School Trip To Hong Kong Flower Show In Victoria Park

Posted on March 23, 2012 by admin
HK Flower Show Entrance (Otherwise one of the main hangouts of domestic helpers on Sundays :P)

As a kind of culmination of their learning about plant growth, the K2s at Rockstar’s Kindy attend the annual Hong Kong Flower Show held in Victoria Park in the Causeway Bay area… Last year I vaguely remember reading about it in the school weekly update emails too, and wondering what it was all about…. And it turns out to be decidedly bigger than I’d expected.

Definitely not the only iPod/ iPhone-toting shutter bug today… (Or is this a startling pic of technology taking over our kids’ lives, this generation?) 

Unfortunately the day is also hotter and sunnier than expected – and crowded – or we would’ve stayed beyond the school trip hours, because there really is quite a lot to see and Rockstar was taking pictures on his iPod and everything. (We would look around later and realize that lots of schoolmates had disappeared – and learn that at least some of them had sought refuge in the air-conditioned comfort of the nearby public library where they could also finish off their Flower Show Booklets… I was all Darn! Why didn’t we think of that??)

Instead, this is Rockstar at the end of the day, scrawling some of his most horrific writing ever (well his lower case writing anyway still needs work) on sofa. No readers, his writing is not in pic - at right is MY horrific writing because that's the bit parents are supposed to fill out after talking to their kids about the day

As usual, we’re handed a school activity booklet with pictures of some of the exhibits to find within the park (like the South African booth his teacher points out – which has some un-Hong-Kong-looking plants and flowers and an opportunity for me to ask Rockstar why different countries have plants/ flowers that look so different i.e. due to their adapting to different climates, how much rainfall they get, etc), as well as fun floral exhibits:

Every flower show should have flower banana heads doing bamboo dance...

And flower penguins...

And flower totem poles...

And flower stone warriors... (Note Rockstar checking out the pics he's taken....!)

Rockstar's hot, blur face in front of the flower pandas...

"Nemo!" Rockstar's classmate observes...

(Rockstar has never watched Cars or Nemo or really any of them but he knows many of the characters – well done Disney Marketing)

Yes - flower pandas, fish and marine life - it must be the Ocean Park exhibit!

"He's got the whooooole wo-orld, in his hands, he's got the whole wide wo-orld..."

Oh sorry – “On the back of his hands…..” People kept taking pics holding that globe up so we tried to follow suit… Didn’t work out very well because I’m actually being jostled while I take this, and well, Rockstar’s hands are facing the wrong way – it was so sunny I couldn’t even see that on the iPhone screen til we looked back at the pics at end of the day…

And then all that sunlight beating down (all the Southeast Asians must be thinking we’re wimps haha) is making the kids hot and cranky (btw the temperature can really swing which is why the kids were in layered longs – tonight/ tomorrow it’s going to drop some 8-10 degrees Celsius), so we stop for ice creams…

We likes our ices

And so it’s ice creams! And this is possibly the first ice cream cone Rockstar has ever finished, probably rather strangely due to the fact it’s a school trip and so the ice cream should also be taken seriously (I know it’s weird, but this is how Rockstar seems to think – he of the spitting out hard candies halfway in a tissue when we’re at home because he’s “had enough sweet things”)…

 Ahhhh obsessive mum alert – he’s just hot…

Flower pyramids... Now I can get the I Wonder Why Egyptians Built Pyramids...

And so we see the great pyramids as they are meant to be seen, with ice cream on our chin…

And Sailboats (note elderly person posing for a pic - btw this flower show is a real hit among the elderly locals as well as school kids... In fact I don't recall seeing many (or even a single) obviously foreign person in the throng, except maybe some of Rockstar's classmates and their parents)

See, not a spare seat in da house...

Wondering what all the talks are about, I took a pic of their itinerary…

Rockstar was distracted, or he would've asked me to read some of it and guffawed at the "Talk on Diarrhea" on the first day...

And South African Consulate-General exhibit... (Really liked how different and exotic their flowers were)

Note the guy bending in hot sun to take closeup pic...

Obviously, the flowers are real rockstars… Well almost…

Recycled oyster shells! Looks right up HK Wetlands Park's style!

And not too far away, terra-cotta warriors guarding a Great Wall Of China...

<Insert corny remark about how at HK Flower Show we get to see a mesh of such different cultural exhibits coming together and all that jazz>

And I didn't get a chance to get closer to this interesting-looking exhibit of a chinese (woman/ deity?) because Rockstar and classmate are boiling again…..

Though we did try for a brief respite from the unrelentless sun, by elbowing through the crowds at the stalls…..

Umm.. Any ideas what these hanging things are that they're selling?

And some more...

(At some point I overhear one of the mingling teachers mentioning how seeds can look very different based on how they are spread about – by wind, by birds/ animals…)

They had a lot of these smaller flower booths too, I spied a cocktail dress of huge lilies or something as well, but too crowded and hot to wrestle through and get a shot...

"Shall we get the catnip for my friend?" Umm.... Aren't those for cats to chew on? What do you do with them when you don't have a cat, can you fry it up, use as a garnish....?

Rockstar thinks a plant “pet” gift would be fair exchange for such a yummy ice cream cone (and I can’t seem to get enough of low-maintenance “pets”)…

I note some of the little potted plant prices are about the same as at Japan Home Center… (But it’s a flower show! Buy a plant! Seeds! T-shirts?) You wouldn’t get nearly as much variety… or festivity… or….

Don't ask. I don't know what it is.

Rockstar eventually picks up……..

Spike The Hedgehog at home with one of the few rocket ship drawings I managed to save before it got obliterated in a flood of wind, motion, friction, exhaust flames and scribbly lines to show how fast and furious the ship is going.....

This thing in a smiling cactus pot whose name is now Spike The Hedgehog… (After I said no to some very spiky cacti he wanted to bring home to show the dog (can you say poor tender wet nose?))

(And his classmate overheard I guess and obediently picked the most un-spiky succulent in the bunch….. (named Toast And Jam, which his mum says is his way of saying he’s hungry…) The Rockstar however is intrigued. “What kind of jam?” Strawberry, and the Rockstar nods approvingly. A lesson about grownup vs kiddie “priorities” comes to mind 😀)

I'm surprised there aren't more flower dragons, this being Northasia and the dragon year... But then CNY was a real dragon-OD...

Tsuen Wan District won this event, but I didn't get a good pic (it's the exhibit to the right of the pic) for keeping up with the boys purposefully striding through the exhibition toward the far exit where our ride is waiting...

This one won second prize in the same event but again I couldn't stop long enough... And by now we can't see many other turquoise-and-navy uniformed kids around either...

Another hastily snapped pic...

There’s at least two or three local schools on trip, though I don’t notice any clutching of mangled, sweaty activity booklets. (In fact the whole show looks very “local Hongkie” right?) By now, some of Rockstar’s schoolmates had retired to the nearby local public library (they would later explain to me they have playdates there too) to escape the heat and finish up – since I had forgotten there was a library there we got into the car. Which was just as well………….

Zzzzzzzz

Because you can guess how this story ends.

We did the rest of the homework after he woke up at the end of the day, but the writing bits were turning out mangled – while naming the parts of the flower I noticed he’d written “metS.” “What’s wrong with it? Stem, what…” and for a sec I was What, Is He Now Dyslexic?? 😀

Next morning I showed him his previous “benchmark” writing (like the “Zippety” sketches) and remark we are having a Crisis of Quality, before stepping in the shower… When I emerge, he smugly shows me the pic below – can’t pretend this happens often, Rockstar doesn’t draw/ write that much at home, mostly only what he does at the Kindy (and sometimes I wonder if the school manages to salvage anything for his end of the year folio because the few times he draws at home he will keep going until the entire thing is covered in “motion lines” caused by wind, arrows… Ah well, every once in awhile as long as I know he can produce something, he can go to town and scrawl all he wants the rest of the time.) 

At the flower show with classmates, ice cream cone and choosing cacti in the shop (at right)... No, didn't tell him what to draw from his trip. Still rather amazed, to be honest.

 I shall dub this the Get Off My Back Drawing. Done with ballpoint pen, no less.

Posted in Rockstar Shots, School For Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Life Lessons from the Mr Men

Posted on March 22, 2012 by admin

1) When someone is being abusive, the best revenge you can have is to have a great day.

(Oh, and smiling sweetly usually infuriates them even more)

2) When speaking rudely/ other bad behavior is not rewarded (i.e. perpetrator doesn’t get what he/she wants by being mean), he/she often learns to speak softer/ behave better

 

Don’t stomp back…. tickle! (i.e. come up with something more satisfying that won’t get you in as much trouble…)

 

Doesn’t stick-up-your-butt Mr Grumpy look ridiculous being tickled?

(Oh, and it pays to have friends in the right places – Mr Tickle, in this case)

3) Wearing color can literally brighten up your whole day…

 

You’ll look better too – see?

4) Pride goes before a fall…

 

 

See? (And people might even be happier about it than they otherwise would be)

5) Sometimes if you can’t get the results you want from your child/ co-worker/ family member…

 

A change in communication style may be all that’s needed

You might even be amazed at the difference in results if you put things in a way Mr Muddle can understand or relate to…..

(Y-eah otherwise they’re just jerks pretending to muddle. Stay away from them where possible.)

7) People who go through life whining and grumbling about everything may never realize…..

 

How everyone else views them.

(They are their own worst enemy.)

Posted in Rockstar Thoughts, Talking To Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

More “Shame On HSBC” Pictures (Or Is That Now Shame On Goldman?)

Posted on March 20, 2012 by admin

Old(ish) entry I hadn’t found the right time to post, and then with the whole Greg Smith NY Times Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs op-ed I decided to refresh it…

The China Club where we had reunion dinners over the last Chinese New Year is within walking distance of the main branch of HSBC in Central, which is where one of the larger demonstrations against various structured product sales has been (ref my previous post and comments here) and that’s where all these pics are from…

In the foreground, brightly illuminated beautiful CNY decor tree; in the dark background, you can just make out the Shame On HSBC And Various Other Banks demonstration camp site

We brought both sets of parents here, to walk through the site and read the posters after dinner around 9-10pm, as a way of telling them what is happening in the banking industry now. Each time we came, there were always some people camped out here, and as we read some of the posters in English, someone would politely come up to the main desk, ready to answer any questions we might have, I guess. One entertained Rockstar with a little stuffed dragon.

As I explained to my parents, I was also highlighting to myself – some of these people must have lost virtually everything, to sit here in the cold even during CNY, day and night… We couldn’t read what the donations box says, because a lot of the stuff is only in Chinese, and I felt strange/ guilty/ uncomfortable/ hypocritical/ can’t describe. We’re in banking/ formerly in banking ourselves, and though we didn’t have jobs selling to individuals, we were certainly in derivatives.

Funny (kind of) story, Kings on occasion used to also buy some of the stuff he was asked to come in and conduct training for client’s RMs on. In case you’re wondering, he stopped doing that after a giggly phone call on his cellphone one day, from a bunch of young RMs on speaker, “We know your REAL birthdate! You’re not really 31, you’re 29! HEE HEE HEE!” (Yeah. My husband LIED about his age over drinks with a bunch of them. He didn’t want them to know he hadn’t crossed his 30th birthday. He is evil.)

I thought it was nice (fine, hilarious) they had felt comfortable enough with him to pull that prank, but…… He got so freaked out he eventually discreetly closed his personal accounts there… No, not telling you which bank. Not even telling you if that call was from Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong.

But back to the demonstration. You still feel real shitty looking at all this. You wonder if they can smell it on you, that you dealt in derivatives. There’s an exhibit with an axe in it and people are so angry you wonder if, if they knew you had a job in the industry they’d just pull the axe out of the theatrically bloodied box/ dead body/ whatever it is that it was too dark for me to get a good pic of and then bury it in your scalp, like one of the paintings I took a pic of at China Club…

Guess this is the main desk, note donations box at bott right of pic… Shortly after I took this pic someone came up to the desk and showed Rockstar the little dragon in front of the flowers…

So maybe I’m just asking for it. I could’ve simply kept mum and pretended I don’t have anything to say or there’s nothing there at the bottom of where, starry-eyed, I first came to train on one of the derivatives desks about 10 years ago. (And boy, was I starry-eyed.) But that night, temperatures dropped to around 7 degrees Celsius………… You’ve got to really care, to still be sitting here.

A few sat in these tents in the pics, playing cards or occasionally horsing on what sounds like one of the lion dance drums at a time when many people were home with their families for the hols. On the Bloomberg almost every other day you find another article about the thousands of bankers who will be out of a job – and more recently there’s that hugely parodied Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs by Greg Smith. I mean, you must have really arrived if Darth Vader copies your style. He has the whole evil empire thing going for him and all those former-Jedi powers and he chose your style.

The site is becoming a tourist attraction; one notice board had a marker penned message, “You’re making the world a better place (I think it was), don’t give up!” The couple who signed it were visiting just before Christmas, from Belgium.

There is no doubt there were irresponsible mis-sell cases. But it’s practically the entire banking industry that is being vilified. Oh, and everyone loves jumping on the Let’s Hate Goldman Sachs bandwagon. Comparatively less is said about another group, let me loosely call them The Gamblers. These are the people who lost their investments thru taking on way too much risk due to greed, and who now try to also get their money back through a system already shaky to pay the ones who were really wronged, the ones who have to sit here in the cold because they don’t have anywhere else to be at CNY.

But having come from the banking sector and done derivatives to boot, I felt I was typing the un-type-able. Except I really do want Rockstar to read this entry one day.

Can you easily claim that the number of unethical bankers selling derivatives even clearly outnumbers the number of irresponsible gamblers around? 

Years ago around the time this all started, one of my former RMs showed me a chinese tabloid with a picture of an “auntie-type” crying. She was trying to sue one of the private banks (one I’ve never worked for) for – I think it was – HKD 80million in losses. How could she truly have understood equity flow products (“flow” = fairly simple option-embedded products), given her level of education and her job?

It was David-and-Goliath-esque imagery. Housewife-type with modest job that barely makes ends meet takes on big bad private bank (which was one of our competitors). My RM (who was one of the more conservative team heads) had remarked that on a slow day, he’d made an estimate of the maximum her modest day job was paying her, against the amount of loss she was suing her bank for. No matter how conservatively (and in her favor) he ran the numbers, the amount of risk and leverage she must have taken on in order to arrive at that sum in that amount of time was just massive. 

I hesitated to mention this because for one thing I’m sketchy, having not taken note more carefully of what my RM showed me years ago. I don’t even know if anything came out of it after that tabloid pic. Obviously anyone selling these things looks like a total ogre saying it. But. If things really happened in that way, then how come this lady never thought she was in too deep or couldn’t understand the investment when she was making the HKD 80million or whatever? I don’t have many banker friends who even have HKD 80million to lose just on flow derivatives, leveraged or otherwise. (Ok, I’m not sure I have any banker friends with that amount.)

Oh, but I must be fair about this – shame on that hungry, commission-earning banker who makes a lot less, for not shutting her down. Other-industry commission earners aren’t that hungry or cut-throat. Right?

In the dark on one of the boards, Rockstar gets excited about a big red and black lion dance lion

Irresponsible mis-sellers should burn. No contest. Their victims deserve to be compensated at their expense. Again, no contest. But we all know this, it is popular sentiment today. Sure, Rockstar will hear about that point of view if he ever (God forbid) wants to go into banking when he grows up. But why is there so little said about the people who are falsely claiming to be victims?

What are the odds someone who gambles irresponsibly and selfishly, taking on massive risk because they are greedy to make a quick buck, is going to say, “Oh, those poor genuine mis-sell victims. I hope they all get their money back, they didn’t deserve what happened to them. I, on the other hand, who knew exactly what I was doing and was simply too greedy and irresponsible to practice restraint, don’t deserve to be compensated.”

So the gamblers want their money back. They’re one of the reasons the real victims have to wait. While the victims vilify bankers and the HK government/ regulating bodies for dragging its heels, how come no one hates them, the gamblers? 

I do. I daresay the ones who knew exactly what they were doing but were too greedy to stop and now claim ignorance are the ones who are getting away with it. Mad at me? You are irresponsible gambler meh?

I used to snipe at the bankers who spoiled it for everyone – greed, stupidity. But frankly that’s the easy way to go – everyone loves to hate bankers. If, as a (possibly disgruntled) banker yourself, you chose to write that op-ed on your last day to your former house of worship where they took you in, clothed you and fed you (fine, paid your salary – yes, Mr Smith, that’s you – did you think, to quote the Bloomberg editors, Goldman was “like the Make-A-Wish Foundation – existing only to bring light and peace and happiness to the world”?) someone’s going to agree with you. But it’s because they want to. Ambil peluang only. But you knew that, right?

Technically…….. I don’t qualify as a sore loser do I, I don’t think I’ve ever applied to work at Goldman <defensive!!! :D>. But well no wonder some ex-Goldies sound really offended (though there seem to be others that support him – I think it depends on whether you believe he’s sincere). Not because yet another person is reinforcing their evil-ness but because this guy voluntarily had the thing published, implying he is proud of that crap he wrote. (How can he be proud of that thing with the ping pong and what-not?? Was he high?) I joke about it, but honestly I tend to still be Wow Goldman about people who worked there. And then with this guy it’s…. Goldman hired someone who could think that letter was a good idea?

Another response, from Frank Partnoy, Law Professor at the University of San Diego put it, “Of course, no one should expect derivatives salespeople to be honorable, any more than we should expect a zebra to scrub off its stripes…” <uh, I’m not sure about the no-one-expecting-derivatives-sales-to-be-honorable but I’m asking for enough trouble as is>.

“…Nor should we be sympathetic to municipal treasurers and pension fund managers who succumb to their own animal instincts and sit at the poker table when they should not. The tough question for the future is whether less sophisticated institutions should be entitled to more protection. In other words, should they be treated as true clients?”

Oh and the Darth Vader Evil Empire parodies are fine, but can people stop calling it the Greg Smith – Jerry Maguire exit please? Mr Maguire was fired for having a conscience. If you’re the real thing you write the Maguire letter that (possibly) gets you fired. (And then you take the goldfish and Renee Zellweger.) Not leave and write a piece for the NYT including, among others, your ping pong skills on your last day.

It annoys me that people could think Greg Smith’s the real thing. (I will stand humbly corrected if he is.) Even more so if people know he’s not, but are pretending to think that anyway because his op-ed suits their own purposes. And- and- how dare they insult someone played by Tom Cruise?

So shame on Goldman. For ever hiring this guy.

Posted in aileensml, Rockstar Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Rockstarism #197 – Putting A Face To The Imaginary Friends and Others…

Posted on March 19, 2012 by admin

#197

"The Friends"

Rockstar still likes to scrawl really quick “cartoons” with a perm marker… “Lunarotato” is a new one, we agreed on the spelling after Rockstar explained “It rhymes with ‘potato’…” We haven’t decided if he’s a robot because on the one hand all moon equipment names start with “Lunar-something,” but then Rockstar also insists he needs a helmet, implying he breathes Oxygen. (For real – we reached this impasse this morning…)

Both Lunarotato and Zippety wear helmets, but not Yeeka. Rockstar initially said “He just doesn’t wear the helmet in the ship cos it would make him crazy,”

but has recently conceded he’s an alien. 
(I know, it’s amazing how I went from derivative investment products to being fascinated by this)

Also interesting (fine, kind of) is that Yeeka is much taller and expecting a baby brother – like one of Rockstar’s friends from another class who towers over him…

———————————————————————————-

Me: When you inhale, what do you breathe?

Rockstar: Oxygen!

Me: Very good, and when you exhale?

Rockstar: When I exhale….. Air comes out.

Me: You forgot “Carbon Dioxide,” didn’t you?

Rockstar: Yeah. Hee.

———————————————————————————-

Me: Daddy’s cooking Bak Kut Teh tonight. Let’s go out there and say “Mmm, what’s that yummy smell?”

Rockstar: Or, we could jump out at him and say “BOO!!”

———————————————————————————-

Posted in Rockstarisms | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Rockstarism #196 – We’re Small But We Know Stuff

Posted on March 18, 2012 by admin

#196

Rockstar: Mum. Your friends are all crazy. <shakes head> Tsk tsk! Cra-zee!

Me: <Thinking: What’s wrong with him now> What d’you mean all my friends are crazy. Then your friends leh?

Rockstar: <shaking head gravely> No, Never.

Me: How can that be, you guys are founding members of the Poop and Fart Joke Brigade.

Rockstar: <seriously> There’s pee jokes too, but you’re not allowed to tell anyone those. (This is actually true, now they also have Secret Boh Liau Jokes to go with their Public Boh Liau Jokes. Parents are not allowed to repeat the secret ones. This directive was communicated to us in hushed tones.)

Me: Why are my friends the only ones who are crazy?

