Help with Translation

Posted on May 14, 2007 | Filed Under Hobbies, Photography

Once upon a time, my father was given a piece of Japanese calligraphy by a family friend. He’s since forgotten what it means. Does anyone know what it says?

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On another note, I’ve figured out how to get Gallery to put all my reasonably good photographs in a single album.

Update: Here’s a translation, courtesy of Jenny:

Written in Chinese characters, it says “Setsu-getsu-ka”, which when literally translated means “Snow, Moon, Flower”. However it is a Japanese traditional saying synonymous for the four season’s greatest things. Its origin can be found in China. A notable Chinese poet, Bai Ju-Yi (772-846 AD) in Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) first used this phrase in his poem, which was well-known by the Japanese aristocrats of the Heian period (794-1192 AD).

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Posted on April 12, 2007 | Filed Under Hobbies, Photography

Last weekend, on my way up to Whistler, I stopped by the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival to take some pictures. I only had time to visit two fields, but it still looks pretty impresive.

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Skiing at Whistler

Posted on April 6, 2007 | Filed Under Hobbies, Skiing

This post is being written from Whistler, where my aunt and uncle have invited me to go skiing with them over the Easter long weekend. I’ve been here once before, but at the time I was very young and it was during the summer. Suffice it to say that Whistler is a lot more fun in the winter.

I spent most of today skiing on Blackcomb, and I’ve got to say that it’s been amazing. The runs here are several times longer than anything I’ve ever skied before, with a spectacular view. I did have a few wipeouts and managed to twist my knee in one of them, but it seems like I haven’t hurt myself too badly. Apparently I still have lots of room for improvement in my handling of moguls.

Hopefully I’ll be able to take a few pictures to post, but I’m still very nervous about skiing with my camera. I just don’t feel that it’s had much experience with falling down safely yet, especially not enough to try out any of the harder runs.

Inaugural Post

Posted on February 20, 2007 | Filed Under Hobbies, Photography, Skiing

I’ve had the intention of starting a blog on this site for the past few months. I wasn’t able to devote much time to it last term, due to an extremely busy semester at university. Now that I’ve gotten to Seattle, where I’m on an internship at Microsoft for the next several months, I have a lot more free time to devote to hobbies, like blogging.

Speaking of hobbies, last weekend I went skiing at Steven’s Pass with a few friends. The conditions on the slopes were very nice, much more so than what I remember from skiing in Ontario. There was a decent amount of powder on most of the runs, and it was only icy where novice snowboarders had scraped the slopes clean. I even took a few pictures to make everyone back home jealous.

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And if that’s not enough. here’s a few pictures taken on Microsoft’s campus. It’s beginning to look like the start of spring here. Some of the trees are even starting to bud. This picture is taken near the outdoor patio of the cafeteria where I usually get lunch.

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And, of course, the first flowers of spring are starting to appear.

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Ok, so they aren’t really flowers. Still, somebody went to the trouble of planting them around Woodhenge, so I figured I may as well take advantage of them. In the background of the picture, you can see the main entrance of the cafeteria.

All in all, I’m having a great time here, and I’ve been keeping very busy. There are tons of things to do in the area. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find the time to keep this blog relatively up to date.


Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported