It's not until I get really REALLY "this time it's for real" serious about no sugar that I realize just how bad my addiction is. I tried doing no sugar, bread, alcohol and caffeine but literally cannot because of my job but I also really crave it like crazy and find myself cheating even outside of work. However, I have cut WAY back.

For example, last weekend out for dinner, my mom ordered garlic bread, which came in six pieces. I am obsessed with garlic bread. But I was so good I only had one piece. Normally, I'm not kidding, I would for sure have had five pieces in five minutes - leaving one just out of the goodness of my heart to the other diners. Which makes me realize how gross I "normally" eat.

Went to H&M's new Kowloon flagship store media event on Friday night, 20% discount on all clothing. Four things I purchased: 1) white tee that's super me, 2) tulipy tissuey skirt with lavendar animalish print that's super me, 3) navy shorts that can be let down to be a little longer, very Abercrombie actually, 4) tattoo-print cardigan, obviously me...

I could do one of those mix-and-match editorials with these four things, a la "a week's worth of outfits" haha...

Good test

(Detailed and accurate test with 24 possible results!)

Your result for The Which Lost Character Are You Test ...

Kate

You scored 63% kindness, 41% courage, 50% seedy past, and 67% secretiveness!

JUST SAYIN'!

After multiple people urged me to watch Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent , I made an occasion of it by actually turning on my home computer - seeing as how my work one has no speakers (and I am too low-tech to figure out where to plug in my headphones. Forgive me, I work on a PC from the stoneage, not very user-friendly to begin with).

OK before hearing her, I had already read that she sang I Dreamed a Dream and wowed everyone. I knew her voice was especially surprising given her appearance, general spastic demeanor and possible channeling of William Hung in the department of naive confidence. Oh and apparently she has a disability, although I am not going to make assumptions about what that is referring to.

Looking at the screenshots, I tried to imagine a buttery I Dreamed a Dream coming out of this woman's voice. I tried but could not imagine it, partly because of the song. I wouldn't consider it the easiest song to blow people away.

So finally, I get home and it's my chance to hear the person who's caused so much hype, to be truly surprised, and... People! The segment was totally packaged to be a tear-jerker, first of all, with the background music. There was also the "cutting away" to the audience's reactions (initial disgust, then awe), which I'm guessing were taken entirely out of context (as in, those poor people's disgusted facial expressions were made during a truly disgusting moment and not when Susan Boyle was speaking).

On to the singing. UGH. I get it, I get that she is confident and has a good personality. Kudos, really! Screw everyone who ever made fun of her, because that's not nice. But her voice only comes as a surprise because she didn't SOUND LIKE WILLIAM HUNG... but that's IT. This is making me all frowny face because it's not talent... it's just... better-than-william-hungness. I don't know how else to put it. The vibrato is scary terrible. She has no low notes. Actually, zero technique. And no emotion to go with this super depressing song. Why is everyone reacting? Because of the darn packaging of the segment! If this were American Idol she would've been one of the BAD ones. Got Talent is a less cynical show than Idol so they decided to go this route with Susan Boyle, but... still... this is such a stretch. She can't sing.

Interesting chat convo from a while back...

[This was December 26, I think.]

me: are u working today?
A: ya...in office...my life sucks...
me: hey i am in office too
so that means my life sucks
but i think u r the first person i know who's working today (other than my colleagues)
A: they are independent, and somewhat overlapping, but causal, but just happened both to be true for me....if that makes sense..haha

Super quick post re: BSG

Watched the series finale of Battlestar Galactica two nights ago.

Quoting the Watcher (IMHO best TV blog): "That's it. 'Battlestar' got into my soul. No other show has reached into the core of my being and made me physically feel so much: Fear, nausea, anxiety, excitement, tension, exhilaration, joy. Sometimes I cried, other times -- as during much of the first hour of the finale -- it made me want to stand up and cheer."

I felt nausea and anxiety through almost every episode... it's just too freaky.

Love this guy.

Butterfly Dreams

Coldplay concert last night was SO GOOD. Of course I couldn't get good photos or anything with it being dark, except the "Lovers in Japan" butterflies (yay posted!). The media comp was in the most expensive section but still way too far away booo.

