Bo’s Blog

I’ve always wanted a tattoo ever since I was a kid. About a year and a half ago I started to sketch up ideas. I wanted a Japanese koi fish on my calf but I haven’t found the design I like yet. I got inspired by those full body tattoo Japanese woman and I think the art itself speak stronger than having a tattoo.

It was a warm Sunday Easter afternoon and I was supposed to pick up Karey in San Jose. I took her with me to the Bay Area to my friend’s pot luck gathering, then her friend Paul picked her up from my friend’s house.

Paul is a wonderful tall shy shinny guy who works in a tattoo shop (www.eddietattoo.com), it is a family business and he works there since a kid. When I got there at around 4:30 Sunday I was just waiting for Karey and thinking to head back home and I don’t want to drag too long in the shop. I talked to Paul’s father (I think his name is Eddie), he is a outgoing kind man around mid 50s who loves red wine. He asked me “Are you Karey’s friend who wants a Koi fish?” I was kind of shy and reply “Yes, I been thinking about it. Any good designs?” He showed me a bunch of pictures but it was nothing that I interested it. Therefore I continued my new book and not thought of it anymore. When Karey and Paul finally arrived to the shop I was excited to see them because I felt left out in the shop. Paul’s Dad asked me that have I done any tattoo before and I replied no. They looked me and told me it will be hurt for the first time and the size of the tattoo I wanted to get will be very painful.

I decided to get a little one on my upper arm and test out the water before I commit to a big one. My idea for the first tattoo was represent luck, simple, and artistic. I wanted something match my personality. I thought clover might be a good one to pick but I can’t found a nice one. So it got me really thinking…
For that moment I see a tradition Chinese BamBOo water painting in my mind and that’s what I want.

I was a bit hesitated to do a permanent mark in my arm, and I think I can back out I still can. After googled for more than 20 minutes I found the bamboo that I like. I printed out and handed to Paul and he started drawing it on top of the light table. I was ready because I already have the image of the tattoo on my arm. I rested my arm on this thing while Paul’s dad “needdles” did his work. It hurts, but pain was nothing worse than someone broke your heart. I felt more pain before and this is nothing compare to some depression I had. It went the full range from painful and unpleasant in certain areas, to almost feeling sort of good in others. It was very strange.

I am still thinking what is the psychological effect would be on me to have my first tattoo. It is sort of a life-transition in this Easter Day, I felt like a re-born last night and become a different me when I start my new day tomorrow. And now, I feel different not only my mind, but my heart and soul had been touched, and forever modified in this process.

Eddie’s Tattoo 1207 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050 (408) 554-8520

I am moving to Blogger …

http://bo-ching.blogspot.com/

Let’s go blog blog!

I saw her last night, and we ate at the same restaurant that I took her out the first time.  We rented “Pursuit of Happyness” and made it a quite night of our own.  She brought her cat with her and Coco was not happy at all.  It was a usual night but what I felt inside was totally different. The connection has been lost and our body language has been changed.  I tried to hide the eyes contact because it would be meaningless.   It was a silence night and I rather keep it that way.

She recognized the same thing.

Was it the last goodbye?

Here is the idea/script for my Saturday photo shoot.  Joanne will help me as a model/actress to express my ideas out.  It will be in Walnut Grove early morning 7:30am.  I hope you can wake up in time, so I can complete this little project of mine.  Check back here if you want to know what happen and how the picture come out.

"

I woke up in a strange little town of unknown by the chilly fresh air from the river.  I can’t remember a thing from how I got here only I remember love from the past life.  Why am I here?  What is the purpose?  I will follow my heart and explore this strange place.

I got scare because there are no people around, Why? I want to ask for direction, but the city is empty.

Finally I found a person and she is what I am searching for. 

"

Today is my turn in the home office rotation.  You know when guest is coming you need to clean up your home.  So I did that Sunday, mostly my yard.  I got some plants from Costco and planted yesterday. It was hard work but I managed to finish in three hours.  Not bad at all!

I turned my live room/studio in a probable work office and we got a productive day.  The homies are coming again tomorrow so it will be another day of fun in work.  Even Coco loves when I work from home!

Spring is perfect time for hiking in Mt. Diablo, a scenic 7
miles four hours easy hike in Mt. Diablo was what I need to relax my stress for
work and connect with the nature. I
organize the trip for the Sacramento Activity Group couple weeks ago and I got
some good response from members. Together we had 8 people to hike Mt. Diablo Eagle Peak Trail.

We met in Present Hill Bart Station by 9:30am and arrived in
the trail head around 10:15am.

The air was crisp it still felt like a sunny late winter
days but I was perfect for this hike. I
still remember last about the same time I hiked the same trail and it was hot
and sweaty.

My friend Mary was a first time hiker so she didn’t prepare
for anything, but this is a beginner hike so she has nothing to worry
about. Along the way all the vegetation was
green, in three month the mountain will change its color to brown from the hot
summer months. We saw a couple snakes
along the hike, and one is a baby rattlesnake. It was scary because my friend almost stepped on it, it would be bad if
he did. Lucky we have Phil, who is a
very experienced hiking with good eyes.

Over all, everyone wants more. I am going to plan some longer trials in the
near future. I think my next hike will
be in Muir’s Wood. I miss those big red
woods!

