It’s not quite Friday, but…..

Friday came early because while I haven’t been able to write that much, I did get to click around… 

1) Popular veteran teacher and fully tenured professor of sociology at University of Colorado Boulder gets in trouble for using student volunteers dressed as prostitutes as a teaching tool…….after 20 years. What is even more interesting is given this day and age, it isn’t just the Institutional Review Board she has to worry about – it’s the “Internet Review Board”. You know, when everyone and their gadzillion Facebook Friends and blog acquaintances <sheepish grin> weighs in…

Oh, she got like, 400 supportive emails a day; of course it’s often the ones that don’t sign their names (fine and maybe a few who do) that you gotta worry about…..

2) Amazon.com’s drone deliveries and clairvoyant shipping. They say it’s not happening yet, but CEOs actually mentioned it ok….

3) What the internet is really for: Cute pictures of rats with teddy bears.

In memory of the first official pet of my childhood, Pinky (not counting the giant mutts my parents had from before I was born), an albino rat my mum rescued from a secondary school science dissection class. He bit me pretty badly when we first got him so we fed him with chopsticks and shampooed him with leather gloves on. He grew pretty big, like, 8 inches excl tail and very heavy. It’s not really icky cos you’d hardly know he was a rat except for the fat long tail. I was about 7.

4) No wait, this is what the internet is for: 25 Cutest Animal Gifs Ever.

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5) No wait, really, this is what the internet is for: 15 unusual animal friendships that will melt your heart.

(What not to tell the elephant: “Dude, she’s just using you….”)

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Oh, look at this dog with the Fluffy Thing:

(How about, “I can’t believe that’s not a Furby”?)

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6) And this is what Twitter is for: Chewbacca actor tweets behind the scenes pics of the original Star Wars Trilogy.

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7) And this is what friends are for:

Friends don’t let their friends drive drunk. But they do let their friends think they’ve been in a 10 year coma. Such a practical use for a practical joke. Have Fun. Messing with Friend. For Cause.

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8) I once linked this 5 year old dressed as various famous women in history in one of my TGIFs:

I’m linking it again under a different header because I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me before you could choose dressing up as a famous (female) historical figure instead of a Disney Princess. <smacks forehead>

There is however one Disney Princess I do like:

(Hua-Mulan is the legendary girl in the Chinese poem Ballad of Mulan who took her aged father’s place to represent her family in the Chinese army.)

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9) Father of 25-year old with severe autism turns his son’s talent for assembling furniture from any blueprint into a business. Self explanatory. No less awesome.

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10) The Rockstars’ 5 second skit this week is How The Rest Were Won.

A school-uniformed Rockstar climbs back into bed to lie next to a still-sleeping Miss before he has to walk to the bus stop. Little Miss wakes and he quickly offers her a slice of apple to keep her from pouncing on him the moment she’s fully conscious.

(Think how many more peace treaties could’ve been signed with slices of apple.)

ps: No, I had in fact never MCed events with 500 people in them before. Not even close. My “public speaking” experiences were mostly limited to derivative product presentations to small groups, when I was pregnant with Rockstar (wow he used to kick, when I had to force my brain to do painful things. Until today I still remember one of the most painful as a conference call with a quant and sales rep from Goldman to take apart some hairy derivative product and I blurted “YOU PEOPLE. You’re going to turn my baby into a freaking quant,” and they just roared with laughter. Huh.)

But anyway, the social event we attended the night before was a dinner to announce the setting up and structure of a Malaysian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. The event I MCed the following night was the Asia Bankers Club Feng Shui talk held at the J.W. Marriott, conducted by Professor Joe Choo, president of the Malaysia Institute of Geomancy Sciences who received her professorship from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Feng Shui is always very popular in HK, apart from the fact Kings is now sleeping off jet lag in London, the event’s going to take me much longer to write about because I didn’t want to give the wrong impression that I’m a Christian who believes in the “hocus-pocus” or “Fortune-telling” of Feng Shui. (Kings even said something to that effect, onstage – it’s not religion or the hocus-pocus superstitious bits.) There are bits that relate purely to science, for e.g. actual physical or mental discomfort people with poorer health might feel from living say, in the apartment unit directly under the rooftop swimming pool, that have nothing to do with our faith. And you might find opportunity for e.g. in negotiating a cheaper rent if you choose the “death floor” or 4th floor that only older HK buildings will have – in other words, being aware of a culture allows you opportunity to negotiate lower buying or higher selling prices. (That was what I’d said that night.) 

The following morning was Rockstar’s school Sports Day, which both Kings and I attended, Kings then rushing back to grab some stuff and head to the airport. To be honest, I deliberately left before the parents race event because I was not sure I could have kept myself from taking part, when I saw how enthusiastic so many parents are about participating in their children’s school events. That was what happened to me LAST year and I hadn’t even been in the aftermath of an adrenaline-fueled previous evening yet I still had problems trying not to die out there. (You know how when you run as fast as you can with a tennis ball balanced on a racket these things can happen.) So night before Sports Day this year, coming home to kids who had a good sleep in the afternoon and so were in no mood to sleep when I got home that night, it occurred to me next morning I might do something dorky like pass out on the field during the parents race and freak people out. 

As for that night, people say I didn’t look TOO scared. Lemme tell you: only in that instant. You should’ve seen me the days before that, up to an hour+ before that moment when I got up on stage.