In Class, being entertained by what should not be very entertaining

I'm in class, perfecting the art of tuning things out.

I'm so entertained by the occasional word I catch from the student presenters.

microbes --> mico bobs
fluctuations --> fuk u asians
vegetarian --> veget alien
formaldehyde makes you disease? dizzy? --> formel deehai makes you dieselless

So I acknowledge the fact that I'm being mean, laughing condescendingly down at the poor HKers who are already trying their hardest to learn the language, but it goes to show exactly how bored I am in class, being so readily entertained by the smallest of things.

There's one white guy in the class; everyone expects him to be the most fluent. Actually, he came from Canada. From Quebec. "Bonjour? Ca va bien? Merci? J'adore la mal anglais? " were the meagre French I still remember and once threw at him. "Why are you here?" I asked him (nicely), to which he confidently answered "Why not?" Well, good for him. It's not easy not knowing chinese and being a big white guy sticking out like a sore thumb in HK. I, on the other hand, look so local I often get asked for directions. And I do mean often, like over what is statistically reasonable. We all know I'm probably the worse person to ask. (recalls the many hours of getting lost on the world map in FF)

People are staring and wondering what is up with that girl with the laptop typing fast and loud and laughing to herself, clearly not paying attention....

My group is up.

We're presenting phytoremediation (an interesting topic actually) about using plants to suck up contaminants from the soil so they don't end up in our water, and subsequently, our babies, who will grow up with genetic disorders.

The class looked at me glassy-eyed. It was like talking to a bunch of dolls. The prof seemed fascinated by our powerpoint slides, so fixated on them that he did not once look at me speaking, and trying damned hard to make eye contact, as all good presenters do (theoretically).

No matter, not important.

What's important is this cute seal, called "ODaisy", painstakenly named by me and my bf. (yeah I'm aware that it's not grammatically correct but I think it sounds better that way)



OH, this is me but it looks NOTHING like me. It's the sunglasses.


O--O

"Stealing" in Macau

I lugged my 3 hole puncher all the way across the ocean, and find out that the new standard is 2 holes. I was dismayed. I've been using 3 holes all my life! It doesn't even make sense! 2 holes!! What about the edges that flap around, untethered? What about 'aiming' for the middle when punching? What about 'aiming' when you want to quickly snap the pages in place? But anyway, I eventually stopped grumbling and organized my notes into a binder.

About a week ago (at least I think it was a week ago....bad sense of time), I went to macau for a day.

Pork buns... serradura...portuguese dinner...biscuits and beef jerky to bring back to loved ones as souvenir...actually, I didn't experience any of the above macau trademarks. When pork buns showed up at a random street stand, my stomach was full of apple green tea. When serradura showed up, my friends were 10 meters ahead of me gawking at some building. When portuguese dinner should theoretically have been the next item on the to-do list, there was cirque du soleil, which was at the other end of Macau. When biscuits and beef jerky, nicely wrapped and fragrant reached my nose, I ran out of money.

But. Cirque du Soleil was crazy awesome. I was so impressed by the beautiful vocals, shimmery colours, and crazy acrobatic feats that I bought the CD (which was very very expensive, even by Canadian standards), AND unwittingly 'stole' another CD. My friend thought I'd forgotten to pick it up from the cash register, so I headed back, grabbed whatever was lying on the table with conviction and marched out of there.

Ooops....

I've been craving pork buns since then.

School started. For the first two weeks, I diligently 'sat' through all the courses in my program so I could pick what interested me the most, and also for learning's sake. 3 hours at night 4/5 days/week + 2 hours travel time was actually quite tiring, so I stopped.

My University's entrance.


Random shipping dock in HK


Macau casino - lots of tacky gold paint






Anyone up for "bungy" jumping?


the venetian...

Some free show.

Quit

I've submitted my resignation letter and successfully disengaged myself from an unexciting and passionless job. Am I free from the cage of employment or trapped in unemployment? I think I'm free, because not only have I crossed off something on my mental to-do list, I'm free to look for something better. It's out there and I'm sure of it.

I want to take some time to gather myself and properly conduct a job hunt, no... career hunt. Call me idealistic, but I want a job that fits into the long term career path that I've set out for myself. Yes I sound like such a loser for stating that... I mean, who at this age doesn't?

But you know what? By stating it out loud, it helps me remind myself that I do in fact have a dream and that I have a direction. Thus, I can keep moving and we all know that I'm a sucker for concepts like "progress".

Maybe I'm inadequate at the moment for this 'future', or maybe what I have in mind regarding 'it' isn't exactly what it is! It doesn't matter... those kinks will work itself out. What is important is hope in human beings. Without hope, there is no image of the future, and thus nothing to propel us forward. There would be no motivation to work hard, to invest in oneself, and to contribute to society.