Autumn has arrived and I always think of the song “Autumn in New York”. The sight comes to my mind when people are walking in the quiet park path covered with deep fallen leaves. The colour from life has faded away but a kind of love has printed deeper in everyone’s heart. It’s pretty nice. Meanwhile, it’s the perfect time for picnics in the park on autumn days. Here in Guangzhou you can’t really feel autumn. In daytime there is still plenty sunshine, but it is only at night that you can feel a stronger cool wind.

I love life that has a fast beat and has always got new things in it. It really fascinates me. I have been busy at work and being a survivor in life; I haven’t written anything here for while, I realized. In other words I don’t have any inspiration to write. On the contrary, life is not about only working; it contains more different experience. I like to take everything slow down and use my heart to feel nature. Personally it’s part of my relaxing way. My friends and I went to Da Fu Shan rading bicycle and had a picnic in the park. It was the best relaxing way in beautiful Autumn.

秋天的脚步早已步入，它让我想起“纽约的深秋”, 人们走在布满黄叶的小路，记忆的色彩或许在退色，但唯有爱永不退色。

广州的秋天, 白天依旧阳光抚媚, 深夜才感秋意。

爱新事物，爱生活节奏快的我，时而为工作忙碌，为生活而奔波，此刻停留下来体验下大自然的美，也是另一种生活方式。

在忙碌的生活中放下脚步，在深秋的季节出外野餐，去郊游，去度假，去体验更多经历。

We were invited to try Go-Cart racing (Ka Ding Che) in the National Park at Foshan. At first, I thought it wouldn’t be that hard, just like Peng Peng Che. When we got there, the staff taught us some of the rules different flag signals. Wow, it looked really like racing. Most of people there got the driver license except me.

We were separated into two teams, men and women (along with three children). My friends told me that we shouldn’t challenge the kids as they are more professional than all of us. Some of them were only 7-9 years old, but I was told they have been racing Go-cart since they were 5. Oh. My God…

Finally it started, I was so nervous that we would drive the real powerful engine. The next was our team. I picked the NO.7 Go-cart. I remember when I was studying in Shantou Foreign Language School, NO. 7 was my seat; and it became my lucky number. I tried my best to drive and the hardest was turning the corners, but I finally made it through.

The first race I was no.9 out of 11 people. Second one was no. 7, then no. 5 in the end. I was happy that I could drive that well and even beat other women.

It was new challenge, exciting and scary but fun Go-carting racing. You need to try one day.

卡丁车比赛
我们被李宁同志邀请去卡丁车比赛，与很多专业赛车的至友一起在佛山三水森林公园整整比赛了一天。我刚开始觉得应该满容易的，就像碰碰车一样。但我们到了场地，经过工作人员一番讲解之后，我才知道，基本个个都有车牌，就我没有，还没有开过一次车的经验，几滴汗水已经从头上滴了下来！我们分成几组，男子组和女子组（加上3个儿童）好友李宁和我说千万不要惹3个小朋友，他们看起来7-9岁，一个个都是赛车老手，5岁就开始赛车了，很Pro的！我的天啊。。。

终于开始比赛了，对着强大嗡嗡声的Engine我十分紧张。男子队赛完了就我们了，我挑了7号车，7号是我中专（初中）的座位号，特别有感情，也是我的幸运号。我尽我最大的努力，拐弯时是最难，最斜的幅度；我还冲去撞了车道的车胎一次（哈哈）但最终我还是圆满结束了我们的比赛。

第一场11人中我排9名，第二场排7名，最后一场排5名，对于我第一次赛车的结果我还是满满意的。 李奶奶第2名（小朋友第1名）。这绝对是个新的挑战，刺激，好玩，却惊险的卡丁车比赛。你一定要试试看。

Singapore

We went to Singapore and Malaysia for a summer holiday in July. We decided to stay in Singapore for three days and visited my old friend Bu Duo, who I haven’t seen for 10 years. Singapore has a very convenient metro system. We checked in Hangout Hotel which is located in Little India near Mt. Emily. Singapore is very expensive, just like Hong Kong. I think I needed to pay five times what I need to pay in Guangzhou. Our hotel was a boutique hotel for young back-packers, and had a very strong Ikea style. The price wasn’t bad (especially not compared to other hotels in Singapore), with a quiet location. The room was very small, but the hotel made up for it in other areas.