Rockstar: I don’t know – I just decided they are, they’re mummies. Don’t know which one is crazier. But all of them are crazy <shakes head, rolls eyes>.

Me: What, just because we don’t let you eat junk, and we impose bedtimes and please-and-thank-yous? Why are mummies crazy?

Rockstar: <thinks for awhile, feeble response> Only guys aren’t crazy. 

Me: But you agree you shouldn’t eat too much junk because your growing body and mind need real food?

Rockstar: <long suffering, theatrical sigh> O-kaaay…

Rockstar napping in a park yesterday. His T-shirt reads, "I'm small, but I know stuff"

Rockstar: Mum! Did you know (girl classmate) got a Superstar today?

Me: That’s nice, dear. What was it for?

Rockstar: For Being A Good Friend – to (3 other girl classmates).

Me: Wow, she must be a nice girl. What did she do?

Rockstar: I can’t remember, she’s a girl.

Me: What d’you mean you can’t remember cos she’s a girl?

Rockstar: <shrugs> She’s a girl. I never remember what the girls do. Don’t know why.

———————————————————————————-

Me: Which was your favorite part of the day?

Rockstar: I liked impressing those girls best. (3 of them, all at least a head taller and probably a couple years older, walking their 7mth old Sheltie in the dog park while we were with JD – they were taken by Rockstar’s knowledge of “Heterochromia”…)

Me: Oh <a little taken aback – it’s just strange to hear your 4yr old son declare gravely he likes impressing girls>. Which girl did you like best? (Curious, the 3 girls looked so different – 1 Asian, 2 Caucasian, one brunette, the other very blonde… Was having a funny conversation with a girlfriend who observed her son always plays with the chubbier, bossy girls, whereas his own kid sister whom he fights with is quite thin and worships him)

Rockstar: I liked the dog best.

———————————————————————————-

Posted in Rockstarisms | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A (Dog’s) Beautiful Life – Part 4; Sai Kung, Shek O and Lamma Island

Posted on March 16, 2012 by admin
You look this way, I’ll look that way

Fortunately, the two don’t have any disputes over who sits right at the head of the boat – because Rockstar is concerned he might fall in. The dog secretly hopes she will. (Kings will scream at her if she sneaks overboard for a swim u c…)

Bet everyone was just dying to know that. All the people who come here to see pictures of JD on Lamma Island. And that virus attacking my site that is about to be quashed.

See?

You can make out the firm grip Kings has on JD because he really doesn’t want her in the water… (We weren’t taking the little blue rowing boat, our ride is the brown one in the corner of the pic – we do see local bringing their kids and all, you can just go for a ride around the islands, or actually get off at one of the beaches… Something we’d really do if we wanted a beach fix for dog and child… There’s a little floating fishing place you can take a boat to as well, where for a fee you can catch something to bring home and cook… It depends on the ride, but as a general rule you have to watch out for getting scalped though – last time we had a family of 4 plus us, one of the boats quoted HKD 1,500 – which dropped to HKD 700 when Kings said he couldn’t remember paying more than HKD 1,000 for the ride – and the aunties in particular sound rude and pushy (they’re in competition) though I don’t think they realize it most of the time…)

JD waiting to board the boat to Lamma Island

Well the problem takes care of itself if you’re boarding to get to Lamma… Can’t remember the ticket price but it’s standard, and dogs have to be muzzled to board (JD is right at the 17kg muzzle requirement cut-off)… No one ever paid JD any mind, except to play with her – and she was often not the only much-loved dog on board…

And so there we are, hiking around the island…

Btw you may notice JD often has her eyes closed or is yawning or looking elsewhere… Like Rockstar, she has always liked to ruin shots – you can tell the two are closely related. Except Rockstar would want to tell you she has “Het-er-o-chro-mee-a,” the condition of two different colored eyes. Just so he can use the big word. It’s his new favorite game, learning long words Kings doesn’t know…

Who knew a 4yr old could increase your vocabulary so?

Who knew obscure words no one really cares about could inspire you to hold your college degree papers in one hand and make a flushing sound and action with the other?

The top pic looks like any Kedai Runcit in Malaysia right?

The bottom pic is someone’s house… Sometimes with the crazy property prices in HK I think expats in particular like to look for more land for their buck… Can totally relate to this though I love apartments far more than houses, because with Kings gone a lot I like to have building security and lotsa close circuit cameras around… I still do, but now I’m carrying a second one, I’m really hungry for a bit more space. Rockstar wants a bunk bed so he can “have a break when the baby makes (him) tired,” and I’m still figuring how to accommodate him.

But in the meantime…..

On A Rock Is Not A Hard Place - "Wheeee!"

JD looks like she’s tilted crazily to one side, but it’s actually the rock face that’s tilted. Of course, she has to see if she can jump up because steep hills and rock faces call out to her, “Let’s See How Many You Can Clamber On Before Daddy Yells At You.”

Though we mostly made it with tempers intact at Shek O…

(This is an excuse to dump a couple Shek O pics which I don’t know where else to fit)

See? (That rock face really is that narrow)

When Rockstar saw these pics he said I’m to catch JD if she falls. And then he’ll catch me if I fall…

"Tilt To See Real Angle Of Rockface"

 Ok sorry ah… back to Lamma…

Where we made friends…

Darn, can't believe I've forgotten the name of that puppy in the top pic - I could recall her name for the longest time, it's a nice human-girl name and I might have appreciated the name suggestion for my baby

Both Sai Kung and Lamma Island (and probably Discovery Bay too) have fairly aggressive Dog Rescues (by “aggressive” I mean in relation to Singapore or Malaysia or probably most parts of Asia as a very general statement), often with a lot of expat (but with locals as well) women actively involved, prompting another blogger once to refer to them as the “Disturbed Expatriate Women’s Canine-Worship Cult”… 

(In case you wondered what passes for “cult worship,” Sorlo has a taste here 😀 Honestly we laughed and others might call them that, but it’s nice to see people aggressively championing animal welfare – and ironically right next to countries where people eat them… Can’t believe they don’t make “DEWC-WC” t-shirts, I would buy some in a heartbeat, kinda like Clothing Of The American Mind‘s irony during the Bush regime, where they sold tees with saying things like “Family Devaluers” and “This Child Left Behind.” This has nothing to do with me, I’m as American as Delifrance is French, I just like funny witty t-shirts. And so ended up possibly contributing to anti-Bush campaigns. Well show me some funny witty Republican t-shirts, I’d buy those online too. My current tee fix however is Out Of Print Clothing, which sells tees and things with a literary theme – Moby Dick iPhone case, anyone?)

"The Hills Are A-Liiiiiive...... With The Sound Of Muuuuuuuu-sic..."

Oh look, there’s our dog, ruining yet another shot. You almost want to just photoshop her into these pics, but then where would be the challenge?

Another one... I can imagine her throwing her head back and singing...

And somewhere between the hill singing and not looking at the camera, my dog has lost an ear. So let us set about the rest of the good island of Lamma finding it…

Find one, lose the other, get barked at...