It's really not fair how talented Chris Martin is. Freak.

I love how the first pic has the big screen...

I read about 75% of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain but am a little disappointed. It's supposed to be scandalous but it's not THAT scandalous. I have a feeling it's not the book, it's me, I'm just jaded. Also, Bourdain was quite self-congratulatory over and over again... which I don't like AT ALL in a memoir... I LOVE self-deprecation. Is that weird?

Well now I'm reading Outliers, you know, another bestseller churned out by the guy who wrote Blink. His books are great fun to read, but I actually sort of detest Blink. It's a pop psychology book that could've been written by anyone who did a few hours of research and interviewed a few key people. It's formulaic. And actually, I don't think Blink really had one overarching argument, just that, in general, intuition is powerful. Uh... yeah. I am finding Outliers much more interesting and pointful - so far. Definitely recommended so far! hee.

By the way it's not for the faint of heart

Seriously this weekend has been really very interesting and cool and great... I hate to say it, even, because I'm so not a "birthday" person, but lots of fun stuff occurred this weekend, one of which was...

In Bruges.

OMG. V.Li had couriered to me about 15 movies two weeks ago. Courier, because it's just fun and hilarious, OK? Anyway, I finally popped one in which I'd been very interested in seeing.

So I think this completes the trifecta of recent funny assassin movies loved by me: 1) Lucky Number Slevin, 2) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 3) In Bruges

Edited to add: LOL just found out In Bruges was nominated for best original screenplay for 2008.

birthday weekend and other notes

I'm not much into my birthday, although I think this year's was pretty good. Got some really nice gifts :) Had several birthday-related meals. My innards are champagne-laden. Played Guitar Hero. Good.

On Saturday I went shopping by myself, which is actually my favorite mode of shopping... I had to go to buy Murad face stuff and they don't sell it in many places in HK so I had to go to Harbour City's Lane Crawford Faces. OK I have never gushed about Murad in my blog but I really ought to because I absolutively swear by it. Like the infomercial interviewees say, Murad acne complex has changed my life. I'm making it sound like I had really bad skin before which isn't exactly accurate, but it was far from blemish-free. And blemishes are day-ruining bastards. About 2 months after using Murad acne complex, my skin was comPLETEly clear and has pretty much stayed that way for the past 1.5 years. As in, it has changed my life. Oh and have I mentioned that I have tried EVERYTHING? An amassment of an enormous collection of trials and errors since the age of 13.

So anyway I ran out and went to Faces to buy it, and of course the Murad counter has no customers... since no one knows about it here, no surprise (the Bliss counter also empty teehee), which, if I really think about it, just means all the better for me, since I am now possibly like their best customer. I had extensive discussions with the salesgirl about the products because I also wanted to get the brightening serum and an eye cream (ever notice how you manage to run out of every face thing at the exact same moment? It's one of those cosmic mysteries). So the deal's done and she throws in, like, HK$500 worth of samples. UH, YAY.

Also: dilemma. I really need some advice about this. I get a free facial from Murad. I don't know if I should accept the offer, because I am terrified of going to the facial and they expect me to buy something! Oh and they just called me and told me to go pick up a birthday gift from Murad HAHA I'm feeling very locked-in to this relationship.

After my little Faces excursion (also signed up for the Faces VIP card... sigh, have I become their bitch?... and the free gift was a Bliss sample, YES!), on to my next stop, one of my top 5 favorite stores in the world: BCBGeneration... formerly known as BCBGirls... yeah it sells all the lower lines under BCBG... and half the store was 70% off. OMG. I tried on 8 things. Went home with 3.

One of the most eventful things of this weekend didn't even happen to me. Well it's more like, one of the most holy-frick things I can imagine occurring... Tim went to a concert by himself (uh, sorry for outing your awesome level of lonerdom - but hey I'm going to the Coldplay concert by myself this Wednesday! (Only managed to get one media comp, you see.)) and ran into none other than Marie Digby! He went up to her and started talking to her about his friend who's obsessed with her. Hahaha! They took pictures! THEN he was really pissed because he should've asked her to record a birthday message for me LOL omg... I would've flipped. That would've been insane. Woulda coulda shoulda. Heehee.

Quest for the pretty

Our company camera's lens is in the repair shop right now (OK, it miiight have been my fault...) so I borrowed one of my dad's 300 cameras to take pix for work. The one I borrowed rocks... it's small (no big lens or anything) and good looking and the pictures turned out really well. I'm just so happy with how these pix turned out so here... and I'm guessing the camera is way beyond my budget.

Look, I used major zoom and it turned out crystal clear:

And I am very adept at flower function now. "Macro," I know:

This one was just pretty. Hong Kong Park is pretty amazing, really really:

And... I adore this pic:

Finally uploaded the pics that have been on my camera for months...

I took this picture a long time ago in front of Links of London... origami hydrangeas... very cool and very much like what I used to do... ok I'm really interested in display-case origami, for obvious reasons... but I tried taking a picture with my normal camera and got shooed away, wtf! Haha. Just taking a pic of your window display, geez. Why are stores so anal. Anyway, I found this cool... all white, pretty typical... showcases the products very well when the products are colored... by the way, I have grown to love Links of London. They have some really cool stuff, although the prices are outrageous.

Another note about the Oscars

I just want to say that I really enjoyed those category introductions at the Oscars this year. I love those kinds of montages. And they were very well done. Heartfelt. Succinct. Well written. I was very impressed. They actually made me want to keep watching. They made every award seem more significant. And the nominee introductions were nice too.

I really want to see Man On Wire!

1:30AM

I'm usually not up at 1:30 at night. My capacity for sleep is astounding these days, and I get a lot of it. But I'm up now because I took a 3 hr nap after getting home from Slumdog Millionaire. And I'm sitting here and out my window in the apartment building literally a stone's throw away there were a few lights on just moments ago. It makes me wonder what they're doing in there. What they're watching on TV, whether they are happily reading in bed, who they're getting ready to sleep next to, and whether they are in the winter of their discontent, like me.

Went to Jennifer's birthday dinner tonight, bet they're still having fun right now with the ice louge hahaha (I bowed out early le).

Watched Slumdog Millionaire today *SPOILER ALERT*

My opinion... it was filmed well. It's conflicting though, because the story... it's like a fairytale, as V.Li says. But at the same time it shows you some really brutal things. It's like Pan's Labyrinth except without the fantasy adventures. Or Life is Beautiful.

It also seems to have a very intentional goal of showcasing many facets of India, all tied together a bit too conveniently by Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Again, it was filmed really well. But the story... it's as if the writer had to tie a bunch of somewhat unrelated scenes together with some kind of theme... the unifying element will be the questions in Who Wants to be a Millionaire, that'd do it! It's like the default solution when trying to insert a symbolic scene that seems totally out of place, or showing something about a character's psyche--a dream sequence, that'd take care of that! You know what I mean, too easy.

Also, speaking as someone who has watched loads of Who Wants to be a Millionaire (although not the Indian version), the way it was done was pretty off. The last question would not be about novel character names! Too easy. Also, the fact that he had a phone-a-friend was downplayed until the very last minute, which obviously is driven by plot/script needs, was super unrealistic.

My favorite line. The second time she says "I'm Latika" toward the end, but flashbacking to her saying it in the beginning as a girl. I love that kinda crap.

Procrastination

OK so I only recently finished The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, which I really did not enjoy.

Then I read a piece online that slams Kavalier & Clay.

"But I do not at all agree with the common line that Kavalier & Clay is Chabon’s best book, or even that it is a good book. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was small, but it was piercingly direct; Kavalier & Clay attains breadth, but at the loss of focus. Larger in scope, it is smaller—and shallower—in spirit."

He makes a fine argument but how can Kavalier & Clay ever be described as being shallow in spirit... that's just... stop ruining the book for me!

Strange, indecipherable, beautiful Counting Crows lyrics in my head...

"I'll wait for you where Saturday's a memory and Sunday comes to gather me into the arms of God who welcomes me because I believe oh I believe"

(From "Cowboys." I love this song.)

Top of my wishlist: http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/mini1000/hpmini1000_vivienne.html

OK just kidding. I will settle for the black one. Seeing as how the Vivienne Tam edition (which I find stunning) is double the price. So the hp mini! Because I want to be able to write stuff on-the-go. I want to fit a laptop in my purse. And I like anything that has the word "mini" attached to its name.

One thing I realized a long time ago: I write better when I am sick/tired/dizzy/drunk. Actually I do just about everything better when I'm tipsy. I sing better, I talk better, I probably drive better, not that I'm going to try that.

I am totally serious about the driving thing, by the way. My main problem in life is that I am a control freak. There are merits to being a control freak, but thsoe are vastly outweighed by the problems that arise from this malady.

Well yesterday I was sick and at work, and although it took me three times as long to read things, I could write three times as fast. So I'm thinking, once I get my hp mini (in my current semi-sick state I think it is an inevitability), I can go out and have alcohol and then go hide somewhere and finish a week's worth of writing in say 2 hrs!

Please excuse my current condition. I haven't been getting much sleep b/c of my lack of oxygen due to congestion.

Maria Elena!

I was at work during the Oscars but V.Li and Tim kept updating me via chat. It was pretty funny, actually. But anyway I watched a lot of it that night during the evening re-run, and Penelope Cruz's acceptance was the best. I was really surprised when I was informed that she won, but really excited!! And I have even more of a crush on Maria Elena now, or rather the whole crazy-artist-lovers-who-want-to-kill-each-other concept. I heart Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Well, I was reading Kris Carr's website and felt motivated again to eat healthy and fast and juice. That was about 30 minutes ago. Now I feel like my lunch is going to consist of coffee. Just coffee. I'm so bad at life. But then I feel like people are constantly saying things along the lines of "stop having a stick up your ass, live life, have a Brownie (thanks Bliss Spa), have lots of wine (thanks parents), have our signature mojito and 3 set lunches and coffee (thanks PRs), go on vacation," blah blah. But then here's Kris Carr's website telling me "live life as long as you eat bland and raw, try fasting, rock it out girl!, don't stress!, be anal about food or you'll die a horrible death some time too soon, ok have fun!" So I dunno... this is causing me a lot of stress, know what I mean?

I know there's a way to reconcile it all but I can't be bothered to figure it all out.

Last night I watched Proof on cable. The first time I watched it, in an Evanston theater, I liked it enough, and it was great again last night.

Yesterday I was sleep deprived and wired on caffeine, big time. I'd taken four of those painkillers full of caffeine that says Don't drink too much coffee or tea with this, but of course since I was sleep deprived, and the label said "not too much," I had my cup of coffee. So I was feeling a little crazy with all the no sleep too much caffeine.

Then Proof was on and I was like, "Wow, I can really identify with Gwyneth Paltrow's character. Like, omg!"

She's kinda crazy, spacey, thinks a lot, depressed, sleep deprived, whiny, and argumentative. And it made me feel even more insane. She and Anthony Hopkins get into this whole discussion about how crazy people would never admit to being crazy, and how... well I don't remember exactly, but it made sense at the time. And I love how so much of the movie's dialogue is arguing logically - yeah, tie-in to the whole idea of "proof." What you can and cannot prove in life...

(Although I do dislike how the movie, adapted from a play, really feels like a play, especially multiple sequences when people are arguing REALLY loudly, and yet other people in the house have no idea what's going on.)

Of course, another reason I like this movie is Chicago. One of the best lines: "You actually want to live in Evanston?" - Anthony Hopkins, upon hearing that Gwyneth Paltrow will attend Northwestern. The score is also beautiful and really reminds me of A Beautiful Mind's score, which makes me feel like there's probably some kind of formula for writing scores for movies about math and geniuses.

Well, the whole thing made a lot of sense to me last night when I was feeling like I had multiple Red Bulls, and it was really sad and smart and... well, there IS something dissatisfying about the ending though.

I only slept maybe 2 hours last night so I'm not sure what I'm thinking now.

Wells. You know what blows?

I am officially scared of Chinese New Year. Forever and ever. And must be far far away from it.

