12:30 A.M. 31-5-2006

A special moment

I finished the last cigarette in the pack, and that is aslo the last cigarette that I ever smoked...

International Law Research Assignment References

International LawEssay Title

“Individually and collectively, the Commonwealth’s legislature, executive andjudiciary do more to hinder than to help the implementation of international law inAustralia.”Do you agree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer.

Please submit an essay of not more than 4,500 words by 4pm on Friday 9 June2006.

David KinleyAlison PertChris Ward2 April 2006

Deep Anxieties: Australia and the International Legal Order
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/SydLRev/2003/21.html#Heading81

Treaties and the Commonwealth Government
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/infokit.html

Guide To Law Online: Australia
http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/australia.html

Australian legislation and international law
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/library/legislation/index-Commonwe.html

TREATIES IN AUSTRALIAN LAW
http://ags.gov.au/publications/agspubs/legalpubs/legalbriefings/br18.htm

(Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
1995 Procedure and practice of entering and implementing international treaties
http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/parlinfo/Repository1/Library/PrsPub/C74202.pdf

[Publication] Card You Softly

Life is Dangerous

Thanks to Duffie

69 By Play

[A Little Addition to] Strange Prediction

The Other Face of the Queen

One Two Punch I: No Money No Honey + 3 Phases Monte

One Two Punch II:Liar's Poker + Thought Stealer

Too Good To Be True

Bonus Effect:

Biddle Across Redux [Benny Lau]

Mr. Andy Lau

Usually, I won't speak highly of Hong Kong singers/artists, Andy Lau, however, is one of the few exceptions. Accroding from what I have seen and heard in years, Andy Lau is an ultra diligent person, it's like not long ago you read in entertainment pages that Andy Lau is going to learn a particular form of performing arts or pick up a new hobby, and then sometime later he will inpress you with his marvelous achievements. What is exceptionally impressive of all is, as an artist, he tends to win the attention and respect from the crowd with his hard work but not gossips with girls from the same industry.

I heard it awhile ago that Andy is interested in magic, that's actually not a surprise, as I remember seeing his performance of some playing cards flourishes in his early year movies. Below is a link to a video clip in which Andy Lau performed some close up magic tricks on a Taiwanese TV show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1_gim5NcYE&search=andy%20lau%20magic

Have a look, Andy is as cool and solid as he always is...

...and the Art of Summarizing

Different people see things from different point of view, while not everything will necessarily either fall into the busket of white or black, in many cases, people do group themselves into two wings according to their beliefs, and often contradicate to each other.

Once a basic belief or perception is formed, people (at least some of them) will stand up and speak up for it. One of the major benefits from presenting and hearing different arguement and opinion is that the process will trigger an exchange of thoughts, and facilitate a chance of seeing the blind spots in our thinking. Most reasonable people will agree that stimulations from an opposite direction can be a source of inspiration.

Unfortunately, as I have observed, not too many people are capable to conduct the debate and exchange of conflicting thoughts in a proper way. Conflict in beliefts often lead to verbal confrontations, sometimes even in a rather drastic physical form.

Very often, some constrcutive discussions will eventually turn into character references. It is probably the last (yet often used) resort to blur the focus of a discussion, which explains the reason why the number of scandal increases on a geometry scale during the period of elections.

When it comes to the discussion over critical issues, what appear to be equally pathetic to me as the above mentioned absurdity is people who trying to act as Mr. nice guy, who don't really utter a word in the midst of a meeting, and only sum up other people's opinions at the end. One of the most seen speech patterns which being used this kind of people would be:

" I really appreciate the involvement of everyone. Now, I like to say a word or two about this issue as well, Mr. So, I agree to what you said about blah- blah- blah, which is extremely important, I think all of us should give some serious thoughts on that, at the meantime, the problems addressed by Mr. So and So in his speech are also worth our consideration, as such possibilities do exsist in real life, and we should always be prepared."

A nice name for this kind of speaking technique is "Diplomatic Communication Skills", which means "Crap" or "Bullshit" in my dictionary.

Onward...

Bond, James Bond

The World's Greatest Playboy -- James Bond, along with God of Gamblers(Chow Yun Fat) and Bruce Lee are three of my heros and role models, notice that except Bruce Lee (whom past away few decades ago), the rest two are fictional characters, so you probably have some ideas of me as an idealistic person by now.

If you are interested in living the James Bond lifestyle like I do, below are two websites which provide you with some tips:

http://www.bondlife.com/

http://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com

Zenneth

Today, a friend of mine did something fun with my name in a website, don't think there is no logical reasoning between the letters of my name and the meaning they stand for, anyway, here is the list:

Z = Zippy
E = Eccentric
N = Negelected
N = Nice
E = Earthy/Extreme
T = Twisted
H = Honorable

Am I a person with these characteristics? You tell me...


How to make a Zenneth

Ingredients:1 part competetiveness5 parts humour5 parts ego

Method:Add to a cocktail shaker and mix vigorously. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of wisdom

The Da Vinci Code

I had read this book a year ago, and published an article about the plotting of the story in Evocation. But no, don't expect that you will be able to read any substantial review or innovative insights about the fiction here in my blog, I am simply not in a position to comment on both the story or the christianity controversy that it provokes.

Last night, I went to watch the movie with a friend. Comparing the movie with the original novel, I'll opt for the later. To me, the most enjoyable experience occasioned when reading the original novel is more about the riddle solving process than the validity of Dan Brown's assumptions.

I am a buddhist, and never really interested in christianity, but I will be interested in knowing the reason why Jesus Christ couldn't had been married, had a companion, or even descendants. Because it will be considered as a sin (original?) if Jesus had done it?

Or there are other reasons why Vatican prohibited christians from reading the book or watching the movie, because they don't want to face the history and fact that woman in church has been surpressing for ages?

Anyway, I won't bother to findout the anwser...

Doing Business in China Assignment Topics

Doing Business in China

Essay Topics

Marks : 30% of the total marks for the course

Length: 2,000 words, including everything in the text, but excluding table of contents, headings, footnotes and bibliography. Any substantive content included in footnotes will be included in the word count. You must include the word count on the title page. A margin of 400 words will be allowed.

Date Due: 9 June 2006

Format: Typed, not handwritten. Spacing 1.5, or 2, but not single-spaced.

You are expected to show a sound understanding of the relevant Chinese legislation in your answer. For further information on submission of the essay and the marking criteria, see the course outline on WebCT.

