Hong Kong - November 2010

EYS Shout Outs/Thanks: I want to thank (in alphabetical order by first name) Agi, Amy, Analisa, Anita, Ann, Anthony, Brandon, Christian, Christine, Dave, Gill, Hans, Hormis, Jacob, James, Jen, Joe, Joe, Joseph, Kurt, Lucy, Manu, Maribel, Marina, Natalie, Nathalie, Norm, Sashee, Saugat, Sovy, Staci, Swapna, Terry, Todd, Tony, Tonya, Vanessa, and Veronica for supporting me and Eat Your Serial via Kick Starter. We reached our goal and I have great hopes for this project. Regardless of Eat Your Serial's future, I will not forget this amazing support from all of you....that's a promise. The Eat Your Serial fun is just getting started and I hope you all enjoy the ride! Thanks again!

Additional EYS Shout Outs/Thanks: Congratulations to Ameet, who passed the bar exam and he helped me with some EYS legal questions. Thanks to Nazgol who helped me with some other EYS business related functions too.

Non-EYS Shout Outs: Todd Butler, who allegedly is coming to visit me in Hong Kong. He produced this e-mail that appears to be an itinerary from late Dec to early January. I guess it’s legitimate but I won’t believe it until I actually see him here.

Honorable Mentions: I still don’t know who you are, nevershake.

My apologies: I don’t believe this post will be as good as my last post, which was a fan favorite. It’s tough to have something interesting to write and/or share all the time. Fortunately, however, this post will likely be one of my shortest (in length).

Temperature/Humidity Update: Since my last post, the weather has greatly improved. There have been some really awesome days.

Haircut Update: Since my last post, I have had two more haircuts. Haircut # 2 was worse than haircut # 1. It just so happened I got the same guy twice. So, I decided to come in on his off day for haircut # 3, which was awesome. I need to make sure to go back to haircut # 3 guy. I guess this really does prove the theory that “third times the charm”

Reverse Fetch: Before I went in for my haircut, this western looking woman was throwing a ball to her big dog. At one point, she made a bad throw and the ball started rolling away from her down this slope. So, she went running after it while the dog decided to take a seat and wait for her to come back. I found this hilarious because it certainly looked like a game of reverse fetch.

Weight update: Since I knocked my weight in my last update, I’m going to pat myself on the back in this update. No, I haven’t gained any weight back, but I have been lifting twice a week and my abs have never looked better. I’m cut and it’s not because of haircut guy # 1/2.

Basketball: I’ve played basketball a few times here and all I’ll say is that I like playing defense and going for rebounds a lot more here than I do in the U.S. Perhaps I am on my way to an all around game.

Elevators: The elevators in my office building are super inefficient. Some of that is the elevator’s fault and some of that is the building owner’s fault for putting way more tenants in our bank of elevators than other banks. Someone should sell some elevator work here….but who…. ???

*** side note (#1): Inefficient is different than slow. Usually when one refers to an elevator as slow, one really means inefficient. ***

Work: One of my coworker’s asked me if I can get more tan than I already am. Yes, I can get darker. Haha. In other news, I’ll need to start looking for my next job back in the U.S. soon. I think I already have some ideas about what sort of work I’m interested in, which company I want to work for, where, etc.

Food: I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before but sometimes when I go out to eat, some of my coworkers will clean their chopsticks and plates and whatever with the hot water that’s on the table (the hot water is for tea or drinking or something). I thought this might have been a Feng Shui thing but I guess it turns out they do it just to make sure the chopsticks, plates, etc, that we’re using are clean. Also, you get one napkin with your meal. Usually my coworkers bring their own napkins/tissues in case they need more than the one provided. Oh yeah, and the milk here must have sugar in it or something. It definitely tastes sweet. I think I probably would have consumed more milk growing up, which would have made Mom happy, had it been loaded with sugar. Haha. Ok, one more thing about food (I think/hope). When you order take out, you pay but you don’t always get a receipt. I’m wondering how do they know who ordered what or whatever and if I paid when it’s time to get my food; I guess there is a method to the madness but it is definitely different than what I’m used to.

Daylights Savings: There is no daylights savings here and it pisses me off because I missed the “fall back” switch. I’ll probably get back to the U.S. in time for the “spring forward” one. That would mean I would experience two “spring forwards” without a “fall back.” That’s like experiencing “two spring forwards” without a “fall back.” There’s no other way to complete that analogy because that’s the worst possible thing that could happen!

p.s. I’m being sarcastic…sort of

Cops: So, went to Kennedy Town to meet some friends for dinner. It was the first time I was in Kennedy Town and I was a bit lost. I saw some cops check the IDs of some kids but I ignored it. Later on, while I was still lost, and on the phone with my friend trying to find his place, I was stopped by the cops (whilst on the phone). So, I get off the phone and they ask me for ID. I didn’t have my passport on me because I was told I shouldn’t carry my passport because I could probably lose it and that I wouldn’t need to show it to anybody. Well, these cops wanted to see it. Since I didn’t have it, they decided to ask a bunch of random questions and do a random check. They went through my wallet and, for some reason, they did not find it odd that I had two different IDs on me (one NY and one CA). I was a carrying a plastic bag with some red bull cans because the guys asked me to pick some up. The cops asked me where I got it from, how much I paid, and if I had a receipt. Why did they ask me these questions? I have no idea. So, the whole experience was weird, random, and it was quite the head scratcher. The best part about it was they were able to help me find my friend’s place. Haha.

Random: While taking a break outside my office one day, I sat down at a park bench to relax for a few minutes and enjoy the weather. While I was sitting there, this random Muslim dude comes up to me, shakes my hand, and says something in a foreign language. So, I said, “What?” He says something in a foreign language again and I say, “What?” Then he says in English, “Where are you from?” I said, “America, bitch!” Wait. That’s not what I said. I said, “From the U.S.” and then I was like, I work there (pointing to my building) and I was like, gotta go..bye. That…was…random.

Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs: That’s exactly what my former landlady was, is, and may always be. The urban dictionary describes Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs as follows:

a strictly medical term, used to describe a patient or person that has delved into a realm of irrational, illogical and/or crazy thought processes; Affected with madness; insane to an exceeding degree characterized by weakness or feebleness; decrepit; broken; falling to decay; shaky; unsafe; foolish

See that guy trying to put that square peg into that round hole? I think he's gone coo coo for cocoa puffs!

Now, this is a long story; so, I’ll save it for those who are interested. This woman is a bad combination of annoying, shady, stupid, and selfish. I moved out and broke even. Maybe I even made out better than even but my new place costs more, so overall I’m paying more for my own sanity. I told the agent, who wasn’t a half bad dude, that I was going back to the U.S. All she had was my phone #, so she can’t track me down if she’s mad that I disappeared like the Baltimore Colts in the middle of the night. Actually, I think she wanted to drive my roommate and me out since she kept proposing the idea about us moving out if we were unhappy. My guess is that she had someone willing to pay more. Anyway, it’s a long story, as previously mentioned, and I hope if I’m going to compare my Hong Kong experience to a cereal slogan again, that it has something to do with Lucky Charms.

Dropping Sh!t: The people that lived above me in the old place would drop shit….all the time. It sounded like they had a box off a million paper clips and they would just turn it over and drop it on the floor. Sometimes it was one at a time and sometimes it was a million. I think I’ve learned what Chinese torture is all about.

New Place: I swear I hear people dropping paper clips here, too, but maybe the sounds are in my head (Who’s coo coo for cocoa puffs now?). The place I live has everything included except laundry. I have a landline, internet, unlimited use of water and electricity, etc. Some of the rooms are grouped next to each other and it almost has the feel of a college residence hall (I was taught at SU not to call it a dorm).

People: I’ve clearly shared some bad stories about HK but it’s not all bad. I’ve met some cool people here. I dropped a 20 in the HK MTR station one time and 3 people made sure I got it back. One person just stood over it (I’m not sure why he didn’t pick it up) and two people made sure I went back for it. Now a 20 is about 3 USD but it was still nice. I decided to give the money back to HK by spending it on breakfast and giving the rest to random people asking for money. I have a solid group of friends here, too. I had a nice turn out for my birthday earlier this month and I even got to have some Thanksgiving Turkey at a friend’s party.

Trips: I’m starting to plan and think about mini trips and my post HK trip. I’m not sure if Seoul is still in the cards but I hope to see Shanghai (again), Vietnam, and Thailand. If I don’t go to Seoul, I’d like to add another location.

Halftime (basically): I left CA about 3 months ago and I have about 3.5 months until my return to the U.S. Here’s hoping I finish the second half strong!