Holy Cow I'm Sleepy

Early bedtimes and lots of exercise for the last few weeks. Why am I still so sleepy?

Under Construction

I have been doing a little bit of renovating and am on a track to get my SH together. Blogging and twittering will begin again momentarily.

Recent goings on:

Hard at work.
Taking a time out on the drinking.
Cantonese class.
Playing piano.
One month til my first 10k!
Lots o reading.
Still addicted to the beach.
Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them.
How in the world did my Wildcats get to #18 in the BCS?

More tales to tell...

Faux-Hawaiian Weekend Staycation

I've been in a bit of a mood lately. I've hit a slump in the job. I'm still not used to working every day... forever... and so at times I do get very antsy. I like the feeling of a beginning, middle, and end, so for a job to just keep going every day... well, there's not enough interesting things going on and I'm needing to make up stuff to keep it interesting. It's fine. I know it will pass. The constant gloomy weather doesn't help either. I'm also distracted by plenty of good stuff. It's a funny time.

I know it's only been 2 months since I've gotten myself out of town, but that's roughly one month too long. When you live in 400 sq ft, when you work with only 3 other people, and since I've been a good person and have kept the socializing to a minimum... well, you kinda itch to get off the scene if you catch my drift. Did I also mention the weather is giving me the blues?

Saturday I joined Amy in her neck of the woods-ish. I hauled it out to Tung Chung, on Launtau island by the airport, to meet her for coffee. She told me to come prepared for whatever could be in store for us later, so I brought my harmonica. From door to door it took me about an hour, but only a 30 minute train ride. I don't mind heading out there every once in a while to get out of Central. And I always enjoy gabbing it up with Amy. I don't see her enough. She usually enjoys a coffee on Saturdays while Aaron plays soccer.

When the boys were done with soccer, we headed back to A Team's house. They live just across from the beach and the boys still had enough time to catch some waves. Because of that typhoon in China or Taiwan or wherever that was, the waves were pretty decent! This is a rare occurrence and everything lined up nicely.



It was wonderful wonderful wonderful. We refreshed ourselves back at the house and spent the rest of the evening gabbing and singing to a guitar and throwing back some cold beverages. It was nice to enjoy each others' company and we didn't even get to playing Rock Band! We played a little poker, had some philosophical discussions, and passed the F out. Amy made a wonderful fritatta breakfast the next day and we went to the beach for one final round before kicking the weekend to the curb.

Because we weren't really doing anything, the weekend seemed a little bit longer, but never long enough. The hospitality dished out by our lovely hosts the A Team was so great it really felt like we were on vacation.

Once again, by this post you would never have guessed I live in Hongkers.

I Live Where?

I just took a look at the previous post and picture. You would never guess I live in Hong Kong. But that's just one of the many reasons why I like it so much.

When it Rains, Baby Showers

Mums to be in order of due date! Emily, Janie, Nadia and Andrea.

It's August and the weather is nothing but hot and humid with showers!

A hot and humid dense metropolis is not the most comfortable place to be in. Especially when you don't have a car (a/c) and have to haul it around town. I hate showing up to places dripping, makeup sweated off, and hair matted to my face. It doesn't help that it's been raining a lot lately and ruining all chances of beach weekends. We've had a couple of typhoons and an amber rainstorm recently, but nothing timed well enough for us to get a day off of work :(

I'm getting a bit restless. I'm overdue for a trip out of town!

Things are pretty normal. Work, piano, gym, veg in front of the tv, shower rinse repeat. I haven't been sick in nearly 2 months and it feels great. And now I've gotten myself back into a good routine!




The above picture is an easy night catching up with my mates at Cochrane's: Amy, Ali, Jeff, and Liz. I see Amy every now and again but not nearly as much as I would like. And everyone else I don't think I've seen outside of book club, so we are long overdue for a happy hour. It's a bit difficult with conflicting schedules and everyone living all over the place. You understand.



