5-0 baby... and none of it's on my tv screen

"IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Northwestern's best start in 46 years was met with a fair amount of skepticism because of its weak schedule. After the way the Wildcats beat Iowa on Saturday, expect many of those doubters to become believers." --AP


Feel like I should trash talk or something. Um... we're even smarter than you! Suck that, the rest of Big Ten! Yeah, that should do.

Mongkok adventures

Still far from done seeing all the stuff there's to see in this city...

At the Flower Market. For reals, orchid plants for HK$25. FOR REALS!!? That's US$3. Yeah I couldn't stop freaking out. But here's proof:


Chestnut stall:

Aww... tuna fish buns, are you the cutest?:

Cheery statement might I write about this photo: "Old men and little girls alike explore Goldfish Market for the jewel-like pets that might double as lucky feng-shui home accessories":

More Wikipedia wisdom

"Shopping in Hong Kong has been categorized from 'social activity' to a 'serious sport.' It is an important part of the culture and a way of life. Few cities in the world can rival the experience from an economic, business or social standpoint. Hong Kong's culture is very much dominated by consumerism." - Wikipedia

This is one of the worst and best things about living in HK. Worst because there's so much superficial "stuff" to distract you. Best because there are crazy sales and cool products.

But I DON'T BUY STUFF. Really. "Stuff" annoys me. I "shop," as in walk around malls and streets and without buying anything. And I REALLY don't buy brands like Prada but I don't buy no-names either because they'll just fall apart or get nubby or not fit.

But once in a while I come across "crazy" sales and I go crazy. As in 70% off... which was true of the 5 things I bought last Saturday. I'm just walking around minding my own business when I come across... a scene of shoes and clothes flying everywhere... at what used to be one of my favorite stores (I.T. Sale Shop). It hasn't been my favorite lately because it hasn't been cheap enough. But it was cheap. And I bought three pairs of shoes for HK$930 or so.

OK I know the first and second pair look scary but they are REALLY nice on. I love Rebecca Taylor:

b + a b:

Venilla Suite:

SIGH...

Just let me write!

Because my underpaying job encompasses SO many extraneous duties, such as free acquisitions of pretty photographs (the source of much anguish), schmoozing, refereeing coworkers, among other things, in addition to churning out stories, it is SO FRUSTRATING...

My boss points out that I am great and all but am not great at schmoozing, "which is OK because it can be trained." Huh. I'd like to believe that schmoozing can be trained but highly doubtful. Maybe I need those self-help books on "stuff to bring up in conversation."

Current record: 4-0 (enjoying it while it lasts)

From Wikipedia:
"Northwestern's football team has a history of futility, as it holds the all-time records for Division I-A losses, points allowed, and negative point differential (amount opponents have outscored them by), and is on the losing end of the greatest comeback in Division I-A history. Northwestern also holds the record for the longest losing streak in Division I-A, 32 games."

That's how absolutely cool we are. Those are some darn impressive superlatives. LOVE IT.

O Canada... a blog about work

Funny. I have become Canada/Switzerland at work. My magazine only involves around 9 - 10 people, but the office politics, bad blood, and cat fights are exhausting and extreme. I really don't know HOW I got to this point in my life where I am exerting the most obvious symptoms of middle-child syndrome ever... HOW DID IT HAPPEN that I grew up to become pleasantly neutral and super accommodating in that I am the only person no one dislikes and everyone actually confides in AND can carry on a decent conversation with. I dunno, I think I turned out to be a rather "nice" person compared to all these girls I work with. I mean the way they go at each other behind their backs, it scares the crap out of me. I just nod and say "yeah I see what u mean, but she's not THAT bad a person really, just doesn't know what she's doing." Because it's true! They are all "nice" people (because they are to ME, so I know), just not to each other, u know what I mean? There's one girl who seems to hate EVERYONE except one other person and me, and I am surprised she gets on with me because I have the unenviable job of telling her what to do, and she's the type of person who doesn't like to be told what to do. This girl is even getting another new girl, who is sweet as can be and also only confides in me, fired soon! New girl accidentally found out they are hiring for her position.

This is exactly what my husband means when he says "any gossip from work? Your office should be all 'Ugly Betty', right?" Yes, just like at Mode.

Email I sent yesterday, responding to an email from an art teacher from my high school

Dear Mrs. Mayhew,

Thank you so much for including me in your survey; it flatters me to think that I was one of your promising art students. However, I don't think I qualify for the survey because I did not major in art, am not currently an artist, and do not live in the US. But here is a little story about me that I hope will substitute.

