Chinese Family Emails

(1) I successfully defend my masters thesis

(2) Aunt sends out email with attachment of a picture of me eating at a restaurant with them for celebration. Email is sent to all my relatives, including my parents.

(3) In the body she writes: We are celebrating Joses become SEXY Joses

(4) My mom replies: Why ? What ? Sexy ? ????

(5) My aunt replies: Sexy mean master degree in Chinese.

*masters degree in Chinese is pronounced "sek see"

A beach, an old woman, and an umbrella.

This story will be told in two perspectives. The setting is in a beach in Hong Kong about a year ago. The first perspective will be through my own eyes, and the second will be through the eyes of the old woman who will be mentioned in the story.

My own perspective:

"What a great day, at the beach with Wendy, Irene and Salina. Hey what's this? What is this entourage of old people walking by? Why do they all have hats and flags? Oh, they must be a tour group. Oops, one of the old grandma's there lost her umbrella. Uh Oh, the wind picked it up and blew it into the ocean. Darn it, it's now floating upside down in the water and I'm the closest to it. I hardly know how to swim, but it's not that far out. Here I go!

Uh oh.. I'm swimming, but the tide is carrying the umbrella farther and farther away. I gotta swim faster and farther, i'm almost out of energy, and I have to make sure I have enough energy for the way back too."

(Awhile later I finally manage to grab hold of the umbrella, but as the umbrella was floating upside down, water encompassed it, making it very difficult to retrieve).

"Gasp, this umbrella is really hard to pull up! Let me try twisting it around, nope not working. Let me try closing it under water, nope not working. Darn it, everyone on the shore is watching me! But i'm running out of energy yet I cant dissapoint my fans! Oh my.. I'm really starting to get tired. Good thing Wendy is here since she's a lifeguard. Oh man. "

(After struggling for another couple minutes I finally gave up)

"Ok, I am completely out of energy. Must drop the umbrella. I honestly dont know if I can make it back to the shore. I hope Wendy can see how much I'm struggling."

(After arriving back on shore)

"Wow... thank God I'm still alive...gasp.. I am out of breath. I hate that I let everyone down, but I really did try my best to retrieve that umbrella. Almost gave my life for it. What a hero I am".


(Unfortunately, to the grandma it looked different)

Grandma's perspective:

"WHY DID THAT BOY MAKE A DELIBERATE EFFORT TO SWIM OUT AND DESTROY MY UMBRELLA, WHAT A BAD PERSON"

Chicken Wings

I just remembered an incident awhile back when I sat down for wings at a restaurant:

*Waitress comes up to take our order*

Waitress: What can I get for you?

Joses: mm I'm wondering about your cajun wings here, are they dry cajun or wet cajun?

Waitress: Both, you can choose wet or dry ones.

Joses: ok thanks, i'll take the salt and pepper wings.

*Waitress and everyone else at the table looks at me funny*

A Chat with my Cousin

The following is a gchat conversation I had with my cousin (a different cousin from the one in the "dinner with aunt and uncle post"):

Bithiah: hey cousin

Sent at 12:26 AM on Wednesday

me: wai

sup!

haha

you never ended up telling me

what happened with you and the boy

Bithiah: i am in a relationship now

me: oh

Bithiah: you should blog about it

me: now you told me

Bithiah: hahahhaaaaaaaaa

me: LOL

HAHAHA

maybe i'll add it

to my post

I have fallen even farther behind!

A Man among Men

On Saturday, December 24th, 2011, I had the privilege of witnessing a man among men. On this evening, the stars were clothed in all their glory and the moon shone in the dark sky. The following is my witnessing of the events that followed:

10:00pm - People arrive at my house to watch movie. Among the introductions, I introduce a girl named Michelle to Jorge.

10:30pm - Movie (Good Will Hunting) begins.

1230am - Movie ends.

1245am - Everyone in the house leaves, except for me, Wayne Lo (who decides to sleep over), Jorge (who is sleeping at the house for the holidays), and Michelle Ku (who stayed behind to chat for awhile).

100am - Incredible conversation ensues between Wayne, Jorge, Michelle and me, and thoughts are shared.

230am - We end off in prayer.

235am - Michelle decides to go home.

236am - Michelle opens the front door.

237am - Wayne walks up to Michelle.

237am - Wayne hugs Michelle goodbye and wishes her a Merry Christmas

238am - I walk up to Michelle.

238am - I hug Michelle goodbye and wish her a Merry Christmas

239am 5 seconds - Jorge struts towards Michelle full of confidence, pomp and splendor.

240am 10 seconds - Jorge hugs Michelle goodbye.

240am 15 seconds - Jorge's face gets closer to Michelle, Michelle's face gets closer to Jorge.

240am 20 seconds - Wayne and I get scared because of the closeness of their faces.

240am 25 seconds - Jorge plants a kiss on Michelle's cheek. Michelle plants a kiss on Jorge's cheek.

240am 26 seconds - Wayne and I stare in disbelief. Wayne think it's not fair.

240am 40 seconds - Wayne and I are shocked and don't know how to react.

241am 40 seconds - Wayne and I are still confused, and are holding our heads with our hands in disbelief.

242am - Wayne thinks to himself: "You're allowed to do that?? I wish I knew that years ago!"

243am - I asked Jorge what just happened.

244am - Jorge replies: "It's normal"

245am - Josess and Wayne: ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Hong Kong... Nature?

Whenever I speak of how much I love Hong Kong's nature, I get made fun of with comments such as: "A stand alone tree does not constitute nature".

Here is a tiny list with links (click on the names) to prove people wrong.
Places I've been to in the last two years:
Sai Kung
Cheung Chau
Sunset Peak
Repulse Bay
Stanley Beach

Places I REALLY want to go to:
Tung Ping Chau
Nei Sham Stream
Any of these twelve special rock islands
Cheung Po Tsai's famous cave (which you can go inside)
Coasting in Tung Long Island
Double Dragon River
Sheung Tam Stream
Pui O

Tung Lung Chau

Silvermine Waterfalls

Snake Bay

Kadoorie Farm

Sharp Peak

So forget the spending, the city walking, the shopping, the movies, the arcades, the drinking, the eating (ok maybe not the eating), and go be entertained with God's natural wonders, whilst learning to be human once again!

***

useful guide I came across

Mother's Day

Today at Lincoln Road Chapel, we celebrated Mother's day. After singspiration, a message, communion, and announcements, a cute and brave kid was invited up to the stage to share a mother's day poem he wrote. He spoke with a youthful, childish, but mature voice as he read out his poem, stuttering a little bit here and there.

Some of the phrases echoed in my mind: "Wow, what a great mom!"... "She buys groceries and cooks for me...", "She drives me to hockey because.. well.. I cant drive". And then, there was a slight pause. A slight tremor then followed in his voice, and he began to choke on his words. Finally, with a tear falling from his eye, he took a deep breath and finished the last line of his poem in a trembling voice:

"... And if God was to give my mom a gift for Mothers' day, it would be to bring my Dad back to earth..".