Weeds are evil >_<

Last weekend the weather was quite nice. Steve mowed the lawn while I was squatting down and pulling weeds......in the front yard. :'-( It was not fun at all. There were too many weeds. When it was 1/4 done, I felt very tired already. I stood up and stretched and went on. I didn't want to give up too soon. Steve told me to stop though. I don't usually listen to him. :-p When it's 1/2 done, I was exhausted and had to stop. When I walked by the back yard I saw him washing the car. He was tired, too. But he wanted to do more. Okay, I got back and tried to do more. Alright, at last, I quit when it was 3/4 done. However, that time, I couldn't feel my legs!! All cramped....no matter I stood up, squatted down or tried to walk. I hate weeds~~~~~ they are so evil ...they always come back even you get rid of them.... just like bad people in the world. They are always there!!

One step closer to success

Finally, I found the sheet music of my favorite piece of music - Mozart's Turkish March. That means, from now on, I have a new goal. Yay!!!!!!!! It is no use to just sit there and be jealous of others. Take action ^_^ I can do it, too. It was really amazing to hear Liz's brother, Mark, playing it so well last October. The piano lessons are fun. To be honest, it is very easy. I need to find a more advanced class or take a test and see what my current level is. It really helps as I have a REAL piano to practise with. I am making rapid progress in the last 9 months, comparing to those two years I learnt it without a piano at home. It is a blessing to have it after quiting for almost 20 years. My mind isn't as sharp as when I was 9 though. Hahaha... But I can do it by simply being a diligent player. I may not be intelligent, but I am diligent. I can do it. I would not have been able to play so many songs now if I had not believed in myself. :-)

Going to school tomorrow ^_^

Tomorrow, Steve and I will take a piano lesson together!!!!!! I am SO looking forward to it...I may be too excited to fall into sleep tonight. It is a lesson for beginners. My friend wondered why I was going to a beginner's class as I already could play the 3rd Grade's songs. Well, I believe it's more fun for us to take lessons together. It was 1989 when I took my first lesson. I had training in keyboard for 1 year and then I switched to piano and played for another year. I didn't play for a long time until I actually got the piano in last August. It was such a blessing that I could play again. Anyway, it is a dream come true for me to take piano lessons with Steve. I know he likes watching me playing the piano and always wanted to learn. Now, we finally have a chance. Yeah. I remembered, when I was a little girl, I somehow dreamt of marrying a piano man! I adored pianists...hehe...I told Steve that too... He's my piano man.

SLACKER~~~~~

I have been putting off updating my blog. Actually, I started writing my blog in Chinese in my Hong Kong Yahoo Blog. It is soooooooooooooo much fun to be able to use Chinese input (finally!!) My brain loves challenges. It feels great to up something new. I am always so good at teasing people. Now, I can type Chinese to tease my friends in their blogs. Yay!! And, some of my friends (in Hong Kong) complained about the lengthy English I typed here and it was such a pain to read my blog. SORRY! I didn't mean to make you yawn!! But you can read my blog in Chinese :) or you can read both. However, the content may be slightly different in 2 versions. But, I'll try. Because I always feel like not being able to express myself very well. Anyway, I am quite busy these days and I will upload the content of the rest of our trip to Hong Kong. ^_^

Day 11 in Hong Kong

Got up late today. Cause I stayed up watching TV last night. I love cantonese dramas. I sometimes stay up until 1am to watch the re-run dramas. We went to the restaurant at Ikea to meet Titania for lunch. She and I went to the same school. She's 4 years younger than me. Now she becomes a radiotherapist, reading x-rays, CT Scan and MRI at work. Steve and I ordered Japanese curry rice with deep fried pork chop. Titania ordered Cheesecake. It was a pleasant meal. After lunch, Steve went back to take a nap. I hang out with her in the New Town Plaza until 5pm. Bought some mochi ice-cream and BBQ pork pastry for Steve as snack. Later at night, we took the train to home and ate dinner. Watched another comedy movie. Excited to received a call from my OT (we studied Occupational Therapy together) friends. He arranged a gathering for us. Probably next Monday or Tuesday night. I cannot wait. Besides, I might be able to see Fong Fong, my friend since elementary school, sometime next week. But, it depends on her condition as she's now having flu. She's a nurse and working at a hospital. I hope she'll recover soon. Flu is so crazy here now. All kindergartens and primary schools are closed a few days ago for 2 weeks to stop children from going to schools and exchanging or spreading flu virus!! Fai, my friend who is a doctor, told me that she was so busy lately that she felt like she could never clear the queue in her clinic. Flu is scary here...3 children died of flu the past week.

