~+Se@soN + PaRaDisE 2+~ WeLcome to My LiFe

Going the Distance

2010-09-12T00:09:00.004-04:00

Time now is 12:09am. The weather is getting colder out there, and I guess Fall is here earlier than I thought. I have been thinking of updating my blog for awhile, but I just being so lazy to get it done. Tonight, all in sudden I feel like writing something here instead of writing my essay paper, which will be due on Tuesday and I only finished 20% of the whole paper. :-)

I just got back from the movie - Going the Distance - and I have some thoughts and it inspired me want to write. I don't know, just all in sudden feel like want to write something, so here I am to update my blog...

Going the Distance is a new release movie that starring by Justin Long (Garrett) and Drew Barrymore (Erin). It is a movie about how the long-distance relationship survive between New York City and San Francisco. Erin, from San Francisco, works as an intern journalist in New York City, and she meets Garrett at the bar and then winning at bar trivia. They start with a one-night stand summer relationship, and then they want for more than just one-night stand relationship. They realize that they meant to each other, so they decided to keep this relationship going long distance.

I like the movie as part of the reason it is a lovely movie with romance, humor and honesty. As being in the long-distance relationship, I can totally related to it and feel the pains of being apart. It never simple and never easy to maintain the long-distance relationship, but it doesn't mean that it's impossible to have a long-distance relationship. With all the technologies, emails, Instant messaging, teleconference, and Internet, make going distance more easier. However, being unable to spend time together in a physical presence makes the relationship harder to hang on... My girlfriend and I have been apart for almost 5 years, and we tried so hard to keep this relationship going long distance. Unlike in the movie Erin and Garrett have to shuttle back and forth New York City and San Francisco to see each other, we are thousand and thousand miles away from each other and barely can meet one every two years. I don't know how we can keep it for such a long time, I think we just let it flow...

Having a relationship going long distance is never simple and easy. Either side have to sacrifice and make thing happens. It might sounds selfish to either one, but in order for the long distance relationship to last, we have to be realistic; think and plan for the future. People sometimes just do not know get it... some people are meant to be together...

Will the long-distance relationship last? It varies from people to people, but for sure it is never gonna be easy. Everyone has dream to pursue, but you just have to sacrifice in order to gain. No pain no gain!!! If either of you not willing to sacrifice then most likely it won't last long. Being in love is a good thing but have to realistic in order to move forward. Like it said, "you can have love but do not forget about the bread."

Anyways, that's just my two cents and part of my story. Oh... believe me, my store is way more complicated than you thought. Just work it out and if it doesn't it will be sad. Be realistic!

Again, as far as the movie goes, I like it as I was constantly laughing and it was hilarious! But watch out the languages used in this movie as it is RAW!! :-)

Will see you soon... need to get back to my paper writing :-(

Japanese Cultural Festival

2010-06-02T14:35:00.004-04:00

This will be a short post...

Never realized how fast the time flies, it's June already. We already went by half of 2010! That's super fast! Just too many things to do in limited time. I joined the annual Japanese Cultural Festival back in March, and I promised in the last post entry that I will post some pictures here. Here I am to post but just a little bit late... :-)

No many good pictures from Japanese Cultural Festival, here are few pictures that from JCF 2010.

I've decided, from now on, I will use this blog as my photography page. Hopefully, I will have more nice pictures to share here. :-) I will also share my pics on my Facebook. If you are interested or like my pictures, you can find me at Facebook, season_lee83@yahoo.com.

I will be leaving tomorrow to Los Angeles, CA for business trip, and will visit my friend, Annie. We will be in San Diego, and hopefully will have some nice pics to share in my next post entry. Stay tuned!

Indonesian Culture Night 2010

2010-03-22T21:47:00.010-04:00

Once again, sorry for the late update! I'm slowly getting better for my blog entry, at least this time I didn't hold it for too long. Yap, it's tax season, everyone is busy on filling their return and hope to get more refunds, so do I. Way to busy for all the taxes and have no choice but to push everything back. Now, here I am to update this blog before I go to bed...

On February 20, I joined the Indonesian Culture Night at University of Michigan. It hosted by Indonesian Student Association of UM. It was a wonderful experience of joining this kind of event. This event was opened to public, so anyone who were interested in Indonesia Culture were welcomed to join. It was a wonderful night to explore Indonesia Culture, foods, instruments, performance, musics, dramas, etc. Everyone came from different ends to sharing the cultures. Of course, the typical foods were served to everyone before the performance. I was too busy on shooting and social with friends, so I didn't try much of their foods but drinks.

Willy, my Indonesian friend was invited to be the event volunteer photographer. He has the connection with Indonesian Student Association, so he brought me along to the field. Again, It was a wonderful shooting experience, just because of Willy's networking, we were able to get the VIP seats! I had a very nice learning opportunity to shoot in field. That happened to be my first time and I was nervous and excited. I learned as I shot, and I liked it. I took around 300 pics and ended up only fewer pictures got posted. Come on, there is a learning curves for everything... Let's check it out my pictures below from Indonesian Culture Night 2010. I posted them on my Facebook album too, and thanks y'all for the comments! :-)

We had permission to move around and get the best angles for the shots. Hope you'll enjoy the pictures below and again I welcome for any comments! :-)

We got to the site earlier and were be able to capture some make up scene. Let's check it out the make up session. Behind the scene:

Well, I hope you enjoy of browsing my blog entry. Again, I welcome for any comments. I went to Malaysian Culture Night and I did not bring my DSLR along, as we have no connection with Malaysian Student Association at UM, so no pictures from Malaysian Culture Night. Next post will be Japaneses Cultural Festival. Stay tuned.

03/03/2010, Wednesday -Birthday blog entry-

2010-03-04T12:59:00.008-05:00

On March 3rd, Wednesday(3), a great combination, I officially turned 27 years old! I can't even believe I am getting closer to 30. It seems like yesterday when I was dying to be 18 or 21 years old to do the "cool things" :-) Kind of hard to believe it's true...

Unlike others, I do not usually celebrate for my birthday, even when I was kid. One thing that I love when it's your birthday is the birthday greetings from friends and family. Thanks to y'all for the birthday wishes. I am so thankful and know that I am incredibly blessed to have y'all in my life.

This is my 5th birthday away from home, it reminds me lot of things. It always reminds me that I've passed many times in my life, things that I've done, experiences that I've gone through, failures, accomplishments... It also reminds me that I started out with penny, and to what I have now. I am thankful things are considered good now, but I hope even better things are coming, and end up with jars full.

Life is short, we always race with time and figure out how much you've accomplished. People always say, men appreciate in value as they age, as they are judged by their perceived level of success. I always wonder how much I've accomplished over these year, and at what level of success. It seems like I did not develop much as at my age when compare with others. So, when you grow up, so many things you have to start worry about, career, family, etc...

So, turned 27 years old, what is the plan? Er, to be honest with you, my plans are pretty similar to my last year plan, as I am still working on it instead set a new resolution. What I really hope is even better things are coming...

Thanks to Papadopoulos's family for the birthday wishes. Thanks Lee for preparing me dinner and cake. It was sweet and warm. Here are the pics at home:

Sophia with cake

A small cake from Papadopoulos's family. Eat healthy is one of our resolutions in 2010, that's why we got small cake :-)
Thanks Willy for the treat. We went Pegasus Taverna, a Greek restaurant @ Detroit, MI for birthday dinner.

Baklava dip into syrup @ Pegasus Taverna - classic Greek Pasty - Yummy!~ But a little bit too sweet~

Spesialite Pegasou - Two Lamb Chops and Three Broiled Shrimps - Yummy~ the lamb was so tender~~

Birthday cake from Hooi Sin via Multimedia Message. Thanks for her lovely birthday song too, so sweet :-)
Next post will be Indonesia Culture Night 2010 Photography. Stay tuned!!

Photography Journey

2010-02-23T15:10:00.008-05:00

Wow, I don't even remember the last time I blogged. I think it was months ago before I take off to Malaysia. It has been quite awhile since I've posted on this blog, people might wonder am I struggling on my blog entries, actually I've been posting and uploading pictures somewhere else, such as Facebook, feel free to check out my Facebook.

So, here's the latest. First of all, Happy Chinese New Year 2010. Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy Year. It is always good to know that someone is reading my blog. I'm happy to be back on the blog.

Over the past months, I went back to Malaysia on November 19 and spent time with my family and friends. It was a different Christmas holiday season as I spent my Christmas time in Malaysia. Unfortunately, I had food poisoning on Christmas eve. It was really sucks experience!! We also celebrated Mom and HooiSin's birthday. I had a wonderful moment with my family and friends, it always good to stay together with your family. Please check out my Facebook for more pictures.

I never thought I would be in love with photography, and never thought things could be so amazing through viewfinder. Yes, I think I've fallen in love with photography, and I think I found my interest, and I've decided to go for it. I invested my first DSLR and equipments. I am going to learn and start to shoot professionally. Thanks Willy for his willingness to be my photography instructor, and sharing his photography knowledge to me. I'm glad and really appreciate his time and patience.