Bu Duo took us to Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay – in the first night and we ate the delicious and famous Singaporean ’spicy crab’. It was the tastiest crab I’ve ever eaten. After dinner, we walked around the Esplanade (outside looks like a huge durian) and went to see the Merlion. The next day we spent the whole day in Sentosa, which was a small island. We visited Underwater World, rode on the Luge, and saw the dolphin show. Later we met with Bu Duo again and had a Thai dinner. We got tired for walking around all day and bought a ticket to see the “Transformers” movie.

Singapore is extremely clean and pretty. The city is full of energy and is very lively. It has some similarities with HK, but less people and more cleaner. I guess shopping in Singapore is more expensive than HK, although everyday expenses are like HK. I found so many cooking ingredients and imported foods in Singapore. I would like to live in Singapore!

Malaysia and Langkawi

When we arrived in Langkawi we rented a car from a company in the airport. We got a great deal for five days rental, totalling about 30RM a day! John drove of course; I was helping with directions.

We stayed in Tanjung Sanctuary hotel, which is a beautiful resort with a private beach. The hotel room was huge and we booked one with a sea view, right down by the beach. It’s so easy with the rental car and we enjoyed the freedom to explore different places in Langkawi. I am so familiar with the roads of this island even now. We went to see different waterfalls, the cable car, and went on a mangrove and snorkelling trip. The cable car was exciting and scary at the same time, with break-taking views from the top. The rest of the days we just relaxed and enjoyed the beach.

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First I would like to apologise that I haven’t written anything for the past 3 months. Sometimes you find it really hard to squeeze time and to clear your mind and sit down to type for a couple of hours. Every single day is occupied by work and when you return back home, you’ve got a life to lead. Actually my friends have been complaining that they haven’t seen me for over 6 months as well.

I found another interesting topic to talk about, which is the difference between how the West and the East evaluate employees. Have you ever sat down and evaluated yourself? I never have until now, and even scarier was needing to talk about my own performance.

Recently I’ve watched TV programmes like “American Top Model”, “Project Runway”, “The Apprentice”, and “Hell Kitchen”. They are all basically the same show, and are designed to evaluate who is the very best. The evaluation process is generally performed by a panel of judges who are experts in their chosen field. The most important parts of the shows are when we watch the contestants perform under pressure, and see what they have to say about themselves and their abilities.

I never thought about this process until it happened to me at work. A few weeks ago I was asked to evaluate myself, and told that my answers would directly affect my bonus. As a Chinese who has never worked for a foreign company before, and who has therefore never taken an evaluation, this was quite a challenge for me. The fact that it affected how much I got paid made it even more nerve-wracking.

I was told to talk about my achievements and the contributions I’ve made to work, and not to exaggerate or be embarrassed. This I found very difficult as it’s just not part of the Chinese culture. Even though I am a confident person, I still did not like talking about myself in front of my superiors, and especially did not enjoy being criticised or praised. This is a very noticeable difference between how the West and East operates

As a Chinese person, if you are working for a Chinese company, you always undertake the exact job assigned by your supervisor. You are not expected to do anything else, and you are not expected to show initiative – a job is a just a job. This how it works in China. In the West, however, it seems that a job is more of a ‘career’, and an employer is wanting to help improve your whole career, not just wanting you to work more efficiently.

Confucius tells us to always be humble and stay low, even if you are outstanding. This is the opposite of a Western viewpoint where they are taught to express themselves and try to shine as much as possible. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the West is typically more creative.

This is not an argument about which side is better. It really depends on your knowledge, personality, and background. I do admire the West’s openness, honesty, and decisiveness. I find it fascinating to learn what life is like in another culture, and look forward to experiencing more differences.

评价自己

开头先跟大家说声抱歉，已经3 个多月没有写任何东西在网站里；平时除了忙碌的工作，下班后又想享受下私人的时间，没有什么时间能挤出来平静的写点东西；有些朋友甚至投诉我6个月才见我一次，哈哈，对不起拉，兄弟姐妹！

又被我找到一个中西方文化差异的题目，我觉得蛮感新鲜也对我很有启发性。我猜大家都曾静下心自己反省过自己那里不足，从而自己打心底去改进？但大家有没有经历过要在别人面前评价自己，反省自己的不足呢?

相信大家可能在追 “美国模特真人秀”, “天桥骄子”, “飞黄腾达”, 或 “ 地狱厨房” 都是强者为王,弱者淘汰的商业电视节目. 我相信大多都是真人秀, 有血有泪才赢得光荣嘛! 最紧张的时候就是看淘汰选手的那几分钟, 大家站在评委面前, 说出自己哪里表现得最好,自己哪里不足?

我从没想过自己在工作岗位也要面临这样的 “命运” . 在外企, 大家每半年都要向最高领导评价自己, 不只是领导评价你,你还要自己评价你自己对工作的贡献和不足. 当然啦,多劳多得嘛. 但不能天花乱坠夸奖自己, 别人有目共睹的嘛,再说,还有你的上司评价你呢? 对我来说, 真是个挑战阿. 之后,我觉得这个也是体现中西方文化不同和教育不同的差异.

虽蛮自信的我, 还是觉得有点别扭. 感觉就像在评委面前说自己哪里好,自己哪里不足, 我们不是在这种文化长大的嘛! 我有点尴尬的实事求是的说了我自己的情况拉.

大家都知道, 在中国的企业或机构, 总是领导给你任务你就执行;或者自己跑业务打关系赚提成. 我们都是在这种文化熏陶长大的嘛. 我想大多中西方思维和文化的不同. 就像我之前谈的 “ 功夫茶”, 西方国家的人很独立自主, 也毫不修饰的别人或事业上面前表达自己; 作为孔子的后代, 就算你是成功人士, 也总是学会 “ 谦逊为主, 低调为辅”. 可能西方国家更注重培养主动权在自己, 而不是任何事都被动去接受, 这也是他们多于创新主义的源头.

其实这没有哪边好或哪边不好，大家在成长在不同的知识，性格和教育背景，你只能选择适合自己的一方。不过我真的欣赏西方人的思想开放，坦诚，豪爽和无可否认他们的诚信。事实上，归咎于社会教育文化的不同，就是这些点点滴滴不同，我才发现很多中西方不同的东西让我很着迷和好奇。或许之后再让我评价自己，我会做得更好，因为我要每天都提升自己。

Last Saturday we went to Hong Kong to see Muse play in concert. It was one of the most amazing live concerts I’ve ever seen, and over six thousand people came to see them at the Asiaworld Expo centre.

We went there about 7 o’clock (concert starts at 8pm) and already fans were queuing up and hoping to get a good position. The setting was perfect, with stars on be the background just like “starlight”. The drummer sitting in the middle, Matt standing on the left, and base guitar on the right. There was very little space between the stage and fans so the early queuers got a real treat.

Muse played most of the new album, with a good selection of earlier music (including one from the first album). Matt Bellamy is an extraordinarily musician and singer, leaping from guitar to piano without blinking. The crowd feedback peaked during “Time is running out” with everyone joining in. The last song saw five giant balloons descend from the sky, with everyone trying to jump and hit them. There is no doubt that they deserved the award for Best Live Band at the Brits, as well as Best British Band from NME.

2 hours passed far too quickly. I didn’t expect Muse would be such a big hit in Hong Kong, but everyone was very energetic and responsive. Being on the small side I didn’t see as much as I would like, and often found myself being crushed by jumping guys, stepping on my feet and swinging their sweat next to me. Beside that everyone was awesome and you could feel their love of the music.

It was an outstanding concert to watch and I’m glad I went. Even though Jazz has an irreplaceable place in my heart, Rock is now part of my rebellion and I wish more concerts will be held in Hong Kong (even better, in Guangzhou) so we can appreciate talented musicians. Their music is a work of art.

Here is their MySpace

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I know it’s a late discovery, but I’ve recently found YouTube and have spent far too much time watching music videos.

Many music fans like me sometimes go to great lengths to find band’s music video online. Before YouTube, your only options were to either hope the band’s website had a few videos, or to try and find it elsewhere (such as on MTV). Most of the time these options were incredibly slow, didn’t work, or were a real nuisance. In YouTube, however, you type your favourite artist and the song and it’s all there. Click on the video, pause it until its all loaded (otherwise it may stutter while it downloads), then play it; the quality of the music video might not perfect, but it’s acceptable and at least it loads fast. You will find various music videos, including the original video as well as live performances.