Answer ONE of the following questions:

Question 1

Assume that your client is the foreign party to a Chinese equity joint venture. The joint venture has been unsuccessful financially, and the relationship between the foreign party and the Chinese party has become increasingly hostile. Discuss the possible ways in which your client can terminate or withdraw from the joint venture despite the failure of the Chinese party to cooperate.

Question 2

Your client has established a wholly foreign owned enterprise in Shanghai which will engage in manufacturing. It is now seeking to hire local staff to carry out the manufacturing operations. What will be the major challenges be for your client in hiring and managing Chinese staff? In your answer, look mainly at the legal issues, although you may also consider practical aspects.

Question 3

Your client has decided to enter into a contract manufacturing arrangement with a Chinese company. As part of this arrangement, your client will sign one or more agreements licensing its technical know-how and trademarks to the Chinese company. Draft a dispute resolution clause for the contract and provide your reasons for the wording and legal content of the clause.

The influence of exchange rate

I noticed a rather interesting phenomenon among a couple of Hong Konger friends that I know, what they share in common is that they have a part/full time job in Sydney or Melbourne as a waitress, and they both do not want to go back to Hong Kong.

Inclusive of tips offered by the customers, a rough hour rate of a waitress in Sydney or Melbourne could be up to $20 AUSD, which is almost $120 HKD, by the current exchange rate.

If you work 10 hours a day, you will earn approximately $120 HKD x 10 = $1200 HKD, say you work for 5 days a week, that would be $1200 HKD x 5 = $6000 HKD.

If you work regularly like so for a month, then you will earn $6000 HKD x 4 = $24,000 HKD.

The monthly salary for a fresh graduate University degree holder in Hong Kong, as I heard, is $8000 (or even lower) HKD in average now.

One of my friends in HK has an Engineering Master Degree holder, which he obtained from London University, and he is earning $12,000 HKD per month now.

The difference is clear enough, a waitress in Australia is earning almost two times the salary of a Master degree holder in Hong Kong! An optimistic estimation is that it will takes at least two years for my friend to reach this monthly salary level.

No wonder many Hong Kongers want to stay in Australia as a permenant resident, because as long as they can get a job here, a higher quality of life seems to be, within the reach of their arms.

I must say, I feel a bit sorry for the friend in Melbourne, she used to be my classmate when we were in City Uni law school in HK, and now she is actually doing Master of Laws at Melbourne University. Considering the education that she received and still receiving, it's such a waste for her, as she is seriously considering the possibilities of staying in Australia forever, not as a lawyer, but a waitress!

True, earning money here in Australia through labour is even more than a young professional in Hong Kong, in a short term, at the least. And I suspect the situation is applicable to many other Asian countries as well.

Sigh...my friend, given that, don't you think you have made a mistake of the pecking order?

As Seen on TV

If you would watch T.V. till late, you must familiar with those As Seen On TV advertisement packages, which always using the same pattern and approach, it's the products they sell that change from time to time.

1, Briefly tell what's the problems with some of your current possessions...

2, Introduce the brand new, cutting edge and hi technology innovation...

3, Do some demonstrations to show how durable or how effective is the product...

4, Find some ordinary look like housewives (or somebody) telling you how happy they are with this new product and how this product changed certain aspect of their lives...

5, Do more demonstrations...

6, Tell you the price of the product and ask you to buy them...

7, Ask you not to buy the product now, because they have a free offering for you...

8, The second free offering comes for free along your purchase...

9, The third free offering...

10, If you are one of the first 30 to 50 people whom make the call now, then you will have extra something for free...(all these free offerings always worth more or many times the price of the product that they are selling ...)

11, 100% Satification and Money Return Gurantee

12, You may buy it now

I looked into a website which selling video instructions about how to make more money through Adsense. And here are some quotes from that website:

"You Could Invest Your $97 On IncreasingYour AdSense Revenue In Other Ways- But Would They Work?"

You could spend $97 on some boring, regurgitated AdSense ebook that you need to print out and read rather than being able to sit back and watch over my shoulder as I actually do this stuff!- You could spend $97 on Pay Per Click ads in the hope that some of the visitors end up clicking on your AdSense ads (good luck with this one!)- You could spend $97 buying a worthless "Made For AdSense" site on Ebay that comes with 1,000,000 pages and a 'guarantee' of instant riches..

Your Return On Investment for any of the above is going to be very low if not zero.

You are getting instant access to the EXACT METHODS I use to make $600 per day and more just using AdSense.

You are doubtless as sick as I am with all the ABSOLUTE JUNK ADVICE that is out there which is why I am offering this entire package to you for just $97. I have brought down the barrier to you getting this valuable information as low as possible to demonstrate once and for all that earning it big with AdSense isn't just possible, it's your right as a website owner.

"But Wait, That's Not All!"
- If you order now I will give you the followingFAST ACTION Bonus Package worth$792 totally free of charge -


huum....paying $97USD to get something worth $792USD? Smell Fishy....

It would be better for you to actually visit this website to appreciate the beauty of the whole Amercian Style "As Seen On TV" sales approach, but I am not going to give away the URL here, because I am not interested in doing free advertisement for them.

Int Business Law Assignment Reference

http://resources.alibaba.com/article/4117/IP_protection_best_practice_tips.htm

IPR TOOLKIT
Protecting Your Intellectual Property Rights in China

http://www.mac.doc.gov/China/Docs/BusinessGuides/IntellectualPropertyRights.htm

Judicial Remedy and Provisional Measures
For IP Rights Protection in Civil Procedures in China
http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/djcil/articles/djcil9p267.htm


Strategic Intellectual Property and Emerging Standards for Entering the Chinese Market
By Dennis Fernandez & Osama Hussain Fernandez & AssociatesMcGeorge School of Law
http://blj.ucdavis.edu/article/565/


Managing Intellectual Property in the Far East — the case of China

Practical Steps:
http://www.stopfakes.gov/sf_how.asp#category2

http://english.ipr.gov.cn/en/services/legal/Customs%20QA.shtml#1

International Conventions that China has participated in relation to IPR
http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/topic/sentence/200504/20050400033551.html

Legal Protection of IPR available in China
http://english.ipr.gov.cn/en/services/ser_legal.shtml
http://ipr2.mofcom.gov.cn/index.shtml

[Publication] Assortment of Miracles

Quicker Coincidence
Double Revelation
Unambitious Card
Who is the Greatest Magician in The World
Strange Prediction
Liar's Poker [Performance Only]
Thought Stealer (Improved)
Simplified J.C. Four at Once Production
Twisted Triple Zendwich

[Magic] Thoughts on Alex Hui's article

I should make it clear that Alex Hui is a friend of mine, and he is also a contributor of Evocation, the first Chinese Monthly Newsletter ever devoted to the art of close up magic, in which I am the chief editor. While I translated the original english article written by him, and eventually published it in Evocation, there are, quite a few things that I can't agree with Alex's opinion, but I never had the chance to really talk with him about this, better late than never, I'll share my personal thoughts here:

According to the title of Alex Hui's article-- Be Real, Be Magicial, I'll assume he is trying to pursuade magicians to adopt a more realistic view about their magic, and at the meantime give some effort to make their performance more magical looking.

