VinceChan.net

Thanks to my friend Jenny! I tried out a cool Chinese Fortune telling web app. I’m not sure if it’s really accurate. I’d rather those who know me be the judge. Let me know if you think this is an accurate reading? Leave your comments!

姓名： 陳燊
出生日期： 西元1978年9月22日 (農曆67年8月20日)
靈數： 22

這組數字顯示

你是一個運勢特殊的人，非常聰明，反應很快，生命力量強大，能夠成就大事的，但卻天生有一些特別的使命，讓你的命運顯得神祕不可測。天生的使命，有時是個性或身體上的問題，比如在個性上有超乎常人的敏感，特別會重視面子的問題，或人際關係上的問題，在別人看來你都是過度敏感想太多了；或者是身體上的缺憾，但問題都不是很大，是命中注定你自己要想辦法去克服的地方。

在小孩時代，你便背負著眾人的期待，但是你卻一點也不在意，悠哉悠哉的過日子，還喜歡四處惡作劇哩！

長大後的成就，第一步需要看你能不能和人協調，協調成功以後，則要去進行實際的事情，才能達成目標。因此一般來講，你如果找到目標，事業運會很好，但是在你沒有找到目標前，會是一付漫不經心的樣子，花很多時間在找人生的目標，直到找到目標，才會全力以赴，也才能將你生命中潛在的爆發力，完全發揮，當然，那股強大的力量，會讓你成就一番大事業。

你的生命中必須完成二個目標，一是必須要完成金錢方面的事情，大多會與金融界有關，因此你所從事的行業偏向與金錢相關，屬於理財顧問或保險經紀人、傳銷等事業，有一個共同的特色是運轉金錢、帶領金錢交流的這類事物；你的第二個目標是找到生命中的知心伴侶。

你的性格特徵是隨性，想事情是憑感覺，不論在對事或對人的判斷上，通常不會想太多，只是依喜好去做，只要我喜歡有甚麼不可以；成年以後才能找到自我，有比較成熟的思考。由於你在社交方面會有比較光鮮亮麗和熱情的表現，因此在事業合夥方面，很懂得如何適時散發你的熱力，這將使你獲得相當的利益與實質的成功，建議你在事業的經營上要著重特色取向，如果要與人合夥，必須要審慎，才能找到適當的朋友合作。

你的優點是具有很好的溝通才能，人緣好，受歡迎。你的缺點在於很多事情想得太少了，過度的自信和感情用事的習慣下，讓你有些盲目的向前衝！

在感情方面，你較晚熟，因為你會以穩定事業為優先，在事業工作順利的時候，才會真心想找個伴侶安定下來，因此你的感情在事業穩定之前大多沒有結果，多半是空談。而在感情或婚姻的二人關係中，你會相當依賴於對方，配偶將會成為主要的意見諮詢者。你害怕一個人那種孤零零的感覺，喜歡與朋友一起分享或合作的美好感覺，所以一到新的環境，都會先找個伴，或採取合夥的方式來做事，但是在合夥關係當中，你經常扮演著主宰的角色，提醒你要小心，有可能會因此而成為合夥關係的破壞者喔！

This video shows how people in all around the world count their cash in different ways. It’s a fun video for my Singaporean vs. Canadian friends… and friends from all over! How do you count your cash?

The GTA Gets Buried By What Could Be A Record Snowstorm Sunday December 16, 2007 CityNews.ca Staff Forecasters were bang on. A big, blustery almost blizzard-like storm they predicted would dump anywhere …

For all my friends / family in Sunny Singapore… come visit Canada! lol.. Note that the streets in busy downtown are very desserted… everybody wants to crawl under their warm blankets.. myself included! The tires on those cars are just spinning.. no grip!

Want Hollywood muscle? I’m trying this 300-rep Spartan workout — used by the cast of the movie — for a full-body transformation.

But I might be running out of time? I’m going back to Asia by the end of this month to visit tons of family and relatives that I’ve not seen in 17 years. Is it vain for me to want to make a good impression? I’m definitely gorging myself on the delicious food on my 3 week vacation. All the more reason to build a strong foundation now!

Here’s a baseline calculation I recently learnt to determine your optimal body weight versus your height. Most people I know aren’t too far off from their optimal height / weight combination. I’ve tested the calculation on a few friends, and all of them have stated that it’s attainable for them.

• Use the baseline of 5′ 8″.
• To achieve a lean muscular frame, your 5′ 8″ benchmark weight should be 160 lbs.
  • Under 160, and the focus to build muscle makes more sense than losing fat.
  • Over 160, and the focus should be managing weight through dieting and cardio.
• For every inch of additional height, add 5 pounds to the optimal weight (i.e. 5′ 10″ = 170 pounds)
• For every inch of height reduction, subtract 5 pounds from the optimal weight (i.e. 5′ 6″ = 150 pounds)

Right after this post, I’ll be driving 8, 9 hours back to Timmins (depending on the weather!). Timmins is the home of Shania Twain if you didn’t already know! I’ve gotten to meet her in person, jealous yet? I should have access to ther internet to do some holiday postings. Perhaps I’ll think of some “on the road” blogging ideas!

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Nelson sent me this link about Kid Beyond (aka Andrew Chaikin) – the one man human beatbox band. This guy is pretty good, but what amazes me is his innovation with his craft. Who says it doesn’t pay to be a music lover, audiophile and a little bit of geek? If you like musical innovators, take a look and listen of Kid Beyond!

WMV Introduction Video of Kid Beyond (Must See!) (15MB)

Official Site: Kid Beyond

I received a most insulting email response from a family member regarding my last post about poker. People just don’t get it! I am very upset at this email and was very tempted to publish it for everyone to see. But I thought better of it, and decided to keep it between the people involved. If this family member is reading this post right now, I demand an apology immediately!

Sometime this afternoon, I’ve decided to jump back in on the instant messaging scene. The decision was as quick as the day I got out of instant messaging. I believe I was one of the earliest adopters of the communication technology (my ICQ uins were low digit numbers). But for one reason of another, I woke up one day entirely fed up with replying, messaging, and dealing with instant messaging pop-ups, looking at lists of names that meant little to nothing because we have not kept in touch. I turned it off cold turkey.

That must have been almost a year ago?? I’m not sure when I exactly stopped. But it was a strangely liberating experience. In this day and age of technology and busy work schedules, my contacts with my already established circle of friends abruptly stopped. I begin to know who really wants me in their life by those who still kept in touch with me through email and phone… and also discover for myself with whom I really want to stay in touch.

Call it an experiment if you will, a validation of sorts. But at the same time, I developed new acquaintances, people with whom I don’t rely on instant messaging to stay in touch. In some ways, instant message is a bit of an evil in this brave new world. But I think I’m jumping back for the right reasons. We’ll really see how this new experiment will pan out.

This must be record for my blog! It is the latest/earliest (depends on how you look at it) time I’ve written a post. 4:39 am in the morning and I’m not asleep yet! It’s strangely liberating! I would advise you to try it sometime! It’s almost like a journey back to highschool where you really don’t care what’s supposed to happen in the next day. You’re just living for the now!

So there must be a reason why I’m still awake, right? A geeky one too! I have been aware of the great social networking experiment that is 43Things.com, but I never took the plunge. I like the idea of making a list, and I have been searching for something like it, but the features didn’t seem like what I wanted. How wrong I was, after signing up an account, I could not put down the site.

The reason I wanted to make a list of things I want to do in my life is possibliy an introspective quest. I like to write, because I like to find out what I’m really thinking; what I can commit to words. Many times, things just bubble in your mind, but there’s no expression of it.

I had a lot of fun just entering my thoughts on all the various places I have been since 43Places.com is well-integrated into 43Things.com. When I got to Montreal, I was so surprised to see one of the FlickR picture streams to feature my cousin, Susan! It looked like her, but was it her? I clicked on the link and find my cousin Diane’s account on FlickR. Diane (pictured on the right) is extremely artistic, and I have an amazing time just looking at all the pictures she took.

Back to 43Things, and I found Diane’s username. I subscribed to her and even “cheered” her on a few things on her list. Cheering is fun! I do support Diane wholeheartedly in whatever she does or decides. In some ways, I admire and resepct what she’s represented. I also feel she’s most similar to my personality, out of all my cousins, in many regards. And she’s a Beyond fan too! (Editor’s note: ‘Beyond’ is a Hong Kong rock band that has blazed many trails and influence greatly the Chinese rock scene).

Then I got down to committing what I’ve wanted to do in my life. One by one, my ideas materialize on the screen, keystroke after keystroke. I’d re-read the entries that described my goals, to look for spelling or grammatical errors. Re-reading these entries were a chatartic experience. I will be integrating 43Things.com to my website shortly so that it’ll be a permanent fixture. For now, I want to share with you 2 of my goals, my description of them. I’ve chosen these 2 as they are emotionally significant for myself.

You can check the rest of my Things-To-Do list at http://www.43things.com/person/vincechan

Goal: Fall In Love
Entry Title: It Must Have Been Love …

Two failed relationships. One of my own choosing, one while I was still too young. But what has kept me from going forward are the relationships that never happened. I know what I want, and I know what I like. I cannot describe it in words. But what you want, what you like, may not want or like you. Could it be fate? I personally don’t subscribe to that; love is what you make of it. But try telling one side of the brain that, while that side stubbornly refuses to listen.

I’m now reminded of my favourite songwriter, Tanya Chua’s lyrics, translated from mandarin. “Everybody yearns for the next time to be true love, but regretably, one day when we remenisce about each other, then we will understand.”

Note: The entry title is an homage to my aunt Fanny’s love affair with Roxette’s song “It Must Have Been Love”

Goal: Raise A Daughter
Entry Title: picked out my daughter’s name and everything!

well.. this is a goal I cannot control; except if you tell me to sow a lot of seeds to increase the odds! LOL

I only had a brother growing up, but the majority of my cousins were all female and treated me well. I don’t know if that explains why I would rather have a daughter than the obligatory chinese son. I have one rationale for that, the chinese character for good is made up of 2 characters, girl and boy. And the character for girl comes before the boy. ;P

I have names picked out already. Of course, until the day comes, I am still open to name suggestions. I have 2 choices for chinese names, and 2 choices for english names. I love my daughter to have a name that sounds like a boy’s name.

I don’t mind sharing with you, but my daughter’s english name will tentatively be either Aaliyah or Owen. I hope to find more interesting names to name her. The chinese names would sound either like Chen Li-Yah (beautiful elegant), or Chen Kai-Nan (triumphant boy) in mandarin (literal translations).

Nas once wrote these lyrics, “thinkin a word best describin my life, to name my daughter”. I may not be that good, or that introspective.. but it’s an important goal of mine!

And no, the wife probably won’t have a say in this, she can name the son whatever she likes.. LOL

Now maybe I can go to bed?

The day starts where we left off yesterday, with me not being able to sleep very well at the hotel room with my father’s incessant snoring. His saving grace is that he woke up early at 5:30 am, showered and got dress and went out for a walk. This enabled mother and I to sleep much better and I actually got enough sleep to last the day.

When we all got ready, we picked up Nelson at his place, while taking time to make sure we picked up his graduation portraits. We headed off to YangTze in Ottawa’s China Town for Dim Sum. Every Dim Sum opportunity is an absolute thrill for me. Dim Sum is the Chinese’s answer to the Parisian or Italian “coffee out on the patio”. I enjoy it because it’s a meal based solely on tea and appetizers made enjoyable by its pace and relaxation. This is definitely one thing I wish I could do more in Toronto, to celebrate Sunday morning designated as family day using Dim Sum.

We proceeded from there (after a bit more grocery shopping for father) to the graduation ceremony. (P.S. I saw a nice fan stand that you would have wanted, Mike. The one that actually lets the fan really spread out. But I didn’t buy it because the workmanship was terribly finished). We took a lot of pictures before and after the ceremony and below are some examples. My personal favourites are the ones where I’m alone with Nelson, (I look so short beside him) simply because it’s a picture of the boys together. My mother also looks very cute in her hat.

Keep reading to see more convocation pictures!