Mr. Adorable

 

I was outside planning to take some simple photos to update the blog and guess who I met? MY NEIGHBOR'S LITTLE BOY! Because I spend so much of time either in the U.S. or Hong Kong I rarely see him anymore. I still remember holding him when he was just a little baby right from the hospital and he's so big now! Why do little kids have to grow up so fast? Anyway he is quite the stylish little man here. He's wearing pseudo-Madras pants paired with my favourite colour of the summer this year, orange. And the Crocs? Usually they're unforgivable but he's only three and he is really rocking that safari hat and monkey backpack combo so the cuteness wins.

I'm on a Boat

You have no idea how many memories came flooding back when I came across this video on Nowness. It feels so nostalgic talking about CREW now. Despite being no longer on the team after fall season of college, I still have a very soft spot for the sport. The boarding school I attended really pushed everybody to join any kind of team sport, so for a while, I tried out many things including Track & Field (god knows why when I can't run well), Tennis, Snowboarding and even Volleyball (don't ask). I was miserable in every sport I tried and grew frustrated of getting yelled by the coach every time. So when junior year rolled around, I felt that high school was ending quickly and I should make the best of whatever little time I had left. I looked through many sports flyers the school tacked up everywhere in the beginning of the school year and thought I had found "it" when I signed up for crew tryouts. This was a sport that requires a large body of water, boats, oars and so many other gears I thought this would be impossible to do in Hong Kong. 

Fellow seniors in high school crew

For the first time, I didn't suck. There is so much relief in being able to saying that. I spent the first fall season as a novice and spent the winter season getting super fit. I was just trying to get in the best shape possible and try my very best. I didn't have goals or hopes at all of winning anything. Little did I know when spring season rolled around, I would be assigned seat six of "the engine room" in the women's varsity boat. Also, I was grouped into the lightweight boat at seat three, so I ended up learning to row port and starboard at the same time. There is little opportunity to bond with people and learn how to be a team player in the classroom, so I owe it all to crew. It has taught me so much more than just good sportsmanship, rather how to always put your best foot forward always, learn to look out for and love your teammates, be responsible and most important, to be on time. Of course the best thing in crew was not just the adrenaline rush in the last power twenty to the finish line, but most of all fellow rowers rowing in front and behind of you, the yelling coxswain in the stern, and the rest of the team standing on the shore cheering you on. Through playing the sport, I have meet some of the smartest, funniest, cheerful, warm people I have ever met in high school, as well as new best friends and a high school crush from another school, hee.

I like to think that it was because of this sport that I got into Trad/Ivy style. I am so glad that there is such an interest in American preppy wear and classical styles that this often overlooked sport is getting its share of the limelight again. I was overwhelmingly gratified to see it featured in Take Ivy and mainstream blockbusters such as The Social Network. It is sad to note then, that I had to quit the sport after my first semester. It was simply way too much for me because my coach in college immediately put me in the varsity roster with no time and little room to adjust to the faster pace. Moreover since I attended such a small school, we were only NCAA division III and there was no differentiation between lightweights and openweights. I made for a decent lightweight rower but I don't stand a chance against college teammates were fifty pounds heavier and inches taller. In fact I was only marginally bigger than the coxswain, which was a first. I had no life whatsoever outside of academics and the sport, and had no opportunities to really take the time to find my place in new surroundings. Sure it was fun to be able to see my high school friends at the Head of the Charles, but I really had no die hard desire to be in the nationals. It is a pity that I have to end on such a bittersweet note, but I still love the sport very much and attend regattas when I can to support my schoolmates. The best memory of college thus far after all was the relaxing row down the Connecticut River all the way to Mt. Holyoke, bathed in the soft light of the sunrise. Hopefully in the future I can save up for my own little boat and go rowing with friends then. I apologize for the lack of actual fashion posts but I promise I'll get to them very soon. 

I now listen to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" every time I'm on the erg

A Glimpse of Xiamen

After seeing some photos of Hankou at 0000, I felt like doing a post or two of China. Perhaps I have been reading way too much of The Economist lately, but I cannot help but feel that the world (America?) has such an antagonistic distorted view of China as the big bad dragon that threatens to challenge America's hegemony. When people of think of China they focus way too much on Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen that they forget some parts of China is still rural and traditional. As if on cue, my father just returned from a trip to XIAMEN (廈門) where he took many wonderful photos which I will share you today. Apparently, Xiamen is not too far from Hong Kong at all and sits across the strait from Taiwan. I had to wiki that due to poor Chinese geography from so many years of British education at the ex-colony. I am going to blame the Brits for my ignorance! Heh. That aside, it is only when I see pictures of old buildings that I dream of being an architect and follow my parents' footsteps. It would be wonderful to apply ANDO TADAO (安藤 忠雄)'s thinking of marrying the old with the new. That said, it is sad to see that despite China's growth at breakneck speed, it sometimes does not have the matching wherewithal and knowledge to preserve whatever old relic that survived the Cultural Revolution.