Earthquake.

Apparently because of the earthquake in Taiwan on Boxing Day meant that the Internet was down for a few days here in Hong Kong. I didn’t get to log onto a lot of sites until today. However I didn’t miss much, because the past few days have been interesting for me. I have been meeting new people, striking new friendships, and see more of Hong Kong.

I went Shenzhen today with Ron, and both of us agreed that the place sucked. The place was a mess, not just because there were a lot of people, but the urban planning was horrible too. It was like as and where there is a space, there will be a building. So you see new and old buildings criss-crossing with one another. Honestly speaking, that doesn’t make for a very nice view.

It’s new year’s eve tomorrow, and suddenly I find that I’m getting closer to being 27!

Boxing Day.

I love NUS. I love it for giving me such a wonderful Christmas present for me to open for Boxing Day.

A second class (lower) honours degree.

My CAP plunged from a fairly safe second upper to a marginal second lower, missing by 0.02. I don’t think you can find anyone in the history of my faculty that managed the same feat as me. To be on second upper for so long and lose it on the last semester was like leading 3-0 at half time and lose 4-3 by the end of the match. I really didn’t know what happened, but there’s really not much point dwelling on it now. I’m sure that’s not the end of the road for me. Sure it was a big blow – a huge one to be exact – but a Hongkonger like me should not be struck down by blows like this. I’m sure this is just going to be one of the many blows I’ll ever get in life, so I’m taking it in my stride.

Of course I was never going to be the happiest person in the world to see that kind of results turning up for me, and I really felt like crying for the first 10 minutes after I saw my results. For me to get that kind of results after being safe for so long was embarrassing to say the least. I was very bitter initially, and for a good while I was thinking of really crazy things like getting a hitman to kill the lecturers who gave me the bad grades. But after awhile, I was thinking – maybe I should feel happy that I finally have graduated, and my overall CAP since year 1 semester 1 till now actually went up. Pretty much self-denial I must say, but if that’s going to make me feel better I’ll just keep it that way.

So in any case in an attempt to try to prevent myself from sulking at home, I made my way to the Hong Kong Brands and Products Fair at Victoria Park. I was planning to go there just on a walkabout and see what’s so interesting. It turned out to be a real fun experience because there were a lot of interesting goods available at decent prices. However because I’m so tight on budget I decided against spending, so apart from the HKD 10 I paid for the ticket I didn’t buy anything else. After that because I was kinda bored, I took the tram to Central, and then a ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui. From Tsim Sha Tsui I did another crazy thing – I walked all the way to Mong Kok. Along the way I went past Jordan and Yau Ma Tei, and basically was looking around, observing people and places. It was a nice walk that lasted about an hour, before heading back to Central to meet a couple of friends. Had a chat with them, went for dinner, dessert and drinks at Lan Kwai Fong, so I fairly much spend a day that would otherwise be so depressing on a good note.

The results I got definitely had me down for a while, but depressed? Not a damn bit of it. A second lower isn’t going to get me depressed. I’m too strong for that. To be honest, at this very point of time I just feel embarrassed because I was so sure that I would get my second upper. But I guess that’s still a good lesson learned – never count your chickens before they hatch.

Christmas Eve.

To celebrate Christmas Eve, I went to APM to watch the Cantonese version of Happy Feet! The dubbing was OK, but perhaps because I’ve already watched the English version so it wasn’t exactly exciting for me. That said, it was still good because the ticket was only HKD 30!

Then spent the rest of the day at home, trying to recuperate after deciding to walk from Kwun Tong back to Lam Tin. The walk wasn’t too bad because Kwun Tong isn’t exactly far from Lam Tin, and it took about 25 minutes, which was good exercise, especially so in winter when I tend not want to move so much.

Tomorrow’s going to be Christmas, and to everyone who bothers with this little journal of mine – Merry Christmas!

Shopping.

You know what’s the best way to bore me? Stick me in a boutique looking at clothes that the current me has no chance of fitting into.

After coming back to Hong Kong for more than a week, I find that the majority of my spending has been on food. Apart from the TV I haven’t really splashed out on anything, and I find that most of the money is really spent on eating. I think I should start to go for those cheap stuffs until I get a job secured. Maybe those HKD15 wanton noodles or HKD20 roast duck rice or something.

More scanning of recruitment advertisements today, and I came across a few fairly interesting ones. There’s one that I would love trying, but to start work at 8 in the morning is not something that I really like – plus the fact that the workplace is in Yuen Long, which is about 2 hours away from wherever I live, made the job even less appealing!

Is anyone else going to come to Hong Kong these holidays to visit me? I’m getting bored! Hahaha…

Friends.

