Snow pictures this year

Taking snow pictures is my annual routine and fortunately I've been able to discover different photography spots every year. City in the park in Edmonds has been my new favourite recently. It's definitely a gem in this neighbourhood because it's so quiet and nicely decorated. I dare say every corner of it is worth a picture and it will make your picture look pretty effortlessly.

I should let my pictures do the talking to justify my statement.

Feels like I just stepped into a small palace.

I also took some pictures around Joyce. It gave me a different feeling here, as if I just stepped into a forbidden forest.

I can tell my  photography style is evolving as year goes by. I've encountered snow for several times now, but nothing beats my affection towards one of the very first snow pictures I took when I first came here. It has a calming effect on me.

I didn't have a professional camera at that time, nothing but a regular 8 megapixel digital camera but it walked me through every season of the year and embraced the special moments with me. I was just a girl who loved to look through the lens and took as many pictures as possible to share with my family who was a few thousand miles away from me.

My photography skill is still no where near professional but I enjoy this hobby a lot. I guess that just tells me about how passion can keep non-living things look alive, how simple tools can make some magic to my life. :) I have to thank this beautiful city as well, for allowing me to capture its beauty and stay sensational and grateful towards the smallest thing in the world.

Testing my selling skills this Christmas :)

Christmas is finally around the corner! I don't even have to be reminded about that, as most of the households are geared up for this big day and started putting on colourful decorations around their houses. Thanks to their effort, these pretty lights make bus rides much more interesting and delightful.

This Christmas is a little special for me, not because of Christmas party but I'm making use of the pre-seasonal shopping urge. :) This is the time where many people are scratching their heads looking for Christmas gift ideas and bustling across malls for that. Being an opportunist, I decided to ride on the wave and start my own Christmas sales to earn some pocket money. Many people have higher buying tendency at this time so I definitely don't want to miss this opportunity.

It's not the first time I get into online business but I did it on a small scale and considered it as a 'side side side' job for extra pennies during college and university time. Until last year, I started considering about the true potential of online business in terms of the financial profits it could potentially bring when resources are not available abundantly. At this age, I really don't have many financial resources to begin with, so it would be good to start up small and brush up my entrepreneur skills to better prepare myself when resources become readily available.

Even back in high school, I used to help my sister with some small online sales seasonally. The things we sold were various, from cosmetics to clothing to items few sellers touched on, such as umbrella. We also did silly things like walking along the street to sell roses on Valentines day ( although this didn't really work out *cough cough*). These are very valuable trading experiences to me as they exposed me to the techniques of finding target customers and convincing them. I'm not the pushy type, instead, I make honest response and very often add in my own thoughts about the products I'm selling just for customers reference.

One thing I always have in mind is to start up my own business by 30, because that's about the time I want to be financially stable and feel accomplished about my career while settling down for other aspects of my life. I see no harm in gaining more hands-on experiences on online trading to build up my business knowledge and foundation, considering that I lack business background and knowing some business concepts is very essential in successful trading.

And...one last but the simpliest reason- I'm computer literate, I know my target customers and online platform to sell my stuff, so why not give it a shot?

Instead of having all my thoughts in mind, I want to realize my dreams and make them happen. I'm 24 now, there's still 6 more years for me to work on my goal, hopefully my wish will be granted so that all of my other dreams will fall into place. :) And this Christmas will be my try-out period, wish me luck peeps!

Spaghetei

http://spaghetei.com/

I bumped into this new restaurant few months ago, after having dinner at another restaurant on Robson street. I was quite captured by the theme of this restaurant, the white exterior design gave a strong calming feeling  and made it look like a good place for chit-chatting with friends while enjoying the relaxing ambience. J Of course, the Japanese fusion spaghetti was what interests me the most, so much that I decided to give it a full blog post for a detailed introduction.

And I…. finally had the chance to step into this place last week for a quick lunch with my girlfriends.

J Credit to blackangel`s photography.

It didn`t look quite like a spaghetti house to me, it looked more like a café and dessert place instead.

I like how they inject the Japanese creativity by `comictizing` the menu and paper dining mat to make them look more interesting. Honestly, I wouldn`t have looked at the dining mat if it wasn`t because of the cute Ojiisan, as he reminded me so much of Beard Papa, just without the yellow hat.

