Dec 23

i'm just gonna take today off and do some resting.
just meeting with Dora, doing party groceries at Costco, and maybe go wrap up some gifts.

aftermath of a vacation

jetlag is an annoying thing... keep wanting to doze off anywhere, anytime.
but i did had a blast during my vacation.  went out everyday and walked A LOT.
my arms have slimmed down a little from pulling the cat luggage around Taiwan... up the mountain... down the mountain... across the roads...
i'm surprised it's still in one piece, while the CK luggage i left in Hong Kong is sort off breaking down already.

so many souvenirs to give out, but this time i'm keeping a lot of food (especially the *ahem* pork products) for myself to consume.
really regretted not getting those thinly sliced pork jerky in Taiwan, among other things!!

still looking for that one last player for next week's concert.
bassists in town are either booked or out of town.
geeeeeeeeeeez!
i know i should've booked someone during my vacation, but free wifi was very hard to come by in Asia.

一個人的旅行

其實沒有想像中的孤單。

台灣人真的很有善, 我這個呆呆的外國人問他們也很有耐性的解說。
很多很多的種種經歷都寫不完, 就算我的照相技術有多專業也不可能完全表達每個感覺。

就像在花蓮背包客棧裡同房的中國女孩讓我在墾丁的背包客棧再遇上, 在沙灘上被刺熱的南部太陽乾煎的身體, 再在電機車上吹著撲面而來的暖風, 去程時不知道夠不夠電池, 到現在台南的怪叔叔民宿八人舖就我一個人睡。
這都是珍貴的個人回憶啊!

最辛苦的一段應該是上個星期, 重感冒加生理期雙管齊下, 我還以為會撐不住也讓我捱過來。

也滿想家裡的免費洗衣機和空調。

Like what I like to say all the time: home is where all my stuff is.

我做不回香港人, 做不到台灣人, 還是做加拿大人比較划算。
快要回家面對現實了... 在那之前, 我會好好的享受這段時光。

Yay, I think my chinese is getting better! =D

counting down by hours

continuously in la la land...
or maybe i'm high from a few days of not sleeping enough and turning into an adrenaline machine.
that must be it... my right shoulder is so locked and sore that i couldn't even take off my shirt.
another night shift tonight.... coffee #2 is in.
maybe i'll have enough time to make another souvenir tonight.

thoughts

a conductor who's an ass, with a church that doesn't want to pay.
that is why i will never become a church musician, nor a catholic/christian.
karma will come for you, even if you don't believe in karma.
it's gonna bite your ass even harder when it gets there.

ok, enough with that shit.

9 days to go!  i definitely look forward to a month long of me-time!
this will be even better than all those solo hikes i did years ago!

茅盾

waiting really sucks!!!
and there're still 2 more concerts to play before i take off too.
i wish it's november already!
but then... i'd need more time to conjure up my souvenirs.
so... much... to do...

can't wait!

ALL HOSTELS BOOKED! =D

now i just have to write out all the transport routes, prices, and schedules.
soooooooooooooooooo ready for my trip!

又要改一改囉!

11/13-16 台北 + 九份
11/17 台北 -> 台中 -> 台北
11/18-19 花蓮
11/20 屏東
11/21 墾丁
11/22 台南
11/23-11/24 阿里山
11/25 彰化+ 新竹
11/26 台北
11/27 回港

可惜日月潭不能去了, 因為感覺上太趕了.
換來的是可以在台南過一天, 試驗一下我的台語理解能力! (接近無)
日月潭就留下一次, 可能是溫泉 + 大自然之旅了~
這次呢, 比較鐵道 FU~

more revisions

11/13-16 台北 + 九份
11/17 台北 -> 台中 -> 台北
11/18-19 花蓮
11/20 屏東
11/21 墾丁
11/22-23 阿里山 (22 晚在阿里山, 23 晚在嘉義)
11/24-25 日月潭 (24 晚在日月潭, 25 晚在彰化)
11/26 彰化 + 新竹
11/27 回港

finally found a 墾丁快線 bus that leaves from 左營, which is not too far from 屏東.

