Love is like a betta fish

I had a Betta fish by the name of Sam and, like any enthusiastic pet owner at the dawn of the relationship, I took wonderful care of him in the first few months. I gave him his own ten gallon tank, changed the water at least every two weeks, and went to the pet store to buy him new plants and rocks. He was vibrant and wonderful and, best of all, he was friendly. You could tell he had personality.

After a while, I got busy with school and Sam fell to the verge of death. For some reason, I irresponsibly never noticed he was getting sick, taking for granted that Bettas can last for a long time in poor conditions. When it finally dawned on me, he was swimming lopsided and refusing to eat. My poor Sam! I struggled for weeks to get him back to a healthy condition. He was bloated and couldn't eat but I was diligent until the color finally returned to his fins. But I don't think he was the same Sam as before. We couldn't look at each other the same way again. Me, pained with guilt, and he, traumatized by my neglect. He was more hesitant to eat from my finger when I offered him his food. He was less vibrant in color and he stopped blowing bubbles. Yet, in a way, he was still Sam. He was still my Betta fish. And he still followed my finger when I brought it near the glass.

When summer of 2010 came around, I changed the water less and less often. I paid less and less attention to him and stopped considering his feelings when the weather was cold. In short, the cycle had begun all over again despite all that we'd been through together. It was my fault for neglecting him. Sam held in there for a long time and although I was away for most of the week when I was doing research at UCLA, he stayed alive for me and my sister fed him on the days she remembered. On the weekends, I would feed him, but I knew... I just knew that one day, it wouldn't be enough. Then I moved to Hong Kong and I forgot about him. I made my sister make a vague promise to take care of Sam and feed him. Still, he was forgotten.

When I returned, his tank was empty. And to this day, I never paid homage.

RIP. Sam the Betta fish.

I miss you, Sam...

Beach Korfball Tournament 2011 (Repulse Bay, Hong Kong)

The Hong Kong China Korfball Association held 2011's Beach Korfball Competition at Repulse Bay, Hong Kong. A variety of teams participated: league groups, secondary school students, Baptist U, and UST. It was an incredible and fun experience. Being with my team is such a warm feeling.

HKUST Korfball Team 2010-11:


I loved our team spirit during this day <3


We were split into two groups, A and B, for the tournament and we each played three matches in total. I've grown so much closer with everyone from team B and I'm learning their playing styles. But I also loved team A :). Congrats on winning one match!
科大A



科大B



Ah, the only decent picture of our coach....


YEAR 1!! We totally carry this team :D


And there's me..


In the sand, in the rain, and in good spirit.


Back to studying for midterms!

All photos are credited to SW

The alchemist and a physical therapist

"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

In desperate need of some motivation, I finished re-reading Paul Coelho's "The Alchemist." If you haven't read this book, I suggest you go buy it at the HKUST library. And if you're not sure you want to buy it, read the preface first.

The full effect of reading it was not as strong as it was the first time I read it in high school. Maybe it's because I'm going through some spiritually dry times in my life. I really don't know. I know I've set my ambitions for certain things... a research career... medical research?

But.

I'm beginning to wonder if what I want from life, what I've told myself about the career I want, is not suitable. REDbird helped me see that I need to keep re-assessing myself and the journey I'm on.

It's true that I love biology research. It's true that I love the scientific and academic community. But these days I keep going back to the days I wanted to become a physical therapist. When I found the most joy out of physical exercise and I enjoyed taking care of and interacting with people on a personal level. The profession was a "tough love" profession and I loved that.

It's true that, in my current position, there's still some flexibility in my future. However, being unsure of what I want has me utterly demotivated.

Basically, I have two issues:

1. Maybe I'm too scared of the sacrifices I'll need to make in order to pursue the career that I say I want or I'm too discouraged by my current situation.
2. Maybe I only selected the ambition because I wanted the "glory" of an MD/PhD title. When actually all I really want is to help people develop the way I've always known.

If you think carefully about my life events, my hobbies, and what I've always enjoyed, most things fit my desire to be a pediatric physical therapist.
* I love kids.
* I enjoy taking care of others.
* I like meeting people from different backgrounds.
* I love love love sports.
* I enjoy taking the road less traveled.
* I interact best with people in small group settings or one on one and I can't live without this interaction.

But the problem, when I thought about it more carefully at that time, was the job certainty for physical therapists in the future. When I found out my other strengths... decency at math and classical physics and a love for problem solving, I figured switching to engineering instead of kinesiology seemed sensible, more "impressive," and offered more job certainty. Where's the sense in that?

I'm really forced to wonder: what the heck am I doing?

Avoid 7-11 before exams (Hong Kong)

The first time in my adult life that I suffered from food poisoning was the morning after I ate a 7-11 "beef and cheese" wrap in Tai Po Tsai. It sounded good at the time, really it did.

Now, you can speculate that most foreigners are prone to food poisoning because they are not immune to local viral agents, but as a general incentive to avoid eating late at night and opting for late night escapades to 7-11, I can impose this as a lesson to never forget. Four days later, I'm still feeling gassy but at least I'm feeling better and the diarrhea and vomit are becoming sore memories.

