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. 

University

Since I came to university, I haven't updated my blog much. This is mainly because I write in my diary instead of my blog now, since there are much things that I wish to keep private.

But my good friend ShunYang reminded me of the blog, and it came to me that it is important too as it is a way for us high school friends to keep in touch.

Recently, I've been having really exciting days. Last saturday, I went to the Hong Kong Science Museum, then, to the Hong Kong History Museum. SUCH A FUN DAY! I learnt some awesome stuff like how Hong Kong operated under English rule and also reviewed much of my knowledge in physics.

That night was pretty awesome too cause my friends and I wandered to a vegetarian restaurant. I had not eaten vegetarian food in so long! That was great too.

Well, really, in university, there isn't much to update when there's not much movement in my love life. I get to know girls, but for those I get close to, I never see a future with them. For those I see a future with, luck does not bring us together. Oh well, I live life by the day.

In general, I'm happy here in HK with many friends. The stuff I learn academically is so awesome, I think the word to describe it should be -- sexy. I'm basically learning psychology, electronics and computer programming all at once. SEXY!

As for weekends, I get to go and do fun stuff. This weekend, I'm going hiking with elderly people! Haven't had contact with people above retirement age in months!

I'm way too slow for the speed of Hong Kong

Ok,
After learning from my experiences in SSIS, I decided I should get to know a girl properly before asking her out. So I kinda like a girl, try to get to know her.Then plan to ask her out maybe a month later.


Now is the point where HK plays a prank on me. Right after a class we had together, a guy (I think she doesn't know) pulls her aside, then asks her out. I'm like O.O


Well, I guess I should either stop targeting Hong Kong girls, or just move faster. As for the girl, I guess she's taken.

As the Chinese say, 百战百克， 唯速不克. (All strategies can be countered, except for speed)...
张某白读了孙子兵法啊。。。

New netbook and my lucky shirt

I've been in HK for a month now, and today, things went so great, I just had to say it out.

First, a friend of mine who works in my university (not a student) gave me a netbook for free! Well, ok. The netbook isn't some crazy powerful netbook, it only has 500MB RAM, 4GB memory space (2GB taken up by windows) and a really old processor. But after reinstalling the whole thing (which required me waking up every 2 hours through the night yesterday), it works great!!. In fact, I am writing this post using it right now.

The second thing, I think I have found my lucky shirt. OK, there's this girl over here that I kinda like, but the thing is its impossible for me to see her around school (I can never find her!) except for one class that we have together. And so far, I've met her in school 3 times, each time wearing the same shirt, a bright pink Calvin Klein shirt that my dad used to wear, but bright pink isn't really for his age any more.

Since everytime I see this girl I wear the same shirt, I just thought its my lucky shirt. Haha.

Awesome day.

How are you guys doing??? Post more!

The room with 4 walls, and nothing between

That's basically my room for the 3 coming nights. After clearing everything out of my wardrobe and drawers, my room basically had 4 walls and nothing of mine in between save for a bed. As I packed, I went through a lot of things that were completely unnecessary yet I spent quite some effort to achieve.

I saw a little model of the great wall of China, which I spent 30 minutes bargaining to get, and after buying it, I leave it in my room, never to touch it, and after 2 years, throw it away.

I also saw the many stationary I took from school, such as erasers, markers... Those were good times, sneaking them into our bags, feeling so satisfied, yet never using them.

I guess I really should stop worrying about little things that do not contribute to my life's meaning or have a strong emotional impact on me. I do feel especially bad as, I get hooked on to things that do not contribute to my life, and refuse to give or sometimes even to lend them to other people, most notably my sister. I have so often refused to give things like a new eraser or lend my harry potter books to her. And I think for many of those things, I haven't touched till now since the time she asked for it.

I should really learn to give more to those that I do not feel emotionally attracted to. If you get what I mean... heh heh.

Well, the 2 days I spent packing, letting me look through all my useless belongings have been rather fun. When I look back at things I wrote or bought 5 years ago, it really makes me laugh at myself. How interesting it would be if I could visit myself in the past, or better... get a visit from myself in the future!