Sunday, December 11, 2011
Zen of the day
The best way to stop your parents from yelling at each other for a stupid thing is to do something stupid yourself immediately, so they get distracted and start to yell at you as a unit!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sleepless
I didn't plan on going back to da Bing before flying, but I did. I guess, I just couldn't say goodbye to J too soon. I haven't left and I know I am gonna freaking miss him already. After we got back from his parents', he soon fell asleep. Cleaning and getting organized were my excuse, I just couldn't fall asleep. It feels like I can't waste time sleeping. Instead, I must stare at him till the moment I can't anymore. K, time to get my clothes from the drier!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Thanksgiving, it's the time of the year to get stuffed! It originally had nothing to do with me since I am from a country which doesn't have alien invasion.(Yes, south park!) I am now sitting in a starbucks waiting for my ride going for a feast tomorrow in NJ. Before I left PP's apt in Manhattan, Ana, a Spanish woman who stayed with PP, told me that she doesn't have any dinner plan tomorrow night.(Thanksgiving night) I actually asked her if she would be interested in coming to NJ for dinner tomorrow night.(I didn't know why I just felt like asking without even asking the owner of the dinner party...) Ana said, it's ok, we don't celebrate that in Spain. She may be the first one I've known in the States who doesn't have any dinner plan with friends tomorrow night. How dare I feel bad for her at all?
Anyways, after a few seconds, I knocked on her door and told her about Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. She looked very interested. I walked her through the website and info, and then, I forwarded her the website. I've never seen the parade for all these years I've been in NYC. I almost felt like, FTS, I am coming with you, Ana. I'm sure she'll be fine and maybe will have more fun than I do... :p
Last thanksgiving, I spent it with NS and PP. It was very intimate, warm and full! The roulade was amazing. I can't believe that I actually remember the name of it. Well, I overheard PP shouting the desire of ROULADE on the phone. So, time to give thanks. Thanks to everyone who has shared their life with me whether it has been fun or not. :p
My gypsy life style still has not changed much!
Anyways, after a few seconds, I knocked on her door and told her about Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. She looked very interested. I walked her through the website and info, and then, I forwarded her the website. I've never seen the parade for all these years I've been in NYC. I almost felt like, FTS, I am coming with you, Ana. I'm sure she'll be fine and maybe will have more fun than I do... :p
Last thanksgiving, I spent it with NS and PP. It was very intimate, warm and full! The roulade was amazing. I can't believe that I actually remember the name of it. Well, I overheard PP shouting the desire of ROULADE on the phone. So, time to give thanks. Thanks to everyone who has shared their life with me whether it has been fun or not. :p
My gypsy life style still has not changed much!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
29
Another year closer to 30! I thought it may be a good idea to review my 28. When I turned 28, no body really knew. I just got a bike accident. My very few auditions didn't bring me anything exciting as usual. I spent Thanksgiving with P and N. It was very intimate and wonderful. There were many concerts after because of the one year long contract. I started as Ernesto from Billy Goats Gruff. By the end of June 2011, I had done not only Ernesto, but Lucy and Dandini.(All the goats, check!) I had my moments performing Flora. That was indeed, good time. I met Jared and did my first time skiing on Feb 19. We became inseparable. Soon, we had trips to Virginia and New Jersey to visit his family. BU told me that they were interested in hiring me. April was the time for my triumph as Giulietta from the Tales of Hoffmann. Jared's mom and dad came up from New Jersey to see my performances. My paintings were shown in TriCities Opera for a while. We finished the season and I successfully invited myself to move in with Jared. I got a contract to compose for children's audio book. My voice teacher in Taiwan confirmed to hire me to sing Judith from Duke Bluebeard's Castle in MANDARIN! P and N told me about their interest in putting together an opera in Calhoun in the fall. Jared and I went to Jasper, Lake Louise, and Banff before my production in Edmonton. During the trip, I was face to face to a few black bears, an elk, many chipmunks, squirrels, a porcupine, sheep, and marmots. After the National Park, I turned into Suzuki from Madama Butterfly and had a wonderful time with Manami, Jeffrey, Roland, Stephen, Regina, Meeker family, little boys, boys' parents, Faith, Sylvia and etc. New York City survived Irene, and I safely arrived home. A day later, I went to my first day in the University. The lack of knowledge to my kind of VISA immediately put my position on hold. In Sept, P, N and I put together L'occasione fa il ladro and I conducted the production(with an orchestra) in Calhoun. A day later, I had two more concerts(One as the pianist. The other one was my recital singing and playing at the same time). The record of having three completely different programs back to back had been done. More concerts, recording sessions and students came through. After a house concert, I made friends with more wonderful and talented people from Taiwan. J's sister announced her news and we all spent time together in New Jersey with more relatives. Because of my random appearance in the assisted living, I got a few more supporters and I also made an old lady a real celebrity. Finally, the fund came in and I could really start my children audio book project. However, it was only the first payment... I bought the first Lego set, earth defense, in my life.(Of course, my parents got me sets before. This is the first of mine purchased on my own) Our Halloween party happened and that was the first time I saw Jared drunk!!! While visiting my friends from Taiwan, I found Kusmi and got so many different kinds of tea right away. (Pictures below are the links for more detail on Amazon.com)
Birthday, well, two of my top wishes do not come true. I had many awesome pieces of Pumpkin pie made by Sean. Manami made kick-ass dinners. Victoria and I had so much fun time in Manhattan. I got a little gift from J's parents. J bought me dinner in Red House and hoped to keep my mouth shut...
So, here I am. 29, and I am still struggling as the rest of my 28 years with laugh and tears... And by the way, I haven't got any tablet yet...
Birthday, well, two of my top wishes do not come true. I had many awesome pieces of Pumpkin pie made by Sean. Manami made kick-ass dinners. Victoria and I had so much fun time in Manhattan. I got a little gift from J's parents. J bought me dinner in Red House and hoped to keep my mouth shut...
So, here I am. 29, and I am still struggling as the rest of my 28 years with laugh and tears... And by the way, I haven't got any tablet yet...
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Inspired by Bonamassa
Just got back from a concert of Bonamassa's at State Theatre of Ithaca. It was a rock/pop concert and I was so inspired by his brilliance in his guitar playing, voice and the collaboration with other musicians. Bonamassa is from Utica New York. He started his career there and continued in Europe for more than a decade. He finally returned to Ithaca today and rocked the stage with standing ovation.
Before I went to the concert, I checked him out online. His amazing guitar playing was recognized when he was playing Led Zeppelin's exciting and precise solo parts. I was so thrilled to hear it live by the end of the concert. Mr. Bonamassa's gift is not only about his guitar playing, singing but also about his interaction with the band members and the audience. He definitely had the crowd gone absolutely wild tonight. I was extra amused when there was a duel scene going between Joe and Tal. Phrases after and Joe reached an unstoppable climax, Tal replied with a few gentle rubs on the cymbals. It looked so comical, and my also unstoppable laugh turned into a scream. I appreciated the sense of humor deeply.
His sense of humor also came out when he said, "this song almost became a hit!" His composition reminded me of operas a lot, simple words and meaningful ornaments. You get to hear true feelings from his voice from the guitar and vocal chords. The control he has with his guitar is just extraordinary. The incredible scale of volume, velocity, speed and sudden silence drove the musical event into a breathe taking drama. The beauty of his composition showed the most to me is from the third to the last song in the concert.(the original ending song) I heard a hit right there. All we need is a movie to go with it!
The sound system in the concert wasn't really to my liking. It felt like everything was all the way up except the keyboard for the whole time. It was so loud that I couldn't hear the crowd cheering and screaming right next to me when the musicians were playing. It was exactly like in an opera, when Joe was singing on the middle and lower registrar, the volume of the rest needed to be lower. When the registrars were far away from each other, people would be able to hear every instrument. Because of the reason, I loved Joe's quieter songs more in general because I could actually hear what he was singing.
Again, "less is more". For me, a lot of time, it's the pianissimo which gets me instead of the fortissimo. It was also the reason I laughed so hard when Tal rubbed the cymbals during the duel.
One other observation from the concert might be just my imagination. I saw a weird dynamic between Joe and Rick(the keyboard player). First, the set up of the stage made Rick stand alone on the left. And throughout the concert, Joe interacted with Tal and Carmine very often but I never saw Joe interacting with Rick. The only time I saw Joe walking toward to Rick and kind of gesturing something was after a sudden cut-off in which Rick's sound was was still hanging there alone. It made me feel that the reason Joe walked to Rick at that moment was to tell him to watch out. Other than that, there was a moment, when Joe was singing a bunch of high and expressive ornaments, Rick all of a sudden turned around and took the attention away from Joe(At least, Rick got my attention when he did that). In the operas, we are trained that no one should do any big movements to steal other's marvelous moment. By putting all these together with my crazy imagination, I suspect some interesting story between these two.
Another unbelievable achievement was that Mr. Bonamassa didn't have an intermission during the entire show(for more than two hours). We all witnessed him singing/playing on stage for the whole time. There was not a single second of "checking out". The intensity got everyone in the space glued together from the beginning to the end. Bravo, Joe, for your incredible stamina.
After all the words, I have to say that I never thought I could be so blown away by Rock/Pop music. Mr. Bonamassa definitely gained my highest respect and appreciation. I will keep my eye on him and look forward to his performances in the future. I have to thank many friends for getting us there. It was an unforgettable night and I was honored to be part of it.
Before I went to the concert, I checked him out online. His amazing guitar playing was recognized when he was playing Led Zeppelin's exciting and precise solo parts. I was so thrilled to hear it live by the end of the concert. Mr. Bonamassa's gift is not only about his guitar playing, singing but also about his interaction with the band members and the audience. He definitely had the crowd gone absolutely wild tonight. I was extra amused when there was a duel scene going between Joe and Tal. Phrases after and Joe reached an unstoppable climax, Tal replied with a few gentle rubs on the cymbals. It looked so comical, and my also unstoppable laugh turned into a scream. I appreciated the sense of humor deeply.
His sense of humor also came out when he said, "this song almost became a hit!" His composition reminded me of operas a lot, simple words and meaningful ornaments. You get to hear true feelings from his voice from the guitar and vocal chords. The control he has with his guitar is just extraordinary. The incredible scale of volume, velocity, speed and sudden silence drove the musical event into a breathe taking drama. The beauty of his composition showed the most to me is from the third to the last song in the concert.(the original ending song) I heard a hit right there. All we need is a movie to go with it!
The sound system in the concert wasn't really to my liking. It felt like everything was all the way up except the keyboard for the whole time. It was so loud that I couldn't hear the crowd cheering and screaming right next to me when the musicians were playing. It was exactly like in an opera, when Joe was singing on the middle and lower registrar, the volume of the rest needed to be lower. When the registrars were far away from each other, people would be able to hear every instrument. Because of the reason, I loved Joe's quieter songs more in general because I could actually hear what he was singing.
Again, "less is more". For me, a lot of time, it's the pianissimo which gets me instead of the fortissimo. It was also the reason I laughed so hard when Tal rubbed the cymbals during the duel.
One other observation from the concert might be just my imagination. I saw a weird dynamic between Joe and Rick(the keyboard player). First, the set up of the stage made Rick stand alone on the left. And throughout the concert, Joe interacted with Tal and Carmine very often but I never saw Joe interacting with Rick. The only time I saw Joe walking toward to Rick and kind of gesturing something was after a sudden cut-off in which Rick's sound was was still hanging there alone. It made me feel that the reason Joe walked to Rick at that moment was to tell him to watch out. Other than that, there was a moment, when Joe was singing a bunch of high and expressive ornaments, Rick all of a sudden turned around and took the attention away from Joe(At least, Rick got my attention when he did that). In the operas, we are trained that no one should do any big movements to steal other's marvelous moment. By putting all these together with my crazy imagination, I suspect some interesting story between these two.
Another unbelievable achievement was that Mr. Bonamassa didn't have an intermission during the entire show(for more than two hours). We all witnessed him singing/playing on stage for the whole time. There was not a single second of "checking out". The intensity got everyone in the space glued together from the beginning to the end. Bravo, Joe, for your incredible stamina.
