Sleep .. sleep....

I'm in deep trouble. I should be sleeping. Have work tomorrow. But still up until now. Need to sleep soon... but can't sleep. *sees stars*

Gym Progress 44

Coool....

Calvin is awesome. I think if I can actually manage, I'm going to head off to Whampoa on Saturdays for his classes. Aside from the fact that they rock as much as Steve's (well, as his classes before, anyway), a couple of pretty nimble-at-aerobics-footed people (pretty expert if I may say so) and some familiar faces (Byron and Have-His-Own-World guy), some of you might also recall a pretty recent post that I really expressed my enthusiasm over the ferry ride to Wan Chai. Whampoa is a pretty nice place too.. not as congested as Causeway Bay, more fresh air, more skyline to see (I can see the sky! wow, what a rare sight!) and pretty nice neighborhood overall. Its pretty complete too in terms of shopping - Jusco department stores, groceries, Body Shop, Esprit, Maxims, etc etc. Most important? I can darn see the skyline!

Steve's class? uhm. It was ok I suppose. I ended up recreating my own choreography... just like how Wilson would do it *wink* Its more fun experimenting that way. Embarrassingly, Have-His-Own-World guy was also here. Same day, at least 2 classes? How pathetic can we both get? :) So I just pretended not to see him ^_^ Its embarrassing for me, and maybe embarrassing for him. Someone please tell the both of us to get a life? :P

Suzette's class today? for some strange reason, they felt.... short. Maybe its not as complicated? I'm not quite sure. Oh, and there's this thing about deserving... see post here. Its related to next week's Partner step class. Didn't attend weights today though.. I figured I better get my finger a rest before I start getting my blood racing to my fingers and burst some blood vessels. I'm not out to kill myself.... yet.

Almost a few weeks away from hitting the one year going-to-the-gym mark. I'm really looking forward ^_^

Sat (ISM): Calvin, Steve
Sun (SM): Suzette

Deserving

Who out there can say what we deserve?

My birthday is coming up soon. No, that's not a reminder to all those people who have conveniently forgotten my birthday every year. If you've at least read through my posts for the past couple of years, you might want to recall this post. Its really not necessary if you just called me up just because you feel guilty not greeting me. I'd want people to call because they mean it. If you don't, I dont really take it against you. I mean, I'd be lucky if I remember my own birthday, actually.

To get back to the topic on hand, I'd like to point a thing that happened this week:

A. There's this cute guy in the gym that I like. Wicked good at steps.
B. He's really interesting to the point of curiosity.
C. Owing to my pseudo-socio-psychology interest in people, I'm also extremely interested in learning more about him. (aside from the fact that I think he's really cute)
D. People, please remember I DO have a boyfriend. This whole thing is known by my bf, there's no point in "warning" him.
E. Now, going back to topic on hand, cute guy is in Suzette's class. (Its a fact that he's cute for me, so I can very well keep on calling me "cute guy", ok. No, you're not allowed to comment on my choice of words.)
F. At the end of this week's class, Suzette announces that next week is a PARTNER step class.
G. For those who are not in the know, a PARTNER class would involve having a partner. DUH.
H. I dont have a partner.
I. I'm sure HE doesn't have a partner (trust me, he isn't the type to socialize)
J. "Next week" is exactly my birthday.
K. I return my step.
L. He returns his step.
M. He stops near me when returning his step.
N. I blatantly pretend to ignore him and look somewhere else.
O. I'm quite sure he wanted to ask me something. (wow, guess what he'd be asking. DUH.)
P. He leaves.
Q. I leave.
R. Another girl approaches me and asks if we can be partners next week.
S. DRAT.

Is it so bad to hope that maybe I could get a nice birthday present by actually being his partner instead of someone else next week? It IS my birthday.

And my boyfriend blatantly points out, so what IF its your birthday? That doesnt necessarily mean that people would give in to your wishes.

• For starters, they don't even know its your birthday next week.
• Secondly, why would they care what you want?
• Thirdly, its not as if your "wishes" are placed in a display card on your forehead for everyone to see.

Ok, lets just pretend that my boyfriend isn't jealous *wink*

You want your birthday to be special. Heck, lets just say, you want a day to be special. It doesnt have to be your birthday. It can be Christmas. It can be your 1 year anniversary. It could be you mom's birthday. Heck, it could be anyday. The point is, you want some particular day to be special.

What do you intend to do about it? How can you say that you deserve that special day?

In fact, I learned very quickly from this experience that deserving is a pretty simple thing:


To deserve, you have to work on it. And working on it, means acting on something.


Any day can be a special day. If you want it to be. If you act on it. If you put your mind on it.

Nevermind if things dont exactly go your way all the time. Typhoons happen, earthquakes strike, foundations crumble, people lie to one another, the dog will suddenly steal your sausages or something like that. But despite all that, its certainly worth it to know that you've tried, you've done something, doesn't it? Even if things don't your way, you know at some point, you're still deserving because you've acted on it, doesn't it?

I suppose I don't deserve to be partners with that cute guy I was talking about. But that's just today :) Maybe something might come up next week... and then maybe I can make sure I deserve to be partners with him then. We would definitely be a wicked awesome combination.. he's pretty good at steps ... almost as good as me, I think.

I'm pretty good with aerobics steps you know. Now I'm sure THAT'S something I'm deserving off *wink wink* I even have weekly gym progress posts to prove it :P

Now, how about making tomorrow a day that you definitely deserve?

The Lack Thereof

I understand that the recent posts have not been much of a contemplative type or insightful posts... I'll remedy that soon enough. Trust me, there've been a lot of things going on my mind lately, but with not enough time to think of them through or blog them down, I haven't had the chance.

There are a couple of things in the lineup, and for some strange reason, I have a feeling work might clear itself up for the next few days ... I can't tell the future, but I can usually rely on gut feel. :)

Hopefully a post will pop up in the next few days *wink*

Backtracking .. again

Maybe I should post on a monthly basis... this is starting to happen too often...

The list is pretty long too *sigh*

2006-06-25: Shaukeiwan Fish Wholesale Market
2006-06-25: A [Disgusting] Finger That's Getting Better
2006-06-24: Sunny Ferry Ride
2006-06-23: The Bandages Come Off! (and a Few Other Observations)
2006-06-21: A Training We Will Go...
2006-06-19: Gym Progress 43
2006-06-17: Nice Full Day
2006-06-17: Eating Alone with Steamed Milk
2006-06-17: Strange Apparatus
2006-06-12: Gym Progress 42
2006-06-09: Pretty Tram 2
2006-06-08: On Sick Leaves (Quickie)
2006-06-07: A Friend at CP1

Shaukeiwan Fish Wholesale Market

Fishie Market... loads of fish, sold at wholesale prices. Seems like this place is where parts of the Hong Kong wet market congregate to buy their supplies and sell it to the rest of the retail market.

And my mom and grandmother insist on coming here early in the mornings to get cheap seafood stock (its really cheap, trust me) Supposedly all the little fishies you buy normally DEAD at those wet markets are still alive when they're sold here early in the wee hours of the morning. Crabs, fishies, groupas, prawns... even odd fishes with strange appearances, and this morning, I envisaged a left over part of some poor baby shark.

It was a nice morning too.. Our "team", consisting of me, my brother and my mother, came there purposely late to catch the sellers trying to get rid of their daily wares (and hopefully desperate enough to sell at cheap, rock bottom prices) Here are some pics from this morning:







Cheap! And the place is nice too. I like places where I can actually see clouds, as you may have all noticed. I think the phenomenon has something to do with living in Hong Kong.

How to get there? MTR to Shaukeiwan and go to Exit D and follow the scent(stench) of fishies :P

A [Disgusting] Finger That's Getting Better

I promise I'll stop posting stuff like this soon..

