Baby Photos Overload!

A couple of years back my parents took advantage of a new digital service for scanning films.  I've seen scanners that do the same job but I can't imagine the agonizing monotony and pain it would take to scan all of the photos and adjust their color.  All in all we scanned many old rolls of film.  I decided  to upload some photos in chronological order.  Here are some photos from when I was about 5 months old.



Me with my bunny, I'm trying to gnaw on my cot, don't know how successful it was.


When I was very young my parents lived in Government quarters at Mount Davis on the South side of the island.  In the distance you can see Queen Mary hospital, late last year I got an offer to work there at a university affiliated lab, but instead I decided to work on campus for several reasons.  We also had a direct view of the cemetary, the big beige plot of land.  A little dreary but the Government quarters were cheap, from there my parents saved enough money to move to a new place.


Me fast asleep, I wonder what I was dreaming about?


Playing peek-a-boo.


Looking gangster with my bunny and my first teddy bear.


Having fun in my cot with the cranes as my mobile.

Just made my blog public.  I wonder who will look.  I just noticed under the basic settings page there are some important settings:

Add your blog to our listings?	Yes No A Listed blog may be linked to from Blogger.com, such as the Blogger home page, Blogger Play, and Next Blog. If you select "No" your blog will not appear in these places, but it will still be available on the Internet. This blog will still be displayed on your profile unless you hide it. Edit displayed blogs.
Let search engines find your blog?	Yes No If you select "Yes" we will include your blog in Google Blog Search and pingWeblogs.com. If you select "No", everyone can still view your blog but search engines will be instructed not to crawl it.

This might explain any random visitors that you may get when you make posts to blogger, since a listed blog can be linked on the front page of blogger.


Under the basic settings you can also try out the new post editor, that option is all the way down at the bottom.  The photo uploader is much simpler to use and the other functions look much more straight forward.  You might want to try it out.


Went swimming again today.  I think I went all out today, tried to swim with bursts at full speed to get the most exercise at my time at the pool.  The pool was quite empty today so I didn't need to go to the 'fast lap' lane in order to swim fast.


I have a few things on my to do list.  I want to apply for my Joint Universities library card so I can spend time at the HKU library, if I have time tomorrow I'll go to HKUST to apply for it.  I also really should look up squash and Mandarin classes.  I've thought about it and I might have talked about it but I haven't really put my ideas into action.


I wonder what will happen tomorrow, I don't have anything in particular planned.  Hopefully my mom will feel better so we can spend some time out.  My mom opened the gift from you, she really liked it so she took a few photos of it to post on her blog.


My dad's sleeping right now and all of our old photo CD's are stored in his room, so I decided to find some other old photos of mine from my own back up DVD.


Swimming in Pattaya, Thailand.  Not sure when this is from.



The next few photos are from our first digital camera, a Kodak.  Looking at these pictures again I think the quality is quite bad.  It's amazing how much cameras have improved.


Here I took a photo in the Sony building in Tokyo.  It's kind of funny looking at the tech from ten years ago.  They had a Memory Stick Walkman, one of the early MP3 players.  It obviously didn't take off because memory sticks (Sony's own proprietary memory) didn't become that popular since they only work in Sony products.  I have braces on in this pic, didn't choose the most flattering photos but I thought they might be interesting to you because you were interested in going to Tokyo.  I'm kind of sad we didn't take more interesting photos.



At first I thought this was the bullet train but I guess it's not...



Last photo in the hotel lobby.  I think I enjoyed Tokyo more for all the gadgets I saw rather than the tourist attractions, although I'm sure you can find lots more interesting things there.



Did a bike tour around Phuket.  Thought I would post these because we were talking about going to Phuket earlier.  We didn't take any beach photos because we were afraid the camera would get damaged so I took photos on the bike tour that I took by myself instead.  Thought I might show you another side to the island than what you already know about, since Phuket is more famous for it's beaches and it's nightlife than for it's other areas.



Biked around the island for about half a day, not sure how far I biked for.  These are rubber trees, Phuket's two main exports are tin and rubber.



One of the local huts in the villages, these are done in the traditional Thai way are similar to huts from other indigenous cultures in South East Asia and related places like Hawaii.

I've looked back on my earlier posts and I've strayed from the style of love notes this blog was supposed to be to a more mundane update of the goings of my life. I hope I can be able to put more meaning and heart into my posts soon.

