In need of some shut eye time

Still overwhelmed with tiredness. I need to sleep. I can feel the onslaught of another one of these dam-breaking periods coming my way. The gushing of dark red blood, mixed with lumps of dead cells from my uterus, supersize tampons soaked shapeless in fifteen minutes.**

Could try my luck and go give blood again today, but (1) don't have time and (2) the nurses at Red Cross might start getting suspicious about why I'm so keen to give blood. And NO! I'm not thinking that giving blood will ease my period I'm not that stupid! Yet! I just can't accept the fact that I might be suffering from iron deficienty. I mean, I eat well and am pretty fit and everything, right? This failing of the haemoglobin test thing is messing with my subjective identity and I don't like it.

Still got piles of work to do. Need to re-revise that paper for the Journal of Family and Economic Issues and get it done asap; got to attend an interivew for the AIA Young Leader Development Programme in fifteene minutes; tutorial at 4:30; then supposed to meet with T go to this seminar on plastic surgery for the eyes, then EFM. I don't think I could do all that.

** I wonder if this last sentence will do anything for the hit rate of my blog.

Be warned ...

From the classifieds of http://www.mtb-post.interhk.net (2nd hand bikes buy and sell):

dear hongkong mtb classifid user
remenber to me
my japanese men but nexth novenber
not going hongkong
becaus my fraud to meet this place and lost mony (3000HKD)414USD
STIATION
this place and yahoo hongkong auction
my look and contact
after my bying contract or my used mony transfer used (western union sistem) 20/oct/2004 mony transfer
recive 2/3/oct/2004 (this resault chek western union answer )but reciver not recived? this sistem recived time need
reciver ID and secret number this nymber only teach reciver to me
this time my order kona h/t frame and xtr shifter or intense dh whell set and more
total 3000 hkd
total 380usd + mony transfer34usd
total 414usd lost mony
(ORIGNAL RECIPT COPY OR WESTERN UNION RESULT ALL BY POST SENDING RECIVER BUT NO ANSWER)
HIM THIS CLASSIFID NOW USED wonted bike etc or yahoo auction intense D/H wheel set sale?)
DEAR HONGKONG MTB CLASSIFID USER AND MTB FUN
attention
fraud and damage or victim chractery to com out and meet
dont contact or trading
THE VERRY DANGEROUS SALER
LOST MONY OR BIKE OR FRAUD

Modern life is rubbish

Went to a chemist's last night looking for iron supplement tablets and I couldn't find any. I found myself reading the small print on bottles labelled "Stress Buster", "Executives' Needs", and "Women's All-in-One". But none says "iron supplement". I started doubting the adequacy of my stock of common sense knowledge - does iron go by another name of which I'm ignorant? I asked one of the staff but predictably, she just shrugged, pointed at the shelves I've been studying, and uttered, "They're all here, Missey".

So I thought sod it, it's easier to have a sirloin steak for dinner. Maybe licking an iron rod three times a day would help too. Wouldn't be as tasty but probably works out cheaper.

And I'm like, wow!

How old d'you reckon Diana Ross is? Diana Ross from the Supremes? From the days of monochrome TV?

She looks uncannily like Beyonce in this representation as a MAC spokesperson.

Need to eat more hamburgers

Went to Red Cross in my second attempt in two weeks to give blood. Am rejected AGAIN for failing the haemoglobin test. This time my blood iron level is even lower, 9.x as in contrast to 11.2 last week. The acceptable level is 11.5.

This really sucks cos I really want to give blood. It's about the only "good" thing I am capable/willing to do for strangers.

I'm surrounded by loon balls

It is very cold in HK now, apparently. Cold weather warning from the Hong Kong Observatory has been on for the past three days.

Bulletin issued by the HK Observatyr at 11:02 HKT 22/Feb/2005

PLEASE BE REMINDED THAT:
THE COLD WEATHER WARNING IS NOW IN FORCE. COLD WEATHER
MIGHT CAUSE ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
SHOULD TAKE CARE TO KEEP WARM.

THE AIR TEMPERATURES AT OTHER PLACES WERE:

KING'S PARK 11 DEGREES;
WONG CHUK HANG 12 DEGREES;
TA KWU LING 9 DEGREES;
LAU FAU SHAN 9 DEGREES;
TAI PO 9 DEGREES;
SHA TIN 10 DEGREES;
TUEN MUN 9 DEGREES;
TSEUNG KWAN O 11 DEGREES;
SAI KUNG 11 DEGREES;
CHEUNG CHAU 11 DEGREES;
CHEK LAP KOK 10 DEGREES;
TSING YI 10 DEGREES;
SHEK KONG 9 DEGREES.


