May 2: Cyclone Nargis hit the southern delta region of Myanmar
May 12: A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted China's Sichuan Province

The Government of Canada announced on May 15, 2008 that it will match donations (one to one) of Canadian individuals to humanitarian organizations assisting with the relief efforts in Myanmar and China.

Please give ... Red Cross ... Unicef

A couple of friends and us went to the 2007 NYE countdown at the Roundhouse Center near Yaletown.  It was a crazy night that included many of my firsts. 

I think it was the first time that I drank that much.  With so much alcohol in me, the shirtless circuit boys looked hotter and I felt like hugging my friends all the time.  I was also dancing shirtless for the first time.

Another first is to be "molested" by a stranger.  There was this young guy that we barely know and was high on something.  He was following us around and was touching me all over while asking " ... is it okay if I touch you?"  It was weired ... but I appreciate the attention nonetheless.

Happy 2008 everyone!

This is the cast of the new Trek movie!  It's directed by Lost's director J J Abram.

I'm excited to see they cast so many pretty faces for the crew!  Eric Bana, John Cho, Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine ... 

My memories of Taipei include the food, the Japanese influence, the courteous people and the open accepting attitude. 

With the high Canadian dollar, the food there was already inexpensive.  But snacking is just a main part of Taiwanese culture (or any chinese culture really).  From breakfast pancakes (see picture above) to lunch dumplings to dinner noodles, everything was so tasty!  The Japanese influence in Taiwan culture can be seen in their food (Taiwanese X Japnese fusion), buldings, hairstyles, courteousness and speech.  It's the result of the best of both cultures!  The gay scene there was quite big as well, comparing to Hong Kong and Vancouver.  There's an area called "紅樓" close to our hotel and shopping district, "西門町".  There were about 10 gay coffee shops and lounges in a row.  At night, the area in front of the shops became one big patio where people hanged out and mingled.  People seemed to konw each other and smiled at one another.  Such a friendly place!  We also went to 3 bars (Agaha, Jump and Funky), which were big and packed with good looking people.

(The hugh building in the picture above is 中正紀念堂)



We spend about 2 weeks in Hong Kong this time.  The memory that stuck with me this time was its beautiful view.  We went to visit the IFC bulding at Central and got up to the HK Monetary Board (金管局) on 55/F. It's supposed to be an exhibit about HK money, but since IFC is the highest bulding in HKG, the daytime harbour view from there was spectacular!  We also went to an outdoor pub there, called Red, on the 4/F.  It has an outdoor patio with an excellent harbour view.  Most of the clients there were white, so I feel like I'm sipping wine in Vancouver but with a HKG harbour view!  For night view, we went to the Peak with two of our friends (Stan and Eunice).  There were laser/light shows every night at 8pm in the harbour.  Lights on the tall buildings will flash sychroniously and laser/spotlights are placed on top of buildings.  It's amazing! The picture above is the view taken from my ferry ride across the harbour.

We also went to "中灣" (see picture above) twice.  It's a place where "members" hang out in skinny speedos (or nothing).  It's quite a sight!

Okay ... back to jetlagging.

So the winner of this season's So You Think You Can Dance is Sabra!   I loved her because she just give out this energy of pure talent when she dance.  When she dance, she doesn't count the steps, she actually dance!

She danced with Neil, a cute gymist/dancer in this Jazz routine about power struggle:

She has so much chemistry when dancing with Dominic, a B boy who always has something funny to say: