In Chinese, they say your life will transform in the year of your birth sign. 2005, the year of the rooster, did turn out to be a critical year in my life. At this juncture, 2005 was the year with lots of the transitions happened , and luckily some really smooth ones. What did 2005 mean to me? All these items can be another essay. I am keeping them down just as footnotes.

Good news:
Our father survived his third stroke. I hope he has time and energy to think about what else he needs, and what he should ask for.
My next door neighbor Diane and her whole family came back their Dublin home untouched after spending the whole 2004 holiday season in Sri Lanka. They changed their plan from going to the beach to hiking with Lawrance's family in the hill. Otherwise, they would be either on one of the train that Tsunami hit, or on the beach.
Amelia came back home from her two ER stays and still is such a healthy and happy angel.

People and dialoug:

證嚴上人 :
"The good wills are like the little stream (清流). The greeds and those other thoughts are like Tsunami."
"要有『如同身受』之感──把世界當作自己的身軀，眾生則是這身軀裏的細胞……」"

Dr. Chern:
"Our company don't lay off people because everyone has his value."
"In management, we can criticize hard, but shall not be judgemental."

Cousin Wen-Sheng:
"We are prepared for something that we have no idea of. You just need to make sure you are ready when the opportunity reaches you."

Gene Krantz:
"Taiwan was the most beautiful country I ever flew in."
"We had to use young people because most of the senior pilots believe they had seen everything in the sky."
"The success of Gemini and Apollo projects were because young people, talented, passionate, and with nothing to lose."

Sam Park:
"I drew what my heart told me, with my memory. They reflect my heart, just like your poems"

News across the globe
The review of globalization: Impact to the risky, low margin business segments. The cheaper the better?
The development of the EU constitution: EU countries are showing discrepancy. German's struggling economy. How accurate is our romantic feelings about EU?
The riot in France : A reality check for the so-called new Franch spirits, Franch awareness.
Democracy in Taiwan : People's voices are finally out.

Sports news:
Congress, MLB toughed up against steroid
Small ball teams met in the world series, not the $200million payroll New York Yankees.
And the White Sox won the first ring since 1917.

New exciting developments
I believed Father was able to hear, when I played his favorite music.
IPOD: Rediscovering my passion with music.
Revisit to the "Jazz at Pearl's" in San Francisco, my favorite landmark Jazz restaurant.
Sam Park's art pieces: Living in the Normandy style house with tour to Tuscany and Amalfi any time.
Our new remodeled living room, a place to hold the "Amalfi Twilight" and our christmas tree. A place to host our formal guests.
Friends: Family of Denise, Jing, Melonie, Christine, and Gloria's, our new Tri-Valley circle.

Best moment of the year:
My two hours stay with elder cousin, Wen-Sheng at 天池溫泉 .
where we had the most inspiring conversation outlooking the great 瀑布景觀.
We talked about family.
We discussed about our life.
He talked about music.
We discussed about different cultures.
We discussed about life and death.
It was eye opening day for me.

Worth mentioned moments
My summer visit to my dad's hospital room, and
All the parties at our house, capped by our New Year Eve party.