The Cover

I can't make up my mind, so I will let you have a say.

Do you like this one?

(1) Square (7"x7")










Or, this one?

(2) Standard Portrait (8" x 10")












How about these?

(3) Standard Landscape (10" x 8")



























I started with the square, and still like it the most, but the size is too small. Then, I tried portrait, but today I find it too boring. What do you think about landscape? Never mind the colours and the pictures selection now, cause I only roughly made up three covers tonight. (Of course, you can suggest some colour schemes.)

Better cast your vote quick, or I will be so confused with which one to choose.

For family members, I am looking for pictures! I have already exhausted every single picture in my computer. My wish list includes:

* Birthday
* Graduation
* Wedding
* With individual family (including family members outside the human species)
* With "unexpected" family members (e.g. Di with goo-ma)
* First time doing something (e.g. first day to kindergarten)
* Winning a prize
* Those on top of your TV or hang on your wall, etc. (inspired by someone's picture being replaced by Bacon's on top of a TV)

You got the idea.

The Tse Family "Cho Uk" (祖屋) – Part 3 of 5 -- The 2nd special item of the house is...

... the stair!

A bridge

The stair is a bridge between the world of Chinese TV (main floor) and the world of English TV (basement). During my stay in December last year, Aunt 2 told me to keep the light on all the time. If I was in an English literature class, I would say that the light that was always on symbolized the always welcomed communications and exchange between the two generations. (Wow! I really did learn something in my English 30!)

Superpower revealed

During our first stay at Uncle and Aunt 2's house, Sara, Rose and Belinda, who were born on the same year, were aged 3Y1M, 2Y9M and 2Y8M. On of our hobbies in the house was to walk up and down the stair. (It's easy to understand. We don't have a stair in our HK apartments!) One day, we were walking up and down as usual. Suddenly, the rather absent minded little Belinda stepped on her long dress and started rolling down the stair. In a split second, I (already landed on the basement) turned and caught her with my hands to avoid her head hitting on the concrete floor.

Till now, I still can't believe I could react so quickly and hold a two year-old when I myself was only eight. May be during time of emergency, our hidden power will reveal without notice.

Guess who?

The first time when the twins stayed at Uncle and Aunt 2's house, they were around three or four and I was already in college. One day I was reading at the basement and suddenly the stair light went on and off non-stop.

"Dai Mui (大妹, the older twin), don't play with the light." I commended.

There's a second of silence.

"It's not me. It's Sai Mui (細妹, the younger twin)." Dai Mui appealed.

"It's you. I saw you."

"No. You can't see me from where you sit." Dai Mui insisted.

"I can see you from here."

And then the twins were gone and the light didn't go on and off again.

After all these years, I have to confess that Dai Mui was right that I couldn't SEE HER from where I sat. However, I could see Sai Mu, who was one step below Dai Mui and was at least half a foot shorter than Dai Mui at the time. With this "height" difference, Sai Mui couldn't even reach the switch.

It's not that difficult to figure out the "doer" for a fan of detective stores.

Friday off

Visited the "World of Mirrors" at the Science Museum today after having a hair cut. Since it's a mirrors exhibition, not everything you see from the collage is real! There's also a "mirror maze" (2nd to last pictures of the 1st row), which I had to walk through carefully as I have a great tendency crushing myself into any glass/mirror!

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year, also at the Science Museum, is great too. Make sure you check it out before 1 May.

First a writer, now a publisher

A colleague sent me this, and I decide to get the Myths and the Facts of the Tse Family published! (RELAX! By "published", it means "to print a hardcopy".)

(Make your own book with) Blurb:
http://www.blurb.com/

I've played around with it, and got the basic layout done. It seems a lot of funs, although the software itself has plenty of room for improvement.

I plan to print some copies as Christmas presents for families. So, if you want a separate copies, drop me an email with mailing address. Deadline for ordering is beginning of November. If you have memorable pictures and interesting stories to share, don't forget to email them to me. I will acknowledge the contributors in the books!

6:58pm

Haven't left the office so early for a while. I didn't need the magnetic card to pass the gate at the lift lobby downstairs from office, was able to do some (grocery) shopping before dining at home, had plenty of time for my evening walk and some more for a few pages of a good book.

Just couldn't be better.

How I reborn

Haven't practiced my calligraphy for months, and I am glad that I can finally pick it up again today, although I had to start from the strokes!

One of my finest hours

I went "wow" when I saw this book in store, after an office event, this afternoon.

Churchill is one of my heroes, and I have been wanting to get this book for a while. I had tried visiting two Page One in one day but all they had were books with lots of scratches on the covers.

Bought some more as well (but where's my time?). The bad thing was -- I thought bookstores were still on sale but the one I visited ended the sale earlier than the others :(

Too bad.

[For those not in HK, bookstores with a Chinese background usually have major sale during Chinese January, cause "book" and "lose" in Chinese sound the same!]

Tired

I will reborn after 8 March. Stay tune.

Happy Birthday!

Today is the 7th day of the Lunar New Year. According to Chinese tradition, today's 人日 (People's Day), i.e. everyone's birthday. On this special occasion, let me wish everyone a happy birthday!

As a People's Day Special, let me present to you the following collage of our first year old b-day party pictures:

Quiz 7

For those in the family, can you figure who's who in the collage? (Rule: You can't name yourself nor the one in your immediately family!)

For those not in the family, can you find me in the collage?

Hint 1: There are 19 of us in the generation. Two of us I can't manage to have their photos in time, while some pictures are actually repeating to make the collage a perfect square.

Hint 2: Due to the difficulty to have a hold of all the pictures, some were not exactly one-year old.

Hint 3: You may want to visit my photo album that shows the pictures in bigger size. I also included in the album some other pictures on the same occasions but with more people.

Isn't it lovely?

Please support an up and coming young artist:

http://photos.yahoo.co.jp/ph/cchoy/lst?.dir=/a7f0&.src=ph&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.co.jp/&.view=t

No Right Click

This is the problem of the touch pad of my notebook, so it's gone for maintenance again. (No. I have nothing in the harddisk. Everything is stored in my two portable harddisks, so nothing can be released.)

So I will have no computer at home for a while. That means blog will be updated less frequent (although I have lots to post), and also less traffic in Facebook. Be patient!

Chinese New Year -- The Tse Family Style -- The Celebration

We had the food, and we had to had a feast (or feasts) to finish them off.

(1) Old days in HK

Since we lived with grandma and grandma and my dad is the oldest brother, everyone came to our house for CNY. (This "everyone" meant Uncles 4 and 5 and their families, while the rest were in Australia and Edmonton. Those days, all that were in Canada were in Edmonton.)

The celebration started on CNY Eve and would last for four days.

On the first day, i.e. CNY Eve, everyone would rush to our house after work for dinner, and my mom would cook for around 13 people (Yiu-lun and the twins were not born yet). Like in Uncle and Aunt 2's house, we couldn't all crowd to the dinning table even though we would "enlarge" the table by adding on a very thin piece of metal plate (as in a Chinese restaurant, but theirs is made of wood. Very common gadget in the house those days when we still had big families.) We would therefore separate into an "adults table" (i.e. the dinning table) and a "kids table" (i.e. the coffee table, still in my house today!). Usually, the kids table would serve fewer, simpler and cheaper dishes than the adults table :(

The Uncles and families would come again on the CNY Day. They would come to our house to greet grandma and grandpa. The Uncles and Aunts and my parents would "pour grandma and grandpa tea" (another Chinese tradition for the young to do to the elderly), I think, and then grandma and grandpa would give them red pockets. Uncles 4 & 5 and their families would stay till after lunch and then off to visit some other friends and relatives. They would come again to have lunch on the 2nd and 3rd days of CNY and then the family CNY celebration was finally over.

One secret I never told anyone before was that I wanted to start my very own "CNY business" during those days. At the time, security of a housing estate was not as tight as now. There would be people knocking your door and said "distributing Choy Son (派財神 distributing "god of fortune")". Basically, it's a small piece of red paper with the words "Choy Son" ugly written on it with a Chinese brush. Usually, since it's CNY, people would receive the "Choy Son", gave the young guy a red pocket and sent him off.

I was less than 10 at the time, but I thought I could use a Chinese brush better than these people, and I had a big pool of "cheap labours" (i.e. Nobel, Sara and Belinda. Simon was too young at the time.), and I should be able to make good money from the same business :P

I thought about the same year after year but couldn't make it real even once :( May be I was too little to propose to my mom this crazy idea :(

(2) Less as old days in Edmonton

Same logic as in HK, everyone goes to Uncle and Aunt 2's house for CNY as they are the oldest in the area and live with grandma and grandpa most of the times. Unlike in HK, the celebration takes part only on CNY Eve (interestingly, on CNY Eve not on CNY day), and hence red pockets are also distributed on CNY Eve rather than Day.

(3) Nowadays in HK

As we are getting old, we have more plans during CNY. The celebration thus only means going to "yum cha" on CNY Day in recent years.

***** *****

The real CNY special of the Fact and the Myths of the Tse Family will come on 13 Feb. Stay tune.

Chinese New Year -- The Tse Family Style -- The Food

On the 2nd day of Chinese New Year, let's talk about some Tse Family tradition on the occasion.

When I was single-digit years old, we lived with grandma and grandpa. During Chinese New Year, grandma would make a lot of festive food for "ancestor worship" as well as the CNY feast. I can't remember all that she made, but here're some highlights.

(1) "Pond with duckies"

I don't know how it's called. Basically, it's made up of different kinds of flour (麵粉、糯米粉、粘米粉, etc.). Grandma would roll the dough into some small balls, short columns and duckies, and then arrange them in a round bamboo container so that it would look like some duckies swimming in a pond. (Grandma would let us play with the dough but all we could make were the balls and may be the columns.) Then, grandma would steam it and put some red colouring as decoration. Grandma would make a few "ponds" each time for "ancestors worship".

When the "ponds" were freshly cooked, we would eat them directly with soya bean sauce. After the first day, grandma would cut them into pieces and stir fry them just like "Stir fried Shanghai nin go (上海炒年糕)".

(2) Salty Chickens

Chickens were the main character of our CNY feast. The Consultant of the Fact and the Myth of the Tse Family said we would consume five to six chickens each CNY for different ancestors that we need to remember. The chickens were usually freshly killed (i.e. no frozen chicken) and boiled. For the first couple of chickens, we again would eat them directly with some oyster sauce. For the rest, grandma would use a lot of salt to sort of season them after the ritual, but the objective was actually for preservation. To salt fresh food is how people preserve food in the old days when there's no refrigerator. Grandma kept the style even though we had had refrigerator for a long time by then.

The salty chickens were usually re-cooked in one of the two ways: (i) steam; (ii) steam it on top of the rice so that the rice would soak up the chicken juice. The rice tasted real good as well as the chicken. Believe me. The salty chickens usually would take us till the middle of Lunar January even though we had it almost every single day! It still tasted good at the end of the period, although I have to say we (or at least me) was bored after eating them for half a month!

(3) Dragon Boat Rice Dumplings

Yes, this is right. This is our hometown's tradition to have "dragon boat rice dumplings" during Chinese New Year, but grandma would only make a few just good enough for "ancestor worship". (I will talk about grandma's "dragon boat rice dumplings" later on, so please don't comment on this for the moment.)

So much for the food. Let's talk about the celebration tomorrow.

鼠年大吉

Have a great Rat year everyone!

P.S. Huang Yong-yu is my favourite artist. Thanks to Apple Daily, I finally "own" his works!

The Tse Family "Cho Uk" (祖屋) – Part 2 of 5 -- The 1st special item of the house is...

... the dinning table!












The most celebrated birthday

The dinning table is at least as old as the house, if not older, and many of the Tse Family gatherings, from small to medium to big, take place around the table. While it might look ordinary, the dinning table has witnessed a lot of unforgettable Tse Family moments. Among those, it includes Uncle 2's birthdays, the most celebrated b-days in the Tse Family.

Uncle 2's birthday "usually" falls in August (check out my cousin's blog to see why I use "usually"), which is a prime time for the "once in a few years mega Tse Family gatherings". Except, again, Goo Ma, Uncle 4 and his son, everyone in the family has participated in Uncle 2's birthday party at least once, and has taken similar pictures around the dinning table as the two in this post.

Quiz 6

So, can you tell which years were these two pictures taken, or how many years apart of these two pictures?

Who qualify?

However, not all of us are qualified to sit around the dinning table. When there are around 40 of us in the family, even if only a quarter of us show up at the same time (which is quite a "regular" size for a Tse Family gathering in Edmonton), we can hardly fit to the dinning table all at once. So, usually those "older ones" can actually sit around the table, while those "younger onces", especially those not very good with chopsticks and speak better English than Chinese, will use a plate and folk to take some food before the older generation gathers around the dinning table and go to eat at the basement where English TV is on.

Tse Family catering

Last but not least, thanks to Uncle and Aunt 2, delicious food is always served on the table. It's a pity that they don't open a restaurant :(

Food Prices

Lately, fresh food prices in HK are going up like crazy.

For example, pork price has been up for 30% these couple of days. We are not going to have fresh beef from Mainland tomorrow, and hence price is expected to increase again. Children in poverty are having difficulty to have simple breakfast of bread and milk cause the flour price goes up as well. The morning radio programme I listen to has been joking about it's more profitable to buy and sell fresh food than stock, as beef price has increased 50% in just a month.

Sound like we are at war or something.

I heard a joke (I hope it's a joke) from a friend today:

A person is liaising with his/her boss about pay rise.

Boss: So how much do you want?

Worker: Same as the increase of flour price.

Crazy.

It's said that we are having the best economy in 20 years. The result is we have inflation again, but salary rise (if any) simply can't catch up with inflation.

The Tse Family "Cho Uk" (祖屋)

In Chinese, there's something called "cho uk", which is a house that passes from one generation to another, and where significant family events take place.

Where is it?

For the Tse Family, I think we have, or at least used to have, a "cho uk" in our hometown Hoi Ping (開平), China. But for the younger ones in the family, the Tse Family Cho Uk is located in Millwoods, Edmonton instead. That is, Uncle and Aunt 2's house.

Except Goo Ma, Uncle 4 and his son, all of us have stayed, or at least have frequently visited there. I believe that Uncle and Aunt 2 have lived there for almost 30 years, and I heard that neighbours on the same street are still the same ones three decades ago. The house is always warm, in terms of both the caring and the laughers, and also the thermostat that always points to +25C, despite the freezing cold temperature outside! It's also a place full of unforgettable memories of the family. Let's start with mine.

Cho Uk and Ida

The first time I stayed at Uncle and Aunt 2's, I was only eight. That's one of those "once every few years mega Tse Family gatherings" that we, and the #4 and #5 families spent the summer in Edmonton. At the time, the youngest one in the family was my brother (ranked the 9th out of the 19 of us), and I remember that the basement of the house was not yet furnished, nor the plants in the front and backyards there.

The second major period that I stayed at Uncle and Aunt 2's was during college years. I usually spent my weekends and school holidays there unless I was busy. One time during summer, Rose and I had a hard time deciding whether I should be counted as one of the people living in the house when Rose's trying to fill in the census survey form for the Statistics Canada. (Rose had an even harder time to decide whether her mother tongue was Cantonese or English!) When my friend drove me home during weekend, they would ask whether I was going to "Uk K" (屋企) or "Uk K Uk K" (屋企屋企), with "Uk K" being HUB and "Uk K Uk K" being Uncle and Aunt 2's place. Sometimes some very clever friends would drive me to one of those two places without asking and it ended up taking me twice as long to get "home"!

I used to use Uncle and Aunt 2's place as my "permanent address" for quite some years. Even today, I am still very tempted to write down the Millwoods address every time I need to write down a return address under my name!

***** *****

This constitutes the first of the five posts about Uncle and Aunt 2's house. In the next three, I will talk about the three items/places that you simply can't miss in the house. Stay tune!

Same dream, every year

Nightmare on Christmas

I am still suffering from my "24-hr sleepiness symptom", and went to bed around 9pm on Christmas day.

I then woke up at 1am, cause my head ached a record high level in recent years. It's like being hammered with nails to my head.

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got out of bed in the hope of locating any pain killer at home but in vain. After struggling for a while, when I couldn't stand the pain anymore, I finally decided to got dressed and visited the Circle K downstairs (at 1am!). Luckily, it's a real 24-hr convenient store (some 7-11s and Circle Ks closed at mid-night), and I got a pack of Panadol there. In 20 minutes, my headache was more or less gone (thanks goodness) and I went to bed again.

Then the real "nightmare" came. I dreamed of a cat wondering my bed side and used its fore leg to touch my face.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I couldn't scream at all.

And I woke in the middle of the night again. No wonder my Chinese doctor said I don't have quality sleep.

P.S. Pain killers used to be my good friend. My record was taking eight Tylenol a day (maximum dosage) in a few consecutive days, till one day I received an email from a friend telling me that I would die soon if I continued.

P.P.S. Cats are my life-time greatest enemy.

Elmo Saves Christmas Part 6

So Elmo had saved Christmas.

May I wish everyone a warm Christmas and prosperous New Year :)

Elmo Saves Christmas Part 5

Elmo Saves Christmas Part 4

Elmo Saves Christmas Part 3

Elmo Saves Christmas Part 2

Elmo Saves Christmas Part 1

Back

I was backed on Friday night, and will be back to the reality tomorrow.

I would call it a wonderful trip -- eating and sleeping, reading and going out sometimes, chatting with grandma, eating and sleeping again... ... That's what life should be!

Thanks those who had "entertained" me during my study. I was going in a rush indeed. Should stay longer and going more cities next time.

Last but not least, check out my pictures taken in Edmonton. I am starting to like photography!

Platform 9-3/4, King's Cross Station

I sneaked out from grandma's appointment at the University Hospital today to have a walk on campus and took the LRT to downtown. I was supposed to take a bus at the stop on 100A Street and 102 Avenue back home.

