20120130

Bye bye ua times square.

Childhood memories

Science museum, haven't been there for maybe 20 years already... This time I m there to take a look at the food science special exhibition in the museum.

Somehow they managed to get many many people into the museum, to my surprise, and the place is just chaotic... I have to say, kids playing and screaming an chasing each other isn't my most favorite atmosphere for walking in the museum. On my day off I actually appreciate some quietness plus some fresh knowledge and that was why I was there at the first place.

Never mind, I can only tell myself that. Prevent further ruin my day off mood.

Nice outing

Working on some translations at home today.

Nose is not doing that well. I consumed all these tissue paper. Poor trees.

Visiting Care group

Really awesome to see our old friends from care group of iecc, it has been around a year and a half already. And that also means that we are in our current church for around that time already. Isn't the Lord great? He uses His ways to connect us with different people, He even helps us to get involved in our current church. Through our care group's prayer yesterday it really affirms me that our current church is the right place to be now. The Lord is just so faithful in all His ways.

Enjoyed the ministry time as well. Thankful for what the Lord is sharing with us from His heart.

God is good (all the time)

Ups and downs for the past month.

But no matter what, God is so good. And I want to be able to say, my soul knows it very well. :)

Bless you today as you face your life.

Movies i wanna watch (but dunno y i still hvnt)

1. The Man who stares at goats
Why i wanna watch: George Clooney is the reason. You cant challenge his charisma being a star. And, the trailer is funny.
Why I still hvnt: the Chinese name of the movie is too goofy, and it was in theatre for too short. (Yes, i know i am finding excuses now) OK, last time Menno and i watched a movie of his, and it was not a good experience. Sometimes you dont know what you will get from Clooney simply because he now also appears on weird or boring movies other than only entertaining movies.

2. Gran Torino
Why I wanna watch: Totally moved by Clint Eastwood since Million Dollar Baby. Want to watch all movies he directed, tho know that I probably cant.
WHy I still hvnt: Trailor looks a bit violent, still not brave enough yet to rent it.

3. The Black Dahlia
Why I wanna watch: i honestly dont know, i guess the impression only comes from the DVD cover. Good job, DVD cover designer!
Why I still havent: There is always another movie more attractive than it, sadly.

4. Thor
Why I wanna watch:
I even watched Captain America already. It is only this ONE movie standing between me and Avengers (which btw will be released next year, so i still hv another 6 months to get a hold of Mr. Thor)
Why I still hvnt: i dont know as well... oh, i know. menno watched it without me, n my movie moments are usually with him now n he wouldnt want to watch it a second time... argh.

5. Any of the triologies...
Why I wanna watch: Tired of people referring to them and not having any clue...
Why I still havent: Well, they are loooooonnnnngggggg... and most of the time i am spending the first good hour just to get to know the background of the story, which means, it was usually a very soft, slow, without much happening beginning. Just like how I cant stand my hair passing the length of shoulder and have to have them cut, i stopped a couple of these DVDs from playing any further when i find out i m getting lost /sleepy/ disoriented.

Movies i mentioned last time and i HAVE watched!!
1. Green Zone
2. Up in the air

2 out of 5... not bad.

Hello blogger again. :)

Havent been writing for over 6 months, quite a few things happened in between, but main reason for not writing is simple. Lazy.

And what gets me to write again? Boredom. 

Not really, i tried not to go on facebook, and discovered after just two days that it saved me quite a bit of time. So, i can write on blog again. 

Dont get me wrong. I do write regularly, but only on my journal.

Update of life: weight - stayed pretty much the same (sad); jogging - stopped, and my nike sensor is not working, havent taken that to repair yet; baking - started, huge interest; drama - joined a drama group, did one show in May, god experience; marriage - thankful every day.

taken right before i got haircut. :)

p.s. hi to all hyves friends, you guys see my blog posts real time.

The Netherlands

Third time in the Netherlands. There are quite some differences in the way we do things and the Dutch do things. Not good or bad, just different.

They take days off for family vacations, summer vacations, winter break, autumn break, etc. They will drive their car with the caravan and go to a camping site in France. It maybe take two days to drive one way. Camping means you set up your camp, and do something, or mostly, not doing anything but sunbathing for days. 

We have perhaps...10 days off every year and after adding up the public holidays we have, usually we spent on a trip to Bali or Korea for exactly how many days we have off. We came back from airport, dropped everything into the washing machine and go right back into work.

Their friends gatherings, or birthday parties, usually is between meals. You have your dinner with family at 6pm, then meet for coffee at somebody's place at 7:30pm. (because everybody should be at home at 5:15pm latest) Everybody is kind of on time. Then it's a big circle of chairs, with coffee or tea or other beverages, in the middle are snacks or a pie. 

Our gatherings start with a dinner, we also meet at 7:30pm (with always somebody late for around 10min) , but perhaps that is the earliest time everybody can get off from work. So we waited for a table at Causeway Bay for 15 min or so, sat down and eat and talk while we eat. There could be a drink afterwards, depending if it is a weekend or not. The rule is, we pretty much would not come back home before 10:30pm. 

