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 ;)

:) 淡淡的幸福

    男孩之前一时兴起跟我来了个飞机场走透透，走啊走的才发现温哥华机场其实有很多我没到过的地方，包括这

    个被他说像是‘萨其马’的吊饰

今天下班离开公司的时候，眼前忽然站着一个熟悉的脸庞。咦？不就是男孩吗？原来是那个我喜欢的男孩来接我下班啊！这小惊喜还真让我感动了一下下～

男孩告诉我，他之后那几天要准备考试，可能会没时间陪我所以就事先来等我下班一起吃晚饭。牵着那只很熟悉的手，聊着一天所发生的趣事，再搭配个大大的太阳，还真是一股暖流涌上心头。男孩很体贴，很疼我，常把我捧在手心里。他的温柔无时无刻都在提醒自己要珍惜眼前人。他让我觉得无预期为对方做的贴心小举动和零距离相处就是我们幸福滋生的证明。

有男孩在我身边的半年里，让我深深地感受到被人呵护的幸福，就算一起窝在家吃外带也是一种幸福，就算一起睡午觉也是一种幸福，就算一起讨论着下一次的旅行也是一种幸福。男孩让我明白到受过伤的人会更珍惜下一个对的人，因为被错过过所以不想再错过。我们在别的交界线失去过幸福，可是却因此而造就了我们的善解人意，我们的惜福，再一起携手筑起我们小小的世界。

几个月前曾经看过一段话：

‘以前要的是愛情，現在要的是幸福。

不要跟不能給自己幸福的人在一起。-我是大A’

我觉得那是我现在的心情写照。人长大了以后对幸福的定义也有所改变，不再追求轰轰烈烈，不再执着于无保障的承诺，而是发自内心，踏踏实实地对一个人好，顾及一个人在生活和精神上的需求，再付出自己能力所及的爱。不是不敢再爱了，而是学会了如何在爱他的同时也爱惜在他身边的自己。男孩就是一个会耐心倾听和支持我的梦想的人，照顾我，陪我一起长大，让我发自内心想一直对他好下去。

谢谢男孩，以后的日子还要我们一起努力，继续善解人意呢！