After all the words, I have to say that I never thought I could be so blown away by Rock/Pop music. Mr. Bonamassa definitely gained my highest respect and appreciation. I will keep my eye on him and look forward to his performances in the future. I have to thank many friends for getting us there. It was an unforgettable night and I was honored to be part of it.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The very sad capitalistic world...
I spent so much time thinking about getting an iPad since iPad 1 was out. Tablets have developed for a while. Since iPad, more and more advanced gadgets came through. My meaning of getting a new gadget is to take me away from the world of ridiculous charge by cellphone companies/providers. (Click on the photos below will take you to more detail on Amazon.com)
Since google voice provides free calls/texts in the US and Canada, it's actually possible. With my iPhone, I managed to receive, send, and call on my Google voice number with WIFI. Since it's a Google number, and iPhone has an app working for it. It's natural for anyone to assume that an Android(developed by Google) would definitely have an app working with Google number. However, after spending time searching a free app(Talkatone on iPhone is free.) on an Android Xoom, the answer is no! I couldn't find any free app guaranteed working with Google number. Re-phrase, there are apps working with Google number, but only with one or two functions. The ones which are able to receive cannot send. And the ones you can make a call needs the receiver with the same apps. The best part is that all the apps charge the customers. It was a huge turn off after considering Xoom for good.
iPad has been more stable and reliable of all. However, the fact that I have to sync the Pad with iTunes all the time makes me sick of it. I never appreciate how Apple tries to dominate the market by producing products only working with Apple.
I also thought about Chromebooks. However, there is no actual Chromebook in the market before I make an order. It's hard to imagine how exactly Chromebooks work. There are apps for Chromebooks and I don't seem to find enough apps fascinating me yet. By looking at the price, it seems to be higher than the usual Netbook. Netbook 3G should be top on my list considering how little I need from a mobile gadget. Netbooks are still cheaper but there aren't enough popular developers yet to make me feel more comfortable of purchasing one.
Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have their own data plans. AT&T wants to sound cheaper by providing different amount of data plans from Verizon. T-Mobile's website is a hot mess. I don't seem to find the info I want to know in general. I didn't have time observing Sprint. On top of this broadband monthly plan or yearly contract, I discovered more disgusting facts. First, a 2 year wireless contract with a netbook is more expensive than monthly data plan with no contract.(T-Mobile) The fee for the same data plan changes for different gadgets.
I was an AT&T customer but constantly thinking about switching or just simply terminating my number. When I followed up the step of getting a Xoom, I realized that I could transfer my cellphone number to a Verizon iPad. When I was in AT&T, they told me that I can't have the same number. In order to make it happen, I have to first terminate my AT&T number. Three months later, the number will go back to the free market, and I can only hope to get the same number for my new device. I found this very upsetting.
There is another interesting thing I found. With Kindle, one can get free unlimited 3G network. But again, the 3G model doesn't have colors, and Kindle doesn't have their apps listed clear enough for me to browse.(The website mess must be a typical Amazon thing. I will get into that one day.) Should we all pray for Kindles' great success and ambition. Hopefully, one day, they will end the BS of paying so much for 3G, period!
We think about getting a good deal of something. The truth is that after you add the sum up, I mean, contract of data plan, the gadget, and etc. There isn't much difference in 2 years. The only one thing I am certain right now is to terminate my AT&T number no matter what. Call me old fashion, I actually enjoyed my life without a cellphone much more. And relax, I still have a cellphone number, thanks to Google. It's just that I am only able to access it with WIFI around.
I am looking at a free-WIFI-everywhere world. When will it happen, please?
Since google voice provides free calls/texts in the US and Canada, it's actually possible. With my iPhone, I managed to receive, send, and call on my Google voice number with WIFI. Since it's a Google number, and iPhone has an app working for it. It's natural for anyone to assume that an Android(developed by Google) would definitely have an app working with Google number. However, after spending time searching a free app(Talkatone on iPhone is free.) on an Android Xoom, the answer is no! I couldn't find any free app guaranteed working with Google number. Re-phrase, there are apps working with Google number, but only with one or two functions. The ones which are able to receive cannot send. And the ones you can make a call needs the receiver with the same apps. The best part is that all the apps charge the customers. It was a huge turn off after considering Xoom for good.
iPad has been more stable and reliable of all. However, the fact that I have to sync the Pad with iTunes all the time makes me sick of it. I never appreciate how Apple tries to dominate the market by producing products only working with Apple.
I also thought about Chromebooks. However, there is no actual Chromebook in the market before I make an order. It's hard to imagine how exactly Chromebooks work. There are apps for Chromebooks and I don't seem to find enough apps fascinating me yet. By looking at the price, it seems to be higher than the usual Netbook. Netbook 3G should be top on my list considering how little I need from a mobile gadget. Netbooks are still cheaper but there aren't enough popular developers yet to make me feel more comfortable of purchasing one.
Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have their own data plans. AT&T wants to sound cheaper by providing different amount of data plans from Verizon. T-Mobile's website is a hot mess. I don't seem to find the info I want to know in general. I didn't have time observing Sprint. On top of this broadband monthly plan or yearly contract, I discovered more disgusting facts. First, a 2 year wireless contract with a netbook is more expensive than monthly data plan with no contract.(T-Mobile) The fee for the same data plan changes for different gadgets.
I was an AT&T customer but constantly thinking about switching or just simply terminating my number. When I followed up the step of getting a Xoom, I realized that I could transfer my cellphone number to a Verizon iPad. When I was in AT&T, they told me that I can't have the same number. In order to make it happen, I have to first terminate my AT&T number. Three months later, the number will go back to the free market, and I can only hope to get the same number for my new device. I found this very upsetting.
There is another interesting thing I found. With Kindle, one can get free unlimited 3G network. But again, the 3G model doesn't have colors, and Kindle doesn't have their apps listed clear enough for me to browse.(The website mess must be a typical Amazon thing. I will get into that one day.) Should we all pray for Kindles' great success and ambition. Hopefully, one day, they will end the BS of paying so much for 3G, period!
We think about getting a good deal of something. The truth is that after you add the sum up, I mean, contract of data plan, the gadget, and etc. There isn't much difference in 2 years. The only one thing I am certain right now is to terminate my AT&T number no matter what. Call me old fashion, I actually enjoyed my life without a cellphone much more. And relax, I still have a cellphone number, thanks to Google. It's just that I am only able to access it with WIFI around.
I am looking at a free-WIFI-everywhere world. When will it happen, please?
Saturday, October 29, 2011
OK, quite bye but not yet, cellphone
Finally, the plan about my cellphone is that I will get a Xoom 4g lte and switch my at&t server to Verizon for the network. At the same time, I am gonna choose the lowest data usage plan. Most of the time with my Xoom will be using WIFI.
Okey-dokey. A little bit of final hesitation before I make the purchase...
Okey-dokey. A little bit of final hesitation before I make the purchase...
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
So long, cellphone!
After using Google voice for a couple of months, I made a decision. Bye, AT&T and other cellphone companies. At this point, there are enough free WIFI around. I am definitely not interested in 3G provided by MIFI because every server charges 50$ per month for 5GB of usage, over 5, 10$ per GB.
That means, I am going into a phase to merge with WIFI fully. It is interesting to think about all the empires of technology. Apple turned the market to its favor by iPod, iPhone, and all the other i-Gadgets. Google has unlimited online storage place for pretty much everything. Google's existence made the fee to Microsoft Office absolutely unnecessary. Because of the free space, Google is holding a huge deal of information. The power for good??? I wonder.
A few days ago, I read the news about facebook in Germany. The power of facial recognition is scary. Like what J and I talked about, witness protection? When I think about satellite image(a huge amount of data), can anyone really hide? Maybe we will never look up to the sky anymore. How about other cameras? We may be randomly tagged in pictures we are not aware of. It could be good to monitor the public figures. I, myself, probably don't like to be exposed that much...
Anyways, I so far like Google, still. I am sick of backing-up my documents. If there is an unlimited online space for me to store everything, sure, I will save everything there. Go for the traditional ways if we want privacy, save it in the brain!
Now, I am having a headache deciding which tablet or chromebook I want. I am definitely getting an Android or Google related thing because I want to use Google for everything. Acer's chromebook is to my liking, but the battery life isn't sweet. Other than chrome. Xoom and HTC both look pretty good to me. I've thought about getting an iPad but all the Apples need to sync with iTune and it's not really convenient to a PC user like me. I don't need huge storage place as long as I have online access or the possibility of adding it to a SD card.
Any suggestions?
That means, I am going into a phase to merge with WIFI fully. It is interesting to think about all the empires of technology. Apple turned the market to its favor by iPod, iPhone, and all the other i-Gadgets. Google has unlimited online storage place for pretty much everything. Google's existence made the fee to Microsoft Office absolutely unnecessary. Because of the free space, Google is holding a huge deal of information. The power for good??? I wonder.
A few days ago, I read the news about facebook in Germany. The power of facial recognition is scary. Like what J and I talked about, witness protection? When I think about satellite image(a huge amount of data), can anyone really hide? Maybe we will never look up to the sky anymore. How about other cameras? We may be randomly tagged in pictures we are not aware of. It could be good to monitor the public figures. I, myself, probably don't like to be exposed that much...
Anyways, I so far like Google, still. I am sick of backing-up my documents. If there is an unlimited online space for me to store everything, sure, I will save everything there. Go for the traditional ways if we want privacy, save it in the brain!
Now, I am having a headache deciding which tablet or chromebook I want. I am definitely getting an Android or Google related thing because I want to use Google for everything. Acer's chromebook is to my liking, but the battery life isn't sweet. Other than chrome. Xoom and HTC both look pretty good to me. I've thought about getting an iPad but all the Apples need to sync with iTune and it's not really convenient to a PC user like me. I don't need huge storage place as long as I have online access or the possibility of adding it to a SD card.
Any suggestions?
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Canada 2011~ 6 Hard work before the hot spring
After the second night in Jasper, I woke up with my face half swollen. My face was so ugly that I didn't even want to look at myself. The mosquitoes in Jasper really got me well. After J woke up, he was shocked, too. We both figured that it may be necessary to use a bug net.
On this day three, we've learned our routine. After getting to the point the trail ends on the map, we go for the summit. This day wasn't rainy but the temperature on the mountain varied so much by the clouds. You can see people dressing in any season on the mountain. We were all confused by how to adapt to the weather. After we conquered the summit, J started to take pictures from every angle. There was this family on the summit. The parents were telling me how the young girls dislike the hiking. I told them that I was on the same boat except the love to ice cream and steak kept me going. I helped them take a family picture and they took a picture for us as well.
We must have spent a good hour on the summit. Finally I dragged J down and we prepared for the hot spring. There were people from all over the world. Hot spring is very popular in Asia. I heard all different dialects and languages from Asia there. I challenged J to go to the extremely cold pool right after the extremely hot one. It was very exhilarating. We both felt like our skin getting poked by needles everywhere. After the procedure twice, J finished himself after the cool pool and decided to just chill out. I enjoyed the hot spring once more and prepared to head out.
While I was in women's locker room, I realized that there were girls who wore underwear in the pool instead of swimming suit. That was very interesting. I quickly showered, finally, after 3 days without any shower. I was sitting in the lobby waiting for J. Just at that moment, the guys next to me started to chat in Italian. They were teasing each other for jumping out so soon. Right in front of us came a few more Asian girls. Those Italian men started to guess where those girls are from. That was when I said Chinese in Italian. They were definitely all stuttering at that moment (realizing all their garbage talk fully understood by an Asian looking girl). We had a nice little chat in Italian and they told me that they were talking about how beautiful I am, blah blah blah, yeah right...
I shared the story with J. And we head out to take some pictures of sheep. We drove back to Jasper for dinner, gas and some ice cream. I had some delicious steak, and J had a nice burger. We looked at their own brewery menu but J wasn't convinced to try any.
We went back to the campsite and got fire for the night. It was beautiful.
Canada 2011~ 5 Maligne Lake
There were a ton of marmots, chipmunks, and squirrels on the way. The weather wasn't very good. We could see clouds everywhere. People had been telling us that it had been raining days since they got in Canada. J knew how much I hate getting rained on. We wrapped myself in water proof stuff. On the way, he kept asking me how I am, and the answer was, "invincible"!
We climbed up once again to the end of the map, and once again, there was more to the summit. It was the interesting thing about how different J and I feel. I always wondered if it was because of the feeling of conquering another summit to keep J moving forward and fast. For me, the summits all look the same, and I don't need to tackle every single one of them. One summit in an area is good enough for my little mind.
Maligne was this long gorgeous lake. The guide in the information center told us that people usually take the boat to the center of the lake for one famous tourist shot! That was probably why we didn't do that. In general, neither J and I am crazy about getting crowded with people...
On the way back to the campsite, we saw a caribou(Later we learned that it may just be an elk), and a bear not very far from the campsite eating berries on the side of the road. We took a few pictures and drove back to our camp post. After cooking some deliciousness, J and I were ready to have a feast. In the middle of it, J spat the words quietly, "a bear"! We stood up and stared at the bear. It was just a living room away. He was so quiet eating the berries around. I would have not noticed the bear if Jared weren't there. The bear didn't care about us at all. It smoothed its way up and disappeared. J and I felt relieved and quickly finished our dinner. I told our neighbor about the bear encounter and she looked definitely worried.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Canada 2011~ 4 Wabasso Campsite
After the first hike on Mount Edith, we finally came to our campsite. In the national park area, everyone greets you in both English and French to find out which language you feel more comfortable with. The registration lady had a high and sweet tone in her voice. She told us about the bears people had seen in the campsite, "They are behaving themselves. They were just eating berries from places to places." After freaking out a little bit, we drove to our campsite.
The campsite was full of people all over the world. Surprisingly, we discovered many German campers in the park. Soon after we set up the tent, J started to work on our dinner. We had the curry pack and some instant noodles. After dinner, we had our little walk around the campsite. The river was milky white. It was chilly out. J was trying out his tripod with remote control for long exposure. The pictures came out blue and dreamy.
The campsite was full of people all over the world. Surprisingly, we discovered many German campers in the park. Soon after we set up the tent, J started to work on our dinner. We had the curry pack and some instant noodles. After dinner, we had our little walk around the campsite. The river was milky white. It was chilly out. J was trying out his tripod with remote control for long exposure. The pictures came out blue and dreamy.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Recital of Ü Sep 24 @ Taiwan Center
I was so excited to perform for people who understand my dialect. It was a concert of me singing and playing at the same time. The repertoire includes operas, English and Taiwanese songs, and my own composition.
Arsace's Entrance Aria
1st Duet of Tosca and Cavaradossi
John Carter's Cantata
Tom Lehrer: Poisoning pigeons in the park, I got it from Agnes
Keeping Sol
Massage Session
Li-Po, singing poem 早發白帝城
Xiao, 上美的花, 永遠的故鄉
Arsace's Entrance Aria
1st Duet of Tosca and Cavaradossi
John Carter's Cantata
Tom Lehrer: Poisoning pigeons in the park, I got it from Agnes
Keeping Sol
Massage Session
Li-Po, singing poem 早發白帝城
Xiao, 上美的花, 永遠的故鄉
Friday, September 23, 2011
L'occasione fa il ladro TONIGHT!
Our two weeks hard work for everyone finally comes to the stage! I am very grateful to be in this production working with people who love operas(not fee, just a little HONORARIUM). Everyone has to wear many hats in order to keep the show rolling. I certainly had lots of fun hearing wrong notes from everyone and I appreciated people who dared to make them loud enough to be heard. That's what won't happen in the performance. I admire the musicians who went through all the notes I gave at their very limited free time. The difference was enormous! It is thrilling to hear an orchestra playing fast steady repeating notes very quietly!
Here are the funny quotes I have for the musicians,
6. Listen to your colleagues carefully, but don’t rely on them for tempo nor your entrance. Get them from the baton.
7. For Fiati: Treat “>” as just a little kick of spice!
Here are the funny quotes I have for the musicians,
1. Every note(rest) is born equally meaningful and every note(rest) deserves great care.
2. “>” doesn’t mean just to put an accent. “>” means more expressive, more meat, more vibrato. Make them elegant!
3. Clean cut offs can bring out more drama.
4. When you have a tr~~, make an opera about it.
5. Don’t rush when it’s getting louder. Don’t slow down when it’s getting softer. Piano/forte only affects the volume, not tempo.
6. Listen to your colleagues carefully, but don’t rely on them for tempo nor your entrance. Get them from the baton.
8. For Archi: Sneak in your entrance.(No accents)
9. For Ob: make those triplets a tease to the tenor.
10. For Ob, Cl: piano(the light bulb on of Parmenione’s wicked plan to get the girl!)
11. For Cl, V1: grace notes starting on the beats and short (They are the tickles of Parmenione’s evil plan. His thought is “Such a beauty worthes every illegal move!”)
12. When in doubt, stare at Ü!
Oh! Well, time to get ready again.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Power outage
The longest 5 days in my life indeed~
For the past five days, J and I've been living without electricity entirely. Saving the battery of the cellphones for emergency only was rather challenging.The flood took more than Route 17, 434, and etc. Susquenhanna got expanded so much that plenty of properties were in water. 100+ lives in Petco were left behind. Rescue teams have been out everyday to check if there are more people trapped somewhere. The shelters around were completely full. On the second day after the huge rain, J and I walked around to see what has happened. We realized that we were blocked in the area because 434 got water on both east and west, and 17 became a river. 17 finally opened yesterday during our adventure. I once wondered why the posts of cables were set so closed to the ground and finally understood the power of flood. Yes, they got sunk into the ground. Later on we saw posts with regular height. And yes, the cables were broken because of the sunken posts, probably.
By living through this experience, I've noticed that unlike in Manhattan, people here were not taught well for preparation. Before Irene came, people were evacuated to safer places. In upstate New York, they were "rescued". As a Taiwanese person having several typhoons every year, we were taught to stuck some dry goods, flashlights, candles, matches, and etc. to prepare for the worst scenario possible. My dad even once thought about getting a tube just in case we were trapped in the house full of water. Luckily we never got flood in. It took several years for the power company in Kaohsiung to realize that they really shouldn't have put the machines which connect with the entire neighborhood in a basement.
One may think after 100 year flood in 2006, people would know better for Lee in 2011. It was shocking that not many business in the previous flooded areas got some sense of danger. I was in Town Square Mall on the way home before the outage. Barnes & Noble did close early. The rest of the stores were still planning on their regular hours without making anything higher up from the ground. Somehow, J's company still had the fantasy of having their facility open on Thur because they only made the voice message of "facility closed" in the morning. After all the roads and bridges got flooded, they finally announced the Fri off on Thur. NYSEG thought they could repair the power by 11am on Thur and they still thought they could repair it by 11pm on Thur. Eventually, they realized that the water wasn't going away and there was no way for them to do anything before the water's gone. This is the part that scares me. We weren't aware of how dangerous this could turn into. Maybe it was after Manhattan surviving Irene. People got relaxed? The media didn't care about upstate New York as much? Am I becoming ignorant?
I am glad that all my friends in the area are fine. For these past few days, I got a lot accomplished. It may be a good thing to give out electricity once in a while. All my guilty pleasure required electricity... J got parts of the house and the fridge organized and cleaned. He got to teach me how to play chess and I finally defeated him. Mwahahahaha with my nonsense moves. Squid has been a winner in the dark house. He loved chasing shadows made by the headlights.
Oh well, time to pack and go back to Manhattan~
For the past five days, J and I've been living without electricity entirely. Saving the battery of the cellphones for emergency only was rather challenging.The flood took more than Route 17, 434, and etc. Susquenhanna got expanded so much that plenty of properties were in water. 100+ lives in Petco were left behind. Rescue teams have been out everyday to check if there are more people trapped somewhere. The shelters around were completely full. On the second day after the huge rain, J and I walked around to see what has happened. We realized that we were blocked in the area because 434 got water on both east and west, and 17 became a river. 17 finally opened yesterday during our adventure. I once wondered why the posts of cables were set so closed to the ground and finally understood the power of flood. Yes, they got sunk into the ground. Later on we saw posts with regular height. And yes, the cables were broken because of the sunken posts, probably.
By living through this experience, I've noticed that unlike in Manhattan, people here were not taught well for preparation. Before Irene came, people were evacuated to safer places. In upstate New York, they were "rescued". As a Taiwanese person having several typhoons every year, we were taught to stuck some dry goods, flashlights, candles, matches, and etc. to prepare for the worst scenario possible. My dad even once thought about getting a tube just in case we were trapped in the house full of water. Luckily we never got flood in. It took several years for the power company in Kaohsiung to realize that they really shouldn't have put the machines which connect with the entire neighborhood in a basement.
One may think after 100 year flood in 2006, people would know better for Lee in 2011. It was shocking that not many business in the previous flooded areas got some sense of danger. I was in Town Square Mall on the way home before the outage. Barnes & Noble did close early. The rest of the stores were still planning on their regular hours without making anything higher up from the ground. Somehow, J's company still had the fantasy of having their facility open on Thur because they only made the voice message of "facility closed" in the morning. After all the roads and bridges got flooded, they finally announced the Fri off on Thur. NYSEG thought they could repair the power by 11am on Thur and they still thought they could repair it by 11pm on Thur. Eventually, they realized that the water wasn't going away and there was no way for them to do anything before the water's gone. This is the part that scares me. We weren't aware of how dangerous this could turn into. Maybe it was after Manhattan surviving Irene. People got relaxed? The media didn't care about upstate New York as much? Am I becoming ignorant?
I am glad that all my friends in the area are fine. For these past few days, I got a lot accomplished. It may be a good thing to give out electricity once in a while. All my guilty pleasure required electricity... J got parts of the house and the fridge organized and cleaned. He got to teach me how to play chess and I finally defeated him. Mwahahahaha with my nonsense moves. Squid has been a winner in the dark house. He loved chasing shadows made by the headlights.
Oh well, time to pack and go back to Manhattan~
Friday, September 2, 2011
Canada 2011~ 3 Home of mosquitoes, Jasper, Mount Edith~
The engine started and we left Hinton. Soon we got into the town of Jasper. We paid a visit to the info center. The lady there gave us some maps and told us where to hike. And then we planned to get some food and a hike before we get to our camp site. We must have waited for more than 1 hour to order and to get the food. The sandwiches were good and we got to just relax a bit.
Mount Edith has a short hiking trail. We drove there and started our adventure. The map says that we should definitely get there early or we will have difficulty finding a parking lot. It was true that the parking place was full. However, we got lucky by making one extra loop in the lot. After quickly parking in that available space, we walked into the woods.
I can't remember much but the grey sky, Angel glacier, pikas, marmots, and squirrels/chipmunks. I do remember getting bitten by the bugs. It was my first hike after the Catskill training Jared made me to do. Everything seemed to be tiring. My speed was not good and finally we made it to the end of the trail on the map. After we got to the top, there were smaller trails going to the summit. I told J just go ahead and I will be pacing myself toward that direction. If the weather gets worse, he will head back and I will meet him on the way down.
It was so windy that I felt like flying off the hill. Finally I saw Jared coming back and we decided to head down before the weather gets worse. On they way down, there were people who just wanted to get up. Good luck to them.
I can't remember much but the grey sky, Angel glacier, pikas, marmots, and squirrels/chipmunks. I do remember getting bitten by the bugs. It was my first hike after the Catskill training Jared made me to do. Everything seemed to be tiring. My speed was not good and finally we made it to the end of the trail on the map. After we got to the top, there were smaller trails going to the summit. I told J just go ahead and I will be pacing myself toward that direction. If the weather gets worse, he will head back and I will meet him on the way down.
It was so windy that I felt like flying off the hill. Finally I saw Jared coming back and we decided to head down before the weather gets worse. On they way down, there were people who just wanted to get up. Good luck to them.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Canada 2011~ 2 Driving in Canada
After we hopped on the Chevy, we pulled out the google direction with the MapArt I just bought from the bookstore. From the direction on google, it didn't look difficult. We need to get to a grocery store and head to the West Edmonton Mall for our camping supplies.
We were both excited. I looked at the QE 2, which is supposed to take us all the way to exit 160 something. We never really saw the sign of Queen Elizabeth but we were sure that we stayed on some highway with the number 2 for most of time. After getting in Edmonton, we hit huge traffic.(According to a local joke, Edmonton has 2 weather, Winter and Construction.) I was looking at the map because we were on Gateway blvd and I thought we should stay with #2. I kept telling J to make a left but I probably weren't clear. So, we missed the turn of #2 and had to improvise.
During our improvisation, we explored Zellers(good for nothing), Safeway(got a Safeway card I never used again), and finally we got in Edmonton Mall. It was huge and we were both so lost in the Mall. I was in love with those themes of amusement parks and the ice skating ring in the mall. We soon grabbed some food and found the store for mountain life. After a brief conversation with the sales people, we got a bear spray and a small can of gas. Back to the road, for our first night in Hinton.
We could sense that we were getting closer to the Hotel according to google map. Either the road/street signs weren't clear, or google just didn't match the names to the current day yet. We finally got there, we asked for the WIFI the ad says but "it is not working", said the lady at the desk.
We were both excited. I looked at the QE 2, which is supposed to take us all the way to exit 160 something. We never really saw the sign of Queen Elizabeth but we were sure that we stayed on some highway with the number 2 for most of time. After getting in Edmonton, we hit huge traffic.(According to a local joke, Edmonton has 2 weather, Winter and Construction.) I was looking at the map because we were on Gateway blvd and I thought we should stay with #2. I kept telling J to make a left but I probably weren't clear. So, we missed the turn of #2 and had to improvise.
During our improvisation, we explored Zellers(good for nothing), Safeway(got a Safeway card I never used again), and finally we got in Edmonton Mall. It was huge and we were both so lost in the Mall. I was in love with those themes of amusement parks and the ice skating ring in the mall. We soon grabbed some food and found the store for mountain life. After a brief conversation with the sales people, we got a bear spray and a small can of gas. Back to the road, for our first night in Hinton.
We could sense that we were getting closer to the Hotel according to google map. Either the road/street signs weren't clear, or google just didn't match the names to the current day yet. We finally got there, we asked for the WIFI the ad says but "it is not working", said the lady at the desk.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Canada 2011~ 1 -Taiwan is no longer ROC?-
J and I went to NJ the night before our UA flight. When we tried to get our e-ticket printed out before we head to the airport, mine ticket couldn't be printed out. Perhaps because I am a Taiwanese and UA couldn't trust any foreign country. So, I had my ticket printed at the airport and we joyfully made it on our first flight.
The 1st one took us to Chicago. J and I had different second flights. We literally ran between the terminals because there was no airtrain or some sort which transports people to different terminals without getting out from the buildings. We were fast. We managed to run there and still had time to go to the restroom before boarding.
My flight left first. We said a short good bye and I took off from Chicago. My flight looked so old that I was worried if it was gonna fall apart. The flight attendants were really laid-back. Their hair looked like they just woke up. When one of them was announcing safety instruction, she was reading it from a note and still made some mistakes. That was cute. When we got closer to Edmonton, I looked down from the sky. Canada looks like a perfectly pieced together map as in Cilvilization 5 when players have squares of farm worked on.
I landed and I went to the customs officer. He told me that I need a VISA to get into Canada. I told him that since 2011, Taiwanese people can go in Canada as a visitor for a month without VISA. He said, your passport is REPUBLIC OF CHINA, not Taiwan, so, you need a VISA. I was speechless. I told him that I was a Taiwanese as the passport stated inside. He sent me to the immigrant office. There were 2 people before me. I overheard their conversation a bit and found out that they both had some kind of criminal record in Canada before and that was why they were there getting extra Q&A time. At the end, they both got in Canada OK. The lady who was in charge of my case was very sweet. She said, Taiwanese people don't need a VISA and she is gonna let me in. The guy who told me that I need the VISA went into the office and started a very long discussion about me having a Chinese or Taiwanese passport. He said the real Taiwanese Passport has Taiwan printed on the cover. However, mine was quite old and it didn't have the words. (I guess when I had my last passport applied, our government may still have the fantasy about taking back China again.) I told them to check when the new passport started, and it was unfortunately the same year I got mine. (I may have got it slightly too soon then the current Taiwanese.) So, I told them to call Taiwanese organization in Canada and they finally let me in.
After I got in, I treated myself a hotdog. I went to the bookstore upstairs to get a map of Alberta and came down to the meeting place J and I picked from the map of Edmonton airport. In not for too long, J appeared and we went to pick up our car. It was a pretty new Chevy.
The 1st one took us to Chicago. J and I had different second flights. We literally ran between the terminals because there was no airtrain or some sort which transports people to different terminals without getting out from the buildings. We were fast. We managed to run there and still had time to go to the restroom before boarding.
My flight left first. We said a short good bye and I took off from Chicago. My flight looked so old that I was worried if it was gonna fall apart. The flight attendants were really laid-back. Their hair looked like they just woke up. When one of them was announcing safety instruction, she was reading it from a note and still made some mistakes. That was cute. When we got closer to Edmonton, I looked down from the sky. Canada looks like a perfectly pieced together map as in Cilvilization 5 when players have squares of farm worked on.
I landed and I went to the customs officer. He told me that I need a VISA to get into Canada. I told him that since 2011, Taiwanese people can go in Canada as a visitor for a month without VISA. He said, your passport is REPUBLIC OF CHINA, not Taiwan, so, you need a VISA. I was speechless. I told him that I was a Taiwanese as the passport stated inside. He sent me to the immigrant office. There were 2 people before me. I overheard their conversation a bit and found out that they both had some kind of criminal record in Canada before and that was why they were there getting extra Q&A time. At the end, they both got in Canada OK. The lady who was in charge of my case was very sweet. She said, Taiwanese people don't need a VISA and she is gonna let me in. The guy who told me that I need the VISA went into the office and started a very long discussion about me having a Chinese or Taiwanese passport. He said the real Taiwanese Passport has Taiwan printed on the cover. However, mine was quite old and it didn't have the words. (I guess when I had my last passport applied, our government may still have the fantasy about taking back China again.) I told them to check when the new passport started, and it was unfortunately the same year I got mine. (I may have got it slightly too soon then the current Taiwanese.) So, I told them to call Taiwanese organization in Canada and they finally let me in.
After I got in, I treated myself a hotdog. I went to the bookstore upstairs to get a map of Alberta and came down to the meeting place J and I picked from the map of Edmonton airport. In not for too long, J appeared and we went to pick up our car. It was a pretty new Chevy.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Make better, keep complaining!
It's very unfortunate if anyone comes to the point to complain. However, many times, it's the only way to make some preferable change. It's true that people can choose to ignore the complaints. Still, once in a while, there is a potential of making things better because someone actually listens to it. Here is a pretty unbelievable example if I may.
July 12, I had to take the public transportation(buses mainly) from where I live to Tranquil(cross counties). While browsing online, I got lost totally and wasn't able to find any bus line I should be taking for the part in Broome County. I was clueless because all the bus stops were in description instead of a clear map with different colors to indicate different routes. I am a total foreigner and there is no way that I can figure out all the names of stops without looking at a map. It took me a great deal of time going back and forth between google map and the website in order to know where every stop is. And still, I couldn't figure out which bus I should take because of the possibilities to transfer at different stops on that day.
So, I spent 3 hours writing to the webmaster and the person in charge of public transportation(information from the website) about my experience searching for a map online. I tried to make my suggestions very specific and on top of that, I had an online bus map of Manhattan forwarded as a good example with the email. A few days ago, I was trying to look at some more bus stops and realized that the transportation website was under construction. Finally after the weekend, I was able to get on the site and surprise, there was this little map with all the bus lines with different colors available on the bus schedule/map page. It looks like it's still under working progress but it's coming. How exciting is that? It's only Aug 2 when I saw the colorful map!
I may have imagined this connection between my complaint(or suggestion) and the result(seeing a new map or finally discovering that). I would love to think that people who work in the office do hear voices from everybody. As a resident, it's our duty to say something when we want something to be better. I'm not encouraging any kind of aggressive or violent language. It's just a very considerate thought for everybody to make lives easier. If anyone is interested in what exactly I wrote, just ask and I will show you.
July 12, I had to take the public transportation(buses mainly) from where I live to Tranquil(cross counties). While browsing online, I got lost totally and wasn't able to find any bus line I should be taking for the part in Broome County. I was clueless because all the bus stops were in description instead of a clear map with different colors to indicate different routes. I am a total foreigner and there is no way that I can figure out all the names of stops without looking at a map. It took me a great deal of time going back and forth between google map and the website in order to know where every stop is. And still, I couldn't figure out which bus I should take because of the possibilities to transfer at different stops on that day.
So, I spent 3 hours writing to the webmaster and the person in charge of public transportation(information from the website) about my experience searching for a map online. I tried to make my suggestions very specific and on top of that, I had an online bus map of Manhattan forwarded as a good example with the email. A few days ago, I was trying to look at some more bus stops and realized that the transportation website was under construction. Finally after the weekend, I was able to get on the site and surprise, there was this little map with all the bus lines with different colors available on the bus schedule/map page. It looks like it's still under working progress but it's coming. How exciting is that? It's only Aug 2 when I saw the colorful map!
I may have imagined this connection between my complaint(or suggestion) and the result(seeing a new map or finally discovering that). I would love to think that people who work in the office do hear voices from everybody. As a resident, it's our duty to say something when we want something to be better. I'm not encouraging any kind of aggressive or violent language. It's just a very considerate thought for everybody to make lives easier. If anyone is interested in what exactly I wrote, just ask and I will show you.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Go! Amazon Instant Movies~
Netflix announced that starting from Sep 1, the current plan which has 1 DVD at a time and Instant Watch online(both unlimited) will be separated into 2 plans. It means that from 9.99 per month for both services will become 15.98 if the consumers still want to keep the same services.(read it here, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/12/netflix-price-subscription-plan_n_895779.html)
As a cheap customer, I started to do some math. Amazon Prime definitely has enough collection to keep me interested and busy. I will definitely stop my unlimited instant watch plan with Netflix from Sep 1.
The only reason I could think about keeping Netflix for DVD rentals from mails is for the TV shows Amazon hasn't covered for free yet. The episodes from different TV shows cost differently from free, 0.99. 1.99 to 2.99. I think Amazon should price the episodes a lot lower. If a customer uses Netflix for TV shows rental with 1 DVD at a time unlimited plan, plus the time mailing between places, 7.99 a month may give one person 84 episodes to watch(approximately 4 episodes per disc, 2 discs per week, 4 weeks a moth). However, for TV shows, maybe one should just look into hulu. If one can read Chinese simple or traditional, tudou is a good place to check out, too.(Quality may be not as good.)
TV shows are huge commitments to make. Most likely, I am gonna quit the unlimited DVD rental as well.
If one uses Netflix mainly for movie DVD rental, the math told me that it will bring the price to about 1 dollar per disc.(2 discs per week through mails, 4 weeks a month, the plan is 7.99 per month.) Well, if you have Red Box around, renting a DVD costs 1 dollar and if you have a lot of time to watch DVDs, it actually gives a person to rent more 1 dollar movies in a month.
Well, there are many more sites and servers online one can choose to stream free movies as well. So, increasing price? Netflix, I hope you are ready.
What I've been watching on Amazon for free as a Prime member(Click on the picture will take you to Amazon website for more detail)
As a cheap customer, I started to do some math. Amazon Prime definitely has enough collection to keep me interested and busy. I will definitely stop my unlimited instant watch plan with Netflix from Sep 1.
The only reason I could think about keeping Netflix for DVD rentals from mails is for the TV shows Amazon hasn't covered for free yet. The episodes from different TV shows cost differently from free, 0.99. 1.99 to 2.99. I think Amazon should price the episodes a lot lower. If a customer uses Netflix for TV shows rental with 1 DVD at a time unlimited plan, plus the time mailing between places, 7.99 a month may give one person 84 episodes to watch(approximately 4 episodes per disc, 2 discs per week, 4 weeks a moth). However, for TV shows, maybe one should just look into hulu. If one can read Chinese simple or traditional, tudou is a good place to check out, too.(Quality may be not as good.)
TV shows are huge commitments to make. Most likely, I am gonna quit the unlimited DVD rental as well.
If one uses Netflix mainly for movie DVD rental, the math told me that it will bring the price to about 1 dollar per disc.(2 discs per week through mails, 4 weeks a month, the plan is 7.99 per month.) Well, if you have Red Box around, renting a DVD costs 1 dollar and if you have a lot of time to watch DVDs, it actually gives a person to rent more 1 dollar movies in a month.
Well, there are many more sites and servers online one can choose to stream free movies as well. So, increasing price? Netflix, I hope you are ready.
What I've been watching on Amazon for free as a Prime member(Click on the picture will take you to Amazon website for more detail)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Watch out for these three talking monsters at AMC Vestal!!!
J and I went to AMC at Vestal last night for Captain America. Oh! Can't tell you how much I love skinny boys, especially when a skinny boy turns out to be a hero!!!
However, while trying to enjoy the movie, there were three continuously talking creatures sitting right behind us. They not only shared all their commentaries at least with us while we didn't ask for them but kindly spread their personal interests for the future with us. For instance, one of them wants to become a fiction writer. Please start working on it so we can miss you in the theater!
Here is the description of the three. When you are picking up your seats in that theater, watch out for these three. So, you can still enjoy the movies. This gang has two girls and a boy. One of them is a big girl with blonde hair. The other girl only has brownish hair. I didn't get a good look at the boy, luckily he didn't make much drama throughout the show. The blonde one is the most aggressive speaker of the three. As in my memory, she was also the one telling her interest becoming a writer. I will be wishing her best luck in order to enjoy movies from now on.
Otherwise, Captain America is awesome!! There is definitely a type casting on the case of Herr Schmidt, my dearest Mr. Smith from the Matrix.
However, while trying to enjoy the movie, there were three continuously talking creatures sitting right behind us. They not only shared all their commentaries at least with us while we didn't ask for them but kindly spread their personal interests for the future with us. For instance, one of them wants to become a fiction writer. Please start working on it so we can miss you in the theater!
Here is the description of the three. When you are picking up your seats in that theater, watch out for these three. So, you can still enjoy the movies. This gang has two girls and a boy. One of them is a big girl with blonde hair. The other girl only has brownish hair. I didn't get a good look at the boy, luckily he didn't make much drama throughout the show. The blonde one is the most aggressive speaker of the three. As in my memory, she was also the one telling her interest becoming a writer. I will be wishing her best luck in order to enjoy movies from now on.
Otherwise, Captain America is awesome!! There is definitely a type casting on the case of Herr Schmidt, my dearest Mr. Smith from the Matrix.
Friday, July 29, 2011
What you should do if you must "tuckitaway"
I have to tell you that none really needs a storage place if you have items sitting in the place for more than 1 year, especially, if you no longer remember what you have in the storage place. That's the time to stop the contract for sure without getting everything rotten there. Maybe there are better storage places out there with better qualities, services and people. If you must "tuck it away", here are some tricks you should know.
1. Make friends with the people who work in the warehouse.
They are in general a lot nicer than the people in the office. You never know what kind of help they can give you or advise you anytime. The people in the office just want to shut you down and make more money anytime.
2. Always take out something you don't think you will need from the storage place every time you visit.
At this moment, they don't have surveillance cameras there. It really sucks that the people who work in the warehouse will be the ones throwing out the garbage for you but this is the best way slowly getting rid off stuff without bringing yourself to the final trouble.
3. Choose a garbage day to vacate your storage place.
You have a better chance to get rid off your bigger items easily.
Here is my journey of getting rid off the stuff. After I realized that the office people were not being helpful at all, I told them that I want to go to my space to see what I can take with me today. I went there and luckily got a cart when I wasn't supposed to get one. It was the garbage day and there were many unwanted things out already. I saw a truck picking up a bed. I asked if I could drop my pieces of wood there. He told me that if I am not a tenant, he is not supposed to. I begged him and offered a kiss. And I succeeded.
After I moved everything out, I went to the office. The woman who worked in the office couldn't believe it but she had no way to stop me from getting out from my contract. I wished her a good day like nothing had ever happened and left.
So, if you are still thinking about getting a storage place after reading these articles, I can only wish you best luck and hope you have a better plan than mine.
1. Make friends with the people who work in the warehouse.
They are in general a lot nicer than the people in the office. You never know what kind of help they can give you or advise you anytime. The people in the office just want to shut you down and make more money anytime.
2. Always take out something you don't think you will need from the storage place every time you visit.
At this moment, they don't have surveillance cameras there. It really sucks that the people who work in the warehouse will be the ones throwing out the garbage for you but this is the best way slowly getting rid off stuff without bringing yourself to the final trouble.
3. Choose a garbage day to vacate your storage place.
You have a better chance to get rid off your bigger items easily.
Here is my journey of getting rid off the stuff. After I realized that the office people were not being helpful at all, I told them that I want to go to my space to see what I can take with me today. I went there and luckily got a cart when I wasn't supposed to get one. It was the garbage day and there were many unwanted things out already. I saw a truck picking up a bed. I asked if I could drop my pieces of wood there. He told me that if I am not a tenant, he is not supposed to. I begged him and offered a kiss. And I succeeded.
After I moved everything out, I went to the office. The woman who worked in the office couldn't believe it but she had no way to stop me from getting out from my contract. I wished her a good day like nothing had ever happened and left.
So, if you are still thinking about getting a storage place after reading these articles, I can only wish you best luck and hope you have a better plan than mine.
"tuck it away" if you can bear these events I've been through...
Thinking about getting a storage place? Go with Tuckitaway if you can stand what I am gonna tell below.
1. Faulse advertisement -free moving-
It has FREE MOVING on their advertisement. They only have free moving IN not OUT. (It's the first step to get you in without getting out ever.) They never told me when I moved my stuff into my station. I found it out when I tried to schedule a move out. They started to tell me that if I want to get the truck(like how I moved things in there), I have a 3 hours minimum to pay. If I want to have "helpers", they also have 3 hours minimum. That will totally make a simple 10 blocks away moving into a nearly 5 hundred dollar event.
2. Two months after my contract, they mailed me and told me they are raising up the price for 6 dollars more per month.
3. They called without figuring out why.
A. The first time I got a ton of calls from them when everything was paid regularly every month. I called them back and they told me that I have to pay 6 more dollars every month again. I asked them, "Is this even legal? You know, the rent control is makes the increase of rent so little. How can a little storage place raise 6 dollars up from 70 dollars per month only?" The person on the other side of the phone got mad at me and shoutted, "We have to live, too." I answered, "I am just asking. I believe that there is nothing you can do. I will find it out. Don't worry." So, I paid them 6 dollars more for a couple of months. The next time, when I was trying to get into my storage place, I realized that I totally forgot my key on my lock the last time. I told them that I need someone to cut my lock open and I need a new lock. They told me that I have "credits of 30 dollars in my account" I can use for the cutting lock and new lock services. When we walked to my storage place, the lock looked very different. It is their company policy if they find an unlocked storage place, they have to put on a new lock immediately in order to secure the place.
I realized that the reason they called me a few months ago probably was to tell me my lock situation. Instead of telling me so or finding out why when I called them back, they told me that my rent is going higher. I paid them more and it turned out that I didn't have to.
B. The second time they called me a ton. They left messages related to payment again. I thought they were gonna raise 6 dollars more again. I didn't reply right after. They kept calling and finally they told me that I missed a month of payment. I said, "wait, I clearly remembered when I paid. Let me get back to you in a few." I checked my online payment history through emails with my bank account history. They both indicated a payment was made to Tuckitaway already. I called them back and told them my payment number with the exact dates and detail. After 3 min on hold, they told me that they found the payment, and without showing any apologie, she hung up on me.
4. They don't have a good online payment system designed. First, they didn't sinc the data to online payment page. the customers have to type in all the information. When I change the address online, they never made any change in their system. I found it out when I finally terminated my storage place and they told me that they will mail me a check to my address. When I checked the address, it was still the address I used a thousand years ago. That was probably the reason they didn't know that they got my new payment already because they couldn't match the address and they never tried until I told them.
5. The people who work in the office never look pleasant. I found this part terribly annoying.
6. Try "terminate the contract"
A. They told me that I have to clean up my storage place first
I totally agreed, so I asked them if there is a place I can throw out what I do not need. They told me they do not own a garbage space and I can not do that. I told them that this is ridiculous because all this time I've been dragging out unwanted stuff out from my storage place every time I visited, and the stuff always disappeared without being requested. Does that mean that I should just keep doing things like this without being a responsible person? Then, a lady working in the office said, "if we had known that, we would have billed you." So then, I said, "OK, how much do you charge if I make you guys throw out my stuff?" Silence, dead silence.
And then I asked them if I could borrow a cart to move my stuff out and put them on the street somewhere so New York City people can pick them out especially it looked like a garbage day out. They told me that first I can't borrow the moving cart. Second, I can't just put them on the street. They told me the only way I can do this is to get a car to take my stuff out from my storage place. I said, what if I don't have friends here and I don't know how to drive. Should I just leave my storage place like this and just refuse to pay in the future. They said, "then, you will have bad credits." I said, "what if I don't care because my country does not believe credits system in the US?" I told them that I am trying to be responsible but I can't drive, I don't have friends here. I need some other way to vacade my storage place. They went silent.
I called 311 and decided to file up a complain about tuckitaway. I got the website. On the same day, I met two other women who tried to vacade their storage places with the same problems I was having. We wished each other luck and exchanged the info of the website.
After the phone call, my mind started to spin. So, in the next blog will be the journey of how you can deal with this situation if tuckitaway is your only choice.
1. Faulse advertisement -free moving-
It has FREE MOVING on their advertisement. They only have free moving IN not OUT. (It's the first step to get you in without getting out ever.) They never told me when I moved my stuff into my station. I found it out when I tried to schedule a move out. They started to tell me that if I want to get the truck(like how I moved things in there), I have a 3 hours minimum to pay. If I want to have "helpers", they also have 3 hours minimum. That will totally make a simple 10 blocks away moving into a nearly 5 hundred dollar event.
2. Two months after my contract, they mailed me and told me they are raising up the price for 6 dollars more per month.
3. They called without figuring out why.
A. The first time I got a ton of calls from them when everything was paid regularly every month. I called them back and they told me that I have to pay 6 more dollars every month again. I asked them, "Is this even legal? You know, the rent control is makes the increase of rent so little. How can a little storage place raise 6 dollars up from 70 dollars per month only?" The person on the other side of the phone got mad at me and shoutted, "We have to live, too." I answered, "I am just asking. I believe that there is nothing you can do. I will find it out. Don't worry." So, I paid them 6 dollars more for a couple of months. The next time, when I was trying to get into my storage place, I realized that I totally forgot my key on my lock the last time. I told them that I need someone to cut my lock open and I need a new lock. They told me that I have "credits of 30 dollars in my account" I can use for the cutting lock and new lock services. When we walked to my storage place, the lock looked very different. It is their company policy if they find an unlocked storage place, they have to put on a new lock immediately in order to secure the place.
I realized that the reason they called me a few months ago probably was to tell me my lock situation. Instead of telling me so or finding out why when I called them back, they told me that my rent is going higher. I paid them more and it turned out that I didn't have to.
B. The second time they called me a ton. They left messages related to payment again. I thought they were gonna raise 6 dollars more again. I didn't reply right after. They kept calling and finally they told me that I missed a month of payment. I said, "wait, I clearly remembered when I paid. Let me get back to you in a few." I checked my online payment history through emails with my bank account history. They both indicated a payment was made to Tuckitaway already. I called them back and told them my payment number with the exact dates and detail. After 3 min on hold, they told me that they found the payment, and without showing any apologie, she hung up on me.
4. They don't have a good online payment system designed. First, they didn't sinc the data to online payment page. the customers have to type in all the information. When I change the address online, they never made any change in their system. I found it out when I finally terminated my storage place and they told me that they will mail me a check to my address. When I checked the address, it was still the address I used a thousand years ago. That was probably the reason they didn't know that they got my new payment already because they couldn't match the address and they never tried until I told them.