Then came Emily's baby shower. It was intimate and sweet. Since I actually don't know Emily that well, I took a peek on to her Facebook to see what she likes. She's very girly, is having a girl, loves pink, loves things that sparkle, and loves food. Cooking, baking, eating, everything. I found this great kitchen shop called Pantry Magic near my apartment and bought her loads of red and pink kitchen goodies. And also found a little cooking kit for the baby! It had a mini rolling pin and everything! So, a gift for mum and a gift for bubs.

It was a great day. No games. Good company. The host's mum was so sweet and completely in love with me. Such a lovely lady. We pigged out on cupcakes and savory muffins, and I had loads of champagne.

This baby shower and hanging with this crew put me in check. Most of my friends here are my age-ish, bankers, lawyers, ridiculously successful, and know how to live the high life. One of my dear friends recently ended a relationship of 6 weeks... which was a decent amount of time for him! A few are in relationships, none are married, none with kids, and we like it that way. But this is not how the rest of the world works.

My other circle of friends, Cathay Pacific pilots, wives, GFs, families are much more grounded (ha), but even then it's a different lifestyle than... I don't even know. I don't know what's normal. I come from TV. But man o man is this crew a fertile bunch!! At Em's shower, 1 gal had a baby and 3 more gals were expecting! More champagne for me!

For the record, out of this circle of friends I'm the only non-Cathay wife, and the only American. Represent! Everyone's Aussie, with a couple Canadian's sprinkled in.

And while we're talking about Aussies...

Breakfast is breakie. Drink is bevvie. Champagne is champers. Stroller is pram. Crib is cot. Herbs is said with the 'h.' Mom is mum of course. and everyone has a nickname.

The following Sunday I went to another baby shower!



This was my first trip to Discovery Bay. Kinda Stepford and as suburban as it gets in Hongkers. People call it Dogs and Babies because that's where you go to have them.

Mum-to-be Janie does not know the sex. I saw the nursery last week and it's filled with a lot of red. She loves red. So I knitted little "Wilbury" a red beanie! And got a cushy black and white and red book too. There was one more expecting mum at Janie's shower! I'm not drinking the water, but I'll have another champagne thanks!

Babies babies and more babies! On Monday, I was told by my college bud that he is also expecting!!! OMG!! I know tons of people having kids but this is the first of my inner crew. OK technically Tess was the first baby but that's a different ballpark. THEN yesterday Meredith tells me that Melissa is expecting AND due on Saturday!! Holy shitballs.

Please pass the champagne. The weather is treacherous!

End of July Catchup

Where have I been? What have I been doing? I don't even know, but it's time for a proper catchup. Lorelei and I have exchanged a few emails lately, which is a treat because she and I are usually best in person. She said she loves my pics and loves my writing... and since she's not the first or second person to say that I will try harder with both the pics and the writing.

SUMMER'S HERE!
Why is summer so beloved? I don't actually like the heat, but there's something about summer that's really special. People are outside, we're getting vitamin D, everybody's happy. Last year I was at the beach every weekend except one during a typhoon. But this year, even though the weather is much milder than last, the weather has been completely crappy on the weekends. Like right now, I see blue skies and sunshine as I sit in my office. But come Friday night, a rainstorm or typhoon will roll in. Some China conspiracy i'm sure.

Last week we had a very special occurrence, a solar eclipse! Here we only got 70% darkness, so mid morning looked more like the end of the day. Kinda cool but easily missed if you had no idea it was going down. I saw tons of idiots looking straight into the sun. I'm sure they saw a whole lot. I snagged this picture in a reflection of the sun from the building across the street from the office. Genius!

WORK?
Yes, I'm working normal hours on the normal days doing normal things. I like having a regular paycheck but I don't like only getting paid once a month :( Thinking that I'll only get paid 12 times a year is pretty sad.

PLAY?
I guess I've been less active on the old blog here because of Facebook. I love Facebook but I can't neglect my blog. By know you should know what I've been up to. Drum jamming, Kopi Luwak drinkin, junk riding, champagne and baby showers!

