temporarily insane

Today the new interchange will be in service. The west rail line will extend from nam cheong to hunghom. this means I only have to switch once to get to uni. I'll be able to try it out tomorrow when I go to work. Haha something to look forward to on a Monday :P From what I've read from the MTR announcement, the cost will still be the same as before and it will also be much faster. I think about 10 minutes will be reduced in travel time. So if I normally travel 45 minutes, it'll now be around 30-35 minutes. yeey!! minsan nakakapagod din magbiyahe even if the public transportation is efficient and I don't have to switch 2 to 3 times!! sometimes it's because of these factors that I would prefer to work from home. ...

i've finally finished everything last night! after a haggard week of cramming, i finished it. can't wait to go home and take a break.

i have been craving for pizza almost every weekend now and that has been my staple dinner/lunch. crazy. sad part is there are not a lot of pizza places to choose from. i'm stuck with pizza hut. [although i think there are other pizza places around but i only know cpk and shakey's to be one of them] i don't understand some of the things they put on the pizza though, i.e. corn, thousand island sauce, curry sauce, among others. maybe it's good but i don't want to try it 'cos i just might waste the food if i found it wasn't good.

summer is here and it's scorching hot. at home, i have transitioned from my usual hot coffee to an iced coffee. i'm liking McCafé's iced coffee and getting my dose of nescafé's canned coffee. but i continue with my usual hot coffee intake in the office though 'cos we have a/c there. heh

while working (i'm always writing here when i'm supposed to be working heh), i like to check out national bookstore online for possible books to buy and stuff. i suddenly remembered the last time i bought my pugad baboy book, the 20th anniversary edition and though to myself that they might have released a new one. lo and behold! pugad baboy 21. yey!

i'm looking forward to buying that when i go home.

Placebo is coming here in August. I haven't decided yet if I want to go watch them. I mean I like some of their songs like 'Running up the hill' and 'Every you, every me' but I haven't listened to any of their newer songs. ... Bahala na si batman.

So far, I haven't seen any other postings about other bands. Hopefully some good ones will come over. I don't want to count Air Supply or Rain as good concerts to attend. Although Il Divo will be having a concert in September, I am looking for some good old rock/alternative bands or maybe some R&B/Hiphop groups.

i'm still disoriented from my family's visit last week. hopefully before the weekend, i can get some sort of balance. haven't written since last month, hmm... what has happened?

finally ...
1. watched Oasis live!
2. bought a new digicam
3. bought a portable wireless router
4. saw my crazy nephews (last time was early January)
5. got another project which will begin mid-July (no contract yet but i think it's more or less 90% sure ... just need to finish the current project and do my best!)
6. go home end of June for my short break (a little sun and beach is in order)
7. hang out with friends! (sana nga, walang busy-busyhan!)
8. thinking about what to do next ... maybe study again. .... .. .

My mom bought the craziest and cutest thing! I wish I was back home because I know I would love it just as my nephews do! She bought a Spongebob toast maker! hahaha, my nephew Andrae seems to love making his 'midnight' snack with this while the youngest seems to love munching his bread with Spongebob's face! Wish I could see their faces and enjoy a Spongebob toast with them! I love Spongebob!! I will soon get the chance to try this out ... will be back by end of June.

Saturday - Wednesday. 21-25 Mar My mom, 3 aunts and an uncle visited me last weekend and stayed at my place til Wednesday. I am still dead tired. i think for the days they were here i was always waking up at 6-6.30am and i am not used to it. it's too early in HK standards but quite refreshing as well because everything is eerily quiet, i like it. wish i could make it a habit though. too difficult to do it here because everything happens late.

We did a lot of walking around HK. it was mostly leading them around different shops, malls and of course eateries. i think we spent a good chunk of it just eating which is well and good. you can't be in hk and not try their local food. we mostly went to our usual haunts but i'm also interested to try some new ones. hmm..maybe one of these days. it's hard to get people together here to eat and hang out. i miss hanging out with people :( anyhoo, i also went with them to a day-trip to macau (it was fun to try our luck at the casinos and walking around the senado).  Hmm.. our macau trip reminded me, i still have not fixed my china visa. i have been planning some trips to china for ages but i could never bring myself to the chinese consul. too lazy la! i have to wake up super early in order to beat the long lines outside the consul. i will be strong! i promised a friend to visit her in shanghai and the others want to go to shenzen, guangzhou and maybe chong san. will have to do this soon. ... i hope.
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Random 1. I've been in HK for a year and a few months. the first year was mainly for studying and the next few months working as a project-based researcher in a uni. what's nice is that for the past two Christmas holidays, i was able to go home and spend time with family and friends. i don't mind staying here for another year. there's a lot i want to do, learn and experience. so far, the work is super flexible. i do my work and put pressure on myself to finish my tasks as my bosses don't really have fixed deadlines for my tasks except for one boss who i meet every other week (which i prefer - helps keep me in line). the only downsize is in terms of job security. as a project-based employee, i always worry about what will happen to me after my contract expires. i am looking for other posts but it's not always easy since most openings are also project-based for uni work and for posts outside uni it's not much especially now with the financial crisis et al so i'm always hoping that in one form or another i could get an extension on my contract.

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Random 2. ever since i've been here i've wanted to learn cantonese and putonghua. i've learned a few essential food phrases for cantonese when i eat at the cafeteria. my basic putonghua from long ago has also helped me a little when i communicate with our building's security guard or when i'm buying something at a bazaar or market but still it's not enough :( i want my putonghua to be at the level as my mom or better hehehe. i guess if i really want to devote my time on this, i can do self-study but then i suck at self-study! i mean if i'm already lazy at work how will i even fair if i do it on my own haha. i used to download podcasts for putonghua but i found it a bit slow. anyone out there who can recommend a good podcast for putonghua, maybe for intermediate level?

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Wednesday. 25 Mar highlight of my week. one of my prized photos from the Coldplay concert last Wednesday. I got a quick snapshot of Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland as they were walking pass. It was one of those lucky moments where you were standing at the right place at the right time. at first, i was glued to my seat wasn't really sure what to do then my body just started moving to the side railing. i saw the bouncer holding us back but duh looking back, there wasn't really a surge or push of crowd behind us. hehe i think everybody was dazed as well or was wondering what was going on. heh.

i loved that they chose many popular songs in their playlist, i.e. yellow, hardest part, fix you, the scientist, lost!, 42, etc. It was crazy seeing them move from two different parts of the concert hall (right and back side) where they played acoustic sets. These were okay. At those times, I was close to dozing off probably because that was the same day my mom and relatives just left hong kong and i was still lacking sleep. it didn't help that the piano solo of Chris Martin made me close to shutting my eyes. I largely blame this to the fatigue of too much walking. i heart you Chris Martin. you and the rest of the band were awesome and i'm sorry for not being a better fan! :P

but besides the acoustic, i really loved what they did with all the other songs! i loved the pumping sound of yellow, lovers in japan, violet hill, viva la vida, speed of sound and all the others. i had a few good head banging. can't wait for the next concert.

some more blurry pics at my multiply site. i should really do something about my digicam. i've been ranting about it for the last month or so. i should get around to buying a new one.
 

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This was the first time I attended a Chinese wedding here. Never thought that it would be different.

Saturday. 28 Mar I guess today is a good date for weddings. I've seen two couples in my compound getting married and this didn't include the wedding reception i attended later that night. It was quite interesting to see this marriage ritual because it was different from how we would practice it back home. First of, I was supposed to attend the wedding itself in the morning but I had a really long week that I couldn't get out of bed for the life of me. But more or less I got the guise of it both from my own observation of the two couple sightings and from a local hongkie friend who gave me a quick round up of what happens in a wedding ceremony, Chinese style. So it goes like this. The groom fetches the bride from her family's place and then takes her back to his family's place where they, i think, exchange gifts and have tea. I guess it symbolizes giving away the daughter to the groom's family because as she marries the guy, she takes on his family name and becomes a part of that family. You could see that they wearing cheong-sams and i'm not sure if it was the mother or a sister or just a relative, you'll find that they are carrying a red umbrella even as they enter the building and i think all the way to the home of (i'm not sure) either the bride or groom or both. ... but as my hongkie friend said i didn't miss out on anything because that was the whole ceremony. they are now married but of course they still have to do the legal contract of the marriage which I got to witness at the wedding reception. yup. it was done at the reception. they invited a lawyer to preside over it. the couple exchange short vows (i'm guessing it was vows but can't be sure as it was in cantonese). exchanged rings and then signed the legal document with both their fathers as the signing witnesses. after that, the bride and groom thanked their parents. this part was very emotional even though i didn't understand what they were saying but I was informed that thanking their parents at their wedding is a natural thing to do. after their speech they gave their parents a bouquet of flowers. this was all done at 9pm which was okay i guess except that the wedding reception itself only began at 9pm!!

it was crazy! my friend asked me to arrive at the place by 6pm so I was there on the dot only to find out that the reception doesn't start at 9pm. I was flabbergasted. I thought that maybe you know the reception would begin at 7 since they asked people and placed the invitation that it begins at 6pm but noooo it starts at 9pm. here i thought we were the kings and queens of tardiness. of course after finding this out, i had to ask my friend (along with her cousin who was based in Singapore) why then did we have to go there early?? We found out it was customary for guests to arrive early. they take the time to play mahjong or card games or just relax and hang out. so yah, that was what we basically did for the next three hours. hanged out. we played card games with these huge deck of cards the size of a corona notebook. hilarious. we played pick-up sticks too. in between (thank goodness) they offered us some snacks so it was ok. but the waiting really made me want to sleep on the couch. i was still dead tired, trying to catch up on my sleep. anyhoo, the reception was quite fun. they didn't have any wedding games which was great, only showed videoclips of the couple and had the couple going around the different tables and having a toss. food was great! it was Chinese. I was super full because I was snacking before that. dessert came out at 11.30pm and as much as I wanted to stay. my friend invited me to a post-wedding drinking. i could not join them. i was ready to hit the floor from sheer tiredness and i had to catch the last train home which i barely did with my new shoes that was killing me. got home at 1am.... that was how far my place was to the wedding.

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Sunday. 29 Mar Literally just stayed at home. did some house cleaning, reading and watching the news, trying to get a few hours of low time before the new week begins. i am dreading the coming week :( i have to again do a lot of cramming, put my game face on and do my best. wish me luck. 
 

I feel pissed off today. I think it might have to do with the little sleep I had. I slept at 5.30am, no not because I was finishing some work or doing a paper. No, it was because I finished reading Megan Mccafferty's Sloppy Firsts book. You could say it's a teen angst book with a lot of whining and self-centeredness but I still enjoyed reading it. Because of that I proceeded to read the second book of the series, Second Helpings kasi nga medyo bitin un ending nun first. Anyways, maybe if I take my usual dose of coffee I'll be okay.