I had a hard time trying to keep my eyes opened today. Somehow I just feel so tired and always wanting to fall asleep.

Today was a fairly happy day for me. I got to know a new friend, and this new friend happens to be colleagues with this other friend whom I got to know in May! This is definitely a small world, but I’m just happy to know more people here in Hong Kong. Since it’s been such a long time since I had any real friends here, it’s nice to start knowing them again and expand my social network here.

I still haven’t got time to really upload the pictures I took at the AGS, but it should be done in a couple of days!

Off to sleep – have a great day!

Tuesday.

I’ve been in Hong Kong for a week and I’m still without a job. But nope, I’m not depressed. In fact I’m very much enjoying this break that I’m having. I’ve got a new TV sitting in my living room, I’ve gotten the broadband Internet access, so I can’t really complain. Maybe sometimes it might be a bit boring to be alone because I don’t have that many friends over here, but I guess as the days go on I would be able to know more people, thus making my life here more interesting.

The past couple of days here in Hong Kong have been pretty cold, and it was especially so in the morning when the temperature could go as low as 12 degrees. Every morning when I wake up I feel really very cold – so much so that I would rather stay in my bed and not get out. But I think it’s fun to be in winter. I just don’t like to be in summer like what it is in Singapore because it’s just so hot. What to do, I’m a winter person…

Sometimes I really feel that some nightmares just linger on and would never go away. Whenever you feel that it’s gone it would suddenly just come back and haunt you. Not fun, but what to do – some people never know that they are born idiots. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what kind of qualifications a person has. If he’s an idiot he can be wrapped in gold and he’ll still be an idiot.

Have a great day.

Home.

I made the first step to being an ice-cream seller in Disneyland – I handed in an application yesterday!

I’m going to be taking a recruitment examination later, which is the first of a whole series of exams. If I get through this one, there will be another one to take in about one and a half month’s time. If I manage to get this job, then I’m pretty hopeful of a fairly decent pay. But then again, talks of getting the job at this time is way too premature, so what I can do now is just hope and pray everything were to go well.

It’s pretty cold in Hong Kong right now – apparently the temperature this morning is just 14 degrees. Worse seems to be on its way because it’s going to be 12 tomorrow onwards!

Have a great weekend!

AGS.

I’m sitting by the harbour side here in Tsim Sha Tsui, after spending about an hour at the Asian Games Show at the Convention Centre. The exhibition was not as grand as it used to be, but then again today was its opening day so perhaps it’s understandable that it wasn’t really exciting.

My sis and I have decided collectively that we should have broadband internet access installed at our own place, so after looking around for the best deal, we’ve decided to get a package that’s costing us about S$80 which include a 8Mbps unlimited access plan and about 50 channels of broadband TV (which includes channels like HBO and TVB Payvision, may I add). It was a great deal which I believe is better than any plans offered in Singapore. So what if Singapore has one of the highest broadband Internet penetration rate?

I’m still waiting for responses to my job applications, but I’m sure things can only get better! Since the broadband Internet access would be coming tomorrow to my place, I can start preparing my resumes and the like with ease!

Some eye candy for your viewing pleasure from the AGS:

More pics from the AGS coming up!

Mong Kok.

I’m in Hong Kong!

As far as my job applications are concerned there still hasn’t been any luck yet – probably it’s the end-of-the-year syndrome that’s going on in all the companies. They put their recruitment advertisement up in preparation for people leaving after collecting their year-end bonus. So given that most companies have a practice of serving one-month notices for leaving a job, placing those advertisements now seems about right!

The bad thing about such a situation is that I can’t really do any long-term planning in Hong Kong. I don’t know if I should subscribe to cable TV, I don’t know if I should get a permanent mobile line, I don’t know if I should get some really good furniture for my place – I think those decisions can only be made once I secure a job here in Hong Kong.

Whatever happens, wish me luck!

Changi Airport.

I’m sitting inside the departure lounge here in Terminal 1 of the Changi Airport, waiting for my flight to Hong Kong – which is another one and half hour away! Since I’ve got so much time now to spare, maybe I’ll just walk around and see if there’s anything nice to eat cos I didn’t really had lunch. At one stage I was contemplating of going to the staff canteen at Terminal 2, but I was too lazy to take the skytrain. Haha.

I know probably there would be quite a lot of things that I would miss Singapore for at least these 2 months, but it’s not as if Hong Kong is a couple of light-years away from Singapore, so I guess if I were able to get a job I should be able to come back pretty often.

Maybe I should draw up a list of things that I’ll miss about Singapore. But one thing is for sure, I would miss Zouk. Thank God I went to ZoukOut the other night.

Looking forward to the flight – and perhaps catch a good movie onboard. Haha.

Have fun everyone!