Self-Medicating

good news - the surgery went well. bad news - it has spread. will be back first week in september to take my father's place in helping with my mother's recovery. i will be in manhattan probably before and after as i will have to layover there anyway so why not stay a couple of days, right? anyone have a spare couch?

it beyond sucks being here during all of this. so since i am irish, what do i do? i just get piss ass fucking drunk every night and then i can sleep just fine.

stage 1 - it has spread.

today is a hard day. my mother goes in for surgery in about 14 hours. i feel helpless. i talked to her just now and she was crying and very scared.

i feel ill, i don't want to be here. i should be with her.

The Little Things in Life

i have now been told by my lovely honkie colleague that i am fat, my hair is too long and this morning - it was - "when you first got here it was ok, but now we are starting to see bags under your eyes." it was quite sweet but sadly, true. it is monday morning and i feel like i have been run over. i am beyond tired and my eyes are burning at the glare from this computer and the heavy fluorescent lighting. however, there is no end in sight sadly for my weight gain and huge shopping bag eyes...

let's see - the weekend's recap: friday i went out on a group date. my friend was trying to set up his friend with some chick. it is quite odd here as there seems to be a lot of that here in hk. people are timid and don't want to do one on ones...anyway, it was interesting as the general asian flirting i have noticed is just lame. the dude was originally from la but came over from manhattan and the chick is honkie but educated in canada (me thinks). there is a lot of "sooooooo, what's your favorite color?" and "do you like cats" type action. or there is a bit of juvenille making fun - type flirting. i don't know about you, but i don't really think it is cute to have someone come up and verbally assault me. it is not really a turn on in my opinion but there seems to be a lot of that as well. anyway, after a long night of drinks, i guess this guy assumed he was going to pull some booty so he boldly threw down his platinum amex and sauntered out the door with the lovely lass. i went on to a house warming. the flat is in a new building and quite nice. i drank some "party punch" had a few laughs and went home as i could feel myself quickly turning into a pumpkin.

saturday i headed out to the beach with a friend and the "set-up" guy. there i found out no action was had and he picked up the entire bill without even getting a kiss. i guess he was too drunk and couldn't close the deal. saturday night, i headed out to watch the new zealand/australia rugby match and it was great! i downed about 5 shandies and went onto another drinks. stayed 2 hours and then met up with my beachmates again. we went to a couple of bars in lkf (which i discovered means "drunken westerner" in a very derogatory way) including li dou which i liked (first bar in lkf that i have liked!). it was a top night ended with us at prive and me trying to teach one of the guys how to dance and the other whipping one of his testicles and approaching women. i guess it is his party trick and he even did it at the company christmas party. it was actually pretty funny to see him walking around in a dark club with his one white testicle glowing from the dim lights trying to pick up chicks. i finally walked home at god knows what time barefoot. honestly, it is nothing i would do in manhattan in fear of stepping on some infected needle but hong kong is very safe and clean. i think the bloke who walked me home wanted to come up but i gave him a wink and was off to bed!

sunday i went on my first junk. junks are like party boats run by local restaurants. you drive out, swim, drink and eat. it is quite fun but i was still drunk from the night before. i ended up sobering up around lunch time and threw up twice in the loo down below. sexy...it was fun until it started to storm. the boat rocked and my head and stomach just could not handle it. i was back by 6:30 ish and relaxed after a very busy weekend. despite the fact that i am exhausted and gaining weight, i will be fat and happy as it was another fantastic weekend!

and on a side note, after watching the match, i am in love with a kiwi rugger called dan carter - here his picture - drool:

Hong Kong's Big Hollywood Moment

last night, i went with a mate to times square to see the "batman" movie. one great benefit of the theatres (i've been told now that i am here i must write/speak in "real" english) here are they are all reserved seating, which is quite nice!! all in all, i thought the movie was pretty good on top the fact that christian bale is definitely in my top 10. but i do have to ask, why can't they find a good female for these films? first it was katie holmes (rubbish) and now maggie gyllenhaal - who i typically think is quite good - but proved to be mediocre this turn around. is it that hard to cast a decent female in that character or is the writing really just that bad? but i digress...anyway, the part when they show center building (where morgan freeman goes through security) and then ifc (supposed to be the same building but it is not) where he is up on the roof with the chinese business man - the people in the theatre all squealed with delight at those scenes. it was quite amusing as i have never seem a group of people get more excited over something fairly trivial before in my life. perhaps i just take it for granted that new york is in so many movies - i just cannot imagine getting as excited as they did to see hong kong on the big screen. anyway, that is all i have to say about that.

so besides the fact that i am having massive issues with the bank here, i am in the company flat with a new journalist who not only loves to cook garlic and leave the window and door closed but is a moron as well, i am pms-ing and highly sensitive, all is just dandy...i cry at the drop of a hat - it is great. having a good day...

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

it is hot here. and i am not talking a bit of heat like manhattan. i am talking some serious tropical heat. like cannot move, cannot go out of the a/c, want to sit down and cry because it is so hot. now maybe number-wise, it is not that bad (only 32 degrees celsius) but like i mentioned, it is tropical so it is different. it looks bright and sunny out but i foresee myself indoors for much of the day. it is ok because yesterday i was outside the whole time. a friend's friend was in town and he was in the four seasons residential penthouse so we went over for a little pool action and a bbq. the suite has its own pool and jacuzzi so there was no need to mix with the riff-raff in the commoners pool. it was tons of fun but midday drinking in the sun is a bit too much for me. we went from the suite to prive, another "member's only" club, of which again, i was fairly unimpressed by. i don't know, i'm just not into these memeber's only who-ha clubs but i still had fun but it wa a looooong day.

here are some pics from saturday:

Don't Mess with Me, I'm Scrappy

yet another huge thursday...another 4 am morning and yet another desperate friday. but last night was special because i got into a fight with chick. we were at dusk til dawn - some dodgy bar in even more dodgy wan chai (where all the hookers are) - and i am many many cocktails in. we were standing in a circle chatting and this chick rudely pushes through flailing her arms and all that jazz. so what do i do? i shove her in the back. i mean, come on, no need to be a complete b*tch. and then she turns around and kicks me in the shins! hahahhahaaha! it was classic. she then went up to the bouncer and tried to get me tossed but it did not work. he didn't say anything to me at all and i kept on dancing. however, had she actually stuck around and not scurried off, she would have been toast. i am klassy...don't mess with me.

and today marks the first morning i got...um...sick in the ladies loo. again, klassy...

It's Called Work cuz it ain't Easy

calling south east asia is ridiculous. first, you need to hope the company has a website. then, if it actually has one, you try to figure out where they are located. if you can even find that much, perhaps they put up their senior people. my gosh, they do. at that point, you try to call or email but cannot decipher the name. is it first name last, is it first name first? are they muslim or are they thai chinese? what to you call them? are they a dato? ok, your nice chinese colleague has helped you out so you give a ring. it rings. it rings. it rings. it rings. it stops. nothing. no voicemail. nothing. i say, "people aren't so big into voicemail here, huh?" and he politely says, "uhhhhh, not so much, no." it is a never ending ordeal and a bit more frustrating than i anticipated. not to mention i completely got the shit end of the stick for my territory. my letters in hk are c, f, o and z. and someone actually tried to tell me that z is a good letter to have in chinese. um, ok...it's not. neither is f or o for that matter.

i sort of knew what i was getting myself into and it is one thing to say, "it is ok, i will go and do my thing, not be bothered by it" but for me, that is easier said than done especially when it becomes so apparent you have been ripped off.

ok, that is my vent for the day...need to get over it and move on - let's go make some money!

Culture

although i had a thursday, friday and saturday out, i mean big time OUT, i finally got a bit of culture. i saw "wanted" with angelina jolie. i kid, i kid. actually, i am not joking, i did see it. but the culture of which i am referring to is that i went to kowloon and saw the "walled city". and it kind of disappointed me to be quite honest. however, the perks were that i finally picked up an octopus card (they are metro cards but also you can use them to buy groceries, much needed junk at a 7-eleven, etc.) and i took the mtr for the first time. the mtr, by the way is so nice and clean. it is very easy to use and i must say, the anti-public transportation girl that i am, i am impressed. however, it still doesn't mean i want to take it everyday...

anyway, per my previous post, my first visitor came and it is hard to entertain when you do not know the city yet. friday and saturday nights consisted of drinking but saturday and sunday afternoons there was a little sightseeing action that happened. on friday, my friend showed up and met up as of course, i was out at a bar in soho. we stayed out with one of my coworkers and just had a total blast laughing and talking about travel, work, telling stories and rating hot chicks. then saturday was spent walking around the central, midlevels area. of course, i ran into someone i met earlier (man, this city really is small) and at night, we headed out for my coworker's birthday party. the venue was supposed to be a beach but since the weather wasn't good, it was held at a bar in lan kwai fung. there i met a bunch of great people. there was a mix of mostly brits and americanos but i guess the funniest part is that i got along better with the brits than the americanos. there was a girl from jersey and 2 brothers from long island. one of the two brothers was quite nice but the chick from jersey didn't seem like she wanted much to do with me. that is ok because she had a sick perm and looked semi-desperate with her saggy twins out on display. and the other brother - i hate to say this but he for sure gives americans a bad name - loud, obnoxious, close-minded and the ability to only talk about the thai whores he met last week. anyway, after a bit at one place, we ventured onto another bar where we did jello shots (i actually spit mine back into the cup - i know, klassy) and a pole from the ceiling of which one may hang from while intoxicated. it really took pole dancing to a whole new level. the whole scene really was like a very bad frat party with 80's music. so needless to say, we took off kind of early - maybe 1ish?? the next day, i slept in (am such a bad host) and my friend ventured off for some sightseeing. we met up later and had some "culture" including kowloon's walled city and "wanted". again, the walled city was not what i expected and neither was "wanted" but angelina did look pretty hot.

on a side note, there was another interesting "culture" moment when we were sitting and waiting for the movie to begin. an ad for whitening treatments flashed in front of us. and i'm not talking about teeth. both myself and my guest were mortified. women here are big into "whitening" their skin. it is part a class thing and part a western thing. class in the sense that in the "olden days" it was the poor working class who were in the fields working and therefore more tan. and now it has morphed into asian women wanting to look more western. sick. it was especially since i am obviously not white (at least not on the outside) and neither is my panamanian friend.

i have to say, all in all, it was another great weekend.

Another Friday

it is yet another friday and i am yet again, supremely hungover. last night i went out to the armani bar with colleagues in the ifc and yes, it is eurotash here too. we tied a few on there for about 16 bucks a pop...well worth it...not really...in the slightest. and then we moved onto lan kwai fong - the premier drinking district for expats - to a bar called le jardin. it was ok, a bit like b-bar and definitely the same kind of scene...which would be a lame one. and finally, we ended up at m1nt with is a members only bar. there are a lot of those here. you need to get a membership and i've heard its quite pricey. but to be honest, the place was a nice venue but the crowd was totally lame. it was full of tossers and i am not quite sure what the big deal is. it kind of reminded me of a bad junior high school dance. regardless of the crowd, a colleague and i shut the place down around 4 am...trouble.

all in all i drank probably about 12 to 14 cocktails and miraculously didn't black out! i did however bust my ass to get into work on time (or close enough- 8:40) to find that everyone else waltzed in at 9:30 or later. my one mate who was out with me until the end showed his mug at 10:40 - what a nancy! however, there is sadly no reward for being on time after a late thursday especially when the boss is away.

however, on another note - i have my first visitor coming! yippie :) my friend who has been traveling through asia for the last month or so is due in tonight. he emailed me saying he booked a hotel in shenzhen which is in mainland china and it just dawned on him that he might need a visa - which he did not get...oh boy, this is going to be fun. i am sure i'll get a call around 3 am telling me he's been "inspected" for the last 6 hours by a small chinese man with 6 fingers on each hand...regardless, this is coming at a great time as my mother is sick and i am in need of a little moral support from a nice friend.

ok kids, it is almost noon for me and we all know what that means - nap time! have a good weekend and please, don't do anything i would do - all it has done so far is get me in boatloads of trouble...

