Stairway to Heaven

Quick showdown:

Korean TV series. Uber popular for some strange reason.

Quick reaction summary:
Stupid show. Too linear. No sense of editing. too much panormaic and spanning camera angle for dramatic effect. No originality with the soundtrack. Stupid characters who eternally keeps on crying and crying and breaking up with each other after reconciling. Even after ... oh I don't know... 24 episodes, they're still at it. TOTALLY recycling the storyline.

Why in the world did I even spend at least 12 hours of my time watching a show like this?

I suppose it was because at the start it was so bad, I was really hoping that the show would redeem itself since it was so popular. But NooooOOOOOooo. I stopped at the 12th hour, jumped episodes to the 2oth hour, and the characters are still at the same dilemma.

How sore.

Gym Progress 35

Gahhh...

A very big change. Since Suzette wasn't around this week, it was finally time to try out Calvin over at Whampoa branch.

What have I got to say?

His choreography style is much like Steve, and he's very fast paced too. He even uses the same songs on occasion (Gwen Stefani comes to mind...) The only thing I don't like is he's even worse than Steve. He doesn't do too much breakdowns, his "single" and "double" you can't tell if its a knee, a stomp or a switch... and this instructions really don't make any sense on occasions.

Make no mistake though. If one gets used to his "style", his classes would be as enjoyable as Steve's.

Now I'm actually contemplating and deciding if it should alternate between Suzette and Calvin... trust me, Calvin was pretty nice... and surprisingly, lots of people, too.

Something strange though. My usual pinpointer for Saturdays moved aways to another section of the class. I wonder, what gives? gah... I suppose I don't really need a pinpointer this week, I don't have any problems following Steve's choreography.

Thu (ISM): Steve
Sat (ISM): Steve
Sun (ISM): Calvin

Dinner with Ex Officemates

Highlights of Discussion:

MPF: Mandatory Provident Fund
- required by the government for employees and employers to contribute to a pool much like a retirement scheme on a monthly basis.
- Normal practice is 5% contribution for employees, and the company will at least match 5% of the employees salary as a contribution.
- The money from this fund cannot be taken out will the retirement age of 65, or when a person has decided to migrate to another country.

SUCKY CLAUSE:
EMPLOYER legally has the option to withdraw the contribution it has given to its employees, even when the person has already resigned or left the company, when the company is "closing" down.

VERY SUCKY:
Too bad for the long working employees in the company. So much for company loyalty...

VERY VERY SUCKY:
Yours truly may have been a victim. SUX.

Well, at least I get to complain with everyone else... It was good seeing everyone again.

Habibi (Again)

Habibi has gotten a lot of referrals from me lately. Not only have I accompanied my 2 brothers last month to the Central branch, I've also brought my new officemates for lunch, and afterwards, a college friend, Ronan and his brother was also treated to the same resto.

I love this place a lot actually. As much as I like Ebeneezers, but as you may all know, Ebeneezers is more a casual quick joint/hang out place. I wonder who I'm going to bring the next time?

Gym Progress 34

I can't quite remember when I started going to Steve's Thursday ISM class. The new job has been keeping up and keeping me busy most of the time... I can't even remember the day's date, god forbid if I forget to attend one of my aero classes as a result.

But it'll probably not turn out that way because I suppose its one of the things I look forward to every week, forget the damned knee and its toll on my sleeping habits.

No, I'm not going to elaborate, I'm too tired to elaborate. Bad enough I'm blogging my gym progresses for the PAST MONTH in one shot. (Yes, readers, this entry, and the succeeding ones, are backtracked.)

I almost got pissed last Friday (it was Good Friday) when I arrived at the gym 30 minutes early to find out that the class was horribly full. Bad enough that there is no space, but its even worse that I can't find a single available step in all of the three floors of the Central branch. In the end, I was lucky because that nice lady that frequents Suzette's class every Sunday (the same one also where I used to occupy her space AFTER Suzette's class, for the bodypump classes) reserved the last remaining step for me. How cool.

Thu (ISM): Steve I was definitely frustrated. very very very slow. Totally not like the Saturday Causeway Bay classes.
Fri (SM): Steve almost full.. but i was lucky i got a place
Sat (ISM): YEah right, I wish. I had to work from 7am to 12:30am the next day.
Sun (ISM): Suzette

Gym Progress 33

Nothing to read, move along, move along... Only highlight is that Suzette's classes are getting more and more crowded these days. I barely got a slot last Sunday for her class. So did one of the regular gym goers.. both of us ended up trying to figure out what the heck Suzette is doing because we can't see her showing the breakdown.. *sigh*

Mon (SM): Andrei
Sat (ISM): Steve
Sun (ISM): Suzette

Finally, A Non Gym Related Post

I've decided to finally dump the very old sofa bed that's been hanging about my room.

Its been there for quite a number of years already, the ball roller on the underside has already given up and cracked in half 2 years ago.... and I've finally got the last straw when I was forced to "lend" my bunk bed mattress whenever there's a guest around so they can sleep soundly in the sofa bed.. while I "happily" oblige in sleeping with a less than useful freebie mattress that could be classified as slightly better than pure concrete.

Would've been ok if the guests were a one time thing, but its been one guest in the house after another, and my back and feet are being killed in the process.

Don't get me wrong, I love the guests that stay at our place, and the sofa is totally unrelated to the guests what have been living with us... but the sofa is still the same reason that my back has been hurting like hell and I haven't been sleeping soundly for the.. oh... past 2 months.

Updated (2005-05-16) See culprit sofa that's given me sleepless nights:


I'd probably post a shot of the mentioned culprit sofa before I junk it into the trash collection area in our district. I mean, it did house and bed a lot of friends... so there's a slight sentimental value... some still remaining, anyway... after what my back and my health has been through.

As a replacement, although I would love to get a recliner or a lazy boy, my parents insist that I at least buy another sofa bed so that in case the next time guests arrive at our place, there will still be a place to sleep.

Not a bad idea. But I better be quick and buy a replacement sofa bed soon, or I can hear the same incredulous, crazy ordeal when my eldest brother, sis in law and niece and nephew get here on the 8th of April.

No I don't want to have any sleepless nights anymore.

I'm probably going to replace the current one with Ikea's Lycksele Sofa Bed for two.

Whaddaya think? I'll probably head off to Ikea tomorrow.. otherwise I'd be sleeping like a rock again for the next two weeks. (NOooooOOOoooOOO!!!)

Please, no. *cowering*

And Another Gym Post (Yes I Know)

All my posts have been gym oriented recently....

Sorry.

I would just like to say that I've tried Andrei's step moves class, and it wasn't so bad. I think he's getting the hang of it... his style slightly reminds me of Suzette's actually.

Lots of ball chains. And back mambos. Very nice. Needs to speed up at the start though, to avoid the rest of the regulars from leaving... most regulars like to start of really quick and with really lots of turns and complex moves. Heh. I suppose patience is not their strong point la.... But other than that, when you get to the end when he cranks up the tempo, it doesn't seem so boring anymore ^_^

Darn. I wish Mr Zhang Yi Mou was reading this. *Whistles a happy tune*

Gym Progress 32

Couldn't stand delaying last(/this) week's gym progress anymore... last Monday Steve was awesome! ( I think this is the third time this week that I've mentioned this, innit?) Last Saturday Wilson (See this post in reference to "nice buffed up guy in glasses) mentioned that Steve's Monday class was always the most fun, so I packed up my bags right after work and headed straight towards the TST branch to see what the "most fun" really meant. It seemed like all the hard core aero people were there.... Everyone was there. But unfortunately for me, Steve started out the class saying... "This is the last time I'm going to teach in this slot on Mondays".

Sucks.

But you should've seen the steps, they were AMAZING. Totally. Something that you don't easily forget even after a week. It was sooooo cool.

Sorry. I know I'm being sidetracked.

Anyways. Fast forward to Saturday afternoon. Wasn't able to attend the usual Saturday morning (I wanted to see if Andrei was any good) because I had to go to a database in-house training. But as I've mentioned a few posts ago, I got news of Andrei's style, and I ended up asking Zhang Yi Mou look alike if he knew anyone else that was worth going to on Sundays.... he did mention Calvin, over at Whampoa, but he had a point: Whampoa is WAAAAY over THERE. Way too far away. So he just smiles and says "Oh well, I guess we won't be able to play and enjoy this Sunday then." Gah.

Even worse, I double checked the Sunday schedule, and Calvin wasn't really around this week. Probably went together with Suzette, Michelle and the others. So it was either stay at home, or try and see how Andrei fares. As I've mentioned in my previous post, it was the latter.

Come Sunday, I still see Zhang at the reception.

"Oh, you're going to attend today? thought you weren't. Are you going to try?" I asked.
"I'm probably not going to try... I'm just going to look."
"Heh, well look away then.. :P "

Anyways, as it turned out, Andrei wasn't so bad. Sure he was sightly slow at the start, but he did have some pretty nice moves during the whole choreography. The blocks are a bit short, but I would suppose that its only because he kept it simple since he wasn't accustomed to the hk style yet. I'm almost pretty sure he'll turn out ok. He was a bit self conscious with the step terms and his english, but it wasn't really a problem. I could tell Zhang was looking from the outside, don't know if he thought otherwise, but I think people should give Andrei a chance... the guys last Saturday were pretty harsh saying that he was slow. Personally I (and a few others) thought was right: Andrei was probably just trying to adjust and adapt to the people first. Gaahh. It's going to be interesting once Andrei gets the hang of hk style aero. ^_^ I think he'll rock.

But I still really think Steve's choreography last Monday was AWESOME. Too bad it was his last time in THAT slot. darn.

Week 32
Mon(SM): Steve (OMG, OMG, AWESOME!)
Sat (SM): Steve
Sun(ISM): Andrei

To Attend or Not To Attend (Gym Class)

Gym Alert, Gym Alert, Gym Alert.

New step aerobics instructor on board this week. Replacing a whole of the classes that I attend/will possibly consider to attend. Bad news, it looks like his step aerobics - advanced level - is a bit "slow" and "basic" for a couple of the hard core step aerobics regulars that attended the I-A level just this morning. Hey you can't blame me, I have vested interests in particular aerobics classes - they ARE my most effective stress relievers. Essentially I asked Wilson (I finally found out the name of the guy in glasses!) if he attended this morning's Saturday's class... he didn't, but one of his friends did. And his friend gave us a sample of the steps involved this morning...

It didn't seem like a very pretty sight. *worried*

Now he is taking hold of Suzette's usual Sunday schedule tomorrow.

Do I dare go, or not?

I don't want to waste my time, knowing that he's "slow"... but some people I overheard do have a point: He is new, and he's probably just adjusting to the style here in Hong Kong. For all we know he could just be holding back a lot... I mean, when I started out with Suzette, she wasn't exactly very complex... but she got pretty enjoyable and challenging after a while. I think she was checking to see if the people in her classes can follow her steps, and when we got better, she upped the stakes.

I suppose if I do attend tomorrow, it wouldn't make much of a difference, except that I probably lose 2 hours then. It would also be a huge letdown for a new instructor to see the participants in his classes dwindle down... just because the people won't give him a chance.

I would've wanted people to give me a chance.

I think maybe I'll go... but it would be nice if I were to try out Calvin too. Mr Zhang Yi Mou look alike did mention Calvin to be a running mate candidate for replacement with Suzette, when I asked for this opinion this afternoon. Hehehe. If that's his opinion, and based on his level of skill, I suppose then that Calvin would be a lot of fun, too, and up par to Steve and Suzette. Hmm. *ponder ponder*

BUT, MY gawd, I still can't forget last Monday's step class. Steve was AWESOME.