Another week another typhoon. This being my second typhoon I sort of understood more of what to expect. Few souls around this time, and also a lot less rain. In part because this typhoon was more powerful and indeed did reach up to level 9 later that morning. I love working during the typhoon now because there are hardly anyone else besides my team around. That makes really good for working, since there is less work and also you kinda bond better with your team when there are no other people around.



I finally got my brain to work a bit this week and managed to learn more and work. Just in time too, as the person I replace is leaving this week. I forsee more hours at work ahead. I really look forward to working at my department, too bad the boss is acting a little bitchy at the moment. It cannot be too bad though.



Otherwise life is pretty good. Since it is Summer, it gets bright here really early so by the time I walk to work, it is as good as daylight, even though it is before 7. Yes I walk to work every day and back home as well. Good exercise eh ?



Cooked this week as well since now all the stuff is here. Had pasta by FredBear on Monday, then also some noodles with spam and eggs Friday night. Just had curry chicken with pratha a while ago, and ingredients have already been prepared for dumplings tomorrow night. Watching James Bond in The World Is Not Enough on tv now, as am slightly sick of Olympics. Though I must say it has been a pretty interesting week for sports. Wonder what will it be like after the Olympics ?



Made a second visit to Ikea today to get some odds and ends, like a bigger pot, some baskets for the kitchen, sucker pads for the bathroom, a bigger chopping board, a shoe rack and a bin as well. It is amazing how much money one can spend to sustain a living. Haha. No wonder people can complain about not having enough money, and worrying about their children and their future......



Big Boss will also be back this week, so hopefully all goes well at work.

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It feels like a very long time and believe me, I have been wanting to update for the longest time, but I still have not had time or cashflow to get my computer but I am pretty confident of getting it by September so maybe more time for facebook and blogging then.

Hmm quite a lot has happened since the last time I updated and you can mostly blame work. Work has been crazy what with a new boss, a new department, a couple of colleagues leaving, as well as people going on Summer breaks....stress. Sometimes I even get stuck with 14 hour days. I guess in a sense I saw it coming, as noone actually ever talks about non stress in Hong Kong. It was quite bad in the first week but it has eased off slightly in the second week, but a niggling problem is my frustrations with systems setup and IT. Urgh.

But anyway, enough of work. I look so much forward to the weekends and also the time when I get off from work now. At least I have my tv and there is so much Olympics broadcasting here ! Almost seems like 24 hours a day, you can find something to see. I have definitely watched more tv this year than any of my previous ten years !!! It is so easy just to sit on the couch and do nothing, since it is so hot outside. I guess if I had a computer I will also watch tv less. But in the meantime tv is my main source of entertainment. I have started reading some of my books that arrived, and am currently in the middle of PS I Love You. It is really good so far, and having watched the movie before reading the book, I am still of the opinion that the movie could have been so much better. But sometimes I guess that is how it goes, right ? A few people have seen my book Jumper and said that the movie was crap. I did not get to watch the movie though I want to, but I felt that the book was pretty good ! Oh well, but sometimes not too many people read this kind of books and believe that the movie will sum most of it up.

Speaking of my books, it is because my container has arrived !! All 18 boxes arrived safely, and I basically spent the whole morning and afternoon unpacking and clearing up. It is such a relief to get everything done, and now I can almost believe that it is home, now that I have all my kitchen utensils, various odds and ends, as well as a mountain of clothes. I had absolutely no idea how many clothes I have until I started unpacking. And then there seemed to be clothes EVERYWHERE !!! At the moment, since it is Summer, I cheated a little and packed thicker and Winter clothing into boxes, so that I do not have to think about where to put them. But still, I seriously underestimated the amount that I have and gosh, even now it chills me to think of how much money I have spent on clothes !! I absolutely resolve to only buy clothes when I REALLY cannot help myself, but in the meantime will try to live a less clothes filled life. Seriously, I have ten times the amount of clothes that I actually need. The only consolation, is that I actually almost have something in every colour. Wahahahaha. Stop me from buying clothes if I am with you, unless I tell you that I NEED it.

