Aircwaft

Increased attention by 300%. Great job.

Japanese stationary

sindy says:

omggg im on the phone with my dad, he's going on foreverrrrrr
cuz i emailed his office abt things i wana get and have him buy in HK and bring over when he visits.. i told his secretary to tell him i wanted japanese stationary. i expected his secretary to tell him and my dad would know what we're talking abt cuz we go stationary shopping together. his secretary helped him get it.. and got us hello kitty stuff. i told him, just for fun.. and now he's lecturing about "doing things correctly" FML FML

Basically, my dad is visiting for my convocation (in 10 days!) and we asked him to buy some stuff we can't/prefer not to get in Canada. My sister and I adore Japanese pens and lead pens/ mechanical pencils/ whatever you prefer to name them -- actually stationary found in HK in general. They work much more efficiently at a much lower price. So whenever we go back to Hong Kong, we stock up near my dad's office which is in an industrial district with tons of offices, so things are even cheaper! So I've been emailing with his secretary back and forth about travel details and things to get, since my dad is semi-computer-illiterate. Here's the email the secretary sent:

Sindy,

Attach the photo for you and (sis) to ref. Is those item interesting by you . each item in 1 pc or 1 pack. Do you/ (sis) need more or which brand you love it - Twin star, Mickey mouse, ..... cat,..... dog you can let me know or send me the image then I can search for you.

(Secretary)


Plastic folder

ball point pens, pencils, and rubbers

notebook 001

notebook 002

-_-"""""

Miss Secretary, Thank you for being so sweet... but we haven't been in primary school in a long time. FFS I'm graduating from university -_- (And yeah, she calls them rubbers. So Bri'ish)

Dad, please don't lecture me on Communications just because it's my major when you can't even tell off your staff without the adjacent office hearing. Sorry to break this to you, but liberal arts mean jackshit to the commercial world. Don't get your hopes up.

Holy crap I can't believe how ridiculous this is. I guess there are things in my life worth sharing.

My New York trip is compromised :(

So, after my Eurotrip plans fell through in the midst of swine flu panic, I've been looking forward to my New York trip. My dad is visiting for my convocation end of June, and we planned on going on a short trip to New York while he's in North America. My dad's pretty fearless when it comes to germs - he went on frequent trips between China and Hong Kong at the height of SARS, sometimes without masks and alcohol wipes or antibacterial gels. Swine flu was no biggie in comparison - it's not even airborne. So I've been checking up on ticket prices every once in a while over here and him in Hong Kong to compare prices. (Apparently there's a difference?) His secretary emailed me to check the prices again, because it's cheaper to book locally, so I called my dad that there's a change in price. Then he tells me that maybe we can wait it out a bit to see how the pandemic situation is going.

I'm a bit disappointed... and bummed. Why does it seem like my grad trip plans are falling through? Stupid H1N1. Worst year to graduate ever. x((((((

Check out my mad trackpad-illustrated Microsoft Paint skills

Show yourself!

Today, I met my boyfriend in Hong Kong after being apart for almost 6 months. We got to our room and got right down to business. I was just about to come when a voice came over the PA system in the room. "This is just a fire alarm test, sorry for any inconvenience." FML

Whenever Hong Kong is mentioned, I can't help but think that I might know that person. It seems so narrow minded to think that way, but I've had many times when people all over the world coincidentally knew each other. When you attend international schools, it's a small world after all.

Macarons and Japanese cakes

La Bamboche - A chef combines Eastern flavours with Western desserts

Lemon Macaron. I love citrusy stuff - it was sooooo good. Not too sweet, and still fresh from a 30 min commute.


Half eaten Lemon Macaron, with its travel companion Vanilla Macaron. I usually don't have a preference for vanilla or regular cream pastries, but this was really good too. The vanilla scent was very rich and not artificial at all.

Inside the box...

Three pieces of cake!


Actually, 2 pieces of cake and one half eaten eclair, lol. The eclair was heavenly. This was the best eclair filling I've ever had. The chocolate flavour was rich, and not too sweet nor fatty.

