Dragonboat Festival

What did I do? Went to the gym, of course.

But aside from that, I also met up with my friends. I miss them, and its been a while since I've seen them around. We watched X-men 3 (not bad... I was expecting something ridiculously cheesy, not to say there are parts that weren't), went around to Lush to check out some soaps and cosmetics, had late lunch (well at least I did) , shopped around for some potential "godmother" gifts for weddings, shopped for some exercise pants - yes, I finally got them, ... the Nike pants that I've been looking at for months and months! ... was planning of buying something else because I couldn't see it on stock anymore, but I saw one at the Gigasports shop in Causeway Bay in front of JP Cinema - took a ride home and had a elated conversation with one of my friends about gymming (omg, I can't believe I finally have someone to talk to about gym!)

Highlight of the evening? My family and I had some really delicious salty rice dumplings given to me by my new colleague Vanessa. Her mom makes dumplings every year, and she was kind enough to give me some for me and my family... the dumplings were totally wicked good. There was another type.. the sweet version, made up of red bean and with red bean paste.. that was quite as good also.

But the rice dumplings were definitely a standout. I wish I'd taken a picture of it... But it actually looks like any other rice dumpling, but the ingredients inside (pork and all that stuff in the middle) tasted really really flavorful. I particularly liked the anise part... the pork tasted distinctly of anise, but not so much that it overwhelmed the whole dumpling (trust me, anise flavorings could get really bad...) . Anyway, I figured, in this case, a picture might say a thousand words, but still not enough to describe the taste ^_^

Gym Progress 40

Can you tell by Sunday's schedule how frustrated I felt after Saturday's complaint?? three classes in a row... it doesn't help that Suzette's class didn't go as well either. Her choreography's becoming more different and difficult since its changed to I-A. I can't tell if its because she doesn't do any breakdown anymore, or that its really extremely difficult now...

Thu (ISM): Steve
Sat (ISM): GAH!
Sun (SM, BP,SM): Suzette, Roger, Angus

Wicked, Frustrating Saturday

GAh missed it again!

I can't believe I missed the Saturday class again! I'm getting quite desperate and bored already... You don't know how bad I feel.. its much like a fix, when you end up having very bad withdrawal symptoms.. except in my case, I'm very very cranky, moody and irritated and frustrated. You don't want to see me in THOSE moods.

Let's leave it to my collegues, shall we? Anyway, its the reason why I missed my regular class. That's 2 weeks in a row already.

SUX.

If this is the exchange for that departmental dinner lucky draw, then I'd rather forego the lucky draw to go to the gym... I mean, how often do you expect to work 14 hours, when you initially thought it would go smoothly at 7 hours, when in fact there's officially no work on Saturdays?

Surprise!

... I actually won a lucky draw from our departmental dinner.

Not the grand prize, but still significant enough to be able to get that nike pants I've been thinking about for a very, very long time. Never seem to win anything before even if I wish very hard,... but when I least expect it, things happen.

Swell. Maybe that means I should not think about the future and don't make plans at all anymore...

Absolutely, Completely, Fundamentally...

... Sickeningly fattening.

But also heavenly all the same.

Imagine crispy, freshly cooked waffle. Its criscrossed, checkered image with a divider pattern into four equal parts. Its just-made waft of cooked vanilla based pancake batter fills the air around, prompting you to think of sweet cotton candy, milk and fresh sunny cooked eggs and jam.

Imagine that special waffle, spread with creamy, buttery yellow margarine all over, on one side.

Add a slew of sweet tasting condensed milk for "spread".

Add the same amount of nutty, similarly thick, rich peanut butter.

Add a dash of peanut sugar for the final touches.

Fold the waffle in the middle, sandwiching the "spread" - margarine, condensed milk, peanut butter, peanut sugar - in between the folds and serve.

It does sound like a heart attack waiting to happen, doesn't it?

But sure damn tastes real good. Sticky, gooey and very very VERY good.

Strange HK "street food" delicacy though. I'm sure YOU'd like to try it at least once.

*Picture will be up when I get my third "waffle sandwich" later this week
*Updated: Here as promised. Pics!

Gym Progress 39

My regular routine... reduced to smithereens?

First time since I got my knee problem that I missed a Saturday class? (Well at least unscheduled anyway) can this be? WHY?