5. The people who work in the office never look pleasant. I found this part terribly annoying.
6. Try "terminate the contract"
A. They told me that I have to clean up my storage place first
I totally agreed, so I asked them if there is a place I can throw out what I do not need. They told me they do not own a garbage space and I can not do that. I told them that this is ridiculous because all this time I've been dragging out unwanted stuff out from my storage place every time I visited, and the stuff always disappeared without being requested. Does that mean that I should just keep doing things like this without being a responsible person? Then, a lady working in the office said, "if we had known that, we would have billed you." So then, I said, "OK, how much do you charge if I make you guys throw out my stuff?" Silence, dead silence.
And then I asked them if I could borrow a cart to move my stuff out and put them on the street somewhere so New York City people can pick them out especially it looked like a garbage day out. They told me that first I can't borrow the moving cart. Second, I can't just put them on the street. They told me the only way I can do this is to get a car to take my stuff out from my storage place. I said, what if I don't have friends here and I don't know how to drive. Should I just leave my storage place like this and just refuse to pay in the future. They said, "then, you will have bad credits." I said, "what if I don't care because my country does not believe credits system in the US?" I told them that I am trying to be responsible but I can't drive, I don't have friends here. I need some other way to vacade my storage place. They went silent.
I called 311 and decided to file up a complain about tuckitaway. I got the website. On the same day, I met two other women who tried to vacade their storage places with the same problems I was having. We wished each other luck and exchanged the info of the website.
After the phone call, my mind started to spin. So, in the next blog will be the journey of how you can deal with this situation if tuckitaway is your only choice.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
我了不起的哈杯杯 -7-
補充
哈杯杯跟我都是很愛搞笑的人，我們會在家奇裝異服瘋言瘋語。
譬如，冬天時我說天氣太冷，隨時都得裹著棉被，於是他晚上批著棉被走來走去說自己是棉被超人(Blanket Man)，我就很識相地說：「你是我最喜歡的超人！」
最近天氣熱，我就調侃他說：「很久沒看到棉被超人了...」
昨天他批上棉被然後把棉被丟在一旁，說：「棉被超人嫌太熱，現在是風扇超人的季節！」
哈杯杯跟我都是很愛搞笑的人，我們會在家奇裝異服瘋言瘋語。
譬如，冬天時我說天氣太冷，隨時都得裹著棉被，於是他晚上批著棉被走來走去說自己是棉被超人(Blanket Man)，我就很識相地說：「你是我最喜歡的超人！」
最近天氣熱，我就調侃他說：「很久沒看到棉被超人了...」
昨天他批上棉被然後把棉被丟在一旁，說：「棉被超人嫌太熱，現在是風扇超人的季節！」
Monday, July 25, 2011
我了不起的哈杯杯 -6-
寫哈杯杯並沒有甚麼特別用意。有一天晚上睡不著，想到自我們在一起來所有哈杯杯的好。決定趁還記得的時候寫下來，以後哪天閒閒沒事可以看。總之，傑瑞高帥可愛心地善良聰明伶俐又慷慨，是難能之才。現在比起我們剛開始交往的時候生活過得舒服有點被寵壞，於是偶爾因為我需要幫忙會抱怨，不過抱怨歸抱怨，他通常都還是會幫忙。
我跟哈杯杯有不少共同嗜好，像是看笨卡通和笨電影。目前，哈杯杯還是拒絕跟我一起看黃金女郎、慾望城市、神經妙探...，等節目。
寫到這先告一段落。能夠認識哈杯杯是福氣，首先要沒來由的得到沙拉蘇打的工作因而認識三市劇院後來的指揮，沒來由的被前任在沙拉蘇打工作時分手，沒來由的約會，沒來由的結束，沒來由的失望，沒來由的接到三市指揮的訊息，沒來由的得到機會，沒來由地離開曼哈頓，最後沒來由的在最沒有預期的情況下遇到哈杯杯。
而我現在最大的願望，就是能這樣繼續跟他一起過生活。
以上～
目前哈杯杯跟我正在籌畫加拿大表演兼度假之行。明天，哈杯杯和我會招待Apo以及同行學生一晚。
我跟哈杯杯有不少共同嗜好，像是看笨卡通和笨電影。目前，哈杯杯還是拒絕跟我一起看黃金女郎、慾望城市、神經妙探...，等節目。
寫到這先告一段落。能夠認識哈杯杯是福氣，首先要沒來由的得到沙拉蘇打的工作因而認識三市劇院後來的指揮，沒來由的被前任在沙拉蘇打工作時分手，沒來由的約會，沒來由的結束，沒來由的失望，沒來由的接到三市指揮的訊息，沒來由的得到機會，沒來由地離開曼哈頓，最後沒來由的在最沒有預期的情況下遇到哈杯杯。
而我現在最大的願望，就是能這樣繼續跟他一起過生活。
以上～
目前哈杯杯跟我正在籌畫加拿大表演兼度假之行。明天，哈杯杯和我會招待Apo以及同行學生一晚。
我了不起的哈杯杯 -5-
Blokus3D，一個我非常擅長的遊戲。點選以下圖片會連結到亞馬遜網站
根據我前室友帕布羅的說法，和男人玩遊戲（真的遊戲，不是說說的。）是看出一個人人品的好方法。我跟無數個人玩過Blokus3D，這個遊戲需要非常好的空間概念，和運用空間推測對手接下來的動作。我在這遊戲中幾乎所向無敵，連賣我遊戲的人都輸給我。哈杯杯也不例外，哈杯杯是個聰明的傢伙，第三局還是第四局，由於我心軟沒在一開始結束他，他就贏了。他高興得不得了，不過那也是最後一次兩人決鬥他的勝利。之後，我再也不會手軟了。
哈杯杯是個很謹慎的人，說不定是雙子座的關係，他做所有決定都得花很多時間。他總是能在出門前想到另外一件事情得完成，自從認識哈杯杯後，我遲到的頻率增高許多。對於這樣的情形，我只能故意把所有時間都提早說三十分鐘，才會勉強準時到達。
他是個超級宅男，沒事就會上網看slickdeal，他看到大減價就會開心的要命，若能得到大減價的商品，就像到極樂世界一樣。除此之外，failblog也是他的嗜好之一，上網看其他人貼出大錯特錯的照片，我必須承認，大部分的張貼，都蠻天兵挺好笑的。
每周二，他的同事們會在伊恩家中辦遊戲夜，加上我大約六個人。同一票人每個月會去Ithaca的釀酒地方喝每月特惠，在康乃爾附近選餐廳吃晚餐。或是，朋友們會決定周末帶遊戲到哈杯杯家裡，然後叫哈杯杯烤肉弄晚餐。
在我還不認識他的朋友們前，哈杯杯會陪我去我同事的晚餐、家中看電影活動。每周三，哈杯杯會載我去溜冰場，和我教會的朋友們一起溜冰。這在我歌劇院檔期結束後，就幾乎沒有發生了。冰漢頓這邊挺無聊的，沒有所謂的鬧區，百貨公司內沒有所謂的專櫃，夜生活就只有附近的大學生從酒吧Ａ喝到酒吧Ｃ（冰漢頓並沒有太多的夜店！）
哈杯杯的同事們常會開玩笑說我是最適合開車的駕駛，因為我對酒精過敏的原因，要是我會開大行休旅車，以後他們去外面玩就可以毫無忌諱地喝。我想過要學開車，到目前為止，還沒學會。車子對我來說是太大的責任和風險，害怕撞傷任何人事物的心情，加上之前一直住在大眾交通運輸方便的地方，懶惰加膽怯讓我停滯。
傑瑞耐操耐勞，通常會無怨尤地開車帶我上山下海。我會沒來由的說想去哪，於是我們去玻璃博物館、康乃爾大學、保齡球、溜冰、滑雪...。我們兩個宅人，偶爾會整天窩在家打電動，或是看書，玩數字遊戲（kenken, kakuro, etc.）。有一天哈杯杯心血來潮，在後院的草地上挖個洞，於是我們在後院種菜。我跟他說我喜歡向日葵，於是他種了一整排向日葵。可惜的是，附近的鹿似乎好康到相報，連同兔子一起到家裡前後院吃個痛快。
根據我前室友帕布羅的說法，和男人玩遊戲（真的遊戲，不是說說的。）是看出一個人人品的好方法。我跟無數個人玩過Blokus3D，這個遊戲需要非常好的空間概念，和運用空間推測對手接下來的動作。我在這遊戲中幾乎所向無敵，連賣我遊戲的人都輸給我。哈杯杯也不例外，哈杯杯是個聰明的傢伙，第三局還是第四局，由於我心軟沒在一開始結束他，他就贏了。他高興得不得了，不過那也是最後一次兩人決鬥他的勝利。之後，我再也不會手軟了。
哈杯杯是個很謹慎的人，說不定是雙子座的關係，他做所有決定都得花很多時間。他總是能在出門前想到另外一件事情得完成，自從認識哈杯杯後，我遲到的頻率增高許多。對於這樣的情形，我只能故意把所有時間都提早說三十分鐘，才會勉強準時到達。
他是個超級宅男，沒事就會上網看slickdeal，他看到大減價就會開心的要命，若能得到大減價的商品，就像到極樂世界一樣。除此之外，failblog也是他的嗜好之一，上網看其他人貼出大錯特錯的照片，我必須承認，大部分的張貼，都蠻天兵挺好笑的。
每周二，他的同事們會在伊恩家中辦遊戲夜，加上我大約六個人。同一票人每個月會去Ithaca的釀酒地方喝每月特惠，在康乃爾附近選餐廳吃晚餐。或是，朋友們會決定周末帶遊戲到哈杯杯家裡，然後叫哈杯杯烤肉弄晚餐。
在我還不認識他的朋友們前，哈杯杯會陪我去我同事的晚餐、家中看電影活動。每周三，哈杯杯會載我去溜冰場，和我教會的朋友們一起溜冰。這在我歌劇院檔期結束後，就幾乎沒有發生了。冰漢頓這邊挺無聊的，沒有所謂的鬧區，百貨公司內沒有所謂的專櫃，夜生活就只有附近的大學生從酒吧Ａ喝到酒吧Ｃ（冰漢頓並沒有太多的夜店！）
哈杯杯的同事們常會開玩笑說我是最適合開車的駕駛，因為我對酒精過敏的原因，要是我會開大行休旅車，以後他們去外面玩就可以毫無忌諱地喝。我想過要學開車，到目前為止，還沒學會。車子對我來說是太大的責任和風險，害怕撞傷任何人事物的心情，加上之前一直住在大眾交通運輸方便的地方，懶惰加膽怯讓我停滯。
傑瑞耐操耐勞，通常會無怨尤地開車帶我上山下海。我會沒來由的說想去哪，於是我們去玻璃博物館、康乃爾大學、保齡球、溜冰、滑雪...。我們兩個宅人，偶爾會整天窩在家打電動，或是看書，玩數字遊戲（kenken, kakuro, etc.）。有一天哈杯杯心血來潮，在後院的草地上挖個洞，於是我們在後院種菜。我跟他說我喜歡向日葵，於是他種了一整排向日葵。可惜的是，附近的鹿似乎好康到相報，連同兔子一起到家裡前後院吃個痛快。
Saturday, July 23, 2011
我了不起的哈杯杯 -4-
所以哈杯杯到底是甚麼?
哈! 哈杯杯是一個我們專用的簡稱，一切開始於Honey Bunny. 由於我對疊字和怪字的愛好, 被我改成Ho Bun-bun, 然後變成HBB(用德文念就像哈杯杯).
傑瑞眞得很識相或是他真的有夠愛我甚麼都隨便我還會跟著附和.
舉例之二,
傑瑞的貓在我認識他以前都是沒有名字的. 我去參觀的第一天, 貓咪有跑下樓看我一下, 然後就飛奔回樓上. 我問他貓的名字是甚麼, 他說還沒取, 於是我就說, 這麼愛躲, 叫他烏賊好了(完全沒有道理的亂槍打鳥), 於是, 他就開始叫貓咪烏賊.
於是那隻貓, 現在是烏賊...