The Sunday morning is our last day in Death Valley.  Everyone was excited about Zabriskie Point, it is an elevated overlook of a colorful landscape of mud hills at the edge of the Funeral Mountains.  The scenery is best at sunrise therefore we pick the spot for our last sunrise shots for this trip.  We almost missed the sunrise so I was driving really fast to beat the sun.  We got there around 6:15am and I quickly ran over the edge of the view point and started my setup.  After a good 30 minutes shooting, Patrick suggested we shoot do a group pictures.  So I told him to setup the camera, he was slow and we waited 10 minutes for him.

Finally, we headed back to the Inn and get ready to visit Mosaic Canyon.  It was close by to where we stayed about 15 minutes away.  We got there and started to hike the Canyon with our heavy equipment.  Only the first quarter mile offers good photography so I don’t bother to go any further.  On the way back I met a couple photographers, they were using large format.  It was interesting, one guy wearing a reflective cape and I was wondering is he shooting aliens? 

Mosaic Canyon was our last leg in Death Valley and everyone can’t wait to get back to Vegas to have a nice meal and do some shopping.  Especially me, I am very picky about food.  We got back to Vegas around 2:15pm.  We stopped in the new LV Premium outlets, and I brought some t-shirt in FCUK.   Surprisingly, it was more tired in a 1 hour shopping than a 1.5 hrs Sand Dune hike.  I told Cherry shopping is not for guy hiking is!

We still had about 3 hrs before we need to check-in in the airport, so Patrick suggested visiting Wynn Casino.  The only impress me in Wynn is the waitress, other than that it just a casino for rich people.

We got to the airport around 6:30pm.

This is our semi-annual major photography outing.  Specially thanks to Henry Wong to plan this trip and Steve Kossack’s DVD.

The Death Valley trip began an early Friday (3/23/2007) morning flight to Las Vegas.   I took the 7:15am UA flight to meet the guys in Vegas.  After we got our rental car then we headed to eat dim sum for our first meal.  We ate some awful dim sum and got our water for our trip in Ranch 99.

We made our way to Death Valley from LV (I slept most in that 2 hrs drive).  Death Valley is different from what I expect in article, TV, or my though because the word "Death".  It reminds me of Grand Canyon.   After we check-in the Inn in Stovepipe Wells, we rested a little and started to head to Racetrack for sunset photos.  We finally made it out to Racetrack Playa after a 2.5 hrs rough drive.  We were off road most of the time and it was a fun driving.  We finally got there and lucky it was not sunset yet so we had some time to explore the site.  The hugeness and the flatness of the playa are breath taking.  The most interesting thing in Racetrack is rocks slide across the ground, and it’s the wind blowing through the canyon that makes them move.  You can tell it moved by the mud track trails behind some rocks.  We had fun and we had dust all over ourselves.  We headed by to the Inn by 9:30pm and all the restaurant were closed in Death Valley, therefore no dinner for Friday night, just beers.

We woke up at 4:30am and get ready to our sunrise destination Bad Water.  Bad Water is the lowest point in North America being 282 feet below sea level.  Temperatures in here can range from up to 130 degree in the summer to below freezing at night in the winter.   The evaporated water leaves a dry and interesting salt formation on the ground.  We took a lot of pictures in here until the sun was get too bright for good pictures.  We left around 8am and move on to our next photo spot “Devils Golf Course”.  The towering columns of salt stretch for what seem like miles in this devil’s golf course.    I carefully walked around and took some photos on these interesting strange rock hard formations from the ground.  It was getting hot about 80 degree and I was hungry so I ask the folks to leave and get some lunch.  We ate lunch buffet in Furnace Creek Ranch then headed back to Inn to get some rest.

The next photo spot is Sand Dune.  We hike about 40 minutes under the hot sun and created our own trail along the hike.  The dunes are most photogenic area in Death Valley so it was worth all the hard work and sweat.   By the time we finish it was already dark.  We hiked back to our car under moonlight.  It could be very romantic if I was not with a bunch of dudes.  We did a lot on this Saturday, it was somewhat painful but it was fun and good experience meeting the Death.

My Boss complains about the progress of the project with the consultants and wants me to work with them closely.  Next week I will start working from home or in the consultant’s home office.

Hopefully we can code complete in 6 weeks.

I got this from a good friend of mine and I like to post this message from god.  This is not for me but for someone who had a really bad time right now.

Sometimes we ask ourselves: 

What did I do to deserve this?

Why does God let these things hapen to me?

Here is the explanation …

A daughter tells her mother how everything is going wrong for her; She probably failed her Math exam, …  Her boyfriend just dumped her for her best friend.  In times so sad, a good mother knows just the thing to cheer up her daughter… "I make a delicious cake."  In that moment the mother hugged her daughter and walked her to the kitchen, while her daughter attempted to smile. 

While the mother prepared the utencils and ingredients, her daughter sat across from her at the counter.  Her mother ask, "Sweethheart, would you like a piece of cake?"  Her daughter replies, "Sure, mom, you know how I love cake."

"Alright…" the mother said, "Drink some of this cooking oil." Shocked, the daughter responded, "What? No Way!"

"How about a couple of raw eggs?" To this the daughter responded, "Are you kidding?" "How about a little four?" "No, mom, I’ll be sick!"

The mother responded, "All of these things are uncooked and taste bad, but if you put them together, they make a delicious cake."

God works the same way, When we ask ourselves why does he make us go through these difficult times, we don’t realize the what/where these events may bring us.  Only he knows and he will not let us fall.  We don’t need to settle for the raw ingredients, trust in Him… And see something fantastic come about!

God loves us so much… He send us flowers every spring… He makes the run rise every morning… And anytime you need talk, He is there to listen!  He can live anywhere in the universe… But He choses to live in your heart!

I hope your day is a "Piece of Cake"!