Long Service Awards.

First of all congratulations to Vivien, Heidi and Dr. Ng for getting their Long Service Awards today! I was at the function room this afternoon and I think it was a very joyous occasion, seeing senior staffs among us getting this kind of recognition from the University. While the mementos given to them were not going to be the most valuable thing in the world (when I mean valuable I mean things like gold or diamond), I really think it’s the thought that counts. Knowing that the University starts giving Long Service Awards for people who have worked for 10, 15, 20 and 25 years, I think I should be getting my award in about 9 and a half years’ time – that’s not going to be too long of a wait, I reckon!

In the evening, I was sharing with a couple of my classmates about our time in CityU as Masters students. It turned out that most of us have encountered similar experiences, which is actually quite comforting! And all of us agreed that we had a demon instructor last semester!

Another long day tomorrow – I hope I make it back home by 11pm. That’s solid proof that I lead a very busy life, not like so sad low life-form that sits around at home the whole day, and go round complaining about their neighbours.

Society.

I believe that everyone has a role in this society. Some do good to the people around them; some help others without thinking about what inconvenience it would cause to them; some are stingy and selfish and would not care about others; while some exist in this world simply to irritate and upset others.

Unfortunately for me and my sister, the bitch who lives downstairs is the one that exist to irritate and upset others.

After getting her mindless complains about how water leakages from my place is seeping into hers, I got my bathroom repaired (and spent $7600 for the troubles, may I add). And this morning I got a call from the useless bums from the Estate Management Office saying that the bitch wanted me to pay for the repairing works at her place. I was having none of it and I thought that was just outrageous. It’s like I’ve been held to ransom by that bitch and her husband. I can’t understand how some people can be such scums. And I can’t understand why those useless bums at the Estate Management Office just play to her music. If you want to hear more about this outrageous piece of news, drop me a mail at the usual address.

Not a good way to start my week, definitely.

DanCom.

Congratulations to the HKBU Dance Association for coming in second in the Inter-Universities Dance Competition!

When the results were being announced, my heart actually skipped a beat when they announced the team from PolyU came in third because in my opinion, the PolyU team was actually pretty good, which kinda means that to actually come into the top two, the team needs to be even better than PolyU. But the boys and girls from our BUDA proved to be a bunch of great dancers and they duly came in second. While I’m no professional dancer myself, I think what was brilliant about BUDA’s performance was really that they did simple things very well. There wasn’t really too much fanciful stuffs, which means that they have to really impress from their dance, and I think they did that very well.

Just another moment for me to be proudly associated with HKBU.

Bathroom.

My bathroom is currently under renovation, and currently my washroom is short of a flooring, so what you see is, well, a bare floor. I think it definitely wasn’t fun to be taking a day leave to stay at home and watch the contractors do all these work. I can’t really be doing too much of my work except replying to a few emails, writing a couple of documents, etc.

Anyway since majority of yesterday was spent watching the contractors, I didn’t really do much. That said I still managed to find something interesting:

Tank – 專屬天使

陶喆 – 就是愛你

Spot the similar background location?

OK – so I was bored. And I’ve got another day of that to look forward to today.

Lessons.

Had classes in the evening and was totally knackered by the end of it. I couldn’t conjure up any bit of complete attention for the class, and I simply couldn’t wait for it to end. It’s like, the lecturer was nice, but the way she delivered the lecture was so monotonous that it was almost unbearable. Coupled with the fact that she was delivering it in English so deeply entrenched in the Hong Kong accent, it just made for very uncomfortable listening. I’d very much rather that she had actually delivered the lesson in Cantonese, really.

I’ve been forced to take a day off on Friday because the renovators are coming in to repair my toilet. I have been getting really fed up by the bitch downstairs who only know how to complain about how my washroom is leaking water into her apartment, and I think I need to shut her up. This bitch (I think the word woman would be so inappropriate if I used it to describe her) was always complaining that my washroom leaks, and the water is making her whole unit wet or something. Then whenever she complains to the idiots at the Estate Office (again, I could have used the word “staffs” for the people at the Estate Management Office, but the use of this word would have been inappropriate too), these idiots would call me up (normally in the middle of my work) and say that my washroom is leaking. The best was that those idiots called me twice in the same day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and said that my washroom is leaking. I wonder if they realise:

1. I’m not like some jobless bitches who sits at home the whole day and whine about water leaking into her house – I am working and contributing to the Hong Kong economy.

2. I can’t weave magic and create a renovator to fix the problem for me with a snap of a finger.

3. I can’t just leave office and get the problem fixed immediately, especially when I had only 5 hours to do the fixing (5 hours because that particular idiot at the Estate Management Office called me at 10am and 3pm)

I gave that idiot at the Estate Management Office a tongue slashing so fierce that all my colleagues were stunned. I think it has been a long time since I shouted at someone that much.

Now I realised one thing: a bitch plus an idiot is always a deadly combination.

Tuesday.