I ordered the signature dish-meat sauce spaghetti wondering how different would it be from the regular Bolognese spaghetti I use to have. All spaghettis come with a piece of complimentary garlic bread, lol a green one! I think the topping was spinach-garlic spread because it had more vegetable taste to it. Not sure if I was influenced by the colour or my taste bud was just sensitively accurate.

Food-waiting time was decent and all orders came at the same time to avoid the embarrassment of having to wait for each other`s food. My meat sauce spaghetti was quite similar to that of the display picture on the menu, but I was just surprised with the fact that it was served in a mini serving pan. Spaghetti being served on a pan undoubtedly added some yaki soba feel to it.

Despite the great food display, I was not too surprised by the taste of the food. Hmm don`t get me wrong, the food tasted decent but it was just not too significantly different than any other Bolognese spaghetti out there till it could be a signature dish of the restaurant. Meat sauce tasted fine and blended well with the spaghetti, but eating the meat sauce alone was salty.

                       J Credit to blackangel`s photography.

I like my friend`s Barayaki instead, the display successfully created the home dish feeling and I really like the strong onion fragrance of this dish.  J I swear I`m going to replicate this at home with a Korean meat marinade and pan fry the spaghetti with lots of onions.

My dining experience was pleasant as I`m not the type who likes to chit-chat with waiters/waitresses only when necessary and this restaurant was just a place for me. The waiter made sure we were fully informed about the current events and promotions of the restaurant and the waitress who served us smiled all the time , she only approached us once to ask about the dining experience.

The restaurant is still not too busy now but I believe it will definitely be more popular in future. :) Oh you'll get a free trial salad for completing the satisfactory survey, and a free soft drink for sharing pictures about this place on any social-networking website.  Freebies always good eh!

Happy bee flying past October and soon November

Did some photo shooting of the falling maple leaves last Sunday. Music is my main source of inspiration, photography is another. Seeing things through the small lens simply bring the world to the next level. Many things look much simpler, clean, and full of emotions through the tiny hole.

Moved into a new studio last month.  My previous landlady decided to sell her unit so I had to look for a new place to stay, hence the opportunity to consider renting a studio. Living in a studio is a first-time experience for me, so I was very excited about it despite the rent, that’s the price I’m willing to pay for a complete personal space.

J Now I don’t have to tolerate with dirty and sensitive room mates, and have the whole kitchen and living room entirely by myself. I can also invite good friends for afternoon baking or dinner. These plans cheer me up so much and motivate me to earn more money so that my savings plan is not delayed by the higher rent.

Celebrated my 24^th birthday last month and held home parties with all my good friends. That was the most comfortable birthday celebration I had in these past few years. Not only I wanted myself to fully immerse in a relaxing environment on my big day, I hope my friends would feel comfortable as well by not having to cramp with other people in restaurant, wait for long line ups or suffer from a long walk in this cold weather.

J  Since I'm living by myself now,  I think it’s just perfect timing to have a home party without any interruption.

Celebrated with Kareshi on the exact day and I was too lazy to dress up for fine dining after work, so I decided to make things simple and buy take-out foods. I managed to get some onion rings after work, that must be birthday luck because these puppies are usually sold out when I go there after work. Movie with take-out foods with Kareshi by my side, not too bad of a celebration eh J

Tried out a new cafe, Fanbourg, at Downtown with Xin. I love their macarons! The crust is baked to the right texture and filling is not too sweet, just nice for my liking. I’m really embracing tea time with my girls and chat about anything together while enjoying good desserts. That simply makes my weekends more lovely and fruitful.

Attended good friend’s convocation in SFU. I began to go to SFU more frequently since I started dating with Kareshi, feels like I’ll discover something beautiful about this place upon every visit. Haha I found a nice fish pond this time!

Also like how they hold convocation ceremony in an open space, the blue theme effortlessly makes the ambience look more peaceful. Friends joked to me, saying I should have gone to SFU since I love blue so much *pointing fingers*

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise one morning and that gave me the energy boost to start work.  I guess that’s one of the reasons I love living in high rise building, the view up here can be breathtaking at times.

It’s almost the end of the year again and I’d say 2013 is definitely a year to remember, it’s more of a year of mental changes in preparing myself to become fully responsible of my life regardless the people around me.

