What’s ‘Lo Hei’, you ask? Obviously i’m the wrong person to ask, but you can read this wikipedia entry if you’re curious. Basically it involves mixing and tossing a bunch of food into the air as a group for “Prosperity Toss” to bring good luck for the upcoming year. Sounds super fun, and it was! :D

The ingredients, before tossing. There are also (very thin) strips of salmon and sticky dressing to be added to the mix.

Toss Toss Toss!!! This is actually a screen capture of video I took with iPhone.. not bad right? I originally wanted to post up the video, but it needs to be edited as the orientation was all wrong (the video was tilted vertically) and my windows movie maker is not cooperating with me in trying to edit MOV files -_-

Aftermath of the lo hei. We’re supposed to eat it too!

It was a yummy mess

Funny stuff, group next to our table went completely overboard with the tossing. There were traces of food on the ceiling and on people’s hair!!

Afterwards, normal lunch resumes. We must have had 5-6 dishes coming after! I was very full.

On the last dream, I managed to experience what people call “Lucid Dreaming” – in which while dreaming you are completely aware you are in a dream. This doesn’t happen very often to me, and it was definitely a memorable experience. As I said before, I’m not the type to really remember any of my dreams but this one I can remember crystal clear, down to the tiny details. In fact that’s what made it so unusual.. the details!

This isn’t my first lucid dream, but that one happened so long ago that I forgot how it feels like to experience it.

As always, I don’t remember how the dream started. All I know is that I was somehow inside a log cabin somewhere in a cold area. A few cousins of mine, whom I rarely see, were also there. Nothing exciting was happening as we were just talking, but suddenly I snapped and told myself “I’m dreaming!”. Then everyone disappeared and I was all alone in the cabin. For some reason I was wearing layers of clothing and had a bag over my shoulder, so I put those down before exploring the cabin. It was really insane how I was aware that nothing was real, but I could feel everything as if they were. The texture of the leather sofa inside the room, the warm feeling of wall to wall wooden structure, the dim lighting of the cabin… it was creepy and exciting at the same time.

I remember reading a few articles on lucid dreams, how some people were able to fly or conjure up things / people. In my lucid dream I was trying to make all that happen but with no success. I remember I sat on the sofa and tried really hard to make someone appear in my dream, but it didn’t happen and I woke up instead.

Oh well.. next time! I hope I get a more exciting lucid dream :)

working this event has forced me to read up on Asian Tour’s leading golfers (like when I need to write short articles for the website, or when I need to caption pictures), and doing so has made me realize just how great of athletes they really are!

This is me and my sister with Noh Seung Yul. I realize I look pretty horrible in this picture… but no matter, because this kid is one of the most talented golfers in Asian Tour and he just barely turned 18. He became a pro golfer last year and immediately made his name by winning a tournament and getting his name in the 10th place of the money list by the end of the year. who at 17 makes $300,000? this kid does. and that’s just from tournament wins…

This one is Bryan Saltus. We met him last February at Indonesia Open, when he played in the same flight as my brother and we got to talking and found out he’s a SoCal-er! and any SoCal-er is amazing in my book, plus Bryan is really friendly and a really talented golfer to boot.

(and yes, that is beer bottle)

This is Gaganjeet Bhullar, who won the tournament last week with an impressive 22 under par score. He only made ONE bogey throughout the entire tournament! that’s hella amazing… the guy was really friendly when we asked him for pictures and autograph. I have a hat designated for golf autographs now.. I plan to add more to this hat as I attend more Asian Tour events!

To top it off, the President of Indonesia came out to attend the prize presentation ceremony and personally handed over the trophy to the winner. it was the first time he ever came out to this event (on its 3rd year), and a brave move since it was only about a week after the twin bombing in Central Jakarta. Yeah, you can just imagine how crazy the preparation was for him to come.. lots of things to prepare behind the scene that I previously would never even imagine.

For pictures of this, i’ll just direct you to the official website :)

So.. yeah. that’s what I’ve been busy with. I tried really hard to post at least once more in July since I barely posted last year, but I guess it’s past midnight and it’s officially August

yeah, i’m freaking out about the fact that it’s already August. In my mind it’s still JUNE!