Next to it is the Green Tea and Sesame mousse cake with crunchy base. Again, key word -- rich. You can taste the matcha and black sesame flavours individually. The base was a graham cracker like base, only crunchier. I wonder what exactly it is!


Last of all, the Strawberry Lavendar mousse cake. This was quite special. I've only tried lavendar teas and Taiwanese lavender milk-tea drinks before, never a cake. The top layer was slightly sour & tarty, but in the good way. There were actually chunks of mushy strawberries , which I guess are preserved ones, like the type you find in jam. The lavendar layer tasted very unique. The two flavours accompanied each other really well. My sister speculated that the piece of twig on top is thyme, and that it was probably mixed into the lavendar mousse. The base was made of fluffy brown cake.

I would like to try the red wine and sake macarons if I get the chance!

Conclusion: La Bamboche - Pricey at $4-$5 per piece (around the size of a ring box), but you are paying for quality organic ingredients, culinary school technique and presentation, and rich flavours in special combinations. Go there when you deserve a treat :)

H1N1 in Hong Kong

Metropark Hotel in Wanchai is sealed off after a Mexican tourist is confirmed to have H1N1

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong confirmed Asia's first case of the new H1N1 flu virus in a Mexican traveler on Friday, prompting authorities to seal off the hotel where the 25-year old man had been staying.

...Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang told reporters the man arrived on a China Eastern flight on Thursday afternoon after a stopover in Shanghai.

He had a fever and went to Ruttonjee Hospital for help on Thursday evening, Tsang said. The Mexican is now in hospital in a stable condition.

... "He didn't leave the hotel (except to go to hospital) because he was feeling sick," Health Minister York Chow told a news conference.

... The affluent financial hub on the south coast of China is widely seen as one of the best-prepared Asian cities to deal with the new H1N1 flu virus, given its experience in handling sporadic outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu, as well as SARS in 2003 which killed 299 people. >>

What is with Hong Kong's luck with animal flus? I'm glad that HK has learned from H5N1 and acclaimed to be the most experienced with how to deal with the situation. I hope this really would control the situation.
My heart still sinks everytime I remember how SARS killed so many people. Even though I was in such proximity to the whole ordeal, my memory of it is very vauge. Classes were suspended, but I don't even remember what I did during that time. My dad would still travel to and from China and completely wanted to shove my sister off when she urged him to wear masks and use sanitizer gels.

Why do I have such terrible memory? It seems like if I don't write it down, nothng is worth remembering. Yet I remember so much trivial info -- my semantic memory (aka encyclopedic memory) is much stronger than my episodic memory (aka autobigraphical memory). Suppression much?

ZOMG! Swine flu = Zombies!!!!!

In the latest developments:

• The Netherlands confirms its first case of zombie swine flu, in a three-year-old boy recently returned from Mexico. After passing away early this morning, he rose from the dead and lunged at his mother.

>>

In the jungle... all the way to London

My aunt just came back from the jungle. Literally. Like, totally. Like, can't make this up- okay I'll stop.

Email in its original form, typos grammar mistakes and all. I can just imagine anyone texting while watching TV with a message like this:

HIHI, I am back from the jungle in North Bonero (Sabah). This 8 days we stayted with the forest rangers and walked through the trail. This is not open for tourists yet so we are the first group. (they used to just open for scientists, nature group, international Raleigh volunteer for some parts of the jungle). It called Imbak Canyon in the heart of Sabah.

each day we walked around 5-6 hours and overnight at a very basic camp. back to the nature and basic with no facilities. we took bath in the river, slept in a open tent with only the sound of insects and leeches. kayake down to the river, got lost in a jungle and walked from 10 hours until it got dark and arrived a camp found out no fuel for the generator (no electricity)...

Previously she volunteered for 3 months in Puerto Rico living in similar hut conditions, collecting sea turtle eggs, teaching local children English, living off yams, corn, and rice, getting attacked by leeches (right on her belly button!), having a fellow traveler pee next to the bunk beds, jumping down waterfalls... She also ventured straight up north during the huge snowstorm of 2007 to picturesque walkways of icy trees in New York and a blackout in our Toronto home.

