2010 is just around the corner...

MERRY CHRISTMAS! To wish upon a star

Extraordinary Surprise 2009 IIIb: People behind the surprise

貓貓/CherTheCat: Like I mentioned in a previous post, she was one of first that I spoke to. She is also one of the few that are close to $1 and at the beginning, one of her many nicknames were 神貓. The reason behind that name was because she was able to get $1 to give her hints on the upcoming shows. She is also very famous for her 看後感 especially on 昇. On an unforgettable night at the ending of October, she was extremely depressed. I couldn't understand it at that time because she was out meeting with the girls for the first time at a Karaoke room to view 畢打together. It was the mid-autumn festival show, it was a happy show with a lot of warm scenes and the starring roles were at their best. When the bomb finally hit, I knew why she was feeling so bad. The shock of it was at the time very hard to grasp. Fortunately, she pulled herself together and decided to open her blog as a branch to $1's blog, a tearoom to his back garden. Hence, the birth of 懶洋洋的貓貓茶室which is a wonderful place to read all the after-views and stories that a number of writers contribute almost daily since its conception. I never had a chance to say thank you to her for the memorable night when Muse visited. She lovingly said she would stand by me, and make sure I don't faint that morning. I still recall her first comment that night to me after Muse was online. It was "(扶住CharChar)你除咗"你好", 無嘢講啦??" I tried to be helpful and brave when I told Muse that 貓貓 is still waiting for something that $1 promised her. Anyways, I thought I would be able to meet her in person at the ending of November, when she would take her vacation, but due to unforeseen circumstances, she decided to forego the plan to come to Vegas, so… still waiting for the right timing.
電電/AC Circuit: She lives in Toronto, and I really think she should have the nickname AI. Amazingly, I don't think she sleeps! She is very knowledgeable about computer stuff (to a computer idiot like me, I think she's God!) She taught all of us how to install the Mixpod on our blog, which is really cool. She takes beautiful photos of sceneries and there was one of a flower that she mentioned that she had to lay on the ground to take and almost had a guy stepped on her. Her MV of 211 will forever stick in my mind. I believe that is why we had that first conversation, I had wanted to make a MV also (given up) and she did such a beautiful and poignant video. Not only was she technically a genius but when she made the layout design for the memorial card, wow, a creative genius also! It was beautiful! Of course, she was one of the gals laughing at me about the Muse visit and I remember that she sent me an email about the time change and laughing about 貓貓 busting me for not sleeping yet. 電電 has a wonderful sense of humor! She is so nice! Once, I had asked her to help me locate someone living in Toronto and she did it like within 15 minutes and then I recall the time we were joking about her watching some supposedly scary show and ended up laughing so hard that I thought she was crazy. I think that I have an affinity with her is because she also lives outside of Hong Kong and have that sense of humor that we are use to here in the states (even though she lives in Canada).
To be continued with others... in the near future.

Extraordinary Surprise 2009 IIIa: People behind this suprise (Revised)

I am writing this now and the episode I’d just finished viewing was 297. Many things have happened since that first real conversation. Life is full of cause and effect, everything happens for a reason and such. Reflecting back to September, if a post was not posted on 賞昇 blog one fateful evening, we wouldn’t be where we are today. From there, 幕後一員 invited the fans to his blog and the emotional magnet has far more exceeded even my wildest imagination. I still sometimes shake my head when I think about it, I mean this feeling of closeness with these gals that were thousands of miles from me. I have never met them, in fact I don't even know their real names but because of 畢打自己人and 一員, we were all brought altogether forging a friendship and that could perhaps last beyond the finale of this show.
There are so many names that have become very familiar to me over the last few months and I want to attempt to write down what I remember about each and every one of them. The show has a little less than 2 months left and once it over, I am not sure that we could sustain what we have now, the hustle and bustle of over 1000 post per day. However, I really do believe that many within this group have built a relationship that is beyond the show. I know that I have. Due to the time difference between Hong Kong and Las Vegas, I have to stay up pretty late to be able to interact with these lovelies. I think that’s why I got the nickname “AI”. 
I thought I could do this within one post, I thought wrong! Hah! I will probably need at least 6 sections... The brief notes behind the names are just some of the most memorable moments. There are so many tidbits and special moments that have happened on一員blog, I probably won’t be able to list all (my memory is not that good).
$1/幕後一員: Truth be told, actually I am a little afraid of him especially when he is serious. I think it is because my Chinese is so awful and I am afraid that when I ask him something, he might take it the wrong way. I remember the first time that I asked him about whether 包公 would be the go-between for 賞and 大哥 because to me, he seems like he could be the one to say something to大哥 about how 賞賞 really feels about him. $1 response (maybe I was too sensitive) was something like: With your comment, do you think that you might be preventing others from enjoying the show? Now, he doesn’t remember this… thank God. But from that point on, I know I shouldn’t to guessing what the show or the characters would do. It was actually fortunate because where the show is at right now, there are speculations aplenty. Now, the most touching part of this man to me was when he invited Muse to come on his blog to say hi to everyone. He asked her to give me the first hug! Wow! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the comment. If you know what an ear to ear grin is, that was what was on my face! Then my second thought was, “Hey, wait a minute! You, $1, was suppose to hug Muse. Is my Chinese that bad that $1 mistook my meaning? Oh… what did I do now? Muse is so busy… and now it felt like I was impinging on her rest. But everyone on the blog was so deliriously excited and happy. Stupidly I sat there worrying about imposing on both of these wonderful people. I had to get 貓貓 to get me out of this train of thought (I don’t think she really understood what I was going thru either but that’s another story). Now, he doesn’t call me by my “name”, he calls me “AI”. A joke between us (that’s how I look at it) is that I have to report the time when I see him. Recently, he purposely turned off his comment function. Of course, amazing Muse asked him whether the function would be fixed later that night because she wants to read the after-views. He couldn’t say no to her. So cute! The other day $1 mentioned the possible letdown after the show is over. His feeling is legitimate but I don’t think he realizes the “bond of friendship” that has been forged is pretty strong and that many of us really think of him as a friend instead of someone that will give us hints and tidbits about the show. If he took a minute to remember his “離卜出走” in late October, he should realize that many of us care for him as a friend. Like石頭 said, “情係真”.

陳鴻烈 "大閆生" Remembering you...

News of 烈哥 passing away on his way to the hospital after having a heart attack in the dressing room on the set of OP came on $1 blog at 7:32pm. The shocking news has yet to set in ... until ... 幕後一員 confirmed it. It took me half an hour sitting in front of my laptop to write those couple of sentences.. to say my final words to an actor who has given his whole life to the entertainment industry; who has given viewers like myself hours of enjoyment.
Selfishly, I ask myself... how do I go on watching OP? What emotions will run through me when I see him on screen? Then... how is 一員 taking this? And ... 毛姐.. the cast, the crew.. they were much closer to him than a mere fan like myself ... the grief and shock must be so much harder for them and 烈哥's wife and children. I can now try to face the small screen tomorrow and enjoy and embrace his talent and his life. Thank you 陳鴻烈先生, I will remeber you always!

Extraordinary Surprise 2009 - Part II

So, for the very first time in my life, I went into TVB website and found that毛姐had a blog. Since I was already there, I went around to the discussion forum for Off Pedder and there, I found that there were many fans discussing the show. There were also two fractions of fans split with a passion that bordered on hostile on the romantic direction of 賞賞. There were also a host of music videos and stories written by talented fans that truly surprised me. I started to follow the posting and found that it was really interesting that these were very intelligent and sophisticated fans. I wasn’t exactly a 100%賞昇fan at that point but I know that I definitely wasn’t a 汝賞fan. I enjoyed the “看後感” and all the different perspectives of each episode. But what I found really fascinating was the camaraderie of the 賞昇 fans. Other than a few of the renegades, these fans pretty much kept their comments on how much they enjoy the show and how much they want賞昇to be together and the attacks on 汝大 was minimal. Their distinction between the characters and the actors was very clear. I finally succumb to the desire to put my little two cents in show of support in 支持社長同賞賞既入and that was in August 1st. (Has it only been a little more than 3 months? It seems so long ago.) From there I found that there was a blog name 賞昇blog and a behind the scenes cast member was leaving messages, and of course being an addict at this point, I went over to have a look. Not only the show was fabulous, but all these interesting fans made this show into something more personal. Their appreciation and devotion to the show was very contagious. I still remember laughing so hard at Salanghea’s (known later as 餃餃) spoof version of episode 211 and of my very the first “conversation” between AC Circuit, CherTheCat and myself (known later as 電電, 貓貓 respectively) regarding a hope for a kissing scene between the two leads.