Today was a really hectic day for me. I had like 3 meetings to attend, and at the end of the day, I think the only thing that I managed to do was to send out a couple of emails and that’s about it! Looking at my work now, I know I have a couple of big projects coming my way – the biggest being an inter-university competition which BU is hosting. The event is going to be in March, but I think all the things that I have to be doing now are getting me quite on my nerves! It’s like it is the first major thing that I’m going to do since joining BU, so I think I’m actually quite nervous about it. Of course the old birds will tell me that there’s nothing to be worried about, just go on and do things in the right sequence and procedures everything will turn out OK. But I guess when I’m actually getting to do it the whole experience is different. It’s completely different from organizing student activities as a student, as there will perhaps be bigger margins of error, and there is always a school administration to fall back on when things do not turn out well. But as a school administrator myself, there isn’t really anyone to fall back on – especially so when it is such a massive event, like an inter-university one such as this. I think other universities will also be watching, so the pressure to do well is actually quite great. But then again, it’s all a positive learning curve, and I think the challenge is good. At least I can boast of doing such big events in the future, should I ever want to think about leaving BU.

Went to watch The Diving Bell and Butterfly this evening with my colleagues. I won’t say it’s a bad film, but it wasn’t one that is really interesting. I’m quite impressed about the cinematography, but not the storyline. Well, I think there must be something about French films. I could understand a fair bit of the dialogue (proving that I actually haven’t really forgotten all the French that I’ve learned), and I think that’s one of the things that I’m pleasantly happy about. Of course, the most important thing is that I was watching it with my colleagues, and I think it was a great thing – camaraderie is something that is very important.

Off to sleep – and I’ve got classes tomorrow evening. Not fun.

AVMS.

Tomorrow’s going to be Valentine’s Day. This is going to be the second Valentine’s Day that I’m spending in Hong Kong, though it probably doesn’t matter much because there really isn’t anyone in particular whom I’ll be spending the day with.

Those who noticed my MSN handle today would have noted this AVMS – Anti-Valentine’s Mission Squad. For those who remembered, I actually came up with some crazy things to wish people against a happy Valentine’s Day two years ago while I was still in NUS (refer to this post). Of course I didn’t really do them because they sounded so crazy, but I think it would have been fun if I did. The one thing I did though, with the help of Neng Giin, was to paste “Singles Only” signs on some of the tables in the Science canteen. I remembered that I took some pictures of those, but I can’t remember where they are now. It was fun though.

To be honest, Valentine’s Day is really just another day. I think the day has really lost its true meaning, especially with all those commercialization. The most important thing I guess is really to treasure whoever that is with you, and when you do, everyday can be a Valentine’s Day.

So for those girls out there who are reading this, if your boyfriend only buys you flowers and says that he loves you only on Valentine’s Day, you should seriously start considering dumping him!

Shenzhen.

I kinda just reached home from Shenzhen.

I spent the day in Shenzhen with a couple of friends, and we were basically there with the primary aim of checking out the massage parlours there. I’ve heard all about them when I’m in Hong Kong, and I’ve always been saying that I want to go to one of them one of these days, and it turns out that this is one of the days!

This massage parlour is quite a massive place. It’s 5 storeys high, and each individual level houses something different. The basement is where the showering and jacuzzi pools are, and then on the third floor is where the “rest area” is. The rest area is essentially a concept where you can sit (or lie, depending on your posture, really) on an individual couch, getting served with drinks or light snacks, while watching some TV programs and getting massaged at the same time. The upper floors are meant mainly for the massage, and there are individual areas for Chinese, Japanese, Thai and whatever styles there are. The parlour is clean, and by virtue of seeing families with kids running around in the place, I guess that sounds pretty alright!

As far as the massaging is concerned, I think it’s not too bad. I paid about 270 RMB for about 4 hours of dipping in the pool, massaging, back scrubbing, a couple of drinks, and a free ride to the Huanggang checkpoint, so I think I liked it. And yup, my masseur was quite pretty, her figure was good, her attitude was good (she volunteered to use her feet to do the massaging instead of just hands because she reckoned that I probably won’t feel a thing if she had just use her hands, which I kinda agreed), she was nice chatting to, so that’s added bonus!

And with me seeing a tall and pretty girl on my way to Lo Wu meeting my friends, it seemed like I had a good day in terms of encounters with the opposite gender!

The massage kinda woke me up so much that I don’t feel like sleeping at all. Not good – I haven’t been sleeping early these couple of days!

New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year!

These Chinese New Year holidays are really going to be more of an extended break for me as I didn’t intend to go anywhere in particular. Didn’t really visit anyone as well, so I guess it would be a good opportunity to be really taking a good rest, after almost 3 months of non-stop work since I returned from Singapore in November.

Went to watch Kung Fu Dunk (功夫灌籃) yesterday with my sister and while I think it wasn’t the best movie that I’ve ever watched, it was still a good watch with some mindless pranks or jokes. Of course you can’t be expecting too much of a storyline in the movie, but then again, the main aim of this movie wasn’t about the storyline (instead I think it was just Jay Chou). So I think that’s fine.

The Chinese New Year fireworks are on right now, and I think it’s good to be watching it from the comfort of my own home. Haha.

Milo.

As I sip down my cup of Milo next to me, I can look back on a day spent without knowing what I did again. I was kinda busy today, attending meetings, writing memos, sending emails, making phonecalls. But at the end of it, I just don’t seem to recall any really particular things I did.

I went to Joey Yung’s concert last Saturday and I think I can say that there are still a few singers who can sing in Hong Kong. The concert wasn’t the best I’ve ever watched, and it wasn’t the most exciting one as well. But in terms of enjoying the singing, it is one of the best that I’ve gone to for quite some time. It was nice to be able to really listen to some good singing. I think I’m quite contented to pay that $250 for the tickets.

One and a half working days left before the long break. Can hardly wait.