I must say there is a fundamental wrong in Alex Hui's presumption, he said:

"Everything in the world has cause and effect. Too many times we just pretend to be God-figure and change the world according owns’ will. Magic without cause is not possible to human begins."

Is that really the case? At least I being one can't agree with it , even in a special case as myself, whom ironically being praised by many people as the "God of Card Magic in Hong Kong/Asia" I've never thought about to change world according to my own will, and in fact, the idea sounds a bit of insane for any magician to believe that they have the real magic power to transform the world.

Considering that the target audiences of this article are magicians, I guess Alex Hui should be clear of the fact that most magicians do know the mechanism of at least some magic tricks? The implication here, of course, is that it would be difficult for magicians themselves to believe that they are or they are doing the "real thing".

Alex Hui then said: Don’t believe any audience member over age of six believes that you can cause the card to rise to top by merely snapping the fingers.

Now, that's different, making a card in the middle of the deck to appear on the top of the deck by snap fingers is not "a miracle", at least, it doesn't change the world, I think it's just a phenomenan that is difficult for most lay spectators to come up with a logical explanation. Many of my spectators told me in several occasions after watching my performance that when they go home, they really tried to snap their fingers to see if they could make a card appear on the top of the deck.

Quoting Alex Hui: ‘How he did that? His hands didn’t move, but he must be using sleight-of-hands. Then it is a good trick’, AND "The magician inserts the selection in the middle of the deck and square the deck unnaturally. Moment later, the selection rises the top. This time, spectator inserts the selection freely into the middle and the deck is immediately handed to spectator. Spectator is asked to concentrate and feel any movement of the cards. Without any touch by the magician, the card has raised to the top. An ideal story? Not so, but at least a better one.

hahaaa...now I have serious doubts about Alex Hui's understanding of lay spectator's perception of the co-relation between movement and effect. Common sense tells me that the less movements present in the course of a performance, the better the effect. It's better because of the disarming handling, which usually provokes less suspicion from spectators about the involvement of sleight of hand. I really don't know how to convince a spectator that I didn't do anything fishy if I acted unnaturally.

Now let's get back to the questions that Alex has put forward in the beginning of the article:

Being magicians, we always perform. But how many are performing real magic? Before answering this question, shall we ask where is real magic? Or preciously speaking, what is real magic?

I am afraid none of us perform real magic, if there is real magic, as I personally understand it, it's possible to create it in your spectator's mind, but it is extremely difficult. As for what is real magic, different people might have different answers, I, personally, still don't have very good idea about it.

I am not inspired after reading Alex Hui's article, why did I nevertheless publish it in Evocation? sigh...the fact is that Alex Hui, regardless whether you agree with his opinion or not, he is one of the few peoples in Hong Kong whom actually think about magic.

[Magic] Be Real, Be Magical by Alex Hui

Be Real, Be Magical Written By Alex Hui

(The Chinese translation of this article was first published in Vol.1 Evocation.)

‘Mysteries are not yet miracles.’ -Goethe

Being magicians, we always perform. But how many are performing real magic? Before answering this question, shall we ask where is real magic? Or preciously speaking, what is real magic? Jon Racherbaumer once wrote a short essay (“Really?”)1, discussing the in-depth meaning of ‘real world’. Though I personally hate the overuse of ‘real’ because all advertisements of magic dealers, recently, have put too much emphasis that their latest products are for ‘real world, real people’, with the ‘real secret/work’. Anyone can work in a magic shop to buy a product, and perform the trick immediately. If you pay attention to my wordings, you probably understand that my intention of using ‘trick’ instead of ‘magic’. We are magicians, not the God-figure who can snap the fingers and make the marvels happen.


Everything in the world has cause and effect. Too many times we just pretend to be God-figure and change the world according owns’ will. Magic without cause is not possible to human begins. To tell the truth, we are all the human begins at the end, and no one can change the nature of the world with merely a snap of fingers.

So?

Make the magic with cause, even though the cause is not plausible. Let’s talk about one of the magicians’ favorites, Ambitious Card, to illustrate my points:

A selection is put into the middle of the deck. A magician snaps his fingers and the card jumps to the top. The magician acclaims his magical power and receives spectators’ applause.

An ideal story? Stop thinking about it!! Don’t believe any audience member over age of six believes that you can cause the card to rise to top by merely snapping the fingers. Naturally in minds, spectators will question ‘How he did that? His hands didn’t move, but he must be using sleight-of-hands. Then it is a good trick’, and so on. Take a look at another scenario:

The magician inserts the selection in the middle of the deck and square the deck unnaturally. Moment later, the selection rises the top. This time, spectator inserts the selection freely into the middle and the deck is immediately handed to spectator. Spectator is asked to concentrate and feel any movement of the cards. Without any touch by the magician, the card has raised to the top. An ideal story? Not so, but at least a better one.

Why? Squaring the deck unnaturally makes spectator believes that the magician is doing some dirty works. Later when the selection rose to top, spectators know that the trick is done by sleight-of-hand. The magician diverts suspicion by providing a false solution. Meantime, spectators also teach themselves. Max Maven, paraphrasing the philosopher Pascal, stressed the importance of self-education. “When a spectator teaches something to himself, the impact of that learning will be far greater than if it is taught to him.” (Maven-Lamont interview, Los Angeles, 3rd February 1997)2. At the same time, when the effect is repeated, previous effect has created a false expectation and diverted all attention to an indifferent direction. So when the selection rises to the top in spectator’s hands, the previous solution does not sound valid to spectators any more. ‘The remaining solution is magic’ becomes more plausible, then.

