Import from Camcorder Canon VIXIA HF M31

Recently, I had to purchase a camcorder for the video class of my New Media program. It is my first ever camcorder. It is a big purchase and I found it frustrating when I was trying to import video I shot from it to my Mac. And yeah, I had to use a Mac for my program as well.

Anyway, after hours of searching on the internet, finding clues t0 what I wanted, I finally figured out how to import into iMovie.

1) First, connect the camcorder to the power source with the power cord.

2) Then, choose the movie-shooting mode (versus the photo-taking mode).

3) Next, click on the button to browse your videos. The button is on the side of the camcorder; you can see it after you open the touch screen panel. Then, you'll be prompted to click on button on screen to connect to the computer.

4) Open iMovie and on the menu bar, choose File > Import from Camera

Hopefully the above will help someone out there. It drove me crazy for a few hours to figure this out (and only to forget the exact steps the 2nd time around). So I'm keeping a record this time!

Cheers,

Day 17 (Hk-Shanghai-Vancouver)

Today's flight:
So our connecting flight had problems today and they had to drive us off to a sketchy hotel 20 minutes away to feed us and allow us to rest. I was watching some local Shanghainese show when someone knocked on the door to tell me the plane is ready for us. After another 20 minute ride, filling out another departure card, and going through inspection and security yet another time, we finally boarded the plane. I wonder whether my random power naps today will help with or worsen my jetlag when I get home.

Trip summary:
Culture shock - yes but not unbearable because I mentally prepared for it before I came here. Am I able to cope? Yes. Can I fully blend in? No. I've become more agressive and hard-headed over the trip. I'll switch to my more polite side when I get back to Canada :) Guys behind me on the plane right now are awfully noisy but I'm not going to bother asking them to quiet down because I don't want a 飛機阿叔 incident.

Weather - hot and muggy but again not unbearable as I had a/c breaks in buildings and buses. The umbrella is your friend here. It's a mobile shade.

Language - Glad to know enough Mandarin and Cantonese to get by. Except for the times where the locals speed through their speech, I can, for the most part, understand.

Food - delicious and not expensive!
Top picks: (in no particular order)

1. 楊枝甘露 at 池記
2. Coconut milk tea at Modern Toilet
3. 東坡肉 in Hangzhou
4. Some mango drink at 許留山
5. Ngo luack at the 潮洲 restaurant in Shenzhen
6. 2 layered milk curd in Macao

Shopping: didn't do enough on this trip probably because

1. Some of the styles were not for Canada
2. Didn't have enough time
3. Scared to be ripped off because of all this haggling business

Prettiest sights:

• Suzhou
• Harbour of HK
• Musical in Hangzhou

Most memorable sights:

• Water rave in Hengdian
• Crowds at the Expo
• Local kid doing his homework in his pjs in one of the gardens we visited in Wuxi

Firsts:

1. First time in Asia.
2. First time boarding the plane via a shuttle and not directly from the terminal.
3. First time using a squattie.
4. First time eating out of a miniature toilet bowl and drinking from a miniature urinal.
5. First time using an umbrella for shade.
6. First time having to really use Mandarin.

Overall: Awesome trip

Day 16 (Wanchai-Mong Kok-Harbour city)

Took the star ferry one last time to see the infamous 金紫荊 statue.

Then went to Mong Kok to eat at the toilet based novelty restaurant - Modern Toilet. The decor is so bizarre, I couldn't tell what's real and what's just decor most of the time - as a matter of fact, i couldn't find the real washroom in the restaurant. There were posters all over the restaurant about diferent types of poo - very appetizing. People kept telling me the food here is not that good but it's really not that bad. Tried a milk-based hot pot today and it was pretty good. Had the coconut milk tea drink and it's probably one of the best milk teas I've ever had.

Did some last minute shopping but stil didn't end up buying much. Next time, I will make a shopping trip. Next time.

Checked out, ate dinner, looked at the harbour night view one more time then switched over to the airport hotel in preparation for our early morning flight tomorrow.

Day 15 (Macau)

After a nice classy breakfast at the lounge in our hotel, we head off to the terminal to board the ferry to Macau! After an hour ride across the open sea in the pouring rain, we arrive in Asia's own Las Vegas. It's so interesting to see a language on the signs which I've never seen before - Portugese. So different from all the languages I've learnt.

I read online the night before not to talk to strangers at the terminal etc. and I agree because there was a strange man following us around persuading us to take his taxi around town. Of course we declined and opted for the Venetian shuttle instead. Arrived at the hotel and it was beautiful as expected.

Checked out the mall and pretty indoor canals, then headed to the more historical part of town (St. Paul's ruins) to try out some local goodies - pork chop bun, cantonese noodles, two layered milk curd (so good!), and portugese egg tart. Also grabbed some almond cookies to bring back home. Apparently their coconut juice/ice cream and peanut candy are really good too! Unfortunately, my stomach went on strike after the milk curd. Took the ferry back with a food coma again. Pouring rain again but caught a glimpse of a rainbow!

Can't believe tomorrow is my last day in Asia! Time flies. Got the chance to hang out with another friend where she teaches me the skills to survive in HK. A little too late but still useful in the future.

Day 14 (Shenzhen)

Another long mtr ride, but this time, to the border of HK and Shenzhen. Was brought around town by a family friend in Shenzhen. Just cross the river and what a huge difference from HK.

Ate authentic 潮洲 food - so delicious but got a major food coma. Watched a local haggle - so entertaining, not so much the case when I try to do it. Drove to the beach but didn't get out to enjoy it because there were way too many people, considering we were stuck in traffic for hours just getting there and back. Ate dessert at a nice dessert place called Honeymoon Dessert. Currently in love with 楊枝甘露 - so good!

Day 13 (The peak - IFC - Stanley)

Rushing into the peak tram was intense. Of course, with my Canadian ways, I couldn't get a seat. Standing at 45 degrees was not easy. It was worth it though because the view up there is really nice and the market is pretty cute.

IFC - the high end mall of hk. Our tour guide in Wuxi said one of the washrooms there was 5 star. He should come here! Also watched a lovely live jazz/blues performance while I was at the mall.

First time at a beach this summer! - Stanley beach - just for you Kay, I made it down to Stanley unplanned. It consisted of a bunch of confusion, map reading, and asking for directions. Nice trip though because we passed by Ocean Park, Shum Shui Wan and Repulse Bay - nice long 1.5 hour bus ride home.

Officially taken all types of public transit in hk including the minibus, bus, tram, shuttle, mtr and ferry.

Day 12 (Ngong ping-Temple street-Causeway bay)

Took a long mtr ride to Tong Chong, then boarded the gondola up to Ngong Ping mountain. Pretty awesome ride since I got to see the bird's eye view of their airport. Visited the big Buddha and paid my respects there. Such a hot day so we needed to get refreshed with some Vita crysanthemum tea - so good!!

Boarded the wonderful mtr again and visited the famous Temple Street in Jordan.

Life would be so much simpler in Asia if:
1. People just state the true price, so you don't have to waste time and energy bargaining - feeling crappy if you win because you would think your offer price is too high and feeling crappy if you lose because you don't get to buy what you wanted.
2. People just go dutch for meals so no time is spent fighting for the bill and feeling bad if you lose.
These are two situations where your Canadian politeness puts you at a disadvantage.

Ended the day by hanging out with a friend, who I haven't seen for the longest time.

Note to self:
1. Do not take the mtr at 6 = crazy sardine packing time.
2. Do not eat dinner at around 7/8pm in Causeway bay. Crazy busy. Be prepared to wait for an hour plus to get a table.

Did some shopping, ate delicious food and took some sticker pictures, like a true Asian - which I also haven't done for so many years.

Journey to my roots: Day 11 (Wanchai-Causeway Bay-Mong Kok)

Today turned out pretty well for an unplanned day. Took the star ferry over to Wanchai and grabbed some breakfast at cafe de coral. Then took the tram to Causeway Bay to check that area out. Couldn't stand the heat anymore so checked out the very well air conditioned Times Square while I was there and wondered why people say it's cheap to shop in hk.

Ate at a wonton place (which I later found out was quite famous - sweet!) then ate dessert at 許留山 - best dessert ever at a good price! Took the tram down the other way to survey 中環 then took the mtr back to Kowloon and reached shopping paradise in Mong Kok. Walked for hours and still haven't gone through a 10th of place. Here is where I truly understand why people say it's cheap to shop in HK!

Day 10 (Shanghai-Hong Kong)

Experienced Shanghainese traffic and taxi driving today. It was intense with a lot of honking and lane weaving. Felt my blood pressure and heart rate elevating. Don't know how the locals can deal with this everyday.

Finds of the day:
- Trolleys for carry on baggages - my backpack was getting heavy.

- Coat hooks on the plane seats.
- Cup holder on the tray tables so you don't need to pull down the table just to hold a drink.
All they need now are personal TVs.

Due to the extreme weather of hk, our 2 hour flight became a 5 hour flight with taxi-ing. Ended up spending the whole day commuting. That's good I didn't plan anything for today (I.e. Raymond Lam concert). Didn't know lunch would be provided on the plane, so we grabbed something to eat before boarding. Ended up eating 2 lunches. Oh well, eating lots is allowed when one is on vacation. Plus, the delay has caused us to not be able to really eat dinner, so that extra food was much needed.

Journey to my roots: Day 9 (Expo)

It was today when I realized that I have been well-sheltered from the true Chinese culture in past week in China as a result of being on a guided tour. I was sheltered from the crowds and how you need to cope with it; hence, the saying 上海看人頭。We were given free time to explore the expo site today, so we split up with the rest of the group. Unfortunately, there were too many people so we didn't get to say our goodbyes or thank our very awesome tour guide. Such a shame.

Find of the day: 30 cent peach popsicles!! So good!

Impressed with: toilets-clean and gave visitors the option of toilets or squatties. Automatic flushing with the opening of the door = great idea.

Not so impressed with: how people used the water stations. The lip of the bottle filler might have been too low so I might have been a good idea to enforce sanitary precautions.

Other notes:
First non-Asian meal. Albeit it was KFC, it was a nice change. Looking for a table to sit at was insane.

Pavillions visited:
China - the Chinese government recently agreed to let certain international tour groups make reservations to see the pavillion without having to endure the crazy lineups for this ever so popular host pavillion! Thanks! It was amazing - from the intelligent "train ride" up to the pavilion to the nice IMAX to the awesome ride through beautiful scenery to the gorgeous animated painting, it will be hard for the other pavillions to live up to this.

Vietnam - cute little pavilion with next to no lineup. Too bad there wasn't a lot of information about their culture, which I was hoping to learn about.

Canada - loved the VIP treatment. The guard originally told me to lineup but as soon as I said that I am Canadian we got led to seperate entrance. I was already so happy outside seeing that so many people wanted to come to see our pavillion. Once I got in I felt so proud that couldn't rip the grin off my face. My bro claims that I'm a true Canadian. Pretty nice graphics and videos. Wish the pavillion was bigger.

Netherlands - really impressed with the concept of having many small rooms with different Dutch objects, artwork, and inventions (from the floating rock to Van Gogh hair to the crystal dress). Also liked the idea of having a rest area below the pavilion with little sheep kids can sit on.

Experienced the Shanghai expo bus and metro system. One word: insane.

Journey to my roots: Day 8 (Wuxi-Shanghai)

Chinese specialty #5: pearls. Saw for the first time in my life, golden pearls. Also learnt that purple pearls are relatively more rare; hence, more special.

Had the best meal of the trip so far at a floating restaurant on Taihu. Here, we had the famous Wuxi ribs, as noted by the saying 無錫看骨頭。With beautiful scenery, amazing food, and normal toilets, I have no complaints.

The hotels we stayed at on this trip have been awesome - they provide you with everything from combs, shaving kits, toothbrushes to slippers! They were just missing one thing - swim caps. Again, we find ourselves in the same situation where swim caps are required to swim in hotels here. At least I was able to use the gym today.

Chinese specialty #6 - Chinese medicine. We had a foot massage but I didn't get to enjoy it because I was too busy listening in on how the doctor was convincing my dad to buy herbs. It was not until this trip that I noticed the reversal of roles. When we were young, our parents would look after us, but now it is our turn to look out for them.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough interest in our group to go to see the Shanghai bund. That's too bad, but we got to see a lot on this trip already so I should be grateful.

Journey to my roots: Day 7 (Nanking-Wuxi)

Tidbits:
-According to our native Nankingese tour guide, Nankingese people are known for always speaking their mind and being blunt (and she definitely did have her own opinions and wasn't afraid of voicing them).
-according to my bro, Chinese tour guides probably all majored in marketing because they all like to give us hardcore advertising before we reach a specialty store. Today we learnt about the benefits of jade (Chinese specialty #3).
-we passed by a dental clinic in Wuxi called Aiya dental clinic. The direct translation is "love your teeth" dental clinic but it also is the sound one makes when in pain. Love the pun.
-Chinese specialty #4: Chinese Zisha teapots. Despite its name, apparently the green ones are the most precious. No hardcore marketing this time which made me more inclined to make purchases. Maybe it was reverse psychology. We also learnt that the Chinese character for tea consists of the words grass and 88. It means drinking tea will let you live till your 88 i.e. giving you longevity. Cool eh? I love how Chinese characters have so much meaning embedded in them.
-note to self: need to bring card key envelop and swim caps to swim in Chinese hotels or at least the hotel we stayed at tonight... After 10 minutes of conversation with the hotel staff in mandarin and 2 elevator trips, guess my plans to go swimming didn't work out as planned.
-almost end of the trip: overall great cultural trip and had the chance to interact with people of all ages using Mandarin, Cantonese, and English.

Journey to my roots: Day 6 (Suzhou-Nanking)

I don't think I'd ever get used to squatties because you've got to see the excitement on my face as soon as I see a stall with normal toilet bowls.

Chinese specialty #2: Went to the silk factory and learnt how silk is made. Living in a luxurious environment is a great catalyst for making luxurious purchases. Great marketing technique.

More watermelon??? Today we had the first meal in china where we did not have watermelon as our dessert! Didn't know watermelons were so popular here! (after note: this was the ONLY meal where watermelon was not served XD).

Nanking:
I've always felt that learning about the Rape of Nanking is a very emotional experience. And hearing about the incident from a native Nanking person and visiting the memorial site was definitely a heartfelt journey. Just listening to the stories gave me a great sense of discomfort. Imagine how I felt walking into the room with 10000 real corpses and seeing the tall tower with the word "peace" on it in the memorial site.

Next, tour of a garden 留園 - the garden which has been passed down 3 generations. Because 南京看石頭，there were many artistic pieces of rock here.

Then we had dinner with more watermelon. Staying at Holiday Inn tonight but the quality is so much better than Canadian ones. As an western franchise, they really try extra hard to add Chinese touches to their decor unlike the previous hotels we stayed at. Like my dad said: if you're already Chinese you don't need to wear Chinese clothes to look Chinese.

Ended the day by visiting a local night market! Authetic chinese experience minus the non bargaining vendors.

Journey to my roots: Day 5 (Hengdian-Suzhou)

Tidbits:
-People were right about bargaining especially in tourist areas. I was able to bargain something down to 25% its offered price today.
-canadian hotels should adopt the key-in-slot-for-electricity idea.
1. Save electricity.
2. Prevent misplacing keys.

-this is the most chinese food I've had in my life. 5th day straight of meals entirely of chinese cuisine and still counting.
-since when have I become so germaphobic. It's actually quite stressful to be a germaphobe. Good luck to all of you in conquering your fear.
-going on vacation makes you lose track of time. Took us 5 mins to figure out that it's Friday.

-Suzhou supposedly has the most beautiful girls in the country because of their beautiful skin.
-Suzhou is such a beautiful, big, and modern city. I love it!

Highlights:
1. Our tour guide buying us green bean popsicles when the heat was getting unbearable.
2. Times square light show

3. Grand Metro hotel - one of the nicest hotels I've been to. 6 stars according to the tour guide. Is that even possible?

Journey to my roots: Day 4 (Hangzhou - Yiwu - Hengdian)

Highlight: chinese specialty #1-tea farm! Got to taste AA and emperor grade green tea here and learnt a lot about tea. Awesome guide with and great sense of humour!

Lowlight: hotel. I'm sorry but with my keen sense of smell, this doesn't cut it.

Weirdest experience: went to the Hengdian's Chinese-style Universal Studios and noticed something must be wrong when I saw everyone with a bucket. Watched a show which started like some Chinese opera but then water started flooding the arena. Rave music plays then people started splashing each other with water using their buckets...wow...quite the experience. So that's what young kids do here to entertain themselves.

Journey to my roots: Day 3 (Shanghai - Hangzhou)

Yes. I will start with day 3 because apparently day 1 and 2 consists of travel time and the time difference. Actually, day 2 was notable because we found dinner for less than $2 cad per person! The hotel in shanghai is pretty nice considering they provided us with a ionizing hair dryer! I should really invest in one of these. They're awesome!

Ok day 3.
Highlight: Sung dynasty musical - with real horses, rain on the audience, moving seats, beautiful performers and extravagant sets, it can't get any better than this.

Fun facts:
- Hangzhou is supposedly the city with some of the prettiest girls in China.
- you are not supposed to call girls xiao jie here. It means prostitute. Use gu niang instead.
- there are a lot of trees in Hangzhou; hence, 杭州看樹頭
- they have a bixi bike service here! Get on it vancouver!
- umbrellas symbolizes love here stemming from the white snake tale. If someone offers you an umbrella here and you take it, it means you have accepted their love :)

Decision-making

I decided to do something in the spur of the moment, but now, weeks later, only to find it has led to troubles. I did not foresee this. Many times in life, we have to make instant decisions. Some turn out to be good, others bad, but those experiences build who we are today. I choose to learn from them. And next time, I would think a bit more about the ripples of a pebble thrown into a pond.

~ Kay

Regrets

It's probably impossible to live a life without regret, without detours, without wasted time. We just have to face this reality. We just have to accept that life can't be perfect and shouldn't get bogged down by its little imperfections. At times of accidents, we can always blame ourselves for doing something to prevent it, but hindsight is always 20/20. If we could predict all outcomes of our actions, life would be too easy. By being bogged down on the little blips in life, we are wasting even more of our life. What's important is that we learn from our little mistakes and to move on. These regrets represent sunk costs. We can no longer do anything about them. What we can do is to make the most out of what were the consequences of our decisions - either good or bad.

"Forget regrets, or life is yours to miss" - from Jonathan Larson's "Rent"

Change for the better

I promise to be a nicer person from today forward.

Change?

I can feel that I'm changing. And I don't know if it's a good or bad thing.

Set your goals today

I realize when I set a goal, even though I don't get there right away, I'm bound to get there someday. What helps is when I set smaller goals for that big goal. Accomplishing the smaller goals not only makes me feel I accomplished something, but it also makes me feel even better inside when I know that it will lead me to the ultimate goal. So folks out there, if you're not already doing so, please set goals (and smaller goals) to help you reach your potential. Write them down, as doing this would carve the message into your subconsciousness and you'd just end up finishing the day to find that you had indeed accomplished something meaningful to you, and had not wasted the weekend watching re-runs.

Cheers,

Kay

Satisfaction

Sorry for the hiatus from my little blog here. I would usually say it's because I'm busy but to be honest, it's because I didn't feel there was anything I wanted to write on here for the past few months. And here I am again. Reading some notes which I got from a very dear friend as a present last year has inspired me to write this post here tonight. I cannot guarantee that I will continue posting here on a regular basis but I just suddenly had an urge to post something, so here goes.

I was wondering why is it that a lot of us like to focus on what we do NOT have, what we did NOT achieve, instead of what we DO have or what we DID achieve. It's quite a shame that some of us are never satisfied with what we have or what we have achieved. I find myself getting stressed out at the end of the day because I feel like I haven't completed everything that I have to do. But then again, was it reasonable to have expected myself to complete all those things in one day? Maybe, or maybe not. By having that expectation to never having a blank to do list is not reasonable. There will always be things to do and goals to work towards. Once I'm done with what I have to do today there will be more tasks I have to add to my to do list tomorrow. It's only normal. We shouldn't stress. Set reasonable goals and then at the end of the day, take note of what we've accomplished and not what we have YET to accomplish.