It is such a bad sign. *sigh* Well, at least Suzette's choreography this week wasn't so bad. I even got to talk to two Sunday regulars (one was a middle aged woman always wearing black shirt - I like her.. she smiles a lot, and she's friendly - and that slightly small guy in glasses - I wouldn't say small for his body though, anyone can tell he's been working out- and I even got a compliment in return... said I followed the choreography with style (style??? me? not really woooo... I mean I follow the choreography ok.. but being complimented that I follow it with style is something else... so.... "not really that good, *blush blush*, but ok" :P)

Cool. Didn't get their names though.

Thu (ISM): Steve
Sat (ISM): GAH!
Sun (SM, BP): Suzette, Roger

Its Not Missing...

Its detached.

That's what I thought when I went out and saw throngs and throngs of people on the streets of Causeway Bay... All I could think was, what are they thinking? Why do they even want to go out on a Saturday night with friends/family/significant others? How can things be so alien?

Yes... it HAS been a long time since I've felt this way.

At least I finally realized what I was feeling. It was starting to trouble me already.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. So strange though.

Missing

Do you ever have those days when you feel that there is something missing?

You have the time on your hands, you have the cash... but you seem to still come home empty handed.

What is it about people that makes you want to be with them more when you're alone?

I've never experienced this before, but recently, I've been feeling more and more "attuned" to many people that I've just met. A lot of them I feel like I know and am comfortable with, to the point of them being "very" familiar, and yet, to my knowledge and experience, I have not even spent 24 hours with them. Its quite peculiar assumption/conclusion to begin with. And strangely enough, a handful of events recently feel "repeated". So many things that seem to have already happened, like deja vu.

But then I realize that the people, they don't seem to feel the same way, or are not willing to spend time with me. And if it was one of those familiar events that seemed like I've felt I've lived through already somewhere in the past, no one seems to acknowledge that it has ever happened. Nobody knows.

But I do.

Familiarity without any confirmation or recognition is quite a strange thing... Its like having a big secret that you can never share with anyone because you clearly know that no one will listen because for them it seems absurd. Its like shouting out the truth about the universe... knowing well that it is the truth, but that to other people it seemed so incredulous, and in the end, they feel you are quite crazy... So you end up alone, with just your thoughts.

I quite feel misunderstood today. And it feels very lonely.

And the worst part about it, is that no one did anything bad. Things just happen normally. People go about their lives, socialize, spend their days together, and eventually say goodbye. It is just that there is something that I feel I know, but I cannot share with anyone, and no one can seem to relate with me. Loneliness like this is such a strange thing.

Honestly, I feel very much like Homer's Cassandra at the moment. I wonder when it will go away... seems like I'm going to a more sentimental end today.

Newspaper Coupons and Discounts

Please tell me the rationale of putting product coupons in newspapers that insist on giving away:
1. A free box of biscuits
2. 10HKD off without condition (e.g. buy 20HKD worth or more and deduct 10HKD with this coupon) on Mcdonalds
3. 10 HKD off on Park N Shop (big supermarket chain here in hk) also without condition

That was the coupon for last Saturday, and since my parents were here and had nothing better to do, they prepped up the previous day, got up early on Saturday and bought 8 copies of the same newspaper just to avail of the discount.

I don't get how the newpaper or the advertiser will benefit?

At least 200 people lined up in front of Watsons to get the free box of biscuits.

How strange.

Innvative Picture From My Nephew

Check this out, baby... and taken by a 9 year old, too!



Ain't that cool? At his age, I never would've thought of taking pictures like that!

Waiting for The First Signal 8 of the Year..

Waaah read em and weep,...




Track and Positions of Tropical Cyclone

Typhoon CHANCHU
at 20:00 HKT 16 May 2006
(18.7 N, 115.1 E)

Forecast Positions and Intensities
Date time Position Classification Maximum sustained wind
20:00 HKT 17 May 2006 22.3 N 116 E Typhoon 139 km/hour
20:00 HKT 18 May 2006 28.2 N 120.6 E Severe Tropical Storm 92 km/hour
20:00 HKT 19 May 2006 34.1 N 125.5 E Tropical Depression 56 km/hour

*All pictures in this post are taken from the Hong Kong Observatory.