Though I might over-simplify the route to create real magic in the example above, making magic real is not an easy road and will take one’s lifetime to understand. Always believing your stuffs to be real, and make it real. I shall quote a valuable passage from Tommy Wonder’s wonderful book, The Books of Wonder:

‘If I pretend to place a ball into my left hand, but really palm it in the right, I would hold the left fingers slightly cupped, just as I would if I genuinely held the ball. If the ball were in my left hand, I would be able to see it. But since it isn’t there, I can’t really see the ball. However, I can force my imagination to see the ball. It is part of my silent script. I see the image of the ball being held in my left hand. Then I think the words, “Now vanish, my ball,” addressing the ball in my left hand. As the ball obeys, I might see it first lose its color, becoming transparent until it eventually disappears. But whatever the imaginary mode of vanish I have fixed on, I actually see it go in just that way. When it’s gone, I might think something like “Good!” while I open the hand. I can open the hand now because the ball is no longer there and the hand needn’t hold it.’ 3This is how one master creates the real magic.

The road is long, but the goal is one.

1 Essay from JonRacherbaumer.com, 1st January 2003
2 Magic in Theory: An Introduction to the theoretical and psychological elements of conjuring, Peter Lamont and Richard Wiseman, Hermetic Press, 1999
3 From Acting is Not Making Faces, The Book of Wonder Vol.1, pp.295

Alex Hui 3rd October 2004. 5:56p.m.

More on the North Carolina Sex-Outside-School

More on the North Carolina Sex-Outside-School

Case:http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_05_07-2006_05_13.shtml#1147217414

[1]This article reports: The suspension notice states that Ryan violated a policy that says: "No student shall engage in behavior which is indecent, overly affectionate, or of a sexual nature in the school setting." "Students leave school and essentially take the rules with them," school board lawyer Ann Majestic said in a telephone interview Friday. "The parents and the student had signed a form indicating the conditions under which a student could be off campus during the lunch hour, and it made it clear that school rules applied while the student was off campus." ...

I'm not sure that the policy is so vague that it can't be constitutionally enforced here -- much depends on the exact terms of the form -- but it seems to me that the policy's terms further suggest that the school is acting improperly. The policy itself seems to be pretty clearly focused on behavior in school or during school-sponsored events. The purpose of the policy seems to be to maintain decorum and a proper environment for learning at school. A student who's familiar with the policy would, I think, interpret it precisely this way.

If a form then says that "school rules appl[y] while the student [is] off campus," I doubt that a reasonable student would assume that this means no french kissing (might well be "overly affectionate," no?) at home or even in the car on the way to the event. I'd say that many perfectly sensible students would understand this as simply covering the things you would do while on the field trip, surrounded by students or others. That behavior in public on a school-related field trip is treated as being part of the "school setting" doesn't mean that behavior at home while playing hooky from the field trip would be treated the same way.

But even if it's not unconstitutional to apply the policy to bar sex or french kissing at home, on the theory that such behavior is barred "in the school setting" and a form says that "school rules appl[y] while the student was off campus," surely it's not quite fair -- especially when the contemplated punishment seems to be suspension for the rest of the year, which, as the news story points out, "[s]pending so much time away puts him in jeopardy of repeating 11th grade and not graduating with his class next spring."

References 1. http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/436659.html

A Bit Excessive? I Second That

Posted by Eugene Volokh:
A Bit Excessive, No?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_05_07-2006_05_13.shtml#1147203516


[1]A local TV station site reports:

 Ryan Biggar, 16, and his 17-year-old girlfriend had permission to
 leave Middle Creek High School for an off-campus program. When
 their event was canceled for the day, they were caught having sex
 in the girl's home.

 It violated school rules, and officials say those rules apply no
 matter where you are during school hours.

 But ... Biggar's family is filing a lawsuit against the school
 system, saying his suspension for the rest of the school year is
 unconstitutional. He says he had no notice that private,
 consensual, off-campus sexual activity could subject him to school
 suspension....

 Wake County school spokesman Michael Evans says that having sex
 during school hours breaks the rules -- even in a private home.

 "Whereever you are during school hours. It's a privilege to leave
 campus for lunch and you sign a form to that effect, as do your
 parents," Evans said. "So it was with full consent and knowledge
 that they participate under these rules and if they chose to break
 them then disciplinary action will come into play."

 Court documents include a copy of the lunch permit application,
 which states that students exercising off-campus lunch privileges
 are subject to the rules of student conduct, as applicable to the
 regular school day. Biggar and one of his parents had signed the
 application....

I can't speak to whether the suspension violates school rules or
state
law -- or violates the Due Process Clause because there wasn't
adequate notice.

But setting aside the legal question, even if the student did
violate
the rules, isn't the punishment (what sounds like several weeks'
suspension) somewhat disproportional to the offense? Yes, he was
essentially playing hooky, and should be punished for that; but I
don't see why it's the school's business whether he was playing
hooky
to have sex at home or playing hooky to play video games at home. (I
believe that the age of consent in North Carolina is 16, so there's
no
question of illegality here.) Screwing up the boy's (and presumably
the girl's) studying and exam schedule, and depriving them of a
month
or more of what one would hope is a valuable educational experience,
doesn't seem to make much sense.

Thanks to reader Mike Bavli for the pointer.

References

1. http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=4154105

My personal thoughts on this case consititues a good indication that I still am a conservative Chinese. I can't believe the controversy here is the appropiateness of penalty ! It's probably fair enough for the parents of the teen couple in the case as well as the writer to hold such a point of view, considering that they are American. I personally won't be able to accept it if I were the parent of the teen couple, they are just 16 and 17 years old!!! While I neither care much about the Catholic's rule of against pre-marital sex, nor suggesting sex as a sinful taboo, but the fact of having sex at the age of 16 or 17 still appear to be disturbing to me and far beyond my acceptance.

American/English teenagers are notorious for their open attitude about sex, there's even a sex education policy debate in U.K. about whether or not oral sex should be taught as part of the sex education program in secondary school, so students could probably have oral sex instead of intercourse...

Ideas like such literally render me speechless, I guess they have excluded the possibility of trying to tackle the problem with moral education in the first place.

If there is one thing that I'll appreciate of Hong Kong's education system, the conservation per traditional Chinese value about chestity is it.