哈! 哈杯杯是一個我們專用的簡稱，一切開始於Honey Bunny. 由於我對疊字和怪字的愛好, 被我改成Ho Bun-bun, 然後變成HBB(用德文念就像哈杯杯).
傑瑞眞得很識相或是他真的有夠愛我甚麼都隨便我還會跟著附和.
舉例之二,
傑瑞的貓在我認識他以前都是沒有名字的. 我去參觀的第一天, 貓咪有跑下樓看我一下, 然後就飛奔回樓上. 我問他貓的名字是甚麼, 他說還沒取, 於是我就說, 這麼愛躲, 叫他烏賊好了(完全沒有道理的亂槍打鳥), 於是, 他就開始叫貓咪烏賊.
於是那隻貓, 現在是烏賊...
我了不起的哈杯杯 -3-
我會邀請傑瑞到我家吃晚餐，我們一起去溜冰場溜冰（有輪子的也有冰刀的）。傑瑞跟我說他之前是曲棍球隊的，所以他冰上活動非常厲害。由於冰刀厲害，所以排輪也很厲害。由於他不要臉的這麼說，我堅持一定會把他拖地一次。成功地，我在溜冰場上把他拉倒一次，結果不幸地讓他運動服手肘邊戳破個洞。
傑瑞是康乃爾大學畢業的，他是個超級書呆子兼宅男。我要他帶我去康乃爾參觀，因為李登輝是康乃爾畢業的。我們到了康乃爾，那是個很漂亮的學校。他說校園裡面的水渠區域，常常有人會自殺。於是他們把橋邊的架子越搭越高。
我們在康乃爾校區和外面的商店逛了逛，我還喝到芋頭珍珠奶茶，買了荔枝罐頭回家給室友太太當，還有一張＂不好意思，我是同志＂的海報給我同事（他還沒跟他家人說他是同性戀，海報給他貼在衣櫥內側，所以哪天被看到可以說＂出櫃＂！）
我們兩個一起打了電動，他也會去我周日餐廳晚上的鋼琴酒吧陪我。我們就這樣幾乎形影不離了到現在快半年。傑瑞非常聰明，他是會把東西拆開來修理的人。很慷慨，有耐心，個性很溫和，最重要的是會整天陪我瘋言瘋語。
我們兩個開始交往的兩個月，他就像失蹤一樣。他父母姊姊還有同事都突然失去他蹤跡，大家都很好奇他為甚麼銷聲匿跡。四月，他去維琴尼亞跑個半馬拉松，問我要不要去幫他加油。於是我們從寒冷的北方開車到春景迷人的維琴尼亞，打擾了他姊還有姊夫個周末。
一個禮拜後，我們去紐澤西，我見到他父母，看到他們家牆上一大堆照片。那是個充滿愛的家，院子很大，後院內還有個游泳池。後院裡面的大樹看來就像森林一樣，他們照顧得非常好。於是我邀請他們來劇院看我的表演，他們也很欣然答應了。（兩個退休的人，沒事就是到處拜訪小孩親人和渡輪旅遊）傑瑞的媽媽告訴我她很有可能會睡著，所以很老實地跟我說叫我別太期待。
其實，整個傑瑞的家族，到現在為止對於他跟歌劇院歌手約會這件事情還是覺得非常意外。
記得傑瑞第一次不得不跟他母親提到我的時候，他母親無法停止問他：「你一部歌劇也沒看過，這樣真的行嗎？」他爸還問說要不要去買些歌劇CD聽聽。傑瑞當時說：「我跟她的生活不是只有歌劇，再者，歌劇其實還蠻不賴的，我去看他們大師班的時候有聽過些...」
傑瑞是康乃爾大學畢業的，他是個超級書呆子兼宅男。我要他帶我去康乃爾參觀，因為李登輝是康乃爾畢業的。我們到了康乃爾，那是個很漂亮的學校。他說校園裡面的水渠區域，常常有人會自殺。於是他們把橋邊的架子越搭越高。
我們在康乃爾校區和外面的商店逛了逛，我還喝到芋頭珍珠奶茶，買了荔枝罐頭回家給室友太太當，還有一張＂不好意思，我是同志＂的海報給我同事（他還沒跟他家人說他是同性戀，海報給他貼在衣櫥內側，所以哪天被看到可以說＂出櫃＂！）
我們兩個一起打了電動，他也會去我周日餐廳晚上的鋼琴酒吧陪我。我們就這樣幾乎形影不離了到現在快半年。傑瑞非常聰明，他是會把東西拆開來修理的人。很慷慨，有耐心，個性很溫和，最重要的是會整天陪我瘋言瘋語。
我們兩個開始交往的兩個月，他就像失蹤一樣。他父母姊姊還有同事都突然失去他蹤跡，大家都很好奇他為甚麼銷聲匿跡。四月，他去維琴尼亞跑個半馬拉松，問我要不要去幫他加油。於是我們從寒冷的北方開車到春景迷人的維琴尼亞，打擾了他姊還有姊夫個周末。
一個禮拜後，我們去紐澤西，我見到他父母，看到他們家牆上一大堆照片。那是個充滿愛的家，院子很大，後院內還有個游泳池。後院裡面的大樹看來就像森林一樣，他們照顧得非常好。於是我邀請他們來劇院看我的表演，他們也很欣然答應了。（兩個退休的人，沒事就是到處拜訪小孩親人和渡輪旅遊）傑瑞的媽媽告訴我她很有可能會睡著，所以很老實地跟我說叫我別太期待。
其實，整個傑瑞的家族，到現在為止對於他跟歌劇院歌手約會這件事情還是覺得非常意外。
記得傑瑞第一次不得不跟他母親提到我的時候，他母親無法停止問他：「你一部歌劇也沒看過，這樣真的行嗎？」他爸還問說要不要去買些歌劇CD聽聽。傑瑞當時說：「我跟她的生活不是只有歌劇，再者，歌劇其實還蠻不賴的，我去看他們大師班的時候有聽過些...」
我了不起的哈杯杯 -2-
就這樣，二月十九號晚上，他開著他的infiniti出現在我家門口。他看來就像他的照片一般，話不多，可能是害羞或是緊張，很可愛是真的。開了約一小時的車到達Elk山滑雪區，他拿出他自己的滑雪設備，給我他多帶來的安全帽和手套。在戶外的他看起來更加高大，跟他相比，我簡直就像幼稚園小孩一樣大。
我穿上租來的設備，他幫我付了租金跟入場費，說是第一次滑雪的招待。於是我穿上了讓自己幾乎無法動彈的鞋子，慢慢向滑雪場行動。到了初學者區域，傑瑞教了我比薩腿，內八腿法，減速用。他還說了些其他的話，不過他講話聲音不高不大聲，加上天氣很冷我沒有很想張嘴講話，於是我憑著本能的滑行。
這麼說來，我還蠻有天分的，加上初學者場地非常善良，滑雪就像飛行一樣愜意。我們滑了幾個小時，決定進去屋內吃點東西喝個熱的，順便聊個天，然後再決定是否要再繼續滑。
我現在完全不記得當時聊些甚麼。我只記得傑瑞很可愛，似乎有講些笑話，似乎有很給面子地笑我講的笑話，他完全沒有問我任何很私人的問題，我無法確定他是禮貌還是對我沒興趣。
一個小時的歡笑很快就過去了。我們決定出去繼續滑雪，賺個夠本。於是傑瑞建議我們上山到頂，滑綠色道下來。（綠，藍，黑色等級低到高）搭著覽車到達山頂，滑了一段之後發現綠色道因為天色晚已經被封鎖，我的選擇只有藍或黑色。傑瑞一邊又說如果我們十點半以前不下到山底的話，他們會關燈。於是在狗急跳牆的狀態下，我看著驚悚的陡坡，硬著頭皮地鼓起勇氣慢慢往下滑。
我摔了兩跤，第二次的時候差點連傑瑞兩個一起變成超級雪球。不過也就兩跤，安全帽的確保住了我的頭一次。成功到底的時候，心裡想的是，要是我辦得到這種事情，天下沒有不能做到的事情。成就感還有沒死的開心湧上心頭，看著身旁的傑瑞，覺得自己還挺幸運地。
我們在關門前還了設備，開車回冰漢頓。回家路上，我問他餓不餓，需不需要熱的喝。還好他識相地說好，我帶他到網路咖啡店，剛過十二點，兩人點了咖啡，繼續聊天。身邊有常客兼看門的泰迪，泰迪毫不猶豫地告訴我們他唯一一次滑雪的貧死經驗。並沒有很想跟泰迪聊天，不過在傑瑞還沒熱身的狀態下，有個第三人甚至第四人在當場聊天不是壞事。
約一點的時候，傑瑞載我回家。到了車庫門口，我們講了些客套話，他提到他的音樂（披頭四和饒舌音樂），我問他：「你很會接吻嗎？」於是他說驚魂未定地說：「不知道。」我只好問他:「那你想知道嗎？」
「好啊...」他說。
就這樣，他放鬆了。
他車停在我家車庫前，我們兩個坐在車子裡面聽了一到兩小時的披頭四音樂，聊了更多有的沒的。很開心地，最後道了晚安。我的夾克還有滑雪當天的牌子，二月十九日，是個好天。
我穿上租來的設備，他幫我付了租金跟入場費，說是第一次滑雪的招待。於是我穿上了讓自己幾乎無法動彈的鞋子，慢慢向滑雪場行動。到了初學者區域，傑瑞教了我比薩腿，內八腿法，減速用。他還說了些其他的話，不過他講話聲音不高不大聲，加上天氣很冷我沒有很想張嘴講話，於是我憑著本能的滑行。
這麼說來，我還蠻有天分的，加上初學者場地非常善良，滑雪就像飛行一樣愜意。我們滑了幾個小時，決定進去屋內吃點東西喝個熱的，順便聊個天，然後再決定是否要再繼續滑。
我現在完全不記得當時聊些甚麼。我只記得傑瑞很可愛，似乎有講些笑話，似乎有很給面子地笑我講的笑話，他完全沒有問我任何很私人的問題，我無法確定他是禮貌還是對我沒興趣。
一個小時的歡笑很快就過去了。我們決定出去繼續滑雪，賺個夠本。於是傑瑞建議我們上山到頂，滑綠色道下來。（綠，藍，黑色等級低到高）搭著覽車到達山頂，滑了一段之後發現綠色道因為天色晚已經被封鎖，我的選擇只有藍或黑色。傑瑞一邊又說如果我們十點半以前不下到山底的話，他們會關燈。於是在狗急跳牆的狀態下，我看著驚悚的陡坡，硬著頭皮地鼓起勇氣慢慢往下滑。
我摔了兩跤，第二次的時候差點連傑瑞兩個一起變成超級雪球。不過也就兩跤，安全帽的確保住了我的頭一次。成功到底的時候，心裡想的是，要是我辦得到這種事情，天下沒有不能做到的事情。成就感還有沒死的開心湧上心頭，看著身旁的傑瑞，覺得自己還挺幸運地。
我們在關門前還了設備，開車回冰漢頓。回家路上，我問他餓不餓，需不需要熱的喝。還好他識相地說好，我帶他到網路咖啡店，剛過十二點，兩人點了咖啡，繼續聊天。身邊有常客兼看門的泰迪，泰迪毫不猶豫地告訴我們他唯一一次滑雪的貧死經驗。並沒有很想跟泰迪聊天，不過在傑瑞還沒熱身的狀態下，有個第三人甚至第四人在當場聊天不是壞事。
約一點的時候，傑瑞載我回家。到了車庫門口，我們講了些客套話，他提到他的音樂（披頭四和饒舌音樂），我問他：「你很會接吻嗎？」於是他說驚魂未定地說：「不知道。」我只好問他:「那你想知道嗎？」
「好啊...」他說。
就這樣，他放鬆了。
他車停在我家車庫前，我們兩個坐在車子裡面聽了一到兩小時的披頭四音樂，聊了更多有的沒的。很開心地，最後道了晚安。我的夾克還有滑雪當天的牌子，二月十九日，是個好天。
我了不起的哈杯杯 -1-
兩年歡樂但空虛的單身生活，終於在二零一一年二月被一個善心人士給終結。大善人名叫傑瑞，我在邱比特網站上碰到他。至於邱比特，是某火柴網認識之長笛演奏家介紹給我的。也許我最該感謝的，還有長笛演奏家羅先生。羅先生說邱比特的配對方是遠比火柴網有理很多，因為每個人都得回答一大堆有的沒的問題，根據那些答案，網站會幫忙整理分析配對。火柴只會簡單地說：你們都愛貓狗、你們都是長子...，等之類並不會造成兩個人真的速配之無關痛癢的分析。
對於一個祝在曼哈頓的單身女子而言，要有約會對象一點也不困難。自從最後一個交往對象後，不知道是自己心裡生病，或是在那裡我所遇到的所有單身男子全都有毛病，沒有任何一個人跟我會有超過兩個月的進展。大部分的男人都有一樣的藉口：不確定，不穩定，不知道，不想負責任... 兩年之後，我終於明白，這大概是處在紐約市的男人的慣性。理由一大堆，說穿了只是還想繼續不負責任的玩。於是，男人或是女人都會不停地幻想更好的對象出現，從來也不會對於現在式認真。
就這樣兩年後，我也變得蠻不在乎，從一開始清純小女孩變成情場殺手，最後轉成無欲無求的尼姑。大約一年前，接到新合約的時候，沒有考慮太多地離開曼哈頓，到紐約州的死角，冰漢頓。曾幾何時，冰漢頓有著無數電腦業工廠的合約，和一票熱愛歌劇的義大利人，在有錢要文化娛樂的狀態下，設立三市歌劇院。繁榮光景並沒有繼續太久，中國大陸的低廉工資，讓電腦公司，工業工廠遷離，留下這無人留念的城市。
冰漢頓的好處是便宜，房地產低的要命，買了房子就別想要賣掉。大眾交通工具非常不發達，唯一到曼哈頓的交通工具是短路（shortline應該是捷徑，但我覺得短路比較好笑）和灰狗巴士。好家在Mega bus決定要在這段路程上加注，於是早訂票的鳥兒可以得到一元券。由於便宜，冰漢頓甚麼人都沒有，就窮酸藝術家最多。到處都聽得到人討論音樂和藝術。我最常去的網路咖啡店，也常會聽到顧客討論起歌劇院裡面歌手的八卦。
在羅先生再三鼓勵下，我終於在邱比特網站註冊個帳號。果然如他所說，有很多心理測驗。身為超級宅女，加上無由想要看到"最後一題"的野心，我做了超過一千五百題心理測驗，完成度百分之九十九點九。（還是沒看到最後一題...）邱比特網站並沒有太大不同，我遇到更多藝術愛好者，結識一些人，跟個大學教授短暫約會一個月，日子還是一樣清心寡慾。
有的人喜歡被稱為清純少女、情場殺手、花蝴蝶，等。我甚麼都有被叫過，沒有固定偏好，人生中的不同階段，因為時間地點工具方法對象，不停地改變自己的定位。確定的是現在，我為身邊所有的非常滿意，會希望這樣的生活能夠繼續。
一月的某一天，我看到傑瑞的照片，一個又高又瘦比我小七個月的男生。他的檔案說他是愛戶外活動的人，嚮往冒險生活。我寫訊息給他，問他目前在找哪種冒險生活的同伴，於是我們決定二月十九號一起去滑雪。對從來沒有滑過雪的我而言，還沒見面前因為想到滑雪緊張地要命。
對於一個祝在曼哈頓的單身女子而言，要有約會對象一點也不困難。自從最後一個交往對象後，不知道是自己心裡生病，或是在那裡我所遇到的所有單身男子全都有毛病，沒有任何一個人跟我會有超過兩個月的進展。大部分的男人都有一樣的藉口：不確定，不穩定，不知道，不想負責任... 兩年之後，我終於明白，這大概是處在紐約市的男人的慣性。理由一大堆，說穿了只是還想繼續不負責任的玩。於是，男人或是女人都會不停地幻想更好的對象出現，從來也不會對於現在式認真。
就這樣兩年後，我也變得蠻不在乎，從一開始清純小女孩變成情場殺手，最後轉成無欲無求的尼姑。大約一年前，接到新合約的時候，沒有考慮太多地離開曼哈頓，到紐約州的死角，冰漢頓。曾幾何時，冰漢頓有著無數電腦業工廠的合約，和一票熱愛歌劇的義大利人，在有錢要文化娛樂的狀態下，設立三市歌劇院。繁榮光景並沒有繼續太久，中國大陸的低廉工資，讓電腦公司，工業工廠遷離，留下這無人留念的城市。
冰漢頓的好處是便宜，房地產低的要命，買了房子就別想要賣掉。大眾交通工具非常不發達，唯一到曼哈頓的交通工具是短路（shortline應該是捷徑，但我覺得短路比較好笑）和灰狗巴士。好家在Mega bus決定要在這段路程上加注，於是早訂票的鳥兒可以得到一元券。由於便宜，冰漢頓甚麼人都沒有，就窮酸藝術家最多。到處都聽得到人討論音樂和藝術。我最常去的網路咖啡店，也常會聽到顧客討論起歌劇院裡面歌手的八卦。
在羅先生再三鼓勵下，我終於在邱比特網站註冊個帳號。果然如他所說，有很多心理測驗。身為超級宅女，加上無由想要看到"最後一題"的野心，我做了超過一千五百題心理測驗，完成度百分之九十九點九。（還是沒看到最後一題...）邱比特網站並沒有太大不同，我遇到更多藝術愛好者，結識一些人，跟個大學教授短暫約會一個月，日子還是一樣清心寡慾。
有的人喜歡被稱為清純少女、情場殺手、花蝴蝶，等。我甚麼都有被叫過，沒有固定偏好，人生中的不同階段，因為時間地點工具方法對象，不停地改變自己的定位。確定的是現在，我為身邊所有的非常滿意，會希望這樣的生活能夠繼續。
一月的某一天，我看到傑瑞的照片，一個又高又瘦比我小七個月的男生。他的檔案說他是愛戶外活動的人，嚮往冒險生活。我寫訊息給他，問他目前在找哪種冒險生活的同伴，於是我們決定二月十九號一起去滑雪。對從來沒有滑過雪的我而言，還沒見面前因為想到滑雪緊張地要命。
Monday, July 18, 2011
Great deals!
I was trying to figure out the pricing for a box set records for my sponsor, the goddess of Cello, Christine Walevska. She is going to Italy to perform. While researching, I found great deals online that I purchased right away.(Click on the pictures below will take you to the great deals I was talking about)
2.97USD for the entire opera mp3 download!!! Great deal~ Although, it's divided into 3 tracks only. I don't mind finding at all. This works for me perfectly.
70 CDs for 107.99USD
