"I think I'm paranoid"

This is an article about my Rock Band addiction.

During my visit to Houston, in my friend Howard's house, I found this astonishing, eye-catching game set lying in the room. Anyone would love it on first sight. A well-made guitar, a miniature drum set and a microphone, you just can't help playing with them even when the machine is off.

I've always wanted to try playing drums. They play simple but steady role in a band and form the foundation of every thing else, but are not boring because one can always add some improvisation into the performance. They rock!

Well, the following is just another classic story. A man (boy?) sat down in front of the drum set, began hitting some notes, got excited, played a song, got more excited, practiced, played... Warning! It is easily addicted!

There are some particular songs in the game I like, such as Say it ain't so (Weezer), Learn to Fly (Foo Fighters), and I think I'm Paranoid (Garbage). The last one really made a deep impression. I just keep hearing that "I think I'm paranoid" sound over and over again even when I'm not in front of the TV.

Say It Ain't So (Wheezer) Soft rock. Nice song.

Learn to Fly (Foo Fighter). I can pass the expert level of this song.

I think I'm Paranoid (Garbage). My favorite song in Rock Band!

The addiciton seems to go away in these two days. Because I saw on Youtube there's a crazy guy who played expert level as simple as playing tic-tac-toe. I know to play like that I might have to practice for 3+ months. That is the back-to-the-reality moment that I know I don't want to put too much time and energy into this game.

Real expert playing Rock Bank expert drum.

Nevertheless, I have to admit I still have the desire to buy a Rock Band set back to Taiwan. The price is affordable ($150) and there's no official import of this game back home. The two things that withold me are shipping and noise. I don't think my neighbors (Age 70+) will appreciate our performance. And to bring a whole set on my trip is just... stupid!

Trip Planner, A low-profile technology that changes all

Dear all,

This letter is dedicated to the Public Transit Planner group (foxring etc.)

Recently I've been using a LOT of public transportation website in US. I'm REALLY, REALLY, REALLY touched by some great website. Since I'm planning my visit in Houston, San Francisco, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, I get to familiarize with some of the city's trip planning website.

They all have the similar interface: users can choose their starting-ending location, or find transit stations near an location, or get bus/train schedules. And they all display several results, sorted in either ticket price/duration/arrival time/departure time/number of transit/walking distant.

Among them, my favorite one is San Francisco's 511.org trip planner. Their interface is a bit complicated, but the detailed navigation from point to point (adding info such as luggage restriction and relevant prev / next schedule), and a great button that let you send home your itinerary really make one's day. Nevertheless, it is sometime frustrating to find your location not stored on its database, thus cannot really get the exact itinerary (you have to choose a POI near your location)

Interface of 511.org, San Francisco public transportation trip planner

Houston's metro trip planner did a good job integrating its huge Metro bus system and its LightRail system (kind of like MRT in Taipei). I'm most familiar with this trip planner, but really annoy by the fact it don't let you select "the longest tolerable walking range to the nearest station". If you look into the map, you'll notice in some of the recommended trip, you'll have to wait for an hour for a bus that travel only 0.5 miles down the road. Not smart at all.

Seattle's website is rather simple compare to the two systems above. Not much to say about it. It's just there, and it works.

As a traveller without a car, public transportation is all I've got. And being a complete stranger in an unfamiliar city, it is easy to be intimidate by all different system of transport (for example, in San Francisco: CalTrain, Bus, Bart...) Having one single interface that can done all the tedious job, that's really something. If I don't have these website, I'll be either walking / bicycling along my way, or stay home be a Zhai-Zhai.

I notice Google seems to put interest into this market. Their Transit planner website already cover a wide range of area. Maybe YCTai or Hanwen still have interest in digging into the topic? :P

I'm just too excited to experience the impact of this technology. Wish you all the best :-)

-Daniel

Playlist for Summer 2008

Like most people, I always take my MP3 player on a trip with me. Unlike others, however, mine only feature 64MB RAM, equivalent to around 13 songs. This strange restriction (strange, because MP3 player nowadays can hold up to 1000+ songs) gives me the privilege to select my favorite songs and songs that are suitable for the occasion every time I go out.

