It has been a good day today.

I mean, I expected something to happen, it didn’t, so I should feel disappointed. But I am not. I just felt relieved. Relieved in a weird way, because I am not at a point that I can fully relax (for example, I wish to go to a float tank session soon, but I bet my mind will go crazy in there if I go now with my unsettled mind).

Nonetheless, I also realise I can hack how I feel by adjusting my expectation. You see, the classic service satisfaction model states that satisfaction equals to the gap between perceived values and the expected value. If I can use my resilience to control my expectation to the lowest, then I’ll always have a happy life.

Based on this gap model, I am able to stay very calm and smooth during the day today.

And perhaps for the same reason, I also have a very enjoyable evening as well. I am at Jac’s school for his string orchestra concert, and I would say by far this is the best school orchestra I have ever encountered. The orchestra at the old place provided me a very effective reference to boost up my satisfaction here tonight. I am glad that we are here but not there.

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Why we are here?

This is always the biggest and deepest questions that we are trying to avoid to answer.

Seriously, what if the answer is “Nothing”?

How can you tell? You cannot. I have tried to answer Chester this question myself the other day. My answer to him is simple. Just like Buzz Lightyear won’t have a clue that he is merely a toy if he is still in the game, or Neo is still Mr Anderson until Trinity broke him free. The catch is, you will know if any only if you have left the game.

I am trying to jot down the log as it goes. Just in case one day I leave the game but for some reason my consciousness links to this world would still be working, then I know where to show off my proof to the being at the next dimension.

Let’s get started. Feel free to join me.

And I can promise you that my log tomorrow would be more funny and joyful. Stay tuned.

Why Alley-oop?

In a basketball game, one of the most fascinating moves would be the “Alley-oop” performed during an assist-dunk situation.

Most often, the camera would be shining on the dunker rather than the assistor, because the mid-air gestures while dunking are usually way more interesting. Besides, afterall, he is the one whole has scored.

However, I want to be the one who is assisting the alley-oop instead of the one who is scoring it. Not just because I don’t want to be on the camera, but also because I believe this is a more meaningful but much harder/more challenging job; and thus more rewarding.

This blog would be from now on (1) tell my stories and journeys of how I have assisted others to score, and (2) provide more info/exp sharing as a mean of further assisting others to score even more.


2018, Happy New Year, Happy New Start

Happy New Year everyone.

As part of my new year resolution, after 1,284 days of halting, I am starting to write again, regularly (well, that’s the plan…).

I will explain the reason for this change in the coming days. But before that, let me introduce another simpler change prior to that bigger change: I have updated the English name of my site to “Alley-oop Station“, for the reason that fit my theme of the new year.

That’s it for now. I need to get on to my flight now. Cheers.

Layman Prediction of Worldcup





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American World Cup

Traditional Wisdom: If South American is the host, then South American has a higher chance in #WorldCup.

So far in #WorldCup2014, almost ALL teams from South American region go to the next round: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, except Ecuador, which is now 2nd in the group (but since they are facing France tonight, although they have equal points as the Swiss, their chances are slimmer).

You might say, what about Honduras? In geography, you are correct, but in FIFA, they are counted as the member of the North and Central American region, which is the same group with USA, Costa Rica and Mexico. And yes, most of them are in the next round (USA can proceed to next round as long as Klinsmann is able to at least get a draw from his motherland Germany).

South, North & Central American, combined 2 regions, out of the total 10 teams go to the World Cup, 7,8 or even 9 teams can make to the next round. Amazing.

How about other regions as a comparison? Europe seems bad, but they started with 13 teams, and still have Netherlands, France, Germany, Greece and Belgium. Swiss has a good chance, Russian needs to beat Algerian, and Portuguese has 2% chance. Nonetheless, it is still almost half of the region.

African and Asian are worse. Out of the 9 teams combined, it seems that the only reasonable hope is Algerian to beat Russian for one spot, and Iranian to fight the last spot with Nigerian (but they are not playing against each other).

Of course, the WORST region is the Oceania. There were 12 teams to fight for 0.5 spot. At the end New Zealand was the one, but they lost to Mexico at the play off game and so the region has zero presence in the Brazil 2014 (Australia is counted as Asian country now, just so that you know).

A Man Turning 40

Believe me. This is the 21st draft of the same article.

When you are asked to write a report about some other people / or company stuff, it is (relatively) easy. You just report it. Word by word. That’s it. You are done.

When you ask yourself to write something about your real self, for real, then it takes more than 30 drafts (I still got 9 spare) in order to get it close. Coz it is about YOU, coz it REALLY matters.

About ME. What is that latest about me? Within the past 4 months: I broke my leg. I travelled around the world (literally & physically) (and I’ve promised I will update you about that someday). I almost got killed by DVT. I quitted my job. I lost and then gained some weight. I’ve started a new venture. And I turned 40. All in an assorted order.

Depends on who you are, you might pick up a different focal point, all alarming. Say for example: turning 40. I still remember twelve years back when Jacky Cheung had that movie about Man Turning 40, and I was completely lost. Now I still don’t get those girls that he got in that movie, but I understand the feeling about that life stage.

Another point about quitting my job vs. gaining weight: I have to admit that I had proven the direct positive relationship between the relaxedness (without the crazy and nonsense job) and the weight.

But this is not the point. The point is… I don’t know… I just feel that it is all different now. It has to be different this time. A difficult time. Coz there is no other time. Coz this is 40.

What about 40 anyway? I know. you heard about 80/20 rules? You can apply this to anything. Everything. In this case, so, there is 20 something you can’t and you ain’t gonna control, so it leaves remaining 80 to you. 40 is exactly the half way. And if you draw a bell curve discarding that 20 outliner, then the point of “40” would end up to be placed at the peak.

So, what’s so wrong for being at the peak? Bad News. All things are going downhill from now on. What a shit feeling! So depressing. But you know what? I won’t settle with it. I won’t settle with this feeling. I am looking for something else. Something else from my family. I got my lovely wife, I got Jacob and Chester, and they are doing better than me. And it seems that it is meaningful to work towards them. So the curve goes up again, and again, and again, against the bell curve.

If I extend that logic to the outer world, the direction is that I am caring about the next generation in general . My mission is to enable + empower the next generation to do their best. (For example, let’s stop using Windows / Microsoft for the next generation…)

Suddenly, I feel so good about my future.

Hope you feel the same. Hope you will support me. Please. This is why I started KeptMe. Partly to help the next generation, and partly to save me from going down the depressing side of the bell curve. Tell me how you feel about this. Tell me if you buy in or not. And if you are, please send me your blessing. And if you don’t, please send me your comments. Appreciate it. Million Thanks.

五師兄字 — Because memories should live forever.

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