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  • Damn

    Spend fifteen minutes trying to write a blog, but the stupid IE deleted everything.. and now I am too lazy and annoyed to write again...

    My muse is now gone..  damn!!

  • Speed thrills

    I have always loved to drive fast, and while it may seem as impossible, there's always something very calming about speeding to my minds..  I remembered when I was driving my first car, a busted 1986 Toyota Corolla some 13 years ago, I pushed that car to around 90 miles per hour, and the car sounded as if it's going to blow up at any second.  That was some fun, but of course, my passenger wasn't so thrilled about it, and in fact, I had an ear full afterwards.
     
    Of course, as predetermined by my personality, the series of cars that I have subsequently purchased are mostly sports cars, and of them all, the Mazda RX-7 remains to be my dearest baby.  While it's not the most expensive car, but it definitely is the best car to drive in.  With its muscular outlook and awesome speed and control, I actually managed to use it to run free of a police car.  That was certainly some thrill.
     
    Nowadays, being that the road structure and condition in China/Hong Kong are much different from the ones in the States, speeding is not exactly a possibility in large cities.  In addition, now that I am putting up a professional and mature image to others, a sports car is already out of the question for me.  Yet, once in a while, like last night, I was able to let my old self come back and go wild again.
     
    Running some 150km/h on the highway... What a rush
     
     

  • Shielded Wall

    Once a person reaches a certain age, it's very likely that he/she would have experienced things that may have left some significant impacts in his/her behaviours. Most often than not, these changes are not considered results from positive experiences.  While some of these results are due to experiences in the relationship sectors, there are many that were delivered from business, family, friendship...
     
    In my own humble opinion, all experiences are good experiences, as they are the reasons and causes of our maturity.  So you may have been betrayed by your best friend, but once that lesson is learnt, you would know how to keep a certain distance with your closest friend. These things are not to be taught by books but rather by personal experiences, and since we are still rather in our tender years, the price we pay for errors are far less valuable if it was to happen in latter years..
     
    However, the issue is not how we adjust or learn from the experiences, but rather, how do we coup with life after these learnings?  Do we still keep an open mind towards anyone and everyone, or do we choose to place ourselves in an enclosure so that no one is allowed in.
     
    My answer would be; no one is an island.  We all want to find caring, respect, and love from someone or some group of people.  We want to be a part of community that validates us.  Yes, there will be setbacks in the people you meet, and that there will be times that one's judgement on another is completely wrong.  However, that shouldn't change your approach to people.  Selectively, you should consider open up your mind and allow others to understand you, so that a genuine friendship/ relationship can be achieved. If there's one thing that experience, it is to observe then dive (but observe has to come with the fact that both parties are willing to try to let the others know about him or her).  If one prefers to approach everything with a cautious and alert mind, life would be so tiring and that there shouldn't be a reason why one should be meeting anyone at all..
     
    Yes, friendship and trust does take time, but it would also require your courage to attempt to learn.. Nothing is certain in life, but if you don't even have the guts to see what's out there, what is life to you? 

  • Checking out

    Initially, checking out a person simply means you check out how the girl looks, her curves and all.  However, once you've done enough times doing that, and you are somewhat seasoned, you start to obeserve the girl's behavior and actions beneath his miniskirt and low cut tops; you wanted to see what she's really like? what's her intentions? what's her true personality.

    Couple things that I think are truly indicators of personality. 

    1, if you are taking a girl to a dinner, lounge..etc, observe how she treats the servicing staff.  Does she scold at them for minor mistakes, or is she a polite and gentle person towards them.  If it's the latter, I would at least say that she's a decent person that respects others. If it's the former, stay away from her. even she may appear to be a nice girl at this moment, she's actually not that nice in heart..

    2, there are lots of girls that claim they are sick of being treated inappropriately, and that they are all about making a great life for themselves, but at the same time, you will always see them at the parties, wearing that gorgeous dress or skirt, downing alcohol and drink till the break of dawn, they know everyone and everyone knows them.  To me, these may be indications of lack of confidence and acts of attentions craving, but unfortunately, they are looking at the wrong place to find what they want.  Their appearance may give impressions of easy, and party animals, but they are rather defensive in the heart.  They are just like kids in the heart..

    3, There are girls that are passive aggressive.  You won't notice it from the beginning, and they appear as rather easy going, but as time goes, you will start to notice that they are seeking to change you and to know all aspects of life.  It's a good thing that someone is interested in you, but such indicates that she's rushing things, and that maybe that they are looking more than purely mutual affections.

    4, To know if a girl's interested at you is to see how her feedbacks to you is.  Will she call you? will she message you? all these are indicators of interest level.  Dating and relationship is a two player game, you throw the ball, and you would expect some form of actions that motions the return of the ball.  If you don't see it or sense it even for a bit, let her be.  Of course, there are girls that knows how to play with the minds, they don't think you are the one, but they want the affections that you are giving them, so, they will respond with a limit. They will never say no to your invitations to dine or drinks, but that's only a one way road..  (These are tactics commonly deployed by pretty girls with brains and "goals"; they want to be "friend", try to know what you are about, your networks, your asset...etc; but they don't want to make a bet, because perhaps there are better ones out there)

    Of course, as always, maybe I am being stereotypical, and that all these things are just rubbish, but I tend to pay attentions to these.. 

    Maybe it's because of my aging, i never cared about the minor details till lately.

  • You should

    Care less what others think of you, but rather what is important to you.  Life is to be lived by your own desire rather than under the expectations of your family, and your friends.  If you are hungry, go eat.  If you want success, work hard.  The ones that tell you that you are not capabe are ones that drag your progression.  Stay hungry and stay focused..

     
    Leave no regrets, and leave no confusions.  Life happens only once, why would we want to waste our time?  Everyone's got their own goals in life and desires, don't judge them nor disrepect them.  Appreciate their viewpoint, and move on.. If they happen to be on the same direction as you, appreciate and enjoy the ride.  If not, view it from a different point of view; sanity is always a better show than any movie or TV series.
     
    To view the true personality of a person is well worthy the trouble of time.. Not to play mind games, but to understand a different spectrum of life.

  • The homogeneous

    I love Hong Kong, it's a city that never sleeps, a city that you can get on a yacht and cruise out to the ocean during summer days, and a city with the best night view in the world..

    However, I always wished that the crowd in Hong Kong can be a bit more diverse.  Out of every 10 people you meet in this place, your safest choice of their profession is that they are bankers, and almost 9 out of 10, you will be correct. 

    Bankers are one proud race.  Every single time, I met these people who seems to have so much pride in themselves, to the extent that they seem to associate themselve greatly with their employers, they are using the first person point of view on the events that is happening to their firm.  For example, "yeah, we'll be alright this year with couple new IPO issues in China" when the speaker is only a mid-level research analyst of the company.

    As the markets in both China and Hong Kong are filled with liquidity (just from the VC side, I think there's close to 1 billion around the market, looking for valuable projects), there are tons of new private equities, REITs, VCs popping out..  So most senior executives are leaving their banks to join these firms, as a result, the mid levels are pushed up, and the new entrants are given better title and package as banks are looking eagerly to fill up their empty office spaces.  With these sudden high endorsements and spotlights on them, I don't blame them being overly confident and somewhat arrogant.  However, I don't have the time nor the mind to entertain anyone at all..  It's a good thing that you make 2 million last year, but does it mean anything to me? I highly doubt it.  While I can play hardball a bit, and let them know that their boss' boss work for me, and is a regular golf buddy of mine, just to pour some cold water over their head..  But why bother? 

    Of course, there are those who are fun and entertaining... but overall, I'm bored...  Instead of wanting to talk about which city in China is having the best real estate boom, I want to just relax and know about what one thinks about the new movie or the traveling experiences in Korea..etc  Sometimes, I felt people in Hong Kong are just trying too hard to look and present their best to others..

    Enough rumbling, time to call my broker to buy some HK stocks..

  • Tour de South East Asia

    I went on a three-cities-in-one-week trip last week. First it was Singapore, then, Malaysia, then back to Hong Kong, before finally settling down back in China.

    Singapore was hot as ever, and I actually played a game of golf under the pouring rain.. not really pleasant, and since I was using rental golf clubs, it was even worse.. those clubs there are like rubber sticks, too soft for my likings..  However, I did have a enjoyable night there, having the pleasure to relaxing and chill with a good company..

    Malaysia was another story, the weather there is pleasant and the city feels more casual and at ease.. I find Singapore to be overly under control and that it's too clean at times..  It feels too .. mechanical..  Anyways, there's tons of great night life in malaysia and that the people there are mostly rather friendly.  Though I have been warned about how dangerous the place can be, but nevertheless, with risk, it comes with great returns. 

    In terms of business, Malaysia is like China, only to be rewinded twenty years ago. all businesses are to be done through relationships.  Corruption is commonplace and there's a reshuffle of GOCs and government every year, the new prime minister is as corrupted as the old one, his relatives are ripping huge profits from everywhere.  Nothing really changed, but more PR money has to be put into place so that the new officials are settled...etc  Furthermore. Malaysia have a restriction on their currency exports; which means whatever profit you make in that country have to be located within the country.

    Anyways, it's all about exposures.. I enjoyed the food very much from these two countries, very spicy and tropical.. love them, and the cost is cheap..

  • Soaking Up the Sun

    Singapore was a blast, I haven't had this kind of vacation since a long long time..  The food, the night life, and the whole package was perfect

    I've managed to captured a video in Cafe Del Mar whilst I was soaking up the sun in Santosa, and since this visit, I am starting to fell in love for Singapore.

     

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    Outside Vivo City

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    Sunset in Cafe Del Mar (Singapore)

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    Santosa Sun

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    Breakfast of the Champs (Bah Hut Tea and KungFu Tea)

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    New Majestic Hotel

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    Lobby of New Majestic Hotel

    Did I mention that I will be visiting Singapore again on the 8th? Although I won't be able to make it for the beach again, but I don't think I will ever mind exploring the city.

     

  • Logic

    The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :
    Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
    Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
     
    One student, however, wrote the following:
     
    First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

    Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
    This gives two possibilities:
    1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
    2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
    So which is it?
    If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."
    THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+..................oh, and he got an A+ in the Chemistry class as well. :)

  • 30

    Up till recently, I never seriously thought about the concept of turning 30.  Time certainly has flied, and in no time, it's finally me who has to face this.

    In some sayings, life doesn't begin until you turn 30.  The reason behind such comment is that by the time we become 30, we have passed our initial phase of pondering around, we should have hit enough walls before 30 to understand how life works and how society works.  The years before would have already smoothened our rough edges and made us more comfortable about who we are.

    But, am I?

    Looking back, I don't think I have changed that much,  I am still that same kid who loves to be around his friends, one that is eager to know anyone and everyone, one who defies authority.  However, I did learn more about myself, I start to know what lifestyle I like to live in, what kind of environment makes me happy, what kind of work is my passion, how I should treat my parents...etc.  I started to know my temper does have a limit and that I am not as friendly as I once thought I was.

    All in all, 30 doesn't seem to be much of a hurdle to me as it has been portrayed by others.  Although by most asian standard, I am still not up to my age group yet, I am the lone person in my college year that is still single, and though I had my various ventures, I have yet to settle in one single city for more than 2 years.  perhaps by the time I turn 30, my view will change and so will my life..

    For these reasons, I anticipate my 30th.. it will be a great party