For All You Complainers

i have changed the comment setting so now anyone can comment and i do not think you need to register anymore. now i don't want anymore whinging!

just kidding...i love that all 2 of you are reading the blog and that you actually want to comment - how cool.

i am hung like a moose today. i feel like i am in a state of perpetual drunkenness/hang over...but the best part about being so close to work - lunch time naps. ahhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaah.

and on a completely side note, i was told i should get a live-in. ok, i am one person. one somewhat small and rather tidy person and i do not need a live-in. but the scariest part - they get paid about $350 a month. i think that would be totally illegal in the states. most expats here have 2...

Duped

i was totally duped by tv editing...but i still can't wait to get home, continue my loser streak and watch it on youtube! also it seems deanna might be a rocky road kinda girl after all - nice to have one more join the club ;)

lovin' la vida loca,
e

Huge Dork

when i was hungover this past weekend, i wasted a lovely saturday afternoon in watching bad "yank" television on my laptop. (this post is off to a promising start...) and now i MUST find out what happens with "the bachelorette". i caught up a bit on youtube since abc blocks anyone outside the us from viewing their online episodes so let's give a little "amen!" for youtube? A-MEN. anyway, i am now aware that the finale of "the bachelorette" is on tonight - your tonight, not mine, sadly. so in anticipation of the finale - here is my prediction: jason (earth shattering, i know). he is the single dad who is kinda cute in that NGB (nice guy but...) sort of way. and i do think that is exactly what she, deanna wants - an NGB. he's good in theory but doesn't really get the juices flowin', if you know what i mean ;) according to a post i just read - she made it clear after her previous "the bachelor" fiasco with that trashy texan that she wanted stability and that is what jason is - stability - or the man version of "vanilla ice cream". vanilla is to ice cream as what an NGB is to men. sure vanilla is an ok flavor and you could be happy with vanilla for the rest of your life if that is all you know. but let's say one day you get a taste of mint chocolate chip or rocky road OR, dare i say, dilbert's world totally nuts (and yes, that was a real ben & jerry's ice cream flavor, it was limited release and my favorite - so chew on that!)? after a taste of all those exciting flavors, your world is completely flipped upside down! you can't believe what you've been missing all this time and you can't stop yourself - TOTALLY NUTS! i want more of this, baby.

so, what am i sayin'? vanilla is fine. it is cold, refreshing on a hot day, somewhat satisfying and won't give you any grief. if that is what you want - i say embrace it, but for me, i would prefer to be totally nuts.

wow, did i just write a whole post on "the bachelorette" and ice cream semi-simultaneously? for real? man, i am a L-O-S-E-R.

let me make it up to you...here is a picture - eat up, ladies ;)

You're Kidding, Right?

today i was supposed to go wake boarding again but due to heavy rain, we didn't go. my spaniard friend and i grabbed some lunch and hung out for a bit - dvd shopping (i picked up 2 pirated dvds for about 8 usd total!), walking around the city and just chillin'.

i came back looking forward to a nice night in as last night was another bang up evening (birthday party at goccia). i wanted to cook for once and do some laundry. seeing as i have no clue how to work the washer and there are no directions, i just sort of winged it. too much time went by so i went to check it out. yep, ALL my stuff completely ruined. i am most upset about two of my best bikinis destroyed. i am beyond pissed. i even tried boiling them (i read online it worked...don't ask) but they are still a blue-ish color and look disgusting. so tomorrow i am going to hit up pacific place and look for new ones because i can't even handle it. i am so upset. a big booooooooooo for foreign washers...

so in the meantime, check out the rain. the picture doesn't quite do it justice but buckets of rain were falling today.

Lessons Learned

so far, the hardest thing about hk is staying in for a night. after a bang up thursday, all i wanted to do was have a fat friday. unfortunately, i was asked out by a colleague and there is this certain amount of pressure to go. however, i think i need to learn to say no every once in a while.

i also learned a new term last night. MBA - married but available. it is quite charming, no? it seems that a large percentage of men here (at least the ones that party) are all married. their wives live in the states or japan or europe and the men here go out and play. and the set i was with last night all seemed to live in the four seasons. so i am guessing that they all make enough money to keep their wives happy and have them turn a bit of a blind eye. despicable.

i did have fun but i feel quite ill today and i'm not sure it was completely worth it. i've been drinking non-stop and eating very little. my stomach already feels like i have burned a great huge hole in it and i suppose i can slow down or i can just try to get used to it. what do you think i'll do?

Mrs. Robinson

that took long...it is a friday and i am at work and still drunk. i started the morning with a slap on my ass by my colleague in the lobby (good to know some things about work never change regardless of where you are), had to be held up by the lift doors, walked into the office and immediately spilled water all over my colleague's desk and laptop all while apologizing and smelling like a liquor cabinet. so what led me to all this grace and charm you ask? i went out last night in soho with another americana and drank way too much - i did shots - i made out with a boy one month older than my little brother. i am disgusted with myself already and the weekend hasn't even officially begun.

but have a HAPPY 4th of july, mates :)

The Relocation Rollercoaster

i have moved before. i have moved to london and known absolutely nobody or anything. i have moved to manhattan where i didn't know anyone either. now i wouldn't exchange either move for anything but at the same time, i suppose that is why i hesitated with hong kong. starting over again is just so physically and emotionally difficult. and i know, some days are going to be great (like tuesday) and some days will be just rubbish (like today).

last night, one of my colleagues came over to pick up some of his things from the company flat and we had a really good chat. it was very nice of him, but it also got to me. it hit me down where i've been avoiding on going - to the dark side. he told me about how hard it was for him when he moved and what he did to try and just get out there. he said to let him know if i'm ever lonely and want to just hang out. it was quite nice and meant a lot to me. but the after effect today is i have started to feel where the first few days i just tried to remain as busy as possible to avoid feeling anything at all. i woke up this morning actually physically feeling the loneliness. it hurts in my chest up high almost into my throat. it is tight and hard and feels like at any minute i could just explode into a bought of tears.

hopefully tomorrow will be different but i feel like this is the beginning of a very long emotional roller coaster ride for the next couple of months...

My version of 4th of July

i have reconciled that yesterday was my version of 4th of july since i am obviously missing it in the states. that being said, i am glad it was a great day. it was a bank holiday here in hk so i started my day out meeting up with a new friend at pacific place. pacific place is very posh mall and i felt like a dirty american scrub wandering around in my beach gear. oh well, they'll get over it. we drove to the other side of the island and met up with 2 more people for some wake boarding in tia tam bay. it was a total blast! i've never been wake boarding before but got up first try!! we did that for a couple of hours and then left to go to the amc (aberdeen marina club) to meet up with two more folks. there we climbed onto lars' cabin cruiser which i've told is good because it goes faster than a yacht but still has some of the same amenities. good to know...anyway, we moved onto repulse bay for some wake surfing with two more folks. we docked lars' boat and climbed aboard for more hours in the water. at one charming point the booming p.a. announced, "the water is polluted. all life rescue services are closed." lovely. we kept on anyway. wake surfing is the best. it is like wake boarding but much less work. you ride the wake of the boat and are just pushed along by the wake.

anyway, after a LOOOOOOOOONG day out, we went all the way back around the island (it only took about 30 minutes but without working boat lights - it was interesting!!) to causeway bay. there we had supper at the royal yacht club and enjoyed the warm breeze, some wine and view of kowloon.

now despite the severe aches and pains in my back, shoulders and arms, it was completely worth it! all in all, an incredible day and i wish all days were like that...

Best Days

hands down the best day i've had in a long time. i mean, years. more details to follow tomorrow but as of now i am knackered and headed off to dream about the day that was today.