Music by the streets of LA

Basically, I find that my schedule gives me quite a bit of free time, so I always thoughts of using my musical abilities to do something.

Today, I brought my flute to school. I had classes and it was alright. I was going to go to a museum but I just didn't feel like going after I finished lunch. I decided to go to China Town and play the flute by the road. I got a water cup from where I had lunch and headed to the JEP at USC which is where the bus to Union Station would stop.

I got on the bus when it arrived and arrived at Union Station. I walked straight to China Town and found a crossroad that was quite safe and had good human traffic.

I put down my cup with a quarter in it. Took a deep breath and started playing. I took a little time to get used to it, but after a while I was forgetting the time. I put down my backpack and strapped it to my leg so nobody could steal it and continued playing. 

It was interesting to see how many people were surprised that what I was carrying was a flute. Perhaps bamboo flutes aren't that common in the US. Children would come by and watch me play. They wouldn't give me any money but it was nice to see that I was being appreciated. Interestingly, an old Chinese woman came by and had a chat with me. She said I reminded her of her son and was really eager to show me around. She recommended me some places where I would make more money, offered me to have dinner at her house and even offered to be my tour guide for free! I rejected of course since I would be taking advantage of her motherly love if I had accepted her offer. So, after putting a dollar in my cup, she left, saying that she hopes to see me around.

I played for an hour and my shoulders were getting tired from lifting my flute. So I went to the 1 dollar food shop and bought some fried vegetables to eat. It was quite a lot of vegetables for $1.75. I rested a little more and walked around the area, trying to find a better place with better human traffic. Turns out my old place was what seemed best. I went back and continued playing.

As I played, it was fun to see how children would stop and wonder how a wooden stick could produce music. An old man came by to chat with me as well. He said he reminded me of his daughter who studies at UCLA. I didn't want him to know my real identity so I said I was just travelling and making money to travel more kind of guy. We chatted for a while and he told me about how in UCLA, music students were required to play on the streets so they could learn how people react to their music. Then, he gave me 4 dollars! I told him to take some back but he said it was an encouragement to me.

I left after nobody stopped by for 10 minutes. I walked to union station and played there. There, the main people that walked by were either white or black. Few of them were Chinese. Interestingly, white men tended to give more than white women. While Chinese women gave more than Chinese men.

What I found even more interesting was Chinese people only gave dollar bills. I don't know why they didn't have change, but they would actively take money from their stack to put into my cup. People at Union Station on the other hand only gave me change, which meant that they were giving me whatever they had leftover, while Chinese people were giving me what they wanted to.

Another thing I found interesting and also saddening was that almost everyone who gave me money was either old or fat. There were very few good looking young people who dressed well who cared to even stop and listen. The ones who were well dress mostly didn't bother about me, while those who were less in their prime would pay more attention to me.

Seems like it's true that those who are in a poorer condition would be more humble to acknowledge the work of others while those who were in their prime would be more self centered. We ought to look less at ourselves and acknowledge others more, because it sure felt good to be acknowledged.

Here's a picture of some of the money given to me...

and that's my flute in my hand. My shoulders were so tired when I go back to my dorm...

Badminton With Old People

It has been about a year since my last blog post. My life have been really happy and I just never really took the time to write about it. Brief update. So its 14th of May now, finals are next week. Qian Ting is going to leave me for UCL next semester and that sucks, she did promise to return to me about the 3 years no matter what and I trust her with that promise, so I guess there's nothing I can do but to hate it and go through the coming three years. I still haven't landed a summer internship, but a few applications are under way. I'm going to have an interview with Microsoft tomorrow, but I'm not too sure I want the job. I'll see how things go.

Now on to my blog post. I played badminton today. 

Since my research ended and I'm at the report writing stage now, I've spent most of my ex-research time playing sports. So at 3 today, I went to eat egg tarts and left to play badminton after that. I played with my friend and practised a little. Then the two of us played against 2 other people, a guy and a girl. We won but not by much. That couple was good. After two hours of playing, three old people, 2 guy and 1 lady came and told us they booked the court. So we sat down and they played. After warming up, they told us that they needed 1 more player and one of us is welcome to join, so I joined.

It was me against a guy and a lady. Playing with them was really enjoyable for me. They were quite good but really old! They ran slow and limped a little as they walked. There was a man that blinked so much just to get a good look at the court around him. I found it funny and sweet that they live such happy lives at such an age. I wish I could be like them when I'm old. (This is only 1 part of their life I guess and I wish to have this part of their life in mine when I'm old. I'm sure they have their problems too.)

A really amusing thing to see was. Here is a badminton court. Refer to this picture for the following paragraph.