head explosion

i was hit by the biggest headache of the century (thus far) on Saturday.
it was caused by a series of unfortunate events that include but not limited to: lack of sleep, walking in the wind, walking in the wind with rain, eating nothing for breaking and lunch, drinking nothing but cold beverages, stress getting to London, loud trumpets + trombones + drumsets + percussions blowing behind me without a sound shield stand, getting back to home after the concert swaying my car on 401.
i'm too old for this...
took my sunday and sleeping in monday today to recover.  and i'll need to take a nap today as well just to make sure it won't come back tomorrow.

i want my vacation now.

revisions

have been feeling kind of sicky this week.
maybe it's the change of weather and the fact that i was out in the garden working on destroying the summer veggies without a jacket for a few hours.
then i feel constipated and lethargic.
must be that time of the month.

a little revision to my previous itinerary:

11/13-11/16 台北 + 九份
11/17 台北 -> 台中 -> 台北
11/18-11/19 台北 -> 花蓮
11/20-11/21 花蓮 -> 墾丁
11/22-11/23 墾丁 -> 屏東
11/24 高雄 -> 日月潭 or 阿里山
11/25 阿里山 -> 彰化, 新竹
11/26 回台北

米已成炊

今天才收到銀行寄來的信用卡密碼, 可是卡應該是過幾天才到.
可是今天已經去 Eric 介紹的 agent 買了機票.
很可惜, 因為我的 visa 太少限額, 唯有用 mastercard 付款.
$1300 的 moneyback 呀!!!!! 就這樣變了 pc points 了!!!!!
可惜....

現在可以好好計畫台灣的行程了!

等等等

等待是很辛苦的。
由其是在等高昂的飛機票降價的時候。
由其是沒有工作卻要用錢的時候。
由其是新的信用卡還沒有到手但要買機票的時候。
所以我應該到外面走走吸收一下新鮮空氣，因為現在秋風飄著樹木的氣息很香很香，而且多運動又可以減肥。
回想 ．．．這個春、夏天只用過一次我那可憐的單車。偶爾也應該寵幸一下。就看看明天能踏去哪裡練一下。
自從上禮拜 softball 隊的 last game，之後就不會有劇烈運動了。
極度需要減肥腿！！！

maybe i've been watching too much True Blood...

had a sad dream last night.
i was part of a group of emerging elite vampires, married and have a 4 year old son.
no, the child wasn't made vampire, he was born vampire!
somehow a war started between humans and vampires, and we're on the losing side (because they have the advantage of the sun).
we were long separated from my husband in the war (since the beginnning of the dream), but during a rescue mission my son and i were sedated but rescued by my comrads.
my husband was in the complex and used all his power to save me.  he was killed in front of me, with warm (thought vampire blood is cold?) blood splashed onto my face, arms reached out but yearning to have me taken away from there.
it's a weird feeling because my eyes were closed but i know what's happening.
so when i came to, we were already brought to my HK's apartment hiding out.
i cried my heart out and prepared to commit suicide with my son.  however, it was unsuccessful because 2 long lost friend came to visit and stopped me.

then changed to night.
i found out my husband was having an affair with a crazy woman.  this woman came to the apartment, my parents and i had to flee because she has a scary aura.  we escaped to a former neighbour's store and put on 2 gates, but we knew that the gates were flawed and can be easily taken down... somehow gates were made of curtains???
and curtains seemed to be a recurring theme in the dream.  while a group of us were hiding out, the windows had to be re-curtained, and sometimes curtains were missing.  we were all in danger of the sun burning us alive (slowly) and being exposed to the humans.
back to fleeing... my dad kept delaying the escape because he thought he has great defence set up in the neighbour's store, but i kept telling him to stop thinking that way since all of that didn't work and we all knew it.
we slowly moved ourselves to the back of the store toward the back exit, and i used my commanding spell to make my dad move in sync with me.

then i woke up.

every detail is so True Blood!!!! XD

why why why

why is the ticket price so high?
why is it only august?
why do i have so little money left in the bank?
why does waiting ache so much?

first draft of my itinerary!

環島旅行初步預算:

11/13-11/16 台北
11/17 台中
11/18-11/19 花蓮
11/20-11/21 墾丁
11/22-11/23 高雄
11/24 日月潭
11/25 彰化, 新竹
11/26 台北回香港

shoulder & neck pain + headache

couldn't take it anymore... getting a massage today.
i think i destroyed my right shoulder once again, after carrying a heavy bag on my right side with single strap, and also my instrument.
the headache has been there for 2 days, so i guess my tolerance level has risen.
LEVEL UP! XD

but my last massage was 2 months ago, so that means i've been destroying my right side much faster than before.
am i doomed to use a backpack from now on? (=o=)

89 more days... such a long wait.