On the other hand, after the holidays, for about a week, my bus stops and supermarkets and work email are so empty and quiet and ahhh nice, I'm gonna miss it once things start to pick up again.

Anyhoo...

My magazine started doing regular spa features again since January, after not really having done them for over a year, and while I am far from a spa connoisseur and have only been to a few, I pretty much get the gist and must say I am already quite certain of my favourite. I can't imagine a cooler spa, basically. It's the one in the W Hotel. Bliss Spa. I love Bliss products and was really excited to go for the treatments, just b/c it's freakin' BLISS. Best smelling (and great working) beauty products ever. The hotel had set up two treatments for me: oxygen blast facial and double choc pedicure. OMG! I was excited just hearing the names. How can oxygen be bad? And chocolate? I had no idea what a chocolate pedicure is but I'll take it!

Anyway, it was ultra cool. That's all I'm gonna say. Read all about it in our March issue. Teehee. Oh, sidenote, I love W Hotel (at least the one here). It helps that it's brand spankin' new, but it's the coolest hotel (hyperbole coming...) EVER. People who think it's too modern, pointless and random... well I don't understand those peeps. All new hotels are gravitating toward the modern look, so they better get used to it. The PR took me on a tour and I was gasping at everything in the rooms, the avant garde art in the restaurants, the cool employees in their cool outfits, aiii I love it. And sometimes I see how jaded people are and it's sad in a way to be jaded about modern marvels, technology, design, luxury, etc. Let's all be dai heung lei's and aliens and find everything fascinating.

BTW, Bliss Spa is freakin' expensive. I think BEST VALUE high-end spa in HK (from the ones I know at least) is Landmark Mandarin Oriental's Oriental Spa, especially their monthly specials.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (oh oops, edited to say: no spoilers!)

Sigh. So depressed during and after watching this movie.

I could go into a long spiel about the various themes of this movie that I find interesting... but maybe not...

Thing is, epics like these always make me depressed, which is I guess why books always depress me. They are more often epics. And the thing about epic movies that cover a person's life from birth to death, is that a person's life is covered in the 2 or so hours... it's like a person's life in a nutshell, no matter how detailed the movie is, it's still just a few hours... which is a reflection of the length of a real life, just a blink on this speck of blue.

This just in: Oscar noms

OF COURSE, currently living in Hong Kong, I have hardly had the opportunity to see any of the Oscar-nominated movies. Except of course I've seen the Dark Knight. And Benjamin Button arrived yesterday in theaters, but other than that... which is depressing to me. The fact that I am BEHIND in movies is depressing to me. And the fact that I find that depressing is depressing to me. I am a troubled girl.

But let me just say... Penelope Cruz! I must say that my favorite movie of the year is a tie between Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Dark Knight and Iron Man. Actually I hardly liked any movies this whole year and didn't watch very many either, so these three are my favorites but compared to last year's favorites the degree to which I like these pales in comparison.

But back to Penelope Cruz. She is so great in VCB! I'm guessing she's not going to win, just because I'm sure the films she's up against, which I haven't seen, are major award types. But I heart VCB and Penelope Cruz in it.

"If I am half a scrap of paper, let me turn into a butterfly"

So obviously, origami will always have a special place in my heart.

I would estimate that each contemporary English-language novel makes on average one mention of the word origami. I haven't always been diligent about marking passages that use this word but am trying to do so more and more. I just find it very interesting in a weird obsessive way. Since these are pretty good authors I am reading, the word origami isn't written haphazardly. It's always just the right word. It implies intricacy, elegance, foldedness, balance, etc., what origami is all about. I guess I can't stop thinking about "American Pastoral" (Philip Roth) which, in passing, uses origami to describe a vagina.

From "Survivor" (Chuck Palahniuk):

"The journalist sits across from me. How her legs look with the rest of her body is not too long. She shows just enough ear for earrings. All her problems are hidden inside. All her flaws are underneath. The only smell she gives off, even her breath, is hair spray. How she's folded into her chair, her legs crossed at the knee, her hands folded in her lap, is less good posture than it is some flesh-and-blood origami."

