Nick Vujicic: A man without legs and arms

 I came across Nick Vujicic's story's this morning, a clip to share with you...





The matter of the fact...

I went with my family to my mom's church camp... where people came up providing their testimony... and their life's story...

Health problems and others... some life threatening... and best wishes to them...

Others... such as mine... well... got all pieces together despite ain't quite working.... 8-O lol 8-X

The losses in life and the continuing fights to survive.

It was somewhere around the middle of the morning when the story of Nick Vujicic was shared...

You see...

It's in these situation when this question came up to me again...

How have I faired so far?

In the department of... unnecessary suffering....

Good luck and best wishes to all whether your story is told or untold!

New passport!

Got a new passport yesterday... apparently, it is called epassport...

In my imagination... I thought... wow... maybe... looking like... 8-O lol

or

Ended up, simply...

Anyways, trying really hard to to find where that chip is in mine...

Chip on a British passport

Nederlanden? Holland?

American chip here... somewhere...

Chip center of an Australian passport

My own new and old passport... the one with the edge cut off is the old one... and the new one does have the official symbol...

Definitions: script, mental model, etc

I have used these two phrases "script" and "mental model" so very often that I thought everyone might be able to understand what exactly I meant by them..... sort of like... the commonplace feeling of mine that people could know what is in my head.... maybe?

Decided to dig out some class-book definitions out for you from a psychology 101 textbook by Bernstein, D., Penner, L., Clarke-Stewart, A., & Roy, E. (2007).

Information processing system: Mechanisms for receiving information, representing it with symbols and manipulate it.

Thinking: The manipulation of mental representations.

Proposition: A mental representation of the relationships between concepts.

Schema: Generalization about categories of objects, places, events and people.

Script: A mental representation of familiar sequences of activities.

Mental model: A representation of particular situations or arrangements of objects that guides our interaction with them.

And, the following... in my word...

Soap opera effect: The recalled memories are dependent on the inferences one makes based on prior knowledge pre-existing the events to be recalled.

You could also check the following article to see how the concept of soap opera might be useful to enhance learning: Soap opera effect

Imaginary world: A world one construct based on components such as the above with or without apparent external input.

You could also check the following article to see how imaginary world might be useful to enhance learning: Imaginary Worlds

Cited? 8-O

Just realized that...  somebody cited this article of mine written in my past life...

Ah.... something worth citing could come out of this mouth of mine? Wow...

So, I decided to check it out this one and only article on this planet that cited my writing... and why I was cited...

Not because I said anything all that meaty... cuz I modified a usability questionnaire in my study..... 8-O lol

Anyways, so they say... no fish shrimp is ok... 沒魚蝦也好...

In addition, since I had my accident over 3 years ago and especially these past 1-2 years, I had given up a whole lot of things including the whole academic publication stuffs, voluntarily, to save my body and mind.

From 600 mg till getting overdrugged by 12.50 + mg of Seroquel.... although I did not move far in the Human-Computer Interaction, I did move pretty far in Human-Medication Interaction.... I guess?! 8-O lol

Funny to see my name cited tody.... absolutely funny...

Being REALLY thankful, though!!!  Thank you, thank you and thank you!!!

I had thought that I would be able to live to see my work cited... (though I am determined to live a long and happy life)....

Today, one more thing crossed off... in my checklist... I guess?  Not to mention... International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.... Not Bad...

Next thing on the list... gotta marry myself off... I think....

Size matters: no normal people here 8-O lol

Some say size doesn't matter...

Size matters...

The size of the pill apparently was a bit on the big side... all ....................... the entire day and... all's fine on the East side.

The size was on the smaller end yesterday... very productive and full of ideas... regardless the nature.

A brief review of the stats I have spoke of days back showed me that... one string of key phrase that led people to this blog was "normal people think."

In my imaginary world, some people arrive to this post of mine "How do normal people think?" looking for a holly grail... the answer to how normal people think.

I won't claim myself as normal... thus, you won't find out how normal people think here... more like how normal people think not...

Yet, I can't really make that claim either since.... it is as if I claim the checking of stuffs like them stats is like the habit people have when checking their cellphone... while I have never had a cellphone.... What do I know?

One thing I do know and I can tell you... size matters.  8-O lol

So busy....

It is very strange... I am here at home... 英英美代子... but... really busy... 8-O

Fanapi aftermath

It was all over the news since late afternoon yesterday, flooding was all over in the southern part of Taiwan. In many areas, the water had gone taller than over 1 story tall...

Turned the TV on, sad news all over about how to reconstruct the regions from the aftermath...

Then, a piece of news like the following came up.... something about how... 花博「夢想館」意外曝光...



Gotta be kidding me? 8-O

Flower eating.... 花癡

One of the best depiction of Flower eating.... 花吃(癡)....

For a minute... thought... oops... ain't da moi.. then I shall be flower eating 歐巴桑? lol

Something about Fanapi

The strangest thing about Typhoon Fanapi in Taipei....

