Haha, I'm very hard-working tonight to catch up on blogs... There are still a few things I want to talk about, but I guess I'll wait till next week. Until then, just wanted to wrap up October by posting some random pics.

From last week, very delicious afternoon tea with bro at Oakridge centre.


Hello Kitty jello that mom made. Took dad lots of work to get them out properly... And then it felt kinda cruel to actually eat them... But they're cute nonetheless



Finally some Halloween related photos!

Pumpkin Starbucks bears

Pooh ghost for $2 "egg machine"!

Waited half a year to use up my b-day present... BUT IT'S WELL WORTH THE WAIT!!  I've waited 3 years for the Video Games Live to come to Vancouver! For gamers (and especially those who have an appreciation for music), don't miss this how if it comes to your town!



Line-up outside the Orpheum Theatre. It's a very strange feeling to stand there among the young ppl dressed in casual wear (video game theme wear). Not because I was dressed formally (in fact I chose a Nintendo t-shirt on purpose too ), but because the last time I was at Orpheum was for my high school convocation. It's a VERY different atmosphere, but I enjoyed both of them!


Inside the lobby.. You can vaguely see a person dressed in a Link costume (from the Zelda video game). It's very interesting to watch these video games character pass by... and even the people that weren't in costumes were mostly wearing video game branded clothes or accessories.


There were booths set up.. for Nintendo... Sony.. EA Sports, etc... And of course the one I liked the most was the Nintendo one altho I already have the games they were showing. People seem to have so much fun playing Wii Fit and Mario Kart


Inside the theatre


Here's the stage. Very cool!


Participants of the costume contest

And then the show started and I didn't have time to take photos It's a very good show with a combination of orchestra, choir, light effects, and videos. I can't say the quality of the music was the best (in fact, I still think the Chan Centre is much more suitable for orchestral music than the Orpheum), but even then the show was GREAT! People were very enthusiastic, especially for the sessions with Zelda and Mario music. There were also some games that I wasn't too familiar: Halo, Final Fantasy, God of War, etc. but from a purely artistic perspective, the video and music combination just can't be any better! It's also a very interactive concert: in one part, the night's Guitar Hero companion (a 14-year old kid!!) went on stage and played Guitar Hero while the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra accompanied him. He was SOOOO good! Finally, during the encore period, we all "sang" the Mario theme song together.. That moment was very touching and memorable! I can't ask for a better b-day present!

Finally here's my souvenier to help bring back the memories in the future!

Went to Harrison Hot Springs for a few days with 'little kid' about 2 weeks ago. I can still VAGUELY remember myself desperately awaiting that holiday before the trip! The trip was great (although it could have been nicer if the person upstairs in our hotel didn't wake us up early everyday.... ) Before the trip I wanted it to be a completely relaxing and "do nothing" kind of trip... Turns out we found plenty to occupy ourselves (haha, I guess that isn't all that surprising to ppl who know me ) If I have to describe the trip in two words, it'd be HARVEST MOON! I guess some of you don't know what Harvest Moon is..


It's a farming simulation video game (and I just bought the latest one too!). The objective is pretty simple... you farm everyday! It's a very relaxing in which you grow crops, fish, take care of your farm animals, etc.

Our trip felt a lot like it because Harrison Hot Springs is a very small community... With lots of farmland, trees, lakes, and rivers, etc. We went to a heritage farm and got very close to some very cute goats, cows, etc. We also visited LOTS of salmons at a salmon spawning creek. It's so amazing to see so many fishes!

Anyway, I'll let the photos describe the rest. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.ca/wwyyuen/OctoberGetaway2008

Yes, another blog from the library during the day... those who know me well will know that means I'm taking my sick day again... (sick DAYS to be accurate since this is actually the second day in a row...) And yes, those same ppl would probably have guessed it's the same old problem... headaches... OK, enough about WHY I'm writing this... (yes, basically just because I have some time to kill )

My mind isn't very coherent the past 2 days, so bear with my random thoughts...

