Since it’s really hard to rent cars with automatic shift in Europe, I was thinking perhaps I should learn driving manual. Angela was actually willing to let me use her car and also gave me a driving lesson tonight. I practiced in the Lansdowne parking lot as it’s nice and open. The most difficult part is to be able to get the car moving. I should actually document some of the rules here before I forget:

• Press on the clutch to start the engine. Keep it in neutral
• Press on the brake and release the handbrake, keep the left foot on the clutch while switching to the 1st gear. Slowly press on the gas *while* slowly releasing the clutch at the same time
• Step on the clutch again and switch to 2nd gear when it revs up to ~3000RPM. Do the same to switch to the 3rd gear and so on
• To make a turn without stopping, go down to the 2nd gear and make the turn. If need to stop completely at the turn, go down to the first gear.
• To reverse, do the exact same thing as in the 1st gear except to put the shift in reverse
• When shifting gears, make sure to release the clutch *and* step on the gas at the same time, at the same rate. i.e. if releasing the clutch quickly, need to press on gas quickly as well.
• Always press on the clutch when the car is fully stopped
• To do a hard brake, press on clutch and brake at the same time.
• Optional: When stopped at a light, put the gas in neutral and then release the clutch, so you don’t have to keep foot on the clutch all the time
• DO NOT RELEASE THE CLUTCH without putting in any gas, it will STALL the car

I only stalled once today! Although it was a pretty bad one and I had probably freaked the guy in the car behind me… I want to try it again before leaving for the trip just to refresh my mind. I think I should be able to do it….hopefully!

So I’m at Chicago for work today. 4 hours flight, pretty good flight, with just a drink, not even snack. Walked around the city in the evening, checked out the Millenium Park, Marina City, Sears Tower…etc. Somehow I got really tired perhaps due to the flight as I hate sitting in a confined space. The Mariott hotel is decent though, got everything except for the toothpaste. Going to be a long day tomorrow full of meeting…and an even longer day day after…

Can’t really remember what I did in the past week except work. Well today I had a chance go for a photo walk with the flickr group again, it was pretty nice. Walked along China town and the Strathcona area. These places don’t really have anything super unique but that was the whole point - to be able to see/find things that don’t stand out and then be able to “make” photographes out of them. I had my Leica Summilux D 25mm f/1.4 on for the day, and thanks to the large aperture I had quite a few interesting shots.

Been listening to songs from band called Infected Mushroom lately. They are god-like. Their stuff is pure awesomeness. As I discovered more of their albums and compilations, I just couldn’t resist from playing them all day. It actually inspired me a lot in terms of creating music. I want to start writing songs again, was thinking to start last night but was too tired. Maybe tonight.

Have been busy as usual. This week I had to clean up the entire house as Wendy has friends coming over for her birthday party. Borrowed a carpet cleaning machine from her parents, took me two days to clean up the two sets of stairs - it was hard work, and my body is still stressed from that. At least the result is rewarding. Not to mention vacuumming the entire place and clean up all the dirt with the swiffer duster, cleaning up the counter tops and all the table surfaces with windex…etc.

Well, at least I got a tasty coconut to reward myself, while eating some tasty beef jerky…

Just beated the game in Normal difficulty! Took me just two days to beat it, lol (Andrew beaten the game in Heroic difficulty an hour earlier than I did though) The last two missions (10 in total) were really hard and I had to die quite a few times. Overall the game was really fun and I have to say the graphics and artwork are second to none. Super detailed and beautifully crafted “worlds”, with high quality rendering of the villians. The storyline was okay, not too much going on but the “Nobel Team” thing was a nice touch and I like how the spartans are numbered one thru six. The level I like the most is definitely the one where you fight in space - super pretty looking galaxy/nebula/planets and cool space stations. Navigating in space was easy and very enjoyable. I also like the level “New Alexandria” a lot. It’s pretty much an upgraded version of the “New Mombasa” city in Halo ODST. Futuristic buildings with life-like destructions going on in the background, very cool. I wanted to take screenshots however the game didn’t save the campaigns I played in the “Theatre” for some reason, kind of sad, as now I have to probably replay some level in another mode in order to be able to do screenshots. The ending of the game was okay, not super cool but I guess nothing is perfect (I didn’t expect to get killled at the end)

Learned a couple more dance moves for Cha Cha and Waltz today at the dance class. The new moves are hard! I had trouble understanding/memorizing some of them, although it seems to be adding more fun to the whole experience. Practice, practice.

Been a super busy week, working on this one crazy complicated project which I’m sure I’ve sacrificed a lot of brain cells on. Haven’t have time to work on my long list of to-dos including reading up my book about stock, reading my new photoshop techniques magazine, cleaning up the garage and my room, playing XBOX…and so on. In order to take a break from the never-ending work I went to the Iona Beach for a walk twice, it really helped sanitizing my brain and soul - especially when I get great photographers out of it. Summer is ending, and I hate it as I haven’t had a chance to do more barbeques and go camping. Looking foward to the African trip in Nov, I guess I really need a long break from all of this.

Oh, Halo Reach is coming in 3 days! Going to have to line up at Futureshop maybe 2 hours before midnight to make sure I get the free shirt. Not really sure if I’ll get it really, as big companies are notoriously known for over-promising and seriosuly I’m prepared for the worst