A whole lot of strong wind but no rain..... when hearing the wind blowing, you actually would wonder whether it is also raining.... except for... wind only...

The strangest typhoon experience I have ever had...

Sound of Fanapi wind in Taipei, night of 9/19/2010


background noise removed....


Thank God, though, considering the awful amount of water damages the typhoon is doing down south....

The sound of typhoon Fanapi

Although there has not been much rain, the wind has been scary.... to be honest...

Not quite sure whether you will be able to identify the sound though...



Of course, can't quite compete with what it might have been like.... for instance, this morning when the typhoon landed...



In the town of 美崙, the windows of 20 cars were broken by the wind including windshield..... Apparently, force 17 on Beaufort scale means... over 202 km per hour... 8-O

Fanapi in Taipei

The wind and rain was pretty strong over night last night, however, as of mid-day today, the weather in Taipei seems to be pretty fine... though the temperature really could go down a bit more.

To be more exact, my mom even went to church and so did her church friends the day Fanapi has the whole island covered.

Me... in old times (don't know about now), they used to laugh about how, on a typhoon day, if a sign falls off and hit 10 people, 9 out of 10 are with doctoral degree because they are out of work and hanging on the street.... since I am very much like this thing called 事故頻出地帶... well... I decided to stay in the whole day I guess.... 8-O lol

One way to describe the weather in Taipei now is... 晴時多雲偶陣雨, especially 太陽雨 ... or.. sunny at times, cloudy at times, and, rainy at times even when the sun shines....

Would have to say though... it is much more windy...

My mom did say, though, that, when she went out at around 8:30 this morning to go to church, it was strong wind and strong rain.... (@#$$%$# personally, I can't understand why people would choose to go any place when the typhoon just lands.)

Tornado in NYC? 8-O

When I called the office yesterday, I was told about how my boss got caught in the tornado the other day.

Tornado in NYC?  Can't be...

Was in NYC for 13 years... Strong wind... might have seen... Tornado... unheard of...

It isn't like NYC is Kansas city....

So this escaped my thought...

Sort of like what they say about how the Indians failed to see the ship carrying Columbus... I guess...

Then, earlier on, as I was watching the news about typhoon Fanapi, they showed on the news that tornados hit NYC.... 8-O

Insight: make you understand? How obnoxious!

An insight came to me yesterday or the day before.

Something I might or might not have thought of or said before.

One reason I started blogging 5-6 years ago was to help people understand.... though no longer am I sure about the "what."

It is absolutely obnoxious of me wanting to help people understand... whatever is to be understood....

At least... I finally get it now...

美國時間太多.先把自己顧好.無聊.

or..

Mind your (my) own business.  What nonsense.

Apple in Taiwanese?

I might have mentioned this before....

Not too long ago... when I was in the fifth or sixth grade... 8-O lol... 

One day, I was hanging with my classmates and somehow we started talking about apples... and this friend of mine used this word, "pon-go."

I looked at him all bewildered.. "What is pon-go"?

So he replied, "It is apple in Taiwanese."

I laughed at him and said... "No.  Apple in Taiwanese is ringo.  What are you talking about?  I grew up so far saying ringo and never heard of pongo."

"No. Ringo is Japanese.  Pongo is Taiwanese.  If you don't believe it, go home and ask your parents."  He responded.

So I went home.... still laughing my head off about my friend's absolute lack of common sense.... 

I mentioned the whole thing...

Either my mom or my dad then told me...

"He was right.  Ringo is Japanese.  Just we never use the word pongo."  8-O 8-X lol

The moral of the lesson: 罵人者人恆罵之.... lol

りんご | 蘋果 | Apple

Apple in Taiwanese

Typhoon Fanapi coming to Taiwan

Satellite picture of Fanapi.

Typhoon Fanapi is approaching Taiwan, knowing that we went to do some grocery shopping in RT-Mart, something sort of like Costco in the US, I guess, because, once the typhoon hit... the price of everything on this planet will also go up.. because.... them poor farmers... them poor crops... and... as a result, not wanting to complain.... we poor consumers... 8-O

The predicted path of Fanapi.

The scariest thing about this typhoon that is  is that... the way it goes, when it hits Taiwan, it will cover the entire island and might go right through the center of the island.. this is why they are now describing or calling it "穿心颱"...  or typhoon right-through-the-heart...

The central mountain range, though, usually would help breaking down its structure and decreasing its strength.

The cloudy sky in Taipei.
The pointed building is Taipei 101.

One thing most peculiar about about typhoon rain is that... it starts and it stops.  At points, the sky would clear up and the sun would come out.  This is much to do with its structure as seen in the satellite picture.

And, to be honest, what I hate the most of people like these.... people who know that the typhoon is coming but still go engaging in dangerous activities such as surfing, mountain climbing and sea fishing...

If nothing happens, it is wonderful.  If something happens, how would your family feel and don't you know that all the rescue etc comes out from the tax-payers' pocket?

Taiwanese Japanese

So I found out how one might write "阿達媽konkuri" in Japanese and asked my mama to see whether it is correct...

Mama took a look and said... "I don't read Japanese.  How did you find out what it is in Japanese?"

I don't know either... except for... あ い う お え works super like our ㄅㄆㄇㄈ注音符號.... and sometimes... simple google it... I guess... 8-O lol

To reconfirm, I asked mama... how would you explain "阿達媽konkuri"?

"Like you dad.. @#$%&@#$%"

Well, what this confirmed is that... I am saying it correctly in Taiwanese.... though I am not quite sure whether Japanese could understand it...

あたまコンクリート (阿達媽konkuri)

Last night, when I was taking my medication, I happened to pick up one piece that was larger...

The entire day today.... I feel...あたまコンクリート or 阿達媽 konkuri.... the head is hard like concrete and doesn't turn... Duh....

This reminds me of this Taiwanese Japanese expression....

あちまコンクリート (阿達媽konkuri)....

あたま (a-ta-ma) means head.
コンクリート (Konkuri) means concrete.

A head made of concrete... of course... hard and hard to turn.



Example: Ratprincess took a bigger pill last night and today she is all あたまコンクリート (阿達媽konkuri).

From.. 장근석 張根碩 Schema? 8-O

Even though I am an 歐巴桑 almost old enough to be the mama of this boy 張根碩...

How cute.... かわいい /ka-wa-ii/....  :-D

Came across this clip online showing this beau garçon in different stages...



Ain't quite right.... あちま getting ショト... 阿達媽getting 秀逗... or my head getting short-circuited... or, the generation of cognitive dissonances in process...

Apparently... he should be...



Speaking of the power of script or simply schema....

Then... I came across the following...



Oh... No!!!

and...



No ..no... no.... "Why are you doing it to me?  :'-O"

Speaking of... "演戲的是瘋子，看戲的是傻子"..... sort of like... those who act are crazy and those who watch are fools...

胭脂坊? 8-O 田子坊 (Tian Zi Fang)

Went to meet up with this friend in Shanghai one day....

It was almost at the end of my stay in Shanghai.... and I had visited quite a few places based on the recommendation of the thousand-year-old tour guide my brother-in-law lent me..

So she asked, "Have you every been to yān-zhī-fāng?"

In my mind, I thought... "胭脂坊? Sounds as if....  somewhere... 燈紅酒綠...紙醉金迷... luxury and dissipation... Maybe somewhere like the Score?! And, only 6 o'clock something... 8-O  No wonder an established business woman now... not like someone like me from the Ivory Tower..."

So the taxi took us around and, as we got out...

Oops.... not the 胭脂坊 in my overly active imagination depicted in the clip below...

No 胭脂坊... rather, it is... oops... 田子坊 or Tian Zi Fang.  lol

Tian Zi Fang is located on Taikang Lu (泰康路).

檢視較大的地圖

Accordingly, the allies (弄堂) and the Shikumen (Stone Gate or 石庫門) architectural style are two of the main characteristics of 田子坊 (Tian Zi Fang).  Although the buildings might have been restored, many of the old brick houses still maintain their old style... (please check the following link for more info on 弄堂 and the Shikumen "石庫門")

Tian Zi Fang is also known as the "Art Street" because many artists and designers have set up their boutiques here.  You can also find cafes all over the places.

In addition, some of these houses remain to be residential... If you take a peep, you would be able to see the living arrangement of these residents.

So my friend had me told...

"If you like Xintiandi (新天地), you must visit Tian Zi Fang (田子坊) because, in Tian Zi Fang, these are real houses converting into shops rather than like those in Xintiandi... so well refurbished that you might come to think these are new establishments built in old style."

Personally speaking, what I would say is that... it is true that Xintiandi (新天地) vs Tian Zi Fang (田子坊) is like Julie v.s. Carol as depicted in the clip below...

Or... on a second thought... maybe the analogy is not all that appropriate... 8-O

However, how would you know what the differences are if you have not checked out them both?

Following are some pictures I took when in 田子坊 (Tian Zi Fang) with the background music... the beginning of an old Shanghai song... "等著你回來"

Video version:

Slideshow version:



(And, by the way, nope... that's not yours ratprincess in the picture... However, if you would like to outsource da Asian beauty to be your pedastrian #1, I could be the agent... 8-O lol)

How normal people think?--- Just say no 8-O

This is something I heard people said... often... "I didn't know that your body is still....."

Sometimes I wonder... for some of them... whether it is because they have tuned themselves out of the narration, they refuse to believe the reality or I simply have gotten tired of retelling the same old story...

One lesson I have to learn, I have sort of learned and I continue to learn is to... just say no.

You see, this world could be without boundaries... my posting here could be read or browsed through from all 5 continents on this planet.

