Best Song of The Year!

I have to share with you guys my favorite song of the year. I know there's still a couple months left in the year, but I'm just too excited to care. This is the best song of the year, hands down. It's so good that I spent the time in Final Cut to put this up onto Youtube since no one had done so yet. Daishi Dance's new upcoming album isn't being released until the 10th of October, so it's difficult to get a preview of the album as of now. Anyways, please give this song a listen. The lyrics are entirely english. I love listening to it while running; it's so soothing.

Went for an afternoon run today; boy were my legs sore. It was a good run nevertheless but I still do prefer running during the night. Even during daytime in this time of the year, it get pretty warm well into my runs.

More packing today! Look at that mess in our living room. Where getting read to ship them back to Hong Kong. Oh, the madness. It's like playing tetris real life!

Back after an absurd amount of time.

I should've knew I couldn't keep an updated blog for more than a few weeks. Anyhow, i'll try this again with a little more diligence. That fact of the matter is, I try to fit too much in my posts to the point where it becomes a burden for me to write. Blogging should be an effortless task, no? Well enough of that; I love that building to the right. It's Shangri-La in Downtown Vancouver. What a gorgeous piece of art. I heard it's part hotel and part residential; I can only imagine how much it would cost to stay for the night, let alone own an apartment.

Rainy Vancouver is one of the most depressing sights. Luckily, the sun is shinning today complimented by blue skies and light fluffy clouds; beautiful! Mornings and nights are getting cold though. I've definitely noticed winter fast approaching as the cold gets to me on my late night runs. Oh yeah, I must ramble on about my running; onto the next paragraph!

So i've started running again. I decided I needed some cardio back into my life. Most of all though, I needed motivation, especially at the very beginning. Running can be pretty dull at first, but once you capture that "runner's high" it becomes a very different animal. I've been running for less than a month with Nike+. Even after being sick with Strep throat, I was still motivated enough to resume training within days of getting better. At the moment, I'm following a 10KM training regime; but what I'm hoping to gain from all this running is better endurance. It's a joy being able to track all my running statistics. For me, it's a really neat feeling and makes me look forward to my next run.

I've been running really late into the night. I'm up running when the city's sleeping, and what a great feeling it is. No cars to watch out for, no traffic lights to obey, no people to dodge; just you, the road, and the sound of your footsteps. The nights are cold and refreshing. The feeling of seclusion in a restless city by day is a phenomenal feeling.

I have to praise Nike for making such a remarkable pair of shoes. The Lunarglide is probably one of the most comfortable pair of shoes my feet has ever tasted. They literally feels like a customized pair of gloves that just fills your feet like a mould. It just seems to propel me forward after every footstrike. Just make sure you don't over tighten them like any other shoe. I love them and look forward to every single kilometer with them.

Anyone that wants to get in shape with running but hates running to begin with should try out the Nike+ system. The "hate" part of running is usually a short to last phase. If you rarely ever run, your body's bound to ache and hate you for making it suffer. Don't give up though; stick with it and your body will adjust to it within a couple weeks. Before you know it, I'm sure you'll be running distances you never thought you could.

Anyways, I'll end it here. Thanks for reading and happy running!

Dining At Kowloon Hotel

Look at me with girly cocktail in one hand while smiling awkwardly! Welcome to my restaurant review where I "half assedly" review Loong Yat Heen, a Chinese culinary cuisine situated in Kowloon Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui. Of course, we'd normally never eat at such extravagant restaurants where single bites of food equaled to whole meals in price. Actually, my sister was asked to review the restaurant by her company so she invited me to come along. Mmm, can't really beat free expensive food, so of course I couldn't refuse my sisters kind offer. So, how does expensive and exquisite fine dining rank in the mind and taste buds of an average joe like myself? Read on to find out!

The atmosphere wasn't anything spectacular. We did get seats overlooking Nathan Road though. The service was great; what you would typically expect from fancier restaurants. My sister has a selection of speciality dishes she was asked to taste. By the way, no one there knew my sisters was there for a review...at least not until we "pay" for the bill. Anyways, onto the dishes.

Duck Tongue Tossed With XO Sauce

For starters, we had Duck Tongue tossed with XO Sauce. Even though the meal was complimentary, we still felt bit ripped from the lack of duck tongues present. We were expecting a dish of duck tongues but instead received a dish the was dominated by celery, which by the way wasn't even mentioned on the menu. I'd rather sit down at a dim sum restaurant and order a plate of duck tongue than eat this. For $80 dollars, this dish was small, deceiving, and expensive.