Okay it is about 10 degrees celsius and most homes don't have central heating. But it's not that cold, really, is it. We came back late last night finding that the boys had been sent to bed with their fleecies on. Who on earth sleeps with their fleecies on? Even B, the Scottish hardman, and our priest, who is from the UK, said it's freezing.

I don't want to be writing another one of those posts where I complain about how I am surrounded by loon balls whose words and actions make no sense. I'm not calling anyone a loon ball but it really isn't that cold.

Quoi?

What do you think of French rap? Am now listening to one such track on this album and it sounds awfully like someone foaming at his mouth.

Super bad joss

Further to losing my wallet last Saturday, a couple of nights ago my notebook computer fell off the shelf for no apparent reason and cracked its shell. Yesterday at a set of lights, the truck in front of me decided it's gone a bit too far into the crossing and reversed straight into my car.

I hate smilies but I have to put one on here now, just so I can properly express myself :-(

I'm pondering ...

What on earth is this picture supposed to mean? How is this related to a tax loan?

A rock legend in the making...

Or just some punk dating Kate Moss? Couldn't they have chosen a better picture than this? Great energy, great music, great tabloid fodder - but not so great to look at.

Wet is in the air

The humid air makes me nostalgic. When I was a child growing up in Macau, the arrival of spring, usually after Chinese New Year, inevitably brought with it the seemingly overnight onslaught of humidity in the air.

The warm wet stirs me now as it did all those years ago. A definite sign of imminent change, of inexplicable sensuality. As an eight year old I had no words to describe that feeling of vague melancholy and restlessness; the slight stickiness on my skin, the warm air that fills my lungs every time I inhale.

Do I have words for it now?

Morons say moronic things

Last night on the news I watched an amateur video clip of the branch of the wishing tree snapping off and hitting an old geezer on the head. No wonder that tree is dying. The branch that snapped off was so overloaded with oranges you can't even recognize it's a fucking tree no more. The botanist from Hong Kong University said the tree has only got 30% of its life left in it. In human terms that translates into either the ICU or the hospice. They showed footage of botanic looking people measuring the girth of the tree and taking samples of its bark. Then this guy said "... a balance must be struck between the preservation of the tree and the respect for traditional customs...." What. The traditional custom of killing trees by chucking oranges on them?

I'm not an XS

I'm eating a ham sandwich. It's quite tasty even though the ham is about 10 days past its sell by date.

The knickers I ordered from Victoria's Secrets arrived today. They are a bit too tight. I'd either have to go to liposuction or cut the crotch part off to make them into headbands. They're all in rather attractive hues of pink and yellow so I don't think anyone would actually notice they are knickers. But if they stand close enough to my head they will notice the words Victoria's Secrets around the elastic band.

Tree murderers

The poor wishing tree near where we live is dying. I guess it has been dying for a while now, but after the on slaught of up to ten thousand visitors a day over the Chinese New Year period, a branch was snapped off and apparently hit someone on the head. The legend of the tree goes as follows:

Wishing Tree：Towering beside the Tin Hau Temple in Lam Tsuen, this Tree seems
to be covered in deep crimson colours from a distance. Only up close do you
realize that the Wishing Tree is actually laden with wishes written on bright
red paper. It used to be a camphor tree where a tablet for enshrining and
worshipping Pak Kung was placed. As time went on, the branches and leaves
began to wither and eventually it became a hollow tree. Legend says that a
worshipper had a son who was very slow in learning. As a result of the wish
he made after worshipping the hollow tree, his son, however, had completely
changed and made incredible improvement in his academic performance. Words
spread and people flocked to the place to make wishes, and the Tree was quite
generous with its magic. Today, it not only attracts people from all around
Hong Kong, but it is also popular with foreign visitors. It has become one of
the biggest tourist attractions of Hong Kong.

This official description does not, however, explain why people nowadays throw oranges up the tree as they make their wishes (BTW, check out the comments section in the lam tsuen website - it's very strange). And apparently the oranges are supposed to stay on the tree for your wish to come true. A specialist went to look at the tree and declared that it will die within the next few years. If that tree dies, the only good thing that will come out of it is that traffic on the Lam Kam Road will be a lot less chaotic this time next year.