The above passage is this whole multi-sentence description that gets wrapped up in one last word. Origami--intricate, elegant, folded, balanced, etc.--says it all.

From "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" (Michael Chabon) (Thanks althealthfreak for the lend!

"I gathered up my books and papers and noticed that the Spanish Potboiler Guy had left. Where he'd been sitting there were a small empty can of pineapple juice and a little scrap of origami that was like a dog or a saxophone."

Well, Chabon's "origami" is literal. But anyway. I, in my obsessive way, find the use of this word/description very interesting/cool... it also makes me wonder how it's possible that so many people in the US do not know what origami is. I mean, it's a pretty commonly used term. (Having lived in Florida, I would guess that only 50% of the population knows what origami is, crazy as it sounds.)

I also collect moments in movies and TV shows when origami is used. I have a bunch of screencaps. Weird huh. This unicorn from "Bladerunner," I made 70 for a wedding back in the day.

Stop Me

I am crazy about this song...
Interestingly, for a Marie song, no "bridge" section...
Oh Marie, u r so talented and awesome and I heart this song.

Saw "Twilight" two weekends ago.

I guess the whole situation was kinda funny. I was really dying to see Twilight because I was craving an entertaining no-brain-required somewhat-actiony slick movie. This was before Stephen H. started gushing about it. OK I've always known he is partial to chick flicks in a weird way, and he made this Anne Rice connection which makes him even more biased... because he LOVES Interview with a Vampire (the book). But he couldn't stop gushing about Kristen Stewart. And I sort of have a girl crush on Kristen Stewart, which was another reason I really wanted to watch this.

So I drag my husband to the midnight show (although I said I was perfectly fine with seeing it myself), as did many a spouse around the world, or so I hear, and he really didn't like it.

I didn't love it, ar! I wasn't exactly expecting to love it because of the Tomatometer rating, but I still wanted it to be a slick entertaining movie. I think I should read the books because I might love the books. But the main reason I didn't love it was the filmmaking was sloppy. I want to love this movie! The characters/acting was great, and I love Bella's dork posse actually. Those were realistic high school kids. But it was edited all weird, and I didn't particularly like the special effects when it came to the super powers. And Kristen Stewart didn't mesmerize me like I'd hoped.

Boo. Anyway, can't wait for Benjamin Button.

Went to Osaka for a few days. I like Osaka. It's not expensive, not suffocating and so picturesque. Oh and I bought riding boots for cheap! Oh and Japanese girls fearlessly wear mini skirts and riding boots in near-freezing weather, which I will never get over.

X'mas morning

Love this pic my mom took. Tim and me.

I read...
"Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk (the guy who penned Fight Club)

Didn't love it, didn't hate it. The whole book is like a parody. Hyper symbolic. But his sentences and passages are really smart. Like each and every one is mocking. Well I think I just prefer lushness.

It makes me think of Fight Club, the film. The thing I really didn't like about the film was the narration, because it was so sharp and scathing. I actually thought that the narration would work fine in a book but it's just too much when spoken outloud.

So I can totally see that this Palahniuk guy is sort of a genius with words but I dunno, I will never like mean-spiritedness, hostility, mockery, etc.

Glorious wares

I’ve been having fashion on my mind lately for the following reasons: 1) V.Li started a fashion blog that loves discussing two recurring fashion-related themes in my life: Marc Jacobs and Kate Moss; 2) I bought Lucky magazine’s Dec issue and Tim brought back the Jan issue, which never fails to inspire me to buy a crapload of stuff; 3) this particular winter in HK sees very wearable and cute fashion, namely the combo of riding boots, fancy tights, and mini skirts (top and outerwear styles are flexible), which makes me feel like I have to try extra hard to not be a jeans-and-tee wallflower.

Hence all the stuff I bought over the weekend, which must be chronicled! Too fabulous to be forgotten! This is them in order of purchase (I hope photos are to come):

1. Biker jacket, grey denim, DKNY, 60% off, I’m in love
2. Two of the same things that I can’t disclose because one is for V.Li, 66% off
3. Super amazing perfect little black minidress (pictured), French Connection, at least 60% off
4. Black knit top with craftsy embroidered crown and FC logo, French Connection, 50% off
5. Black short pleated preppy skirt with buckle, French Connection, around 40% off
6. Small blue shoulder bag with thin knotted strap, H&M, cheap

Still no black moccasin boots. I’m also coveting riding boots but the selection overwhelms me.

Shallow thought of the week...

-I am so in the market for a pair of black moccasin boots and miniskirts to go with them. Can't find them (the boots) though.

Re: the restaurant I featured as being really good that my parents said was really bad. They went to the right restaurant this time and said it was REALLY good, which makes me feel a lot better. Yeah they managed to go to an entirely different restaurant last time and not know it... I also went back and it was really good again... so it's true, M---- R-- in D-Bay is really good!

This month I went to three places for afternoon tea and surprisingly, InterContinental was amazing... they served their future set that won't be out until February... the set came with two scones, two mini CHURROS (!!!), a madeleine and a canelle... which is a French carb thing that was yums... but OK I have never seen churros in HK :) unusual reason to be excited I know but... it's very nostalgic American carnivale...

Anyway their sandwiches were to die for too... best tiny sandwiches ever... and the tea (from this major French company Mariage Frères) was soo goood... I would post pics but might seem inappropriate since it's still Dec... and it would give away my not very secret blogger identity... but anyway... yah, InterContinental for afternoon tea!

i know i know, no blogging forever...
nothing to say,
approaching insanity,
but a crazy person doesn't know they are crazy...
so that means i can't be crazy...
according to catch-22...

ahhh must do amazon shopping before tim comes home...

Recently watched "Ella Enchanted" when it was on cable... love these lines:

[Ella confronts three thugs who have captured Slannen]
Ella: Look, I think it's only fair to warn you that I'm practiced in the ancient art... of origami.
Bluto: Paper folding?
Ella: Oh... I was hoping you wouldn't know what that was.

Oh yeah, I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I liked it OK.

I love my team... aww...

They give me heart attacks, thanks guys!

"The Wildcats have also been nicknamed the "Cardiac 'Cats" after several seasons with highly contested games, with victories in the final seconds or in overtime." --Wikipedia

Current record 7-2

Watch out, Ohio State, another week and it'll be another ESPN Instant Classic in the making, RE: October 2, 2004
[insert sarcastic evil laugh]

sunday blog post

Northwestern, 6-1, rebounds from only loss with win over Purdue

grr.

Writers are such egomaniacs I can't stand it.

(Myself inclusive.)

Over the past few months I've tried to read various books but haven' t been satisfied or able to finish any...

How to Read Literature Like a Professor--
This one has OK information, but the writing is terrible. It's actually subtitled "A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines." False. This professor is obviously a skilled reader but crappy writer who I find to be patronizing. And totally boring. He's not clever as he fancies himself to be. It's the worst thing when a writer tries to be clever but just sounds lame.

The Art and Craft of Feature Writing--
I love this book, but it's not something you can finish in a few sittings. You'll get your money's worth though with all the insights. The stories used as examples are great reads in themselves. And this one is truly written in a lively and entertaining fashion, but that is to be expected since he is the expert on feature writing...

and other books not worth a mention. I've resorted to re-reading the Virgin Suicides. Off to Dymocks now!

Tasted on Monday...

And couldn't think straight or write about anything yesterday every time I looked at this pic. Vietnamese coffee-flavored creme brulee with yummy crunchy things. OMG. Mouth watering. Should've complimented the chef more on this one. White dude from Boston makes Vietnamese food. We talked about Red Sox and Patriots.

new reason to feel like an idiot

[In MTR station on the way back to office] The following conversation is not verbatim (but close). Changed for dramatic effect.

Me: I bought a plant last weekend and discovered there's a worm in it.

Coworker: [gasp] ew!

Me: But it's really cute.

Her: What?

Me: Yeah it's really cute, all tiny and fuzzy and crawly.

Her: ... you should get rid of it, it will kill your plant.

Me: That's OK.

Her: [laughs] So you actually bought a worm and are feeding it a plant.

Me: Yes exactly.

