I've met a friendly person in ICQ a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I've message with her every day at work. I personally think that it's really nice to have new friend, especially one you meet in the Internet. For instance, if both parties respect each other, you can basically tell the other anything you want.

Another thing, which is quite different from spouse or friends in real life, is that you do not have demand on the other party. The only thing you expect from your ICQ friend is him or her listening to you, and vice versa. You don't find any "burden" from this new friend. But I guess I'm just lucky to meet a nice person. In the past, I've got some chatting with me, which turns out to be boring or silly.

It reminds me of a date through internet chat when I was back in the university. It was quite a silly one. At least the outcome was. I guess once you have expectation or demand from the others, it puts a test to the relationship. Mine didn't work out that time. Somehow I feel lucky about that. Anyway, Life is full of tests, which make it interesting.

Moving office today. The office is smaller than before. But it's quite cozy and comfortable. Too bad that the internet is not up yet. Therefore, everything is quite troublesome. :(

Dinner @ Chesa

We went to Chesa for dinner today. It's a Swiss cuisine in the Penisula Hotel. We spent HK$1,300 with 2 appertizers, 1 soups for 2 to share, 2 main course, 1 dessert, 2 glasses of wine and 1 coffee. If you like cheese and chocolate, you will like the restaurant. Besides, the foods are done very nicely. We had a veal steak and a oxtail. The oxtail is one of the best I had ever have. We were very full afterwards. I think it requires much exercise before I can burn the extra fat I gain today!

I really hate my vacuum cleaner. It's a product of OSIM, called Little Mermaid, which cost me over HK$4K a few years ago. OSIM is a company produce health product. This vacuum cleaner is one of their line, as it's considered as cleaning your home properly. The problem of this company is being a copycat. This type of water filter system vacuum cleaner is in the market for many years. OSIM just copies from them.

The big problem is the poor design of the machine itself. I've talked to a couple of people using the same machine. One of them said no problem at all. But I told her that it's because she is not the one using it. Another friend told me that it's a real piece of junk. Because it's so expensive, we have no choice but use it.

One of the major problem in the design is its ease of use and durability. I think I need 10,000 words to talk about these. Anyway, the result is I get hurt almost everytime I use the machine. Yesterday, I clamped my finger to bleed. The other day, the metalic hose distached and dropped on my foot, which takes a few weeks to heal.

After I've got this vacuum cleaner, I have never bought anything from OSIM again. A few months ago, I bought a massage chair. I haven't even considered OSIM, although they have a wide range of products. I've got a Panasonic Momi Momi. And I am very very happy with it.

Bought an electric tooth brush after the dental visit the other day. I am really poor at cleaning my own tooth. But since I realize it's so expensive to get them "repaired", I may as well invest in the "maintenance".

I've bought a Philips Sonicare:

http://www.sonicare.com/products/elite/7500.asp

Quite impressed with what it can actually do. I have an Braun one before. It didn't nothing compared to Sonicare. Although it's expensive (HK$1,140), I think it does the job 100 times better than I do it myself. And as I said, I should put more effort in maintenance. There it goes.

I've finally put my mind into filling in a monthly contribution form for ORBIS. I haven't really done any charity for all these years. One day when I look at my photos, I've found that it's really a gift for most of us who can see the beautiful world. So, I hope that my little contribution would help those to share this view with the rest of us.

Cloudy day.

Now I wish it rained this afternoon. I've got my full camera set with me. If it rained, I'd have gone out for some photo shooting. But instead of raining, there's just heavy cloud. Another afternoon wasted. Sigh...

The weather is fantasic this afternoon before lunch. Therefore, I brought my little camera with me to take some snapshots under my long lost friend, the sun.

I enjoy the sun shining on me. It makes me warm. It makes me comfortable. In the past, if I ever have a chance, I'd try to have my lunch in open area. I'd do that on sunny days, even during summer. It's especially nice to do it with friends. To eat alone, even the warmth of the sun can't seem to warm you up.

When I stepped out of my office, I just can't help but take out the camera and take whatever I can see. I'm hungry for shooting some photos. Then I had a simple lunch, get a book, and it started to rain. Sigh... It rained very heavily. I of course hadn't got my umbrella with me. I had no choice but stood under a cover.