Well, I walked around. I saw 100 Street and 101 Street, 102 Avenue and 102A Avenue, but there's no such street numbered 100A.

...... ......

I felt like Harry Potter.

P.S. Of course I finally got the bus back home, but I still couldn't see the mysterious 100A Street. It turned out that the bus stop is located in between 100 and 101 Streets along 102 Avenue. But then I got off the bus one stop earlier and had to step on the snow for another block home :(

Two cups of tea and three mugs of coffee

That's how I stay awake today to avoid more embarrassment. I think I better sleep early tonight, although it doesn't really work.

Safely Arrived

I'd safely arrived Edmonton last night, and not only having jet lag but feeling very very sleepy 24 hours a day!

We went to Burger Deluxe to have greasy burgers, greasy hotdogs, and greasy french fries and sweet potato fries tonight. It tasted so good, and I am going to gain the few pounds lost last month in only a meal's time!

I am flying to Edmonton tomorrow!

So this is how we destroy the earth

Pictures taken during the dismantling of our exhibition last night.

At least 95% of our exhibition was tailor made. That means, at the end of the fourth day, everything became "construction waste" and went to the landfill.

Poor mother earth.
























To rewind a bit, this is how it looked during the set-up process. Two major differences between this collage and the next one are there's no carpet and the light wasn't on yet.





















When the light was on. (Pictures taken after the Opening Ceremony on 29 Nov, when there's still some final touch up.) Somehow I think we used too much lighting, which means a lot of electricity! I think we are one of mother earth's greatest enemies.

P.S. Photo credit to Constance, who took up the role of "stationed reporter" of the exhibition.

P.P.S. I added a slide show of the pictures on the side and it slows down the loading of my blog a lot :(

Sunrise at HKCEC

Seven years ago, I had seen once sunrise at HKCEC while waiting for the results of the LegCo Election 2000.

Today, the day after the LegCo By-election (HKI), I was also at the HKCEC early in the morning, cause it's the last day of the four-day exhibition on Women of HK - A Century of Contribution and Change.

After months of preparation, the exhibition finally came to an end today, and I can finally breath again. Unfortunately, lots of follow up works are also coming and I will be busy for at least a while.

Pictures of the exhibition will be coming soon. Before that, let me introduce the following:

A chart beside my desk showing the status of the production of our 70 exhibition panels, for e.g., if the text and layout are ready, if the panels are confirmed for output, etc. Colleagues came to check out the progress from time to time.

This is the notice board in front of my desk. The one on the top right corner is obviously a wall calendar. The one beside is the floor plan of the exhibition, while the one below the wall calendar is the timetable of our guided tours. They are there to remind me of the works and how many days left, as well as easy discussion with colleagues.

I was at HKCEC since last Wednesday (28 Nov). When I was back to the office tonight, Christmas decoration is already on!

未完的小說 An Incomplete Novel

Couple of days ago, I received the first draft of a novel from a long lost friend, and I couldn't help myself but burst into tears in the office.

To be a writer (and also a painter) was one of my childhood dreams. Unfortunately, I still haven't found a way to start yet. Probably it's one of the reasons I started the Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family. I am so happy for my friend who has taken a lot of effort and squeezed the time in between busy schedules to finish something he treasures.

I haven't started reading the novel yet, but I promise I will, after 3 Dec.

P.S. 《未完的小說》 is my favourite song.

In the office......

Please check your watch, this is 9:29pm, Saturday, 24 Nov, HK time, and I am still in the office working on the project to the right :~

9:29pm is actually quite early, comparing to my departure times during the past few days -- from 12:20am to 1:10am. Fortunately and unfortunately, this still hasn't broken my record yet.

So this is an exhibition on the development of women in HK from 30 Nov to 3 Dec at Hall 5B, HK Convention and Exhibition Centre. Make sure you drop by and say hi, while I am stationing there starting 28 Nov.

For details, please click.

District Councils Elections 2007

I woke up at 4:30am (not what I wanted nor planned) this morning, and figured out that some of the people I know or some of the people I wanted them to win had lost their seats in the District Councils Election yesterday. I was quite upset and couldn't fall into sleep again for a while.

However, I am also proud that one of my friends had run her campaign beautifully. Although she lost, at least she got enough votes to have her deposit back :P

加國大學排名榜 維多利亞居首?????!!!!!

I find the following coverage from Mingpao today quite ridiculous.

For those who haven't been in schools in Canada, it's already the 17th year the Maclean's does similar ranking of Canadian universities. It usually has three categories (as universities can be quite unlike), (1) medical doctoral (those with medical schools and grant PhD; usually the bigger and older ones), (2) comprehensive (those in the middle; also grant PhD with with limited programmes), and (3) primarily undergraduate (very self explanatory; usually the smallest). Most of the universities you can easily recall their names are in "medical doctoral", with a few exception in "comprehensive". Sometimes, the Maclean's might provide a ranking that combines the three together, but not very often or seldom. When a Canadian news medium wants to report the ranking, they almost always put the No.1 college in the "medical doctoral" category in the heading.

So you know what I want to say.

When I read first the heading, my first thought was "What? U. Vic.? Never heard about it."

加國大學排名榜 維多利亞居首

【明報專訊】《麥克琳》(Maclean's)雜誌公布今年加拿大大學的評選排名，維多利亞大學和麥吉爾大學分別獲綜合類別及醫學院類別的第一名，斯高沙省的阿卡迪亞大學和紐賓士域省的阿利森大學，則並列本科生類別的首位。

在 綜合類別中，維多利亞大學由去年的第三位，躍升為今年第一；卑詩省的西門菲莎大學今年則前進兩位，佔據第二名；滑鐵盧大學下降一位至第三。醫學院類別，麥 吉爾大學保持第一的位置；卑詩大學及皇后大學則並列第二。多倫多大學排名第四，該校在1994至2005年間，曾長期高踞榜首位置。

P.S. Apology to those in U of V. Not offensive. Just try to illustrate how ignorant HK news reporters can be.

Powerpuff Girls Christmas @ Heng Fa Chuen?????

I thought it was. But when I turned around:















It's actually the Incredibles!















With the super heroes around, we will have a safe Christmas this year!

