Some day not too long ago, I just arrived in LA and was enjoying my very first meal in LA from Carls Jr. It was a box of 10 chicken strips, and for the me that had just came out of the 3-hour U.S. Customs line at LAX, it was delicious. I was still like a little boy arriving at a new city, awed by almost everything I saw.

Four months later, I am back at the same hotel room. Funny how things worked out, actually. I came with such enthusiasm, and such hope for the new live I’m going to have. But all of them seemed to have died off already.

“The Golden Age Fallacy”: the idea of how we often think about “those good ol’ times…”, when in reality they were not that good as we remembered. Aren’t our minds interesting, that we only remember things that are “good”? But even so, I’d like to refuse to think that they’re all just an illusion. I miss home a little too much, perhaps.

Just seconds after take off, the infamous Seattle fog covered my entire window. The streets with all the beautiful Christmast lights disappeared, and my mind was still refusing to accept the fact that I’m heading back already.

It was a weekend filled with Starbucks, mixed emotions of nervousness and excitement, amazing food, beautiful buildings and inspiring places. But more importantly, it was about the warmth that I found even in midst of the freezing weather.

It was there as I asked everywhere for the way around buses, as I wander through the streets in U District. It was there when we had a hard time deciding if we should get froyo after lunch, or when we challenged ourselves to get the “four-star spiciness”. It was definitely there as we shared just about everything in our lives, and as I listened to her encouragements with the words I needed to hear at that moment. And let’s not forget the challenging questions that came from such supportive interviewers, the cozy environment, or the sharing of experiences in between interviews with other candidates.

It was something I had been searching for for quite a while, and I’m glad Seattle was the place where I found it. Everything was such a blessing to me – thank you.

Facebook just launched its new “Timeline” profile interface, which was advertised to let you ”tell your life story”. Under that giant shiny tagline was a promotional video, made exactly like, well, a timeline, of somebody. The video started at a “story” of how a kid was born, then goes up (mimicking “scrolling up” on a web browser), witnessing the glorious moments of life: making his first steps, going to his first singing contest, graduating from high school, meeting his girlfriend, getting married, having a kid of his own born; and finally ended in a “cover picture” of him and his daughter.

I was excited to activate such feature to my profile, only to realize things were more difficult, way more, than it looked like to have an organized profile like that. When it comes to memories, every single bit becomes important. If I could, I wanted to make every single darn story “featured” on my timeline, and make every single photo I could possibly find up on my cover photo. So that I could always look back in reminiscence and remember every single moment, and to live through them again.

But if only I could do it once. Just once more. So I scrolled down to the very bottom, and started scrolling up, and find “favorite memories” to “star”.

A baby was born at Aug 1993. Oh what joy to the world. And then another one, named Rebecca Huh, was born just 2 years after that. Which sounds like a long time, but in reality, (and on the timeline), it was merely this long apart -> ”                          ”. Is life humorous, or what.

Fast forward several years to 2007 when I first got my Facebook account. And one of my first activities on Facebook are with my SMIC Movie Industry Club. The club was first established September 2007, and I have had so much fun in that club since then. From organizing the fundraising event with bags and bags of tortilla chips to filming the 2008 recruitment video. It changed me. I will probably never be interested in movies had not for this. Heh, what about that “If I Speak” that we never finished? Yet, which of these things are “starrable”? And which are more important than the others? None. (And would you look at my face back then, urgh, fat.)

And soon enough, with some struggles, I moved to ICS in Summer 2009. The year kind of actually started with the award at ThinkQuest. A million of pictures were taken over the event. Which one should I put as the featured one? There was no time for me to decide; soon enough, I was already making an app for ICS, filming a popular MV (:P), building a spaghetti bridge, making any other app, winning a logo contest, doing a skit for refugees in Hong Kong, going to my first prom, and starting to work. How can I dare say any of these things are any less significant? Yet, I just couldn’t star every one of them.

