Good Evening Shanghai. I'm back.

Spent most of today whizzing around downtown. I'm going to be honest here, but Shanghai (and most probably the rest of China) is a boring place for a recently graduated student from America just like me. Yes, this city is rapidly growing and incredibly dynamic but my future in this city is definitely not in the next 5 or so years. I don't have the experience to be boss, and neither do I have the expertise to be a professional here.
I'm trying really hard not to be bias here, but Hong Kong is so much more than Shanghai. As much as Shanghai is under heavy development to become the next asian metropolitan, its people are lacking. The typical Chinese still lacks culture, respect, education and free-thinking. I believe all that can only be developed in time. And I believe that may probably be the reason why I feel I am starting to dislike it here. I do, however, believe it is only in this type of market where you can make unreal profits from.

+++ ??? Demo Collection Volume 1 - Favorites +++ This is a must get CD. I love it.

Erik.

I'm back in Hong Kong after my "different moment" in New York City. The past 3 weeks has been intense, sane, and fun. I don't think I realize I traveled half the world in that time span. There was no post-trip time to digest what I experienced.

Although I would prefer a job in Manhattan, chances are that I will be better off staying at home in Hong Kong where my path can be cultivated more closely by my elders. Sometimes there is just too much I want to do in my life. In reality, I really am actually just another soul racing against time. But I know ‘success’ is the type of life I want to lead though. And I understand that only with loss, there is gain.

Not only do I have intense passion for music, I love people, women, sports, culture, knowledge, appreciation, experiences, my friends and family, and a list that will continue forever. If anything, it’s that I hate to have to choose only one path (yes, even though it is an individual and distinct one). The truth is I want to live them all. I can be seen as greedy, but I’ve always wanted to live in the shoes of every soul. Be it hardship, luck, or hope, I want to try and live it. Nothing is ever easy, be it you rich or poor, smart or dumb.

~~~ Evanscence – My immortal ~~~
~~~ Bent – Always ~~~
~~~ Murphy Lee – What da hook gonna be ~~~

Erik.

JHU Commencement day 2004

I had a blast. Seeing old faces, getting to know a bunch of new kids..what was I thinking when I said I didn't want to come back?

Commencement went through like a breeze. Bill Cosby put up a nice funny commencement speech/act. The weather was nice. It was a nice way to end college. Great senior week to give it a final touch.

I will miss Baltimore and life at Hopkins. I proved myself at many things during my time here. Not only did I discover a huge part of who I am, I realized many things about our world and society. I probably won't choose to take the same path I once did if I had to do it all over again, but I'm glad that things turned around just fine. I'm sure all things happen for a reason.

I'm now a Hopkins Alumni. Proud to say I graduated from this academicly intensive college. Now begin the next chapter of my life...

May 19th

Its Kevin Garnett's birthday today. On top of having lost my cell, I dissapointed my parents by arriving to dinner as late as I could have ever gotten tonite....
What else did I do today? Oh yeah, I ran around campus running errands one last fukin time...didn't even get to eat properly.

I still remember the amount of luck I was having a year ago from today....I suck.

Erik.

Just spent the last 30mins reading old entries on my blog. I've written 192 entries over the last 2 and a half years. Haha, I'm embarassed to say that I have plenty of typos and grammatical errors within them. My apologies to all my readers.

+++ Thievery Corporation - Mirror Conspiracy +++ One classic downtempo album.

I found the 'Mae - Destination: Beautiful' album here in NYC. I was so happy. I've been searching for that album for a while already. Only in NYC I can find all sorts of less mainstream and underground music. The album was everything I want and more. The lyrics are sooo worth checking out, its definitely my cup of tea.

The NBA playoffs are really starting to get pretty exciting. All the series are tied 2-2. Lakers vs. Spurs, Timberwolves vs. Kings, Nets vs. Pistons, and Pacers vs. Heat. Haha, I know I'm making a bias comment but THE KINGS WILL WIN!! Although the Kings do not play the same style I used to admire 2 years ago, I will still root for them. They deserve a championship (ok fine, so do the Timberwolves...). I'm glad to be in America during this time of the year, staying or waking up early in the morning to watch the game in Asia has been driving me nuts.

Zero 7 is performing in the city on the 21st. Hopefully I'll be able to make it.

Erik.

Exert from my moleskin diary(yes, the more personal one):

At YVR. Chemical beats knock Business Week, AWSJ and other finance articles into my head. I read them all (soaking up every fact and given theory), and wonder once again how much of a slave I am of this society. I think I'm at this point where I constantly pursue knowledge for the betterment of my future rather than for myself. To better put it, I'm at the point where I've gotten in the habit of following up on all this finance, politics, economics and business shit without even second thinking whether it is to my interest of not. I personally think thats a little f'd up. I'm blood thirsty for knowledge cause I think it'll benefit me in the long run.
Maybe I'm just too driven to let anything stop me from reaching my goals.

To think about it, I am a biomedical engineer. Why start educating myself the materical I can learn studying a different major after I graduate? Or should I say, why major biomedical engineering? I really wonder...



I LOVE NYC. Thats a stone-hard fact. I will definitely miss this place a great deal if I end up spending the next couple years working somewhere in Asia. I like NYC for its style, its food, its numerous cultures, and its wide range of people from all over the world and in different social classes. Its a crazy place. They have top of the world art and design talent, broadways, and most important of all, its own metropolitan like culture that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
I feel alive everytime I step out from the apartment into the city. Theres the East and West village, SOHO, Times Square, Chinatown, little Italy, Broadway, Union Square, Saint Marks, Central Park, Upper East side, Columbia University on the upper west, Wall Street, and plenty more. This place is packed with everything.
What am I talking about? I'm gonna go out and breath more of this city right now.

Erik.

Back and relaxed on my bed in Hong Kong. What else could beat those tiny moments in your life - laying on your bed with a nice cup of ice cold nestea beside you as you type away your next internet diary entry on your laptop.
I've always had wireless broadband at home here in Hong Kong, although, I've never made any use of it until two days ago. I guess I've sort of changed into a traditional consumer over the years. Instead of adopting early new technologies that will supposedly make your life more efficient, I've slowly turned into the type of person where I like to stick to things that work. I will only switch to new technologies that are showing signs of maturing. Maybe its a sign of growing up.... realizing that stability has become much of a priority.

Another bit of truth of my life - I'm a spoilt brat. Over the past couple months, I've been constantly observing how easy my parents have made my life for me. From the type of clothes and accessories I own to the amount of work that is being done for me at home makes me feel sick of myself. I think I'm starting to really have problems accepting the way of my life. I feel worthless when I know that there are plenty of people in this world that need to take care of many more daily errands than I do. I have always had that extra budget inside my wallet to take care of problems for me. Sometimes, I don't think I even deserve this type of life. I didn't work for it. Its not good enough even if I appreciate and understand where its coming from. I don't think theres anything I can do to really change this around, I guess life just goes on, and you are given what you are born with. Maybe all things do happen for a reason.

Finally got a haircut today. I don't think I quite enjoyed my last hair cut at Tony & Guy in Shanghai. Haha, a little bit of anti-advertising here, but I advise you all to avoid T&G in Shanghai. Its cheap, but really not that great.

I'll be off to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in two days. I can't wait to get some good food. Yum.

The Spurs are gonna give the Lakers a smacking. Haha, was definitely worth staying up until 7am.

ERIK.