Work & Hols

The thing about holidays is, no matter how long it is, it is never enough. 3 days, 1 week, 2 months, it's just never enough. Even after going overseas for some R & R, the return home is a reminder that work is round the corner.

Just when I am used to waking up any time I want, slouch right before the TV, surf the net, reading, taking my time to prepare food for dinner and having it ready when D returns home, BAM... a letter from school reminds me of the various meetings and workshops which have been scheduled from the 19th Aug till 26th Aug (0830 to 1700 almost daily), and the new academic year on the 29th Aug.

It isn't that I don't enjoy my work, I do. Besides, I need the money too, whether it's to sustain my lifestyle, another hol elsewhere, baby fund, work is the necessary evil, the means to an end. Besides I am not really the typical expat wife who has decent monthly pocket money.

Frankly, how long of an holiday is enough? Is it till I am utterly bored of the daily routine? Or perhaps when my bank a/c has dwindled to such a depth that pragmatism overtakes idealism.

I always hear people saying that they can't wait for the hols, that they need a break from work, and I must have said these things many times myself. No one says "I can't wait for Mondays"; "I need a break from holidays", although I do know of someone who is a major workaholic.

I reckon the general population need to get away from the mundane and the routine, albeit for awhile, so that we can somewhat be recharged to go through each day at work. It's like the Duracell bunny which hits the drum repeatedly until the battery needs to be replaced. Besides, each day of work will bring me closer to another holiday, and the cycle continues.

So yeah, the next holiday will be in September, the Mid-Autumn Festival which falls on Sunday and the following Monday is a public hol. And I am looking forward to waking up late...

Final Short Trips - Taipei & Macau

This weekend will be quite fun, D & I are squeezing in one trip to Taipei on Fri (after staff meeting in school) and returning on Sunday afternoon. We will be there to attend his colleague's wedding at Taichung on Sat, which is also D's 35th B'day. Taichung is about 2-hrs away from Taipei by bus, and that is what we will be travelling on to and after the wedding dinner.

It's my first trip to Taipei, and although it is a short one, I don't really mind as long as I get to visit another country. Anyway the flight to Taipei from HK is just 1h and 20 min, which is worthwhile for a short trip overseas.

When we return on Sunday, I will have to pack for another 3 day 2 night stay at Hyatt Regency Macau. This will be a Staff Retreat with all my colleagues, lest you think it is a holiday with shopping, eating out and some spa sessions, not quite. The word "retreat" just means away from the actual school building in HK.

It is a camp in a way, with team building activities, planning sessions for the new academic year and hopefully we will all be well-fed. Still, I am looking forward to it, staying in a 5-star hotel and having some fun with my colleagues. But I will miss D.

1st Pool Diving Session, Bad Climbing Day & New CD

D & I had our first diving pool session yesterday from 1.30-6.30pm. We were not exactly sure if the session was on, as HK experienced its first Typhoon Signal yesterday afternoon due to the approaching Tropical Storm Sanvu.

Well, I am looking forward to what Typhoon Signal 8 is like, as long as I am safely at home and not have to hole up somewhere till the danger is over. Apparently, if Typhoon Signal 8 is raised, everyone has to pack up and go home (holiday especially if it's a working day). Usually this signal is raised at least a few hours earlier, so that people have sufficient time to rush home.

BTW, it was pouring and I was feeling kinda lazy on a wet and slow Saturday, so I did hope that the lesson will be cancelled.

Anyway, it was on and was held at the indoor swimming pool at South Island School. It was quite an interesting experience breathing through the regulator and inflating/deflating the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) in order to float or maintain neutral buoyancy in the water (ie neither float at the surface or sink to the bottom). No pics this time, didn't have time to take anyway.

As usual, being the Clumsy Gecko in the family, I couldn't quite stay still at the bottom of the pool during the sign-language-enhanced lesson, which made D laugh quite a bit in the water. Imagine the seaweed or kelp swaying in the water, well, that was me. I couldn't quite kneel as I kept keeling over either to the left or right; and when I managed to sit down at the bottom of the pool, my heavy tank would pull me backwards. The instructor had to repeatedly hold me down and get me to hold someone's hand. Gee, so embarrasing... as it is, I am already clumsy on the ground, I can't believe I am equally so underwater. Drats.

After the break, I finally got the hang of it and managed to stay balance without looking like a silly kelp.

Today, we were supposed to go to church at YMCA and some climbing in the same building after the service. However, we were late for service, and since I don't like to attend church as a latecomer, we did climbing instead. Anyway, I kept making silly mistakes and my technique was in a mess, which pissed D off quite a bit. He was like the instructor from hell, and I know he meant well by pointing out my mistakes and telling me how to go about improving it, but seriously, I didn't quite like him then.

I am actually more pissed with myself for not doing things right, giving up too easily (especially after getting a lecture from D), not using my silly legs, banging my left knee repeatedly into the holds (a big ugly bruise has formed and going down the stairs hurt), fingers are sore and flaking skin, tired upper arms and neck, and more importantly a hurt ego.

D said if he didn't tell me off, I wouldn't learn and he wants me to learn so that I will not hurt myself. But he could have sounded a little nicer, a bit friendlier and sigh, I felt like I was a little girl being reprimanded by the father. And he knows by prodding my ego, I would have to prove him wrong.

After a 2 and a half climbing session, we dropped by at HMV 'cos I needed to look for the Deep Forest album which has the song "Sweet Lullaby". Yes, it's quite an old recording... old in the sense that it is a song from the nineties. Anyway, I did find the album (HKD 115) and was about to get it but reckoned I should check out compilation albums, especially those lounge/chillout kinds. And I managed to find this 3-CD album set called "Angel Beach The Third Wave" with a good selection of lounge/chillout music, and "Sweet Lullaby" is in it too... and all that for HKD88.

Excellent price, especially since I used my $50 HMV gift voucher to offset the original price. Yeah, I still buy CDs and rip the music to MP3 before downloading to my Ipod Mini... so I am quite legal in that sense.

Here's the list of songs, quite good stuff:

CD 1: Take Me To The Clouds Above - LMC & U2 Somebody To Love - Boogie Pimps Lady (Hear Me Tonight) - Modjo American Dream - Jakatta At Night - Shakedown Time Is Now - Moloko Turn On Tune In Cop Out - Freakpower Praise You - Fatboy Slim Teardrops - Lovestation More Than This - Emmie Summer In The Studio - Kinobe Good Life (Buene Vida) - Inner City Looking For Love - Lopez, Jay Far Away In San Antonio - Eden & Astrud Gilberto Les Nuits - Nightmares On Wax

CD 2: High And Dry - Cullum, Jamie Ruler Of My Heart - DDBB & Norah Jones Don't Know Why - Gilberto, Regina Night And Day - Everything But The Girl Fallin' - Holloway, Oleta Summer Sun - Koop Way You Dream - 1 Giant Leap & Michael Stipe/Asha Bhosle Aqua Marine - Santana Light My Fire - Feliciano, Jose Deep In It - St. Germain Mais Que Nada - Fernandes, Joao Friendly Pressure - Jhelisa Garden Of Earthly Delights - D'Note Moments In Love - Scirocco Sea...Eventually - Beautiful People

CD 3: Seven Seconds - N'Dour, Youssou & Neneh Cherry Give Me The Sunshine - Leo's Starshipp Facing East - Thievery Corporation Bob - Gilberto, Bebel & Otto Sweet Lullaby - Deep Forest When You Gonna Learn - Moreno, Clara Felicidade - Suba Outro Lado - Zuco 103 Crickets Sing For Anamaria - Bossa Nostra Going To California - David, John & Clear Spirit Tereh Bin Nahin Lagda - Partners In Rhyme Magaya - Spheeris, Chris Sunset - Goa Trance Authority Slow - Miami DJ Collective

What's With Guys & Games?

As of now, almost 2 and a half hours, D the overgrown kid is still at it. Total attention on all the right buttons, all eyes on the beautiful images and sometimes grunting away to achieve his goals... Sigh, and all that energy and focus aren't on me. I am facing and listening to yet another stage of Halo 2, which D has just borrowed from his good friend, who incidentally has just included a PSP to his "buddies", the Xbox and PS2.

Besides me (his "playmate"), D has his PC games, Xbox games and PS2 games. I reckon if Sony improves on its PSP games collection, D will be tempted to get that too.

It's tough to pit myself against these games, afterall, I don't wield weapons as well as the characters in Splinter Cell or Mercenaries ; I don't have nice curves in the right places like Lara Croft or those in Grand Theft Auto; I don't have special powers or fly incredible machines...

It's tough being the wife in this technology-driven age, with all these multimedia and split second effects. I can't quite stop this overgrown kid from playing, at least he is playing with his joystick and game pads beside me, instead of entertaining himself in some pub or nightclub. Well, maybe this isn't the best comparison, but I suppose if I can't stop him, maybe I should join him. I did try, at least for games like Fifa Soccer or Gran Turismo, which I usually lose and only win if the overgrown kid is merciful and generous that day.

