An Average Day

It's time I get into the habit of blogging again, and now that Meredith is a fierce blogger I have to keep up with her now!

Since probably all of you never see me on an average day, here's how it goes. I wake up anywhere between 6:15 and 7:15, depending on if I have to wash my hair and how long it takes me to get out of bed. I hit my snooze for 30 mins. Its terrible and I could actually hit the snooze longer but my phone only allows 30 minutes. The snooze factor is something I've picked up from my parents and I absolutely hate waking up in the morning. Not only am I not a morning person, I'm actually 100% concentrated evil. If you dare talk to me I will surely yell obscenities.

I have to set two alarms because there's always that possibility that one will not go off (it was set improperly, battery died, etc) and also because I am in the habit of turning off my alarm when it goes off... but I am still asleep and then never wake up.

Immediately from my bed I hop in the shower. It's the only way to wake me up. After the shower I have a quick breaky, which is usually fruit, or iron fortified cereal with soymilk. I hate the taste of HK milk and have to drink soy, which isn't a big deal anyway cause I like it. Between 7:30 - 8:00 AM ABC nightly news is on, and I prefer it to watching CNN or god forbid, Fox News. I like it cause it's real American news and not international stuff that I don't care about. Ok, that's not true. It's just mostly that I care about dear USA, so I'd like to hear more about it. Kind of a drag not watching local news in the morning though, because I have no clue what's going on in HK! I wouldn't watch it anyway. Local news is so poorly done and some of the news anchors really bug me.

I eat my breaky, watch some news, check the email, do my hair and make up and try to get out the door by 8:00 AM. I walk a few minutes to the MTR station and on the way grab a local paper. That's how I'm caught up on the HK haps but really I still don't have a clue. Nor do most Hongkies anyway.

I take my blue line subway train one stop to the red line in central. I've been thinking about just walking straight to the central line. It would probably be about the same time anyway, and at central station I could stop by this good bakery deli place and pick up a yogurt and sandwich. I'm obsessed with their yogurt. It's greek yogurt. Tastes like sour cream. It's fab. Anyway, yeah, maybe I'll try walking straight to central station but not on a rainy day.

My commute is pretty simple. Walk to MTR station, train ride, walk to office, and that takes 30 minutes. And then starts my work day.

I have no idea how to explain what I do. I receive tons of emails. I deal with my head office in LA, the other office in Thailand where my boss is, our materials suppliers mostly in China, and our garment factories in Thailand, China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. So that's the merchandising side. There's also the office manager side (there are only 4 of us and since I'm the boss I buy the toilet paper), the HR side, the IT side, and often times I'm the cleaning lady too.

Last year I worked a lot. Even when I didn't have to. I stayed in the office very late just because I felt I needed to. My resolution this year was to work less. I mean, get the job done but be productive and leave at a decent hour so I can do other things and be happy and therefore a happier little worker the next day. So now I leave between 5:30 - 7:30. 5:30 pm on wednesdays so I can catch Pilates, but on other days it's more like the 6 pm range.

Oh, and I take lunch breaks now too! In our old office in Lai Chi Kok, we were in a very industrialized neighborhood with very few places that spoke English. My co-workers would have to order me food and I never knew what I was really going to get.

But now we are in a great neighborhood. Chances are if you've been to Hong Kong your hotel was in this hood. Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounced Chim Sha Choi, kinda) but since I'm a dumb gweilo I just say TST. Yes, it is kind of touristy with all the shops, hotels, but it has a spectacular view of HK Island. It's also more diverse here, everyone speaks English, and there are plenty of lunch options.

My lunch usually consists of Subway, a salad at CPK, something easy from a coffee shop, or a pizza and salad from Pizza Express. Those are my usual stand bys but like I said there's lots of options.

After work I will go to the gym across the street for kickboxing class (Tuesday), take a bus to Tai Koo Shing for piano lessons (Monday), dart to the gym close to home for Pilates (Wednesday), or just take the ferry home. The ferry takes 15 minutes longer than the train but it's a gorgeous ride through the harbor and puts me in a good mood. I essentially walk from my office to my apartment, except for the 6 minute ferry ride.

I might join friends for a dinner or drink, might hit the gym, or might sit around and watch tv. Tuesday nights I occasionally go to quiz night at a pub. It's a pretty big deal and people get super competitive. It makes me feel really stupid though because the questions are definitely not tailored for Americans, and the bulk of the crowd consists of Brits and Aussies.

That's my average weekday. I try to get to bed around 11 ish, sometimes don't make it until midnight or 1:00. And then there was that one time I got to bed with one hour to go before getting ready for work. It was not pretty, but they happen once every few years.