This summer, I intentionally write off good songs that are most familiar to me, such as many John-Mayer style soft rocks (ex. Neon, Your body is a wonderland, No such thing… these are good when you want the ‘free’ and ‘vacation’ feelings) and some of the everlasting, lonely-kind-of love songs (ex. 東京愛情故事, 飛機場的10:30, The one you love, Air-supply… appropriate when it’s dark and quiet in the cabinet and you’re at 36,000 ft, and when suffering those hard-to-fell-asleep nights). They are great, but this time I’m trying to explore new territories. And I didn’t let myself down.

I think I’ve made a perfect song selection for my summer of 2008. Here are the songs that are on the list:

Killing me softly – Susan Wong
Why Georgia – John Mayer
Allegro, Autumn, The Four Seasons – Vivaldi
Northern light – Kenny G
After the love has gone – Billy Joel
Free loop – Daniel Powter
Whole world around – Daniel Powter
Beautiful world (background music) – 宇多田光
千里之外 – 周杰倫、費玉清
我的快樂時代 – 陳奕迅
唱歌給你聽 – 阿牛

If I have to, I’d go over every song, and tell everyone how I love them so. But apparently there’s really no need, and even if I really do so, I doubt anyone would take it serious enough. Well, I’m just glad I selected these songs to accompany me.

These songs not only have impressive melody, but most of them also feature story-telling lyrics. People who know my song listening habit would know that I put a lot of emphasis on lyrics when deciding my feeling toward a song. Songs I like songs often carry lyrics that I identify with. If I could, I’d like to sing out my feeling to the world. Sometimes it’s just more simple and straight forward. (Such as in a relationship… I suck at saying ‘sweet words’, but I won’t hesitate to select a great song that expresses my love)

It’s easy to know what I’m thinking of by examine my playlist. Maybe that’s a good reason why I kept all the playlist since 2003. That's exactly when I first get my 64MB MP3. It’s like a diary written in music. They always bring memory, regardless of good or bad (a more accurate adjective would be ‘bittersweet’). The above playlist is now recording my memory of 2008. Hopefully by the end of September they’d be carrying more positive memory.

Values

Am I strong enough to be challenged by others on my values?

As we grow older, there are a lot of things we have to take charge of, to decide. One of the most important things is choosing one's values. Based on that, one further make other decisions. That rule of thumb, that belief, that compass in everyone's heart, that whispering sound, is our last line of defend to distinguish right from wrong, to say something is important, and others not.

Different people may have different values. Different values lead to different priorities. That's why some may spend their whole life to earn something that others think irrelevant to any kind of success.

The question I have to myself today is: If I were to be challenged by others on my values in life, will I be able to defend myself? Can I walk home after straight 48 hours of work, and still satisfy with my life?

You've got the whole world around

For the past half a year, I've always been on the chase of life surprises. It's quite challenging, and to tell the truth, a bit tiring. From the rejection of Stanford, to the opportunity at BCG, and all the followed ups-and-downs. Now that I'm preparing to leave TW in less than 10 days. Haha, always on the run :P

In the time like this, there is really one song that could soothe one's busy and worried heart. Daniel Powter - Whole World Around.

(lyrics adopted from ptt.cc/lyrics)

Whole World Around

Life’s been good i can’t complain so far…
designer clothes expensive caviar
and gated homes to keep the wolves at bay
tinted glass to hide my guilt and shame…
   
Neon signs and vagrants at the door
broken values, needles, liquor stores
won’t somebody help me to believe
help me to deny the things i see
   
(*)
Now whatever comes your way
sometimes you win
sometimes you lose
when it all comes down you make it through

You got the whole world around x2
something tells me not to make a scene
open up your heart and let me in…
   
(*)
I've tried as far as enough to lead my arm in minds
receives every words I know still were saying in the skies
take me, wake me , push me down, as long as I'm understood
like a soldier's view
from the bomb to the tomb
the towers I forget ever knew.

--

Ah, what a song. This is for those who feel sorry for themselves, but instead they are simply too lucky to have overlooked all the blessing.

Egypt - Day 5 - Luxor (I)

今天早上三點半就起來，趕著要上五點的飛機。飛機的座位左三右三，非常的擁擠。飛機本身乾淨，但也看得出機齡已經不小。機上的乘客大部分都是旅客，有看到幾個台灣人，後來下飛機有去搭訕，能夠碰到同年紀的人還是件很開心的事。

早餐盒超大一個，但外強中乾 XD

早上第一個行程：帝王谷。總共有63個國王的陵寢放在同一個山谷內。而且最重要的是我們參觀的幾個都保存良好。旁邊的牆壁上滿滿的是各式圖騰和彩色的象形文字，充滿了神秘感，很難想像這些埃及人到底花了多少時間在作這些墳墓（和之後那些雄偉的宮殿！）我們除了拉美希司三世、四世的墓之外，也去看了大名鼎鼎的圖唐卡門之墓。圖唐卡門之墓CP值極低！一張門票要價80埃鎊，而且下個樓梯只有一個小房間就沒了！不過身為觀光客，就是要被敲敲竹槓。

下一個行程是哈契械蘇女王（熱雞湯女王，音似hot chicken soup）的神廟，建的很漂亮，而且參觀的時候天空的藍色配上太陽灑在建築物上的金色光芒，真是美極了！之後，又去了拉美西司三世神廟。這邊是除了金字塔之外我最喜歡的地方！他的建築非常的大，上面到處刻滿了神秘的象形文字。一層又一層深入內裡，建築層次分明。

帝王谷 (Valley of Kings)


熱雞湯女王神殿


Horus是埃及的老鷹神。在大小神廟都可看到他的身影。
我跟我媽很喜歡從側面拍他，感覺像是他正看顧著芸芸眾生…

圖為拉美西斯三世神殿。
埃及神廟的入口一定都有個方方正正、挑高的大門。


拉美西司三世神殿內某個神秘的角落

         
同為拉美西司三世神殿內

  
這個壁畫拍的不清楚。不過上面有兩堆東西，
一堆是敵人的手，一堆是敵人的生殖器，都是要奉獻給太陽神的供品。


拉美西司三世怕後世把他刻的文字抹去，
所以刻的「特別深」，果然流傳千古…

要回遊輪check-in的時候已經一點了。大家早上起了個大早，吃了個外強中乾的早餐，早就已經飢餓不堪，不過屋漏偏逢連夜雨，車子竟然在路上拋錨了！折騰了一個多小時，連荷槍實彈的警察都跑來瞭解情況，最後換了小巴才解決問題。

遊覽車拋錨時，在路邊亂拍的景色

到了遊輪大家像餓壞了的蝗蟲衝進底層餐廳吃自助餐，每個人都殺紅了眼 @@” 吃了飯大家心情也比較好，領隊說為了補償大家的損失，幫大家爭取到了免費騎小毛驢的福利。

在出去騎驢之前，我跟我媽溜出去附近街上逛逛，不過實在沒有什麼特別的東西。在埃及，要買東西真的很難，你只要一稍微停下腳步，所有的小販就會圍攻你；你只要有詢價，那你就別想輕易脫身。這樣窮追猛打的精神雖然難能可貴，但是真的會嚇到觀光客。我跟我媽就是兩個被嚇到的觀光客，到了最後都不想買東西，只希望他們不要來煩我們。

騎小毛驢很有趣，每個人一頭驢子，就沿著他們的鄉間小路慢慢（其實很快 orz）的騎。放輕鬆的話，非常的悠閒愜意。那些驢子都很乖，只不過都不太聽我們的話，他們好像就是跟著前面的屁股走 XD 大家雖然嘴上不說，但是似乎對於這趟騎驢之旅還算滿意，不知道是否可以抵銷中午汽車拋錨帶來的怨氣。

