Rich?

I got an email about this story long time ago and it kept popping into my head lately.

A very successful business man was in Greece for an important business meeting. During the trip he had a couple of days free and he decided to go to one of the islands for some fun.

As he was enjoying a walk on the beach, he notices a Greek fisherman unloading a boatload of huge fish. He decides to approach the fisherman and starts up a conversation. He asks the fisherman what he does with the fish. The fisherman replies that he takes them to the market and sells them. The fisherman explains how he gets up every morning around six and goes fishing 'till noon or so and comes back and sells them.

So the business man asks him what he does with the rest of his day. The fisherman replies that after he sells the fish, he goes home and spends quality time with his kids and then takes a mid-afternoon nap and then at night he goes down to the square and hangs out with his friends.

So the successful business man decides to give the poor old fisherman some "business advice." He explains to the fisherman that if extends his fishing to 5 or 6 at night he could catch more fish.

"Then what?" asks the fisherman. The business man explains that after a year or so of hard work, he could buy more boats, hire more fishermen, and catch even more fish.

"Then what?" asks the fisherman. Feeling a little annoyed, the business man explains that he could then move his whole operation to Athens and corner the whole Greek fishing market.

"Then what?" asks the fisherman. Feeling even more annoyed the business man again explains to the poor old fisherman that after moving to Athens, he can think globally, where he opens offices all over the world, where eventually he would take his company public making millions off the shares he sells and retiring rich.

"Then what?" asks the fisherman. One last time the business man explains to the fisherman that he would be rich and that he could then move back to the island, spend quality time with his kids and take those mid-afternoon naps and at night he could go hang out with his friends.

So the fisherman is sitting there trying to comprehend everything and then he says, "Why would I go through all that trouble? It sounds to me like I'm already rich."

Nemesis

My Tuesday ultimate team finally lost every single game this trimester. We will get to move down a division next month. Woohoo! (I am seriously happy about it. We have a bunch of new people and it would be good if we move down so we can work on playing as a team) However, yesterday’s last game was definitely interesting because we were facing our former team. When I first started playing ultimate, I was playing with this team called M. I played may be two years with that team and then my friend decided to start another team. Mostly because some of the guys on M were way too competitive. And that year, the captain left the team and the only one who would step up is one of the super competitive guys. Since both teams played on the same night, I picked to leave for the new team that my friend starting. And I know the new team would be more laid back and focus on having fun instead of just winning the games. In the end, we split into two teams and things got a bit nasty after that. The captains never talk to each other after. In fact, the captain from M pretended not knowing my new team captains. So you can understand why last night was definitely interesting. I almost expected there would be a lot of screaming and yelling. To my surprise, nothing happened at all. There is no screaming or calling names. I wish I could say that we beat the other team and got our revenge. It was in fact the other way around. But it was still a pretty fun game.

People Come, People Go

I had this topic in my mind for quite awhile. I kind of want to write about it but I don't know how to approach it. We always say friends come and go. But if you know you are drifting away from your friends, what would you do? Would you try to make extra effort to reconcile the friendship? Or would you just let it die off slowly? I think I have been doing later one. I would still go to the gathering. But I would just sit there and eat. I don’t care what is going on with people’s lives. And I won’t say what is going on with mine either unless being asked. I would then give a generic answer: alright, good, busy. I do feel bad every time I showed up at the gathering at that mentality, especially once in awhile, my friends like to say "we have been close friends for such a long time" I feel very guilty about it because I can’t say that out loud from my heart. I always wonder if they notice I have been just physically presence. One of the girls got engaged last year and apparently another girl was so happy that she cried when she heard the news. Another friend technically jumped up and down. I just say "congrats" politely. I was just not that excited. I didn't even cry when I heard my best friends got engaged. I was very happy for them. But crying seemed a bit overboard for me. Anyway, the other night one of my friends suggested we should do a speech on the wedding. My immediate reaction was to object. I seriously have nothing to say at all. I seriously drew blank when I tried to think of something to say at all. I mean I could BS if I have to. But I know it won't be from the bottom of my heart. I know it is my problem. And I have been distancing myself. May be I should just stop showing up.

Overly Excited?

My brother is in town this week because of his girlfriend's convocation. Yup, because of the girlfriend, not me. :P I asked him last year would he come back during Easter because I was trying to decide if I should postpone to get baptized till he is back. His answer was he is planning to come back in May and highly impossible to come in April. So I gave up and went ahead with my plan to get baptized in December. Frankly, I am a bit disappointed he can't come, but I guess when it is girlfriend versus sister, the outcome would be very obvious. Despite all the whining, I am glad to see him even though I just went back to HK in November. What I didn't expect is how excited my parents are. First my mom insisted our whole family go to pick him up. The whole time I keep thinking I could just go pick them up easily by myself. But I am not going to argue with my mom on that especially she insisted to go to the airport too. So my brother's flight is supposed to arrive around noon. My parents said they would call me before leaving their house. But I didn't expect they would call me exactly 12:00pm. Keep in mind they live in Richmond and it would take them at most 10 minutes to get to the airport. And they didn't even check if the flight was delayed. My parents were just anxious to go see my brother. I was being the lazy one and sat at home till I saw online that his flight actually arrived. I then left my house to go to airport. I wasn't particular thrilled that I had to park my car to pick him up. I much preferred that he called me after he got his luggage. But oh well. After another hour waiting in the airport, watching my mom walking up and down the hall anxiously to try to find my brother, he finally walked out. My dad then took his camera out. I was like, you got to be kidding me. It wasn't the first time he flew or first time he came to Vancouver. Why are we taking pictures! My friend jokingly suggested that my parents should bring a banner to say "welcome home" to the airport. Now come to think about it, my parents may seriously consider that if they thought of it earlier. I guess that is something I would never understand. :P

Only Girl

I start to think I am not a girl. Or I should say not girlie. I was talking to one of the teens the other night and she was trying to decide to go to a Christian concert or not. One of her concern is no girls are going. It is not the first time I heard girls saying that. Another girl from my fellowship used to ask if I would join for some activity cause she doesn't like to be the only girl. Somehow I never think it is a problem for me. May be I will try to see if my friends are going. But I never really concerned that I am the only girl in the group. May be if I go camping or hiking, usually I would go with my male friends. So I am kind of used to the fact that I may be the only girl. Even at my previous company, I was the token girl in development for the longest time. Not to mention that all my lunch buddies are guys only. I wonder what my friends' reaction would be if I asked that question next time. :P

Coffee House

I just came back from the coffee house hosted by the teen group from my church. I am simply amazed how they pull everything together. When I talked to their leaders on Thursday, it sounded like there is still tons to be done. But when I walked in today, I was so impressed. The decoration, the sound set up, the food. Of course all of it was nothing fancy. But they are all done by the teen. The leaders didn't help at all. They sat back and let them organized it. I did hear there was a lot thing done last minute but I think the turnout was awesome. And a lot of people showed up too. I got to say I am very impressed with tonight. When I drove home tonight, I reflected back the outreach event that we organized. May be we adult plan it more nicely and executed it better, but how come we can never get people to come? Isn't that the whole point? Are we just not comfortable inviting our friends? Are we all just too focus of making food or decorating but forgot the main point of these events? My fellowship did a coffee house two years ago. We did have great food and good decoration. But we only have two new people show up. I wonder if we can accomplish something like what the teen had today.

A Good Citizen

So I decided to call in ICBC today to report the accident that I saw last night. I am not sure it would help, but at least I did my part. One thing I don't like calling in ICBC is their phone menu. They should have a witness option. I don't even know what I should choose. (Pick 1 to file a claim...errr..not my claim..2 if you are from a repair shop..errr) After randomly picking the "Other" option and on hold for 15 minutes, I finally talk to a real person. The first thing I said is, I am not sure this is the right number to call, but I witnessed an accident last night and this was what happen. Here is our conversation:

ICBC: So do you have the license plate down?
Good Citizen: Err...I took a picture but the resolution was so bad that I can't tell the license plate now
ICBC: Do you know the make or brand of the car?
Good Citizen: Errr....does it help if I say the black car hit the white car?
ICBC: (damn this stoopid girl) Do you remember what part of the car contact the other car?
Good Citizen: (looking at the picture taken by the phone and VERY clearly described the contact point between two cars)
ICBC: (still shocked that there is actually some details to this incident) So here is what you said happen... (and repeat what I told him earlier)

So the ICBC personnel said they will put me on file as witness. But since I don't have more detail on the accident, they can't tell if someone has reported this or not (apparently there is no such thing as listed by location and time) And next time it is probably a good idea to put my contact on the car in case they do want a witness.

Accident

This is not a random picture of a car accident. This is something I saw in Canadian Tire's parking lots today. So I was about to back out from my parking spot. When I checked my back mirror, I suddenly saw a car backing out to an electric pole. I saw the car hit the pole and bounced back. I quickly turned my head and tried to figure out what is with the driver. And there is NO ONE in driver seat! I was like..what the hell! (It was broad day light! So it is not ghost story!) And then that car bounced and hit the white car parked in front. I was shocked to see the whole thing. Another guy saw the whole thing too and we can't believe our eyes. We waited for awhile to see who the car owners are but no one showed up. So I took a picture and left. Now the question is, should I call ICBC and say I saw the whole thing just in case? But I don't remember the license plate now. This is one weird accident!!!

Early for Church....Almost.....

I "almost" arrived at church early today. I am usually pretty bad about being on time on Sunday. I think I had only been on time less than 10 times last year. But today, today I almost arrived early. Almost. So this morning, I was still dreaming and turning side on my bed. For no reason, I opened up my eyes and saw my alarm clock said 8:47am. Since the Sunday service starts at 9:15am, I am pretty much screwed. So I quickly rolled out of my bed and rushed to the shower. By the time I was done and checked the time again, it was 7:00am!!! I was like WHAT THE!!! Then I realized that it must be just 6:47am when I checked my alarm clock. Since I am pretty much blind without my glasses, it is totally possible I mis-read my clock. Now I have 2 hours to get ready, eat breakfast, and go to church and would still be earlier than the worship team. Since I have so much time now, I figure I would do my devotion in the morning and watched a bit of TV before getting out the door. But do I underestimate my sleepiness?! I quickly passed out on my couch again (and without setting an alarm!!!) The next time I opened my eyes, it was already 9:00am. And I end up being 10 minute late again. :(

Mother's Day Dinner

This is what I made for mommy tonight for mother's day. It wasn't bad except not enough sauce and not enough shell fish.

Cornered

If someone ask you, do you think I am so-and-so kind of people, how would you answer? Or they ask you "people think I am so-and-so, what do you think?" The way that person phase the question is expecting you to agree. If you actually don't think so, would you speak your opinion? I actually lied when I got asked last time. Someone asked if I think he is a trustworthy person and my immediate reaction is "No, I don't trust you" but that would require some confrontation/explanation, and I am not ready to do so with someone I don't know well enough. So I decided to lie. I felt bad but then I really don't know how to answer. If the question is from a friend, I probably would give an honest answer. What would you do?

Ulti Season!

I can't believe I didn't post for a week. I have been crazily busy at work. But last two days, I didn't bother to stay overtime cause it is ulti-season! Somehow I feel very devoted to ultimate this year and signed on for two teams. The worst part is back to back, Monday AND Tuesday. I really don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for the team. Monday team is a new team I started playing with. I played with them in the fall, but that is only half the regular team. I was kind of nervous cause I haven't played and I haven't exercised for so long. I almost passed out during prat ice the week before. It actually wasn't too bad. When I woke up today, my body wasn't super sored. I was quite happy about it. But man, am I wrong! I played again tonight and my whole body was super tired after the first game. My right arm is tired and sored. I can't really lift my arm now. I am not looking forward waking up tomorrow. But I am sure glad both of my teams are pretty fun people. Especially my Tuesday team. This is the team I have been playing ever since I started playing ultimate. But this year half the girls are new. I was kind of anxious about the team dynamics. But the turnout is actually pretty good. I am looking forward to this summer. :)

TGIF!

I am glad this week is finally over. It was very stressful at work. I finally realize how service company is different than product company. In a product company, when we are behind schedule, we can easily decide what feature to remove to meet the schedule or push the schedule within the company. But with service company, it is not that easy. Customers always want everything to be completed perfectly and on time. And with software, it is almost never the case. So this week, we finally behind schedule and I have to update the customer on the progress. Since the project is very short duration, losing a day mean a lot. And for one component we are a week behind already and the second component we are at least 3 days and counting. You can imagine how tense I am every time going into the meeting with the customers. I am totally freaking out that my head will get chopped off right there and then. And I was relieved every time I walk out alive. Last two days was especially bad cause we are closed to a delivery date but from what we see on the test server, it doesn't seem working at all. That part was done by the Russian team and since we haven't worked together before, we haven't developed trust yet. I don't want to overreact without really understand how much work has done. So last two days I set up a server and test it myself. And I felt so much relieved after seeing most of the stuff are really working. Hopefully next week will get better. This is indeed more stressful than I expected.

Wanted: A Humanoid Punch Bag

I somehow really miss one of my friends from previous company today. Not that I am all emotional all a sudden. But because I really want to beat up someone today and he isn't around. I tried to use the alternative method which is to yell at him online but he isn't online this morning, which made me extra mad. When we worked together, I usually would stomp into his office if I am upset or anything. So I could rant, whine, complain, and sometimes (actually most of the time) use my plastic hammer just madly beat him up. That is part of my stress relieve. But we don't work together now. Who should I run to instead? :(

PS. My friend later got online and we chatted for a bit so I can get my frustration out. I nicely asked him to drive over so I could beat him up but he refused. How rude!

Всё о Google

It sure was extremely annoying that the network connection at work was extremely flaky last few days and the Internet connection was slow because of the proxy server in Russia and the connection was down at least once each day and I can't use MSN anymore and have to switch to web MSN (this probably annoyed me the most! but not just to talk with friends but I talk to customers too :P) But one interesting discovery though, which is I never know Google would redirect you to the local mirror site. And even blogger does that! I was completely amazed by it (I know I know, probably most people out there know but I didn't!) I guess Google detect the Russian proxy server and assume I am from Russian site. Even though that mildly amused me, I really hope our network problem will be fixed soon cause I basically have nothing to do if the network is down!!!!!

Happy Day

I am so happy today. Finally a friendly face at work. One of my friends started in my company today. (Though it is sad how happy I am for that loser to join, but still it is a friendly face) Even I know most of my coworker, I don't know them too well. I finally have friend at work :) I finally have someone I can go to lunch with. I do sometimes eat with my coworkers, but mostly I am a loner. But now I finally can bug someone when I am bored at work. So happy :)

And a perfect way to end my day is the email from my brother. He said he probably coming to visit in May. I am soooo happy now! Even I just saw him in November, I miss him already :D

What To Do? What To Do?