Yet, when you have disabilities, you have constraints.... and these sometimes are constraints other people can't even imagine....

You have dreams.... the dream that one day you might fare better doing them stairs, slopes, and walk at  a faster pace so that you don't have to slow everyone else down with you.  You might also wish that... one day... I will be able to go out with a laptop weighting no more than 3 kilo like what I used to be able to do....

You can imagine in your head that you beat them up left and right for the things they do or say to rub salt onto your wound... which might even cause real damages to you.... your health...

Yet, one most important thing is that...

At the end of the day, the supporting characters would simply go back on to their ordinary life and deal with their own issues.

You, unfortunately, is the only person to be stuck in that body and mind of yours.  You are the only personal having to live through the consequences including the process of recovery... even from ground zero.

A lesson I, yet, have to master... to share with you...

When knowing something is above and beyond your capacity, and, when knowing engaging in such acts could have bad bad consequences... "just say no".

If you can't run... don't run.

If you can't do stairs... find alternative path so as to minimize the number of stairs that you have to handle.

If you can't carry weight, try to minimize the weight you have to carry on.

Most of all, when other people want you to join them to engage in activities ordinary to them but highly technical to you, you need to have the courage to tell them... no.

"No.  I can't do them stairs and I will have to find an entrance with disability access to the subway.  You can go on yourself first and I will catch up later."

or..

"No.  I won't be able to make it to the other side of the 6 lane road in 35 seconds."

Even more...

If you walk too slow and you don't want to slow them down, simply tell them, "Go ahead and I will catch some point."

This actually is one of the reason why I prefer to take my walk myself...

It might be difficult for you to spit out that world "no."

Not only because people might get annoyed etc.

Somehow, I think, the reason why "no" is a so hard a word to say, at least for me, is that... I don't want to be the person to say no.  I don't even want to be the person having the awareness that sometimes I might have to say no.  Each every time, it is as if... each every "no" confirms a part of me that has been lost and there is no telling whether such could be regain....

In addition, if other people don't see the point why you are so upset by disability-related issues... and might find you the only person with issues...

Tell them... "God bless...."

Tell yourself... "You don't even know how many issues I have!  Yes, God, I have a truck load of issues and I admit to it!!" 8-O lol

And... come to think about it... perhaps, that's just how the normal people think.... I guess... one of the answer to...  How do normal people think? or... How I used to think, maybe?

Also, if you are not normal, you are not normal... get on with it.. why bother pretending to be normal?  8-O lol

張根碩 | Jang Geun Suk | 장근석 on facebook?

Been busy working on that ubuntu machine that I don't even have the time to check out some more info about my あなた 張根碩... (by the way, I assume this あなた (a-na-ta) is the same 阿哪達 that we say in Taiwan 8-O lol)..

Just as stupid does stupid does...

Fans gotta do what fans do as well...

So I decided to check out whether my あなた 張根碩 has a facebook account... with the keyword of 장근석 returned over 300 hits....

Which one is or ones are the real 張根碩 | Jang Geun Suk | 장근석? 8-O lol

http://www.facebook.com/pages/zhang-gen-xi-Jang-Geun-Suk-jang-geunseog/175231596909

I have a dream: Exit facility disposition

My family went out today for dinner.  Coming out of the subway station, I saw this sign about Exit facility disposition or 各出入口設施配置.

This posting tells people which exit has elevators both going up and down.  It also tells people where the elevator is in case people need wheelchair accessible kind of entrance.

Well, I have many dreams.... (for instance, it is my dream to win a few hundred million dollars through mega)... 

Among all... I have this dream... one day... info as such will be posted at each every exit of each every subway station in all countries... 8-O

你要錢，我比你更愛錢！ (You love money, I love money even more!)

This was on the news a few days ago...

Grandma went to visit her son.  When she was entering the front door of the building, this young and sweet man helped her open the door and followed her in.  

After they got in, the young man pulled out a knife and wanted her money...

So said the young man, "I want money!"

Grandma shouted out even louder, "You love money, I love money even more! ( 你要錢，我比你更愛錢！)"

She turned around and pushed the rubber out of the door... 

Thereafter, she walked back up stairs as if nothing had happened.

It was not until her son got home from work did he know what had happened... When calling up the police... they found out... somehow... this bad guy just got called.... 

Wow... heroic grandma... and... the amazing power of.... 獅吼功...

あちまショト (阿達媽秀逗 or the head is short-circuited)

Thought I might share with you this

I grew up using this expression.... あちまショト (pronounced in Taiwanese Japanese: a-da-ma-sho-do).

あちま (a-da-ma) means head.
ショト(sho-do) means short or short-circuited

Combing あちま and ショト together, we get あちまショト(a-da-ma-sho-do or 阿達媽秀逗), what this means is that... the person's head is short-circuited.... and it is not something very nice to say... sort of like name-calling...