I blinked. And all of a sudden I’m in my senior year already. Heh, those days when people were mega crazy into GodFinger for a few days, and CLASS PICTURE!, getting world 5th on Tilt to Live HD, Phuket trip with family, [mango.sticky.rice<3], yet another app, performing with an Orchestra and an extremely talented cast, digging that septic tank, going to my second Prom, and then I graduated. It was just that fast. It’s kinda silly now that I looked back, wondering why I was stupid enough to wish senior year to fly through while thinking all those upperclassman were talking trash when they say “cherish your senior year”. I want to remember each and one of these memories, but my brain has only that much capacity.

And what about those tiny details that didn’t make it on Facebook but meant just as much to me? Every single worship practice and jamming and hang out I had with Ignite gang, reunion with the Indo peeps, crazy transportation adventures with Dawn, food hunting with Michelle and Janice, drooling at food on the dinner table in Auntie Ruth’s house. That dinner with Byeong and twins, that peak + Central adventure with Bel, that movie deal that never worked out with Michelle, or that surprise party with Ade. I dare say, they meant just as much, if not (actually, now that I think about it, it’s definitely) more, as those “big events” on Facebook.

How about those that are simply indescribable? That love that came from family, that tight friendship we share between close friends, that care from church and teachers. And most importantly, the experiences and changes that He led me through. How I wish I can just pinpoint these on my timeline. But no, these things are everlasting, and quite frankly, impossible to put in words; yet these are the things that I can hold dearest to. I chose a picture of my Ignite gang supporting Auntie Ruth’s concert as my cover picture in the end; no, not because it was the most important memory of my life or anything, but because it reminds me of so many of these things that I couldn’t have otherwise been through.

In the end, every single bit of these memories made me who I am today. And I’m extremely thankful.

And there we have it. As we gave each other that last hug – now that I think of it, it’s probably the first real hug ever – Everything suddenly went back in time and turned me back to a little boy again, wanting more for his father’s presence. I could not help but to think of those things undone, words unsaid, and responsibilities as a son unfilled.

It’s funny how I’ve kind of been waiting for this moment to be free for 18 years. And now, at the verge of it, I don’t feel like it anymore.

What if I was on that bus? What if I was the one that Mendoza was pointing the gun at?

Would I be able to bravely call back to Hong Kong and ask for help under Mendoza’s watch? Would I be selfless enough to take a bullet for my family members? Or would I just cowardly run away like the bus driver?

These things, they used to seem so far away. As I read the news reporting from court these days as they examine the event, I can’t help but to think that, who knows, one day that might happen to me. What would I do then?

The world is messed up. I am scared.

A week ago, I created an web app designed to aid ICS students in choosing their WWW trips where their friends are going. Like the app I created a while ago with courses, this idea came up from the millions of “where are you guys going?” wall posts on Facebook – why not just create a central hub for people to see where people are (or in some cases, aren’t) going?

Development took a little bit over a full day and made me sleep at 5am – something that I would have definitely not done normally. Could have took much less time had I not played with the various Facebook APIs, jQuery effects and aesthetic elements, but you know, it was worth it. I mean, in the end I took this mini project as an experiment in itself, testing what works and what doesn’t, and improve on the later products.

And here is my report.

Stats

Launched on Sunday, 23rd January morning. Last activity on 25th. (Yes, it only survived for 2 days) 101 Users, 155 “clicks” or choices made.

You know, I was actually quite impressed myself. Although I expected more, but this was definitely enough to make myself proud.

What worked.

The emphasis on “Socialization”

Nowadays apps are all about your FRIENDS and no long about YOU. What other people are doing are becoming much more important. A huge part of the App was designed with that in mind.

The “picture wall” (suggested by Teddy) was one of such thing. Not only was it (surprisingly) extremely pretty, but also helpful. Not a lot of people realized it, but users may click on someone’s profile picture and it will show his/her selected trips. Had this feature not been implemented, I think the App would have lost a lot of interest form its users.

Facebook is DA BOSS.

Speaking of socializing… Facebook has shown superiority to almost every other product on the Internet. Heck, it even (almost) replaced email! Apps that go against it, like Wave, can’t even stand a chance even under Google. And therefore, there is absolutely no way not to tie this app to the trend.