This is my first time ever shooting with my DSLR, and I welcome any comments, suggestions, and recommendations. Here are the pictures from Detroit Auto Show 2010, at Detroit Cobo Center. I would like to share these with you, please feel free to share the comments or criticisms.

This past weekend, I had chance to meet up with other Malaysian at CNY celebration that hosted by Malaysian Association Michigan (MAM). I also joined as a member and looking forward to attend more events. I attended the Indonesian Culture Night 2010 with friends at UM. It was a great, pleasant and entertaining show. Next shooting event will be Ann Arbor Badminton competition at Washtenaw Rec Center.

I hope you will enjoy the pictures. I will be back soon to post more pictures on ICN 2010, stay tuned!!

Corporate Jungle with all bloody creatures

2009-11-11T11:02:00.006-05:00

I HATE MY COWORKERS' CHILDISH BEHAVIOR!!! I HATE BACKSTABBING COWORKERS!!! Ugh!!!!!

I have been with my job for almost 2 years. People that I work with are SUCKS and gossipy!!! The entire office is full of craps and dramas!!! I can handle most of these dramas or gossips just fine, as none of them are my business. The issue for me is that I can't handle people backstabbing me and spreading the lies!!! I stay out of gossip and focus on performing my job, and you still cross over my bottom line and kick my butt!!! You freak!! I hate all these childish behavior!!!

I have straightened up and do not want any problems. I kept quiet and I want to keep it low profile. I just can't stand all these craps in my workplace!!! All I do now is show up for work and go home. I just feel like getting off of everyone's radar for awhile. To me, people that I work with are all "cold sharks"... I feel like swimming in Atlantic Ocean without any helps and feel like will get bite/drained sooner or later. I hate backstabbing!!

Sigh... I just do not understand why people spending time on those gossips or dramas???? What do they get? Feeling good of backstabbing people?? or get any bonuses by doing so??? Gosh, idiot and childish!!!

I guess most people are experiencing the same issue. "If you have more than three people in the office (especially woman), the politics emerge." People do whatever it takes to get to the top of the corporate ladder, everyone is scrambling over each other to get to the highest rungs. That's too scary to survive in a corporate jungle with all these tigers... lions... monsters... All bloody creatures!!

Lately, I almost got beat up by all these office craps and dramas. That reminds me, Life is so short, we got to make it sweet and do not waste the time for all these craps. I am the controller of my destiny. I am in charge of how to react of every moment in my life. What is the point of wasting the time and choose to react negatively to my life.

I chose to be a happier person!!! I take control of what is important to my life!!

Frustrated... Lost...

2009-11-08T20:36:00.002-05:00

I am struggling... I am so struggling...

Ever since I graduated, I've been lazy and have lost my motivation on achieving my goals. I feel like I am getting far away from my goals. I do not see any lights in the other end of the tunnel. I am lost and do not know where am I heading now... It seems like I am giving myself lot of excuses. I can't focus on what I am planning to do!!!

Why am I lost and frustrated? Well, this question is rolling through my head over and over again... People say "you need to realize where you're trying to go, and you need to know when you've arrived." Am I really know what am I going to? Where is my plan? How am I going to picture my future?? All these questions keep rolling over my head... I am struggling... I am so struggling...

I lost as I frustrated with life... I lost as I am losing my passion of what I am doing --> job. I lost as my plan does not work out as I thought. I frustrated as people are stabbing behind my back... I frustrated as my life is sucks... I frustrated as I could not focus on my study... I frustrated as I lost my motivation on everything... I lost and frustrated!!!!

Sometimes I feel frustrated on everything around me... feel like everything is crumbling down on me and can't even breath. I hate those feelings... Sometimes, I feel like I really need someone to be there with me... be my backup and get me through all these craps...

I think I really need some inspirations to bring back my energy. I need to develop a winning strategy and keep moving forward; set an aggressive goals and get back what I have lost these years...

Be aggressive!!! Be aggressive!!! Be strong!!! Be strong!!! I won't beat up by all these craps... I won't beat up by these people...

Everything happens with a reason, when you feel frustrated or down as you did not get what you want or you did not accomplish your goal... the point is do no let anything beat you up so easily... I keep reminding myself --> No pain, No gain... where there is a will, there is a way!!! I need to bring my energy back and find a way to get me out...

Life is full of challenges, ups and downs, good, bad, and the ugly... When you're at different stage, you will have to face different challenges, that's about life. It is all about the state of mind, I would be a happier person if I can learn to take it easy and think everything on positive side... but that's always easy to say than done!!

People used to say that "Expanding your vision rather than focusing on a defective stain, you will realize that you would be a happier person."

Sorry for all these craps I wrote... I have no ideas what I wrote... free lance...

October 10 ~ I've been lazy with my blog entries

2009-10-11T15:20:00.010-04:00

Well, it has been awhile since my last blog entry. I've just been too lazy with my blog entries, I will making an effort to keep it up to date. Seriously, there is just so much of it, and it takes times to maintain it. It's getting a real task to update the blog now. That said, I am going to attempt to update it more frequently.

Well, new posts to come! Sorry for the delay... I have much to blog about these months. There is just so much things going on and not much time to post it here. I've been playing catch up ever since April...

Last week, I was shocked when logged into my blog and there was an error message pop out said my blog has been removed from BlogSpot. I was like "oh boy, what the hell is going on here??" There is no reason of removing my blog without notification. I was so pissed and I posted on Google forum and seek for help. Fortunately, I was be able to get everything back. The system recognized my blog as a spam and with illegal posting on it. That's really sucks.

Weather is getting cool and I can feel that winter is not far from us. We just had a potluck last week to celebrate mid-autumn festival. I think we are going to have another potluck at home to celebrate Lee's birthday next coming week.

In June, I went on to a business trip to Los Angeles, CA. for a business conference. I think I am not gonna post the pics here since I have done posting on my Facebook account. A week later, I traveled down to Orlando, FL for my own vacation. I visited Walt Disney world, Universal Studio, etc. Pics of these trips are posted on my Facebook account.

Last month, I got myself an iphone from Apple store. It is a gadget that dominated US cellphone market or even worldwide. I like it so far, as there are lot of apps I found are very helpful.

Here are some of the pics from iphone:

Last Friday, we went for Thai food at downtown Ann Arbor. It was delicious and we all like it so much. I think it is the best Thai Restuarant that we found so far in Ann Arbor.

Pad Thai

Red Curry Chicken

Bulletin Board in my office. You found more pics on it than Memos.
On Labor Day weekend, I traveled down to New York City and New Jersey to meet up with my cousin. Annie flew from LA to meet up with us, and we all had a great time in New Jersey. We had good Malaysian food, good time with kids. Most of the pics are already posted on my Facebook. I've been too lazy to update the blog here, so Facebook will be the good place to check out all the pics...

We've been Boston, Atlantic City (South New Jersey), New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, etc. I always feel go to be in NYC or New Jersey. I just love NYC...

I found that I've accomplished less than what I've planned, I've just been lazy this summer season. I took my GMAT exam, but the score was not good enough, so I planned to retake it sometimes this year.

I received my H1 approval notice, and I've confirmed to be home this coming Nov. I can't wait to be home as It has been almost three years not being home. I am getting more excited as it comes. I think I will have more things to do rather than just a relaxing vacation. Anyways, it's always nice to be home!!!

Easter Week, April 15

2009-04-12T21:36:00.003-04:00

It's April 15, Easter Week. First of all, HappY Easter Week!! It has been awhile didn't update my blog. If I am right, my last update was in Dec 2008!! Oh my God, It has been months!!!

Way too busy to take pics and update this blog. Sorry :P Not much going on lately, just busy on my work and preparing for my GMAT, and be ready to get into my Master Program. The weather is warming up and we all are ready for Spring.

Lee's family traveled to Beijing and will be back next Saturday, so I will be on my own for the whole week. No plan over the Easter Weekend, just stayed at home and did nothing! It was boring! I cooked over the weekend and it was fun~~ to the ladies out there, cooking is not that hard actually and it's interesting :P

I am doing well, considering what's happening recently in U.S economy, we all are working harder and trying to hang on :P With the economy downturns and skyrocketing unemployment rate in MI, I am gald that I am still remainning employment status. We all knew it's bad, but never knew how bad it could be. So hanging there and never give up.

My PC was down couple months ago, that became part of the reason not updating my blog on time. I now have my new PC from HP. It's nice and I love it. The only thing that I do not like is the Window Vista Operating System. It has beautiful layout but I found it's not user friendly and I do not like it at all. I bought the Window XP Pro and ready to downgrade, :p

I paid a visit to New York City and New Jersey to celebrate my X'mas and New Year eve. That was my first celebration with my cousins and their family in New Jersey. It was a nice and wonderful family gathering. I am looking forward to visit them in this coming Summer. I stayed there around ten days and took tons of pictures. Check them out in my Facebook. I also visited Washington DC. :P I am planning to visit West Coast, Los Angles, or Boston next trip. I will probably upload some pics from NYC, New Jersey and Washington DC. in my next posts.

No pic for today post, as I haven't been using my camera for awhile. Just lazy to take pic lately, but I promise to get more pic next time:P

HappY Easter everyone and will see you around next post.... wAHAha.... :P

Here comes the one and only, Amanda Lee, my adorable niece~~ Pics from her China Trip ~ Fuzhou...

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Dec 02

2008-12-02T21:50:00.003-05:00

Time now it about 10pm, and I am here typing with my injured wrist. Today, I went to doctor's examination for my right wrist. My right wrist has been bothering and hurting me for couple months, and It's funny as I do not know what caused that pain. I just do not get it as I did not fall down or did anything that twist my wrist. I might get hurt sometimes during the basketball game, but nothing major that twist my wrist...

My right wrist has been bothering me for couple months. My first thought was maybe just muscle tension, and I did not really care and think that it will get better later on. I was wrong and my right wrist getting worse and more pains are coming lately. I could not even fall sleep as it woke me up last night. I decided to go for doctor's examination today to get it fix.

After examination, doctor diagnosed my illness as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It's a medical term. When I first heard that, my thought was "What the hell is that??" After doctor's explanation and my online research, finally know what is that about. It also know as repetitive stress injury. I need to go for couple weeks physical therapy treatment.

Here are some info for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), or median neuropathy at the wrist, is a medical condition in which the median nerve is compressed at the wrist, leading to paresthesias, numbness and muscle weakness in the hand. Carpal tunnel syndrome is provoked by repetitive grasping and manipulating activities, and that the exposure can be cumulative. It has also been stated that symptoms are commonly exacerbated by forceful and repetitive use of the hand and wrists in industrial occupations, but it is unclear if this refers to pain (which may not be due to carpal tunnel syndrome) or the more typical numbness symptoms.

I've been spending too much time with the computer. I would say more than 12 hours a day. That's too much!! Now, I know what is the real cause that hurt my right wrist so bad. It's the MOUSE!! The repetitive movement such computer devices usage and I did not take enough breaks and stretch my wrist. Time after time, it leads to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It's work-related injury, so it covered by the company's worker compensation insurance policy. All the medical expenses are covered by the Insurance company. I did not spend even a penny!!

Doctor and Physical Therapeutic have me put on the wrist splint. It helps limit numbness by limiting wrist flexion. I feel much much better now. I have to put my splint on during my working hour to remind me the limitation of wrist usage.
Check this out!! Hi-Tech medication with the battery on it -InotoPatch. Fill the medication and saline through electrode ports. It lasts for 14 hours long. Amazing! Still, I have to go for physical therapy. Ice application makes me feel much better.

I hope it will get better soon. I hate to put splint or brace on. It looks ugly and inconvenience. I cannot go for basketball and work out at Gym for couple weeks, which is I hate the most. Recently, I just found that I am allergic to some medications, such as Ibuprofen. This is my first time ever hurt my wrist and It's because of a tiny PC MOUSE, which sounds funnY!!

Thanksgiving Day_Nov 27

2008-12-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

Wow!! It's another year to be thankful. I just can't believe that this is my third Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great and thankful Thanksgiving Day. On Thanksgiving Day each year, Americans give thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings and mercies toward us throughout the year.

Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful for everything you are, have or had. To me, If you ask me, I would say I am truly blessed. I am thankful for the advices, kind words that so many of you have offered me during these years. I would not be who I am, where I am, and what I am today If It was not you all, and everything that I've experienced in my life.

For those who makes me smile or creates lot of sweet memories in my life, I thank you. Because you brighten up my day just by existing.

For those who made me upset, I thank you. Because I now know how to think in positive way without being upset. What goes around, comes around.
For those who made me weak at one point, I thank you. Because you have taught me how to be a stronger person.

For those who gives me kind words, advices, and guide me through when I am lost, I thank you. Because you let me know why I am here, what I need, where is my goal, and what I need to be.

People think the word "Thank you" is easy in our daily life. But, to me, that's far easier than done. Here I am sharing an article that I read couple weeks ago... It was about Sun and Moon. Here it goes...

Do you think Moonlight is much important than Sunlight? Most of the people's answer-- YES. And the following question is why?

Most of the people said--> Because everything is shone by Moonlight at night. However, it's bright enough at daytime, still sun shines. It seems like redundancy. You think it's funny? But It is true. People always think in this way.

The reason by saying all these, the point is people will always remember how important moonlight is at night, but forget the sunlight... just simply because sunlight is always there and you do not know how important it is. What I am going to say is, Sunlight is like you parents, family, and your true friends, there are always there, no matter what, but people always forget to say thank you them for being your side always.

On the other side, people always say thank you to others, say thank you to your boss, waiters, supervisors, even strangers, just like people think moonlight is important. But you'll never appreciated what your parent's efforts or your true friends' kind words and advices. If you think this is a make-up story, I am here telling you, That's true!! People always forget to thank you the person that always being your side and take it as granted. If you are the person, that this time out to thank you for the person or people around you. Your parents, your wife, your true friends... Being thankful of what you have, had, who you are. Give your parents, beloved, friends a kiss hug... When I say it means. I hope you get what my point and get what I am going to say...

A million thank you going on in this post for my family, friends, and buddies. Thank you and I will always be grateful. Well, how blessed am I? People said that you are defined by who you choose to be around... I guess that's true! I met some amazing people these years in my life, they guide me, teach me, share with me, hanging out with me... I never regretted when first day we met. These people brighten up my life...

Well, after all these thank you note and article sharing. Let's see what else I did during Thanksgiving breaks. Actually, what I did was eat... sleep... shopping... these days. It sounds pretty relaxing and enjoying. Yea.. It is!!

First, we started hanging out at Tee's house for potluck dinner as we used to do it last year. We ate Turkey, sipped wine, chitchat. Of course, we had a fun Turkey feast!

People usually shop around the day after Thanksgiving Day, It called Black Friday. It usually lot of great deals going on during Thanksgiving weekends. I've been shopped around these days. It does not mean that I am shopaholic. It is what Americans use to do after Thanksgiving Day. People shopped around for great deals, for their kids Christmas gifts. I shopped around for people gifts and for myself, of course. Overall, I spent quite much these days.

People said the whole world economy is in recession status now, but retailers' deep discounts boosted Black Friday Sales. Even though there is a massive lay off going on in United States, people still could not cut their spending. People have been lured by the retailers' deep discounts, so do I. People even got killed or injured during the Black Friday Sales at Wal-Mart simply because by pushing around too much. Greed makes people in the world sick. That was sad!

Well, eating... sleeping... shopping... all these concluded my Thanksgiving breaks. Yea, I gained some weights for sure, I need to spend more time to work out at Gym. Alright, I will leave it for now, if not It will be another long post again... peace!! :)

P/S: I have been lazy taking pictures for my blog lately. No picture during Thanksgiving break as I was TOO BUSY on eating, sleeping, shopping... Sorry :) Will get you more pics next post :-)

What does your Birth Date mean?

2008-12-01T13:10:00.000-05:00

Your Birthdate: March 3

You are more than a big ball of energy - you are a big ball of hyper. You are always on the go, but you don't have a type a personality. Instead of channeling your energy into work, you instead go for fun and adventure. Witty and verbal, you can have an interesting conversation with anyone.

Your strength: Your larger than life imagination

Your weakness: You tend to be pretty scattered

Your power color: Lime

Your power symbol: Lightening bolt

Your power month: March

I do not know how accurate it is, for those who know me well, what do you think? Personally, I think It sounds right in certain points. Haha... I can live with that... However, I would not rely on that. Anyways, I just posted it for fun...

I always believe myself rather than all these craps. Let's put it in this way, you could it browse as back up information, but not rely on it. That will make you mean to be someone, not your real personality. Same as religion, you could be any religious, but not superstitously by any of them. It would be a better world, if we do not have any of these religions. (Personal comment!!)

Life, Friendships, Attitude...

2008-11-25T16:50:00.000-05:00

Today's post will be a little bit different... It will be full of words and maybe couple pics. Today's post will be much of my personal feeling of all these craps happened lately... Just feel like a free lance... write whatever I feel like to... no worries... no plans...

Things do not flow on my ways lately. I had all the craps these couple weeks. First, started with my candidacy at Deloitte, then the dramas that kept going on within our group of friends. All these craps make me feel like running away for a short breaks. One of my friends said, life is full of challenges, ups and downs, just like a roller coaster, and full of unexpectedness as you'll never know what will going to happen or who you'll meet in the next moment. When life turned dull, I think is the time to step back or runaway from one place to another. Once you stepped back, I am sure you will see lot of different things.