常常觉得，无论身边有没有人照顾，也不能停止对自己未来的生活铺路，也不要一直无止尽地等待别人跟我一起准备以后的生活。时机到了，自然会有一起生活，一起承担责任的时候，所以在那之前，先想好自己的未来就好。

Being content is a choice of life, a thought, an attitude

每一天必经的路，也会因为季节的改变，心情的转换和不同的拍摄手法而显得不一样

‘ How can you be so adapted to your life and stay happy when it’s so routine and dull sometimes?’ Black angel asked me at one of our dinner dates after work.

I dare not say I am a person who knows exactly how to live a great life, but I do know the way to see life in a positive way and the importance of staying optimistic with my life at all times. I do feel bored about my job sometimes and frustration creeps in when thinking about the commitment I have to make due to my job. But there is always one thing I keep in mind despite the frustration, I want to make sure that I have the resources available, prepare myself for my dream and kick start it when the time is right. To be an achiever in life, I have to first load my bullets before going all out for the achievements I wish to accomplish at the later stage of my life. I need some time to settle my thoughts, some experiences to learn about the appropriate ways of being a good entrepreneur, as well as financial support for my living expenses and future business modal. With that in mind, it is easier for me to accept my current routine and be content with the way I lead my life now because I’m gaining something out of it, this means that I’m carrying my life in a manner that is much more than just doing-the-same-thing-every-day kind of life.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I do not like freedom and leisure. I love travelling to explore different places leisurely and I never restrict myself from splurging in this area. I’m just spreading my hobby over a long span of time to keep a balance among work, loved ones, and hobby instead of pursuing my hobby all at once and taking a long time off for travelling. By doing this, my work allows me to support my hobby, and my hobby allows me to keep motivated and energetic for my job, so they must co-exist and this relationship will balance out itself wonderfully. By doing this, I know I will not regret because I still follow my heart and never restrict myself to only 1 thing at a time. Maintaining the balance is very characteristic of my personality and it matters to me, especially when I have people that I really love and care of, so much that I am willing to find a way to work things out for our happiness, both me and them. It doesn’t mean that I can’t be happy even though I only travel few times in a year because of work, I am still grateful because I can travel with people that I love and escape from the busy world together. I don’t think it’s a sacrifice of my personal will because I gain things from the other end.

To me, it’s always about the thought which will change into thing. Our perception about life affects our happiness and attitude to make things happen. It is okay if you feel that life is dull because it’s not at the best stage yet, but you can’t deny the little bits of awesomeness in it right?  

不是甘于平凡不懂得制造生命的花火，而是刺激也是需要平凡的造就才能衬托出它的不同。

That’s a choice, a thought, an attitude. There is always a choice, and there is always a way to work things out.  My 5 years of independent life makes me a buyer for the saying ‘When there is a way, there is a will’. 

Two is better than one

I believe the saying 'two is better than one' fits my love life perfectly. Dating makes my life busy in a good way, as things that I used to do alone previously is now being done in two. Knowing that I don't have to try too hard just to satisfy his desire, I can open up myself to him completely and talk about everything. In these 8 months,  I've been learning the appropriate communicating skills to get along with the second person closest to me after my family, and build up the bridge together. 

Doing things together didn't exist in my dictionary all the while because I was so trained to do things individually and independently, so well that I could manage my emotions and dissolve the negativity in me by myself. But this relationship is giving me a chance to re-gain the idea of doing things together and embrace the awesome-ness of it, in which I'm very very grateful for. I'm very grateful that unhappy past did not take away all of my faith in relationships, but I took the positive side of it and alleviated the pain by giving more to the right person. Now that I look back, every step I've made has brought me to where I am now, and I keep learning along the journey to become better.

One thing I'm even more grateful of, is to have you by my side :) 

Come on over, and we will work things out together.

Last Friday was a photography+dating day, we explored the world's tallest Tim Soldier together. 

Home is our primary hang out place as we spend an enormous amount of time staying at home besides eating out. One of the effective ways to make our day more interesting is to generate some random conversations to discuss. Surprisingly, hairstyles appear to be a hot topic between us, I have no idea why~

I think most Taiwanese guys have this long+straight hair fantasy over their girlfriends because having a short hair girlfriend is his taboo. We discussed about this for many many times, and finally came to a consensus on a hair length that both of us can accept. For now, my hair can't go any shorter than shoulder length. Hehe but I'm sure I'll be able to convince him one day in letting me to try on a cool short hair. As long as I can make him believe that I'll look good in it, why not...... right?

