orionkai's Xanga

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:03:07 GMT

I like it "I don't like it". (It sounds ironic and confusing, doesn't it? Originated from South Park Season 10 episode 1.)

Lately I've been complaining a lot about the Canadian government, about how the politicians spend our tax money to blamed on each other, about how a new tax rule does nothing but sounds good, about how inefficient the system is, about how we middle class is supposed to work our butt off for nothing. People asked me,"dude, if you don't like this country so much, why do you stay here?" Well, there aren't many places in the world where you can say "I don't like it" in public, or even in private. Anyone who loves freedom like I do will definitely say "I like it 'I don't like it!'"

Friday, June 13, 2008

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:23:18 GMT

Met a girl during the CASI Level 1 snowboarding instructor lesson during the weekend.
Now, I'm missing her beautiful eyes and smile...

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:04:47 GMT

"... and when I find her, everything will have meaning - time, will have meaning..."

- New Amsterdam

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:00:34 GMT

Last week a new team member moved into my office for a co-op work term. As an "senior" member of the team, in his perspective of course, and a good office-mate, I tried to answer his questions in the best way I can. So, we talked and we came across my home town. I was telling him how small and how crowded the city was when I grew up and how many casinos there are in these days. I don't know how the city is actually like now, haven't been back for 4 years. All that I know is the change is dramatic. But to gave him a better idea, I showed him some pictures from google. After he went back to his work, I came across this map of Macau, probably made between 2006 and 2007. I looked at it. Slowly I found myself trying to make out the outline of the city in the 90's from all these unfamiliar names: Wyn, MGM, Sai Van Bridge, just to name a few. My brain started re-winding to the days when 澳門大會堂 was the theatre for movies and KFC was not opened yet. At that time, bubble tea was just introduced to the town. The pork chop burger in Taipa was just known to the Hong-ers. Once a while, we might go biking on the island, or take the bus to Baia de Hac Sa, the black-sand beach, for barbecue. It was pack in the summer weekends. I walked under the pine trees bear feet with a bottle water in one hand. The pine trees there were slim and had alot less leaves and branhes than the ones in North America. The pine cones were tiny and they were pinching my feet. I felt a warm breeze just blew through my sweaty succor jersey. The smell of the ocean was humid and salty. Then, I was back to room 266 in my Keating Cross Road office.

For a second, I missed my home, the old Macau I grew up in.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:44:34 GMT

Just looked at the calendar, it says 51 weeks to go. Oh gosh, I just spent the longest holiday of the year baby sitting in Vancouver. Yes, that's right. There were two under ages and two seniors at home and I was the only driver.

Nonetheless I was able to go to Whistler and Cypress twice. It was pretty good. I finally got a chance to practice on a size M rail, and, almost broke some ribs... Nancy came back from Toronto. With her and Caleb, we almost got the snowboard gang 2005 reunion. Too bad Alan was in Tai Wan during the holiday. So, I told Nancy to take as many pictures as possible and to show them to Alan. Just to make him jealous and guilty about not joining us. (Ar ha, I told you don't piss me off.)

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 03:08:38 GMT

Whistler, I'm back!
Finally I get to hit the hill again after 8 months of waiting! Many runs on Blackcomb are still close. But it's ok, the objective today is to pick up the skill again, nothing fancy. It was freezing cold up there. -16C! I ended up get into restaurants 3 times to pick up 2 hot chocolate and lunch. I have never seen this in Whistler before. One thing I got to mention though: I think I'm really good at snowboarding! Don't say I'm cocky yet. Ok, this is what happened:

Then there is this guy helping his girlfriend on a green run. But he did two dumb things. First he put the board on the lower side of the run which connects a mogul..And, he didn't put the board up-side-down. I was just going towards them. So, when the snowboard started running away from its master, I jumped right into the mogul to chase it. One minute all the way non stop. Eventually it ran into someone and got stopped. Yes, it was not me who caught the board. But my point is, wow, I can actually ride straight on a mogul! That's awesome. Even I'm surprised.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 05:37:49 GMT

Eventually I didn't apply for the RA position. Maybe I'm not passionate enough after all. It's a tough path, and I don't have the courage to do it, at least not for now. And I know one day I will wake up in the middle of the night, looking at the picture of my future wife and children, thinking what would have happened if I go back to the research world today. Or, I may review the old log book, the optical injection locking paper and the LEOS magazines and end up having another sleepless night.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:37:22 GMT

I'm facing this same question again. On the right hand side is RA position, and on the left is the engineering job. Which one should I choose?
Being who I'm and getting what I want are two different things. The gap is big.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:34:22 GMT

I took two days off for one to have a 5 days holiday (Thanks Giving long weekend), and two to attend to my friend's convocation. It's a bit busy in these couple days, but I feel surprisingly relaxing. I still remember I was being clumsy at work for quite a long period of time. My brain was muddy. Even nothing was done in the last weekend, I still felt tire.

"Why?" I wondered.

Somehow, I think that I don't really fit in at work. People there are really nice. So, I guess it's my problem after all.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:35:55 GMT

I had a conversation with my friend who's currently in a relationship. These questions popped up to me:

"What is love? What is it for?"

My answers to these change over time, and the most updated one is

"Love is the power that overcome the conflicts between two persons who want to be together."