Day 10 in Hong Kong

We ate seafood congee and soy sauce chow mein (stir-fried noodles) for lunch at Lucky Plaza. Then, we browsed at Seiyu department store and their food court. Wow!! It has been remodelled recently and there are a lot of up-scaled and trendy Japanese fast food booths. We really want to try their food!! We saw 'Japanese saki' ice-cream available there. Steve wants to try it. Yeah, next time when we are not too full. Then we walked back to hotel to rest and read. I went downstairs on my own to buy some street snack (fish meat dumpling 'shiu mai') and a box of take out sushi. Hehehe. Mom called us to go home for dinner. We took a train instead. The train station was farther away than the bus stop. But it took shorter time. It's quite nice actually. We watched another comedy movie. We stayed until 9:15pm when Dad arrived home from work. Said hi to him before we left. Steve and I carried a few bags of stuff back to hotel...Those were the stuff I had when I lived in Hong Kong. Gosh, it took me so many years to bring them to the US. Fortunately, I have learnt to think thoroughly before buying anything now. Haha.

Day 9 in Hong Kong

It's the last day of my dad's annual vacation. We went back to my parents' flat for brunch-Japanese noodles with pork soup base, fish dumplings, beef meat balls, leafy vegetables, steamed chicken. Steve liked the chicken dipped with the garlic pickle sauce very much. He ate a lot. Yes, we watched a movie, too. Then, we left together to go to have afternoon tea with my aunt and my grandma. Wow, my grandma is 86 year old!! We had a good time. Since I ate quite a lot at my parent's place, I couldn't eat much at tea time... We then came back to Shatin. Steve went back to rest while I was walking around at Ikea with my parents. I found a few things on my shop list. I didn't buy anything today as Steve wasn't there to carry it for me. hehehe. We'll go there again. It's about 15 minute walking from our hotel. I bought some imitation shark fin soup, take-out sushi for dinner. Bought dark chocolate, Chinese dessert and spicy beef cup noodles for Steve. He is very relaxed so far. Watching his DVDs or playing online games when he's resting at the hotel. I am happy when he is happy.

Day 8 in Hong Kong - Hong Kong Disneyland

Got up very early in the morning. Joined my parents and we all took the bus at Tai Wai terminal bus station. It took about 5o minutes from Tai Wai to Disneyland. Thank Goodness my brother worked there for a year and knew a co-worker. We got a VERY, VERY good price to enter Disneyland. It was beautiful!! It was composed of four main parts- Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Main street USA and Adventureland. We walked around at MainStreet USA first. It was my honor to be a guest audience to interact with Dr Bensun Honeydew and his assistant Beaker (from the muppet show) I was asked to pretend that I was thinking very, very hard and he used a ''mind reader'' to read my mind. It was very funny!! Then, we browsed the shopping places and waited in line to take pictures with Chips and Dale and Mulan. We rode the space mountain roller coaster. S C A R Y ~ for me!! It was very dark inside...very speedy... Steve said that he enjoyed riding space mountain ride when he was 10 in Florida. He liked it a lot and didn't understand why Tim freaked out. Haha. He's probably talking about me, too!! Because I was scared and screaming the whole time!! I felt like being in a washer. Steve kept laughing at me. Then, we had fast food for lunch. I ordered a Chinese BBQ pork burger with fries, Steve had a double cheese burger with fries. My parents had the same thing. It was an expensive meal. But, well, it's about the same everywhere in Disney... like two other Disneys we went to in the past. $170 HKD. After dinner, we went to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Mad Hatter Tea Cups ( I felt little dizzy afterwards), The Golden Mickeys, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Fafts to Tarzan's Treehouse, Tarzan's Treehouse, Jungle River Cruise. We watched the parade and rode the train before we left. It was very, very fun. I hope someday Steve will take me to Disneyland in Paris and Tokyo. After walking around the whole day, all of us were very hungry and exhausted. We went to Yoshinoya for Japanese beef rice bowl. Yummy!! Then, we went to the betting center to buy local lottery (Easter Jackpot with $33 million HKD) Unfortunately, we didn't win. Steve bought a bottle of Vodka and two big bottles of honey green tea. Alcohol is tax free here due to extra surplus for the previous financial year. I got some delicious sushi and snack take out. Yummy!! Hehehe

Day 7 in Hong Kong

Not having specific plans. Bought some take-out pork ribs and Chinese smoked hams at ''Chinese BBQ pork King'' near our hotel. We went back to my parents flat for lunch. Watched another Chinese comedy movie again! Very funny. I kept eating while watching movie.... It's really easy to overeat when you watch TV...you're distracted and won't pay attention at how much food you eat. Alright, I overate. I didn't feel well immediately. I went for a walk and took the bus back to the hotel to rest. Gosh, I threw up as soon as I got off the bus. -_- Then, I felt better. Took an afternoon nap afterwards. Then, we walked to the New Town Plaza, Steve had a scoop of tiramisu ice-cream at Haagen-Dazs. We bought quite a lot of DVDs and VCDs I've been looking for but couldn't be found in Seattle...such as Japanese animations with Chinese AND English subtitles. That night, we had dinner at a noodle restaurant. I had a bowl of shirmp wanton noodle. Steve had beef flank steak rice noodle. Yummy!! Bought Steve some chocolate muffins and Chinese vegetarian dim sum for myself. As usual, we walked back to the hotel. Yeah!! We walked a lot every day!! It's an excellent exercise. Excited about going to Disnsey on Tuesday.