Their kids are running around and play with whatever. Summer it's the backyard with grass or plastic swimming pool that they are with, winter time its the skates and ice skating at the pond close by. 

Our kids are pretty much full with their schedule with piano, dance, swimming and painting lessons. Not to mention tutorial classes. But our kids probably dont run just because it's fun to run and jump around.

I grew up here in Hong Kong, and I truly love this city. The fact that I married a Dutch and have visits in Holland taught me the ways to balance our lives as well. 

For some reasons I have not been able to jog for the past...6 days. And tonight I cannot jog again. Will make it 7 days. (needa have dinner with my parents, perhaps last dinner before going to Holland)

"some reasons" include: last week we are in town, have to meet some people before we leave (and they leave). And another time I only had less than an hour in the morning and I insisted to go to sports ground, so I didnt do enough stretching and all muscles went weird after a six-minute run. Yet another day, it was my day off, I had sufficient time to run as long as I want, and I went to sports ground discovering I forgot my jogging pants...

Perhaps it's time to figure out something that will work at home, so if a certain morning I failed to do the jogging, at least in evening I can do something like a twenty minute workout with a DVD before going to bed.

Nose is incredibly annoying.

Menno gave me a surprise gift! Waist bag which can hold water bottle, iPod and keys. Perfect for jogging! Still waiting for the next time I'd jog to try it out!

More exercise...

Some more exercise this week. Badminton on tues night, jogging with Andrea on Wednesday evening. Rest on thurs, cos I found out the lack of use of my hamstrings brings me soreness that stays for longer than I expected. So I m glad generally I feel fresher. But I m far from fit, at least fit enough to dice into random sport and feel ok the next day. Cos now I can really feel my thighs crying out when I take the stairs.

So happy the Nike plus sensor works now, after a whole journey of taking it to the shop to exchange and then taking to the apple repair centre to fix and wait for them o order a new one and go pick up... It's finally here and it's finally working fine!! So thankful!!!

Tried to jog this morning, but not successful. Perhaps I still have to recover from the previous two days of exercise...

Ok I finished with my verbalizing of all thoughts going thru my mind for the past ten minutes. I can now go to work.

Seriously, I might need a hat, if I run in the morning again.

Couch to whatever k

Well, I didnt exactly started as a couch'er. I did swam a bit in the summer, I did do a little bit of bowling. I did hike like... once a year.

Excited. Finally I started jogging.
You might find me slower than people brisk walking, but whatever, I insist. I believe one day I can become normal speed runner. :) Yah, then i can use the word "run".

Add oil, Jan.

Love. No Fear. - Give Thanks

Love. No Fear.
Thanksgiving week in Hong Kong this week. Of course, you can give thanks again on the last week of November.

Some time ago, a school started to replace Halloween celebration to Thanksgiving week as their school activity. Giving thanks is not always a natural thing in our gene, just because we are so used to take things for granted.

Today, I want to thank my parents, for their support and love all the time. I want to thank my husband, Menno, for loving me as who I am, encourage me to go on and contend when i really want to give up or slack off. I want to thank my friends, for walking with me and praying for me. I want to thank my spiritual parents, all of them, in different times they inspire me to have conviction on what i am doing. They pray for me and protect me as I am growing and learning. I want to thank my next generation, most of the time they do radical things with faith, which provoke me to trust in God even more. They challenge me to humble and press on to persue God.

I thank God. He is so faithful. He is good all the time.

Happy birthday, Menno, Jildou en Renita!

Birthday gift to Menno from me. :) Just see previous post if you still think it's a macbook or an iPad.

Then one morning we realized we are terribly late in sending something to Jildou and Renita for their birthdays...... We took a few days to buy a card and write them and sent them... we are slow, i know. I promise, I will send card before the person's birthday from now on. At least, i would try. 

Few days we received this package at our mail. (And of course, our mailbox is not big enough for this super birthday present!) So excited to open it...

Thanks to family Stoelwinder!!!

And there are still more... i was lazy to take them out from cabinet to take picture. But Menno (and I) really like it!! Oh, especially the rod from sinta Klass!

I am so happy to be able to post this before October ends. :)

my DVD list

After a long time, Menno and I rented a DVD to watch last night. It's "Bounty Hunter", starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerald Butler.


That leads to a short stay in the DVD shop this evening after dinner... 
and I made this list... my want to watch DVD list!


1. Green Zone
2. Up in the air
3. The man who stares at goats
4. Gran Torino
5. the Black Dahlia


Of course the list can go on and on...i just listed the ones that i saw in the shop and i will really spend the time to watch.
:)

my new toy!!!

inspired by Cherry.

new camera.

Dear blogger

Dear blogger,

I wonder if you are bored by all the people who are typing the list of what they did thru the whole day on their blogs, or if a certain movie is good or not.

My theory is... Most of the people actually don't really care how you think about a certain movie or book. If they wanna buy it, they would buy it. I'd you said a certain movie sucks they would still go, Basically because they wanna know If it really does suck.

Same thing with twitter? Both describing what they were doing the whole day, updated every 5 min, as well as venting all the frustration with the traffic or their clients or their boss...

It is fine too. You own the account, you can say whatever you want.