Shark Fin tossed with Crab Meat and Pincer

Up next was the Shark Fin tossed with Crab Meat and Pincer with Rich Broth. This is their signature dish, but that wasn't our reason for high expectations. It was simply the price; for $700, this had better be good. This isn't your conventional Shark Fin Soup. As you can see, the broth is separate from the shark fin. The shark fin by itself was extremely bland, and if I may quote my sister, "tastes like cardboard". A couple scoops of broth over the shark fin made it much better. Probably the best part of this course was the crab meat, which tasted both fresh and flavorful. So overall, was as it great? Sure, it was free. However, if you're shelling out the dough from your own pockets, I'd look elsewhere to satisfy your shark fin cravings.

Fois Gois and Veal Fillet In Black Pepper Onion Sauce Seafood XO Medley

Proceeding to our main course, Fois Gois and Veal Fillet In Black Pepper Onion Sauce (left) and Seafood XO Medley (right). Okay, these dishes taste fine, but they just don't scream "I'm worth $250 dollars". There was hardly any Fois Gois in the dish; we expected more than just 7 cubes. The sauce was thick similar to the consistency of phlegm and the veal was lacking that natural meat flavor. The Seafood Xo Medley was a really small dish. Okay, size doesn't matter; what we need is quality! The prawn and scallops were fine, but the geoduck was so tough that my jaw actually had little muscles protruding outwards the next day. In my opinion, both dishes were tad over mediocre at most.

Garoupa on Steamed Egg Whites with Bird's Nest

Our final dish, Garoupa on Steamed Egg Whites with Bird's Nest. This is another of their specialty dishes. If I ever eat here again, please remind me to order anything but the speciality dishes. The steamed egg whites lacked a smooth and soft consistency. Through the dish, chunks or clumps of egg whites would appear which is unacceptable. They managed to miss the most important aspect of steamed egg whites in a signature dish. The Garoupa was fine but the Bird's Nest on top was pure gimmick. It added no meaningful flavor nor aesthetic appeal to the dish. All it did was jack the price of the dish up. Poor and expensive dish, period.

All in all, it would've been a good meal for $500. That, not being the case, makes this a terrible $2700 meal. They failed to effectively utilize both expensive and basic ingredients. Although there were some ingenuity to their dishes, some of the names were somewhat deceiving. The service was excellent but what we came for was the food, and that was only subpar. Therefore, I can only give this restaurant a 6/10 at best. Would I recommend it to tourists and locals? Probably not. Take your money elsewhere unless you're staying at the Kowloon Hotel and is to lazy to walk your ass elsewhere.

Okay, I'm sick of listening to myself. I'll be sure to blog again soon. Thanks for reading, and take care!

P.S. For the record, I'm not picky with my food. I eat anything and anything with the utmost gratitude.

Weather Going Bananas & The 411 on Bananas

Beautiful weather, isn't it? The weather was actually decent comparing to what we've been gifted with these past two weeks; nothing but rain! On a sunny day, there should be a place called Hong Kong with buildings just where the horizon is. What we see here is thick fog right in the middle of the day. Hong Kong weather is as unpredictable as a girl's mood during her period. The only consolation is the cooling down of the temperature. It's been brought down from blood boiling hot to just a simmer. So blessed are we! Anyways, you see that little strip of land on the land to the right hand side? That's where I usually go for my jogs. There's always a nice sea breeze and no one can see my pasty white skin when I take off my shirt. It's actually not that bad; my face and arms are quite tanned and if I may quote my sister word for word: "Chris, you look like one of the 18 bronzemen!" Alright! The picture to the left is the view from the window of my room. It's far from stunning but I've always dreamt of living somewhere by the sea. That's why I love this place!!!

Damn bananas, why can't we be diplomatic about this situation despite our differences? Can't you see that you and I are not so different? I too am yellow on the outside, but white on the inside.

Bananas are driving me nuts; I will therefore make banana nut bread! (LOL, LMAO, ROFL, teehee!) Anyways, what's with bananas ripening faster than I can count to three? It's like their afraid of being eaten and would rather have me dispose of them than be inside my tummy. Well you know what, my expectations for bananas are very low so either way, I'm going to eat you. You know what else I have really low expectations? That's right...girrrrrr...achoooo. Call me... ^_^Y! ( Je suis Kawaii Desuneeeeee!)

Anyways, to make my blogpost less stupid and more educational, I decided to talk about keeping your bananas from ripening too fast, or too slow. If you know this already, just be quiet and let me try to sound smart for once in my life. Alright! So bananas give off a chemical known as ethylene. What ethylene does is it induces the ripening of fruits. Heat also encourages the release of ethylene, hence bananas tend to ripen faster in warmer environments e.g. Hong Kong. Now, to encourage ripening, simply place the bananas in room temperature enclosed within a paper bag. This prevents the escape of ethylene and enhances the rate of ripening. On the contrary, bananas should be separated individually and placed into a refrigerator away from other fruits. This will greatly reduce the rate of ethylene dispersal and contact from itself and other fruits. So eat more bananas, because they basically own all other fruits. They're cheap, good for your heart and nerves, and they make you feel good!

