無言大樓

在梨城數天, 都是住在Darling Harbour 的酒店. 港口區十分優閒, 景致也不賴, 當然也相當touristy. 當地最大的賭場也位於此, 卻沒有大事宣傳, 也沒有浮誇的粉飾. 在這些飲食娛樂購物等背後, 是一衆商厦, 包括 i-kee, p-kee (就在彼隣, 外形一様, 波浪形的頂層配合港口的環境), 及其他4大. 細看之下, 在 i-kee p-kee 旁, 有一幢無名的大樓, 原本應該冠上大樓名稱的外牆部份, 只見牆身已被除下, 露出裏面的結構. 忽發奇想, 莫非它原是 a-kee 的大樓...? 想想也挺唏噓...

Yummy

In the pear city of the kangaroo kingdom, I had one of the best seafood experiences in my life in a Chinese restaurant in the China town.

Abalone - Live one not no.1 dried one. Briefly poached in high soup of chicken and chinese kam wah ham. The abalone tasted like abalone, frankly no surprise yet still good. The soup is superb, and lettuce was cooked in the soup afterwards. This is the tastiest and one of the most expensive vege soup in the world. Probably no MSG 'cos I didn't feel thirsty at all after finishing the whole thing.

High note on their Lobster - The last time a lobster impressed me was in HK, the taste was super as a more precious species of crayfish was cooked. This time the applause is for the texture and well-doneness of the lobster, which shows the chefs' technique. We ordered 'baked' lobster with high soup. The meat VERY succulent, and to my surprise, it is as SMOOTH yet CRUNCHY as some deep-water big fish that doesn't require much chewing (Don't worry, no way that it is rottening). clapclapclap to the chefs!!

I'll be Back...

烏蠅BB人字拖

袋鼠國三多 烏蠅BB人字拖

無論是驕陽下的乾煎, 月光下的漫步, 海上的暢遊, 歌劇院的照相, 鬧市的閒逛, 動物園的珍禽異獸, 高貴的海鮮大餐, 連鎖店的咖啡, 酒店的早餐 - 總有他們擁護伴隨

純屬個人在袋鼠國僅僅5天的體會. 如有雷同, 實屬巧合. 如有不同, 實屬不幸.

整定

會議臨陣取消, 完滿解決了星條旗國簽證的煩惱 - 整定

是時候思考一下怎樣利用我那些投資了HK$90, 共20大張方方正正非一般規格的露耳照

不解

差不多時候更新我的星條旗國簽證, 相當不解.

不解之一: 照相店搶錢
簽證相片規格: 2"x 2" 白色背景, 人頭須佔1", 眼睛至相片底線須1&1/8"-1&3/8", 耳朵盡量外露... 規格故然相當"理想化", 我卻以為以現今的數碼科技, 如何习轉的要求都應該是手到拿來. 當然, 我指的习轉要求是有關相片的維度, 大小, "佈局擺位" 等客觀規格. 若然閣下的臉不幸地不能合附 [人頭須佔1", 眼睛至相片底線1&1/8"-1&3/8", 耳朵外露] 等要求的話, 則另作別論.
基於這個"數碼借位易過借火"的假設, 實在不明白為何簽證相要HK$80一打而其他個人照片只需HK$40一打 - 純粹搶錢.

不解之二: HK$10一分鐘的一般查詢熱線
原來現在的簽證(及護照)簽發後會由香港郵政送遞給申請人, 需時數天(尤記得n年前是可即日/翌日自行拿取的). 由於我的時間相當迫切, 實在需要有關當局的指引, 看看可否/如何加快處理. 細看網頁上的查詢渠道:
(1) Visa Information Call Center: a USER-PAYS service (HK$10/minute) that provides GENERAL visa information... available Mon-Fri 8:30a.m. - 5:30p.m. (except HK public holidays)
(2) Visa Information Unit: Located on the ground floor... answers in-person and written inquiries... does not schedule visa appointments
(2.1) In Person: Inquiry hours Mon-Fri, 3:00p.m. - 4:00p.m. (except xx and local holidays). The public is seen on a first-come, first-served basis. Waiting times vary and can, at times, be longer than anticipated.
(2.2) By email, fax, mail: Responses within 3 business days

想點!!!!!

不解之三: 相金先惠, 貸借免問
沒有那八百大洋的收據密碼, 休想預約

結論: 教我如何可以不愛它

Fantasia

watching the 1st Harry Potter movie, the kids so kids.

i am never a fan of fairy tales, or surreal stories. so when i found myself so excited and 'chasing after' the books, i indeed surprised myself. in fact, i couldn't imagine reading them until the 4th book in the series was published that i wanted to see why the world is so crazy about the children's fantasies.

try to see why i like them:
- it is not the MAGIC that fascinates me. it doesn't really look all that hard to do afterall - just wiggle the wand and shout those words... like "Lumos"!
- the whole thing is actually very real. the characters grow and struggle, and we too do.
- it is happening in our modern world, not in the neverlands. there are playstations, there are paparazzis and kids are showing off their latest, up-market brooms... among others
- there are essentially real pains like embarrassment, prejudice, anger, poverty and death... and afterall terrorism
- MAGIC seems to play an interesting role. people do not lead a happier life 'cos of magic but 'cos of the good people around. and magic indeed brings troubles and complications

hmm...

