A Video Tour Around ShaTin and Back Home Again

A Video Tour Around ShaTin and Back Home Again

Location In the back of my mind, I sometimes find myself thinking that friends and family back home would never believe stuff about life over here in Hong Kong. I could use hundreds or even thousands of words, but that would not do it justice, so instead I have decided to give you a video tour of my commute into town. Location is very important for people here in Hong Kong. The price you pay for an apartment takes into account its location and how far it is from public transportation like the MTR (HK subway). My apartment is about…
White Stone is Beautiful but Not Perfect

White Stone is Beautiful but Not Perfect

There’s water, hills, lots of sunshine, blue sky with white puffy clouds, and wild life. I won’t try to tell you that it’s picture perfect. It’s not, but at least it is natural. They didn’t bring in fake grass to try to fix the brown grass. Sometimes in life we forget that many things are beautiful but not perfect. Nature has a way of reminding us of this. I think it took me about an hour to get to White Stone from my home in ShaTin. I left about 10 minutes to 7am, as I knew it was going to…
Stay Young Make Time to Play

Stay Young Make Time to Play

There is so much that could be said about the importance of play. Adults miss something when they haven't had enough play in their childhood. They can become too regimented almost like machines. No one wants to become this way, but life, relationships, and work can have a way of hardening us. We have to be tough to make it in the real world. Right? I think like Christopher Robin (from the movie Christopher Robin) sometimes we need to defeat our own heffalumps. Stay young make time to play Heffalump Christopher Defeats the Heffalump I love the section of Christopher…
My MacLehose 4 Video and the Back Story

My MacLehose 4 Video and the Back Story

Yeah, I showed a video of this trail once before. I think it is my favorite trail. This one is a bit different because I got a gimbal and decided to try running on the trail. It’s only a small section of the trail so don’t worry. I think it is the prettiest section. Students at my school were taking their end of the year exams. So we had half days. Just before I left the school to go to the trail one of my colleagues cautioned me that it might rain. I decided to bring protective water proof bags…
Automatic Settings Can Ruin Your Footage

Automatic Settings Can Ruin Your Footage

I shot this Around the School video using 24 frames per second because I wanted it to be more cinematic. It was a sunny day, but I didn’t want to shoot in complete manual mode because I knew that I would be going in and out of the school. I figured let the camera adjust for the changes in light and shutter speed on its own. Well that was a mistake that can ruin your footage. I’m leaving it up here for 2 reasons. One the lesson it teaches and two the content is still good. Shoot Manual It’s worth…
Maclehose 7 Rain or Shine

Maclehose 7 Rain or Shine

Not long after I first heard of the MacLehose hiking trails, Tracy told me that they stretched across Hong Kong from Sai Kung all the way to Tsuen Wan. That sounded really cool to me, but it seemed like a distant piece of information to me. Well, in an effort to explore and get to know the trails that are right around me in ShaTin, I decided to hike to the MacLehose trail from the Lutheran Seminary in ShaTin last Sunday. Rain or shine was going to do it. I went online to find out that it would take me…
The Right Camera

The Right Camera

The right camera is the camera you have with you. Not the camera you let at home because it was too big. My Panasonic GX7 m2 (in the US it's the GX85) isn't really that big. It fits in a large coat pocket, but I would need to limit myself to a pancake lens. Hong Kong is warm or hot most of the year so wearing a coat isn't really a possibility for me. As an alternative, I tried using a fanny pack. The fanny pack allows me to take the camera with a lens hiking or anywhere else. Still…

Is it Wrong Not to be Happiness?

Recently I watched a YouTube that caught my attention in it, Dennis Prager said that Happiness is a Moral Obligation. I was struck by the strength of his words and by what seemed like a contrast between what I had read from Murray Bowen concerning happiness. As I continue to listen and read, I realized that they weren't really contradicting each other. I think both would agree that happiness is good. We all need to be happy, but happiness or pleasure should not be chosen as an end in and of itself. Rather it should become a byproduct of a…
Riley Can’t Be Done with Me

Riley Can’t Be Done with Me

It seems that where every you go, whatever you do, or whoever you talk with COVID19 is everywhere. In fact, lots of people are not going anywhere, they are just staying at home. These are desperate times. Lots of people are out of work. They can’t afford even afford the basics they need for everyday life. People are stressed. For the last several weeks now I have been making power points, worksheets and some videos for my Creative Arts class on Film Appreciation. I have enjoyed making lessons for Inside Out and can see a lot of parallels between it…
School Picnic and Students Who Never Climbed a Tree Before

School Picnic and Students Who Never Climbed a Tree Before

School picnics are fun. I am glad that I can still say this. I actually had no point of reference for them before teaching here in Hong Kong. Still I imagine that they are not fun for everyone. I was recently talking with a friend who said that she does not like BBQ - barbecue. She prefers to have food made for her and served to her without all the waiting time that typically accompany BBQ. Given that school picnics are about 100 percent centred around BBQ, I am guessing she doesn't care for them. Anyway it's a good thing…