Feds raise it a tad too much, the economy goes sour and rates Feds would lower rates to stimulate business spending and growth. One indicator that the rates have overshot is the yields on short term and long term bonds. Every recession in the US have been preceded by an inverted yield curve (short term bond yields higher than long term bond yields and this shouldn't be the case because investment in long term bonds should be riskier than short term due to higher default risk and so forth) and the inverted yield curve emerge into existence a day or two ago, signaling potential recession in the comming year. Even though not all inverted yield curve have been follow by a recession, chances are high it will be. We still have yet to see the real effects of all those rate hikes because a rate hike takes approximately 18 months to fully tricker into the economy so we really don't know the full effects until mid-2006...
Part II to come...
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| Viva Las Vegas |
[26 Dec 2005|12:23pm] |
Back from Las Vegas trip. Overall, it was well worth the experience though there isn't much to do besides gambling. Road trip was long and tiring whether I was driving or not and I only drove about 250 miles of the total trip (~25% of total distance covered). Each time I won in blackjack, I give it all back in Baccarat. So after playing in about 5 or so different casinos, each time winning in Blackjack only to give it all back in Baccarat, I came out even. No luck in Baccarat at all. No win, no loss. But that's a big win for me. It's like having a free gambling experience without costing me having to pay a dime to play.
There were two purposes for this trip. The first purpose was to see the Andy Lau Vision Tour 2005 concert and to be fair, it was not spectacular, but passable. The seating design of the MGM Grand Garden Arena (where the concert was held) leave much to be disired (for the 2nd most expensive ticket holders). The bottom seats were all the same level and it stretches probably about 50 rows back, leaving the middle to back rows with not much to see besides the people's heads and backs that are in the rows in front of them. Luckily, I got the 3rd most expensive tickets and with the help of binoculars, I was able to see his face. The sound system sucks too. It made the vocal sound pretty bad at some times, but I am sure some of it is due to Andy's inconsistency in the singing (voice dying off at times, unclear words, etc.) MGM Grand Garden Arena just isn't a desirable to watch concerts. Overall, the concert was passable and no regrets in paying for my ticket. At least, the lineup of songs were great recognizable songs.
The second purpose of the trip was, of course, to viva las vegas. We must have done 5+ hours of walking in the 36 hours that we were there. We walk pretty much the colorful part of Las Vegas Blvd. Walked to MGM Grand from Harrah's for the concert and the M&M, Coke store on one end and walking to Circus Circus on the other end. I was able to win two stuff animals with a $1 at Circus Circus so I got something for the 30 minutes.
Driving to and comming back from Las Vegas was overall smooth and quick. We expect some traffic, but there was practically none and we were free to drive 90-100MPH at majority of the time. It took 8.5 hours to get to get there and 10 hours to come back due to a dinner break and rain from time to time.
There's officially one less place I want to check out in my lifetime. A handful or two more to go.
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[20 Dec 2005|09:17pm] |
It has been a past tradition since 2003 to look back on previous year's predictions regarding to the current year to see which one came to realization (or some aspects of it) or a complete error. Again, it's partly due to the fact that I am bored out of my mind. But here goes the predictions I made 12 months ago with whatever information was then available to predict 2005:
Prediction 1: Nintendo’s upcomming console code named “Revolution” will be revolutionary in the aspect of the human interaction interface with the games.
Dead on. Nintendo revealed its revolutoinary tv-remote one-handed controller that allow 3D game play (imagine swinging your controller like a tennis racket when playing the next Mario Tennis game)to the world back in October/November promising to revolutionize how games are play. Instead of going head to head with Microsoft's XBox 360 and Sony's PS3 in pure technical and graphical grounds, Nintendo opted to stay out of the "numbers" game and dare to challenge and change people's conception of playing a console game. If history is any guide (even as recent as Nintendo's DS's radical dual and touch screen handheld winning over Sony's technically superior, though innovationless, PSP in sales), expect Nintendo to have a point and prove their worth. And a $150-$200 price tag sure helps compared to teh $400+ price tag of MS's Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3....
Prediction 2: Nintendo’s new console will have built in Bluetooth support
Dead miss. I didn't get my facts straight. I thought the Nintendo DS handheld was going to have Bluetooth and hence Nintendo's Revolution will have it too to connect to the DS, but apparently Bluetooth is eclisped by a superior wireless technology called Wi-Fi and has been incorporated into the Nintendo DS as well as into the future Revolution system.
Prediction 3: Sony releases its next generation console named “Playstation 3 sometime around and before Christmas (October-December) at a price of $350-$400”
Dead miss. Microsoft is the first one out the door in this new console war and release the Xbox 360 on Nov. 22, 2005. It experienced massive shortage due to MS's ambitious near-simulataneous worldwide release (US, Europe, Japan markets all within a week of each other). It sold like hotcakes in US and Europe, causing crazy Ebay bids for the system of up to $1500. Japan, on the other hand only sold 30% of the shipment.....a diaster even compared to the already diasterous Xbox release in Japan 4 years ago. Sony plans to relase their Playstation 3 in Spring of '06 and is expected to be the most technically impressive system of the three with a price tag of <$400.
Prediction 4: Two competing next generation video format will be introduced (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) and the first generation players capable of playing those new format will cost about $500-$600.
Miss. The release of these two new format have been delay until Spring of '06 due to some problem about certain standards that must be standardized before being release to the market. The first generation players is still expected to be $500-$600 range (with the exception of the Sony PS3 which incorporates a Blu-Ray drive and is considered to be a heavy subsidzed Blu-Ray player as well as a technological beast...
Prediction 5: New TV technologies to gain foot on plasma TV technology
Miss. TV sets incorporating the "Field Effect Display" technology did not hit the masses,but is expected to compete early next year in the high-end world with the 50 inch plasmas. However, the fact that manufacturing cost is quite high compared to plasmas and LCD and (plasma TV prices are falling year to year as low as $2,500 now)will make it tough for "FED" TV sets to penetrate the market (due to cost of $5,000+) despite it offers the best of both the CRT and Plasma TV world (great image and thin/flat sets).
Prediction 6: Dell at last sells computers with AMD processors
Miss. This hasn't happen....yet. Dell have began selling AMD Opteron processors separately but have not incorporate it into full-blow systems. However, reports indicate that Dell have ask its system manufacturers to design system to use AMD processors so the day that Dell sells computer systems with AMD inside is in the very near feature.
Prediction 7: Apple loses about 15% of the market share in the hard drive music player market
Dead miss. Apple is still as golden, if not more golden, than a year ago. It introduced some new products in 2005 ranging from evolutionary to retarded (subjective opinion). The Ipod video is seen as evolutionary and inevitable for Apple, but what's interesting is how it manage to slim up the player by 33%. So much for technology. Ipo Nano is just awesomely cool looking, and reportedly fragile. The day of Ipod Nano with video function is not far. Ipod Shuffle, to me is a retarded idea.
Well those were my 2005 predictions made at the end or early 2005. I don't think I ever wrote a part 2 to my predictions for last year because I was too lazy or I forgot. What bad predictions overall heh. Anyways, upcomming entry will be my 2006 predictions and will cover a wider spectrum things rather than just being tech and geeky things.
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| Pre-Xmas entry |
[15 Dec 2005|10:52pm] |
I went to my company's annual Xmas party this past Saturday without a date. It was worth it though. I was all dress up in suit, along with my 3 other male coworkers and though the food was mediocore (it didn't fit my taste)and I didn't dance like the majority of the people, the overall experience was refreshing. I got to look at the huge telescopes that was pointed at the moon and mars and a twin star system 200 light years away. As I was driving up the hills of the rich man's land, I saw a deer on the side of the road looking left and right(to cross the street?? haha) Going once is enough though. I am just there for the first experience. Everything else after that is excessively unneccessary. I look forward to Christmas for the LV trip to see Andy Lau in concert (I hope to catch a glimpse of him...). So meanwhile, I have been listening to his newest song, which I believe the lyrics are written by him. If not, he probably composed the music. And it's the theme song to his latest movie "再說一次我愛你". A decent song, relatively speaking.
歌手：刘德华
难道我天生这样毫无运气
难道我一生注定只有自己
难道我真的喜爱聚散别离
难道我不想拥抱你
难道我甘於折服别人道理
难道我喜欢这样难为自己
难道我真的必须化作翠蝶
难道真要越生跨死
天空海阔是这样大
可怜胸襟未算大
看到世俗要将爱活埋把它分界
令我极费解(但我会跟你表态)
泪似帘外雨点滴到天明
再看你的身影一刻我的心已很高兴
空房冷冰冰山伯孤零零
唯有忘记这刻一起化蝶代替哭声
继续躲在花内谈情
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| Annual Holiday Party |
[02 Dec 2005|10:53pm] |
Next Saturday, on December 10, 2005 I will make my effort to go to my company's annual christmas holiday party. I have no preference of going one way or the other. Actually, going would entail more hassle because I have to dress up and drive myself there (I have no idea where the place is) and god, if there is one, knows how much I hate driving, let alone driving to unknown locations. But since all my coworkers in my group are planning to attend, with or without a date/guest, I am just doing what I always and probably only capable of doing: going with the 'group'. I am not expecting the 'party' to be exciting nor fun (especialy if I will retain myself from drinking because I have to drive back home), but I do expect it'll be a new experience for me. I like new experiences, good or bad. So in short, I am going for the sake of preventing me from being a social outcast at work and am treating it as some kind of busines ordeal. And I'll be going without a date/guest because
1.) I never verbally or personally ask anyone
2.) My solictation ad on my AIM profile did not work, much to my expectations, for quite obvious reasons.
3.) I don't think I care enough whether I am going with a guest/date or not if I dont' even really care about going to the party as much as ought to be.
This is just another motivation issue that I am having among others already in existence. I think I might have reach the "生無可戀﹐死又何仿" stage in my psychological mindset. But then I know "死亦無用" so don't worry, I don't think my time is up yet. I will continue to pay my bills, built my retirement nest in an admittably higher risk instrument (stock market vs. bank CDs) for now, be a filial son, and go on with my daily routine.
I love what money can buy, but I love what money can't buy infinitely more.
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| "Classtaligic" AIM messages |
[16 Nov 2005|09:39pm] |
What's "classtaligic"? Classic + nostalgic. Anyways, digging up my old LJ entries dating back to spring of 2002, I have the best AIM conversations (to me) I had recorded in LJ (hell, I have 74 pages, single space, New Time Roman Font size 10 word document occupied with past LiveJournal entries). I figure it's good to put all of them in one single entry.
3/3/2003
KillerShen (3:12:50 PM): i feel sleepy
KillerShen (3:12:51 PM): man
KillerShen (3:12:57 PM): sometimes i don't ever wanna wake up
Jason Al Mudrock (3:13:04 PM): i slept til 11 today
KillerShen (3:13:04 PM): and face this shit all over agin
Jason Al Mudrock (3:13:11 PM): then i was up til 1 and went back to sleep again
Jason Al Mudrock (3:13:46 PM): sleeping is my favorite thing
Jason Al Mudrock (3:13:57 PM): i want to start a career sleeping
KillerShen (3:14:07 PM): i know
KillerShen (3:14:12 PM): shit.
KillerShen (3:14:30 PM): man if life is a class offered at berkeley, i would recieved an Incomplete.
Jason Al Mudrock (3:14:37 PM): hahaha
***********************************************************************************
Wi11kun (12:20:30 PM): a brand new day
Wi11kun (12:20:34 PM): hehe
KillerShen (12:20:35 PM): a brand new hate.
Wi11kun (12:20:45 PM): with a brand new taste
KillerShen (12:20:54 PM): in a brand new way
Wi11kun (12:21:09 PM): well that kills it
Wi11kun (12:21:11 PM): u suck
KillerShen (12:21:28 PM): u swallow
6/14/2003
KillerShen (1:13:33 PM): having religion is like having some unwritten codes of life to live by
DirtyHairyKim (1:14:07 PM): having a girlfriend is like having some unwrittne codes of life to live by
KillerShen (1:14:11 PM): no
DirtyHairyKim (1:14:15 PM): then why do u want girls?
KillerShen (1:14:16 PM): it's' like having a free sex toy.
DirtyHairyKim (1:14:21 PM): hahaha
DirtyHairyKim (1:14:23 PM): LOL
8/21/2003
DirtyHairyKim (10:26:15 PM): man the girls in the pictures on your website are not cute
KillerShen (10:26:29 PM): probably not.
DirtyHairyKim (10:27:01 PM): upload some naked black chicks
KillerShen (10:27:17 PM): hah
KillerShen (10:27:28 PM): u really want me to upload your family album?
DirtyHairyKim (10:27:34 PM): hhhhhhahahahaha
DirtyHairyKim (10:27:39 PM): LOL
DirtyHairyKim (10:27:48 PM): that's like the best joke you ever pulled out
Well well, I guess I didn't find most of my past AIM conversations worthy of being put online. I use to type in my livejournal with thoughts, sometime critical deep thoughts. Now it's a matter of copy and paste and slap on some grammatically wrong sentences. *Sigh* everyone has abandoned Livejournal for Xanga, only I have the loyalty to stay with LiveJournal for nearly 4 years already. Talk about a long term committment and relationship. And all of you who converted to Xanga.
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| The days of great music and lyrics has long passed... |
[10 Nov 2005|11:37pm] |
| [ |
music |
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"A Laugther in the Sea"--Sam Hui |
] |
沧海一声笑
词 曲:黄沾编
沧海一声笑
滔滔两岸潮
浮沉随浪只记今朝
苍天笑
纷纷世上潮
谁负谁胜出天知晓
江山笑
烟雨遥
涛浪淘尽红尘俗事几多骄
清风笑
竟惹寂寥
豪情还剩了
一襟晚照
沧海一声笑
滔滔两岸潮
浮沉随浪只记今朝
苍天笑
纷纷世上潮
谁负谁胜出天知晓
江山笑
烟雨遥
涛浪淘尽红尘俗事几多骄
苍生笑
不再寂寥
豪情仍在痴痴笑笑
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| A song a week to signal the continuation of the cycle |
[02 Nov 2005|10:31pm] |
歌曲：假如真的再有约会
歌手：蒋嘉莹 专辑：我和僵尸有个约会
人清醒难感性
迷失方能找到期待爱情
梦中见亦高兴
能将心灵希冀尽说明
谁决定人本性
或许生命中有埋没姓名
纯真爱难记认
人间本来应该是有情
望这不再熟识破落故城
何以变了这样宁静
长街失去欢欣笑声
留下我孤单的一个生命
凝望这风雪未知那日会停
来世你我要是重认
能否找到彼此背影
假如全无凭无证
原谅我当天不懂得珍惜
只知任性坏事情...
唯愿你此刻可于虚空中将心聆听
将来若真的再有个约会会完成
真的会再有这样深情
我以天为证跟你带领
我以天为证请你带领
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| Still alive... |
[28 Oct 2005|10:00pm] |
Weekdays have been routine for me since work began. Even more so than when I was in school. Day in, day out, I wake up at the same time, leave the apartment the same time for a 10-15 minute drive to work, stay in office till 5 to 7:30pm (depending on work load), come back and go on the internet with the music playing and watch what I downloaded. Cook, eat and go to sleep. And repeat this routine for every freaking work day. At least when I was in school, I didn't wake up at the same time every day 'cuz I didn't have the same class every morning. And I am also face with a dilemma: I don't know whether I like to be at work working or be at work with no work or be bored at home. I really don't have a strong preference over the options so it shouldn't be a dilemma at all. I guess I am just trying to figure out what I prefer. And that's where the concern really lies. I don't know what I like or want to do. It's like I am doing what I am doing now only to survive in this realistic, materialistic, and practical society. I look towards to Friday as Sunday comes to an end. That's the mentality I have.
Weekends are usually better, at least for the past weekends since I started working. I have been hanging out with more or less the same people and the same number of people. I don't know nor can I predict how long this current situtaion can last. However, there is a chinese saying that roughly translates to "things and people with/in similar characteristics/situations aggregate together" and I believe this is the phenomenon I am experiencing. The people whom I am hanging out with are in the same situation as I am. They don't seem to have or can find much activities to do in the weekend either and hence we come together and do something together. However, when anyone of them or me find a new social circle, the current circle is probabalistically incompatiable with the new circle.
And something hit me this week. I soley depend on instant messenger (AIM) to stay in contact with the people I know or used to know. Anyone whom I didn't stay in contact with through online, I lost contact with them. When college began, I basically lost contacts with half of my high school 'buddies', never to be heard of again nor heard about them again. And to think that my home (in Sacramento) was only a block or two from some of them... I have no excuse. I put myself in this situation. I deserve the current status. Regretting is meaningless when one doesn't change for the better.
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[25 Sep 2005|10:44am] |
从未试过拥有
歌手：温兆伦
从未试过拥有
一生挣扎永不休
可知我永远欠缺自由
从未试过拥有
空虚偏却永不休
把一切尽占有
从未试过拥有
欢欣仿似隔深秋
怎追究眼看最爱逝流
从未试过拥有
一生支配我悲忧
几分爱亦占有
谁令现实在每秒里也在逼我
谁令我不竭的奋斗
泪滴在心头
仍笑着强忍心里愁
人为活着便要勇气拼命争斗
迎合这悲痛的节奏
日后话当年
也不须悔咎
从未试过拥有
一生亏欠却不休
怎可以带去每串恨愁
从未试过拥有
一生哭笑已经休
转身去未悔咎
Enough said.
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[21 Sep 2005|09:53pm] |
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I feel disconnected with the world and people around me lately. There's not much to talk about at work and there's no one around to talk to when I am back at my apartment and/or there's not much to talk about. There's not much to talk about with my family either and though I try calling back regularly, the phone conversation never goes for longer than 15 minutes. Maybe I am just not the type of people who can continue a talk talk, but the type who can substain a conversation with joke talks. The cycle of nothingness is very real. The Monday to Sunday weekly cycle. All work and little/no play/quality human interaction. The computer and internet is slowly becomming a companion rather than just a machine/tool and interface. Slowly devouring my sanity reality.
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[07 Sep 2005|08:31pm] |
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He/She Dates Me to Disneyland |
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I used to have an after-life, a life after school. It wasn't anything to brag about. My new after-life, life after work, isn't something to brag about either. I stare at an electromagnetic radiation display (sometimes two of them simultaneously) at work for ~8 hours (when not working overtime) and when I get home, I sit in front of one for another 6 hours. Cancer will eventually find me and hunt me down. I wouldn't be surprise. After-life is insanely bored and lonely. Weekends are just extended versions of after-life. How to solve that problem? I wouldn't know.Let's just say with the limited contacts I have on my cell phone, very few of them calls me. Yeah, I shouldn't complain. I am not. Really. I am just pointing out the fact.
With work automatically comes the extra nano-pay and I need to figure out what to do about that. Being who I am, I gave 15% of my after-legally robbed (tax) nanopay to my parents. What do I do with the remaining 85%? Pay my bills here and there, spend bits here and there (given the right situations), lend a bit to the bank at lower than inflation rates(save), and stash the rest into my stock account and 'gamble'them all away. Yeah, how fun. But it's a plan and I am executing it decently thus far. And I am about to double my holdings in Pfizer(after holding for ~a year) and possibly add a tech company as a form of diversfication (maybe Microsoft since now that it pays dividend and is bound to raise it to match the S&P yield of 2+% a year and is a cash-creating machine with a dual market monopoly in operating systems and office productivity products). I use to trade 50+ times a year and commissions really adds up. Now I am trading less frequent, about 10x less frequent and am doing better with this long-term mentality and patience. Now it's time to stock up on certain stocks.
Holidays usually mean I get 3 day weekends. That usually means I go home home. But now there is a new dread of going back home. My relatives would bug me about another stage of life: girlfriends/marriage cycle. I don't think I could fend them off for long with silence and a jokingly/suspenseful smile. And when my parents jumps in to this issue, I will be 'ambush from ten sides'. It won't be long. I don't want to be force and I don't want to force. There's a natural order of thing for passive/idled person. Whatever comes will come. Whoever comes will arrive. I won't search. I won't hide.
I hate asking people for phone numbers. Especially when I don't get it.
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| Work |
[12 Aug 2005|08:36pm] |
So now a major transition has taken place for me. Yes, I have officially entered the U.S. labor market. This past week is my first week at work. So far it has been exhausting and I haven't gotten any real cases/projects to be involved in. I have took a nap when I got home from work 3 out of the 5 days. Just yesterday, I slept from 6pm to 4am and ended up skipping dinner altogether. Usually, it was from 7pm to 9:45pm then dinner then sleep again at 12am. Here's what my 1st week experience was like:
Monday:
First day of work consist of half a day of hiring paperwork (from 9am-12pm and still couldn't finish them all), lunch with the other new hires and current employees (at company's expense), sit at my cubicle playing around with company-wide network program on the computer, a brief, yet intimidating chat with one of the senior managing economist, then back to my desk to read some stuff in the new hires manual, and last but not least, looking forward to 5:30pm. By the way, my computer monitor (DELL) has a ghost burnt-in image and I requested for a new monitor. I'll see how long it takes them. Unless I really bother those IT guys every once or so...
Tuesday:
Official informal training began. Recieved training exercises from a coworker (whom interviewed me at Berkeley recruiting)dealing with information collection and Excel usage. Learned how to use some of the expensive research database to collect information (Thompson Research and one other one that I can't remember the name now) that I need for the training exercise worksheets. Lunch with some of the coworkers from my department (out of pocket expense), then back to work on my training exercise. Finish about 40% of it by 5:30pm. Time passed quickly when there's something to be busy on.
Wednesday:
Continued on my training exercise for the whole day. Brought my own lunch. BY 5:30pm., I was 80% done with the training exercises. Play around with Excel too to learn how to use some of the functions and shortcut keys to improve efficiency in managing and manipulating data.
Thursday:
Finish my training exercise before lunch. Talk to my coworker who give me the exercise about the last part. Recieved a lot of advice because I didn't do a good enough job due to the fact that I wasn't paying attention to the little details or reading some of the stuff correctly. Brought my own lunch so ate in cubicle. Started on a new training that I found on their system during the last two hour of work because don't know what other work to do.
Friday:
Recieved an auditing exercises from same coworker (my informal 'mentor'). Finish it before 12pm.Then lunch (including alcohol) with my coworkers and two senior level staff (9 people total, company paid). Came back from lunch and show completion of the auditing exercises to 'mentor' and redeemed myself from yesterday b/c only overlook one minor spelling error. Continued on my self-started training from late Thursday for the half of the day. Far from finish (it should take about 50 hours total according to the paper). I finally got my phone.
Well, that is pretty much my first week of work. No real stressful productive work for the company yet. Next week I expect to be getting involve in some real work. If not, I will ask around soon enough. My department is quite small, only about 7 total junior staffs (including myself) and about 9 senior staff. I sit with about 5 other junior staffs and they are usually very quiet so my cubicle area is quite quiet for the past week. Today was the intern's last day, but starting Monday there will be a new full time guy starting. The decent part is that I sit right next to the I.T. department so when there's a computer problem, I can just talk to them. Like when there's a legitimate need for me to have a laptop.......
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| 30 Days-Concluding Comments: Part 5 |
[07 Aug 2005|02:04pm] |
Let's talk about money first and foremost. Bringing US greenback to HK and especially China really shows the purchasing power of Americans in those two places. Using food and commodity prices there as a measurement, the purchasing power for people bringing US dollars there increases 4 to 8 folds. In HK, my purchasing dollar increase by about 4 folds (400%) if I exclude name brand products and American food (McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc.) and tourist/high class resturants that are mostly there to rip off know-nothing tourists. In China, even after the 2% upward revaluation of the Chinese yuan currency (from $1 for 8.28 yuan to $1 for 8.11 yuan), my purchasing power increase about 8 fold (800%) if I exclude the American resturants there (McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc.). Commodity prices are unbelievably cheap. I got a haircut and full 30 minute hair wash in China at an 'expensive' price (due to popularity of the place) of 35 yuan = ~$4.50. Food costed an average of US $2ish a plate for a full meal. About US $20 will get u a full fledge dinner for 10 people that tasted better than the US $100 chinese dinners you get here.
The places/streets in HK are very very pack. I think the MongKok area of HK is the most densely pack area I have ever been to and possibily on this whole planet. There are literally hundreds and thousands of people out on the streets of MongKok on a typical day. The subway system must be carrying about a million passengers on a typical day. The trains are so packed! Life in HK is unbelievably fast. Morning tea starts about 5ish AM, and the streets are jam by 8am at latest (I am guessing). Day in and day out, the people there open up/work in the resturants and the street booth selling things. Talking about resturants in HK, their service is quite efficient. Very fast indeed. And no tips or tax ever! That's an automatic 20% savings from eating in the US alone. As in HK, China does not have a convention for tipping and there are no tax though the service is no match for HK's service. Transportation in HK and China is cheap but do adds up. And the night live is so lively. The night markets in HK and China is so colorful and abundant. "Midnight snack" is a common tradition in China(not sure about HK) and having a beer or two at the tables is a given. A lot of people smokes in China too. Taxi in HK is quite cheap compare to the ones in SF and China is even cheaper (especially in Bejing) and they are very abundant. Though China has 1.3 billion people, the streets in Guangzhou and Bejing does not look nearly as pack as HK. I guess it's because the people in China are more disperse because China is so big and has a lot of cities to absorb the population whereas HK is so small and has to fit its 7 million locals and probably a million or two foreigners/tourists.
