Leap Year 2012

It was only yesterday that I remembered I actually HAVE a blog!

What triggered my memory of my long lost child blog was: "bucket list".  I had one, somewhere.  I've been meaning to find it.  Where did I put it?

I think I started this blog to record my journey and personal growth, having moved to a new city.  So far, I don't love it.  I don't hate it like it used to.  I don't mind it so much.  There are a number of things keeping me sane and rekindling the spark in my heart for this city (back then I love this city - vacations are different from residence).

On a side note... I'm falling in love with pinterest.  I love pictures, photos.  There's something about words that just don't quite... make a statement anymore.

I guess I should start posting photos to describe my day.

a year later...

i should really continue posting... it's like a record of my life on paper.  'paper'.

i stand by my words about abandoning blogs.  i vow to blog every single day to keep my soul alive, my mind stress-free, and my heart content.

so... where do i begin?

I have a paper due in about 19 hours and i am hardly close to finish.  i should really continue and get on it but... i can't.  i have trouble focusing.

alright, back to e&t.

so... it's been 11 days since i last blogged.

it's a start.  at least it's not a month or a year.

so far, nothing crazy has happened other than my friends and i have gone for sushi.  if mother found out, she definitely will be disappointed.  there have been protocols forbidding restaurants from importing food that may create a potential risk - not sure about the sanctions tho...  look for the safety sticker on veggies and other products!

there's something that does bother me however... imagine someone wearing dishwasher gloves to mop the floor, dust the apartment, clean your toilet and then later folding your clothes and making your bed wearing the EXACT SAME gloves.  i thought it was just purely common sense to keep one pair of gloves for absolute use in cleaning the floor and toilet.  use other gloves for other places?!?!

i don't know how to tell the helper it's unsanitary and hella disgusting...  so i've just told her not to touch my stuff period.  really, i'd much rather clean my own room.

the first step

yet once again, i have abandoned this blog. for some unknown reason, i'm very good at abandoning blogs. so under tumultuous stress, i've decided to pick it blogging once again. i'll treat this as an outlet for stress relief or potential anger management control.

hong kong is probably as foreign to me as it might be to everyone else who finds it foreign. huh. and you just stopped and said what did she say? well, the only difference may be that i am of chinese ethnic background. hailing from north america, i was raised in a cultural mosaic/melting pot. for some odd reason, the chinese people from north america - even those who have lived there for a long time - are slightly different from those in asia. i'm not trying to raise a potentially controversial remark here - other than what i observe.

ironic as it may be, being able to speak the language, i still stick out like a sore thumb. i've been told it's my face and my accent - though i don't think my accent would sell me out, it has to locals.

so here's a blog to discovering myself while in a foreign city, hong kong - asia's concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

day 1 - 3 recap

day1

got off the plane at like 6.30am. d-train came to pick me up!  so hilarious when i saw him hold this sign up hahahaha

off to the bus stop to get home; so grateful he came to help out with the luggages because i have no muscles... and then off to eat at this nearby dim sum place. after that, back home to chill. then headed over to a network carrier for a #.  signed up for the phone plan and parted ways with d-train (who was actually meeting up a mutual friend of ours for a tour of his campus).  dinner that night at the restaurant again with the fam.

day 2

up super early and just met up with D and chilled alllll day. can't remember what we did or where we went other than the fact that it was pure walking...  if my memory didn't fail me, we went to causeway bay sogo area. tried looking for a wallet in a specific colour, but it was sold out everywhere.  dude, i'm pretty sure it just came out.  asia and its awfully wealthy or materialistic, high demand society.  i'll never win.  lesson learned.  if i wanted something, i'm gonna BUY it. don't think, just buy.  later that night, we went to isquare for dinner at kraze burgers. so good. it's heaven!

day 3

je suis une good girl! (bonne femme? femme is lady tho...)

overslept and woke up quite late! late as in late for church. the plan was to wake up at 7.30 and be at D's place by 9.00, and leave for church around that time. let's just say it didn't go according to plan. got to central station to realize we can't get there by walking... and we were already late, so the next best thing was to take the taxi there. lo and behold, it began to rain crazily. it was like literally taking a shower. after mass, we walked in the drenched rain down the slope and waited for the taxi there. taxi dropped us off at admiralty and we headed over to pacific place to eat at triple o's - D's request because he missed home so badly.   i liked the honey mustard but the chicken strips tasted nothing like the ones in vancouver.

sat around and was literally feeling sleepy!  D tried calling tony but he was probably still sleeping. 10 mins later tony calls back and suggests meeting at apm, the new mall.  there we saw mc jin perform with this other non-local rapper/singer.  stayed there for a bit.  then we parted ways around 5ish.  dinner was postponed due to the massive traffic jam. went to Lei Yu Moon with family friends. love the food.  abalone was delicious.  beats me why it's overpriced though.  i love the texture, but there's really nothing more to it... it's like conch.  there was also this strange-looking long seafood called "shing zhi"... not sure what it's called in english, but it's from the clam family.  it was DELICIOUS.  i love it.  it's officially my favourite seafood.  we didn't have sharks fin though - that, i'm quite happy about.  i used to love it, well the texture is good, but i'm strongly against animal torture.  when i was younger i was ignorant about how fishermen would catch sharks, slice off their fins and throw them back into the water.  i used to think every part of the shark was used, just like fish.  apparently not; so now i'm definitely against it.

anyway, the night ended up with the adults going all out and my uncle testing my knowledge of seafood in english and chinese.  i guess they're the wise drunks - sharing their knowledge when they're drunk.  i suppose that's better than angry drunks or loud drunks.  if this back at home, i'd definitely be driving... but i didn't volunteer myself.  a) i'm unfamiliar with the roads here, b) i dropped one of my contact lenses, c) local drivers are vicious - their claws come out during the day and night.  in case someone's wondering, everyone got home just fine with their wives driving.  at least i got home fine with aunt y behind the wheel.  for old people, them aunts and uncles are pretty cool.  they tried to get me drunkb ut i've had my fair share of hard liquor - just enough to increase my tolerance.  should probably go drink with them again! hahaha

day 4

nothing much other than i'm going to be alone since lo bean has left for business trip. hmmm... what to do? i'm hungry!

selective packing?

considering how i need to pack everything for the move, i haven't even touched a thing yet. in fact, i haven't even pulled out the luggages yet or set aside the stuff i need to bring with me. clothes, bags, shoes, picture frames, make-up, nail polish, creams... those are easy to list. problem is... they don't fit in 2 luggages... oh happy day! selective packing time! btw, i just bought 2 pairs of shoes here... that's 2 more to add to my long list of shoes to bring already! =]