I love the scarves and linens, but most of all i love the hand carved AND hand painted (!!) batik masks:

When i grow up and have a house, I want three of these hanging on the living room wall. there were three different sizes. the smallest one is about the size of my palm (see below) and the biggest one covers my face. the medium-sized mask is probable about 1.5 bigger than the smallest one.

I took a liking to this mask since the face isn’t as sinister as the other ones. plus, the pattern is just so pretty! I feel so inspired after seeing these. wonder if I can buy the unpainted carved masks and paint one myself!

Anyway, today my family and I also happen to pass by the christian school that all three of us (me, my sis and my bro) used to go to. I went to this school from 6th – 9th grade. It was quite a nostalgic experience. The school was a bit smaller than I remember, but they held so many memories of my early teenage years.

we talked about the places we used to hang out at, and how all three of us used to get some sort of punishment for being  just a couple minutes late to school (we had to stand in front of the whole school during our monday weekly ceremony!!), how my brother played basketball and soccer all the time and ripped his pants in front of his classmates (he didn’t care back then), how we had to change for gym in a small bathroom along with the rest of the class, so on so forth. it’s amazing how much you’re able to remember and how much you manage to forget in just.. a little under 10 years.

ahhh memories!!!

This is about US$100 in rupiah, the currency of Indonesia. Isn’t it nuts how something that can be represented with just one bill in the US requires at least 10 bills here? (our biggest bill is Rp 100,000)

A bit of Indonesian history: As far as I can recall, Rupiah wasn’t always this weak against USD. it wasn’t until the huge asian financial crisis back in 1997 that the value of US dollar literally quintupled against Rupiah, as it did to many other currencies as well. I believe before the crisis, the exchange rate for US$1 was Rp 2,000 – 3,000. Immediately after the crisis (1998-1999) the rate became Rp 12,000 – 16,000 for US$1… so you can just imagine how CRAZY it was for us. Anyway, Rupiah never really recovered from the crisis… even now, 11 years later. I believe the lowest exchange rate was only around Rp 8,000 per USD, which was back in 2008. In fact, right now it is back at around Rp 11,400 due to the recession.

Welcome to Indonesia, where things aren’t as nice and dandy as it is in the states

(… but still a million times better than Zimbabwe)

then i started looking around for things to do around the apartment when i came across this box with my little memorabilias in it. i think i forgot to unpack it from when i moved from my previous apartment. i found a bunch of things i almost forgot about inside, but the notable ones are these two:

that’s my prom picture. omg i was sooooo awkward! it’s pretty embarrassing… anyway, i went with a good friend from high school. he’s up in the bay area right now in UCSF dental school. i haven’t talked to him in almost two years now.

this one is my math 33b midterm from my 2nd year. i saved it because it was one of my best exams from college (although i almost forgot about it until now). i’ve gotten a few A’s before, but this was special since it was a “real” A, not a curved A. ^^ i think the average for this midterm was mid 70s. sadly though, i only managed a B in the class. i bombed the second midterm after this one and only did okay in the final -_- (which counted for a huge chunk of the grade.. over 50%)

so, that coupled with the Beijing Olympic Ceremony, can you imagine just how excited chinese people all over the world are to welcome this day? :D

anyway, today i went to a BBQ hosted by one of my friends.

Ethan loves popcorn. if you hold out a piece he would take it off your hands ^^. he is about 2 years old

Hayden (one year old?) loOooves to play with things. more on this later.

Hayden looking very interested in my camera case. he took it and carried it around the apartment. i had to take it back when he started to chew on it cause it’s not exactly the cleanest thing ever :P

yummy BBQ!

then we all watched the opening ceremony together on my friend’s awesome HDTV. honestly, i have to say… only chinese people can pull off that kind of show. it was absolutely amazing. i was told they spent a whooping $300 million preparing for this Olympics. for comparison, in distant second is the US at $30 million for the Atlanta 1996 Olympics (though don’t quote me on this cause i haven’t checked the facts yet)

In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more when these boys from Southern California discovered a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims.

After returning to the States, they created the documentary “Invisible Children: Rough Cut,” a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda.s night commuters and child soldiers.

The film was originally shown to friends and family, but has now been seen by millions of people. The overwhelming response has been, “How can I help?” To answer this question, the non-profit Invisible Children, Inc. was created, giving compassionate individuals an effective way to respond to the situation.

and now, onto the pics:

Kristen when she first arrived at Red Mango. There were about 50-60 people in line at this point. It was a pretty small event.. I also didn’t see it advertised that much (I only saw fliers the day before)

Signing autographs for the kids. she is wearing Invisible Children tank top now over her summer dress.

Kristen and a very star struck me :D she was soOOo tiny!! I am wearing flip-flops here while she is wearing 4″ heels in this picture. i’m about 5’3″ or 5’4″ so she’s probably about 5’1″ – 5’2″?

my autographed Veronica Mars season 1 DVD. Kristen was very nice when i asked her to sign the DVD :) maybe someday I can get the autograph of all cast? wishful thinking, i know.

remember that i bought my camera after seeing Kristen Bell over a year ago? I suppose my camera has fulfilled its duty now :D

Final Fantasy IV – after the disappointment that is FF3 remake (which i have to say was one of the most frustrating RPG with the scarceness of save points and lack of an actual solid storyline), i’m hoping Square redeems itself through the remake one of the classics. i’ve heard good things about it from people who have played the Japanese version, making me oh-so-very optimistic about this game! and for the record, i’ve never played the original SNES one so it’ll be a brand new experience to me

The World Ends With You – another Square Enix release that’s been generating quite a bit of buzz and positive reviews. i keep hearing it being referred to as possibly a new break through in the RPG scene. with such promises, i hope it doesn’t fall below my expectation. scheduled to release at the end of this month (04/22/2008).

I read a short story in indonesian that I like. It’s a simple story and i would translate it if i had the skill, but unfortunately i don’t.

do LEAVES fly away because the WIND blew or because TREES did not stop them from flying?

what i realized just today is that if people are potatoes and eggs, does each and everyone of us eventually gets the chance to be “boiled” in such way? i feel that some people will never get to that point, because life can be so… normal. so cookie-cuttered, so safe and so mundane that it’s impossible to achieve such extremity if we are not consciously pursuing it.

which brings me to my next point. i heard an very inspiring story from a certain president of a certain company today. in everyday life, he keeps very low profile (though one should be aware of his success judging from what he has today) that if he hadn’t told me, i would have never guessed in a million year how he had it in the past.

he went to medical school in Taiwan, graduated second in his class, and came to Harvard as a scholar exchange in the medical field during his last year. then, as if that’s not already an accomplishment enough, Harvard practically *begged* him to try their MBA program. he didn’t submit his application because of the ginormous tuition and even passed the application deadline without applying, but gave in when Harvard still didn’t back down.

his family was considered wealthy, to the point that Harvard’s hefty tuition wasn’t a problem for them. however, he refused aid and turned down all offers of help from family, all except $6,000 that he brought with him to the US. obviously this wasn’t enough for Harvard’s $37,000 a year tuition. he couldn’t accept any scholarship for a certain period of time since he was a foreign student, but he persisted and got a job washing toilets at a local Chinese restaurant (told me he knows how to change toilet seats). he and his now wife survived over staple college kids food like cup ramen. on some nights he would wait in front of dunkin donut’s for the leftovers because they are $1 for eight donuts, which he ate in a span of a week with his wife. during winter time, he wrapped himself in a thin blanket and froze in the cold snowy day.

fast forward fifteen years later, to say that he reaped the result of his hardwork is a complete understatement. he now owns a couple of houses and properties in bel air, owns an office building in LA, and owns a business which consisted of seven health care facilities all over LA. basically, he’s the dictionary definition of a self made billionaire. everything he has now he worked hard from ground up with little to no help.

he told me that if he hadn’t gone through those kind of hardship, he’s not sure if he would be where he is today. he could have been better off, but the experience has given him a sort of wisdom that no one else can achieve otherwise. it made me realize that i should stop pitying myself, because life hardships… once you get through everything, only good can came out from it.

oh, and then he went to UCLA AND USC for even further education. what the hell is there after grad school??