Too soon?

I am not here to talk about what’s wrong and what’s right. I am sorry for all the families that lost their loved ones in the Connecticut tragedy. This might be too soon for some people but I honestly think that this IS a good opportunity to talk about the public being able to own firearms.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the US is probably the only developed country that legally allows the public to own guns and be able to keep them at their own properties. This, I think, is stupid. It is interesting to see how Americans react to this tragedy compared to people around the world. Some Americans believe that this IS the reason why the public should own firearms, to protect themselves. But to others, this IS the reason why they shouldn’t. To people around the world, this tragedy could’ve been prevented and that Americans have themselves to blame. They think that the general public is able to bear arms is just an absurd idea. What I don’t understand is, if the rest of the developed countries in the world are able to function without privately owned and kept firearms, why can’t US do the same? News reported that the all the victims were found with multiple gunshot wounds. Hypothetically speaking, if the attacker wanted to attack, he is going to do it either way. However, if he could only find a knife to do so, I’m pretty sure the amount of damage he could cause would be significantly lower. The children might have a higher survival rate if they were to be attacked by, say a machete or a knife or a sword. I don’t think anyone is capable of handling such a powerful weapon and that is why people, such as law enforcement, have to go through rigorous training. In UK, only a small amount of police officers carry guns and most of them even preferred to stay unarmed!

With so many studies showing that a high number of gunshot victims in the States is the result of children playing with their parents’ guns, shouldn’t people realize it’s just not good to own firearms themselves?! No matter how ‘safe’ you lock away your guns, we are humans, and we make mistakes. You will forget to lock that drawer you hold your guns. You will forget to put your gun away. Isn’t it better to leave it at the shooting range to minimize the chances of someone else getting to it? I’m pretty sure if a robber comes into your home with a gun, you would be shot dead before you could get to your own gun to protect yourself. And even if you did manage to shoot the robber, do you know how much you need to prove in court to actually justify you shooting that person? Self defense isn’t as easy as it sounds.

I personally think that this gun control issue is a vicious cycle. If the number of firearms in circulation is lower, the chances of someone being able to obtain one will be lower and that the crime someone can act on with a gun will be lower which leads to lower casualty. Your Second Amendment was created in the 18^th century. We’re certainly not living in the 18^th century anymore and I’m pretty sure you have way better technology to protect yourself, such as a phone to call the police, rather than battling it out with the intruder yourself. I understand that if someone is determined to obtain a piece of firearm, s/he will be able to do so no matter what law you put in, but the chances of one actually being able to get one will be significantly lower.

O Kwismustwee~ O Kwimustwee~

Yay! It's December!

Yesterday was my 1 year anniversary working at this museum. I honestly can't believe I've lasted this long since I wanted to quit this job almost every week. Hahaha. Almost all of my friends that I'd made here left me during the past two months... :( I feel that this shows the government will never be able to attract youngsters that are passionate in this field because of all these bureaucracy and hierarchy restrictions at work. Everyone got frustrated and left. Right now, I'm glad my supervisor is super helpful, albeit too busy to really assign work for me, and is trying to settle my next move with another team since nobody here seems to know what to do with me, again. I feel like an orphan most of the time until someone realized that I exist and give me work to do. Really, they should know by now how this works since there's been 4 trainees thus far, with the fifth coming. I honestly wish the new trainee best of luck since I’ll be leaving in 6 months, at the latest. Of course, this means an update of my graduate school status.

I have submitted two out of three of my graduate school applications. Since the third one is my safe school and the deadline isn't till April, I won’t be handing that application unless I failed to get into either of the first two to save me some moolah. Wish me luck!

Before I talk about Xmas and the New Year, let me make a quick recap of my Thanksgiving. I immensely enjoyed my Thanksgiving break and it was such a relaxing vacation for me. I love my home in the States and can't wait to move back there. I miss my own kitchen, which I managed to use once during the 5 days there. I baked these pumpkin doughnuts that everyone complemented and made me warm and fuzzy inside. I finally got to meet everyone in Pete's family and this time, we got to sleep in the same room at his house!!! Hahaha. His mom actually asked us whether we wanted to sleep in the same room as we arrived... didn't even know there's an option~ Saw my friends that I made since Nat Geo days and caught up with college roommate in this 8 days trip and also managed two tours at the Capitol and Library of Congress. Super eventful.

