ACGHK 2013

I was at ACGHK (Animation-Comic-Game Hong Kong) 2013 on the 26th to see one of my biggest cosplay idols, Reika. Boy, did she put on a performance! Cosplaying as Jinguuji Ren from Uta no Prince-sama, she sang two songs live at great quality. I'll save my fangasming for another time, because I'd like to keep this blog as level-headed as possible. Before the actual cosplay show, however, I managed to snatch up something amazing. Sanguosha Collector's edition, plus some expansion packs. I have roughly 90% of the playable deck [excluding Kingdom Wars or New 1 v 1 editions]. An expected and delightful haul.

The have mixed views on the local cosplay performance. Some are good, some are bad, much like any other conference. However, I feel the ones that are prepared for the contest/stage performances have too much glitter and sparkle, it deviates from the character. Must be a local thing I don't quite understand. Anyhow, an hour after that came the international performances, and boy, all of them were quiet good! They saved the best for last, though - Reika!

She severely underestimated her fandom, printing only 20 of her latest photobook (the one with her Cao Pi pictures in it). Fortunately for us fans, Reika amazingly and sweetly promised to mail out a signed copy of the book to anyone who pays and writes down out address. Due to the lack of planning, and the sheer amount of people, however, there was a mild delay before the actual book sales and signing. I'd estimated a good 300, maybe 400 people were there? Silly Reika, underestimated Hong Kong fandom.

Fortunately, I was near the middle-front of the line and managed to get 3 out of the 4 books she had printed (she only had TWENTY for the fourth. Yeah, those went quickly). And ordered the fourth to be sent by her personally. Definitely worth the money. Furthermore, I managed to giver art that my girlfriend had drawn...AND gotten her to sign a second copy for us to keep. She looked amazed and delighted - it was an amazing moment!

At that point I was starving. I hadn't had food since breakfast (and it was roughly 7 PM at that point) so I didn't have time or energy to stalk her for a personal picture. I just sped to get food (although I know someone who stuck around long enough to get pictures. I'm jealous, but at the same time, don't regret what I did...I was almost dying back there!)

Pink Dolphin Trip!

Today I got to see Chinese White Dolphins (Sousa chinensis), otherwise known as Hong Kong's Pink Dolphins! It was part of a Meetup group that went for a Hong Kong Dolphinwatch tour. For those who aren't familiar with the dolphins, here is a little back story about them, paraphrased/snippet from the handout for the tour:

Chinese White Dolphins (中国白海豚) is the local name of the Indo-Pacific Humpback species, which are found from South Africa to China and northern Australia, usually very near coastlines Those in the Eastern end of their range seem to prefer estuarine habitats, around major river mouths. The pink dolphins are found in southern China and the neighbouring waters; those further south and west are more grey or brown.

In hong Kong, they are mostly seen North of Lantau and around the Soko Islands. Sometimes some are found around Northeast Lantau to as far South as Peng Chau. Though very rarely, adventurous ones have been spotted in other parts of Hong Kong such as Junk Bay and even Hebe Haven near Sai Kung.

Very little is known for sure about the dolphins because in-depth scientific research on the species was practically non-existent until the 90s. In fact, except for a limited number of individuals, they had been unknown to the world and even their human neighbours here for centuries. It was in the early 89s when Chek Lap Kok, a then remote island off Lantau which sat in the heart of the major habitant of the dolphins, was blasted and the surrounding sea concreted over for building the 9 square kilometer airport that the dolphins were brought under the spotlight.

They are born very dark grey, about one meter long; within a few months they 'fade' to light grey, then over the next few years the grey colour slowly disappears, starting at the fins and tails, leaving spots on the white or pink background. It is believed that the pink colour is caused by "blushing", i.e., flushing blood to the outer layers of the skin for regulation of body temperature. (writer's excerpt: The tour guide said that this was but one of several theories. None of them have been solidly proved yet. It's like Hong Kong's own little mystery!) 

Due to the destruction of habitat, over fishing (which drains their food supply and also occasionally wounds them in accidents), heavy sea traffic which causes either direct injury or high stress from dodging sea vehicles all the time, and pollution have severely reduced their numbers.

