hong kong waisikgwai
Monday, January 30, 2006
Doctor's Appointment 睇醫生
Today, I met my wife at the hospital for her doctor's appointment. It has been almost three years since my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. In that time, I have been by her side through two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and many doctor visits. Every three months or so, the oncologist monitors my wife's blood markers to make sure that the cancer has not returned. So far, it has been good news--the cancer has not returned. But today, one of the blood markers--ALT (SGPT)--was slightly elevated. Although the oncologist said that one high reading is nothing to be concerned about, I could see some worry on my wife's face. I told her: 唔駛擔心, 你梗係好長命架啦! My wife's next appointment is in early May, just before I leave for HK. I pray that the blood results will be totally normal then.
¶ 9:00 PM 0 comments 
Friday, January 13, 2006
Bad Luck Day 兇多吉少的日子
Here in California, today is Friday the 13th. That's supposed to be a bad luck day. If a black cat crosses your path today or you walk under a ladder, you could have a really bad day.
When I lived for a year in Taiwan, I remember buying some kind of almanac called a 通勝 (tung1 sing6). It listed the calendar for the year and indicated whether each day was going to be a good day or a bad day. For the bad days, it listed 兇多吉少 (hung1 do1 gat1 siu2), which means something like "lots of evil, little goodness." The funny thing is, whenever the almanac said that a day was 兇多吉少, it usually turned out to be a bad day for me. To this day, I kind of believe in 通勝.
Actually, today is turning out to be a pretty good day for me. It started out right when I was driving to work following a cute girl with long, brown hair. As I pulled up behind her car at the stoplight, I noticed that she had a license plate frame with the following message: "IF U R GONNA RIDE MY ASS, PLS. PULL MY HAIR." Ha, ha!! That's one of the sexiest messages that I have ever seen on a car and it gave me a good laugh all day.
Recently, I saw a bumper sticker on another car that also cracked me up. It read "WHO PUT A STOP PAY ON MY REALITY CHECK?" Sometimes I feel like that.
When I go to HK in May, I will be watching for funny bumper stickers and license plate frames. Do they even have them in HK? If so, I may need some help in figuring out what they mean. Jokes often are the hardest thing to understand in a language. ¶ 8:53 PM 0 comments
When I lived for a year in Taiwan, I remember buying some kind of almanac called a 通勝 (tung1 sing6). It listed the calendar for the year and indicated whether each day was going to be a good day or a bad day. For the bad days, it listed 兇多吉少 (hung1 do1 gat1 siu2), which means something like "lots of evil, little goodness." The funny thing is, whenever the almanac said that a day was 兇多吉少, it usually turned out to be a bad day for me. To this day, I kind of believe in 通勝.
Actually, today is turning out to be a pretty good day for me. It started out right when I was driving to work following a cute girl with long, brown hair. As I pulled up behind her car at the stoplight, I noticed that she had a license plate frame with the following message: "IF U R GONNA RIDE MY ASS, PLS. PULL MY HAIR." Ha, ha!! That's one of the sexiest messages that I have ever seen on a car and it gave me a good laugh all day.
Recently, I saw a bumper sticker on another car that also cracked me up. It read "WHO PUT A STOP PAY ON MY REALITY CHECK?" Sometimes I feel like that.
When I go to HK in May, I will be watching for funny bumper stickers and license plate frames. Do they even have them in HK? If so, I may need some help in figuring out what they mean. Jokes often are the hardest thing to understand in a language. ¶ 8:53 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 06, 2006
King Kong 大猩猩
Today, I was in San Francisco preparing for a two-day mediation in a big construction case that I am handling. Two of the consultants that we hired to review the project scheduling and financial records know a lot about HK. One of them, D, lived in HK with his wife for a couple of years. The other one, S, has frequently travelled to HK on business. It's always fun to talk with D and S about their experiences in HK. Today was no exception.
After finishing with my meeting, I walked up the street to shoot a few photos (see above). The Transamerica Pyramid, which probably is the most distinctive skyscraper in San Francisco, looked spectacular against the clear, blue sky. Right across the street, I noticed an HSBC branch and some other Chinese banks. That's because the street I was walking on (Montgomery Street) is very close to Chinatown 大埠 (daai6 fau6).
Speaking of HSBC, do you know what the name means? The full name is Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which reflects the historical connection that existed between many businesses in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Chinese, the name is 匯豐銀行 (wui6 fung1 ngan4 hong4).
Afterwards, I hurried up to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, which has one of the best Chinese collections in the U.S. This time, I spent most of my time admiring and photographing the Chinese porcelain collection. I didn't have time to check out the spectacular jade collection, which will have to wait for next time.
When I travelled to New Jersey and New York a couple of months ago, I came back with a serious addiction to thin-crust New York pizza. It's not easy to find authentic New York style pizza in the Bay Area, but one of the best is Arinell Pizza in Berkeley. Returning home on BART (地鐵), I dropped by Arinell to pick up a whole pizza and to photograph the cool neon sign that's inside the restaurant (see photo).
¶ 9:31 PM 0 comments
Today, I was in San Francisco preparing for a two-day mediation in a big construction case that I am handling. Two of the consultants that we hired to review the project scheduling and financial records know a lot about HK. One of them, D, lived in HK with his wife for a couple of years. The other one, S, has frequently travelled to HK on business. It's always fun to talk with D and S about their experiences in HK. Today was no exception.
After finishing with my meeting, I walked up the street to shoot a few photos (see above). The Transamerica Pyramid, which probably is the most distinctive skyscraper in San Francisco, looked spectacular against the clear, blue sky. Right across the street, I noticed an HSBC branch and some other Chinese banks. That's because the street I was walking on (Montgomery Street) is very close to Chinatown 大埠 (daai6 fau6).
Speaking of HSBC, do you know what the name means? The full name is Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which reflects the historical connection that existed between many businesses in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Chinese, the name is 匯豐銀行 (wui6 fung1 ngan4 hong4).
Afterwards, I hurried up to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, which has one of the best Chinese collections in the U.S. This time, I spent most of my time admiring and photographing the Chinese porcelain collection. I didn't have time to check out the spectacular jade collection, which will have to wait for next time.
When I travelled to New Jersey and New York a couple of months ago, I came back with a serious addiction to thin-crust New York pizza. It's not easy to find authentic New York style pizza in the Bay Area, but one of the best is Arinell Pizza in Berkeley. Returning home on BART (地鐵), I dropped by Arinell to pick up a whole pizza and to photograph the cool neon sign that's inside the restaurant (see photo).
¶ 9:31 PM 0 comments