If my team mate and I were on the right side and I hit the shuttle to the top left corner, the guy standing in the middle left would run to get the shuttle and return it to the right. Usually, when we play, the person would take a few steps to the top left and slow down as he reached the end, hit the shuttle and return to his original position. In this case, it was the guy running in fast but small steps (to avoid injury) toward the top left and going "Ahhhh" as he hit it. After hitting the shuttle, his legs don't have the strength to stop suddenly, and he runs off the court with an "ahhhhhhhh". I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

They also have really positive attitude toward life with a good sense of humour. There was this time my side was leading by at least 7 points. And the person on the other side asked so its 11, 18 now? (I don't remember, just random numbers here). My partner said: "ya". And he replied: "好，那就不让了哦" (Alright, I'll stop going easy on you guys yeah?) Their positive attitude toward life and healthy lifestyle really makes me admire them. Even we are too old run fast, we should maintain their determination to live each day to the fullest. I want to live my life that way. Grow old that way with Qian Ting who is really sporty too and live a healthy life and die with a happy thought on the last minute.

As life gives us the thing we want

On the 18th of January, I asked Qian Ting out, knowing we would probably have to do a long distance relationship for 3 and a half years. That is a very long time... Since then, I've been finding ways so that I could minimize this long distance duration.

In the end, Qian Ting asked for her application to my university to be reinstated (she rejected the offer in December), and I applied for summer internships in Suzhou.

For reasons that won't be explained, I won't go into the details of the application procedures. But basically, on Monday this week, Qian Ting got a reply from my school saying her application has been reinstated. Then, yesterday, Thursday, I got a reply saying I got the summer internship in Suzhou.

In short, everything between us is going perfectly. Seems like other than the 1 week intervals in which Qian Ting will be away from Suzhou, I'll get to spend the summer with her. What's more, after the summer, she'll come to my university to do her undergraduate degree! So I'll get to see her everyday. Right now, just gonna study and own this semester, then spend a good summer together with her. =)

Life is good, so happy with the things life gives me.

The Death of My Diary

Ok, so on the day I turned 18, I started writing my diary. There were times were the diary would get updated every day, sometimes even two posts a day. Sometimes the diary is updated once a week. It all depends on how eventful my life was and how much there was going in my head that I wanted to get out.

My diary accompanied me through my lady wooing endeavors. But now, my diary has died. It's all Qian Ting's fault! =)

Basically, I always had things I wanted to say, but felt too personal to share, so I wrote them into my diary, but now, I just seem to share my daily experiences with Qian Ting, and... there's nothing to write in my diary anymore. Not because my life lost it's flame, but because I wouldn't have anything burning inside me that I wanted to say, because I have already told it all to Qian Ting!

So, farewell my diary. We've had a good five months together. You are now reduced to an empty storage space in my computer's hard disk. Your existence will be forgotten, and no, you don't get a coffin, a proper burial, or a funeral. ;)

The Chinese Kid

Once upon a time, in a village lived a Chinese kid. He was 12 years old and lived the life of a poor common farmer.

One day, he went strolling into the woods in the afternoon. He walked and walked, listening to the sound of the stream and the bird chirping. Suddenly, he stepped on something hard.

He looked down, to see a shiny rock. It was about the size of his fist. He brought it up to the sunlight and everything that he could see about it was beautiful. He was very happy that he found that rock, and ran around throwing it in the air, and catching it again.

When he reached a riverbank, he thought "how nice would it be to see the rock fly through the air in the sunlight?" And he threw the rock as hard as he could across the river. The rock shone as it flew across the air, streams of rainbows flying out of every flat side it had. The rock landed on the other side of the river. The experience of seeing it fly was great, but the kid knew, there was no way he was ever going to cross the river to get it again.

As the boy grew up, his parent's farm got poorer and poorer. He desperately needed a way to get his family out of the heavy debt they were in. On the day he turned 18, he read in a book about the hardest rock that exists. It was called -- diamond. Its description caught his eyes, he remembered seeing something like it, but not remembering where. As he read on to find out about diamond's rareness and value, he remembered the time when he was 12, and the rock that he found in the forest.

He threw down the book and ran to the riverbank he threw the rock. He looked across to the other side of the river, somewhere he had never been before. He could still see the glittering rock lying where he had left it 6 years ago. Nobody had walked across it and picked it up. He knew that the rock could save his family from the financial problems they had. He knew the rock could change his life. Yet, because he did not see its value 6 years ago, it is out of his reach now.

He took off his shirt, and prepared to dive in to quick streaming current, possibly going to risk his life doing so. There was about 30 meters of water for him to swim through, but the main problem was the speed the current was traveling at.

He jumped into the water to find it surprisingly deep. He knew he could not swim through and survive it, so he climbed back up, feeling guilty that he was giving up something that could save his family's farm.

And so, everyday, he would go to the riverbank at 9 in the morning to look at the diamond, imagining how his life would be if he had taken the diamond home when he was 12. The reflection of the morning sunlight from the diamond would always give him hope. Yet he knew, there was nothing he could do but to wait and hope that another 12 year old kid, would find the diamond, then throw it across the river once again. He had no power to control what would happen, all he could do was wait.

Winter Break (part 2 - HK)

I got back to my dorm from Suzhou about 2 hours in the 8th of January 2012. It was nice being back in a place where I could live with extreme freedom, but it was also sad that my holiday life was basically over and I could not see my parents and a particular girl very much anymore.

On the 9th, my industrial training started. The first training was extremely boring because the lecturer did not even attempt to make the course interesting, and also because the course lacked challenge. The next week, I worked in a computer lab. There was basically no lecturing and I had to learn all the tasks in a book. I was given 32 hours to finish the work, but my partner and I were determined to get out of there as fast as possible. We managed to finish the tasks in 10 hours and didn't go for two out of 4 days of the training.The training was basically windows server administration, a portion of which I knew because of the things I did in order to play DotA in SSIS. Who says DotA isn't educational?!

The rest of the week, I didn't do much except practicing more calligraphy and playing the piano. I also started reading inheritance. I continued to chat with Qian Ting every night.

On the 17th of January, I decided I wanted to ask Qian Ting to be my girlfriend. I started writing the letter which was meant to express such desire. I decided to write it in calligraphy. However, every time I tried to write it, I would grow nervous and the writing would look terrible. I failed to finish writing a good letter by the end of the 17th. I kept trying, writing into the night, and at about 2 am in the morning, I finally did it! It took more than 10 tries, but I did it!

On the night of the 18th of January, I took a picture of the letter and sent it to Qian Ting, to my amazement, she said yes and my life changed.

From here onward, I won't get into the details regarding Qian Ting as I found out there are many people who reads this blog that I don't know about ^_^.

She visited HK on the 26th of January. That was the first time I went out with her as a couple. It was really nice as I got to see her and know things about her. Things that couldn't be communicated through the internet. We went to 星光大道 and walked there basically. We only had 2 hours. My 3rd industrial training also started on the 26th of January. It was the best industrial training among the three because I got to make things I actually could use. I made an electronic organ as well as a decision maker. The organ took me about 8 hours to make and the decision maker about 3 hours.

Back to Qian Ting. I went out with her again on the 28th of January. This time, we had a lot more time, about 4 and a half hours. We went to the space museum to watch a show. The chairs were very comfortable, the lights were dim and the music was soothing. I fell asleep in the show holding her hand. It was the most pleasant sleep I have ever had, knowing she was there. If time could be stopped, I would have stopped it right there. Until I was bored, then I would fast forward by a second, and stop it again. And so that goes on until the end of the day. After that, we went to Sham Shui Po for a walk. It was nice, experiencing the freedom of life and having someone to share that with. But sudden urges of sadness would jump up when I remember that she was leaving tomorrow.

We then went back to her hotel and after a goodbye, I left. It was a truly beautiful day. If this were the last day of my life, the only thing I would have changed is that I would have had dinner with her. Since that wasn't an option for me that day, I had no regrets, except that I wasn't good enough at physics to build a time machine.

The next few days up until yesterday, we see each other through skype. But to me, seeing her through skype is so different compared to the perfect day we had together.

My school started today as well. Its doing quite well, and I might write an entry about my life again soon. If Shun Yang threatens me with our friendship again, I just might.

Lastly, here's a picture of Qian Ting and I on the 28th of January, in my memory, that would remain to be the best day of my life ... so far.

Winter Break (part 1 - Suzhou)

"Bor Hung, your last entry dates 'Tuesday, 22 November 2011'. If nothing interesting happened for you in the last 2 months, then you must truly be a boring person. I will unfriend you."

This was a message I got from Shun Yang. Seeing it, I was truly scared and decided to update my blog with the my eventful winter break :P. 

Well, after my exams in December, I went back to Suzhou to visit my parents. At that time, I had no idea that that holiday would be one that changed my life. 


I got back to Suzhou, and spend Christmas and New Years day with my parents. On Christmas eve, my dad invited a bunch of friends to our house to celebrate christmas, wanting to keep it a secret from my mom. She found out anyway. On New Years day, my parents and I went to the Suzhou gardens to walk around. It was a really good day to spend with the family with me seeing some amazing calligraphy in those gardens that just make mine look like a kid's writing. 

I spent New Years Eve with Qian Ting though. That was the first time we went out alone, but not as a couple. I'll get onto that later.


I also improved my calligraphy a lot during the time I was in Suzhou. I basically spent all my day time playing piano, writing calligraphy or sports if I didn't go out with my friends. It was really great to meet Song Jin, Celine, Kevin Wang, Grace, Michelle, Jia Yen and Steve. Steve stayed over at my house for a night on the 3rd of January. We basically played starcraft, watched a movie, watched some really funny MVs and chat. Oh, we also played a game of chess, which I lost in...


On the 4th of January, I went out with Qian Ting again. This time, we basically did sports, including dancing which I didn't participate in =.= It was also a pretty cold day, but she wore so little. I feel bad cause she was wearing like 2 layers and I was wearing 4! I gave her a writing of my calligraphy as a gift that day. I went home very happy.


That was the last time I saw her in Suzhou so far. We continued to chat on skype at night. She would then visit HK at the end of January.