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.

Yup we're screwed

HK Observatory will be hoisting typhoon signal no. 9, this afternoon, then 10 later? I don't even know if I've been in a 10 typhoon.

Can't my hair look like this more?

Typhoon 8 Day

Super cute cat outside this restaurant near my apartment building. There are quite a few stray cats in HK I've noticed, as well as cats adopted by street-level stores.

Today is the fourth day in HK this summer of typhoon signal no. 8, which means no work/school. And it's oddly nice this time, because our publication was supposed to be done by today and it was major crunch time, but because we knew today would be no work, everyone worked at breakneck speed yesterday (Thurs) to finish everything. So September issue is done and we get a three-day weekend yay. So I can blog and listen to the Mix and eat junk food and read and not be stressing (except about the weekend which I find SO stressful. Every weekend should be typhoon 8).

Shite, I love listening to the Mix stream in the morning here, meaning nighttime in Chicago, because there's no talk. I love mainstream American pop rock. Like just now they played Spill Canvas's "All Over You." I like that kind of song. And Rihanna's Umbrella, I used to hate it, but I love it now because it reminds me of... I dunno, it makes me happy. Just now they played Viva La Vida, and I actually know multiple people who are obsessed with that song. OK, now it's Pink. I love Pink, because I'm a dork. Ooh now it's Lifehouse, whom I only have lukewarm feelings toward. I mean yeah their songs are "nice" but nauseatingly cheesey and technically simplistic.

People send me all kinds of random stuff at work (by courier! People use courier here like it's free or something. I know, it's because HK's so small and labor is cheap, but still). A few days ago I got, of all things, VODKA. Snow Queen Vodka to be specific, which is from Kazakhstan. Well I can probably tell you everything there is to know about Snow Queen Vodka from Kazakhstan now, so it worked, but the thing about those little bottles of alcohol are they're so cute. Miniatures rock! Ooh yeah, that's me at work, I am a Post-It fiend.

Shut up

First thing I can't stand about the Olympics coverage: the use of the term "country team" or "national team" in Chinese ("Gwok Ga Dui") - even on the news. It's so dogmatically patriotic and ignorant-sounding. UGH. It's as if the Chinese team's name is "Country" not "China." Just feel like they are shoving it down my throat.

Thing I miss most about good ol' NBC Olympics coverage: the super cheesey montages about the athletes. Every single one is a tear-jerker. And I miss American gymnastics, which they don't cover extensively here since they're so busy with China being the greatest country in the world.

Second thing I can't stand about the Olympics coverage:

"Liu Xiang couldn't run, China is heartbroken." W T F ? For reals? This is, like, irresponsible headline writing. Although this sentiment has been reiterated ad nauseum, which I find to be total BS, what does one celebrity athlete's performance have to do with the psyche of a country of over 1 billion? And don't go around telling me how to feel with a sweeping statement. What about the 40+ gold medals? Suddenly no one cares that "China is the best country in the world!" because one dude can't run? Everyone had been made aware that he was injured! Helloo?

Ugh.

Took this pic yesterday, which has some of the most beautiful objects created by humankind: lanterns in the shapes of goldfish, rabbits, flowers, etc., for Mid-Autumn Festival.

Problem is, it seems like when I have to write about something (I write for a tourism magazine, you see), it suddenly becomes a groan-inducing subject. I would still love one of these lanterns and hang it up all year round, except right now the sight just makes me go... UGH.

My story is on the "new" traditions, meaning plastic lanterns with lightbulbs, which are grrr hard to find right now and it's been a bitch trying to photograph them.

possible transgender.

There are several questions about my company / job / “work situation” that are often swimming around my head which I haven’t gotten around to asking anyone, or find it inappropriate to ask out loud, from the mundane (Is our office’s only bathroom unisex or is there a men’s bathroom of which I am unaware?) to the obvious (Am I underpaid?). Some are skill-related questions (There’s a difference between “specialty” and “speciality”?!) which I should be able to answer on my own. But the biggest question of all… Is the person who sits two cubes from me a man or a woman??? I have been wondering about this since day 1 and plan to find out when I hear someone refer to this person as “he” or “she” in English, since there is no delineation in Chinese. I’ve collected evidence over the past two months, and just when I’m sure this person’s a woman, new findings arise that make me think “man for sure.”

Email from V. Li... 2 days ago

"Vanessa, I am so, totally convinced about this. (Well you know me, I am hyper.) We should host a radio show. It'd be so easy. Let's just have a show where we simultaneously discuss/slag off pop culture (both US and HK "culture") OR a girls' show that's like gofugyourself but in audio. (Okay that's hard cuz discussing fashion w/out pictures is hard, but maybe we can slag off HK's ppl obssession with labels and getting the latest gadgets like iPhones or something). WE SHOULD DO THIS. We have a moral duty. It would be our call.