One interesting cultural experience came out of this and I really have to thank Shin for this one: "Po Chai Pills" (Bottle Form Made In Hong Kong). Check this out. The recommended dosage every two hours is two bottles of these tiny pills! According to Da, it's actually a common form of traditional Chinese medicine. Most of the ingredients are herbs and plants as far as I can tell. I always knew TCM was a lot different from Western medicines, but I can say I've experienced it now to some extent.

The fine print on the box reads: "This medicine is good for fever, diarrhoea, intoxication, over-eating, vomiting and gastrointestinal diseases. Direction: 2 bottles are to be taken once every two hours, 4 times daily, 1/2 bottle for children." (word for word, letter for letter)

I honestly don't know if it was just me feeling extremely sick that night but after taking one dose before bed, my digestive system immediately reacted with gassy rumblings. It was amusing but I really wanted to sleep and it was like listening to AC/DC right before sleep. I don't know about you, but I can never fall into sweet slumber with that genre of music (I also hardly ever listen to AC/DC let alone have I learned to appreciate it, sorry). The same thing happened the next morning after taking one bottle so I decided to just tough out the day without the pills. I tried to go to the website and to Wikipedia to find out their exact effects but to no avail. So now I just feel like blogging about it and remaining ignorant until someone enlightens me.

Speaking of cultural experiences, on Tuesday night I had an interview for a Huangshuan service learning trip in the beginning of June. The trip requires some proficiency in Mandarin and I took a risk and said, 'Hey, I took one semester of Putonghua, I really want to participate in this, so I hope I can show enough heart and willpower to impress the interviewers.' I knew there would be some Putonghua involved during the interview and I was scores nervous. I felt so silly being the monolingual American (pues, "monoandahalflingual" si incluye espanol) compared to the locals who are trilingual with Cantonese, English, and Mandarin up to at least functional levels.

Nevertheless, even if the application isn't successful, I have to say it was a good experience. The church friends who helped me prepare my Putonghua for the interview really made a difference. I just hope I retain the confidence to use Putonghua in daily conversation. One place to start: my research lab! Yes!

唱K - Hong Kong Karaoke! (sing K)

Despite having loads of schoolwork to do, I went to karaoke yesterday for the first time in Hong Kong! We celebrated the basketball team captain's birthday, Da.

Group pictures!


Compared to Southern California's Korean-owned places, this place was MAGICAL. And affordable. Let me break it down.

For HK$85 (equivalent to US$10.91) each person:

• we stayed the 7 hours for the "happy hour" time period (1PM - 8PM),
• we stayed in a room about 10mx50m big,
• the room had 4 wireless microphones,
• the room had it's own bathroom,
• the songs actually matched the videos playing in the background,
  
• we each got 3 free beverages,
• one free small appetizer, called a tea set, before 5pm,
• and they even helped us sing a surprise "happy birthday" to the birthday girl.
• for an extra HK$40 (US$5.14) per person, you could also eat a buffet style meal...
  

Chingching with the 4 wireless mics that lighted up!


For my friends in HK, I'll put it in perspective for you. In Southern California,

• the room is a flat rate per hour usually around US$30~40 per hour,
• so the more people you go with, the cheaper it'll be,
• and for most places, you don't get anything special...
• except you can borrow funky wigs.
• and.. the content of the videos playing in the background are nearly always scenes from an Asian drama resulting in happy songs appearing very sad.

Some craziness ensues. Dunno what's going on here.


Normal picture with Monsten, Isabella, Shin, and myself.


Group picture again.


Myself, Shin, Amy, Miranda, and the birthday girl!


The birthday girl and the envelope which I drew/designed for her (: [with Shin lurking]


All photos are credited to MY.

The 50th USFHK Athletics Meet

Last Sunday, March 6, I represented HKUST at the 50th USFHK Athletics Meet, an annual inter-university competition in track and field events. Thanks to the two coaches, Willie and Ricky, and the team leaders, it was an amazing experience. That's in spite of the fact that UST is overall infamous for its poor performance in athletics. Apparently, the other universities promote their sports teams with scholarship offers and admission schemes whereas HKUST has yet to develop their sports promotion programs. These facts didn't dishearten any of my teammates. On the contrary, we were lucky that we were there just to have fun.

Joining Track and Field two weeks before this meet was a scary thing. I knew I wouldn't be as fit as my high school days (in fact, I'm 5~6 seconds slower than my average time at Oxford) but now it's a decision that I don't regret (thanks to MY^^, basketball teammate).

Running the 400m, being the first runner for the 4x400m relay, and cheering on teammates reminded me of the reason why I love doing sports. It brought me back to the days when I ran track in high school--all the memories, the laughs, and the support we would give each other. Some teammates in particular really encouraged me: CY, Jessica, Winnie, Cammy, and Joel (from France).

To me, your relationship between you and your teammates is a pure form of friendship and camaraderie. Unlike other settings, like the classroom, you don't run the risk of stagnant acquaintanceship. The team setting is a place where people, it doesn't matter what your background, can connect through a common ground. Whether it's basketball, korfball, or athletics team members, I have found people I am consistently happy to pass by on campus. I guess it's working towards that common goal and the hours of training you put in together, grueling and toiling together and especially being happy together. At the same time, we get to be fit and work out, too!

I can breathe a sigh of relief now that it's over, though. I have to focus on school @_@