When I was at NMH, there were three major activities I participated in: art, choir, and the Bridge [school newspaper]. I did not do any of these things in college but seem to have resumed them after college. I majored in communication at Northwestern Univ. (which is not related to journalism at NU), and after graduation jumped from temp jobs to part-time jobs for about 1.5 years, as I still did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Then I got this crazy idea to start my own origami business, as in actually making simple things out of paper and selling them for money. No one thought it would work and I had doubts about its viability, but I knew I wanted to try, so I got started right away. Initial investment was about $600. Fast forward 3.5 years, I had completed huge origami projects for Tiffany & Co., J. Jill, Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Neiman Marcus, and hundreds of individuals through my online store. 2007 was one of the most fulfilling years of my life thus far because of all the business I got to slave over and my wonderful supportive customers. By the way, I never considered myself an "artist" by any means, just a crafter and businesswoman.

During this time I also sang in amateur choruses and took voice lessons, thinking that being a professional chorister would be the greatest job ever someday, since I didn't plan on doing origami forever. Then I suddenly had to move to Hong Kong this April and therefore close my business, which was actually fine because I was ready for something new. It's not easy being a one-woman production line, and copycats were creating a lot of competition.

I moved (back) to Hong Kong and found a job as editor at a magazine, which really means I literally write almost the whole magazine, and I love this desk job more than any I've had – which isn't saying a lot… but anyway I am grateful for all the art teachers, Sheila Heffernon (choir) and Jim Block (newspaper) for pushing me and preparing me for not being a banker, because to me, [banking] is a fate worse than unemployment!

Here is the link to my old business, which has some photos of what I had done.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to spell this all out, that this is what I gained from NMH.

Sincerely,

Finally did it! Woo hoo?

I decided to open the Nano. Because they are packaged so pretty it's gutwrenching to tear it all apart, geez wish they wouldn't make it so sterile-looking. It took me forever (OK maybe 10 min) to figure out iTunes and stuff. I mean it's not THAT user friendly. Seriously. First I was like HUH how come no music? But then realized it's b/c I chose "HK" as my location so I switched to US. Then I thought crap it's so hard to decide what music to buy, esp album vs individual songs, so after like 1.5 hr I gave up and downloaded a CD, just temporarily. One thing at a time ok come on now. Decisions, decisions.

Tried to open an iPod over the weekend

but failed b/c I couldn't decide between the Touch and Nano, because someone (eh hm steve)keeps telling me how much it'll be worth in 50 yrs or sthg if I don't open one of them, and er I feel weird using the Nano when I have the shiny Touch... butI don't know if I need the whole video function of the Touch. When will I ever sit down and start watching a video?? I like that the Nano is small. BUT... this really complicates thing... the Nano has been opened and the box is somewhat destroyed when I had to cut out the bar code to get the rebate. So the whole "worth a lot in 50 yrs" argument will not apply. SOooo... whatevs I'll just open both.

Miss this big time

Football season.

Which is the definition of fall halfway around the world.

... but this is what I really meant to blog about

why I miss Evanston. The cold. And the spring. And my apartment that was a great vantage point to witness the cold and the spring. And fresh air. All put together. So it's walking outside and breathing fresh cold air in the winter and grassy cool air in May, and being able to see it from my window.

And the Northwestern Library and Evanston Library. Yup.

I don't miss this.

I thought I would hate being around HK people, who are always in a big hurry but still always late, frugal with smiles, trend followers, etc. among other things. But HK people have made me realize how much I can't deal with Americans' sense of entitlement and rudeness. Just because your mom told you you're special doesn't mean u're better than everyone else and are allowed to be rude. And seriously, why is service in the US so bad??? I mean this is like the perennial impossible-to-understand question. I am referring to some people in retail, people who work at McDonald's, FedEx Kinko's, Starbucks, 99% of customer service representatives especially (credit card, banks, cell phone, anything important, it's so very baaaad). They are rude, take FOREVER, and don't know sh*t about anything, rendering themselves completely useless. It's SO DUMB!

In contrast, people here know even the most minute of details about their products, are efficient (which goes along with the "always in a hurry" HK characteristic), and fake smiles which I much appreciate because I don't deserve a scowl! I understand if you are actually in a bad mood but not only does the customer not deserve your wrath but you are getting paid to put on a good face for your company. Grr. Paid. Money. Not to be pissy.

Rant end.

Grave Injustice!

The grave injustice of the day is...
Whenever I beat my husband at tennis (which is at least 50% of the time), no one believes it.