Day 6 in Hong Kong

We didn't do anything special. Went back to my parents flat to have lunch together. Watched a Chinese comedy movie while having lunch. Very relaxing. Then, we walked to Sunshine city Plaza to pick up my chinese herbal medicine. It was super bitter!! I almost threw up. Anyway, after taking the previous herbal medicine, I felt much better - no longer having runny nose at night. And I slept very well now. I stayed at the music store for a while again. Afterwards, we shopped at the VCDs/DVDs store again. Went back to the hotel to rest until around dinner time. We met Kiki and her boyfriend and walked around. Browsed at the snack store and saw some really strange snacks like individually wrapped teriyaki chicken wing, cooked & seasoned duck kidneys. We won't buy these strange things... However, we are still looking for some strange snacks to bring back to Seattle since Steve's co-workers asked him to bring them strange snacks. That night, we had dinner at Maxim fast food restaurant. Steve had a Korean/Japanese bento box. I had curry beef flank steak with steamed rice. Yummy!!

Day 5 in Hong Kong

We got up very early today as we had an exciting activity. My parents met us at the hotel at 8:45am. We took the bus to Tsim Sha Tsui. We arrived 45min early. We walked around ...browsed things at a convenience store and a bookstore. Since Steve wasn't from here, he was approached by a lot of Indians and Pakinstanians as we walked. They kept asking him if he was interested in copied Rolex watches or copied handbags. Quite annoying! Then, we went back to the location to get together with other people joinning the local sight-seeing tour. There were 60 people and 1 tour guide. We took the tour bus to a hotel for buffet lunch. It was yummy. I ate some sausages, hams, sweet corns, fried rice, stewed ox tails, sweet and sour pork chops, steamed vegetables, deep fried chickens, pumpkin cream soup, mochi (japanese dessert) and puddings. Afterwards, we rode the tour bus to Tung Chung where the Ngong Ping CABLE CAR station located. The 20-25min journey began from Tung Chung skimming over Tung Chung Bay, ascending and descending over the mountains and valleys of Lantau North Country Park. It allowed us to gaze at the 360 degree panorama from high above in our cable car. It was an amazingly breathtaking 5.7 km (about 3.5 miles)!! We could feel the breeze from the sea beneath us. Have a look at this link: http://www.np360.com.hk/

After getting off the cable car, we arrived at the Ngong Ping Village. Its surroundings included interesting spots like Tian Tan Buddha Statue (Yes, the world's biggest giant buddha statue!), Po Lin Monastery, etc. We walked 268 steps of stairs to the top of the hill where the Buddha sat. It's beautiful. We enjoyed the breeze so much. Steve and I went there in 1999. It hasn't changed much except the fact that we saw a LOT more tourists today. Then, we visited Po Lin Monastery. Dad took me there when I was 5. Time flies. I couldn't recall how the monastery looked like. Anyway, it was stunning. Steve was impressed by different statues of Chinese Gods and Goddesses and the detail of the dragon sculpture on the stone pillars. I'll upload the pictures when we get back. Steve liked sitting at the zen garden and enjoying the peace. Me too. We walked through the Ngong Ping Village without browsing many stores. The price of the soveneirs were outrageous. It was SO funny that we saw our chopsticks at home being overpriced 7 times at a store called 'The Chopsticks Gallery'. We laughed. We left around 4pm. So, the sight-seeing tour,including tips for the tour guide, plus the buffet lunch was $25 USD person. It was a really good price since we saw that one round trip cable car ticket costs $20 USD. It was my mom finding a bargain at a local tour sight-seeing company. It was awesome.

At night, we had gourmet Chinese food for dinner: crispy garlic/soy sauce chicken, stir-fried beef with ginger and green onion, spicy eggplant & pork cassorole, and almost 5 pounds of lobsters cooked with chicken stock and cheese sauce. It was soooooooooo tasty. $100USD dinner for four of us. Not bad at all since lobsters are the most expensive seafood here. They were fresh too. Once we ordered the lobsters, the waitress brought my mom to pick the live lobsters from the fish tank. We were sooooo full and walked back to the hotel to aid digestion.