Gosh. Since the stuff only arrived yesterday, I have not cooked at all. Usually I just get something to eat along the way back, or have some food with colleagues. Because I walk back along the MidLevels escalator, there are huge amounts and varieties of food available. In that sense, I am well covered. Since FredBear drives around sometimes, I have travelled around Hong Kong island about twice, but not really gone down from the car. I can pretty much find my way around Causeway Bay and am comfortable from WanChai to Central. Also had minor experiences in Stanley, Taikoo, North Point, Kwun Tong, TST and Shek O. Hopefully over time, I will get to know more places better.

Speaking of knowing more places, today I accompanied FredBear and his family to Lantau Island. He was doing his yearly prayers and it was a good opportunity for me to go along. Views of the place was fantastic, and it was also fun visiting some of the temples, with huge golden buddha statues, kneeling stools, giant joss sticks and ancient bells. The natural surroundings were great, and I can forsee some hikes around here when it gets cooler. The beaches here look really nice as well, and I hope to spend some time on them someday.

FredBear moved in last Monday so it has been almost a week. He will be staying with me for about 3 months while his apartment gets renovated. Though he lives here, I hardly see him. I go off to work before seven in the morning and I get back around 9. He usually goes off at 8.30 and comes back at 7. Usually when I get in at 9, I just want to shower, watch an hour of tv and go to bed. So we do not really see each other that much or clash for toilet use. In fact, in the one week that he has been here, I only had dinner with him once ! It is good to have him here though, it does not get too lonely or quiet. Also we get along quite well, so I do not think there is much potential for any arguing at all. At least he is generally clean....HAHAHA. On Friday night, I was so tired, that we just spent the night having red wine, eating cheese and crackers while watching the Olympics until I got too tired at about 11 pm.

Oh and speaking of the Olympics, did anyone watch the opening ceremony ? I tried to, but I got home around nine. I watched some of it, but I fell asleep by about ten. I was SO tired. That weekend, I mostly just spend the hours sleeping, getting used to the then empty apartment, and watching television. And oh, I have done laundry three times !! There just seem to be a million and one chores when you are living outside, and perhaps it is the size of this place. Somehow, I do not remember being so particular with cleanliness at home, but here I have this need to mop the floor about twice a day !!! I do not even bother with the windows, but with the cleaning up and mopping of the floors, it is so tiring ! I DO like to mop though. It is very calming for me, cleaning up house. At the moment, I ignore FredBear's room altogether. I consider it out of bounds territory, out of my area of significance, though I do wipe the door. Hahaha.

FredBear brought over his coffee machine as well, Lucy, and she has been pretty nice to me, providing me with a coffee or two, very good, and without sugar. I guess I can get used to the taste, it is not bad.

At the moment, I am just whiling away the time to bedtime, watching some diving and gymnastics on television, while typing this on FredBear's laptop. He is out for dinner with his family. I do not envy him not just because of the long day that we already had, but also because we only slept after sunrise today since we had an all night mahjong session with JeffBear and SoBear. Phew. So tired now though. Would be an early night for me.

Glad to get a bit of stuff off my chest, and it feels really good to be updating here ! Woohoo.

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I have my very own mahjong table and tiles. So happy.

The last week has been so busy with handing over the house, moving into the house and furniture shopping. So troublesome because everything is so small, that you have to properly measure every inch of the apartment's dimension before buying. Planning is also a must as you might end up with a sofa that would block your bedroom doors.

I moved in officially on Friday and by that time electricity and water and the phone has already been supplied. Had dinner at FredBear's because needed to watch tv at 9.30 pm. Yes that is right. I have become one of those who chase TVB dramas at 9.30. I cannot forsee this going on for too long as I doubt I can stand staying at home every Friday night but I guess that remains to be seen as I bought a tv on Saturday so now I can indulge at home and NOBODY would know. Except of course those who are looking at my apartment. I swear I am still not used to the fact that people can look right into your apartment !! Well because they are so close together maybe I am just paranoid. But maybe it is also partly due to the fact that I have yet to buy curtains. So lazy !!

Still also need to buy a computer (I am typing this at work) but again, lazy. I will get to it some time. Need some time to settle down. Work is foreseen to not be stressful, but perhaps longer hours might be needed at least in the beginning. I think the most fun part so far are actually doing things that I wanted to do in Hong Kong like walking aimlessly and stuff, but decorating the place is also quite fun. Unfortunately that has to be done on a budget as well, and I do not get paid till the 20th I think so I have also slowed down since the initial spree.

Back to work for now.

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