Life, to me, is just like a blank drawing pad. It's depend on how you paint it and experience it to make it more colorful or interesting. The remarkable things is we have a choice every day regarding the colors we will embrace for that day. It's all depend on what colors you choose for the day. It could be red for happiness, blue for disappointment, or like chemical effect, blue mix with red could turn into different colors. Obviously, we cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing that we can do is to play on the one string that we have, or to create, and paint your drawing pad-life-, that your colors - experience-, to make your life more interesting and more colorful. Well, that's far easier said than done, as things are not always flow on your way. However, we have to experience it as we grow, if not our life will be like a blank drawing pad, no colors, no memories, NOTHING!! If we experience it and paint it with different colors, your life will be a beautiful painting with lot of sweet memories, more interesting, more colorful... Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. Accomplishment is challenging, and we've all been blessed with challenges along the way. As I always remind myself, grey day will be over one day and luck and success will come along to my way. Life is short, you may need to forgive people quickly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile...

Friendship. No matter how old you are, sooner or later you will run into this dilemma, one of your friendships will be seriously threatened and possibly broken. Maybe sometimes, you do not even know what happened, or maybe you do not even care. I do not how many people are familiar with the word "acquaintance". Before we move on, I am here to address the different between acquaintance and friendships. An acquaintance is someone we hang out with, maybe even go places with, but do not really share anything deeper than a cup of coffee with. They are easily found and lost. On the other hand, the real friend is something very hard to find. Those are the rate people that stay by our side in good times as well as in bad and are more often then not found standing shoulder to shoulder with you when times get tough. You may not talk to them daily, but you are always close. Those are the ones you can count on to tell you the truth and have your back. If you are lucky, you may be able to count 1 or 2 true friends in your entire life and if you have one right now, hold them close and thank your lucky stars. Personally, I have half and I will hold it tight and turn it to be 1 true friend. How many true friends do you have??

By saying all these, it's simply because I saw lot of dramas going on within our group of friends, that including me. The suddenness and severity of these dramas lead me to the thoughts of Friendship. Sometimes, acquaintance could be turn into true friend. I am kind like agree with it. However, it will be pretty sad when people put some efforts on building a friendship and in turn being betrayed by him/her, or they never ever treated you as friend or do not even care. Well, people might think why all in sudden lead me to this subject. Like I said, I saw some dramas going on these days. The longer I live, the more I realize. People might feel sad for their broken friendship, so do i. But my thought is, is the friendship worth restoring, do they care? If yes, what can we do to restore or repair for the broken friendship, and how?

What can lead to the broken friendship? There are tons of reasons. It could be repeated thoughtless acts or the complete changing of one self. Personally, I think at times, it is just simply because of the poison tongue of a 3rd party. In most cases, I think that is the point that caused the broken friendship. Whatsoever, TRUST NO ONE BUT YOURSELF... Sometimes, what you heard and saw might not be the truth. But you have to calm down and think about what you saw and heard. Use you brain to judgment without affecting by others. Handle yourself, use you brain; handle others, use your heart! Thing goes around, turns around!

Many people will walk in and out of my life, but only true friends will leave footprint in my heart. So far, no one really left footprint in my heart. Some of them did, but unfortunately, their footprints somehow disappear. I really wish I could hold 1 or 2 true friends from my entire life. That's far easier said that done!! If you consider me as your true friend, hold me tight. Life is short, do not get regret of anything! :)

Since all these craps happened to me, I think what I can do is to change the attitude of how I perceive things, because attitude it is the ONLY thing that we have always control of. I read an article, the author said: "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life". I am totally agree with it. Attitude is everything! Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than past, than money, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. Believe it or not, attitude will make or break a family, relationship, even a corporation. I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to the life. We are the people in charge of our attitudes! Believe it or not, change your attitude of how you react things, you will see that you are much more easy to get along with people and make more friends. I am not saint, even I have good attitude to certain degree, I still have amendment to make. People make mistakes, but learn from the mistakes! Are you striving to change your attitude... so do I...

I do not how these three things related to each other and I do not why all in sudden I have these thoughts to post all these. But still, I would like to share with you all. If you are not ready to experience your life, think about it and start now! If you are in a broken friendship, I think forgive is the greatest gift that one friend can give to another and so is understanding. I know that's far easier said that done. Neither comes easy, but I think if you think that's the friendship that worth for saving, this is the thing that you need to do to mend a broken friendship. If you are striving for changing your attitude, great and keep going! All these are the things that I've been working with...

If you read till this point, I really appreciate your time that you spent in reading my post. But please do not blame me if you read till this point, you still cannot get what is my point of writing this post. Obviously, as I mentioned at the very beginning, I am just feel like to be a free lance, no plans, no worries, So... there is no points... haha... Still, thank you for your time. This is my longest post ever these years. I welcome for any feedback or disagreement.

Detroit Pistons Vs. Boston Celtics, Arburn Hills, Nov. 9

2008-11-13T12:25:00.001-05:00

We went on a trip to the Detroit Pistons vs. Boston Celtics on November 9 at Arburn Hills. Why all of sudden we decided to go a Pistons game and shell out about $50 bucks for ticket, parking, food, etc? Well, there are couple reasons...

First, it's simply because I have never been any NBA games since I've been United States for so long, and we got the great deal for the package. Another reason is the player below, Allen Iverson, former Denver Nuggets player, was acquired by Detroit Piston in exchange for Chauncey Billups (1) and Antonio McDyess. One of my friends is Allen Iverson's big fan, so we decided to go for the Pistons game at Arburn Hills. Actually, I was there part of the reason is because of the big three, Ray Allen(20), Kevin Garnett(5), and Paul Pierce(34) from Boston Celtics. Boston Celtics was the NBA Champion team last year. Woooow... I prefer Ray Allen, he plays as shooting guard. He is sooooo goood...

Allen Iverson, right, the newest addition to the Pistons, holds up his new jersey with team president Joe Dumars during a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, at the Palace.
Former Pistons player, Chauncey Billups (1) was traded by Pistons in exchange for Allen Iverson. He is now playing for Denver Nuggets, Jersey #7. He did a great job while playing with Detroit Pistons. Hope he will do well in Denver Nuggets too.
Boston Celtics Big Three... Start from left, Ray Allen (20), Kevin Garnett (5), Paul Pierce (34). Wooow... Paul Pierce was last season NBA MVP. But still, I prefer Ray Allen. He is the man... Three Point Shooter...
The game started at 6pm on November 9 at Arburn Hills. We departed around 2pm from Ann Arbor. After driving for an hour, we got Palace of Arburn Hills stadium. We got there earlier to avoid the traffic. It was cold that day. Here are some pics from Palace of Arburn Hills Stadium:

Will and I with the huge Pistons Basketball Shoe

As we got there earlier, we decided to shop around at Pistons Looker room.

Former Pistons Player, Billups's Jersey #1. Now it's being replaced by Iverson #1. But the price still freaking expensive. Over $100 bucks per piece... Woooww.... We bought one to Andy two years ago. He did not wear it that day, as Jersey #1 at Pistons is no longer belongs to Billups... hehe... Believe it or not, I saw people wear the Jersey with a big cross at the billups's Jersey... it's funny!!
Rodney Stuckey (3), Pistons bench player last season, but has a great potential to become a NBA superstar. Pictured with Rodney Stuckey's Jersey at Locker Room:

Detroit Pistons

Hanging out at Looker Room... Act like Richard Hamilton... haha...
For sure, there are some activities going on at Palace Arburn Hill Stadium... Basketball hoops for kids.

We got the magazine for free from Locker Room

Finally got the tickets, as we ordered it online and pick up later. Here is the ticket:

Group picture

Chauncey Billups Pictures at Palace Arburn Hills stadium

Here is the ticket. We sat at second floor, gate 222. It was far away from the court. $99 for 4 tickets, what do you expect for the seats. Hehe... I think the front seat next to the court in NBA final season is around $2500 per piece. So, stop complaining for the seat.
After lining up for half an hour, we were being able to get into the stadium. We got free Piston Calendar for all the games schedule at Palace Arburn Hill Stadium. It is a nice Calendar with all Pistons Players pictures.

We lined up for a picture at Pistons basketball court. It was included in our package. Pictures from Pistons Basketball court:

Pregame warm-up in the Palace Arburn Hills stadium. Boston Celtics players were warming up in on court.

Pistons Player -- Tayshaun Prince (22) were shooting around the court for the pregame warm-up. I never ever so close to the NBA star. He is a great player at Pistons. He was the top scorer in the game that night.

Tayshaun Prince, one of my favorite Pistons's player

We took a group picture at Detroit Pistons basketball court. I never thought that I could stepped on the NBA court. Amazing!! When I was a kid, I watched NBA from TV and wished that I could been there one day. But I never thought I really been here in United States!! So closed to the NBA Stars!!!

History of Detroit Pistons

We got some snacks before the game starts. We went for Buffalo Wild Wings to get a dozen of wings. That's my favorite wings.
It was crowded!! The Palace of Arburn Hills stadium was crowded with Detroit and Boston fans!