Day 1 to 4 recap...

Day 1:

Flew on the flight for 14 hours from Vancouver to Hong Kong, it was very tiring and boring. Fortunately, we brought books with us to read and our portable DVD player to watch movie. When we arrived, we were exhausted and sleepy. We had to wait for extra 30 minutes to pick up the baggages because of technical problems at the airport. When we arrived at the hotel, it's 9:30pm. I was a bit scared as I heard that someone commited suicide in the hotel we stay at a few months ago. Okay, there're over 800 rooms here. I hope we are lucky- not staying at a haunted room.

Day 2:

Browsing stores and shopping area near the hotel. Then, a nice & relaxing 15-minute walking across the river to the Town Center Plaza. Browsed different groceries and department stores. Had dim sum with my parents for lunch. Reapplied cancelling my retirement account in Hong Kong. Steve and I had mochi ice-cream for dessert. When he took a nap, I went to have a haircut, shopped for batteries for my watch and bought a few pieces of take-out sushi. Around 6:30pm, we met Kiki at her house. Her parents were so nice to us. We sat there and talked for about an hour. Kiki treated us dinner at a noodle restaurant. Yummy. We walked around the center afterwards...stopped by an video arcade place. I saw many young people wasting their time and money there. I guess they don't realize they're wasting their most powerful asset- time.

Day 3:

Took a nice walk to the town center. The weather was perfect, not too dry, not too humid, not too cold or too warm, sunny and breezy. About 68F, feeling like summer in Seattle! I had a bowl of congee for breakfast. Steve had BBQ pork buns and a cup of tea. After browsing a store, my parents joined us and we went to Hollywood Plaza for lunch. Shanghaiese food. Very yummy. We had spicy noodles, eels, cold & spicy chicken, dumplings. After lunch, we went to a music store where I tried out different pianos. Steve was browsing the music sheets. He's being sneaky. He bought something but not let me know what it was. He kept carrying the bag. He had a surprise for me. Anyway, there was a very beautiful buddahist temple near the Plaza. We walked there together. It was so peaceful and refreshing. ZEN GARDEN- that should be the perfect word to describe it. It was my first time seeing different color of lotus flowers in their pond. It was a very nice walk for more than an hour. We had dim sum for afternoon tea. Oh my gosh, we ate too often, too much. Feeling so full all the time. Had no room for dinner.

Day 4:

Had brunch in Ma On Shan Plaza. Yes, DIM SUM again!! Started to feel sick of it...It seems that the amount of food we eat for lunch equals to our usual lunch AND dinner together.. My stomache didn't feel well. ~_~ We left as soon as we felt very full to stop being asked to keep eating by my parents. I went to another music store. Tried out several pianos. I already got used to the sound of my antique piano. I tried the most expensive piano at the floor, but it just didn't sound as nice as mine. Steve wanted to buy me some more sheet music. But I wanted to wait and see. He revealed the surprise for me- Sheet music in a book. They are not ordinary. Those music are from soundtracks of Japanese animations which we both liked. The sheet music came with a CD. That was a very perfect surprise for me. He picked things I really liked. I'm so thankful. We shopped at DVD stores for some Cantonese comedies. Steve went back to take a nap. My mom brought me to see a chinese medical doctor to cure my flu..it's just started and better get it under controlled as it's peak season for flu in Hong Kong now! The doctor told me not to eat any deep-fried food. Bought Steve a slice of Chocolate roll cake at a bakery. We went to my parents' house for dinner. Greet my nice neighbor. Gave her a present I made for her. And she's very happy. We watched one of the VCDs we bought during dinner time. Very funny.

Got a call from Christy and glad to know that they'll arrange a gathering for us.

We are waiting for our flight in Vancouver now

Yeah! Wireless internet rocks! We are waiting for our next flight at the moment. It's rainy here in Vancouver...and COLD!! 37F I believe.... It's quiet at the airport. Well, maybe it's still too early. We almost were not allowed to enter Canada because I forgot to take the confirmation email copy to show the flight numbers and our info. Luckily it was printed on the baggage verfication and the customs let us in without going through different stations here. It's a relief. Our carry-ons are full of granola bars, chips, cheetos and cookies..We also brought ham and egg sandwiches and some grapes. Hopefully time will pass faster this way...it's a LONG flight, more than 14 hours.....

Gotta go now to walk around before sitting for 14 hours. :-D

I am thankful

I am thankful that...

I have YOU. When you come home and give me a hug, I cheer up again.
I have a piano. I don't feel lonely. Time goes faster when I play it.
My friends always have me in their minds. Being my listeners when I complain.
I am healthy. I don't need to take any medicines or get any surgeries.
I am not lacking of anything. I feel very contented.

When trust has been broken

it's broken. Do you believe trust can be restored?

I am doomed to fail from the very beginning.

The FedEx lawsuit. Busted! Ha Ha!!

Source:http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/CutYourTaxes/AreYouPayingYourBosssTaxes.aspx

GREAT! The KGB (Oh, I mean the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service) is auditing FedEx for 2004-2006. They misclassified their delivery workers as ''independent contractors''. The truth is they are employees!! As stated in the article, ''Why do companies like independents? Simple. It saves them a bundle of money. If you're an independent contractor, the company doesn't pay state workers compensation or federal unemployment and disability taxes. It is released from matching your 7.65% Social Security and Medicare taxes; an independent contractor pays the full 15.3% load. In addition, the employer is saved the burden and cost of income-tax withholding. The worker has to remit the appropriate payments. Independent contractors don't qualify under minimum-wage laws and have no government rights to a safe work environment. And they can't qualify for employee benefits.''

I was really, really MAD when I was pushed to apply for a business license from the city to work as an indepedent contractor while I was working as an employee: I didn't have my own working schedule!! I didn't *rent* my own treatment room!! I worked at an absolutely unprofessional environment. The worst thing? She told everyone else not to let me know that I was the ONLY independent contractor while others were switched to employees AFTER I applied the business license to be an contractor. I knew it later when my co-worker, Brandy told me about it.

''For employers who are caught misclassifying, monetary pain is just the beginning. They can be criminally charged with evasion of payments, filing of false tax returns and conspiracy. Another tax code section, Section 7202, makes it a felony to willfully fail to collect or pay tax to the government. And it should be. In such cases, the employers are stealing from the employees. If workers are treated as independent contractors, they are responsible for 100% of their payroll taxes. They're paying twice what they truly owe for Social Security and Medicare. The difference goes into the employers' pockets.''

Yes, I suffered a lot. So was my spouse. It messed up our taxes and brought tension to our marriage last year. It stressed us out!

''If you think you're being misclassified, file Form SS-8 and have the IRS make a determination of your status. Remember, it's a 20-factor test, so the final resolution will be subjective. If you have been misclassified, Form 8919, Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages (.pdf download) should be filed to ensure that the proper Social Security and Medicare taxes are credited to your account. Don't use the older form, No. 4137.''

I didn't know I could sue her. I should have done that. She'll be audited by the IRS. Gosh, you know, never mess things up with the IRS. THEY CAN DO ANYTHING TO YOU!!

Fortunately, I am no longer relating to this evil spa anymore.

FedEx, I sincerely hope you will lose in the lawsuit and pay $1 billion for what you did. It costs a lot to be deceitful!!

Bankruptcy!!!!!!

What a sad news...I've just heard that Sharper Image has filed for bankruptcy protection due to losing money in 11 out of last 13 quarters. -___- It's a nice store for high-tech gadgets. Sad.

Identity Theft

Calm down, nothing bad happened. Indeed, I am the identity thief!! Hahaha!! This is NOT my puppy. This is my friend, Nadine's puppy. Oops, I forgot her name. She got a puppy while working in North Carolina. I loved the pic she sent me so much that I used it as my display picture on facebook. Please don't beat me, Nadine!!

Our Valentine's Day and a bad movie

Hehehe...first of all, he had a surprise from me. Now, I need to think about something new next time. Maybe a cake? or cookies? Anything sweet will work! Cause he is Mr.Willy Wonka. I called him to buy some sashimi for me to make sushi for dinner. It takes me an hour to prepare the food each time. Since I was afraid of gaining pounds after eating carbs, I vacuumed the whole house, danced and exercises in the afternoon to burn calories. I probably will do it again later today. So we had sushi for dinner and watched a movie we rented, called 'Elizabeth Town'. OH MY LORD!! We were very disappointed. Even though I like Orlando Bloom and Kristen Dunst, the story was so boring. We thought it's a romantic comedy. We didn't finish the movie..... I looked up the reviews online and found quite a lot of comments. Bad ones.... I'd rather watch South Park... ~_~

Valentine's Day surprise and my memory...

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

What are you going to do with your sweetheart? I'm going to give him a surprise. Today, I baked a pan of fudge brownie and cut it with heart-shaped cookie cutter. Made some simple frosting, colored it. Pink. Drizzled the frosting on top. Put it in a box. Keep it in the fridge. At first, I was planning to hide the box and the rest of the brownie in the pan. -_- But he came home earlier than usual and I couldn't wait for it to cool down so that I could have put it somewhere else. I tried to cut the browie in the pan into bite size. Then, he couldn't tell I cut some heart shaped ones. When he's home and saw the brownie, he was shocked and said the brownies looked like an Iraqi battlefield!! Whatever!! Just eat it!! It tasted great. After he went to bed, I packed the box of brownie, with a written note sticked inside the lid of the box, with the usual lunch box. I hope the frosting won't melt. I liked decorating cakes, tarts, etc. It reminded me those days I worked in a bakery. That was quite fun except for the cleaning part! I loved making chocolate covered strawberries. White truffle was my favorite!! It was definitely great when working with Joyce and Nadine. When there were only three of us, we worked and laughed. Joy!! I liked air-brushing cupcakes...rainbow colors, halloween theme.. it was so fun. However, the downside of it? Always got cuts from the plastic packages!! And it's very messy!! The happiest mess was licking the fresh whipped cream with my fingers from the mixing bowl (before I soak it into the sink). The bowl was huge! I ate a lot of whipped cream ^_^ and I went home smelt like buttercream everyday. hehehe...

10 Traits That Make You Filthy-Rich

by Jeffrey StrainFriday, February 1, 2008
provided by theStreet.com

Saving money isn't all about whether or not you know how to score screaming bargains.
It has more to do with your attitude toward money. Just think of those who don't fit the filthy-rich stereotype. People like Warren Buffett. As explained in the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, personal finance has as much to do with people's traits as it does with money. Many millionaires, in fact, have frugal ways. Understanding how personal traits can influence your finances is an essential ingredient for building wealth. Here are 10 key traits:

1. Patience
   Patience is one of the most important traits when it comes to saving money. This means waiting until the first wave of product hype has passed, keeping a car for an extra few years before getting another one and waiting until something you want fits into your budget instead of putting it on credit. Patience is often the difference between creating savings and being in debt. Having the patience to wait until you find a good deal is a cornerstone of good finances.
2. Satisfaction
   When you're satisfied, there is no reason to spend money on nonessentials. The sole purpose of commercials is to make you believe that buying a product or service will make you happier, wealthier, better looking or improve whatever isn't bringing you satisfaction.
   People spend because they want to capture the excitement shown in advertisements. When you are satisfied with what you have and your life (not trying to live like those on TV), your finances will be in a lot better shape.
3. Organization
   Being organized can make you more productive and ensure that all the many issues pertaining to personal finances are addressed. It means not paying late fees, not buying two of everything, knowing deadlines that can affect your finances and getting more done in less time. All these can greatly benefit your finances.
4. Discipline
   You need the discipline to continue to save money for specific, long-term goals every month. Personal finance isn't a way to get rich quick, but is a disciplined execution of your lifetime plans.
5. Reflectiveness
   It's important to be able to look at your financial decisions and reflect on their results. You're going to make financial mistakes. Everyone does. The key is to learn from those mistakes so you don't make them again, or recognize if you keep repeating them.
6. Creativity
   The economy and our earnings don't always match our expectations. Unexpected developments wreak havoc to elaborate financial plans. When this happens, changes are needed to deal with the new circumstances. Creativity is essential to accomplish this. Creativity allows you to make something last longer rather than purchasing it when you don't have the money. It means juggling money to stay out of debt rather than simply paying with a credit card. It means finding a cheaper alternative when money is tight. In these ways, creativity plays a large role in keeping finances in order.
7. Curiosity
   Having curiosity helps you learn, study and improve yourself. The curiosity of wanting to know more, to take the time to study and then take what is learned and put into practice is an important process that is driven by curiosity.
8. Risk-Taking
   To build wealth, one needs to be willing to take risks. This doesn't mean uncalculated risks. It means weighing all the options and taking calculated risks when appropriate. The stock market has risks involved, but over the long term, history shows that it provides good returns on money that is invested wisely. Those who fear risk altogether end up saving money in accounts that likely lose money to inflation in the long run.
9. Goal-Oriented
   The importance of setting and working toward goals is obvious. If you don't know where you are going, it's difficult to get there. It helps your personal finances immensely if you have money goals and are motivated to reach the goals that you have set for yourself. Those who lack goals don't have a road map to take them to the financial destination they want.
10. Hard- and Smart-Working
    Creating wealth and staying out of debt rarely comes about without a lot of hard work. Many people might hope that the lottery will solve all their financial problems. The true path to financial freedom, however, is to work hard to earn money while educating yourself to continue to have more value and increase your salary. You may not possess all of the above traits. But knowing them can help you make changes so that you nourish the ones that you have and obtain the ones you're missing. Ultimately they will help you with your personal finances and create a plan to accumulate the wealth you desire.

Copyrighted, TheStreet.Com. All rights reserved.