Her: [laughs]

Me: I mean, it's really small. It's like this [shows her about an inch and a half between fingers]

Her: That's big enough!

Me: But it's really nice because it won't leave the plant.

Her: Yeah where would it go?

Me: Well I've already named it.

Her: [Laughs] V------! I'm getting goosebumps.

Me: Yeah it's name is Ah Mo.

Her: Ah Mo. Are you afraid your cat will see it?

Me: He won't see it, but I'm afraid he will get jealous of it. Because I'm always looking at the plant now. He might get jealous of the plant.

Her: What kind of plant is it?

Me: I don't know. But doesn't matter, it was only HK$15.

Her: That's pretty cheap. The one on my desk was $20.

Me: Yeah.

Her: You should take a picture of it.

Me: Yeah but my camera gets fuzzy when I try to take close-ups.

Her: You're supposed to use the "flower" function.

Me: [dumbfounded] REALLY? THAT'S for close-ups?

Her: Yeah.

Me: I feel like an idiot, all this time I didn't know what the flower meant. I thought it was for outdoors or something.

Her: Well yeah it's for close-ups but they use the flower symbol because...

Me: Most people use it to photograph flowers.

Her: Yup.

I really feel like an idiot, because I have been frustrated about this FOREVER: why can't I take close-ups with any of my cameras? This is especially troubling because I went through 3.5 years of origami photographing without knowing about this function. How lame is that? Well I've been taking all kinda of pics now that I know about the flower function

And I can't keep plants alive except cacti, so my plant is almost dead. The flowers are really cool though, they have a wish bone-shaped membrame inside.

1. I mailed in my absentee voter registration last week...
2. Which is actually quite pointless.
3. I don't want to be all whiny about "my vote doesn't count"...
4. But it actually really doesn't.
- - a) I mean it will not affect anything.
- - b) Because I am an Illinois voter.
- - - i. And Obama is going to win in Illinois.
- - - ii. And I am voting for Obama.
- - - iii. But that doesn't really matter because Obama is still going to win in Illinois without my vote.
- - - iv. So my vote isn't going to help him become Prez.
5. See? The electoral college system is whack.

My last blog post made me really want to play the piano. I found a youtube vid with a girl who teaches the entire "Spell" accompaniment by demonstration, it's cool.

I'm also traumatized because my mom said she went to the restaurant I blogged about (two posts ago) and said it was really bad. Now I'm all paranoid that they normally suck and were just good when the magazine went.

It's heresy.

Marié Digby, I bow down to your brilliance.

I'm obsessed.

And if I had a keyboard in my apartment I wouldn't sleep until I figured out how to play the "Spell" accompaniment.

Writing about food makes me... so hungry.

What I want to write about this dish: Best. Gnocchi. Ever. OMG.

Food writing is so hard for me. How many adjectives can one use to say something is delicious? I'm so not a foodie. This particular restaurant I am reviewing (or featuring, which is diff), located in Discovery Bay, called M---- R-- (don't want it to be searchable to my blog!), which is not very pricey, also had the best tartar ever (tuna and crab) and REALLY good mussels, amazing desserts, amazing prawn soup, wish it was more conveniently located than Discovery Bay though, but maybe that's asking too much.

My mouth is watering just from thinking about it, which makes it hard to write, and makes me eat more for lunch, which makes me feel gross (since it was a recent revelation that the reason I'd been able to be skinny for like the past 5 yrs but is a struggle now is because I NEVER ate breakfast or lunch until now that I have job with normal hours).

Typhoons crack me up

Received this by email today because of the suspicious/funny projected typhoon path... notice the very sharp angle at the blue dot. In case the legend on the left upper corner is too small to read, we are currently at the green dot. The red, blue, and grey dots are the projected path for the next 3 days. The red star, right next to the grey dot, is HK.

My initial thought was Yay, typhoon! But my next thought was BOO!!! Can't this be on a weekday??? Our last typhoon 8, which was a week ago I think, occurred between 6pm and 6am over a weeknight! Stupid typhoon, stop defeating your PURPOSE! Which is to help me get out of WORK!

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.

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: