Ode to Coffee

'Tis Friday morning, last day of work, last day of August. And 'tis cloudy out. Uber cloudy... (uber is a word I'm stealing from Matt's UK dictionary)
And my coffee jar is close to being empty. Grocery list today includes: Coffee, Milk, Bath Salt, 3 kinds of Veggies, Natto, Tofu, Water, Kiwi, Apple, Coffee. Oops, I wrote that twice, didn't I?

Double-shot latte sounds so good to me right now.






(this one's esp. for my dear auntie)


The bitter, the better... mmm... Artiagiano latte, I do miss it now.

Okay... Bear, or Chicken?

I was just searching for information on Interpretating, and came across an interesting article describing the working situation of an UN interpreter. And when the interviewee was asked how she would translate the following line into, for example, French, this is what was given:

'Don't count your chickens before they hatch.'

into...

'Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tue.'
(You must've sell the bear skin before you kill it.)

So... talk about efficient interpretation, eh?

UN Russian interpreter Preter Pyotr Avaliani said: "Simultaneous interpretation is like driving a car that has a steering wheel but no brakes and no reverse."

(SOURCE: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_n3_v28/ai_11547959/print)

1%

昨晚紅月食 全台仰頭望
更新日期:2007/08/29 07:10 記者:記者楊惠琪、楊正敏／台北報導

昨天晚上出現今年第二次月全食，全台多可肉眼觀看，但南部在月亮剛升起時，不巧有雲層在上空，有些地區甚至下了一陣子雨，北部也因霧氣和雲層影響，七時至七時廿二分左右，才看到從食甚到生光的「紅月亮」。

昨晚在台北街頭到處都可以看到有人抬著頭，找月全食。台北市立天文館助理研究員張桂蘭指出，昨晚台灣地區觀測到的月全食過程，是「月出帶食」。月亮在晚上六時廿分左右升起時，月食已經發生了。當時天還有微光，六時卅分後天漸漸暗了，就很容易看出朦朦朧朧帶點橘紅色，且籠罩在陰影中的月亮。

月全食發生時，月亮不會全黑，而是呈現紅銅色，這是因為太陽光被地球的大氣折射後，只有波長較長的紅光可抵達月球表面，所以月亮看來會呈現紅色。

晚上七時廿分左右，開始「生光」，皎潔的月亮慢慢露臉，一個小時之後，月亮復圓。

但昨晚的月色稍嫌黯淡，天文館推測與日前菲律賓火山爆發，以及延燒多日的希臘森林大火有關。

陳姓大學生昨晚在信義計畫區看到紅色的月亮，興奮地拿起手機拍照留念，也趕緊通知親朋好友到戶外觀賞天文奇景。他說，生平第一次看到紅月亮，感覺很新奇。

張桂蘭指出，今年三月四日元宵節當天，也曾發生月全食，不過當天月全食開始發生時，月亮即將西沉、天色將亮之際，台灣地區民眾僅見到「月沒帶食」，也就是從生光到復圓的階段。

昨晚的月全食，台北市立天文館譽為三顆星「精彩級」的天文景象；為滿足廣大天文迷，天文館首度提供網路直播服務，並與日本美星天文館合作，讓民眾不用出門也可以觀賞台灣和日本的月全食景象，吸引近六萬人次瀏覽；天文館還開放第二觀測室，吸引數百位天文迷到場。

天文館指出，昨晚錯過月全食的民眾，可上天文館網站瀏覽精彩照片，網址：http:// www.tam.gov.tw。

下一次台灣地區可見月全食景象，將預計在二○一○年十二月廿一日。

(SOURCE: http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/070828/2/jios.html)

No Flaming Torches

'Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word o his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.'
--Isaiah 50:10--



This CASSIS MOUSSE cake was sweet & sour...
I saved half for tomorrow!

Nostalgia... and a new beginning

Finally, HOME. In Japan, that is!
And....... I find that my life here peaceful, enjoyable, and absolutely..... great.
But that certainly doesn't stop me from missing my other HOME.

This is my little brother, Augustin, sporting a Dragonball hairstyle. (Wei, Dragonaball is OLD, but you wear it like the cover page of Rolling Stones! You pulled it off, Esqueleto!)



This is my little sister, Jodie, with her freshly cut fringe. She looks lovely and I can't believe she's going to Jr. High in September. Jo! Don't grow up too fast!


This is YUE YUE. My beloved puppy.... Oh, dear. I miss her so much.


You might notice that YUE also wears her bangs in the front. Haha! Someone brush her hair! (Joooooo.... Weiiiii.....)



And, as I'm back in Dazaifu, doing my own grocery shopping, I'm back to my weekly routine again. FLOWERS. Except this time, I did not only get my everytime must-buy CALLA LILY, but a new kind..... It's a small, delicate purple flower subtly & beautifully accompanied with hints of yellow.
The name?
SUPERLADY.
It must be the flower Le Petit Prince was meant to find, instead of the Rose.
hahahahaha. never mind.

Going Home from HOME...!

Leaving Vancouver in 30 minutes!
It's funny how I can call Vancouver my HOME when I've never actually really lived here. During the last 2 years of McGill, I flew back for Spring Break, Winter Break, and then finally a 2 month Summer break - the longest I've ever stayed in Vancouver. And then JET happened. Japan then became my next destination.

I think one of the hardest questions anyone can ask me as of now is, WHERE'S YOUR HOME? Sure, I could give the old corny line - which I didn't mind using until recently, when I gave more thought to it - HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS, right? Right....

So where's my HEART?

Montreal has my first 2 homes in Canada, my elementary school, my high school, and (my beautiful, beautiful) McGill Campus. I think I wouldn't mind climbing up the hill to the Education building now. My home churches, my friends, my coffee hangouts, my favourite cake shops! All the good times, crazy times, fun times, hyper times, sad times, exciting times ... well, they belong there. My heart is there.

Seoul, Korea! I had one of the CRAZIEST 5 months of my life so far there, in and around YONSEI. My dear long-distance friends.... Late-night chattings, DILIGENT studying, random trips, SOJU rounds, and ..... Red Mango. Oops, and MIGOs. I miss them - people and the Korean yumminess.
My heart (and part of my stomach) is there.

Vancouver..... This one probably weighs a bit more. My family, my third home in Canada... Morning/Evening walks in Deer Lake, trips to Richmond simply for the fact that over there, DimSum tastes better. I can still taste the wonderful Beef Soup Noodles I had yesterday night, cooked by Mom, and the freshly-baked cookies by Dad this morning (a box is safely stored in my luggage). My first DRIVE.... in my brother's car, boys chat with my little sister, Jo.... They are growing up so fast! Sometimes I wish that time could freeze - just for a year, so that when I come back, things will still be the same, and I could watch them grow and grow with them.
My heart is definitely there.

And now... Japan. Ohhh.... how could I even begin to write of how beautiful and just awesome my beloved city, Dazaifu, is? It's beautiful. It's awesome. My blog contains posts and posts of the people, the food, the sceneries and many fortunate incidents along the way..... in the past year. And now, the start of a new school year, a new beginning. I'm excited.
My heart is flying there now...

So where is my home?
I.... think for lot of questions, there are more than one answer. And this one is definitely one of them. One answer is not only difficult to give, but impossible.

Home is where the heart is, and my heart is all over the place, I mean, the world.

I'm going HOME!

Wish me good flying.

Vancouver part II

Barinet Marine Park in Burnaby!



'Beach Closed' w/ Daniel


My wonderful neighbor, Flanders!


Malisa!!!


Family at Dimsum


Date with Jill


Maple Butter Salmon at JOEYS

Vancouver

i love photo booth...


my cute cousins & sister


can you spot the twins?


family time!

Ok!

決めた。

Family Pride

Hello hello!

guess who's on the Gazette?

My beautiful cousin.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=974ce56f-0658-4b61-9c94-4a518bb212be&k=1343

Countdown: 1 day

Last day in Fukuoka with Wei...!
Flying back to Vancouver tomorrow, for TEN days. quite short, but I'll do my best to make it memorable. Natural sceneries, crowded cafes, homecooked meals, family trips, morning/evening walks in Deer Lake, playing with my puppy... Heeeere I come!
Can't wait.
TWELVES HOURS of flight waiting for me.
I can't wait to FLY.

Kumamoto/Oita Trip with Saori and Taihei

Recap on Osaka and Kumamoto Trip

The Pursuit Of Happyness

This movie was awesome - a 10/10 according to my evaluation chart (a 8.5 for Nacho Libre).

Nacho Libre (Trailer #2)

I think I might buy this on DVD.

Nacho Libre - Trailer

After watching Devil Wears Prada yesterday night with Wei, we were far from being let down as our movie night was prolonged with NACHO LIBRE. 'Nachooooooooo'. Both were a blast. It's probably my second favourite comedy after Dumb and Dumber.

SWEEEEET

Last thursday, I was invited to a CAKE BUFFET/BIRTHDAY PARTY. And obviously, pigged out.

When I first walked into the hotel's restaurant, I just couldn't wipe off that huge grin off my face...


Round 1


Round 2


Round 3


I will have a CAKE BUFFET at my wedding.

And, last Friday, Wei and I headed to OSAKA by shinkansen!


More pictures to come soon.

Random quote of the day:

'Chancho. When you're a man. Sometimes, you wear stretchy pants. In your room. Just for fun.'

-Jack Black, Nacho Libre

Wikipedia-ing

During my spare time at work (which is now, until next monday when I have students coming in to practice for their English Speech Contest), I bring my MacBook to work, 2 thick books, one bottle of water and one cup of tea to keep myself busy. An afternoon coffee is sometimes needed if I didn't get enough sleep like today - I watched RAY with Wei last night, didn't get to finish it yet though.

So today, after half an hour of Yahoo News, I added some cool features to my Google homepage, and then briefly scanned through some works by John Keats and Shakespeare. I gave ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE and AS YOU LIKE each a 15 minutes try, but then got caught up in Dictionary.com due to to many unfamiliar terms. Words like THICKET, COPPICE then led me into a FLOWERS quest on Wikipedia. And then, one thing led to another, I re-learned Pollination, and stumbled upon an interesting piece on FLORIOGRAPHY.

Other than Roses being the symbol of Love, there's a massive list on all kinds of flowers with different meanings attached. Apparently it stemmed from Victorian Era, where love couldn't be expressed as freely and FLOWERS (along with their useful symbols) assisted in making romantic feelings known.

For instance...

LAVENDER (violet) = love at first sight


FORGET-ME-NOT = true love


SUNFLOWER = pure and lofty thoughts

GRASS = submission

THYME = thriftiness

WHEAT = wealth and prosperity

..........Now, ain't that something?

And, just thought it'd be worth mentioning - Holeless doughtnut is actually a symbol for the sponge used for Jesus at the Crucifixion, while Pretzels signifies Jesus's bonds, and STOLLEN, a German Christmas cake originated from the image of Baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Wikipedia-ing on a Thursday afternoon.