1) Bible reading - some of you may remember I started reading the "Bible in One Year" book last year. Amazingly enough I've kept to the schedule and FINALLY finished reading the bible from cover to cover once! I'm happy about this HUGE milestone, but at the same time, I'm also somewhat ashamed to say that I've only read thru it ONCE after considering myself a Christian for so many years... In any case, I think it's a good first step.  With God's blessing, the next step will be to read thru more slowly and spend more time to reflect/understand the details.

2) Property ownership - I now officially OWN my Mazda3! Days of using half my monthly salary to pay off debt is finally over! It feels good to be 'free' so I can start to seriously consider the next BIG purchase... A HOUSE!?

People always say it's too early to buy a house since we don't really need one... As far as I'm concerned... you need one in your lifetime anyway so you may as well start paying it off early... Haha, 'little kid' and I have been dreaming about it for a while already.. so it's about time to take some action... I borrowed a book from the library called "Personal finance for Canadian for Dummies" to learn a bit more about money management to prepare for the BIG purchase... I REALLY hope this will happen soon... but the thing is I still haven't really started reading the book.... time.. time.. time... you can never have enough...

3) Stressful work - I must admit I never knew a government job could get stressful... Yes I was a co-op before, but back then I was VERY protected... I guess it really isn't about the job, it's more about your attitude towards your job... I thought I've become less and less of a perfectionist throughout the yrs, but maybe I'm still treating things too seriously... Pushing myself too hard...

I guess sometimes you try to cover ALL the bases too well, try to help solve EVERYONE's problem, then eventually the only problems left are all on your own plate... ANYWAY... I'm not really trying to complain about my job or my team or anything... coz honestly they're all good (haha, not saying this because any one of them will read my blog.. coz I doubt it... but honestly even tho the organization has its problems, I don't think I can find any better colleagues anywhere else...) The bottomline is I just have to learn to 'let go' of some 'unreasonable' expectations on myself...

If I've learned one thing the past few yrs, it's that sometimes treating yourself well may not seem the best for the organization at the moment, but in the long run a 'better' you (physically, emotionally, etc.) is what makes a difference. Haha, yes, I've learned, I just need to try to put that into practice... And my latest attempt? I've submitted my one-week vacation request just a few hrs ago!! Desperately looking forward to it...


I think that pretty much sums up my last few months... Oh, and just one more hr till time to go home! I think I really can't stand another day of doing nothing even with this stupid headache and stuff... I'm determined to go to work tmr... Wish me luck!

Was posting the previous blog entry about today's hike and realized I haven't posted pics from the random events this past month. So here they come.

Went to science world in early August.. Haven't been there for a looong time.

And then you may ask why??? Hee, because of this.

The Disney exhibition was pretty cool. Nothing very fancy but you get to learn about the history of the music in Disney animations. And how the use of music in Disney films evolved. And then there were the other regular science world stuff, which I found quite amusing too... Most of them reminded me a lot of Wii games.



This was the one I liked the most. Very cool! Harp without strings but it actually worked!

And then there were the kinds of things that make you smile. The kid looked so amazed, haha!



Another event in August was a mini-farm at Aberdeen centre. Very cute animals.






Other even more random pics...

Something my colleague made during our unit meeting.

A weekend I spent with 'little kid' at my house with bearbear and mickey mouse. It was quite a fun day. We played video game, watched movie, and had sushi take-out!


My uncle came back from HK and brought some souvenier... Starbucks!!! Can you guess what it is?

They're mooncakes!!

They actually tasted pretty OK altho not very traditional... Haha, maybe if they're sold here in Vancouver I'll buy some for my friends as gifts. But now.. too bad! You just have to use this photo as substitute.

Had quite an adventure with mom and dad today, so thought it's at least worth a blog entry. Haha, I guess hiking is not something new since I seem to go with 'little kid' everytime we go on trips, but it's quite rare to go with mom and dad.

We went to the Capilano Regional Park at North Van for the afternoon. Originally dad only wanted to go see the water dam, but we ended up embarking on a LOOONG hike.

Nice view of the water reservoir

The dam... so little water on a sunny day. Haha, kinda looks pathetic...

Here are mom and dad walking 'hard'. It wasn't our intent to walk for 1-1.5 hrs... but the trails were kinda confusing even with a map... We even ran into a huge black dog that looks A LOT like a grizzly bear and got ourselves a little scared.