Example: Ratprincess is 阿達媽秀逗 (あちまショト). 8-O

Don't even know whether this is a real expression in Japan... but, at least, it is a Japanese phrase used in Taiwan.

At the same time, please refrain from telling people that they are... 阿達媽秀逗...

What does "いいえ" means?

I grew up saying this word but not understand what it means...

いいえ (ee-yeah)

Decades later, it came to my mind.. "What does "いいえ" means?"

 "いいえ" means "no"...

そうですね (sou desu ne)... or... 原來是這樣.... 8-O

Also, if you say thank you to someone and you get "いいえ" as a response...

Sort of like, in Chinese... the word-by-word translation of "不謝" to English is "no thanks," which actually means "You are welcome" or "Don't mention."

In Japanese, apparently, just say "no." 8-O lol

基隆廟口夜市螃蟹羹 (Crab thick soup at Keelung Night Market)

Paid my uncle a visit again today.... that physician uncle of mine who's been treating me since as I was kid...

Although I am in Taipei, uncle's clinic is in Keelung (基隆).

When in Keelung, one place I made a point to visit, if possible, is the Keelung night market (although shops are also open during the day time).  Accordingly, Keelung night market was elected as the most "friendly" and most "delicious" night market in a poll conducted over the web. 

The dish I tried out today was "Crab Thick Soup" (螃蟹羹).  Although the bowl is not all that big, you do see quite a few pieces of crab meat there and a whole lot of other ingredients...  If I had added some vinegar and hot chilly, it might have been more to my taste... However, still good eat!

Because it was so crowded and most seats were taken.... I almost gave up on my tasting effort today... Happy that I did!

Like what my mama always says... Welcome to Taiwan... and don't forget to try out thems good eat!

Destination: Unknown

This picture was all over the news the other day...

The destination of bus 1203 was shown as "不知道" or "unknow(n)"....

Wow... how existential! 8-O lol

"咳嗽記得帶乃罩!!" (Remember to wear a bra when coughing)

In Taiwan, apparently, it is a common practice for people to wear a mask when people have flu or cold-like symptoms.

For instance, mama made me wear a mask at home when my sister's family came to my parents the other day....

When you are in public area such as on a train, they would also remind you about it through the scrolling texts....

One day, people on the train saw this texts scrolling on....

"台鐵溫馨提醒大家咳嗽記得帶乃罩!!"

or

"A friendly reminder from Taiwan Railway... please remember to wear a bra when coughing!!"

So the journalists went interviewing people.  This guy responded... "Maybe this message is telling you to share the other half with your next-seat neighbor?!"



Some kind of typo... lol

Cruising on Hangang River: Moonlight Rainbow Fountain

When I went on the cruise on Han River, I was only looking forward an ordinary boat ride that would allow me to view the city in the night.....

So I was sitting on the boat, looking at the city with the light.... doing the same thing the guy was doing at the beginning of this clip... 吸收天地精華....

How peaceful!  How zen!  How gemütlich!

Gotta absorb all that I can!



Then, there came the highlight of the trip.... the the light show and water dance-- also known as the moonlight Rainbow Fountain from the cruise over Hangang River.... an absolutely pleasant surprise....

The Moonlight Rainbow Fountain is said to be the longest bridge fountain in the world.  It is installed along the Banpo Bridge (반포대교 or 盤浦大橋)...

(Gotta appologize for the quality of the video at times because my sister's camera has this strange habit of refocusing itself...)

Accordingly, the fountain is made with with nearly 10,000 nozzels on both sides of the bridge and shoots out 190 tons of water per minute.... wow...

Thank God... the water was pumped up directly from the river.... and... goes right be to the river...

The cruise did stop for sometime when we were approaching the Banpo bridge.  This was when I took this clip...

At around the end of the water/light show, I was with my friend and her son inside the cabinet.  When I realized that... apparently... the boat was moving towards the bridge...

So I told my friend and her son...

Since I walked much slower then them, they have already ran to the front of the boat as I was still trying to walk towards that direction....

All of a sudden... I felt.... something like rain or storm coming down..... and thought... "OMG... typhoon is here...."  Instinctively, I hid behind till the storm was gone...

Ended up, as the boat was turning around, it went under the waterfall.... and... those who did not hide for cover fast enough got all drenched...

As for me, I happened to stay dry not because I was able to hide out fast enough... but because I can not run and my top walking speed is much slower.... (Guess, this accounts for the benefit of being an handicapped?! 8-O lol )

Getting to the cruise is easy... I believe that I had boarded at the Jamsil Dock.  One way of getting to the Jamsil Dock is to get off at the Sincheon (yes, with an e... not Sinchon that is on the same line next to the Hongik Univ) station on the green line or line 2.  This stop is southern to Hangang River and one stop away for the Olympic Sports Complex.

Onces you get out of the subway station, simply move towards the direction of Hangang Park.... The riverside park is within walking distance from the subway station although it might be a 10-15 minute walk depending on your speed.

