Wedding Pictures

We've finally gotten the pictures from the professional photographer! :) He's going to pick out a subset of these pix to put on our website, but in the meanwhile, you can find all the pix on my smugmug site.

Happy Holidays

12/22
I took the day off so that I can use up my floating holiday before the year is over. And, it was a good thing, too. It took almost the whole day to get ready for the party. About 22 people showed up - the most number of people we've had in our house. We made almost the same dishes as Thanksgiving, and all turned out well. But, the highlight of the night was the white elephant gift exchange game. Everyone liked the present they got and had a great time.

12/23
We woke up at 7am in the morning to go to Hang and Tsang's wedding in Carmel. (Photo Album) The scenery is lovely, and the couple is, of course, beautiful. The food at the banquet was great, but my stomach was hurting so bad that I couldn't eat very much... :( I attributed that to staying up too late the night before... so I didn't think much of that.

After hanging out in Carmel's downtown with some friends, we had a tasty dinner at the Pacific's Edge Restaurant. It was named one of the top twenty resaturants in the US by the Wine Spectator, but we didn't try any of its wine. The rack of lamb was definitely one of the best I've every had, but braised ribs was a bit of a disappointment. But, the restaurant redeemed itself with the warm chocolate cake.

12/24
The highlight of the day was a spectacular Christmas Eve service at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. It was the most "professional" service I've ever been to. The choir sang beautifully, the orchestra was perfect, the lighting highlighted the mood of the worship, and the message was short but powerful. I guess it should be bug-free, since it was their seventh and last "show". The only dark spot of the day was my abdominal pain...

12/25
The pain continued, so we stayed in bed till late... Then, we went yum char with my parents... shopped at Ranch 99... watched DVD at home... played MJ... ate noodle soup for dinner... and slept at a reasonable hour.

12/26
The symptoms got worse and woke me up with an acute pain. After struggling with the pain for about 2 hours, he drove me to the ER. The doctor at the Good Samaritan Hospital had me go through a blood test, urine test, and ultrasound to see what's wrong, but after 6 hours, he found no clear cause for my pain... This was my 3rd visit to the ER since I've met him (5th in my lifetime), and although these visits are never too serious, they are no fun... But, at least now we know where the closet hospital is...

My First Snowman!

For more pictures in my Ski Trip photo album: Click Here

Is God Trying to Tell Me Something

It felt like the entire world was spinning around me when I woke up this morning. And, after tossing and turning for some time, trying to decide whether I should go to work or not, I dragged myself off the bed to head to the office. Considering the client isn’t that far from my house, it’s easier to just go home early if I really am too sick to work.

After a short drive to work, I parked my car and did my daily devotion. I may never fully understand the book of Ecclesiastes, but I felt like God was telling me that it’s meaningless to toil away if I don’t enjoy the work or what it produces. Then, a friend forwarded a depressing email about how people have died from overworking. I don’t know if people really do literally work themselves to death, or if these are just urban legends. But, I do know for a fact that working day and night does take a toll on your health.

With all that’s been happening, I can’t help but suspect God is trying to tell me something. Think more prayers will help me decipher if He’s really speaking to me?

Death Valley

Here's one of my favorite pictures from Death Valley.

For more pictures in this gallery: Click Here

Spare Key to the Rescue

I think stress and lack of sleep is really start to hit me. As cliche as it is, my body is just not what it used to be. My brain started to shut down around 4pm yesterday coz, even though it was only Tuesday, it felt like a Friday.

4pm Brain started to shut down, so I went to car for a power nap
4.20pm Woke up from what was supposed to be a 15min nap. Rushed back to the
office.
6pm Brain wanted to call it quits again. Started packing...
6.05pm Shoot! Where the heck are my keys?!?!
6.20pm Finally gave in and accepted the fact that I locked my keys in the car
again. Called for help, but he's in a meeting.
... No response ...
... Starving ...
8pm He finally finished meeting and came to the rescue with a spare key.

Goes to say the power of a spare key. And, so much for my wanting to go home early for a change...

Keep Searching...

It’s been a while since I’ve last blogged coz, as usual, work takes over pretty much every aspect of my life. I don’t have a problem with working hard. It’s just that sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my life if this isn’t what I want to be doing. But, I gotta finish whatever it is that I’ve signed up for. That’s just the right thing to do.

