On 6/24/2015 Sunday afternoon, I rode my bike without a helmet by myself to Fresh Meadows-Corona Park and subsequently lost my memory about the event that might last 3-4 hours. According to my family, I returned home around 6pm with a torn bike jersey, bruises on my arms, legs and back, and my bike left shifter and handlebar tape were damaged. Later on, they also discovered a red bump at the back of my head. When I got home, I was unresponsive, went straight for the bath and went to bed for two hours without having dinner. When I woke up around 9pm, I claimed that I could not recalled anything happened inside the park but according to my cell phone GPS, I rode inside the park and returned home on my own. On that map, the last thing I could remember was I was heading north on Park Dr E trying to get into the park, in which I have ridden hundreds of times. It appeared that I stopped for the restroom near Meadow Lake and then crossed the bridge to Meridian Rd. Then, I was really puzzled by the multiple pause signs near Arthur Ashe Stadium since I knew there was a big renovation near the stadium for the retractable roof but there should not be any construction going on and traffic should be little on Sunday. There were alarming numbers of pause signs near the park entrance to the subway and LIRR and the 7 train subway station. It seemed that I handed to the wrong way on Roosevelt Ave to Flushing, and later on went back to the opposition direction and went home. It was possible that I might take the 7 train which runs on Roosevelt Ave at Mets-Willets Pt and got off at 90th St. At this moment, I still do not remember anything happened inside the park and how I got home. I might have fallen off my bike and hit my head based on my injuries and damages to my bike but I do not know any details of the accident whether: 1) a vehicle hit me, 2) I hit something and lost control or 3) the worst case scenario: I hit somebody. I do not know if anybody saw what happened and assisted me in any ways. I do not know if I got home by my bike or subway or if anyone actually helped me and brought me home. Although I am glad that I am ok now, the lost memory really bothers me, not to mention the subsequent hours spent in hospital and unnecessary sick leave and trouble brought to other people. Hopefully, I will remember what really happened one day and I have really learnt a valuable lesson: WEAR YOUR DAMN HELMET!
I spent half a day in Central Park yesterday and was greatly rewarded by the amazing sceneries and beautiful fall leaf color. Everything's just so pleasant and peaceful.
Last Sunday, I went to the 20th Annual Tour de Bronx. Unlike other events organized by Transportation Alternative, this tour's completely free (thanks to the generous sponsors) so I just preregistered the 40-mile ride anyway (there's a 25-mile option for leisure riders). It's sunny, a little windy but not too cold so I didn't really have any excuses not to participate. I've learned from previous experience and decided not to clip in this time since we'd stop quite often on city streets. I rode to the starting point, Bronx Country Clerks Office, near the Yankee stadium, via Queensboro Bridge, 1st Ave and Willis Ave Bridge. When I got there, there's a pretty long line for the preregistration already and I was actually quite surprised by the large turnouts. Anyway, I just waited in line for approximately 30 minutes but it didn't really move at all. It's also kind of chaotic due to the lack of direction. In the end, one of the staff approached to the riders, took the preregistration papers and handed out the body bibs and cue sheets. The riders did need to fill out the emergency contact info in the back of the body bibs. To be honest, if the organizers aren't going to assign any numbers, they'd just hand out the stuff so the participants could get going and didn't have to keep waiting pointlessly. Anyway, after that, it's another long wait at the starting line. During that time, the Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr., greeted the riders, and claimed that he and his wife would join us in the 25 mile ride. The tour finally started around 10:30am and riders started paddling on the marked route. It's very crowded in the beginning and somehow there's a very loud flat tire right at the start so it's kind of funny but that person must feel terrible. There're three rest stops along the way, Bronx YMCA, Orchard Beach and Van Cortlandt Park and the YMCA rest stop was the biggest among the three and had a pretty nice view to Whitestone Bridge. However, I mistakenly took the short cut near St. Raymond's Cemetery, and missed a few miles and skipped Throgs Neck Bridge part. The part I liked most during the tour was Pelham Bay Park and City Island since the scenery was so beautiful. I've heard of Pelham Bay Park being the largest park in NYC but never had a chance to visit it so it's nice to go to some new places and explore the city. I didn't like Van Cortlandt Park very much because of the muddy trail. In addition, after Van Cortlandt Park, the route became very hilly for the last 10 miles. The finish line was at New York Botanical Garden, in which the cue sheet didn't show at all. I finished at around 3pm and there're free domino pizzas, drinks, t-shirts, live music for the participants to rest and enjoy. Although there's a Marshal-led group ride back to Bronx Country Clerks Office at 4pm. I decided to leave early (I'd have stayed if it's a police escort). I returned to Queens via Grand Concourse through Randall's Island and Triborough Bridge. I got home probably around 5:15pm and was kind of tired and went to bed early that night. I was really proud of my accomplishment on Sunday because at least I finished the race on my own this time comparing to the disappointing results in the Century Bike Tour. This tour should conclude my biking season in 2014 and I'll definitely pedal more next year whether participating in organized tours or riding by myself.
Earlier this year, I was super excited about the announcement that Hatsune Miku Expo 2014 will be held in the US because I'd finally have a chance to see Miku's live performance after watching countless hours of Miku' mvs on niconico and youtube. It's actually Miku's second concert in the US but I don't recalled if I was that into Vocaloid three years ago when Miku had her first concert in LA. This time, there'd be four concerts anyway, two in LA and two in NY so it's a huge relief for me that I didn't have to worry about all the travel and lodging costs when the venue's only a thirty-minute subway ride away from my home. Comparing to the expo in LA, the NY one was much smaller and there was only one small exhibition held in Wallplay for some vocaloids' artworks, figures and posters. However, if you'd like to buy Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Halloween Ver. ($45), you'll have better luck getting it in NY since it's on sale at both NYCC 2014 (and I got it on day two and I believed it's still available on day three) and and Wallplay with limited quantities so you didn't have to wait for hours just to realize it's completely sold out and then found them on ebay at price over 100 bucks. Anyway, I purchased my VIP ticket on the first day of sale back in June and I later heard that the VIP tickets were sold out in ten minutes. The concert was held at Hammerstein ballroom and I decided to go on Saturday night. If I had more time and money, I'd have attended both Friday and Saturday. I got there around 4pm, an hour before the schedule start time and there're at least one hundred fans waiting in the VIP line already, not to mention the hundreds waiting in the general admission line. There're lots of cosplayers in various vocaloid character costumes but I didn't want to lose my spot so I basically just stood and waited enthusiastically and patiently for an hour. The VIPs did get some sort of yellow wrist bands for identification purpose, early access to the floor and merchandise store, and some goodies and collectibles at the end of the concert. When the doors were opened at 5pm, and I went straight to the store and might have accidentally cut the line (really sorry about that) but everything's still pretty much available when I finally got to the registers. I bought some t-shirts (only XL available), a tote bag, a plush doll and a key chain, and quickly headed to the floor. A pretty big crowd had already gathered near the stage so I just tried to get as close to the front as possible. Then the fans had to wait for at least another two hours for the rest of the audience to get in. During the long wait, it's kind of hot, exhausting and boring since we're all kind of staring the blank hologram glass screen and there's not much space to move around while the same two songs and five commercials were kept repeating endlessly. Occasionally, the band members came on the stage to finalized the setup and some photographers took some pictures from balcony above. Before, the start, the public announcement said there're cameras in the venue broadcasting the event live back in Japan on WOWOW channel. The concert started around 6:30pm and the entire ballroom's packed. After the lights went down, the fans were all waving their glow sticks and chatting "MIKU MIKU!!" passionately and Miku soon appeared on stage after a short introductory video and sang the official English theme song of the concert, "Sharing the World." I watched Miku's performance of this song on David Letterman on youtube and felt indifferent about the song. Nonetheless, I was excited since it's like a dream comes true to me and there's no words to describe my feelings at that moment. Watching Miku singing, dancing right in front of you was just unbelievable and surreal. Plus the lighting, audio, visual and special effect, and live band made the whole experience more incredible. Miku sang more of her popular songs, fortunately most in Japanese since Miku didn't really sing English very well, over the next two hours, sometimes changed to different costumes in the blink of an eye, and occasionally paused to greet the audience and introduce members of the live band. Other vocaloid characters, like Rin, Len, Luka, Kaito and Meiko, did perform a few songs but I wasn't too familiar with them anyway. I particularly remembered I screamed like crazy when Miku sang "World is Mind" and "Melt" towards the end since they're two of my favorite Miku's songs by Supercell. Miku shortly disappeared after "Melt" and did return with three more songs in encore before concluding the concert with "Starduster." After the last song, the fans slowly exited the ballroom but the VIP exit was ridiculously crowded since the VIPs all wanted to get their exclusive gifts (the VIP badge, a folding fan and a vinyl record... kind of ironic since Miku's name literally means "The First Sound of the Future"). After I left the building, I was so happy but also kind of sad because it's over and I didn't know if Miku will ever visit NY again. Although I properly stood, waved the glow stick the whole concert, sweated like crazy, neither ate or drank for the last four to five hours, I didn't feel tired at all until I went to the nearby fast food restaurant for something to eat. I didn't think I've ever shouted and screamed so much in my entire life. Thank you Miku for such a wonderful and unforgettable night. I wish I can go to more Miku's concerts in the near future and hopefully see Miku perform in NY again.
Ps: I must have felt bored in the office to revive this abandoned blog... lots of old drafts not published
Ps2: I was just curious when the last time I blogged and it's almost three years ago... so I must haven't written anything more than 100 words leisurely in three years
Video on official channel
Some of clips I took during the concert (sorry for the low quality and shaky camera since I didn't have money to invest in a good low light camera and my arms were tired...)
I freaking love my job so I went to work today even the office was buried under 20 inches of snow... Both my father and brother took a day off and I thought I was the only stupid one showing up but I guessed wrong as six more people (out of forty) actually came to the office. The morning commute wasn't as tough as I expected and only the stupid 7 train gave me a slight headache. Everything's covered by snow and cars/buses were abandoned on streets, and pedestrians were all struggling to walk on the snowy sidewalks/streets in the gusting wind and blowing snow. It took me an hour and a half to get to my workplace and another hour to clear myself a path to the office's entrance. If the ruthless boss didn't drive all the way from home to office around an hour later, I'd have left earlier but I wasted all my time doing nothing in the end. Not even one client came to our office anyway so why didn't I just stayed home...
... because I share the same birthday with him... no celebration as usual and like a normal day... just continuing to be one man down in the office and busy for no reason~ Well, not everything sucks.. at least, Rangers beat Penguins tonight!!!
Another X'mas party at the same restaurant (so early this time)... We had a so-called planning committee but I didn't feel any big improvement and everything looked kind of the same as last year.. The party didn't start on time and ended late at 11:00pm... Why the hell we wasted all this time on the stupid dancing anyway? The grand prize was a disappointing Wii and that's it!? (Sorry, iPad was too expensive because of the low budget...) And the worst thing was that I didn't win anything in the raffle-_- Anyway, the next day was a Saturday so we could all had a good night sleep at least.
My mon left for Hong Kong this morning but this time she actually has a place to stay and does some happy things like attending a wedding, etc... Seems to have no cure for her homesickness so I guess we'll see her next year~ (Father may join her for a short period of time in the winter but dunno the exact time yet... what a strange year that we all somehow traveled alone?)
On 10/31/2010, I went to see the Halloween Parade for the second time since I've been to New York mainly because Halloween fell on a Sunday this year. My first time was like two years ago and was kind of a bad experience as I was late after work and there're lots of people already. So I didn't really see anything until late in the end. To avoid making the same mistake again, I went the the parade route at least two hours earlier this time and only a few spectators were there and I could really pick any spot I wanted. I decided to stay in a section which was pretty close to Spring Street, the parade line up as I could leave early when the parade's over. I watched my PSP during those two hours but it was getting breezy and cold and my hands were almost frozen. When the parade started, I pulled out my camera immediately and kept snapping pictures like there're no tomorrow (one of my two batteries went dead within two hours... so quick...). However, my night portrait photography was non-existent (my skills were bad anyway...) and there're way too many bad pictures taken. I generally missed the moments when I wanted to take the pictures as I had to wait for the flash so whatever... There're lots of floats, puppets, dancers (Thriller at least twice) and costumed participants as one will expect. Many floats especially the pole dancer one created a lot of traffic and even the costumers stopped to take pictures. As a result, there's no space in between and just didn't know what to look at... Meanwhile, some people weren't dressed up but could still join the parade!? There's an actually FDNY fire truck on the Sixth Avenue during the parade and that's just too real to be true after seeing the fake NYPD tricycle... The parade itself was incredible and to experience live twice was really great. Maybe should consider dressing up and walking in the parade one day...
To my surprise, a few group of people portrays the famous Chile miners and chanted Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le in the parade~
I simply just didn't understand how some people could get half naked in such a cold night...
Quiet a lot of Asians participated in the parade including cosplayers... I thought I saw Shana...
I wished I could have taken more pictures like this one but sometimes, people just walked too fast and wouldn't pose in front of you anyway.
OT voluntarily because of payroll (!?) and things went smoothly at night since I wasn't bothered by those annoying phone calls. The pointy-haired boss actually wanted us to come on Saturday over the phone. This is just fxxking crazy!!! I didn't mind staying late but dun make me come to the office over the weekend for some stupid payroll! Dodge one this time but will need to scramble for the 11/15 deadline as virtually nothing has started... Sigh~
It's official. We weren't hit by a tornado on September 16, but two!!! One in Brooklyn and one in Queens. Here're some of the videos on youtube documenting the storms.
Well, I spent three hours and walked at least two miles to get home tonight so I'm just so fucking tired right now. I don't know what kind of storm might have struck NYC today but lots of trees fell down, and roads and sidewalks were blocked. Many trains and buses were suspended during the rush hour, and my bus was stuck in the traffic like 15 minutes without moving a inch. Too bad for the lady sitting next to me who needed to get to JFK to catch a flight to London tonight because it's just impossible for her to make it. This was just so frustrating that I decided to go home on foot. No wonder nothing was moving because the whole damn street was covered by fallen tree trucks and branches. Whether it's a wise move or not, at least I was able to get home by 9 something...zzzZZZ
Yesterday, I went to the Statue of Liberty with my brother. This idea just came to my mind suddenly as we wanted to do something different instead of staying home over the Labor Day weekend. We didn’t really have any planning at all and tickets to the clown and monument actually needed to be reserved months ago so the next available tickets were like in December... whatever. The weather was perfect and sunny and fortunately, Hurricane Earl didn’t really hit New York directly so it's just a little windy yesterday. We reserved tickets to the island at 10:00 am but we ran a little late and got to Battery Park like around 10:10 am. There were long lines waiting already and the only benefit of reserving tickets first was having one less line to queue. The check-in process was like airport-security tight but we didn’t bring any stuff except our camera so it’s fine. Then, we boarded the ferry en route to the Statue of Liberty and went straight to the upper deck. Since it wasn’t as hot as last week, it’s really comfortable standing under the sun and feeling the sea breeze. The ride was about 10 minute long, and provided a great view of Lady Liberty and the skyline of Lower Manhattan. Getting off the ferry could be a headache but I guess you just needed to be patient. On the island, we generally walked along the coast circling the Statue and took pictures like other tourists. The Statue was really huge and was nothing like the replicas I saw in the past. The feeling was kind of hard to describe and I guess it's just one of the greatest things you can ever experience and see in your life. After that, we had lunch and went to Ellis Island. The ferry services between the two island and immigration museum were free and we actually spent a lot of time there watching the exhibits of the island history and the immigration process. Ten of millions immigrants passed through this island chasing the American Dreams and people nowadays including us were still following their footsteps. Lastly, we went back to Battery Park and concluded our trip with a visit to the Charging Bull in Bowling Green. But by the time we got there, the small tip was flooded with tourists so we just decided to call it a day and went home. To conclude, we’ve seen the Statue of Liberty so I guess we’ve finally been to New York City...
While HK mourned for the victims, this was how the Philippines reacted to the tragedy...
First, Benigno Aquino III, the President of the Philippines, smiled and claimed he's expressing his anger!?
Then, some Filipinos including the police... took pictures at the crime scene!!!
WTF!!! This is so ridiculous. How could you guys be so ignorant! And my disgust to this country reaches a whole new level after this clip...
You can't just open the coffins like that to the reporters!!! Damn it! Show some respect!!! Although I know these people don't represent the whole Philippines, their behaviors are just unbelievable and hard to forgive. This is such a disgrace and I don't know what to say anymore...
The Filipino police were INCOMPETENT, COWARD and RETARDED!!! 1. Did not take down the hostage-taker in numerous chances during daytime. 2. Did not negotiate with the hostage-taker but irritate him by arresting his brother, etc. 3. Fired the first shot just to stop the bus from departing to further worsen the situation. 4. Were poorly equipped, and had only one hammer to break the window and a rope to pull the front door. 5. Were poorly trained and had no idea what they were doing like throwing a glow stick inside the bus. 6. Kept firing after the hostage-taker was clearly down after the first couple shots.
I'm just so ANGRY and DISAPPOINTED and I want it to be thoroughly investigated. But the truth won't bring back those HK tourists who lost their lives in the standoff. R.I.P.
The wind's extremely gusty yesterday (probably over 40 MPH) and my mom joked that the wind'd blow her away. But ironically, even a big tree around our street corner couldn't withstand the wind, and fell down and destroyed some power cable yesterday evening. During that time, we're watching TV at home and immediately sensing there're some problems since the lights and the TV suddenly were off for a couple times. Then I noticed there're people gathering around and firefighters on the street. I went out to take a quick look, and realized a tree has been unrooted and fell down on the power cable. There're sparkles in the utility pole, and fortunately it didn't cause a big fire and no one got hurt.
This busy season wasn't as exhausting as the last one. In fact, only one or no OT per week and the boss even took us to dinner to celebrate our worst season ever. Anyway, even I wasn't that tired, I still thought a lot of shxt happened during the period outside my work like the constant ignoring inquires from Jason, the termination of my subordinate, the crash of my old computer and the start of the fxxking allegy season. My nose was runninng all day and I felt terrible. I went to see doctor today in hope of getting some cheaper generic drugs and waited for hours but my insurance won't cover my medication. My $$$... Season's over but relief was nowhere near in sight.
Well, I knew it's gonna happen but didn't expect to happen so soon and actually right in the middle of the busy season. The business might either be in very bad shape or the boss just couldn't stand stupid people around and decided to let the poor girl go literally 15 minutes before the office closed. The boss was nice enough to tell me like 15 minutes before he revealed it to the girl (wow, thanks for letting me know this terrible news in advance@@) but what could I do to save her from this miserable fate. It's been nice to work with her though she's technically unsound. Anyway, it just sucked to be fired and very awkward to go over her stuff when she cleared her desk. I just hope she'd stay strong and continue to have that big smile and be good-spirited to face her everyday challenges. By the way, everything looked very normal the next day. Nobody spoke a word about the whole thing (somebody just didn't know it at all…) and swiftly switched their desks…. I guess we're all heartless bitches in this cruel business world.
It's been more than three years since my last trip back home and thanks to Google, now I have a free opportunity to take a quick peek of my home without spending several thousand bucks on airplane tickets and lodging^^
It seems that my home changes its color every couple of years from white to ? to whatever color it's now... (actually the picture quality is good on the street but not that great to anything above the street level...)
The building we lived before we moved to our old home is still standing and looks dirty and crappy as usual.
Lots of things have changed but it's just good to see the old pharmacy, newspaper stand and the long stairway are still around in the neighborhood like it was yesterday.
Unfortunately, some great memories did disappear like the toy and stationary stores we often passed by in the old days.
And of course the Upper Ngau Tau Kok Estate, which I thought some parts of it were still in construction three years ago.
The outer appearance of the market and library, where I spent countless amount of time, still look like the same but I'm sure everything would be different inside.
... just don't know what happen to the slide... a small swing like that looks boring... (well, as I slowly "street view," I realized there are more auto repair stores than before... I guess auto repair store is the today's adult care home in the neighborhood.)
The MTR station.
Alma mater#1 was torn down with the Upper Ngau Tau Kok Estate a long time ago and I have been to the new location only once.
Alma mater#2 seems to have less changes than my home, which is a good thing to me...
The library near Alma mater#2, another library that I frequently visited.
Comments: I wish I could go back home this year because I have lots of unused vacation days but it just seems pointless to make this trip alone...