On a second thought, a year ago, there were two Hong Kong students of same age to the teen couple in this case committed suicide after the girl had pragnented for 3 months, for they didn't know pragnency prevention measures at the time they have sex, it is really sad for the waste of their lives in such a silly way due at least partly to the flawness of Hong Kong's sex education.

NLP

When I was in Hong Kong, I used to hang out with a friend who's a jack of all trades (alright, he excels in Japanese), in my not so humble opinion, from time to time. One of our common interests is psychology (actually it's more about pseudo/parapsychology), it is triggered by the intention of making our mentalism magic performance looks more authentic.

One day, this friend of mine told me that he's studying NLP ( it stands for Neuro Lingustic Programming) and apparently it became his new fetish in a flash. I've heard of this term in many different occasions, and more often ever since this friend indulged in it.

I did a little internet research about it, and I was surprised by the statement that NLP's validity and scientific basis are in fact questionable:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush!!!

Extreme Card Manipulation 5 Hits Combo!!!!!

muhahhahahaaa!!!! hahahahaaaaaahahaaa!!!!!!!!!!

[Publication] Satuer le Coupe Renaissance

Touche Passe
Sandwich Pass
CBR [Covered Bottom Retention] Pass

Zenneth's Opener
Spot Cut
Neo Cavorting the Aces
Vanishing Queens Plus
Ambitious Houdini
Plotically interesting sandwich

Explosion

The Second Act

The Third Act: 3 Times 3 [Fourth Time]

The Fifth Act: Everywhere & Nowhere Finale

The Seventh Act

Explosion

Kiss Pass
Half Kiss
Midnight Half Kiss

S.O.S.
Punch
PF JackSyna(ps)ces
Final Collection

R&B Evolution Act:

A Pyrrhic Triumph -- OOTW, The Time Machine - DeJaVu
Knock Out
Nice Salad (Courtesy of Aldo Colombini)
Oil & Water
Ambidextrous Transposition
Full Deck Up Side Down Mixtant Finale

[Publication] The Zenneth Code

Bigtime Transposition

Zenneth Alignment Move
Edge Change
Ambidextrous Zendwich
Impossible Twist [Performance Only]
The Cheek of Monster
Jet Twist [Stand Up version]

Misdirection Opener
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Re-Zet

Reciprocal Aces
Rules of the The Game

Transitivity
Transitive Transformation

Fusion

Version One
Version Two

Miraculous Aces
Surprise is Everywhere

Double Revelation
Colour Changing Deck

Royal Collectors

I Don't Want To Be a Magician

Yes, I mean it, and I meant what I mean.

It's not that I don't love magic, in fact, I even perform card tricks to entertain myself quite often. It's a great pleasure to probe into the history of a move or tackle a card question and find out a way (doesn't matter even if I can't) to accomplish the effect. It is always rewarding when you are able to discover an expression of inteligent activity of your brain and not to mention the moment seeing your spectator in bewilderment. I guess you can feel a big but is coming, indeed, I have been learning magic (card magic) for 5 or 6 years by now, every once awhile, people will ask me:"Why the heck u still do law?" I guess they are trying to compliment my performance in a funny way.

The truth is, there are many reasons, both internal and external, which justify my decision. Pretty much like every social circle and every profession, there are always some aspects you like about it, and some aspects make you don't quite like about it.

I am not sure if I could be considered as an insider of Hong Kong magic community, probably yes, afterall, I have been publishing my work in Hong Kong via text and video, and I did set up a magic company with friends. If I don't have a genuine interest in magic, I wouldn't be doing all this.

The motivation, of course, is that I do have some dreams in magic, and there are something I really want to accomplish for the well being of Chinese magic community.

Higher expectation might generate higher disappointment, this is true, and certainly is my case. There are numerous obstacles on the way to my ultimate goal, the hostile resistance and attack from the old guards is particularly awful and upsetting. They go against me for whatever I do, regardless the nature of the subject, and I guess there are some explanations for their attitude. I must say, if there is no radical change going to be occured in their mentality (magic - wise) and that the envoirnment remain the same, it's unlikely for me to see the fruit of my effort in a forseeable future.

Presistence is a trait that I have, but the issue here is that whether or not the result worths my effort. The answer will probably both please and disappoint someone, but my conclusion is, No, it doesn't worth, not only because of that I am tired of the Hong Kong magic field, a minority group with many politically charged problems, but there are many other signficant matters in life for me to persue if I seriously want to be a more intellectual human being.

I am very ignorant to the development of Hong Kong and mainland China's economics; I am unconscious to the impact of government policies; I don't have any political awareness; and I am speechless when being asked about whether Hong Kong is a monism or a dualism region. Considering the fact that I am doing law in a postgraduate level, how shameful it is to make such a confession. And the truth is that I contend that I can find the real justification of my life in these areas.

Magic shouldn't be held fully accountable for my ignorance, but it certainly has something to do with my fetishistic devotion to magic. Yes, I know the very essence of the problem is self-discipline, but again, realization of triggering factors is the first step.

So, am I going to give up magic right away? No, I won't, but I will do after I have published all of my creations, and I am not going to create any magic tricks from now on.

Among 100 things that one should do before die:

#Pick up a hobby in a serious way
# Give up this hobby

Forum Etiquette

A friend of mine posted this in his blog:

If in doubt about your knowledge on any given subject, use big words and archaic argumentative terms to make yourself seem intelligent. For example.

"[quote] blah blah blah blah de blah [/quote] This is unquestionably a strawman argument wrapped up in an ad hominem attack in the attempt to qualify the null rejoinder of an opinion vested without a reasonable line of sight.. "

Which is easily translated to mean

"I am a pretentious patronizing ignorant ****.."

And then he got the following comment from someone else:

I feel compelled to rise in objection over your incontrovertibly partisan conjecture suggesting the preponderance of on-line brotherhoods may perhaps be riddled with such persons who luxuriate in recurrently confabulating in such a manner which may be described as magniloquent or pretentious.

Fuck that, fancy a pint?

[Magicians only] A seriously funny parody from a friend

http://www.magicden.co.uk/magicblog.php

"Nearly 400 years ago, I invented a trick called the "Transpervert Trick". This was a long time before Hugard republished my idea under the title "Gambler Versus Magician' in the 1940's, so no need to mention his name or give him any credit (heaven forbid!).