Having said that, I have complete freedom in choosing the fashion styles I want to venture in. I'm recently addicted to hats and I bought a few to experiment. Don't be surprised if you see a Hip Hop me in future because I've started to allow some hip-hopness slipping into my fashion styles.

My first time trying on a baseball cap and I love it very much!

Despite I'm lazy in hair styling, I'm quite surprised to see so many different sides of me in just a year, more amazed at what hairstyles can do to the entire look. With just a little twist or adding some accessories and I'm instantly looking different!! That just encourages me to try on even more styles in future. 

Never stop trying is always my life motto, especially when I'm getting nearer and nearer to mid 20's, I should totally make full use of my remaining youth in exploring youth fashion ideas ;)

5 things that make me a happy bee 2

 I gain positive energy when I'm constantly reminded on the little things which make my day so peaceful yet blissful. :) It's not hard at all to find things that will lift up my mood every day, simply because there are just so many events taking place in every second, every minute, and every hour. Thus, I decided to make positive writing as a habit and share the happiness around.

July had been a great month, both leisurely and academically. I tried to manage my leisure time wisely to make sure that I did not rot at home for some meaningless activities only. It's always about achieving the balance between soul and body to me, and this appears to be a continuous learning process in my life.

1. We revisited Deep Cove to picnic with friends in mid July. Learning from the last lesson, we decided to bus this time to eliminate the possibility of not getting a parking space. Deep Cove is my new favourite because it is spacious, less crowded, and it gathers all sorts of outdoor activities in one place (hiking, picnic, kayak/paddleboard, sightseing)

Highlight of the day fell on the 4 brave girls who took up the challenge to hike for 2 hours with sandals. It was absolutely unintended but hiking was a spontaneous idea we came up with upon arrival, and we didn't want to let go the chance of hiking the Baden Powell Trail. So there you go, challenge accepted!

I had to say, it was crazy but quite fun at the same time, because we saw some people doing the same thing along our journey. But I felt worth it after watching the view on top. It was simply spectacular and breath taking.

  Feels so good getting close to the Mother Nature once in a while.

2. Shopping for cheap deals has always been my hobby because I'm not a branded person. I prefer getting various clothing styles for the same price.

 I can't keep things to myself when it comes to getting cheap deals,  feel lacking for not sharing my achievement :P

I was doing minor shopping for my Hawaii trip today because I was short of sandals. Every time when it comes to buying accessories, Adrene is my first place to go because of its price, wide variety and sizes along with acceptable product quality. I knew this place wouldn't disappoint me, got 2 sandals and 1 beach bag for $15. No Frills should consider sharing its motto with Adrene. Seriously, such a price can't be beat, even for online shopping!

2 phone cases for $8, thanks to ebay! 

3. Apart for all the social activities, I didn't forget to fork out some time for beneficial thing. Company sent me to first aid training last Saturday. It was an 8-hour course, primarily teaching basic skills to help an injured person at first hand. 

I used to join Red Crescent Society when I was in high school, and attending this course kinda made me reminiscing those time when my friends and I would go for extra-curricular activities on Saturday to learn all sort of first aid skills, let alone the nasty marching session under the uber UV-poisonous sun lol. Can't believe that was 7 years ago! T_T

 

4. Went back to UBC for paid studies, and I took this opportunity walking around my former school to witness the changes since I left school. So my tuition fee was spent on a new fountain, student union building 2 and other endless constructions. Nowonder I heard a new motto coined to UBC- 'a place of construction' instead of 'a place of mind'. Based on my observation, it can't be a false statement at all lol.

Anyway, July is the rose-blossoming season :), as you can see in the pictures already. Although I'm not fond of flowers, seeing the garden being coated with multi colours still lifts up my mood.

5.  July was also the month of catching up with good friends and chit chat till the end of the day :). I'm glad we took advantage of the good weather and spent some time at the beach, since I didn't really get to step foot on the beach this summer. 

Lovely Xin also brought me to a new cafe- Panda Cafe, which incorporates reading manga and eating in one place. Food was average there, but the quiet atmosphere and private rooms catered for individual gatherings made up for it. :) Definitely a good chit-chatting place and an ideal hangout place for Otaku.