我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行我要去旅行!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

胸膛呀~ 你在哪裡呀~~~~??

剛煲完蘇有朋版的倚天屠龍記, 除了有點迷上了蘇有朋以外, 還有一些感受.
好想擁有一份刻骨銘心的愛.
可是若天公不給, 我多麼的想也沒法子.
其實有一點期待  11 月之行, 希望可以認識更多的朋友, 也可以問問菩薩我的緣何時才來.
又或者... 是不是今世沒有這份緣...
等待始終不是我的強項, 經過了這一年的煎熬, 我快到極限, 很需要一個胸膛讓我靠靠.

getting things done

did 4 arrangements in about 24 hours, not too bad.
guess what's the one last to make?  you guessed it!  it's You Shook Me All Night Long!
gosh... these people have really bad tastes in pop music.
the last one i did was Wonderwall, which i completely despised.

on a brighter note, my 2 free movie tickets have arrived!
that was very quick of them.
these were from my 8 maltesers pouches.  it does work!
time to browse for a movie to watch!

adrenaline crash

muscles are starting to ache and brain not responding.
happy fireworks though.
wine and lobsters to come tonight.
Happy Canada Day!
- system shutdown -

work ahead

one day i was strings personnel manager, next day i became orchestra manager.
the only difference between a normal player and me is an extra service pay of $70.
so i've decided to act full on, because i realized i have to do a lot of extra physical work that can help me lose some pounds.
and i get paid for it, so why not?! XD
but there's an unexpected down side... i've been on an adrenaline rush for over a day before the first rehearsal (from something else, not this gig), so my muscles are especially sore and my brain a bit disoriented.
other than that, i'm perfectly pumped for the week.

tomorrow morning i'll have to early much earlier than today because i'll have to submit this thing for my dad to the insurance company, and they fucking close at 2pm.  wtf.
so i'm thinking of taking my baby into Scarborough town and just go shopping till set up time.
good plan!
hmm... or should i go watch a movie?
choices, choices!

this week should be the most packed week.  next week is mostly arrangement cramming.
hopefully i'll get more sleep next week.

new things

in case you're curious, it took me about 6 days to recover from that viral cold.
not too bad, but i had to do nothing but sleep, drink water, eat, and practise all day for 6 days.
guess sweating out the cold worked.

anyway.
have a wedding on july 14, and they asked for At Last.
apparently i only made a duet arrangement, and i needed a quartet version.
i'm so lazy to make one that i ordered it from soundpost. XD
well, it's a double print, so there's At Last AND La Vie en Rose.
hopefully they'll get it in by end of the month.

also discovered something called UV beads.
they're clear plastic beads that will turn into colours when exposed to uv rays, for example, sun light.
the colours would become more intense when there's more uv.
trying to find a good cheap price to have my first try.
i can also learn to bead them in string knots, something i haven't learned quite yet.

Being sick

Have been feeling like death since Saturday.

I'm sort of expecting something bad to happen when:
1) last Friday was steaming hot but I opened my window without a/c
2) ate some very bad Malay fried fish ball with hot sauce
3) ate some very badly done fried chicken from a Chinese fast food place
4) ate 2 pieces of durian
* I blame my mum for 2 & 3 since she bought those as part of dinner *

Then on top of that, a scaredy moment on Saturday.
We went to the Warsaw caves to hike, with only 5 hrs of sleep the night before, I had to drive back and forth the same day.
And there were LOTS of mosquitos.
I was bitten 5-6 times on my arms... and then at night these flu symptoms started creeping up.
The first thought that went through my head was: West Nile...
Barely lived through the weekend.

I still managed to teach one student Monday morning and had to throw in the towel for the rest of the day.
So I made an appointment for a not so great replacement doc since my doc is not available Tuesday.
And after a while I cancelled my students on Monday, I realize I could make the one and only available time for my doc.
Ended up seeing my doc and my diagnosis was a viral cold.
Such a relief!

Must've pumped a few gallons of water into my system for the past few days.

On a happier note, I did fix my glasses.
The ear piece was loose, so I thought I can just screw it back tight.
Turned out one of the supporting post was bent and it took a while to get the whole thing repaired.
I was very close to giving up and get a cheapie, which is not at all cheap.
My original plan was to wait till November when I'm back to HK and get a new pair there.

encourage me please!

will absolutely go on the treadmill tomorrow morning!!!!
no excuses!!!!
MUST-LOSE-BELLY-FAT!!!!!

this person is hopeless

who the fuck would ask for a discount for a lesson rate?
and what retard gave the idea of a phone/email instruction for a notation program?
first asked for a discount for copying work, now this?
have you no shame? or a brain?

what's been done and what's ahead

hand vacuum bought and charged!
actually i tested it out in my car in order to drain the pre-charged battery and see if it works.
it worked, but the suction is horrible, still better than dragging out the central vacuum hose and make everything dusty though!

also went to the library yesterday to take out some jewelry making books.
i finally have time during the week to do some studying on some wire bending techniques.
maybe i'll head out to Staples to do some colour copying in a few days, if it's cheaper than buying the actual books.

i've been researching on places to eat and things to do in HK.
there are more than what i've expected to do in hk, and maybe i'll even spend 2 weeks there before heading to Taiwan.
looks like i've picked some local wholesale places and far out green tours so i won't bump into those weird mainlanders.

still haven't really researched on southern Taiwan places yet, but i do have a few places and restaurants in mind.
it's so much cheaper to book hotels and tours with 2+ people. why do people make solo travels so much more expensive and harder?!
i'm seriously thinking of getting an international driver's permit in case i want to drive in the south.

pregnant, gave birth, and the dust clouds

this is interesting...
right after i posted that i couldn't fall asleep, i had a dream.
the part that i remembered was that i was pregnant and gave birth multiple times, each baby had a different father.
there was a kidnapping of 3-4 of those babies, and i rescued them just before the kidnapper had a chance to throw them into a river.
the kids later had a DNA test, finding out whose father is who. and my current rich husband didn't like it so we had this big fight.
cut scene with the same people to my hk's apartment.
the rich husband, his lover, a friend, and this other guy still remain and we kept arguing. later all of them left through the window.
just before my rich husband and his lover left, i sincerely told them that the world is at its end, apparently they did not know about the mayan 2012 thing.
as i was seeing them off, i spotted a distant dust cloud heading towards the city.
dust storm? sand storm?
and then i realized the end of all things has arrived early. it was summer.
then my mum and this other person (let's call him Toto) showed up in the apartment.
we were glad we had some kind of supplies, but Toto forgot to close some windows.
i tried to tape the seams of the windows and close all the windows at the same time, then i found this window that has such big seams that it's no use closing it or taping it.
the ginormous dust clouds sped up and are already in the city. people on the streets were busy preparing for an indoor sit in.
i saw flashes of sceneries all across the world of people preparing for these dust clouds.
then i woke up.

夜夜失眠

需要...睡覺...
然後...一睡不醒...
那就...舒服爆了...

我要贏 Max!

好想現在就可以回香港, 那我就可以用港幣換台幣, 直踏台灣吃吃吃玩玩玩遊遊遊~
可是... 機票好貴哦.... 囧

following up on a week-long stingy case

今晚算是做完了一份總譜, 也很絕決地告訴伊朗人沒有進一步的折扣.
我已經用了最便宜的 rate, 還撇去了零碎的 $2.40, 而且沒有算入 rush rate.
對著自己良心來說, 這是我仁至義盡所能做的極限.
Finale file? 付了錢才給你. 沒錢沒 Finale 乃行規啊.

伊朗人真的那麼吝啬嗎?

為甚麼連抄譜都要我打折???
這不是賣貨呢!

should really sleep earlier

dunno if i could categorize the dream last night as a nightmare.
but i'm certain i didn't have a good quality sleep.
my family in reality was in it, lots of it.
but there was no storyline, it's just jumping over all the place, which kind of explains it 'cause i was going in and out of sleep throughout the night.
what i remember was:
1) my dad and i went to line up for some sort of take out, i ended up getting a smoke duck and kept emphasizing "canard canard canard..." 'cause it sounds funny to me.
2) there was a very tragic accident filmed live on tv, which was 4 technicians trying to fix a canadian air force fighter plane on the edge of a river. the wings sudden broke off and all 4 techs died and the camera was able to film them torn apart by the accident in HD detail. in the dream i kept thinking it was a movie, but later was told it was real.
3) we moved into a new house by the river, kind of haunted.
4) my sister was pregnant - later the person turned into my cousin, who in real life is actually pregnant. anyway, in the dream my sister told mum that her pregnancy is not smooth at all this time and it's a big health risk for her.
5) my cousin (the one who's pregnant in real life) entered in a cooking contest and won, her dish was steamed fish, which was really delicious. my aunt & uncle were there too at the show off dinner.