Took down our mega exhibition once I came back to HK. Then a guy that I met during my Nat Geo days from Shaanxi was here for the deinstallation as well, plus he remembered me! What comes around, goes around. Now everyone at the museum is impressed... well, ya... you should be. Hahaha. Anywho, said bye to the terracottas again (and maybe say hi to them in the future for 5 more times).

Looking forward to Xmas! Tree arrived at home, will be decorating this weekend, hopefully. Will probably be making gingerbread houses as well. Also watching BIG BANG's concert this Sat.!!! Super excited about seeing them. Next up will be Dev's Xmas dinner at their family's new place. Yay~

Another presidential race

It's already been FOUR years! Wow!

It was the last presidential race that really pushed me to understand how politics work in the States. I'm actually sad that I don't get to vote. Haha. I care a lot about many issues in the States right now and I feel like some of these people who voted don't even know why they voted or what they voted for. But I guess that's democracy for you, you have a right and duty to do so.

I listened to all the presidential debates this year and followed the race for the past few months. The only have one complain for this year's election: Why can't they choose a smarter Republican candidate?! >< I honestly hope Obama wins because his immigration policies will affect me in the future and yes, I hope I'll get medical coverage, including contraceptives. A lot of people said that they're disappointed with Obama for the past four years, but honestly, he's not a magician, he can't magically make all the troubles disappear. I think he wasn't aggressive enough when he first became president to pass the legislatures he want, but he still did many other things he said he would do during the last presidential race, albeit not a big change that some had hoped. If you look at the state the US was in in 2008, the US now looks ways more hopeful and slowly gaining momentum again. I'm surprised to see it recover this quickly, actually.

I'm glad those Republicans Senators that talked about 'legitimate rape' got voted down and I'm glad PA this year is a blue state. I have hope for humanity.

Side note: A friend of mine stated an interesting point: It's fascinating how much coverage the US election gets overseas while people in the States don't give a crap bout other internationl elections.

Oh October~

It's already the third of week of October!

I should be able to finalize all my applications by the end of this month. Two out of three of my recommendations are done! Woot woot! Applying to grad school seriously seemed so much easier than college. Although, it might be because I'm 7 years older and more knowledgeable and mature than I was an undergraduate (at least I hope so), meaning I'm more prepared for the process and actually follow up on everything myself.

Next big challenge will be going into surgery for my wisdom teeth. I am pulling three out at once. Not too afraid at the moment, but at the same time, I started worrying about not waking up or having an allergic reaction to the anesthesia. Have you ever wonder how people found out they're allergic to that? Aren't you unconscious by then? There's also the big risk that half of the inside of my mouth will be forever droopy and I'll lost feeling to that part. But, trying really hard not to think about that. I should trust the surgeon. If I do not wake up, please remember that I love you all, family and friends, and keep on with your life, don't waste time regretting.

If all goes well, I'll be going to my skating buddy's wedding reception on the 4th and then flying off to the States for Thanksgiving! Ah, life seems so good at the moment. I think I'm the only one who's excited about being invited to weddings these days because I haven't reached the age where random people invite me and I'm truly happy for the couple. As for my own wedding planning, it's... sort of going somewhere. Hahaha. I have my two gowns ready and the basic theme is somewhat finalized. Will let you know when more comes up.

Last but not least, if you're bored, here's a couple of blogs that I recently fell in love with. I realize after reading them that I wouldn't never be a professional blogger because I just don't put in enough effort to make my blog interesting.

• ohjoy.blogs.com
• ohhappyday.com
• www.giverslog.com

Have a great day!