With the end of July, I shall welcome the eighth month of 2013 in a slightly exciting tone :) Hawaii, I'm coming!!!

5 things that make me a happy bee.

1. Boy totally understands my Pooh crave and he got me Pooh earphones 2 weeks ago. It's madly cute that I decided to leave it unopened to avoid any pollution and damage to it. I know, I know that I totally defeat the purpose of him buying this cutie to me, but I really treasure it so much that I don't want it to get dirty, not even a bit. ~_~ Help me with my dilemma please!

2. Round-trip ticket to Hawaii at the end of August. Hola, after so much of waiting, I'm finally going to step foot on my dream paradise, and it all happens within a few magical clicks. I'm so glad that I still keep up with the 'die die also want to go travel' spirit and I still value traveling as an important passion of mine and make it happen every year.

3. I'm a small eater but a little bit of snacks always lift up my day. I was grocery shopping for some Japanese snacks at a konbiniya today and I saw something sparkling ( well to me it was sparkling) at the shelf. I just couldn't stop screaming ( lol in heart of course) when I saw Tohato matcha flavour sitting nicely, waiting to come home with me tee hee~~~ Ah I will always love you, Tohato!

4. Had a lovely walk with Kareshi on a Sunday and it was nothing more than feeling blissful. We never really had a walk in a while because we are either busy or lazy to go out. But I feel that staying outdoor, enjoying relaxing talk are one of the best ways to gain the intimacy between couple. Yes, otaku needs to go out and breathe in fresh air once in a while too, I'm glad that he recognizes the importance of doing this. 

5. Went to my co-worker's son's birthday bash at New Westminster and I bumped into this super artistic tree which is growing upside down. It looks like a girl doing yoga pose-headstand to me, but some said it looks like a hula dancer waving her dress. Funny how a tree appearance can be interpreted in so many ways, but that again proves to me that humans can be very creative creatures at times. 

Anyway, I've reached the age of attending birthday parties of my friends' children, that is such a GAH moment. I can sniff the arrival of my aging process already -_-.

New glasses

I bought a fake geeky glasses in February when I went home. I knew it was going to be mine the moment I saw this blue frame sitting at the display. Getting  a blue and big geeky glasses has always been on my list, and thankfully my voice was heard!

I always have a thing for geeky glasses for several reasons- they make my eyes look bigger and they go well with many fashion styles. Moreover, I think my appearance is nerdy enough to match with my glasses perfectly.

Haha so the camwhoring session becomes more and more frequent ever since I bought the glasses. My co-worker said I look like Korean artist with make up and back to Chinese with no make up.  I take it as a compliment to my improved make up skills, which eases out my effort to switch between Korean and other Asian styles. Personally, I think I'm my dad's and my eldest sister's 饼印 instead of other people.

Kareshi also uses my glasses to amuse me by posing different looks, so funny but I don't think he'll let me post these pictures. Oh well, I have to say he is a boy full of charisma and I've yet to explore different sides of him.

Anyway, this Sunday is our 7-month anniversary and the boy is blasting full gear for his Statistic midterm revision.  :) No celebration but a truckload of wishes for you, happy 7-month and good luck on your midterm muah muah!

Hiking trip

Last Sunday was sunny and it was definitely a good day to stay outdoor, so I chose Rock Quarry which is a short hiking trail at Deep Cove to hike with Kareshi. I'm not a hiking person but I do like to hike once in a while to enjoy the amazement of being embraced by the creation of Mother Nature. Few hours walk in a good weather is definitely not a problem to me.

We had lunch at home and packed some food for hiking. Haha I have to say,  Kareshi and I are quite alike sometimes, the first thing we thought of was ICED water and nothing else. By 12:15pm, we were all ready to embark on our journey. I was all excited and kept snapping pictures along the way, only to know that these were also the photos I took in this journey.

Despite the preparation, we lost sight of the huge crowd flocking into North Vancouver due to long weekend. I had a bad feeling once I saw the crowd and parking lots which were all filled up. Sigh, and I was right, we were totally defeated by the crowd. After driving around for a few rounds, we decided to give up on the plan and switch to having a scenic drive.

Kareshi tried to offset my disappointment and kept driving around in hope of a spot. We finally found one spot which was 6079879m further than the Deep Cove Park but it was better than nothing  and have a brief walk around it.