Somehow I think God keep teasing me today, or last few days. As I mentioned before, I am helping my church to organize a team to go to Peru. Though even from the beginning that I doubt we can find a team of 15 people, I am still highly disappointed that only 4 people can commit so far. Originally I have about 10-11 people said they are interested, but then they start dropping out either because of vacation or money issue. While I can understand that, I am still abit upset. My original thought was to still go but joining with other people no matter what. But some guys think it already defeat the purpose if we only have 4 people to go as a church team. So I was going to email the team and see what they think tonight. While I was sitting on my couch procrastinating on writing the email, 3 more people told me that they can join but depends on the date. I can't help to think, seriously God, do You want me to go this trip or not. If this whole process is just to teach me to be patient, it isn't working well cause I am getting more impatient. If You want to tell me that You are in control, then at least tell me what You want me to do! I want to get this trip going and it doesn't seem like so. And when I was going to cancel it, then more people said they can. I am really not sure what I should do now. I feel like having an anxiety attack. :(

Night Owl No More

One of the hardest thing with my new job is the early meeting. Ever since I started this project, I have to meet with my Russian team every two days at 8am. For other people, it may be nothing. For me, it is killing every single cell of mine. I was never an early person. When I first started in my previous company, I did go to work pretty early. I usually went in around 7-8am. But then I found out that I didn't really get to leave early anyway and I usually stayed pretty late. I may as well just go in late. Since then, I start going to work later and later. My usual time to work would be 10am. That way I won't stuck in traffic. I even refuse to attend meeting earlier than 10am. However, ever since starting this project, I have to get in earlier. I don't have an excuse to not go in anymore, especially I am the project manager. I tried suggesting to the Russian team to meet at 11pm instead, but people seem to more willing to meet at 8am instead. Aiii, I wonder how long my body can keep up.

A Letter

I got a letter from my second sponsored kid today. I start child sponsoring thru World Vision several years ago. My first kid is from South America but I never bother writing to him. Ever since I came back from Cambodia, I really want to do something so I decided to sponsor a second child from Cambodia. When I first got his picture, I was a bit disappointed because he wasn't very cute looking (I know I know, I am shallow). But I was sad after I read his description. His parents both passed away and he stayed with his relatives now. As people already struggle with daily necessity, taking care of another child add extra burden to the family. I felt so sad for such a young kid to go thru that (He is only Grade 1) but yet I know it is very common in third world country. Anyway, when I got his letter today, I am pretty happy. I never got a letter from my sponsored kids. He didn't say much except to thank me. But somehow that make the whole thing more personal. He isn't just a picture that I sent my money for. May be I will be less lazy and write him and my other sponsored kid back.

An Interesting Bubble Tea Experience

I went to a bubble tea place on the weekend which turn out to be quite interesting experience. You are thinking, "How interesting can a bubble tea place be? You almost can find 5 bubble tea places in every block in Richmond." Here is how it all started. So I was meeting up with my friends on Sunday for bubble tea. We walked in and the lady in the front desk asked if we have made a reservation. I thought "That is weird. Never heard that you need to make reservation for bubble tea before." So we said no and she said it would be 20 minute wait. Since we were still waiting for our friends, we figured it was fine. And then a waitress walked by. My friend immediately said, "We are staying and wait for a table. We are not changing places." Why? Cause that waitress was wearing a french maid uniform. We were all surprised to see that. So after we sat down, we were all very busy looking around. Except the front desk lady, all the watiresses dressed like a french maid. And the dress isn't very long so they can't really run or bend down. And half an hour later, one of the waitresses changed uniform. She now wore a traditional Japanese dress but then the dress was a miniskirt. So all of us were like "Wow, do they change uniform every hour? Should we order more food so we can stay longer and see how many uniform are there?" We are in this big dilemma how long we should stay. Later we found out from the newspaper posting at the front door that this place is actually a cos play cafe. They only have 3 uniform so far: a school uniform, a french maid and Japanese skirt. The owner was hoping to get more uniform later, like sailor moon ones. Definitely interesting experience, but I am not sure I would go back though.

If you don't know what cos play is, here is the definition from wiki:a contraction of the English words "costume" and "play", is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, tokusatsu, and video games.