Its just that, they're quite an interesting study. I mean, REALLY, if you think about it from a different point of view. Its like how people from tropical countries find the occurence of winter and snow a peculiar but interesting thing, whereas people from non tropical countries think that winters are merely a nuisance (or taken for granted, even).

*WARNING: This post contains explicit images that may lead you to actually skip your lunch and dinner (or so some of my friends say) because of its vulgar nature. If you intend to keep your sanity, then I advise you to skip this post, and maybe just select the other recent posts on the left hand side of this blog, avoiding this entry. If you insist on reading through this post... well, just don't blame me. Don't say I didn't warn you. I mean, if you're really interested... this is a mini series post .. earlier posts can be found here.


















So you'll have to excuse me. Besides, you might actually learn something from here...







Its not really as bad as it looks. In fact, all that skin coming off is one of the better indications that a wound is healing. Its definitely shedding the dead cells (take your pick: skin, flesh, meat) and also the "dead" skin is still slightly intact to protect the healing wound underneath while its still not ready.

You dont want to remove the "skin" when the wound hasn't fully healed, mind you. It gets prickly and you're bound to end up with an infection again.. (yes I definitely dont want that at all)

Sunny Ferry Ride

I found myself riding the ferry from Hunghom to Wanchai on the 15:16 scheduled boat.

The day was pretty hot, but it was sunny, so I got these really nice pictures on the ferry to Wanchai with the good sunny, brightly lit day on my side! Made my day too, it was good to ride the ferry, even on a blistering hot day, especially since the cool wind was blowing against your face.

Sunkissed winds... has the fragance of the sun and the smile of the breeze.

You can definitely tell I was in a good mood, can you? ^_^

See pics!








And here's some views of the IFC 2 (That's were Angelina Jolie jumped off from in Tomb Raider... errr.. I think that was either 2 or 3, when she was in HK...)





Its a pretty day isn't it? There should be more days like this. I think I'm going to like attending the Hunghom-Whampoa class at 13:30 on Saturdays if it means more days like this. This is definitely good. Besides, Whampoa is not as packed as Causeway Bay, and its got a pier and sea breeze on its side.

The Bandages Come Off! (And a Few Other Observations)

As a continuation to this disgusting post, (Dont say I didn't warn you) its in the best interest of my readers to be aware of what's coming ahead.

*WARNING: This post contains explicit images that may lead you to actually skip your lunch and dinner (or so some of my friends say) because of its vulgar nature. If you intend to keep your sanity, then I advise you to skip this post, and maybe just select the other recent posts on the left hand side of this blog, avoiding this entry. If you insist on reading through this post... well, just don't blame me. Don't say I didn't warn you.



























Pics pics ! Bandage comes off, first "night". Here's the sorry state of my fingers after the bandages comes off... (Sorry guys, first time I've had an operation.. call me strange but I find it slightly fascinating .. never mind the sleepless nights that I had to endure 2 weeks ago...)






Big gash and hardened blood already there... lets see, what else. oh that innocent looking seciton at the side of the finger has totally hardened into something I'd suspect as totally unusable.. Will probably shed off after a bit of time.. its essentially, literally "dead meat" :P As for the others, my physiotherapist told me that flesh and injury usually takes 6 weeks to heal.. so I guess I'd probably count on all of this going away for about a month more then.

As a scientific observation, its amazing how muhch dead skin can accumulate after more than 2 weeks of not washing your hands. It was at it for 10 minutes washing my hands with soap and water, and I still had vestiges of dead skin accumulated on my palms and fingers,...

So strange. It probably took me about 20 minutes to get it decently clean..... with still some stuff still left over..... so strange...

A Training We Will Go...

Got sent to a training..