I just wanted to comment on my thoughts the book I was reading on the Chinese historian. You probably know my views on polygamy already, as I continue to read the book I obviously don't want to take this historian's life as an example for my life. I just thought it was interesting that his wife was willing to tolerate his actions, at least on the surface. Who knows what she was thinking deep inside. Still, it's an interesting book to read. I don't think I'll be learning any moral lessons from it but hopefully later on in the book I'll get to read more on the history of China, or how the historian dug it up at a time when China was still quite closed in terms of sharing their knowledge or history with foreigners.

Also, as I near the end of the book 'Counterfeit Gods' I think I'll share some of the commentary on modern day society and some of the Bible verses brought up for discussion in the book. It's a good book, and it's short. I'm nearing the end and once I finish I'll move on to read the other books gifted to me at my baptism. I pray that as we continue this relationship we can both grow stronger in our faith. As a new and young Christian I still have plenty of room to grow and mature.

Quickie: A long day's work and a Bday Celebration

I stayed at work today until 7. It was tiring and I'm not sure if I was able to accomplish what I set out to do, but I won't worry about it till get back into lab. I might drop by on Monday or Tuesday if needed, otherwise I get a short break :). I don't know why I was so worried about doing the experiment I did today since I did fine doing despite the fact most people weren't in the lab and I didn't come across any real difficulties, I guess I was just hyping it up in my head.

So what I did today was extract RNA. I got a little excited thinking of how to describe what it does. So DNA codes for most things that we need for life. Think of DNA as a library of many books, each containing a code for a certain protein in our body. Each protein has a different function in order to help us live, some proteins, like enzymes, help to break down our food that we eat. There are 3 main types of RNA. One, mRNA, is a little messenger that copies information from the library, the DNA, to a little factory, the ribosome made up of rRNA. At that factory many tRNA, like little workers, come and bring all the parts that need to make up each protein. By extracting the RNA from the cancer cells and analyzing them we can see what mRNA was used when the cell was alive. When we see what mRNA was used we can see what different kinds of proteins were made in the cancer cell, some of them are specifically made more in cancers. These kinds of proteins that are over expressed can lead to the problems of cancers. By treating the cells with drugs and seeing whether these 'bad' proteins are affected we can see how effective the drug is.

Had dinner at a Mexican place with my high school friends. It's getting late so I'll post more photos later, for now you get a photo of the yummy strawberry cheesecake we had. I was too hungry to take photos of dinner but since it was Mexican I guess you aren't missing out on too much. We went out for a few rounds of drinks as well, I'll share photos tomorrow.

[Edit] Added two photos. I don't have the picture of us at the stairs. The birthday girl is sitting in front of the cake, I wonder if you remember her from your Facebook stalks...I had a lot of girly sweet drinks because it was the girl's birthday so she got to pick the shots that we took. The only manly drink I had last night was a whiskey on the rocks. I think I drank a good amount last night, not too much to get me drunk but enough to keep me happy and up for the celebration after a day's work. The shots pictured had three layers, orange tequila, Kahlua and Baileys.

Gmail Problem

According to the Official Gmail Blog all vowels cannot be used in Gmail due to a technical difficulty. You can read the blog for help on how to get around the issue.

On another note, there's a bit of a random exhibition going on at the mall in my neighborhood. One of the lesser known Hong Kong stars, Louis Koo, is holding an exhibition of his collection of Star Wars, Batman, Spiderman and other movie-based life sized figurines. Didn't know if you would be interested but I took a few pictures. I'll take some more later. It reminds me of Michael Jackson's own personal collection, which he was trying to sell off before he passed away. I posted this link earlier on Facebook around the same time MJ passed away, it's an interactive view of a gallery of his collection. Some of the pieces are exactly the same, though they're probably different copies.

Official Baptism Photos: Repost

My big day, a selection of my photos. I like the first and last photos, in the last photo I was caught just as I got out of the water. I also like the way the ripples form in the water. Since I went first I didn't really get to see the others getting baptized, I'm glad that through these photos I can see their special moment too :).

Official Baptism Photos!

Official Baptism Photos are out! The link will only be live for 7 days, I'll download the photos when I get home :).

Dinner and Update

Just a quick update. Had dinner with my folks at the food court in the Japanese department store. You know I like my burgers, so I had one and balanced it out with a salad. Salad looks good, except for that hole in the leaf. Had a quick walk around with my parents to bet brekkie then came home. I pray that you're feeling better and that the planning for the trip to Taiwan will go smoothly.

