I Had Written 25 Posts For This Blog!

After weeks of stressful hard work and very little sleep, I need an excuse to celebrate.  What better reason than the fact that I had actually written 25 blog posts for this blog during my few nightly hours away from my stressful day job.  Writing on this blog had helped me tolerate my job a little better. So, if you don't like your job, or your boss, start a blog to distract yourself from the misery! It totally worked for me.

Since my short few weeks' absence from this blog, I had gotten my translation service going and I had obtained 2 clients. Yes, 2 clients.  No, I didn't get my clients from this blog or social media or from the new professional website that I built myself.  Yes, I built my business website myself.  I don't know when and how I learnt to do it. But somehow, since I began blogging here, I manage enough to build a professional looking website for my translation service. Yet I got my clients not because of the effort I spent blogging or socializing on Twitter. My clients came to me through the old fashion way, during one of my restaurant visits and during one of my shopping errands.  I started chatting with some strangers there, and then the strangers became clients.  

I also started my own online store recently.  Another website I built myself.  I haven't quite figured out how that will work out for me.  But hopefully it will start generating some sales.  But yes, I still keep my grueling day job because my part-time businesses haven't yet generated enough income for me to quit just yet.  No, I didn't tell anybody at work or even my family about my side businesses.  I just want to succeed and fail on my own terms without the pressure from others' opinions.

Yes, I had done a lot during the last few weeks, both for my day job, and my part-time businesses.  The drawback is I haven't been getting enough sleep.  Naturally, all these hard work of mine deserves the celebration.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

I find it interesting how the west (like America) labels this Chinese Year as the Year of The Rooster, when the Chinese character itself (雞) doesn't specify whether the bird is a male or female.  In Chinese, rooster is 公雞, hen is 母雞, but the character 雞 is a class that includes all roosters and hens. Somehow I feel the Chinese language itself is less sexist, and therefore less divisive than English... 

Anyway, I wish everybody lots of luck, health, fortune, and love in this year, just like the song says.  The song really sings it all. Today is another chance for me to start anew, another reason to celebrate and share joy and love. Happy Chinese New Year! Enjoy the song. 

Let's Have A Bright & Sparkling 2017!

I had a very enjoyable New Year's Eve a couple days ago, even though I had missed the fireworks in Hong Kong.  I didn't celebrate on the eve of 2014, 2015 or 2016 but I danced through to 2017 with fantastic strangers at one of my favorite restaurants full of very nice and hospitable people. Thank you guys for dancing and partying with me even though you don't know who I am.  Your company made my New Year's Eve 2017 really special.  I haven't had so much fun for years, and I think it's a good change for me.

Now, one of the items on  my New Year's resolution list is checked-off, that is, party with complete strangers and just celebrate the moment.  As for the firework show that I missed because of this, I'm watching and enjoying it right now.  (Note: Fast forward to 1:22 to skip all the introductory chatter.)

Happy New Year everybody, and don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone this year. You will be happily surprised by the new friends you will make. 

I'm So Blessed In This Christmas

I've been kept away from the internet at home because my 6-year old Asus laptop is finally not coping after numerous updates launched by Windows 10.  I have been hating that laptop since day one.  I have been whining about it for years but this time it's my last draw because I'm going to buy a new laptop.  I have no idea why I put up with that lousy laptop for so long.  The Asus was never my computer of choice.  But I have stayed faithful with it because I am both too passive aggressive and too cheap to bother to ditch it. Like a bad relationship, no matter how one party puts up with another, it will eventually end if the relationship isn't working.  My Asus computer has recently been taking too long to connect to the internet, due to its limitation in processing power and the many Asus' root-deep game-wares that can't be erased but that keep launching updates and working the CPU like a horse in the background.  Finally the computer just has not enough processing power to even load Google Blogger.  