So I'll end it here. Let me know if you found this mildly amusing. If you didn't find this fun to read, maybe you're just naturally stubborn and hard to please. Sucks to be your gf/bf. Just kidding! Have a beautiful day, you lovely ladies and gents!

Omg, it's so LOOONG and BIIIIG!

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID, cause that's what she would say if she saw my sexy body, as in camera body.

Eating out!

Went out for dinner today at Po Lam! We decided to go traditional and ordered dishes at a Chinese Restaurant. My sister was craving that homey cuisine feel. It's not often that we sit down in a restaurant and order dishes of food with rice; much like a family would do at home. Usually, we're either eating sushi, noodle, or dumplings. Not that I'm supporting the Asian stereotypes, but that's honestly what we've been eating for the past several weeks. Anyways, the food was delicious and I ordered a Lychee Jolly Shandy which was suppose to contain a whopping 0.5% alcohol. I'm a sucker for anything lychee related so I put aside the risk of getting drunk and finished the entire can! I hope you're feeling the sarcasm here, but being the cheap drunk I am, it's actually not a far stretch. I don't drink at all, and if I do, it's definitely not hard liquor. I prefer sissy drinks like coolers, and the Jolly Shandy I had today was definitely my cup of tea. I don't drink because clubs and bars aren't my scene, which pretty eliminates the opportunity to drink. Besides, alcohol is expensive and it does nothing but turn your liver into putty. Not to forget it also makes you act like a fool in the most inappropriate of ways. Be a respectful drunk, or don't drink at all. Way coool!

I grace you with my drunkard smile.

Anyways, I didn't accomplish much today. Oddly enough, I was actually looking for wedding songs fitting for the processional ceremony. No, I'm not getting married, but a friend of my Dad's is. His wedding is on Friday, and he still has yet chosen a song to be played during the processional ceremony. Luckily enough, I found him some great songs that are sure to do the job. Some of my favorites that I picked out are:

• KC & JoJo: All My Life
  
• Celine Dion & Josh Groban: The Prayer
  
• Bon Jovi: Thank You for Loving Me
  
• Enya: Only Time
  

Greats songs, huh? How many of these have you listened to, and would you ever consider having any one of the listed as a song for your own wedding?

Yummy in my tummy! (lame)

I leave you with the dishes we ate tonight. Don't drool on your keyboard! Thanks for surviving through this blogpost, and leave me a comment will y'all? They make me blush :8}. Have a pleasant day, boys and girls!

Angels & Demons / Rambling about Pollution

So I watched it! I swore I wouldn't watch anything biblical or religious in the theaters but I'm really glad I made an exception of this one. There were so many things to like about this movie. The plot was a conceptual masterpiece seasoned with just the right amount of action and gore. The film had me on the edge of the seat the whole time, and I ignored mother nature's call altogether. It was truly mind over bladder. I didn't read the book, but heard that it was important to put aside the "book to movie" comparison and just enjoy it for what it's worth. Enjoy I did, and I couldn't help calling my sister a "illuminati" after the movie just for kicks. I'm not going to review this movie, partly because plenty of people are paid to do that and partly because I probably won't do it much justice. All I have to say is if you love yourself, you would go watch it. Yes, it's that good, and some more.

It's my first blogpost. I guess I shouldn't be expecting much of an audience. That's good; expectations are only a setup for failure. I'm kidding; we should always be optimistic about what happens around us. It's sad to see the Earth in such a battered state. Hmm, let's say we personify "Earth". I wonder what type of injury he/she would classify under? Could it be bone fractures in all four limbs but with possibility of a full or decent recovery, or a puncture to the heart resulting in the slow draining of "life juice" and eventual death? I hope it's the former; at least there's really something we can do about it. But you know how the saying goes "I rather die trying...yadayada...."? I guess that's how all our mentality should be. Is Earth really doomed for imminent death? I don't thing anyone will ever know; but the least we could do is try to prevent it from ever occurring.

An Indian boy searches for coins in the polluted waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi.The national capital is a major culprit in the pollution of the Yamuna, accounting for about 79 per cent of the total waste water that is poured into the river by the major towns along its banks. Despite the Indian government spending millions on trying to clean up the river, most of it going to waste-treatment stations, pollution levels continue to rise. Courtesy of Gigpic. (click image for more upsetting photographs)

"Enjoying" a swim. Courtesy of Gigipica, (click image for more upsetting photographs)

I shouldn't be one to talk though. I still use plastic bags once in awhile and I'm guilty of turning on the air conditioning. On the brighter side, I've started taking quick cold water showers and recycling at home. It's difficult to change a lifestyle that we've become moulded to, but hey, even putty loses its shape after while. Just something to think about...

What's up with the treacherous weather in Hong Kong? It's been raining for a full week. I'm in need of some Vitamin D. Besides, my camera doesn't like water so would you please stop crying and gives us a day or two of sunshine? Anyways, weather wizards predict another week of steady rainfall. Oh joy!