It has been a while since I went to Image night at
Volar. Tonight's event was special for two reasons.
1) There is a mini-show at Volar where 2 models from 4 agencies competed.
2) I'm trying to setup two people.
I had lunch with Sugako at
Harbour City in TST. She was embarassed to have me with her because she has many coworkers around at Harbour City. One of her coworkers caught us together and approached us to talk to us. After finishing our Delifrance we both headed off to work.
At night I met up with Pak To, Megumi, and her coworker. We had dinner at
Watami in Central and then waited for Aya to show up. Aya somehow got off at
IFC and had to make her way back Central. Pak To gave up his guestlist name so that Megumi's coworker, Kaori, could get in. I hope that proves he's super nice. I hate Ah To's current girlfriend. I'm ho,ping he'll leave that relationship soon.
I was surprised when I ran into
Marell outside of the 7-Eleven in Lan Kwai Fong. I saw
Emile as well. Terrence and Mook were out and of course I ran into party animal Erez right at the end.
I had a lot of fun, I haven't seen the
Dream girls for quite sometime. Angie's going to be gone soon too. We'll all miss her.
Labels: Clubbing, Friends, Hong Kong, Model
Yesterday was a pretty interesting event. There was a fairly large
gathering of Japanese people in
Discovery Bay. They consisted mostly of people from my tennis group and people from another volleyball group in Hong Kong.
After my lessons were finished I met up with Aya down at the Central Pier to take the fast ferry across to Discovery Bay. We met up with a family that was moving back to Japan today and traveled together to the island. I haven't played volleyball since high school so I was a bit worried about looking like a total newbie. I was hoping to bring Amy out since I feel bad that we were never able to get a volleyball group together. I know there is a difference between
beach volleyball and
indoor volleyball, but for my skill level it doesn't really matter. I had a lot of fun and managed to work up a sweat pretty easily.
After the games we headed over to
Zaks to have a farewell party for one of the volleyball members, Kojiさん, whom I actually met on my first day joining the tennis group. The food was actually quite good (though the bill came out to a good $300/per person I think it was due to the amount of alcohol they were consuming) and I was surprised that they had
Cajun food there; I had a few helpings of "blackened tuna". The drinking continued well into the night which lead to other problems later on.
A particular female friend from the group likes her alcohol. She consumed a healthy portion and managed to get drunk before 11. There is a member of our group that I found out, just the other day, that is quite the
playboy. The dude's married, but he keeps
macking on the female members of the tennis group. That's not really my concern until it affects my friends, and last night it did. I've gotten close to my drunken little friend and seeing him take advantage of the situation really made me uneasy.
I met up with Diana and her friend from
Taiwan over at
Yumla near
Lan Kwai Fong. They Japanese people surprised me by dropping by LKF to find me. I had to ask Diana to help me isolate the drunken girl so that she was aware that she was being taken advantage of and so that we could send her home. Angie had stopped by early before heading to DI and then Janice came down to find me to chat. We managed to get my friend into a cab, but for some odd drunken reason she turned the corner and stayed in Central. I met up with Janice but had to leave again to make sure she got into another cab to go home. That was fairly stressful because I was trying not to offend people and I lost "face" in front of my friends for ditching them like that.
We were suppose to meet with Michelle and Cherie at LKF tower, but they ended up at Hei Hei and then decided to go home. I ended up taking the tennis "player" over to Volar where he could safely fill his eyes full of models without putting my friends at risk. I met up with Angie and my other friend Brian there as well. I didn't get much sleep but I'm going to get ready for to go out to tennis soon. It was a busy Saturday.
Labels: Clubbing, Friends, Hong Kong, Sports
Somehow I managed to wakeup Sunday to go to play tennis in the morning. Not many people showed up so we got a lot of chance to practice.
The night's event was
Kazue's birthday dinner in Tsim Sha Tsui at an Indian restaurant called 'Gaylord'. The irony behind this name is that I really felt our waiter for the night 'walked on the other side of the road' if you catch my meaning. He was very friendly to me and a bit touchy. He provided a lot of free services to Kazue so I endured it quietly. A few people couldn't make it but I ended up asking a few friends from tennis to join us (Hondaさん, Kitaniさん, and Hotaさん). I'm sure Kazue was happy with so many boys around.
Afterwards we played '
Kings' at a German bar in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Labels: Birthdays, Friends, Hong Kong
To continue with the March birthdays. We went out to
celebrate Kazue's birthday in Lan Kwai Fong. The venue for the night was Pi. I haven't had much of a chance to sleep the last few days. I had a few friends fly out Friday and so I wanted to wish them 'bon voyage' and I didn't want Angie to miss her early flight. Partying with Divya until nearly 5am and then work Saturday morning left me happy but exhausted. I crashed when I got home after work and woke up to go to the gym afterwards.
I made arrangements to meet up with Hiroko after work to have dinner and then to go down to Pi together. She told me, or I thought she told me, that she was waiting at the Central MTR station and I rushed to go meet her. It turns out that she was actually waiting for me at the Mong Kok MTR station. When we finally met up we headed over to Tsui Wah to have a quick dinner. We were already late arriving at Pi, but to make matters worse the waiter at Tsui Wah forgot to put in one of our orders so we ended up waiting a long time.
Finally we ended up at Pi. Kazue was already kind of drunk(かのじょはちょっとよっぱらいました) and she was dancing all night, even when she was sitting. I think the night was a complete success. There were a lot of Japanese people out last night. Kazue, Hiroko, Megumi, another Megumi (I've met quite a few people named 'Megumi' in Hong Kong already), Aya, and Aya's friend from her volleyball group. Priscilla made it out with Julian, Adrian, and their other friends so the group was quite large. It was a crazy night, I'm sure everyone enjoyed themselves.
Labels: Birthdays, Clubbing, Friends, Hong Kong
It seems like three weeks have passed by pretty quickly. It started with a
facebook message from Vincent and it turned out to be nights of clubbing and shopping.
Divya we'll miss you. You're so open to our little international group and so willing to enhance everyone's experience.
The night started off with a late dinner at El Taco Laco (El Taco Loco, Tel:2522 0214,Tsui Man Bldg, Central District) near the
Pure Fitness. The first thing on the table was the Sangarita and then everyone started showing up. Aya started the night a bit depressed but we helped liven up her mood. The taco salad that I ordered didn't come out the way I thought it would. I'm use to the salad coming in a bowl or a shell that I can eat. This one was in a plastic container. Even though the place didn't rank high in the visuals department the salad was fairly filling. It was nice to have Mexican food again.
After dinner we went to join Cherie at Club Number 9. Jamie ran into Wins there, but I didn't have much to say to her aside from a courteous 'hello'. She's been a let down as a friend and I'd rather not have to deal with those types of people. It can be difficult in Hong Kong though. Sometimes you feel like you need to keep a friendship even though it might be really shallow. The Canadian side of me doesn't have to have to go through that.
Overall it was a great evening. Even when everyone else left I ended up taking Divya over to Volar to finish off the night. Work was tough the next day, but one of my troubled students was removed from my classes and that eased things up quite a bit.
Labels: Clubbing, Friends, Hong Kong
Last Sunday I had some difficulty waking up. Since we had partied until the morning I had about 3 hours sleep before
Smartone-Vodafone decided to wake me up with an
SMS with my billing information. Even though tennis was at 2 I was a bit lazy getting up in the morning. I updated
my blog and then got up to meet Aya down in Causeway Bay for lunch. After a night of clubbing we felt like Viet food (Toronto stylez?) so we headed over to Pho Hoa.
Even though lunch was pretty quick I was really late for tennis. It was raining when I arrived in CWB and it was still wet out in Lam Tin. We had practice and then went down to Wan Chai for some hot pot (Shabu Shabu). Diana made friends with a French traveler and she invited him along. I didn't eat too much but we had a lot of fun and joked around a lot. しゃぶしゃぶの時は楽しいかったです。たくさん日本語を勉強しました。
Afterwards we headed over to
Felix in Tsim Sha Tsui. Opened in 1994, Felix was created by renowned designer Philippe Starck. The view, design, and drinkers were nice. Diana really wanted to show me the washrooms because they were apparently some design feature for the establishment but I wasn't impressed. The urinals face a fairly reflective glass and you end up looking at other guys beside you doing their thing while pretending to look down at the city far below. There's always a washroom attendant standing behind you which makes it just uncomfortable. Again, the main hall was quite interesting and especially for such an old design.
Labels: Friends, Hong Kong, Sports
This weekend has been quite fun. We took Divya out
clubbing for her first time in Hong Kong. She's been dying to go. It was a busy day actually. Afterwork I met up with her in Mong Kok to take her around shopping. Kennis wanted to come out as well so we ended up meeting up with her and Jamie. Divya and I spent a lot of time looking for the right size for a pair of
Puma shoes that we thought looked great on her. Eventually we were really pressed for time and everyone rushed home, except Jamie, to get ready to go clubbing.
Our first stop was Angie and Janice's birthday event at
Drop. We got there a bit late and due to a problem with the guestlist at the door only I could get into Drop. I stopped by and said 'hello' to the girls and some people that I know. When I left I ran into Judy outside and she introduced her friends from
New Zealand; Mary and Celeste. We ended up going to meet up with Cherie at
Club No. 9. Aside from being Divya's first time clubbing in Hong Kong it was also Aya's first time. I think the girls enjoyed themselves. We stopped off at
Volar as well but it was already past 4 am. Afterwards we showed them the traditional breakfast at
Tsui Wah.
Labels: Birthdays, Clubbing, Friends, Hong Kong
Nothing like a birthday to make you reflect on life. For
my birthday this year I was really lucky to have someone plan out a dinner for me. I don't like planning my own birthday dinners. I don't mind planning out events, but I always feel like I'm constantly working when I plan something. I feel responsible, so I have to monitor progress and develop contingency plans in my mind to ensure a smooth running event. Seems bothersome but the happiness of those involved with my plan are paramount. That's why when someone else plans an event I can just relax, so I had quite the relaxing birthday this year.
First off is a special thanks to Sandra for planning and co-ordinating the events that night. She did a bunch of planning before she left on her trip and made sure everything ran smoothly. I felt like a king that night all thanks to her and of course all my other friends.
At work I had quite the surprise. The mother of one of my students found out about my birthday during my lesson and went out and bought a cake for me. My first birthday cake was with my students. They were adorable, forcing me to eat as much cake as I can. Of course they really enjoyed their share of cakes. During the actual lesson as soon as my students found out it was my birthday they started taking out their own snacks and offering it to me as gifts. They drive my crazy sometimes but this really touched me.
After work I ran into my University friend Brian on the
MTR. I haven't seen him since Raymond's birthday party. I invited him to go and we headed over to
Miramar Shopping Centre to meet up with Ayaちゃん and Tiffany. We then headed over to
Wildfire in TST. Sandra was already there with a few others. What surprised me was that she was on a first name basis with "Karen" our waitress. The people present at my birthday were Sandra, Jamie, Tiffany, Kazue, Gloria, Priscilla, Hiroko, Divya, and Brian. Angie made a brief guest appearance to wish my happy birthday and Diana showed up a bit later for pictures and cake. I'm glad everyone made it out to support me as I age one more year. The gifts were great and also the cake at Wildfire was amazing. Totally unexpected, I highly recommend you find the chef at Wildfire to make the cake for your next event.
Several interesting things came out that night. The group of friends is really mixed from all parts of the world and a mixture of languages. It turns out that Divya went to school with Alvin and technically Tiffany and Priscilla at one point (or possibly they just happened to go to the same school). Divya noticed the similarities between Alvin and his sister. When we met up by Timesquare previously I pointed out Alvin's picture but she didn't recognize him then.
To add to this, Hiroko and Kazue turned out to be pretty much neighbours in Japan. They're both from Osaka and I introduced them to each other in Hong Kong. I believe they also have a mutual friend.
Of course it doesn't stop here. One of Kazue's students at school is the child of one of Aya's volleyball teammate.
We also play tennis with the parents of one of Priscilla's students. What small social circles I have.
I had lunch the next day with Flora since she's back in Hong Kong. It's her birthday coming up next week. Lots of March birthdays this year for me. It was never like this in the past. Thanks to everyone who came out to see me and those who remembered my birthday. I don't advertise my birthday, usually if people feel that I'm important enough they'll remember.
Labels: Birthdays, Friends, Hong Kong