70 CDs for 652.15USD, limited edition, I will praise anyone who actually got it.. Wow~
107CDs for 299.99USD, I would definitely get it if I were a violin major.
10 CDs for 99.99USD. Pavarotti seems to be more pricey compared to others. Well, guess what, he dyed last.
From time to time, it's a good thing to check Amazon's mp3 deals. I got my Pavarotti collection for only one 1$. They may have stuff sort by composers as well. The mixture isn't always a bad idea as long as it's dirt cheap!
2.97USD for the entire opera mp3 download!!! Great deal~ Although, it's divided into 3 tracks only. I don't mind finding at all. This works for me perfectly. 70 CDs for 107.99USD 70 CDs for 652.15USD, limited edition, I will praise anyone who actually got it.. Wow~ 107CDs for 299.99USD, I would definitely get it if I were a violin major. 10 CDs for 99.99USD. Pavarotti seems to be more pricey compared to others. Well, guess what, he dyed last.From time to time, it's a good thing to check Amazon's mp3 deals. I got my Pavarotti collection for only one 1$. They may have stuff sort by composers as well. The mixture isn't always a bad idea as long as it's dirt cheap!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Red House Chinese Restaurant
2 days ago, John Roro, Lee, Jared and I decided to visit this new Chinese restaurant on Main St in Binghamton.(New to us but it's been here for a few months.) It's run by Chinese people from Beijing(I thought I heard that.). The food was very good. We got three flavored chicken三杯雞, stir fried shredded pork with dry bean curd 香干肉絲, hot and sour soup酸辣湯, 蒜泥白肉, Beijing duck北京烤鴨, with hot tea. The dinner was very good. We were terribly full after. However, I still convinced people to eat some green tea ice cream mochi I purchased upstairs of the restaurant.
I am definitely going back again. Next time, I will order more different dishes!
I am definitely going back again. Next time, I will order more different dishes!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Someone stop me, please!
I am such an addict. Civ5 has spent more than 49 hours with me in the past 4 day. It started one day I decided to see how it works for a single player game. I was Alexander. a couple of hours later, I won by getting the best research score. After I won, the game asked me if I want to return to main menu or "wait,... just... one... more...turn..." Of course, I clicked on "wait...". Of course, it's not just one more turn. I started to use my death robots to take over all the little countries around... It did not end in the coming 4 hours. It didn't end even after someone off work...
That was it. After 7 hours of games, I thought it's enough. I really felt so. I told J that I will never play more than 1 hour a day in the future. The day after, I went back to the computer, thinking about what I could do differently. I chose a new set up. 3 hours later, I won again, by surviving from battles all over the world. It asked me if I want to go back to the main menu, well, you know what I chose. Someone was off from work and caught me red handed.
Awful, that was the only one thing I could say. It definitely felt like a waste of time. That was how this addiction worked for me. I knew that I will always feel like waste of time whenever I play it. I will always think that I can control myself. The truth is no. At least, not now. Not until I get a new addiction. Alright, that was my confession of my new guilty pleasure. I am back to normal again!
The picture below connects to Amazon for more info.
That was it. After 7 hours of games, I thought it's enough. I really felt so. I told J that I will never play more than 1 hour a day in the future. The day after, I went back to the computer, thinking about what I could do differently. I chose a new set up. 3 hours later, I won again, by surviving from battles all over the world. It asked me if I want to go back to the main menu, well, you know what I chose. Someone was off from work and caught me red handed.
Awful, that was the only one thing I could say. It definitely felt like a waste of time. That was how this addiction worked for me. I knew that I will always feel like waste of time whenever I play it. I will always think that I can control myself. The truth is no. At least, not now. Not until I get a new addiction. Alright, that was my confession of my new guilty pleasure. I am back to normal again!
The picture below connects to Amazon for more info.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Planning on an Asian garden!
I've been making bento box everyday. For those who have known me for ages, they would think that I am out of my mind. It's not yet a huge repertoire but definitely the list of fried rice is growing. You know what happens when you shop at Sam's Club. You usually buy a little bit too much of everything. In that case, I've been pretty much eating the same ingredients every day for a week. Since Jared has space, I am thinking about planting more Asian veggie. Here we go, (here are the pictures of the links to Amazon. If you like more detail, you can click on the pictures to read more about them)
The tomatoes look crazy. Just wanna share. I am not sure about growing them in the garden yet, maybe next year. Ong Choy and Daikon definitely should be planted in the garden. I love those two, especially daikon. Daikons can be pickled, boiled in the soup, or sliced and fried to make rice cakes, etc. If I can grow them here, I won't get all excited holding a huge Daikon at Wegmans like a Hentai...
Other than those, sunflowers, basil, lettuce, regular tomato, cat grass, lots of cactus, and etc are grown in Jarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's property. Every living creature will be happy with at least something green here. BTW, there may be a deer eating the sunflowers by leaning on the fence. Deer hunter, anyone?
The tomatoes look crazy. Just wanna share. I am not sure about growing them in the garden yet, maybe next year. Ong Choy and Daikon definitely should be planted in the garden. I love those two, especially daikon. Daikons can be pickled, boiled in the soup, or sliced and fried to make rice cakes, etc. If I can grow them here, I won't get all excited holding a huge Daikon at Wegmans like a Hentai...
Other than those, sunflowers, basil, lettuce, regular tomato, cat grass, lots of cactus, and etc are grown in Jarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's property. Every living creature will be happy with at least something green here. BTW, there may be a deer eating the sunflowers by leaning on the fence. Deer hunter, anyone?
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