YouTube also has a lot of home-grown videos, ranging from people recording themselves doing funny things, to students wanting to make a break in the movie world. Google thought enough of YouTube that they paid $4 billion US for it… a staggering amount.

It’s good news for music fans but don’t use it too often – you will become addicted. Enjoy!

也许发现得比较晚，但一但被你知道它的存在，你会情不自禁的坐在电脑前疯狂的使用它，我叫它是（录像点唱机），它就是YouTube。一个让你随时查找你喜欢的乐队或歌手的最新的Music Video（音乐录影带）。

许多喜欢音乐的歌迷像我一样有时候疯狂的在寻找自己喜爱的乐队或歌手的录影带，在YouTube诞生之前，电视播放的音乐录影带往往都不是你喜欢的歌手或乐队，所以都是上MTV 或其他网站查找我喜欢的歌手的MV，超慢打得开或缓冲太长，打开几分钟，之后最终还是打不开，索性不看了。但有了YouTube，找寻最新最快的音乐录影带2-3分钟搞定，有现场的，原版的音乐录影带，满足各位音乐迷的渴望，我的秘诀是，打开，按暂停，然后等它全部下载后就可以享受不缓冲的音乐录影带了。

You Tube的创意是提供平台给大家把自己喜欢的音乐录影带传上去分享给其他人，甚至有些录制自己的录影带传上去也有；有些人觉得这样有点违法或有点盗版行为，确实如此，但音乐迷们对YouTube得如痴如醉，这也使全世界的音乐迷对它的热衷支持。

好消息就得和大家分享，别像我一样爱不释手，或看上瘾了！

I’ve been watching “Dexter” a lot recently and have to say that it’s become one of my favourite TV series. It’s based upon a novel and Michael C. Hall (of Six Feet Under “David” fame) plays the lead character so smoothly and perfectly that the accompanying stories grab your attention from the start.

The story is a little bit bloody, creepy, quirky, dark, and constantly gives you surprises; it’s an emotional and a psychological struggle. Unfortunately it’s only been released on American TV so far, and the story may be a little too risqué for TVB Pearl or ATV World. However, if you get chance then don’t miss this amazing show. I’m definitely looking forward to Season 2.

The story is about Dexter, a blood spatter specialist in Miami who investigates murders during the day and commits his own murders at night. Dexter isn’t just your typical serial killer though, he’s a vigilante killing those who seem to deserve it. At the beginning of the film Dexter tracks and violently murders a child molester. It makes it hard to hate him for his acts because he killed someone who deserved it.

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I have a confession. I’m addicted to Prison Break. It’s one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen, and is currently being shown on TVB Pearl every Tuesday night (10:30).

The story centres around Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), sentenced to death for the murder of the Vice President’s brother. We quickly discover that Lincoln is the fall-guy for a vast political conspiracy and, conveniently, his brother Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is an architectural designer working at the company that designed the prison. As you would imagine from the title, Michael takes it upon himself to use his knowledge to break his brother out of prison.

The series starts with Michael holding up a bank, being caught, and sentenced to the same prison as his brother, where he has to deal with an assortment of prisoners, prison staff, and surprising events. Running parallel to this is the story of Lincoln’s ex-girlfriend, a lawyer, who realises that Lincoln has been framed and decides to clear his name.

The story is a wonderful mixture of suspense and unpredictable plot twists that is guaranteed to make your heart beat faster and keep you watching week after week. Both the prison and the political outside world are full of memorable characters, many of which you love to hate.

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People always like new challenges, new ideas, new music, new experiences and new friends. It’s part of our life to make new things happening. It makes us grown up; it makes us long for new experiences tomorrow. It’s the nature in our blood and it’s the things we look forward to living for.

New things enhance your horizon; it opens your eyes; it pulls you out of your own circle; it makes your jump; it makes you feel different and it makes you contribute something to this world. Of course don’t take things for granted, it needs you to make it happen, to make it yours. People are scared of changing or loosing. But we are young. Young people like creating new things; To be personal, I like people changing; I like those always giving surprises and new feeling; I am trying my best to surprise them back as well. I love life to be more colourful, more passionate, more energetic, not only white the black. We only have one life.