Pregame warm-up on the court

Show brought by High School Cheerleaders:

Popcorn!!

Boston Celtics players on the court

Count down... 17:39 for the game starts

Warming up before the game

Look!! HoT.. HOT>>>>!! Cheerleaders!!!

OMG!!! HOT... HOT.... keke....

I taped some introducing videos for both teams. I tried to upload it next time.

Deeefense.... Deeetroit baaaasketball....

Time out show

Ray Allen were warming up before the second half starts

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the court

Kevin Garnett

Second half starts...

It was a sold out ticket game!! It was so crowded!!

Andy bought the alcoholic drink

Noise... Noise... Noise... Wooowwwwww....

OMG!! what can I say... HOT!!!

Detroit Piston got beaten up Boston Celtics. The picture below shows the final score, 76-88. Detroit was down by 20 points in the third quarter. They caught up a little when Tayshaun Prince scored couples three-points. I knew Piston would get killed by Celtics. I think It was an easy win for Boston Celtics. Well, I was there to support Piston anyways!! Go!! Go!! Pistons!!!
Overall, that happened to be my first time in watching NBA game and so closed to the NBA stars. It was a great experience and fun!! I am looking forward for my next NBA game, which will be next year, Detroit Pistons host Los Angelas Lakers --> Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher!!! Start looking for the ticket... keke...

Failure -> I am OUT!!!

2008-11-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

Today is just not my day. I heard from Deloitte, one of the largest public accounting firms in United States, this morning for my job application that I've been interviewed. I was told that they are not going to be moving forward for my candidacy. I felt sad and so disappointed. I've been well-prepared and performed well in my second interview, however, I still got beaten up by other candidates. I was proud to be in second interview, but just feel like lost in sudden...

Miracle did not happen, I AM OUT!!! I have to face the fact that there are tons of people out there that are stronger than me!!!!

I've been praying for miracle to happen, but obviously it did not happen. A sentence from the email saying that "There were other candidates that stronger than you..." this sentence was hurting me for awhile. But in fact, that's true. I just felt like maybe I am not strong enough to compete with other candidates. I was motivated by that sentence and decided to work harder to make it happen. As I always believe that "A failure is just a stepping stone for the success". I will not give up so easily, failure just make people stronger and be more aggressive. Keep on going~~ Darren Lee!!!!

I was too emotional and easily get upset, especially for failures, but sadness will not last long to me. Economy is down, everyone is panic, and the consumer spending is WAY down and will likely be kept down for awhile. Michigan has been in a recession which is fast becoming a depression with more huge cuts coming in the auto sector. People have lost their job and lead the unemployment rate up to 7.1% years high. For fresh college graduates, it's a nightmare!! In nowadays economy, I am not only have to compete with fresh college graduates but with people who have lost their jobs and willing to accept anything to make some money.

What is my next move? I've been thinking about my future plan for years. Luckily, I have a job to cover my living expenses and saving for my master tuition. i think I really have to think about what is my next move... plan... plan... plan...

My Bachelor's commencement will be held on December 14, Sunday at Eastern Michigan University. I am pleased that my cousins from New York will be visiting my Bachelor's commencement. Thank you.

Just a brief updates. Thanks uncle George for all the invaluable advices. I will not give up so easily, my positive thinking will getting me through here as well as my future.

Campus Trip, Chicago, IL-- Oct. 24 & 25

2008-11-10T12:54:00.000-05:00

On October 24, I went on a campus trip to Chicago, IL for two days one night. I was told by my friends and knew about this trip. Actually, it was a great deal, $150 dollars for two days one night, included accommodation and tickets. I hesitated as I've been Chicago last year, but I missed couple attraction spots when I was there. So, I decided to join the trip.

Once you felt tired with what you are doing, I think it's good for you to take a break and walk away for a vacation. That's happened to me all the times. Sometimes, I think it's good as when you step back and you probably will see thing more "clear". Well, actually just give myself an excuse to take a break to runaway! hehe...

By saying all these, this is my second trip to Wind City, Chicago, IL. I never ever joined the campus trip and this happened to be my very first time, which actually is good as I was being able to experience different kind of traveling. Obviously, It was a little bit different compare with my last trip to Chicago. It was more organize and relaxing, as everything was being organized. It was relaxing as I do not have to rush from one to another attractions, all I need to cover was what I've missed in my last trip. Let's check out the pics!

After uploaded our luggages, we headed to Chicago Chinatown for our lunch. We actually decided to have Malaysian cuisine, but the restaurant was closed for some reasons. We ended up go for Hong Kong cuisine, which actually was great too! BBQ Chicken, pork, duck.... yummy!

Pictures from Chicago Chinatown:

Maple leaf turns red in Fall season, it was so beautiful!!!

We stopped by at Joy Yee Noodle for the bubble tea.

Oh my god! I never ever seen this big bowl noodle in my life. I wish I could try it that day! I think I will try it for sure in my third trip to Chicago. hehe.. It looks yummY....

Walk through Chicago Chinatown...

hanging out at subway station heading to Michigan Ave., downtown.

Pictures from Michigan Ave.:

We met a superb doggie on downtown street. Doggie's name is Sarah... Such coincidence, as my friend named Sarah too... Haha... It was funny!! She is adorable!!!

Water Tower Place

Presbyterian Chruch

It was really beautiful. I do not why they did that. I took it in front of the church.

Hancock Building... We didn't visit Hancock Obeservatory as we have only have one ticket for two option, which was either Hancock or Sears Tower. We decided to visit Sears Tower. So I took this pic.

Cheesecake Factory. It was so crowded!!

Water Tower entrance

Disney's store on Michigan Ave.

Walked through Michigan Ave...

Road Show... He is real!!!

Busy traffic on Michigan Ave.

Stopped by Guess...

Walked through Michigan Ave alone and stopped by at one of the unique buildings...

I was not sure what is the building for. Museum or Church??

Chicago is a wind city, it was freaking cold especially the chill wind in the air...

Cool!!

It was crowded!!

Pictures from Chicago River...

Darren and Sarah

Me and Elyn

Wind City... it messed up my hairstyle.. hehe...

We walked through Millennium Park, located at Michigan Ave. As you see from the picture, it the semi-circular peristyle Millennium Monument.

I love this unique sculpture, which look like a drop of liquid mercury or a bean. It is called Cloud Gate. It weighted over 110 tons. Cloud Gate is one of the largest outdoor sculputures in United States. That happened to my be favorite sculputure that I've never seen in my first trip.

hanging out at Cloud Gate for some pictures...

Elyn, Sarah, Leo and Darren are in the Cloud Gate

"Thousand Hands Buddha"... haha...

I was forced to do this pose... I knew it was disgusting... haha... Sorry... Just for fun... Rated as "PG"... haha... I hope you will not have nightmare after you saw this pic. haha...

Maple leaf turns red... beautiful!!

We got Navy Pier. It was around 7pm. It was getting darker and colder. The chill wind blew on my face and I felt freezing...

Here we go... Navy Pier!!! Navy Pier is the Chicago Children's Museum, it's some sort of amusement park. I missed it in my last trip at Chicago. But this trip, we got a free ticket to Navy Pier, including couple rides at amusement park. First I was impressed by the 146 ft. Ferries Wheel. I guess people were there just because of the Ferries Wheel. Of course, it was crowded and lot of children there. Here is the entrance of Navy Pier, Dock Street.
Navy Pier, Dock Street, obviously it is a pier and most of the cruise trip start from here to Chicago River. We got free ticket for the cruise trip. It's just simple because the trip need to take around two hours, and we decided not to go with that, plus the it was getting dark and chill and not much we could see for the trip.

Oh my god!! The most eye-catching Ferries Wheel!! It was so beuatiful with all the lights on!!!

Night view of Chicago...

Awesome!!!

Oh my god!! Look at my hairstyle, you pretty much can tell how windy it was!! The chill wind blew on my face and it was freezing....

It was Holloween weekend when we were there. So, there have some activities went on. Look!! They put on the costume. Can you tell the bride is actually a MAN... Yeah, "She" is a man!!! But "She" was pretty though... haha...

146 ft. Ferrier Wheel

They put their costume on... Actually, they were pretty scary... Me and Leo took picture with some "lady ghosts"

We rode the Ferries Wheel up to the highest point, around 146 ft. It was freezing and scary. The height and the strong wind made us felt like the cart was shaking... Pictures from the cart at Ferries Wheel at highest Point, 146 ft:

Night view of Chicago from 146 ft. Picture quality is not the best.

We walked through Navy Pier and stopped by at Italian Restaurant for our "snacks". It called "snacks" as we planned to have Deep Dish Pizza for dinner.