Short Update

Hey boo, just a quick update. Nothing much new today, had dinner as usual at the food court. Had Korean noodles with BBQ beef, egg and plenty of veggies. I'm continuing to read the books 'Bomb, Book, & Compass' and 'Counterfeit Gods'.

Baptism Day: Photos

Photos from my day anew :). I hope you have a restful sabbath day. I got a surprise congratulatory text from Vincent, my friend from class! I'm not sure how he knew I got baptized, although my best guess is that he attended the 5pm service today. I had a good restful Sunday, it was good eating with my friends and family. We're not going to Japan after all since all the tickets are full. I guess most people in Hong Kong try to take advantage of the Easter holiday to go travel. Are your siblings on break yet? I hope I'll get to do something restful here in Hong Kong, I actually wasn't so happy with idea of going on a trip to Japan on such notice since I thought it would be more stressful to have to plan everything out and take leave to make the trip worthwhile. So I'll get to spend my first Easter as a Christian in Hong Kong. I've been getting a lot of firsts lately, like my first true Christmas. It's exciting :).

Here are some select photos from today. I'll send the official church ones as soon as I get them.

Summarizing sentences of my testimony:

Baptism :)

Talking with the pastor after, receiving his book gift.

Caregroup!

Caregroup leaders

Talking with the head pastor.

Baptism pool

Yummy dim sum with caregroup and parents.


Last but not least, my books. I've started reading the Tim Keller book already.

Baptism Day: My Testimony

I grew up in a predominantly Buddhist household. I was never deeply religious and I was taught to be self reliant. This led to many problems in my life. I led myself to carry the burdens of life and not share with others. This led me to adopt addictive habits in my life, such as the indulgence in gaming, alcohol and pornography, and instead of facing the issues or work in my life I led myself to my indulgences. The first time I heard about Christ in my life was when I was young in Primary School where during Christmas time we would often hear about the nativity story and sometimes about the life of Jesus. Many of my close friends and classmates were also Christian and they would often invite my family and me to Church on Sundays. I would go with my parents since they were open minded to exposing me to the Church experience but since they were not believers themselves I never had the opportunity to truly experience the love and caring of a Church community and to truly grow closer to God during my early years. I was taught how to pray but being young and naïve I prayed to God to show himself to me, to prove that he existed. I prayed that he would talk to me and answer my prayers. This went on for a few nights but I convinced myself that God could not hear me.

It would not be until many years later that it took an emotional crisis during my secondary school years to return me to Church at the suggestion of my parents, and with their emotional support too. I could not control my emotions and I would cycle between feeling extremely depressed and extremely elated. I felt that return to Church during this time in my life truly helped me to recover from my emotional crisis, but yet again my stay at the Church was short-lived. The crisis was led on by my inability to cope with the stresses at my school and my striving to remain self reliant. However I did not truly learn from this crisis and my harmful habits remained due to the fact that I could still not fully open myself and share my feelings, thoughts and struggles with those in my Church community. It took me a second more serious emotional crisis during my college years in the States to reach out to God again. This time my condition was more serious, the episodes of depression and unnatural feelings of elation would disrupt my life. It was made worse by my attempts to run away from my struggles with school work by indulging in my addictions in gaming and pornography. This was obviously not the solution. I went to an evangelical event on campus called Impact 1 that shared the stories about how God was working in Africa. In retrospect I truly felt the Holy Spirit move through me as I heard the stories and joined in the songs of worship. I was given my first personal Bible at the end of the event and I even talked to others about my new interest in the Christian faith. However even though Christ was knocking on my door, my stubborn and doubtful heart refused to receive him. I would spiral further into my emotional turbulence and I almost even dropped out of college when I had to take an academic term off to come home to recover. I was blessed that I would be able to return to my studies and even graduate. When I look back into my former spiritual life it confuses me why it took me so long to come to Christ. It took me two crises to both bring me closer to God again. I feel blessed that it did not take a third in order for me to come to Christ. While I was at college I met a good friend who was Christian. When she told me at first it did not really strike me. I had many Christian friends in the past and I associated being Christian with being good. We developed a close friendship and she eventually became my girlfriend. Being a good Christian girl she invited me to go to Church. I was very open to the invitation due to my good experiences with Churches in the past. At first I enjoyed going so that I could take away the moral message from the Church service but I was reluctant to to truly believe in God. It would take nearly a year later for me to come to Christ. My girlfriend was concerned since I was moving back to Hong Kong from the States. I was blessed to find the Church community at Island ECC. Going to the services made me even more curious about Christ so I joined myself onto the Alpha course. The Alpha course was the pivotal point in my Christian life. I could truly experience the community and caring of the Church in an environment where all questions about faith could be asked and answered. I saw God moving through other people's lives and change them and this affected me too. When I look back on my previous spiritual experiences I know understand that Jesus was always knocking on my door and that it was only because of my stubborn heart that I would not let Him into my life. My previous Church going experiences were not a waste because they gradually led me to a true understanding of God. My walk through two emotional crises without faith was a way for God to call out to me and point out the sin in my life. During the Alpha course there was a retreat and during this retreat I truly felt at peace and I felt closer to God. I felt the Holy Spirit moving through me again, as I did before during Impact 1. I prayed the sinners prayer and I truly felt at peace with clarity of mind. I came to Christ. Though through my human eyes it felt like it took me a long time to come to Christ I know and trust in God's perfect timing.