Take an example, do you realise the new generation singers on TV always make the same type of music? —boring tune, always sad songs about breaking up with lovers; same music video has a man and the woman chasing each other or posing and making themselves look pretty. I hope new generation singers can use their talent to impress us, not only beauty.

The world is changing; it’s moving; it’s pushing us to walk with it. Daily life is never new at all for us; we wake up, go to work, off to work, eating dinner, watching TV or relaxing at night, then go to sleep; it looks like we are doing machinery job, but this is simple life that everyone experience days and nights. We are repeating the same thing over and over time; it’s true, but if we slightly notice, we know we are contributing things to make this world move faster. The world is moving because we are moving; we are creating new things in our work, in our life, in our technology. This world has what it is because everyone is producing new stuff without noticing.

I will feel bad if I am not learning or create new things in a day; it doesn’t matter that you should make a big change. Could be a new dish, a new idea, or a new look!

Everyday is a new day, a new start, a new life! Let’s have a change of life. Enjoy…

新生活

人总喜欢新的挑战，新主意，新音乐，新体验和新朋友，我们常常创造新惊奇的事情。人讨厌觉得自己落后了，总想跟随新时代的欲望使我们总想创新。这种欲望让我们不断的成长，让我们总期待明天的到来，这种欲望是自然的在我们血液中循环，也是我们所盼望的。

新事物能提升我们的眼界，也开阔我们的视野，让你跳出出自己的圈子，让你迈出更大一步，让你觉得与众不同，让你为这个世界做出更多的贡献；不要理所当然的觉得事情就会从天上掉下来，新事物都是自己去创造的，变成你自己的东西；人总害怕去改变或怕失去很多东西，但年轻就是我们的资本。年轻人爱创新—个人来说，我喜欢人总改变，总给我新鲜的主意，新感觉或给我意外惊喜；我也在尽自己最大的努力给朋友们惊喜。我喜欢短暂的生命多姿多彩，充满激情，活力，生活不只是黑与白，而是灿烂缤纷的，因为我们只有一条生命。

举个例子来说，你觉得港台新时代的歌手都在唱同一调的情歌不? 平凡无谓的曲调,不是分手的歌曲就是爱来爱去的歌曲,就算MTV也是千篇一律，找个美男美女在里面追来追去，或是女的坐在角落摆个最漂亮的角度，一点新意也没有，我们不再是青少年了，不只是外表就可以蒙骗我们；假如是制作音乐，我们更希望是自创，新鲜的MTV让我们觉得音乐在创新也和世界也在变化；看看资深的音乐歌手或作曲家，他们不断的在发掘开拓新的音乐，创造他们从未试过得音乐类型，因为他们知道，他们不再靠外表吸引观众，是音乐！

世界在改变，在进步，迫使我们追求不用新鲜的音乐，主意，惊喜，要与时俱进嘛！平常的日子总是睡醒，上班，下班，吃晚餐，看电视或晚上休闲下，然后睡觉，不断重复机械般的每一天，但这就是人人每天在体验简单的生活。或许无奈的重复着每天，但我们可以稍微的注意到，大家都在为这个世界作贡献，让我们这个地球转得更快；这个世界有今天的成就，都是我们每天重复着，辛苦奋斗的工作而得来的，因我们每天都在工作上，生活上创新，努力的奋斗，才有我们今天这样的科技，这样的生活；其实，我们每个人每一天都在悄悄地为这个世界做出贡献。

我会自责自己每天没有学习到新的东西；创新不需要从头到尾的改变，而是稍微的在平常上创新，可以是一道新菜，一个主意或是一件新衣服。

每天都是新的一天，新的开始，一个新的生命！让我们给生活多一点新意，大家好好享受它吧。

Summer has gone and now it is Autumn! I have noticed that people have changed in autumn clothes, wearing sunglass and having a suntan! I need to apologies to all my friends that I haven’t been updating my blog for sometimes. I have been so busy on Octorber, such as wedding, birthdays and parties, but I had a fantastic time with friends.

Recently, I try to get used to the new job as well as the new colleagues. Another good news is that eventually I am able to get my university degree certificate regardless how hard I worked for it. However, I still need to work hard on my English by reading more novels or practice more. I am glad that I am making progress slowly in my life.

I am trying my best to be a good colleague, good girlfriend, good friend, good daughter (sometimes I’m not good enough at all), good charming Carmen…