Crazzysimon's Xanga

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:47:12 GMT

歡迎光臨!

How to make pearls:
1. Boil half a pot of water. Full fire.
2. When boiled, pour entire bag of pearls into the pot.
3. Stir until they start floating.
4. Reduce fire by 1/3.
5. Cook 30 minutes without the lid on.
6. After 30 minutes, turn off the stove and leave still with lid on for 40 minutes.
7. After 40 minutes, wash the pearls with warm water twice.
8. Have a taste to make sure the pearls won't kill people (or... get me killed).
9. Add 1 1/2 bowl of brown sugar and 1 bowl of white sugar.
10. Cover the top with and 3 spoons of syrup.
11. Pour one cup of hot water.
12. Stir.
13. Taste again.
14. Serve.

Red tea:
1. 100g of tea requires 6500c.c. of water between 70-80 degrees.
2. Leave for 40 minutes before serving.

Green tea:
1. 100g of tea requires 4000c.c. of water between 70-80 degrees.
2. Leave for 8 1/2 minutes before serving.

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Been working at this Taiwanese restaurant for about two weeks now without causing too much havoc around... Which is better than expected since when I started, I genuinely had the nasty feeling that I might accidentally spill hot water on customers or accidentally poisoning everyone. On the contrary, I do need to memorize the recipes of at least half the slushes (as shown in pictures above), know how to make hot steaming tea (which one day would almost certainly burn my fingers off), dessert, as well as the three things I've just mentioned above and... Well, washing the dishes -- which isn't so bad.

As you can see though, the menu for slushes themselves are 2 pages long -- and being the sort of person who screws up all his exams because he can't memorize anything -- could be quite troublesome for me. To give you a clearer picture of what it's like, imagine The Devil Wears Prada. Without Meryl Streep (although in the weekends we do have a customer-count that would rival the Statue of Liberty's). And... well I am no Anne Hathaway am I?

Okay, bad example. You get what I mean anyways.

In the end, all the hard work results in a paycheck, so I am content. Really though, I am surprised to report the first positive experience working at an Asian place (the first being T&T supermarket... which was about as good as a car accident between a busload of babies and a truck full of kittens). The most surprising thing though I must say, is that my Mandarin stood the test of time and allowed me not to mistake an order of steaming hot milk tea from an order of a ice chocolate oreo slush. Which is good.

Anyways. School starts tomorrow and I am not excited (as if I have ever been excited for school eh?). About to start taking 3rd year classes now so we'll see whether it'll be regular torture or crap-I-am-being-waterboarded type of experience.

Oh well, this summer's been fine actually. Had a time of my life (literally) at the Green Day concert, Third Eye Blind finally came out with a new album (which was awesome), I moved to a new apartment (which is awesome), had a photoshoot with a violinist (which were awesome), played Rock Band (which is fan-awesome-tastic) and erm... That's it really.

Note to self: Next time I need an actual summer instead of being stupid and taking insanely-hard summer classes, leaving less than 2 weeks for me to enjoy some proper summer. A sequel to a NY-type trip is in order I reckon... If only I could stop dreaming.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:09:14 GMT

This week...

This week, the lightning ruined the fireworks.
This week, my laptop is still not fixed.
This week, I am still using dusty old destop (with a VERY crappy keybpraod).
This week, I wasted an hour and a half assembling an IKEA cabinet.
... Half an hour of which was spent on looking for a part that never existed
This week, the temperature has reached the 30s.
This week, the electric fan was busted so I am waking up 3 times a night by the heat.
This week, the place I interviewed for a job still hasn't called.
This week, I realized that I am probably going to bomb both my finals.
This week, I have already bombed my linguistics assignment.
This week, my Poli-Sci essay is beatened by Sonia's. (screw you)
This week, I still can't get the courses I want for the next semester.
This week sucks.

But...

This week, I am happy.

[Will return to normal nonsensical xanga-blabbing as soon as possible. Wait for updates?]

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:17:49 GMT

The 1st Annual Simons Awards.
The utterly shameless rip-off of the Oscars, but who cares?

Alright, so that was the Oscars last night, an award ceremony that is longer than the Lord Of The Rings trilogy all together. An award that is determined by a panel of so-called experts being closed doors, no matter how much we movie-goers want to participate. Experts? They didn't even nominate The Dark Knight! Pfft, who needs to listen to what they have to say about the best movies of the year... No matter how true they are. Ahem.

So as you could see, I thought I'd hop on the bandwagon and present my own personal list of favourites too. While carefully crafting this however, I've decided to go one step ahead (or a couple more actually) and include music, television, and stuff that you probably won't care about. Also presenting the worst of 2008, Razzie style.

This then, is an award of prestige and... Erm, randomness. Without the honour of any mainstream awards cememonies. And the glamour. And the cermonies. And the trophies. This is rubbish really. Just listen to the experts.

Without further adieu, let's recap the best and worst of 2008.

[Warning: Explicit Content. "Expressive" words are used in the process.]

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Best TV Series:
- QI
- Have I Got News For You
- House
- Top Gear
- Stephen Fry in America
- The Office (US)

And the winnner is... Have I Got News For You.

Man, since the Writer's Guild Strike in 2007 and 2008 we've seen a clusterfuck of "reality shows" raining down on us. How shows like "Paris Hilton's My BFF" could be green-lighted and aired on American broadcasting networks is beyond my achievable level of understanding... That said, dramas and comedy shows aren't that much better, especially after the death of Friends, Arrested Development and the likes -- Shows that actual living human beings would like to watch. Quite simply, American television shows are getting crappier and crappier. Oh well, there's still House and the Office, I guess. And 24 as well. Finally a good season after that dribble of nonsense we got in season 6.

They're still not as good as stuff that's been broadcasted across the Atlantic Ocean this year though. HIGNFY, namely, has pushed the border of political satire to its best. Highlights include the entire episode hosted by Brian Blessed, the US election special (hosted by the ever-excellent Jo Brand) and the pen-throwing incident between Jeremy Clarkson and Ian Hislop. Informative and side-splittingly funny at the same time, HIGNFY is one of the best TV shows of the year.

Online Entertainer of the Year:
- Zero Punctuation.
- That Guy With The Glasses.
- MonkeyAndApple.
- Stephen Fry.
- Onion News Network.

And the winner is... That Guy With The Glasses.

Whoever hasn't seen him reviewing movies from the 90's should go to his website and see him now. Watching a 15-minute video of a guy shouting obscenity while going insane because of some horrible movies is a lot more entertaining than you think. His other works have proved that he has some talents in acting too, which is a big plus to help him climb up the internet ladder to becoming a viral celebrity in less than one year. And it shows -- In less than one year, each of his videos are streamed on an average of 150 thousand times. Brilliantly funny and incredibly amusing most of the time, That Guy With The Glasses is certainly one of the best online entertainers of the year.

The Most Unfortunate Slogan of the Year:

This is what happens when The Dark Knight takes over Hancock...

The Award for Shameless Tossers of the Year:
- FOX News Network.
- Westboro Baptist Church.
- People who voted for Prop. 8 in California.
- Sarah Palin.
- Rod Blogojevich, the ex-Governor of Illinois.

And the winner is... ALL OF THEM!

The FOX News Network has won for their total ignornace when it comes to reporting news unbiased, criticizing Barack Obama for having a middle name called "Hussein", and for having one of the biggest tossers in the world: Bill O'Reilly, who carries a hatred for people who has opinions different from his own, while accusing them of being unpatriotic. He's such a die-hard conservative that if you take off his pants, you'd probably see him wearing the American flag for boxers. Fake patriots.

Westboro Baptist Church, a gay-hating fundamentalist cult who pickets at funerals of dead soldiers and murder victims for promoting a "gay propaganda", can burn in hell as well. The mere sight of them disgusts me.

People who voted for Prop. 8 in California who thought having gay people getting married has anything to do with them holds the crown in 2008 as well. Whoever thought that homosexuals would have a negative impact on the society needs to have his brain checked. I bet that most of them cannot name a single valid reason of why homosexuals shouldn't get married other than their religious beliefs. Like it or not, not everyone in the US is religious and therefore shouldn't be restrained by what others believe in. Congratulations you wankers, you've fucked the gays and lesbians in the ass.

Sarah Palin has won because she tried running for vice president in 2008 despite having absolutely no qualifications as a proper politician. I mean, she doesn't even know that Africa is a continent (she thought it was a country...), for Christ's sakes. Hell, she doesn't even know who the Prime Minister of Canada is... But well, who does anyway? I'll let her slide on that one. One of the biggest reasons she's on this list though, was that she tried to convince people that the Iraq War is "God's will" -- shamelessly combining politics and religion together. Whoever thought that it'd be a good idea for her to run for the vice president of the US must have be suffering from some pretty serious brain injuries.