We caught up the fireworks show at 9pm. The fireworks show was about 30mins. It was an amazing shows, just right in front of Navy Pier. That was the best fireworks show that I ever seen in my life. Awesome!! I taped part of it, but for some reason I could not upload it to my blog!
After Navy Pier, we went for our Deep Dish Pizza at Dino Pizza Restaurant. I've been there once when I my first trip to Chicago with Lydia. I still remember we waited for an hour just for us to get into the restaurant and tried the freaking Deep Dish Pizza. I tried it and I felt like not a big deal, just a deep dish pizza. Personally, I am not that crazy about Pizza. But people say it is a "Must Try" things when you visit Chicago. So...

We visited again, it is simply because they havent been to the Deep Dish Pizza Restaurant. It was better compare with my very first time. It took us 30mins to get the freaking Deep Dish Pizza. I ate two slices and I felt full. It's a thick pizza I ever had in my life. Second try and I guess I will not try it again unless some people insist.
The night was still young. I felt like not going back to hotel yet, so I decided to walked through Chicago downtown. I have Sarah with me walked through the town. It was a nice walk, and I saw different view of Chicago downtown.

Second day at Chicago...

I woke up earlier than anybody, went downstairs to grab a coffee while waiting for everyone. We had a quick breakfast and headed to Sears Tower... One of the most famous attractions at Chicago, IL.

Sears Tower

Check it out!! My dream car!!

Here we go, Sears Tower

We got there around 10pm. SkyDeck... Sears Tower. It was the tallest building in the world. But was beaten up by Malaysia Twin Tower... keke... but now I think Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world. I am not sure... Check it out and let me know next time... haha...

Here is the group picture that they took for us... After photoshop effect, It looks almost perfect! It costs me $21 for these two pics:

Sears Tower -- Skydeck

Before we up to the top of Sears Tower, we went to an introduction video of the history of Sears Tower... Just give us some head's up...

a model of Sears Tower.

We took the elevator from ground floor to 103th floor just in a few second. Here we go...

Chicago it tied up with the Lake of Michigan. Awesome!!! Nice view. I think this is my second time up to the building and glance to over the skyline. My first time happened in Malaysia, KLIA tower. It was amazing too. If you did browisng my blog, I guess you pretty much saw the pics from KLIA tower.

Chicago and Lake of Michigan Skyline. Chicago town glanced underneath the sun!!!

I think this is the nice view ever. I can imagine if this is the view from my office. Oh my god!! That will be great!!! It surrounded by all the tall buildings

Skyline of Lake of Michigan

Everything was tiny and I felt like Chicago town was under my knee.... haha...

He is the man--> Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. I havent got any chance to visit Chicago Bulls Studium. Maybe I should make a trip to Chicago Bulls Stadium next trip.

We also got a free ticket to Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, actually all the tickets were included in our package.

I missed the Astronomy Musuem too. Actually, it is pretty much like Singapore Science Center. But it is definitely more than what Singapore Science Center have. keke...

I was there for the show, but I fell sleep in the half way. It's simply because it was too comfortable and tired, I even snooze in the theater. Luckily, Sarah woke me up... haha... It was embarrassing!!

Chicago Lake Shore... Outside the Astronomy Museum... Chill wind and windy!!!

We went to Field Museum, which is the place that I missed in my last trip.

haha... Mummy return!!!

Real Mummy!!!

Couple shots from Field Musuem...

Native Americans

Dinosaur/ Sue

Our last spot was the Shed Aqurium. I did not join them for the Shed Aqurium as I've been there in my first trip. But I have a terrible walk through the grocery just for the freaking stamps. Round trip an hour walk in the wind city... The chill wind made me sick!!!!
We left Chicago around 7pm without having our dinner. We were hungry till we got Indianna and we got some snacks to fill up. Overall, I would not say it was a nice trip but it was worth for this trip. I did not spend much on this trip, just because it was so cheap and everything was almost included. If life is a drawing pad or a book, It definitely make my life more interesting and created another new page for my life....

Wiard's Orchard & Cider Mill~Apples, pumpkins Picking

2008-11-01T14:27:00.000-04:00

I've been planning for apple picking trip for years. Finally, we had a chance and decided to have a day trip to Wiard's Orchard & Cider Mill at Ypsilanti, mostly because Fall is the best time for apple picking. I've never been U.S farm before so would like to experience farmer's life.

On October 4, it was a wonderful day! We had a day trip at Wiard's Orchard & Cider Mill, Ypsilanti. Here are some pictures from Wiard's Orchard & Cider Mill:

As you can see from the pictures, pumpkins everywhere. It's simply because of Halloween season! Look! Those and real pumpkins, huge!!!We spent $11 per person for the daily admission ticket. As you can see from the pictures, it was a wonderful day with warm temperature.

I thought we could get a ride too. But that's only for kids.... uhuhu....

It was considered crowded that day, simply because the weather and it was weekends. There were some kid's activities going on at Wiard's Orchard & Cider Mill.

Oh my god! I've never ever fed any animal like that in my life. But it was fun though. He sucked the whole corn in. Unbelievable!!

Oh my god!! Pumpkins everywhere~~~

We spent some times on mini golf at Wiard's Orchard & Cider Mill. Experienced our life....

Look!! Apple trees just right behind me~~~

Again, I've never ever so close to the apples. I grew up and raised at Malaysia. So that's impossible for me to see the apple trees. Haha... Finally, I have the chance....

The apples are so cripsy and sweet~~ I tried one on the spot and it was so sweet and crispy.

Believe it or not, you can eat as much as you can. But you have to pay if you want to carry out.

There are lot of different brands. And some of them are really good but not the right timing and season. I paid $7 for a medium bag. So I picked as much as I can....hehe...

After apple picking, we took a rest and enjoyed apples.

This the best picture I took ever. Oh my god!! It's hilarious!! Awesome...

My turn... ohaha... I am ready....

wahahahaha......

Pumpkins...

Look!! big and Huge pumpkins!!

We left around 5pm as Elyn not feeling well that day and we decided to leave earlier. We had fun for sure and it was a great experience.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

September, 2008

2008-11-01T14:09:00.000-04:00

Too busy lately to updated the blog... I've been working on it in order to catch up a little bit. It's never been easy especially when you are busy. Just a few pictures from September. I'll try to get more pictures and share with you all.

I met couple new freshmen at Eastern Michigan University. They all are from Macau, China. I've been hanging out with them recently. They're quite interesting! All in sudden, feel like more Chinese people around at Eastern. It was very nice meeting with them.

In September, there were some activities going on within the group. We used to hang out at Gym at Eastern Michigan University for basketball. Now, it's getting crowded as all the freshmen from Macau join us for basketball on Friday. That makes the game more fun and interesting.

We had a hot pot gathering at Wise Dormitory after basketball game. We prepared everything at Dorm's kitchen and with limited resources. We had fun and even thuogh was not a luscious dinner. Not much pictures as most of them were busy on eating... lol

Dang...Dang... Dang... I am sure you guys familiar with what that is. Haha... Bingo!! It's majong!! We played majong after hotpot at Dorm's game room. Believe it or not, they brought thier majong from Macau. Oh my god!! I was shocked!! I missed majong so much, as my sibling used to play together during the weekend. I wish time could back up to that moment.

I did not really play that night as my role was the "Majong Instructor". Haha... It's simply because they have way too much different rules from different coutry or even different county in China. I gave up to learn the rules and just stick with what I knew. They played till midnight at Dorm's game room.
On September 26, we had a dinner gathering with the same group at Ichiban Japanese Steak House after Friday's basketball game. We had a great time at the restaurant... Plus, the food was delicious and we entitled to have 50% discount from the owner... such a great deal!! Here are few pictures from Ichiban...

Sunny and Will... a lovely couple from China. Will mixs korean and Chinese, and Sunny is Muslim. So... quite interesting match...

Andy was the boss that night, as he did not have cash with him. So he paid with credit card and we paid him back later. It was $200++ after 50% discount. Can you imagine how much if we did not get any discount. haha... Plus, they ate a lot Sushi...

Will and Leo

Back to September 6, my first meeting with Sarah & Jing. We knew each other through Elyn and Leo. They all are from Macau, China. Again, we met at Gym and decided to go dinner afterward. We went Seoul Garden for our first dinner. It ended up pretty good that night. We hanged out at Colonial Lane (bowling) and Bubble Island (Jenga game) later of the night. It was great and had a lot of fun!! Especially Jenga game at Bubble Island. Here are some pictures that we took at Bubble Island... Check it out...

Jenga (积木), I never ever played in my life. Maybe I did, but I could not remember at all. Well, my first play happened at Bubble Island with the friends that I just met. It was great and really excited!! Believed it or not, maybe we played to well and brought people's attention across the street. We had fun for sure!

Leo and I were the winner that night, as we did not let Jenga collapsed and keep our record for whole night. Hehe...

Eyln's turn. Everyone was panic when he/she turn.

Funny picture... too emotional:)

Look!! How tall it is!!!!!!

Oh my god!! my turn. Haha... focusssssss.....

Such a nice picture!! Thanks Andy!! Good take!!! I love it.

Oh my God!!!