I can choose to unfollow you as well. Unless you write really funny stuff...

Okay, bloggie, thanks for listening to me. Write me back! I wanna know how you are doing too...

Take care
Jsc

Menno's birthday present

it is supposed to be a surprise. Surprise means the event happened to a person is unexpected at all. So, it implies that he present I got for Menno is supposed to be q secret until the day he opens the wrapping of the gift and make a "wow" sound (at least out of obligation). 


So now you know things didn't go as I wish. 

A photo album as birthday gift. My idea is to record special events and moments for the year. Of course it can sound like another reason to make a year book for our family, I don't care. The point is at least I have an excuse to do it. 

I took time to discreetly move pictures from all different cameras and computers to my working computer... And discreetly make the photo book (Which is not easy, cos as you know Menno n I are kind of always together... Work and traveling and home and meals and bed... Nearly 24 hours) ok, I know I might seem a bit distracted when we watched the tv show two weeks ago... But that was kind of the only moments I can have your attention to the tv screen and your mind occupied so you re not wondering what I was doing...) 

I successfully got it done. Yeah! Operation m accomplished!!!

Wait. I don't have a credit card to buy this thing online!!

Sigh... This mint be the only moment in my life I felt like I snoops have a credit card... 

After 3 minutes of frustration, I had to go to Menno and ask  if I can buy his birthday gif with his credit card. 

Silly enough, I asked his question. And silly enough, Menno didn't try to figure out what I chose for him. 

It came to the moment of booking... I was desperate... Cos my apple account was acting up on me. It said with a Dutch credit card paying I cant get the book deliver to HK!

I don't know if they are being too American or what, it is possible that a person is buying something out of their country and deliver to somewhere but their home address! There is this possibility!

To fix this insolvable problem, I had to ask Menno for help, reluctantly. Very reluctantly. 

It's not surprise/secret/mystery anymore. I knew it, Menno knew it, you know it now. And the whole world will know soon. 

Lesson of the day, the present economy wants to have us in debt, so they create credit card. And they bully me thru this system... Anyways, I should just think of something I can buy with cash next time. 

Bride-to-be

Congrats to Joyce and Jeff!! Big day is gonna be in Feb 2011!

We already had our first wedding planning dinner at my home. We have bride and groom-to-be, me (married) and Andrew (who is experienced in organizing weddings... and know Joyce pretty well.)

Andrew and I were basically shooting questions to them... This is actually a process every bride-to-be has to go through. You kind of need to verbalize what exactly you need for decoration, catering, styling, etc. Not until you verbalize it and your friends (or vendor) understand it, it's still a dream in your head.

and here we have the quote of the day...
"Photographs are the ones that matter at the end... your friends can laugh at you all they want on your wedding about how much make up you put on, or how exaggerating the hairstyle is... as long as it looks good on the pictures, it's worth. What are you going to look at in the end? Pictures!"

I have never thought of that before, but I am quite convinced by Andrew's quote. And afterall, Jeff is going to marry you, no matter you put make up or not. Joyce, it's okay...

 [hehe, a pic from my wedding...]

I guess I will call it rest

Will spend at least a couple of days at home, do some cleaning, reading and writing. I was still writing about our trip to China few days ago. Hopefully today I will finish with journalling down some details. I have to say, I love this city and we perhaps had the best weather few days in this city during our trip. :) Of course, nothing to compare with Hawaii or Cebu... something with sunshine and light sea breezes.

Just got a book from this simplified Chinese bookstore somewhere upstairs in cwb... Firstly, I love those bookstore. Who knows what you can get from those bookstores? It constantly gives me surprises. They now even have books translated from Japanese with comics talking about practical side of psychology... Anyways, i meant to mention actually this book about cleaning your home with vinegar and baking soda... Seemingly most of the things at home can be cleaned with soda or vinegar, or the combination of both. Since i m that kind of person who seldom cleans, and dont believe in buying specific detergents to clean different parts of home will motivates me to clean more. Plus, i just dont like to have 5 bottles of cleaning detergents where at the end one bottle can already solve all your problem. At the end, how big is my apartment??? Does it deserve me to spend so much on cleaning detergent???

So i m going to give it a try, cleaning my home with soda and vinegar. Hopefully it works.
Wait for my report. :P

p.s. now i think you would believe we are really on holiday... since i would research into how to clean our home...

Burn notice

Burn Notice.
Menno and I are watching the season 3 already. Spotted it on Fox channel when we still had the free preview of the channel. Not just Burn Notice, we watched White collar too. (That is another good one.)

Totally love the narration by Michael Westen, the main character, teaches us all how to be a spy, of course it is a tv series, so I am not quite sure how much of it is practical in real life.

The story is about Michael Westen, a former spy, discovered that he is blacklisted. The bad news is, with a ban from doing any of the intelligence work, he doesnt have any information, money and the worst is not having a single idea of why he is "burned" (blacklisted). The good news is, he is at a city where he has some family and friends. So here he comes, trying to find out who exactly set him up.

Our coworker is watching "V" and "Stargate Universe" and said both are very good... I would perhaps let Menno to explore it first... :)
Suggest to me if you find some nice tv shows.