Life is too short

I went to my friend's birthday party last Saturday and, man, there were A LOT of kids. Anyway, so one of the kids (about 10 yr olds) really wanted to have a piece of chocolate and she was debating if she should have it as it was pretty late. And then I said, "Life is too short so just do it". Right after I said it, I realized that it probably wasn't the best way to teach kids.

When I was a kid, my parents always taught me to be patient and tolerant. They taught me to have discipline and not to do things that will make me happy now as I could suffer in the future, for example, if I eat too much in a meal, I could have a bad stomachache. Another example is that I shouldn't use up all your money on the first day I get your paycheck as life would suck if I don't have money (I guess that's why we have credit cards to get around that problem). So, basically, the idea is that life is a long journey and I shouldn't optimize for instant gratification. I should, instead, plan for the future and delay the gratification to the "appropriate" time. That's what I learned as a kid and I have made a lot of decisions optimizing for delayed gratification subconsciously.

Let's fast forward many years to where I am today. It seems like there has been a lot of talks about "Life is short and you should do what you want today" or "Live the moment now and don't think about the past or future too much". I don't know if it's because of the books/articles/blogs I read or if it's a western thing but it seems like I have heard it everywhere and it does get me to think more as it's almost the complete opposite of what I was taught, which I find to be super interesting. Why did I get these two completely different messages? Is it because I have been exposed to all these marketing tricks to get me to spend the money? Is it because the world is getting to be less unpredictable? Is it because of the difference between the Western culture and the Eastern culture? Is it because of adults are more mature so we can tell them the "truth"? I don't know the answer and I am sure I will have to think more or do more to find out.

So what did the kid do after hearing what I said? Well, she said she was scared and she immediately ate the chocolate. Glad that I am not a dad or my kid will probably be super spoiled :).

Zen Habits

My friend introduced me to the Zen Habits blog a while ago. I thought it's a good blog in that it got me to think more about life. If you have free time, take a look at it and it may get you to think more.

A week off

My friend just told me that he will get a whole week off next week because of an office move. It's an extra paid time-off, i.e. it's FREE vacation time! Man, I am so jealous. Anyhow, so it got me to think what I would do if I get the same thing. Ever since I started working, I almost always travel somewhere when I have more than 4 days off so it's actually an "uncharted territory" for me. I know I have a lot of stuff I want to get done so maybe it's good but then I don't know if I would feel bored. You know, "staying" home for 9 consecutive days could be pretty boring. Seriously, 9 days is enough for a trip to somewhere. Actually, if I had the next week off, I would have had joined my friends to go to Zion National Park.

So, what would you do?

Planning for a 4-day trip to HK

My friends will visit me in HK for about 4 days this Christmas and I need to figure out where to bring them. Here is my first draft, what do you think?

Day 1:
Lantau Island:
- MTR to 東涌纜車站 and take 昂坪纜車 (http://www.np360.com.hk)
- Visit Big Buddha and Temple; have lunch in the temple
- Vist 大澳 (http://www.discoverhongkong.com/tc/attractions/outlying-taio-fishing-village.html)
- Visit 梅窩 (http://www.discoverhongkong.com/tc/attractions/outlying-mui-wo.html)
- Take ferry back to city

Day 2:
Hong Kong Island:
- Take a tram to 上灣 to check out some old shops
- Go to 金鐘 to take peak tram (during the day) to the Peak
- Go to 香港仔, 赤柱, 淺/深水灣, 石澳
- Go to 灣仔 to take a ferry to 尖沙咀 to catch this: http://www.tourism.gov.hk/symphony/
- Go up to the Peak again for the night view

Day 3:
Kowloon:
- Mongkok (女人街, etc)
- 黃大仙, etc (don't really know Kowloon, so need to figure out what to do there)
At night:
- Lan Gwa Fang (night life)

Day 4:
- Causeway Bay
- Shopping etc

Surgery

I had my third surgery of my life last Friday. Unlike the previous two, it was a minor one.

About a month ago, a little lump started to grow in the inside of my lower lip. I thought it was caused by "hot air" (for those who don't know Cantonese, take it as some body defense mechanisms) so I didn't pay too much attention to it. Turns out it never went away and it actually got bigger and bigger. It started to worry me a bit (especially after knowing that my aunt just got cancer and my food is usually super hot and I eat super fast too) so I went for a physical checkup last Tuesday to see what was going on.

Turns out that it's a benign growth. It's most likely caused by some mucus buildups, which happened when the salivary gland was ruptured due to trauma (I eat fast and always bite myself). I think the medical term is called Mucocele. Anyhow, so I was referred to a specialist on Wednesday and then a minor surgery was done on Friday.

The surgery was very fast; it only took about 15 minutes. It was pretty nerve racking though since I was conscious the whole time. Basically, the doctor numbed my lip and then operated on it. I could totally hear the sound when he cut my skin open; I could smell the burnt when he used laser to cut up the lump; I could feel the stitch when he sealed the wound. I consider myself I relatively calm person and, man, during the operation, I know I was nervous and tried hard to calm myself down.

After the surgery, the doctor sent the lump to a lab for a biopsy (just in case). Other than some swelling and bruises, I am good (I actually went to work right after the operation). The only issue I have now is eating. I have to eat SUPER SLOW! I need at least 30-40 mins to finish a meal that usually took me 5-10 mins. That's very frustrating but I guess it's for the better.

Hunger

Came across this news article (in Chinese) just now. Basically, it's saying that a 31-year old man died from hunger in his apartment in Taiwan because he's a "宅男" (someone who is not very good at interacting with people). It's sad but at the same time, it's amazing to see a 31-year old man dying from hunger in a pretty developed country.

Tires

In my previous oil change, the technician told me that I will need to replace my tire soon. After almost half a year, I am finally learning about tire and have been reading a lot of it.

Out of all the materials I have looked at, I think this video is the most interesting and this site being the most informative.

Snow Lake / Gem Lake

I went hiking for the first time in 2 months to Snow Lake / Gem Lake. It was actually a rather last minute plan and I ended up dropping everything I planned to do today to go (I guess hiking has the highest priority on my list. lol...)

The trail (with 2 alpine lakes on the way) is about 50 mins from my home. It's 10.6 miles long roundtrip and a total 2900ft of elevation gain.

The trail to Snow Lake was fairly clear (except some streams from the melting snow up the top of the mountain). We started to see snow once we hit the top of the mountain (before heading down to the snow lake). The trail from Snow Lake to Gem Lake was pretty much covered in snow (and very muddy) so it was a little harder to get to the Gem Lake. The Gem Lake area was very quiet and the snow was pretty fresh so it was very peaceful. It took us a total of 6.5 hours and I really enjoyed it. I totally want to do more hiking in the winter time now.

It was the first time I hiked in non-summer so I was actually a little nervous before I started. I have to say, my baselayer (long poly undershirt and underpants) really helped me a lot - it kept me very warm throughout the hike. I think I will invest on a few more. Extremely tired right now and hope I can get to work tomorrow.