Everything else?
It was probably around this time last year that I named 2008 the year of the Douchebag. It wasn't even excessively douchey, but there was just something special about last year. But early this year I insisted that this would be the year that we got our groove back. It took us a little while but I believe that my call was right. I haven't been sick for more than a month. This is great because I think I was sick every 10 days for the first half of the year. But things all around are changing and I'm incredibly optimistic. Or really stupid, or maybe both.

Getting our groove back 09!

When It Rains, It Pours fo sho

Things are busy busy busy busy!!

And good. This is job security in rough times people.

It's good all around. Although there are some moments when I am close to flipping out, somehow I manage to get by with just a few more gray hairs.

A few weeks ago I was on a family vacation in Italia! It was great to hang with my family outside of our normal digs. We ate like madmen and still somehow shed pounds. We spoke decent Italian (which is strange that I can't speak a lick of Cantonese after a year and a half) found some great fashions, got in touch with our Catholic side.

Then I returned to a pretty tumultuous time in the office. Nutty, but it keeps us on our toes and makes the day FLY by.

My social life has been waning because I'm sick ALL THE DAMN TIME. But there's good stuff somewhere in there I swear.

Shoot me an email sometime. I miss your ass.

Love Letters, Hate Mail: Tiananmen Square 20th Anniversary Edition

Hong Kong, I am proud of you today.

There are plenty of things I could call you. Spoiled. Apathetic. Self-centered. A sellout. Abrasive. Vain. Sneaky. Ill-mannered. And while I do believe all those to be true, last night restored my faith in the place I now call home.

The divide between Mainland China and Hong Kong is a tricky one. And I think they like it that way.

Let's assess. Since the handover in 1997, Hong Kong was deemed a Special Administrative Region of China. They say something like one country, two systems, but this is definitely not the case. I have a Hong Kong ID, I have a Hong Kong work visa, I work for a Hong Kong company. Nothing to do with China. I do have an expired China visa, and yes, that means I have to get my passport stamped every time I go into China for work. And Americans are not easily allowed entry into China. On the flip side, Mainlanders are not easily allowed into Hong Kong. There is some kind of quota so HK is not overrun with Chinese... and you wonder why there are still tensions!

Hongkongers don't want to look like Mainlanders anyway. I can sometimes tell the difference between them. They don't even speak the same language, which is an additional headache for me because I now have to attempt to learn 2 crazy languages. They drive on different sides of the road. They have different toilets. And if you were born a Hongkonger, you can never work for the Chinese government. They just don't trust you.

And yet, when I waited at immigration for my visa renewal, the place was packed with Mainlanders who obviously wanted their child born the a better place.

Let's take a look at another stark difference. Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. Days before this anniversary China had blocked access to Twitter and Hotmail and any search or mention of Tiananmen Square. How can they do this, and how can a government deny the event, access, and information in this day in age? This is an ongoing oppression, not just a one time event. While peaceful and beautiful vigils were held around the world for this anniversary, it was business as usual in China. You would never have guessed anything of significance occurred on this day.

So as best we could on "Chinese" soil, we gathered in Victoria Park.


I may have only been 8 when this all went down, but I remember it. I remember seeing video and it struck me. Will I ever have enough courage and conviction to leave this world a better place?

Last night's vigil was orderly and peaceful, and didn't even have much police presence. There were a lot of younger people there which gave me hope that this generation may actually give a damn. We even made ABC Nightly News!

People are worried that our freedom in Hong Kong will be taken away and will become more like the Mainland. How can we possibly allow this to happen?

Love Letters, Hate Mail: Officially the Best Chinglish Name Yet

I was looking at the invite list for this beach party on Saturday and came across

SANDY POON.

Love Letters, Hate Mail: The Weekend

Everybody's working for the weekend. It's true. This one was so good I bought this bottle of Grey Goose!


The hot weather is here (gross) and so is the rain and humidity (double gross) so to escape the heat we sought shelter at the russian ice bar.

As refreshing as that was, we didn't last very long there. Sadly we thawed out right away and kept searching for the cool.



Saturday, we pre-partied while watching COPS (awesome) and walked right around the corner to a bday party at M1NT.



Cheers to you weekend. Come around again soon.