Once you enter the Riverside Park, look for the establishment with the C& sigh by the water... This is where you can buy tickets and board the cruise.

The trip I took took off at around 7:30 PM and lasted for around 90 minutes, which not only allowed me to see the city in the night but also the Moonlight Rainbow Fountain in action.

If I remember correctly, it costs something like 12,000 won (yet, don't quote me...) as of Aug. 17th, 2010.  I was told that there were two other types of cheaper cruises available... except for they all were sold out and... they don't go as far as the Banpo bridge.  Shall anyone ask for my opinions, I would strongly recommend the 90-minute cruise after sunset.... except for... simply my humble opinion.... (Of course, I assume, you could always find people who might see things different...)

Found some pictures this guy took for the Moonlight Rainbow Fountain.... Nice pictures and think I might share them with you...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68558939@N00/sets/72157622223020275/show/

I would have loved to go by the Banpo bridge, the park or during the day to see the fountain and take some pictures myself... except for... unfortunately, not enough time.... @#$%$#*

The utility of Butterness

Showed this friend of mine a picture of 張根碩...

The immediate response of this old friend is...

"How butter!"

Insinuating... also... you are too old for this.... 8-O lol

To be honest... ya... da beau boy... is pretty butter.... lol

Yet, so what?

Can't a grumpy old hen like a buttery boy?

Come to think about it... if not because of this pretty boy, I would not have realized the existence of this block, and would not have been able to get the blockage unblocked....

Something I would have been unable to imagine otherwise.... 8-O lol

Another picture of 張根碩 to share with ya....

Police and the Seoul Station

When I got out to Seoul visiting the first time, the first destination was the Seoul Station... since... there must be a tourist information station for me to pick up a tourist map.

Getting out of the subway.... I saw a lot and a whole lot of the armed police dressed in black...

Thinking to myself...

"OMG... poor policeman... gotta be hot in that kind of attire."

Then, I saw people setting up a stage... thinking...

"Nice... even outdoor concert taking place during the weekend.  Sort of like the summer stage in Central Park, maybe?  Really nice...."

So I went on finding my way into the Seoul station to pick up a map.... not knowing that it was already people mountain people sea... on the outside... by the stage...

Sometimes, there were people singing and other times there were people giving speeches...

All these people were sitting on the floor under the summer heat... Heroic! Heroic!

So I decided to walk away from people.... thinking to myself... so many people and so many armed police... @#$%$@

First.... I can't run...

Second... although I can walk, the ordinary fastest speed I am capable when walking is possibly considered "medium slow" to the others....

So many people... so many police...

This is when my over-active imagination started to run wild.... wallmart... world cup.... German Love parade... or... the death of Mufasa... 8-O

In addition, I never really like to stay too close to armed people such as policeman... reminding me of the hunting trip of Cheney.... 8-O

So I decided to start walking away... trying to get away from the crowd... away from the police.... and the Seoul Station...

So I walked north... only to come across more and more police...

And, I turned back... passing the same groups of police by... trying to walk south... even more...

I tried to cross the street... except for... the zebra line stopped at the middle of the road...

I even decided to go back to the subway station.... only to encounter even more of the armed police in groups...

What makes it even funnier is that... after I got back into the station, it was as if I walked into 鬼撞牆.... it took me almost like forever to get back out...

I must have walked pass each every exit at least 2-3 times when attempting to get back out of the station.... You see... first of all, I would not take the same exit I took before, which leads you directly back to the Seoul station.  On disability accessible exit out...

Yet, not all exits have escalators or elevators... At one of the exit, it was after one got out of the station using escalator do you find them stairs.... because the Seoul station is located somewhat at the foot of a hill....

I eventually got back out to the ground....  Welcomed by even more bus-full of armed police... It looked as if some of them must have just arrived and were just getting off the bus....

So.... from there on... for miles... all the way towards the Nan Dae Mum Market... even more armed police under the Korean sun...

One thing I have to tell you is the there is something absolutely wonderful about having policemen everywhere...

First of all, you don't have to be worried about bad people because, even if you get rubbed (and especially when the most expensive item I had was the pair of MBT sandle 8-O), you don't even need to dial 911 to call the police.

Second, although I didn't quite know where I was walking to... or... where I was, at times, having all the police around made it really easy for me to ask for direction... especially when in an area where there were not too many pedestrians.

Third, think about it... "I am nobody Royal... You don't really need to put forth such security measure to welcome the arrival of Ratprincess... 不好意思!  太破費了!" (Speaking of the utility of delusion of grandiosity. 8-O lol)

Sort of like what they say... it never drops but it pours...

I had never seen a Korean Police in my life... until the day came... when I saw far more Korean police than, perhaps, the total number of police I have seen in my life so far.... 8-O lol

It was not until later did I realize...

Like Taiwan, Korea used to be a colony of Japan.  On August 15th, 1945, Japan surrender to the Allied forces and that was the end of the 35-year colonization.... and Korea made this day the liberation day.

As a result, the first day I got out to see the world since become some strange kinda disabled, August 15th, happens to be the Liberation Day in Korea.

Unblocked!

Well, there really is not a need for me to do this...

People in China knows that, if they really want to access websites such as youtube, facebook, blogger, etc.  All that you have to do is to set up a proxy so as to fool the big brother that the request actually was sent from out of the country.

Although I could have done it while in Shanghai, I did not want to bring forth any potential trouble... In addition, I was too busy coping with my bronchitis while fulfilling my duties as a tourist anyways...

Theoretically, in order to unblock the Korean drama 原来是美男 that I was able to access in China but not in Taiwan... all that I have to do is to re-engineer the above scenario.... In other words, I have to set up a proxy to fool the website that this request actually came from inside of China.

Yet, a theory is a theory... the process of implementation is the tough one... with the biggest obstacle... finding a proxy that works...

To cut the story short...

I spent the entire night looking for a proxy located inside of China...

Some proxies worked for a second or two and stopped working....

Other proxies never worked from the beginning...

At some point, after I tried out about 10-20 proxies, I had this smart idea...

"Why not try Hong Kong since Hong Kong is part of China now!"

The IP shown on the right is the proxy IP

Well, the proxy in Hong Kong did work...

Yet, when trying to retrieve the 14th episode of 原来是美男 at http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTMzMTM5NDQw.html

I got the a message I have never seen before... Access denied with plausible reasons written in big red.... 8-O

So I thought... maybe... Hong Kong is too special a special area...

I continued with my trials for many more a time... until... finally... I resigned to my destiny...

"You know what... there isn't even a need for me to get to see this clip online especially when I don't even know what this episode is about..."

Yet, something told me to try for one more time... or maybe 2...

It was then...

Voila!

This proxy worked!

Thinking of my experience so far, instead of loading the page to the video immediate, I requested for the website of Chinese News Daily.... with this superstitious kinda thinking in my mind... Now the big brother might not suspect that what I really want to access is actually a video blocked from outside of China.... :-D

After the website of Chinese News Daily was loaded successfully, I sent out the request for the browser to get the page at the drama link... and... it seemed to be loading... contents populating...

And... to my greatest surprise... the video started loading like what it was supposed to do.... and.. sitting here in Taipei, I got to watch the 14th episode of 原来是美男... where my man said to that woman... "I like you..." for the first time...

The following pictures shows you the same page viewed with Firefox and Chrome browser.  The browser on the right side is the firefox browser.  When playing the clip embedded in the page using Firefox with a proxy in China, I was able to view the video as shown in the player on the right side. However, when accessing without a proxy in China using the Chrome browser, I got this same old error message "This clip has been blocked in your region."

And... exactly 2 seconds after this frame... the clip stopped.... though I was still able to access other sections of the China Daily...  8-O 8-X

It doesn't quite matter... anyways...

Unblocked and the strange mission I assigned to myself... accomplished!

So I went and took a shower. 8-O lol

(Please see my posting in Technologies in Ratology if you are interested in trying it out yourself: Set up a proxy with Firefox 3.6.9)

Blocked? (This clip has been blocked in your region)

When I was in China, I was unable to access blogger, youtube, picasa, facebook, twitter.. etc.

Yet, I could replay them episodes of 原来是美男 on youku.com for as many times as I want...

Funny enough... after I came back to Taipei, I could access anything I want to except for... when wanting to view the pretty face and heart melting smile of 張根硕...

For the first time in my life... I saw something like this...

The clip has been blocked from your region?

What?  My first instinct was... Don't tell me that the Taiwanese government is blocking me from watching  原来是美男?!

A simple google search also returns tons of links asking about the same message...

Ended up, people from countries such as the US also receive this same blue screen....

Moreover, according to this guy living in China, when he accessed the website in China, he didn't have any problem....  However,  he also encountered the same screen when he uses a proxy.  One hypothesis this guy had was that...

"I think the issue is that youku's been getting a lot of heat from the west, especially the states for copyright infringement, so it decided to block the us US traffic and pretend like they don't host any illegal movies and stuff."

Regardless... apparently... something still blocked.... 8-O lol

Thank God, I could still view 原来是美男... through...  sohu.com....

http://tv.sohu.com/s2010/ylsmn/

At the same time, how funny is it that... were not da Korean Drama... I wouldn't have a clue about the whole 9 yards about "This clip has been blocked in your region" phenomena.  8-O lol

(Feel free to click this link to see the screen for yourself... live!  You do need an IP identifying you accessing the link from outside of China...  原来是美男啊 You are beautiful!

Has there ever been blogger in China?

The day I went to Seoul.... was the first time the blocking of facebook and blogger came to my attention....

The cheap flight I got required me to transfer in Shanghai... although I was able to find free internet connect, I also discover that neither could I go on blogger, nor could I go cook up some dishes in Cafe World or beating up some Mafias in MW on facebook

This sort of remind me of this comment someone made in a discussion topic on facebook Facebook blocked in China:

This message was received not because
one has problem with Internet connection.
But because the website was blocked...

Curt Mabry First they came for the American news websites, and I did not speak up because I read the Guardian. Then they came for the blog sites, and I did not speak up because I had no blog. Then they came for YouTube, and I did not speak up because I watched cheap DVDs. Then they came for Facebook, and by that time there was nobody left to speak up...

Yesterday, my sister who used to live in Shanghai told me, "When I was in Shanghai, we used to have access to facebook."

She and my nephews moved back to Taiwan about a year or two ago.

This might be the reason why this question came to my mind today... Has there ever been twitter, youtube or blogger in China?

After I read through articles like the following...  China Blocks Access To Twitter, Facebook After Riots... apparently, at some point, most of the google services were blocked.


Wikipedia even provides you with a list of websites blocked in China....

One thing I can tell you is that... gmail was unblocked and I was able to access my gmail account... and it was through my gmail account that I tested out the blogger function of "email to blog"....

In addition, I dared not post anything like this at all while in China.... and got absolutely scared every time the laptop I was using loses Internet connection... especially when I was doing this email to blog thing....  8-O lol

そうですね(sou desu ne)... or...  原來是這樣.... 8-O

On a second thought... had the Chinese government not blocked all these websites I use primarily online, there wouldn't be this posting on the blocked blogspot.... 8-O lol

Then, I came across this article about how these western bloggers living in China Blogger describes Xinjiang as an 'internet prison'....

Wow... How brave!

Comparing to yours truly making postings to a blog people hardly visit... it is as if... every time I make a posting... since under your roof, yours paranoid delusional would raise my hand to the air and pledge.... "我愛毛主席... 我愛毛主席... 我愛毛主席..." 8-O lol

And, thank God... in no part of my blogs had I revealed my true identify... I think... @#$%$#@

Fan club

I came across the official website of 張根碩 and thought...

Never join the fan club of anything in my life... Why not?

As seen on TV...

Ended up, me no understand Korean and, for reasons unknown, I kept on clicking on "Join" but nothing happens...

Think about it... 夠三八了吧?  8-O lol

Incheon or Yeongjong Grand Bridge?

I took the Airport Limousine bus going from Bundang to Incheon airport when leaving the country.

Picture taken on an Airport Limousine from Bundang.
Is this Incheon or Yeongjong Grand Bridge? (Update 8/26/2013: Think it might be the Yeongjong Grand Bridge.

I know that there are now two main bridges linking the Yeongjong Island (where the airport is) and the mainland of Incheon...  However, I was not sure whether it was the Incheon or Yeongjong Grand Bridge I was on.

Unfortunately, the person I ask the question to give me this response...

"I don't know...."

Interpreted by me as... "What kind of useless question?!" (Well, actually pretty useful if you are a tourist... 8-O  lol)

On a second though, maybe I should have asked the bus driver instead except for... wasn't quite sure the hard-working bus driver trying to bring out all luggage speaks English?  (20 20 hindsight.. I guess...)

Today, after all of my googling effort trying to figure out the route of Bundang Airport Limousine...  The identity of that bridge remains unknown and it is driving me up the wall....

A picture of Yeongjong Grand Bridge I found online

Because the bridge seemed to be nice long and pretty curvious (is this a word?) bridge... although might not have been as long as the 杭州灣跨海大橋 (Hangzhou Bay Bridge)..

personally, I would suspect it to be the Incheon Bridge....

Shall any Korean come across this posting and know which Bridge the Bundang Airport Limousine crosses, please inform.

(8/26/2013 update: Don't know how stupid I could have been.  Went online to check for the route of the Bundang Airport Limousine today cuz someone came to visit this post and found out the bus takes the Incheon Airport Expressway... what it translated into is... shall the online info be correct, it's the Yeongjong Grand Bridge I was speaking of... "the world's first 3-dimensional self-anchored suspension bridge." 3 years later, I sort of answered my own question. lol)

LION ATTACK at MGM in Las Vegas

Would have been scary.... 8-O

Interesting... it seems as if the lioness was actually trying to stop it... or simply misinterpretation?

So young 8-O

Although I am sitting at home... trying to recover from my bronchitis... being a 很賢慧的英英美代子... (essentially, idling at home)...

I seems to be very busy everyday... so busy that mama would keep on reminding me... "You know you have to stand up and walk around sometimes!"

Since I did not even have a chance to check out anything 張根碩 related yesterday, I decided to google up some of his pictures...


Uhmmm.... even fans have their duties...

So I encounter this picture...

OMG... so young tooth (幼齒) though cute!

Now it really makes me feel like... "cradle robbing"... 8-O lol

On a second thought, come on... I was also once-upon-a-time young tooth like this before... 8-O lol