We saw a trail without name and we just started our journey without much hesitation. To our surprise, the trail was clean and nicely path and it only took us 10 minutes to get up the hill. Once we got up the hill, the first thing that came into our sight was a short row of beautiful houses. Kareshi and I looked at each other, and realized that we invaded into someone else's backyard.

Oops..... so we just got down immediately.

Well, I still managed to stay close to the Greenery after a long time and the trespassing experience was definitely a bonus to alleviate the disappointment of our failed plan. Deep Cove is such a nice place and undoubtedly worth a second visit! 

Good thing from one side comes from bad thing at the other

My Samsung Infuse was tired of the cycle of restarting itself everyday and decided to stop battling few days ago. I desperately needed a phone for regular use so I upgraded to an S3. I know I know, S4 is already out but I think S3 is good enough for me, plus I only had to pay for $27 with a 2-year plan which seemed to be good deal, thanks to the release of S4! I've always wanted a blue phone, so happy that my wish was finally granted. Boy is happy that I got a new phone as well so that he can find me effortlessly, not through facebook messages/ look for me all over the places *oops*.

Boy works as a part timer at a cellphone store and he puts his professionalism into use by helping me putting the screen protector on my phone. I truly respect his skill and professionalism on this after comparing my own work with his, he brought my work down to shame undoubtedly ~_~. That's why you pay $7 for screen protector outside, for the good and more for the service!On the good side, I'm pretty sure I'll have a nice screen from now on B)

Speaking about my career, I'm on an unintended (and unpaid *facepalm*) break due to the low sales in summer. As much as I'm frustrated with the new work schedule which shortens my work span given the same amount of workload as before and a new R&D project on top of that, my co-worker (also my ex-classmate) and I are also worried about the work quality. Seriously, how on earth are we going to complete every task appropriately given the 3-day work schedule per week? Sigh, that's another challenge ahead but that also allows me to have an insight about this company. It's definitely not for long term stay, I just can't see myself advancing in this work environment.

I try to soothe my frustration from work through music. Good thing is I get more time for my music composition . I haven't been working on my music in a hardcore way for months, so this is definitely a good time for me to catch up again. Of course, this is also a good time to resume my guitar learning again. :) I know how to play chords and read guitar scores now! Making a piano+guitar cover is just a matter of time and skills maturation I believe.

Apart from my music, my friends are also very curious about my tiny fingernails because they thought it would be painful to cut my nails so so short. I'm very paranoid at long fingernails and I just can't keep them long. Since young, I've been keeping short nails for the convenience of practicing piano and I can never change that habit ever since. Well, it's good that I still play music now and I still keep my nails short for the same reason. Manicure is just too much for me to handle, especially when I'm learning guitar now. I'd rather have mini fingernails and nail my piano/guitar skills forever. Some passion is just worth fighting for :) I've come this far and there's just no reason to stop on things that make me happy and lively all these while.

Tipping culture

I came across a post about tipping culture today and I couldn't agree more on some points Cheesie stated.

Tip of the day

I come from a country where tipping is not a norm, so the total amount stated on my bill is all I have to pay. It's only until I came to Vancouver 5 years ago, I started accepting the tipping culture and practise on it to conform to the social norm of paying 10-15% extra as a sign of gratitude to the servers.

Not that I hate tipping, I don't mind tipping for a DECENT service but not for services which I dislike. I'll be very pissed off to tip for a bad service, because I can't convince myself to fork out more money to pay waiter/waitress who delays my order, refills my tea after 30 minutes, or simply just picks up my dishes when I'm not done with my meal without asking me.

Especially since I started working, I absolute hate the idea of tipping workers who don't deserve the tip. I work in an environment where salary may not be proportionate to work performance. Sometimes I have to work extra without getting more pay.But that's not something I should complain about because the moment I take up my job, I should take into account on all the 'untold' duties I'm responsible of occasionally, and I believe that such a situation does not happen to me solely but many people are on the same boat as well. I do what I'm told to do because I'm at this job position, and if I can't take it then I just leave,  I don't chase after my boss to pay me extra for every single duty that is beyond my job scope. Hence, the same work ethnic should ideally be applied in the food service industry as well with the same level of professionalism. You don't ask for more money from people who have already contributed to your living directly, but you find out the reason why people tip you less than usual. To me, it's either you work harder and show more professionalism to earn your customers' heart monetarily, or just leave and get another job which offers you a better pay.

