Settled in Fairview

After two days of packing and 'transporting', and with the help from Eddy and Howie, I have finally moved everything from Gage to Fairview, the summer residence. Fairview is certainly inferior to Gage, in my opinion. First of all, there's no TV. How am I gonna watch the remaining Rockets playoffs, and the 台湾八卦? That sux! And also, Fairview is farther away from the bus loop. That will make a huge difference starting from next week when I have to go to work every day from 9 to 5. But well, it's set. And I have made my room look more or less the same as before, quite feeling like home. Life has to go on.

Shanghai Auto Show

Look at the models at Shanghai Auto Show! How could the Vancouver Auto Show compare with it? There was NOT a single model at the Vancouver show...


Shanghai Auto Show 2


Shanghai Auto Show 1

Queen Elizabeth Park

Went to Queen Elizabeth Park with Xiao Se this afternoon. I'd consider it quite a worthy trip. The garden is pretty much of the same style as The Butchart Garden in Victoria. But, this one is totally free, and it appears as good.

(All photos below courtesy of Eddy, the professional photographer~~~~-to-be)


Sunken Garden---simply marvellous


Sunken Garden---another view


Hmm...What does this tree look like? Let your imagination run wild!


Lovely tulips


Such beautiful flowers

French done

Just finished my FREN 102 final. It was pretty manageable, slightly harder than the previous chapter tests, but that's pretty much expected for a final exam. Although this is my only final this term, and I've actually been slacking for a long time, I still feel relieved when it's done. Alright, now I really have to start writing my work term report, which I have been 'brainstorming' for a long long time and yet haven't written a single word for. Meanwhile, I also have to pack up my stuff and prepare for the move to Fairview. Annoying...

French final tomorrow, no blogging today...

My first work term has ended.

I went back to Schemasoft with Billy this afternoon to return our PCs. So now, I've officially finished the work term at Schemasoft. In the end, they actually let me keep the 17" bulky monitor as a 'token of appreciation', haha. (I'd rather keep the tower itself :p) What can I use it for? If the IT service 'buys back' monitors, maybe I'll just sell it, for whatever price offered. Certainly I'm not gonna carry it along when I move to Fairview at the end of the month. Bye Schemasoft! Oh wait, actually should be Apple Canada now. :p

Recommended TV Drama 2 --- Love Story in Harvard (Korea)

片名：爱在哈佛 Love Story in Harvard
长度：16集
地区：韩　国
类型：爱　情
编剧：崔莞圭
导演：李彰洙

Actually the drama title is kinda misleading, because only less than half of the story happened and was filmed in Harvard. The rest is all in Seoul. Just like a typical Korean drama, the heroine fell into a life-threatening illness, but this time it's a happy ending. Nevertheless, it's undoubtably a highly recommended piece of work (I would give it a 4.5 star). And, the campus scenary of Harvard is indeed breath-taking, gorgeous, and...(haven't yet found another appropriate adjective) Wish I were there!

More photos and wallpapers of this drama in my MSN Space photo album.



金泰熙 饰 李秀茵：哈佛医学系3年级的学生。小时候随父亲移民到美国，受了不少磨难。在父亲的影响下养成了独立，坚强的性格，是个聪敏能干的女孩子。非常率直，从来都不隐藏自己的感情，为了和贤宇相爱。放弃了一直梦寐以求，对自己来说千载难逢的机会。懂得什么是真正的爱情。为了所爱的人，愿意付出和牺牲。



金来元 饰 金贤宇：哈佛法律系留学的新生。在韩国有名望的法学世家出生，并被抚养长大。祖父是受人尊敬的大法官，父亲是律师事务所的代表，在头脑、为人、行为方面都非常优秀。不受名誉、金钱和权利的束缚。是个善良、热心、有人情味的人。



李廷镇 饰 洪正民：美国式的理性主义者，原理原则主义者。得体、优雅的衣着和举止，具有贵族气质。冷酷、理智，过于自负。从小在没有挫折，优越的环境下长大。心地却有着因父亲好不容易建立起来的事业却因为贤宇的父亲所经营的律师事务所中的诉讼中彻底失败而失去父亲的不幸阴影。


金枚 饰 刘真雅：在典型的美国式教育下长大成人。为了得到想要的东西和达到自己的目的会不择手段，性格执拗，还具有很强的占有欲。但是因为恋上了正民，为了得到正民的爱，甚至于达到了会为了爱情而不惜舍弃自己的地步。然而，却始终无法得到他的心。

Hilarious

Is God playing a joke with me? Yesterday he gave me a blow on my head, and today he made me an offer? I can't stand such 大悲大喜 for many times before I go crazy. He IS making me crazy.
Last night, I emailed my co-op coordinator asking her if BC Cancer Research Centre had made their decision on hiring, cos I couldn't wait to know whether my last chance still exist or not. So this morning, she called BCCRC, and actually BCCRC was just about to send me email to make an offer of a Anaylst/Developer position in their genome research lab. And just now, the guy interviewed me that day emailed me to confirm the offer. Finally... The interview-offer ratio stops at 12:1. :P It turns out really like what Lu Yi said---my last chance is my offer. Thanks, Eddy, Lu Yi, and Donkey, for comforting me. Really appreciate your support from 'around the world' (Vancouver, London, Singapore, ya, that's indeed 'around the world', haha).
In the past, I thought I was a calm person who can face frustration confidently. But now, looking back, I was actually behaving like a child, emotional, impatient, unconfident... funny.

Feel so down...