Wallet, gone

Had a good night last night, if not for the fact that my wallet got nicked in Yumla. Started off in this bar call Marlin's which got a rave review along with a very attractive picture in the HK Magazine. I must have passed that joint several dozen times and no wonder I never went in. It's okay but nothing to write about. Then had a drink in W's and then went to the C Club which was really interesting. It kinda reminded me of Hot Gossip in the 1980s. Very dark (as in lack of light, not macabre you see), very tacky, very overpriced drinks, very cheesy looking clientele. Two half pints of Carlsberg cost nearly HKD 80. It had a cage in the middle of the dancefloor and the music was shite, as in impossible to dance to. B spotted two middle aged looking blokes who kept putting their glasses up to their foreheads to check out their female companions. I quite liked that place though, it's nice to go to a tacky joint every now and then. It's surprisingly uplifting. Then moved on to Ah-ha to meet up with Mable where we had some food, then to Yumla. The music was marginally better this time and I was having quite a good time all in all, until I realized my wallet was gone from my bag when the taxi arrived at our place. Discounting the loss of my wallet, I did pretty well, only had four alcoholic drinks all night. Yipee hey hey!!

This morning after church we went to the police station on Hollywood Road to report my lost ID card etc. We must have been the ONLY people in HK who didn't know that the police station there has been closed. In fact, now I remember watching it on the news that the building has been declared some kind of heritage architecture to be protected what not. So we treaded down to Queen's Road Central to the Police Service Center there (that's what it's called I didn't make this up). Two painfully miserable looking officers were sitting at the counter. It took the officer thirty minutes to type up my list of lost property (seven items in all) and personal details (name, address, id card number). I think he can't type. In fact, come to think of it, he didn't type. He was using the mouse only. He was probably clicking on some key pad on screen. Very strange. Both cops looked as if they were bored out of their tits.

My CNY doings

Time seems to have passed even more quickly than ever. Today is Saturday already and it's all back to normal on Monday when the holidays are officially over. The most amazing thing about this Chinese New Year is that the sky is so clear and all the pollution is gone. Guess the factories in China are all closed for the holidays and therefore very little industrial waste has been pumped into the air over the past few days. It's lovely out there right now, warm, sunny, dry. I'll probably go for a short run along the riverbank later.

We just got back from a party at the house of a kid at J's playgroup. Lion dance, food, drinks, games for the kids etc. Nice. Yesterday we didn't do much; B took O to the Heritage Museum and I hung out with J at home. The day before that, we went to Pui O beach on Lantau Island and had quite a nice time lying around drinking beer and watching the kids roam around.

I'm not looking forward to next week. I've got lots of teaching lined up and the thought of it is depressing. The truth is, I love being idle. I enjoy being in that state. Fortunately my busy teaching weeks are only gonna last for a month or so and after that work should be less hectic.

Life is good when you've got some idling to look forward to.

Paintings much better viewed in coffee table books

About that Impressionims show. Okay, so not that very often do some of the world's greater (I can't say greatest) paintings come into town. But the way the whole thing was arranged just did not fit in with me as a visitor to the exhibition. I had both kids with me and the only reason I thought we should go was that O had been learning about Impressionists at school and he seems to really like drawing and painting.... Anyway, I was being a good parent. Of course he was all excited about it beforehand, but the minute we got in there, he yawned and declared he wanted to go home. This was all too predictable but one always should live in hope I suppose. I thought I could at least have him interested for long enough befor I start getting bored.

It only took him 15 seconds to get bored and so I had to drag them through crowds of sophisticated looking folk who were ALL discussing solemnly about the painitings (except for this one family, the father pointed to a Manet saying "look, a black man, no, it's a black woman" . And the daughter pointing to a Degas, "that's the Nobel Prize guy".... etc.") J kept trying to go up to touch the painings and each time some freaking alarm went "Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep", swiftly followed by security personnel sign languaging to me what I thought must have meant, "Keep it down. Keep your kids away from these very valuable works of art. Or we will call the police." Then B phoned and I answered to tell him we were already inside. I had the phone on vibrate instead of sound and I wasn't bellowing so I really felt injustice was done when security personnel approached me again, this time gesturing what I thought must have meant "no mobile phones in here you uncultered mother of two who dresses like a peasant".

After all of the above and much more later, I had to excuse myself and evacuate the exhibition hall. To get some fresh air.

Was I hallucinating?

Prior to going to see the Impressionism exhibition today, which I will tell you all about later, I ran up to the Kadoorie farm and back again as I had said I would. I took 1.5 hours AGAIN, which I am not proud to say. As I reached the long stretch of uphill towards the farm, as I was getting slower and slower and gasping louder and louder for breath, as Kasabian was blasting through my mp3 player, I heard this sound of a bunch of people shouting "Go! Go! Go!", clapping to a beat. I thought I was hearing wrong, perhaps some hidden background noise from the record that I never noticed before? But it kept on going as I climbed that hill. It definitely came from the farm. I took off one earphone and looked towards the direction of the sound, and it was definitely there. Well, either that or I was tripping on endorphins. When I eventually reached the top I turned round and come down again, feeling GREAT, I heard this loud clapping and cheering. I turned to look again but could not see anyone. All I could see were some cars parked inside the park.

So many morons everywhere

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I'm not one, I certainly could be and have been moronic on very many occasions....but I have been a city girl all my life and I certainly won't come to a standstill when I reach the top of the escalator, just so I could check which exit I'm heading for.

A sense of space is such an integral part of being a city person. Dodging people, dodging cars, making yourself annonymous, blending into the "urbanscape" as postmodern wankers like to call "it". Making yourself seem there but not quite there.

Is this the time of year where this happens more often than not? Are people so excited about the year of the big fat chicken/rooster/cock that they forgot they are living in a city? Where there are PEOPLE, LOTS of them, in front and behind and all around them? In a city like Hong Kong you just can't afford to stop in the middle of the street... you either get trampled upon or sworn at or run over. In the past couple of days I kept bumping into people, and yes I mean LITERALLY, who seem to have no idea they are in HONG KONG, a goddam city if there ever is one, who would just fucking stop in the middle of the most unlikely places, whilst I was right behind them. Still, the most amazing thing about all this is that when I opened my mouth to swore at them, complete with hand gestures and very nearly actually hitting them, they were oblivious to my existence. They don't budge. They are like fucking alien creatures. They just kept gazing right past you and not move an inch.

God, I hate getting drunk

Had another one of those nights which I am getting too old for. Started at this really posh bar called Aqua Spirit, the kind of joint where you pay $98 for a martini service not included. It was so dark in there I felt like I was tripping - I nearly did trip too - even before I had my first drink. If you plan on going there remember to bring a flash light. I won't recommend a head torch because I think they have a dress code.

Then went to la Bodega for a bite to eat and on to W's where B had three of these cocktails with lots of mint leaves and rum and I have no idea what else in it. THREE! In the space of under an hour. He is a bit mad like that sometimes. Gets all cocktail crazy. The sleazly looking short guy with a moustache who used to be a Club 64 regular was there. He was wearing a fishing vest. Apparently B had one just like that. I feigned interest as he rambled on and on about I can't really remember what. Anyhow someone booked the place for a private party and so we moved on to Yumla and had more. I got talking to this Chinese woman who was with her Polish boyfriend but I have no memory of what we talked about. Apparently, according to B, I got chatted up by some guy of which I have no recollection of either. I do remember the DJ though, who looks like Richard E. Grant. He was not particularly good. In fact, the music he played was shite. I think it was upon realizing this, that we decided to stumble out of the place and into a taxi.

The whole day today I felt sick and when we were in the cinema watching The Incredibles I got very close to barfing into the popcorn bucket. Then we ate at Pizza Express and did a bit of shopping. As we drove home late in the afternoon I could still feel the alcohol in me and it felt surreal going 120 on the Tolo Harbour Road. It was as if I had lost control over my right foot and my brain wasn't working as it should.

We are Little Barrie

Heard them on Marc Riley's show playing a live session and the guitar sounded amazing! The debut album is coming out on Monday. Not sure if the HMV here will stock them though .... you can listen to the album here. The singer, Barrie, sounds just like the guy from The Bluetones!

Fancy a Banana Bunker?

I could do with one of these, unfortunately they're all out of stock at the moment.

That dog made me do it

How many runners will stop short of the last 200 meters, turn round and run back? I did. If I can still call myself a runner, that is. That hill up Kadoorie Farm was a real killer though. Long and steep. And that dog. It was in front of me but kept turning round to look at me. I was scared. When I got home I had to smoke a fag to calm my nerves. Then another one to reward myself for doing a 90 minute run without dying - my longest so far!

