I feel like this thread may end up just acting as a place to post controversial topics or to complain and make generalisations about social issues; the thread starter is a bit too general IMO. The old "news only" thread was better imo
But nice to see you're back, air superiority, what's happened in the last few months, how are things.
Thanks for the big welcome man.
Life's been quite a ride for me. For most part, I took what was thrown at me positively. I was primarily dealing with my final semester for my undergraduate, so I wanted to make sure I get through. While it may seem not much of a thing, there's actually a lot of significance behind accomplishing this. The girl that I liked was waiting for me in HK, and I promised I'll return once I complete this semester. This is not to mention the amount of announcements I had made to my other friends and family members as well. If I screwed up, it will not only disappoint, but also make me look bad. Of course since her and I are still getting to know each other, that can come out quite incompetent as an image. Luckily alas I finished the degree, so that's good. It wasn't easy though, because cognitive neuroscience almost killed me lol.
Other than that, I also attended and helped organized cross-strait dialogues with students from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It was a very awesome experience because you literally had students from all disciplines, and I felt what brought everyone to the space was their passion and genuine concern for what was happening. We had 2 sessions where one almost revolved around this topic, and the other one on media. I'd say that for both sessions, I was pleasantly surprised and privileged to have gotten to know those students, especially those from China. Everyone had their own opinions about the Occupy and we all had different viewpoints (I had no problem with that), but despite the differences, they demonstrated great empathy to the struggles by those in the streets. It was a very safe space and there were no unsafe expressions towards any group. We all shared ideas, opinions that are very strong, sound, and we earned each others' respects.
For the second topic on media, the atmosphere was very similar. We shared our thoughts about the media and how it related to our identity, and inevitably many referred to Phoenix and some other various sources of media. Basically the group recognized the bias in the media and how it played against us, whether it be Western or Chinese media. My conclusion from these experiences would be this: I'm very blessed and privileged to have met these students and individuals. I believed the future of China will be dependent on these groups of students, who are very progressive thinkers who not only understand the progress of China, but also recognized the weaknesses and criticisms directed towards the country. What I feel the country needs will not be more zealous, blindly pro-China supporters, but someone who has the courage to speak the truth, with good intentions, and be critical. In fact even the article shared by me was shared on Facebook by one of the members. I personally felt the article had some insights and truths that were spoken because there seemed to be some common traits amongst those rude-behaving individuals, and for very long I had been attempting to understand why those people might behave that way. Anyways that's just what I think.
Aside from these things, I spent some remaining time with friends before I moved back to HK on the NYE. Right now I'm in the city, readjusting and planning my future and looking for a job, as well as meeting my beautiful girl. I got her 3 gifts from Vancouver: a fleece from Aritzia, a very popular Canadian brand for girls, and Lululemon sports jacket for her yoga classes. I also got her a bottle of water with the label Vancity. I gave these to her over a dinner and the bottle of water opened up a discussion on our views of homelessness. Almost a strange topic to have over dinner, but whatever.
And this afternoon I went to see The Theory of Everything with her.
Oh yea I also finally finished my Revell 1/48 F-15E. I'll share that with you guys tonight perhaps. How have you been?