Working Girl

a picture taken at a workshop for the client team i am on....

DWB

this weekend was a good bye party for a friend and colleague to go back to australia, then a lot of rain and a dragon boat race on sunday.  we did just ok.  last year, we won the plate final and this year, we came third in it.  to be fair, it was some stiff competition.  but, as always, we have fun afterwards.  here are some pictures.  you can see it started out calm and quickly escalated to rowdy.  we also have a tradition of dunking the 'newbies' into the eskie - full of ice.

10HKD, a Hope and a Dream

so my account admin, whom i adore, asked me the other day if i wanted to try mark 6 (hong kong's lotto).  and at 10hkd a ticket and a dream to win a tax free jackpot, i said, "heck yeah!".  unfortunately, neither of us won diddly squat but ive now set up an account with the hong kong jockey club and i am going for it!

its so easy - i just signed up with hkjc and connected my bank account and now i can bet online on horses and mark 6.  the chinese love their gambling and i can see why.  my account admin said she would buy a little flat and get a part time job.  i told her i would buy a flat, too, in new york (to which she said, "of course"), travel a bit and then get a job i love but maybe doesnt pay a whole lot.  or start my own business or something i have a real passion for - not professional services, which i like but certainly am not engulfed in passion for...

so heres hoping!!!

I AM Trying

ok, to make a long story longer, let me intro with:  i have hired a career coach.  i met this coach through some work the firm did with his company and he offered to coach me.  i said, 'why not'?  i figure now is as good of a time if any if i want to "get to the next level" as they say.  and anyone who knows me, knows i have little to no tolerance for BS - sycophantic, disingenuous - behaviour.  however, if i ever want to get ahead, i am going to have to learn to control some of my disdain for those qualities as it seems people who get ahead play the game way better than me.  and then i, in turn, become frustrated because they are lazy and provide as much value as a paper straw but there are people who still think the sun shines out of their @sses because that person has just kissed the right ones.

anyway, to prep for my coach, i met with my direct line supervisor.  i discussed what i wanted to work on and why.  she, oddly, could not have agreed more and through our discussion, she said, "well that is the difference, i just dont care that much."

so i have taken on a new mantra - which is "its just work".  i am not going to take things so personally, not going to be emotionally invested in my colleagues (especially when i know they dont give a flying fig about me) and just try to play the game a bit more.  maybe even smile in meetings with the people i cant stand the most.  ok, perhaps that is taking it a bit too far.  baby steps...

my first session is monday - heres hopin'!!!

Paddle Paddle Paddle

so ive started up with outrigger again.  it is good but all i do is paddle, it seems.  outrigger early mornings and dragon boat in the evenings...

anyway, here is a video from dragon boat practice.

SSSSSSSSSSSS

the weekend was full of action.  saturday was spent shopping for a costume (people love their fancy dress parties here...) with some friends.  we were all off to an 's' themed birthday party.  the birthday boy was turning 40 and his first and last name begin with 's' so hence the idea.  i went as a snake with two other gals and one of their husbands as the snake charmer.  the wee haggis and another friend went as the super mario brothers.  it was a really great night but cut short as we had a dragon boat race the next day.

so sunday was spent all day on lamma island racing.  thankfully the weather was beautiful but it was a long day.  we fell asleep on the coach around 9 last night!

and i am detoxing again this week as we've got a junk on sunday for which i would like to be a little less fat for ;)

here are some pictures from the party:

Gaga'ed

i went to the lady gaga concert on wednesday.  it was good.  i cant say i was overly excited to see it but went as we rarely get concerts in hong kong and i figured it would be a good show, at least.  for all her craziness, she showed a soft side, telling the audience that she writes all her own music and it is important her fans know that.  for everything that is over the top about her, it was a nice grounded sincere message.

not saying the show was without ridiculousness because it was but it had more to do with the crowd than her.  during her opening number she sort of got stuck and did this awkward roll off of a piano or something.  and then mid way through the show she says, "are you having fun?" and everyone shouts yes!  then she says, "thats good but i dont really give a fok".  proceeds to ask 3 other stage performers if they give a fok with all of them screaming back "NO!".  she then turns to the audience and asks the same question.  in true hong kong fashion, some people say yes and others no.  we joked on the way home that it would have been easier if they just said, "give me the answer" because that is more true to form here.  she also made a crack about how everyone should be able to buy a fake birkin and that an immigration officer showed up at her hotel demanding to know where she bought it.  overall, i didnt get the feeling she was too impressed with good old honkers.  can you blame her, really?  and the crowd was videoing EVERYTHING.  i mean, can you imagine asking friends to come around and see the video?  or even posting it?  i mean, the quality is terrible especially when youre as far back as we were.  and then it looks like the same old blob.  but my favourite was on the way back - everyone was watching the videos they JUST took about 5 minutes ago...seriously?  i mean, honestly?  these people are window lickers.

anyway, all in all, a good show.  thanks gaga.