movie night

是我老了嗎? 還是我的情感突然回來了?
終於看了長江七號, 竟然哭了幾次.
共鳴到自己擁有過, 又失去過, 也試過失而復得.
沒有幾次看電影是會哭幾番的, 最嚴重那次應該是 The Pianist.
當然, 看過 The Pianist 後更再也不會浪費食物.
可是聽過別人對長江七號的評論都是失望多於賞識, 其實也看得出來那些番炒的缺點.
不過, 也會有它的長處啊!
煽情嘛, 見仁見智吧...
我反而覺得感動一下內地人 (which is this movie's target audience) 讓他們知道人情味是啥米東西總比現在埋沒良心去做黑心事的好吧?
人總需要有觸動心弦的時候.

結論是...
是我老了 XD

being chased

because of talking about assassins last night, i had a dream...
my family was some sort of guardians for these 2 items that's been secretly passed down through the generations, and some badass organization wanted them.
somehow they got tipped off that we have it, so they came to take it from us.
my family was either killed or kidnapped to ransom an exchange.
i was carrying both item and at the first confrontation i tried to use this 掌法 but failed because i haven't fully learned it, so i had to escape.
i was later caught, held hostage, and was on route to New York by train. during the commute, i somehow got myself into a washroom stall, ready to burn the items to oblivious. the train was stopped by the people who took me and i had to reluctantly keep the items.
through the confusion, i was able to escape into the New York subway system and somehow managed to get away from my capturers after some grand detours. there was also this woman who helped me, so i spent the night at her place.
i kept devising plans to somehow get back to Toronto, but of course, i have no money and time to get there.
the next day, i realized we were being followed and i had to leave her so she'll be safe.
meanwhile, on the subway system again, i met Amy and Curtis. Amy seemed to want to capture me, and Curtis was helping me divert her and gave me a chance to get away.
i got myself to Chinatown, and just before i walked out an exit, i had no choice but to walk in front of 4-5 security cameras, expecting that i'd be seen by the organization.
at that point i woke up.

annoyed

5 of cups.... why do u keep creeping up???
stop showing up on my spread!

too much tv and movies

Last night I had a nightmare.
First part I think I was some kind of out of the world being with other people overlooking the world.
While I was doing some stuff with those people, I heard noises that only I can hear.
It was the cries of humans, because aliens arrived from the skies and started vacuuming them into pods.
Yes, much like War of the Worlds. Except the aliens also used a soft blue light to hypnotize and attract people.
Suddenly, I was just a normal human being in that world in one of the buildings I was staring at.
It was a messy environment, and I seem to be the only person unaffected by the blue light.
I tried to hide away from the vacuuming, but there were also people with machine guns to recapture escapees.
I felt one of those gunners kept shooting around me so I had to reveal myself and be captured into an elevator.
Then I saw Piggie was also captured into the elevator, along with another stranger and an elevator operator.
We 3 capturees were quite scared of a certain death, I started reciting 觀音經 but forgot after a few phrases, so I asked Piggie to help me recite.
The elevator was obviously being sucked up rather than moved from electricity because it felt like we were in the air without any strong gravitational lift from the elevator floor.
I remember Piggie saying, "I didn't expect them to arrive so early, I thought we would have at least a few more months, but now..."
Then the elevator stopped midway and the door opened to let the gunman exit.
Somehow the 3 of us were transported into a sedan car, and the elevator operator was driving the car.
He intentionally went another route and after a distance, he let us take over the car after stopping at an autoshop. He bid us blessings and we went into a silent city. I could still see burnt bodies hanging onto the edge of windows in low rise buildings.
At that point, I woke up feeling screwed.

the longest night

6th day, up till this hour doing very OCD things...
must be stressed or anxious about something.
i kind of know what's annoying me.
just want to run away and not deal with it all.
sigh... if only.