Quote of the day

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" – Ronald Reagan

$aving your money: airport parking

As our trip to Hong Kong is approaching, we are so busy with getting everything ready recently. Since I'm not working, I have more time to plan things ahead. NICE. The other day I accidentally discovered a site where it allows you to search for and compare the prices of different off-airport parking lots. Wow. It is really expensive to park at the airport parking garage!! About $30/day???? (http://www.portseattle.org/seatac/ground/parking.shtml#6) Well, if you are loaded or you have a BMW, it doesn't bother you. We just have a Honda. Going to Airport Parking Reservations online, you will be amazed. We saved more $200 by choosing an off-airport parking. (http://www.airportparkingreservations.com/) The key is PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!! Make the reservation early. Leave home a bit early. The result?? You will have EXTRA money for your vacation. Isn't it nice?? ^_^

I don't want to become a magnet to bad people

My phone rang this morning. Since the number didn't look familiar, I didn't pick it up. Someone left me a voice mail. Damn!! That was the evil woman who tried to get my friend to do something unethical before!!!!! Oh my God!!!!!! Luckily, I didn't pick up the phone, or I couldn't stop yelling at her. I wish I could set up an automatic call forwarding to the police. Please leave me alone. I am living a great life. I DO NOT WORK FOR SCUMS.

Relief

Okay, after lots of emails and phone calls, I fixed the tax stuff on my own. I realized that when I need help, you should not assume that people would help. So, it's imperative to be independent enough to face the challenges yourself. And, I did it. It had been so stressful lately since Steve has been super busy at work, I did not want to bother him. Well, I can sleep soundly tonight. Anyway, do choose things in your life wisely or it'll exhaust your time and engery endlessly.

Glad to see the fed's further rate cut, yeah! Time to refiance the mortgage- get a lower interest rate and switch to a shorter term. Our current goal is to pay off our house as soon as we can.

Soon, we will take off to Hong Kong for our vacation. Everything is set. The rate of the hotel rooms there varies everyday. Fortunately, we got one at a good price. Taking the time to do researches and having the patience will reward you most of the time. Planning is key. I truly believe: FAILURE TO PLAN IS A PLAN TO FAIL.

I was stupid.

Working at the spa was one of my most stupid decisions in my life. Working for crooks/dumbasses, you name it. Those assholes messed up my life and ate my soul. Yes, I was a fool. I worked at the wrong places. I know, it IS over. I'm just still having the resentment that I can't sleep well sometimes. At least, they are going to mess up my tax again since I was there for a few months last year. Jesus, please bring them all to hell when the world ends.

Sick again

.....yes, again! I hate my runny nose. I've already doing exercises. Why do I get sick?? I GUESS I might have caught the germs from shaking hands with people at the dealership last week!! Steve said I sound crazy. Hey, I don't think so. Everyone's hands are full of germs very often by touching other objects- door handles, etc. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so important to wash hands often or apply hand sanitizer. I should keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse from now on.

I am SO happy that Nadine will come over for lunch on Tuesday. She worked with me in the bakery in the past. Those old days - tough but fun, with her, Joyce, Elisa, Michael the manager, Doug. Michael the temporary worker from Ethiopia was something, he sold one of the for-display-only cakes, nice-looking outside but stale inside cake to customer. It was a white chocolate mousse cake. Since he didn't check the date, the cake was returned...full of greenish molds inside!! GROSS!!!!!

And then, Cindy the manager was moody and scary- you never knew if she was in a good mood until you arrived work. STRESSFUL. My personal experience: Less stressful working for male bosses.

Anyway, it's all history. :)

Updates...

What's keeping me busy lately? Let's see:
Dance dance revolution - xbox dancing game, dance on the mat by following instruction on TV. Fun, great work-out. Blow-flex- stimulated rowing boats!! Want to work on my biceps. Working out every other day lately. Then, 1.5-2 hours practicing piano each day: trying to play the music from a popular game named Tetris. I'm practicing the type-C music even though type-A is the most popular one and indeed I can play type-A already. I want to attend regular music class in a community college. I've missed the winter quarter since I will be back to HK soon. Indeed, other than the piano, I have fun with my keyboard too. So, I am keeping the house very loud!! Sometimes, it's even shaky. I hope it's not why the house next door can't sell. Well, I'm just joking!! Anyway, it's been on the market since Septebmer last year. I wouldn't know how to pay 2 mortgages at the same time if I were the owner. The market is so slow now. Nasdaq, Dows and Standard and Poors 500 are down almost every day. ~_~
Since Seahawks was snowed out, I won't sit in front of TV every weekends... not wanting to watch more Giants and Packers... Rather wash my cars when it's nice outside.

Go Seahawks!!

SOOOOOOO excited about the game yesterday! I was watching the whole game. YEAH! Beat the Redskin, 35-14, in playoffs. ^___^ Marcus Trufant was exceptional. I watched his entire 78-yard interception return for a touchdown! Incredible!! Last year, I was sooo upset when the hawks was beaten by the Bears. I want to see Seahawks in the superbowl!!!!!! So do you, right? Hope that they'll bring the ball back with victory from GreenBay, WI next week. Hehe, I am becoming more 'American' gradually - it's fun to watch football games. :-) I wonder if Liz and Tim were at the Quest field yesterday as Liz's brother rents a private suite at Quest field for the whole year and got tickets for every game. It was a blast being invited to go to a college football game months ago and also to the Mariner's game in Safeco field a few times. Well, that's a definite upside of not working now - I can spend more time with my family and do something fun.

Snowing again

Rain and snow mix outside. Flurries!! But, I prefer Oreo McFlurries.. hehehe

Friends

[Pic: my OT friends.]

We've already got the tickets for going to Hong Kong a while ago. However, I didn't know some days fall on Easter Holiday over there until Titania told me last night. Then, my parents told me that the hotel room was outrageously expensive; a figure that we would never ever expect. I was worrying we might not be able to find any place close to my parents. Then, I asked Raymond for help. Time flies, I knew him for more than 10 years. We studied Information System together the first year in university. He's a social butterfly. I'm thankful that I know him. He helped me search for places and he asked his friends too. Then, I got a few choices and so I could sleep well last night. We should visit him in Vancouver later this year.

I am on and off sick these days. But I don't like to go to the doctor's office if I just need to ask a few questions. Luckily, a good friend of mine is a doctor. She talks to me often. I knew her in highschool and she IS a genius in my eye - excelled in everything from Science, Chinese & English Literature to Art, Home Economics, Philosophy, etc. She's a great piano player too. Undoubtedly, she could study anything she wanted in college and she chose medicine. Good for her. I liked those days we went go eat thai buffet after the exam. We both ate SO much and could barely walk around in the mall. Sweet memory. I can't wait to see her!! And meet her new born girl, Eve.

Looking back into my old days. I was always blessed with good friends surrouding me and helped me forget unhappiness at home. They are my angels in my life. I am proud of myself being able to keep in touch with them for many years. The first few years coming to the States was so hard for me since I had no friends. I survived. Internet was a great invention - I talked to my friends days and nights on icq.

Kiki, please wait for me, we can go 'drink drink, eat eat' , shop and...maybe sing karaoke.

Yan Yan, I'll massage your neck and shoulders soon! Thanks SO much for the 'super mario brothers' Nintendo DS stylus. I love it. I used it already, much easier to grip while playing games.

Dear all of my friends, I don't know how many of you are reading this blog entry but I am really excited to meet you again!

I wish I could meet my friends here or there through another dimension anytime. Is a Time-machine available yet? Yes, but only in my dreams. Sad.

Another news about Prostitution...

Source: Seattle PI

Last updated January 4, 2008 9:58 a.m. PT

Eastside day spas raided in prostitution sting

By HECTOR CASTROP-I REPORTER

Redmond police arrested five women and one man at two day spas Thursday during raids prompted by a citizen's complaint.

The arrests were made at the Serenity Acupressure and Wellness Center in Redmond and at the Chi Energy Spa in Bellevue, Redmond police reported.

The two spas, owned by a California couple, purport to offer massage, but only five women were licensed for it. Police took $3,000 in cash and business records that linked the two spas.
A 43-year-old man was arrested at one of the spas for patronizing a prostitute. Five women were arrested for investigation of promoting prostitution.

Redmond police credited the citizen's tip for setting off the investigation, and meticulous detective work for allowing the two raids to occur simultaneously.

P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-448-8334.

News about Prostitution & Massage

FROM: Seattle Times Company, Jan 4th, 2008.

Massage businesses' employees arrested in prostitution case

By Seattle Times Eastside bureau

Five employees at two massage businesses have been arrested by Redmond police after an investigation determined the establishments were being used for prostitution-related activities.
The investigation was begun through a citizen complaint, reported Jim Bove, police public-information officer.

The arrests were made Thursday after police obtained a search warrant for the Serenity Acupressure and Wellness Center at 15670 Redmond Way and for the Chi Energy Spa at 12001 N.E. 12th St. in Bellevue, Bove said.

Five female employees, ages 24, 25, 26, 34 and 38, were arrested for promoting prostitution. A 43-year-old man also was arrested for patronizing a prostitute.

Both businesses are owned and operated by a California couple. Redmond police also seized $33,000 in cash and business records. Only one of the five women arrested had a massage license.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

Gym at home

Yay! Blowflex has been set up and I can do different exercises to strengthen my arms!! I'll be miss Popeye soon. However, it hurts my wrists a little bit. -_- Playing the piano and the keyboard hurts.