What I hate most in the world

When I say to myself, after work, "Wait, was I supposed to leave work just now? Crap. I hope no one's mad at me for leaving."

I love this story

This is how low Hong Kong's crime rate is. When the police force isn't goofing off (I say this with utmost affection) making a hotpot dinner, it is out on a crackdown of ... pickpocketing prostitutes. I heart Hong Kong:

SCMP, August 7

Two African women were sentenced to nine months in prison yesterday after they stole a wallet from a policeman pretending to be a drunk Wan Chai bar customer.

Judith Karimi and Josephine Nkatha Kenyan John, both from Kenya, were arrested in a police crackdown on pickpockets in the bar areas of Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong.

Each pleaded guilty in Eastern Court to one count of theft.

The court heard that the policeman, who had arrived in the area about an hour and a half earlier, was approached by John outside a bar on Luard Road at about 5am.

She chatted with him until they were joined half an hour later by Karimi who introduced herself as "Maria" and said she was from Ethiopia.

They sat on a step outside another bar where the policeman put his head in his hands, pretending to be drunk, and John massaged his back while talking to Karimi in a presumably African language. The officer then felt fingers in his trouser pocket take hold of the wallet, containing HK$640, and saw Karimi pass it to John.

Karimi shouted across the street to two other African women. John was holding a number of banknotes, trying to pass them to the women. The policeman then declared his identity and arrested them.

In mitigation, Karimi, 31, told Deputy Magistrate Kennis Tai Chiu-ki that she was involved in the case only because John asked her to help. She agreed "because the intention was to help [John] get medical fees for her son". Lawyer Alan Lo said John, 35, was a single mother taking care of a 12-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter.

In the first half of the year, police dealt with 12 pickpocket cases around Lockhart Road.

All bases covered

Never seen such a thoughtful, thorough rendition of this before:

Most major religions represented in this shrine to the gods of everything. Just in case. Taken at friend's parents' house while all were away, helping to check in on her cat. (And yes, I think it's totally ridiculous.)

ella ella ella

The unnecessary umbrella stacking is back, this time at a level befitting extreme Typhoon days.

It's so dumb. Everyone's cubicle is actually spacious enough to accommodate an individual umbrella. People obviously do this for some kind of solidarity reason: We're all in this together.

Fashion Rant

Can someone please help me out here. Tell me it's not just me. How on earth do people wear dresses or tops with belts like the one pictured on the right? So many times have I attempted to try on a dress which didn't look quite right, when a saleswoman grabs a biggish belt and straps it around my rib cage. TIGHT. Like corset tight. And dang, it looks good! But, hello, I can't breathe. What the heck? Even skinny belts on dresses restrict my airflow so much that I have to take it off midday. Everyone I've spoken to about this problem says it's just me, but I refuse to believe it. Belts on dresses do not work or make sense, right? Right??