Looking for a Change?

Approaching that big birthday this year ... suddenly quite a few ideas come to mind ... in terms of what I want to do ... be it small things or big things like my career. To sum up ... I am looking for a change ... but then the definition of change, of course, is really vague and open ...

From a career perspective ... would be good if either (1) a big change in terms of getting out of the current field completely ... or (2) a small change be it finding a comfortable position and hopefully hide there till retirement.

Then again ... don't think (1) would happen ... unless that palm reading really comes true (plus I would have to win the lottery 1st prize to do what I dreamt of doing when I was a kid). And sadly, I somehow don't think there's anything like (2) waiting around for me (sorry, no such luck, again from reading my palm).

Guess that's one of the reasons I recently bought a portable digital piano ... I played a bit during my younger years but quickly and gladly dropped it when I started high school in US. Somehow, looking back, I kind of regretted it ... not that (honestly) I really enjoyed playing nor have the talent ... and somehow practicing and playing well never seemed to be a combination I like ... but it's actually a good feeling to know how to play an instrument (although if I have to choose again, I rather select violin ... at least that doesn't seem to take up as much space and is much more portable).

Well, needless to say, I don't remember much about how to play ... so guess have to start with those beginners Disney theme songs ... but hopefully by my birthday, I can play at least one of those pop songs.

What's next? Good question ... I hope I have an answer too ...

ONJ in Concert Part 2

As promised ... some photos from the great show ...

ONJ in Concert

This is the 3rd ONJ concert that I've gone too ... and I'm so glad I did.

Regrettably, I did not go to the one when she was at her peak (the Physical tour) ... my brother went and took lots of photos ... I still "hate" him for not taking me ...

The first one I went to was in Los Angeles ... the first "comeback" concert after a long hiatus (after her breast cancer ordeal) ... I paid US$140 for it ... and went with my Aunt Dora. I think I was at the 14th row or something like that ... it was a great show, except for the part that my video camera was temporarily confiscated. The clips would have been really great ... and I kicked myself for not changing tapes in the middle ...

The second one was the last concert she had in Hong Kong ... it was at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. It was also a great show ... and I remembered towards the end, everybody got up and started singing and dancing along with her ... the song was Twist of Fate. However, my only complaint was that the sound system there was not very good ...

Thus, I was so glad that she has this Apr 15 show at the Colliseum. Thanks to my friend, we got seats at the 5th row towards the center ... she sang beautifully as usual. Some of the songs had a new arrangement, and they were even better than before. One of my surprise favorites was "Physical" ... a jazz version. She even joked that it's an "age appropriate" version, haha. She sang almost non-stop for 2 hours ... only stopping in between songs for a sip of tea. Too bad there's little chance that this would be out as a video ...

Will post some photos later ...

Oh Hell No!! Part 2

So unhappy ... blood sucking IRS ... found out that I cannot claim the IRA deduction ...

Oh Hell No!!!

It's very late ... I know ... but I cannot resist doing this very quick blog entry as I'm so.............. depressed after I drafted my US tax return (yes, I know too ... trying to do this at the very last minute was not a good idea). Under the wonderful new tax law, this year I have to pay almost DOUBLE ... yes, no kidding, almost DOUBLE of what I paid last year. And NO!!! I didn't really earn more (or it's neglectable).

Why? Well, used to be you can deduct the foreign income exclusion amount from your total adjusted income ... and then just apply the tax based on the tax table. This year, they give you a wonderfully complicated worksheet to calculate out how much you have to pay as if you do NOT get the exclusion ... and then somehow by some wonderful method to take out the portion that's excluded. In simple English, it means a much higher tax rate on the non-excluded amount.

There is some small hope ... the wonderful tax application suggested to immediately open a Traditional IRA account of $4000 (by Apr 17) ... and by doing that, can possibly save about $1100 of tax money. Of course, that means I would not see that $4000 for another 30 years (or at least 20 years) ... earning a super interest rate of less than 3% ... and paying a $30 fee each year if it's below $10,000 (needless to say, I am sure I have to add another $4000 or so next year to this IRA thing).

aiya ... so depressed ...