Argh I so want us to have a radio show right now."




(And this conversation went on and on. This is just the beginning of how we will be famous or infamous or just lame!)

The goal, Olympics, cubes, free stuff, hair flowers, bars

I failed at July's Goal of the Month. It's now my goal of this weekend.

Yup I AM excited about the Olympics. Slightly. Except unfortunately I am sitting in a cubicle on Friday evening, waiting for the opening ceremony to start at 8 p.m. before I can actually leave for the bar (long story). I might go shopping (read: kill an hour at HMV).

At least I have a really high cubicle. I think I have the best cubicle in the office. My boss and the company owner have offices with doors, but as far as cubes go, mine's the best because it's one of only 3 high-walled ones in the office. As in, the walls are a lot taller than me. All the others are really low, and the designers have no cubes at all. And the reason it's the best high cube is because one of the other high cubes is laid out in a way where people can see the person when they walk by (whereas no one can see me unless they actually step into my cube), while the third high cube sucks because TWO people share it, AND it's next to the pantry (which I always find sketchy considering the prevalence of cockroaches in HK). OMG that is so crappy.

Ooh but I'm a little excited because this super expensive cosmetics company sent me (actually the previous Editor) like HK$2500 worth of face stuff for no reason other than a glimmer of hope that I'd write about them. Like a good employee, as stipulated in my contract, I handed it over to my boss, who said I could keep it. Yays!

Something I came across at work while going through the hundreds of product pics those companies send me... Chanel, love, love, love this:

So back to the Olympics. I am conflicted about my plans for tonight. Because it involves bars and clubs. Hmm. I've pretty much decided to go home without the clubbing/drinking/losing my voice part and hang out with Korben, so. Everyone I talked to all seem to be watching the Olympics at home, but I have to go to a bar, sort of (long story), argh.

My mom sends me random emails

Subject: 3 Questions
____________________

Hi Vanessa,
1. Why does Dexter pretend to be a recovering drug addict?
2. Do you want to join us for dinner Friday night? If so, please brinig the birdie trees if it is not raining.
3. Have you seen that You Tube film on The Last Lecture? If so, can you forward it to me?
Mom

____________________
[my response]
1. Because he's trying to hide that he's a serial killer from Rita so saying he's addicted to drugs is just easier. Then he finds that going to the AA meetings actually helping him.
YOU HAVE TO START FROM THE FIRST SEASON THOUGH! Rent it!
2. Yes dinner on friday
3. I've seen it, I'll send it to u

anal about writing

I had a very interesting weekend... but let's not go there.

Friday night I had dinner with a friend from high school I haven't seen in 10 years. We got very caught up. Life is insane. At times it's good. Anyways, she told me that after she ran into me a few weeks ago and got my business card, she went home and told her mom this story:

"I ran into an older sister ("tse tse," even though I am only half a year older) today from boarding school, and she's editor at a magazine now. Funny thing is, back when we were in choir together and passed notes, I would write her a note and she would respond back to me but having edited what I wrote. And now she's an editor, how appropriate."

OMG I found that really funny but embarrassing.

Batman... The Dark Knight... ooh finally!

As expected, the Dark Knight was really good. My husband is calling it possibly his all-time favorite movie.

The Hong Kong bit was quite random, but I very much enjoyed seeing Christian Bale by the Soho escalators… I was completely unable to think of this person as Bruce Wayne but rather Christian Bale. “Wow, Christian Bale’s by the Soho escalators, and they hired all these extras to just walk right by him like nothing unusual was happening!” Watch out for the two white tourists with cameras around their necks.

But 95% of this movie takes place in Chicago, oh oops I mean GOTHAM. It’s just that it was SO NOT GOTHAM. It was SO Chicago. In Batman Begins, they disguised it in a way where you couldn’t tell it was Chicago by having all those scenes filmed at night or in the dark underground area and by digitally adding slummy things at a distance. But this Gotham was… I mean, all the cars had Illinois license plates, and the El was so obvious, and all the normal shininess around the downtown area, they didn’t mask any of it. And they even mention Chicago street names, such as Cicero, and I’m sure they’re paying homage to the city… but when I watch it, it’s a lot easier for me to think that this whole thing takes place in Chicago rather than in Gotham.

I’m not going to give anything away, and I am really impressed by Heath Ledger and everyone, but Maggie Gyllenhaal was really great and all the parts that had her were done really well… ar so this movie involved many plotlines and it might’ve still been good without one or two of them, but they covered a lot of ground in terms of emotions and humanness and Bruce Wayne’s psyche… and really developed a lot of characters, so you can blame the length on these merits…

Well that’s all I have to say for now… P.S. Katie Holmes sucks!