Her face is like that because this was taken while a bunch of locked up dogs were barking their lungs out at her…

All the village houses... which look un-like Hong Kong as we are used to seeing, with all the hi-rise and busy roads...

Why should what you're looking for be found in the last place you're looking? Carry on looking even after you've found it, then...

Deserted office department of some kind...

And then a meeting of tails, on a trail…

See, she likes mutts...

And a meeting of minds and whiskers…..

Will the real JD please stand up?

And so our day ends with a frolic on the beach…

(Or, A Study Of Border Collies And Physics: How The Long-ish Bodied Breed Stays Upright On Two Or Fewer Legs.)

The Art Of Lying On A Salty Dog Who Hates Being Cuddled

Think this the end?

–

–

–

N-ot quite.

Now There Are Two.

It gets more challenging – now we have two of them for pictures.

And so the story goes on………..!

Ps: No Rockstars or Border Collies were harmed in the making of this post. In the last shot, Kings was standing just outside the frame… This one was Rockstar’s idea – He wanted to launch himself off that ledge while yelling at the top of his voice and have Kings catch him. It was drizzling, but we were watched throughout by the (very) amused father of a little blonde boy toddler. No prizes for guessing who went up next……

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An ESL Football Incident

Posted on March 15, 2012 by admin

Excerpts from an ESF Educational Services email early this morning:

“I am writing to you because there has been a good deal of understandable concern about an incident during a football match…………Under-12 game… 10-year old player… videoed making a kick that contacted the head of Kitchee Escola player…..  ESF and ESL deeply regret any injury………..Chief  Operating Officer of ESL… wrote to boy’s father… Head Football Coach… written to the Chairman of Kitchee Football Club expressing their regret. We accept the disciplinary action that the Hong Kong Development League Association has taken. … understand the parent of the injured child has referred the matter to the police and we will cooperate fully with any police investigation. ….”

I received the video in question quite early on, but didn’t (and won’t be) putting it up. For those not in HK, the edited Youtube was of a 10 year old boy who kicked another boy in the face when the other boy was down, during a football match. I only watched one clip, and couldn’t see the (if any) effect the kick had on the fallen boy, and the clip I was sent did not show further footage re the injury so I really have no idea how bad or not the kick was. (My immediate reaction to the video was not “OMG! Is that boy ok?? Does he need stitches???” it was more “Foul! And the other boy got kicked in the face while he was down!”)

Btw I’m yet to enroll Rockstar into any ESF sports, but that’s because of both a current scheduling problem and the fact he is very tiny (as in, he came home from school real happy one day that there was one girl in his class that was the same height as him) and I was afraid he had yet to pick up enough ball sports skills to not see himself as totally lousy on an actual team and get discouraged. (Meantime, Kings brings him to his adult basketball games.) Without the size and current scheduling problem, Rockstar would definitely have joined some ESF sports, like many of his friends are doing.

“However we are also concerned about the impact on the young ESF Lions player of the very public posting of an edited video on Youtube….. From Sunday evening ESL has been asking Kitchee Football Club to use their good offices to request the removal of the video…….. ESL asked its lawyer to write to the parent who we believed had posted one of the clips….. and the Kitchee Football Club Chairman to press our request for removal….. The lawyer’s letter makes clear our concern about the injury to (other) child and is designed solely to get the video clips closed down……… distress that the offensive comments were causing to the ESF Lions Player and his family.

We have also commented…. our disappointment… Hong Kong Development League released its findings to journalists, from whom we learnt of them, before making them known to the ESF Lions player, his family, the coach or ESL and without an explanation of what the “disciplinary action” would constitute…….

As an immediate knee-jerk reaction following the video, the very few ESF mums I discussed this with were worried about their own kids, and it rubbed off on me too. I mean, our kids are 4. Mine is a very tiny (and thin-skinned) 4, and I try to discreetly volunteer at playtime once or twice a month just to be sure he’s making friends alright in school.

However then someone said, “If it were my child (kicking), I would have wanted my child’s coach to stick up for my child, regardless of (and of course I would expect there to be) disciplinary action for the foul. And where was the referee, anyway?” and I agree.

First of, I may not be the right person to talk to about getting kicked in the face. As a fairly weak and sickly child I started more serious taekwondo training at about 9, trained on all-boys teams in my teens, and my mother told me she walked out of the auditorium when I got kicked in the face sans protective gear, through the years, to keep from “interfering”. I sustained horrific bruises on my limbs from sparring with all the guys, that drew quite some attention if I wore shorts or tees. This in itself is not an indication either – my mother has also dropped me off, doubled over and barely able to walk from food poisoning, across busy roads to get to the doctor’s, rather than swing round and drop me right in front. (i.e. her raising of me was tough, and I didn’t always agree with it, though I concede to being happy she did not interfere with my fights.) And well, I was never kicked by someone wearing soccer boots (HOW hard was it though?). And I have the view of the mum of a 4yr old – the boys in the video are 10 or 11. At that age I was already chalking up the bruises, but right now I’m still the mum of a 4yr old.

“…..Appropriate action will be taken….but….. have to ensure that criticism of a ten-year-old who made a serious mistake does not get out of hand ….ask for your support in allowing us to manage the follow-up…..in a firm and appropriate way but out of the spotlight of the social media which is too harsh an environment for a child to be exposed to.”

(I did the underlining, not Heather Du Quesnay, Chief Executive Officer, English Schools Foundation, because I really respected the way it was said and can’t think of a more professional way it could’ve been handled.)

Things happen in sports, and there are coaches, referees, sports leagues et al for just this reason. I get to sit here and type rather unemotionally because it was not my child that was harmed. If my child got kicked with boots on, it’s entirely possible I would behave in a similar way to the parent of the child who’d gotten kicked. In other words, the kicker needs protecting too. But I expect him to be disciplined. The parent in me however is only human, it’s a foul, any number of reasons that nonetheless would all be over-ridden by the simple fact that if someone harmed my child and it was avoidable (and yes a foul), I would want the punishment of that someone to be cruel and unusual. End of story. Though I might be going after the ref. Where was the referee?

It is therefore for the coaches, referees, sports leagues et al to do the protecting of the other child who did the kicking, who is still also a child. Because if my child was kicked….. (especially if say, injured worse than say bruises, I mean – it doesn’t say how hard the kick was – but you know, you can’t expect to play without bruises. And you can’t expect not to have the book thrown at you for a foul. It’s when everyone else starts hopping about, some of it hitting below the belt with their own personal motives even when children are involved (say, spotlight, in the case of excited journalists with one-sided stories – IF any happen to be harassing people then for shame!) I might not be able to remember the kicker is also a child. So in a perverse way, it’s actually heartening to see some effort taken to protect the other child. Just in case someday it is my own child who did the kicking. Not that I ever expect Rockstar to, of course I hope to brainwash him into never fouling. I’m just saying, because I would expect him to be punished and I don’t want him punished. Best is don’t do the crime so you don’t get the time. But in the meantime the child is still learning. That’s what they have grownup referees for. And however sorry that child is, I don’t think any child can be prepared for aggressive internet threats and harassment.

