"Make You Feel My Love"

When the rain is blowing in your face,
And the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love.

I know you haven't made your mind up yet,
But I will never do you wrong.
I've known it from the moment that we met,
No doubt in my mind where you belong.

I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,
And I'd go crawling down the avenue.
No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love.

The storms are raging on the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret.
The winds of change are blowing wild and free,
You ain't seen nothing like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.
Nothing that I wouldn't do.
Go to the ends of the Earth for you,
To make you feel my love
To make you feel my love

I guess that I've made the decision for both of us. I don't regret the times we had. Thank you for the moments, and for learning more about myself. 

A time of firsts

Well this month has been a month of "firsts"!

1. Something very personal which only one other person in the world knows about. In any case, an experience to learn from, and move forward from! :)
2. Conducting my first training session in Cantonese. Yep, I know it's old news, but it's a massive milestone in my life. Let's just hope that the feedback won't be too bad....
3. Meeting my ex-big-boss in HK + actually having an awesome time catching up with her about non-work stuff over dinner. Ahhh, sometimes it's just nice to see a familiar face ain't it.
4. Getting to meet the other colleagues in both the local and regional teams, during the farewell/retirement party of our Regional boss. Got to chat with a few other faces and a new colleague...and I have to say I manage to make an impression (I do hope it's a good one and not the reputation of my drinking tolerance...but then again, that's a plus point? haaa)on quite a few of the Regional + Country heads. And with good wine and laughter, what's there not to enjoy!
5. First time having cocktails that literally blew my mind. My friends and I were actually hanging out at The Lab where they had special concoctions with Ginseng, Luo Han Guo etc. And that was already pretty good...but when we were brought to Isono @ PMQ, where we were met by Nic (who's apparently the grandmasters of the mixologists back at The Lab) and got to savour his mixes......phew! Mind-blowing, and like my friend said, "He really takes cocktails to a whole other level". I couldn't agree more - he mixed up two rounds of cocktails for us after learning about our preferences.
• Round 1: Took a sip and we were like 0.o. Goes down so smooth but doesn't taste like it has alcohol (there is alcohol in there if you were wondering). None of the overpowering alcohol content or unbalanced sugary aftertaste.
• Round 2: This round of cocktails were stronger and more advanced. Friend 1 had a drink that smelled like whiskey but contained none of it. Nic challenged us to guess the ingredients....of which I got the major one correct! Friend 2 had a drink called Jungle Fever (which is totally delicious), and I got all the flavours correct! Ok, with a little prompting from the Grandmaster himself...I myself, got a drink called Poison which is a blend of 7 spirits. Nic enjoys creating cocktails where no one actually can tell what goes into it...so I was feeling a little accomplished from his challenge haa

By then we were almost done with our drinks and our chat, and Nic with his work shift, we were invited to grab Tom Yum shots and Sour Plum Shots at Topiary (another bar) with him. And yes, I identified the ingredients behind the Tom Yum ones (not cos I know the ingredients of a Tom Yum Goong recipe but I could really taste themt)...and Nic said I can be a sommelier since I'm rather spot-on on the tastes/ingredients!!

-let's just pause to enjoy the moment of me leaping over the moon.=D.....-

Ok, that aside, it was really refreshing to hear someone sharing his experiences, story and philosophy (yes there is philosophy behind cocktail-making). A really humble person with interesting anecdotes....I'll be back to Isono for more of his drinks and chatting! And I'm totally bringing my future boyfriend for him to have a look so he can screen his personality with his X-ray eyes ....

Entrepreneurs - reading about one and talking with another

So I've just recently finished reading this book called "Starting from Scrap" which is about a 22-year old guy who arrived in HK from the States, built his own business and sold it after about 8 years. Pretty insightful stuff about starting your business and dealing with the cyclical nature of things ...written in an entertaining manner w lots of humour thrown in.

Then I was asked by my friend (whom I had brunch with earlier in the day) to join her and her friend for drinks later in the night. Found out that the friend is an entrepreneur too! A jet-setting successful one in the private equity industry. Was very interesting to hear him sharing his perspectives on business stuff, politics and systems, on what makes him tick, when to onboard partners and then basically on what makes a city attractive.
Was an unexpectedly nice time hanging out w an interesting individual, all while having some awesome food from Gordon Ramsay's, and then adjourning to a speakeasy with martini cocktails like "James Bond" and "Banoffee pie".

The best quote I heard during the night is ,"When you need money, you will make money".

Needless to say, I emerged the night with renewed perspectives. I guess I'm beginning to appreciate why people say you really do get to meet lots of different kinds of people here in HK...

It's back to BAU work and starting with the law books at last! I've got a mate from San Francisco spending a couple nights with me from tomorrow, but I think it should be all chillax ...

Anyways, I have seen a couple of friends doing the Gratitude challenge on Facebook. I've actually done this exercise way before this whole trend started, but just to show I'm not lagging behind those trends, here's my take on it:

Things I am grateful for:

• Coming home to a parcel hung outside my door. 

Honestly I got a little horrified when I saw it hung with a rubber band to my door handle....cos I certainly wasn't expecting anything! I spotted an address which I didn't identify as mine and honestly thought the postal guys made a huge mistake! (the address was actually of the sender) And was wondering if it was gonna b a pig's head cos the previous tenant owed some money....

Turns out it was Michael+Hanny who sent some Tim Tams my way all the way from Perth for my birthday! :D And the Adriano Zumbo limited editions to top the whole surprise off! Such a sweet friend! And all just b'cos of my comment that Tim Tams are expensive here in HK.

Really heartwarming gesture to feel I'm not forgotten...especially the couple of friendships that I had to *ahem*, according to Taylor Swift, "Shake it Off"!

• Tinder.

Yes, mindless swiping just based on first impressions. Epitome of swipe right, if you like what you see. Mrs Toes in the Sand will know what I'm talking about *wink wink*. Anyways, I got a proposition for a fling - while I admired the candidness (and of course the handsomeness), I had to pry myself away from things which just didn't go well with my values. 

The exact proposition was a great laugh for all those I shared it with me, as well as for myself haa. Guess you can't take some things (like Tinder) and some people too seriously....lol

• My ricecooker + Thermos soup pot

Electrical appliances are exorbitant in HK! Had to wait for my parents to come with the aforementioned appliances....and I'm glad to say I've been using the ricecooker almost every night, and have made Green Bean Sweet Soup and Carrot & Corn Soup with the pot!

And managed to impress my colleagues with my cooking skills along the way since that means packed lunches to work (without the nasty MSG)....

Meanwhile, my colleagues have been requesting me to set up a catering service for lunch (which by the way, also happened in SG...)

• TV

See first sentence of point above. But the parents were shopping at the computer centre at Sham Shui Po one day, and picked up a 24-inch Smart TV of a local brand for around 200 SG bucks. Nothing too fancy, but at least I can keep up with the news (more of the weather and the traffic diversions due to the protests). I recently realised there are options to change the audio language and subtitles! And the recording function! Back to some English TV for me hooray!

Alright, that sums up my exciting highlights recently! Laters peeps!

A whirlwind of meet ups!

While I am still recovering from the exhaustion from the trip to Korea (and braving the one hour security check at Inchein airport and another one hour plus trip from HK airport no thanks to Occupy Central... ), I'm preparing for the parents' visit on Thursday!  Yippeeee yay

Miffy meep from Toes in the Sand came for a weekend visit 2 weeks ago...and boy was I so thankful to be able to spend some girl bonding time together. ..even though it was for 2 days!! So nice to finally have a friend over! :) we ate and ate, and tried horse riding at the Hermes exhibition, shopped, and had a slight panic in trying to get to the airport (what's new after Taipei lol)

Anyways, in Seoul I was a few days later for another dear friend's wedding. I met Sunmi at Hallym University when I was there for summer exchange a grand 7 years ago...and I'm so happy for her. People often comment that I must be very nice to go to weddings overseas especially where it is self-funded...but I tend to look at it a little differently - I feel honoured to be invited to weddings who revel in me gracing  and sharing their happy occasion. Of course, I know (and have experienced) those who are just out doing it for some other motives. ..but I've since learn how to filter such peeps away. Also nice to meet up with Sangwoo who has grown into a fine guy! Can't say the sane about E - he might be one of those I won't be hanging out with next time I return.