晚上七點是船上安排的cocktail party。不過真的不算什麼party，這艘船作的都是大型的觀光團體，有去的各團成員還是各聊各的，沒有social的成分在裡頭。其中日本觀光客最配合了，每個人都有盛裝打扮，我們這群台灣的人真的是破壞氣氛 XD 但是party真的很虛，我媽說真正的cruise上面，welcome party船長都還會親自出來跟他的客人見面，要拿著雞尾酒杯到處跟人聊天，非常好玩。晚餐是點菜式的，不過感覺就是把中午的自助餐盛到盤子裡變成主菜 @@”

晚上超累，剛剛其實已經昏死過一次了。撐著把當天的日記打完、照片傳完、洗個澡，我就睡覺了，因為明天五點半又要起床！orz


清晨即起

在埃及的每一天都比上課的時候起得早，很少能睡到超過七點半的。尤其碰到要趕飛機的時候更是如此。埃及國內線的飛機清一色都是由埃及航空包辦，為了應付觀光人潮，他們的飛機每天在兩個地點之間來來回回大概要飛個四五趟，最早的一班可能五點就要飛了。碰到五點這種起飛時間，除了三點起床外，也沒其他辦法…不需要搭飛機的時候比較幸福，大概都可以睡到六點半、七點，但是前一天回到旅館、寫完日記通常都已經一、兩點了，也是睡不到六個小時。有人說跟著旅行團比較輕鬆，但是每次搭上遊覽車的時候其實都很想睡覺…

飛機起飛時間 5:15am

形同虛設的安檢

機場的許多安全檢查形同虛設。這大概已經變成這邊的常態了：在各個觀光景點、公共場所（例如旅館、餐廳）的入口總是可以看到一台逼逼作響的金屬探測器。反正人就一直走過去，探測器就一直逼逼逼亂叫，每台機器要不然就是配有一個警衛，胡亂檢查一番，要不就是很多人，但他們也都懶得理你，你就直接走過去隨便他逼逼叫，不要管就對了。我的結論是：除非你真的背了一把AK47，要不然要檢查出居心不良的人還真是很難。

Egypt - Day 4 - More Pyramids

早上也是比較早起，跟我媽一起在旅館旁的尼羅河畔散步。尼羅河看起來非常乾淨（淡水河相較之下像條臭水溝），清澈到可以看到河底的石頭。早餐吃得很好，還跟兩個日本人同桌。稍微練習了一下生疏的日文。蘇咪嘛現～

第一個行程是紅色金字塔。他的名字叫做「紅色」金字塔有可能是因為他原本最外層被紅色花岡岩覆蓋，也有可能是內部材質採用紅色花岡岩。我們車子繞到金字塔後面沒有人管的地方，然後導遊給了大家半個小時的自由時間…

紅色金字塔。前面有一排後來排的石頭，延伸過去還蠻有趣的。

注意畫面左下角！有個人做比例尺。

風化下來的一塊「小」石頭


從金字塔往上看


從金字塔往下看。從人的大小大約可以知道高度。

爬金字塔的時候，我是以非常謙卑的心情跨出每一步。52度這個數字聽起來還好，但是站在金字塔的底端，你真的會對其感到敬畏。慢慢的，我爬到金字塔的中間。被風化的部分比較難爬，因為有沙子比較滑。坐在金字塔的階梯上是一種近距離跟五千年歷史溝通的特別方式。從上面往下望，下面的遊客都非常的小，不過說話的聲音倒是十分清楚。拍了許多照片。

今天的第二個行程去了一個露天的博物館。普普通通，沒有讓人印象深刻的文物。中間被一個埃及人過來裝友善，最後還是money、money。在埃及有點可悲的是，看到別人對你友善，你心裡都會覺得毛毛的；上廁所也是一樣，不管哪裡的廁所都會有人硬塞給你一些紙巾，然後跟你索取服務費。服務費本身其實是小錢，不過感覺真的不太舒服。

