This is a strange post. Today I started to work for a company. I'm not even sure what the company name is, maybe it is Multiplex. I know it does things related to vocational education and they have a school based out of Guang Dong.
How did this all start? After my trip to Lamma Island with my ex-students I was hanging around with Raymond and he came up to the office to talk to the owner, I believe her name is Cynthia Chiu. Since I have the time why not come into work. So I'm sitting her in Central now waiting for my first assignment. Hong Kong is full of surprises.
I haven't been the most in touch with the news but yesterday I was so shocked to hear about what happened in Toronto. Downtown on boxing day, having 2 groups of dumb kids shooting it out. One girl, age 15, shot in the face. Six others injured including a visa student from Hong Kong. What a great impression to give to a foreign student. Canadians are pretty well respected here in Hong Kong. Plus everyone feels that Canada is such a good place to live, but who knows that might all change now that it sounds like we're finally becoming another American state. Okay, maybe that is a bit drastic but I hope this really serves as a wakeup call.
I remember being stopped downtown by City Pulse for some sort of street interview. I was asked what the Police force should do with the extra personnel they were recieving and I made a comment about stopping the guns. At that time I was already a bit worried that someone seemed to die from a gun related incident around me (I lived at Middlefield and Finch back then) including a fairly recent incident at that time at Woodside Square. I'm not in Sarnia anymore that's for sure.
On lighter note I went to a Game convention at the Wan Chai convention centre with some of my co-workers. There isn't much there, a lot of games of course plus a lot of girls. Yes, every company pretty much hired girls to attract the gamers and photographers that were there. You always knew where they were because a crowd of photographers would form around all the pretty girls. I ran into someone that works at the McDonalds in Mong Kok who serves me and remembers the one meal I always order there. I got pictures of some band or group of young stars but I have no clue who they are. This always seems to happen, well this is like the third time I passed by some star but I had no clue who they were. De was already angry with me for walking by Alex Fong.
First off I want to say Merry Christmas to everyone!
Even though I knew it was coming Christmas kind of surprised me this year. That is, the whole last week seemed so busy so I haven't really thought about what I plan to do for Christmas this year. I was actually a little afraid because I thought I would miss my family, and truthfully I do, this whole month I have been thinking about them.
Recap. Just a lot of work this week. Classes just keep coming up at SME and I even worked at Readership almost all day Christmas eve. It has been a good thing because I've been spending money this holiday season. As you know we've gone clubbing a couple of times and Mike Yam is in town visiting. I met up with Mike to shop around for a little Christmas gift for myself. We both ended up buying a new
Sharp 703 SH mobile phone from a store called
Moshi Moshi in "SinDat" (or Sincere House Commercial Podium). I was warned by a lot of locals to avoid SinDat but after we checked out a bunch of stores and talked to a bunch of people I found the employee at Moshi Moshi to be most helpful. If you're looking at the same phone then check out Shop-G73 at Sincere House Commercial Podium. Look for a lady named Sharon. I bought a protective adhesive for my screen and she did a professional job putting it on for me. We're turning out to be two peas in the same pod this Christmas. We met up on Christmas eve to buy a mini-SD memory card for our phones. It is pretty tempting to get the 1 Gig card, but we decided on a 512M card each. We're giving
Transcend a try. They seem like an okay memory company with some quick write times (80X for our mini-SD cards).
The review so far is that the phone is amazing. It feels great in my hand. Some people don't like the clicking sound of the cover when you're moving it to the various positions (when you open the phone) but I think it makes the phone feel really "solid". I was a little afraid because I wouldn't have mp3 ringtones like many of the other phones, but I find that 40-Polyphonic ringtones are good enough. I can convert any mp3 song into a Yamaha SMAF/MMF using
Wave Sound Decoder and it sounds almost exactly like the mp3. The 703 SH only supports MA-3, but the 903 SH supports MA-5. The problem with the phone is the volumne of the ringer. Even after I adjust the audio level of the song on my computer before converting it still sounds really quiet. Maybe I need some louder songs. The vibration on the phone is a little weak. I expected this since when I tested both phones I noticed the 703 SH vibrates a lot weaker than the Sharp 903 SH. I have nothing but positive things to say about the screen. Sharon mentioned that when you buy a
Sharp phone, you'll be chasing Sharp phones for the rest of your life because of the screen. I can totally see this at this point in time. Connectivity wise I was using bluetooth before I bought my mini-SD memory card. Blue tooth was kind of a pain to setup. Since my OS is completely in Japanese I asked Natsu to try to help me before she left back for Japan. After some searching around I find a forum posting about needing to setup a dial-up profile for my phone on my computer before running the handset manager. After I figured it out it works perfectly. I can transfer files between other phones as well so dispite everyone saying the bluetooth on the Sharp phone is hampered it works well enough for my current usage. Mike Yam has been testing the camera a bit more extensively than I. I think the pictures look pretty decent on the phone but a little lacking on the computer. I can't complain since the camera is only 1.3 MP. But I notice it has been more convient to use my cell phone to take pictures then to power on my camera each time. The speaker phone volume isn't very loud either but at least I can use speaker phone if need be.
