Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address (2005)

I loved this commencement speech and have watched it numerous times even before Steve passed away. There are so many great quotes from this speech! Here are the ones that really inspired me!

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots would somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something… your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots would connect down the road, would give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off well wore path and that would make all the difference.

You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you’ll most certainly be right.

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

@pklai

A Music Video I Love Recently

This is a music video I love recently from Jay Chou.

周杰倫 - 我不配

Hope you’ll like it too.

PK Lai

Taipei 2010 Day 1

When that last time I travelled? Hmm… It’s been over a year! My God~It’s been that long?

It was kind of a last minute thing to go to Taipei. Nothing was really planned, just really felt like a holiday outside Hong Kong. And since Taipei is so close and there’s so much to eat! Haha…

On the way to the hotel, there’s this construction site. This “scarecrow” really caught my eye!

Scarecrow?

I was so hungry when I got to the hotel and had to quickly drop down my bag and go for some food. There’s this ‘Hu Jiao Bing’ (pepper bun) shop just around the corner. Never tried it before, but it was tempting enough. A really long queue waiting as I got there. Apparently, because the buns are freshly baked, there’s only so much they can sell at one time.

"Hu Jiao Bing"

So anyways, waited for about 5 minutes, the buns were ready! It’s really hot! Can’t wait to try it and it was so delicious~!

It's so delicious~!

If you know me well enough, you’d know that this can’t be enough for me. So I kept walking in search for more… The whole idea was to have just Taiwanese food for the entire trip, so I went into this really dark alley just to see if there’s any nice local food. And there it is, a local beef noodle shop.

Dark Alley

The owner/chef of the noodle shop was really nice. He told us what was nice there and even pointed directions to me as I was leaving. The beef noodles were yummy!!!

Owner/Chef

Beef noodles

After the noodles, I was on my way to the Taiwan Storyland, a museum where you can see lots of old Taiwanese culture. From old theatres, to homes and barber shops. While I was walking there, I found out that the ‘Book Street’ and ‘Camera Street’ was just one or two blocks away from my hotel. So I tried remembering where they were and made sure I’ll be coming back to it later.

Camera Street

This ‘Taiwan Storyland’ wasn’t really what I expected. I thought that it would be like a very traditional building. But it turned out to be underneath a shopping centre! Here’s some of the photos I took.

Entrance

Souvenir Shop

Traditional Taiwanese homes

Old streets

Old barber shop

After about an hour or two at the Storyland, I cruised over to the Books Street and checked out a few of the book shops there. There are so many book shops, from big chains to small and specific ones. A very interesting place! And it’s so true that the books over in Taiwan are way cheaper than the ones you get here in Hong Kong.

Got back to the hotel to have some rest before heading to ‘Shi Lin Night Markets’.

I’ve been to ‘Shi Lin’ before and really wanted to go there again. The food there are so nice and cheap!

Inside 'Shi Lin Night Markets'

I love this!

Sausages!!!

So much to eat!!!

It's so spicy~!!!

My favourite chicken fillet!

The streets at night...

After a lap around the entire ‘Shi Lin’, I was already very full and tired. Was supposed to meet up with a few friends for drinks, but really can’t make it. Went back to the hotel and it was time for some sleep!

See you tomorrow, Taipei~

PK Lai

Kung Hei Fat Choy & Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s Chinese New Year today! Wish everyone a prosperous new year! May all your wishes come true and have a safe Year of Tiger!

Not only is today the Chinese New Year, it’s also Valentine’s Day. So I’d also like to wish everyone a loving, caring and romantic Valentine’s Day with your loved ones.

My relatives came over to our place around noon to ‘bai nian’ and we also had lunch together. Mum prepared a very nice vegetarian meal for us! It’s her ritual every year to have only vegetarian on Day 1 of the CNY. Our relatives left around 3. Soon after that, my brother went out to celebrate Valentine’s Day with his girlfriend, then my parents went out to meet their friends. I’m now home watching DVD. Such a peaceful day! Getting a bit sleepy now, gonna have a nap… laters~

All the best!

PK Lai

LLB

Lately, I’m quite interested in doing LLB (Bachelor of Laws), an external course of the University of London. So this afternoon, I went over to Wanchai’s Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre to check out the Education UK, British Council Fair & Law Fair.

There’s a lot of information available at the exhibition and I’ve found what I came for. I also spoke to a lady at the marque asking her questions about the course. She made it sound very easy to get into the course. Well, I’ll see how that goes.

So for the time being, I’m just reading the prospectus and find out more about the course. Hmm… Interesting…

PK Lai