Okay, the dog was no good of an excuse. Next Monday I swear I'll run the whole damn thing, dog or no dog.

Onto even more mundane matters, I taught the evening class for the second time last night, and it went much better than I'd expected. It was from 7 - 10 pm so you can't really expect eyes to be bright and brains to be at work. Either I was a damn good teacher or these guys were sipping red bull every time I turned around. They seemed genuinely interested. I talked about problems with differentiating one's sex and gender and intersex persons and made them read an article in class to kill some time. I guess those nuddie pictures of intersex people sparked things up a bit. Heh heh.

Riley is Marc with a "C"

Marc Riley just emailed me to say that he is Marc with a "C" not "K". So, sorry Marc, apologies. I don't know what got into me.

Went to O's school to watch the P2's Chinese New Year performance this morning. As is usually the case with these shows, which are put on with the sole purpose to entertain parents and grandparents, teachers hate having to do them. Above all they hate the parents whom they have to work so hard to entertain. How do I know? Ha. You can tell by the look in their eyes. Yeah, that look.

The hall was about the size of a walnut and it had to hold 150 kids AND their parents and helpers and grannys and toddler siblings. How should I put it ... the atmosphere was ... oppressive ... The little girl in front of us turned to her dad and said "daddy, you hair is smelly".

Every other parent had either a digital video or otherwise camera. One guy in a fur collared leather jacket two rows ahead of us had a tripod. In our near proximity at least five fur coats have been spotted. One of the teachers had to circulate the hall telling parents to pleeeease could you sit down? Five minutes into the show it turned to PLEEEEEASE SIT DOWN! NOW!! Either she was having hot flushes or she was ready to kill someone. For a split second she resembled that tigress I saw on Wildlife on Two and my heart skipped a beat. She looked like the type who believes in capital punishment and I don't mean just talking about it know what I mean. B and I, of course, kept our mouths shut and our cheeks glued to the seat.

We didn't really see O at all. He was right in the front row, but all I could see was the head of the dad whose hair is smelly. O was wearing a dragon's mask and had no lines to say nor actions to do anyway so it's not as if we were really missing anything. The performance consisted of groups of kids telling us all about the Chinese birth signs, like pigs make good lawyers, rats make good scientists, and so on.... then some poetry recital... then a "fan dance" which was really peculiar because no one seemed to have noticed it had started by the time it ended.

Luckily it all ended in 40 minutes so we sneaked out as soon as we said well-done! it was great! to our son and maneuverd our way through the jungle of BMW X5s, Mercedes S500s, Porsche 9xxs and Range Rovers that have jammed packed outside the school gate.

Anyhow, I'll end this entry with a couple of quotes from my sons:

I thought I was going to vomit when I saw all those people out there!
(O, post-gig interview)

It's not Chinese New Year, it's the year of the big fat chicken!
(J, rambling)

Oops! I did it again

Listening to Mark Riley's Rocket Science as I wait for an ex-student to turn up. She rang yesterday and said she's bought some Chinese festive coconut pudding for me from some special shop somewhere. She is a very sweet girl. Now working as a supervisor in Starbucks, which she seems to enjoy. But she's late. And I've got a class at half twelve. When she called me yesterday she asked me if I like that stuff and I lied and said well yes of course! I LOVE that sticky sweet pudding stuff. She said, oh I thought you would like them, at least your kids would anyway, kids like sweet stuff right?! I replied ha ha ha, how clever of you... see you tomorrow then.

Anyhow, Mark Riley plays some good songs. Just played something from Teenage Fanclub's Grand Prix (was just talking to B last night about where all our Teenage Fannie CDs have gone) and then Gorky's and now Mercury Rev.

Meanwhile, still trying to work out the exact number of students who've registered for each tutorial group. The stupid banner system (rage! rage! rage!) is obviously NOT up to date. I've signed forms for a few more more students to add to the course but their records are not shown. If the registry can't keep up with the paper forms, then why don't they just bloody scrap them? I recognize incompetence when I see it but I do not understand it.

I'm planning to go home early and either do a long-ish run or a short one up and down the little hill at the end of the park. Since I've signed up for that race now I thought I better take it a bit more seriously and train properly so as not to embarrass myself too much on the day. It's only 11K but it'll be my first race so I hope you can understand that I can't help being a bit nervous about it.