The rain drops and drops. No sign of stopping. I don't know when it starts. But I begin to enjoy watching the rain. I think it's since I drove the other night during a heavy rain storm. The rain was hitting on my windshield from a direction. I looked up. Under the lamp posts, looking up the sky is like watching meteor showers. So beautiful.

Since no sign of stopping, I took out my little camera. Now I realized how difficult it is to use a small camera. It's not clear and fast enough to see the rain drops. And mine hasn't got a zoom function. Therefore, it's difficult to do some closeup. Anyway, I am happy. It's a start.

Recently learned that there is a radio show on RTHK2, called "星 空 奇 遇 鐵 達 尼". Quite an interesting show. Many girls called there to talk about basically anything. Sometimes about love. Sometimes about friendship. Sometimes about family.

When I first heard this show, I've found the DJ quite repelling. He is actually arguing with the caller. The girl is talking about problem of her boyfriend. But instead of comforting the girl, he is arguing with her. it made me quite uncomfortable. Maybe I always play the listener role. But when I think about it, listening or agreeing with the other may not help with the problem. Instead this guy, 麥潤壽, encourage the caller to face the problem. It is not easy. But it's the way to solve a problem. Impressive.

Keep on raining these days. Sigh...

I think I should try to think about how to do photo shooting on rainy days. Or else, my camera will be covered with dust throughout the summer. :(

I really like this old song from Stefanie 孫燕姿 recently:

天黑黑
作曲：李偲菘
填詞：廖瑩如 / April
編曲：吳慶隆

我的小時候　吵鬧任性的時候　我的外婆　總會唱歌哄我
夏天的午後　老老的歌安慰我　那首歌　好像這樣唱的
天黑黑　欲落雨　天黑黑　黑黑

離開小時候　有了自己的生活　新鮮的歌　新鮮的念頭
任性和衝動　無法控制的時候　我忘記　還有這樣的歌
天黑黑　欲落雨　天黑黑　黑黑

＊我愛上　讓我奮不顧身的一個人
　我以為　這就是我所追求的世界
　然而橫衝直撞　被誤解被騙
　是否成人的世界背後　總有殘缺

　我走在　每天必須面對的分岔路
　我懷念　過去單純美好的小幸福
　愛總是讓人哭　讓人覺得不滿足
　天空很大卻看不清楚　好孤獨＊
Repeat＊

天黑的時候　我又想起那首歌　突然期待　下起安靜的雨
原來外婆的道理　早就唱給我聽　下起雨　也要勇敢前進
我相信　一切都會平息　我現在　好想回家去
天黑黑　欲落雨　天黑黑　黑黑


I especially like the part:
我走在　每天必須面對的分岔路
我懷念　過去單純美好的小幸福

Life is so much better to be simplier.

I am starting to rate my own photo album. Over 7200 digital photos taken so far. By rating it in iPhoto, I am able to create some smart albums. So far, I have created Portriat, Snapshot, Travel, and Cat. And in order to be selected into the album, it must be 4 or 5 stars photos. I am hoping to select some of my best shots. As times go by, I'd have quite a lot of photos in the smart albums. I'd review them occasionally and see if I have made any progress. I certainly hope that I would. If my skills or standard are raised, I believe some of the photos in the list may be removed. Then I can keep on improving. At the end the album would go to the web and share.

See how it goes. :)

Thinking about "passion" recently. I've found myself lack of passion in doing almost anything. I do my job well, and at least I believe my company thinks so too. However, I believe I still have more to give.

Back to photography. I was quite astonished after visiting this site:

http://www.fotop.net/QA/Allan

Honestly, I've looked at quite a lot of photos. But nothing strike me like these. You may find his photos too artificial. However, I find some of them tell me a strong feeling. For instance, the one below.

http://www.fotop.net/QA/yunnan4/F1000031_001

With the snow, ground, tree, the face of the girl, I feel such a strong sense of loniness. I almost can't breath. I hope that I can do something like this one day.

I think it's again the passion. The will to make a good shot. The will to share the feeling with the others. The passion towards photography.