I arrived early, as I usually tried to, at the Kowloon Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui and got acquainted with new people, as this was the first time I had participated in a Meetup with this group. After short introductions, we continued to wait together for the others, before we boarded a large bus headed to Tung Chung. During the ride, the tour guide introduced us to the dolphins in English - and then, to my surprised, in extremely fluent Japanese! It must be a popular tour for the Japanese tourists, then. Later, when we got to Tung Chung, we boarded a boat. The boat had free water/tea/coffee/Milo (ahmeegawd, MILOO!!!!!!!) and biscuit/cookies for the entirety of the trip. You bet I gorged on that, even though I brought my own food and drinks.

It was roughly a 30 minute boat ride there. During time time, I mingled with the group, took some pictures of the sky and islands nearby. Around this time, there was some light rain - but we didn't worry, the tour guide explained that dolphins didn't care about rain (as, quote, they were already wet!); this later proved to be true, despite the joke!

When we got to the location, the boat stopped, and rain picked up. Nothing happened for a good 5-10 minutes, but then we caught sight of a dorsal fin! These little buggers were shy today and came up for a short second then hid back under the water again, but we were excited. We kept our eyes and cameras peeled for another surfacing.

Several minutes passed, and another surfacing happened! This time we were prepared and we yelled out "2 o'clock!" and got snapping. I regretted not having a prime long-range lens at this point, as the dolphins were quite far away and it was hard to get a great, closeup picture of them with the lens I had. The following was the best pictures out the entire trip, heavily edited for sharpness and balancing. Noise was unavoidable:

Occasionally, after several long moments of no sighting, the boat turned and/or moved around in the general area to try to wait for them in a different location, and occasionally we they did pop up.

There was this one fantastic moment where one actually came up for a short jump! It was so quick and unpredictable I didn't get a shot of it, but I hope someone in the group managed a video or a picture! Shortly after, there were no more surfacing so the boat turned and headed back.

At this point, they began selling various merchandise. As I wanted some photos and didn't mange to take any, I bought 3 laminated photos for only HKD 30, quite a nice price! (Plus, the 2 free postcards that came with the tour hand out themselves had great pictures).

As we got back to shore, we took the bus back to Tsim Sha Tsui. I left via the MTR to head to Causeway Bay for my other Meetup, the weekly Sunday Board Game Meetup! Another (short) blog on this later!

The Problem With Education Systems Everywhere

I am not the first to say this, nor the last. The education of the world is becoming a harder and harder place for teachers to do what they truly are passionate about - changing and improving the lives of children. The education system of the world - and this is especially true in Hong Kong - is all about marks. Test, marks, assignments, with focus on academical qualifications.

What is the result of this? We end up 'teaching the test' - we prepare the for tests...rather than doing what we truly want, which is to bring out their best. Due to the demands of what a teacher must do, we do not get much of a chance, if any, to truly nurture and guide them.

I'll be honest, even now I'm not sure what my heart really wants, or desires. I'm not going to put blame on the education system for this as there are many other people who have gone through the same thing I have bt know what they truly want...

However, there is a chance that, given a better soul-searching environment as I was brought up, there would be that possibility I may have more direction now.

Moving back to the topic of the education system, it's driving a lot of teachers away. A lot of good, passionate teachers...they cannot simply stand to do a job that goes against what they want, what they feel they should be doing. It's a paradox.

Wake up, world, see what's happening. Good teachers are leaving, teachers who are in it for the pay and perks stay...wake up...

Apology for Previous Hiatus

I was going through an odd phase of life where I was in pursuit of things too far in the future, rather than focusing on the now and improving my present matters or the short-term future paths I may take. Fortunately, things have changed once again for the better, and I hope this time my return will be an actual one.

The Importance of Goals

I don't know if this is original or not, but a phrase came to mind today:

Without a goal, you don't know where to go. If you don't know where to go, you don't want to go anywhere. If you don't want to go anywhere, it's likely you won't be going anywhere either.