Thursday, July 2, 2009

Feeling Guilty Over Down Time

I did absolutely nothing productive today. It's an uneasy feeling.

At the back of my mind, I think there's something important that I should be doing, except I'm not sure what, and staring at my to-do list isn't make me feel any better. I don't even have the urge to make to-do/goal lists; I used to be obsessed with them.

In any case, my mind is not at peace.

Maybe that's why I love stuffing my schedule to the brim, because it helps me get over the negative feelings of not being efficient/productive/maxing out all the resources I have. But I forgot that "change" is emotional stress that I should account for, and leave 'room' for it to avoid overshooting out of my buffer zone. I'd like to compare this to a titration.


I feel guilty for wanting easy times, because I have a dream, and to get to it, there's bound to be hard work involved. There's no way I can let myself take the 'easy way' out.

However, I'm moving into my new place, so that's a positive change. I want my boxes of STUFF!!!

On a random note, they can choose the sex of mammals now. "Chinese scientists have claimed a commercial breakthrough after breeding 10 piglets whose sex was successfully selected before conception, heralding potential higher profits for farmers."


Picture Roll of the Week

Cap to prevent shampoo from getting into your eyes.


The "Modern Toilet" is a restaurant. You sit on toilets (not shown here)
Humidity is often at 80%...

Random newpaper article...

I love the gloominess, emptiness and loneliness of this picture for some odd reason!
That sign reads "Time to be more chocolate!"

Yum green tea muffin with red bean! It's actually REALLY GOOD!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Buffet! + Strange commodities

I'm not sure what this is supposed to be...


Ah, there's a description... or something like that...

Cake bath time? Again, description... but I'm still not sure what it's supposed to accomplish.

His pain is your gain, it says.

Explanation:

Some ice cube trays...



Very cute...
Cell phone holders:



Row upon row of green tea inspired food products.

Are these tissues supposed to be special?

Food cushion.
Food inspired bath products. It says "Bath Sauce".

Food Inspired Bath Products continued... These are body sponges.

BUFFET PICTURES!

Starting with ... ice cream... haagen daaz!

More dessert...
Waffles!
Chocolate fountain!

Sushi!

Seafood!

I've been sending a lot of distress/depressing signals lately in this blog and on facebook lately. So, for this post, I just put up a bunch of strange HK commodity + food pictures! Very cheerful.

Nothing else I'd like to report...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Crossroads

Fobby drinks and green tea and red bean bread.

Thanks for the encouragement and objective advice with regards to that last post... I was in a dark mood, possibly from being stressed (in short: office lacking important office resources while I was facing deadline. Cramming for an exam.) and unhealthy. See those junky foods in the last post? Yes, I've tried them all!

I woke up feeling a lot better today. Slept early last night for once and got my first exam done and over with. Also realized after some prayer and rest that I'm in a great situation already, and wanting the 'easiest' and 'smoothest' way isn't right.

I may dislike my work now cuz I just started, but I said that in the first month at UHN too, which I ended up loving. I also predisposed myself to not liking the financial industry. Things like financial planning and insurance sound ugly because we're cynical about it--you hear stories of people getting ripped off and pushy salespeople. But really, it's a legit business and there are people whose lives have been positively transformed. I mean, there is going to be evil in any industry, in any work place.

I got the formal acceptance letter, with an option to go full time into the programme. Once rationality kicked in, I decided on PT Msc + PT/FT this job.

My dreams and goals feel sooo far away, but I'm taking "baby steps" as Brar would say!

Speaking of which, I found a file on my computer with his quotes! I can't believe I still have it.... *snorts*

High School Inside Quotes:
“You have two eyes, two legs and two arms. You are fully capable of working. But you let it rot. You sit in front of the TV and do nothing. Those olympic kids out there who are disabled. They don’t have anything but they take what life gives them and they use it to the fullest potential. They are the ones who will cure AIDs and cancer. What will you do? You are just sitting there letting your minds rot.”

“You guys are lazy. You come to class late like a lump on a log, without your hwk done and you sleep. Why? Cuz u spent ur time watching TV last night. Watching Arnold Schwarchenegger. It’s all the same every time. He kicks some villain’s ass, then he fights yaddeeya and he even gets some hot chick in the end. Who cares. I don’t care about J Lo, she’s got the money. You don’t.”

“You guys are scared of trying. There is no harm in trying. (draws lil box diagrams on the blackboard), you are here…you can get here, but you won’t go down here. You come home from school and mom and dad makes you a nice hot meal for you. All you have to do is study. It’s that simple. How hard is it to crack open your math book and do a few questions? You guys are chickens.”

“It’s the same one third of the class. The same one third who comes to class late, the same one third who doesn’t do their homework, the same one third who fails. We’re not doing the assessment. Why bother? I know that that same one third will fail.”

“I don’t stand up here for half an hour putting up math to see if I know it. I know the material, but you don’t. If you fall behind here in this class, think about how you rank in the school, in York Region, in Ontario, and in Canada. You don’t stand a chance. You are lost. I don’t give adamn. Not adamn.”

“If you can do this stuff, you’re laughing, you’re laughing. This is probably the hardest stuff they’ll give you.”

“Three way telephone! Who can factor the fastest?”

Monday, June 15, 2009

Teaching >>>> Financial Industry

By a random and sketchy set of occurrences, I have started to teach English and piano again in HK. In short, I was floating on some expat forum, asking about the piano teaching industry, and I got PM-ed by a 'pregnant woman who wanted someone from the west to teach her son piano.

My mom was like 'no'. But I went anyway (accompanied by my parents) and that woman really was pregnant, and the kid was actually smart. And I was paid a whole whack more than what I'm getting now.

Teaching beats my current job in terms of salary, job satisfaction, respect, status, confidence, stress level... everything. But somehow, I feel like if I tried to enter into it full time (if I can anyway), it would be a cop-out because it's my comfort zone. Like, it's...out of the 'real' world. I want to get HK office experience to train myself for challenges ahead, you know, the mean and lean competitive 9 am - 6 pm kind of environment everyone warned me about. But this job isn't in the right industry. I have no passion and I'm not absorbing things like a sponge. I'm force feeding it into my brain, which is going "I reject". So I'm bored despite the fact that I'm being paid, being trained, taking exams, attending workshops...

I knew ahead of time that it wasn't the right industry. But given the ugliest job market I've ever seen and given that I am anticipating going back to school in Sept, I took it. I could always switch out, right? I mean... I'm grateful for it, my manager is still a great person, this job still fits well with my long term goals.... except, I still need to go to work, day after day. And experience the boredom that are rows and rows of numbers and insurance plans.

Please tell me if I'm just being silly.

I feel so bad for complaining... I've only been on the job for one month and it's part time too. And at least I have work! ... haah, I'm so at odds with myself.

And I want to see my RH friends. I sometimes don't see you guys for a long time even in Canada, but being so far away is different because I know there's no way I can see you if I wanted to.

I don't remember if I mentioned it yet, but I'm enrolled in a Msc programme, which I am sooo happy and relieved about. It's something I know I will like a lot : )


Picture Roll. Theme is fobby snacks

Asparagus Pretz


"Japanese flavoured chocolate". What do the japanese taste like?

Fresh fruit juice smoothie stand. $9 HKD = $1.5 Cdn. Jealous???


Animal Crackers!!! I thought that said "MEN" at first, instead of HEN.

Basically, animal names in english, japanese and chinese on the back of the cracker box. Educational!
Instructions on how to prepare the candy for eating. There's a packet of powder that you dump into the bag before shaking it to coat the candies.

Way to eat: "can eat by hand", "can eat from bag" and "suits time when drink beer or tea"

Some random game...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Jusco :D

There's a dollar store-esque type of place in HK called Jusco. But unlike your conventional Canadian dollar store, most of everything is imported from Japan. Most items cost $10HK, which translates into approx $1.40 Cdn. I think I spent a good 3 hours in there, and I'm planning on going again after we move... Needless to say, I'm extremely excited!

At work, things seem to be picking up. But for some reason, I feel uneasy. Something unstable is going on in the workplace and with my manager. Because we are low on real-estate, I get relocated frequently. Sometimes I'm in the really nice room with the sea view; sometimes I'm in my manager's super messy room; sometimes I'm in the other manager's has-nothing room, so I'm switching computers (basically I'm working off a USB) and rearranging my files various times...sometimes in the course of a day even. But I don't think that's the main problem I have. Still not entirely sure, but my mind is on high-alert all the time. I feel like I need to be extremely careful and be at my absolute best.

I'm comfortable with legitimate ambiguity, but I dislike inconsistency. One of my number one pet peeves.

Anyway, shopping + food goodies:

Pink fuzzy yarn found. Turned it into a pig, which is missing legs at the moment.


Capsule toys on display. Some quite cute!!


Make your own sushi kit. Examine the below picture. I am personally amazed.


Lunch! Extremely green brown rice + peas and spinach.


Keychain sushi


"Rainbow Costume Cleaning Sponge" and "Ecoloy Costume Cleaning Sponge". There were banana shaped ones too, with smiles.


Woohoo, Calour.


I ate at Satay King. For $15 HKD ($2-3 Cdn), you can get lobster soup with chunks of lobster inside. Unfortunately, the meal was completed with an extremely slimely drink called "basil seed honey mix."

Basil seeds suspended in the thick drink... eeeewww


Lobster soup and white satay noodles ^___^


Our cute rice cooker


Push button for bill, water, order, service and cancel.


I got new rainboots for rainy days! It's been raining sooo much lately; sometimes it is torrential. Half my pant leg got soaked one day. I've quickly learned to watch the ground for wet spots even when it's not raining. You can get splattered by dripping edges of buildings if you're not careful...



Sailormoon cans

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Subway

The situation during rush hour at MTR interchange stations can be kind of scary. As I mentioned previously, there are people with batons to control traffic.

Why do people run? If you're at the front of the line, you can get into the trunk of a compartment and not have to get sardined and smothered to death near the doors, often stranded in a sea of flesh without nearby metal to hang on to. (Side note: If you're short, your face is likely at someone's armpit level and their arm is likely raised. This is another good reason why you should wear heels in HK. The air is fresher at higher altitudes.)

BUT, it's either you run like mad or you walk at normal speeds. The next train arrives in a minute so there's no point in squishing yourself in. Just wait patiently in line, and you will end up behind the yellow line breathing fresh air and watching the "subway" fill itself up with stuffing (bad pun intended).


Regarding work so far... it's been... boring. This reminds me of my 'yo woman' days, which lasted for almost 2 months before things picked up and my job actually got challenging and busy. Things that drive me crazy are boredom and uselessness. I'd rather be working my ass off around the clock than be bored.

BUT! I keep reminding myself to be patient for chances to prove myself, which should be coming soon as my seminar proposal is being reviewed. I also remind myself to be grateful to even get a job in this economy--at least I have an income to finance myself through school. And that some people are working hard sweeping the street, and earning meager income to support their family, whereas I'm blessed enough to be sitting comfortably in an air conditioned office with unlimited horlicks and ovaltine (analogous to tea and coffee in canada), and a computer. So I really don't have any right to complain or even be unhappy.

On a more positive note, my parents have found a suitable place! Well, actually, it's super super far from my workplace, but it's not like I'll be working there forever. (If it fits, I'll turn full time. If not, it can simply be a summer job to gain some HK experience.) I think we're moving in in 2 months. I'm very excited to get my piano and boxes of stuff from Canada!