Everybody had an Facebook account – I did not need to worry about not providing true identity, nor do I need to take care of security, cookies, sessions, blah blah blah. All I needed was one line of code checking if the user is logged in or not, that’s it. Saved me database spaces at the very least, not to mention time to debug security holes to authentication and what not.

And because everyone had a Facebook account, activity on this App can be easily by other people, thus helping the app spread faster. In theory, when people see that other people are making their WWW trips choices on this App, they’d be like “Oh hmm.” and click on the link. (I didn’t set up a referrer check to see how many clicks actually came from Facebook published stories, but I’d imagine there is at least 30%)

Ajax

Who wants to load a whole page just to see a tiny description box of a trip? No one. And that’s why I spent so much time on ajax-fying the site. There is only one page in the whole app, and every little thing is only updated when it had to. No extra bandwidth, no extra lag time, no extra nothing.

Name me one person that didn’t like the dynamic loading of contents and the stunning (come on, admit it ) effects on the page, I dare you.

What didn’t work

IE Compatibility

GARH! This was THE flaw of the app (or maybe the school). Because IE is the only browser installed on school computers, there were no way for students or teachers to check it out in school. By the time they got home, they probably have forgotten about it as well.

I tried figuring out but I couldn’t due to the lack of developer tools on IE. Okay fine, I was being a little bit lazy, but. I think we can all blame IE.

Timing / Marketing

It was all wrong. I should have started this way earlier, and not just 3 days before the decision deadline. Well, I didn’t know how I could have sped it up considering I only found out about WWW choices that day.

One thing I also could have done was inform the WWW Committee about it to have them include this in daily newsletters. But again, it had IE compatibility issues…

The Design

Nope. I didn’t like it. My original design intentions were to keep it simple, but now it looks (way) too messy with so much blue. Could have also tried some more icons, I guess.

Conclusion / What’s coming up

A course selection app! Something that I have been planning since last year, but never gotten around to it. It will definitely go the direction of “socializing” just like this app, but given much more time to prep and advertise so to bring its full potential.

What did YOU like and dislike about the app?

My birthday is coming up in exactly 10 days of postage (Aug 15). I’m excited. Looking back at my birthday last year (which was my sweet sixteen) and how I didn’t get anything at all, I plan to get at least myself (or… hint hint) to buy myself a birthday present. So here it goes.

For neatness reasons, I’m going to order this list from the highest priced to the lowest.

iPad 16G Wi-Fi – $3888

…need I say more? This is pretty much all I’m missing as a geek, I’d say. Just imagine it sitting at my desk, and as I’m working, I can occasionally use it to check Facebook and what not without opening a browser window. Whoa! And if my mom decides to steal my computer to check her email, I can just pass her the iPad (or better yet, let her use the computer and I’ll play some Harbor Monster… life is good.)

As for Gill… don’t worry, I’ll still love you.

iPod Touch 4G – ~$1500?

This one is still undecided, and I’ll most probably get only one of iPad or the iPod Touch 4G. If iPod Touch 4G comes out as a no-phone version of iPhone 4, then I will most likely get it and ditch iPad. But we’ll see how things go. I’ve been living with my Classic for 3 years now, and it’s time to find a new… companion(?).

Oh. how about this. if you chip in, I’ll engrave your name on it too

Columbia Mobex Campus – US$99

I fell in love with this bag the moment I looked at it. So lightweight, stylish and I mean, just look at the inside, it is SO SO SO cool. You guys all know for ages I’ve been having a messenger bag and got myself a slouching back because of it… this can help me get my posture back

Domain “ptz.hk” – ~$600

Peetahzee.com is long. I don’t want people to type in 13 letters every time they want to visit my site (it’s like, who would anyway, right?) or send me an email or add me on msn. The only short domain rendition of “peetahzee” that I could find is probably just this: ptz.hk, but .hk domains are crazy expensive as well.

Okay. Now to some more practical presents

Okay. I’m not THAT bad of a person, so I am of course not hoping for people actually buying me an iPad.. that said, feel free to chip in when I actually decide to buy it myself

What I would really want for birthday:

In-ear earphones – ~$200

Yeah… my earphones are dead. I’m particularly looking at the really cool Sony Piiq ones – Awesome colors and awesome concept of  the earphones “hooking” onto the device. Sadly, they’re only available in US, I’ve yet to find a place that sells them in HK.

iPod Classic Case – ~$100?