Wanna know something hilarious?

I suck at writing British English! Like, OMG!

The nuances are crazy. I probably only spell proper British spellings about 1/3 of the time when there is a difference in American and English spelling, when trying. I thought I knew punctuation, but turns out... there are all these different things to be anal about! Obviously, there's the punctuation marks inside or outside the quotation marks, of which I was not aware of all the sub-clauses to the rules (but am now well-informed!). Then there are times, which I have to write a lot; for example, in American, the proper way is 7:30 p.m., whereas in British, it's 7.30pm. Even something like street names, for example Hollywood Rd., in American there would be a period after the abbreviated "Road," but not in British.

Ooh and apparently, the Brits say "at the weekend" not "on the weekend." And "knock someone up" in Brit-speak means "wake someone up." HA. Confusion is likely.

The Plastics

Last Thursday I went to a gallery exhibition opening (for work), which featured the photographs of Ken Heyman. One of my favorites:

I hate schmoozing

I stumbled into this job that turned out to be probably the best job possible for me. Well except it could pay a whole lot better, but I won't complain.

I've never had a job where I felt like I knew what I was doing. I feel like I know what I'm doing 95% of the time now. Writing simple prose, being picky about layouts, those things are like breathing. I do this type of thing for fun. The other 5% of the time is when I have to be a socialite and salesperson at the same time, my two kisses of death.

But then I feel like, as an overall "assessment of life," I'm still drifting... I dunno it's weird. I think most people are supposed to be thinking about saving enough money to buy a house, which actually is what I used to think about all the time, but now I have no desire. Not that I don't think it'd be great to own instead of throwing rent money away, but I don't have that desire to have that and to nest and get ready for retirement... or something... ack, life is so finite, it's the insanest thing to be alive. It's the insanest thing to go around thinking, I have to buy a house and have kids and retire, when you're just gonna die. I know I'm sounding like a broken record (possibly?) but... it's insane.

u know what sucks

I really don't mind people knowing this, just 'cause it's so common. I've been getting an abnormally frequent number of UTIs, which is a kind of infection that can be very uncomfortable. Thing is, not to sound super spoiled by general good health, but the things you are supposed to not eat when you have a UTI are sugar and caffeine.

Which... is... erm... very ungood... or er... bad... okay terrible... for me... if you know me... you'd know what I mean... concerning chocolate... namely Maltesers... and tea... and milk tea... and coffee... and coffee-flavored ice cream... and "tofu fa"... and "belly button cookies"... and HK McDonald's apple pies... and chocolate cake... and I guess all carbs are sugar... bread... pre-packages cakes...

argh.

this makes me happy

As Dexter Says...

"I'm drifting... but not to sleep."

No offense to the Brits

but British English is pretty whack.

I've been writing British constantly for work, and I've picked it up surprisingly smoothly. Well I DID grow up here. I have to write "centre" a lot, as well as "flavourful" and "colours" and "realise." Then there are the periods and commas that come after the end quotation marks, although question and exclamation marks come before. All this makes me realize British English goes against commonsense. (Not that American English makes total sense either.)

But I still blog in American!

Goal of the Month:

Open and start using an iPod. There, it's in writing.

I'm not sure how many people on the planet can say they have owned three unopened iPods. At one point, I had an iPod mini and never opened. Then Mac gave me the nano when I helped someone buy a Mac laptop. So I sold the mini on eBay. Then I acquired the iPod touch. So I've had the nano for two years and the touch for half a year, both unopened. Erm, so confusing.

I've been reluctantly going to the gym in my building because they have the step machine, which I tolerate much better than any other cardio machine. This is because you can't stop. Like, the bicycle machine, if I get tired I'd just sit there. I dunno how on earth people do the bicycle without stopping. Same with the elliptical--in addition to the fact that the last time I tried the elliptical, I couldn't even do level 0 for 1 minute without feeling like my thighs were going to die. Then there's the dreaded treadmill. Has one ever stopped to ponder on the "mill" part of the word? They really know how to name 'em. One definition is "a slow, laborious, or mechanical process or routine." But OK I really don't know why I hate running, it's just not something I like to do or feel determined to do. But with the step machine (and I don't mean the other torture device of the stair machine), there's something about sinking to the floor that sucks and pushes me to keep going. So anyway it's good that they have the step machine in my building because I actually workout.

However, I think I will be much happier if I could listen to music whilst stepping.

Dear World,

Last night I finished "The Year of Magical Thinking." Girl26 said it wasn't depressing. It was a good read, but a downer! I mean I feel all depressed now! In the end the author tries to come to terms with the fact that people die, it's a fact of life. In a way, she sees that the world is bigger than our own egos; I would be the first to admit that I'm the type of person who needs to "get over myself," as readers of my blog must have noticed, how I love to wax poetic about my own inner turmoil. But sometimes, in the midst of existential crises, I see what Joan Didion is saying:

"Leis go brown, tectonic plates shift, deep currents move, islands vanish, rooms get forgotten."

And people die. In fact, everyone dies, in the same way that tectonic plates shift, maybe on a different scale, but it's the same darn thing. That's just part of the deal.


[Changing the subject] One time I had a dream I was here. It's not a situation of seeing that pic then dreaming about it, but rather I had that dream first, suspected it was Ireland, and when I google "Ireland" pics, I'm not kidding, this is where I was:

Pics around town

Looking down from the bridge near Soho:

Took this pic for the Olympics story I'm writing, sort of as a backup... yup, the editor (me) at my magazine also writes the stories AND takes the pictures. Or twists someone's arm to give me pictures. Well I kinda like this pic, by the Soho escalators:

Sunset view from my apt:

Took this from a bus. Dunno why someone would find it a good idea (and legal) to hang fish on the railing to dry??:

Love how the moon lights the little bit of clouds above it:

Today my (younger) brother sent me this link, a list of 100 "new classics" (books) from 1983 - 2008. #5 is American Pastoral. Hmm so far so good. #17 Love in the Time of Cholera. Hmm I can live with that. Then, #29, Bel Canto. OMG and OMG. Does this mean I'm actually obliged to finish it? I read about 60%, is it gonna get better? But, but... it's so tedious! And lame!

#33 is the one I'm reading now, The Year of Magical Thinking, which I feel compelled to blog about soon. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (aka the best book ever) is #53. I dunno, this is getting suspicious. Veeery interesting that the Da Vinci Code made it onto the list. OK I get it, it sucks but it's still a classic simply for its insane popularity.

The caged bird sings

Coolest thing ever. Well coolest thing I've seen in HK. A bird and birdcage shop, omg!!! Walked by it today near my office.

Now that's it's raining more than ever...

Ooh ooh, my article has been published here.

Hmm right now I'm reading "The Year of Magical Thinking." I would've gotten it sooner if it wasn't this situation where there are only so many bookstores in HK. Am I wrong about this?? Because I'm not just talking about English-language bookstores. Is there a disproportionately small number of bookstores, you know like, per capita? But anyway, they didn't even have my book at the first English bookstore I went to. And the libraries have like ten copies but all checked out on HK Island, and it seems like the library near my building doesn't have anything.

And wow it rains a lot here. I mean a LOT. I'm in the market for a new umbrella. Requirements are ruffled edge, parasol-like thin handle, ideally floral or polka dot, bonus would be kids size. This one is a nice example but it's Moschino, and I'm not paying US$70 obviously, and not loving the black and pink combo. I actually don't like the curved edge between each rib with it also being black, because it reminds me of the Penguin's umbrella in Batman Returns. Another option I've considered is the 7-eleven umbrella that is the equivalent of "generic" here. If you are in a tall building in a busy area and look outside on a rainy day, there's usually a few 7-eleven umbrellas out there. And sometimes there's something awesome about being generic. It's like, either be all-out stylish or don't bother at all.

Summer movies

Still waiting on the new X-Files movie and the new Batman movie. Since moving back here, the four movies I've gone to see are as follows:

1) Iron Man: liked a lot. I loved everything about this movie except the score. I love Robert Downey Jr. in anything, and overall just a fun movie, comic-book movie made to look somewhat realistic, you know what I mean. However, while I was watching the action-y scenes, I kept thinking, Why does this movie just seem really cheesey at times? It's the score. Harry Knowles, my favorite film critic, agrees with me entirely! (Okay, it's probably just me agreeing with him.) The score, oh so important. Case in point: Batman Begins (as in, good score).

2) Indiana Jones 4: I'm not crazy about this film. I know it's supposed to be like the old ones, and that's its charm. But um, that's not going to make me like this film. I have a problem with all of Steven Spielberg's films, in that they always have to have some cutesy scenes. Obviously, a movie like Indiana Jones is gonna be VERY cartoony, but even in serious ones like "War of the Worlds," "Saving Private Ryan," "Schindler's List," there are cutesy, unrealistic scenes that remove me from the moment and think "oh yeah this is Spielberg." For example, in "Minority Report" (which I love), that scene where Tom Cruise has bandages over his eyes, and he reaches into the fridge, and instead of grabbing the cold glass of milk he grabs something disgusting-looking and drinks it, then repeats with the yummy-looking sandwich and disgusting sandwich. Very unrealistic, cartoony, Spielberg.

3) Sex and the City: it was OK. I know loads of people love this movie. I wasn't going to see it, but my mom really wanted to and she had no one to go with, so... anyway, I'm just not a big fan of the TV show. My mom loved it and found it hilarious, but seriously she loves chick comedies (and anything with Drew Barrymore). She loves "The Wedding Singer" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and "Fever Pitch" and stuff like that. In case you haven't noticed, we have very different tastes in movies. The only Drew Barrymore movie she doesn't like is "50 First Dates," and that is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Okay I feel embarrassed even admitting that.

4) The Happening: tragically, this movie sucked even for me. As I've previously blogged, I love M. Night Shyamalan. Like, really really. But nothing about this movie was right. ***SPOILERS AHEAD, stop reading if you don't want to know what happens in this movie. I have a theory about the plot. I truly think I am right about this. So the whole story is about how plants have evolved to give off a chemical that is harmful to humans, as a defense mechanism for nature. One problem with the script is that there is this tangent about a mood ring that the main character gave to his wife on their first date. This whole "mood ring" thing does not AT ALL have anything to do with the rest of the story. My theory is that there was originally an intention of saying that people's anger/hostility or bad moods cause the plants to give off the chemical, but that part of the plot got scrapped. It is evident throughout the movie. There are numerous times in which the disease becomes present when people start to fight/yell. One plant expert even pointed out at one point that plants respond to human stimulus, and more than once do characters start talking to plants to try to soothe them. Then there is this business about a mood ring. Well that's my theory!

Edited to add: I got to thinking about my little "theory" more and more, and I thought, the whole "mood" thing is so obvious, it's probably not even a "scrapped idea," but rather part of the story that viewers are supposed to figure out on their own without having to be told. I looked at imdb and I am definitely not the only one who noticed.

A time to blog

Stealing this from a blog that I read that belongs to someone I don't actually know. She's a friend of a friend of a friend, or rather an ex of a sort-of ex of a friend. Or maybe I'm just stealing it from the Bible.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.

Job(s) / Mags

I am starting my new job on Wednesday. I will be Editor of a magazine. I just hope I like it. Is that asking too much?

I love journalism. I love producing publications. I'm a control freak. I better like it.

I have also been asked to freelance for this other "magazine," the online one that I blogged about previously, the one for which I wrote about Picasso. The editor-in-chief, who interviewed me, also happened to go to Northwestern, and it was funny (to me) because I am guessing she is actually younger than me, but she kept evading the topic (of age) probably to avoid awkwardness of me being interviewed by an alum who is younger. But anyway she liked my Picasso piece and bought it but the best part is I get to not have a life as I work one full-time job and also spend every moment of free time freelancing.

Side note. Let me preface by saying I don't know a whole lot about the magazines published in HK, which I guess is bad. Today I was at the doctor's office (I KNOW, ailing again! This city is not agreeing with me) and there was a hefty, glossy magazine called "Hong Kong Tatler", subtitled "The Spirit of High Society". WTF?! Where do they find a market for this... stuff? The whole thing consists of luxury-brand ads, luxury lifestyle content, and photos photos and more photos of rich people at events.

(There was also a magazine called "Muse", which I've been wanting to subscribe to, although it's quite like the magazines I work for, except it only covers the arts scene and has a few very serious features in each issue.)

ori-bunnies

I've been sleeping like crap, not because of caffeination or sleeping during the day, it's just plain-old insomnia for no particular reason other than stress, existential crises, etc. So there've been more interesting developments on the job-hunting front, but I'll blog about that around the weekend, once I've accepted that offer.

There's this ad campaign that I've seen in the MTR that features origami rabbits. The rabbits are really cute and attracted my attention, since I used to deal with lots of origami-themed campaigns. However, I never had a clue what the ads were for, even after staring at the rabbits every time I walk by them. So this might be a failing of the campaign. Today I decided to take pictures, and I finally know what they're all about. They seem to be a joint campaign between the Olympics organization and the MTR, promoting good behavior in the MTR, such as no pushing, no eating/drinking (which is illegal anyway), and offering your seat to the elderly. They also have a rabbit mascot for this campaign. My obvious question is why a rabbit. Secondly, why origami? This is all very confounding. But still love the origami:

blog-o-rama

It's been a crazy week. Been a bit overwhelmed. Frustrated. Confused. Same old. Not much to blog about until I decide that I'm feeling crazy enough. Like right now! Been doing job search stuff. Not gonna go into the details, but if I accept this one offer I got I'll be starting work on Monday. My experience so far has been one of speed-hiring. It's weird!!!

I went to an interview yesterday and was asked to write a writing sample on anything I wanted as deemed appropriate for the publication. It's actually an online "lifestyle" magazine that's all very upscale. Oh hmm. Seriously I'm not big on luxury. Like they have articles on there about gallery openings, new spas, fancy cell phones, latest bling, and a possible overuse of the word "glitteratti." I was really racking my brain of how to complete this assignment, which I now saw as some kind of challenge, except part of me wanted to just tell them Hey you know what I can't come up with a single topic so I think that means this job isn't for me. Well I dunno, I'd been stressing about this all last night, and this morning I flip through this other magazine and voila, there's a Picasso exhibit going on right now until mid-July that hasn't been covered by the site. I deemed it just snooty enough. I figured I better actually see the exhibit to write about it, so I made my way to HKU, which I realized is less than 10 min by bus then about 4 blocks on foot. The set of Picasso prints, called "The Vollard Suite," was amazing. First off, I love prints and printmaking. I keep wanting to make prints just for fun (but seem to never get around to it). And it's a set of 100 prints that have a few themes, and some of them tell "stories"... SO COOL. And beautiful. I never really thought of Picasso as beautiful, but these prints are beautiful.

This is probably the most significant one. Most of the prints feature Picasso himself. In a whole bunch of them, he depicts himself as a Minotaur. This one is called Blind Minotaur Guided by a Girl in the Night, in which the artist depicts himself as blind and helpless, following a girl holding a dove:

And this is another awesome Minotaur one:
Lots of them have much lighter themes than these, but I guess no one's really into those happier ones since I couldn't find many images of them online.

cuteness, no exaggeration

I should totally be sleeping right now but wide awake so hmm sounds familiar. Not meaning to sound lame but I'm depressed and confused/frustrated and seriously I think I'm bipolar.

But I just have to say I have the cutest cat ever. He goes wherever I go. I watch TV, he's sleeping on the couch. I lie stomach-down on the bed looking out the window, he's sleeps on the window sill. I'm on the computer in the wee hours, he's sleeping on the desk, same spot every night.

Sometimes he's completely in REM sleep, you can tell because his eyes are like half open but he's definitely asleep, and he sometimes starts twitching like crazy, a hundred tiny twitches in his eyes, mouth, paws, legs, tail, spine, and heavy breathing. He's probably dreaming about his nemeses: all the bugs he has to destroy, the evil movers and strange delivery guys, string, floaty dust, his owners' toes sticking out of the comforter, drops of water.

clinging.

Finally did something I've been meaning to do... started listening to live streaming of Chicago's 101.9FM (The Mix). I feel so much better. I've been deprived of mainstream American radio. The only thing I don't miss is Nickelback. Even the fertility clinic ads make me feel warm and fuzzy. And I don't hate Rihanna anymore. Well, except "Stop the Music," which they just started playing when I typed "I don't hate Rihanna anymore."

EDITED TO ADD:

But in a way it makes me feel worse.

There's this thing I can't really explain. When I look at the ocean or buildings faraway I get this weird feeling like the world is small but big but small but big, etc., and I can't figure out whether it's big or small. Like when I was watching 9/11 on TV in Hong Kong occurring live at night around 8pm, I looked out the window and it was totally surreal that this was happening RIGHT NOW somewhere in the world, but yet I am right here sitting here and outside my window everything looks normal and it's nighttime, and I just got this feeling like the world is so small but big, like I could feel NY right outside my window even though it was really far away. Like when I listen to Chicago radio here and I look out the window, it's the weirdest feeling, like half of me feels like Chicago and half feels like HK, sorta like it's all just one big freakin thing all squeezed together. And it makes me feel happy but sad. Know what I mean?

Once more, with feeling

In the midst of contending with this:

I made this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG3e75M1SgQ

"Hurt" redux... aka "some Asian girl singing Christina"... so it's been a year since I first recorded and deleted Hurt... it's a lot better this time around. The camera keeps auto-focusing and it's constantly fuzzy ha. But I guess it's still me trying to sing something I can't actually sing. I just like singing this song. I keep trying to come up with something happier to record but just hmm can't.

So, like,

someone requested i model the H&M butterfly barrettes, and here's one where you can't see my face, and yup I have bangs now, just cut 'em on Sunday. I got my hair cut two weeks ago (before I made the vids, so that's my haircut in the vids) and the guy screwed it up after I specifically said, don't layer the front and top too short because then I get mad flyaways, and guess what he did?? He layered the front so much that some pieces were short enough to be bangs, so I decided to just cut bangs at another place. My husband says I went from looking 19 to looking 17.

OOh, I made a cool pic of meself here. I dunno, I just turned up the contrast, turned down the brightness, and now it's all artistical [sic]. See my hair? It's like fine-gauge wire. Clipped my bangs back but can only see the rhinestones on the butterfly here.

other things i want

Side note, as expected, got a rejection email from Beauty and the Beast last week.

Auditioned for the opera chorus here last night. Another interesting experience. I was hella nervous in the waiting room and tried to slow my heartbeat like a good girl. Still walked into the audition room with wobbly knees. But you know what, nerves don't do their evil thing to me anymore. All I need is good supported breath I can rely on, as taught to me by a voice teacher a few weeks ago, and omg it works. There were three parts to the audition: 1) a prepared opera aria of your choice, 2) vocalization to test range (arpeggios), 3) sight-singing. The way the three parts went were 1) decent, 2) awesome, 3) sucked ass. The accompanist was obviously inexperienced and couldn't play my piece at all but I kept singing. Proceeded to blow 'em away with my F# above high C. And the sight-singing was murder but I think they were toying with me, seriously. There were various pieces they chose from on the spot. I think it was some kind of joke, like "let's give the soprano this super hard impossible one and see what she does." But afterward I was asked to be measured, meaning I am at least being considered.

Then spotted this surreal Chinese farm-scene painting. Aww, good donkeys.

stuff i want but can do without (but still want)

I finished "In the Lake of the Woods," which turned out to be ingenius, the way he could switch elegantly between present and past, truth and conjecture. But all in all, the subject matter just wasn't appealing to me personally. I mean really, I really cannot read another book about the Vietnam War. Or anything TOO dark. Ooh and I tried finishing "Bel Canto," which I found "horrible," but I still wanted to know what was going to happen and gave it another 40 pages, but then it was still horrible, like unbearable, so I'm stopping for real. Right now I'm reading this non-fic book called "Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions," which is about quantum physics, I guess. It's supposed to be easy for your average Joe to understand, and written in a kind of relaxed conversational style (which I find a bit... annoying?). So far, I have no better understanding of the universe's hidden dimensions than I did before I started it. But then, I just started.

OK, can we talk about how much I love H&M? I like it tons better than, for example, Zara, Mango, Forever 21, Gap, Express. They have really nice everything. I was really coveting these butterfly barrettes (in black) that were only HK$30. (I took a pic to mull it over.) I ended up getting them a few days later along with other hair stuff. And I don't just mean I like their hair stuff. They were the only place I could find a good interview outfit, and their stuff is so cheap it doesn't turn into a big dilemma, but still lots of good-quality stuff.

Another thing I'm obsessed with are these classic bird tattoo enamel necklaces with rhinestone eyes I saw at one of those consignment stores in Causeway Bay. OMG. I love classic bird tattoos (and all other tattoo-related things!). These were only HK$78. Why don't I just buy 'em, you ask? As with the barrettes... I just have so much junk. I have SO much hair stuff that I don't wear. I have SO much jewelry that I don't wear. I dunno. I'm on a consumerism fast or something. I just want to be free of objects. Organization puts me in a good mood. All my stuff is arriving from overseas tomorrow (took 2 months!), and I'm not kidding, 1/4 of it is going to donations.

At the same consignment store: these t-shirts that phonetically teach you snide Cantonese idioms with a classic Dick-and-Jane kind of illustration. Aw, cute! Such as "Sik siu siu, ban doi biu," with the explanation of "knowing only a little but pretending to be an expert" (roughly). The black ones are actually printed in gold, which I love. I love t-shirts printed in metallics. But then again I would not wear this t-shirt. I would prefer the print to be on other items, like a mug or poster or something. Because I would not consider this print "fashionable," more like hilarious.

“It’s human nature. We are fascinated, all of us, by the implacable otherness of others. And we wish to penetrate by hypothesis, by daydream, by scientific investigation those leaden walls that encase the human spirit, that define it and guard it and hold it forever inaccessible. (‘I love you,’ someone says, and instantly we begin to wonder—‘Well, how much?’—and when the answer comes—‘With my whole heart’—we then wonder about the wholeness of a fickle heart.) Our lovers, our husbands, our wives, our fathers, our gods—they are all beyond us.”

--Tim O'Brien, In the Lake of the Woods

"This is a list of what I should have been but I'm not"

Couldn't sleep last night. Read until about 1:30AM then just lied there. Lied there staring, thinking, tossing, turning, sometimes writhing.

