Category: Post

Thank you Florence

With hurricane Florence whipping the sea up off the east coast seaboard, Dan and I went surfing again this year. Due to the timing, we went to Point Pleasant on a Tuesday instead of Saturday like last year. This mean we both had to take a day off work without much notice and I had to race uptown on Monday morning to pick up lens but the flip side is that there was almost no one in the water apart from the hardcore surfers.

The photographer himself

The photographer himself

Last year amid all the excitements of Dan being photographed surfing and me doing surfing photography for the first time, we forgot to take photos of me and the equipment I used. This time we made a point to make sure we had photos of me behind the camera. I hate to say it but I did look rather impressive, if not a tad professional!

Unfortunately, although the waves were big (some of them reached more than 12 feet tall) the conditions were such that it wasn't that good for surfing. We ended up with far fewer shots than we had last year and what we got were not as good quality either. Out of all the photos I was only happy with three, may be four, so I won't be printing a photo book like I did from last year photos.

Dan on top of the wave

Dan on top of the wave

It was not all time wasted though, we had a nice day off work spent outdoor under the sun. I got an uneven tan on my arms because I spent the afternoon having the sun on my right hand side only. Google Maps on my E61 was great, made driving to the beach so much easier. And I got to shoot with the very nice and expensive Canon 300mm lens, what more can I ask for?

Ok, may be better surfing condition but there will always be next time.

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QotD: Speak To Me In…

How many languages can you speak?  Which languages can you read or understand?

My shameful answer is that I can speak one and half languages, English and Cantonese. I barely have any opportunity to speak Cantonese nowadays that I hardly know how to. But give me couple of weeks of living with my parents or in Hong Kong, I'll be back to a more respectful level.

As for reading and understanding, I can only claim one now. Chinese is a lost cause for me. Reading and writing are so different from speaking that I'll need lots more time to (re)learn Chinese. (Not that I was good at Chinese before I immigrated to Britain but that's kind of beside the point, isn't it?)

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QotD: Reflecting on September 11th

What are your personal memories of September 11th?

Here are the my posts from 2003 on TypePad. Repost here for those who only start reading this blog recently.

Two years ago my day technically started when I left
my office a few minutes past midnight. As I walked toward the WTC to
grab a cab to go home, I looked up and marveled at how lucky I was to
have the opportunity to work near these two buildings.

Slightly over eight hours later, I woke up to a nice Tuesday autumn
morning. I wasn't needed in the office until noon that day because of
the late night before. The "This Morning" show on NBC was showing the
usual rubbish.

Everything changed a few minutes later when I arrived at the gym in
the basement of my apartment building. A group of people was crowding
around the TV in front of the reception area. All of them wore the
shock expression on their face. One particular woman, probably in her
fifties, was sobbing that someone she knew was there.

As I turned to see the picture on the TV screen, my first thought
was terrorism. May be I was conditioned that way after spending over
ten years in the UK, with the IRA threat hanging over the population
everyday.

We all thought that it could be an accident, and that it was
probably just a small plane. We all had so much confidence in the
firemen to put out the fire soon. But we knew different thirty minutes
later when we watched, live, the second plane hit the south tower. I
knew then that that day was going to be a turning point in human
history…

For the rest of the day (and week), I was glued to the TV and my
computer. Despite the lost of phone line and cell phone connection, my
DSL connection to the internet was working fine. Thus, email and
instant messaging became the de facto mode of communication for that
day and rest of the week.

That day, I knew New York City is my home. It doesn't matter that I
was born and raised in Hong Kong and that I spent my teenage years in
the UK. NYC is my home from that day forward.

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Tennis in Flashing Meadows

Sharapova serving

Sharapova serving

Ever since eiron and I went to our first ever US Open last year, we were hooked. So this year we went there again with our friends last Wednesday evening. This time we went to the game in the second week of the tournament so there were less matches for us to catch but higher quality (in my opinion at least). We caught the quarter-final of the women's single first (Sharapova vs. Golovin) and then the men's single (Roddick vs. Hewitt). Our seats were a little bit better than last year. We were at the very top of the stadium last year (second to the top row). This year, we were half way between the top and the third level.

The women match was not as exciting as we hoped. Sharapova was not at her top form and her forehand shots were wild at times. Though I have to say her serving technique was close to perfect. I wish I could serve like her! Unfortunately Golovin did not raise her game enough to win so Sharapova went on to win this year tournament.

As for the men's quarter-final, Roddick won the match in straight sets and again not very exciting. We all hoped that Hewitt would put up a good fight and took it to at least 4 sets match.

E61 @ US Open

E61 @ US Open

Nonetheless, Wednesday was very enjoyable and we noticed that the tournament was much better organized this year compared with last year. There are more choices for food (indian, sushi, and even crepe! Of course we had to try out the new food. We ended up having Baluchi's indian for dinner and then had crepes during the break between matches), more giant screens around the area for people to watch the game while taking a break, etc. American Express has much more freebies for card members this year. All card members received a free single ride Metro card. We all got two free cards, once on our way in and another on our way out. Then there was the free radio AMEX gives out so we could listen to the TV commentary live inside the stadium. It made the whole experience so much richer, since one of the major missing ingredient in going to a live match is commentary.

However, MTA still did not run extra trains when about 20,000 fans came out from the stadium at around 12:15AM. We've just missed the 12:06AM train and the next one was not due for another hour! We ended up getting a car back to the city and then subway home.

The new statue

The new statue

Then on the next day I got lucky. One of the guy I worked with had two tickets for Saturday day game and wasn't able to go due to family function. So eiron and I went to Flashing Meadows for the third times in as many weeks yesterday and watched two very exciting men's semi-final matches.

The weather turned out to be much hotter than we expected, with the sun beating down on us with only a slight breeze inside the stadium. Lots of water and cold drinks were consumed at the highly inflated prices, but what can you do. I hope some of the profits go back to the USTA or the Tennis Center so our money is not spent in vein.

The first match was Federer vs. Davydenko and the Russian put up a decent fight but ultimately was no match for the world's number 1. The second match was Roddick vs. Youzhny and was much closer fought. Twice they went to tie-break and each player won one. Roddick's big serve and forehand powered him through the match in the end.

Roddick's forehand

Roddick’s forehand

We left the stadium around 6PM and after having been on the go for nearly nine hours, we decided not to go to a friends' party at 7PM. We did manage to grab some Chinese food on our way home to satisfy our hunger. The hot dog and chicken wings did not fill us up enough, despite the rather large amount of money I paid for them.

All in all, very enjoyable US Open and we will definitely go again next year. Hopefully we will be able to get even better seats next year. Perhaps on the second level!

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QotD: I Get Around

How many places have you lived in your life?

Country-wise, three. Born in Hong Kong, emigrated to Britain, and escaped to USA.

Location-wise, six. Born and raised in Hong Kong, finish school in Shropshire, got a degree and met eiron in Manchester, got first job in Wiltshire, escaped the countryside to London, found the place I want to work and live in New York.

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