samtsai.com

Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds. Scientists are delaying the start of 2006 by the first “leap second” in seven years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth’s rotation.

The adjustment will be carried out by sticking an extra second into atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight Coordinated Universal Time, the widely adopted international standard, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology said this week.

source: Yahoo

I’m sure all of us know we have leap year every 4 years. How about a leap second? It occurs every 7 years. So, everyone has one extra sec to live. What would you do for this one extra sec?

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Today is New Year’s Eve, but school starts on January 3, so I decided to come back from Vancouver to Edmonton today. As expected, there isn’t any snow on the ground, which is good. This time I carried 2 pieces of luggage and 2 carry-ons. They were stuffed with my favorite foods and foods that my mother has prepared for me. They were heavy! Good weather was definitely helpful for carrying the luggage on the street.

Since 10pm last night till this morning flight at 9am, I didn’t sleep at all, because I wanted to finish the Korean TV series that my father has video-taped this summer 2005. That Korea TV show is called 대장금 「大長今」. That TV series is a romantic story and very popular in many Asian countries. There are many scenes that deeply move me. I tried to finish the show, but it has too many episodes and I didn’t finish it. I think I’ve finished ¾ of it within 2 weeks during my stay at Vancouver home, so I don’t think I miss much. I watched it upto the point where 大長今 found out her mother’s friend, as well as the last 6 episodes.

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Here was what we ate on Christmas Eve. Traditional Chinese hot pot with lots of fish balls, seaweed belts, shrimps, vegies, rice noodles, gold needle mushrooms & other chinese types of mushrooms, fish, grilled pork, champagne, red wine, etc.

Originally my dad wanted to have Alaska crabs, but all the other family members didn’t want it. It’s too inconvenient, and hands get messy too. So, we cancelled the idea. Replace it with hot pot.

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Tomorrow is boxing day…heeheee. Can’t wait. I’m thinking about getting a new suit. I think I should get one because I’ve been wearing the same suit over and over again since my study at UofA dental school.

Strangely, no one seems to find out I wear the same suit every time. Maybe I change my necktie, so the suit looks a bit different.

Last night my family had a grand dinner. We’ve been celebrating so many times since I came back home.
First, a grand dinner on the day I arrived home.
Second, a grand dinner on Winter Solstice with green tea pearl soup.
Third, a hot pot grand dinner on Christmas Eve.

Gee, at this rate, I’ll be fat for sure. Actually I’ve gained 1kg already since the day I came back…that’s just one week. 1kg/week! My gosh….

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Today is Winter Solstice—the longest night of the year. In my family, we celebrate winter solstice with “pearl soup” or a bigger version of bubble tea. In Chinese, it’s called “tong yuan” or 湯圓. Winter solstice is always near Christmas, so while Chinese people celebrate winter solstice, western people celebrate Christmas.

The above picture shows the green tea pearl, the green ball in the picture—hmm…yummy yummy yummy. Never try the green tea pearl soup before. Gotta try. As you may know, anything related to green tea is very likely from Japan. I don’t know how Japanese call it or write it. I guess it with トンユン. Perhaps I should ask my brother-in-law, who is a Japanese.

So, why do we eat 湯圓? I’m not sure either, but it’s sure yummy. I’m guessing that perhaps the pearls in 湯圓 look rounded, so maybe it’s implicated with a blessing “Have a smooth, round year with everything going well”. That’s my 2 cents.

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