I havn’t sung karaoke for ages. Michael visit Vancouver this weekend and he wanted to sing Karaoke so much that I booked a room speically for him. I asked Verona to come along since we need more female voice other that Pat and I know she like singing Karaoke very much too. Michael, who was my TA when I was back in Waterloo, actually knows more new songs than me, and some of his younger friends. We have to resort to singing Hacken Lee or Jacky Cheung after a few songs, but he can still sing the latest hits that I unheard of. My songs list is not very up-to-date, I can only sing a few new songs form Jan Lam or Justin. Tonight was really fun. I don’t know when will be the next time for me to sing Karaoke. People at our age just stop going to Karaoke. I remember I used to sing Karaoke every weekend when I was in unversity. If I did pratice so much back then, how come my singing skill is still so bad? Anyways, singing is just half of the fun going to Karaoke, the second half is to torture your friends. Other than I feel quite hungry half way during karaoke, the removal of my wisdom teeth didn’t affect my singing at all. I think I am almost back to normal other than I still cannot chew anything.

I just come back from removing my wisdom teeth. My gum is still bleeding, but it should stop after a while. The removing of the wisdom teeth is actually less scary than I had expected. Literally, I sat down at the dental chair, poked a needle and I fall asleep. The next thing I know the wisdom teeth is gone, I have some gauze dressing inside my mouth. Before I have anesthesia, I feel a bit worry. The idea of being put into unconcious is foriegn to me. Unlike sleep, you voluntarily falls asleep and you know you can wake up anytime. When you are under anesthesia, you can only trust the doctor that you will ever wake up again. The last thought I had in my mind is to tell myself I will wake up again. Maybe this is the same feeling I will have when I face my death, the only difference is I don’t know whether I will wakeup again. After I woke up, I felt a bit disoriented at first. I ran some BIST (built-in-self-test), like moving my arms, looking around, try to remember why I am here to confirm I am still alive and the same horace before I put to sleep. The anesthesia experience makes me think about problems on life and death, what is conscious, what is my identity, the issues I learnt in my metaphysics class. Now I am back home, taking some rest and fight the hunger for not able to eat solid food for the next few days. This maybe the chance for me to get rid of my big tummy.

The principal of Lasalle College, Brother Thomas come to Vancouver these few days. The Vancouver chapter of the OBA host a dinner to welcome him. He went to Edmonton attending the North America OBA conference and football tournament, stop by Vancouver on his way back to HK. He retired from LSC two years ago, then he taught in the only christian university in the West Bank, Palestine. The current principal of LSC resigned a few months ago, Bro. Thomas was brought back from retirement. I don’t come out to the OBA functions very often. Bro. Thomas’s visit draws out not only me but also many other old boys. The speech given by Bro. Thomas left me some thoughts. He talked about the Lasalle spirit and the tradition. It reminds me that LSC is ran by the Lasalle Brothers, whose goal is to educate the poor and the rich, the smart and the dumb. That’s one of the main reason LSC refuse change into a private school despite forced to accept lower quality students by the government. When I think about LSC, I always think it is just a school, often forget it also a Catholic school. The visit of Bro. Thomas is one of the few occassions reminds me the Catholic background of LSC.

Today I went to Metrotown to kill the half hour between I finished study and go to pick up Pat for dinner. To my surprise, I found the arcade in Metrotown has some latest games, including Time Crisis 4, Gundam Fed vs Zaft II. Both games cost $2, quite expensive, but save me the trouble and gas of driving all the way to Richmond. I used to be very good at TC3. I guess I am lack of pratice, I got KO in the first stage. There are quite a few people lining up, so I only get to play once. Then I tried the Gundam game. It support 2 links, so I won’t be forced to play vs mode like in the Richmond acrade. I can take my time to practice when playing against the CPU. The Gundam series is one of my most favourate arcade game. I have been playing since the first generation. There are some new mecha in the new game, but the general principle is still the same. I am not used to the high speed and the way of fighting in the air, as a result I couldn’t get pass stage 4. I had just discovered a good place to have fun, plus it is very close to home.

Today is my thirtieth birthday. I am now officially a middle age man. I can already feel the mid-life crisis shadow over me. I had already start asking though questions, such as meaning of life, self value and the identity problem. I remember when I turned twenty, I had a melancholy for no longer a teenage. It took me quite a long time to get over it. This time, I don’t have the time to feel depress. There are so many things I still want to do and time is running out. I can only prioritize the task and do the important one first. I have to accept the reality that some dreams I will have to give up forever. Looking back the past 10 years in my life, I had accomplished a lot of things. I don’t have any unaccomplished tasks, since I didn’t set any 10 years goal in 20. It seems that life is just like a roller coaster ride, all I can do is fasten the seat belt and hold tight. Looking forward to the next 10 years, I have to ask myself should I set goals to myself. Ten year plan is different from new year resolution. Most of the time, the 10 year plan is just dreams without any action plan. Ten year is too long a time span to plan properly. I don’t even know where I will be, what will I do in 2 years, how can I plan further ahead with no visibility? Maybe I should just sit back and relax, let God or whoever up above plan the best for me.