I withheld the word 'Ultimate' from the title as at that time my ego didn't cause massive damage to doorframes as I walked from room to room. These days my cranium is so big NASA keeps sending out emergency meteor strike specialists to my home where the gamblers are real and the bottom deals leave friction burns on your ring piece! Ah happy days, happy days...

I was most fortunate while I was inventing this trick, as my original method required eighteen dead cull riffle stacks and two hundred and seventeen estimation centre deals. You had to do several cold deck switches to keep the deals going but it was done on the off beat while I flexed my neck muscles at the ladies so no one ever spotted them. Oh sure, they spotted the deck switches but no one ever saw the ladies as my neck muscles always got in the way! Anyway, as economical as this handling was, my good friend Honest I.M.A Gambler helped a little bit and removed some of the harder 'real work' from my invention. After the trick that I INVENTED was published, many magicians had a go at refining the already economical handling that I INVENTED. As we all know, there's nothing a magician likes better than to take an already economical trick and make it less so by making it harder to do!

As Dick Kaufman always says, 'sleights make tricks good!' Which must mean my tricks are [the] shit! As a result of this my head and ego just grew and grew, thank god for the big neck muscles that's all I can say! Over the next four centuries I began to play about with my INVENTION in an attempt to make the trick more economical by adding more deck switches and a Greek deal. I INVENTED Over ten thousand variations. One made it into my excellent book 'Buck Rogers Card Magic' while the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine were discarded. Then, only two years later, I came up with the 'ULTIMATE Transpervert Trick'. The construction of this new routine is quite different from the original, in that in addition to placing the word 'ultimate' at the start I have also removed the part of the trick which made it worth doing! For one thing, there are now no deck switches, centre deals, Greek deals, second deals, riffle stacking and no need for a kitchen sink (also required in the original routine). More importantly the magician only uses his own two hands, as a result the routine can now be performed by you lesser mortal, not endowed with my neck muscles and ten extra hands.

Because I had no hand in creating this myself, I showed it to many respected card-men including Bli Aongo, Gaul Pordon, Tom Jones, My Aunt Betty, the beard of Eugene Burglar and Bruce Cervon's Teeth. They were all hugely generous in their praise (please, no sarcasm, I'm American!) and comments. I say this, not because it adds anything to your understanding of the effect, but to further inflate my ego and at the same time dodging any future criticism you may have regarding MY INVENTION!!

Set-Up: In addition to your pack of cards you will also need to place a large amount of fecal matter onto a fine dining plate.

To perform: Place the place on the centre of the table and remove the ace of spades from the deck. You can do this invisibly if you like; you have plenty visual misdirection at your disposable. Use the ace to flip the plate over simultaneously exchanging the fecal matter from the ace as you do so. With the ace now on the plate, quickly smear the fecal mater over your face, flex your neck muscles and scream, "I am the ultimate transpervert" at the top of your voice. Sit quietly and wait for the audience to leave. If you like, you can now perform Jean Hugards 'Gambler Versus Magician' published in 1947 to wile away the time as you wait for the men in white coats."

---

[Magic] War of Words

I had engaged a war of words of the Chinese-lization of english magic terminology, and it's quite pathetic to see that it turned into a war of words instead of a constructive discussion as originally intended. I was disappointed by many HK magicians whom involved in that particular discussion because the spirit of freedom of speech was abused by them.

People are entitled to their own opinion and the virtue of fighting for one's own belief (when it doesn't contradicate to the widely accepted value of justice) should be appreciated. I contend freedom of speech is one of the basic human rights, but be it essential as such, it should be exercised in a just way as awalys, that is, be subjective and respect the fact that the yardstick is different for everyone.

Let me put it in a charitable way, it is very irritating that many participants in that particular war of words blur the line between fair comment and personal attack in an abusive manner.

Mr. Albert Tam, the chairperson of Magician's Association of Hong Kong, when expressing his dissenting opinion with regard to the necessity of Chinese-lization of english magic terminology, has deliberately talked about one of my previously published lecture notes, which was named--The Best of Hong Kong's Card Magic 2004. In which he wondered about the content of the lecture notes, doubted the validity of the title, presumed my intention of giving such a name, and subsequentlly challenged my credibility based on his own persumption.

I feel pathetic for him, considering that he has been in the field for probably 3 decades by now. It's ironic that he openly admitted that he had never read my lecture notes at the first place, and nevertheless making a comment on it. In addition to this absurdity, his discussion of me and my lecture notes, which amount to personal attack by a subjective standard, has absolutely nothing to do with the notion of translating english magic terminology into chinese.

Sigh...my interest in talking with them has already been declining, but now actually plummeted to the historically lowest point.

Forget it...

On a side note, though, I suggest those Hong Kong magicians to check out The Debate Club in this following website:

http://legalaffairs.org

So that they can learn the basic etiquette of debating!

No...it's not going to stop me...

I am currently living in a flat with a couple of sharemates from other parts of Asia, one of them is a girl and she comes from Thailand. She is now doing an english course to satisfy the language prerequsite of a postgraduate degree. One of her assignments is to conduct a summary of an article which was written in an extremely pedantic (and predictably poor structured) manner.

Well, so she cooked me a dinner to thank my kindness.

However, last night she showed me the summary that I did on her behalf: Grade C+

Excuse me, C+ ???

Apparently, her teacher doesn't appreciate my application of the sentence patterns and vocabularies that I learned from Time. huum...

Can't say that I care much about the negative remarks, because I am positive that there's no wrong in my account, either Time or that teacher should be responsible (and chances are...?) .

Anyway, this is not going to stop me...

Hong Kong Blogs

http://www.geocities.com/hkhemlock/blogs.html

http://simonworld.mu.nu/

http://flagrantharbour.com/

Maximum Enjoyment

Finished an assignment....

Laying on the bed at the time of 2:00 am (alone in the room, completely undisturbed):

smoking, reading comic books which feature some cheap gags and silly jokes, eating meatlover and then another slice of chesse and mushroom pizza, drinking iced coke...

That's my maximum enjoyment!!!