P.S. More The Incredibles Christmas decorations are still being set-up in the mall tonight. More pictures next time.

The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

I am listening to the OST of the 1st Shop of Coffee Prince these two days. It's much better than I expected, and it seems especially good for a sunny Sunday morning, quite stress relieving after another busy week.

I am the type of persons who have to listen to music with vocal. However, when listening to songs that you can't understand any one single word, it becomes quite down to earth that you have to use your heart to feel the music/song. It's something very different.

BTW, the TV drama is good too, although I am only on the 5th episode. You may want to have it a try.

My latest Facebook status

Ida is busier than you can imagine as someone don't know how to use their brains...if they have one...

The Tse's "Quick Dating" Agency

My sis said if we had had a "quick dating" agency instead, we should be rich long ago.

The younger ones in the family shouldn't know that we used to have a garment factory. It experienced the same ups and downs as the HK light industry, and it was long gone by now. During different periods of time, Dad, Uncles 2, 3, 4, 5, Aunt 7 and Uncle 10 had all worked there before, and more of us had helped doing packaging and cutting stitches during peak seasons.

However, the factory was only a mask to hide it's true identity. Its true self was "The Tse's Quick Dating Agency". Dad, Uncles 3, 4, 5 and 10 had all met their wives there. The only exception was Uncle 2. Uncle and Aunt 2 met each other else where. Nonetheless, the Consultant of The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family said Aunt 2 had also worked at the factory. After Uncle and Aunt 2 were married and before Aunt 2 moved to Edmonton, someone said it would be easier for Aunt 2 to find a job there if she knew how to sew. Hence, Aunt 2 came to learn sewing and worked there for a year or so before she moved to Edmonton.

That makes a complete set of my grandparents' daughters-in-law, who had all worked in Dad's factory.

Mom and the Aunts came in two very different stages. During the first stage (Mom, Aunt 2, 3 and 4), there were really sewing machines in the factory and they all know how to sew. During the second stage (Aunts 5 and 10), however, the "production" part of the factory had already moved to the Mainland, and the factory sort of became a trading film. Hence, unlike the other daughters-in-law, I don't think Aunts 5 and 10 know how to sew and they worked on some paper works kind of things in the company.

Originally, I wanted to add that all the "sewing expert moms" had helped their daughters to do needle work homeworks, except Aunt 3 who only has a son. However, Rose and Di told me that they didn't have needle work class those days, which made my generalization fell :( However, I want to stress that I did all my needle work homeworks myself and thought myself quite gifted. So you know whom Mom had helped :P

P.S. Special thanks to Sara who had contributed a topics. Others should throw me some ideas too or the series will end soon!

Iron Ring

Everyone who received engineering education in Canada wears an iron ring on the little finger of his/her working hand (the one who hold the pen or pencil). It reminds us our obligation and responsibility to the society being an engineer. We have to attend an Iron Rings Ceremony during graduation year to receive the Ring, and we are not supposed to share the details to whom who had not attended the Ceremony :)

Although I have not been in the field for a long long time, the Iron Ring still gives me courage and strength at times of difficulties.

How do you eat your oranges?

I eat oranges only by peeling off the skin. That is, not by cutting them into pieces with skin, but by peeling off the skin only.

Yes, I only eat oranges this way. (Well, except drinking fresh orange juice, I guess.)

I don't know how the younger ones in the Tse Family eat oranges nowadays. But for most of the older ones, peeling off the skin is the only way we eat oranges :)

When Uncle and Aunt 10 were just married (or before they were married), Aunt 10 saw me peeling orange skin and said "all those in the Tse Family eat oranges by peeling off the skin." I said "it's because when I was little, Grandma and Aunt 7 peeled the orange for me so now I peel it myself and for the younger ones too." I remember when Ed was a small kid, he would put an orange and a knife on the dining table after a meal without saying anything. Then, I would peel one for him, may be one for Di and one for myself. It usually took quite a while.

I suddently remember that when Aunt 7 was still in HK, after dinner, she would peel oranges for herself too. Not only she would peel off the skin, but she would also separate each orange into 10 pieces, and line them up on the dinning table one by one before she ate it. (Count it! There're 10 pieces in each orange.) But with five older brothers and one younger one and also Baby Ida, you could easily imagine that she could hardly eat any of them every night :P

There's also one time when my sis was still a baby (really a baby, those that don't know how to speak yet), Aunt 7 gave her oranges. She had one piece of orange per hand, one in her mouth and eyed on the fourth. This was how my sis ate 20+ years ago.

And this is also stories of the Tse Family about oranges.

P.S. I remember this when I saw "thick skin" oranges in grocery store tonight. Why "thick skin"? It's because unless you are very "skillful", your orange will become orange juice if you choose a thin skin one. So, I only eat "thick skin" oranges :>

Recess + Burma Protests

I would like to call a break for The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family this week, as I am too busy lately to write something good and also starting to run out of topics. I need some times to gather more information.

In the mean time, we may switch our attention to the protests and democratic movement in Burma. As part of the international community, I believe it is something that worths our attention. It is especially the case when China plays a rather crucial role in the development.

BBC Special Report on Burma Protest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2007/burma/default.stm

Asian Human Rights Commission's Page on Burma People's Protest:
http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burmaprotests/

The Odd Number Kids VS the Even Number Kids

There's some magic related to the Tse Numbering System.

Somehow, for some unknown reason, the "odd number" uncles/aunts look like Grandpa, while the "even number" uncles/aunts look like Grandma. It won't work if you try to number the siblings by the conventional numbering system, and you have to see "zero" (Goo Ma) in the Tse System as "even" number and "da" (my dad) as "odd" number. (Hey, another difference between the two numbering systems!)

Even when I was a kid, I noticed that Aunts 7 and 9 looked more or less the same, while Aunt 8 looked completely different from the two sisters. Uncles 4 and 10 also looked like twins, especially with their relatively "big" sizes comparing to the other brothers.

The magic passes to our generation as well (except those who look like their mom or dad originally not in the family). I (belong to the odd number group) looks like Aunt 7. Grandma and Mom even say we share the same personality. The younger twin of Uncle 5 looks like Aunt 9. She looks like Aunt 9 even more than the twin sisters look like each other, or Aunt 9's daughter to Aunt 9! I remember when I last saw the twins (when they were 4!), the younger twin was as quiet as Aunt 9 while the older twin was a super talkative baby :)

The magic doesn't just stop there. Daughter of Aunt 7 looked very like me when she was a toddler. Our "degree of resemblance" was to the level that I was so shocked when I first saw her picture. Mom would keep saying that she looked EXACTLY like me when I was a baby if Mom saw her. Even cousins who have only seen Baby Ida in pictures would say, "Wa! Aunt 7's daughter looks the same as Da Kar Jie."

When my sis saw Goo Ma's wedding picture, she commented that Aunt 7 looked the same as we did when we were around the same age. I answered, "Of course. We are all Odd Numbers Kids!"

So this is the magic of the Tse Family.

Quiz 5
The picture this time was taken at around my parents' wedding (1971). Every one should be easily identified by then. Can you figure out who're the Odd Number Kids and who're the Even Number onces?

The Tse Family Numbering System

The Tse Family has our own numbering system.

The System

My father has nine brothers and sisters. Including himself, that makes up 10.

The eldest in the line is my Aunt (姑媽 or "Goo Ma"), and the siblings call her "Gar Jei" (家姐 or "big sister"). Goo Ma moved to Australia since she's married, and I have only seen her twice, one at Uncles 2 and 4's wedding, and the second time was at Uncle 5's wedding. Goo Ma is not a frequently show up character in the family. One time she called my house from Australia and my dad picked up the call. Goo Ma said, "Kwok Sui (國穗, my father's name)? It's Gar Jei." Then my dad replied, "Gar Jei? What Gar Jei?" He had seemingly forgotten that he had a bigger sister.

Next is my dad. The younger brothers and sisters called him "Lo Da" or "Da Gor" (老大 and 大哥 respectively, meaning the eldest brother), and the nieces and nephews called him "Da Bor" or "Da Kor Kor" (大伯 and 大舅舅 respectively).

Then, it came Uncles 2, 3, 4 and 5.

After having five sons in a row, Grandma wanted a girl and her dream soon became true. We then have Aunts 7, 8 and 9. The last sibling is a brother, our Uncle 10.

Quiz 4
Comparing to the "conventional" numbering system, why is the Tse Family Numbering System so special?
...
...
...
Yes, number 6 is missing. (The answer is already included in the previous comments so I reveal it right away.)

But you are only partly right. According to my sis, there are at least two more differentiations. She said, for other kids, they count "1, 2, 3, ..., 10". But for the Tse Family kids, we count "zero (for Goo Ma), 'da' (大, or big, or the eldest, for my dad), 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10"!

The Hypothesis

Consultant of The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family (i.e. my mom) tried to hypothesize the Tse Family Numbering System. She said the System was actually invented and first used by those who worked and knew my dad (i.e. outside the family). Cause they knew my dad is the eldest son in the family, they called him "lo da" (老大, or the big brother). Later on, they knew our Uncles 2 -5 from work as well, so the numbering continued. It was only later that we also adopted the numbering system to the family.

It sounds quite reasonable, and matches some of my fading childhood memory. However, when I "cornered" the Consultant and asked "then why Aunt 7 isn't Aunt 6 or Aunt 2 (with the boys and girls in different lines)? She also worked at dad's factory.", she got stuck.

So the Tse Family Number System remains a mystery.

The Fall

The Tse Family Numbering System had tried to survive another generation but failed. The reason behind is quite obvious as we are scattered in different places at different times. We can't even figure out who's who sometimes, not to mention our birth dates.

The only one in my generation who carries a "number" is probably me. Like my father, others in the line called me "Da Kar Jie" (大家姐, or the eldest sister, used by my brother, sister and cousins of the Uncles) or "Da Biao Jie" (大表姐, or the eldest girl cousin, used by cousins of the Aunts). Also like my father, strictly speaking, I am not the eldest in the generation. There are 19 of us and I am only the third in the generation, with children of Goo Ma both older than me :)

So, this is a very unique characteristic of our family.

P.S. One of my former colleague was "college-mate" of my sis, same faculty, same department, same programme, same class. The fact was quite well-known in the office. One time, another colleague asked how many sisters I had. I said, without much thinking, "one, with the same parents."

I fell the silence in the air.

Then I added, "the others are 'tong sai mui' (堂細妹, younger female cousins of the uncles)". I thought I heard a deep breath.

For me, as they all call me "Da Kar Jie" since they know how to speak, it comes quite natural to me that they are all my younger sisters and brothers rather than cousins!

Answer of Quiz 3

Before we proceed, let's find out who's who in "the quest for your mom or dad......in the picture".

On the front row from left, they were Uncle 4, Aunt 8, Aunt 7, Uncle 5 and Uncle 3.

On the middle row, starting from the third person from left, they were Grandma, Grandpa, my dad and Uncle 2. Grandma's holding Baby Uncle 10 and on Grandpa's lap was Aunt 9.

On the back was Goo Mar and father of Cousins Polly and Arthur. (When my sis first saw the picture, her first remarked was "Goo Mar was not in the picture". It's only after she identified from dad to Uncle 10 that she figured out it's Goo Mar's wedding.)

All of the contestants got the younger ones right as you can easily differentiate them from their sizes :> One of them got assistance from someone in the picture and hence got everyone right! Not only that, she even challenged us with a new question -- name of the restaurant in the picture.

From the picture, you can see that Uncle 2 was almost identical to his son now. Uncle 4 looked almost exactly the same all his life, and Aunt 9 in the picture also resembled herself nowadays very much. My sis said when we two were kids, we looked very like Aunt 7 in the picture (I will explain why later), and of course, daughter of Aunt 7 looked very like her mom and also me and my sis at around the same age.

The iron workers strike had finally come to an end... ...

... ...tonight, after 36 days in the picket line.

The ironworkers had finally gotten their eight-hour work days. However, instead of a salary of HK$950 per day, they only won a salary of HK$860. Workers and employers are far from standing on a level playing field.

Here's a record of what happened:
http://strikers.wordpress.com/

P.S. It's only because of the strike that I had finally known how the steel reinforcements were put inside the concrete. It's an art, and lots of experiences, skills, and intelligences in it.

Elmo loves the earth!

Presents from my two lovely cousins. They are of different sizes, fitting me at any time :)

The quest for your mom or dad ... ... in the picture

First thing first. The answer for Quiz 2 of the previous post is Uncle 3 was missing. Mom said Uncle and Aunt 3 were in Edmonton and didn't return for the wedding. Others might supplement more information. That was year 1976 :) Other people in the picture are pretty easily identified so I won't repeat here.

I didn't mention in the previous post that the last time the siblings were all together was at my parents wedding! 36 years ago!

Here comes the (may be) most challenging question in "The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family" series.

Quiz 3
Again, can you find your mom or dad in the picture?

Other not in the family might take a wild guess to see who's my father. (It should be easier after I write about the Tse Family Numbering System next week.)

Hints: The two in the left of the middle row should not be in our family. The two in the middle were of course Grandma and Grandpa.

Not very useful hints: I have to say I am not 100% confident that the 10 siblings were all there. Some were not that "recognizable", while some looked almost identical to their sons!

P.S. I think I will try to post on "The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family" once every week and around weekend. That will be easier for the interested readers to follow and give myself less pressure to keep writing. Next week will be on the long waited "Tse Family Numbering System".

P.P.S. May be I should advertise in Facebook :)

The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family

This is getting more and more interesting (or "mo-liu", I should say). One of my cousins put up a Tse Family Trivia to challenge us about the "facts" of our parents.

Well, I initiated all these things and I have to confess that I also screwed up first.

I had mentioned the last time the ten brothers and sisters were together were at Uncles 2 and 4's wedding. I found out the wedding pictures tonight, but oops, one of them was missing!

Quiz 2 --
This is the picture of the "wedding of the century". See if you can find out who's missing and if you can find your mom or dad.

To give you some tips. I was the girl wearing red dress in the middle, and Nobel was the baby in blue on the right. Cousin Polly was the beautiful girl standing on the left end and Cousin Arthur was the boy to the right of Baby Nobel. This was the first and last time I met Polly and Arthur. (I wanted to write "the only time in my whole life", but well, never says never.)

The Tse Family Re-union 2007

There's no need to look for me in the picture. I wasn't there.

This was the Tse Family Re-union 2007 in Edmonton couple of weeks ago, with representatives from seven of the ten children of my grandparents. This was the biggest event in the Tse Family history since my cousin Rosanna's wedding a few years ago. Last time when all ten of my grandparents' children were together, it was my Uncles 2 and 4's wedding, which was before my sis (who ranked the fifth among the 19 in my generation) was born.

My family is scattered around HK (HK Island, Kowloon and New Territories, to be precise), Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Melbourne, and also Beijing after mid-September, with the biggest number in Edmonton. It is not easy to have so many of us together all at once, and interesting enough, there's no special reason this time (in the sense of something to celebrate). I think the next big turnout should be at one of our weddings.

Quiz -- for those not in the Tse, Lam and Anderson families
Two of the people in the picture are twins. See if you can find them.

P.S. I plan to launch "The Tse Family" series in my blog. Stay tune.

支援紮鐵工人基金

紮鐵工人大罷工已經進入第十四日，抗爭仍然持續，因資方仍然不肯 重開談判之門．地盤工人很多都是”手停口停”，他們都有家庭及子女需要照顧，罷工對他們已構成沉重的經濟負擔．但他們卻沒有退縮，仍然堅持跟大財團抗爭到底。

我們呼籲各位市民出一分力，支持基層工人爭取合理工資及工時，爭取有尊嚴的工作條件。

現在我們已正式成立了”支援紮鐵工人基金”，希望向公眾籌款支持罷工行動，所有款項將用作資助紮鐵工人罷工的開支．包括1)膳食及交通的部份開支;及2)是次罷工之活動開支(如宣傳，推廣及行動物資等)。

所捐款項請傳入戶口號碼： 004 031 208846 001

或寄支票到”九龍彌敦道557-559號永旺行7樓”

抬頭：建築地盤職工總會

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The 12th day of ironworkers strike

Today is the 12th day of the ironworkers strike, and news said they will continue tomorrow with a protest ending at the government headquarters. Many construction site workers join in the strike, making 1/4 of the sites not in operation. (Well, it also keeps raining in HK these two weeks.)

The ironworkers' demand is simple -- reasonable wage and working hours.

To date, daily wage of ironworkers have dropped from around HK$1200 to HK$1300 before 1997 to around HK$600 since SARS in 2003. Workers of racial minority are even earning as low as HK$300 per day. With inflation and the "best economy in 20 years", there's no sight of any "increase" of salary of the ironworkers. (I am very hesitated to use the word "increase" as the ironworkers are only asking a daily wage of HK$950, still lower than the highest point.)

On the other side, the business association refuses to give in, making the negotiation almost a mission impossible. (Oh, forgot to note, there's no such thing as "collective bargaining" for workers in HK. International labour rights groups and trade unions describe HK as an "uncivilized society".) Many workers of course are facing financial problems now, and the unions are planning to set up a fund to support their living in the time being.

Here's the ironworkers' strike statement:

忍了十年，扎鐵佬實在忍不下去，今天要企出來爭取尊嚴，爭取公道。

經濟復甦，物價 上升，但少數扎鐵商壟斷整個市場，不斷壓低扎鐵工資。我們的人工已經跌了一半，只有600多元；工時增長了一小時至9小時。我們不是工作奴隸，不要再受老 闆剝削，我們要爭取合理工資、合理工時！另外，統計處指我們每日有1131元，為何我們實質只有五六百？我們要求政府徹查中間是否有人食價，是否有人剝削 工人血汗工資！

過去多年，老闆不斷欺壓我們：拖欠薪金、欠供強積金、剝削假期、剝削休息時間、隱暪工傷。為了養家，我們只好啞忍。但我們越沉默，奸商就吸越多的血！我們的憤怒已經不能遏止，今天要向奸商清算舊帳！政府必須正視建築行業的問題，嚴懲無良僱主！

罷工了十二天，扎鐵佬團結一致，爭取合理的權益。我們要求政府協助斡旋，重開勞資談判，解決今次勞資糾紛。如果政府拒絕繼續斡旋，就是失職！就是不負責任！

十二天顯示出我們的堅忍及毅力，我們會堅持到底，直到爭取合理工資、合理工時！工人團結必勝！

Hope you can support a very minimal wish as well.

Salmon Bagel -- From a different perspective

Lately, people have been asking me what's going wrong, cause they had read the previous post.

Well, thanks. I am quite OK except a little bit exhausted from work, and practicing Chinese calligraphy again and the evening walk make me sort of relax from the tight schedule.

However, when I wrote the previous post, my real intention was to share my happiness (of eating fresh onion when there's no expectation :) and show how easy it could be to stay happy.

I can be happy quite easily, to my and many of your surprise. I am fueled with energy every morning when I walk pass the HK Park to work, seeing all the people working on the trees, the flowers and the fishes despite the heat or the rain. I feel warm when I see kids giving up seats to elderly in the train. I am delighted when I hear the sound of some real musical instruments from a Canto-pop CD.

It all depends on how you look at one thing.

P.S. I think I have to improve my writing skill.

Salmon Bagel

I walked pass the HK Park to Pacific Place and grabbed a salmon bagel for lunch just now. When I opened the wrapping, I saw there were some fresh onion in it, and I suddenly felt a strong sense of happiness during a rather depressed period of time lately.

It's not that difficult to feel good sometimes.

P.S. Fresh onion is my favorite veggie, among a handful that I eat :)

Everbody safely home?

Typhoon Pabuk turned away from HK on Wednesday, but suddenly returned again this morning. In just a few hours, it goes on from Typhoon No.1, 3 and then 8 at about 2:30pm.

This was how we crowded at the entrance of the Admiralty MTR station:














Before we passed the gate:














On the platform:














I should have gone for a drink first!

P.S. I would like to thank a group of young people who looked like a group of HKU students in an orientation camp.

While I was still waiting on the platform, the train came and they were inside. There were around ten to twenty of them, all wearing dark green polo shirts, and they wanted to get out of the train.

For those who have a taste of the HK MTR system during peak hours, you should have expected that those on the platform (excluding me) would try to push into the train although it's all packed with people and quite a number of them tried to get off.

With this group of young people on the train, they kept shouting together "let people get off first; let us get off; you can only get on board if we are off", etc., and they united and pushed...... Yes! They were off the train and left a lot of space inside, making me safely on the train finally :)

3/8 (three out of eight)

一朝驚醒已在目前　怎麼走了這麼遠
屈指一算突然發現　很多好戲已上演
離原本想的有些遠　好比揀選歌舞的路線
但拍了一齣打鬥片

由這裡　行過去
行過去　下一區
誠實地　無懼地
隨遇地　行過去
彈指間　第幾關
原來都走到這裡
別說出發以後習慣失去
鮮花開過掌心裡

把握青春最後十年
珍惜中午的光線
很多支票未曾兌現
只因長大了看穿
成名得獎一概不算
不可更改的最佳路線
何謂幸福秒秒在變

由這裡　行過去
行過去　下一區
誠實地　無懼地
隨遇地　行過去
彈指間　第幾關
原來都走到這裡
但我高興繼續漫遊於這裡
寫好這刻這一句

掌握青春經歷老死中間不免有唏噓
今天這一家用至少不只可以談空虛

行過去　行過去
行過去　下一區
華麗地　懷舊地
前衛地　行過去
路彎彎　共深山
由無知走到這裡
但我高興繼續漫遊多幾歲

由這裡　行過去
行過去　下一區
成熟地　緩慢地
回味地　行過去
彈指間　又一關
誰要劃時代創舉
只想懂得慶賀目前
不早不晚的一歲
平常心境中探取
沿路的風裡

***** *****

Pretty tired lately, and can't quite feel that positive. I think I need a break, but then I think it would be difficult to pick up the works again. Difficult decision.

十二金釵眾生花

I haven't listened a CD through a CD player for a while. First, it's because my CD player is half broken. It can't detect some of my CDs. The most frustrated case is it can only detect Disc 1 of Chet Lam's dual-CD album The Private Life of Chet Lam, which I think both have to be listened together continuously......

Then, it's also because I subscribed MOOV. While I turned on my computer, which means most of my time except while I am sleeping, I use MOOV to listen to tonnes of new CDs, which I seldom register at all. Otherwise, I rely on my iPod Nano while I am travelling, but this usually means I can't quite listen to the music clearly under a rather noisy environment, and not to mention I always have a book handy.

But then I got Keith Chan's 12 Faces of Women yesterday. For some unknown reasons, I put it in my CD player, instead of my computer, and it plays. All the real musical instruments make it difficult not to be played in a real CD player. It sure is nicer from there than from a computer.

The CD+DVD was first performed at this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival, and I watched that too. I have to say I am not those "visual kind of people", and was not quite interested in the 12 short films accompanying the 12 pieces of music. However, the music sure is attractive, and it's worth all the trouble of putting the CD into a proper CD player.

Sometimes, when you are trying to communicate or be communicated, it's important to concentrate and listen carefully.

Sometimes, going the more traditional way is the mean to move forward.

暗戀桃花園

I watched the HKREP's Secret Love - Peach Blossom Land tonight.





















Twelve years ago, some of my friends also produced the same drama in Edmonton. I was part of the production as well, but I was the Deputy Stage Manager for another smaller scale production -- Night and Day -- which was on stage the same night:




























After so many years, I have to say that some of them I couldn't even remember their faces now. But some have also marked a place in my heart, even though we had lost contacts since then.

P.S. I still remember the first cue I made at the performance was a wrong cue! And I kept asking the producer about the script (since I didn't find it logical at all) during rehearsals, and finally he couldn't stand it any more, and asked me to concentrate on my cues and props and costumes, etc. He said a DSM was not there to understand the play :P