It was a great experience!! Jenga... huhh... interesting! Well, they are some activities going on in my next post... I'll try to work on it as soon as possible. Apples and Pumpkins picking post is coming next.... To be continued... :)

August 27, Cedar Point Amusement Park, Ohio

2008-09-27T17:19:00.000-04:00

Just a day after Las Vegas trip, we made a trip to Cedar Point, Ohio. We left in the morning and drove for two hours with the GPS on. Luckily we have the GPS with us, if not we probably got lost. Some pictures from the car:

On the way to Ohio... Long way drive, so we decided to entertain ourselves by taking pictures in the car. It was so funny!!
After two hours drive, we finally got dowtown Ohio. Again, my first time travel Ohio, so I was kind like excited and took couple pics from the car.

There is a Lake near the Cedar Point~ Check it out~~

We are pretty close to the destination~ Cedar Point!! We're coming!! Look!! You'll find the fastest and tallest roller coaster right there in Cedar Point!! It's scary~~ Check it out!!

Our destination~~ Cedar Point~~

The weather that day was pretty warm. We parked our car and ready to explore the world fastest and tallest Roller Coaster in Cedar point.

We spent some times in front of the entrance and tried to sell the extra ticket that we bought. We bought four admission tickets online. One of my friends could not make it and only three of us that day. So we decided to get rid of the ticket by trying to sell it a lower price. We spent 20mins to get rid of the ticket in front the ticket booth. We finally made, if not we have to "eat" the ticket!!

I planned to explored Cedar Point my first summer in United States, but for some reasons I could not make it. I am not that crazy about the Roller Coaster in Cedar Point... fine... Actually, I am scare!!! The Roller Coasters are really freaking high and scary!! The reason I was there is simply because I never been there and would like to travel a place that I never been. Let's walk through some places:

It was so crowded~~

Oh my god!! My first ride in the morning!!! Raptop!! I could not believe that I took my first Roller Coaster ever in my life. I was forced by Andy and Tat for the ride together. Alright, I said: "fine, I'll give it a try, asshole!!"
We spent like 45mins to line up just for a 10mins ride. It's normal in Cedar Point. People are willing to spend for an hour or more just for a 10mins ride. It was so crowded!! Look, long line!!!

Here you go!!! Damn!!! My leg is shaking!!!

No camera allowed when we took the ride. So no picture on the ride. Here is what happened after my first ride. I swear to God and said no more second ride in my life. My leg was shaking and felt like my soul was dragged by someone. Oh my god!!! I just do not like that feeling. That two assholes(Andy and Tat) were laughing at me!!!

After my first ride, I barely could not walk. They kept laughing at me!! "What's wrong with you, dude! It's fun and nothing to scare of!!" We headed to the second ride.

Check this out!!! My second ride-- maXair!!! Look, how tall that is!!! Maybe you think that's nothing~~

maXair!!!

Here we go!!! Good luck!!!

Waiting to get killed!!! Line up for the maXair!!!

After maXair ride, I said " I'm done!!! No more ride!!!!" I was suffering instead of enjoying my rides. I was dragged by two assholes again!!! They were laughing at me again!!! They make me so embarrassed!!! They told me: "It's so fun and It's nothing!!! Come on, dude!!" I said: "Asshole, you guys knew I can't take it!!!" They laughed even loud at me!!! I almost want to kill them!!! I was glad that I am still alive!!!

We headed to the third ride. Wicked Twister!! It's a roller coaster with a twist!! Wicked Twister is the tallest and fastest double-twisting impulse roller coaster in the world. It has 215-foot tall with 72-mph steel stunner. Check out the pictures below:
I swear to them I will not take this ride, no matter what you said or how fun it is!! My answer is "No way!! You better kill me right the way!!" It was too scary and I was still panic after my first two rides. They dragged me in again!! No way!!! I successfully escaped!!!
I waited at the park and ready to take some pictures for them...

Their turn!! The picked the front seat!!! Oh my god!! They are insane!!

See you in hell, assholes!!!

one... two... three... bye now!! 72-mph!!! Insane!!

Again, I taped it but for some reasons I could not upload it to here. Will find out one day, so you all can enjoy the videos.

Haha... Hilarious!!! Idiot Tat!!! It looks like Snoopy is trying to cool him down!!

Making fun with Snoopy!! Trying to grab his cookies!!

Fighting for the cookies!! Hilarious!!! Awesome!!

My turn!!

Welcome to Snoopy world!!!

Power Tower-- 240-foot-tall tower, all in three seconds at more than 50-mph!!!

Tat was so lucky!! He stroke a lottery!! --> first prize that gave out by seagull!!! Seagull shited on his feet!!! Haha...

Nice cars!!! Awesome!!

Checking out the cars in front of the restaurant!!

Mantis!!

Iron Dragon!!!

WildCat!!!

Millennium force!! 92-mph and 310 feet!!! It took them an hour to line up for the ride. Of course, I did not join them. That's insane!! Again, I waited for them and walked through the park and took some pictures!

Of course, there are a lot of activities going on in Cedar Point Amusement Park. Let's check out some pictures that I took from Cedar Point Amusement Park. Here we go...

Here is the Millennium Force!! Look!! How tall it is!! Insane!! I will never ever take this ride!!

Look!!!

M&M... haha!!

Museum!!

Hanging out in a store that with plenty of bottles!!

Hanging out with the animals!!

Oh my god!! Hilarious!! Good take!!

Green Pumpkins!!

Mr. Gay's show time!!

haha!!!

Another Mr. Gay!!

L.O.V.E for his girl!!!

My turn!!

"What are you guys doing!!!" xD

Lunch time!! Hot dog bun, Pepsi pop and Lay's Chips --> $5!!

I won "Family guy" in a basketball hoops!! I paid $5 for the game for 15 shots. If you make more than 5 shots, you'll get the prize. haha... I made it!! We taped it too, but I am be able to upload it for some reason. haha...

We won the ugly hats too!! Andy spent for $20 for the freaking ugly hats!!

Oh my god!! What's wrong with me... hha!!

We took a ride for Space Spiral, a Cedar Point landmark. It's rotating two level observation decks commanding views of Cedar Point Peninsula, Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie. Here are some pictures from Space Spiral. Check it out...

Wicked Twisted roller coaster!!

We headed to Giant Wheel that behind us!!!

Right on the Giant Wheel!! The 150-foot tall Giant Wheel provides us with a great view of the park. It was pretty scary especially when the strong wind blow and we could feel the car is shaking in the middle of the air.

We left Cedar Point around 5pm, as the weather turned to be rainy. We were tired but we had fun for sure. I did not really enjoy the rides that I took, because I do not like the feeling. I am glad that I am still survive!! I took 3 rides that day!! That's it!! I swear to God and said that I will never try any of the rides again. That's really killing me!!

Andy complained about we should take more rides. Obviously, he is the one who does not want to leave. He said it still not enough for me!! I said: " I am totally done!! You guys can just go ahead for the rides." Tat was tired and the weather turned to rainy, so we decided to leave for the day! We stopped by Ohio for dinner and headed back to Ann Arbor.

I did not enjoy the rides AT ALL but I did enjoyed the views and the games at Cedar Point!! Overall, it was a nice trip!!

August 25, Las Vegas Trip, Part 4

2008-09-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

During the night, we visited Luxor Hotel and Casino at the Main Stripe. The Luxor Hotel and Casino is among the most recognizable hotels on the Main Stripe because of its striking design. I was impressed by the design of the hotel. It is so unique and is a pyramid-shaped hotel. Here are few shots from the there:

Few shots inside the Luxor hotel:

We also visited the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, which is located next to the Luxor Hotel. Both of the buildings are connected. We walked through the casinos. Few shots from Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino:

We saw a huge slot machine at Mandalay Bay Casino. Guess what, this is the largest slot machine I've ever seen in my life and it sucks my $10 for few pulls. It was fun!! We took a video and for some reasons I was not be able to upload to the blog.
Last day in Las Vegas. We checked out around 11a.m and left The Orleans Hotel and headed for brunch. Few shots before we leave The Orleans Hotel and Casino:

Stupid Darren thought he could take the picture by himself and including the people walked behind him~~ :)
pictured at main entrance of The Orleans Hotel and Casino
We went to Chinatown, which located at Spring Mountain Rd. They couldn't make up their mind what to eat, simply because we have too many choices. I knew what I want!! Of course, I am gonna stick with Malaysian Food. There is a branch of Penang restaurant located in Chinatown. When I saw it, I knew what I want for my brunch that day. They decided to come with me, Malaysian Food!! But Lydia, she had her brunch alone at Taiwanese restaurant. Few shots at Chinatown:

Yummyyyy~~~ Malay Food!!! Nasi Lemak~~ sounds familiar~~~ haha~~ Yes, one of my favorites food~~
After our brunch at Penang restaurant, we headed to the dessert shop downstairs to have our dessert. I did not order for the dessert as I ate too much at Penang restaurant. :) I am sure I gained some weight from Las Vegas trip, I ate the way too much~~:)

Back up a little bit. Few shots at Caesars Palace hotel:
I am not sure what custume they are wearing. Greek? We just simply took a picture with them. I think we supposed to pay them tips but we did not. I felt bad afterward.