Rod Blogo... efevsdvsh.... or something like that, is here because he still insists of staying as the Governor of Illinois when all evidences point to him being more corrupted than Adolf Hitler -- but half as corrupted as most Chinese officials. Good job sacking him though.

Congratulations you fucking twats.

5 Best Bushisms from his term in office:

- "I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me." - 2004.
- "The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and bring them to justice." - 2003.
- "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the War on Terror." - 2006.
- "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - 2004.
- "They misunderestimated me." - 2000.

Best artist / group:
- AC/DC
- Coldplay.
- Fall Out Boy.

And the winner is... Coldplay.

Not much to say here really -- rock is pretty much dying when we reached 2000. Coldplay demonstrates with their album "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" that rock music is not necessarily dead yet -- Which is a good thing.

Song of the Year:
- "Violet Hill" by Coldplay.
- "Stop & Stare" by OneRepublic.
- "Rock 'n' Roll Train" by AC/DC.
- "Red Tide" by Foxboro Hot Tubs.
- "20 Dollar Nose Bleed" by Fall Out Boy.

And the winner is... "20 Dollar Nose Bleed" by Fall Out Boy.

Just listen to this. How can you not like such a happy song?

Worst idea(s) for a movie of the year:
- The Hottie & The Nottie.
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
- Bangkok Dangerous.
- Meet The Spartans / Superhero Movie / Disaster Movie.
- Twilight.

And the winner is... Meet The Spartans / Superhero Movie / Disaster Movie.

(This paragraph is very censored. But Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer can go shoot themselves in the head for making the most horrible movies 3 times in one year.)

Oh, and Disaster Movie is #17 on the IMDB Bottom 100 list. Good on them. It certainly serves its title right, being a disastrous film.

Best Actor / Actress:
- Josh Brolin in W.
- Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder.
- Sean Penn in Milk.
- Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.
- Aaron Eckhart in The Dark Knight.
- Frank Langella in Frost / Nixon.

And the winner is... Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

One of the biggest selling points of The Dark Knight is, indeed, the joker. Only a glimpse of him in the trailer (well hardly a "glimpse" -- he almost carried that trailer) and it made us, Batman fans or not, all hyped up about his insane performance. Yes, I was hyped up too -- Finally a good iconic movie villain since that doctor in some movie about... Lambs.

And then the news came.

I hate to admit it, but before the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger got to me, I didn't have much of an idea of who he was. I haven't watch Brokeback Mountain nor I'm Not There, but watching him in The Dark Knight in an IMAX theatre in New York does give me a good enough idea of how damn great he is as an actor. His performance in TDK is just jaw-droppingly stunning. The joker's insanity, randomness, brilliance, creativity, his anarchic ideologies and his utter horribleness are all wonderfully portrayed, at a level that it almost seems effortless for Heath Ledger to perform this role.

Watching him in The Dark Knight is simply fantastic, and there is no doubt in saying that he is THE best element that makes up the entire film. Heath Ledger has set a standard of what acting should be like by portraying the best villains in Hollywood of all time. RIP.

Movie of the Year:
- Tropic Thunder.
- Wall-E.
- Frost / Nixon.
- Milk.
- The Dark Knight.

And the winner is... A tie between The Dark Knight and Wall-E. (no, don't force me to pick one)

Frost / Nixon comes a close second though. And no, I haven't watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire or The Reader. Yet. Don't bombard my email asking why I didn't give the fake-award to these movies, because frankly, I haven't watched them yet.

Oh well.

Anybody who knows me well enough would know that I have watched The Dark Knight 4 times at a theatre (2 times in IMAX), and approximately 200 times on my computer. It's no surprise then, that The Dark Knight is officially my favourite movie of the year (or indeed, of all time if not because of Forrest Gump's pure awesomeness). What made The Dark Knight so amazing is that it is not just another mindless action movie. It holds a lot of promises, and delivers them at the best way possible. It explores different themes of right and wrong, consequences, humanity and emerges the audiences in a world of chaos, a world of frustration, a world of tragedy, and a world where clowns are a lot scarier than they should be. Of course, this movie, partially filmed in Hong Kong -- my hometown -- helps to a certain extent as well (although with the most unfortunate cameo of Edison Chen...). The visuals and sounds are fantastic, the script is brilliantly written, the cast is fabulous, the characters are all memorable (including Harvey Dent -- perfectly portrayed by Aaron Eckhart), the direction is perfect, the scores are well-done, the batmobile and the batpod are freezingly cool, the Joker cracks skulls with pencils. Everything is just perfect. I was sure that this would be the best movie of 2008.