Mid Sept Check List

• GRE
• Finding three people to write my recommendations
• Big Bang Concert tickets
• Finalizing essays/resume and sending out Visa info

I think I'm doing pretty good, considering the earliest deadline is in Dec. *proud of self*

Cultural Curiosity

Due to my Statements of Intent, I have been searching for topic(s) that I would be interested in writing about as my thesis or focus of study if I do get accepted.

I came across this book called Cultural Curiosities by Josephine Khu at our museum's Resource Center while researching about overseas Chinese (the closest to an academic library in HK since all universities libraries here are limited to their students only, which I think is ridiculous. I can't even enter the libraries! I would leave my rant about this for another time...). It's a compilation of 13 stories written by second/third/fourth generation ethnic Chinese growing up countries other than China and how they view themselves as Chinese.

After reading this book, all I want to do right away is to ask my friends how they view themselves, since most of them had lived in other countries for a prolonged period and are also citizens of other countries. How come I had never asked Seo how she felt as a HongKonger but at the same time, everyone will know that she's Korean just because she looks different and don't speak as fluent of Canto? Ah~ The interesting insights I can get from just my friends... 

I also question myself how do I feel being in between communities for almost all my life. Since I studied in an international school, I was and still am treated differently whenever people heard that I came from one. Everyone viewed me as not so 'Chinese' while I can read and write and speak fluent in Canto and Mando, which is way better than a lot of people in HK, then why am I not 'Chinese' enough? When I am in the States, I speak fluent English and I probably know more about the American constitutions and history better than an average American, but am considered a foreigner. I realize now that I feel most comfortable among international school kids and people who studied or lived in other countries. They know not to question your 'ethnicity' since they understood that it makes no difference as to how you actually view yourself as.

I think of myself as Chinese, but not the mainland Chinese, but Chinese as hua ren 華人. I am from Hong Kong, but mostly I identify myself belonging to HK during colonial times. I am a Canadian citizen, but other than holding a passport saying I am one, I don't really know much about this country. I am not American, yet I know more about its history, geography and people than China's history.

Beware friends, I will question you if I do get accepted into grad school (evil laugh *muahahaha*)

15mins exercise

I've been putting this off for ages but I really think I should exercise more, considering I just sit at my desk all day long from Mon-Fri. I recently found this routine that's super simple and only lasts for about 15 mins. Seriously, I SHOULD be able to fit in 15 mins! So, I did. Been trying it out for 2 days (a record for me) and I'll see if I can last for a week. Oosh!

I also started revising for GRE for realz this time, yo. Finally understood what the test was asking me to do last time. Hahaha. Additionally, I've secured one professor's recommendation for grad school! Feel so accomplished this week.

2015

To be honest, I'm currently looking forward to 2015 already, when Avengers 2 comes out.

By 2015, I hope I will be:
1) back in the States
2) finishing or getting my Masters
3) working
4) having a life...
5) watching Avengers 2

That is all. Life should be simple right?

(Sidenote: Pretty frustrated with my grad school apps once again. seemed so much easier than bachelors but at the same time, I didn't remember I did all those things for bachelors... May be Mr. Campbell did do his job after all. Anyway, I am aiming to get as much as I can do by the end of this week and then asking professors by next week. Thankfully that I did college in the States for I don't need to take those stupid English tests again.)

Marriage rights for all people

Please watch the video first:

I support gay marriage. I don't even know why it's not a basic legal right for gay people to be able to marry each other when the societies generally accept divorces. They also accept that people can get married when they're 16. What?! That never makes sense to me. I believe everyone is bisexual and there shouldn't be a distinction between heterosexual and homosexual.

Do you know in HK, even though you changed your gender later on in life, your gender which you're born in will follow you for the rest of your life. Even though you're a girl now, you cannot get married to a guy because you were a guy and HK is against gay marriage. This is so backward it makes me mad.

Exhausted

Pretty much ever since I got back from my Easter break, I've been hard at work physically and mentally. I feel like the stress from work has started to get to an unhealthy level. When I do get off work on time, I start feeling guilty and worry non-stop that I haven't finish something. When I don't get off on time, well, obviously its because I have too much to do. Last night was the first time I locked up the office myself. My coworker had to leave her key for me. That was a sad moment.