Extraordinary Surprise 2009 - Part I

Extraordinary surprises in life have a way of changing one lifestyle in so many ways.
After number of months in 2008 of watching 同事三分親, which I had enjoyed the romantic relationships of the three couples in the show. All the actors have somehow ingrained themselves into my sub-consciousness. I was extremely disappointed that Esther did not return for even the final episode. Therefore, when the new sitcom, 畢打自己人 hit the airwaves late in 08, my initial reaction was: Okay, this should be interesting... the lead is 毛舜筠 to play the role of 殷賞… a great actress with a wonderful sense of comedy. I loved the first episode, but couldn’t quite assimilate with the rest of the cast especially the character, 包國仁acted by 除榮 and how 江欣燕’s character was not even similar to Diana of BSS. Then 閆汝大played by歐錦棠 appeared with his long hair (which was awful!) and his character was the ex husband of殷賞, who left her without a word over 10 years ago and now has come back into “her” life. I admit it, I hated his character because of the way he treated his father, the way he had treated 賞賞, the way he was always so righteous, as if he knew it all. Yes, I’m shallow and I willingly admit it. This character just wasn’t … attractive at all, not physically or mentally. From that moment on, I only watched it sparingly and only if 毛姐 had the storyline. I kept asking a coworker whether, 黎耀祥’s character had come onto the show yet because I truly do enjoy his acting. Months had passed since the first broadcast and it seems all the characters had been introduced except for Ben (previously Vincent, whom I adored), and the show settled down and started to have a more… story or should I say a continuity to it. I remember watching #68, 不能看的秘密, and had such a great time watching because it was really funny and thought to myself; Wow! These two have fantastic chemistry even though it was the last couple of minutes at the end of the show! So a little bit more chasing on my part, then #100, 情真假儀, added more wood to the fire, almost half the show was just these two leads. Finally, #148, 再遇舊情人, made me into an avid fan. I started to watch it every night then a very surprising thing started to happen as the story progressed, I was enthralled by the performances of Wayne and毛姐. Therefore, I asked a coworker whether she can give me all the previous episodes starting from the beginning because previously I did not download the shows. I started to replay the shows every night after work. After getting reacquainted with the series from the beginning, I began to really admire毛姐, her character was adorable and her acting was superb. I haven’t enjoyed a Hong Kong show as much as this one in a very long time and even had to watch certain episodes repeatedly.

Memories of home...

How I miss Hawaii. It's been 5 years... 5 years of changes ... 5 years in Las Vegas... Funny thing is I still ask myself from time to time, how the hell did I get here... Saw this picture taken from Round top in a travel slide show, this is the place where I grew up, the laughter, the tears, high school shinanigans, first love, college, sorority, then finally the heartbreaking passing of him. Can't believe it's seems so long ago... only loving memories left... Guess I should count myself one of the lucky ones.





This is my memory of Hanauma Bay, 7 years old, feeding the fishes with bread pieces and cutting my big toe on the coral. Now, the place is so commercialized and packed with people ...




Why does this picture makes me feel like it is mirroring my feelings at times?

These pictures were taken by another photographer visiting the Grand Canyon. The following are his comments

I was simply stunned seeing this guy standing on this solitary rock in the Grand Canyon.
The canyon's depth is 900 meters (2953 feet, nearly 6/10 mile) here. The rock on the right is next to the canyon and safe.
Watching this guy wearing flip flop sandals, with a camera and a tripod I asked myself 3 questions:

1. How did he climb that rock?
2. Why not take that sunset picture from that rock to the right, which is perfectly safe?
3. How will he get back?

After the sun set behind the canyon's horizon he packed his things (having only one hand available) and prepared himself for the jump. This took about 2 minutes. At that point he had the full attention of the crowd.

This is the point of no return. After that, he jumped in his flip flops...



Now you can see that the adjacent rock is higher so he tried to land lower, which is quite steep and tried to use his one hand to grab the rock.


Look carefully at the photographer. He has a camera, a tripod, and also a plastic bag, all on his shoulder or in his left hand. Only his right hand is available to grab the rock and the weight of his stuff is a problem. He lands low on his flip flops, both his right hand and right foot slip away...At that moment I take this shot. He pushes his body against the rock. He waits for a few seconds, throws his stuff on the rock, climbs and walks away, presumably to a bathroom to change his shorts. I know I had to change mine and I was just watching.