My case JUST died (and that’s why I’m editing this). Like, it broke, literally – not that I don’t like it anymore or anything, but literally unusable. I know this kind of contradicts the iPod Touch wish, but, meh.

A pair of Crocs – ~$200

Jonny, I’m counting on you. Canaan too?

Pencil case – ?

You guys all know my famous Harry Potter pencil case that I have been using for like 5 years? Yeah well, I think it’s time to switch one. lol.

A case for Gill – ~$300?

I am not exactly happy with my Macbook case… I’m looking at Speck SeeThru’s or possibly some others as well. But idk. A keyboard cover can also work too.

Or… just some kind of food.

In the past month, I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to work in the VeriGuide team with some amazing people to make a plagiarism detection system for teachers and students in school to use. My main job was to integrate the already-completed system with Moodle, a Learning Management System that has quite a lot of market shares in schools today, with some minor addition such as beautifying and tweaking interfaces and what not.

For pretty much the whole month, I’ve been waking up at 7 (while all you sleep till like 12), show up at office by 9:30, work for 2 hours, go to lunch, work again for like 5 hours and go home. Yeah, the regularity of my holidays was pretty much like school, and I gotta tell you, it has been driving me crazy, at least for the first couple of days.

That said, it has still been a fantastic experience for me. Not only did I get to improve on technical details (by working with some other nerds and dealing with multiple languages between PHP, XML, JSP, and Java), I also had to do some critical thinking “exercises” and learned how to communicate with other people effectively. We organized ourselves with Google Docs (which were amazingly helpful, I finally realized), held some discussions in our tiny office (which was also used by some grad students for their research work under the same prof), and made this work experience not only about codes, but also about interaction with people and team-building – something that I could not have otherwise learned.

Lastly, the amazing people that I was working with is probably what made my month so great. I had so much fun just working, talking and even taking after-lunch chilling breaks with them – so thanks a lot!

Now on my last day, I’m kinda happy because I’m now (kinda) free; but I say I’m definitely going to miss what has happened during the past month in a small office at CUHK. Keep in touch!

John 10:4 says “When [the Good Shepherd] has brought out all his own [sheep], he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” I simply loved it when our speaker explained it as a beautiful picture with Jesus taking the three steps before I did and made sure the path is safe, then turn around, reaching His hand and asked me to trust in Him through all kind of difficulty there might be – because He has been through everything and knows exactly what the journey is like.

I didn’t plan to post anything spiritually related on my blog when I first started it, but this feeling is getting so strong that I just felt like I had to say it to the world (Yes, I know I’m just exaggerating, considering the amount of readers I have ) When I finally had a chance to count all the things that God has done for me, how many times I have broke His heart yet still He was still trying to get me back on the right track, I simply collapsed. There is simply nothing that can stop me from saying: I believe!

The game was somewhat like Telephone, but instead of talking, we draw the message out. The first person will start a general topic, pass on and the second person will have to draw it out. Then, the third person, without knowing what the first person has wrote, needs to guess what the second person has drawn, then write what he think it is out. Fourth person will draw it again based on the previous person’s response, and so forth.

So, I started the game with the topic “Tom Cruise” (partly because I just watched Knight and Day, partly because I wanted to see what Tom Cruise would look like in drawings ), and passed it to the next person with a warning that my topic is going to be hard to draw.

The second person laughed out loud when he saw what I wrote, then got stuck there for a while not knowing what to draw. After a while, he must have suddenly remembered the movie and drew this out:

The third person stared at the drawing and had no idea what it was talking for a while. But after some struggle, he figured out too (with giggles, teehee)

Now I don’t know what happened here for the fourth person. But it turned out something like this:

The fifth person of course couldn’t figure out it was Tom Cruise, and it seemed most logical for her to write this down (ask her why):

So the last person took the liberty and drew this out based on the above:

So, in a sense, Tom Cruise and I must share some common traits or something. Maybe we’re both just too good looking that people get confused easily.