[Magic] “Zeal”系列魔術名詞中英參照表

“Zeal”系列魔術名詞中英參照表

頂牌: Top Card
底牌: Bottom Card

牌面: Face
牌背: Back
牌面向上: Face Up
牌面向下: Face Down

牌疊: Deck
長邊: Long Edge/End
內端 : Inner End

夥伴牌: Mates
雜牌: Indifferent Card
雙面牌: Double Facer
複製牌: Duplicate
牌面空白牌: Blank Face
單向重複牌疊: One Way Forcing Deck

左手握牌法: Left Hand Dealing Grip/Mechanics’ Grip
畢度握牌法: Biddle Grip
蜘蛛握牌法 : Spider Grip
垂跌: Dribble
撥動: Riffle
橫攤: Spread
下推: Push Off
整齊(牌疊): Square Up(the deck)
合攏(橫攤, 牌扇): Close(the spread, the fan)
壓力開扇: Pressure Fan

間隙: Break

尾指間隙: Little Finger Break/Pinky Break
拇指間隙: Thumb Break
自然間隙: Natural Break

切牌: Cut

完整切牌: Complete Cut
遞切: Swing Cut
旋軸切: Swivel Cut
雙重下切: Double Under Cut
三重下切: Triple Under Cut
單手切牌: Charlier Cut
花式切牌: Flourish Cut
假切牌: False Cut
拖切: Slip Cut
訛詐切: Bluff Cut

洗牌: Shuffle

印度式洗牌法:Hindu Shuffle
過手式洗牌法:Overhand Shuffle
撥牌洗牌法: Riffle Shuffle
草率洗牌法: Slop Shuffle
假洗牌: False Shuffle
完美交替洗牌法: Perfect Shuffle/Faro
插牌: Insertion

凸: Jog

外凸: Out Jog
內凸: In Jog
上凸: Up Jog
下凸: Down Jog
側凸: Side Jog
斜凸: Angle Jog

控牌法: Card Control

邏輯控牌法: Logical Control
窺牌控牌法: Peek Control
多重控牌法: Multiple Shift
確認控牌法: Convincing Control
訛詐控牌法: Bluff Pass

逼牌法: Force

古典逼牌法: Classic Force
預言逼牌法: Prophecy Force
垂跌逼牌法: Dribble Force
撥牌逼牌法: Riffle Force
雙牌: Double Card
雙重提牌: Double Lift
雙牌揭返: Double Turnover
三牌揭翻: Triple Turnover
多重提牌: Multiple Lift
採牌法: Cull

牌面採牌法: Above the Spread Cull
次序採牌法: Order Cull

藏牌法: Palm

單手藏頂牌: One Handed Top Palm
單手藏底牌: One Handed Bottom Palm
側偷法: Side Steal
轉移技法: Transfer Move
右手多重藏底牌法: Right Handed Multiple Bottom Palm
賭徒扣牌法: Gambler’s Cop
手背藏牌消失法和出牌法 : Back Palm Vanish & Production

變牌: Colour Change/Transformation
古典式變牌法: Classic Style Colour Change

假展示法: False Display

岩士利數牌法: Elmsley Count
Ascanio橫攤: Ascanio Spread
一頂四數牌法: One for Four Count


換牌: Switch

換頂牌技法: Top Change
單手換頂牌: One Handed Top Change
不合邏輯雙牌術: Illogical Double
全天候牌面向上換牌法: Any Time Face Up Switch/ATFUS
不落膝換牌法: No Lap Switch

移牌術: Pass/Shift

指示移牌: Pointer Pass
古典移牌: Classic Pass
海曼移牌: Herrman Pass
午夜移牌術: Midnight Shift
半移牌: Half Pass
力學反牌法 : Mechanical Reverse
掩蓋移牌: Covered Pass
頂牌掩蓋移牌: Top Card Covered Pass
掩蓋移切: Covered Pass Cut
移牌假切: Pass False Cut

派第二張牌: Second Deal
派中牌: Middle/Centre Deal
派底牌: Bottom Deal
加牌: Secret Addition
KM 技法: KM Move
折牌角: Crimp
基本三明治裝載法: Standard Sandwich Loading Move
底牌滑行: Glide
尾指數牌法: Pinky Count
尾指拉下技法 : Pinky Pull Down
Zenneth推齊技法: Zenneth Alignment Move







套路:Routine

情節: Plot

觀眾選牌, 魔術師找出來: Pick a card and I’ll find it
巧合: Coincidence
拼字: Spelling
進取之牌: Ambitious Card
三明治: Sandwich
尋找者: The Searchers/Progressive Sandwich
訪客: Visitor
收集者: Collectors
水和油: Water & Oil
地下交易: Underground Transposition
四Ace 聚會: Ace Assembly
四張一類牌展示: Four of a kind Revelation
四張一類牌一次性展示: Four at once Revelation

效果: Effect
易位: Transposition
預言: Prediction
起始效果: Opener
完結效果: Closer
準備: Set Up
善後: Clean Up
高潮: Climax
第二重強勁高潮: Kicker
第二重轉變高潮: Twist
反高潮: Anti-Climax
自動化魔術: Self-Working Tricks/routines
不統一(之處): Discrepancy

假設性答案理論: False Solution Theory

Translated by Zenneth Kok

[Magic] Chinese-lization of English Magic Terminology

Alright, so I have engaged into this discussion about the validity and necessity of translating English Magic Terminology into Chinese. I am disappointed not because of the majority opinion of these HK magicians against me, as they are entitled to their own opinions as I do, it's more because of the grounds that they presented. The following version is slightly different from the what I have actually posted in the forums, as I think this version won't be able to pass the censorship.

From Miracle forum: http://forum.i-miracle.com/index.php?topic=262.0

I am a strong supporter of the Chinese-lization of English Magic terminology. Apparently, the majorioty opinion would be no such a need or the notion is impractical, pursuant to the freedom of speech, guess I deserve a chance to defend for my belief as well. So, let's exam the arguments here:

1,
引用自: 大聲聲 於 四月 13, 2006, 10:02:22 pm
或者補充多兩句：

zenneth大師是採用直譯的方法, 呢個問題在於一翻做廣東話會變得好怪雞。...但這並不合港式文化。意譯同樣有問題，問題就係知英文名詞，總覺得跟中文風馬牛不相及，

Obviously, this is indeed a real problem, which I have encountered much difficulties when dealing with it, my personal thought is, we can only try our best in the given circumstances, which is what I did.

2,
引用自: Pierre To 於 四月 13, 2006, 10:36:53 pm

個人認為中文譯本的Technical terms對於學習card magic的作用不大，事實上絕大部分學習card magic的朋友都會用英文terms來交流, 大家等於用相同的語言來溝通，而且外國魔術教學及lecture亦以英語為主，學習了中文terms實無太 大幫助。

How about Chinese magic hobbists in this world who don't understand and speak English? I have done a China National Lecture Tour during the period of Dec 2005 - Feb2006, and I am very positive that the number of people who understand English is significantly fewer then those who speak Chinese among the attendents of my lecture, and I doubt if they will rather opt for me to conduct the lectures in English.