It's not really about me lacking the monetary generosity towards these people, but I don't like paying people monetarily for what they don't deserve for. I especially dislike those who chase after customers for not leaving ENOUGH tips for them, that is just not professionally appropriate to me.  It's not like I did not pay for my meal after all, why should I pay more ON TOP of my bill after receiving a below average service?

Having said that, I'm only referring this opinion to bad service. But if I was given a choice, I'd still prefer that all kinds of costs are incorporated in the selling price and I'll just pay for ONE price. I think that saves a lot of discomforts and unnecessary arguments between customers and food service providers.

Semi holiyear

2013 is not a huge holiyear for me since I spent most of my vacation going back home for Chinese New Year and I have some investment plans in mind. I decided to forgo a little bit of fun this year for more fun in future, if you get what I mean. :)

Having said that, I still managed to have brief tours around different cities in between my flight transit time and catch the beauty of different cities through walking. Yup, I'm one of those people who believes that walking is one of the best ways in capturing a city's beauty.

So there you go,  here's my travel update for the first half of 2013. That's the most economical way for me to travel around while saving my pocket from getting burnt. Glad that I'm able to keep up with both goals- Have fun and save money at the same time!

1. Seoul, South Korea

Seoul is more of a shopping city to me, my main goal was to shop for skincare/cosmetic products and bring back the whole MyeongDong to Vancouver *dreaming *. This is the place I'd observe street fashion and skincare condition because most of the Koreans have glowing skin that are very hard to be neglected! I wonder if it was hereditary or an obvious result of their advanced skincare technology, but either way, people with fair and nice skin walking by you create such a pleasant view for a foreigner like me. 

 I'm very concerned about a person's skin condition since young, not just myself but my partner as well. When I was in high school, I chatted with my best friend about ideal boy friend and I demanded a boy friend with decent skin as the most critical quality I looked for in a boy's appearance. It isn't just about self pleasure but I think a guy who has clean skin also reflects a big part of his hygiene habits. In my opinion, a guy with decent skin must have been quite clean or willing to put some effort to keep his face clean. If he is willing to spend some time on some thing that many guys don't give a shit about, he might be quite particular on his general hygiene habits as well. I experimented that on Kareshi and I think my theory is validated, it really works for me!

2. Victoria Bay, Hong Kong

Considering that I haven't been to Hong Kong for at least 10 years, I decided to take a walk during my transit time to Kuala Lumpur. I haven't been there since HK Disneyland and walk of fame were constructed, you can imagine how long that was! I only had approximately 8 hours for my trip, and I chose HK walk of fame because I could also enjoy the magnificent night view at Victoria Bay. Unfortunately, the weather was bad for a night view picture, but my disappointment was quickly offset by Bruce Lee's sculpture. I'm not a fan of Bruce Lee, but I think he together with Stephen Chow are 2 actors who best represent Hong Kong film industry in the past. They are epic, enough said.

3. Seattle, WA

Went to Seattle twice in a month and I've already witnessed a change in such a short period of time. Skagit River Bridge collapsed before my second trip and I kinda had a detour of it.

Hmm...the collapse looked terrible, not sure how long would the reconstruction take.

Otherwise, the tiny bits of my Seattle trips are shared previously  :) 

Seattle Trip Part 1

Seattle Trip Part 2

4. White Rock, B.C.

Funny how it took me so long to set foot on White Rock although it's only about 35-40 minute drive from Burnaby. WX kept telling me about this superb Japanese restaurant which sells amazing aburi sushi, Kareshi got that message and brought me to White Rock last Sunday. I'm very spoiled by Kareshi's effort in satisfying my travel desire, so I usually cook nice meals to satisfy his tummy instead, win-win situation *chuckle*. Anyway, White Rock is a good place for halfday trip, it's a place for beach walk and cheap seafood :). We took a walk at the beach and enjoyed a light meal at Taka's.

Aburi suhi at Taka's, WX said it melts in your mouth and I agree to that. I like the Salmon one, it has a soft texture and didn't taste as fatty. Yup, I'm not resistant to seeing animal fats visually and I'm still trying to overcome that.

2013 semi holiyear has been doing its job greatly so far, hopefully I could think of more short trips for the coming months to tie up my 2013 traveliciously ;)