Enough about the new phone. Last night I met up with Raymond and Connie at a bar in TST. The streets of TST were just full of people. I don't even know what those families were doing walking around the streets. We had a great time in the bar and I had met some really nice people to have fun with. Like always Raymond and Connie taught us a lot of drinking games. One of the members of our group took part in a drinking competition and managed to win $500 HKD. We were invited later on in the evening to go karaoke upstairs on the 3rd floor with some stranger. I have no clue how that happened by he was a native English speaker. I lost Gloria during that transition but I was trying to take care of another girl that was upset that night. It was a lot of fun and I practically lost my voice by the end when we left around 7am. This is really a reflection of the social life in Hong Kong, I wouldn't be doing anything so crazy in Canada.
I just remembered something funny that happened to me earlier this week. I was out with Natsu at Starbuck in Causeway Bay. Natsu must find it kind of boring in Hong Kong because it is difficult for her to make friends here. I see this happen all the time with Japanese people in Toronto so I can understand. Anyway, after we chatted for a while I was trying to get her to help me pair my notebook with my new Sharp mobile phone. I'm known to be pretty geeky sometimes and one of the geekiest things I've done recently is add several Star Trek (TNG) sound bites into my computer. My startup and shutdown noises are all borrowed from the
USS Enterprise. Well as I was shutting down my computer blurted out a sound bite and I noticed two travellers sitting beside us searching on the power books. They both looked up suddenly at my computer and started to smile. They knew right away I was a geek. The good thing is, it takes a geek to know where the sound bites are from.
Hiking in Sai Kung was simply an exhilarating experience. After months of being in the city the change of scenery really touched me. Actually as Christmas is getting closer I've had a touch of home sickness set upon me. Strange since I though of myself as being pretty independent and detached but possibly part of it has to do with my growing bond with my family. I suppose the saying is true; distance makes the heart go fonder.
It was a bit of a struggle to get up I must admit. The thought of canceling had crossed my mind, but a promise is a promise so I pulled myself out of bed with only 2 hours of sleep to hop into the shower. For the last few weeks Hong Kong really didn't seem cold. Now I have to admit the mornings do seem cold. Coming out of the shower is fairly uncomfortable though not having to turn on the air conditioner cut my electricity bill at least in half. I dumped 4 water bottles into my backpack, grabbed my tripod and out the door I went.
Originally I was suppose to meet up with Ada but she had to cancel because she couldn't make it back home into Wan Chai due to
the rioting last night. So I met up with Gloria instead at Choi Hung station and we took a light bus over to Sai Kung. We had a quick breakfast with the rest of the group which mostly consisted of teachers and included two NET teachers from Kobe's school. We bought a few food items from the local shops and took a cab up to the trail.
Climbing out of the taxi I relaxed into the clean air and warm sun. It seemed perfectly peaceful and relaxing. I was so tired riding up to the trail but the fresh air had renewed my strength. Armed with our gear and our cameras we set off on the long march.
Basically with words I couldn't do the place justice. It was beautiful walking along the side of the mountain and across the beaches. Of special note we ran into a puppy dog lost along the path. It seemed afraid at first but after we put it down it started to follow us on her own accord. The
pictures are up on shutterfly for those who are interested in viewing them. Now I have to face the dirty air of Mong Kok again. Lets hope my lungs hold up.
As the WTO is nearing the end
some violence has errupted in Hong Kong. I met a guy tonight who owns a store in the area where all the action was. It sounded pretty interesting. It was a long day, I was tired already from clubbing the previous night and I didn't think of anything to teach for my webdesign class so I researched some tutorials while I was eating lunch. I broke the news to the students that this will be my last class. I don't know how they took it really. Yeah I don't like teaching webdesign, I demand nothing but perfection and these students weren't living up to my expectations. Granted I should've given them more practical work instead of teaching so much theory.
During my break I ran out to McDonalds to meet up with Raymond, Connie, and John Yuen! I haven't seen him in ages. He also came back to HK to prepare for his wedding! So Mike Yam is in town, and so is John Yuen all shopping for wedding dresses. Well, obviously they're not shopping for the dress. He hasn't changed a bit. Neither have I apparently though that is pretty interesting considering my acceptance in Hong Kong.
Tomorrow is my first nature hike in Hong Kong. I promised Ada I would meet her at 9am sharp. I got home all ready to go to sleep and decided to call Priscilla to see how her ball was going. Because the protestors had caused so many problems and delays on the Hong Kong side everything was way behind for her. She didn't seem to want to wake up early the next day to go hiking either. I thought it would be cool to call out Natsu. Gloria seemed to get along well with her and I know from experience and from my international friends that when you're in a new country it really helps to have locals call you out. You don't feel inclined to invite yourself to other people's events so making friends is kind of hard. The language barrier is a big issue for Natsu from what I see, Hong Kong isn't exactly the strongest place for English or Japanese. Since I had to wake up early to go hiking I got ready for bed. That's when temptation called. Well more specifically "messaged" on MSN. "Wanna come to Volar tonight? I think we have space on the guest list". Yup, that was Tiff over at Tina's place. Based on previous experiences I can pretty much guess I'm not getting out until after 4. But, you only live once and my clubbing nights are always fun. Besides Tiffany pressured me into going. I even got a call from a local HK friend, whom I haven't spoke to in a while, and was specifically warned not to go over to the Hong Kong side. Aside from lots of police and "Uniformity Officers" I really didn't see anything else.
Volar was only okay, Met up with Terrance again inside and was introduced to a few more people. I'm starting to get to know people in the clubbing scene. Which may or may not be a good sign. We stayed at
Volar for a bit then headed over to
Hei Hei again. I'll throw in a little something for De. The girls headed to the bar to get drinks and left me standing there by myself. The next thing I know some guy comes over and starts trying to chat with me. Seriously all I can do is pick up guys here. I ran into someone whom I never though I would really run into in HK. Clark. Wow I haven't seen that guy for years, we didn't exactly part ways on a good note. I thought I saw him at Hei Hei once before but surprisingly he dresses so casual I just thought he was one of the other youngsters. Oh well, these days I'm pretty happy with what's going on in Hong Kong. I get a long with clubbing and dancing (sans alcohol) as long as my good friends are around. Priscilla and I were talking about how we miss clubbing with the Toronto group. You should call come visit.
Clubbing is just getting better and better.
Hei Hei is a nice club, I finally found out there's kind of an open area in the back with a little fountain like pool. It blends in with the surroundings so well apparently lots of people end up walking through it or falling into it. I went out with Tiff, Priscilla and Gloria to Hei Hei to party it up with Tiff's friend Terrance for his birthday party. It was great, I love dancing and for part of the night the girls next to our group seemed pretty interested watching us dance. Tiff always runs into people she knows and it turns out that I probably know her as well. We ran into Judy tonight with her boy Alan. Judy I probably met from Kel's birthday party in Toronto. She's working for
Deloitte out in Sheng Wan. Alan is helping with a very successful family business. He's got some extensive contacts with development and manufacturing. I really need to pick his brain later. De will love this, for the last two clubbing nights, the only numbers I end up with are the numbers for guys. This is really going to start some bad rumors.
So it is about day 4 of the WTO. I finally had the chance today to go see what was going on. I went into Tin Hau to work like usual and actually got some good news, they want me to take over a few classes for Alvin (who is probably busy with his modeling) and the time frame overlaps my webdesign course. Teaching webdesign has been an experience but I'd rather get paid more and work fewier hours teaching English at this point. I called up Raymond to see if I could give him my hours and he readily agreed.
After work I cut through Victoria park and saw the displays. A lot of Koreans in Hong Kong right now, they were the noisest sitting around in the park and putting on displays in Causeway Bay. I had dinner with Ada behind Sogo. The place was clean but the forty some dollar bbq pork and bbq goose on rice really wasn't worth it. I was getting like $12 HKD versions in Tin Hau. I tried to do a lot of shopping but since I was clubbing later tonight I really bought nothing. I have a few ideas but I could always use suggestions! What little gifts to buy female friends for Christmas?
Today was just a wild night. So far the best clubbing night I've had in Hong Kong. Tiff got us guest list back at
Volar, but for "P for Pink" Hip Hop night. The line up was crazy at the door, we waited so long and had to wait for the cops to finish checking the place inside. Once inside we picked up a ticket for complimentary drinks and pink dog tags. They were pretty cool except I ended up giving mine up to two pretty models who asked me for them. There was a cutie named Mika and I just couldn't say no. Especially since I really didn't have a use for pink dog tags. Oh, thanks to a friend I managed to strike up a conversation with a
miss Hong Kong pagent girl. Actually it was more a favour for someone but that was kind of daring of me to accept to do it. I had no clue what I was talking about with her.
I got so much dancing done tonight. It was great being out with Priscialla, Natsu, Tiff, and Gloria. Strange since I was the only boy. I was introduced to a bunch of people tonight and hopefully I'll remember them later. Also saw Priscilla's cousin, she's such a party girl. The summary is, lots of dancing, lots of smiling, lots of pretty girls, and lots of good music. It really was a great night.
Some guy was taking tons of pictures with me in it. I wonder if I'll be able to find them later.
Just noticed they are still at it. The forum where people post is still active as well. For those that come to Hong Kong and get approached or are considering modeling (especially girls) really check out
this forum. Get someone to help translate if need be.
Well the situtation was basically I was crossing over from Wan Chai to TST via the Star Ferry. Again at the TST terminal some guy stopped me and said they have openings for models etc. I was so suspicious since that is where Ruby stopped me before so I asked him which agency he was with. He seemed surprised that I said it so calmly, but I'm well researched now. As soon as he pulled out his "Dragon Eight Limited" card I said no thanks, good luck, and good bye.
Any visitors to Hong Kong. If someone from Dragon Eight Limited (D8) stops you at the pier just tell them not to waste your time.
Labels: Scams
Holiday Marketing
The holiday marketing should start to pick up soon. This is usually an interesting time as retailers viciously battle. I ran across
this little piece by
Starbucks today. I thought it was cute, I'm not a coffee drinker but I do like Starbucks. Ever since Wendy gave me the skyline mug from Vancouver I've developed into a collector. If you're traveling about and you happen to drop by a Starbucks think of me.
I remember meeting up with Yoshiro to make Rui's birthday video at the Starbucks near Yonge and Bloor. That's when I first noticed all the international students taking English lessons. I've applied the model directly to my life now in Hong Kong since Starbucks is both a comfortable place and has followed the precepts of the original chain. What I found in Hong Kong is that most places will try to force you out. They're looking for a high turn-over to maximize their sales. But this has really turned me off. I suppose if all places are like this and you don't really have a choice then you'll learn to accept it. As a good supplement to my income I've been tutoring about once a week at Starbucks. I might just form a caffeine addiction.
There's another source or revenue picking up for me, and that is teaching at
Reader ship. I had a couple of extra classes added in and I've been covering for teachers that happen to be sick. I don't know how it eats into Phoebe's profit margin but the teachers are paid fairly well at Reader ship. It is tough work but I appreciate how she looks after the teachers, it seems that kind of mentality is really lacking in Hong Kong. I notice way too many unhappy workers here.
But, from what people tell me, the unhappy workers are waiting for Chinese New years to change jobs. I have just been too lazy to apply for a new job. Also some of you know that I've been speaking with a few locals about a different project. Since there are few job openings at this time of the year I really need to make sure I can survive until January. The good thing is that I'm slowly improving on my
Microsoft Excel skills. I haven't really found a financial planning program that works for me so I can only depend on my custom made excel spreadsheets. Since I'm a database guy this was sort of tricky to get use to. I try to separate all my data so that I can use it to calculate my total assets, liabilities, net income, and do a basic acid-test ratio for each month. I do funny formulas to make flexible estimates based on historical data I input. My basic cash-flow spreadsheet is starting to look like a program. Since
Microsoft Money 2006 keeps crashing on me I've just installed
Quicken 2006. I don't really like it. Maybe because I'm not use to it so I'll have to review it again once I get it actually to do what I want it to do. The main thing is that I need to depend on my spreadsheets to keep me inline this holiday season. It is nice to spend money, but it is critical to do that cash-flow analysis to know where it will land you post December.
I passed by TST/Harbour City on my way home last night (vai Star Ferry). Oh it is really beautiful. They did a wonderful job with the lights. Ada keeps telling me the displays in Hong Kong are the best during Christmas. I have to admit they are beautiful and impressive. But, I miss seeing the snow. There's something missing about Christmas displays when there isn't snow on the ground. I've picked up a touch of the holiday blues. I'll be go out to Volar again this weekend with Tiff and Priscilla, hopefully that will help.
