I know it's not healthy to have McDonalds often, but it's undeniably convenient to make a phone call and your food is just outside your door. Also another reason why I order McDonalds instead of others is because I can get little toys. Although I don't really know what I am going to do with these toys, I think it's fun to be surprised sometimes. I am sure when I have a clean kitchen to cook, I won't order junk food any more. But so far, so much fun.

New Ice Age Collections
Older Ones

Since I am not happy about the result on 25th, I decided to do something about it. First I went shopping by myself on Saturday to buy the shoes I always wanted and some other spontaneous gadgets I encountered. Then I bought Canon D10 Power Shot on Sunday, and I walked through French Concession to take pictures. Although it was very hot and humid on Sunday, I thought it was great to walk a little bit and I feel good now. I am happy about my decisions and things have sunk in gradually in the end.

The reason why I wanted a D10 was because first it looks cute; second it’s 10 meters water proof, which means I can take pictures when I swim in the water! I know it sounds lame, but it’s definitely something new to me.

Canon D10	Freeze! Pose!

So I took my D10, along with a new Canon bag(:D), to see old houses in French Concession again. The minute I walked out of the mall, I realized I made a mistake, because it was so hot that it was suffocating me. I did not walk through this whole area literally, but somehow I took several pictures.

New Shoes :P	Fuxin Rd.
Old House	With New ADs On
The Crossroads Building	Little Street
An Old Tower	Playground In The City
Xuhui	Inside Grand Gateway

So I am pretty much satisfied with this new camera except that the lens just has a transparent glass cover to protect its vulnerability, and it requires cleaning frequently. But thanks to its rugged design, I can wash it with water.

After I watched Transformers 1, I thought it would be a really long time before we could see Transformers 2. But I forgot the fact that time flies!! There are more fight scenes in Transformers 2 and if you think you cannot get enough those fighting machines in Transformers 1, then Transformers 2 can possibly satisfy your needs on this. The only thing I don’t like is Megatron’s look has been changed dramatically. Megatron is nothing different from a monster. Although he is a bad guy, yet he has a better look in the cartoons. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are ok, because they still have the original colors, and Optimus Prime still has the symbol of those two big windows on his chest. It’s definitely a cool action movie, and there are lots of high tech scenes, without which I guess maybe Egyptians might go nuts to see their national treasures are being tortured like that. There are some interesting scenes like Sam acting like a psycho in his astrology class, as well as the little Decepticons being captured by Sam’s girlfriend. It was a good movie, and it’s worth my 80RMB.

As for Termination Salvation, I was a little bit disappointedly speechless in the end after having stepped out of the theatre. It was just ok, sadly, but I don’t know where this feeling comes from. There are great scenes like men fighting versus Skynet, but overall it makes me feel that John is stupid and does not have a right intuition for Marcus. And human race appears to be so weak and silly compared with machines. I did not see much hope in the film, which should have been emphasized more, I suppose. So the overall tone is quite gloomy and depressing. Plus I did not see any humorous scenes at all.

I like watching movies in theatres and having a bowl of popcorns, but I have encountered some people with bad behaviors in the theatre: talking crazily loud, kicking your chair occasionally like they do not notice or answering cellphones. I know I am not entitled to judge others or teach them things that are supposed to be taught by their moms, but as a citizen and a human being, we do deserve a fine environment without being disturbed too much by others.

I think after these two movies, there might not be any great big action movies this summer, but I am actually expecting more good dramas or comedies this summer. We will see.

I wanted to buy a watch and finally I got one on Saturday after the medical check. I got up quite early on Saturday, and it took me 1.5 hours to get to the appointed hospital in the morning. After that my classmate went along with me to buy a Citizen watch. We watched Terminator Salvation and Madame Tussauds Wax Figure Gallery in the afternoon before I went to see Henny and Ganesh who came to Shanghai for a short visit before they headed back to Singapore. Although my classmate acted like a big jerk when he left me without saying a goodbye at the Wax Figure Gallery, I did not have time to think much before I met Henny at Pearl Tower. I had expected that Saturday would be quite busy, and so it was. We had a nice dinner at The Tandoor which was my first time to have good Indian food, and I took them to Yu Garden for shopping. Then we went to Captain Bar for a beer, where we could take a look at the other side of the Bund, and it was all good. I am glad that they enjoyed their time here and I had fun as well. At midnight I headed back home on a taxi after we said goodbye. Sunday was going to be lazy and that was my plan.

Now let’s take a look at my Sunday which was recorded by my new watch. =)

I know it’s already a little bit late to say this, but for me I don’t see anything exciting in this summer, as lots of things are awaiting me in front. I am sure there will be loads of things I need to finish before September and there will be a change in my life as well. I am more calm than ever when I really reach the point where I thought I would have been thrilled and excited. Because there is no free meal in this world, and in order to get something, we pay for it. And that’s what keeps our sanity-we deserve what we are having right now, and we cherish what we have at this stage of our lives.

I did not sleep well last night, mainly because my thoughts always brought me back to 17 years ago when I left my childhood friends and my own playground without saying a goodbye. I admit I changed a lot after I knew I would never get back to them again. There were good changes and there was something bad, but I don’t regret what I have done so far. Those memories are just so vivid, and it’s like when I get up in the morning I can still ask my friends to go to school with me; and I still remember our own pranks and the places we often hung out. If there is any chance I could get back to that little town to see, I would do it without hesitation, to say goodbye to the place where I used to be so familiar. Although I know my parents wouldn’t understand, it means a lot to me.

As for my life in Shanghai, it’s been quite peaceful and quiet, and I can finally have my inner peace without being disturbed by others. I have an appointment with the doctor this weekend, and next week there will be more things going on. Hopefully everything goes well.

Well, when I feel there was not much I can do here, I was assigned to be a PM. I think I am trying to be good to everybody, but the reality is it’s just impossible. No matter how hard you try, there are always some people out there who think you have not done enough to make them happy. I am confused sometimes. Maybe this is what’s been called “A Workplace”. We are here to work, not making friends with everybody. Or you can say there are some people who are just the pain in the ass. Everybody has his opinion which you cannot ignore, no matter it’s valuable or just bullshit. There are a lot in here for me to learn, I have to admit. The stake is high after all. Although I have been telling myself several times that I need to be grateful to show my courtesy, but being humble does not solve the problems sometimes. I feel I am being pushed around before I got my chance to show who’s the boss at times. It’s complicated when it comes to interpersonal issues. The relationships between people are quite subtle. It is not much more different in a foreign company than in a Chinese National Company. Maybe it’s because we are dealing with our peers everyday, who know each other too well. It’s the competition that drives us to push harder than we thought, and it’s inevitable everywhere. As much as I’d like to listen to different aspects of opinions, somehow I need a uncompromising mind to make a decision.

Yeah, I was right-considering Microsoft’s relationship with China, it’s not quite likely that Live Space will be blocked forever. After being blocked for about one week, Live Space and some other SNS like twitter have been released in China. It’s a good news, but, again, it makes me feel that we are still like innocent young children who are being monitored strictly by our “responsible” parents. Anyway it’s better than nothing.

It’s really unfortunate that MSN Space is being blocked here in China. I don’t need to mention the reason, but it’s quite disappointing to see the shitty domestic blog services when all the good blog services are not available here. I don’t think I will convert my blog place to any other places than MSN Space, so I will just have to wait and see. After all, I thought Microsoft does have a good relationship with China, and I guess it’s quite promising that we will be able to use MSN Space anytime soon…