Well, I suppose I can't play the games he play, especially since I feel like throwing up each time I play these 1st-person-shooter games... motion sickness or just a lack of eye-brain coordination, which then messes up my balance and stomach.

I remembered playing Doom years back, and being the easy target, I became the main contributor to my guy friends' frag counts. After each game, I had to take some time to recover from all that motion sickness. Whatever happened to simple games like Pac Man and Lode Runner, which are easy on the mind and less stressful to my physical being. So Half Life and Counterstrike were out for me.

Later, I played Age Of Empire which I enjoyed very much, but I needed all those Cheat Codes to ensure that my empire remained throughout the ages. Sims came to my attention a few years later, which was such a refreshing game... totally different from all that fighting, shooting and killings. It didn't give me a headache or cause me to throw up, instead Sims engaged me so much that I created D as a Sim, created opportunities for him to know my Sim before we got married and had kids. Most importantly, Sims allowed me to build my own house and shop with neverending cash... yeah, cheat codes again.

D bought me Sims 2 and CSI when these games came out last year, to keep me occupied when he was away in HK while I was in S'pore. These 2 games are great fun, definitely engages the mind and allow me to get those brain juices moving through my system. And that's about all the games I actually play, unlike D the overgrown kid, who is still at it even now. Three hours liao, should I pull the plug?

Sigh, I will just go to bed without him...

We Are Learning To Dive

Yeah, after years of pondering, we have decided to take up diving. Having experienced the mindblowing underworld in the Great Barrier Reef, D and I talked about learning to dive when we return to HK. And I suppose this is meant to be since a friend of mine called and asked me if we are interested to learn together with her. She had just completed the first theory lesson last week and we arranged for the instructor to come to our place later this afternoon for our 1st theory lesson. Private tuition in Cantonese (mainly) and Putonghua. I can't quite remember the details of this PADI certification course, except that there will be 10 hrs of theory lessons (wow, why so many?), about 5 hrs of pool lessons before a couple of open water dives... all inclusive at HKD2.6k per person.

I reckon having experienced metres above ground, we should try out metres underwater... but why do I still have nagging thoughts of sharks and Portugese Man-Of-War... darn movies like Jaws and the Killer Jellyfish/Octopus/Squid etc. Think happy thoughts, dolphins, Nemo...

Incidentally there are two diving articles in this week's HK Magazine (similar to the IS Mag in S'pore... those weekly free mags u get from cafes) . One is about diving in Palau, the island where the recently concluded Survivor was filmed; and the other on "How To Swim With Sharks". Hmm, just what I need.

"HOW TO SWIM WITH SHARKS:

Despite the media saturation surrounding shark attacks, swimming with the killers of the deep is a growing trend among adventure tourists, thrill-seekers and professional divers. Shark swimmer Voltaire Cousteau explains how to safely swim with the fishes.

• Be sure you and everyone you're swimming with are not bleeding or have any open wounds - including bandaged wounds. Blood will elicit aggressive behaviour from sharks, even the docile species. Some sharks can detect a single drop of blood in 100 litres of water.
• Don't try to touch the shark, especially on its eyes and nose. These are the most sensitive parts of the shark and you may trigger a full-scale attack.
• Many sharks have poor memories so if you catch the attention of a shark, swim in a casual and slow manner and avoid any sudden movements that could distract the shark from your presence.
• Assume an unidentified fish are sharks and avoid thrashing in the water, because sharks may take that as a signal to attack.
• If the shark is swimming erratically or in zigzags, hide behind whatever is available - especially coral if there is any. Don't look the shark in the eye or start swimming frantically.
• If a shark is charging and you've run out of options, try punching hard on the nose. This is a last resort and bear in mind that if the blow doesn't frighten the shark, it will make it angrier." (HK magzine No. 586, Friday Aug 5 2005)

Club Med Lindeman Island, Blue Mts & Sydney (Fotos Excerpts)

Here are some fotos that I took wif my trusty 7610... I luv this phone very much, really convenient to just whip it out and take some shots, which are clear enuf to post on my blog. D took lots of photos with his Canon 20D, which can be viewed in Webshots (Click on the highlighted titles to go there). Club Med Lindeman Island: Great Barrier Reef: Sydney: Enroute To Whereever on Trains, Buses & Planes: Katoomba, Blue Mountains: Rock Climbing @ Blue Mountains: My 1st Abseil (7m Wall): 1) Getting Ready With Dave The Intstructor 2) Safety Checks & Instructions 3) The Scariest Part - Stepping Over The Edge