Anyways, at the urge of J, my impromptu dinner partner in SG and life advisor (haahaa), I shall continue to try to make new friends here ...so I won't have to eat dinner alone lol!  And also with the renwed perspective from Korea, I believe there are always gems out there! So I have registered myself on meetup.com (no it's not an online dating site) and signed up on some of the activities (actually one so far haa).

So there you go! A little rough at the start, but I'm sure things will be going smooth from now on!

Friendships - forging new ones and learning to cut losses

So I was deliberating whether I should be less direct on the title of this post...like "Learning to let go" instead...but like Mr G2000 tycoon Tien said on Tycoon Talks - you need to learn when to cut your losses, and to even destroy something you make when it is no longer working.

So as you guys know ..I played bubble soccer on Saturday!  Really fun plus I got to meet Singaporeans...hooray!!! Mindset is obviously very different from when I was on exchange. ..I'm totally seeking fellow merlions now ;)
My uni-course mate was the one who linked me up with the fun. ..and yes I probably weirded her out by dropping her a message 7 years after we met...haaa and she eventually recounted the epsiode to her other friends during the evening. But she's nice and let me in a tip about friendships n relationships established in HK - she said it's much transactional.  I thought she actually meant transient (and she did) but I have learnt in recent days that transactional is not that inaccurate an adjective either. ..
A) a friend who's milking me for free accommodation in SG and calling me as if I'm his tour guide. Totally not cool. Now I understand what our mutual friend doesn't actually wanna hang out with him. His friends whom I've met once also wanted to milk me. I know I did offer to help (read: in dire situations) but at least have the decency to be my friend before you make such a request.
B) a guy who has been on-off flirting with me. Went with me to Ocean Park but ended up texting n was on the phone for a whole 4 hours. And I spotted him writing a love message for another lady. Well, no biggie if we're not gonna make it together but please have the decency to be mentally/spiritually present when you have agreed to hang out.

Needless to say, I have decided to cut my losses with these two after I'm done with whatever business I have with them.
Life's too short...shan't waste precious time and effort on peeps who aren't worth it!

Meanwhile the Typhoon 8 is dying down...so there should be work tomorrow! !

Milestone - a month!

It's been slightly more than a month after I've arrived, and I'm learning to adapt to the what-everyone-talks-about-but-not-quite "fast pace". Let me elaborate....

I'm sure many SG-ers must have been told and fed the information that "HK is a lot faster-paced", "They work harder there.." to even the part where "People walk faster there"!
I'm pretty sure there's truth to such statements, except for the last. I find that the average walking speed of HK-ers are slower than back home....such that I feel like like a power walker overtaking my competitors in the race *cue Olympic finishing line music*....VICTORY!

Ok, pardon my madness...this is probably one of the side effects of having to deal with the monstrous crowd when I was at Causeway Bay after work. Needless to say, I went there for shopping and promptly escaped back to the sanity of my cozy little apartment for the rest of the evening.

The other thing I notice about HK-ers which contribute to the slow walking pace is their tendencies to have their eyes/head/body glued to their cell phone screens while walking. Watching videos, playing games when they are crossing the road - yes, you can probably imagine how often I rolled my eyes until I gave up. For Christ's (or as my Scottish friend would quote as Pete's) sake, it's the road!!! Why would anyone wanna risk being a victim of roadkill? Totally baffles me, but hey maybe they are trading some bitcoins on their mobile apps and on their way to becoming billionaires....

Anyways, I'm enjoying the harbour view while sipping my liquoice-n-mint tea from the comfort of my bed. Ahhhh.~If only I can find more friends to hang out in satisfying my dim sum craving...

Laters!