I want this coming break but I'm already worrying about the workload for the week after because the exhibits will arrive then and I have coworkers that need to go to the airport at 3 in the morning to watch then unload, meaning us at the office will need to take on their work if they can't come back in time.

The only pleasant thing happened recently was that I now have a new boss! Woot! I want a bit more personal time than just 2 hours for a movie. I can't remember when was the last time I sat in front of the tv and did nothing.

UK and Dublin 2012

Cannot concentrate at all this afternoon to write my appraisal... therefore I'm writing a blog instead! I realize I'm those people that write best when it's either very late in the night or very early in morning... basically it's the same time frame when everyone's asleep and it's quiet. Can't believe I need to write 1000 words every 6 months for this job -.-" It's not like anyone's reading it afterwards!

What better way to encourage myself to write than to write something I want to write about!

Proposal

My family and I were having dinner at the Island-Shangri-La to celebrate my dad's birthday. It was a bar and grill restaurant and a live band was there as accompaniment. When it was time for dessert, we noticed that one of the guests at a table was playing the flute along with the band. Hm... So we watched with curiosity. My dad's comment summed up the performance: At least he made sound~ After he finished, he went to his table (there were about 5 other friends at the table) and knelt down on one knee in front of a girl. Well, you've guessed it, he proposed to his significant other right then and there.

My family's reaction was as follow:

Mom: That's so not romantic with so many other people around.

Dad: I never liked this kind of proposal. It's so stupid. What if the girl rejects?

Sis: I've seen rejections at public places. It's awkward.

Gotta love my family. Thankgoodness our engagement was small and sweet.

How many names does one need?

Currently reading and summarizing a research on Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Ya, you know, that super famous guy that overthrown the Chinese monarchy and established the Republic of China. But, do you know how many names he had?! Finding research on him isn't difficult, the difficult part is determining which name I should use for what I'm writing. Let me show you what I've found:


Dr Sun was named Deming 德明 when he was born according to his genealogical position in his family tree, but when he was young he's called Dixiang 帝像 (traditionally, Chinese people have a birth name like 'cow' or 'dog' because it's easier to bring up an animal and hopefully they'll survive). Then he's named Sunwen 孫文 when he got older and once he reached adulthood he was called Zaizhi 載之. His name as a student was Rixin 日新, later became Yixian 逸仙. He also had various nicknames and pseudonyms and one of the famous ones was the name 中山樵 which later became 孫中山, a name commonly used in HK and Taiwan areas.


Ya, seriously, WTH?!

Happy 6!

This weekend was a fabulous weekend for me~

It started on Friday night when I somehow managed to gather Seo, Dev and Jenny altogether for dinner without any of them knowing that the others will be joining. Each of them thought that they'd be having dinner with me alone. Hahaha. I seriously didn't mean it and assumed they knew or got in touch with each other... but, why would they suddenly get in touch with each other? This is just hilarious and they were all surprised when they saw each other. Hahaha. We chatted for like 2 hours non-stop. It was nice catching up and seeing them before I head off to UK.

Then on Saturday, I shopped in the afternoon and went to my ex-coworker's wedding banquet at night. Can you believe that this was my first Chinese wedding banquet in HK since adulthood? It was simple and sweet and I truly wish them a happy life together. It was great to see other coworkers too! They had more experienced in these banquets (since they're all older than me) and they said that this was one of the better ones they'd attended as well. Everyone at the banquet was a witness to their signing of their marriage certificate, since they had the lawyer and signed it right there. Their AV team also managed to put together a video of their morning Chinese ceremony as not everyone got to see that. It was so awesome and made me want to do a Chinese ceremony too! Overall, I think their wedding banquet was really well thought out and put together. Must cost a lot since it's at the Hyatt with 24 tables, but the staff was good, the food was good, the venue was good, what more do you want?

Today, I decided to stay home but needed to exchange an item from H&M first. (Btw, I love that I can exchange at H&M, I feel like I'm back in the States where I can practically exchange/return anything. There's this guy who returned a watermelon to the supermarket because it wasn't sweet and the supermarket allowed that! Ha!) Got to Festi and also bought a coffee along the way. Woot! Then came back to make ice cream and my first pie. I made a cheesy tomato pie and it tasted delicious~ Hehe. Love cooking on Sunday because I can have the whole kitchen to myself :D Chilled for the rest of the day.

Today also marks our anniversary! Happy 6 :)

Post-Opening

Apparently, according to fellow trainees and other coworkers, I've been fought over by the two assistant curators at work. One is my boss, who wouldnt let me go, and the other is the boss of the other team that's going to put on the upcoming exhibition. Wow, I suddenly feel so precious yet helpless at the same time. I don't get a say in all this! Did anyone category whether I want to be on the project at all? I guess not, since I'm the small potato.

Exhibition finally opened! Super happy that it's done but now I'm so sick of it, I want to throw it away. Haha.

Met up with my ex-coworkers and they asked me how my new job is. I must say, although it's definitely hard work, I feel much more accomplished. At least there's an end product somewhere! I have more to show in 3 months than in the year I worked at my previous job! A book with my name in it? Of course!

Absolutely cannot wait till I go on vacation. Things finally fell into place and I most likely would be able to see everyone, especially Heidie, whom I haven't seen since I went to college. Need to figure train schedules and touring routes in Edinburgh and Dublin this weekend, along with deciding what to pack. I suck at packing, as you all know.

Draw Something

Sometimes, I really don't know how Pete and I communicate with each other... Every time I have a computer problem, I'd ask him for help; however, we almost always end up in an argument because we don't understand what each other want.

We're currently playing the new 'it' game (other than Piyomori, which is basically piling on as many balloon chicken as you can onto a bowl. Trust me, highly addictive), Draw Something, and we realize that we suck at guessing what the other person is drawing. I'm glad that we never need to go to those couple parties and play couple games because I think we'll always end up last. HAHAHA.

Being an intern?!

Sometimes, I really do feel like I'm an intern all over again. It's kind of weird but makes me feel young. Haha. For example, right now, I'm actually just pretending to be working because I don't have anything else more substantial to do.

Recently I had an in interesting conversation with the conservator of the museum. First, he mistook Penn State as UPenn. Big no-no. Then, he said that the trainee programme was established to let people gain experience in a museum setting. The way he said it, it seemed like it's for people that had no previous experience. In my honest opinion, I think that's bullshit. If the people that they're hiring, like me or those that have Masters, like my other trainee, then we definitely would've experiences working in this field. If not, then your college didn't teach you well. So please tell me, what kind of people are you hiring exactly?!

I really think my resume is impressive, considering that I picked to work at top notch institutions. In case you don't know, being an intern at the National Gallery of Art is considered an award... I can actually write that on my resume. However, people in HK knew nothing about them, which is sad. Please, seriously, don't think that you're that great because you're not. *sigh* HK still has a long way to go. Conservator and I also talked about West Kowloon, the cultural area that the government had been trying for the past couple of years to get it going. He said they're hiring there, and I just gave an "oh really?" response because 1) there really isn't any concrete plans on anything as of now; and 2) I don't think I'll be staying in HK after my fellowship ends.

We are... because you were

Have I told you I love my school? No, I meant I really do love it. I'm so glad that I chose the 'right' school for me, the all-American college experience. I got to watch football, I got to party, I went to a big school that gave me a lot of opportunities which small schools can't provide. I think we really need to pay respect to the man that defined Penn State.

I'm currently watching the memorial service of our late coach, Joe Paterno. He's like a grandfather that everyone hope to have. Although he's so famous, he stayed down to earth. Those people that continued to criticize him, I'm sorry, but I really think you're targeting him just because he's famous and want someone to take the blame. He did what he can, he followed protocol and till the day he passed away, he regret not doing more. He's the only one that admitted mistake out of the whole scandal. What did everyone else do? They denied everything.

Thank you Joe Pa for giving me the library that I researched day and night in; thank you for donating and supporting THON; and thank you for shaping Penn State the way it is.