I couldn't even decide on a place to go for grad trip. I have to consider:
1. I want the best bang for my buck
2. Who do I go with?
3. What do I want out of it?

My aunt had all those solved. She went with her boyfriend/life partner (? She just doesn't want to get married). He paid for everything. Because he's white and he works in Hong Kong... figures. (Why don't foreigners get paid higher in North America?! Why do Caucasians - dammit, I'll be politically incorrect - whites get paid higher everywhere?? They're not that much better!! They can't speak complex Asian languages!! Lai ji mm ji or gong meh ah, bak yun? Meanwhile, many Asians are multilingual. China's gonna own your ass, America. You're going bankrupt and all without healthcare. Even Canada's gonna own your ass!! We're "boring like mashed potatoes", we got healthcare and fucking poutine! Even our potato dishes own your ass!! I digress...). Then she went to England country side to visit the "in-laws" and experience strange western mom customs (de-core-d strawberries stored in a glass jar for her 40 y/o children to eat from?) The point of her travels is because she detests commercialism, materialism, etc., so she/they wanted to find a suitable city to call home. Basically, she got the who, what, and how covered, and where and when are unlimited because she doesn't need to work. What a life.

If I wasn't so mightily afraid of tiny critters crawling on me (just thinking of it makes me hunch my shoulders to protect my neck. I need a scarf now!!) I may have decided on a nature oriented journey. I don't mind sleeping on rocks and in tropical forests; just give me a second layer of skin that completely covers all crevices on my body. So basically, I want to operate like this car (via; which I think has two letters missing from its name - you can tell when you see how the hood opens).

Right now, I have a tentative plan for a Euro trip. I have a friend in the UK, and we can visit Scotland, France, and if budget allows, Portugal and Spain. This is before all budget concerns, time limits, and any planning. So it's not really a plan, but a dream. Although The Great Financer has approved of such a project, budget still needs approval. If it works, date of departure will be June 11th and must return by June 25th. That's all I know for now.

Wherever the dart lands...

Oh yes, I am graduating on June 28th (typing this from the computer lab at 1am...). Then will be going for a few days to New York with The Great Authority and Financer of all things. So I'll be going somewhere for sure. Except I have visioned my grad trip would involve backpacking and sleeping at train stations. I would if I weren't a 5'2 sedentary klutz with no means of self defence.

Some people asked why I'm not going to Europe with le BF. "Oh, it'll be so romantic!" Right now, that's a pretty repulsive idea. I don't want all the memories in my life, especially all travels, to involve him. Is that cruel?

PS. Any recommendations for must-go places in Europe? Cheap airlines, hostels, discounts?

Note: I've been to France & Italy as a 12 year old so I don' need to see the Eiffel Tower or Leaning tower of Pisa, etc. I am willing to sacrifice photo ops for an authentic European experience! I speak a basic, basic level of French.

Link: Giant Penis Festival

I shrank the thumbnail because I don't want you guys to be kicked out of libraries or classrooms.

Excerpt:

"Hundreds of thousands come together for the world's largest penis festival". Specifically, the Steel Phallus festival in Kawasaki, Japan.
[Pictures show] old ladies and gay dudes walk around sucking on candy that look like penises.

>> link

I have been fully aware that there is this holiday and a temple exists as well, as well as the numerous jokes my dear friends made. Just interesting to see an image...

PS. Hello Kurodo.

Link: WestJet deal

WestJet - Book by April 6 and if your flight gets cheaper before you fly,
we’ll credit you the difference.

>> Link

Link: Someone really wants a Big Mac

Link: Hot Air Balloons

Gorgeous. Gorgeous music, gorgeous video. Snoop Dogg makes good recommendations.

Link: Rapping Flight Attendent!

Boring safety instructions that I almost always ignore.. It's always nice when they make an effort!
Passenger view: youtube

Clearer version:

(In related videos, there's one titled "stewardess" that actually has a Caucasian dude rapping. So awkward...)

LOL what a stereotype affirmation. I've had a similar presentation before:


Another one, not really clear:


I once was on a bus where the bus driver gave a pilot's parting message. They don't deserve to be spat on :(