10am --- I was struggling to wake up.  I have tons of reasons just to sleep in, but I have 1 reason to wake up: go to Tsuen Wan to upgrade the firmware of my TV Set Top Box.  I could actually do it by myself using a USB flash drive, but last time I screwed and ended up going to Tsuen Wan (the Box's after-sale servicing place) to fix it.  The new firmware has improved the stability of the Box software, thus making the everything a bit faster (e.g. changing channels faster, going through the EPG faster..etc).

Then at 1pm, I had lunch with the (still) sicky cat.  We went to the nearby Taste to get some over-the-counter drugs and some food for her to survive at home.  I'm heading home afterwards --- no use staying around.

I watched Untraceable (2008).  Not so gross, but exciting enough.  I have never thought the bad guy would end up dying this way;  I thought the bad guy would just get caught or something alike.

My California fever is back...

I just watched The Grapes of Wrath (1940), talking about an Oklahoma farmer-family migrating to California.  Back then, people thought California must be a promising place for wealth.  This is half-yes and half-no.  The movies shows a huge cultural difference between the Oklahoma and California people.

There's really a California dream out there.  People can come here freely, but they might not find themselves belonging to the place.

Tonight is winter solstice's dinner. We didn't have anything spectacular. Mom cooked udon with some smoked ham + turkey ham + some oyster + vegetable.

Then I watched this movie with dad --- Best Motion Picture of the Year.

I went up to see Meow and Fung after church. Hope Meow will get well soon. We watched this comedy. After that, I kinda opened up Fung's computer. I found out that he bought wrong ram, and the video card he bought can't be fully compatible because his mainboard isn't PCIe 2.0. Before upgrading computers, one should recite his/her mainboard manual to make sure whatever purchased is compatible wit the mainboard...

I was thinking whether there will be any newly weds in the world who wish to go to Hong Kong for their honeymoon.  Hehe...come here for dust.

In the Valley of Elah (2007) is quite an inspiring film to me.  What happened in Iraq is still a mystery for many.  As families of the US soldiers in Iraq learned more about what they do there, the people start losing their faith in the US Gov't.  This is not news, but the movie has quite correctly depicted it.

Recommended to watch.

Disney's Camp Rock (2008) --- I like this teenage courageous movie.  It's all about "be yourself". Don't have to pretend so that you can get access to a specific group.  Just be yourself!

I'm very sorry about the family in this movie, Junebug (2006).  The characters are very stereotypical to an undereducated family with some underlying violence.  One snapshot I noted was the urban girl's ruthless ignorance to family emergency --- business weighs heavier than family.  This is bad bad.

Watched this Friday night after work and after fellowship.  Really need some entertainment after a week of hectic work, be it value-added or not.

This movie is partly about unfailthful/adulterous relationships and a sex offender.  I think the central thought of the film is about crossing the lines --- be content with whatever you have now and don't cross the lines to ruin the current life...etc.

This movie has a sex offender.  After his relase from jail, he moved into a tranquil community, where everybody hates him to live there.  The sex offender lives with his mom.  His mom is frail.  When his mom passed away, this guy is lonely.  Although he can take care of himself in basic household routine, he will no longer receive any love from nobody --- the only one person who loves him is his mom.  What a pity.

I got off from work on Friday night (28 Nov) at around 8pm, heading church for fellowship.  It will take me one hour to get to the fellowship, and I know the fellowship will almost be done when I get there.  But I will just go and have dinner with them (i.e. we always have dinner after the fellowship).

So tired at 8pm, I was walking away from the university to the train station (Siu Hong).  It was breezing.  In fact, it was freezing. Any uncovered part of my body felt cold.  I know my face was combating with the cold wind: watering eyes and runny nose.

It reminded me of my life in Torrance (2002-2004).  I don't have a car during that period of time in the US;  I rode bike to school.  I hate taking night classes, but unfortunately, I had to take a Japanese class from 6:30pm to 9pm for one semester.  Off from class at around 9pm, I rode bike home, and the air was cold and dry outside.  This is all about endurance.