Weblog
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
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Sick, Wicked and Nasty
In the words of Chuck Swirsky... "That is SICK, WICKED and NASTY!!!!111!!!11!"
Hong Kong is just that... sick, wicked and nasty. I shall describe it as such in my first 24 hours here off the plane in 2 years.
What's sick?!?
In the true sense of the word, what is sick about HK is Swine Flu. The talk of swine flu is rampant in HK. People wearing masks in the streets, elevator button panels being cleaned and sanitized every 3 hours, daily topic on the news etc etc.
Now, in the urban dictionary definition of the word, what's sick about HK is their awesome transit system. MTR my friends... Mass Transit Railways, or something like that. Alternatively, it means "Makes TTC look Ridiculous/Rigged". I think it's the latter. The MTR is so awesome, that it has fans on youtube. Go search it up and you'll find fan songs and commercials on it. MTR is 10000000xxx greater than TTC. Actually, there is no comparison. Words can't describe how SICK this is system is, so I am not gonia describe it anymore lol. Watch the fan video instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrucnP1NPFc&feature=related
What's wicked?!?
No tax. NO additional fees on top of what is listed on the label. I pay what I see. Now that's wicked. O... in conjunction with MTR, the Octopus card system is also wicked. You obtain an Octopus card, store value in it, and use it everywhere from eating out, taking the transit system, taking the taxi, going to the convenient store, grocery shopping, etc etc. Now that's wicked. However, I just don't get why they have to call it the Octopus. It reminds me of Octo-mom... hmmm.... and that's nasty.
What's nasty?!?
So I was eating breakfast this morning at Cafe De Coral (CDC), minding my own business. This guy comes in all sweaty and... topless. He makes his order, gets his food and sits down to eat... just like any other customer. Nobody seems to think it's odd or tells him to dress up. Now that's nasty... and unhygienic.
Wednesday, 01 July 2009
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What to blog about?
It has been a while (more than a year), since I last typed up a blog entry. O my... how time flies! And for some reason, I've decided today to come check out xanga again... well... true reason being is because I am bored and decided to finally read some of those xanga subscriptions that get sent to my email everyday haha. After reading my friends' blogs and snooping around for interesting tidbits on other people's lives, I've decided to publish my own weblog entry today......
... and here it is.
Seriously, I've been sitting here for the past 5 mins or so trying to think of something interesting to blog about. Nothing I can think of that I really wanna share that would be interesting. oh... something just came to mind haha...
Downtown public housing projects are GHETTO.
Seriously... you won't believe how bad they are until you actually walk into the neighborhood. I was working at the construction site near the public housing area with the site supervisor and construction director as they were taking me around the construction site. Part of the site was a downtown public housing project, which was already fully occupied. It looked nice and new as the townhouses were newly built by these guys to which I remarked out loud "wow... it looks pretty nice here, how much does it cost to buy a place here?". Mr. Site super gave me a weird glance and said "I don't know and I don't want to know... besides, part of the cost comes out of our pockets (tax dollars) and its pretty bad here". I looked at him puzzled for a sec...
... until we walked into the neighborhood and I see a pool of blood on the walkway, with a trail of blood drops leading to one of the houses. The site super looked at the director and said "mmm it must be a stabbing, look at that amount of blood". The director silently concurred and whispered to me that it's pretty bad here with the people living here, with druggies, gangsters etc. Apparently the director and the site super routinely see these things on the construction site and started to worry about our safety, and they quickly got out of the government housing projects and back to the construction site area.
You see and hear so many things on the TV and radio, especially on the hip hop MTVs. Rappers claim that they are "thug" and are from the streets, while listeners of the songs can only dream up a reality of the ghetto, never having really been in one or close to one at all. Truth of the matter is... reality is not always what you see and hear on the mainstream media (which is skewed to form an opinion for the viewers/listeners). Gotta live the world through real life experience!