Until I watched Wall-E on my computer again. Yes, I did watch Wall-E before watching The Dark Knight, and in many ways I am inclined to point out that in many ways, The Dark Knight is a better film than Wall-E... But I can't. Watching Wall-E in the theatre and realizing that it was so good was as surprising and as impressive as watching your grandmother do popping while chanting gangstar rap... Okay, bad example, but you get my drift. Wall-E is simply a trimuph of accomplishment in terms of direction, the gorgeous computer generated effects, and when you watch this movie, you simply marvel at how they've pulled off such a film. Despite the fact that not much dialogue is used, the story is communicated more effective than ever -- which, I may also point out, is one simple story but one of the most heart-warming, funniest and most meaningful stories that has ever came from Pixar. In many ways, it is a pretty old-fashioned love story, scattered with humour on the top with inspiring central themes throughout the movie. It succeeds not because it is a mainstream all-action-slash-comedy movie that you or me would gladly enjoy, but because it successfully offers so much substance and creativity without using many of the important elements that make up a film -- dialogues and central human characters. Who could have thought that a story about two robots who can only shout "Walle!" and "Eve!" throughout the movie, while falling in love with each other in a spaceship full of degenerated fat people in space -- work so well? It is just breath-takingly brilliant.

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That's it for tonight's awards. Congratulations all the winners and the nominees!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:22:36 GMT

See how far we've gone...

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:43:51 GMT

Down... and Up.
2008: A retrospect.

I remember when 2008 just started, with Jaime, Justin, Wesley and I all hanging out at Wesley's place to celebrate the New Years with some fake chamgpagne (ahem) and a good movie, while Jaime showed me how to tap-dance without looking like a robot with a dislocated ankle... Well, attempting to show me anyway. It didn't work out so well.

I remember however, that I was hoping that in 2008, things would get better -- Seeing how 2007 was one of the worst years I've ever went through, things could only get better, right?

Was it better? I don't know. It was yet another roller-coaster ride filled with ups and downs. Less ups, more downs I'd say. That said, I have certinaly learned a lot with so many things happened this year. I've learned how to ski, I've managed to have a backpacking trip to the States, I took pictures for a wedding, and I survived the brutal beatings that is first semester of second year in SFU. Of course, having lived alone for more than a year and a half now, I'm doing a better job in taking care of myself... Sort of. This is probably also the only year when I've seen this much snow (27 inches to be precise) and still not have broken an ankle or been in a car crash -- so that's a start. I've also learned how important friends really are, with some quietly drifted away this year and some new ones came along. Sure, for a long time I've been lost and confused, but who hasn't anyway?

I've tried hard not to let those feelings drag me down, and it's certainly getting better I think. Thanks though. You know who you are anyway.

2008 Timeline.

January 1, 2008 - Party at Wesley's. Vowed to have a better year.

January 5, 2008 - Went across the border for the first time, went nuts in those shopping outlets in Bellingham, WA... I didn't buy much still.

January 21, 2008 - Leanne and Tyler hired me as the Wedding Photographer for their wedding. Cue in self-confidence issues and the fear of lacking equipment.

January 22, 2008 - Got my car broken into the first time. Spent 4 days in the cold without a driver window... You could only imagine how well it went. That punk broke into my car to steal 5 dollars worth of cash and a Crunch bar in the glove box... Right. Desire of moving out of Surrey grows rapidly.

Bollocks.

February 15, 2008 - R.I.P. Old iPod video. Hello new iPod.

March 2008 - Hopped on the Youtube bandwagon. Discovered That Guy With The Glasses, Zero Punctuation, and most importantly, Stephen Fry's QI. A little something to keep me away from boredom.

April 29, 2008 - GTA IV sucked my life out like a thirsty vampire on a clear night -- and I love it.

Have been doing this a lot since GTA IV arrived...

May 24, 2008 - The day when I transformed (rather successfully) into a wedding photographer. Congrats Leanne and Tyler and thanks!

May 26, 2008 - Some punk did a hit-and-run on my car. Sigh. Another 300 bucks to fix it.

June 16, 2008 - Simon's legal. In most Canadian provinces. Not in the States though, damn.

June 27, 2008 - Somebody's broken into my f(beep)king car again. Didn't even steal anything this time.

July 7 - 24, 2008 - Epic voyage to five major North American cities with my dearest cousin Carly. New York City is still fantastic. Highest point of this year.

Man, I love New York.

August 9, 2008 - Realized that I might have a certain condition from watching one of Stephen Fry's documentaries. Lost and terrified. Mood sinks into the ground.

August 10, 2008 - One of the lowest points of this year. Emo period starts.

August 29, 2008 - Old cellphone broken. Hello iPhone.

Wesley and I both got iPhones now.

September 1, 2008 - 2nd year of SFU begins. What has also begun was the daily 45-minute commute to Downtown for classes.

September 27, 2008 - Started to pull myself together. Emo feeling gradually fades and things got a bit better.

October 18, 2008 - Had a license change. No longer 090 JXF because that's under my mom's name and... She's not in Canada. Now the old plate is hanging proudly in my bedroom.

October 19, 2008 - I still remember...

November 24, 2008 - Towards the end of the semester, SFU Communications Department initiated a killing spree, handing out three 2000-word-long essays, one project, two take-home finals (a fancy word for "essay") and a final exam to finish before mid-December, resulting in me writing 14000 words in little less than two weeks. Bedtime hovered at around 4 or 5am in the morning until recently.

Stayed at SFU to finish essays until 3 or 4 in the morning at times... This night is one of them.

December 12, 2008 - Started snowing in Vancouver. The sky dumped 27 inches of snow in Vancouver in less than two weeks. Gotten stuck in the snow for God knows how many times.

December 26, 2008 - Skiied the first time in my life on Cypress Mountain. Spent hours to learn how to ski, only to fall down the beginner's slope 16 times in 4 hours. Great fun though -- Definitely going to do that again.

Brian, Billy, Michael, Winnie, me and Sandy -- the group. Or as I call it, "the suicide squad". For me at least.

December 30, 2008 - Ends the year by damaging my car again -- this time a mudguard under the engine dropped and started scraping the ground as the car hit some pretty solid ice on the side streets. Argh. Oh well, got it fixed for free at a bodyshop. So all is well.

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I just hope that 2009 would be kind to me this time.

Happy New Year people.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:12:43 GMT

Currently playing: German Industrial City Retract by Maclean.

WhiteChristmas.

I haven't seen this much snow ever in my life before. Getting snow means that a) Drifting on snow is fun, because I get to imagine for a few seconds that I am a character straight out of Initial D; and b) Getting stuck in snow is not so much fun...

Which is why I am snowed inside my house. Oh well... I should be used to this by now anyway.

Near the year's end -- having a lot of things to think / reflect about right now...

Sit on the couch,
where you're flipping through pictures of your trip to your friends. Yeah.
Open the door in your dirty clothes
when I could see that you're tired, oh that you're tired.

Rain on the ground comes off my window of,
my window while I'm seventeen.
I should get up but it may darken
if I stand here alone, stand here alone.
Yeah...

And why fight about and why question what is done?
If you can't change now don't just sit there, it's time to move on.
Yeah I see what you mean but I don't understand why you'll stay.

Oh...

It's been five months since it's been normal,
but what's normal anyway?
And I know it won't ever be the same but,
but can there be something in between?
Yeah...

And why fight about and why question what is done?
If you can't change now don't just sit there, it's time to move on.
Yeah I see what you mean but I don't understand why you'll stay.

And why, oh why,
oh it's, it's done.
And I don't know, but others move on.
Yeah I see what you mean but I don't understand why you'll stay.

Oh... Yeah.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:57:35 GMT

A "What-did-you-do-in-summer" Crazzysimon's Exclusive: (Completed!)

Now Playing: Summer in the City by The Lovin' Spoonful.

NorthSouthWestEast.

Toronto > Montréal > New York City > Philadelphia > Washington, DC.
July 7, 2008 - July 24, 2008.
Distance travelled: 11079km.
Photo count: 1430 + another 884 from my cousin Carly.

[Note: Sorry that I haven't updated for a million years. University has been brutal as hell and I haven't got time to update this long entry to entertain... well almost nobody. But hey, it's finally finished. So hurray!]