But don’t get me wrong here. My knowledge of the intricacies of soccer would fit on the head of a pin, and I’m married to someone who says people can die from soccer games, but there is a certain “language” or “code of honor” in sports that I believe should transcend all sports, particularly for the developing minds and personalities of children:

Through the years as I did competitive taekwondo and went for gradings (maybe the one time I will mention that I didn’t just hold a black belt, I had one that also qualified for further certification internationally – our instructors back then also told us and our parents that they submitted our names on record with the police because if we were ever to start a street fight or whatever we would be stripped without a second chance) – when the referee says “break,” you stop fighting. It doesn’t matter if you are in mid-kick. You stop. You don’t stop, it is your foul, not your opponent’s. 

The reason why fights can look “boring” (which is a myth – my team mates have literally had their teeth kicked out. Blood, stitches, the whole bit – not a foul, it was the angle of that kick) and unlike what you see in the movies is because unlike what you see on tv if the examiner or referee yells for you to break it up you stop, or you are failed or disqualified. Doesn’t make for good tv. And it doesn’t matter how talented you are. I remember as a young teen initially looking up to this one senior of mine who was just so exceptional with the most amazing moves in the fights. It was an important lesson to me growing up, when he was never allowed to progress beyond a brown/ red belt. Grading after grading, no one ever said, “Oh, I’m sure he’s learnt his lesson, he’s had to repeat 4, 5, 10, countless times.” It was You Don’t Have The Discipline To Practice Restraint, You Aren’t Fit For The Next Level. The effect on all the other kids and young adults was amazing. 

Ok I waffled about a bit, I’m sorry. I am an idealist about certain things, sports being one of them (yeah a bit silly, considering Linsanity then got me into the whole NBA and the Knicks thing), but especially for the lessons children get to learn. Sports for children shouldn’t just be about talent and winning. And many other children are going to learn from their peers, friends, other talented kids they look up to.

Oh wait, lemme re-paste that bit:

“…..Appropriate action will be taken….but….. have to ensure that criticism of a ten-year-old who made a serious mistake does not get out of hand ….ask for your support in allowing us to manage the follow-up…..in a firm and appropriate way but out of the spotlight of the social media which is too harsh an environment for a child to be exposed to.”

What more does anyone want? Ok, shut up, back to work.

Just as long as the punishment isn’t cruel and unusual. Personal threats to the kicker are below the belt.

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A (Dog’s) Beautiful Life – Part 3; Pok Fu Lam Mutts, Tai Tam, Little Hong Kong and Repulse Bay

Posted on March 13, 2012 by admin
Chillin’ at Pacific Coffee – our version of turning our BC into Kopitiam Dog

 When we first got here, we didn’t always know where to walk JD, and I found this loading bay where dog lovers who lived in all the nearby high rises would similarly let their dogs run loose. There is actually a perfectly fine park nearby, but far more parks and “sitting out areas” don’t allow dogs – this was one of those areas, and dog owners would literally walk their dogs round and round the outside of the park – or in the filthy loading bay below.

Cargo loading area in Pok Fu Lam - Kings always says one thing about HK that never changes is how they have this abundance of bamboo and so use it for all the construction scaffolding everywhere - and something always seems to be under construction

The loading bay above was filthy, JD used to come back with little bugs and things and her paws would literally be black – but she really loved this place for awhile. That might have been where we picked up the habit to spray her paws with that sanitizer you get from hospitals and then wipe down with baby wipes. There used to be people living in what looked like makeshift huts at these docks who loved dogs and so kept a bunch of nondescript mutts, feeding them any scraps they could. JD just loooved playing with the moth-eaten ragbag mutts and they loved her right back, running over from wayyy far when they saw her enter the compound, so I had to be real vigilant with the tick collars and Frontline…

There were lots of well-kept dogs around as well, but oh, how JD loved the ragbag Mutt Brigade. (Who, btw, are extremely good at navigating busy traffic, crossing at the lights, perching delicately on the narrowest and busiest of road barriers and what-not – much better than the well-kept dogs. Maybe because the dumb ones wouldn’t have survived… JD has always been aloof and rather disdainful particularly of smaller breeds, but rarely meets a street mutt she doesn’t like. Maybe that’s one reason – the street mutts are often very savvy. Our dog, the intellectual snob.)

I heard quite a few stories from the locals here too, some of them quite sad. There used to be Mainland ships docking here (not sure who docks here nowadays, it seems to all be locked up now so I’m not sure you can still bring your dog in) that would spew out black smoke. In the beginning, the people living in the makeshift huts had let their mutts run about freely even after dark, and one winter night the people on the ships took their dogs aboard the ships when they left. Apparently they liked to have dogs on board while docking in various ports, and then as the ship neared its final destination…..

“Don’t worry, they wouldn’t eat your dog, they only eat mutts.” Uh……

“It’s common knowledge. Everyone knows <indicating JD> those dogs can’t be eaten. If she got stolen they’d re-sell her in a pet store… Make more, anyway…” Y-eah. We weren’t letting JD out of our sight – especially when someone else almost lost their Schnauzer.

More well-to-do dog owners often fed the Mutt Brigade, so if you went in your bag while standing about waiting for your dog to have her run, you might find a mutt or two materializing with expectant expression in front of you.

I recall my mum, a serial semi-homeless-mutt feeder’s description of somewhere in Kelawai Road, Penang… My parents often passed this big brown mutt on their several times weekly walks, and one day they saw a sign: “Please feed the brown dog. We will be away for 5 days.” So they made a point of going back the next day with a bag of food – only to find some 4 or 5 bags of food had already beat them to it… 

The first time I fed Pok Fu Lam Mutt Brigade, I was nervous. They had had many previous bad experiences (kids had thrown them in the freezing water on another occasion and the police had spent an uncomfortable hour late one night fishing them out – yes alive; another time someone took a pipe to one of JD’s best friends, we learned, when we couldn’t find him for weeks. One of the other dog lovers had then supplied ointment and they patiently rubbed his swollen legs til he could walk again) and so their owners living in the shacks nearby were increasingly vigilant. And back then my Cantonese was much worse than now, and I was alone that day.

Later, when other local dog owners (who could speak English) joined us, they told me I needn’t ever worry – I was already recognizable as JD’s owner. Mutt Brigade’s owners liked when other dog owners fed their pets for them because they didn’t always have much, but they were also apparently very savvy over who had which dog in case someone tried to poison their mutts. JD had long been identified as a regular Mutt Brigade Socializer. (Interestingly no one from the shacks ever spoke to/ even approached me. I think they were also aware I was speaking to JD in English…)

Will the real JD please stand up?

We started to look for other places JD could run free, including this place somewhere on the Peak that got dug up at one point because it was identified as an archeological site.

JD *dance* *dance* dancing around in really crappy weather

More than occasionally, the weather would be HORRIBLE but we’d give JD her pound of fl – er, we’d give her her walk anyway. She is completely oblivious to bad weather (unless it’s too hot) and will squint up at you, still with crazed happy look, if it’s pouring sheets of rain. We were literally freezing our butts off in the fog when we took the above picture – it’s like breathing in water and even though it’s not actually raining your hair gets wet through within minutes. Never understood why people like to live up on the Peak, even where we are during the wet months your paintings, clothing and walls can grow mould within about a week if you don’t have the dehumidifier on. And with it on your power bill really goes up.