Sunday, 18 May 2008
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Sichuan Earthquake
It is a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon in Toronto. The rain is pouring hard outside as I take comfort in my home. I take comfort, but not shelter. Catastrophic and unfortunate events that are occurring around the world has taken the task to remind me once again, of the privileges that I have taken for granted for most of my life.
The Sichuan Earthquake occurred on May 12th, 2008 with a magnitude of 7.9, over the duration of 3-4 mins.
As at May 18, 2008:- 32,000 Dead
- 220,000 Injured
- Projected death toll: above 50,000
72 hours - the conventional time frame for the survival of victims under the dire circumstances. Today is May 18th and 144 hours has passed. As the clock ticks down on the survival of the victims, the hope for the victims and their worrying families become bleaker by every passing second.
Despite passing the 72 hour deadline, news of rescued survivors that are recovered one by one continues to lift the spirits of families and the witnessing world. However statistically small the portion of rescued survivors are, they are the uplifting miracles that are statistically significant to everyone affected by the earthquake.
Their will to survive that clench to the last thread of life is inspiring. This serves to remind us at how fortunate we are and the privileges that we have in our lives.
Please help, donate, and assist the earthquake victims of Sichuan and the cyclone victims of Myanmar.
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
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Tibetan Protests
You know what really grinds my gears... the recent Tibetan protests.
Why are the protesters trying to cause a ruckus at the expense of the Olympics? It totally ruins the Olympic spirit and what it stands for. The Olympics stands for unity; for nations to come together and compete in athletics, putting behind differences in political views and opinions. Differences in race, religion, beliefs are set aside as athletic achievements transcends across all cultures and the boundaries of countries. With the recent protests, especially the violent ones where protesters try to attack the torch carrier and ruin the symbolic torch relay ceremony, it really goes against what the Olympics stands for. What's more ironic is that I believe Tibetan Buddhist teachings don't even support the use of violence to achieve certain means.
I support human rights and I would like to see China shape up with it's human rights record too. But not in this way.
Besides, don't people realize that the Olympics itself would alone bring enough pressure on the Chinese government to shape up? The international spotlight has been focused on China for the past few years ever since it was granted the opportunity to hold the 2008 Olympics and it has changed a lot since then. The IOC made the decision to hold the Olympics in recognition that China is going to be a major economic country in the future and having it host the Olympics will give it the international credibility to make important changes to it's government policies. And changes take time.
So stop the Tibetan protests in the face of the Olympics and leave the Olympics alone...and that's what grinds my gears.
Monday, 08 October 2007
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Happy 1 month "anniversary"
I love you. But you make me work so hard to get any satisfaction.
I am trying to make things work... trying to make ends meet...
Does every relationship require some sort of sacrifice in order to make it last and fulfilling?
I know what I have to give up in order to make it work... everyone who has been down this path has told me this. Spending less time with friends and family, skipping out on some parties and gatherings... I hope it's all worth it.
I am your slave. A slave to your rules and demands.
Just look at my wardrobe ever since we've begun our relationship a month ago. Everyday, I put on that attire just to appease you. Yeah... I think I look good in them, but it gets tiring at times. Another thing is, I've been seeing you too much... every relationship requires some alone time for each other, and I believe I need more of that in order to be happy. I hope you'll understand.
Anyway... during this past month, I had the most wonderful time with you at Niagara Falls. Those 5 nights spent together are something that I'll cherish. Bottoms up, partying hard, fancy meals... I also learned a lot about you too and how it is gonna be in the next few years that we will be spending together. I've seen some of the blossoming fruits of my effort in this relationship and I am hoping for more and more! What a wonderful future that we'll have.
I had other choices out there, but I settled with you. Despite our differences, I am confidant that I made the right choice and it'll work out.
So to our 1 month "anniversary" (even though I hate calling it an anniversary since it is supposed to mean a "year" rather than "months"), here's a toast to our beautiful and blossoming relationship!
I love you... PricewaterhouseCoopers aka. PwC aka. P-Dub
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Justin Wu - Associate.