Time to leave!! Our flight was scheduled around 6pm for the day. We first dropped off our rental car and took the shuttle bus back to the airport around 3pm. We checked in earlier than I thought, it simply because we have nothing to do beside gambling. Before check in, I stopped by at Pos office to send my postcards. I think I get used to it, everytime I visit a new place, I will get my friends and family a postcard. This time I bought four, but I only mailed out two of them. It is simply because I mailed them at the Las Vegas airport and I could not remember the address. So I mailed one to my family and one to HER!

We had around 3 hours left till our flight. So We walked through McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas while waiting for our flight back to MI. We have nothing to do beside gambling. So I played for couple dollars for slot machine. As you can see from the pictures, the slot machines are located everywhere even in front of the boarding gates. They entertain you wherever you are in Las Vegas. In the other words, they want you to spend all your money before you leave Las Vegas:) Strategy~~

I won $80 dollar at one penny slot machine. I took a video but for some reason I could not upload to the blog. We spent 3 hours in McCarran Internation Airport. Unfortunately, our flight back to MI was delayed for an hours for some reasons. We were pissed! We had no choice but wait. We played slot machine again while we were waiting. We ended up lost all the money that we won!! Sucks... Maybe the money does not belong to us:( hehe... We just wanna stay away from the freaking slot machines, but we could not as there are everywhere!!! :)

Few shots from McCarran International Airport while we were waiting for boarding:

We landed around 1:30 am midnight at MI, an hour behind the scheduled time. I slept all the way from Las Vegas to MI. I was exhausted these days in Las Vegas. Home sweet home!! We had fun for sure!! I will definitely visit again but will plan to stay longer so have extra time to visit Carlifonia too!!! Concluded Las Vegas trip~~ Back to reality:(

August 24, 2008~ Las Vegas trip, Part 3

2008-09-13T23:48:00.000-04:00

We visited Caesar Palace Hotel and Casino after dinner at Las Vegas downtown. I like the design of Caesar Palace Hotel. Few shots at Caesar Palace Hotel and Casino:

Slot machine... Jackpot... I spent some money on this machine. He sucked my couple dollars!!
We had a real relaxing time at Caesar Palace. We bought couple drinks and hanging out at the lounge and watching the Olympic games. People use to hang out here for the games that they bet. They have individual small screen TV in front of you. Or the big screen TV for everyone.
I walked through the Caesar Palace. Few shots from Caesar Palace. It was so crowded!! There are many store to shop at Caesar Palace.

This is actually indoor. Look at the sky blue wallpaper. It looks so real!!!

I got lost when I was on the way back to meet them. I could not find my way back. It's simply because the Caesar Palace is too big to shop. I lost my way. All the buildings are connected and I just could not find my way. I need a GPS, I guess... :)

We headed back to The Orleans around midnight as they all tired, but not me!! Actually, I did not sleep much when I was in Las Vegas. I fully utilized my time in Vegas for everything. I headed back to The Orleans and took a shower. I grabbed the car key and drove around the Main Stripe. I went out around midnight, the Main Stripe still crowded even after 3am. I was so surprised and impressed. Here are some pictures from the Main Stripe (Las Vegas Blvd)

I parked my car at MGM Grand parking garage, and started to explore this wonderful city. I almost took everything that I saw. It's simply because the night views are so nice...

Are you ready? Let's start to explore this amazing city:

Hooters Hotel and Casino

Excalibur Hotel and Casino. It looks so beautiful. This is the hotel that design for the family. In Excalibur, kids could enjoy the playground while parents are gambling. It is a good place to stay in Las Vegas.

New York New York Hotel and Casino.

MGM Grand Hotel and Casino

It was around 4am in the morning. I walked through the Main Stripe alone and took all these wonderful pictures.

M&M retail store at The Main Stripe. I wish I could get in there. But it closed at midnight.

Harley Davidson Cafe

Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino

traffic still busy around 4am

I do not know why the Eiffel tower lights was off for some reason. That will be awesome when the lights are on. I missed that.

After headed to The Orlean, it was around 5am in the morning. I took a nap and woke up at 8am in the morning. Sonny and I went to the pool and we had a real relaxing time in the morning.

We decided to go for Dim Sum at Golden Coast Hotel and Casino. Waiting to check in for Dim Sum. It took us 45 minutes to get a table. This the Dim Sum restaurant-- Ping Pang Pong--
While waiting for the table, I spent couple dollars for the slot machine at Goldent Coast. I won some and lost some. We had a really good food at Ping Pang Pong. Actually it was a great deal. $70 for five people. We ate a lot. Yummy...

Again, they felt tired and headed back to The Orleans. Of course, I was not tired at all, full of enegry when I was on vacation. I dropped them off and grabbed the car key and continued to explore this amzing city. I was afraid to get lost, so I bring the GPS with me. I parked my car at Caesar Palace garage and started to walked through the Main Stripe. Here are some shots from the Main Stripe during the daytime.

Busy traffic again. No matter during the daytime or night

few shots at in front of Caesar Palace Hotel and Casino:

Eiffel Tower stand still in the City

Waiting for the Musical fountain in front Bellagio Hotel and Casino. It was around 6pm.

It almost get started...
Here we go... Awesome!! I think it last for 5 minutes. I took a video for all these. But I used the wrong video feature. The videos that I took were without sounds. I was so pissed and I could not upload it. Oh my god!! I missed that!! It was such a wonderful song. It should be wonderful during the night time. I wish I could be there at night. Few shots in front of musical fountain:

Headed back to Caesar Palace garage to grabbed my car. As I needed to pick them up for dinner. We decided to have Cantonese food for dinner.

August 24, 2008~ Las Vegas trip, part 2

2008-09-13T23:32:00.000-04:00

We had a real good show at Treasure Island. After dinner at Wynn, we parked our car at Treasure Island garage. Here are some pictures at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino:

We tried to catch up the show at Treasure Island. But there was so crowded. I could not find a good spot for the pictures. It was awesome!! From the pictures, you can tell how far I was. The show is pretty like the Pirates of Caribbean.

this is awesome! You can feel the heat even you are far away from the stage. I felt like I was melted...
Wow!! No surprise!! The dancers are really HOT!!! I wish I could get closer... :)

Treasure Island Hotel and Casino

That is the Wynn Hotel and Casino, which is the place that we had the seafood buffet.
After the show, we walked through the Main Stripe. It was so so crowded. Busy traffic!! Here are some pictures from Las Vegas Main Stripe. Let's explore the Stripe. Are you ready?? Check it out...

We planned to catch up another show at Mirage Hotel and Casino. We found that the site is under construction. So, we walked through the Main Stripe and get backed to The Orleans.

There are many largest hotel, casino, resort properties are located at Las Vegas Main Stripe. From one to the others, it probably takes 20 minutes.

This is Mirage Hotel and Casino
There is no surprise, crowded and busy traffic in Las Vegas Main Stripe

It was awesome!! I was really impressed by this city. The night views are awesome!! Luckily, I got Canon SD790IS with me. It takes really good night shots.
Hanging out at Mirage Hotel and Casino for awhile then heading back to The Orleans.
On the way back to Treasure Island garage. We concluded our first night in Las Vegas. I wish I could stay for a little bit longer to explore the awesome night views. But we were tired and need to take some rest for tomorrow. Because it was around 4am, Michigan time... Jet lag!!

Starting with a warm morning, Sonny and I went to the hotel pool at The Orleans. I did not bring the camera with me. Sorry!! No picture at The Orleans pool...

We planned to visit Grand Canyon, one of the attractions to visit in Las Vegas. Just becuase it takes an hour drive to get there. So we decided to cancel the trip. We visited Red Rock Canyon, which is pretty much the same as the Grand Canyon. Here are some pictures from Red Rock Canyon:

The weather was so HOT!! Again, 114F!! Just because it is desert!! No complaint!! It's awesome!! From the pictures, you can see all the rocks are red. That's why it called Red Rock Canyon. There is trail for you to hike up to the top, it takes around two hours to the top of the Canyon. We did not hike up to the top, we just stopped by for couple pictures.

Lawrance and Darren

The wind was so strong and I could not even stand still

We were up to a certain point and when we looked down. The height was scary.
It was scary!! Just because the wind was so strong that day
Such a nice views
pay attention to this pic. Do you think that rock looks like an Eagle?

few shots from the car when we on the way down to the hill

We went to another outlet shopping mall at Las Vegas downtown. Again, no pictures as I was busy on doing my shopping. I bought another Clarks shoe for 50 bucks. Excellent deal!! Then we went to the Sushi Buffet at the Outlet mall. Yummy food~~

To be continued...