I can’t say I hate my job because I do learn tremendously from it, but there is just no passion. I’m not here to complain my job again. It’s just that something someone has said a while back had really stuck with me. That person said I’m only living the way I am now because I’m not searching hard enough. But, searching is *precisely* what I’ve been doing.

Each new project is almost the equivalent of a new job for me. My roles change dramatically from project to project, and, lately, I’ve been playing merry-go-around with clients. With the start of each new project, I keep wishing I’ll find something I truly enjoy doing, but, sucks for me, that hasn’t happened yet. There are still some aspects of consulting that I haven’t tried yet, so in the spirit of giving everything a try, I’ll just keep trying. Until then, the happiest time of my day is having him hold me and kiss me goodnight at the end of the day. :)

Our First Holiday Season

We stayed up till 2am decorating our house for Christmas last night. For a person who normally sleeps by 11pm, this is a huge deal. But, it was all worth it. All that are left to buy are wreaths and a bit more Christmas lights.

I know it's not quite Christmas yet, but there isn't a whole lot of decorating that you can do for Thanksgiving... And, given the amount of time and energy it takes to decorate the house, we might as well leave the decor up for a bit longer. (The tree you see on the left took us more than an hour to set up and at least 3 hours to decorate...)

But, I'm so glad that the holidays are finally here! :)

Complete Randomness

I can't believe I woke up at 7:30am on my second day being unstaffed. Spending time on the bench is one of the perks of being in consulting. Not too many jobs pay you while you recuperate from the last project. One of my clients once told me that the client team has it worse than the consulting folks, even though we work the long hours, because at the end of the day, the clients are the ones who will have to live with the end product... Anyway, the point is that I'm supposed to be in bed till at least 10am and not worry about staffing till a few days later. (Though my HR rep would beg to differ on this.)

Anyway, I woke up really missing the Sachertorte from Hotel Sacher, Vienna... The rich chocolate cake that is not overly sweet with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and whipped cream that has been whipped to perfection on the side... Is it crazy to think about visiting a city again just for its desserts? There really isn't anything like it.

I know that my chances are slim and that everyone will think I'm insane for doing this, but I started searching through the role db for any project in Austria... I'm starting to wonder if I woke up because I miss this cake too much...

After finally dragging myself out of bed, I went through my daily routine of reading through the news headlines and personal emails. And, here are the interesting things from today.

• Fat? Blame your granny (Read the article yourself)
• According to the scientists from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, a pregnant woman's diet affects not only her unborn child's health, but also the health of her children's children.

• Warm weather wrecks bears' winter slumber (Read the article yourself)
  
• Insomniac bears are roaming the forests of southwestern Siberia scaring local people as the weather stays too warm for the animals to fall into their usual winter slumber. There really is no way we can deny global warming, can we?

• O.J. Simpson to Open Up About Murders (Read the article yourself)
• In his new book If I Did It, Here's How It Happened, O.J. talks about how he murdered his ex-wife and her boyfriend 12 years ago - if he had actually murdered them. Isn't this just the strangest thing? This goes a long way to say anything can happen in the States if you have enough money. (Can we put him on trial again if we find new clues from his own book...?)

OK, so I don't pay too much attention to the war in Iraq... but, it's just been going on for WAY too long. I don't need the news to tell me that more innocent people have died or that the soldiers have gone crazy and committed inhumane acts...

I found out about the "The Five Love Languages" quiz from a friend's blog this morning. The Five Love Languages is one of the really popular books that my premarital counselor suggested to another couple. It's a pretty interesting read, but there really isn't a point if we don't put what we've learned into action... Anyway, so here are my results:

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Quality Time
with a secondary love language being
Words of Affirmation.

Complete set of results

Quality Time:		11
Words of Affirmation:		8
Acts of Service:		5
Physical Touch:		5
Receiving Gifts:		1

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

The End is Finally Here!

Even though I was dead tired when I dragged myself out of bed after working all day and all night yesterday, I started my day with a smile on my face. This project is finally over! As I have predicted, they don't have the budget to keep me on, even though my boss has tried really hard to do so. I am very happy to put this project behind me - from more than just one perspective.

Career
While I was commended for my ability to pick up new stuff very quickly and hit the ground running, this is definitely not a consultant's role... This has been a huge step down from my last role where I was managing a small team of my own. Oh well, this is what I get from taking a long vacation during a critical phase of the project. And, getting roles at the end of the year is never easy. Things are always slow around the holidays, so I wouldn't mind some unstaffed time. Hey, what beats spending the day doing what you want while getting paid your full salary?