Suprisingly the class was comprised of all girls. All four of us. Would've at least expected a guy in this field of work, but of course its just my luck isn't it? Here's my messy desk.... A surefire proof that this employee didn't waste company resources by skipping training or sleeping in class...


You can even catch a glimpse of that cup of Starbucks coffee.. I mean, what lazy bum employee would be drinking Starbucks in a training course class? We're all certain that the coffee would have kept the employee awake and alert to take in all that deep well of knowledge from the training course... see I even have 2 command prompt windows open. On Windows!

Let's take a look at the class shall we...?



See? everyone is busy!

Gym Progress 43

I had to scram from the office (I had some work to deal with... "In my own time" he says... DUH..) hop off the taxi and run like mad hell. Just got in time for the class.. with my fingers still bandaged. Patsy and Wilson were there...

Not there....

Suzette's class was a repeat of last week's. well, slightly different anyway. Just slightly. I still had bandaged hands.. my, taking a bath is quite difficult. I think its been about two weeks since I've properly scrubbed my left arm.

Not there...

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

Nice Full Day

My Day Today :

• I had a good dream, I think. I woke up
• Head off to Central
  
• read magazines in library (hahaha and gossip too!)
  
• go to doctor (to redress my wound)
  
• read some more at Kosmo (magazine... I think it was cosmopolitan. Its been a while since I've read a magazine from cover to cover)
  
• work
• barely make it o the gym
• Gym!!
  
• shop around
• buy a kazoo
• buy pillow that I wanted for almost 4 years at Ikea
• go home
• chat with old friend
• found out something wrong with Ikea tupperware
• go back to Ikea
• have cold steamed milk
• go home
• talk to boyfriend
• sleep

Relatively nice :)

Eating Alone with Steamed Milk

This is probably what results into when you're bored out of your wits at home trying to "recover" from an injury. You get restless at home (well, you've been stuck at home for quite a while, who can blame you?)

I got bored at home and went to Causeway Bay for some cold steamed milk and a trusty Terry Pratchett book. Nevermind if it may look strange to eat alone in a town where it seems the whole Hong Kong are like ants in an ant hive, and people are never without partners, everywhere. (I mean, what gives? It is THAT bad to watch a movie by yourself??)

I'll get a picture of that steamed milk soon. Its actually quite good. I got red beans on cold steamed milk. Totally wicked good.

Strange Apparatus

strange apparatus.

What is it?

Armed with a sample, but without a single clue of what exactly its called, I scoured Hong Kong music shops acting quite stupid and oblivious and asking them if they have "this".



My voice teacher says its an apparatus to help you guage your level of support when singing.



The sales person told me its an apparatus for doing duck calls (never mind if the sales person was a sales person from a music store)



The same sales person also said that was used by dummers (I'm not quite clear for what, exactly. He was slightly vague when explaining this point)



I wasn't quite sure if he was pulling my leg.

But good thing, he told me what its called, and I promptly searched the net for it, and this is what I found.

Check out this Wikipedia entry for it.

Gym Progress 42

A week when I had to fully attend to this. (explicit pictures within, please be warned)

So I spent the worse part of my days in a GP clinic, in a hospital and in a general surgeon's clinic nursing my wound... At least I suppose out of my sheer stupidity I managed to attend the weekend aero classes, even with my fnger bandaged and throbbing while I jumped danced and twisted around... I even had to ask one of the regulars (the guy with his own little world) to help me get a step since I couldn't clearly get a step fast enough with a throbbing bandaged hands. Why I even bothered to go to aero class, I wouldn't really know. (Oh come now, of course I do...)

Bedridden and bedsick is very boring business, after all.

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

Nice illusion

This is pretty interesting. I got this from Tom Kyte's blog. (see side bar for his link)

See this. nice illusion.

Pretty Tram 2

I've mentioned this in my past post, but I wasn't able to get any more shots of the tram. Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to see a similar tram this morning while I was on my way to work.

Here are some more pics, for you're viewing pleasure ;)









And here's a close up of the chair.. I just felt I had to get a close up shot of it for some strange reason... It looks good, though, doesn't it?

On Sick Leaves (Quickie)

After getting the surgery... I've been given 4 days worth of leaves. You'd think that'd be a blessing.

Trust me, first day of leave, I've been lying around the house... eating sleeping reading trying to rest...

Its quite boring.

Thank goodness though. Those painkillers that the doctor prescribed takes effect 5 minutes after I've swallowed the first pill. Its called cosalgesic (distagesic). Totally like a sleeping pill... conks me out like a baby. No wonder I could sleep even on mornings. Normally I can't. I wonder how much dosage it actually contains to give that kind of shot. I just have to remember to pop it on evenings...

Well I did have to get my fingers redressed, but I had to get to another doctor/General surgeon in my medical insurance's panel doctors list. Turns out the painkillers prescribed to me are known to give people stomach problems when eaten. So were the antibiotics (that's 350mg for you... and 3 times a day too! From what I've heard, that's quite a punch of antibiotics).

Ah well, I didn't have any stomach upset, and the painkillers where certainly making me sleep like a baby... Who's going to complain?

But honestly though.. taking a day's leave when you're sick is quite boring, especially when the surgery leaves you feeling better than before it. I would've welcomed the sick leave when I was having those sleepless nights. But alas, the world seems to be inverted. I feel much better and in a better disposition after the surgery, despite the huuUUUUGE wicked cut from the surgery.

Definitely boring, this time around. I think I'll go to the office tomorrow.

Agony In Progress

*WARNING: This post contains explicit images that may lead you to actually skip your lunch and dinner (or so some of my friends say) because of its vulgar nature. If you intend to keep your sanity, then I advise you to skip this post, and maybe just select the other recent posts on the left hand side of this blog, avoiding this entry. If you insist on reading through this post... well, just don't blame me. Don't say I didn't warn you.























































So, don't say I didn't warn.

Anyways, it could've been worse when up close and personal. I have to admit I didn't particularly get good close up pictures, but well... you get the idea. This is just to remind those people out there that a relatively simple thing can go from non-harmless... getting fishy.... bad... worse... and finally.... ARE you REALLY crazy?? thing. I hope THIS doesn't happen to you. Seek medical advice as early as possible when in doubt.

What starts as a innocent nail/cuticle torn middle finger... no signs of bleeding or wound...

Can slightly swell...




Become infected.. leaving you a very pain throbbing sensation on occasion... And it seems the area has a life, heartbeat and a temperature of its own...



Mutate into something very alien... giving you sleepless rights, affect your whole hand becoming very very very painful and tired that you want to chop it all off to make the pain go away...






And finally, you will have to resort to minor surgery with local anesthetics while your favorite surgeon hacked away in what will be the remains of your finger...



I'll probably be jolly enough to post a picture when the bandage goes away. I suppose it depends on the feedback of my dear readers.

I mean, this blog is terribly mudane, isn't it?

The moral lesson of the story , little kiddies, is: even something as innocent as nailbiting or innocently torn cuticle might was well lead to amputating your arm.

Another moral lesson: See all those movies that the medical man says the fever is broken relating to a soldier in the story after he has received really bad wounds? And all those enactments of being unconscious and not being able to sleep at night before the fever's broken? THEY'RE ALL TRUE.

You were warned.

A Friend at CP1

I met with an ex-colleague (and now again a colleague) over at another site for this meeting at this other office where a top management person would be talking about changes in the company. (Yes I know, I'm being vague here... I still haven't figured out if I'm doing this purposely, if it is just a subconscious way of handling far fetched legality issues, or I'm just not very good explaining things) Well, essentially, I met with Patrick!

I haven't seen him for a while, and it was nice to see a friendly face again. He's been cooped up in England for a while, and just got back recently to HK. I won't say too much about him, I mean, besides, its his life.. I'm not about to chronicle this life in MY blog. I'll leave THAT one for HIS blog.

No, I'm not going to tell you where you can find his blog either. If you know, that's good. If not, too bad.

The point is, it was really good seeing a familiar face again. I mean, I've got no complaints with my current officemates, but the relationship seems slightly different between my old colleagues compared to the new ones... maybe it was because for my ex-colleaugues, we did spend a long time together.. I mean, we didn't really exactly bond, but the company was small enough to feel as if you were in a family I suppose. That's a good thing isn't it?

Or it could all just be in my head.

But despite that, it is a good thing to think of people in a positive way, isn't it? I don't see any problems with changing THAT outlook. People might think you're just a sucker, but its easier to assume that you're friends, than worry about them talking behind your back. Doubt and suspicion breed bad news, that's what I always thought. And it saves me the effort of thinking too much about what people are thinking.

Especially when you're me. I try to read people if I can... try to think what they're thinking, psycholanalyze them... ugh. And if I end up thinking some people are bad... my imagination goes wild and I think of other bad things. And I dont want to face the fact that I can think evil thoughts in the most grossest, insane, heinous way as possible.

... Sorry, got a bit sidetracked there.

Anyway, it was a good meeting. We had lunch, he was quite sleepy, I was a bit tired, but it all turned out alright, methinks. Too bad there wasn't any pictures.. I totally forgot to get one! that sucks. Next time then.

And afterwards, I desperately headed off to St Paul's Hospital to get that badly needed finger surgery that's been keeping me up and giving me sleepless nights....

Gym Progress 41

Monday, slightly strange as Wilson and Patsy were there. I find it extremely weird that Wilson actually knew that I have already missed the Saturday class for two weeks. And I thought there no one noticed.

Come Wednesday: What is it about me and people? Wednesday, holiday, someone squeezed into my place over at aeroclass. The same thing happened to me the last time there was a holiday in Michelle's class. So much for coming 1 hour before the actual class. We come in early and these people come in late and we get the sore end of the stick? I barely had any room to travel around, but whatever. I don't want to be nice, so might as well vent out and pretend that I had all the space in the world.

The only consolation is that at least this girl was decent enough to be sheepish about it and ask me if its ok. Not that I can say, no its not ok, but at least she was not too arrogant enough to be hated. Unlike an indicident previously. (No, lets not get into that)

Thursday... uhm, poor Thursday. Don't know what's wrong with the class, everybody seemed like a newbie. The whole class carely got past 2 blocks. So I felt cheated and went to Lorenzo's class later that day.

I finally got to a Saturday class , albeit 10 minutes late! I had to run from my office, catch a taxi, braved through traffic (I think the taxi driver was quite scared of me by the time I came out of his car.. I was talking to my BF and swearing something about people being inconsiderate and late.. to the point that he told me the fare was less than what was indicated in the display.. gosh I was really mighty mad about something then - maybe in a later post, boys and girls)

Couldn't attend Suzette's on Sunday cause an Uncle and my cousins came by from the Philippines. I WAS able to attend Louis' class in CWB though...

Mon (SM): Michelle
Wed (SM,BP): Michelle, Jean
Thu (ISM,SM): Steve, Lorenzo
Sat (ISM): Steve
Sun (SM): Louis

Tickle Test

Something that I had to do because I was really really bored..




Your true color is Green!


What's Your True Color?

Brought to you by Tickle

Something You Don't Expect...

... To see in a Starbucks in Hongkong:



For those who might know, calamansi is also called the Philippine lemon. Its pretty small fruit, slightly bigger than your average grape. The outer skin is inedible, much like an orange, but with a green, rough rind. Like the lemon and the lime, it has its strong tangy and acidic taste, but subtly, the calamansi its slightly like a cross between a lemon and an orange when it comes to taste.

I like calamansi better :) Funny to see Starbucks Hong Kong selling it then ^_^