Sat up around 3:20. Then heard a wave of yelling as in a crowd. And I am on the 43rd floor. Odd. Then it occurred to me that it must be that Manchester-United v. Chelsea game. Actually got up and turned on the TV to see if I could watch along with the millions. Nope, don't get the game, but there's a bar downstairs so I guess that's where people were watching.

I think it's bird mating season. They are chasing.

Song in my head... from Counting Crows new album... the following lyrics:

And I know I could look at anyone but you now
I could fall into the eyes of anyone but you now
So come on, come on, come on, oh come on through now

This is a list of what I should have been but I'm not
This is a list of the things that I should have seen
But I'm not seeing the look in your eyes

"never work with kids or animals"

Guess I decided to sing stuff I actually can sing. If you can take your eyes off Korben... this is Jewel's "Absence of Fear."

"strange but special"

Hmm so the first public video I've made in forever. It's what I auditioned with for B&B ("Home"), except of course they didn't let me finish it. I'd've done it standing up and everything but there wasn't a single place for my camera except the patio table my computer's on. Um you know what's weird? All the videos on YouTube with people singing in the bathroom, because of the acoustics. I mean I'd find it pretty embarrassing to have videos shot in the bathroom. Since my apartment is almost empty (hardly any furniture yet) and non-carpeted, the sound bounces off everything, so no taping in the bathroom for me. Belle sings this song to herself after the Beast has forced her to stay in the castle with him. It's a sad song, but Belle's a fighter. The lyrics are... somewhat appropriate.

I'll say it: I don't suck in this video (but could be better--I especially dislike the beginning).



Happy birthday Tim, the person who actually makes mp3 files out of my super crappalicious videos to listen to them.

Some pics from my phone that I finally uploaded...

My favorite thing I saw at the Art Fair yesterday. An embroidery by these two people. It's like a child-eating flower-dragon with chicken tentacles attacking a miniature Japanese plant village, cranes and petals flying everywhere. I loved everything they did, super detailed and whimsical and technically amazing....

The view from our new (rental) apartment:

Some pre-dragon boat day event last weekend in Stanley:

Korben, looking too-cool-for-pictures and annoyed at his human:

Me, pretending to be just your average normal person!:

As far as fashion policing goes... this is SUCH a no-no (and I am referring to the guy in a blue low-cut sweater):

a little bit on writing

I started reading "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett, which according to the cover won the Pen/Faulkner Award. Which baffles me. I read 120 pages and I could turn to any page and it would be horrible. I haven't felt this way about professional writing since "Memoirs of a Geisha" (garbage!). The characters' backgrounds are nonsensical, the plot details are FAKE. Not cliches, no no, just entirely unrealistic in the characters' thoughts, uncooperative metaphors and descriptions. For example:

"Gen and Roxane each imagined the accompanist going home, as in sitting up in a seat by the window of a plane, looking out at the clouds that pooled over the host country."

Now what's wrong with this sentence? Two characters each imagining the exact same thing? (The accompanist was not getting on a plane, by the way, he died in front of them.) And clouds that "pooled"? How terrible a description is that? Clouds don't pool. Also the bit about the clouds is superfluous. It does not add anything (except maybe confusion as we try to imagine clouds pooling, and wonder why two characters would both happen to imagine pooling clouds).

Versus... a different book I started reading instead, much better, called "In the Lake of the Woods" by Tim O'Brien:

"For a time Kathy stood gazing at the night sky. It surprised her to see a nearly full moon, a stack of fast-moving clouds passing northward."

See? Can't you just see those clouds in the night sky "moving" fast and "passing" by? And how they are in stacks?! YES. And can't you just see how she could be surprised by a nearly full moon? Because it is kind of thrilling to behold. And haven't you ever stood gazing at the night sky? Everyone knows what that's like. See how it's done?

See the difference between good and bad writing? Doesn't have to be ornate or provocative, just simple and true. The best authors tap into something profound about human nature and human thought.

I have a new resolution to read the entire newspaper everyday now, except the sports section. I don't think I need to know sports details. And the business section is murder to get through for me (snooze), but living in HK one better know business.

Interesting article from Tues:

"A green group is organising tours along bustling Nathan Road to expose what it says is the city's abuse of, and obsession with, lighting. The tours aim to challenge the common perception that the colourful neon signs and commercial lights are a sign of prosperity and affluence. It is part of the group's campaign against light pollution in Hong Kong."

It goes on about the use of spotlights on buildings and ads, and how it's illegal in some cities. Maybe they can do a tour of buildings with the coldest AC too, since I believe that is an equally wasteful (and uncomfortable) sign of prosperity.

And yes, the whole Myanmar sitch doesn't so much make my blood boil as it makes me die a little from the lack of humanity. The degree to which people can lack empathy for their own people is baffling.