Health and Marriage
Working a minimum 14-hr day everyday for the past month has taken a toll on my health and marriage. I'm not getting enough sleep; my metabolism is slowly down; I'm getting fat; the dark circles that have disappeared for a little while have crept back in my life. And... he and I hardly ever talk to each other during the work week.

So, net net, finishing up this project is definitely a good thing. Just have to hang in there till it's all over this evening. ;)

Fresh New Look (Continued...)

My hair grows incredibly fast, so it's already much, much, much longer than 2 weeks ago, but here's what I look like now. :)

2-Month Anniversary

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've been married. Time really does fly... But, I guess between the 2 wks of honeymoon and his 2 wks in Beijing, we've only truly lived what you may call a normal married life for 1 month. To be honest, I can't say married life is too different from my single life though. We've merged our finances a long time ago, and I still hardly ever see him before I go to bed at night...

We have an effective 4-hr time difference (i.e. I sleep at 10:30pm or earlier, and he, 2am or later), so you can imagine how much time we get to spend with each other during the work week. Sometimes, I think it may be better for me to go back to my traveling lifestyle... If I were on the road all the time, at least we wouldn't have to bend our backs finding time to have a very late dinner together, or have him wake me up when he crawls into bed at 2am or later... With my Cisco project finally wrapping up next Monday, this may be a workable plan...

Speaking of spending time apart, I heard a very interesting report on the radio this morning - many married couples now actually choose to live apart because their lifestyles are too different. Has being married really gone out of style? Homes headed by married couples have now dipped below 50%, and of those who are married, I would argue that most have a very non-traditional take on marriage. A lot of people have blamed this on female financial independence, but I think it's probably because people are taught to put what they want before everybody else.

Anyway... gotta go back to work now... :(

Eventful Evening

Last night was a pretty eventful evening:

• Finally had my annual review with my CC
• Had my first flute lesson
  
• A friend came over to cook and eat dinner with me

Annual Review
This is actually very overdue, considering the annual review process was completed at the end of August. But, better late than never. My CC is a super cool guy, but I just wish he is more reachable, especially when I feel very lost with where my career is heading. I pinged one of the guys from my start group yesterday, and he's a dev team lead now... I'm very jealous that he actually likes what he's doing, but I can't really complain because I honestly don't know what I want... Many people have suggested that I should just quit and look for something else, but I don't think I'd be happy doing the same thing year after year at the same company either... I've been praying about this for a while now, but God seems to want me to explore a bit more for now.

Flute Lesson
The flute instructor that I’ve found on Craigslist turns out to be pretty cool. She seems really knowledgeable, but her rates are pretty low. We spent the first 15 minutes or so chatting about flute lessons in general, and we had a short lesson after that. I seem to be doing ok with the lower notes, but the high notes are… well… not so pleasant.

The funniest thing is that her cat has completely fallen in love with me. At the end of the lesson, she just slept on my lap and purred when I stroke her back. I think my teacher was a little jealous of that, but oh well. :P She has a little yorkie also, so I can’t wait till I meet her next week.

Dinner
A friend from church came over to my place for dinner after my flute lesson. I managed to set some soba noodles on fire before she arrived (don’t ask me how I did that…), but other than that, it was a fun evening. :)

I’m going to help out at the church tonight, then I think I’m going to have dinner with friends both tomorrow and Thursday night. Cell group meeting is on Friday nights, and he’s back on Saturday morning. (Woohoo! ^0^)

A Fresh New Look

After saving it for 3 years, I've finally chopped my hair off. The hairdresser was very skilled with the scissors and extremely meticulous with my hair. So meticulous that it took her 1.5 hours to cut my hair... The longest haircut I've ever gotten was perhaps an hour, but this is by far the longest I've spent getting a haircut. I love the new haircut, but the trade off is a $40 parking ticket... making this the most expensive haircut I've ever gotten... :(

Core Consultant Seminar

I've spent all day at the W Hotel in SF downtown for a one-day Core Consultant Seminar. The W Hotel is very hip and modern, but I think it's a bit pretentious. In the States, an elevator is an elevator. Why the heck would you want to call it a lift when you know darn well that you're not in the UK?

The seminar was a complete waste of my time. I had envisioned this as a part networking, part propaganda kind of seminar, but it was nothing of the sort. To begin with, the instructor spent a full hour on a song-guessing game, where collaboration was not allowed. Then, there a video that mocks Accenture on every single slide. (And, in some cases, 5 videos per slide.) The instructor said he had come to SF for his team, but he went a little too far when all he could talk about was how difficult his project has been and how great his team is. For goodness' sake, there is more to the world than his little government project. And, it's not exactly motivating to keep putting the Accenture methodoloy down. For example, in the game of systems implementation jeopardy, he asked, "These should have been fixed in systems test, but they won't be in the system until a later date." And, lo and behold, the answer is "future release". Forgive me for being so critical, but I just don't think that's the kind of message you want to pass to your consultants.

All in all, I think that was the worst training I've ever been to. The only redeeming part of the day was the people development presentation, which was done by a different speaker. Obviously managing people is a lot easier said than done, but it's good to hear real life examples of what worked and what didn't work.

It was the good old fashion networking happy-hour after being bombarded with mix messages for 9 straight hours. As I have never been a big fan of randomly introducing myself to strangers, I decided to take off early and treat myself to a shopping spree. (After all, it was stressful to just sit there, wondering how much I could have gotten done if I was not sitting in that room.)

The new Bloomingdales and Westfield mall are amazing, but H&M remains my all-time favorite. Forever 21 is still cool, but its return policy just doesn't cut it. I don't know how they're still in business with a no-refund policy. At any rate, I spent about an hour and a half at H&M, and let's just say I was happy with how my day ended. :)

Work Life Balance?

While most Hong Kongers that I have talked to think the Americans are lazy bums, the radio is now talking about how we should cut back on our hours and take our lives back. Is there really such a thing as work life balance now that we have learned to practically identify ourselves with the work that we do? I’m not concurring with the workalcoholic way of life, but it’s almost just the norm these days. People are always talking about finding a career where your passion lies, but passion doesn’t end at the end of the work day. Or, at least it shouldn’t… The point is how exactly do you differentiate work from leisure if you are one of the lucky few that get to do what they love?

My manager has just talked to me about not going over a certain number of hours in the month of October. This is the first time I’ve been asked to limit my hours, but with the amount of work I have to do, that’s just not possible. Having come from a project where it’s totally acceptable to work 80 hour weeks and have $10k dinners, this request just seems strange to me… I simply can’t understand why the budget is so tight. Oh well, another sign of poor planning. (And, I’m sure this will not be the last time I see this.)

I was thinking of my choice in career again last night, and I think God must have had a purpose when he put me here. After all, he gave me the promotion when a lot of equally qualified people were denied the opportunity. But, whatever that purpose is… I have yet to find. I can do a good job at what I do, but I honestly can’t see myself as an executive here. There are just way too much politics, but I guess in the end, it’s all just a numbers game. Oh well, just keep praying, I guess.

Interpersonal Intelligence...?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Interpersonal Intelligence

You shine in your ability to realate to and understand others. Good at seeing others' points of view, you get how people think and feel. You have an uncanny ability to sense true feelings, intentions, and motivations. A natural born leader, you are great at teaching and mediating conflict. You would make a good counselor, salesperson, politician, or business person.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

New Musical Beginning

Maybe Vienna does have some kind of mystical power that draws people to music. Both he and I have been really into musical things after a visit to Vienna on our honeymoon. He now practices on the piano almost every night and is giving himself jazz piano lessons. And, I finally acted on my childhood dream of taking flute lessons.


While I'm home trying to get over a fever, I have finally gotten myself to go on craigslist and found myself a flute instructor. She has quite a bit of adult students and is less than 10 minutes away from my house! I don't know yet if I will be any good with the flute, but at least I can proudly say that I've given it a try. :)

Home Alone

After weeks and weeks of talking about it, I've finally seen him off on a flight to Beijing. This is the first time we've been apart since the wedding day! In actuality, since I'm going back to SF on Wednesday night, it feels almost as if the home alone period doesn't start till next week. Long distance has never worked for me, and it probably never will. But, never say never, I guess.

Rigoletto

We saw Rigoletto at the SF Opera tonight.

Rigoletto is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851. According to Opera America, Rigoletto is now North America's ninth most performed opera.

Even though the tickets were over $100 each, we had to take 3 flights of stairs before we could get to our seats. The acoustics weren't nearly as good as Vienna's state opera house, but the costumes were 10 times better.

Purpose of Life

Well, OK, that's too big of a topic to be tackled by me altogether, but I can at least think about the purpose of my "professional" life.

After working for a few hours last night, I woke up at 6am this morning to get into the office by 7am. Time really flies by when I'm just typing away at my desk. It's sad that my tasks don't really require me to think, but then again, that may be a good thing, given that my brain is practically dead from sleep deprivation.

After slaving away for close to 5 hours, I stopped to question what exactly am I killing myself over. I know I've complained about my job for a long time now, but what can I do? A girl's gotta make her living somehow. According to M-W, a career is a calling, a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement. But, to be honest, the longer I've been out of school, the dumber I feel. So, what exactly is the purpose?

Is the point just to earn enough money so that I can live without worrying about not having enough to live on? Or, is a job just something to occupy my time so that the days go by more quickly? Be a good witness of God, some say... But, who has the time to talk about religion when everyone's in endless meetings all day?!

So, I'm left with no conclusion other than I need to have my lunch now...

Hair Donation

I woke up this morning, feeling like I want to cut my hair, so I decided the option of donating my hair to people who have lost their hair due to illnesses. Locks of Love seems to be the most reputable amongst the various organizations, but they have very strict rules on whose hair they'd accept. And, unfortunately, Locks of Love (as well as all the other organizations I have found) don't accept chemically treated hair. So, so much for my willingness to donate my hair. I personally don't think my hair is damaged because I try to take very good care of my hair. But, oh well....

There are also people who'd sell their hair for a hefty price!
http://www.hairwork.com/bidhere.htm

What Gender is Your Brain?

Ha! I guess it is true that I'm more of a guy than a girl! May be he's more of a girl!

Your Brain is 47% Female, 53% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Can't Concentrate

Today's the single most unproductive day I can remember. I started out with good intentions, waking up at 8, thinking I'd finish all the transition documents. But, the reality is that I spent approximately 2.5 hours fully engaged in my work. Is this an indication that I really can't get myself to enjoy what I'm doing, or that I haven't switched back from the vacation mode?

He was clamoring his urge to go back to work, while I simply abhor the idea of having deal with looking for a new client, ramping for a new role, and/or figuring out what my next career goals are. People who have the guts to simply quit to look for their passions have my utmost respect. I suppose not having any source of income will give you the sense of urgency to really get you moving. But, sadly, I think I've come to tying my identity with my so-called career too closely. And, having supported most - if not all - of my expenses since high school, I'm just not used to not making money. It's one thing when I'm not spending coz I don't want to, and another if I'm not spending coz I don't have the money to.

And, this "quarter life crisis" saga shall continue...

Your Brain's Pattern

Your brain is always looking for the connections in life. You always amaze your friends by figuring out things first. You're also good at connecting people - and often play match maker. You see the world in fluid, flexible terms. Nothing is black or white.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

Is This Worth It?

I've almost forgotten how it feels to be so busy that I've forgotten to eat. Being unstaffed should be the best part of being a consultant because, theoretically, you are paid for not having to work at all. But, somehow, that's not the case this time. Bouncing between helping my last project, ramping up for the new project, and researching for an exec, ACN is squeezing every bit out of me... Although, I guess I really shouldn't be complaining since I got 2 whole weeks of pay for prepping for my wedding.

After 1.5 months of easy life, it's time to get back into reality. Just when people are commenting on how great my skin looks, I can feel 3 little pimples creeping out coz of the stress already. *Sigh*... is this really worth it???

In the meantime, I've become really addicted to Blogthings :P

You Are 2: The Helper

You always put on a happy face and try to help those around you. You're incredibly empathetic and care about everyone you know. Able to see the good in others, you're thoughtful, warm, and sincere. You connect with people who are charming and charismatic.

What Number Are You?

My Birthday!

I've finally decided to make the switch from Xanga to Blogger, and I guess it's appropriate for this new beginning to happen on my birthday.

2006 is truly the most memorable and meaningful year for me. So much has happened that I think it's going to take some time for me to fully comprehend what has just happened. And, sometimes, I'm scared that it's all just a dream, that none of this has really happened. All in all, God has really showered his blessings on me. :)

You Are a Blue Flower

A blue flower tends to represent peace, openness, and balance. At times, you are very delicate like a cornflower. And at other times, you are wise like an iris. And more than you wish, you're a little cold, like a blue hydrangea.

What Color Flower Are You?