Street Corners

those street corners look so remote yet so familiar

true-man show

happy ending seems far indeed

... have to live and have to have hope

王菀芝

沒有特意聽過她其他的作品, 但她在張學友音樂會的表現留給我頗深刻的印象.

自己的創作(曲及詞) - 加分
簡單旋律不賣弄 - 加分
Acoustic - 加分

細聽那歌, 也像嗅到從前的氣味...

Year-end Clearance

This was taken on the Eastern Corridor, on the way from office to the Peak for dinner (taken by woo from the passenger's seat)


Buddies (taken by ashes using timer...)

Plan to Plan

to summarize my work in the past 3 weeks --

PLAN to PLAN
PLAN of PLAN
PLAN in PLAN
PLAN for PLAN
PLAN on PLAN
PLAN off PLAN

planning is very important

a plan to have a plan is even more important - which shows that you know what is important, and you know how to plan for what is important

how to strategize the planning of plan to be more than a mere plan requires even more sophisticated planning

headache

Shirley Kwan's Concert

* advanced booking via Manhattan cards starting 4 Jan
* can't remember the hotline no.
* transaction fee per ticket is 1,000 bonus point + $16
* concert dates 23-25 Feb
* haven't decided going or not... not sure if i'm in hk...

Paulaner Kempinski

星期五, 回港的大日子. 也是瘦虎跟大老板娘及笔下各路英雄介紹其漚心瀝血的傑作 "O-管理框架" 的大喜日子. 他等這天足足等了2個月(...有說7年...) 有多.

難得的是瘦虎並無半點緊張, 精神更是有些萎靡... 而我呢, 也在惆悵我要作的業(孽?), 及下週如何跟AP大佬交代...

事已如此, 我倆決定豁出去, 豪吃一頓午餐沖喜一下, 並預祝一番.

既然時間上不允許我們很有中國特色地豪氣一場 (例如宰一條牛... 或涮一窩羊), 唯有退而求其次鬼佬式酒肉一番.

Kempinski 內的Paulaner, 德國啤酒德國肉腸德國咸豬手德國pretzel德國咸酸菜...

這是我們的盛宴: (抱歉來不及在瘦虎摧毀那非常美味的Baked cheese & onion soup之前把它拍下)


p.s.1 我們很專業的沒有點啤酒
p.s.2 大老板娘很讚賞瘦虎的傑作, 現場消息指她當時表示 "I'm impressed!" 可喜可賀!

Quarter Million Club

do you belong to the honourable Quarter Million Club?

did you? do you?

...will you?

Downtown LA

went to downtown LA the first time... wanna share some photos here

Union Station - aarrr... a train station



1st Fire Station in LA

Broken Chord

played tennis hard this morning...

result: the string was broken again
(last time was less than 6 months ago... while played less than 15 games in between)

have asked coach to help sending the racket to replace string and grip...

aiya, forgot to specify color tim...

Apple to apple...

20 Days -
Amount of time it took Apple Computer's online store to reach 1m movie downloads for the new video-playing iPod

7 Days -
Amount of time it took the website SuicideGirls.com, which offers free porn videos for iPods, to reach the same mark of 1m downloads

- TIME magazine November 28

aaarrr... no surprise

IQ and Marriage

In one study, 4 British universities measured the IQ of 900 11-year-olds and revisited them 40 years later to see how their lives had moved on.

They found that the brighter girls were less likely to find a man who wants to marry them, with their chances diminishing dramatically in direct proportion to their level of intelligence.

For each 16-point rise in their IQ, their marriage prospects fell by 40 per cent.

In contrast, boys' chances increased by 35 per cent with each 16-point rise.

aarrr... what say you?

(the scientific minds might want to search for the study here for the statistical fancies http://www.sciencedirect.com/ it is sth called childhood IQ and marriage by mid-life blahblahblah...)

Festive

pretty cool...

the main entrance stairs of Harbour City (the Ocean Terminal side)

模型車

爸爸曾經(無錯, 過去式)是模型迷, 每晚例必鑽研至三更夜半, 最近一次(像economic cycle)歷時大約兩年, 家中大大小小的模型(主要是車及賽車, 也有戰艦飛機) 及工具, 成品半製成品... 仙女散花. 他喜歡的卻不是搖控車(雖然也有若干high-end 的), 而是很講究Detailed, 需要"一針一線" 接上精緻模擬零件的那種.

由於模型太多屋太細, 他們大多已被裝箱打包儲存於爸爸公司. 這是少有的漏網之魚.

給瘦虎. 努力啊呵! !

Infectious blogging

10 more minutes and will have to start today's conf call marathon...

sent out the .ppt...

feeling a bit relieved... and what comes to mind is blogging but not food...!

weird