Didn't pass the HR interview with Creo, not even had the chance to meet with the technical staff. Sighz... What a blow on the head! Time's running out, mid-April already now. Seems like I really have to seriously think about what if I can't get a co-op job for the summer, although I've always been unwilling to do so. What's wrong with me this term?? I think I've broken the record for the interview-offer ratio in the department. What a sarcastic and humiliating record...

Demonstration!

Hoho, anti-Jap demonstration in Suzhou! Didn't expect that would happen in my hometown at all! Looks like pretty serious, riot police deployed, and got ppl arrested... (Photos were sent from Eddy and Li Bin.)


In front of Suzhou People's Store

Arresting

As DPP is so screwed in handling the Cross-Strait relations right now, the co-operation between CCP and KMT for the third time in the Chinese history becomes not only possible, but even necessary as well. More.

Rockets thrashed Sonics by 90:78, as expected

Rockets advanced to playoff

Yay, Rockets beat Suns. Shuang! Now looking forward to the match against Supersonics tonight. Most likely will win.


Sui Feifei has arrived at Sacramento Monarchs, ready for WNBA.
Her resume: http://sports.qq.com/a/20031221/000049.htm

BT is indeed so 'BT'...

Still downloading my 《爱在哈佛》at a turtle speed of 5K/s... unbearable... however, one guy somewhere on campus is downloading from me at 200+ K/s!! wat de... feel so 'unbalanced' while watching that wild difference. :(

Vancouver Auto Show 05

Went to Auto Show at BC Place Stadium this afternoon, and saw a lot of cars, cool or ugly. Ppl usually say “香车美女”，but today there was no single 美女 for those “香车”, which is quite a pity... Basically I'm a 外行, so I just took a lot of pictures for my photo album of my MSN Space.

The Rich Cultural and Linguistic Background of the Suzhou Dialect

最近突然对苏州话的研究有了兴趣，在网上search了不少有关文章，以下是《中国百科全书》对苏州话的诠释：

苏州话苏州话，一种吴语方言，属于吴语太湖片苏沪嘉小片。长期以来一直是吴语的主要代表方言之一（上海话也是吴语的代表方言，但实际上苏州话和上海话差别很小，苏州话比上海郊区一些吴语方言更容易被上海市区人理解）。
苏州话以软糯著称，所谓吴侬软语（侬作人解）就是由此而来。昆曲和评弹都使用苏州话，并流行于整个吴语太湖片。现代苏州话有27（或28，如果不分尖团）个声母，43个韵母，7个声调，这个声韵调系统也是吴语的一般情况。
苏州话也是一种文学语言，19世纪兴起的吴语文学如《海上花列传》就是以苏州话写成。

还有就是我总算找到了一首用苏州话唱的歌，不是评弹哦。



苏州好风光（新版 朱虹演唱）

上有呀天堂 下呀有苏杭
城里有园林 城外有水乡
哎呀 苏州好风光 好呀好风光 哎呀哎呀
春季里杏花开 雨中采茶忙
夏日里荷花塘 琵琶丁冬响
摇起小船 轻弹柔唱 桥洞里面看月亮
桥洞里面看月亮 哎呀哎呀
秋天里桂花香 庭院书声朗
冬季里腊梅放 太湖连长江
推开门窗 青山绿水 巧手绣出新天堂
巧手绣出新天堂 哎呀哎呀
上有呀天堂 下呀有苏杭
说不尽苏州好呀好风光
哎呀哎呀
哎哎呀 说不尽苏州好呀好风光
哎呀哎呀 说不尽苏州好呀好风光 说不尽苏州好呀好风光

这首歌唱得非常好，把苏州话的“软”和“糯”表现得淋漓尽致。但是，我听了几遍都觉得有些字的发音似乎和我平时讲的不一样。比如“下”，“水”，“茶”，“江”，“月”这些字在那首歌里的发音感觉更接近普通话，不得其解。我们Eddy Wu同学的解释是唱歌里的发音有时就是和口语不一样的。Well, I'll just take it as it is.

这一篇《吴侬软语 苏式美食--从金庸武侠小说细看姑苏》讲的也是蛮有道理的。
http://spaces.msn.com/members/tonyqin2005/Blog/cns!1pUzPY8NepMbIzJc9OOgymRw!163.entry

F.I.R. released their second album

F.I.R.'s new album is so disappointing... :-(

ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest Final

As the Blogger server was down from yesterday afternoon to night, I posted this entry in my MSN Spaces, which can be found here:
http://spaces.msn.com/members/tonyqin2005/Blog/cns!1pUzPY8NepMbIzJc9OOgymRw!134.entry

Happened to find the lyrics of "Eyes On Me"

Whenever sang my songs　
on the stage　on my own
Whenever said my words　
Wishing they would be heard

I saw you smiling at me　
Was it real or just my fantasy
You'd always be there in the corner of this tiny little bar

My last night here for you　
same old songs　just once more
My last night here with you　
Maybe Yes　Maybe No

I kind of liked it your way　
How you shyly placed your eyes on me
Did you ever know that I had mine on you？

Darling So there you are　
with that look on your face
As if you've never hurted　
As if you've never down
Shall I be the one for you　
Who pinches you softly but sure
If frown is shown then　
I will know that you are no dreamer

So let me come to you　
Close as I wanted to be
Close enough for me to feel your heart beating fast

and stay there as I whisper
How I loved your peaceful eyes on me
Did you ever know that I had mine on you？

Darling　So share with me
your love if you have enought
your tears if you're holding back
of pain If that's what it is
How can I let you know　
I'm more than the dress and the voice
Just reach me out then you will know that you're not dreaming


Faye Wong / Eyes On Me