A cute little mushroom I saw along the way

A resting hut that looks a lot like a mushroom.. heehee..

We then went to Robson Street to do some window-shopping while waiting for dinner. Came across this very cool store window. Look at all the network cables!!

And that wraps up the day! (With mom and dad complaining on the way home that they're so tired that they dunno how to walk tmr )

Sorry for "disappearing" for so long. Been very busy for the past little while, but don't really know why...

Anyway, just a little something to get things started (hopefully I'll get some more time during this long weekend to write a few more short blog entries).

Got the idea of creating a photo album for bearbear from "Toad in Motion" on flick... I found it VERY cool!! I actually saw this quite a while ago, but never got the chance to sit down and create the album. Finally, here it is.. random pics of bearbear and friends throughout the years. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.ca/wwyyuen/BearbearAndFriends02

Long weekend time! There's not much to write about lately (I guess it's better than having "near-death" experience all the time ). So here are some random pics for sharing!

There's this parking space at a restaurant that I always wanted to park at... just because it looks SO COOL! Finally got my chance last week!


Got this coupon with my Starbucks purchase the other day. Hee, love the little ice cubes!


Went to Toysrus yesterday and got two Nintendo-related candies. I'm really not into candies... but the packaging are too good to pass up.

Even the candies are mario mushrooms!

Bearbear looking very puzzled at the two remotes... One real... One fake...
Heehee, the size of the fake one fits him much better...

Haha, well, maybe not really near death... but it's probably as close as I've got in my whole life... So this is probably worth blogging about...

It happened last Thursday. I started my work day as usual and then came two maintenance workers opening roof panels, checking some electric stuff, etc. They come and go, talk on walkie-talkie, etc etc for most of the day. By mid-afternoon I was already quite annoyed by them coz I couldn't really concentrate to work. So I was moving about in my seat, trying VERY hard to block out what they're doing.

And that set the stage for the "drama"... One of the worker opened up the roof panel on top of my cubicle. I was a bit uneasy at first and asked him if I should move. He didn't reply but just smiled back!? I couldn't make out what that meant and so I decided to stay... since they haven't really  been removing stuff from the roof all day... So... theoretically nothing should fall down right?? Turns out to be a wrong assumption....

So he was working above.. and I was typing below... and I pulled back my keyboard a little and sat back (in one of my many attempts that day to focus)... And then suddenly, A METAL SHEET FELL FROM ABOVE! I heard "WATCH OUT!", and then next thing I knew, the metal thingy has bounced off my keyboard and onto the floor... I felt pain on my hand, but when I looked again it was only a very tiny scratch and a bump on my finger, so I didn't really complain... The worker came down the ladder and apologized and quickly put back the roof panel and left...

I thought to myself: "haha, at least I got my quiet time back..." Not until then did I reflect on what jus happened... I looked at my desk and realized there was a dent/crack from the metal... and realized how heavy that metal thingy must have been.. And IF I didn't pull back my keyboard and lean back on my chair.... The thing would have fallen RIGHT ON MY HEAD!! THAT was a scary thought... And as my hand was still a bit in pain, I thought... What if the metal thing RIGHT on top? What if it severely hurt my hand and... I can't play piano from that moment on?? Haha, yes, I didn't even think about not being able to type which would have affected my livelihood.... just piano..

Lots of thoughts rushed through my mind... Haha, I guess all due to my stupidness of deciding not to move away... But I was very grateful then and now... for God's blessing once again.

Thanks to my supervisor at work, I got a free ticket for the lantern festival (http://www.lanternfestival.ca/). So by paying an extra $25, I got to go with 'little kid'. We were a bit worried since there wasn't a lot of people when we got there, but turns out the $12.50 each was pretty worthwhile.  (Hm, not sure about the regular price $25/person tho... ) The lights were very colorful and grand, so in a sense we could appreciate the money they must have invested in building these displays. I liked most of the displays except for "the bugs world" (for obvious reason, haha) and "the dinosaur's world"... The dinosaurs were VERY scary and bloody... (I didn't even bother/dare to take picture of it ).

Anyway, here are some photos for you to enjoy: http://picasaweb.google.ca/wwyyuen/LanternFestival2008