中午吃了風味餐烤鴿子。很特別但不好吃，入境隨俗了。第一次跟楊爸、楊媽、楊弟弟一家一起吃飯，聽了許多有趣的大陸經商故事。席間聽說他們每年都會出國增廣見聞，已經造訪過世界X大古蹟、奇景，讓人羨慕不已。

下午去看階梯金字塔。在那邊因為自由時間很多，我上上下下繞了很多地方。除了歷史最悠久的金字塔，旁邊尚有許多未被挖掘的遺跡，隨處可見刻有埃及象形文字的門柱露出一角，其餘則被埋在風沙之中。自己在那些斷垣殘壁之間走來走去還蠻有趣的：沒走幾步，蹲下去，常常就可以發現另一個遺址。這些還沒被當成觀光景點的古蹟反而比外面大剌剌的金字塔更引起我的好奇心，不免開始想像那些柱子上的文字代表什麼意思。難道他們的考古學家都不會急嗎？要是我是研究埃及的學者，我一定急著要把那些東西挖出來好好看個清楚！

階梯金字塔。是「第一代」的金字塔。


我一直覺得階梯金字塔的稜線很美


尚未挖掘的遺跡

傍晚去了個香精店，白吃白喝了一番，不過沒想到沒人要買他們的商品…場面非常尷尬。過程中大家還用台語商量（這種時候台語真好用，因為國語會被「竊聽」）僵持不下的情況下，同團的小弟弟在察言觀色後叫他爸爸：「快去刷卡！」讓人莞爾一笑。不過，大家還是誰都沒買，最後從後門開溜的窘態只能用「落荒而逃」四個字來形容。其實，也不是不想買或是沒錢，而是對方態度真的有點問題…

吃飯之前，領隊把我們丟到一家飯店的大廳等待。在那邊我跟同團的一個爸爸聊起來，他自己也是主修資工，而且很巧的他也是學AI。他現在的工作是提供工業界資訊工程相關的solution，譬如說要品質管理的時候，拿個照相機照下去，然後用影像處理判斷是否有瑕疵。跟他聊了許多業界、學界的趣事，他的故事和驚豔都非常精彩，他還曾經跟發表MMX計算模組的人一起在一家start-up做事。感覺那位爸爸跟乾爸是同一類的人，也一直強調將很多component湊在一起連連看所能創造的價值。

晚上看了埃及金字塔燈光秀。埃及老祖先真是留了個好東西給他的子民。一個晚上可以有三場燈光秀，每場都用不同的語言，等於一個晚上賺三場！燈光秀實在沒什麼成本，票價還賣那麼貴…不過看到三個金字塔在夜晚散發出鵝黃色的燈光，那股神秘感確實讓人感到驚豔。

回到飯店，快要累死…趴在床上死了一陣子之後，爬起來繼續寫剩下的幾封信。明天還要趕凌晨五點的飛機去Luxor，今晚大概睡不到三個小時了。

廁所與零錢

在埃及的每一個廁所幾乎都要錢，連機場、博物館的公共廁所都不例外。可想見，在觀光景點的廁所生意非常好！站在廁所門口收小費的人隨時手上都是一疊厚厚的鈔票，每個遊客大概在上廁所方面為埃及的GDP貢獻不少吧！上一次廁所的公定價格是一埃鎊（折合新台幣6元），不過如果你沒有零錢，拿五埃鎊或十埃鎊他是不會找錢的 XD 因為我們這一團從頭缺「零錢」缺到最後，到最後上廁所都變成一件奢侈的事，有時索性上「霸王廁所」，當服務生過來的時候，只能兩手一攤，跟他說no money～在埃及換零錢沒有想像中那麼簡單，通常兌換外幣，都是給你大鈔；一般商店也很少會有找零錢的機會…最快獲得一堆零錢的機會應該是直接跟廁所門口的服務生兌換，不過兌換的過程通常都不會那麼順利…