It has been quite a sizable time gap between this entry and the last entry I posted... Almost two months, to be exact. And roughly three weeks later than I said I would post this travel log. Yes, I do apologize for that, things have changed drastically over the last couple of weeks with University and some other bruhahas that's been bugging me for a while... Oh well, now that things are clearing up a bit now (although I am in the middle of a lecture break...) I am presenting you my trip I had in the summer to the East Coast. It was a great trip, as you may have already noticed...

I am guessing some of you might be wondering why I had this trip. Erm, I don't know... Fun? Actually, in all seriousness, I've always wanted to go to New York City for a lonnng time -- probably because of all the Friends episodes I've watched. So when I found out that my cousin, Carly, might be able to come to Vancouver for a visit, I had a little brainwave... Things that happened afterwards were history.

At first I just thought that we could just visit Toronto and New York City, considering that these are the two places I want to go... Okay, maybe that's not true. New York City is the only place I really really wanted to go, but since I've got a bag of cousins in Toronto and I haven't met most of them for a long time, that's in as well. Carly had other ideas though, so that's why we also went to Montreal, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. as well. Which is good, because I loved them all.

Here's how the trip went: The first stop was Toronto, and then through Kingston to Montreal, New York City, Philadelphia and the final stop, Washington D.C.

View the post now in Crazzyphoto!

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:02:16 GMT

ha haHA HA hA ha hAHA hA Aha HA
Ha Haha hAHa HA HA HA ha HA Ha
hA hA haHA hAHaha haHAha haHA ha
HAHA hA HaHa Ha hA Ha hA haHA hA

No, I am not the Joker.

A little update:

Due to popular demand, a travel log of my little trip to Toronto + Montreal + New York City + Philadelphia + Washington D.C. will be finished as soon as possible... Just a little bit hard to choose from 2500 pictures me and my cousin took altogether in this trip... Er, yeah.

Just give it a little time. I should be able to finish it within a week. Or two weeks... How about three? Nonono. I can't. I will finish it. ; )

Oh, the joker came to my site and destroyed my layout, if that's what you're wondering.

Currently playing: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.

Get well soon, Morgan Freeman!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:42:58 GMT

~~Simon was here in Toronto.~~

~~Simon was here in Montreal.~~

~~Simon was here in New York City.~~

~~Simon was here in Philadelphia.~~

~~Simon was here in Washington D.C.~~

Simon is coming back.

---------------------------------

The Dark Knight was amazing.

Near the trip's end... Man, this is a long trip. Wait for me in Vancouver guys!

- Simon.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:35:12 GMT

To all the Hong Kong guys who took AL:

If anyone is coming to Canada or the United States for studies (preferably Canada, because I am no expert when it comes to the US system), I will try my best to help you out with whatever you need. Whether it's school application, courses selections, registration, or even if you need an opinion of which University to choose -- I will try and help out. Or maybe you need some advices or thoughts from a guy who went through exactly all these less than two years ago, I can do that too.

The reason I am doing this is because the VERY last thing you want to do when you're arriving to a new place for studies is to be blindfolded and not knowing what's going on. Getting used to a whole new environment takes time, and ignorance certainly will not help. It's always better to know the risks before you actually do something you might regret in the future. Don't even think that studying in North America would be any easier. It's just as difficult and if anything, it will be even harder because you'll have to get started all over again in an environment you're not even familiar with. Canada's educational system works much better than the one in Hong Kong and it's a perfect place for studies -- I love it here -- but all these will mean nothing to you if you can't get used to the changes.

Just e-mail me, MSN me or leave me a msg on xanga or facebook, and I'll try and get back to you ASAP.

Service in English only... Partly because I don't know how to type Chinese, and partly because if you've gone through 7 years of high school and still don't know how to read English... Sorry for being brutally honest here, but you're better off staying in Hong Kong.

And one more thing, congratulations guys... Although some of you (or indeed a lot of you) might not get the result you wanted. You should take pride on one fact however -- You've finished A-levels, which sadly is something I can't possibly have been able to do. Hong Kong's educational system is a joke, but you've managed to go through the entire high school process. You should be proud of that. If you guys in Hong Kong need somebody to talk to, always note that there's this guy who escaped to Canada after F.5 by the name of Simon who you can talk to. =D

- Simon.