On to the aspect of housing. There are a lot of high residential buildings in HK and a flat in HK is quite expensive by our measures (even at the current high price housing market in the US). Many people in HK lives in an apt/flat no bigger than my kitchen (200-300 sq. ft). Imagine fitting a bathroom, kitchen, living room/bedroom (if possible) into the area of my apartment's kitchen and you can imagine how small it gets. Unless you are really rich, those are the places you'll be living in. Obviously, there are pricing differences depending on where you live. If you live in the country side of HK, housing is a bit cheaper but still expensive by US standards.
Talk about cramming. Land is too precious in HK, that's for sure. In China, it's more spacious (at least the placees where I live in when in Shenzen and Guangzhou) and quite cheap compare HK and even US. I would not want to live in HK unless I am super rich. But then if I am super rich, living nearly anywhere is good right?
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| 30 Days-Part 4: Taipei |
[03 Aug 2005|11:08am] |
Taipei-9 Hours
Taipei was the last city to wander around in during the 9 hour transit gap. Armed with various maps and barely enough mandarin knowledge, we left the Taipei CKS Airport at 1:30pm and came back at 9:30pm...
The Weather
Taipei was hot like Hong Kong,but less humid. 29 degrees Celcius. It was a clear, blue sky day.
The People
I felt more safe in Taipei than in China. The people here have better manners and seem to be more willing to help strangers. As for the quality of the girls, it's still incomparable to Hong Kong haha. Didn't see too much trendy ones either.
The Place
Taipei looks similar to Guangzhou except the fact that the signs are written in Traditional Chinese instead of predominantly Simplified Chinese in Guangzhou. The areas near the Airport was run down, but Taipei was much more better in contrast. We visited the National Palace Musuem first (a museum where the treasures that were stolen from Bejing are display there) by buses and subway trains. Then it was off to the world's tallest building, Taipei 101. What an ugly building from the outside. The first 4 floors make up the shopping center/mall occupied by stores selling name brand products. I had the chance to take the world's fastest elevator up the world's tallest building for 300 NT$ (~$10 US). 'Flew" up to the 89th floor (the highest occuppiable floor on the building I think) in 38 seconds. The elevator was moving at 1010 Meters/Minute => 60 KM per hour! What's strange was comming down was actually slower than going up the elevator...
The Food
Since we didn't know Taipei at all, we just went to a random resturant near the subway for food and the food wasn't good. Try some Taiwai specialties like Pig's ear (not good), and pearl tea (not good). Bad pick, no luck.
The Shopping
I didn't buy anything because I didn't go to any shopping place besides the Taipei 101 Mall (those are name brand, super expensive fashion stuff in which I have no interest in). I did try to buy an umbrella out on the streets, but that guy wouldn't sell it to be for 120 NT$ (from 200 NT$). He would sell it for 180 NT$, but I didn't get my 20% bargaining discount so I didnt' buy it. I think I need to work on my Mandarin bargaining.
The Traffic
Traffic in Taipei most resemble the US in terms of how orderly it is. It's back to pedestrian's first and no crazy honking and lane cutting and cars running traffice lights like there isn't any lights. People cross the streets using cross walks too.
Overall Experience
It was ok. There doesn't seem to be too much to do (as a tourist) in Taipei. I think I'll get very bored in 3 days because everrythingh worth seeing will be seen with that amount of time. I'll give it a 7/10. -1 for not having much fun places to check out (not according to the tourist map), -1 for the shitty food that I experience, and -1 for Mandarin as their primarily langauge= > hard for me to communicate there.
I am finally back to the US! The weather is so nice here after being in shitty weathers in Homg Kong and Guangzhou, China. Next Monday is my 1st day of work. Need these few days to rest and my last chance to be bored for 5 days straight.
I'll write one more entry devoting to my 30 day trip to wrap things up. Until then (tomorrow I believe)...
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