Since coming to Christ I now have a clearer outlook on life. I am still an imperfect person but by God's grace I know that He has always been reaching out to me throughout my life. Since I have accepted Him into my life I can now trust in His power and I know that I have never been alone in my life since He has always walked with me before I even knew His name. With God in my life I am no longer bound to my former bondages, addictions to gaming, alcohol and pornography. Even if I am tempted again I know I can confide in Jesus and repent. I now know that there is Jesus in my life and despite any trouble I face He is all that matters and He will be in my life.

Day Before Baptism

I've got my clothes ready and the caregroup leaders thoughtfully organized a lunch get together for the caregroup tomorrow after the Church service. I'm excited :). Tomorrow will be a new day for me. I'll send you photos :).

Also, on a random note, I finally found my iPod shuffle. I lost it a while back, I found it underneath the sofa. I think that made my day. It also means I'm going to postpone my iPod photo revitalization until later.

That's all for today. I'll see you tomorrow.

Tapas with Beer

Good food, good cold beer, good company :). I had dinner with my friends in Central tonight, in Lan Kwai Fong.

We had a bunch of dishes: pizza, salsa on toast, lamb skewers and lastly (as shown in the photos) ribs and nachos. I'm glad the photos came out well, one of them came out dark but I was able to manage to edit it in Picasa before posting it. Guess which one was edited? Afterwards we went for frozen yogurt, then called it a night. It was nice meeting up with my high school friends again, we're thinking of going out again for dinner in the next couple of weeks.

On my my way home with my friend I saw a lot of drunk/rowdy people in the MTR. I guess right now is the beginning of the qualifying games for the Rugby 7's in Hong Kong. Rugby 7's is a variant on regular rugby in that there are 7 players, instead of the usual 15, per team with each half playing for only 7 minutes, making for a fast paced, offensive focused game. The rowdy people in the MTR were all wearing pink rugby shirts and they were making noise on a little trumpet. One of the people in the large group of rugby fans accidently started going up the down escalator so the whole crowd started cheering her on to run to the top. She successfully did it, although I think one of the MTR staff turned off the escalator just before she reached the top for security reasons. The Rugby 7's in Hong Kong is the single largest party event of the year, people traditionally go to watch rugby and party and get drunk. I've never been but then again tickets are rather expensive. I read this news article and I guess since it's from BusinessWeek it was hard to tell that the story was actually about rugby and not finance.

Also, somewhat random, but I found this commentary from Gizmodo about Google pulling out of China and censorship issues and how that relates to previous Western Imperialism. The writer's (actually he's one of the head writers) parents are evidently from Hong Kong so he spent a his summers here. I found this paragraph interesting:

China should fear Google, as a government, and a people. And even as people scared of their own government, and people like my father, a capitalist living in Hong Kong, who often defends China's right to freedom from western influence. Seeing the perverse effects of westernization on Hong Kong, good and bad—a land where a few years ago it had the most Rolls Royces per capita of any country, where shopping seems to be the national past time, and with no major art museums—I don't blame China for being wary of big business: "Regrettably, Google's recent behaviors show that the company not just aims at expanding business in China, but is playing an active role in exporting culture, value and ideas."