512, 64, and 8+26

Last night when we were at a group gathering at church, the facilitator asked us to write down on a little piece of paper what had been occupying our minds/ hearts recently.

I wrote the list of numbers: 512, 64, and 8+26.

And here's the decoded message:

512 - the heartbreaking earthquake in Sichuan Province that took place on 12th May.

I think I don't have to elaborate on this here, because I have written about it in this blog space.

64 - the June 4 Massacre that took place 19 years ago in Tian-an-men Square (The Gate of Heavenly Peace).

I was staying in the computer lab for most of that week to complete the end of year project, and was totally cut-out from the rest of the world.

When I emerged from the lab, it was June 4 and the massacre hit me without prior warnings.

I was shocked, to say the least.

It was then that I came to the realization that this is my country and my people.

I started a magazine 甦（更生）to raise awareness about our country among the HK students in our university. At that time, because of budget and technolgoy limitation, it was done by hand and photocopied for distribution...

And I helped raise funds and also joined the protest rally in Sydney.

After engaging so much in the event, how am I ever going to forget about it?

Let the 'press' or 'surveys' say whatever they want to say about people forgetting about this event. I am not going to forget.

It is an integral part of the Chinese history and should NOT be forgotten, or even played down...

8+26 - This is a phrase in Japanese for scolding (Bakayaru 馬鹿やる)

I really want to say this to one of my colleagues in Japan.

He is supposed to be our liaison with the local vendor, but he forgets that he is hired by our company, not the vendor.

He rejects requests to the vendor even before the vendor say anything.

He is never up to speed on the company's policy.

He always communicates wrong information to the vendor and gets the vendor very confused when the rest of the team tries to provide the correct information.

In short, he is not just non-productive, he is counter-productive.

ARGHHHHH