You Might Not Want To Miss This Either

Yes... follow this link.

All that toil and sweat posting up the pictures from flickr.. it should never go to waste...

Did I Ever Mention My New Sofa Bed?

Kamikaze pic posting!

Here's the pic of my new (relative to my readers anyway) sofa bed I was telling you guys about in my last month's post:



Or, did I tell you about the nice salad I made last month?



It was self prepared honey mustard dressing, too. With Rockette Lettuce and cherry tomatoes in nicely cubed chinese ham. mmmMMM..

Excuse my posting. This is the first time I figured out how to link my photos from flickr into blogger. ^_^

A Thought A Day...

... Keeps the boredom away.

Lets see how much I can stay committed to this idea when it comes to blogging. I don't want to just fill up this blog into a gym progress site (its certainly turning out to be one very fast...) and the increasing workload isn't helping much, either.

We shall see. I already have an idea for tomorrow too. Lets see how this goes.

Stuffed

No, my stomach will not let me eat anymore. Please.

Spent my lunch having a company subsidized Portugese themed lunch - complete with roast beef and ham appetizers, roast beef, a ton of main dishes, specialty corner consisting of porriage rice, soup and dessert area. The price was pretty cheap, so it didn't matter if the food was not extra special. But it was decent, nice and good.

Come evening, our family had a post Mother's day lunch at Harbour Plaza North Point, complete with appetizers, oysters, shrimps, sushi, main dish, speciality corner consisting of make-your-own-noodles, cream and broth soups, and a dessert area with ice cream and a fountain chocolate you can fondue your marshmallow/strawberry/cream puff/bread stick.... not bad either, for the quality and variety, the whole thing cost roughly 190HKD per person. I doubt you can get that much variety even in the Philippines with that amount. And the oysters and sushi were pretty fresh too. And they had swordfish for sushi. MMmmmMM...

Its not that I'm worried about getting fat that's why I stopped eating. But its because my stomach couldn't accommodate even a small piece of cracker anymore... The spirit is very willing, but the body is definitely weak... GAH! I'm stuffed!!!!

Gym Progress 38

This is as bad as it gets. It seems to be unproductivity week this week.

Everyone who's read this blog and my gym progresses know that I love the Saturday and Sunday classes. I get a kick out of them, and I can't get enough. For those who have probably seen me in the actual class, they will see me jumping up and down, turning, twisting, switching, stomping, mambo-ing... by gods, all of them... and I still keep that excited and elated face while doing everything.

But this weekend was the pits... I don't know what happened. Saturday's choreography is usually 3 blocks with warm up...but it felt as if it was only 1 and a half blocks and warm up. And the beat felt like it was slow. I didn't feel like racing the beat.

Sunday was the same... except that I don't know what gives. First time Suzette with a I-A class... and yet, its already 1pm (class finishes at 1pm) and we were all still barely finishing up with the 3rd block. It felt like it was actually 2 and a half blocks. No one could actually follow through the whole choreography.

And I feel extremely frustrated. I need something to redeem myself, but there's not anymore step classes for today to actually do it.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. I am SO FRUSTRATED.

Wed (BP,HY): Phyllis, Suzette
Thu (ISM): Steve
Sat (ISM): Steve
Sun (SM, BP): Suzette, Roger

Prettiest Tram

Just saw the prettiest tram I've ever seen. It looked very strange and old on the outside, as if you couldn't place what exactly was different, except that you get that good fuzzy feeling when you're looking at it.

Then I realized that most of the edging purely were still made out of wood instead of metals grills and glass and plastics.



As you can see, even the seats are made out of wood, instead of the conventional "plastic" these days. It was the typical old antique tram, and even the lighting was quite antique looking.. It was still using something looked strangely as yellow unfrosted light bulbs. I wish I could've taken a picture of it from the outside,.... It was definitely a sight to see. The tram stood out amongst the row of trams in the North Point tram terminal.

Its definitely something that tourists would want to take a picture of and ride in, as well as something the locals could be reminiecient and be proud of.

Late Lunch at Cafe de Coral

After coming back home from the gym.. I had to grab a bite. Just goes to show how good any food will look when you eat lunch at 5pm in the afternoon. But nevertheless, the food is pretty good. This is one of the special selections from a Hong Kong chinese fast food chain called Cafe de Coral...





That's Tomato soup based macaroni with minced pork, plus toasted pumpkin bread, corn omelette and cocktail sausages on the side. MmmmmMMMmm. Pretty good.

Very Unproductive

What gives?

Very unproductive personality.
I like meetings now.
I try my best.
documents? double checked, triple checked!
got into an argument with bf about the things that I do are for show...
things are getting a bit better now in the office.. more work to do
but still quite unfair with my other officemate... very subjective opinions.
I'm getting the same thing too.
how to handle? what's the use of comforting someone honestly without sounding fake?
what a mess.

Yes... best way to describe the week at the moment.

Gym Progress 37

Lets see. A couple of mixed news.

Monday Marathon: Multilevel class hatha yoga. Yes, its strange but you meet all these people who are also intending to attend the next class. This is my first time, and I was glad that the instructor took the class light. very difficult, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt very relaxed afterwards, and I think getting a few more yoga classes will do me much good. For some strange reason I always feel quite "stable" when I finish the yoga class.

Need I say more? Steve's step class, nuff said.

As for the bodypump... well, I figured I might start soon, I haven't touched any freeweights since Nov last year already (can you imagine??? its been 6 months!) and my physique has totally deteriorated. It doesn't help that I also eat a lot of snacks in the office...

Friday Step Moves : Aside from my usual ongoing schedule, both Monday and Friday were holidays: The first one was Labor Day, and latter was Buddha's Birthday. So that just about gave me an excuse to spend some more time at the gym for some classes.

As always, there was at least one advanced step class for each of the holidays (yes, that's why I love holidays) I greedily made sure I had a space for Monday and Friday's class by respectively attending the previous Hatha Yoga class, and by coming in at least an hour early to reserve a slot for my step. The first one wasn't so bad, but the Friday one was quite irritating. Right after reserving a space, I went to the treadmills as it is still 50 minutes away from the start of class. Once I got back, 2 people behind me squeezed in, and i barely had any sort of space to even move around or travel... lets just say my step radius facing the back was at most 2 feet apart from the step behind me. It was quite irritating.

Ahh.. but these things happen, and so I resolved not to let it bother me. Besides, there's no point in complaining (although I did complain - but trust me, I could've dragged it a whole lot longer) in great lengths of time and spoil my perfectly nice start of the holiday and also not enjoy the class.

As a side note though, I managed to acquaint myself with one of the other regulars by accidentally stepping on her foot. Not a nice way to meet people, but I suppose we're in a friendly enough terms now. But I was really quite sorry... I stepped on her foot, and it must've really hurt. I can just imagine. Poor girl.

Sunday Intro Step Moves: The only good news that I can give - Sunday's class is being made I-A! That certainly put a smile on my face. It was about time...

Mon(HY,SM,BP): Jean, Steve, Steve
Thu (ISM): Steve
Fri (SM): Michelle
Sat (ISM): Steve
Sun (ISM, BP): Suzette, Roger

It is a Good, Satisfying Day Part 2

Well, this was again a nice day.

I spend the morning with a friend, and also saw my ex-manager while I was on my way to my friend's shop, had a quick chat with him, made "friends" and hung out with the some of the gym regulars (at least I didn't feel like I was the steoreotypical ostracized person in the group), worked together while some (Pasty and Wilson) saved spaces while the rest of us gets steps for them. I also took a walk about Causeway Bay since next next Monday was my sis-in-law's birthday and I had to look for something to give her.... Then meet up with some of my other friends for a quick dinner and catch up, plus some pictures from one of our friend's engagement.

Short but very packed, dense and full. Nice satisfying day again. My horoscopes and the stars must've been shining on my the past few days. ^_^

It is a Good, Satisfying Day

Things seem to be going my way for some strange reason.

Most of the time I spend my day doing things, and at the end of the day, I sit back, think and realized my day didn't really have anything interesting to remember by. I was able to get things done, but they were quite mudane. Nothing really that would make it interesting or enlightening or satisfying for me.

But today was quite different. It wasn't a special day, but it has been sometime since anything qualified for a fulfilling and productive day.

0600-0930: Spend time at home... with dad, play with nephew, buy bread for breakfast, grabbed a newspaper
0930-1000: Take the bus ride to the gym. It looked like one of the gym regulars was in the same bus, but I'm not quite sure at the moment.
1000-1010: Well, it seems like it IS one of the regulars. I had a nice quick chat with her. She seems like she lives in Norpth Point.. she looked about late 30's to 40's with a mom-ish look who cooks about the house and takes care of the children. But she was carrying a big Gucci bag, and she goes to the gym anytime, even mornings and afternoons. What say you.
1010-1040: Just went to the bicycle machine to read the newpaper and do some light exercise. My, its been sometime since I read the newspaper. The bicycle was nice too.. it had an option whether you wanted the fan to blow on your face. Even has low and high settings for the fan. Perfect for newspaper reading while leisurely cycling.
1040-1100: A never ending grumbling on how inconsiderate and unfair people are. Some people forced and squeezed in their steps behind me. I ended up with a step that had, at most, a 2 feet radius. Ugh.
1100-1200: Michelle's Step Moves class. See gym progress comment this week.
1200-1230: Showers. yes, of course, I shower you know. I don't want to be stinky walking about the whole of Hong Kong.
1230-1320: My brother called.. it seemed that they would like to eat out. Somewhere in Causeway bay. Too bad that I already stepped up the No 18 bus which doesn't really pass anywhere near the resto that my brother was suggesting. GAH!
1320-1325: What ensured is a strange conversation with my mom wherein I was speaking in straight cantonese. Well, at least fairly straight. What precisely was strange was the fact that it came out naturally. How quaint.
1325-1500: Goodness, what a smorgasboard. It wasn't exactly quality buffet (it was only 58HKD per person... quite cheap by HK standards) but it was a korean BBQ and it had everything. It even had the drinks with eat all you can to boot. If you just want to get filled up, this is the place to go. I thought this was as cheap as it gets, but it turns out, for their afternoon tea, they have a lesser selection for the price of 28. *jaw drops*
1500-1530: Passd by Tom Lee to get my cousin yet again ANOTHER ticket (this is the third time I've gone to the same ticketing outlet to get seats...) I was already grumbling. How wouldn't? at least you would've wanted people to make up their minds.. lining up is always not good, when you can do something else. And there's the travelling expense to get to the ticketing outlet too... On the brightside, I was thankful, because if I didnt concede in getting her the third ticket, I wouldn't have seen the HK Academy of Performing Arts Short Summer Course Offering booklet. Good things do come and pop out from mudane things.
1530-1615: Passed by a friend's lighting shop. I just wanted to chat :)
1615-1630: Trip home
1630-night: Just took some rest, lie around.. very nice woooh.

I mean, do the thing I want, spend the day with family, and also with friends, and still have enough time for personal space when I get home? Today was an awesome day!

Labor Day Monday

I just spend the big part of my Labor Day holiday where?( Take a likely guess)

Do I really need to spell it out?

It started at 11am, and ended at 4pm, with a full range from Hatha Yoga, Step Moves and Body Pump.

I am so darn tired.

But it feels great to do bodypump again. I forecast a very well rested night tonight, as compared to the many nights for the past.. oh... 1.5 months?

If I actually wake up rested tomorrow, I'm definitely going to start attending Bodypump again. Hatha Yoga isn't so bad either.. it helps to stretch my legs and relax. Pretty cool class.

Gym Progress 36

Stupid Induction class for the new job went over the scheduled finish time and I had to miss the usual 1-2 class for thursday for Steve. It was a good thing that he was subbing the Step Moves class at 7pm on the same day, otherwise I'd be uber pissed.

The night classes didn't turn out very fast though, since it seemed every body can't follow. That was monumental slow though,... I can't complain.. I wouldn't have wanted the class to be too fast when I was just a beginner back then, anyway. Oh well.

I was also deciding whether I should attend Calvin's class for Sunday, but decided against it. Been with Suzette for so long, and I'm not about to change loyalties that fast ^_^ besides, I missed her last week already. Heh. I'm such a sucker sometimes.

Unfortunately.. all these aero, and no weights seem to be leaving me with a jelly-o feeling and a growing paunch. I better get back to lifting weights with bodypump classes soon.

Thu (SM): Steve
Sat (ISM): Steve
Sun (ISM): Suzette