I've been so frustrated by my inability to update my blogs that I have been in bad mood.  But then when one of my friends sent me the above video to my beloved Apple i-phone, I realized that I shouldn't let my shitty old laptop work me up. I should be happy that I have so many blessings in my life, one of which being the fact that I can afford to buy myself another laptop.

So, if  anyone of you, for whatever reason, are feeling a little bummed this Christmas,  I hope the above video cheers up your spirit as it cheers up mine. 

I Learn Something New Everyday

It's amazing that once I decided to do something different from watching TV at the end of my workday, I've been learning something new everyday.  For example, I learnt how to create the above graphics for my Chinese blog.  I  never had time to read blogs and this explains why even though I've been aware of  "Blogging" being one of the earliest and most popular social medium, I never actively blogged until recently.  I'd been having the desire to start a blog, since 2005, but I was so tied up and fixated on my "mainstream" career path that I somehow never took action on my blogging desire.  

George Eliot once said, "It's never too late to be what you might have been."  So here I am, giving up my TV time after work to start something that I had desired many years ago.  I'm glad I finally got to try this "blogging" thing, because I'm learning things that I will never get to learn from my uptight day job.

P.S. If you need help to create a graphic like the above, please let me know. I can help.

Cheer Up With A Little Holiday Spirit

Since I started blogging, I've enjoyed celebrating Christmas even more.  It's because blogging provides me with a platform where I can play decorator without accumulating a lot of Christmas ornaments in my tiny apartment.  I  never thought I was an artistic person because I just never did anything artistic in my entire life.  All my life, I have been living in a tiny space where I never cared to put up any Christmas decorations.  Christmas has always been a holiday when I always go out to enjoy, instead of staying home to celebrate.  But having a blog inspires me to put a little Christmas something to make my blog more fitting for the holiday season.  So I played around and gave my Chinese blog a Christmas look.  This is one of the reasons why I love Blogger as a blogging platform.  It allows me to easily add a little holiday touch to my blog design.  I haven't tried other blog platforms so I don't know how Blogger compares.  But as of now, I'm pretty happy with Blogger's user-friendliness and its flexibility to allow me to explore my creativity. Giving my blog a Christmas design is by far the first artistic thing I'd ever done in my life. I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. 

P.S. If you need help to dress up your blog for Christmas, please let me know. I can help.

Does Whatever Little I Do Make A Difference?

I think it does because for one little photo I took, I can use it in both my Chinese blog and my English blog here to make my blog posts look more interesting.  The little red glitters I added to my photo also make the photo a lot more alive.  So I guess whatever little thing we do everyday, no matter how oblivious it is to us, it does make a difference.  In my case, the act of starting this blog helped me learn how to add glitters to my photo.  It's amazing that by blogging, I am actually seeing myself growing and learning new things everyday.  It's so easy for me to have moments of feeling as if I've been living an under-achieved life by looking at the great careers and the happy families my friends had seemingly built (based on their news feeds and photos I see on Facebook).   This is  my whole point of starting this English blog; to constantly remind myself of every tiny little accomplishment that I had made, from now on.

P.S. Do you want to add glitters to your photo? I can help you, please contact me if you need help.

I Had Already Written 30 Blog Posts!!!

Today is the "Big 30" for my Chinese blog, which has 30 Chinese blog posts all written by me.  I still am not very good at typing the traditional Chinese characters. I can type much faster in English than Chinese still, but from not knowing the Chinese input system ( Cangjie input method) to producing 30 Chinese blog posts, I have to congratulate myself.  There is a learning curve in learning this input system, but I find it a more convenient and a more precise method to type Chinese than others which always produce a long list of characters for me to pick as multiple choice. 

I've read somewhere that learning a new skill can boost confidence and therefore happiness.  I can't agree more.  Such feeling may not be permanent to me, but as of now, I feel pretty good about what I had accomplished as a very new blogger.  My Chinese blog may not have the number of readers I would like to have, but there are still someone reading it.  For this, I have an extra reason to be appreciative today.