On clear days however, the view from the Peak trails we take looks like this. JD's still delighted, but trying to look away from the camera again and I'm trying to turn her back

Think this Tai Tam Reservoir pic below looks harmless?

"Harmless" Tai Tam Reservoir pic?

Look again………

Tai Tam reservoir

The reservoirs were a good place to walk the dog too… I didn’t put her up there, she jumped up and nearly gave us a heart attack, so we decided to make the most of it by taking a pic. I am fake-pointing at something. Usually Kings screams his lungs out at her when she does things like that, being the more uptight of the two of us…

Another Crazy Face while Kings is flying a kite

This is another secluded park spot, near where someone buried their Maltese after Dino succumbed to tick fever. We saw the young couple leave tennis balls and chrysanthemums on occasion, they would also sit and talk quietly for a bit at the gravesite before leaving…

Behind Kings is a stream where an old-ish couple used to bring a huge plastic container with 3 large turtles in them.  They would duct-tape industrial-sized straws to the turtle shells and then let them roam about freely in the stream – even from across the field we could make out the straws moving up and downstream, and their owners would occasionally pick them up (yes, by the straws) if they had wandered too far. Somewhere in our reels and reels of home movie footage are clips of expat and local children wading about and occasionally passing the scrabbling turtles around by their straws. At the end of the day, the turtles would be put back in the tupperware to go home. But first, they would be meticulously toweled-down. Of course they would.

Path leading to Pok Fu Lam

We’ve heard it said that if you are inclined to walk, all hiking trails on HK island will eventually lead up to the Peak. Not sure how true it is of all, but you can definitely walk your way down to town from up on the Peak – the trail above would take about 2 hours from Peak to Pok Fu Lam, ending with a couple hundred very steep, tiny stone steps that led right out to a bus terminal, one of the HK universities and yes, Belchers development where we first lived.

Spot the Blue Dog

The above is Little Hong Kong Reservoir; we figured a way to get our photo fix while also keeping our dog happy… This particular park is accessible at the end of a very steep road that connects quite a few very local developments. As a result, lots and lots of old folks trudge up to socialize, do a little fishing, or walk their birds. We’d considered discreetly showing our parents, as a way of promoting “healthy lifestyle” – the old folks walking up to this place must be super fit, to do it once or twice every day to see their friends. And yes, you will see a bunch of uncles carrying bird cages, playing radio stations tuned to old wayang music and such. The younger set also come here to BBQ, and of course there are lots of happy dogs walking about in this area…

And of course, JD loves to SWIM

We love Repulse Bay, but if you bring your dog before 6 or 6.30pm like on most major beaches, the lifeguard station will broadcast a “community service message” at full volume in English, Cantonese and Putonghua about how dogs aren’t allowed on the beach. You would think it’s local Hongkies that are that uptight? Nooo… We’ve been approached by white/ Caucasian mums who “explain” to us that dogs “do dirty things in the sand” and it “wouldn’t be good for babies.”

(Obviously, JD is very toilet trained, since marking i.e. peeing is an immediate disqualification in competition for e.g., but we didn’t think they would’ve believed us… They were… speaking to us very slowly in English…. 😀 (And anyway they’d just complain to the lifeguards and then we’d still have to leave.) Occasionally when that happens, we assume they are relatively new to HK, because expats here are very very diverse – opinions about living here, what locals are like, who locals are, who Mainlanders are and also varying commands of Cantonese and Putonghua many of which can put ours to shame…… I remember ages ago an older British lady accused Kings of “stealing” electricity at one cafe, on top of having the chutzpah to sit there without ordering anything, because he had happily plugged in his laptop at one of our very regular spots without seemingly a word to any of the wait staff – which is because they already knew what we always order… Her Cantonese-speaking similarly blonde and blue eyed companion was so mortified…)

Two female Border Collies eyeing each other...

So, the solution is to find places with no lifeguards or baby mummies! And here we met another Border Collie doing the same, walking along the Repulse Bay promenade – a lot of back doors of apartment buildings actually lead straight down to this thing, and it’s a nice beach-side walk (though the actual beach has the lifeguards) and one of the cleanest air areas on the island. A girlfriend from Singapore whose asthma flared up while we both lived in Pok Fu Lam moved here for the same reason. She (BC not my GF :D) was owned by an old British guy who made lots of comments about “girls eyeing each other up and down” and “never getting along” as well as the guys… His case in point was what these two BCs were like to each other – not sure it was because they’re female BCs, but it is true the females can be a lot more idiosyncratic and it was definitely true these two really didn’t like each other… The whole time their owners were chatting, they were doing the above… Well obviously the red BC is his GF (sorry, couldn’t resist) who is stereotypically jealous and possessive… Though not even human…

Like so...

JD’s expression at left is because the two boats behind her have just collided with a loud bump, and she is still refusing to take her eye off the stick I’m waiting to throw. And yes, Kings being glued to berry/ cellphone at all hours, even perched on barnacles, is so not a new phenomenon….. It’s like sometimes we don’t notice anymore that he’s in the pics…

Loch Ness JD...

Sometimes we let her swim after all the fussy people have gone home… Either the lifeguards have gotten off work (btw, the moment they are off-duty they are usually nice enough not to still impose the “no dogs on beach” thing, something Repulse Bay dog owning regulars had tipped us off to earlier), or any mums-with-babies have gone home… Hence we’ve had pizza for dinner on the beach while the dog swims it out, when it isn’t too cold… for us, not the dog. The dog is a crazy cold weather dog.

"Where are my legs...??"

This is a secluded beach – reached after a brief but grueling 90 minute uphill hike, among others. We had to just sit down and gather enough energy to hike back out eventually. Too bad, otherwise it would be brilliant to bring her here more often…

Well, there's always Sai Kung...

Yeah now one of the main places we bring her nowadays… And I realize I still haven’t gotten to Lamma Island so there’ll be a part 4, at least for pics…

 

 

Posted in Rockstar Shots, Traveling With Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rockstarism #195 – Imaginary Friends Want The Same Things We Do

Posted on March 12, 2012 by admin

Around the time JD and I usually start on our 3km walk…

Rockstar: Mum! Yeeka’s ship has landed! We need to go meet him in sector 78 (about halfway along the route I usually walk the dog)! Bring JD!

Me: Uh… He’s early today, usually he only gets here after your nap.

Rockstar: But he’s here now! We have to go meet him!

Kings shakes his head no, because that would mean I have to deliver Rockstar back and then finish the walk with JD, making for almost double the usual distance; I’m about 6 months pregnant now…

Me: Maybe he’s here early because he has to take his ship for servicing. Like when Daddy takes his car to the shop for a tune up?

Rockstar: No! His ship is fine, he just landed early today so we have to meet him early!

Me: Well has he seen the fountain (in the restaurant)? You don’t get water on the moon so why don’t you show that to him first and then after your nap you guys can walk back to the ship together?

Rockstar: He’s seen the fountain tons of times! They have Lunar Fountains on the Moon.

Me: They can’t be the same as the ones on Earth, remember? It’s why you don’t have the same plants growing on the moon either, they don’t share the same living conditions.

Rockstar: <gloomily> But the fountain looks the same, whether you have blue Earth water in it or not…

Me: Hey. Didn’t Daddy say after your nap he wants to bring you to Madam Tussaud’s (there’s a small one very nearby)? Think Yeeka can be convinced to meet you a little later so you can both go together? If you don’t nap soon you won’t wake in time to spend longer there…

<pause>

Rockstar: Yeeka’s ship just took off!

Me: Which means…..?

Rockstar: There’s nothing wrong with his ship you see (ie doesn’t need tune up I suppose), he’s going to fly around and check the speed controls. 

Settles down for regular nap and off I go with JD. One of the times you feel like radio-ing triumphantly Houston We Do Not Have A Problem…

Let us set our pregnant selves in a cafe and radio Houston as we gorge on Olive Tapenade and toast

Later that evening…..

Me: Are all your imaginary friends boys?

Rockstar: Yeah. They’re all boys.

 Me: How come you don’t have any imaginary friends who are girls?

Rockstar: <shrugs> I don’t know, they’re just all boys… Well Zippety has a baby sister coming… In June during the summer holidays…

Me: Hey. Isn’t that when you’re expecting your baby sister? What a coincidence.

Rockstar: <Laughs and shrugs> Y-eah, it is!

Posted in Rockstarisms, Talking To Rockstar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A (Dog’s) Beautiful Life – Part 2; Central, Lan Kwai Fong, Staunton Road and HK Convention and Exhibition Center

Posted on March 11, 2012 by admin

“MY DOG IS NOT DEAD. I repeat, my dog is NOT DEAD. I posted about her life following her 9th bday because rather than grieve when she eventually goes, I preferred warm and fuzzy. But I am getting condolence messages now – which is very sweet, but SHE IS WALKING NEXT TO ME AT PEAK NOW :D:D:D” – My Facebook over the weekend when I started getting heartfelt condolence messages

(Wah my previous post sounds like my dog died meh?)

And with that, Part 2…..

Link REIT (or rather lack, thereof) demonstration

No one paid us any mind. Not the demonstrators, not the police. Our old Singapore landlord/lady who were visiting and staying with us translated the chinese in the signs as:

“Everyone should work together to stabilize Hk,” and

“Chong King Hong and Toh Kwan Hau are spoiling Hk and should step down.” Umm, oblivious – heck, we just wanted a picture for our collection. This was in 2005 when we often went looking for places where dogs weren’t allowed, just to snap a pic.

Outside HK Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai

This is where Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu etc shot the famous siege scene from Police Story 3… Love the movie, and we used to be inside this place a lot because back then our church would rent some of the function rooms here and would pass the exact area with all the windows and beams where they filmed… But of course this is HK, it’s fairly common to come across discreet cordons where people are filming (haha and then the movies/ tv series end up on Malaysian tv)…

We took a couple more with the Golden Bauhinia (HK's national flower) in the background

Deserted area somewhere in Shek O

Couldn’t figure why anyone would put a No Dogs sign in the seemingly God-forsaken area above though.

JD trying to get away from me in hideous pink top at Staunton Road

We used to brunch a lot in the Staunton Road area because many restaurants allow you to have the dog with you long as you sit near the sidewalk… I remember being approached once or twice by (foreign) gay couples looking to get a dog and who wanted to know what it was like to keep a Border Collie in HK… (I did have gay ex colleagues, both Singaporean and local Hongkie too – as mentioned before Kings’ “gaydar” is pretty accurate from when one of his housemates was gay, and it wasn’t long before a couple co-workers he’d met and mentioned to me were probably gay actually came out…)

Sidewalk dining... and the "famous" outdoor escalator on left

JD loved this table where we used to share Spanish Frittata (this is why I say she eats “80% right” because the other 20% is a taste of what we eat when we dine out), she could see what we were having and tailor her “begging” accordingly – drives her vet nuts, not because of the diet but because of the whole Dogs Are Pack Animals And The Pack Leader Eats First, Not With – Are You Trying To Train The Dog Or Not?? But JD’s a house pet at least 80% of it is right – when we aren’t changing helpers haha. Our Aussie vet had the most well-behaved Jack Russell in the world who heels everywhere without a peep as his master strides all over the clinic. (Is it even a Jack Russell anymore?! Humph…..)

Near Landmark and you can see JD's really getting tired of this...

JD's Grouchy Face in front of "old" Mandarin Oriental and HSBC main building next door

This is outside the original Mandarin Oriental Hotel where Leslie Cheung famously leapt to his death… (I stayed there soon after the suicide, because we were still in Singapore at the time and I was then sent to the HK branch of the bank for training… Friends/ colleagues pointed out where he had landed, from my room balcony… I remember passing by in later years on the anniversary of his death and an entire wall would still be lined with flowers and memorabilia from his fans…)

"Look, JD, it's the Central MTR station et al, I'm sure you care!" The one on the right is a bit like "Here's the station! Here's the listless dog!"

Miserable "WHEN is this going to end???" Face

At some point…… it occurred to us the whole picture-collecting might be fun for us, but…

"YYYYYYAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNNNN...." along Lan Kwai Fong in front of Beer ad...

Btw, JD doesn’t like beer. She and Rockstar had very similar expressions, the one time they tasted it. (They both like fish and papaya soup, though…..) Sometimes it’s hard to believe they aren’t related…..

For JD, our little photo collection hobby was starting to feel a little like........

Yeah the photos look fun and all right, but then we realized she really doesn’t enjoy getting in and out of cars and being put on sit/stay for a pic…

But couldn't resist this... New Year's Day 2005 decor in Lan Kwai Fong

8am along Lan Kwai is probably the only time it’s quiet…….

She didn’t mind not doing drinks in Lan Kwai in exchange for a late night boat ride, though…

That’s about as close as any of us – JD or otherwise – have been to the famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant though… This is a friend/ ex-colleague’s boat, we’d been to his home in Discovery Bay for a BBQ party earlier (cars weren’t allowed on DBay so there are yuppies and expats who like to live there for the relatively cleaner air and would commute to work each morning… I find HK waters choppier than Malaysian or Singaporean waters though, as are cab rides because of the winding, hilly, narrow roads; some of my RMs used to always carry around seasick pills for themselves and clients as well… We packed her jacket in case while sniffing about the entire boat it suddenly pitched and she fell in because it would be hard to fish her out again in the dark…)

Same friend told us back then the restaurant was quite dirty, with a rat problem – we have no idea how true or not this is, we just never got round to going there for a meal… And yes, JD had a great time at our friend’s BBQ – any time someone dropped food, albeit it was across the room / garden, she would be there! Party Animal…..

And so, we learned to go to more places she liked…………. in Part 3 🙂

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