There is something I like to remind you too, a couple of years ago, I have sent an article which was written in english to Magician's Association of Hong Kong, and it was exactly you whom told me to submit it in Chinese form, because there are many members whom don't read english!

3a,
引用自: Alex Ng 於 四月 14, 2006, 01:33:45 am
語文是用來溝通的，基本上需要有廣泛的認受性，

Can't agree anymore

閉門造車去譯 d terms 係人都識，但有幾多人明？什麼撥動、橫攤、下推、上凸、下凸？你試下問十個魔術師，睇下有幾多個知你講乜？

I do believe there are very few Chinese magicians fully understand terms quoted above, but what is the reason for this?

3b, 同樣魔術亦有其專業用語，而絕大部份魔術書籍都是以英語寫作的，

不懂英文用語，九成以上的魔術書籍都看不懂，還學什麼魔術。

Mr. Ng, excuse me? You probably want to re-read this again.

Do you mean, a person shouldn't or that he is not permitted to learn magic because he doesn't speak or understand English?

I feel sorry and pathetic for you that you have such a thought, because it's very discriminating.

If I were a mainland chinese magic hobbist, I love magic very much but I don't speak english at all, and some HK dude like you walk up and talk to me like:" Hey, you, yeah, I am talking to you, it's pointless for you to learn magic, because more than 90% if the magic publications are written and published in english. You don't understand english, so you can't learn magic." Not sure about others, I'll beat the shot out anyone who speak to me like that.

Bullshit! All english books are written in english, and if you don't speak english, so there's no point for you to learn everything written in english? Now give me a reason why you understand english, because you learn english with its Chinese definition!


3c, 如果真的要將這些魔術用語中文化，首先要有一個在中國具權威性的資深魔術師去統籌

So, who is this authoritive chinese magician? Is there such a person going to do it? And if there is no such a person, then we shouldn't do it at all?

還需要以該等用語大規模地將大量魔術書籍翻譯成中譯本，並須得到廣泛的支持和認同。

Yes indeed!!!!

現在我看不到有這樣的一天 ............

Of course, I certainly wouldn't see such a day too if I were in your shoes...


4,
引用自: Mr Magic Albert 於 四月 15, 2006, 06:25:18 am

I totally agree with what Alex and Pierre mention about the basic use of words or language are communication.

Interesting that you've actually chosen English to express your thought here, by no means I am trying to offend you, but the grammatical mistake in your sentence is pretty obvious, my point is, my english sucks too, I am sure you will agree that we can communicate our ideas more efficiently and accurate in Chinese, because Chinese is our native language, as well as the native language for many other Chinese magic hobbists too.

我比較欣賞日本在文化上的取向，試問就算全中國的魔術愛好者都知道"雙翻"的意思，又是否可以與海外同好溝通呢？

There's no point developing Chinese terminologies because we can't use Chinese to communicate our ideas with overseas magic hobbists?

How about magic hobbists who are english speaker? Even they all know exactly what is "Double Turover", can they communicate their ideas in english with all the magic hobbists in China or any other non-english speaking countries? I suppose they can't, so there is no point for them to even name the a move, in this logic.

Well, 要把外文完全化成自己的語文，我相信不可能是一人能做到的事，

Yes, of course! It needs the involvement and participation of everyone! But tell me who is doing it now? I am one of the few, if not the only HK magician who's doing it now! And I really appreciate your understanding.

有兩重點我們必需理解，1/ 魔法藝術的門類並不簡單，

So? Is there a particular form of performing arts much easier to learn than Magic? Convince me with evidence if you could.

2/多了一堆我們不了解的名詞，是幫了忙，還是會增加麻煩呢？

huum...there's a new term emerging every second along with the evolution of the society which we don't quite familiar with, are they helping us? or are they causing trouble to us?

That is a good question...

But how ironic yourself are translating at least part of the english text from Linking Rings magazine into Chinese too...

If you don't see the need to to develop a set of Chinese translations for English magic terminology, I am sure you don't see the need to develop a set of Chinese translation for petty much everything in English.

Right, fair enough, maybe I should think from you guys' point of view too: We all speak and understand some english, We can always learn magic through english, so why the heck should We care about other Chinese magic hobbists who love magic but don't speak English? Of course, they shouldn't learn magic because they don't speak and understand english...hahahaha

Why don't you guys stop for a second and think why could we see the English version of books by Ascanio and Juan Tamariz, because someone translated them from Spanish into English for us!!! It would be really zany, though, if there is one or a few magic hobbists who speak both English and Spanish think that:

Why in the world someone's translating these books from Spanish into English, we can always learn magic in Spanish...

I certainly hope you guys will now realize that it's actually very selfish to think that we don't need to translate anything from English into Chinese because we can read English, if that is your justification.

But then again, it really has little to do with me now, because I am tired of doing anything text publication of magic in chinese too.

Zenneth

Faro, the game, the shuffle

http://www.gleeson.us/faro/

Have fun...

Overload

Hopefully and better be it, that I am actually experiencing a somewhat embarrising stage of learning and applying the recently learned vocabularies, rather than the possibility that I've forgotten how to speak english.

Last night, a female friend of mine has introduced a single and available Korean girl to me, trying to put an end to my relationship status as a single man. Frankly speaking, this is not even in the concern of my own, but I guess there is no reason I shouldn't be grateful of her. Anyway, I tried to talk with this Korean girl, she didn't take away my breathe, but for quite a few moments, I was stuck in nowhere as if I don't speak English at all. I even failed to figuare out a way to ask her some deadly simple questions, including but not limited to "Have long have you been in Sydney?"

I thought about it on the way home, tried to find out a logical explanation for this phenomenon, and I believe, a reason which is highly probable -- vocabulary overload. Lately, I have been reading Time(express) magazine and in fact all of the academic english publications that are accessible to me, and I did spend a considerable amount of time learning new vocabularies as well as sentence patterns from them. If you are what you read, Time certainly falls short of making me an articulate person in most occasions of my social circle.

Right, clearly I must do something to pick up the conversational english, yet I don't buy the idea of learning it from textbook, humm....oh yeah, FHM, that's the way to go.